We had a great time at the Groves Bar & Grill  in Gilbert monthly wine tasting.

We tasted 4 wines from Southern Italy, 2 reds and 2 whites. They each had their own wonderful characteristics.

Jono Carlon, Sales Rep fro Quench Fine Wines described each wine and gave us a great education.

We started with fruit platter with cheese and salami.

Next came Tuscan mushrooms with a Sicilian Harvest salad.

The entree was a meatloaf braciole and chicken with Pasta.

For dessert, a lemon scented marscapone trifle strawberries, YUM!

Everyone had a great time. Good wine, good food and …..

terrific hosts- Dennis and Diana. Thanks. This is a great deal if you love wine and want to experience good education and fun!

Dennis and Diana have had a smooth transition taking over the microphones on Culinary Confessions. They are so delighted with all of the support of the listeners. Culinary Confessions has the best audience in the world. THANKS!!!

THE BARRIO CAFE GUACAMOLE

by Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza

1  avocado

1  heaping tablespoon diced tomatoes

1  heaping tablespoon diced Spanish or red onion

1  heaping tablespoon of jalapeño, seeded and diced

1  heaping tablespoon diced cilantro

1/2 of a fresh lime
Salt and fresh-cracked pepper to taste

1 heaping tablespoon fresh pomegranate seeds

Dice the avocado into small chunks and place in a serving bowl. Add tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and cilantro. Squeeze fresh lime juice over the mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Fold together gently. Add pomegranate seeds. Mix gently and serve immediately.

Chef Brian Malarkey from Searsucker in Scottsdale with Kim & Don

Chef Brian Malarkey is doing a great job.  We loved the staff and the atmosphere is open and fun.

Owen is the GM posing with Don. He was terrific.

Cindy was our server and she gave some great suggestions and took great care of us. 

But it is all about the food…right!!!  RIGHT
This is what we tried from their unual menu with something for everyone:

The photo does not do it justice. This is their egg + bacon “pork belly”  $12.00. Imagine the best eggs Benedict you ever had. The pork belly was decadent, the sauce was perfect and the egg cooked to perfection. I was only sorry we had to share it. Next time I am going for the whole thing!!! AMAZING.

This is the marrow bone + sea salt + onion jam $11.00. If you have never had bone marrow this is a great place to try it…delicious.

Don got the Mahi “TNT with horseradish + crab $31.00. It was fantastic.

This was my dish duck X’s3 + breast+ confit +orange $27.00. The duck was cooked perfectly…velvety and so flavorful, I loved it.

We got 2 side dishes or “ANDS” jalapeno-chorizo “Corn off the cobb” $6.00 and the fried brussel + walnuts $6.00 both were mouthwatering. The brussel sprouts were so unusual, deep fried with walnuts then tossed in a vinaigrette. YUM!

To finish off the evening we had their signature doughnuts & chocolate. What a treat.

I love when you leave a restaurant happy after being treated royally and having enjoyed every morsel.  Keep up the great work Searsucker.   I can see why Time magazine named Searsucker in San Diego as one of the best in the country.  The Scottsdale location is following suite.  Check them out for yourselves.  Open for lunch & dinner daily.  A terrific addition to the Scottsdale eating scene.

Note: There is a print link embedded within this post, please visit this post to print it.
The Recipe
Scallion Pancakes

Feel free to add Carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, bean sprouts and kimchi are also popular fillings for Korean scallion pancakes.Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 cups flour
corn starch ( optional) approx. 1 tablespoon
1 eggs, beaten
3/4 cups ice  water – use only what is necessary
1 bunch of scallions, halved and cut into 2-3 inch lengths
scallops, shrimp, calamari – approx. 1/4 cup
chili peppers cut in thin rings
1 egg scrambled
Vegetable Oil for cooking

The Sauce
1 part rice wine vinegar
1 part soy sauce
1 pinch chili powder

 Preparation:
Pour water in flour and mix until consistency of yogurt.
Heat pan
Add Oil
place scallions down
pour on the flour mixture
add the fish & chili’s
add the scrambled egg
flip
cook until crisp
SERVE WITH THE DIPPING SAUCE.

Heat a saute pan over medium heat and coat with a thin layer of oil.

Pour batter to fill pan in a thin layer (about 1/3 of your batter should fill a regular saute pan).

Cook for 3-4 minutes until set and golden brown on bottom.

Turn over with help of spatula or plate (or flip it in the air if you are good at that) and finish by cooking 1-2 more minutes, adding more oil if necessary.

Serve with soy or spicy dipping sauce.

(Serves 4 as an appetizer or a side dish)

Daniel Gray O”ngo Food Communications

2. Singapore:  I meet Tony Tan from Betel Box Hostel., Tours & Bistro.  He has a hostel for back packers $20.00 per night in Singapore.  Not luxury, but a great place if you don’t need the frills.  I spent the day with Tony, he showed me what Singapore is all about.  The architecture, social engineering, food, culture.  He really knows Singapore and it’s people.  I got to see things tourist would not know exist.  Hew was a wealth of information and a lot of fun to hang out with, I loved every minute of my time with him.  Check him out for food tours, hostel or fantastic Pernanaken Cuisine restaurant.  It was delicious.  Another winner! ( A lot more to come with video & daily commentary with great photos)

Tony Tan Betel Box Tours

3. LAYOVER survival plan.
  Daniel Gray of O’ngo Food Communications  introduced me to Gerald Ursulet, Director of Food & Beverage at the Hyatt Regency Incheon.  We had a 10 hour layover in Seoul Korea.  The city is 30 minutes away so the Hyatt is the place to be.  We got a room for the day.  We got there at 6:00 AM and had a spectacular breakfast buffet.  We had a chance to nap, I got a message at the Wholistic Center and by the end of our stay, we were refreshed and ready for the next 15 hours of our trip.  What a treat!

Gerald Urselet – Director of Food & Beverage and Magnolia Hwang, Assistant Front Office Manager- They both made us feel so welcomed.

This is crab, shrimp, oysters etc from one of the kitchens from “Eight” their restaurant at the Hyatt Regency Incheon. It has eight different kitchens with eight different cuisines. When a table orders their meal the chefs at each kitchen keeps in touch with each other with headsets. It’s a real orchestrated meal that is a dance of deliciousness. From Italian brick oven delights to seafood this restaurant is a winner.

The Hyatt Regency Incheon even has a casino for people with a foreign passport. This hotel is a destination for those wanting a get away and the perfect place for a business meeting. The hotel is so successful that they are adding a huge addition. The hotel is near the beach and in the summer will be a great family retreat.

This was our room. It was s extremely comfortable. The decor was charming. Gerald and Magnolia took me to see the deluxe rooms with king beds, they were spacious with beautiful lush bathrooms.  This place made the difference between a grueling trip home and a great trip home.  THANK YOU HYATT REGENCY INCHEON.  You are the best!!!

4.  Your tickets and travel plans need to be made by yourself, which you can be taking a chance, or a terrific Travel Agent.  We used Kathy Bernstein and her assistant MaryLevine at Pro Travel. 847-867-5711 Mobile  312-646-7231 Direct.   Protravel International, A Virtuoso Agency  600 West Fulton Street-Suite 100 Chicago, Il 60661   They are amazing.  I know they would love to hear from you.  As a matter of fact, all the people listed above would treat you like family like they did me.  Tell them you heard about them from me. 

xoxoxoxkim

Salad for breakfast??

they also had cereal, eggs, ham, potatoes, french toast, yogurt.  After a hearty breakfast we headed to the bus station.  Dunkin Donuts is big here, but there are some different items like 

Sweet potato filled donuts

Glutenous Rice Sticks

Some very creative donuts.

and then off to a 2 hour bus ride to Jeonju, known as the food capital of South Korea.. We had a rest stop, these places are amazing with lots of activity an some unique food.  We tried a fried small white potato, that you sprinkle sugar & salt on it…it is all about the balance.  They were amazing. 

Charcoal grilled squid, that they cut up with scissors and serve in a paper bag.

This is a disk of pressed fish. It looks kind of odd, but tastes like a fish jerky that has a hint of sweetness, it was a great snack.

We checked in at Gung Tourist Hotel 0103659360. 

Nice and clean

This is a unique hotel, with the sweetest owner.
 
This is an authentic Korean Hotel, with some unique qualities,  The room had everything you could want- toothbrush, hairbrush, shampoo, even a hairbrush.  We were surprised that when you turn on the sink all the water pours out the back and onto the floor and down the drain on the floor, very odd!!! The bed was  really hard with a heat sheet under the fitted sheet. It had all homemade furniture. We settled in and then off  for an amazing lunch at Kajok Hwaegwan famous for Bibimpap,

Bibimbap

which is based on a Royal Court dish of the Joseon Dynasty. It is a rice based dish with vegetables, meat and an egg on top. This is a very popular restaurants, where you can sit on the floor and eat or dine at a table.  You are served many side dishes

Kimchi, fermented cabbage, chili paste, sauteed spinach, pickled radish and so many more possibilities.  It is great to cool your palate or add some heat.  It really makes a meal exciting.This restaurant is famous for an egg souffle that was light and fluffy. This one woman makes it all day long by hand whisking it.
After a fantastic lunch, we walked through a market.

There was every kind of fish at this market, just spread out for display. You wonder what they do in the summer when the cold air doesn’t keep the fish refrigerated. The smells were permeating the air and the woman running these booths, were amazingly beautiful, showing their hard work and tough life on their faces.

We headed into town and went to Hanok Village, a replication of the old traditions village.

 It was charming with lots of shopping and fun things to check out. 
We stopped for coffee and hot chocolate.

This was a delicious hot chocolate that my sister ordered…so cute and so good!  This was at Cafe Moi.

It was a fun walking around this charming area.  the streets were lined with these amazing cabbage plants.

We did some tasting of street snack food. Mapae Walnut Bread that looks like a walnut, made in front of you.  They pour the batter into these cast iron molds on a conveyer belt that are heated then they place a whole walnut in the middle and some red bean paste.   It cooks and you end up with a walnut shaped snack, creamy inside with a walnut crunch and a crisp outside.  It was very good.  We watched a man makes rice cakes with this machine that shot  them out.  It was exciting to see.  We also had some dragon beard candy, I can’t explain it, but I have a video I will share shortly that shows how it is made, it is amazing.  They put on a real show.
We hadn’t eaten in a few minutes so it was time for dinner.  Yechun Makgeolli Jeonju yechun Makgeolli Jeollabukdo Jeonju-shi Wangshimdong 843-16
This is a restaurant that specializes in Makgeolli which is a rice beer.  The flavor is great.  It is served in a large gold tea kettle and you drink out of metal bowls.  Each round you order you are given a round of food for free, you just pay for the beer.  We learned a lot of traditions, like never pour your own beer.  We also learned some fun drinking games. The first course with your first kettle of beer is tofu with kimchi,  fried egg, then came chicken in the pot, they cut up the chicken with scissors.  As you order more beer, by shaking another smaller gold kettle with something in it that makes it rattle to get the servers attention, the food gets more elaborate, like seafood – mussels, cockles and even live octopus.  The place gets crazy with lots of loud partying.  We loved it and really soaked in all of the atmosphere. I even tried the live octopus that they cut with scissors at the table as it tentacles continued to wiggle for 20 minutes or so, as it sat in pieces on a plate that it was mixed in a rice and seaweed mixture.  It was bizarre and the octopus was chewy and not terribly flavorful.  I think I won’t try that again….very strange.  I do have video, I might share.  The restaurant is not fancy, but the atmosphere was a party.
.

The walls were decorated with graffiti so I had to add Culinary Confessions to the wall.

We met the owner, who speaks no English, but she is a doll. We knew we liked her the minute we met her. She has her whole family working there.

A bit tipsey, we headed home to crash for the night… There will be another fun filled day ahead of us.
Daniel Gray from O’ngo Food Communications, sure knows how to show us a good time and educate us as well.  He could not be more charming or attentive.  This trip is a winner!