the petite pig

a makeover for the eggplant

while i'm a huge fan of eggplant (or aubergine for some of you), i have to admit it's not the most attractive of vegetables.  your typical globe variety, perfect for making eggplant parmesan, reminds me of a purple mr. potatohead.  and lets not even start about the phallic shape of the japanese variety (not that there's anything wrong with phallic shaped vegetables.  some of my favorite vegetables happen to be shaped like, well, you know . . . ). 

but it seems that the eggplant has gotten a bit of a makeover.  while strolling through farmers markets this summer, i've noticed some real cute eggplant that i can't help oogling over.  yesterday, while making my routine wednesday stroll at the heart of the city farmers market, i couldn't help but bring some of these cuties home with me.  i picked up about a dozen of miniature egg-shaped eggplant (so that's where the name comes from!) and also some light green round-shaped eggplants that more resemble an unripened tomato than its purple mr. potatohead sibling.  these tomato-like eggplants are actually called the thai round eggplant, popular in southeast asia.  however, i have no idea how i should prepare these petite varieties.  if you have a recipe, please send it along and i'll be sure to blog about how it goes.  but for now, i'll just keep on oogling.

the autumn moon festival

the mid-autumn moon festival was celebrated by east asians around the world yesterday.  for those of you who missed it, it's not too late to get to the asian grocers and pick you up some mooncake (i know because i was one of those people).  this holiday is an incredibly important one in chinese culture, celebrating the end of (hopefully) a fruitful summer harvest.  families gather to admire the moon at its fullest while chowing down on mooncakes and of course, many other chinese dishes. 

it's one of my favorite chinese holidays, as it celebrates food and i can't think of a better reason for celebration.  as a child, my grandmother would take us out on the balcony and lead my brother and i through a song and dance number she taught us about the moon festival, and then we'd stuff ourselves with all the mooncakes that had been given to us by friends and relatives. 

this holiday also happens to fall right around my birthday, and i remember in fifth grade, my parents tried to serve mooncakes at my birthday party.  what were they thinking: serving "strange" chinese cakes to a bunch of 10 year old white kids who were used to betty crocker chocolate cakes at their parties?  seriously, it was social suicide right there.  despite my embarrassment, my love for mooncakes remains.  i still look forward to the holiday every year when asian grocers and bakeries stock up on these rich pastries which are filled with the sweetness of lotus and sweet bean pastes and salted egg yolks to symbolize the full moon. 

and luckily, i've gotten over the embarrassment factor of serving "exotic" foods to my non-asian friends (except for chicken hearts, which i still stir-fry in secrecy when no one's around) and have every intention of serving up some mooncakes at my birthday party.

a sabbatical from cyberspace

so i received an email last week from jaden of jaden's steamy kitchen (a must read food blog - bookmark it!) commenting that she hadn't seen a blog post from me in awhile.  it's nice to know that my absence has been noted in the community of food bloggers.  luckily this absence has nothing to do with lack of time in the kitchen or playing with food.  in fact, i've been so busy in the kitchen and discovering all the new culinary nooks and crannies in san francisco since moving two and a half months ago that i've had barely any time in front of the monitor (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

so, i thought i'd share a few food-related highlights since my last entry . . .

new food & kitchen retail discoveries i've made in san francisco:
1) for every plate, bowl, platter you've ever eyed at a restaurant, kamei in the inner richmond is the place to go.  i was mesmerized strolling through their 4 aisles of plates.  if only i had a restaurant kitchen . . . 
2) as wonderful as it is to stroll through the ferry plaza farmer's market on a saturday, beat the crowds and the inflated prices and head to the heart of the city farmers market on market street between 7th and 8th streets.  there are a ton of asian vendors offering asian produce at cheap, cheap prices. 
3) for incredibly fresh and well-priced seafood and meats and all your asian cooking needs, head to sunset super at 25th and irving, a miniature version of ranch 99 in the city.

kitchen organization:
i finally had a chance to organize my spice drawer.  to the ordinary person, this is probably not news to blog about but to an anal retentive cook like myself, well, it's pretty exciting.  see for yourself:

now wouldn't you just smile every time you opened up that drawer?   to those who are looking for a cheaper alternative to expensive spice jars, you can order these at specialty bottles for just 68 cents a pop (spices not included).

on the eating front:
there definitely has been lots of eating.  before leaving my day job, i did enjoy a last supper at manresa's five year anniversary dinner which was just delicious.  since then, it's been all about discovering cheap chinese dives and pho places in the richmond, sunset and tenderloin neighborhoods of san francisco.  not quite french laundry caliber but so good and comforting (without the dent to your wallet).  and as i've had a lot of time to experiment in the kitchen and plenty of cooking gigs for clementine culinary productions to keep me busy, there will be many recipes to come soon.

back online,
jess aka "the petite pig"