Sea Cucumber & Sea Urchin

Sea Cucumber
Sea Urchin

I am the proud recipient of some fresh echinoderms from a surfer/diver friend of mine. They come from around the islands off the coast of Southern California. They make wonderful photography subjects, don’t you think?
I adore uni, so I am tempted to eat the sea urchin roe with a squeeze of lemon juice, maybe with sushi rice and nori, just like at the sushi bar.
But this euphemistically named sea cucumber is a whole ‘nother animal. It is kinda scary, even for me, and I am anything but squeamish with food. After looking at recipes on the internet in brown sauce and braised with mushrooms, I think the unfortunate fate of this creature will be the same as Psychgrad’s lemon cake.
And as if to add insult to injury I found this on line: Sea cucumbers are sausage shaped, and their skin is covered with warty bumps. When threatened, cucumbers can contract their muscles and shoot out water from their body making them thicker and harder. For this, they are considered an aphrodisiac. Yikes.

Bánh Flan Take Out


You may recall a post back in January about Cha Gio or Vietnamese Spring Rolls at the darling little Nam’s Red Door Restaurant?


Well this time, we took the food, including dessert, to go.

Caramel custard became part of Vietnamese cuisine through the French colonization of Vietnam. The Vietnamese way is to steam the custard as opposed to the French method of cooking in a bain-marie. Delicious, very light with a silky texture.


Take Out Container: Isn’t this a clever recycling use of soda cans?

Ăn nào! Bon appétit !

With its high calcium content, I am submitting this Flan to Food Blogga’s Beautiful Bones Event for Osteoporosis Awareness. Thanks Susan!

The FDA states that calcium intake is critical, but calcium alone can’t build bones. Vitamin D is needed to help the body absorb calcium. The skin produces vitamin D in sunlight. In addition to attention to diet, exercise is important in treatment and prevention of osteoporosis as well.

For your consideration:

Take a nice walk in a moderate amount of sunshine, then enjoy tasty calcuim rich Bánh Flan from your favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Stone Crabs – A Renewable Delicacy

The Stone Crab fishery is unique in that stone crabs are not killed but, rather, the legal-sized claws are removed and the crabs are returned to the water alive.

There is no better restaurant at which to enjoy Stone Crabs than Joe’s in Chicago on the corner of Grand & Rush where the ambiance and service are second to none.

Although it is lawful to harvest both of a stone crab’s claws this practice leaves the stone crab with few alternatives to defend itself from predators. Having one claw (if the other one is harvested) will enable the crab to obtain greater amounts of food in a shorter amount of time. Stone crabs (like other crustaceans) have the ability to grow back their claws, but this process requires a large amount of energy in the form of food. The quicker the crab can obtain the energy required to molt and grow its lost claw, the sooner this renewable delicacy will have another claw to replace the missing claw. Visit the Florida Fish and Wildlife Institute for more information on Stone Crabs.
Good News: Stone Crab population levels are estimated to be high and no overfishing is occurring. The unique manner in which stone crab claws are harvested helps ensure the long-term sustainability of the species. Stone Crabs are a good, low-fat source of protein, selenium and magnesium. All of the stone crab claws on the market come from wild fisheries.

Joe’s Remoulade Sauce – a combination of creamy mustard, mayonnaise, ketchup, minced celery, minced parsley, lemon juice, Cajun seasoning, and minced green onion is a classic accompaniment to the crab. You can visit Joe’s website for the recipe.

My Wine Pairing Recommendation: Joe’s serves King Estate Pinot Gris by the glass. With its gorgeous tropical fruit flavors and creamy complexity, this wine is a perfect complement to the crab.

On our most recent visit, our waiter Steve B. was awesome. We were celebrating my cousin Vicki’s engagement, and not only did Steve surprise Vicki with a slice of their famous Key Lime Pie with a candle, he also brought a slice of Chocolate Fudge Pie for Geri, to honor the soon-to-be mother of the bride. And when I told him about Taste With The Eyes he graciously brought out more food to photograph. I would like to extend a special thank you to Joe’s entire waitstaff. See you soon!

Passover Dishes Round-Up

Piece of Asch’s photo of Homemade Matzoh Ball Soup. He writes, “This was my favorite course at last night’s Passover dinner with friends.”

Bob’s idea to grill the chicken made this dish superb: Grilled Chicken, Apricots and Meyer Lemon Slices. Orange Honey Ginger Glaze is poured over the chicken and it is reheated during the Seder.

My Roasted Potatoes with Thyme, Parsley and Meyer Lemon Zest. Potatoes are roasted with olive oil salt and pepper then the herb mixture is tossed with the potatoes when they are warm from the oven.

Here is the Famous Tomato Onion Brisket.

It was slow cooked for 8 hours then chilled overnight. In this photo the cold brisket is sliced against the grain and is ready to reheat for the Seder.


Two six pound briskets!

Fat side up, caramelize under the broiler.

Smother with onion and sauce.

For the complete recipe, go here.


Stone’s Vegetable Kabobs.
Stone’s Kabobs were grilled simply with olive oil salt and pepper.

Giz from Equal Opportunity Kitchen made Matzoh Crunchies. She writes, “Matzoh crunchies are so easy to make, and even easier to eat and you’d never know it was made of matzoh.” She gives detailed a step by step tutorial, then “put into the fridge to cool and harden (about 10 minutes) and then break into pieces. You have matzoh brittle!”

Val made Passover Hazelnut Trifle: Passover Sponge Cake, Coffee, Coffee Liqueur, Coco Hazelnut Spread, Toasted Hazelnuts, Whipped Cream

Until next year…