Nothing says "I love you" like blood stew

At least one of us out there had Filipino blood stew for Valentine’s Day dinner, and seeing how nobody reads this blog, I guess its me. The stew is called Dinuguan, or in the dialect that my people speak its called Dinardaraan, and its not for the faint of heart. The pig blood is cooked for a while until it becomes a thick, dark gravy that looks a lot like chocolate sauce. It looks so much like it in fact that in most American pinoy restaurants the dish is called “Chocolate Meat.” Then a little garlic, chili and some pork (innards and skin in mine tonight) and you have some good eatin’. Better get out there and try some. . .just dont do it on Valentine’s day like we did, not the most romantic food in the world.

Tokyo Art Beat Interview

Apparently I was interviewed by Tokyo Art Beat magazine, but I don’t remember when. At least I didn’t say anything stupid.

http://www.tokyoartbeat.com/tablog/entries.en/2009/07/going-nowhere-nagoya.html

Various Reviews

Various Reviews

For anyone interested, here are some old and new reviews of my comic Sundogs. For most of them I can’t really tell if they are good or bad which is a good indicator that I am making a strong impression, right? or not right.

A review of my work by my new comics trading homey Josh Blair who edits the mini-comic compilation “Candy or Medicine”

If you don’t know Razorcake magazine yet they where the hell have you been? Its the new-old MMR. Click the Razorcake link to read what they had to say on SunDogs.

Infinite thanks to this dude Gianni my lone zinester pal in Tokyo. I am so glad we became friends because the love don’t stop with this guy. Thanks for the kind words mio bello. He took some time of his mag Orga{ni}sm to review my stuff in Xerography Debt

My newest comix pal Stuart from the land down under, editor of the fantastic looking comics magazine “Black Guard.” Here is what he thought of SunDogs

Homemade Hummous

Outside of the millions of soy products available in Japan (edamame, miso, tofu, natto, soy sauce, soy milk etc etc) this place is not a bean country. The range of beans at the local grocery store is sparse to say the least, so you are even less likely to find any sort of delicious bean products, especially middle-eastern foods. Luckily chick-peas (or garbanzo beans as we call them in California) have become popular of late and are showing up more and more at the local grocers. Assuming you find those chick-peas (in Japanese they are called hiyoko-mame – literally chick-bean), the rest is quite simple.

what you need:
1 can Chick-peas (Garbanzo beans, hiyoko mame)
1/4 cup plain yogurt
2 TBSP Lemon juice
1 clove Garlic
3 TBSP Tahini (sesame paste)

Directions: dump one can of chick-peas into the blender or food processor. If you were a dumbass and bought a bag of dried beans then you are gonna have to pre-soak them over night before you begin this step. This recipe is pretty forgiving so you don’t really need to measure all that much. Dump in the yogurt, lemon juice, and tahini. Tahini is very difficult (nigh impossible) to find in Japan, but it can be easily substituted with unseasoned sesame paste which you can find anywhere in Japan (a common ingredient in Japanese cooking). I have even heard of people using peanut butter but I imagine that would really affect the consistency – better stick with sesame. You can chop up a clove of garlic but in Japan they sell these little tubes of raw garlic paste which is even better and much faster.

Some optional ingredients would be a single mint leaf (for a nice subtle under flavor) which could be substituted with half a leaf of shiso which is cheap as chips here in Japan. Also traditional hummous uses olive oil which I left out because its expensive. If you like a dash of olive oil could improve the consistency and give it a pleasant, more aromatic flavor. Then simply blend it all together and use it any way hummous is used (I recommend it on fresh vegetables!)

Anniversary Feast

Ami and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary in November, but Ami was too portly and rotund to go out to eat (that is to say she was too pregnant) so we ordered in. Unfortunately in Japan private catering is almost unheard of. They are times like these that I am glad to be friends with a chef, and not just any chef but the proprietor of the finest Mexican dining in the city, if not the country. He was more than happy to prepare a chef's specialty that didn't run me to the poor house - here is the menu he prepared for us:

Carrot Salad - it sounds simple but its undeniably exquisite
Ceviche - diced fish and onion cured in lemon juice
Chips with Chile beans and guacamole - all hand made, no canned dips here
Crema de coco Mariscos Caribeanos - creamy coconut shrimp
Pollo al mojo de ajo jalapeno - succulent chicken breast covered in a thick garlic and jalapeno sauce


The corn tortillas were fresh and hand made, as was the salsa and the tortilla chips.