Happy birthday Woodland Rock(et)! There isn’t enough beer in Duluth for all the toasts you deserve, though there is probably enough to get you drunk, so enjoy, sister!

Two events had dominated my very thoughts with intense anticipation for several months recently. Who wants to guess what they were? Naturally, event number one was the season 2.5 opener of Battlestar Galactica a few weeks back. Now that Ensign Ro is Admiral of the Colonial Fleet, things are just going to be hitting the fan, if you know what I am sayin’. This show has always been unstoppably intense as well as unspeakably great looking episode after episode, and after watching that premier I am pleased to announce continuing excellence. Ahhh, poor Lee, will he ever win?

The second event that I have been very keen on has been the opening of what is (as far as I know) the first and only Malaysian restaurant in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Peninsula. (A Malaysian joint called Rasa Sayang is located in Golden Valley. -ed) Located on the same corner as the world class Azia, it joins new restaurants Bad Waitress and Anemoni on the renowned intersection that already plays host to the venerable Black Forest, Little T’s, and Pancho Villa. Peninsula is certainly doing its part to make 26th and Nicollet becomes one of the single most interesting culinary corners in either Minneapolis or Saint Paul.

For those of you that visit that part of town frequently and yet do not know what the hell I am talking about, Peninsula is the building right next to the out-of-business drug store with the fancy wood facade. Though it is obviously new, and its interior not quite aesthetically complete, it is definitely decor-wise a step above the more austere Asian restaurants scattered around “Eat street.” Needless to say, Azia is an exception, but let’s face it, trying to out do Azia on looks or cuisine would be a challenge even for the combined might of the entire D’Amico Empire. Shouldn’t be long before those guys open up some “fine dining” Asian concept, wouldn’t you say?

Malaysia the nation has a great gastronomic pedigree. Though I am not an expert on this cuisine (what a shocker), I do know that it shares the same roots as the rest of Southeast Asia– namely the influence of area culinary superpowers China and India. Glancing over the menu, you can’t help but notice several different colors of curry, lots of lemongrass, hot pots, coconut milk, and delicious ginger liberally peppering the item descriptions. These are all hallmarks of Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and even Chinese cooking. But, much like European cooking, the different cuisines treat the ingredients in widely disparate ways.

Perusing the menu, he first item that struck my eye was Roti Canai. Billed (like many of the items on the large menu) as an all-time Malaysian favorite, it consists of a “crispy Indian style pancake with a curried potato and chicken dipping sauce.” Mmmm… should I get it? No… I will instead get Roti Telur, a traditional Indian style pancake filled with egg, onion and green chilies and also served with the potato chicken curry dipping sauce. This dish was kind of like a large square omelet filled with goodies and sliced into finger sized strips. Basically what you have with this dish is something like an amalgam of omelet and a yellow curry- A mellow and quite savory curry. Try it for yourself! I wish I could wake up to this every morning…

We also decided to order Penang Rojak (Slivered mango, cucumber, jicama and pineapple tossed in tangy sauce, topped with shrimp paste sauce and ground peanuts), but Peninsula was out of it. No matter, we just ordered the Chicken Satay. Hey, it’s a classic right? Turned out to be a good choice. They bring you six skewers fully loaded with tender chicken marinated in something with a strong zesty character to it. The accompanying peanut sauce, though perhaps not award winning, was definitely home made and a good match for the satays.

Beef Rendang (Slow cooked beef with lemongrass, chili paste, coconut milk, ginger, cinnamon and cloves finished in a rich red curry) was perfectly good, if a bit lackluster. The meat was fork tender,but perhaps a wee bit gristly. Though the menu claims that this entree is spicy, I would have to politely disagree. Nice place setting though. Thin orange slices rounded off the corners of the plate, adding some nice color to what otherwise would have been a dull looking dish.

Mango beef was a different story! Imaging, if you will, something just a little bit like General Tsao’s chicken, but slivered and served with a mango julienne, scooped inside of two intact mango halves. Quite the fetching dish, this one. This stir fry was tangy and fun, and you probably end up with an entire mango worth of fruit in your dish. Hey, everyone says you need more fiber right? Here you go.

The final entree we ordered was the Buddhist Yam Pot. Sounds vegetarian, doesn’t it? Nope. This charmer consisted of shrimp, chicken, a few kinds of mushrooms, snow peas, baby corn, and cashews lightly stir fried and served inside of a crisp fried taro nest. What is that, you say? Picture a small bread bowl, but made out of a taro dough. Imagine a dough that is probably a little closer to mashed potatoes then to a bread in consistency. Ooh so good! The sauce on this was very light, allowing the vegetables, mushrooms, and meat to mix their natural flavors together perfectly. Again, beautifully presented, garnished almost nouvelle style with orange and bell pepper slices and a plain white plate.

Peninsula has only been open for one week, and it is already dishing out some pretty tasty stuff. Otherworldly stuff even. My descriptions of these items have you probably thinking of similar things you have noshed on at Thai or Chinese restaurants, but I assure you each of these items was quite unique. This is probably Peninsula’s principal achievement… they don’t appear to be making any real attempt to dilute the cuisine to cater to the Minnesotan (or even other Asian) palate. Sure, they have some Thai items scattered about the menu, but I would bet you dollars to donuts that the Thai Green Curry Beef at Peninsula has something distinctive about it you wouldn’t find at a Thai place.

I went in expecting the new restaurant blues– confused service, inconsistent food, and worst of all, a long wait for everything. In this case, none of the above happened. The staff knew what they were doing, and the plates came out quickly. Sure, they did bring the entrees not more then 30 seconds after the Roti Telur was served, and sure, they do not have beer or wine, but the food is worth it! They have only been open a week, after all. I am excited to see how they evolve as they iron out the kinks (like my missing mango salad) and finish with the decor. Even without the handicaps we gave Peninsula, we would have been quite satisfied.

-shogunmoon

PS They are open fairly late, and will do curb side delivery… take that, Applebee’s!

Peninsula Malaysian Cuisine
2608 Nicollet Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55408
612-871-8282

Sun - Thurs: 11 am – 10:30 pm
Fri - Sat: 11 am – 12 pm

And, just to be nice:
Rasa Sayang
2480 Winnetka Avenue North
Golden Valley, MN 55427
763-525-9876
Malaysian

Eating cheese ruins the flavours of wine and makes fine vintages indistinguishable from cheap plonk, research has revealed.

Thats right… and so wrong! Apperantly wine tradesmen have knows this all along, but, alas, I am not a wine purveyor. Until now, I was among the unwashed masses that believed wine and cheese were natural together.

Indeed, now that I think of it, my wife and I went to a wine tasting class at Surdyk’s, and they gave us both bread and cheese. Huh.

Cheese and wine are in worst possible taste

You wanna take care of a hangover in a hurry? Try your local Punch Woodfire Pizza.

One head splitting day, I went in and ordered myself a Milanese (Roasted red pepper, ham, gorgonzola, and basil) and an Anchor Steam. Let me just say that this delicious little grease puck was perfect in most any way my alcohol addled brain could imagine.

Word to the wise– The Neapolitans are nuts! I tried ordering a pizza “wet” once, and it sucked was not to my taste! Nothing like a pizza with an entire cup of olive oil dumped on it.

Anyhow, Punch? Good stuff.

-shogunmoon

Punch Locations

St. Paul
704 Cleveland Ave. S.
St. Paul MN, 55116

Minneapolis
Calhoun Village Shopping Center
3226 W. Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55
612.929.0006

Eden Prairie
Eden Prairie is no place for the living.

Accidently arrived way to early for the cookin’ job yesterday, so I killed some time at the Jasmine Deli just for the hell of it. The Jasmine is a little bit of a benchmark for me, because it was the first somewhat “authentic” Vietnamese place I have eaten at. ‘Til the day mose brought me there, I was under the impression that the vaguely sino-american fare of the Lotus and Khindo were what constituted Vietnamese food. Hey, we all live and learn right? My how I have grown!

Last summer I was cooking out of my Pleasures of the Vietnamese table book and eating at Eat Street joints on at least a weekly basis. Since winter hit, however, I have not really been on the Vietnamese tip. This probably explains why I had no idea that not only has Jasmine updated their menu somewhat, they have also opened a new joint over in Stadium Village. How ’bout that, eh?

Anyhow, Jasmine. Ordered me some Papaya salad, and crispy pork spring rolls. The papaya salad, a simple creation with shredded dried pork and shrimp on it, was pretty tasty. Had the nice clean flavors one comes to expect with Vietnamese food– in this case fresh green papaya with herbs, carrots, and tasty lime wedges. Didn’t rock my world like the Papaya with Beef Jerky salad at Pho Tau Bay does though.

Spring Rolls? Solid, but could have used a little more pizzaz. I found myself wondering if the brought me the vegetarian rolls accidentally. But hey, I understand that I am ordering what is often a boring menu item in the first place, but I cannot help it - sometimes fried spring rolls are really good!

Anyhow, though perhaps not the greatest of all the Vietnamese places on the planet, it is a solid performer. They still pretty much have the best sandwiches… that BBQ Pork sammy for $2.99? Hell yea.

-shogunmoon

My first Post Regarding this august establishment.

Jeri Ryan or Tricia Helfer?

Also, a joke:

What’s the difference between Tricia Helfer and Jeri Ryan? (highlight for answer)

Tricia helfer can act!

Dear Ducks-
I like eating you folks. I apologize in advance to any mallards that may be reading this, but the reality is, you guys taste freakin’ awesome! I have to say that I will pretty much barbarically gnaw on your flesh most any chance I get. I know, this probably makes me a savage in your eyes, and I can accept that. But, believe you me, consider yourselves lucky. Many of you roam free before being deposited upon my plate. Think about all of those poor chickens at the Tyson factory. You guys have it made. Well, I suppose there is the issue with the mercury in the water, but I am not solely to blame for that…

At any rate, you can tell the family of the the bird who provided the filling for the Duck Dim Sum at The Independent the other day that he/she died for a just and noble cause. You see, after your quacking companions untimely demise, his body was rendered, shredded, and then soaked in Gran Marnier, which added a little bit of orange flavor to him. This mixture of his flesh and booze was then stuffed inside dough to create potstickers then steamed to perfection. The final step in your friends journey to my stomach was to be plated with a goofy little garnish salad and an unbelievably tasty and rich cup of what the Indy likes to call Chipotle Citrus sauce. This sauce, by the way, was GOOD. Your feathered friend could not have tasted better dipped in that sauce. Imagine taking the simple and savory soy and rice vinegar mix that accompanies potstickers, and adding a whole lotta love. And citrus fruit… I might be on the crack, but I am pretty damned sure that mangoes were involved with this stuff. I admit that I actually drank some of it… nice and hot. My mouth waters as I write this…

Anyhow, my pond diving pal, there you have it. I hope you understand why I keep eating your friends and family. Your species is simply quite delicious, and nearly irresistible for me. Know this though: I never let duck go to waste! You guys taste to good, and are so relatively uncommon, that you are something of a treat. Therefore, I always clean my plate. Hope that counts for something!

Thank you, and best regards,
shogunmoon

UPDATE: bug fixed!

Sorry, I am temporarily changing the theme to the default until I can fix the new one. There is some bug with Internet Explorer on windows. Yes, people still actually use internet explorer on windows… poor sods.

-shogunmoon

I am totally voting for this guy.

‘Impaler’ sinks his teeth into governor’s race

On Christmas, I got a copy of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I started reading it and couldn’t stop. It’s a memoir about drug addiction and alcoholism, told in the most graphic terms and set at Hazelden. Frey is a writer who pulls few punches, sparing no details of his own shitty, self-centered, compulsive behavior while addicted and in recovery. Still, his essential intelligence and twisted but compassionate view of the world comes through the haze, blood and vomit (and there is a lot of vomit in this book), making Pieces a great read.

Next, I decided to write book reviews on G&P, and had spent a few weeks pondering the best way to describe this book for my inaugural run. Then the controversy struck, so now Frey and his book are all over the media, from the Smoking Gun to Oprah to Larry King Live (Sorry, don’t know how to do links yet. But I feel confident that y’all can operate the Google if you’re interested) . I’m taking myself off the case of reviewing the book in depth, as this week it is probably a shallow pool of jurors who haven’t heard something about it, but here’s the jist: People are mad that he embellished his criminal record. They’re angry that he lied to the fairy godmother of authors and the queen of all media, Oprah. They’re pissed off that he’s making money from a book that is apparently not 100% truth.

Here’s what I want to say about A Million Little Pieces- I don’t care about the controversy, even if Frey has amended his own truth. Who hasn’t, after all? Can I enjoy the Stones when I know that Mick and Keith have been, and probably still are, complete asses? Why yes, yes I can. I could have read this book as either fiction or non-fiction and still come away with a greater understanding of addiction and recovery. If that’s not good enough, it’s a story that draws you in, brutally and sometimes heartwrenchingly pounds its message home, and leaves you feeling grateful not only that the author made it through, but that you did as well. This book is not the greatest work of a generation - whatever the hell that means - as some reviewers have said. Even so, it does propel you on to the conclusion of the story, torturous and redeeming at the same time. In life, torture and redemption can dramatically be the flip sides of the same coin. More importantly (for this reader), they also can be dueling characteristics of compelling fiction. So I think A Million Little Pieces is worth reading, whether as memoir, non-fiction, fiction, whatever genre works for you. The facts of Frey’s criminal past may or may not be true, but the story of a fucked up kid trying to get out of hell renders this book impossible to put down.