I'm pretty sure I picked up my "sucker for sales" tendency from my mom so I couldn't help it one day when we saw pork spareribs going for a steal of a price. Volume happened to be the only factor to brace against but luckily, when you make ribs well, they go fast. Since we have not a grill nor did I want to roast for hours, I tried out this other method I had read about which just involves covering the ribs with liquid and spices and boiling all of the moisture away. It can still take a long time depending on your equipment but it is certainly worth it for these spareribs. I went for a Spanish style this time because Duc was craving it. Paired with a serving of saffron rice, these Spanish-style pork spareribs were fantastic, and I hope you'll give this recipe a try yourself. Enjoy!

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 6-8 servings)

• 3 - 3.5 lb pork spareribs
• 1/2 yellow onion, chunked
• 1/2 garlic bulb, peeled and separated into cloves
• 1 tbsp whole peppercorn
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup green onions, chopped
• 3-4 dried red chili peppers
• 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
• chicken broth + water, varying

Step 2: Prepping the ingredients
This is going to sound so easy that it's dumb. In a large pot or deep pan, place all ingredients except for the liquid. For that, you'll want to add just enough to cover the meat barely at a 1:1 ratio of broth and water. Bring that to a boil. Once boiled, bring heat down to a simmer.


Step 3: Finishing
You'll want it all without a cover on. Let simmer 2-3 hours (depending on the size of your cooking vessel) until the liquid has evaporated. Everything will also have softened by then so feel free to smear the onions and garlic on the meat. Let cool before serving! They will be so tender, you'll wonder why you hadn't done ribs like this before.


Photography by Duc Duong.

The simple joy of feeling the warm crunch of fresh bread betwixt your teeth is difficult to accurately describe. It is a sensory experience that you can either relish in the moment or later but you all know what I mean when I recall memories for you of crumbs on your fingers, the smell of dough, golden brown crusts, a hearty tearing sound, and the taste of comfort. In every culture too, there is a different type of bread consumed. We made an interesting visit a few weeks back to BREAD Artisan Bakery after running into founder and owner Jonnie Peckham on several occasions at several events. Located in Santa Ana in a commercial warehouse area, the bakery was in the full swing of things once we arrived in the evening - the prime time for preparing for the next day's fresh deliveries. Had we not known the address and seen the office light on amid the darkened warehouse buildings, we might have missed the bakery which had to undergo a build-out (and was still under some construction) to accommodate the special factors needed to make a bakery work including adding walls to create separated, enclosed rooms.


I know without a doubt that you have had some of Jonnie's bread before based on who her clientele is but I won't disclose that information too early. You'll just have to found out! Officially BREAD Artisan Bakery has been around since 2010 though bread-making is no new skill or industry for Jonnie whose father used to own a bakery as well. In 2008, Jonnie stepped in to help with increasing production and eventually created her own business feeding the bread-hungry people of Orange County. She found a space in San Juan Capistrano to sublet which was a fully equipped bakery but eventually made the move to Santa Ana. As she spoke, we started to see how obvious it was how dedicated she was to her bread, never settling or going public until she had come to the bread she wanted and was proud enough of to sell. Now, as she says, the biggest part of the job is keeping the product consistent as the company grows. As we walked around the grounds trying to stay out of the way as much as possible (her staff was all working hard to meet their 3AM deadline), she pointed out their recent addition of two bread ovens for a total of five double-racker ovens which each house full structured racks that rotated slowly when loaded inside.


Of course throughout our tour, we each donned hairnets but we must have missed the memo on putting on our whites. One step into the room where all of the dough was being mixed and formed showed how apparently out-of-place our attire was. BREAD employees were systematically and efficiently moving around the room finishing each task as we peered curiously into commercial-sized mixing bowls and sneaked looks around machinery. We stared at machines that constantly whir all day, turning and feeding dough around the clock, and tried to fully process what was going on in the brain of the room as workers mixed, cut, divided, shaped, and more. Producing 20,000-30,000 individual units per day is certainly the tall task but Jonnie credits that feat to her second-in-command (the head baker) who is able to keep every single recipe and worker on track whether or not he is physically present. As she told us, that's where bakeries fail and crack but Yonick keeps everyone and every thing on point. Not only are there thousands of units to make every day but there are hundreds of variations based on each client's proprietary needs seeing as everyone wants something a little unique to their businesses (for example, Pelican Hill uses rosemary on their square potato bread as opposed to others who may have it unadorned).

"They're all amazing. He's amazing. I don't know how he does it but it's where other bakeries fail. They crack without a strong head baker."

Outside of that room, we also learned a bit more about the differences in the styles of bread that they produce and how those are prepped for baking. Some require double fermentation to achieve their signature tastes such as sourdough and French baguettes; these have a bubbly exterior because after being shaped, they are put back into the refrigerator for a secondary fermentation that retards the bread in the cold (no rising!) and produces the crust. Particularly for artisan breads, a proof box is not used, unlike rolls and buns. They use a deck oven for those tasty, crunchy breads but the entire process does take a few days after the mother dough is first used. We found the techniques fascinating and also thought it was a bit clever seeing a large paint sprayer used for egg wash (but it frequently gunks up apparently!).


As aforementioned, the production has a 3AM deadline before their drivers start showing up. Packaging is done in a separate room where workers will pack them 6, 12, or 24 to a bag based on client. I wondered why there isn't a larger volume package in which to send off the products, and Jonnie pointed out that bread would easily crush if packed too tightly. I should have thought of that - guess I'm not going to package bread anytime soon! Another reason is that some orders are on a smaller scale. They can have orders as low as $40 or high as $3,000+ apparently. Sometimes clients, especially hotels like St. Regis, will purchase parbaked bread to keep in the freezer and those may go out by the caseload. The variety keeps the bakery happy though because it doesn't force them to put all their eggs in one basket; you'd want a variety of customer types for your clientele to ensure you are always busy.

Jonnie noted that a lot of the smaller clients are her own friends and smaller scale chefs whereas the bigger clients are hotels. Their biggest client? Surely you'll know them. It's Disneyland. That's right. I bet you got as giddy reading that as I did hearing it. Main Street Bakery, Carsland (garlic chive roll!), Carthay (Jonnie's proudest of this one as her country rustic bread is used as their table bread), Club 33, Adventureland, Fantasyland, New Orleans, you name it. You've probably had her bread there. She also enlightened us in knowing that Disneyland has strict rules about the type of food brought in including that there are no GMOs, trans fats, etc in their food so I guess we should all feel a little better knowing why prices are so high in the parks! After we discussed some of these clients, we discovered that the deck oven was being handled for lovely ciabatta sandwich squares so we had to go watch the process.


Another piece of equipment that we got a chance to preview was one I had seen before at other bakeries - their proof box. This, however, was another item Jonnie was proud of as it was the one piece of brand new equipment they bought for their move. If you are unaware, proof boxes keep doughs at constant temperature and humidity so that there are no variances due to weather changing. As aforementioned, artisan bread is not the type that goes into the proofbox but burger buns, which they do a lot of, are prime candidates for this controlled pampering.


I asked Jonnie how they determine what they make on a daily basis, and she noted their fax-or-call-in process. Orders taken from their wholesale clients must be received by their early afternoon cut-off time to even be considered for the next morning, so yes, there have been occasions where people don't get their orders because they didn't make the deadline. At the time of our visit, they were just selling to other businesses but in recent weeks, BREAD Artisan Bakery has announced their public sales. If you're curious yourself about their beautiful breads, you can catch them at 1943 E. Pomona St in Santa Ana on Thursday from 4pm-7pm and/or Saturday from 9am-noon. I'd highly recommend it.


We really appreciated BREAD Artisan Bakery's time and letting us in to tour the operations. We always love seeing more in-depth where food comes from and how it is produced before it hits the table; seeing how a bakery operates (and especially the TIMES they operate) is just one of the ways we can better understand our meals. Thank you to Jonnie, Vishal, and all the rest of the bakery staff for allowing us access into your world. The fresh ciabatta sandwich squares we got to munch on after the deck oven finished working its magic was oh-so-heavenly, and the loaves we took home to freeze found their ways into even our Thanksgiving stuffing! We're absolutely looking forward to more bread from Bread. Go check them out!

Photography by Duc Duong. More photos available on Facebook here.

We had heard just so much buzz about the newest restaurant in Orange, Ways & Means Oyster House, that we were more than a little excited about the media dinner we attended two weeks ago. Headed by Chef Conrad Gallagher (who received a Michelin star at just 25 for Peacock Alley, making him the youngest chef at that time ever to receive such an honor), the restaurant was founded by owner Parnell Delcham and his wife, both of United Culinary Artists. All of those involved have wanted to put together a great restaurant for a long time and only just recently started on Ways & Means having all understood the value of community in the city of Orange (Conrad lives in Orange and the Delchams in Anaheim Hills). They wanted to be at their restaurant every day too because of the community focus, and they wanted to bring great sustainable seafood to the area. Considering the lack of seafood-focused restaurants in the city, the restaurant will easily be able to thrive we predict, especially through the dedication and intensity by which Chef Conrad operates. He takes trips every morning to get to the various vendors they use in order to ensure the freshest possible. If necessary, international products will be imported within 24 hours of being line-caught.


We arrived earlier than the dinner's start time so sipped on a Cava rosé while admiring the interior design. Their large chandeliers are formed via spiraling wire that dangle spherical and clear baubles, creating a sense of oyster pearls or seafoam bubbles above. Other light fixtures around looked like they belonged in ships or were semblances of anchors themselves. We also found joy in the branding through their menus which are presented in bound books similar to yearbooks, complete with signatures inside the front cover of the chefs, owners, and beverage directors. It was apparent just how deliberate each design element was. Inside it truly looked and felt like an upscale seafood shack with white-washed paneled walls and dim lighting.


Once all had arrived, we sat down at a half moon table with more wine glasses per setting than can be counted on one hand. The breads offered were unique and quiet varied: our choices were basil tomato, curry apricot, baguette, wheat baguette, Guinness bread, and olive. We divvied it up ourselves to taste everything. For the most part, these were baked in-house, and the interesting flavors had me curious for more. The favorite two were probably the basil tomato and curry apricot. Our first dish was presented on an impressive handblown glass plate topped with ice, pink peppercorns, and seaweed; the plate itself contained intentional flaws inside, mimicking bubbles appropriate for the cuisine. This Oyster Ceviche began in the cup of the Fat Bastard oyster paired with pear confit, red pepper, watercress microgreens, and lime juice. It was so lovely, I felt sad to have eaten it and not have more. Then we tried the Salmon Rillettes, a dish of smoked salmon that had been mixed with chopped capers and served with red onion, watercress, and lemon aioli. Our taster was precisely that however - a taster - and it made me disappointed not to have more. The normal creaminess and heaviness of the rilettes style was offset by the acid and citrus of the accompaniments, creating a good combination with the salty crunchy bread alongside.


The next dish honestly made me turn to Duc and say that dishes like it made me grateful for the work we do covering food. The Kataifi-Style Crab Cake with cilantro, Meyer lemon, and celeriac remoulade was assuredly the best crab cake I've ever tasted. It focused on the natural sea-sweetness of actual crab meat (not lump crab as many other places do) and avoided using fillers to buff up the morsels. Ours were bites of tasting plate size, a relief to know considering how lovely it was. I think the kicker was topping the mound with phyllo dough though because they shifted the texture of a typically crisp crab cake to an exquisite one. We found this paired with a glass of 2011 Chablis from Louis Jadot, a perfect pairing that complemented the remoulade and lemon.

With each dish came a wine pairing so our Tuna Tartare (with quail’s egg, gherkin, capers, whole wheat toast, and harissa) was paired with a 2012 Luberon from M. Chapoutier, a French wine that is mainly Pinot Noir and made by a reputable winery (though they typically do dessert wines). Our tartare was composed of chopped sushi-grade ahi seasoned with ginger, chili pepper, cilantro, and lime zest topped with a quail egg yolk and joined with another quail egg but hardboiled. They seemed so delicate because of the size but the flavors were outstanding. The particular wine had a vegetal and alcohol-heavy nose (Duc said it reminded him of warm greens such as grilled asparagus whereas I found some brown sugar notes) but came off lightly buttery and easy to drink. They allowed it to be a great food pairing wine as well and its butteriness matched the egg yolk richness well without either being overwhelming. At this point, Duc declared the pairings as "solid - I wouldn't choose anything else differently."

As we continued through the night, Duc did impart some wine education to those nearby, explaining the importance of wine glass types because he noticed that Ways & Means paid attention to such detail. They appropriately served our wines with the correct glasses which are shaped differently depending on how much surface area, oxygen absorption, and aroma funneling was needed per pour (the funneling is because smell is at least 50% of taste!). One example would be champagne's need to be in a flute whose shape allows bbbles to be more apparent and whose size prevents you from drinking too much. We were poured a 2011 Pinot Noir called "Flor de Campo" from Sanford Winery in Santa Barbara in its appropriately wide glass. All of their glasses seemed to be made of crystal as well which is important to avoid losing flavors to porous glass glasses. This wine was for their Bamboo Steamed Halibut, a dish with a "Surf and Turf" feel as it came with cumin spiced savoy cabbage, braised oxtail, braised baby leeks, red wine dressing, and small white beech mushrooms. This was all certainly unique and very tasty but the wine was a miss with the halibut (though a hit with the oxtail). This dish seemed perfect comfort food for those who want a bit of both seafood and meat worlds.


So as not to continue spoiling us and our appetites, the entrees stopped coming out but we still did finish the savory dishes off with some cheeses (Cheese Plate with Fig Preserve) and Quinta Do Noval's ten-year-old Tawny Porto. A dessert wine from Portugal, this wine is made in brandy style but stopped early to maintain its red color, sweetness, and a 30-40% alcohol level. In particular, we had the tawny variety (other than ruby) which was smooth and worked well with some of our cheeses. Shortly after, our desserts started to arrive as did another bottle of wine. This time, it was sherry from Spain from Pedro Ximenez served in again, the appropriate glass. Like port, sherry is also started off like a brandy but then stopped during fermentation. Unlike port, sherry does not get better with age. It came accompanying the Warm Valhrona Chocolate Cake served with a chocolate brownie and pistachio ice cream. It made sense since the dark chocolate from the cake matched smoothly with the sherry, and the warmth oozing out once the lava cake was broken held onto the normal flush you feel with drinking alcohol. Both were great alone but still fantastic together. Overall, our Ways & Means experience was impressive, and we look forward to coming back again and again, especially for that crab cake!

Photography by Duc Duong. More photos available on Facebook here.

Some may think that the bird is the main show of Thanksgiving but I think it's the side dishes that make you give in and forget all about any diets. As you start to gather recipes together, consider these delicious orange and maple whipped sweet potatoes. They are creamy and light but bold in flavor (and in my opinion, better than a typical mashed sweet potatoes dish). I normally have a Test Kitchen recipe posted on Tuesdays but knowing that the holidays are upon us, I predicted not being able to prepare something in time. However, Savory Spice Shop had me covered because they have recipes posted online for all to try. This particular recipe for sweet potatoes requires just a handful of ingredients too so it's simple. I appreciate the way the orange zest (we used a navel orange)gives a unique pop to the dish. If you want the full recipe on their site, it's available here. Ingredients and directions below are by their instructions online.

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 6 servings)

• 6 large sweet potatoes
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup pure maple sugar
• juice and grated zest of ½ orange
• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tsp Marrakech Moroccan Spice*

Step 2: Prepping the sweet potatoes
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rinse and scrub sweet potatoes. Poke a few holes in each with a fork and rub each lightly with oil. Place on a large foil-lined baking sheet and bake until easily pierced through with a knife, about 45 minutes. (While I waited for them to bake, I prepped the other ingredients.) Remove from oven and let cool until comfortable to handle. Peel off skins and slice flesh directly into the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment. (I used a hand mixer since I didn't have an electric mixer to use.)


Step 3: Finishing
Add remaining ingredients and whisk at medium speed, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as necessary, until smooth. Transfer to a large baking dish and serve or cover and place in a warm oven until ready to serve.


They also have suggested examples of alternative spice blends to use when making this dish such as Bucktown Brown Mustard & Honey Ham Rub, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Garam Masala, Park Hill Maple & Spice Pepper or Brown Sugar & Spice Honey Ham Rub.

*Their notes on this spice blend: "We handcraft this ras el hanout from cinnamon, turmeric, nutmeg, mace, white pepper, galangal, black and green cardamom, ginger, anise, allspice, rose petals, cloves, lavender, orris root and cayenne. Marrakech, one of our curry style blends, joins Ras el Hanout, Tan-Tan Moroccan and Harissa to give you a nice selection of Moroccan spice mixtures."

Photography by Duc Duong.

This post was sponsored by Savory Spice Shop who provided us with the spices necessary to prepare this recipe.

See's Candies has been a staple sight (and perhaps visit) of so many mall (and plaza) goers in southern California for years, maintaining its simple black-and-white checkerboard floor look and bright studio-like lighting as homage to Mary See's original kitchen. I would venture to say that for most people, the favorite part of stopping in the store aside from the walls and counters of candy is the free morsel of chocolate that awaits each customer. Try it if you haven't - you walk in, start to browse, and get offered candy. Not a sample size either. It's a piece akin to any you'd buy. No wonder the entire company goes through more than a million pounds a year of free chocolates but compared to their annual sales of more than 26 million pounds, it's just a drop in the bucket. I excitedly came out to the newest See's Candies store to open during their media preview event - a wine and chocolate tasting - because I had never heard of them doing such an opening event before and of course, it's wine and chocolate. C'mon.


I knew what to expect from any See's Candies though so the idea of an event at one of these iconic locations piqued my curiosity. Considering the typically boutique-sized locations I had been in before, how many were they really anticipating this evening? What I didn't expect, however, was that we were going to a store two times larger than a normal location, complete with two candy counters and wall-to-wall displays of packaged chocolates. Located next to the Sprouts store at the Tustin Marketplace, this See's Candies is the pioneer of the larger store concept which allows for both casual candy buyers and bulk hoarders (erh, I mean gifters) to shop in the same space.


Since 1921, See's Candies has been an American-made, preservative-free chocolate candy store so it is no surprise how large of a following it has accumulated. The larger store comes as a response to holiday seasons when customers come in purchasing 10-15 pounds of chocolate (or more!) at a time from the fall to about the end of Mother's Day. With twice the capacity of normal stores, this four-cash-register spot came to Tustin in an ideal spot by the 5 and 405 freeways with the anticipation that those outside of the city will still come by. After all, the Orange County locations do well already. During off seasons, there is a dividing rail wall through the center that can close off the extra space for a more common-sized See's experience. We all experienced the space and aged chocolates with help from associates of this new location and others.


The wines for the evening's pairing event were curated and provided by Domaine Somm whose founder and CEO Gina King I met and talked with about pairing wines with chocolate. They conduct events nationwide which is great to know for anyone looking for professional wine experiences. In terms of matches, See's Scotchmallow, Dark Raspberry Cream, and Key Lime Truffle were paired with 2012 Ceago Muscat Canelli, Del Lago, Clear Lake. Their lovely 62% Dark Chocolate Bars made magic with 2012 Trig Point Merlot, Diamond Dust Vineyard, Alexander Valley (probably my favorite pairing of them all). Others really enjoyed the Dark Raspberry Truffle, Milk & Dark Bordeaux, and Milk & Dark Caramel Patties with 2009 Easton Wines Zinfandel, 'Oscura,' Late Harvest, Rinaldi, Fiddletown. The close favorite of the night was the pairing of Milk Pecan Buds with 2010 Rowland Tebb Pinot Noir, Durell Vineyard. For the white wines, I thoroughly enjoyed the Peanut Brittle on its own but it and the Apricot Delight came with 2009 Cargasacchi Vineyard Late Harvest Pinot Grigio, Invincible Sun, Sierra Madre Vineyard.


There were opportunities for guests to also step behind the candy counter during this preview to see how it is set up. We were helped by Jeanette, a candy associate for the Tustin location who had come from another store and been with the company several years, citing how much she enjoys See's Candies and helping others. She showed us the way the chocolates were organized, a standard layout replicable in every store to maintain consistency and allow for associates to move to different locations without re-training if needed. What we learned that was quite interesting was that the chocolates in the candy counter windows were refreshed every day with the previous day's load going into the "Samples" box for customers. After all, these aged, preservative-free chocolates need to be fresh when purchased. Layered boxes lined the shelves beneath each window with stacks of chocolate matching the window displays for ease. It was all so tempting to me though. I'm glad I don't work in a See's - I would sample too many myself!

My thanks go out to the See's staff for accommodating everyone that evening and to those who set up the event and invitations. Best of luck to this new location (opened 11/22/13) at the Tustin Marketplace, especially with the holidays just around the corner!

Photography by Minerva Thai. More photos available on Facebook here.