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

Although I’m still a newbie in town, I knew enough to show them the good eats.  I had to prove to them that the Windy City is more than just deep dish pizza and hot dogs.  Their time in the city was short, and the food time line was downright ambitious and aggressive.  Would we be able to hit up all the places that was on the agenda…or were our eyes bigger than our stomachs?

The Agenda
Friday started out a tad slow.  Kurtis and Stu starved themselves before arriving Friday afternoon and I think it worked against them.  The first meal was deep dish pizza at Lou Malnati’s and it might have been too much.  By the end of the meal I think I saw Kurtis have trouble breathing and Stu’s eating pace slowed down to a crawl.  So far, this food fest wasn’t looking too promising.  Despite the slow start, Saturday was going to be redemption day, and I think any foodie would approve of our Saturday eating schedule.  Soon after we finished a meal, we were on our way to the next.  We had to hit up 6 destinations on Saturday and had to logistically spread out our meals so that we would have room for steak at Gibsons by 10pm.  Rest and relaxation wasn’t on the agenda, but we did manage to sneak in a power nap around 6:30pm.

Tragedy Strikes!
There was an unforeseen event that took place.  Kurtis developed a full blown case of plantar fasciitis on Saturday afternoon and ended up limping around for the rest of the trip.  I think he wanted to request a wheelchair when he arrived at the airport.  Rather than help a friend in need, we kicked him while he was down and gave him the nickname of “The Broken One,” which by the end of the day, he had earned the new title of “The Gimp.”  Still, he was a trooper and continued on the food expedition despite the pain.  Ah, Advil does wonders.

The Timeline

Friday 5:22PM – Deep Dish Pizza at Lou Malnati’s

Stuffed Spinach Bread

The “Lou” with Sausage

Look at all that beautiful cheese!

Friday 11:28PM – Late Night Dinging at  the Silver Palm

Louisville & Nashville Onion Rings

Canadien Pacific´s Smoked Meat Sandwich - Hickory smoked corned beef brisket with grilled onions and gruyere cheese on pumpernickel.

Dan Palm’s Three Little Piggy Sandwich – Double Smoked Ham, Pork Tenderloin, Bacon, Gruyere Cheese, Onion Rings  & a Fried Egg.  As seen on Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations!

Three Little Piggy Cross Section Goodness

Saturday 11:41AM – Breakfast at The Original Pancake House

Buttermilk Pancakes

Corn Beef Hash

Eggs Benedict with Potato Pancakes

Vegetarian Baked Egg White Omelet w/ Cheddar Cheese

Saturday 12:41PM – Asian Buns at Wow Bao

BBQ Pork and Thai Curry Chicken Baos

Saturday 3:38PM – Gourmet Hot Dogs at Hot Doug’s (After 1.5 hours of waiting)

The Dog – Chicago-Style Hot Dog with all the trimmings: ’nuff said.

Sweet and Savory Rattlesnake Sausage with Berry-Rum Sauce and Serendipity Cheese

Antelope Sausage with Roasted Garlic Mustard and Goat Cheese

Foie Gras and Sauternes Duck Sausage with Truffle Aioli, Foie Gras Mousse and Sel Gris. Also seen on No Reservations!  It was worth the wait.

Duck Fat Fries

Saturday 5:45PM – Ribs, Baked Beans, and Chili at Twin Anchors.

Chili

Rack of Ribs w/ Zesty BBQ Sauce and Baked Beans

Saturday 9:09PM – Japanese Sake Bar and Eats at Murasake

The Sake Bar Display

Wasabi Raw Octopus – We should have ordered more than one.  We were fighting over this!

Fugu (Blowfish) Fin Used For Flavoring the Warm Sake. It’s lit on fire a number of times and dipped in the sake.  Then it soaks in the sake for a minute. Remove the fin and drink the sake.  Your tongue might go numb.

Takoyaki!  Octopus Dumplings!

Cheesy and Crunchy Chicken Yakitori

Spicy and Crunchy Chicken Yakitori

Saturday 10:30PM – Steak at Gibson’s

The Night’s Selections – Look at that Australian Lobster Tail in the back!

Gumbo - Good on it’s own, but even better with bread.

The Chicago Cut – Prime 20 oz Bone-In Ribeye

Sunday 11:00AM -  Breakfast at Fox & Obel Cafe

More Pancakes!

Keeping it Simple w/ Bagel and Chive Cream Cheese

More Eggs Benedict!  How’s the heart doing?

Weight Gain Imminent
I can’t even begin to comprehend how much weight we gained over the course of 2 days.  By Saturday night, every one looked like they were 5 months pregnant, and by Sunday morning, we were so sick of food.  We definitely took a toll on our bodies, but this was probably the best food weekend I have ever had.  I’m still feeling pretty bloated.  Great food and great friends, is there anything better?

~ 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

Think you’re eating 100% beef, well that cow you’re eating was raised on corn feed, so if you’re looking to avoid corn, it’s going to find it’s way back in your body one way or another.  Scary huh?

The documenters even go as far as making high fructose corn syrup in their own kitchen, and the ingredients that go into making it has convinced me not to touch that stuff ever again!

This is a must watch for everybody.  It’s highly entertaining and extremely interesting to watch.  What I learned is that corn farming is not a lucrative business, in fact, farmers loose money farming corn.  It’s the government subsidies that keep the industry going because the crop has become so ingrained into our society.

Head over to the website to purchase a copy on DVD or you can watch it online via Netflix.

~ Kin

Chicago is a mecca for food lovers, even in the towns located near the it.  The city is so diverse and has so many dining options that it’s bound to satisfy the hunger of even the most finicky eaters.  It seems like there’s something for every one here.

These pictures of just some of the eats that I have been indulging in.  By the way, I had a Chicago Hot Dog from Portillo’s last night at around 12AM and it must have been the most delicious hot dog I ever had.

I’m getting hungry just looking at these!  Can you identify any of the items in the pictures?

~ Kin

Getting ready to cut up this 300lb behemoth.

Let’s get ready to rumble!!!!!

It’s actually more difficult than it looks.

Nothing like straddling a big piece of fish and hacking it down to size.

Separating the meat…

On to the cutting boards!

That was only the beginning, there’s much more fish to be had.

Well, it’s been a little over two weeks since my last post.  So what’s been going on so far?  Well, I’ve successfully moved to Chicago.  My furniture finally came and my apartment is pretty much set up.  I started my new job and I’ve been stuffing my face with food.

I’ve been trying hard to stay home to cook, but with so many restaurants around, it’s been quite a challenge.  There’s something to eat around almost every corner, and from my observations, Chicagoans know how to throw it down.  It’s a city that’s big on sports and food, can there be anything better than that?  Still, I’ve only scratched the surface and although it doesn’t have that NYC city vibe, it definitely has it’s very own and I’m glad to call Chicago my new home.

I gave myself a month to get ready for the move to Chicago, and I have to admit, a month’s time isn’t nearly enough.  There’s still lots to do and I start my new job nxt week.  Amidst the packing, logistics, and goodbye visits, it’s been pretty strenuous.  The movers came today and my apartment is pretty much barren, ‘cept for a stool, small table, and a few pots and pans.

My Internet service will be disconnected very soon and I have yet to schedule service at my new place.  I’ll be offline for a while, but if I can scrub off some free Wi-Fi at the local bookstore or coffee shop, I’ll continue to post.

Be back later…Kin

Last night, I left Pure Food and Wine mildly satiated and was in search of a filling desert joint.  I was craving cake to be more exact.  Plugging in the word “dessert” into the Yelp search bar, Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar popped up and it was just two blocks away.  Seeing that Angela and I had never been there, there was no better time to go and get a sugar fix.

Upon entering, the senses are filled with scents of butter and sugar, it’s exactly how a bakery should smell.  There are no stools to sit at, just long wooden tables.  The place looks to be designed for quick eating, get in and get out.  The place offers soft serve, milks, shakes, cookies, cakes, pies, breads, pork buns, and even spreads such as kimchi butter, miso butter, and burnt honey.  Looking at the paper menu, the Crack Pie and Pistachio Cake looked to be the winners, but then after a quick glance at the chalkboard menu hanging above the counter and cake display case, we saw the words Dulce de Leche.  Well, so much for the Pistachio cake.

The Delicious Crack Pie – I didn’t want it to end.

The slice of Crack Pie was small, but don’t let the size fool you.  It’s a concentrated slab of sugary and buttery goodness.  Appropriately named, the sweetness alone will drive you into a sugar rush, and the smooth, gooey and buttery filling just tops everything off.  You’ll probably want more after the one slice.  I’m disappointed that I just discovered this place.  I’m moving to Chicago soon and I’m going to miss New York City even more now.

Dulce de Leche

The Dulce de Leche cake isn’t as memorable as the Crack Pie but it’s still good.  It’s nowhere as sweet as the Crack Pie, but it’s just right.  I’ve had better Dulce de Leche cakes at other places, but Momofuku’s version still holds up rather venerably.  What threw me off were the milk crumbs in the filling.  They are these milky and hard clusters that worked against the soft and moist texture of the cake.  Imagine driving down a newly paved road and then running over a pothole.  It’s not a good transition.  I like it when the cake slowly dissolves and melts in the mouth, and having to bite down on something that’s rock hard just takes away from the cake eating experience.

Literally 5 minutes later…

While the Crack Pie and Dulce de Leche might have given me the quickest sugar rush in a long time, it’s good to be cake whore from time to time.  Recommended, especially for those with a sweet tooth.

Momofuku Bakery and Milk Bar
207 2nd Ave
(between 12th St & 13th St)
New York, NY 10003

Food: 4 out of 5

Service: 3 out of 5

Ambiance: 3 out of 5