Easy cocktail sauce

Sometimes I eat things purely for the sauce or toppings that accompany it. When I used to eat hot dogs, I was much more interested in the relish, sauerkraut, or onions that could be added to it. I love the peanut dipping sauce that comes with summer rolls. Even sushi must be eaten with soy sauce and pickled ginger.


So it is with shrimp cocktail.

The root of it all

My love affair with gobo (aka burdock root)--which my dad loves--has sort of a backwards history. I didn't remember that my dad liked it so much until fairly recently when I discovered how much I liked it. The earliest and only memories I have of the existence of gobo are when my father and my aunt craved it while they were recovering, separately, from ailments (pneumonia, heart surgery).


These memories were triggered recently when I was served some at a celebration for the Mexican Chef's daughter's one-month birthday. The Chef's mother had set out some gobo which I instantly devoured. I'm hoping they didn't notice but I really attacked that little bowl in front of me, plus the one that was set out an arm's length away (and probably the one at the other side of the table). I could not stop eating it. I asked my friend's mother how she prepared it and I confess I can barely remember what she said (was it the accent? did I drink too much sake?).

Salsa, from New York City

Growing up in a Korean household in America meant that eating any non-Asian foods was considered 'American food' regardless of the type, and was typically the pre-packaged variety: spaghetti sauce from a jar, mac and cheese from a box, hamburgers from the golden arches. I didn't even understand the concept of making 'American' food from scratch until I was older. Now when I look back, I realize that my taste for these foods relies on the store-bought/fast food/packaged kinds I had as a child.


Take, for instance, salsa.

Fishing for inspiration

During my food-inspiration drought, reader NL sent me his delicious-sounding recipe for fish:

cod, diced ginger, garlic, a few bags of green tea, brown sugar, soy sauce and japanese doenjang (ha, instead of 'korean miso') poached in enough water to cover the fish. ate it w green beans in chicken broth and black bean paste and some brown rice.

I find preparing fish to be, quite frankly, daunting. I've tried it before, having the most success with pan-grilling salmon which seems to hold together pretty well, but fish just wasn't something I had in my day-to-day cooking repertoire. For one thing, it's expensive and it goes bad fast. But I really needed to try something different, to break out of my cooking funk.

Bounty from the farmer's market

One of my favorite pastimes is going to the farmer's market, although the crowds can get annoying (especially with the construction going on in Union Square, ugh). For various reasons though, I haven't been able to go for the past couple of weeks and as a result, I've been rather depressed--I had no groceries and no inspiration to cook. This weekend I finally got a chance to go to the farmer's market again. And whoa.


Watercress, burdock root (aka gobo), radishes, cilantro, sugar snap peas, apples, oh my!

Old-fashioned sugar cookies

Don't these look like the cookies that the Cookie Monster eats?

I have now deemed this my go-to cookie recipe. The last time I made these my little cousin Sam said they were her most favorite cookies ever. This is high praise from a child (or maybe it isn't--she does only eat foods that are white or beige). I like this recipe because it is so simple and requires basic ingredients that I always have on hand: flour, baking soda, lemons, sugar, butter, eggs. Seriously, that's it. It did take me a few tries (and a few pounds around my mid-section) to perfect it to my liking.