Mom & dad came over and took Kit & I out for lunch at around 12:30 today. We hoped to eat at Hong Kong Flower Lounge, but with all those people waiting right at the door, we figured Seafood Harbor would be just as good.

Yeah right. I'll give them this; Their chicken feet was good, tofu fa was heavenly, and the jasmine tea was aromatic. They have this room to your left as you walk in, and by about one o'clock, the hostess got us a table in that room near the front window. We had servers stop by our area about once every five minutes, and for the first hour we only had six items, two of which I didn't like but just grabbed in fear of not getting anymore from them. I had to bug them for some shumai and some greens and some tofu fa, which we got during hour two!

This was the second miss for Seafood Harbor. Last year, we got seated at that even tighter room at the back, and service was mediocre to say the least. I have given up on that restaurant. Too bad. We liked them the first four times two years ago. If there's any time I'd say "move on," this would be it. Back to Joy Luck. They haven't failed us yet, knock on wood.

It has been haunting me since Patio Filipino. Misis took another crack at it last week, and though it was better than her first, it wasn't as good as with ham hock, and so I gave it a try:

• 4 Tbsp canola oil
  
• about 6 cloves minced garlic
  
• 6 pcs pork shanks (approx 4 lbs)
  
• sugar, about 3 Tbsp
  
• 1 bay leaf
  
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
  
• 3 Tbsp Datu Puti vinegar
  
• leftover tausi (salted black beans), maybe about 4 Tbsp
  
• 1 cup water

I first coated the shanks with about 1 Tbsp sugar then dropped in a 5-qt pot with the oil and garlic and bay leaf already in it over medium heat. I gradually added the rest of the sugar, then the soy sauce, then the vinegar all the while thoroughly stirring the shanks around. I brought the heat up to med-hi, then tossed in the tausi, a bit of stirring, and finally, water. I covered the pot, brought the experiment to a boil, then dropped the heat to low, and then I left for Whole Foods--I ran out of coffee. I came back and found out that I should have waited and skimmed the foam and instead found scummy residue all over, so I had to clean it up, which took at least half an hour. That and the skin around each shank contracted and squeezed the meat outward deforming every piece. That was inevitable. I gave it two more hours of braising over low heat, and although it looked ugly, it tasted good.

In fact, it tasted like what mom usually makes, only she uses dried lotus flowers rather than tausi and leaves out the vinegar, and hers has deep fried tofu cubes and hard-boiled eggs. She calls it Chinese style adobo, misis calls it paksiw na pata. A friend also made something similar but without the eggs and tofu and calls it pata tim. However you call it, I can't get enough of it, and I can't wait to make some more, only next time I'll leave off the shank skins prior to cooking, keep the garlic cloves whole and just crush 'em, and I'll be more careful as to keep the tausi intact. Maybe then the dish will be picture worthy.