"Cats-up!"

My dear friend Julia's father tells a story about ketchup (catsup) and how it's made. It goes like this: "When making catsup, you have to put all of the tomatoes, spices and other ingredients into a large pot to simmer. Then you add several cats to the pot--yes, cats. When the cats float to the top, you say, 'CATS-UP!' That's how you can tell when the catsup is ready."

Neither Julia nor her father is an animal-hater (so PETA, stand down). But I thought the story would be a good segue into a new series of recipes I'll be presenting here on Mama-ghetti: recipes that use ketchup.

You might be surprised to hear this, but many contemporary Japanese recipes incorporate ketchup as a main ingredient. Ketchup is also a great shortcut in other recipes that require a tart, sweet, tomato-ey kick.

And if you haven't already figured this out . . . I'm a huge fan of ketchup. It could possibly be my favorite condiment. So if you're a ketchup-lover like me, but you think that ketchup's only good for dipping your french fries, I'll prove you wrong--just stay tuned.

Thank you to Julia and her dad for the funny story and to "A Cat a Day" for the photo!

Char Siu Chow Fun

Just in case you were wondering about the chow fun I mentioned in my previous post--here are some pictures.

1) Char siu (Chinese barbequed pork), onions, celery, and scallions, chopped up and ready to go. (I wish I had had some bean sprouts on hand . . . I would've used those, too.)

2) Into the hot wok they go, accompanied by some oyster sauce, soy sauce, a whole garlic clove, and a couple of slices of ginger. I removed the garlic and ginger after this step--I just wanted them to lend their flavor and aroma.

3) Then I added the rice noodles, and some salt and pepper.

4) All done! The whole dish, including prep time, only took 20 minutes. It was delicious (am I allowed to say that about my own cooking?).

Tip #2: Freeze Your Scallions

I'm making chow fun (wide Chinese rice noodles) for dinner tonight. My hands are actually a bit sticky with char siu glaze and onion juice as I type this entry--but I wanted to post the following tip before I forgot: FREEZE YOUR CHOPPED SCALLIONS!

I cook a lot of Asian dishes so I use scallions (or green onions) in my cooking all the time. But they tend to wilt and lose their crisp texture after just 24 hours in the fridge. I've tried wrapping them in damp paper towel, putting them in ziploc baggies, making sure they're in the crisper drawer--but none of those solutions seem to work for me. I always end up with floppy scallions, which are not only ugly and unappetizing, but also really difficult to chop.

So now I do what my mom and my grandmother do: I chop them all up while they're still fresh, put them into a freezer safe bag or container, and freeze them. Then when it's time to use them again, I only remove the quantity I need. Genius, aint it?

All Blues: Food, Family and Hawaii

I had the privilege of spending the holidays in Hawaii again this year. And as usual, I ate my way across the island of O'ahu with great enthusiasm. There is something about food and flavors and the experience of eating that lies at the very heart of Hawaii's culture.

For me, the sugary outside and doughy inside of a hot Leonard's malasada is a Sunday visit with my grandmother. The savory, greasy, crispy skin of huli-huli chicken is a warm Saturday at a North Shore beach with my dad. My mother's home-made osechi is a busy New Year's Eve in our small kitchen and the whole family gathered around the table at lunch on New Year's Day. Food, family and the salty scent of sea breeze are inseparable in my memories of Hawaii.

Do you know that Miles Davis song, "All Blues?" It goes--"the sea/the sky/and you and I . . . " Well when I think of Hawaii, I sing to myself: "the sea/the sky/chocolate haupia pie . . ."