The Map Room

In terms of cafes, reading rooms, and hang-outs, the Map Room is the GREATEST find this side of 2011. I highly recommend it. The sister and I arrived at 7:30ish (it opens at 5m) which was the perfect time b/c we beat the crowd. We had the whole place to ourselves and I was able to snap some photos. For drinks, we ordered the cranberry-orange sangria and the roasted hazelnut latte (creamy, delicious froth over medium roast, not too sweet). We also ordered tiramisu and raspberry cheesecake (How could we not?! The Map Room is all about pastries, beverages, and ambiance!).  An added bonus is the fact that the Map has a green mission. This coffeehouse truly commits to sustainability.


The Map Room
1901 Withnell Ave.
St. Louis, MO
314-776-3515

Read the RFT review about the Map Room here.

Banh La Chan: Tet 2011

When Tet comes around, you must have Banh Tet or Banh Chung, but how many of you have had Banh La Chan? Banh la chan is a variation on the banh tet, and I oh so love it. Consider the deliciousness of the original cake: soft, yellow, buttery mung bean paste mixed with a morsel of pork (oh, the delicate balance between the meat and the fat!) nestled in a mold of glutinous rice so sticky that you have to lick your fingers clean. Now, add to that some tiny, oval quail eggs, and Vietnamese sausage, and you have heaven wrapped in banana leaves. Delicious! Banh la chan is originally from the northern parts of Viet Nam, with a history as rich and complex as the cake itself.

Home made Banh La Chan taste better than anything store-bought!

Roaming Buffets & Guests of Honor

"The Poor Invited to Feast"

In this Sunday's Lucan lesson (Luke 14:1, 7-14), Jesus advises that when we are invited to dine, we ought to take the lowest seat possible, not the seat of honor, in case someone else comes along and bumps us down a notch. At its simplest, Jesus's story is a lesson of humility: live humbly so that no one has to serve you humble pie. The story is not about a space or a place of honor; the "place of honor" (v.8) or the "lowest place" (v.9) are merely evaluative descriptors. The important lesson is about attending to our behavior, our way of thinking and living. The lesson is about how we live life as humble servants called to be stewards, not dignitaries waiting to be served and honored.

Last Monday, the Sister and I hosted a dinner for some UMC clergy in our new house. Because we do not have a regular sized dining table and our primary dining surface is a bar-table for four, we had to think really hard about who to invite and how many to invite. Not only that, we also had to build a menu that wouldn't require seating everyone at the table, but which would accommodate a mobile, plate-on-your-lap dining style. In the end, we decided on a style between stationed hors d'oeuvres and take-out. We set up food stations in the spacious dining room, used the china hutch as a bar, and then set chairs and bar stools all around. Guests were invited to grab the food from the make-shift "buffet line" and then they carried their plates to different corners to enjoy food & conversation. We eventually congregated in the living room, and everyone found a seat -- whether it was the sofa, armchair, rocking chair, piano bench, bar stools, whatever. All in all, the evening worked out quite well. I think it fair to say that everyone felt comfortable and welcomed. We were nourished by the food and the company of our friends and acquaintances. Plus, we were all sufficiently humbled by the brilliance, generosity, intelligence, and kindness of each person we met that evening.

Thinking back on that evening, I feel happy that we did not have a seated dinner. It would have required reducing the number of people whom we could invite and whose company we wanted to share. Setting up buffet style, or a roaming buffet, was the best way for us to avoid the sticky mess of seats of honor, and we didn't have to worry about who would sit next to whom.

I grew up in a family that is rather culturally diverse, and yet I would say that we are still quite traditional in many respects. For instance, Dad was always seated at the head of the table. As the father figure in the household, that was his designated seat. (And as a pastor, he was always the head of the house, regardless of where he sat, and regardless of which house he entered. He was always accorded the respect and honor of being a Man of the Cloth, a minister, a pastor, a clergyman.)

However, thanks to my parents, I learned early on that when guests entered our home, they would be given a "seat" of honor. Dad would always be the pastor, but guests were special and deserved to be hosted with honor and graciousness -- regardless of their background and affiliation. For me and my siblings, a strong sense of radical hospitality was instilled in us by our parents from an early age. It was not so much where they were seated at the dining table, but how they were treated in our company. We understood that no matter who walked through our doors and into our kitchen, we would ask "have you eaten" and then serve them something with grace and respect, and some Maggi soy sauce.

This reminds me of my brother and sister-in-law's wedding reception. I was quite pleased with how they managed the sticky mess of seating arrangements for the guests. The bride and groom reserved 20 tables at the restaurant, and when guests showed up, they were invited to choose their own seats. Those who came first selected their own tables, and as more and more people arrived, we asked them to fill in the gaps. There was some shuffling, but everything worked out in the end. No one could complain that they were placed at a "bad" table because they had selected their own seats. (Interestingly, many guests who arrived early chose to sit in the back instead of moving up front. Surprise, surprise. I guess they didn't want the "seats of honor" next to the stage!)

Perhaps what I'm trying to say is -- If you intend to host a dinner and can escape the seated dinners in your home, I wholeheartedly recommend roaming buffets with food stations. There can only be benefits:

• No need to worry about seating arrangements or place-cards
• More mingling and thereby more interesting conversation
• Roaming allows for faster digestion of foods
• You can actually dine & talk with your guests instead of running back and forth serving food

So, invite some friends, neighbors, the cripple, the lame, the poor, the blind, and throw yourself a roaming buffet. (Imagine: roaming buffet potluck style!)

Photo source: JESUS MAFA. The poor invited to the feast, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48397 [retrieved August 29, 2010].

Peet's Coffee Under the Arch: Happiness Comes to Saint Louis

I am a happier woman now that the very first Peet's Coffee & Tea has opened in Missouri. Actually, it has been open for a little while now, but still it feels like it's brand new. Because Starbucks and the St. Louis Bread Co. basically have the monopoly in Missouri, it is hard for Peet's to get a toe in the door (this is what a Peet's employee told me). So, in all the state of Missouri, there is ONE Peet's Coffee & Tea located in downtown St. Louis, in Laclede Landing on North 2nd Street, near Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River. People say that St. Louis with its Arch represents the achievements of humanity, the forward movement of the human spirit, a testimony to progress and endurance, to commitment and creativity, to invention and innovation. Now that Peet's is here in Saint Louis, I believe in that progress has been made indeed. Amen.

Peet's Coffee & Tea: 999 N.2ND Street, St. Louis, MO 63102. Phone: 314-881-7562. Only 5.88 miles away

Slice of Pi: Green Pizzas for Your Conscience

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A few days ago, we heard from a very reliable foodie that Pi was the place to go for great pizza. We also heard that the owner of Pi was invited to bake Pi pizzas for the Obamas in 2009. (More interesting press about Pi can be found here.)

So, the Sister and I went to the Pi location on the Loop (other locations can be found here), the street which incidentally was renamed Barack Obama Boulevard, and to our delightful surprise, we discovered that Pi is an intentionally GREEN establishment that is also mindful of its communal responsibilities. Double kudos! I invite you to take a few seconds and do a happy dance with me to celebrate the fact that Pi serves up two wonderful things on God's green earth: great pizzas and a green conscience. Please note what Pi prominently proclaims on its very own website:   

Pi is committed to environmentally benign success. Doing good while doing well is fundamental to our work, and is manifested in our commitment to create an ecologically sustainable restaurant.  Pi invests in its community by sponsoring charitable events, donating cash and in-kind gifts to causes close to its guests and founders. While we may not be saving the world as a purveyor of Pi, we feel we can still affect change, influence others, and support the work of those in our community who are closest to those in need. 

Couldn't get the 3rd fella into the photo!

 Upon arrival, I was immediately taken with the wonderful summery atmosphere enhanced by the bright red umbrellas outside the main door, and the three chickens standing atop the half-wall in the middle of the pizzeria. Since we were seated at a table directly below the chickens, it seemed like they were overseeing that everything was in order -- that our pizza was hot and fresh, that our server was attentive and nice, that our neighbors were appropriately quiet -- but I also had a feeling that these gigantic overseers were going to peck me to death if I didn't eat everything on my plate. Don't worry, I cleaned my plate. In fact, I think it looks rather like I licked it (but I didn't!): 

Besides providing exceptional food (just read the menu), Pi upholds a model Mission Statement (establish pi as the premiere purveyor of the finest artisan pizza in the st. louis area while maintaining our commitment to social & environmental responsibility) alongside a Green Statement (to be a green steward, setting an example for restaurants, businesses & consumers to minimize our carbon footprint & create a healthier dining experience) to warm any green-pizza-goer's heart. What more could we ask for? Right?

What we ordered: Deep-dish deliciousness of half Bucktown and half Berkeley (b/c I needed to assuage my nostalgia for Berkeley).

bucktown – mozzarella, roasted chicken, artichoke hearts, red bell peppers, green olives, red onions, feta and sun-dried tomatoes. ($18 small / $23 large)

berkeley – mozzarella, portobella mushrooms, onions, kalamata olives, red bell peppers, garlic, and zucchini. ($16 small / $20 large)

I would encourage you to visit Pi if you are in the St. Louis area, because coming here, you will eat heartily and eat well. I guarantee that this will be a great dining experience that leaves you feeling like you did something good -- not like you didn't you something bad. A caution: The pizzas (especially the deep dish specials) are very hearty and a small size will suffice portion-wise for two people. The Sister and I ordered half of two different pizzas, and it was more than enough. We each ate two slices and even brought home some leftovers (and we didn't have any pre-pi or insalate). I would recommend ordering family style instead of one pizza per person; even the small sizes are fairly big. I say this because (1) it is MORE FUN to share pizzas -- you can try a slice or two of multiple flavors and ingredients, and (2) you waste less food.

I lift up this reminder because as the Sister and I were leaving Pi, we saw a table that had not finished their pizzas and I think if we put together all the slices that remained, we might have had one full pizza. That is sadness, folks. There is hunger out there and though I would never know that kind of hunger here, I do know it exists. This is real hunger that lasts and which gnaws at the stomach -- it's the kind of hunger which leaves you incapacitated, because you can eat 5 bowls of rice but you've only been given a spoon of water and you only get the spoon of water for an entire day -- for 10 days straight. Someone I knew described this hunger in this way, and I believe that we can combat that hunger. I wish that the folks who ate at Pi today had thought about it before they ordered. [Once, when I was at Zachary's Pizza in Albany, a friend and I had leftovers and when someone on the street asked us for money, I offered them the pizza and they took it. I'm not suggesting that everyone do this, but it is one option to consider.]

Blogging about food has not been a regular habit here at nothing but HAT's. Although I love food (it's not just for survival), I'm not a foodie and I can't pretend to write smart things about food and/or restaurants. Given yesterday's posting about the Chocolate Bar, however, plus what I've written here, I feel like a glutton -- as if I only think about food (in a gluttonous way). I am aware of the larger issues out there in the world, and I believe we strive to live each day as beings who are mindful of our neighbors near and far who are in need. We know the situation of global poverty and we have the resources to end world hunger. Therefore, let us feed ourselves, but let us also remember: eat well, eat heartily, eat mindfully.

This is the location we visited:

Pi @ the Loop
6144 Barack Obama Boulevard (Delmar)
St. Louis, MO 63112
314.727.6633 – phone
314.727.6655 – fax
Hours: 11am-Midnight Monday-Saturday | 11am-11pm on Sunday

Decadence in Moderation: Bailey's Chocolate Bar

If you've never been to Bailey's Chocolate Bar in Lafayette, MO, then you are missing out on a delicious bit of decadence, and you must, must drag yourself there immediately. After reading this blogpost, get into your car and drive to the Chocolate Bar post haste because it closes at 1:00 a.m.

The Chocolate Bar is a full bar and restaurant that has all things chocolate and everything seems lathered in decadence, served in perfect ambiance. Chandeliers, candles, and walls painted deep-red create an intimate setting for two, but you can also bring the kids or your rowdy bunch of friends for a birthday-celeb happy hour wrapped in chocolate (we saw all three scenarios when the sister and I went today).

Although the Bar serves regular food fare, why would you want to eat the normal stuff when you can have the normal stuff served with chocolate?! This is the sort of place where you go eat here and then diet for the next week, or diet first for an entire week, starve yourself all day, then head to the Chocolate Bar during happy hour (4-7pm everyday!).

Tumble Cake ($9)

Baked Brie ($8)

Under Plated Desserts, you will find the Tumble Cake:  Rasberry & Lemon Filling, Vanilla Shortbread Cookies, Quenelles of Vanilla Ice Cream, & Rasberry Sorbet ($9). I've seen individuals lick this entire plate clean, however, I find it too rich and creamy (especially if you inhale all the raspberry sorbet within 5 seconds of the server putting down the plate), so I shared it with my sister.

There are also other options:  Layers of Chocolate Cake Accented with Chocolate Stout, Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache, and Cinnamon Ice Cream ($9). Or, if it's a romantic evening for you plus one, then go for the Lover’s Plate – Aphrodisiacs – Taste for Two: Cherry Chocolate Mousse, Spicy Truffle, Fruit Truffle, Dark Chocolate Espresso Truffle, Carmelized Banana, Strawberries, Nuts, Mead, all served with a Warm Spiced Dark Chocolate Sauce & a Warm White Chocolate Lavender Sauce for Dipping & Sharing ($20).

Or, if you've courage (and fasted for a sufficient amount of time before entering the Bar) and would like to try some ice cream desserts, then you might try Bailey's Banana Split: Caramelized Banana, Bailey’s, Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Creams, Nuts, Housemade Chocolate and Caramel Sauces and Whipped Cream ($8).

Thin Mint Chocolate Martini ($8)

Perhaps by now you already feel like your heart valves are closing shut because of the cholesterol and the fat from all these sugars and chocolate. Maybe you'd like to balance your sweet palette with some fine cheeses? Well, you are invited to mix and match from three different categories (some samples from each category are as follows): Category A: Emmenthaler, Gjetost, Danish Blue, Maple Smoked White Cheddar, Port Salut. Category B (very eclectic international selections): Tomme de Savoie (France), Stilton (England), Antique Gruyere (Switzerland), Mahon (Spain), Old Amsterdam (Holland, aged gouda style, floral), Black Diamond Cheddar (Canada). Category C: P'Tit Basque (France), Rustico (Italy, pecorino-style sheep's milk with spice), Roquefort (France).

I am a glutton for brie, so we chose the Baked Brie from the Savory list. It was wrapped in mixed nuts, served with diced bacon, tangy green apples and toasted pita wedges ($8).

Under the Martinis section, you can select your choice of liquid dessert, served from the highest quality chocolate vodkas. We tried the Thin Mint ($8) which was served with a sweet little chocolate straw. Yum.

Perhaps you'd like chocolate beers? How about Young's Double Chocolate Stout (21 oz. @ $6), brewed with melted chocolate bars for a smooth, velvety finish. The Drinks Menu, my friends, continues for 10 pages. You will swoon. The sister and I sat for a long while brainstorming about a new online journal that she is launching, so we lounged, ate, drank, and absorbed the atmosphere. Families came and went, birthday groups sang birthday songs and took photos then left after eating their fill, and several couples arrived holding hands and slinking into darker corners... We sat there talking about journal names and taglines, and the server was decidedly patient and kind with us. This is a great place to bring friends from out of town. I enthusiastically recommend it!



Baileys' Chocolate Bar
1915 Park, In Lafayette Square
St. Louis, MO 63104
Monday - Saturday: 4pm - 1am
Sunday: 4pm - Midnight

Banh Tet, Banh Chung: COOKED!!

Here are more photos of the deliciousness that I'm about to consume tonight... You might say this is a bit of premature celebrations, considering that the year of the Tiger (Tet Canh Dan) won't be arriving for a few weeks; however, we can never tire of feasting and tasting, yes?!

Goi Banh Tet, Banh Chung: Tet Rice Cakes

Tet Nguyen Dan (Lunar New Year in Viet Nam) is fast approaching... It will fall on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14th, 2010, so it feels especially auspicious. All new year celebrations include feasting, and that means banh tet and banh chung! Yummy... So, here are some photos to entice you. They are made by my lovely parents, and I am pleased to find out that a huge box has been FedEx'ed to me overnight so that I, too, can enjoy the delicious sticky rice cakes... TONIGHT!!!

And, just so you know, you can eat them as is, or, slice them very thinly and fry them 'til crispy. Serve while crispy & hot with spicy chili sauce (Sriracha is best), pickled garlic and cu kieu. I promise, they are the most delicious foods you will ever eat for Tet!

Traditionally, banh tet and banh chung are wrapped in banana leaves. If you wipe them down with a cloth and warm water, that should do the trick. But, I just heard recently that you might want to soak the leaves in water, instead, and then wipe them dry before packing in the rice and fillings.

Banh tet and banh chung can be sweet or savory. I LOVE both. For a sweet filling, you can add bananas. For savory, you can add pork and mung beans.

Whenever given the option, I would not choose beans with my rice dishes. However, in banh tet and banh chung, you MUST have beans. It is no exception. The rice cakes would not taste the same without them -- sweet or savory.

Here are the rice cakes, wrapped and ready for cooking. The banana leaves are on the inside, followed by several other layers, and the final layer is tinfoil, tied together with red strings for luck. I love seeing all these lines and curves of the fat and full cakes, along with the color contrasts -- all laid out for us to enjoy visually before we partake of them!

Note that round, log-like rice cakes are called "banh tet" (and the word "tet" is used here differently than "Tet"*) and the the square shaped cakes are called "banh chung".

*The word "tet" as used in "banh tet" has different diacritics from, and therefore is pronounced differently than, the word "tet" in "Tet Nguyen Dan". When referring to rice cakes, spell "tet" with an accent aigu above the "e". For example: T E ' T. When referring to the festival, Tet, then spell it with an accent circonflexe and an accent aigu above the "e". For example: T E ^ ' T.

Happy Family

Family gatherings are always filled with good talk, good laughter, and good food. We over-indulged in all three kinds of deliciousness and were well-nourished from beginning to the end. Indian curry, quail, clams, Thai hotpot, cakes, and much, much more. Blessings in abundance.



By the way, la busche de Noel was baked and decorated by my mum. Naturally, I enjoyed more than one slice.

Reverse Trick-or-Treating

I'm a glutton for chocolate, and I want to do something good to offset my gluttony for the choco-liciousness of cho-co-latte!

Did you know that for Halloween, you can buy Fair Trade Certified chocolate?! It's not just about finding that exotic chocolate combination (dark chocolate & chili, semi-sweet and bacon!). When I buy chocolate, I want to know that:

+ the company prohibits the use of abusive child labor in cocoa industry
+ the company adopts safer, chemical-free farming methods
+ the company uses renewable energy sources
+ the Fair Trade price I paid for chocolate raises farmers' incomes
+ the Fair Trade price I paid supports a more environmentally sustainable small-scale farming model

All this is something I learned while reading about Reverse Trick-or-Treating. Check it out!

Go ahead. Snap that chocolate bar in half to hear that crisp break. Indulge in your wildest chocolate fantasies, but do it Fair Trade!

Wrapping and Cooking Banh Tet for Tet

Wrapping banh tet is a tradition central to the celebration of Vietnamese Tet. These delicious rice cakes can be wrapped in the shape of a log (banh tet) or in the shape of a large square (banh chung). Both kinds are made of sticky rice, with mung beans and pork in the center. If wrapped well, when the cake is sliced, the mung beans and pork will sit right smack in the center. Looking beautiful, and tasting delicious!

(Sorry for the blurry photo) If you've ever eaten a slice of banh tet or banh chung, the key ingredient is the teeny bit of pork fat along w/ the bit of port that balances out the rich mung beans surrounded by sticky rice.

As many of you know, I dislike beans of all kinds. But, the great thing about Vietnamese cuisine is that I'm fooled into eating ANY kind of bean. One example is the abundance of beans that can be found in a banh tet.

Banh tet and banh chung are wrapped and cooked in banana leaves, and they are secured by grasses or strings -- and are traditionally cut by those same strings, not by knives (in the new year, you don't want to use knives to cut anything in half, since you risk cutting your good fortune and luck).





Banh tet and banh chung can have savory fillings or sweet. One popular filling is banh tet chuoi (made with a banana filling). The picture above is an image of the mungbean and pork filling, but the banana center is also extremely good!





All parts of the process are important, but everything hinges on the tying. You risk spilling everything if you don't hold the banana leaves properly, and if you aren't careful, each cake will not be watertight. Since they are immersed in water to steam, it's extremely important that you tie it very, very tight.







Here they are, wrapped and ready to cook (steam):


Pile up the "logs" and get ready to cook! There is a great deal of work in making banh tet, but there is much fun. Usually all the women will gather and wrap, all the while talking and laughing. Then they wait and watch as the rice cakes cook. As a young child, I used to love staying up late to "help" cook... But I never did anything other than watch. The joy, though, was in being considered a part of something much larger than a cooking party...


After all that talking, and waiting, the rice cakes are finally cooked & ready to eat:

Another way of enjoying these delicious rice cakes is by frying each slice in light olive oil. When fried, each slice is so crispy and chewy! Serve them up with some pickled vegetables and you've got a big hit!