Japanese Chicken Meatballs...delicious wobbly bits.

Meatballs are like hot dogs. No one really knows what's in them, but they are so tasty that we ignore the unsettling feeling they might be made from the wobbly bits of various critters. Yakitori is Japanese grilled, skewered chicken. What I like about the Japanese is that they own their wobbly bits and proudly list them on the menu. At Nanban-Kan the CHICKEN MEATBALLS are delicious and one might safely assume that they are made from the non funky pieces of chicken. How do I make this sleuth like deduction? Because the funky pieces of chicken are listed all on their own. You can order skewered chicken skin, chicken tails, chicken neck, chicken cartilage and chicken liver (other creatures of land and sea are available in tasty skewered form as well). So, my point is that if all those lovely parts are being used in their own right, then the CHICKEN MEATBALLS are probably made with the boring ole leftover white breast meat. Here's a confession....I was eating with a friend who might not be used to my odd eating habits, so when I saw chicken tails on the menu (my favorite part of a chicken) I desperately wanted to indulge, but was embarassed. My loss. I'll have to go back and dive right into the funky stuff. Wobbly bits are generally my favorite bits.

Everything we ordered was very tasty (the lamb was also excellent), but I chose the CHICKEN MEATBALLS for blogging purposes because they were the standout favorite. The fact that everything on the menu is between $4 and $9 is pretty good too. Portions are small, but that gives you more opportunity to try a variety. We ordered up a storm between the two of us and our bill was under $60. Nice.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/nanbankan-los-angeles

Thanks Julie for the recommendation and thanks Jenn for testing it out with me! Next time I hope you are up for chicken tails.

Sriracha Chili Sauce...its really good, but skip the rooster tattoo.

If you don't like your food hot and spicy...stop reading this and go do something else. Maybe color coordinate your sock drawer...and I'll see you for the next post.

For those who do love a kick in the ole taste buds, I have your holy grail, SRIRACHA CHILI SAUCE. How hot is it? Well on the Scoville scale it's about a 2,200. What the hell is the Scoville scale you ask? It's the measure of the spicy heat a chili pepper puts out according to its capsaicin content. Capsaicin is the chemical compound that makes it burn your skin. Highest Scoville rating is 16 million. For comparison: police grade pepper spray is 5,300,000 and Tabasco is between 30,000 and 50,000. So really, SRIRACHA CHILI SAUCE isn't all that hot. Don't be fooled thought, it certainly has umpf.

Its contents are Thai chili paste (made from red jalapeno peppers) with garlic, vinegar, salt and sugar...no bits of real rooster as far as I know. The thing is, it's not just spicy, it also has a great flavor. That means you can stick it on pretty much anything...and Viola! The back of the bottle gives a really random list of uses: soups, hot dogs, pizza, hamburgers (mix it with a bit of mayo), chow mein and pasta. Well, that pretty much runs the gauntlet of variety. I'm actually eating it on a veggie burger right now, yesterday I put it on shrimp and the day before that I drizzled it on sauteed brussels sprouts. Basically, anything short of ice cream is legal...even then...it might just work.

Its made by Huy Fong (look for the rooster on the bottle) and has spread in popularity so much (10 million bottles a year) that now even Wal-Mart carries it.

Wal-Mart not a strong enough endorsement for you? Well one dude had the rooster tattooed on his leg...

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCIibRvIYRWb7Y3AMmH_hNEsLFZV2kSQVylfOEdZdyZufjtFaG3vHhA_QfoDKCp3dEq0_vxF0cXTYnJ4uogSMkAztZPAaHgw_8hEZGF1XiFBeOzYjzZS8KUw1j4Chnltzn32eJCQGZpSE/s1600-r/Sriracha+Leg.JPG

SRIRACHA CHILI SAUCE is really good....it's not that good...Let's hope he wasn't sober.

For the rest of us, lets just stick to putting it on food.

http://www.huyfong.com/no_frames/sriracha.htm

Blueberries...I feel so much closer to you now.

My parents took me on an outing today. I realize that sounds like I am institutionalized or under the age of four, but outing is such a nice word that suggests a throwback to simpler times when families used to do things together....like slave in the hot sun for food. That's exactly what we did...and it was awesome. See, buying food from a local farm is very in vogue right now. Actually going to a farm and picking it yourself is so hip the entire population of Silverlake is probably moving there as you read this. There being a farm. A farm being Underwood Family Farms in this case.

My folks and I picked BLUEBERRIES for about two hours. That equated to four large boxes and a stomach ache. It's a genuine good time and way less expensive than buying them from a store. Plus, you can never beat fresh and sun ripened. As an added bonus, blueberry season is summer so you will sweat off a pound... or twelve... working the field. Might be a good thing to do right before a big event or date. It's also very cathartic. I mean that both in the emotional and digestive sense. As the thought "one for me, one for the box" cycles in your head you get lulled in to a very peaceful place...until the digestive part hits. Oh, and BLUEBERRIES blow away the competition when it comes to antioxidants. So, you get your exercise, mediation and a healthy treat all in one place.

If you have kids, they'd probably enjoy it too. Well, they'd enjoy it more than other score-your-own-food options like: pick your own pork chop, collect your own foie gras, or name your own calf before we turn him into veal.

The farm we went to is outside of LA, but there are farms all across the country that let you do the same thing. Go. It's fun.

http://www.underwoodfamilyfarms.com/index.html

Thanks mom and dad for a fun day. Also, thank you for reading my blog and always telling me how funny I am. Please don't ever stop doing that.

Trader Joe's Wild Mushroom & Black Truffle Flatbread...you don't suck.

Lets see...crispy flatbread, black truffles, mozzarella cheese, wild mushrooms (not caged)...um, ok.

Best thing about this delightful treat is that it works as a snack OR meal. You can't say that about everything you know...take rack of lamb for instance. Great meal, bad snack. However, the suggested way to eat this delicacy is to cut it into strips and serve it as an appetizer. That works if you're into the whole sharing thing. My way of serving it is: 1 flatbread for breakfast, 1 flatbread for lunch, 1 more flatbread for dinner...possible additional flatbreads as snacks in between meals. Then, fall asleep and dream about eating flatbread.

Oh, remember the bottle of white truffle oil I posted a while back? If you've developed a bit of a truffle obsession (seems to be contagious), you can bust it out and sprinkle this WILD MUSHROOM & BLACK TRUFFLE FLATBREAD with it. Did I say sprinkle? I meant dump the bottle. Not that the flatbread can't stand alone, it most certainly can. I'd even say try it alone first. If you've already tapped a vein and have a white truffle oil IV going straight into your blood stream, that should suffice too.
The package says you can cut it up and put it on salad. That's just weird. Then you would have soggy flatbread on lettuce. Don't believe everything you read...except for this blog.

Package also says "Product of Italy." It's a good idea to put that on things like pizza, shoes, cheese and men. Really ups the appeal.
This flatbread can be found at Trader Joe's. Occasionally, I have found Italian men there also. No shoe department yet unfortunately. Ill keep looking.

Good job on this find Natalie. Keep looking for other things labeled "Product of Italy"...give them my number.