thOrough living * Li Li: November 2008

Breadsticks

About this series "Gourmet: Homemade Bread Pizza Pasta":
I do almost all the cooking in our home, I love it. K's interest and expertise in cooking lies in dough-related food only. So when making bread, pasta, pizza from scratch (no bread machine), K and I do it together- and I love it too. This series is about dough-rich/carb-rich food we made together.

Breadsticks:
Breadsticks can be totally crunchy or crunchy on the outside and soft inside, and can have different flavor coatings. Great as an appetizer or a healthy snack. It's elegant looking and fun to eat, guests love them when entertaining.

(If you have kids, get them involved in making the breadsticks, should be fun.)

We wet the breadsticks with damp paper towel, then coated them 6 ways:
black sesame+sea salt,
white sesame+sea salt,
paprika+thyme+sea salt,
coconut+sugar,
lavender+sugar,
cinnamon+sugar,

Bake 10-15min on a preheated tray @400F preheated oven, depending on the thickness of the sticks and personal preference for crunchiness. Flip side once halfway into baking.

Cinnamon Rum Raisin Bread

Japanese Rice Balls with Persian and French Influence

Traditionally, Japanese rice balls are often fully wrapped in seaweed sheets or "naked" (for grilling). Here is my version:

My twists: fusion with Persian and French cuisine
I cooked the rice with raisins and pine nuts, borrowing idea from Persian cuisine; shaped the rice with Japanese triangle rice ball mold; and wrapped them up with spinach, borrowing idea from a French home cooking style dish-- spinach sauteed with raisins and pine nuts.

All these fusion started with insufficient supply of spinach on hand to make a separate salad or sauteed dish that day, and a craving for rice balls. When the idea "cooked up" in my mind, I knew the mixture of tastes could not go wrong, and presentation potential got me curious and really excited.

I exposed the rice partially to show the raisins and pine nuts, also to contrast rice white with spinach green. I contrasted bright green of the spinach stems with the darker green leaves, and overlapped some stems onto the leaf for texture. And finally the pink root for another contrast.

Recipe:
1 cup Japanese short grain rice
1 1/4 cup water
2 tbs raisins
2 tbs pine nuts
1/2 tsp kosher salt
a few pieces of spinach

Rice:
Toast pine nuts on medium heat for 7 min or until slightly browned.

Mix toasted pine nuts, raisins, rinsed rice, kosher salt and water
into a pot, bring to boil on medium high. Then turn down to low, let it simmer for 12min. Turn off heat. Leave stand covered for 15min.

To mold and wrap with spinach, wait till rice is no longer hot, just warm or cooled.

Spinach:
In a separate pot, cook spinach in boiling salted water for 1 min. Take spinach out, and put it into cold water to cool. (This process cooks spinach and retains its bright color.) Squeeze water out from spinach carefully, open the leaves carefully and lay flat on paper towel.

Shaping/Modling:
I use mold bought from Mitsuwa Japanese Market, the mold makes rice balls of about 3" triangular sides and 2" high. For the 1 cup rice, it yields 4 rice balls with this mold.

(It's important to use a mold so that the rice is properly pressed and stays in shape. I tried to shape it with hands like making sushi, did not work well. For rice balls, get the mold.)

Wrapping:
Wrap spinach around rice balls, leave rice partially exposed, overlap stems partially onto leaf part.

Note: This dish can be served either warm, or cooled (but not refridgrated overnight).

Hiking @ Mohonk Preserve

About this series "New York Living- Nature & Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.

Mohonk Preserve
6,500 acres
100 miles of hiking trails

Location:
-- 90 miles northwest of Manhattan
-- in the Shawangunk Mountains

Mohonk Preserve, its adjacent neighbor Mohonk Mountatin House Resort, and Minnewaska State Park are the jewels in the Shawangunks. Every time we were there, we felt its beauty matches and even beats many far away world-famous sights. The Shawangunks' cliffs attract rock climbers from all over the world. You don't have to be a technical rock climber to enjoy it though. And if you live in New York state, but have never been to the gunks, it's a shame. Especially for my fellow cement jungle dwellers, come out here often! Trust me, it's beautiful, relaxing, thrilling and romantic here. And it's so close to home.

The slideshow below features some serious climbing on purely rocky terrain to reach the Bonticou Crag in the northern section of the preserve. The view from the top was of course rewarding. The second half of our hike was more like a stroll-- Northeast Trail to descent, then Clearwater Road to Farm Rd, finnally Table Rocks. This hike was one of the most fun hikes we had. (We took the Spring Farm entrance into the Preserve, followed the Crag Trail and Bonticou Road to the forest in front of Bonticou Crag.)

As its name suggests, Mohonk Preserve is a nature preserve and is supported by members and visitors.

Hiking @ Minnewaska State Park

Fagor Induction Burner: World Gourmet Tableside, Sleek and Modern

We bought this induction burner for Chinese hotpot/Japanese shabu-shabu, and turned out using it for many other dishes as well, like BBQ, fondue, French crepe, Spanish paella, Japanese sukiyaki, yakiniku and yakitori, Korean Bi Bim Bap, Chinese Shengjian (生煎包 seared buns)…all tableside! (Click image, then click "Slideshow" on left right corner for bigger view.)

For years, I had wanted a tabletop stove to make hotpot/shabu-shabu. Growing up, hotpot dinner was a very special occasion. My parents' two-in-one copper pot/stove had a quality look and was beautiful in every detail. Back then, this was unusual in China, no cookware seemed to care about design beauty. Now I wonder where my parents got it and what company made it. My Dad who normally does not cook actually took charge at hotpot dinners. He would fill and light up the charcoal in the middle of the pot. I would always watch excitedly and add a piece of “my” charcoal. The cookware, process, and food all were a part of my fond memory of hotpot dinners.

Now in our own home, however, I prefer the convenience of electric stove for hotpot. I tried to look for one, in the U.S. and during vacations in China, Singapore and Japan, all were disappointing. No matter electricity- or gas-powered, they either looked makeshift (raw and ugly) or just lacked style. Then my eyes lit up when the waiter brought over our shabu-shabu at Kougetsu restaurant in Tokyo. Loved the simple and clean-lined design of the stove! (See picture below.) We took down the brand name (Iwatani) and hunted the exact model down next day after searching a few stores. I hesitated at check out, reluctant to compromise on the inconvenience of gas cartridge. I gave it up, but still held on to my "dream" of finding a tabletop stove that met all my criteria for function, design and convenience.

A month after we got back home, a Sur La Table catalogue got me ecstatic. I saw a Fagor induction burner, modern, clean and sleek, perfect for hotpot! But does it use electricity? What does “induction” mean? I did some research online, during which I also found a Viking version at Williams Sonoma. Viking’s is 2.5 times more expensive than Fagor’s though ($500 vs $200). We like our Viking gas range oven. But for this piece, we prefered Fagor’s more stylish design. We went to check out both. At Williams Sonoma, the Viking piece had not yet arrived. At Sur La Table in Soho, not on shelf either! Upon our inquiry, sales girl Julia excitedly answered “Just arrived!” She brought one out from the back room and passionately explained its functions and features to us. We were sold and Julia exclaimed “You are our first customer for this burner!”

After I tried it with hotpot/shabu-shabu, I was very satisfied with its heating speed and sensitivity to heat adjustments, felt no difference to a gas stove. Why not cook other things with it too? Anything that is appropriate to cook and eat at the same time should work, or simply for the fun and warmth of bringing the process tableside. I cooked many dishes across various cuisines with it, on our dining table or kitchen/bar counter. My next dish with this burner? Korean or Chinese soft tofu soup! Mmmm, the bubbling hot, silky and spicy tofu stewed in an intensely flavorful stock.

I noticed Fagor’s tout about how this burner boils water in seconds and melts chocolate like a double boiler. While true, I won’t buy it just for these two purposes. I love it for its perfection in all aspects of function, design and convenience. In addition to what already mentioned, it’s safe—touches cold on the surface during cooking, and it even has a childproof lock button; it’s easy to clean—one flat surface. And according to Fagor’s website, it’s energy efficient compared with gas-powered or non-induction electrical burners.

Because of its induction feature, the pot/pan sitting on it needs to have 100% iron or steel bottom. Our Lodge cast iron pan works in perfect duo with it. For soup pot, we looked everywhere and every brand and could not find the perfect material/design/size combination. Eventually we found one—AllClad 3QT Cassoulet at Crate & Barrel. (We were told it was to be discontinued. It’s a shame!) For fondue, we had a Bodum fondue set. Before we had to ensure flamable gel supply, and after each use, clean the container and store the leftover gel. Now with the induction burner, we just put the Bodum fondue pot (stainless steel) on it. No hassle ☺

P.S.
Fagor makes a beautiful pressure cooker too. I would check it out if I had room for it in our kitchen ☺

For people who prize the actual flames of hotpot/shabu-shabu over the inconvenience of gas cartridge, I recommend the Iwatani model. It sells for about US$200 in Japan when we found it last year. It may not be available in the U.S.

Roasted Turkey Modern, Served 1+8+11 Ways (Part II)

In Part I, I described how I made a whole turkey in 1+8 ways: 1 base flavor through the brine, and 8 condiments.

Now in part II, I share how I created 11 dishes using the turkey leftover-- skin, meat & condiments, bones and brine. Refer to the slideshow for pictures.

Leftover Turkey Skin:
1. Crisp skin salad with arugala, Gala apple and Granny Smith apple. Drizzled with a simple dressing (olive oil, kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, lemon juice).

2. Skin roll: strips of turkey meat, cucumber, Granny Smith apple and chive wrapped in skin. Paired with 5 different spices/dressings: Japanese ponzu sauce with ginger, Japanese plum salt with wasabi powder, Mexican chiptole powder, Thai curry powder, Italian aged (10-year) balsamic vinegar.

Skin preparation:
Save some patches of the skin and store in the fridge. Next day, lay it flat in single layer and reheat in 350F oven. After 3 minutes, take it out to scrap off excess fat underneath. About 6 minutes in total heating time for skin used in the roll (soft enough to wrap), about 10 minutes total for the skin used in salad (for crunch and crispness). Pat with paper towel before mixing with other ingredients to absorb excess fat.

Leftover Turkey Meat:
3. Ravioli with meat, chiptole apple chutney and thyme.
The chutney: sautée minced shallot and minced gala apple with a little butter, add chiptole pepper to your liking.

Then just mix the chutney, thyme with minced leftover meat for the ravioli filling.

We often make ravioli from scratch. (Mario Batali’s Babbo Restaurant almost single handedly made me appreciate the difference between freshly made and dry pasta, and motivated me to make fresh pasta at home.) With the KitchenAid mixer, it’s very simple and fast to make the dough and press into pasta sheets.

Dough: about 1 1/4 cup flour+2 eggs+1/4 tsp olive oil (4 servings)

Roll the sheets to the thinness of setting 5 on pasta attachment. Then cut into 4 inch squares, place filling in the middle, fold and press into triangles. Boil in salted and boiling water for 2-3 minutes for al dente texture.

The three sandwiches pretty much used the leftover meat and condiments as is, except adding spiced roasted butternut squash and roasted Brussel sprouts. Sandwich filling combinations:
4. meat with orange ginger sage sauce, spiced butternut squash & wasabi almonds
5. meat with sesame Sichuan pepper, spiced butternut squash & kaffir lime cashew
6. meat with alder smoked salt, roasted Brussel sprouts, cranberry ginger apple sauce & maple and cayenne-glazed pecan

Spiced roasted butternut squash: cut squash into big pieces, roast @ 325F for about 60minutes or until soft, mash with a fork, mix at the following proportion:
1 pound squash
1/8 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Roasted Brussel sprouts: vertically halve the sprouts, boil in salted boiling water for 1 minute, rinse in cold water & drain, then roast @ 350F until soft. This process retains the bright green color. This process retains the bright green color.

Stock Made from Leftover Turkey Bones:
7. Spicy smoked turkey soup with wild rice
This dish was inspired by a smoked chicken soup with mushroom & wild rice at Pine Creek Cookhouse outside Aspen, CO. On a ski trip there, we rented a car for one day just to have dinner at this restaurant. Totally worthy of the hassle. It was a five course dinner and everything was delicious. But the most strikingly memorable turned out to be the soup, its smokiness and spicy kick. I have bought smoked chicken to recreate this dish at home. To create smoky flavor for the leftover turkey, I mixed alder smoked salt into the meat and stored it in fridge overnight. For spicy kick, I used cayenne pepper.

8. Udon noodle soup with stock, meat, king oyster mushroom, and Shungiku (Shungiku: an Asian chrysanthemum-family vegetable, has pleasant chrysanthemum
flavors).

Leftover Turkey Brine:
Store & Re-use the brine: Boil after each use, skim off the scum, let it cool, then freeze.

This brine is on the sweet side, works perfectly for turkey. But for other meats, suggest add more kosher salt. Two ways to do it: 1) add kosher salt into the brine leftover, and marinate meats in the more salted brine; or 2) marinate meat in the brine as is for a few hours, then take meat out, rub a thin layer of kosher salt (plus additional herbs/spices), dry marinate for another few hours.

9. Roasted duck using the leftover brine w/ added thyme.
The duck was also brined for one day, drained the following day and then roasted.

10. Cedar planked lamb chop using the leftover brine w/ added chipotle.
11. Cedar planked shrimp using the leftover brine w/ added Indian spicy masala.
For planking, suggest pre-soak the plank in water overnight. Put pre-soaked plank in roasting pan, add some water, then place meat on plank (water not to submerge the plank with meat on). Place the pan/tray in 350F oven & roast. (For lamb, sear sides on pan until browned before roasting.)

Roated Turkey Modern, Served 1+8+11 Ways (Part I)

Proud to present my roasted turkey modern, served 1+8 ways, plus 11 creative dishes using the leftover (skin, meat, bones, and even the brine). Click the image, then click "slideshow" button at upper left for bigger screen views.

Why it's modern?
1. The flavors.
2. The presentation.

Flavors:
The tradition of turkey with cranberry sauce is respected, with updated flavors-- I paired additional condiments reflecting the cornucopia of global flavors we get to enjoy in North America. My brine, based with Trader Joe's unsweetened and unfiltered 100% Gala apple juice, already gave the turkey a delicious flavor. Any of the eight condiments complimented well and added another layer of flavor. Hence, served 1+8 ways.

8 Condiments (5 homemade, 3 store-bought):
Home made:
<1> Cranberry sauce with ginger & apple
<2> Orange, ginger & sage sauce
<3> Mustard & orange sauce
<4> Sesame & Sichuan pepper mix
<5> Maple & cayenne pepper-glazed pecan
Bought from Trader Joe:
<6> Cashew with spicy chili & Kaffir lime
<7> Wasabi almond
Bought from Longo's in Canada:
<8> Alder smoked sea salt

Presentation:
Dinnerware, plating, and arrangement of black berry branches depict clean-lined simple elegance. (I picked up the branches during hiking in upstate NY.)

How I developed the recipe?
I have been invited to turkey-centric Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners since moving to the U.S. eleven years ago. Turkey meat always tasted tough and bland until I tried roasting a whole turkey myself. Brining made a lot of sense from my research of recipes. So I tried a maple syrup and lemon juice based brine. The bird turned out tender, moist and flavorful! I vowed to always brine turkey in the future. Brining enables the flavors to go deeply and evenly inside the meat, and adds moisture. In the second year, I tried apple cider based brine, another delicious success. Now the third year, a third kind brine.

From the two successes, I felt like sticking with a slightly sweet brine with good acidity balance. What else would have such balance? My recent chicken breast marinade creation came into mind-- Trader Joe's unsweetened and unfiltered gala apple juice with dried sage, chipotle pepper and kosher salt. It worked beautifully for chicken, should try it with turkey! I kept it 100% juice without dilution of water, just like the version tried with chicken. But I skipped chiptole pepper, and added black pepper, bay leaves and garlic. And why get stuck with only cranberry sauce for the ten pounds of meat?! Let me experiment with other dressings, sauces and nuts.

Hence this beautifully browned, sophisticatedly delicious turkey feast.

Thanksgiving is approaching. There are many things to be grateful for me and for us, one of them being cuisines of many cultures I get to enjoy in America and their inspiration to my cooking.

Recipes:

Apple Juice Brined and Glazed Turkey:
Needs to prepare 2 days ahead, 1st day brining in the fridge, 2nd day drying in the fridge, 3rd day roasting in oven.

Brine: (for 10-12 Ibs turkey*)
3 quarts Trader Joe’s unsweetened & unfiltered gala apple juice
1/2 cup kosher salt
1 ½ tbs black pepper corns, coarsely crushed:
6 pcs bay leaves
8 pcs garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp sage, dried
8 pcs sage, fresh

* Suggest using fresh turkey. Taste wise frozen and fresh may be the same. But fresh one saves the hassle of thawing it. We always get Shady Brook Farms' fresh turkey from Stew Leonard's in upstate NY.

Note: This brine can be saved to brine other meat and seafood in the future. See ideas here.

Glaze:
Boil ½ cup leftover brine in saucepan until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 15 minutes. Whisk in ½ tbs butter. Cool completely.

Day 1: Brining
1. Mix apple juice, kosher salt, pepper, bay leaves and dried sage in a large pot, bring to boil on medium high. Reduce to low, boil for 5 minutes. Cool completely, add garlic and fresh sage leaves.
2. Place turkey in a brining bag, pour in the cooled brine carefully. Close the bag. Refrigerate overnight.

Day 2: Draining & Drying
3. Drain turkey. Place turkey on a flat rack in a roasting pan. Refrigerate uncovered overnight. This allows excessive brine to drip and will make the skin crisp during roasting later. (The meat will still be juicy, tender and flavorful.)

Day 3: Roasting
4. Set rack at lowest position in oven; preheat to 325°F. Pour 3 cups of water into roasting pan, place turkey on rack, breast side down. Tie legs together with a kitchen twine. Tie wings closely to breast too. Place turkey pan into oven, loosely cover with foil and roast for one hour.
5. Take turkey out, brush with some glaze. Roast again for another 30min, loosely cover with foil.
6. Take turkey out, flip, so that the breast side is up and back side is town. Brush with some glaze. Roast for another 1.5hr or so (according to Shady Brook Farms' instruction on the packaging, the thickest breast part should reach 170F, thigh 180F. We did 165F for the breast, and it turned out fine.), glaze every 30min.

Note:
Browning: This brine and glaze makes browning easily. Check, adjust glazing frequency and cover with foil throughout if needed.

Stuffing: Suggest make stuffing separately. Stuffed turkey is difficult to flip and takes longer to roast.

Recipes for condiments:
Home made:
<1> Cranberry sauce with ginger & apple
Flavor: Sour, sweet and aromatic
3 oz apple, chopped
¼ tbs butter
2 tbs water
2 tbs sugar
1 tbs ginger, minced
6 oz fresh cranberry

Sautee apple with butter for 5-7 minutes, slightly browned but still juicy. Set aside.
Mix water, sugar, and ginger, bring to boil. Add cranberry. Simmer for 4 minutes.
Add sautéed apple, simmer for another minute.

Note: The pre-sautee of the apple, and very little use of water and short simmering time for the cranberry makes both fruits hold their shapes well. Thus creates a non-mushy sauce with texture.

<2> Orange, ginger & sage sauce
Flavor: Aromatic, sweet, tart with mild spicy kick
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
½ tbs fresh sage leaves, minced
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Mix all ingredients, bring to boil on medium heat. Then simmer on low for 5 minutes.

<3> Mustard & orange sauce
Flavor: sharp with slightly sweet undertone
1tbs Dijon mustard
1tbs orange juice
A few small whole mustard seeds (optional)
Mix Dijon mustard and orange juice, simmer for 5minutes. Sprinkle mustard seeds on top to add texture and garnish.

<4> Sesame & Sichuan pepper mix
Flavor: fragrant, spicy with tingly numbing sensation
Mix black sesame seeds (roasted, slightly crushed) and Sichuan pepper in proportion of 3:1. Adjust to your own tolerance of the numbness of the pepper.

<5> Maple & cayenne pepper-glazed pecan
Flavor: nutty, crunchy, sweet and spicy
1/3 cup Pecan
½ tbs maple syrup
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Mix all ingredients, let it sit for 2 hours. Roast in preheated 350F oven for about 25minutes, let it cool. Pecans usually roast within 15minutes, takes longer here because of the 2-hr marinating in the syrup.

Bought from Trader Joe's:
<6> Cashew with spicy Chili & kaffir lime
<7> Wasabi almond
Flavor: Both are nutty and crunchy, but with different spicy kicks

Bought from Longo's in Canada:
<8> Alder smoked sea salt
Flavor: earthy smokiness (use judiciously)

Cycling along the Dutchess Wine Trail

About this series "New York Living- Nature & Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.

Dutchess Wine Trail
Yes, there are vineyards and wineries near Manhattan, and not just in the Hamptons of Long Island. Dutchess County is one of the places. This album features scenery from our cycling trip near Millbrook Vineyards & Winery and Clinton Vineyards.

Vineyards are not a typical destination for Fall foliage viewing. But I find the withering winegrape leaves in Fall have much more sophistication and excitement in beauty than when lush green in Spring and Summer. We saw sheep along the trail too, and they are even cuter than those we saw in the countryside of Scotland and Cotswolds in UK. Our focus for this trip was cycling and gourmet sandwich picnic. We shall go back to taste their wines in the future, and of course, more leisure strolls along the vineyards, orchards and farms there.

(The wine trail in Dutchess county is about 90 miles from Manhattan. The highway leads there Taconic Parkway is quite scenic.)

Click image below and then click "Slideshow" on upper left corner of screen:

Bear Mountain State Park

Fall Foliage Hiking at Harriman State Park

About this series "New York Living- Nature and Countryside":
We often feel fortunate to live in Manhattan-- get to enjoy its rich cultural life and, with a short drive, beautiful nature. This series shares the nature and countryside near Manhattan that we like to visit/do outdoor sports.

Harriman State Park

Fall is our favorite season to go hiking in upstate NY. Even if the foliage is not perfect, to me, Fall adds more complexity and depth of colors to the leaves.

Yes, 2008 is another year without brilliant foliage, there are more dull brown and even the red and orange lack luster. But I am no longer disappointed. Since last year, I started to like the experience of discovering brilliant spots and splashes of autumn sense, and each image carries more stories of surprise, sensitivity and thrill than those taken in a good foliage year.

Harriman State Park:
46,613 acres
31 lakes
200 miles+ of hiking trails

Location:
-- 30miles north of Manhattan, in Rockland and Orange counties.
-- Borders the smaller Bear Mountain State Park on its northeastern edge.

Cedar Planked Lamb Chop with Ginger, Sesame and Sichuan Pepper

When I cedar planked salmon, trout, and chicken, I follow this procedure:
1. Pre-soak the plank in water overnight.
2. Place the pre-soaked plank in a tray of water, place fish/chicken on top of plank.
3. Put the watered tray into a cold oven, then turn it to 325F.

The water in the plank and in the tray adds moisture to the fish/chicken, making it tender. This time, I wanted to experiment on three fronts:

Try lamb.
Try preheating oven and at high temperature.
Try roasting without watered tray. (Pre-soak the plank overnight still.)

My experiment turned out very successful. But for fish, I'd still stick with cold oven & watered tray, because fish cooks more quickly and is more sensitive to moisture retention.

Here is my recipe for planked lamb chop with ginger, sesame and Sichuan pepper.

Recipe:
For the Lamb:
Rack of lamb, about 8oz/5 pieces of chops
1/8 tsp ginger powder
1 tbs minced fresh ginger, tightly fit
2 tbs fresh ginger, cut into thin strips
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil

For the Dressing:
Mix toasted black sesame (slight crushed to release fragrant) and Sichuan pepper in proportion of 3:1. You can adjust the proportion to your own liking, depending on how much numbing heat you can take from the Sichuan pepper.

I make a small jar of it, store in the fridge and dress roasted meat and salad with it.

1. Rub ginger powder and fresher ginger onto meat part of lamb rack. Sprinkle a thin layer Kosher Salt. Marinate overnight or at least 6 hours.
2. Preheat oven to 400F.
3. Brush minced ginger off lamb, rub a little olive oil around the meat, sear both sides on heated pan (almost smoking) on high, until browned.
5. Lay a bed of ginger strips on pre-soaked cedar plank, place seared lamb rack on top, put the plank into pre-heated oven.
6. Roast for 16-20minutes or until the inner meat part reaches 145F (for medium rare) on thermometer.
7. Take plank out from oven, loosely cover with foil, let it rest for 5 minutes. When ready to serve, sprinkle sesame & Sichuan pepper mix.

Wyoming: Surprisingly Great Food

Well, we were not surprised by the good food in Jackson. We were impressed on our Feb ski trip there. What surprised us this time was the good food inside Grand Teton National Park. Did not expect restaurants inside national park to be at gourmet level.

This album features three restaurants inside Grand Teton National Park (Jenny Lake Lodge Restaurant, Mural Room, Heron Lounge) and Snake River Grill in Jackson downtown.

Wyoming: Town of Jackson

After our whitewater rafting tour, we spent some time in the afternoon hanging around the town of Jackson and revisiting our ski trip hotel Spring Creek Ranch and the adjacent modern designed hotel Amangani. In the evening, we had another delicious meal at Snake River Grill (see next post).

Wyoming: Yellowstone National Park

Both Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Park are awe-inspiring. It's more obvious at Grand Teton-- the precipitous peaks are omnipresent, wherever you are in the park. If they are not right in front you, turn around and they are there to stun you. The awe-inspiringness of Yellowstone lies secretively underneath the ground. You don't feel it until you know how the beautiful and deadly hot springs/geysers are developed, how bacteria living in them have impacted our lives and what might happen to Yellowstone in millions of years.

Water is the designer at Yellowstone. Steam creates a fairytale and mythical setting, running and still water carries rainbow of colors and develops artistic textures into the mud.

Here is the album for Yellowstone part of our trip:
(For bigger slideshow, click image below and click "slideshow" at upper left corner.)

thOrough living * Li Li