Wasabi Prime

OMG a Recipe: Who's Joe Mama?

2013-05-06T00:00:00.000-07:00

A friend told me this story about how he was sitting in on the first day of a college class and the professor jokingly introduced himself by writing his name on the board as "Joe Mama." And then some girl asked in a dead-serious/dead-stupid tone, "Who's Joe Mah-mah?" And with that note of ridiculousness, I dedicate this special Mother's Day post to My Mama and all the Joe Mamas (or Mah-mah's) out

Mixed Plate: Sharing is Caring, But Keep the Best for Yourself

2013-04-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

The most important announcement to make: Wish the Mister a Happy Birthday today! He's @BrockDiesel on Twitter and if you know him personally, you probably already Facebook-bombed his page with salutations. Having our birthdays so close together (mine was last week), we have our shared celebrations and it's probably the one notable food/drink extravaganza that slips by, completely under the

FoodTrek: Spring Fever and Yes, More Cowbell

2013-04-22T00:00:00.001-07:00

"I got a fever... and the only prescription is... More Cowbell," so sayeth Christopher Walken's insane, Phil Spector-style record producer character on that high-larious Blue Oyster Cult Saturday Night Live skit from a few years ago. If you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about and have a strong hankering to see Will Ferrell's hairy gut shake its money-maker, you should get to know your

UnRecipe: It's Gettin' Real With the KEEN-wah

2013-04-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Quinoa. It's one of those words where you look at it for a long time and wonder how the hell its pronunciation ever came to be. If you currently live or have ever lived in Washington State, you'll be familiar with this stare-too-long-and-the-word-is-just-wrong phenomena, given our wealth of pronunciation-conundrums like Puyallup (pew-allup), Sequim (squim), and Issaquah (issa-quah, but say it

Mixed Plate: Raising the Bar (or at least up six steps)

2013-04-08T00:00:00.000-07:00

Have you ever taken all your glassware out, to reorganize or just take stock of what you had, stashed away in your cupboards? I did that with all our beer, wine and cocktail-related glasses and came to a big conclusion: We Are Such Alcoholics. Cheers to reorganization - pour me another while I watch you reorganize - Photo by Wasabi Prime Don't worry, we weren't subjects of a friends/family

UnRecipe: Eating Easter and the Sacrilicious Mushroom Log

2013-04-01T00:00:00.000-07:00

I realize Easter Sunday was yesterday, but since this isn't a particularly traditional Easter meal, I'm posting it on a non-traditional day. I wasn't raised in a particular faith, just your typical Godless Heathen Asian Household. But we did dye eggs for Easter, which was something I really enjoyed. Even that acrid, sour smell that permeated the house as you'd drop the PAAS dye tablets into

FoodTrek: Releasing the Food and Wine Kraken at Taste Washington

2013-03-27T00:00:00.000-07:00

Is it possible to taste and imbibe all of Washington State in one weekend? It's a lofty goal, but I give Taste Washington, the largest single-region wine and food event in the US of A, kudos for laying down the gauntlet for the brave souls wanting to fit all the flavors of the Pacific Northwest in-mah-belleh, over a single weekend. Or in my case, I challenged the threshold of food/wine

UnRecipe: Beer-Thirty on the Plate

2013-03-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Beer. Fizzy, foamy, wheat-hops-barley-flavored goodness that carried us through our college years and well into adulthood. And while our tastes may have changed over the years, the Cardinal Rule of Beer remains: No Beer Left Behind! This includes leftover beer from a party, maybe a half-full growler full of microbrew goodness from a local brewery -- it's been a couple of days, it's likely gone

UnRecipe: Local Color With Polenta and Sausage

2013-03-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

Giggle all you want, but it all started with a sausage. A big, hot spicy one, if you must know. And Portuguese -- how exotic! Not that I'm one to cook-and-tell... oh, who am I kidding, I totally am! This one started out with a lone linguisa, which turned into a pleasantly colorful quick-draw meal on a weeknight, thanks to the random lovelies in our CSA box. Polenta and sausage will never be

UnRecipe: iStew and One-Pot Wonders

2013-03-13T00:00:00.000-07:00

Baby, it's not just cold outside, it's kinda rainy and gross. The gloomy skies can be a bit of a downer, no thanks to the fact that despite Daylight Savings, it's still reeeeally dark out there. BLERG. The common complaint is that it's dark when you leave for work before 8am and dark by the time you get home after 5, making you wonder if the light of day ever made an appearance. DOUBLE BLERG.

Mixed Plate: Papa's Got a Brand New Blog (sort of)

2013-03-11T00:00:00.001-07:00

You've probably noticed the recent tinkering-around on the blog, and then a sudden SHAZAMWOW of a new logo. You might easily think, did this happen overnight?? You would be right. I pretty much cranked this out over a 24 hour period. Giving the blog a total overhaul has always been on my to-do list, which I don't know if that will ever happen because I'm afraid of totally hosing everything and

FoodTrek: In Search of the Elusive Golden Grape

2013-03-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

Patience, Grasshopper... one food/wine event at a time. While I adhered to only 50% of the title at the Seattle Wine and Food Experience last weekend by sticking to food vs wine (blame a weak constitution that day), I made sure to make up for it this past Sunday at the 3rd Annual Golden Grape Awards at Willows Lodge, over in the wood-'hood of Woodinville. Plenty of local Washington wines to sip,

UnRecipe: Cold Weather Feasts and the Brown Food Conundrum

2013-03-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm guilty of making a lot of Brown Food during the winter. You know what dishes I speak of -- stews and soups, the cold weather dishes that always seem to hit the comfort zone, but inevitably look like a big slow-cooked, braised bowl of BROWN. And don't get me wrong -- I'm totally down with the brown (food), but sometimes the plate needs some color, especially in the gloom of a cloudy day. So

FoodTrek: First Encounters of a Seattle Wine and Food Experience

2013-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

I came, I saw, I ate a lot. And then I took some antacid when I got home before slipping into a massive Food Coma. A Sunday not to be forgotten, I attended my first Seattle Wine and Food Experience, an annual gastronomiconvention that showcases food and drink from the Seattle area, as well as the surrounding Pacific Northwest region. Sensory overload be damned, it was a Super Monstertruck Sunday

Mixed Plate: Breaking Up is Hard to Do (with cake)

2013-02-25T00:00:00.001-08:00

The parenthetical (with cake) seemed a requirement in today's title because, really, everyone knows Facebook is the place to post devastatingly personal milestones in small, graphical icon tags. And so it was, a softly-lit, slow-dance crescendo moment of The Way We Were... an intense, short-lived romance destined to be as memorable as it was tearful. Star-crossed lovers in a whirlwind romance...

UnRecipe: Far East Meets Eastern Europe

2013-02-18T00:00:00.000-08:00

Did you know there's an Eastern European version of the magical Chinese soup dumpling, aka, xiao long bao? And did you know the this version is way less of a pain in the be-hind to make from scratch? Forget Lunar New Year, I'm defecting to the land of Eastern Promises, where the dumplings are hearty and plentiful -- priviet, comrades! Soup dumplings, Russian-style -- meet khinkali - Photo by

UnRecipe: Be My Valentine, Truffle Butter

2013-02-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

It's no big secret that truffle butter is magic. Serious Hogwarts stuff. Rich, fatty butter that's whipped with bits of rare, earthy truffles -- it's a m-effing sorcerer. And it makes all food better, especially the simplest, most humble dishes. It's like a Cinderella fairy godmother. That you can eat. I daresay it even improves one's mood during the darkest, most depressing days of winter. So

FoodTrek: If it's Tuesday, it Must Be Belgianfest

2013-02-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

OK, so it's not Tuesday and Belgianfest happened the week before, but I'm a sucker for movie pun-titled blog posts! And so another beer festival celebrating Belgian-style beers through the lens of Northwest breweries came and went... and what do we have to show for ourselves? Memories of interesting and creative beers and thankfully dodging the Hangover Bullet. Belgianfest 2013!! Cute little

FoodTrek: Mahalo Plenty and Putting the "Wow" in Luau

2013-02-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

I'm so not a luau person. I can count on one hand how many times I've been to a luau and I can now commit two digits to this achievement. I saw that episode of No Reservations where Tony Bourdain reluctantly attended a luau, and I felt his pain (at least until the tiki drinks kicked in, then it was all good times). That being said, it's sure saying something when I can say I came, I saw, I

FoodTrek: Fearless Feats and Feasts, the Maui Adventures Continue!

2013-02-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

My best vacation advice ever? Have SOMEONE ELSE plan your excursions. Because that Someone Else will plan something more adventurous than what you would ever choose from a clinically sane mind. That Someone Else will test your boundaries for personal safety. And that Someone Else may stand to inherit all your personal wealth and property in the event of your unfortunate demise, so what the hell -

FoodTrek: Maui Part Deux - Pizza and Beer, With Aloha

2013-01-30T00:00:00.000-08:00

What's a pair greater than pizza and beer? Yeah, that's right -- NOTHING. They were together long before peanut butter and chocolate, and way-way before those Twilight kids hooked up for some vampiric bump n' grind. And so it should be no surprise that in the lush paradise of Maui, Pizza and Beer: A Love Story, continues on... Oh what a feeling... drinking beer on the ceiling... - Photo by

FoodTrek: Wowie, it's Maui! Getting Onto Island Time

2013-01-28T00:00:00.001-08:00

One of the first things I did before heading to Maui on vacation was adding the city of Kihei onto my iPhone's weather app. Oh, the joyful rapture of seeing temperatures in the high seventies to low eighties appear for the week, as compared to our dismal high thirties and mid forties "highs" in the Northwest. Blerrrrg. We have since returned, slightly crisped from sunburn, tired from many

Mixed Plate: Goodnight Bahamas

2013-01-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

I think I'll let the pictures speak for themselves... The Prime is outta here like last year, but don't fret. I'll be back soon, and will most assuredly be Tweeing/Facebooking proof that the sun does indeed exist, as I'll be in a land where the sun goes when the Pacific Northwest shuns it for a good part of the year.

UnRecipe: Deck the Halls with Leftover (Meat)Balls

2013-01-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

One of the best thing about the holidays, from Thanksgiving through New Years is the food, food, FOOD! It's everywhere. The roasted turkey, the whole ham, crown roasts of pork or lamb, prime rib, feasts of several fishes -- it's no wonder we promise ourselves diet resolutions in the new year from the ample feasting that goes for a steady two months. But even when our well-intentioned resolutions

UnRecipe: The Misanthropic Cook

2013-01-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

I know it's a new year, full of promise, potential and hope... but holy $%*&, there are days where you don't want to leave the house. You're sick with the flu, it's been a crazy work week, or more likely, it's cold outside and the effort it would take to get your lazy butt off the couch feels like a request to summit Mt. Everest while wearing deep-sea diving gear. Seasonal Affective Disorder to