BAITONG THAI FOOD TRUCK

 Food truck mania has arrived at the Richmond’s Farmers Market. We have a new tenant that will dazzle and feed you with Thai food favorites. The Baitong Thai Food Truck, every Friday will create Thai favorites such as: Pad Thai, Pumpkin Green Curry Chicken, Basil Noodles, Gai Yang (BBQ Chicken) and more. Everything is made to order. You can request extra heat if you are a Chilehead like myself. All entrées are served with green salad and choice of jasmine or sticky rice. Desserts are available. Mango with sticky rice sounds intriguing but ‘Roti with Banana and Egg” spikes my curiosity.
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I had the Pumpkin Green Curry Chicken. This was one flavorful and filling dish. Tender chicken with green curry lit up the taste buds with flavor. Small chunks of pumpkin were a sweet addition to this dish. It calmed the extra heat that I requested. If you order the Gai Yang be sure to ask for extra peanut sauce. This is a flavor explosion .  I cannot wait to try the other dishes.

Baitong Thai Food Truck will be at the market every Friday. It is a great opportunity to try delicious Thai food at inexpensive prices. Stop on by and say Hello.

Richmond Farmers Market

24^th & Barrett St.

Richmond, California

BEST PULLED PORK EVER

Please check out my latest review by clicking this sentence.

DIY CHEESE KIT

 Ms. Goofy loves cheese. Her passion for cheese is so great we have begun to make cheese at home. Thanks to ‘Urban Cheesecraft’ we have a kit to guide us in the craft of cheese making. While reading my ‘Chilepepper’ magazine I spotted an advertisement for this cheese kit. You can make mozzarella, chevre, paneer, and more with the included tools and instructions. This would be the perfect Christmas gift for my cheese loving wife. Ms. Goofy made her trial run of mozzarella. Can you see the smile on her face? This cheese would be perfect for our pulled pork pizza. Pull up a chair and say ‘Cheese’.

The only ingredient we needed to acquire for our cheese making was milk. We did not want to use your ultra pasteurized garden variety from Wally-World. A venture to the Marin farmers market to visit the ‘StrausFamily Creamery’ booth would satisfy our needs. One gallon of Straus’s local, organic, non homogenized, cream on the top, whole milk would be our purchase. While at the market I also picked up my new favorite vegetable Romanesco broccoli but that is a different story. We are now ready to make cheese. I need to clarify; Ms. Goofy is ready. I was banished from the kitchen.

The details of the cheese making are a secret to me. I can tell you there was a lot of beer drinking, swearing and debauchery involved while the cheese making process went on. That was me watching the football playoff games. Curds & Whey, thermometers, cheese cloth and brightly colored gloves were the only clues I got while retrieving adult beverages from the ice cave.

Pizza would be the vehicle to sample Ms. Goofy’s maiden cheese adventure. Some left over and I mean over the top delicious pulled pork would be our main topping. Barbeque sauce would be the foundation to support cheese, pork and red onions. An oven with a baking stone was heated to extreme heat. Ten minutes in the fiery inferno and we had some good looking pies.

 This mozzarella cheese was hot, gooey, stringy, the perfect cheese to make our pizza pie scrumptious. Immediately Ms. Goofy had new ideas how to improve on our cheese making endeavor. She wants to add herbs or peppers. I just plain loved it. Ms. Goofy is happy with her new DIY Cheese kit. Old Chilebrown did pretty darn good getting Ms. Goofy this cheese maker. Please excuse me because I need to return to the couch. The next football game is almost on.

Urban Cheeecraft

YUMMY

  

A ‘Master Certified Kansas City Barbeque Judge” must be ready to sample and score BBQ at all times. Our next competition is coming up in two weeks in Lake Havasu Arizona. Ms. Goofy will be earning her ‘Master’, certification at this event. We decided to cook some pork shoulder to keep our senses sharp. We have gained a lot of barbeque knowledge about cooking award winning pork. This was proven last summer at the ‘Oakland Bay Area BBQ Championship’. You may have noticed that we have been having a lot of fun testing barbeque sauces and rubs for review. It was time to sharpen our skills and taste some new products.

Our shoulder was cooked on a Weber Smoky Mountain cooker controlled by a Stoker unit. Our fuel was charcoal laced with apple and hickory wood. The pork was rubbed before cooking. During the low and slow journey in the smoker, the roast was basted with sauce. Halfway through the cooking process this butt was wrapped in foil. During the eight hour cook the smells emitting from the smoker were heavenly. Once done, rested and pulled the pork was sauced.

Jalapeno rolls and home made Cole slaw were the vehicles to cradle our  pulled pork. Moist, tender, smoky and bark to die for was my take on this sandwich. Ms. Goofy scored it paws up. Translated to judge speak that would be ‘9’s across the board’. She liked it. We killed a couple of birds with this roast. We sharpened our skills and sampled some new bbq products. Lake Havasu here we come.

SCORPION HOT SAUCE

'Scorpion Hot Sauce' from 'Redlaw Hot Sauce Company' is on the table today. Serrano and Trinidad Scorpion peppers combine with fresh ingredients to make a tasty, zesty sauce that we loved. My latest review is on 'Peppers & More' and you can read it by clicking the link below.

Continue Reading Here

BACON SOCKS

Ms. Goofy is modeling her new Christmas stockings. We hope everyone has a bacon New Year!!!!!

“THE JUNKET” (A JOURNEY IN SEARCH OF LOWENSENF)

Our journey begins at the greatest German Wurst-Haus, Dittmer’s, which I have ever visited. It was an impulse buy. I have read about mustard lover’s epiphany for the hot stinging, sinus clearing, bite of Lowensenf mustard. There it was and I had to have it. Several sandwiches slathered with Lowensenf later and a new mustard addiction had formed.  I needed more but Dittmer’s was an hour away. Lo and behold, ‘The Junket’ is a European café and delicatessen which is only ten minutes away. It also happens to be a food find that has our attention.

The Junket is located in the El Cerrito Plaza right next to Trader Joe’s (Trader Joe’s has everything I always wanted but don’t need). The outside is very plain. It has never caught our attention in the past even though it has been there for 30 years. Once inside the flavor sensors were ignited. Let’s start with the German and English products. Expatriates from these countries will be happy with the large selection of products. It was definitely fun debating whether to buy fresh or canned Haggis. Chocolates, Matjes herring, marmite, double Devon cream, breads, pickles, preserves you name it they have it.

The delicatessen had a large selection of cold cuts and meats to choose from. There were several imported meat products but most were from the states but made in a European style. Plenty of German knockwurst, bockwurst style and English banger sausages were tempting. A full case was filled with imported cheeses. So many choices for that perfect sandwich.

We were only there for mustard and it was a little early in the morning but the vast liquor selection was beckoning. Draft beer served in litre sized stein’s tempted me to don my lederhosen. German and English bottled beers were stocked in a refrigerator case for your viewing and selection.  A whole wall was dedicated to imported wines. The junket has a happy hour that we will not miss. To help absorb all the liquid refreshments a full sandwich menus with soups and salads are offered. I have been told from a reliable source to not miss the soup.

Lowensenf has a wonderful rich clean mustard seed flavor. It also has a sinus clearing horseradish kick that has humbled this Chilehead. The Junket is our new food destination that stocks Lowensenf mustard. I will see you there at ‘Happy Hour’. I will be the one in lederhosen eating Haggis.

The Junket
235 El Cerrito Plaza
El Cerrito, Ca. 94530
510 524-4622