good girl dinette

good girl dinette on kcet depatures' series on highland park

2011-11-24T09:18:00.000-08:00

(click on the image to view the interview)

kcet departures highlights our very own highland park. starting with a band of tongva people called the hahamog'na, the series goes on to chronicle the arts and crafts movement in the area; the construction of the arroyo seco parkway and its role in changing highland park from suburb to inner city; the rise of the chicana/o movement and mural art in the 60s & 70s; the concurrent responses to the economic inequalities of 80's & 90's: the emergence of gang culture and a politically-charged music and art scene that fought against the anti-immigrant, anti-poor policies of the time; and, in the final installment, highland park's current incarnation (good girl dinette is included in this segment).

i hear a lot of people talk about how much highland park has changed over the years. what i like best about what juan devis has done with this series is the way he's shown the continuity of highland park's spirit over the span of 100+ years. it's always been a vibrant, complex, and dynamic community filled with leftist artist-types - my kind of people.

bitter in the mouth: a dinner with monique truong

2011-10-19T16:45:00.000-07:00

novelist monique truong is coming to los angeles and good girl dinette. here's your chance to meet the author and dine on a menu inspired by her latest novel bitter in the mouth.

tuesday, november 1, 2011

7:00 pm

$35 per person

rsvp: http://monique-truong.eventbrite.com/

menu, circa 1970s

first
chicken (or tofu) farci

shallots, lemongrass

then
seared beef (or shitake) with watercress

black pepper, garlic, maggi

last
williams pear jelly

brandy, ginger liqueur, moscato d'asti

Bitter in the Mouth is the second novel from 2010 Guggenheim Fellow and New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award winner Monique Truong. Her first novel, The Book of Salt, was a New York Times Notable Fiction Book. In Bitter in the Mouth, protagonist Linda Hammerick has many secrets including the fact that she has synesthesia—she tastes the words that she hears and speaks. With equal parts humor and poignancy, Truong evokes how profoundly individual our experiences of the world can be and how we learn all too quickly to suppress our differences in order to fit in to social norms. - Ladies Home Journal Book Club

the new york times spotlights second-generation restaurateurs

2011-06-08T10:34:00.000-07:00

(click to jump to article, photo by axel koester for the new york times)

earlier this year steven stern of the new york times and i had a conversation about my childhood growing up in my aunts and uncles' restaurants. the above is the result of that chat.

good girl goes to the movies: the dinette transforms into concession stand for the los angeles asian pacific film festival

2011-04-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

this saturday and sunday, good girl dinette will be set up shop at the directors' guild of america to feed the hungry masses at 2011's los angeles asian pacific film festival.

(click to go to film festival site)

concession menu

drinks

iced coffee 2

iced jasmine tea 2

savories

mini-curry pot pies 3

roasted oyster mushroom baguettes 5

charred pork baguettes 5

galangal chicken baguettes 5

sweets

chocolate cake 3

maple coconut bread pudding 3

good girl dinette in bon appetit

2011-02-27T08:35:00.000-08:00

with kat and hilary, checking out andrew knowlton's article in the march issue (click on photo to read more).

do-good wednesday: re-lighting highand park's historic signs

2011-02-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

(images courtesy of future studios)

do-good wednesday is back (february 16) and this time eric and clayton are donating their tips to help re-light the historic signs of figueroa street. amy inouye of future studios and north figueroa assocation are the organizers of this project. (click on the signs to read about the project)

step out for a bite to eat this wednesday and show your pride and support for our bit of paradise!

tet vigil

2011-02-03T09:32:00.000-08:00

my sister and i are seated on the floor, each with a candle in front of us. mom demonstrates first. holding the folded triangle flaps over a flame, she melts the cellophane, then presses the two flaps together to seal the candy square. she watches us as we replicate her moves and produce two more sealed squares. she gives an approving nod and returns to the stove where my aunt is watching over a pot of tinned condensed milk and butter. we sit on the floor for hours burning our thumbs on molten cellophane. in a few hours our cousins sleeping in the other room will wake and take the caramels to town for new year's day.

good girl dinette gets in eat.shop los angeles 2010!

2010-07-23T09:54:00.000-07:00

kat perusing the latest eat.shop guide

the fine people of eat.shop guides have been kind enough to include us in their eat.shop los angeles 2010! it's a beautiful book and packed with one-of-a-kind, independently owned local eateries and shops in los angeles. stow the guide in a man/purse and you'll never be flummoxed about where to eat or shop on your precious day off!

the guide is available at local bookstores (or amazon, should you prefer).

congratulations to author anna h. blessing and editor kaie wellman, and thank you for including us!

a mention in jonathan gold's article in saveur magazine!

2010-02-22T09:05:00.000-08:00

(click on the magazine to read the article by jonathan gold)

a reader since 1994, i always look forward to finding a saveur magazine in my mailbox. this month's issue provided an additional delight: a mention in jonathan gold's article!

date

2010-02-14T16:59:00.000-08:00

coffee and palmier
dressed in civilian clothes and carrying a palmier in one hand and a thermos of coffee in another, he heads home to a house he doesn't live in, save for 4 days out of the month. he climbs up the spiral staircase to the bedroom. she's at the vanity. he places the thermos and pastry in front of her then reclines on the bed, admiring her as she sips her coffee, tames an unruly curl, takes a bite of palmier, fastens a clasp on a necklace, puts on stockings; neither of them are in a hurry for her to finish her toiletries.

banh khot
the tiny stall is packed with hungry diners waiting in front of dimpled pans in which a mixture of rice, coconut milk, and scallions is sputtering in oil. when the banh khot with dried shrimp and mung bean come out, they are perfectly blistered and crisp. she eats deliberately. he can see her mind working. she knows the basic recipe, but cannot discern the ingredient or technique that distinguishes these cakes from the others at the market. he laughs as she looks from their empty plates to the coveted batter next to the fire. he lets her take one last look, then takes her hand and they exit onto the street.

che
before too long, a vendor stops in front of them. in today's yoke are mung beans and red beans in coconut milk, neatly poured into plastic bags, each with a straw fastened by rubber bands. they take two bags and resume their saunter.

cine
the marquee advertises charlie chaplin's "modern times." they walk toward their seats, arms carrying beef jerky, coca-colas, and popcorn. the cool and dark of the movie house and her perfume do their magic and he falls asleep halfway into the film. this time it's she who indulges him and lets him sleep. when the movie ends, she nudges him awake and takes his hand to leave the theater.

roasted quail and carp
dinner is a more formal affair at a restaurant specializing in cantonese cooking. they order the roasted quail with watercress and carp steamed with ginger and scallions. it is only after the two dishes come to the table that they realize that they have just ordered from their wedding menu.

coffee
a few turns and the grinder yields enough coffee for two. they lie on the bed while the hot water percolates through the grounds and prolongs a day luxuriously absent of time schedule and economy.

accounting
they were married for almost 9 years, but if he were to add up all the days, the time my parents actually spent with each other would amount to no more than 8 months; a collection of brief food, sleep, and leisure-filled reprieves that never lasted longer than a weekend at a time.

good girl dinette gets into eat: los angeles

2010-01-04T11:01:00.000-08:00

a good start to 2010. the guide is available on amazon and bookstores throughout los angeles. i bought my copy at vroman's in pasadena.

kudos to all the editors for a beautifully designed and deliciously curated guide, and thank you for including us!

lizz and isaac's wedding

2009-12-29T08:55:00.000-08:00

i met lizz and isaac about a week or two into the dinette's opening: they were looking for fuel for their veggie oil benz and i was looking to dispose of my frying oil. lizz is the owner of the eco-clothing line, popomomo, and isaac is a sculptor. and somewhere between their regular visits to the dinette for dinner (where they would always order spicy fries) and their weekly visits to pick up the restaurant's used oil, we became friends.

then they came in one day and announced that they were getting married and that they'd like the dinette to cater an outdoor luncheon in elysian park. and they added one more request: the menu was to be kosher-style. why is it that i love a culinary challenge?

in planning their wedding luncheon, i meditated on a menu that would reflect their personalities (fanciful, generous, and with an eye for aesthetics) as well as echo both jewish and vietnamese food traditions. And it came to me: dill and turmeric. and then the whole thing came together at once: a menu built around a rice noodle bar featuring turmeric-glazed local snapper topped at the final moment with fresh dill; eggplant wrapped in wild pepper leaves; and roasted cauliflower and assorted mushrooms; flanked with all the vietnamese accoutrements of fresh herbs, lettuces, pickles, and sauces.

lizz and isaac, newly married

hors d'oeuvres:
rice cakes with scallion tofu
shitake mushroom tartines

main course:
rice noodle bar featuring:

turmeric-glazed wild-caught pacific snapper
eggplant wrapped in wild pepper leaves
roasted cauliflower and assorted mushrooms

a very la setting: montecillo de leo politi park inside of elysian park, dyed vintage tablecloths adorning the concrete picnic tables.

good girl supper: have yourself a good girl little holiday

2009-12-13T08:41:00.000-08:00

menu

first
winter salad of watercress with poached egg & fried capers

then
sage-roasted pork or sage-roasted mushrooms
with brussels sprouts and rosti

lastly
sticky toffee pudding

featuring
niman ranch, ramirez farm, & abc rhubarb farm

thank you to gabe guererro and helena kim for providing the musical entertainment for the evening.

mooncakes for mid-autumn moon festival '09

2009-10-03T08:24:00.000-07:00

i.
apples have returned to the market and it's time to make mooncakes again.

until recently, mooncake making had been a communal act. grandma, grandpa, and me at our respective posts: grandma with her rolling pin for the dough, grandpa and his scale to portion the filling, me with my wooden mold to shape the whole thing into mooncakes. a big part of the enjoyment of making mooncakes is the stretch of time in spent together in toil; the exchange of an afternoon for a few stacks of mooncakes; the satisfaction of admiring our handiwork at evening time. even when grandma's health declined and she could no longer hold the rolling pin, she'd still be in the kitchen, supervising our mini-production line from her wheelchair. and when grandpa's eyesight got so bad that he couldn't read the numbers on the scale and i started to make mooncakes on my own, it was comforting to know that he was still reachable by car and phone. now that grandpa's gone too, it's become more difficult to muster the energy to take down the wooden mold.

with the dinette only 6 months old, there doesn't seem to be a shortage of good reasons for not making mooncakes this year: payroll, bookkeeping, laundry, a haircut, sleep. but there are plenty of compelling reasons to make the cakes: to celebrate another arrival of autumn; to have edible sweet potato-filled gifts that i can give out to my long list of people to thank; to conjure up my former teachers in my kitchen.

ii.
mid-autumn moon festival '06. for my first year of making mooncakes on my own, i decided to forego my grandparents' traditional mung bean-salted duck egg filling and try a new filling instead. i baked up a batch, wrapped and packed four cakes in a paper box, and brought them home for grandpa.

grandpa: the crust is very pretty. what kind of food coloring did you use?

me: i just used some caramel sauce that you taught me and mixed that with an egg.

grandpa: that was smart.

me: taste it, grandpa.

grandpa: you did put a salted egg in?

me: no, grandpa. just taste one.

grandpa (taking a bite): wha... what is this?

me: it's sweet potato! i know how much you love sweet potato, so -

grandpa: why did you do that?

me: you don't like it, grandpa? no one would make a sweet potato mooncake in vietnam?

grandpa: only during the war, when we couldn't afford mung beans!

me: but grandpa, these sweet potatoes are more expensive than mung beans. and they were dug up just a few days ago.

grandpa: sweet potato filling. such a waste.

iii.
i love it that my innovation is no innovation at all. i love it that my mooncake is a war-time mooncake, and that even during war, my grandparents found time to make them.

good girl dinette makes it into johnathan gold's 99 essential la list!

2009-09-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

(photo by anne fishbein, click on curry pot pie and it'll take you to jonathan gold's list)

me (entering the kitchen): anne fishbein just told me that the dinette's going to be in jonathan gold's 99 list.

john (saute): we need more ong choy.

chris (soup/app): we need to come in earlier to prep the line.

hae jung (prep): we're gonna need to make more pot pie biscuits.

caroll (front of the house): if my picture gets in the la weekly, i hope it's sexy.

me (hyper-ventilating): i need a paper bag.

2009-08-02T17:51:00.000-07:00

picking up this week's ong choy and opo from mai yang, pictured here holding one of her prized tomatoes.

a few years back, mai told me that the farm might shut down when her parents retire. then a year ago, i saw mai with her father at the hollywood farmers' market and she told me that she's going to continue the yang farming tradition for another generation! thank you, mai!

you can catch mai at the silverlake farmers' market on saturday mornings, or her parents at the hollywood farmers' market on sunday mornings.

finally!: a very spotty account of good girl dinette's first 2 weeks in business

2009-04-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

april 6: yumiko and tom of tomco international uncork the ceremonial champagne bottle after we finally passed final health department inspection.

april 10: good girl dinette opens on good friday.

in the kitchen on opening night: john and hae jung work the saute line while i show a new hire how to plate a rice cake with scallion tofu dish.

april 16: hae jung, in hairnet and going in and out of walk-in to make crostatas, is a combination of chilly willy and lunchlady. with hae jung in the kitchen with me, it feels like old times, only better!

good girl dinette in la times

2009-04-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

(photo by barbara davidson, click on the rice bowl to go to more images)

one month into opening, jessica gelt of la times writes a sweet article of our new endeavor, accompanied by a gallery of gorgeous photos by barbara davidson.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/apr/27/entertainment/et-earlybird27

a day of grandpas

2009-03-24T09:17:00.000-07:00

angel and manny, two veteran electricians, came in early in the morning and worked into the evening to hook up the electrical components of my walk-in. i spent the day working on my computer in the dining room while they wired the walk-in to the electrical panel. i've lived near freeways or on busy streets all my life, so i wasn't surprised that i was able to do my work amidst the drilling and sawing and nailing. in fact, the sound of industry, peppered with angel and manny's frequent laughter, was quite comforting. i worked away at my calculations and projections, blissfully unaware of the reason for my sense of well-being. it was only after i looked at this picture of the two of them that i realized why i felt so carefree and content all day: they reminded me of my grandpa!

clayton at market

2009-03-24T09:15:00.000-07:00

friends and family come to the rescue and help get the dinette ready for health inspection

2009-03-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

john scrapes away years of grime.

erica, trang, hel, lan, and trac give the tables and chairs a good wipe down and polish.

hel, covered in grit, is still chipper.

the crew breaks for a lunch of tacos from la estrella up the street.

with the dining room finished, work starts in the kitchen.

becky unpacks while kat washes pho bowls.

christine with stacks of pho bowls.

clayton helps organize the kitchen.

by evening, the dinette looks shiny and new.

thank you to my bro, trang and her siblings, michelle inez, erica cho, becky villasenor, kat ng, judy hong, john elliot, ezak, clayton yeung, hel kim, and christine eghenian.

construction/tenant improvement lesson #1: the real cost of a walk-in

2009-03-21T08:59:00.000-07:00

this is the first in a list of lessons that i learned while building out my dinette. i should have started this list at the very beginning...

lesson #1
the real cost of a walk-in includes the following:

the cost for the actual physical walk-in box - this is what your supplier will quote you once they've visited your site and determined the appropriate box you'll need.

the cost for installation of said box - this is a fee that your supplier might forget to tell you and you might not know to ask. the installation usually takes 2 days.

the cost for an electrician skilled in walk-in hook up - this might be another cost that your supplier doesn't tell you about. the walk-in is both mechanical and electrical, so the hook up is not as simple as creating an outlet to plug the machine into and requires a specialist. the hook-up usually takes 2 days.

sub-lesson #1a

most likely your construction team will include an electrician, so when negotiating your tenant improvement contract, check to see if the electrician fees include a specialist for a walk-in. if the electrician fees do not include a specialist for a walk-in, make sure to add the additional cost to your overall budget.

rice set

2009-03-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

the rectangular plate, an unexpected bargain, brings the whole thing together. i tested out how the set would look against formica and wood. i'm partial to the formica.

bowls for the dinette

2009-03-18T23:35:00.001-07:00

a family portrait: mama bowl, papa bowl, baby bowl, and look, there's grandpa's porridge bowl!

walk-in installed!

2009-03-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

some of us dream of a walk-in closet and some of us dream of a walk-in refrigerator. i fall under the latter category. surrounded by shelves for soup stocks, pie doughs, produce, and proteins, i felt like one lucky girl.

the dinette passes final building and safety inspection!

2009-03-16T23:41:00.000-07:00

now there's only the health inspection left and we're ready to go!

a stop at anisette, before shopping at the santa monica farmers' market

2009-03-16T12:48:00.000-07:00

hae jung eyeing the brioche fine and almond croissant, waiting for her coffee.

the dinette passes fire inspection!

2009-03-10T20:03:00.000-07:00

a confident albert, ready to test the sprinkler system.

inspectors watch as the balloons inflate, indicating a properly functioning sprinkler system.

with the fire department inspection completed, we're scheduled for mechanical inspection on thursday.

good girl supper: vietnamese curry pot pie

2009-03-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

menu
first
spring lettuces and oro blanco salad

then
vietnamese curry pot pie (chicken or vegetarian)

lastly
amaretto jello with kumquat sauce

thank you to delicia bakery for letting me bake the pies in their oven when mine wouldn't heat up; to hae jung, the other half of my 2-woman cooking crew, for rolling out the pie crust in record time; to my friends who came to eat and ended up working: matthew for holding down the cold station and for ferrying the pies to the bakery; to thao and monica for running the food to the dining room; to judy for helping prep before the supper; to minh for washing the salad, then the dishes afterwards; and a big polar bear hug, kiss, and thank you to erica for assistance too numerous to mention!

saturday brunch for los angeles contemporary exhibitions, resolution 3 symposium

2009-03-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

menu
cavolo nero frittata
vegetarian chilaquiles
apple maple bread

thanks again to ming for the continued business!

dinette signage

2009-03-04T07:15:00.000-08:00

teri piecing together the signage "cheat sheet."

using the cheat sheet as a guide, i apply several coats of paint over the course of a week.

teri (with the help of hel) comes in the following weekend and does some detail clean-up.

teri (right) in detailing mode, hel (left) in quality control mode.

as a way to save money, teri and i thought we would paint the dinette signage ourselves. the result is a bit michel gondry a la "be kind rewind" so, needless to say, i like it!

dinette tables, provided by good girl darlings

2009-03-04T06:55:00.000-08:00

cesar verdin, master craftsman

cesar and his assistant assembling the tables

the beautiful final product!

thank you to all the darlings who answered my call for help and gave money to furnish the tables for the dinette:

alice hom
jenn lee
j. mark beaver & augusto ferriols
traci kato-kiriyama
sue-ellen case
bangbay siboliban
christina shigemura
thao lam
kim swindle & cypress bautista
walter louie
grace hong & victor bascara
jordan & elisa parhad
john elliot
layla welborn
michelle inez
the ito's and ito-wong's
nancy kikuchi
judy hong
sian seligman
dipti baranwal
irene soriano
cynthia copeland & greg spiegel

gas turned on at the dinette!

2009-02-25T09:42:00.000-08:00

after almost three months of red tape and phone calls to the gas company, a gas meter has been installed and service has been turned on for the dinette! david, my gas company service rep, was good enough to give my stock pot burner a tune up while he was on site. thanks, david!

there will always be a place at the table for good girl darlings!

2009-02-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

we’re so close! good girl dinette, your community home and playground is almost ready! you can help make it happen by becoming a good girl darling. to make a place at the table for you, darling, we need… well, a table. your contribution of $150 will buy a table top and earn you a special good girl darling card, good for 5 appetizers or desserts over the course of one year after you donate.

please click on the donation button to become a darling.
and, by all means, come back the good girl blog to check on our progress. I’ll be cooking up something sweet or savory just for you, darling!

good girl suppers on kcrw's good food with evan kleiman

2009-02-14T13:32:00.000-08:00

if you grow up in southern california and if you're any bit interested in food, you eventually find out about good food and evan kleiman. for me, that discovery happened in my twenties and i've been an ardent listener and fan ever since. after over a decade of listening to her on the radio, i've come to think of evan kleiman as a friend of sort, a friend who is always knowledgeable about new restaurants, recipes, and food trends; a friend whom i assumed i would never meet. so imagine my excitement when i was asked to come to the kcrw studio in santa monica to talk about my secret suppers! here's a link to listen to the show:

vietnamese curry pot pie

2009-02-09T10:09:00.001-08:00

for alice, a frequent taste-tester for the dinette menu.

judy at jamie farms stall

2009-02-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

beautiful!

dinette counter installed

2009-01-22T07:10:00.000-08:00

cesar verdin, master cabinet maker, next to his handiwork.

benches for the dinette

2009-01-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

it took several weekends, but the benches are finally done!

while there were some differing views on what the color evoked (a tomato? tomato soup? red pepper soup? a colored easter egg? a le creuset enameled cast iron pot?), we all concurred that the color was very dinette-appropriate.

thank you to jessie, john, jordan, clayton, sam, eric, and judy for sawing, wood-putty-ing, sanding, and painting; to alice for the last-minute run to the hardware store; and an especial thank you to sandy lee for spearheading the entire project from start to finish!

thanksgiving, 2008: first cookie

2008-12-31T00:41:00.000-08:00

drew sampling his own creation

karin and jeff's wedding reception

2008-12-22T19:37:00.000-08:00

the happy couple

menu

roasted pork belly with almond picada
brussels sprout spanish tortilla
seared duck breast with brava sauce and allioli
spanish cocas with manchego and roasted cauliflower and mushroom
macaroni and cheese (for the kids)

guests at nucleus gallery in alhambra

hae jung (right), duck searer par excellence

all photos courtesy of shu-jon mao (shu-tterbug.com)

dinette chairs delivered

2008-10-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

a bargain from the bay area, courtesy of my friend helen, who spotted them in a thrift shop and snatched them up for me. they're going to look so cute in the dinette.

hae jung with taro stalks

2008-09-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

from farmer chan's stand.

dinette under construction

2008-09-12T07:46:00.001-07:00

a visit to check the progress of the construction revealed that the crew completed demolition and had put up framing for the new walls. my friend tien, event planner extraordinaire and general, all-around stylish gal, came with to help me decide on the restaurant's colors.

good girl supper series: scott peacock and edna lewis menu

2008-09-09T21:58:00.000-07:00

this month's supper is inspired by my meeting scott peacock at slow food nation in san francisco - or more precisely, by my eating the ham biscuits that he made at the event. one bite of the impossibly buttery biscuits and i knew that my next supper had to be a southern one. this menu draws from recipes from scott peacock and the late edna lewis' great cookbook, the gift of southern cooking.

first
biscuits with country ham (or with white cheddar)

then
roasted quail (or wild mushroom-stuffed peppers)
salad of cucumbers and radishes
roasted okra

lastly
lane cake with coconut bourbon frosting

featuring
underwood farms
yang farm

tomco international selected for good girl dinette tenant improvements

2008-09-02T22:41:00.000-07:00

after competitive bids from several contractors, i went with mr. takeichi of tomco international - who also happens to be my architect for the dinette! mr. takeichi's decades of experience really shone in the planning phase and i'm excited to have him as my contractor for the construction phase.

new bike shop in highland park

2008-08-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

like a harbinger of more good things to come in highland park, flying pegion, a new bike shop, has opened up on figueroa and avenue 57, just a block from the dinette's location! click on the pigeon icon and she'll take you to the store's website. i love anything that references birds, but what sold me on the shop is that it organizes collective rides to dim sum restaurants in san gabriel valley! how cute is that?

good girl supper series: hungry girl tv dinner

2008-08-24T15:41:00.000-07:00

a new old-fashioned twist on the classic hungry man tv dinner

main
bison (or mushroom) salisbury steak

sides
yukon gold mashed potatoes, and roasted nantes carrots and blue lake beans

dessert
nectarine cobbler

featuring
lindner ranch
ken's top notch produce
jaime farms
weiser family farms

this month's supper ended with a surprise screening of erica cho's "hungry girl dinner," a video ode to the delights and pleasures of solitary eating and tv watching.

Hungry Girl Dinner from aufdemweb on Vimeo.

eating in san francisco

2008-08-20T08:38:00.000-07:00

spiced caramel, persian, lavender caramel, raspberry, bourbon pecan, and turtle fleur de sel at christopher elbow

savory marshmallow with melon at elizabeth faulkner's new restaurant, orson

delightfully sandwiched between two cuties, alice and hae min, at spqr, waiting for handmade spaghetti alla carbonara with guanciale

good girl supper series: family-style vietnamese menu

2008-07-27T22:03:00.000-07:00

starter

grilled summer corn with scallion dressing

main
grilled local snapper & ling cod (or summer vegetables) with turmeric and galangal
served with rice noodles, toasted rice crackers, and assorted lettuces and herbs

dessert
watermelon lime granita

featuring
yang farm
finley family farm
ha's farm

prayer stick for good girl dinette

2008-07-11T07:14:00.000-07:00

my architect finally got clearance from the sanitation department for our tenant improvement plans and, along with clearances from fire, engineering, transportation, health, mechanical, and handicap, we've a monday meeting with building and safety for final approval! i burnt this prayer stick for a swift approval and build-out. in the same spirit, my architect said that he will use high-octane sake to purify his body and mind.

ming and alice at market

2008-06-29T23:33:00.001-07:00

good girl supper: cuban menu

2008-06-29T23:33:00.000-07:00

starter
stuffed potato croquette

main
roasted pork (or spaghetti squash) with black beans and rice

dessert
flan

grandpa in fedora at market, 2001

2008-06-25T20:49:00.001-07:00

hae jung at market

2008-06-22T20:30:00.000-07:00

cocktail party for lesbian and gay lawyers' association

2008-06-21T22:44:00.000-07:00

hazel selling the curry samosas

hae jung (in background) rolling mini-spring rolls a la minute

erica back in the kitchen for more pass hors d'oeuvres

judy sporting a most fetching good girl catering ensemble, complete with matching platter

vietnamese tartines, all dressed up and ready to be picked up

a cocktail party hosted by the lesbian and gay lawyers' association of los angeles, to raise funds for love honor cherish, a grassroots effort to defeat the anti-marriage constitution amendment on the november '08 ballot. for more information, go to their website www.lovehonorcherish.org.

elizabeth at market

2008-06-18T10:26:00.000-07:00

pauline & tom at market

2008-06-08T20:22:00.000-07:00

coffee experience at la mill coffee boutique

2008-06-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

tran phuong soc, 1913 - 2008

2008-05-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

all my life, i’ve been hungry. and it’s no wonder because i grew up in my grandparents’ kitchen where morning, noon, and night, something was always bubbling on the stove or baking in the oven. the banh pate chaud, warm baguettes and hot condensed milk at breakfast, the pot of porridge that greeted me when I came home from school, and the thit kho, canh chua, and rau xao we ate for dinner. cooking wasn’t just an activity that my grandparents participated in; it permeated their lives. they organized their lives around it.

my grandparents marked the seasons with food. in spring we candied wintermelons and kumquats. in summer we blanched mong toi that they grew in their garden. in autumn we spent weekends making mooncakes: grandpa rolled out the crust; grandma stuffed the filling inside the dough; and i fitted the cakes into wooden molds. a strategic whack released the cakes from the mold and they would be embossed with rabbits running across a meadow, birds migrating across a night sky, and persimmons still on their branches. the mooncakes, golden and shiny from an eggwash, would then be wrapped in parchment, ready to give out to relatives and friends from the old hamlets.

my grandparents expressed affection through food. laconic and reserved in verbal and physical displays of affection, they let their love flow through everything they cooked. there isn't an emotion that they could not convey through food. my grandparents used it to celebrate, to mourn, to praise, and to express appreciation, approval, and gratitude. food was even used to express apology. i remember one time when i was young, my grandparents wrongly punished me for an offense that i had not committed. later, when it was discovered that i was innocent, grandpa came into my room and sat down next to me. still angry, i turned away from him. he then produced an apple from his pocket and put it on the pillow next to me. it was from our garden. fresh picked, it still had its chalky sugar bloom. he patiently sat and waited for my indignant sniffles to subside, for my hand to reach for the apple, for my first bite, for my acceptance of his silent apology. then he patted my head, chuckled, and left the room.

it was while they were cooking that my grandparents were most relaxed and open. they laughed, talked about their youth; his years in seminary school and hers working in great-grandmother’s shop; their first years as a married couple; what life was like during the french occupation; how they lost their fortune twice (once in '54, when the country was partitioned and they had to abandon all their businesses in the north and move to the south; then again in '75 when the south vietnamese government collapsed); how they never let great losses defeat them; and how they rebuilt once again when they came to america, beginning with an underground restaurant that they ran out of their garage in aurora, colorado.

my grandparents were over sixty when i began living with them and i was always acutely aware of their age and mortality, that one day i would lose them, as well as their stories and recipes. in my twenties, i tried to write down my grandparents’ recipes so that they would not be lost to the next generations. i began to ask them how many tablespoons of sugar in their caramel base, how many pounds of chicken for a batch of stock, and how many cups of rice to make a pot of porridge. their answer to all my questions was invariably, “just until it tastes right.” i was a novice cook at the time and didn’t know what that meant, so i kept on asking about tablespoons and cups and pounds, to my grandparents’ increasing irritation. after a few months of trying to turn their cooking into fail proof recipes, i had an epiphany. my grandparents were talented and skilled cooks and their approach to cooking was unique. no collection of recipes would enable me cook to cook they way they did. so i let go of trying to write down the particulars of a recipe and began developing my palate and learning to determine by taste whether a pot of stock, caramelized pork, or curry needed more salt, sweetness, or time, and by doing this, i became a part of the joy that was present when they cooked.

like a migration route that once learned becomes embedded in a bird’s memory for life, my childhood spent cooking and eating in my grandparents’ kitchen has left a profound indelible imprint on me. when i want to show love, i bake a lattice-top pie. when friends are going through difficult times, i make them food so that they’ll have something comforting to eat in the fridge. when i’m sad, i instinctively go into my kitchen, survey what my pantry and fridge have to offer, then trust in the act of cooking to settle my spirit. and each autumn, as soon as the first crop of apples appear at the market, i take down my wood molds, pound out batches of mooncakes, and gather my friends for mooncakes and tea under the brightest moon of the year. when i received a text message from my brother that said that grandpa was in the hospital and that it was looking dire, i went into a tailspin. how do i convey to grandpa how much he’s impacted my life? how do i convey love and gratitude? how do i comfort him in his last days? by the time i got to my house, i knew what to do. i went into my kitchen and put chicken, brown rice, ginger, and onions into a pot and made grandpa’s porridge. it was the last thing i cooked for him.

there are many things i like about being a chef and restaurateur, but on the top of the list is the moment when i’m in my kitchen with my crew and we’re in the middle of a busy service; the rail is full of tickets; the printer is cranking out even more; all my burners are going, it’s hot and i’m sweating like nobody’s business. then, amid all the chaos, i hear laughter coming from the dining room. it’s the sound of people enjoying their meals with their friends. then it hits me, that familiar wave of happiness, i am in my element, i am back in my grandparents’ kitchen, i have found my way home.

good girl supper: astrology & gastronomy

2008-05-14T22:03:00.000-07:00

back by popular demand, another installment of good girl's astrology and gastronomy series. this time, the menu features spanish tapas, tailor-made for air signs who would much prefer to nosh on small bites than tuck into a big main course.

soup
gazpacho

tapas
traditional catalan flatbread with manchego
stuffed cherry tomatoes
fried potatoes with allioli
castilian-style zucchini and its flowers
squid (or mushroom) with caramelized onions

after-dinner treats
oranges in red wine
rice pudding ice cream

good girl supper: indonesian menu

2008-04-14T08:18:00.000-07:00

this month's good girl supper is inspired by recipes from corrine trang's "essentials of asian cuisine."

starter
sate lilit mushroom lemongrass skewers

main
nasi goreng indonesian-style fried rice
gado gado indonesian-sytle salad with peanut sauce dressing
kambing kare indonesian curry of lamb (or vegetarian lamb)

dessert
bubuh injin black sticky rice with coconut milk

chocolate joe

2008-04-14T07:55:00.000-07:00

a chocolate dessert for good girl dinette's menu, inspired by a mocha brownie recipe from anne bramley of eat feed.

xin lu video bus tour menu

2008-04-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

media artist ming-yuen ma, a repeat catering client of mine, asked me to come up with a box lunch for his upcoming project in may, the "xin lu video bus tours." he's an unusual client - instead of planning a menu around an occasion like, say, a birthday or holiday, his catering requests are more concept-driven. the last job i did for him, he called me up and said, "i'm screening a documentary at los angeles contemporary exhibitions, can you come up with a menu that engages with the ideas presented in yoko ono's cut piece?" it was the first catering gig that required my consulting an artist friend to get the cliff's notes on what yoko ono's cut piece was all about.

this time around, ming calls and tells me, "i'm putting together a video bus tour in collaboration with visual communications, can you suggest some menus that explore the intersections between tourism, immigration, and displacement?"

okay, mr. ma, i'm used to you now. hmm, a bus tour, so it has to be something that is transportable and tastes good at room temperature; intersections between immigration and displacement, so maybe a food that's traveled and planted itself in different cuisines -- ah! the portable, humble, yet delicious bao, in its various iterations:

a bao sampler

eat
chinese-style bao of barbecued pork

korean-style cjeen bbang of nappa cabbage, spring onions, and pea sprouts

vietnamese-style banh bao of mushroom and quail eggs

filipino-style siopao of ginger and pork

drink
choice of young coconut juice, asian yogurt drink, or bottled water

new business counselor for good girl dinette

2008-03-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

(lee aoki, nancy kikuchi, me, and cooke sunoo)

i went to little tokyo service center to meet up with my new business counselor, lee aoki. also at the meeting were cooke sunoo, director of the asian pacific islander small business program, and nancy kikuchi, who, until today, was my business counselor. i met nancy in 2003, handed her my business plan for my first restaurant, and asked her to help me get a bank loan. what i got instead was so much more. nancy taught me how to select a good contractor for the kitchen build-out, a good accountant to handle the dizzying amount of filings that go with running a small business, and a good restaurant equipment supplier. she also calmed me down when i made my first major business mistake: impulsively signing a lease without negotiating the terms. and after she successfully got me a wells fargo loan and saw me open my doors to my first restaurant, she sent out postcards to everyone she knew to tell them about the grand opening. all along the way, she was always supportive and encouraging, truly believing in my vision for the restaurant.

business is a game of nerves and nancy was someone i could always turn to to remind me that my food and business instincts are good. thanks, nancy, i miss you already.

good girl supper - sneak preview of dinette menu

2008-03-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

march ushered in warmer evenings and allowed me to set out tables and chairs for an alfresco supper featuring dishes from the future good girl dinette menu:

starter
fried tofu dressed with scallions

main
vietnamese braised pork (or cauliflower) on jasmine brown rice, thai broccoli sauteed with sesame oil, & daikon-turnip frittata

dessert
almond gelee with blood orange syrup

carpets & grease traps; btu's & amps

2008-03-01T22:25:00.000-08:00

this morning i met up with a potential contractor for good girl dinette's tenant improvement. we met up at the job site so that he can take pictures of the site, pick up the plans, and discuss money-saving options. we ripped up the carpet to see if putty was used when it was installed. it was, and that's not good. that means more work to get the floors acceptable for the health department. he gave me a tip for removing debris from the wall, to bring out the beauty of the brick. we talked about the near impossibility of getting around getting a grease trap, where the hood is going to go, and general demolition.

then i went home and went to work generating documents for the health department. my architect and i just received the health department's response to our plans and, among other things, they want us to provide manufacturer's specifications for the kitchen equipment. although not intellectually taxing, it is a task that is extremely tedious. while i was toiling away, looking up the total btu's, voltage, amps, gph, and hertz and checking for nsf or ansi certification for each and every item that will go into my kitchen, i saw my beautiful saturday afternoon turn into dusk, then night. this is the tedious part of the business: the achingly mind-numbing work that's so necessary to get the business going, the restaurant equivalent of cinderella picking barley from the cinders, except there are no magical birds to help out.

ronin izakaya bistro in west hollywood

2008-02-27T23:10:00.000-08:00

i went to try out my friends samuel and scott's new restaurant in west hollywood. sam used to be a part-time line cook for me when i used to own blue hen and i met scott when i gave a talk for little tokyo service center's small business course. they're great guys and i love their restaurant. scott's responsible for the menu, a creative collection of modern, inventive japanese tavern food. the food was delicate, clever, and beautifully presented. my favorites were the taco shimi (ahi tuna sashimi, avocado, and grilled shitake served on cumin-seasoned flour tortilla chips that come stacked like a napoleon); the carpaccio trio featuring ahi, yellowtail, and scallops; and scott's take on milk and cookies: a decadent chocolate cake made to resemble a cookie and served with a vanilla smoothie. scott's years of experience really shines through in the menu's composition as well as its execution.

as he was a graphic designer in a former career, sam's responsible for the restaurant's branding. he used to be a wine specialist for whole foods as well, so i suspect that he played a key role in the restaurant's beer selection. i tried the echigo beer that my eating companion ordered and it went really well with the food.

what i like most about the place is that it is an expression of scott and sam's personalities: sincere, unpretentious, detail-oriented, and friendly. the name of the restaurant is ronin, to indicate that the menu is not fettered by japanese tradition and borrows from other cuisines such as french and mexican. it's definitely a male place, most of the wait & kitchen crew are male and the dining room uses a lot of dark wood and is decorated with samurai swords. but it didn't feel oppressively macho. i felt as if i had entered an alternate universe populated by manga boys playing at rogue samurais, while in my world i am at work opening up a dinette called good girl.

ronin izakaya bistro
359 n. la cienega blvd.
west hollywood, ca 90048
310 289 8404

2008-02-27T22:40:00.001-08:00

lattice-top apple pie - a housewarming for sandy

drew turns two

2008-02-24T22:10:00.000-08:00

as is tradition, a jumper and helium tank are rented, too much food is made, and an ice cream cake is bought, on which we put a wishing candle.

although i totally adore my nephew/godson, drew's not so enamoured with me. and on his second birthday, it is no different. he gives me a hug and a kiss after much cajoling from his mother, but keeps his distance, preferring to stay on one side of the kitchen, near his other aunt and godmother lan who is making cookies, while i cook on the opposite side of the kitchen. in time he comes by to look at what i'm doing. i am cutting out segments of blood oranges for a salad and i offer him a wedge. he shakes his head and steps back a bit. i tell him that it's sour and that he'll like it. he takes the wedge from me and puts it in his mouth. his whole face puckers from the tartness.

"them cam (more orange)."

i love this kid who loves balloons, coin-operated carousels, and tart things.

cook down (or a sorry account of my attempts at feeding myself while sick)

2008-02-10T17:51:00.001-08:00

i dragged myself out of bed and went to the farmers' market to get my groceries for the week. when i got there, they had run out of chicken, which i was hoping to use to make grandpa's porridge. loathing the thought of having to make a stop at trader joe's, i decided to make vegetarian grandpa's porridge.

attempt #1:
i chopped up some onions and put them in the oven to roast. then i got into bed for a little lie down, just a little rest, and maybe a bit of slumber... i woke up to the smell of charred food. the onions were completely burnt. okay, i tell myself, i guess i can just eat some brown rice.

attempt #2:
i put on a pot of rice to cook, went back into bed for a lie down, just a little rest, and maybe a bit of slumber... i woke up to the now familiar smell of charred food. the pot of rice was completely burnt. desperate now, i looked around the apartment for any prepared food.

attempt #3:
i had a store-bought banh chung that i was intending to give to my grandpa for new year's day. as i wouldn't be able to see him until next week, and the cake wouldn't keep that long, i cut out a piece of the banh chung and took one bite, grateful for something edible and not requiring cooking. but i was premature in my gratitude because the cake had gone bad, and i had to spit out the bite i had taken.

surrender:
like a drowning person too fatigued to go on, i grabbed a couple of tangerines i had bought from the market and sank back to bed, feeling pretty famished and forlorn.

rescue:
later my friend judy comes by and makes me thai coconut soup, ginger-garlic kale, and korean multi-bean rice. not only was nothing burnt or expired, everything was deliciously prepared and wholesome. they were the best things i'd ever eaten. and just what i needed.

spelt pizza pie

2008-02-08T06:48:00.000-08:00

a pizza pie experiment - whole wheat spelt for the crust; julienned zucchini and shallots roasted in white wine for the topping; then a salad of arugula, pinenuts, and pecorino after it comes out of the oven.

this is my second experimentation with spelt. during my first attempt, i didn't let the dough rise overnight, so when the dough baked, it didn't create the bubbly, crackly, crispy crust that you see above. with crispy texture achieved, i'm going to knead the next batch of dough a bit more to develop the gluten and give it some chewiness - for a pie that straddles cracker and bread.

confusion, frustration, and compassion at the la city public counter

2008-02-06T06:38:00.000-08:00

it took 4 trips to get it done, but my application for a change of use permit finally got accepted at the la city construction public counter. here's a synopsis of the process:

thursday, january 31, 1:00 pm
city planner: (leaving message on my voicemail) i signed off on your application, but you'll need to get the application notarized, physically submit it at the public counter, and pay the fees. then it'll get sent back to me.

thursday, january 31, 3:15 pm
me: (at the public counter, after picking up documents from city planning, going to a notary) i'd like to submit this application and pay the fees.

person at counter: oh, it's past 2:30, we can't take any cases after 2:30. come back tomorrow.

me: but all i need to do is to pay a fee so that the city planner can process my application.

person at counter: we don't accept cases after 2:30 pm. (taking a look at my documents) make sure you bring a copy of your lease to verify that you're authorized to make the tenant improvements.

me: how long will it take to accept my case?

person at counter: it seems like an easy case. it shouldn't take very long.

friday, february 1, 8:30 am
me: (at public counter): i'd like to submit my application, please.

person at counter: oh, this is the wrong counter. you need to go to counter 8.

me: but this is where i was directed.

person at counter: i'm sorry, you'll have to get another number and wait in line.

me: but this is where i was directed.

person at counter: you have to get another number and wait in line.

me: but i've been waiting for a while now and i have to get to work soon.

person at counter: and it looks like other people are ahead of you and it might take a while.

me: but, but... (resigning, placing my documents back into my manila envelope, putting my scarf back on, walking away)

monday, february 4, 7:45 am
me: (where else? at the public counter) i'd like to submit my application, please.

person at counter: let me see your documents. (checking documents, consulting computer) we need the property owner's signature to accept this application.

me: but the person whom i spoke with last time i was here said that i only needed to bring my lease.

person at counter: no, the property owner needs to sign this application.

me: but he's in santa monica and won't be able to get here any time soon. and my lease states that i'm authorized to make tenant improvements.

person at counter: that means nothing. we need a notarized signature.

me: but that's not what i was told last time.

person at counter: that's not my problem.

me: but, but... (fuming, placing documents back into manila envelope, putting scarf back on, walking away)

tuesday, february 5, 8:00 am
me: (at the pit of despair, aka la city public counter) i'd like to submit my application, please.

person at counter: let me see your documents. (looking at me) you were here yesterday, yes?

me: yes. and the day before that, and the day before that.

person at counter: (stamping documents, assigning me a case number) now you go to the cashier, make copies of these documents, and bring them back to me.

(a period of time elapses)

me: (back at counter) i paid the fees. and here are copies of the documents.

person at counter: now these documents need to be mailed to your neighborhood council. that's going to be $1.50, plus $1 service charge.

me: i don't have any cash on me. can i just mail it out later when i get back home?

person at counter: no, we mail it out for you. you need to pay for the stamps.

me: (holding out my fare for the metro, tears welling up at the prospect of having to come back yet another time) i only have $1.25...

person at counter: (going through his pockets) here. i have some change i can give you.

me: th-thanks. (vklempt at this display of human compassion at the public counter, handing over my $1.25 metro fare, putting scarf back on, walking away from pit of despair, spring in my step for getting through another bureaucractic process)

puff pastry and meat pies

2008-02-01T22:06:00.000-08:00

after 3 tries, i finally made a successful batch of meat pies using puff pastry. i packed four in a box and ferried them over to hae jung, food maven and my pastry mentor.

hae jung: (taking fork to pie) ohh...

me: is that a good "ohh..."?

hae jung: yes. the crunch is tender. (tasting the puff pastry) did you use lard or butter?

me: plugra.

hae jung: ohh... i can taste the butter. rich. it tastes great.

me: anything lacking?

hae jung: no, i think this is what puff pastry is supposed to be.

me: no improvements?

hae jung: i can't think of what more you would want from puff pastry.

me: (incredulous) no refinements?

hae jung: well, you could use just egg yolk for the egg wash to give the pies a more golden, glossier sheen. the pies could be assembled more uniformly, some were puffier than others. the filling itself has a good flavor, but it's dry -- you could add mushrooms to fix that. and more pepper.

ahh, that's the hae jung i know....

plans sent to health department and city planners

2008-01-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

some bit of good news from last week:

i met up with city planners from the historic monuments department to show them my tenant improvement plans. they liked what they saw and only requested that the awning be changed out. the current awning covered up the transom windows and they want me to replace it with one that would sit right below those windows. i like the suggestion, it would bring in more of the northeastern light, making for better ambience (and lower electricity bills!).

i also met with the city planner who oversees the avenue 57 neighborhood specific plan. we went over the documents i had to submit to his department. yesterday after work, i dropped off my application.

also yesterday, my architect submitted plans to the health department.

now we wait; and while we wait, it's fundraising time!

6 mini-pear pies

2008-01-28T08:04:00.000-08:00

trying out some lattice top designs. i think i like the 2x2 (middle right pie).

good girl supper on the food network

2008-01-27T08:30:00.001-08:00

in may of 2007, the food network came to film one of my good girl suppers for their "power of food" series. the result was a homage to my grandmother, her cooking, and the cooking traditions that she taught me.

before the crew came to film, judy, the producer, and i talked on the phone, to figure out what she wanted to highlight about my good girl suppers. it soon became evident that my stories of my grandma and her cooking would be the focus of the filming. i had to do a lot of thinking about what it would mean to talk about my grandmother. she was a terrific figure, a woman of tremendous wit (and sarcasm), magnetism, talent, drive, and ambition. what did i want to share about the woman who raised me? it wouldn't do to reduce her to a few sentimental memories and recipes. grandma wasn't a sentimental woman. she was a pragmatist. that was how she survived over 40 years of war. when my grandma passed away, my friend an emailed me and wrote the best description of what my grandmother meant to me: matriarch, mother, dictator, teacher, chef. i loved her. she was tough and hard, on herself and the people around her. but the one chink in her armor, the one soft part of her, was her cooking. in other aspects of her life, she was terse, not prone to effusive emotion, rarely giving out approval or praise. but in cooking, she let go of restraint. her cooking was intense and excessively, overwhelmingly generous. the 2 refrigerators and deep freezer in her house were evidence of her largess. don't even think about asking her for a hug, but do ask for seconds, and thirds. our stomachs stretched beyond capacity until our vision blurred, our limbs buckled, and we lay down in surrender in the family room. perhaps because she was such a hard woman, the love she showed in the kitchen was all the more valuable to me as a child.

i didn't know how my stories of my grandma would be received by the production team, but they were the truth, and the only stories i knew to tell. it turned out that i had nothing to worry about, for throughout the course of the filming, during the various breaks we took to re-load film or adjust lighting, different crew members came up to me and shared their own nana/grandma/bubby stories.

click below for the featurette.

New Old Fashioned from aufdemweb on Vimeo.

good girl dinette signage

2008-01-26T10:25:00.000-08:00

my designer and branding gal, teri osato, did this rendering of what the dinette's signage would look like. don't you want to come in for grandpa's porridge and lattice-top apple pie?

kind of like a husking bee, but for hummus

2008-01-19T16:19:00.000-08:00

this past summer hae jung and i spent an absolutely pleasurable evening shelling fresh chickpeas. on the concrete yard outside my apartment, we slowly made our way through branches and pods to uncover the pale green beans, so young they looked more like fava beans. our fingers moved in hours of repetitive rhythm from branch, to pod, to chickpea, to the mixing bowl we set between ourselves to collect our bounty.

me: this must be what people felt while raising a barn or husking rice or spinning wool or pounding mochi or making banh chung.

hae jung: when the practice of communal corn husking still existed, the farmer whose crop was being husked would put a jug of hard cider at the bottom of the pile of corn, as incentive for quick work. (flicking another emerald chickpea into the collecting bowl, looking at the pile of chickpea branches yet to be picked through) hmm, i doubt any hard cider lies underneath here.

an evening sitting under a late-setting summer sun, in the company of one hae jung cho, who always has some bit of culinary arcana to impart, to yield 3 pounds of fresh chickpeas for the best hummus ever, what was there not to like?

2008, year of the good girl

2008-01-15T22:05:00.000-08:00

here she is. she's a bit rough around the edges right now, but with a little paint, some tables, an industrial hood, and a 10-burner range, she'll be ready for business (give or take a few additional equipment and improvements)! check back regularly to see how the makeover is coming along...