Making beer

We made beer in lab last week! It was pretty easy -- just add roasted grains, hops, and activated yeast to water. It took some time to boil a large pot of water, make the tea with molasses and hops, and then boiling for another hour, before leaving to cool and adding the yeast. Nevertheless it was fun! 

Making the tea to start the brewing process

Adding molasses and hops, before boiling for another hour

Leaving in a sealed bottle to ferment for 2 weeks

Making sauerkraut

We made sauerkraut in lab today! You just need some chopped cabbage, water, salt and an airtight jar. Sauerkraut is the result of the fermentation of the cabbage by lactic acid bacteria that is halophilic and acid-tolerant. Lactic acid produced by the bacteria not only gives the characteristic sour taste, but also prevents the growth of other bacteria that are sensitive to acidic conditions. The high salt also selects for lactic acid bacteria since other bacteria will not be able to withstand the high osmotic pressure.

Compact the salted cabbage in water to remove any air (fermentation is an anaerobic process).

Completely fill jar, and leave the cap slightly loose to allow for the escape of produced carbon dioxide

Thai Bistro II (Pacific Grove)

Went to this restaurant near the marine station today, and it was ok. I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars. I had the $9 lunch special of pad thai, which came with tom kha soup, vegetable dumplings and some salad. It was nice for them to provide tom kha soup, instead of some random liquid like other restaurants, but it was mediocre and had no depth in taste, though there was lots of coconut milk. The vegetable dumplings were the best thing out of the entire lunch, and the pad thai was only slightly sweet but shallow in taste otherwise. The peanuts were soft and stale, bleah. The thai iced tea was not bad though. 
So yeah, next time I would go to the other thai place, Pacific Thai Cuisine at Lighthouse, where I tried the pineapple fried rice on my second night here and was pretty good. 


Update on 21 July: I came here for lunch again, earlier in the week out of convenience, and ordered their lunch special of panang curry with fish. I must say I was pleasantly surprised this time. The tom kha soup tasted much better, with the right sourness and spiciness and just a hint of coconut milk. I liked the curry too, although it was overwhelmingly spicy (note that I grew up eating spicy food in Singapore). I guess they went heavy on the chili (you could see the flakes all over my curry), since I told the waiter I like spicy food (long story). The dumplings and salad were nice too, as was the thai iced tea. The only thing about the restaurant is that it's manned by a single waiter so service can be pretty slow.  

159 Central Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-8700

Super low tide

I wonder if this blog will eventually become something that's not purely about food, but I wanted to share this photo of the extremely low tides this morning, due to the full moon. Look at the places where lots of the marine plants and barnacles have been exposed.

First Awakenings (Pacific Grove, CA)

This is a breakfast and brunch place near the Hopkins Marine Station, and my two experiences here have been good so far! Their portions are more than generous and quality is pretty good too. I had the pulled pork sandwich (with mushroom, onion and cheese) for lunch, which came with potatoes, fruit and salad (celery, mesclun greens, onions, tomatoes). It was good value for a $12 meal, and the pork was tender but not flaky. Yum!

125 Ocean View Blvd

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-1125

www.firstawakenings.net

Bagel

I used to think that bagels are too dense, but recently developed a liking to them. We get them every morning at the course, and they taste great with cream cheese! My favorites so far are sesame and whole wheat.


You can also do fun math-y stuff with them! e.g. making them into two linked halves or a Mobius strip


Some nutritional information about bagels: a bagel has 300 calories wheras a slice of white bread gives only 90 calories (it's a pretty dense bread after all), 1.9g protein, and 0.6g fiber. I would suggest eating wheat bread since that would have 3.6g protein and 1.9g fiber with the lower calorie count,


update on 14 July: I realize that I can only eat a quarter of a bagel before my jaw gets tired of chewing

Vivolo's Chowder House (Monterey, CA)

We came here famished from kayaking and had the New England chowder on sourdough bread and garlic cheese lid, fisherman's platter, and sand dabs. The chowder and garlic cheese bread were delicious on their own, but didn't really complement each other. The chowder was definitely fresh though and we found ourselves scooping out every last bit of it. The main dishes were generous too -- the platter had fried white fish, scallops, shrimp, and fries. The scallops and shrimp were big and succulent but the fish was normal. We really liked how the sand dabs almost melted in our mouth, with a twist in texture provided by a thin layer of breading. I would come back for more!

Update (4th July): I came here again today with a friend, and we had the sand dabs, chowder and scallops provencale! It was absolutely delicious and the waitress actually remembered me! The scallops were huge and succulent, while the cream sauce was nicely complemented by the tomatoes and olives.

127 Central Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-5414

http://www.vivoloschowderhouse.com