Going Bananas-1.1

It's been a few days and the 'nanas are looking more like they should.

Some facts.

The common edible bananas belong to the genus Musa of the banana family, Musaceae. Although generally regarded as a tree, this large tropical plant is really an herb. That means it does not have a woody trunk like a tree. The stalk is composed of leaf sheaths that overlap each other and grows from an underground stem called a rhizome.

Enjoy as needed.

FoodMuse is going Bananas

Need I say more?

This is just one bunch of many that FoodMuse has growing in her backyard. Is there any wonder why she is my muse? I'll get in trouble for that. Fo-Sho. Yum.

There are also pineapples blooming here so I'm thinking we need to take a coconut, an umbrella, a straw, and make a drink. What you say?

We are all accustomed to what I now know to be the crappy bananas at Publix or your local supermarket. Yeah, when they are barely ripe, they're fine. But these little babies are absolutely the finest. Sweet, creamy, and bombastic on the palate. Too bad more of these aren't commercially available.

Click the pic for a most beautiful image of soon to be ripe 'nanas. I'll update when they are ready for the table.

Sakura in Doral is now Soo Woo, so sad

A quick lunch at one of FoodMuse's favorites today was no less than disappointing. FoodMuse particularly liked Sakura's edition of chirashi that substituted the traditional rice for a bed of fresh greens crowned with a quail egg.


Though the sign still says Sakura, the joint's been expanded and renamed Soo Woo Japanese Steakhouse. Added to the extra space are Benihana-esque hibachi griddles. The owner claims $1.5 million in renovations. If that's the case, he was robbed. But hey, that's routine business in Dade County. Our thought on the renovation and refit...Soo Woo is so sad.


First of all, FoodMuse's favorite was retooled into something that vaguely resembled the original. Gone was the bed of greens and the quail egg. In it's place was the traditional chirashi bed of rice. Strange really. It's fair to say that the Doral area population has a penchant for carbohydrate avoidance. So this change seems odd.


When we walked in, I was struck by the schizophrenia of the surroundings. The old Sakura was still intact. Added were three or four hibachi griddles. Also added were six to eight flat screen televisions and a loud sound system blaring club electronica. I didn't see a single Asian on the staff. Our waiter was a dopey Latin boy with the obligatory spikey hair. He fit right in with the rest of the predominantly male wait staff as they looked more or less the same. So what is that the former Sakura-now-Soo Woo is trying to be? I'm not sure and I don't think the owners are sure either. To make matters even worse, a flyer posted in the Men's Room proclaimed Thursdays as Karaoke Night. Woo-hoo at Soo Woo on Thursdays boys and girls! Sorry, I won't be there.


A couple other issues: they were out of Kirin and Kirin Light. How's that? A Japanese joint out of Kirin. We settled for Sapporo but I was disappointed as I prefer Kirin. Also, after the chirashi was delivered, FoodMuse lamented to our waiter about the major change to the dish. He seemed mildly concerned and told us he would tell the boss. When he returned, he mentioned to us that he had been on duty for seven hours and really wanted to puff a smoke. I'm not sure why he thought it was important to tell us that but obviously he did and he did.


Sakura was well liked in the area for it's Korean selections. Seems like the management is smart enough to keep those around. The Japanese-Korean amalgam seems fine. But toss in the SoBe (electronica club music), some Latin (we spotted churrasco on the menu), Benihana, and the ADHD/OCD factor is just mentally tiresome and is a poor fit.


I suspect the joint will be initially successful as I'm not sure the vast majority of the locals really care about good food. Just adequate. That's unfortunate.

With that, I'll leave you with this sign of the times.

MOAFS 1.2 and 1.3 all together as one

The mother of all fish stocks has had two incarnations so far. And it's waiting on it's third life.

So I'm working yesterday.... It wasn't a particularly busy day but during the tour of duty, I received a few messages from FoodMuse. The timing wasn't quite right. I always seemed to be tied up doing something when the messages arrived. At some point later in the afternoon I receive a critical message, "Call me ASAP. It's about the MOAF."

Like a new father, I interrupt whatever it was I was doing at the time, I don't recall what it was really, it may have been CPR but honestly, I don't recall.

"What happened? Did she soil her first diaper? Did she say daddy or mommy?"

It really wasn't all that spectacular. The question was, "should I put the fish meat back into the stew?" Whew, was I relieved. I thought she had fallen down and gone boom. No, not FoodMuse. The freaking MOAFS.

It was decided to forego adding the fishmeat back into the stew. After all, we had already gently simmered all the flavor out of it anyway. FoodMuse told me she had added a few more things to the pot. Potatoes, shrimp, parsnips, carrots, tomatoes, and few other forgotten ingredients eventually made there way in. Suddenly, I had a new found respect for the proverbial Pavlovian response. Wiping the salivate from my chin I told FoodMuse I trusted her judgment. Hey, we're in this deep already right?

So it was with this brief incarnation of the MOAFS. What was once a beautiful stock had grown into a lovely little stew.

And then this evening, she remade herself. I'm beginning to think the MOAFS should be renamed Joan...as in Joan "this face has seen more knives than a Benihana" Rivers. I love that line.

Now the MOAFS has reincarnated once again into a most spectacular something-I'm-not-sure-what-to-call-it. The remodel was pretty easy. Toss in some chorizo, ladle out most of the solids and give them the blender treatment, pour back in and look what you have a MOAFS 1.3. Oh, almost forgot, there was also the beautiful flakes of coconut. Voila!
Served alongside a rustic five-grain bread and we called it a meal.

The MOAFS will endure one more incarnation and then I think it's on to bed for her. FoodMuse's friend is having a little something on Friday (tomorrow). We'll make a bouillabaise something or other by tossing in some fresh chunks of whatever seafood we can find and call it a day. The MOAFS has been fun. Something we'll certainly revisit when the opportunity presents itself again. Which I hope is soon.

Bon Appetit y'all.

MOAFS-1.1::Critical Update

So we're picking through the remains of the two fish heads in the MOAFS. I'm tidying up some dishes, standing to the left and behind FoodMuse. "Hey look at this...." I wheel around to see a lovely chartreuse Hank Brown Hookup Lure . I've used that beauty many times both successfully and not so successfully. Eats' old neigbor Bea would tie bucktails for Hank and I would occasionally receive the rejects. They worked fine. The fish didn't mind.

The plan is to return the jig to James in Conch Key when we get a chance.

Eats' has several good Hank Brown stories. We'll save those for another time. For now though, thanks Hank for another great fishing story.

The genesis of MOAFS-1.0

In a prior post, you were introduced to The Mother of All Fish Stocks. Eats loves that "Mother of All..." terminology. It has enough tongue in the cheek to be boastful without being too in your face. At least that's how it's perceived from this seat. Hope you agree.

As an aside, the most powerful hydraulic cutter used in vehicle and machinery rescue is made by the Hurst Company. It's official moniker is the MOC Cutters. As you might have guessed, MOC stands for Mother-Off-all-Cutters.

So the MOAF started with the heads and a bit of the body of the aforementioned red grouper and mutton snapper. Throw in some coarsely chopped onion, carrots, half a bushel of bay leaves (we'll 'splain later), some water, and set on the Weber grill. You could prepare this stock inside but a residential kitchen is a difficult prospect with this one. Unless you have cats and want to drive them absolutely bananas for a few hours and then have the lingering aroma (some would call it stank) of boiling fish in your house, we seriously suggest the outdoor method.

Some recipes call for a quick boil, one hour. There is a good amount of gelatinous substance to the fish bones that you want to extract for thickening purposed. Plus, it's really tasty too. So a good three or four hour simmer is more our speed.

The MOAFS is now cooling on the kitchen countertop. We'll pick through the remains of the carcass and report back later.

Oh, as for the bay leaves, FoodMuse thought there were too many bay leaves. I think we used six in a 12 quart stockpot. FoodMuse was concerned. I wasn't. But then again, I sometimes get carried away with herbs and spices so my lack of concern isn't necessarily a good thing. I like to use the redneck proportioning method. It goes something like, "if a little is good, a lot is surely great!" Though sometimes a worthy mantra, not necessarily words to live by 100% of the time.

Trip to the Keys yields fresh fish

Two of the Eats' favorite fish, red grouper and mutton snapper are in the refrigerator while the carcasses are already boiled down into what will soon become the mother of all fish stocks. The MOAFS will then become the mother of all fish stews. I'm sure of it. Foodmuse will make sure of it too.

We recently took a trip to the rock the wedding of some friends. What a great trip. While packing up for the short trip back, Neighbor Mark informs us the fishing boat just hit the dock with some fresh grouper and snapper. We couldn't resist the temptation. A walk netted us two worthwhile catches, both in the six to seven pound range undressed.

Neither were any match for the sharp steel wielded by my good friend Captain Bill. He made quick work of the whole fish and in a mere minutes we had several very nice fillets and couple fish heads for the MOAFS.

This morning we were busy with some chores. On the ride home it was tossed out there that grits and grunts would be a perfectly acceptable breakfast. The suggestion met little resistance. And so it was this AM (truth be told, it was closer to early PM but who's keeping track of time these days?) a quick little meuniere later with some favorite southern grits, two over easy huevos, toast and fresh orange juice and we were enjoying a little piece of the rock.

Though the presentation wasn't Ritz Carlton like (it needed a berry or a piece of fruit), nobody was complaining. I learned a new technique for this meal too, thanks to FoodMuse. Take your fork and knife and frantically start slicing and dicing and mixing and churning. Turn the entire contents of the plate, except for the toast, into a pile of flaky fish, busted egg yolks, chunks of egg white and grits. Then eat it all up. Anything that's left you can pile on the toast. Yum. Yum Keys style I should say.