My manager at work alerted me to an amazing knife deal and I managed to score 8 Ken Onion Shun knives and the honing steel for almost 65% off retail price.  I would never buy these knives at full retail cost, that’s just crazy, but the deal was too good to pass up.

The set included the following Ken Onion Series Shuns:

6″ Chef Knife
7″ Santoku
4″ Chef Knife
5″ Serrated Utility Knife
9″ Slicing Knife
3″ Paring Knife
Boning Knife
Bread Knife
Honing Steal

Although the set did not include the spotlight-hogging 8″ Chef Knife that every one has been raving about, I was fine without it. It’s just too much knife for most of us who solely cook at home.  The title of kitchen workhorse should belong to its 6″ inch brethren.  It seems to be more practical when it comes to everyday kitchen tasks and other mundane chops, yet it still outshines where performance is desired.  The size is just right, and the balance is right on.

The knives are sturdy and much heavier than I thought, reminding me of Western knives such as WÜSTHOF, but still not as heavy.  What’s more important is that it feels good when it’s held.

The handle is designed to be ergonomic in eliminating stress on the hand and wrist, and while it fits well in the palm of the hand, it doesn’t matter to me because I hold the knife by pinching the bolster with my thumb and index finger.  For those who use the pinch-grip method, the curved side bolster makes it extremely comfortable to hold the knife.  It’s the way I learned to hold a knife, and holding it by the handle still feels awkward, no matter how ergonomic it is.

Aesthetically speaking, these knives look great, especially when they glimmer under the light.  I found myself cleaning them almost immediately after use.  They didn’t deserve to be left dirty after delivering such precision on the chopping block.

By far, these are the sharpest knives I have ever used.  So sharp that these put my Globals to shame.  While I was cutting chicken breast after chicken breast, I didn’t have to exert much force and the knife did  most of the work, a true testament to the sharp edge and weight of the knife working in conjunction. There was no resistance from the meat, as if it just gave up on life and let me hack away.

Switching to these knives might be too much of a leap for novice home cooks looking to step up their knife game, but seasoned home cooks who have mastered knife basics will have no time adjusting.  In all honestly, it’s difficult to justify the price, as most of us would never drop over $1200 for a set of knives.  I only got these because they were on sale.  If you had to get one, go for the 6″ Chef knife if you can find it.

Happy cutting, and watch those fingers!

~ Kin

Never would I thought to write a camera review on this site, but here I am.  I was never satisfied with the quality of the food pictures that my compact camera snapped, and I was fed up carrying my dSLR every where I went.  So when I heard the Canon S90 was a compact camera that performed well at taking low light pictures, I went out and got myself one.

I spent a month taking pictures of almost everything I ate when I dined out with the S90.  It’s not as slim as the other present Canon compacts, it’s about the size of the older Canon PowerShot Digital Elph 400.  Still, it’s small enough to fit in the front pants pocket without being too bulky.

While it’s not the best camera to use in low-light situations, it sure has beat out every other compact camera I have owned.  This model is also marketed to camera enthusiasts, but I think photographers of all levels should own one of these babies.  For those unfamiliar with using manual settings on a dSLR, there will be a learning curve.  Sure, the automatic function is good and all, but to truly make the pictures shine, they should be taken in manual mode, so the files can be saved in the RAW format for further tinkering as well.

Below are a bunch of pictures I took in the past 30 days or so.  All pictures were taken in Manual mode with an aperture of 2.0, shutter speed of 1/6 to 1/250, and ISO ranging from 200 to 400 in macro mode.  No flash was fired, the pictures were taken indoors and saved in RAW format, and some were enhanced with the included photo editing software (Canon’s Digital Photo Professional).  I only tinkered with the brightness, contrast, tone, and saturation settings.  No noise reduction was used either.

Tonkatsu ISO 250, F2.0 1/50 – No Retouching.

Stuffed Pancakes ISO 250, F2.0, 1/250 – Increased saturation and brightness a bit post snap

Sushi ISO 200, F2.0, 1/40 – Increased saturation and brightness post snap.

Beef Chow Fun ISO 400, F2.0, 1/30 – Increased saturation, tone, contrast, and brightness post snap.  I was seated in a very dark corner.

Shepherd’s Pie ISO 400, F2.0, 1/6 – Increased saturation, tone, contrast, and brightness post snap.  This place was pretty dimly lit.

Penne Vodka ISO 400, F2.0, 1/6 – Increased saturation, tone, contrast, and brightness post snap.  Same location as above.

Roti Canai ISO 200, F2.0, 1/10 – Slight tone correction post snap.

Toasted Bread ISO 400, F2.0, 1/25 – Increased saturation, tone, contrast, and brightness post snap.

Biscuits ISO 400, F2.0, 1/20 – Increased saturation, tone, contrast, and brightness post snap.

Meat ISO 200, F2.0, 1/30 – Slight saturation increase post snap.

Clams ISO 200, F2.0, 1/30 – Slight saturation increase, tone correction, and brightness increase post snap.

The camera performs remarkably well up to ISO 400, any more and the pictures will start to get noisy.  The image stabilization performs well and those with minor hand trembles will find this camera to be a good ally. Unfortunately, the camera’s cost comes at a premium, hovering around the $400.00 mark.

So it’s time to be the food photographer that you were meant to be!  Check out more samples here.

~ Kin

Some addictions are bad, like crack for instance.  On the opposite  end of the spectrum, there are addictions worth having.  In my case, I have been addicted to Alexia Sweet Potato Fries.  I’ve been eating these as an after work snack for almost two months now and have yet to become bored of them.  The most appealing factor is that they are already julienned and are lightly seasoned.  Since most of the legwork is done, all there is to do is pre-heat the oven for a bit and then throw the frozen fries on a baking sheet and bake for about 19 minutes at 400 degrees.  It’ so easy, even a monkey can do it.   No wait, it’s so easy that even a monkey’s monkey can do it!   The  sweet potato fries are crunchy on the outside, and soft and sweet on the inside.  Sweet potatoes are also one of the most nutritious foods out there.  Packed with nutrients instead of empty carbs and trans fat, there won’t be any guilt eating these fries!

I know these are sold at Whole Foods…as for other stores, I can’t really say.  Happy hunting!

~ Kin

Question: What do you do when 6 feet wide and 440 pound jellyfish invade Japanese waters?

Answer: You turn them into sweet confectionaries of course!

The giant jellyfish, known as Nomura’s jellyfish or echizen kurage have been invading Japanese waters and are threatening fisheries and even nuclear power plants.

image:  fastcompany.com

In an attempt to make use of the overpopulation of jellyfish, Obama Fisheries High School students have created a caramel space candy that’s infused with a powder made from the jellyfish.

image:  fastcompany.com

While that does seem odd to those outside of Japan, it’s actually the second product from the team of students.  Already on Japanese store shelves in the Fukui prefecture, locals can dig into the jellyfish based Ekura-chan saku-saku cookies.

Having low expectations, I wasn’t expecting much, and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.  It cooked evenly and had a nice ‘al dente’ bite after six minutes of cooking.  It holds together really well and has a crisp and bouncy texture to it.  The size of the macaroni in the box might be a bit deceiving at first, but they’ll grow to twice the size after cooking.

Andean Dream Quinoa Macaroni Pasta is gluten free, %100 organic and kosher.  One down side of it is that for $4.00 a box, you don’t get much bang for your buck.  Available at Whole Foods.

Clean, simple, and inevitable.  It’s only a matter of time until that chef at Benihana is replaced by a mechanical counterpart.  First it’ll slice and dice the meat, and then proceed to slice and dice the customers.  The T-shirts are printed on American Apparel and are available in 4 different colors for $24 each.  I got myself one and it arrived in about 7 days.   Also available in long sleeve, V-neck, and girly fitted short sleeve.  Get yours here.

If you love coffee, waffles, and bacon, why not infuse those flavors deep into your gums?  Not only will you get the satisfaction of a delicious breakfast aftertaste, but also great oral hygiene!  Each package contains the three flavors and each dispenses 12 yards of waxed dental floss.  $5.95 at Archie McPhee.

So I finally got my hands on a couple bulbs of black garlic.  When I was searching for it months ago, I couldn’t find it, and when I’m not looking for it, it just pops out of nowhere.  Nowhere being Whole Foods.  Black garlic is created by fermenting garlic for a month under a special process where the meat softens, turns black, and the flavor mellows out into a sweet, yet light  tangy taste.

I took one bulb out of the package and brought it to my nose.  After a prolonged sniff, it reminded me of something familiar.  It was at the tip of my tongue, and after a few minutes of deep thinking, I had it.  It smelled just like Lee Kum Kee Black Bean Garlic Sauce!  While I can’t say the flavors of the two products taste the the same, they do turn out to be similar, since the jarred sauce contains fermented black beans and garlic.

Here’s a look at the packaging.  The actual color of the garlic bulbs aren’t white, but are more brown and caramelized, similar to that of roasted garlic.

Black garlic is quite palatable eaten raw, but can still be used in cooking as well.  Chances of coming across them in a store might be difficult, but it looks like Whole Foods is one of the company’s selected resellers.  Check out Black Garlic, Inc for more information.

A package of Black Garlic contains 2 medium-sized bulbs (about 36g) and costs $2.99.