The Full Kitchen

Culinary Adventures in a Tiny California Kitchen

Elusive Spicy Mexican Orange Sauce Adventure

April 07, 2024 by Alyssa D in sides

One of our favorite taco trucks in the South Bay didn’t invent spicy, creamy, addictive orange-colored sauce, but theirs was the first we ever remember wanting to eat again as soon as humanly possible.

While enjoying a leftover loaded quesadilla the next day for a solo lunch, I shotgunned the extra sauce directly from the container. No regrets.

After following the truck to its new location, though, we noticed a sad handwritten note in the window: “No orange sauce today.” The sign stayed up.

Tamarind Boba Adventure

May 31, 2023 by Alyssa D in drinks

“What does tamarind taste like?”

We were at a Mexican grocery store food court in California with a friend from Serbia pondering flavored drinks. While I searched for the right descriptors, an employee offered him a tamarind agua fresca sample. Nothing beats actually trying it: sweet and sour, light and deep.

That was on my mind when I tasted a horchata boba drink one afternoon in Los Altos. Culinary fusion is next-level in the Bay Area. The creamy, subtly-spiced Mexican drink contrasted delightfully with dark, chewy Taiwanese tapioca pearls.

After Guillaume brought home a box of whole tamarind pods on a whim, I imagined tamarind boba must be someone’s specialty out here.

Spiced Potato Veggie Burger Adventure

September 29, 2021 by Alyssa D in main course

The store-bought vegan veggie burgers were a treat during grilling seasons of yore, tasting gloriously like samosa filling. A few years back, we got some after reading rave reviews. Each time we’d visit this particular specialty grocery store chain, a frozen box or two went in the basket.

Then the pandemic rolled in. Curbside pickup wasn’t an option — this store has notoriously small parking lots anyway. Friends in town saw lines stretching around the block during capacity limits.

Not eager to risk all that for a veggie burger, I set out to reverse-engineer it.

Vegan Adobo Tofu Adventure

August 19, 2021 by Alyssa D in main course

The city promised higher-than-usual July 4th fireworks for better visibility from home this year. In a swirl of holiday excitement, I promised our guests tacos. Scalable, flexible, easy-to-prep tacos.

Being seriously rusty on the entertaining front, however, I made a bunch of silly mistakes. The adobo tofu wasn’t one of them.

Banh Mi Vietnamese Sandwich Adventure

March 25, 2021 by Alyssa D in main course

March was already awful, and that was before this week in Boulder. Earlier this month I experienced what felt like the worst pandemic burnout yet. To try and find a bit of joy, my mind turned to banh mi sandwiches.

They reminded me of summer, recalling food trucks, fresh air, sunshine, grilling, sharing meals with friends. I’d been wistful about these special Vietnamese sandwiches while weathering spring snowstorms and continued isolation, repeating to myself, “We have to hang on just a bit longer.”

Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles Adventure

November 12, 2020 by Alyssa D in main course

I put on sunglasses when the large buffet-style pans arrived at the table, not because of the light but the heat. This was my first experience going all-in on Sichuan cuisine. Two of the main courses swam in red oil piled high with vibrant chili peppers.

Protective eyewear was a must.

Our friends Dan and Carol had brought us to a Sichuan restaurant for lunch in the Portland area in the Before Times. Mostly I was excited, but honestly also slightly scared.

Grilled Cauliflower Steaks Adventure

May 28, 2020 by Alyssa D in main course

I know, I know. You might be wondering, “Where’s the adventure in cauliflower?” Indeed, pulling the giant white vegetable hunk out of a grocery bag made my heart sink slightly.

For weeks up until that moment, we’d been trying to make do with bags of frozen cauliflower. Those epithet-laden meals prompted Guillaume to grab the first fresh one he could lay his hands on at the store.

Anything I did to it would automatically be better than microwaving the frozen cauliflower.

General Tso’s Tofu Adventure

January 31, 2020 by Alyssa D in main course

Hanging out with friends from around the world has taught me many things. One is that Americans sure do love foods that are intensely sweet and salty. Think chicken and waffles, fluffernutter sandwiches, and chocolate peanut butter cups.

So it’s no surprise that, as a nation, we can’t get enough of General Tso’s chicken. However you want to spell it in English and whatever its connection to the actual military man from Hunan province, this syrupy dish that combines fried chicken with blanched green broccoli florets is ridiculously American.

Northern Thai Coconut Curry Adventure

May 31, 2019 by Alyssa D in main course

This was my own fault for raising expectations. “There’s a special noodle dish that we get,” I said as the four of us headed to the Thai restaurant. “Such amazing flavor. It’s messy, though. You practically need a bib.”

Guillaume and I regularly order “khao soy,” a Northern Thai dish with a spicy, tangy coconut curry soup base. The bowl comes piled with veggies and a nest of fried egg noodles on top. But when I inquired about a vegan version for our friends, the waitress said the base contained seafood.

Never had the words “shrimp paste” been so disappointing.

Meat-Free Moussaka Adventure

April 29, 2019 by Alyssa D in baking, main course

The tower of eggplant slices rose ridiculously high. I’d miscalculated the time required to make three full pans of moussaka — two with beef and one vegan — and was rushing around my narrow kitchen in Queens.

Marie, visiting from France, made her miraculous chocolate mousse and tried to keep me calm as I worked on the béchamel and roasted eggplant discs like a madwoman. We prepared enough salad for an army. My Big Fat Greek Dinner Party of early 2009 was living up to its name.

Although everyone seemed to have a fun time and enjoy the food, the one thing that still irked me years later was the vegan moussaka.