I busted out two pink aspics today. I’ve been hooked on aspics for some time now. I’ve always loved them and, since I collect cookbooks, I come across lots of them in books from the 1930s through the 1960s – many of them tres outré. Here are two retro creations, one more a molded salmon mousse and the other a crabmeat cocktail in aspic. They are great during the summer and for a good chuckle.
Pork rice dumpling at Daimo
Chinese breakfast at Daimo this morning, which is a real treat. Up until 11 a.m. they serve a “one from A, one from B” type of meal for about $6. You get your choice of congee, which is a thick, savory rice porridge – a whole, big bowl of it, the kind you get when you order it a la carte. Then you select an item from the other list, which, in my case, is 
always the sticky rice pork dumpling. I wrote about this last year but had no photos, which I am correcting here. If you ate all that rice you would die, I think, so it is best to share the congee. I refuse to share the pork dumpling because whenever I do, I am guaranteed to lose the salted duck egg that’s in there. Never again. Do I really need to tell you that Daimo is just outside Pacific East Mall on Pierce Street in Richmond?
I dragged Matt to Viks Chaat House today. He likes Indian food but never wants to go to Viks (724 Allston Way, Berkeley). What gives with that? The monster poori alone is reason to come here for lunch. If you order the bhatura cholle you’ll get the pooriwith chick pea curry and onions. By the by, if you like the pickles served at Vik’s, you can get jars of them at the grocery next door. The one with the hard pieces of shell that you have to eat around, which is pungent slash sour in addition to being hot, is green mango. It’s called “avakkai mango pickle” if you want to buy it. The lime is also great.