Eureka! I finally found a cafe that has good philosophy about coffee, great machines and brewing equipments and good beans - in Fergus Falls! I tumbled upon this place at a reception for a recital that I played at the Center for the Arts. Cafe 116 both hosted and catered the reception, so I did not get the whole cafe experience then, but the wonderful roast beef sandwich with horseradish sauce and gorgonzola was unforgettable. I’ve since been there on my own three more times and have just fallen in love with this little gem.

First of all, their espresso machines mean business: Synesso and La Marzzoco GS3 espresso machines & Mazzer and Rio grinders. You see these machines and you know that someone cares about their coffee and has put some resources behind that passion. Both Synesso and La Marzzoco at Cafe 116 are smaller machines, but this establishment isn’t turning out a shot every 45 seconds for hours at a time like some places, and a bigger 3- or 4-group machine would just be overkill. The espresso macchiato I had yesterday was pretty darn good (almost as good as the one that Ben makes at home and close to what I had at Gimme! Coffee, Ithaca), with beautiful milk foam and even two little hearts on it. Their espresso lacks that tiny touch of sweetness that I look for in espresso, but still it was easily the best espresso macchiato in the region. Period.

For their brewed coffee, they have three options: normal machine brewed coffee at $1 (with a ‘reasonable’ number of free refills), Micro brewed cup with Hario V60 ($2.25), and Yama Siphon pot, 16oz ($7). Microbrew (also known as hand-dripped coffee) is THE way to brew coffee at any reputable cafe in Korea and Japan, but somehow not a lot of American cafes are doing it. Intelligentsia has developed an interesting way of doing it a bit faster (and more organized), and I hope more  places will catch up soon since it brings out so much more aroma and flavor from the coffee grounds - If the beans are freshly roasted and ground. And since the Cafe 116 has their own roastery at the back, the beans are likely to be fresh! (The roasting company is called Stumbeano, which supplies a few places in Fargo, including Nichole’s Fine Pastry.) Siphon is not my favorite method of coffee brewing, but it’s fun and Greg, the coffee person, is always studying the perfect combination of bean, roast, grind, and brewing method for the Siphon. It’s definitely worth checking out.

On top of this, the food here is great, too. The menu is simple soup-sandwich-salad fare, and there is nothing fancy about it. But what they have is simply good food made with good stuff. Cafe 116 uses organic breads from the Falls Baking Company, and Jenny, the food person, says that she tries to use local and seasonal ingredients as much as she can. “The Union” sandwich with roast beef, gorgonzola and horseradish ($5.95 full/$3.75 half) is so delicious. Spicy shrimp and sausage gumbo ($5.45 bow/ $3.45) is spicy yet well balanced. (Something I miss about the South is a goo d bowl of gumbo, and I think I will go to the Cafe 116 on many Tuesdays to come..!) Sesame noodle salad and sugar snap peas ($4.95 lg/ $2.95 sm) is flavorful yet not too sweet or oily. Reuben sandwich was yummy (not as yummy as The Union, but still very good). Oh, and the potato salad is more vinegar and less mayo - so tasty and again, really well balanced with right amount of saltiness, sourness, and green onions. Creme brulee ($4) was also the best I have eaten in the area - not too thick or eggy, very smooth , and real vanilla bean speckles! An order of Beignets ($2.75 for 4 small triangles) make a very good afternoon snack or dessert for sharing.

As you can see the price is nice, too! You can order about 5-6 things between 2 people and not pay over $25. Plus I hear the breakfast items are great as well. And they also have a small but nice wine list and good beer selection.

I just wish this place was closer. But then..it gives me a very good excuse to drive down the highway and see my wonderful friends in Fergus Falls! I highly recommend anyone visit this place whenever you are in Fergus Falls or on the way to Minneapolis.

Cafe 116: 116 South Union Avenue, Fergus Falls, MN (Phone: 218-998-3780)

Downtown Fargo now has a new pizza place - and it’s got good, cheap pizza, too!

Spicy Pie is a new pizza restaurant on the corner of 4th Ave N. and Broadway in downtown Fargo, where a.k.a. men’s clothing store used to be.  That corner has been under construction for a while, and then I saw it buzzing with people just a few days ago. It was closed on Sunday, so I checked it out today (Monday, May 24, 2010) with my husband.

First of all - it’s not a fancy or gourmet pizza restaurant, although the interior is quite nice with the brick walls and cool tables. There are a lot of TVs, too. Their menu is pretty simple: you can order either pizza by the slice or create your own whole pizza with basic toppings (sausage, salami, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, olives, green peppers, onions, mushrooms, pineapples, green and black olives, jalapenos, and anchovies).  They also offer a few sandwiches (”grinders”), tacos, and tostadas. That’s all. Oh, and a few beers on tap (Blue Moon, Flat Tire, etc.), cocktails and mixed drinks, and some wine options. You order and pay for your food at the counter, then get your number, and the server brings your food to your table in about 5 minutes.

At first I was quite disappointed that they did not have pizza margherita or any special pizzas with unusual toppings. So I ordered a slice of pizza with onion and pepperoni. My husband ordered a slice with pepperoni, mushrooms, and black olives and another with japaleno and sausage. And we were both pleasantly surprised at the quality of the pizza. The dough was thin in the middle and fluffy at the edge. It was very tasty without being oily or soggy at all. Also the tomato sauce was very simple and  delicious - it’s like smeared whole tomatoes on the dough rather than a thick sauce with dried herbs and other ingredients. It was not salty or grossly sweet. I loved it! (They had a lot of big cans of “Alta Cucina” tomatoes on display: this is a canned plum tomato for restaurants.) The only quibble was that the sausages were too big, and they were more like meatballs. However everything else was far better than any other pizzas we have eaten in this area, except Stella’s. I even went back for dinner and got a slice of mushroom and onion. The onions were sprinkled more evenly than what I had for lunch.

And the best part is the price. A slice of pizza with tomato and cheese for $2! Additional toppings are only 25 cents each. The slices are quite big as you can see in my picture. Canned soda is $1. I am sure the beer and cocktails are priced nicely as well.

Usually great things are not cheap, and Spicy Pie is no exception. Their great pizza at a very low price comes with a small problem - they serve everything on a paper plate, and there is no real silverware in the restaurant besides the cooking tools. I would be happy to pay $1 more if that would help them serve on a real plate. I mean, it would still cost only $4 to get a big slice of pizza with four toppings..!! According to an excerpt from InForum, this is a “New York style pizza restaurant” opened by a company in Minot, N.D.

Anyways. Within just a few days of opening, this restaurant seems to have attracted quite a lot of young people and families. It was packed both at lunch time and dinner time today. Their website is www.fmspicypie.com, but there is nothing up yet.

Open from 11am - 11pm on Monday-Thursday

Open from 11am - 2am on Friday and Saturday/ Sunday closed

One more thing to love about downtown Fargo, I would say.

(P.S. Yuki Hana is open and Chef Sheng is happily working there. I visited once and was happy with his sushi rolls, but I am still not a big fan of their kitchen. I will report after I visit again, with my camera.)

Stella (Formerly Isabella) - 608 1st Ave. (close to Broadway) 701-365-0608

Stella’s is my (and my husband’s) favorite choice for Italian food and pastas, period. Their Ravioli, Pappardelle alla Bolognese, Spaghetti puttanesca (all $13), Rigatoni con porcini ($18), Seafood spaghetti ($21) are all very delicious and reasonably priced. I know they use San Marzano whole tomato cans for their tomato sauce, which makes a big difference. (I persuaded Tony to sell me a can once and made a great Bolognese sauce with it!) Their strengths as a restaurant are how well they do the simple things - the basic pasta dishes and simple tomato sauce that make or break any Italian kitchen.  Chefs here are not afraid of using a lot of garlic, and Stella’s pasta dishes are never salty or soggy. All dinner pasta dishes come with marinated vegetable appetizer, bread, and salad. Be aware that the service can be very slow, and the owner has a “personality.” Oh, and for their food the wine list is a bit sad. But the word is out - today (Monday, May 17th) I reserved a table for Friday (the day before the marathon) at 7pm, and already the restaurant was almost totally reserved for marathoners and carb-loading parties!

Toscana - 202 Broadway N. 701-235-9100

A lot of dishes here tend to be salty these days. (It was not the case when they just opened, but it has become that way and I don’t like it as much as I used to), but all the pasta dishes are reasonably priced and some of them are still pretty good. My husband likes their gnocchi, and I like their Piselli e prosciutto pasta. Their Arrabbiatta used to be good, but these days it’s too salty and too spicy for my taste. Also their shrimps (in any dish) tend to be too watery. Service is better than Stella’s.

Spitfire- 1660 13th Ave E. West Fargo. 701-478-8667

This restaurant is mainly a rib/roasted chicken joint, but 5-6 pasta dishes are on the menu. (BTW- their ribs are the best in town, if you would rather eat protein than carb.) My husband and I have tried their Diablo pasta with sausage, chicken and shrimp a few times, and it’s cheesy, peppery and tasty. Big portions, and satisfactory taste. Not anywhere near being “authentic Italian” but it’s good. Through many trips, I have not been disappointed at this restaurant, except getting a sad salad once. This would be actually a good restaurant to go after you run a marathon.

Granite City - 1636 42nd Street S. 701-293-3000

It’s been a while since I ate at GC, as they took some things I liked off the menu and their food tends to taste as if it comes frozen or pre-cooked, but a lot of people seem to like this restaurant. This place has 7-8 pasta choices on the menu, and almost all of them are parmesan or pesto-based. I recall trying a seafood pasta special, and it was not bad. Good beer selection and nice atmosphere.

Santa Lucia

This claims to be a “Mediterranean” restaurant. I ate at this place a while ago once, and today I went back to check out again. Spaghetti with bolognese sauce and meatballs (about $13, salad separate at $2.95) was not good at all. It had a very strange canned tomato paste flavor and was really salty, with very dry meatballs. Their Penne Arabbiata with shrimp ($14.95) was better, but it was also on the salty side. Both dishes were gigantic. You can probably go to this restaurant when you don’t want to go to Olive Garden/ when other restaurants are full.  I suspect that the Greek dishes on their menu would be more successful.

There are a few other non-chain restaurants with pasta menu, but I have not eaten their pasta dishes:

Sarello’s is a very nice Italian restaurant in Moorhead (28 Center Ave. Moorhead, 218-287-0238), but the only pasta dishes on their menu are Lobster Ravioli ($24) and Penne Arrabiatta. ($17)

Basie’s is also a nice restaurant inside the Ramada Plaza Suite. (1635 42 St. S. 701-281-7105) I have eaten their steak and fish dishes, and they are what you expect from this kind of restaurant. It would not be my first choice of restaurant, but it has nice service, good food, and good menu. They feature 5 very interesting pasta dishes. (Thai red curry sauce on Linguini with crab and mussels/ gorgonzola cream sauce over linguini to name a few)

Doolittle’s - 2112 25th Street S. 701-478-2200

Doolittle’s pastas all have Alfredo-type sauce, so I have never ordered a pasta dish here. But their food is usually quite good, and the portions are big. Oh, and their kitchen is open until 11pm, which is a bit later than the norm for Fargo-Moorhead.

Lastly, Speak Easy is a locally owned restaurant in Moorhead with an extensive pasta menu and a cute, old-fashioned deco. However their food is not something that I would recommend highly. Their spaghetti with meatballs was only marginally better than Olive Garden or other not so high-quality chain restaurants.

Well, good luck to everybody who’s running! I hope it will be warmer than last year!

Kimchi is probably the most well known and widely misunderstood Korean food. If you have ever tasted really good home-made, well-ripe kimchi, you know that it’s not something just smelly or awfully spicy. Most popular and widely eaten kimchi is Paechu-Kimchi made with Napa cabbage, sliced radish, and seasonings (salt, fish sauce or other kinds of seafood stuff depending on the regional taste, red pepper powder, garlic, green onion, ginger, sugar, etc.) Good kimchi is has balanced taste of sourness, crunchiness, spiciness, saltiness, and it’s very sexy! Think of it as a spicy and more glorious version of Saurkraut.

You can make so many kinds of yummy dishes using kimchi - kimchi fried rice, pancakes, noodles, and even spaghetti! I plan to write more details about Kimchi and its history some other time, but today I am going to tell you how to make a very simple kimchi soup (”jigae” or “zigae”)

Kimchi jigae with canned tuna [Chamchi Kimchi Jigae]

There are probably as many Kimchi jigae recipes as there are moms and cooks in Korea. You can make this dish with various kinds of meat (canned tuna, pork belly, canned pike, canned mackerel, clams, bacon) and different types of soup stock. Methods varies a lot as well. (Stir fry meat first and then pour water, put everything in a pot and simmer for a long time, season the meat beforehand, cook the meat with kimchi, etc.). Chong-Ga brand’s un-cut kimchi is the best you can get at grocery stores. Un-cut kimchi is made with the whole head of napa cabbage, and you should cut it yourself before eating. If you can’t find it, get the store manager’s recommendation or a pick a jar that still has some liquid in it and has a faint sour smell to it. Kimchi jigae needs kimchi that’s ripe, not too “young.” If kimchi tastes too salty without much sourness, you may add some rice vinegar. Don’t buy small kimchi jars sold at regular grocery stores as they don’t taste good and they are so overpriced.

Ingredients:

About 2 cup (400g) cut Kimchi, mixed with 0.5 Tb sugar and 0.5 Tb sesame oil (See the picture above!)

1 can of Dong-Won brand’s Kimch Jigae Tuna. You can find it at any Korean grocery store. If you can’t find it, use any canned tuna (4.5 oz) in olive oil, and use 1.5 cans/ put a bit more seasonings and red pepper powder.

1/2 Onion, thinly sliced

1 Tb Canola oil (or any oil that has not a lot of flavor. If you want some more kick, use the Korean style chili oil.)

2-3 cups water (enough to cover kimchi, but not too watery) It’s more tasty if you use soup stock made with dried anchovies and dried kombu (”tashima” in Korean), but water is fine.

1/2 organic firm tofu, thinly sliced

0.5 Tb Korean pepper powder/ 2 strips green onion, chopped/ Soy sauce or Kimchi juice (from the jar)  to taste

(Optional: 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced)

How To Make

1) Heat the canola oil in the stainless steel sauce pan (2 quart) or Le Creuset (2 quart) type of pot. Stir fry kimchi for about 3 minutes, on medium heat, until softened a bit.

2) Put water. Then put the onion and canned tuna. Close the lid and cook with medium-low heat for about 10 minutes.

3) Open the lid and cook until the onions are soft and jigae smells good. Then arrange tofu slices around the pot and put 0.5 Tb of the red pepper powder in the middle of the tofu circle. (Add garlic with the pepper powder, if you are using.) Spoon some soup over the tofu slices and gently push them down so that they sits below the surface.

4) Cook until tofu is warmed through, about 2 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning either with kimchi juice or a bit of soy sauce.

5) Put the sliced green onion and cook about 30 seconds more and then serve!

This soup with a bowl of rice makes such a quick and comforting dinner. Enjoy~ (Hmingi, I hope you like it! :))

My good friend Hmingi wanted to know how to make the chili oil I mentioned in my previous posting “Jihye’s Spicy Sesame Noodles” (http://jihyechang.com/wisdom/2009/11/27/jihyes-spicy-sesame-peanut-noodle)

Szechuan style chili oil is made with hot peanut oil and dried chili seeds or flakes. However we make chili oil with dried chili powder (”Gochugaru,” 고추가루) and garlic in Korea. Korean style chili powder is very different from “chili powder” that you would use for chili soup, so make sure you get it from a Korean grocery store! I also like to add a bit of grated ginger and salt. There are a few different methods for making the chili oil, but my favorite method is photographed above.

Here’s what you need:

1 cup oil (Canola or Sunflower seed)

4 TB Korean chili powder or powdered chili (Gochugaru), 4 cloves garlic, minced/ 0.5 ts grated ginger/ a pinch of salt

And this is how you make:

1) Heat up the oil in a small sauce pan - hot enough, but not smoking hot. I usually heat it up until the surface of the oil gets a bit shimmery. If the oil’s too hot, it will burn the chili powder. If it’s not hot enough, it will not release much flavor from the other ingredients.

2) Line a big strainer (as in the picture) with a kitchen towel. In a small bowl, mix the chili powder, garlic, salt, and ginger carefully. You don’t have to mix it thoroughly. Put the chili powder mixture over the strainer.

3) Prepare a heat-proof bowl underneath the strainer.

4) Pour the hot oil evenly and slowly over the chili powder mixture. If the chili oil comes through the strainer too slowly, wait a little bit and then pour again.

5) Cool completely and store in a glass jar.

This oil is great for making the best Kimchi fried rice and other yummy Korean foods. I will post something about Kimchi and Kimchi-related recipes soon!

Recently Konkuk University area in Seoul saw a lot of commercial development, including the glitzy Lotte department store and Tower Palace.  With a large university, a few apartment complexes, a big department store, a mega movie theatre, and hundreds of other retail stores, this is one of those busy-traffic areas in Seoul. (Other examples: Dongdaemun market area, Myungdong, and Gangnam station area) Because of the enormous amount of traffic, many of the restaurants in these areas are not that great, and the same effect holds for coffee. However there are always a few gems in these areas, and Choi-Ga Coffee is one of these gems.

Choi-Ga means “Family name Choi”. And yes, the owner of this cafe is Mr. Choi. But “Ga” could also mean “Beauty” in Chinese characters with the same pronunciation as “Family name.” So Choi-Ga has another meaning, the most beautiful, or the best of the best.

This coffee shop has been open since July 28, 2008. Mr. Choi used to work in the hotel business - he worked for the best hotel in Seoul for 20 years as a restaurant manager, development manager, and education consultant. Because he was in the restaurant business at a premium hotel, he got into the world of freshly brewed coffee and espresso early on (before the coffee boom in Korea began), and making and drinking good coffee has been his hobby for a long time.

I found out about this cafe from a Korean blog (http://blog.naver.com/joowoo5?Redirect=Log&logNo=40062426860) last year and befriended the owner while I was visiting Seoul in December 2010. This cafe has been very popular among the locals and students of Konkuk University as well as some who visit from farther away.  Mr. Choi roasts coffee beans at the cafe, using the “Proaster” machine made by the Korean company “Tae-Hwan.” His espresso machine is Gaggia. I personally like the drip coffee much more than any espresso drinks here. Mr. Choi personally makes hand-drip coffee for every single order, and he prepares the strength according to the customer’s preference. (Mild, Medium, and Strong)

Choi-Ga cafe also serves very nice waffles and ice cream. I find waffles to be a very puzzling fad in Korea, especially among the young girls. I never understood the fascination with this - Korean girls do not eat waffles as a breakfast, but they have become popular as a fancy dessert or pass-time snack. Waffles are often decorated with fruits, caramel or chocolate syrup, scoops of ice cream and whipped cream and can have a price tag as high as 12,000 won. (about $11-12) Considering a good meal costs about $5-8, this does not make any sense to me. But somehow young girls go crazy about eating waffles.

Just to make sure I wasn’t missing something amazing about waffles (!), I ordered waffles at three different coffee shops - once at a very big chain (Caffee Bene. This one served below-average coffee and undercooked, soggy waffles), once at a coffeeshop near Sejong University, and once at Choi-Ga cafe. The nut-waffles with blueberry ice cream at Choi-Ga cafe were very tasty and well-prepared. (Small nut-waffle with ice cream is 6500 Won and large size is 11000 won)

I asked Mr. Choi what his coffee “philosophy” is, and his answer was this:

“Coffee is honest. What you put into the cup is what you taste. If you make a cup of coffee with the best beans you have and best skills you can produce, that cup will taste good. I try to make every cup to be the best I can.” And I have the feeling that his philosophy will continue to please many more coffee-craving customers in that busy subway area.

How to get there: Take subway line 6 or 2, and get off at the “Konkuk University” station. Take exit #2. Walk toward the Sejong University direction for about 150m. When you see “Rainbow Glasses” store, turn left. Walk about 60-70m, and it’s on your left side. Look for “최가커피” sign on a wooden panel.

Phone: 02-465-7998

Pricing: Drip coffees: around 4500Won-6000Won, depending on the beans you choose/ Espresso drinks: around 3500 Won - 5000 Won

(From left: Gochu-jang, Toban Dian, Sriracha Sauce, Thai Sweet Chili Sauce, Taiwanese chili paste with garlic and oil, and Tabasco chili sauce. Bottom: a tube of sweet and sour gochu-jang for cold noodles - in-flight meal, Korean Air, from Seoul to Chicago)

I used to get a bit frustrated and a bit annoyed whenever a recipe called for “chili sauce” or “hot sauce” without explaining or specifying WHAT KIND. And then there is the overwhelming confusion one gets in front of hundreds of red bottles at any Asian grocery store. After reading many cookbooks and cooking a lot with different types of chili sauces, I came to understand more about chili sauces in general and now have a few favorite brands and ideas to share. I have had the idea of writing about chili sauces for a long time and finally finished it today.

1. Korean Chili Sauce

Gochujang - This is more like a chili paste than sauce, made with dried chili powder, rice, fermented soy beans, and salt. Gochujang has thick, almost sticky texture and sweet soy bean flavor along with spiciness that kicks in slowly. This is the sauce that goes on top of Bibimbap, one of my friends’ favorite Korean food. Korean chefs use Gochungjang for all kinds of dishes - stir fried spicy pork (Doeji bulgogi), stir fried squid and octopus (Ojingeo bokkum & Nakji bokkum), all kinds of spicy stews (Zigae), spicy noodles and so on. Also very popular among Koreans (especially the younglings) is tokpokki, which is rice cake sticks, fish cakes, and vegetables simmered in sweet Gochujang sauce. It’s also good with plain rice (short grain rice, not Jasmine or long grain)and a few drops of sesame oil. Soonchang gochujang from Chung Jung Won brand is my favorite.

2. Chinese Chili Sauce

Toban-Djan (Chinese chili bean sauce)- This is the famous Szechuanese chili bean sauce (or chili bean paste) that’s used in Ma-Po tofu, Twice cooked pork, and other Szechuan style dishes. Lee Kum Kee brand is very good and trusted. This sauce is highly salty and has very strong fermented flavor. Stir-frying it in oil makes it more tasty and less smelly. Also you need to add some sugar, soy sauce, or Hoisin sauce to balance the flavor. This is different from Chili garlic sauce, which has more sour taste.

3. Other Asian Chili Sauce

Chili Garlic Sauce - This is coarse textured chili sauce with garlic that comes usually in a round plastic container with a green cap, from Huy Fong Foods. (There’s a rooster on the label.) You will see this in a lot of Vietnamese restaurants. It has very pungent and sour taste with lots of saltiness. I love putting it on top of Pho or anything that tastes bland. I prefer not to cook with it as it’s a bit messy.

Sriracha Sauce - More smooth type of chili sauce. This is sold in a tall tube with pointy tip. It’s used sometimes as a garnish on top of spicy tuna or other kinds of spicy sushi rolls. Sriracha has a cleaner taste compared to Sambal Oelek, and can be mixed with mayonnaise. I have only seen and used the Hui Fong Foods brand Srirach Sauce.

Sambal Oelek (Ground fresh chili paste) - This looks very similar to Chili garlic sauce and also comes in similar looking plastic jar, but with a golden label. I have never used it, but Huy Fong explains that it has only chili, not garlic.

Thai Sweet Chili Sauce - This is a really nice chili sauce that’s not too spicy and well balanced with pleasant sweetness. I love the Mae Ploy brand. Thai sweet chili sauce is wonderful as a dip for fresh spring rolls, mixed with a bit of lime juice. Fried chicken wings covered in this sauce are more often spotted in restaurants. About any fried food will go well with this sauce.

4. Chili in oil - Not exactly “sauce,” but still used a lot in Asian cooking. Thai style chili (or chili seeds) in oil is sometimes used as a dipping sauce ingredient and sometimes as a tom-yum ingredient. Mae Ploy and Pantainorasingh are good brands. Japanese Ra-Yu (or La-Yu) comes in a very small container, and it’s great for making spicy mayonnaise along with Shichimi (Japanese 7 spice mixture). I like the S& B brand. Korean food also uses a lot of chili flavored oil, usually sesame chili oil. Haeorum brand makes very flavorful chili sesame oil. Taiwanese chili paste in oil is used mainly as a dipping sauce ingredient for hot-pot. There’s also pickled chili used for Szechuan/Sichuan “fish flavored” dishes, and I have a bottle from my mother in law in the fridge. I will post something when I have enough courage to open it and cook with it..

6. American/Western Chili Sauce -”Hot Sauce”

Chili sauces are often called for Cajun cooking or for Buffalo wing kind of recipes in American cookbooks. Also these sauces are used as base of BBQ sauces. I think Asian chili sauces are more complex in flavor and not always sour while American hot sauces are always vinegar-salt based and often scorching-hot. Tabasco sauce seems to be the most commonly found and used, but I personally adore the Cholula Chile sauce with wooden cap. (Cholula is great on top of omelet or buritto.) I also like to add a few drops of Tabasco sauce in my tomato meat sauce. My husband loves pouring the Tabasco over his pizza and blister his lips. There are so many kinds and brands of chili/hot sauces with different level of hotness - they will kick your taste buds, numb your tongues, and make you cry!

Whoa. I think that’s about it. I am now going to make some spicy tuna rice ball with shichimi, mayonnaise, chili oil, and some sriracha sauce!

This is one of Ben’s favorite snacks, especially in the summer. My mom used to make it whenever I and my brother and sister were hungry and she did not have enough time to make a full meal. Somen is very thin wheat noodle, and it’s sold usually in a large packet with 8-10 bundles each tied with paper strip. This dish is super easy to make and only takes about 10 minutes. And it is so tasty! If you have some left over rice and a can of tuna, you can serve it with some rice balls as well. (I will post a recipe for that soon.)

Mom’s Summertime Somen Noodle

Ingredients

2 sticks somen noodle (Japanese or Korean thin wheat noodle, labeled as “Somen” or “Thin noodle”)

Dressing: 2 TB Soy Sauce, 3TB seasoned rice vinegar (such as Marukan), 3/4 TB toasted sesame oil (such as Kame or Baeksul brand) - mix together. If you have plain rice vinegar, sprinkle one pinch of sugar when you mix the dressing with the noodle.

1 clove garlic, minced/ 2 stems green onion (green part only), chopped/ black pepper

How to Make

1) Boil the noodle according to the package. Drain and wash with cold water. (Swish with chopsticks while boiling in order to prevent the noodles from sticking)

2) Pour the dressing and top with garlic and green onion. Mix thoroughly with chopsticks. Sprinkle a bit of black pepper.

3) Enjoy!

Tip: here is how I cook my Somen noodles.

Boil the noodle with a pinch of Kosher salt -> put the noodle in when the water starts rolling -> when it boils again, pour some cold water -> boil again ->pour cold water -> boil again and then drain/ wash.

The 10th Fargo Film Festival opened today and it will continue until the 6th. (Check out http://www.fargotheatre.org/) I have lived in the Fargo-Moorhead area for almost 3 years now, and I want to share some of my favorite things in this place with whoever is visiting town for this wonderful event. (I hope this will be useful for any future visitors, too.)

1) Enjoy more culture - Fargo has so much culture especially for its size - classical music, jazz, theater, musicals, visual arts, and so on. There are wonderful organizations such as the FM Symphony Orchestra, Fargo-Moorhead Opera, Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, and Theatre B to name a few. Three colleges (Concordia, Minnesota State University-Moorhead, and North Dakota State University) all have their own arts calendars, packed with orchestra concerts, band concerts, chamber music concerts and theater productions. Pop and rock events go on at the Fargodome and the Civic Center. High school productions are also very high quality and vital to the community. There are also several dance schools.

General Event Calendar can be found at the Culture Pulse Page: http://fmarea.culturepulse.org/ This is a page where anybody can upload information on any cultural event, but it is not entirely thorough.

FM Symphony: Master Works Series, Family Concerts, and Chamber Music Series http://www.fmsymphony.org/

FM Community Theatre: boasting 12 productions a year, this theater works with local talents and schools. http://www.fmct.org/

MSUM’s Cheryl Nelson Lossett Performing Arts Series: Performances ranging from Ladysmith Black Mombazo to the Guthrie Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. http://www.mnstate.edu/perform/

Concordia Performing Arts Series: Another great performing series at a great price. http://www.cord.edu/Offices/Cultural/performingarts.php

FM Opera: Celebrating its 41st season this year with La Traviata, La Boheme and Amahl and the Night Visitors. http://www.fmopera.org/

Here is my personal invitation for this week: a fascinating presentation of abstract aesthetics in artwork and chamber music is scheduled for Thursday evening, March 4, at 7:30pm on the Gaede Stage at MSUM. Featuring the 8th Street Quartet of the FM Symphony and two guest musicians from the St. James-St. Benedict Universities.

2) Browse Downtown - Walking along Broadway is a joy. There are so many beautiful galleries and precious shops. Here are some of my favorite spots on Broadway (and a few off-Broadway as well) starting from 6th Ave N. down to Main Ave.

Beyond Running: a cozy and serious running store that’s a big part of the Fargo Marathon. They have a regular Tuesday running club and other activities such as marathon training and yoga classes. Nice shop to browse through, too.

FunkyJunque - this is a very pretty shop. It’s like a picture from Mark Bailey’s “Simple Home” came alive. This store has charming accent cushions (felt cushion adorned with leather, saying things like “brrrrr”), a surprisingly good collection of blouses and sleep-shirts, cute gift tags and white colored plates, and other home-furniture items.

Zandbros Variety - a bookstore/gift shop, featuring an interesting collection of books (good cookbook collection, too), funny cards, cool jewelry items, bath stuff, plates, and a few clothes and bags. It’s a great store for getting gifts, girls and boys alike.

Lena K - this store has lots of pretty tops by designers such as Vince and Rebecca Taylor, designer jeans, flowing and sexy dresses, and several Juicy Couture items. Price is on the high side, but there are always some really nice sale items. If you find your size, it’s your lucky day! I also like their small jewelry collection.

O’Day Cache - this jam-packed store recently expanded to accommodate a lot of furniture from China, including some very cool antique tables and beds. It’s a good store to go to if you need a gift but can’t come up with a good idea. This store also sells Vosges chocolate, which I love, at a reasonable price. *Majority of the items on sale come from China, so many of them are not the best quality. But still pretty and fun.

Shannalee - another store with great and fun gift items. Clothes are a little bit over-priced and not my favorite style, but this store carries really cute T-shirts saying “I (love) Fargo.” * This store, Lena K, and O’Day Cache are totally girlie stores. If I were a guy, I would feel a bit out of place walking into these stores.

Boucle - a boutique-type yarn store that is just beautiful to browse through. I don’t knit, but I went to get some things for my sister in law who does. * Since I don’t knit, I have no idea if this shop is a high-end shop or over-priced, etc.

Ecce Gallery - relatively new gallery that also houses a yoga studio. They feature local artists as well as commercial items by Alessi and Jonathan Adler. I like the way this gallery feels, and I love the fact that there are things that I can actually BUY!

Plains Arts Museum - this small but beautiful arts museum is located a few blocks west of Broadway on 1st Ave N. The 1st floor has a small Yamaha grand piano, and quite a few concerts happen here. Museum gift shop is also nice.

Fargo Public Library - a few blocks off from the Broadway, east on the 1st Ave N. This newly completed library has a wonderful bright and fun feeling to it, and is a very friendly place for anybody who likes libraries and books. There is also a Dunn Bros. cafe inside the library that has free Wi-Fi!

Vlana Vlee - another shop that opened recently. It’s a glitzy+girly shop with amazing quantity of “stuff” -all kinds of stuff ranging from baby-shower gifts to a chunky dinner table. It’s a fun store to browse.

Antique on Broadway - this is a huge store filled with antiques (and some items that just look old).  Fun place to look around. I recently popped in because a very long train was passing by, and I could not stand in the freezing air any more! I ended up browsing for about 30 minutes, and bought really cute copper water wagon figurine that now complements one of my mantel-top picture frames as well as a salt and pepper shaker, all for $6.

Off-Broadway, please come visit the Roberts Street Chapel on the corner of 4th Ave and Roberts Street. Marjorie Schlossman’s artwork will brighten up even your gloomiest day!

P.S. The West Acres Mall Area is not that special (it’s just like any other mall in small and medium sized cities in the States), but there is a special shop called “Stabo” inside the West Acres shopping center. I fell in love with Porsgrund (Norwegian bone china company) in this store, and they also carry other European gift-items including key-chains by Troika. (They are the best!)

3) EAT! - Please see my posts about Fargo’s restaurants.

http://jihyechang.com/wisdom/2009/04/10/my-favorite-restaurants-in-fargo-moorhead-area/

http://jihyechang.com/wisdom/2009/06/28/fargos-newest-excitements/

4) Have fun - I am not a person who goes clubbing or drinks much, but I know that the HoDo has a good night scene. Also there is a multiplex on 25th Street south of Main Ave. called “The Hub” - that place gets packed during the weekends. Also downtown has many bars and jazz-concert clubs. For families, there is the Red River Zoo (have not visited but people seem to like it).

In the middle of July, Broadway goes crazy with the Street Fair - endless carts selling hand-made jewelries, artworks, small furniture items, clothes, foods, etc. I did not get to see it in my first summer, but I enjoyed it immensely last year. If you are in town during the summer, it’s a must-see!

Moorhead has an interesting place called the “Hjemkomst Heritage Center.” It looks like the white sails of a big ship, and I thought it was an actual Viking museum.  Instead, it’s  a memorial that permanently stores the Hjemkomst Viking Ship built by Moorhead resident Robert Asp and his family. They sailed to Norway on this ship in 1984. There is also a replica of Hopperstad Stave Church in Vik, Norway outside the center. This church is used often as a wedding chapel. During the summertime, the center hosts a Scandinavian festival and a Viking festival, and there are yearly exhibitions and special events.

Oh, and there is a Curling Club (!!!!!!) by the Fargo North High School, and people do snow-mobiling, ice-fishing and hockey during the winter time. There is even a street-side hockey rink on the 12th Ave N. I still remember the first time I saw several kids playing a game in -20F weather. It was like watching a scene from “The Saddest Movie in the World.” It was so cool.

Also people have told me that there are so many beautiful lakes within a 2 or 3 hours of Fargo-Moorhead.  I must experience it this summer.

Well, I think I will now go check out the Fargo Film Festival schedule and see which ones I enjoy the most.

Anyways. Buam-dong is the “Seo-rae-maul” of the Gangbook (northern part of the Han River). There are so many little coffee shops and restaurants in this quiet area near Bookak mountain. Club espresso began the trend a few years back, but that coffee shop has lost its touch. Instead I found a newer gem called “Dropp” - a cafe near the Buam-dong office with minimal decoration and sophisticated atmosphere that serves small batch roasted organic coffee.

Young baristas working here seem to be very well trained, and I really loved their espresso macchiato. Silky smooth, sweet, and well balanced. Their drip coffee is also superb.

To go here: Take the subway line #3 (orange line). Get off at the “Gyungbok-gung” station. Go out exit # 3. Walk about 10 meter, and then wait for a bus. Take bus 7022, 7018, 0212,1020 and take off in front of the Buam dong office. The Dropp is on the right side of the three way fork, and it’s near the “Bom” photography shop.