It's a Wrap!

Burritos have always been traditionally Mexican, but since the 80's, people have been trying to wrap all kinds of things in a big flour tortilla. People wrap up cold cuts and cheese to make a pseudo-sandwich.   People wrap up salads.   These days McDonald's and KFC even offer snack wraps that have hamburgers or fried chicken in them.   Ever since the trendy low-carb diet craze, people have been substituting tortillas for buns and trying capitolize on the wrap craze.   But only certain places do it well.

Gutbuster Burrito (with Carnitas) from BC Burrito

The traditional predecessor to a wrap is of course the burrito.   So named for the way the farmers would bundle their wares on their "little donkeys", or from the backs of which they would sell food from (like lunchwagons from the 1800s), burritos in Mexico are considerably smaller than the mammoth purses in the U.S.. There is some debate about what distinguishes a burrito from a soft taco, but the general consensus is that a burrito is a little larger, may feature more ingredients, but most characteristically the way that it is wrapped.  Tightly tucked in on both ends and rolled like a sleeping bag, burritos are much less messy than a loosely folded or cigar rolled soft taco.  It is this tight wrapping technique that distinguishes the best burritos or wraps.

Gutbuster Burrito (with Carnitas) from BC Burrito

There are quite a few Mexican places on the island, each with their own burrito offerings.   However, while places like Maui Tacos, go for the wet approach of making a huge, plate-sized, overstuffed burritos, swimming in Mexican red sauce, this approach, which really requires a knife and fork, is not extremely condusive to the portability that has made wraps so popular.  For me, the best wrapped burrito on the island can be found at a little place called BC Burrito on Waialae by Koko Head.  For one thing, the tortillas they use are more fun and colorful than most places, with flavors like spinach (for a pretty green burrito), jalapeno & cheese, and tomato & chipotle.   Not only do they add flavor, but the texture is a little softer, more doughy, more elastic, and a little more sticky than the traditional flour or corn tortillas.   The result is a very tightly bundled wrap that retains strong cohesiveness and does not fall apart while you're eating it.   For an addtional level of structural integrity, they wrap your burrito in  aluminum foil, which you can peel off, one circle at a time, exposing only what you're going to eat while the rest of the foil continues to hold everything together.  This tight cohesion not only enhances portability, but compresses the ingredients together into a much more unified food item, rather than just a hodge podge of separate flavors.

Gutbuster Burrito (with Carnitas) from BC Burrito

BC Burrito uses their excellent wrapping technique to envelope just an entire Tex Mex meal into a single handheld monstrosity.  While their Super burrito is more than large enough to feed any really hungry sane individual, I opted to try their enormous Gutbuster burrito.  This gargantuan thing is as long as my forearm, and thick as the thickest part of a wine bottle or softball bat.  It is also extremely packed with rice, meat (their carnitas have a wonderful smokey taste), cheese, sour cream and guacamole, and salsa (of which my favorite is a very tasty chipotle & corn mixture).  It is so tightly packed with stuff, that just holding it you can feel the incredible weight of all that food.  It's a bit much, even for me, and I left the place feeling as overstuffed as the burrito itself, but immensely satisfied and happy.

Potato Burrito from BC Burrito

The most original and tasty thing at BC Burrito however is departure from the traditional Tex Mex form.   It is their signature potato burrito, filled with seasoned potatoes, grilled onions, cheddar cheese, salsa,  and a nice creamy ranch.  Their potatoes are prefectly seasoned, diced and fried, and surprisingly full of flavor.  As my wife would say, they're full of potatoey goodness.  It really says something that my wife, who really despises Mexican food in general, likes their potato burrito.  They've replaced the Mexican flavor with something a little more universal.   But if you want to add that Mexican flavor back in, they've got a big bar with several dozen different exotic types of hot sauces.   Of course, the only hot sauce that truly has the authentic Mexican blend of flavors and spices, is Cholula (which they have in large quantities).  Add a little Cholula to anything and it tastes authentically Mexican, right?

The potato burrito is a great example of how wraps have evolved beyond the traditional Mexican burrito.  On the mainland, even Chinese food gets wrapped burrito style in something called moo shu pork, which is pork, julienne black mushrooms, maybe some bamboo shoot slivers, some egg, and hoisin sauce all rolled into a crepe.   In Hawaii, with all of our Chinese population being decended from Cantonese farmers, this dish is almost unheard of.  I, myself, had clue what this dish was the first time I went to the mainland, where it is a common "Chinese" menu item.  Luckily, I had experienced this dish once by the time Disney named their little dragon, Mooshu, so I could catch the reference in Mulan.  But I'm not sure that everyone here in Hawaii (or in China for that matter) did.  Regardless, it just goes to show how just about anything gets wrapped up these days.

Turkey Bacon Wrap from Salad Creations

Since the advent of the low carb diet, wraps have become very popular, especially salad wraps.  Now, I have never understood the point of low carb diets.  Supposedly, you can eat something as fatty as a hamburger (smothered in gravy even), but throw it on a bed of shredded cabbage instead of white rice or a bun, and suddenly it becomes healthy for you, and you can even lose weight by eating it?   Yeah right.  But I will say that salad wraps are tasty enough.   These days if we're craving a salad wrap, we head over to Salad Creations in Koko Marina.   They chop their salad, so the mixture of small chopped up pieces fits better in the wrap than other places where big leaves of lettuce in your wrap can get unruly and cause the whole thing to fall apart.   The other nice thing is that they add just enough dressing to bind the salad together within the wrap, adding a little more of that necessary cohesion.

My very favorite place to get different types of wraps on the island though, is sadly gone and way before it's time.  It was a little place in Manoa Marketplace called Pili Wraps Cafe.  They used to use tortillas that were very similar to the ones served at BC Burrito, resulting in the same tightly packed, cohesive goodness.   However, instead of filling those wraps with just Mexican flavors, Pili Wraps put all kinds of things in their wraps.   They used to make a chicken caeser salad wrap that would put Salad Creations to shame.  It had the full caesar flavor and crunch of a real salad, but tightly bound in handheld form.  They also made a terrific spicy Thai peanut sauce chicken wrap and an Indonesian chicken wrap that really captured the flavors of Southeast Asia.   But my favorite was always their Cajun chicken wrap.   Instead of the Mexican rice you would find in most burritos, this wrap had real Cajun dirty rice.   The chicken was perfectly tender grilled white meat chicken.  Everything was then smothered in a wonderful creamy, spicy Cajun sauce that actually had the right blend of spices.  Sinking your teeth into this warm soft wrap was a great combination of textures from the ever so slightly chewy doughy tortilla, to the tender meaty chicken, to the soft beads of rice.  It was warm and filling and utterly delicious.   I was very sad to see Pili Wraps close before they got the chance to establish a following and make some lasting memories.   BC Burrito may wrap the perfect burrito, but Pili Wraps used to dominate the non-Mexican wraps.

Wraps are still changing and evolving, but when people wrap them as expertly as BC Burrito or Pili Wraps, they should be more than just a passing food fad.

Yo Quiero

I have a confession to make.   It is in fact, a deep, dark, dirty, shameful secret whose revelation will probably elicit scorn and shun.  It is a scandalous, obscene base desire that haunts me every time it manifests its mortifying grip on my being.  My credibility as a contributing adult, much less a serious food afficionado, walks a precarious line with this licentious information.  But the truth is, I love Taco Bell (or should I say, "Yo Quiero").

Taco Supremes & Burrito Surpreme from Taco Bell

I know, I know.  Taco Bell hardly even qualifies as real food, much less authentic Mexican cuisine, as pointed out in my favorite webcomic, "It's Walky!".    But just like it's eponymous star, Walky, I harbor a ravenous desire for its tasty food like substances, and wind up ordering half the menu every time I walk in.   The thing is, that growing up, Taco Bell really was my first and only exposure to Tex-Mex cuisine.   I never even knew that tacos were originally soft tortillas, not hard ones, until they introduced soft tacos to their menu.   While I despised (and still do) refried beans, the combination of ground beef, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, tomato and olive, was such an alluring mixture (which for a long time represented their entire menu in served in different forms and ratios).  I think it was the sour cream that really made the difference.  The other ingredients can easily be found atop any burger, but the "Mexican" seasonings playing against the sour cream was just unique and addictive as crack.   Despite having been exposed to more authentic Mexican cuisine, I still fondly and uncontrollably covet their guilty, pleasure inducing consumables.

I have, in the course of my life, been exposed to more authentic Mexican tacos and burritos.   In L.A., where I went to grad school, and in New York, where my sister did, taco trucks are as bountiful as our lunchwagons.  Like our lunchwagons, taco trucks are the cheapest, most authentic forms of the indigenous food available.   There is nothing like walking down the street at 1 AM, wearing leather jacket and gloves, with your breath visible in front of your face, and ordering a steaming tortilla, covered with savory carnitas and fresh salsa from the side of a truck.  It's warm and delicious, and as authentic an experience as you can hope for.

If you're not up for eating something from the back of a truck at 1 AM, there are small hole in the wall places you can go to, but they are somehow equally as seedy.  When visiting my pal, Jim, in San Francisco, he took me to a little place in the Mission District, on Mission and 19th, called Taqueria Cancun.   The Mission District is a bastion of the Hispanic community in San Francisco, but is also home to some of San Francisco's more "colorful" elements.   When visiting Taqueria Cancun, you must be prepared to walk past some unsound, unkept, vagrants who will swear and offer lewd comments to your mother.  Seriously. (Mom and I just ignored him.)  But that just adds to the authentic experience right?   Once inside, it feels like a colorful, safe haven, with the spicy aromas of the foods steaming up the glass partitions.   Of course it isn't truly authentic, unless you've got calves' brains (sesos) and cow tongue (lengua) as beef options, and some exotic Mexican fruit drinks (agua fresca) to accompany them.  If you're adventurous enough to actually wander through the Mission District, Taqueria Cancun is the real deal when it comes to Mission style burritos.

Back home in Hawaii, you'd be a little hard pressed to find a real taqueria that offers the authentic beef tongue or brains.  Since we don't have nearly the Hispanic population that California does, we might as well kick it island style instead.   For that, you can head over to the Queen Kaahumanu Shopping Center on the island of Maui (or right over to Kailua Village in Kailua), for some Maui Tacos.   The great thing about Maui Tacos, is that they know that they can't deliver the truly authentic Mexican tacos and burritos, so they don't even bother to try.   Instead they blend Mexican cuisine with some island flavors to give it our own unique spin.  For example, instead of truly authentic mouth watering carnitas, they offer mango bbq pork and they marinade many of their meats in pineapple juice.   The result is a much fruitier, sweeter, more tropical version of Mexican food, that really has a local flavor.

Mild End of the Salsa Bar at Maui Tacos

Probably the best thing about Maui Tacos is visisting their salsa bar.   They have a nice variety of about 6 different salsas, ranging from mild to hot (well not THAT hot, but hot enough), each with their own unique flavor.   One the mild end, their sweetness (or the tartness) of the tomatoes is really dominant (depending on how sweet or tart the original tomatoes were).   Sweet or tart, the freshness of the tomatoes is what really shines through.  They've also got a nice salsa verde (green salsa) in which you can taste the fresh tartness of the jalapenos.  

Hot End of the Salsa Bar at Maui Tacos

On the hotter end, their chipotle salsa is brightly sweetened by the infusion of mango.   Unfortunately, the sweetness kills all the nice smokiness (but not the heat) that chipotle normally brings.  It's a very different flavor than what you're expecting of chipotle.   Chipotle is also the hottest that they get, much less wandering into habanero territory.   But their best, most original salsa is their pineapple passion salsa.  It is instantly recognizable being bright yellow instead of green or red.  The pineapple gives such a refreshing, sweet taste, that it really brightens up whatever you pour it on.   For dipping and eating straight, none of their salsas can compare to the perfect blend of spice and fresheness of the singluar salsa that Torito's offers.  But Maui Tacos makes up for it in variety and originality, and it really compliments their food when pouring over thier tacos or burritos.

Chimichanga (with Mango BBQ Pork) from Maui Tacos

As the chimichanga is my favorite Mexican dish in general, I tried that first.    Rather than the very crunchy thicker tortilla you find at Torito's, the chimichanga at Maui Tacos has a lighter crispier shell.   All of the ingredients inside reflect the whole freshness that Maui Tacos has in general.   A nice change from those wretched refried beans at most Mexican restaurants, you can get whole black beans.  But they still aren't cooked long enough to have the nice uber creamy texture that cajun red beans and rice does.  The steak really has a flavorful char broiled taste to it.   But I did have to pour some of their salsa over it to liven it up.  In general, however, their chimichanga just isn't as good as the melty, savory, yumminess that is the one at Torito's.  Their approach, emphasizing the freshness of each individual ingredient, is solid but it doesn't compare to the flavorful blended harmony that Toritos' has.

Lahaina Burrito from Maui Tacos

Rather than a chimichanga or taco, the thing I liked best at Maui Tacos was their Lahaina burrito.   To me the best thing about the Lahaina is that it is stuffed with Mexican rice rather than beans.   Since I don't like beans to begin with, this is a huge bonus to me.  But also, the rice works really well with the tender savory mango bbq pork.  Additionally, the burrito being served "wet" (covered with Mexican red sauce) gives it the right flavor and moistness, that you don't need to add any more salsa.   This burrito is also seriously stuffed and a nice size for a good lunch.

The Signature Maui Taco from Maui Tacos

Maui Tacos is just about the opposite end of the spectrum from Taco Bell.   While one is a greasy pseudo-food item that feeds your junk food addiction, the other emphasizes freshenss of each individual ingredient.  Neither of them are authentically Mexican, as Taqueria Cancun, but the originality and tropical fruity flavors at Maui Tacos makes them stand out.   The only problem is that every time I go there, I keep thinking of those super annoying Bu La'ia radio commercials they used to run.  Somehow his slovenly, crass, unrefined demeanor is so contradictory to the fresh, tropical flavors that Maui Tacos offers.

I don't know that I'll ever get to walk down the street in Mexico city, and encounter a bubbling cauldron filled with assorted animal parts to be savored over a warm just handmade tortilla under a sprinkling of freshly chopped and mixed salsa.  Then again, at home, I'm comfortable knowing I'm not going to be spending the rest of the night riding the procelain express either.

Viva La Raza!

I spent my college years in the sprawling heat of Los Angeles, a city with a very strong Mexican influence.  I used to really enjoy going down Olivera St., listening to the mariachi bands and eating Mexican food.  But for all of the time that I spent in L.A., I still don't really feel that I know what authentic Mexican food really is.  Yes, I've eaten my fair share of Mexican food, but I've always felt like it was Tex-Mex.  Mexican food, as interpreted by or watered down for gringos.   Watching Anthony Bourdain only served to amplify this apprehension, because he has been so vehement about his love for "real" Mexican food and his dislike of "fake" Mexican food, like Chilis.   Have I only ever been exposed to the fake stuff?  Have I never tasted the true Mexican flavors?  Even I know that hard shell tacos, and anything slathered in sour cream or nacho cheese certainly isn't real Mexican food.   I want to know what Mexican food tastes like, if it were made by a grandmother in Puebla.  What I really need is a Mexican friend who would take me home for a family meal, to get the true flavors (of course the same goes for Filipino food and Indian food).   Until then, I'm stuck eating whatever the restaurants deem fit to serve, regardless of how authentic it is.

Hawaii does not have nearly the same level of Mexican influence that L.A. does.  Whereas on the mainland, it is really beneficial to have all the signs and instruction booklets in English and Spanish, in Hawaii it is much more practical to have them in English and Japanese.  However, my friend Marie at the Latin Business Association, would kick me if I said we had no Hispanic population whatsoever.   We certainly have a number of Mexican restaurants, but without a large Hispanic population, there really isn't anyone who would notice if they got it wrong.  Nevertheless, they certainly are popular enough. 

My favorite Mexican restaurant used to be Compadres in Ward Center.   They were always a little more upscale than any other Mexican restaurant, and were part of a California based chain (both things which always made me wonder if this wasn't more oriented towards gringos).  But their food was always fresh and tasty to me.  I particularly liked their taco fiesta platter for two, which gave you a nice warm stack of tortillas, some beef, some chicken, some pork, some cheese, some guacamole, some sour cream, some jalapenos, and a few different types of salsa, and let you build whatever combinations you wanted.  I think the variety of little dishes just appealed to me, as did the ability to assemble whatever I wanted.  But, was this really how families in Oaxaca eat?  Since our Compadres abruptly closed (as did most of the chain), I will never really have the chance to compare.   I've also needed to find a new place of my Mexican fix.    I know that Jose's on Koko Head has been around for a long time, but somehow they've never clicked for me.  Residents on the Aiea side certainly swear by Banditos, but it's a little far to go just for a burrito.  But I found a small little watering hole, right in Market City Shopping Center, called Torito's Mexican Food, that not only serves what I perceive to be authentic Mexican, but definitely some of the best Mexican food I've ever tasted.

Tortilla Chips & Salsa at Torito's

To begin with, instead of bread and butter, like any good Mexican restaurant they give you tortilla chips and salsa.   But this is not your ordinary bag of Tostitos and a bowl of Pace Picante.  The chips at Torito's have an extraordinary texture.  They're perfectly crisp, but do not any hint of oiliness to them.  They don't have all of the bumpiness and salt of a tostitos, and are overall thinner and lighter.  They have an amazing crunch for something so thin in fact.  They are so totally addictive, your hand just seems to pass them to your mouth on automatic.  But it is the salsa that, to me, is out of this world.  They only have one type, not a long bar like some other places, but with salsa this good, all you need is one.  Whereas Pace has the consistency of ketchup with some chunks of vegetables in it, the salsa at Torito's has the texture of finely minced fresh crisp tomatoes.  It's similar to the texture of the green onion and ginger that you get with good cold ginger chicken.  It's not so much a sauce as it is a relish.   Like good lomi lomi salmon, it is served nicely chilled, which conterbalances its spiciness.   To me, it is also the perfect blend of spiciness that doesn't overpower the fresh taste of the other vegetables in it. I have had a lot of different salsa, but the one at Torito's is my favorite.  Of course, if it isn't spicy enough for you, you can ask them for some of their special "hot" salsa.   It's a green salsa made with jalapeno peppers and habanero peppers (infamous for being on the very hot end of the Scoville scale).  It is so hot, it will be burning your tummy for the next 2 days.

Taquitos at Torito's

Once you've gotten past the chips and salsa, Torito's makes a mean taquito.  When I was little, the taquito was always my favorite Mexican dish.   I think it was because I didn't, and still don't, like the texture of refried beans.  While most places put refried beans in just about every dish, a taquito is just a cigar shaped roll of meat.   With just meat and nothing else, except a little guacamole or sour cream to dip in, and a shape that is just perfect for little hands to hold and little mouths to wrap around, it's no wonder I loved them as a kid.  The taquitos at Torito's are fantastic because, at a lot of places the taquitos are crispy on the ends but the middles get soggy with oil or soaking in guacamole.  At Torito's the taquitos are crunchy from end to end, but the meat is still juicy inside.  What more can you ask for?

Chimichanga at Torito's

As I grew older and learned to tolerate a little bit of refried beans, my favorite Mexican dish became the chimichanga.   I know, with the amount of sour cream and jack cheese on both my taquitos and my chimichanga, I'm really only wading into gringo fare.  I'm sure that no real Mexican grandmother from Veracruz would ever deep fry their burrito.  But they just taste so good, especially the one at Torito's.  I especially like my filled with carnitas or roasted pork.   In fact, Mexican carnitas aren't too dissimilar from kalua pig, except for a difference in seasoning.  Diving into layers of juicy pork, cheese, rice, guacamole, sour cream, and other goodies, my mind shuts down and I just never want to stop trancelike shovelling it into my face.  

Tacos Al Pastor at Torito's

As good as the standard Tex-Mex fare tastes, watching Bourdain made me really want to experience more authentic south of the border cuisine.  One of the most enticing things he ate was a specialty of Mexico City called tacos al pastor.   He said that they were so good, they became the preferred meal option for the entire crew for the entire trip (which really says something).  So imagine my surprise when I saw it on the menu at Torito's.   Just looking at them, you know you're geting something different from the usual ground beef, refried beans, sour cream, lettuce, jack cheese, tomatoes and olives that pretty much defines Tex Mex food.  This was a fresh, soft, tortilla that actually had a lot of corn flavor.  Atop was some tender, juicy sliced pork, topped with a superbly fresh salsa.   However, as delicious as it was, it was a little disappointing too.   My understanding was that tacos al pastor was a Mexican version of the meat that you get on a gyro or shwarma in Greek cuisine.  But the meat in the tacos al pastor was more similar to thinnly sliced pork chops, than it was like the super soft, super savory shavings of beef and lamb that you find in a gyro.   This was one dish that, albeit tasty, left me wanting something more.

Chicken Mole at Torito's

If there was one dish though, that I thought was truly authentic Mexican grandmother food, it would have be mole.  Mole is a spicy, chocolate based sauce that I first found out about reading a webcomic called Wapsi Square, whose lead character Monica is part Mexican.  The fact that I had never even heard of it before, lead me to the believe that this was something truly authentically Mexican.  For one thing, you hardly ever see it on the menu at a regular Tex Mex place.   For another, it is a spicy savory blend of chocolate and chilis.  For most of the country (or the world for that matter), we have a hard time thinking of chocolate as anything other than a sweet confection.   Therefore the idea of chocolate covered chicken seems kind of repugnant.  But originally, raw chocolate (which isn't sweet until you add sugar to it) was used by the Aztecs in the same way that chilis and other spices were.  So a savory spicy melange made with chocolate would be very uniquely and authentically Mexican.  When I first got to taste it at Torito's, I was really floored.  Although chocolate may seem familiar, and Mexican spices may seem familiar, the mole had a flavor that I had truly never experienced before.  It was at once firey and earthy.  The fragrance of the chocolate danced around all of these different heady, picante spices.  The chicken, while moist and tender, really was nothing more than a vehicle for this savory concoction (to call it a gravy or sauce seems almost degrading).  I had finally tasted something, I could thoroughly imagine a Mexican grandmother cooking for me.

Enchilada Plate at Torito's

Torito's has a number of other goodies that I have yet to try which are also classically Mexican.   They've got a fish ala veracruz.  I have always wondered what authentic Mexican seafood dishes taste like, and I'm not referring to the fish tacos you get at Taco Del Mar.  Veracruz is famous for being Mexico's seafood capitol.   Torito's has tamales, which are sort of a Mexican version of joong, and equally as beloved by its constituents.  I have never been a big fan of the masa (or corn meal) and corn husks that they use instead of rice and lotus leaf as in joong.  But then that may be because I've simply never tasted the authentic homemade thing.    They've also got huevos con chorizo (or a Mexican style eggs and sausage).   It's also something I've never tried authentically, although I understand that good chorizo is not too different from good Portuguese sausage.

Salsa at Torito's

I don't know that I'll truly ever be able to distingush the truly authentic Mexican cuisine from the gringofied Tex Mex that is so pervasive around the country.  While Torito's has their fair share of deep fried, sour cream, and jack cheese dishes, they also have things like tacos al pastor and mole, which may be as close as you can get in Hawaii.   I don't know that they're truly authentic, but I do know that they taste really, really good.

Mele Kalikimaka

The Chistmas holiday is always jam packed for us.   It really begins on Christmas Eve.  Other children can't wait for Christmas morning to rush down to the Christmas tree and tear into their presents.  But when I was really little, my parents would let me wait up until midnight on Christmas Eve, and then open all of my presents.   This was a holdover from my dad's childhood, because when he was little and times were tougher his parents worked at their business, Goo Laundry, every single day of the year, Christmas included.   So he would have to open his presents at night rather than in the morning.  As a result, I never really had to wait for Santa, because on the stroke of midnight, I would have my presents in hand already.  Christmas Day was then spent, first at my mom's side for lunch with more presents, and then at dinner with my dad's side and more presents still.   It was a really hectic schedule, and as I grew older, we eventually conslidated everything to Christmas night (which meant that we now opened presents later than everyone else who did Christmas morning).  When I got married, things changed again, and when I had kids things changed yet again.   I think it's something that every young couple in Hawaii faces, simply because whereas on the mainland going home to family means travelling to different cities, in Hawaii its a matter of a 15 minute drive and you've got to juggle both sides of your family.

My Strawberry Sugar Free Jello Christmas Cookies

This year, Christmas Eve was thankfully quite peaceful.  After an early dinner with my wife's family at Golden Duck, and checking on Santa's status via NORAD, we were able to tuck our kids in to bed and have a quiet night for just the two of us.  We turned off all the lights except for the Christmas lights and settle in to snuggle and wait for Santa.  But in waiting for Santa, it dawned on me that we didn't have any cookies for him (or ourselves).   In years past, I would really enjoy the ready to bake sugar free cookies from Pillsbury, but recently I haven't been able to find them in any of the stores.  I'm not even sure that Pillsbury still makes the sugar free ones.  So I had to settle for a sugar free recipe from the Internet.  Unfortunately, while I may be a pretty decent cook, baking is a complete mystery to me.   It may be because cooking to me is all about improvisation and artistic interpretation, whereas baking requires rigid adherence to a set recipe.   My wife is a far better baker than I am, and my feeble attempt at baking cookings was both laughable and nigh unedible.  They had a bizarre doughy center, that resembled sticky mochi within stale bread.  My wife likened them to something Dr. Seuss would've cooked up.   But at least they smelled good, filling the house with a comforting strawberry baking smell.   So we had cookies and some sugar free hot chocolate.  We put on a little fireside music from Hapa.   And we settled in under the Christmas tree to open our presents to each other.   It was so very romantic.   Let me tell you, a lit Christmas tree on Christmas Eve is so much better than mistletoe (which is usually infested with nargles anyway).  

Christmas day was another story.   For me, the stroke of midnight on Christmas Eve meant tearing into my presents, but in my wife's childhood it meant attending Midnight Mass.   Since the advent of our children however, Christmas morning mass has been much easier.  So we all got up (way too early for me), to head off to church like good little sheep.  Then we went over to her parents house to open presents there.   Following which, we had lunch at Tsukiji Fish Market (which was packed to the brim with people).  Then we came home and let our kids open our own presents to them.   After which, I just crashed for an hour or so (which was bad because my wife really need the sleep even more than I did).   Only to wake up just in time to cook our dishes for dinner, before heading up to my parents house for Christmas dinner and opening even more presents.   It's a frankly a little exhausting, a little overhwelming, and by the end you're running on nothing but pure adrenaline.  But then again, it's Christmas, and if your biggest problem is how to cram in time with all the people that love you, you're in pretty good shape.  In the end, you're left with nothing but a a feeling of joy, love, and happiness.

Our Christmas Feast 2009

Christmas dinner in my family, is essentially Thanksgiving dinner, Part II.  Like Thanksgiving, each of us cooks something to bring to the table.   In order to try to not repeat ourselves, we attempt to bring something a little more seasonal to the table.  It's usually winds up being all kapakine, but at least it gives us a big variety of styles and given the expertise in the kitchen my family has, it's always scrumptious.

My Mom's Turkey

In the past, my mom has made honey glazed hams or some beautiful crown roasts to differentiate Christmas from Thanksgiving.   But since my sister moved to the mainland, and hasn't been home for Thanksgiving, we've been having turkey again at Christmas, just so she has a chance to enjoy it as well.   None of us ever complain about it, because my mom's turkey is simply the best in the world.   While other turkeys can easily get dry and tough, my mom's is always supremely succulent and flavorful.   And of course, it gives me a second chance to enjoy my precious turkey tail.  Besides, as Mel Torme sang "A turkey and some mistletoe help to make the season bright."

My Mom's Christmas Bun Wreath

To add a more Christmasy element to her contributions, my mom also baked a festive Christmas wreath of buns.  They were nice and herby, and as visually appealing as they were tasty.  

My Chinese Style Lup Cheong Stuffing

Since I knew my mom was making turkey, I decided to make stuffing, but not just any stuffing.  I decided to give it a local spin, and make a Chinese style, lup cheong stuffing.   For one thing, I figured that the red and green of the lup cheong and the choi sum would make it a little bit more visually festive than the usual Thanksgiving-esque earthtones of regular stuffing.  Besides that, you gotta cook to your audience, and naturally my family really enjoyed the Chinese flavors.  For me, the contrast of the strong Chinese flavors like lup cheong, ha mai, and hau yau (oyster sauce), against the traditional Americana of the turkey and mashed potatoes, is in minature what our lifestyle is all about.

My Sister's Chiles en Nogada

My sister, being home from the mainland, brought to the table some new (and frankly quite foreign) flavors with her Chiles en Nogada, a Puebla dish that she learned from the SF Gate.  Like me, she chose the dish because of the green and red colors of the chiles and the pomegranate seeds (which really were strikingly beautiful).  However, unlike mine which was filled with familiar comforting flavors, hers was an excursion into some vastly unfamiliar territory.   The pork tenderloin was quite tasty with a Mexican spiced crema sauce to it.  Like how you usually see pork chops served with applesauce, her cubes of pork were offset by cubes of Korean pear.  But whereas the Korean pear is sweet familiar flavor, the pomegranate seeds on top are certianly not.   All of which were kicked up with the spiciness of the chiles.   It was my first time ever trying fresh pomegranate seeds, whose bright red colors are so vividly alluring.  They are sweet, but with a bit of a bitterness to them as well, and I frankly don't care for the hard seeds within.   In fact, whereas in my dish everything kind of softens and converges in texture, hers was a complete rocky road of pork cubes, pear cubes, and hard little pomegranate seeds.  It was tasty and brilliantly executed, but at the same time underscored the different person she's become and a reminder of how we've grown apart since she's been gone.   It's something I try very hard to get used to, and I really try to get to know the person she is now, but it isn't always easy.

My Wife's Cauliflower Medley Casserole

While my sister and I are quite different the way we were when we were kids, my wife and I seem to grow more like each other over time, the way that all married couples take on each other's traits.  This Christmas, she walked in to Foodland, not having any idea what to cook, and just looked around to listen to the food for inspiriation.   For someone who rigidly sticks to the recipes, this was something that just put a smile on my face.   What she saw, were all different colors of cauliflower; orange, purple, green brocoflower, and the original white.   So it dawned on her to make a classic casserole out of all of these different colored cauliflowers.  It was at once beautiful, tasty, and inspired.   Of course the whole day, she was worried that it would be a lame dish, after all it was "only cauliflower".  But as I expected, everyone loved it.   My uncle even said that he could discern the slightly different flavors of each different color (some being more bitter than others).  I'm not sure if this was a trick of the mind or not, but it was creamy, cheesy, and delicious.

My Aunty's Mashed Potatoes with Potato Skins

My aunty of course made her awesome traditional mashed potatoes.   This time, she opted for a little bit of cream of mushroom in it just to give it an even more creamy texture and just the hint of mushroom flavor.  It was just a little so as not to overpower the awesome potatoey goodness of real potatoes.  This time, she also decided to remove the potato skins instead of mixing them in as I usually request.  But she baked them separately, giving them a fantastic crispiness, akin to that of stomping on dried leaves.  They were a fantastic contrast in texture and color as garnish, with even more potatoey goodness to add.

My Aunty's Stuffed Mushrooms

Aunty also decided to thow in a few stuffed mushrooms.   With mushrooms and potatoes, she was basically catering to my wife with her favorite foods.   The mushrooms were plump and mouthwateringly juicy, and a perfect little side dish.

My Son's Tuna Macaroni Salad

Finally, to indoctrinate our traditions into my son, as well as to pass on my passion for cooking (and to keep him busy while I was trying to cook my dish), we again tried to bring him into the kitchen for his own contribution.   Of course, being only 4 years old, we were limited as to what would be safe for him, keep his attention, and not overstretch his abilities.   So I thought back to my own beginnings as a cook, and pulledout a Hawaiian classic, macaroni salad.  As it basically just involves a lot of mixing, it was perfect for him.   He just sat there mixing, while I helped him throw in some macaroni, mayonnaise, tuna, peas, a touch of pepper and a little relish.  The result was a dish that he could proudly call his own, and that the family could gush over in front of him.   He actually enjoyed eating it as much as he did making it, having 3 big servings, before rushing off to tear into his presents. 

My Uncle's Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie

To top it all off, my uncle, made a fantastic Okinawan sweet potato pie.   Somehow the texture of the purple Okinawan sweet potato was a little better to me than the regular (orange) sweet potato pie he made for Thanksgiving.   The consistency was a little firmer and a little more even, while the filling he made for Thanksgiving was slightly on the mushy side for my taste.  Besides the even texture, the purple of the Okinawan sweet potato is always such a beautiful, striking color to me.  It was the perfect way to top of the evening, after opening all of those presents and putting some exhausted babies to sleep.

Christmas may be plain exhausting and a little unduly stressful, but it also means family, and food, and a literal feast for every single one of your senses.   It always fills me with an inescapable sense of magic and wonder and excitement that I thoroughly enjoy sharing with my boys and the rest of my family.