Back in my childhood, Lent was mostly observed by practicint abstinence from Ash Wednesday to every Friday before Easter Sunday especially Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Black Saturday. We did so by restricting ourselves to some sautéed veggies sans meat (neither chicken nor pork nor beef) and maybe a couple or so fried fish (or fishes if there's such a plural term), and I hated it, and that might have been the idea at the time: to "not enjoy," to be somber. Then maturity and independence happened, and with it some ingenuity, like redefining abstinence. "It's Lent, abstinence time. Let's have some seafood pasta, maybe some shrimp scampi. How about lobster?!?" It's no surprise that seafood restaurants are busy during Lent. I wonder how steakhouses made out last night. The Fish Market was packed!!! Is it right to obvserve Good Friday by practicing abstinence by means of good seafood entrées? Should I have subjected myself to crappy canned sardines and rice, and if I did, wouldn't this or any effort to avoid meat be pretentious, even patronizing, since I haven't been to church for years nor have I lately given unsolicited acknowledgement to the what Lent really is?

I should be honest to myself. Abstinence should be sincere and not be just a simple gesture. Maybe next year...

Rare, but they do exist. Yesterday at quarter after seven late afternoon, I got on to the 101 from the 92 junction in San Mateo and found myself behind some truck with a steady SUV on my left blind spot. Our velocity was pretty consistent, but I had the need to jump onto the left lane. Now Bay Area drivers generally respond differently to turn signals. They react as if it was some dare and speed up to either not give way to the guy with the blinkers or just completely pass them, and since I wanted to make a lane change, I figured I'd turn on my blinkers and provoke the SUV to pass me so I can get by. He (or She) instead slowed down a bit, so I moved over, waved 'thanks,' and also flashed my hazards once or twice in case they couldn't see me wave through the tinted glass.

SUV driver, I thank you.

I got to watch that Jacobellis snowboard event where she fell and lost the gold opportunity. I have to say that throughout that it seemed more like second nature for a halfpiper to curl and grab the board like she did, and it seems to me that a half-piper would actually spin if a halfpiper felt like showboating. Did Jacobellis admit to showing off, or are we too quick to judge?

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.

So that night at Patio Filipino inspired me to whip up some paella of our own, and I did, but not before picking up a pan smaller than what we have, which was a bit too big for our portable butane burner. The only store I know of that would have everything needed to make paella (except for fresh chicken and shellfish of course) is about 40 minutes from where I live, in Berkeley, The Spanish Table on San Pablo about a block from University Avenue. That store is always a treat. Needing a smaller paellera was an excellent reason to visit the store. We also picked up some Chorizo de Bilbao and a small bag of Bomba rice. I had another excuse the other day and dropped in to pick up a 10g box of saffron for $34, not bad. I wonder what I'll run out of next.

Misis made some a few years back. It's like adobo with pork morsels, only she subbed out soy sauce with tausi (salted black beans) and probably added some sugar. It had this thick sauce and it was sweet, sickeningly sweet. So I readied myself that afternoon for more of that sickeningly sweet pork morsels only to find this braised six-inch shank served over bok choy garnished with peanuts. Patio Filipino's is not as sweet, and the sauce was way thinner, almost brothy. It goes well with steamed rice. As for what I had before, I'd like to say I'm sorry, hunny. I like Patio's better.

We decided to invite the whole family and try out their paella and some other items two weeks ago. We made a 7 o'clock reservation for eight on September 15th. We ordered:

• Bulalo, beef shank & marrow soup with some veggies: My favorite, but the meat was pretty bland, and the broth was so-so. We didn't care for it.
  
• Escabeche, deep fried fish with sweet & sour sauce: We failed to realize it was catfish until it was a bit too late. Dad hates catfish with a passion. That was a miss in our part. The sauce was pretty good, though.
  
• String beans and squash in coconut milk: Never tried it. Not a fan of ginataan dish except for that dessert item bilo-bilo.
  
• Sizzling sisig, minced pork jowl etc on a hot cast iron plate: with fresh egg, and it was very good, but too much worries me. My very first sisig was mainly minced meat seasoned with chopped pepper, ginger, and a bit of vinegar. It might not have been the genuine thing...like that matters. :)
  
• Carne ala Cubana, ground pork with raisins, garbanzos, & peas: served with egg over easy on top and sweetened plantain on the side. Delicious meat-n-hash. It ranks up there with humba.
  
• Paella (of course): The shrimp was all right, the scallops a bit bland, the mussels were most likely bought frozen in a box, and the chicken could use some seasoning. I however realize Patio Filipino is like any other Pinoy restaurant, only aside from your typical Filipino dishes, they also serve some Spanish items. Having said that, their paella may not be the best, but it's pretty damn good. Though the rice could use a little soccarat, you can taste the saffron seasoning. Whether it was either actual, powdered, or bottled concentrate, it didn't matter. It tasted like saffron and it had no safflower (what we usually dump in our lugaw).

We also had humba and lumpianitas. Overall experience was good. We had fun and we got stuffed. I wound't mind going back for more meat-n-hash. :)

That dish he's devouring below isn't our typical Filipino sauce. That would take most of the day to make. I keep a jar of marinara. It's quite simple, really, and it doesn't take more than maybe 20 minutes to put together and maybe 30 more minutes to simmer.

You can get 100% semolina pasta at Whole Foods for $0.79 a pound. Yah, less than a buck a bag, Whole Foods, inexpensive and way better than Barilla. Canned tomatoes? Sometimes Molinari sells them too cheap even for their standards, $3.00 for two 28-oz cans, and they're good, probably better than those four-dollar Italbrand San Marzanos. Lunardi's sell something similar, Strianese for about $2.50 a can.

Recipe at http://nokie.home.comcast.net if you're curious.

KiT would run to the kitchen, grab his trusty Ikea fork, and just dig in:


Nevermind that it's my late lunch and that he already ate. But man, can he twirl: