farm

RECIPE: ASIAN SLIDERS

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i made sliders based on my family's potsticker filling recipe because i am completely dumpling-ed out in this moment {the past few weeks my hands have formed probably hundreds of dumplings} but i somehow can't get past the delightful combination of fresh ginger and green onions all together in meaty solidarity.

the soft steamed buns provide a wonderful vehicle for these puppies, but they are also great served on a bed of sesame saucy brussels sprouts.

-yeh! 

yardbird {miami}

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definition of heaven: with them, eating that.
nothing. nothing compares to a long, early evening meal with fabulous food, amazing friends, mustard cocktails, and natural lighting...
like the one a few days ago at
yardbird
{in miami, not to be confused with 
hong kong's taste of brooklyn yakitori cool kids club}
it was one of those meals that was so good, it'd be worth trading my opposable thumbs for. because my friends are so great, they'd make up a brilliant way to make fun of me and then help cut my chicken. i'm so in love.
protocol for toasting during this trip was to say paradiddles instead of cheers, making everything about the trip a "business expense."
and, yes, that is a mustard effing cocktail. 
the porkchop citrus juice + apple cider + benchmark bourbon + dijon + thyme
i considered asking for extra mustard like i do with everything,
but instead i enjoyed it as it was meant to be. 
and it was not-too-sweet and refreshing and yummypants.
sel de mer's fatty miami fried green tomato counterpart was topped with pimento cheese and an unbelievable piece of melt-in-yr-potty-mouth pork belly. usually i write off pork belly as so 36 months ago, but not when it's this good.
veggie pot pie: an extremely respectable veggie option for a place called chicken.
left: rob does what percussionists do when they get wild/crazy.
right: alan laughs at him, or something else. 
it's hard to tell when everyone spends the entire meal laughing.
hearty & firm chicken biscuits with pepper jelly and pickley things.
you are the macaroni to my grayson, virginia cheese.

with my old roomie! and brian {of the tag, brian is numnums}

reason number two for why i'd move to miami is the freshness of the fruit and veggies. i'm no watermelon connoisseur, but i know when i die upon eating something. above are the melons & farm cheese which were unlike anything i'd ever had, texturally. an unoffensive crumbly cheese. and a crisp and juicy watermelon... formed an odd pairing that i am just now, in my tiny new york apartment, craving. which is the wrong place to crave that. but this one took thought and absence.
post dinner: eight grown men rolling around on the floor, violet beauregarde style, and one and a half asian girls nodding violently to the possibility of dessert.
bluebee crumble with corn ice cream.
yes, we want that.
complete success.
i'm even gonna use caps and bold to convey it:
COMPLETE SUCCESS.
the entire meal was simply nailguns. 
literally, paradise.
the memories of it can go in a little ball jar and sit on my desk now. 
i'll open it every time i need a good smile.
-yeh!!!

yardbird {hong kong}

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referencing momofuku to describe a restaurant is like a tv show being advertised as "sex and the city meets whatever whatever." does that make any sense? in other words, it should just never happen. but of course the possible exception arises when a restaurant on the other side of the world kind of resembles noodle bar, has a forward-thinking asian-influenced menu, and leaves the vegetarian guest with few options... and so one has to ask, at which point chef says "no i h8 david chang." for real, that happened. 
the vibe was so so hip. it was like an alternate universe: an entirely western staff, hong kong's most casually stylish people, and a local beer selection of rare asian brews whose names escape me but hey this isn't the distilled life. oh and did i mention i went there on thanksgiving? so at least i had bird: hong kong chickens! and more parts of the chicken than i ever thought i'd eat. chicken oyster, chicken liver, chicken liver mousse, chicken neck... it was a nose-to-tail yakitori dream feast. additionally, i ate cauliflower for the second time in my life. k.f.c., or korean fried cauliflower-- it was more like if panda express did cauliflower in that melty saucy delicious fried way. i liked it lots. the chicken meatball skewer was accompanied by a special sauce with an egg yolk floating around, and the chicken liver mousse was served with milk bread {!!!!} those won me over. the chicken oysters were tasty, but texturally confusing. in my excitement that me and my two dates secured two of the last orders left for the evening, i think i et them too quickly to really appreciate them :-( the sweet corn tempura balls were fun, and the chicken and egg fried rice was pretty delicious. the meal involved a ton of really moist, really tasty chicken. it was almost too much animal, but it made me excited about chicken. excited about chicken!
i mean who gets excited about chickens when you can get excited about pigs?
and i'm glad he did because it was a tasty meal.
-yeh!!
{that is a chicken oyster}
yardbird is in sheung wan, hong kong. 

brooklyn star

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last night i had a yummy dinner 
with an amazing group of people
in a beautiful and spacious and acoustically friendly room.
it was so joyful!
too often in restaurants in this city, i go bonkers over feeling like my personal space bubble has been popped or like i have to yell to be heard... 
and in those cases, i might as well just have a plate of poo in front of me.
but last night, it was like being back home, where elbow room exists and conversation quality can reach a good height. 
oh it was so great. 
and the food was wonderful, too!
when donny said fried chicken dinner i thought better bike a million miles this week but with all of the delicious sweet/sour pickles, green beans {which may have been soaked in aminal fat?} and watermelons to even out the heaviness of the mac and cheese, cornbread, and chickens, 
i felt like a good $500,000 bucks afterwards. 
it's experience meals like these that fill my happy bank and then some.
-yeh!!