Get to the Heart of the Matter; He said, She said, -- Tale of the J'anniversary Cherimoya

Approximately three years ago I met Chris and we started dating. I say approximately because there has always been the question of what day is our actual anniversary...When we first went out? when we first kissed? when we declared we'd see no others?

To further compliKate® matters, when writing an article for Edible Ojai about southern food traditions for New Year's Day, I put the wrong date entirely as our anniversary. Now Chris doesn't remember it at all and I remember what may or may not be the right date only sporadically. This year when I went along shopping and thinking of anniversaries and he didn't well I just decided until we clarify it for good, our anniversary will span the entire month of January so...Happy J'anniversary Honey!

This year I started our J'anniversary by making eggnog chocolate chip cookies but as usual, I adulterated the recipe and by using too much graham flour they tasted well, very healthy and very very rich between it and the nog. So I also went shopping at our local farmers' market and found a beautiful small coffee cake and a gorgeous heart-shaped cherimoya (which some spell cheramoya, I'm not sure which is right.)

We let it ripen for a few days and right before eating it Chris reminded me we should photograph it. We both pulled out our Verizon Droid phones and started to play. By the time we couldn't take it anymore and really wanted to eat it, we called it quits and then each sat across from one another at the dining room table staring down at our Droids, manipulating our chosen image (I know, romantic, huh? damn artists), while taking delicious bites of our bananay-pineapply, soft, luscious fruit. Oh my! it was incredible.

After spending time reading about cherimoya and learning it originated in Peru, grows in very few climates and has to be hand-pollinated, I learned it was even more special. We've saved the seeds from the heart-shaped "love cherimoya" and hope to grow a tree from the seeds. one blogger describes the fruit as "Lumpy, costly, but the flavor turns some people rhapsodic!"

Cherimoya season in California is from January to May in California, so keep an eye out at the markets for them. For those of you back in Louisiana and other places, I found an exotic fruit club that will deliver them to your door. :)

I also discovered several recipes for cherimoya souffles, parfaits, and fruit salad that I may try if I one day have an abundance but for now it's almost impossible to not simply cut and eat them with a spoon!

Meanwhile, back to the he said/she said part of the program. Here are the photos Chris and I came up with on a lark. Using basically the same phone, flash and fruit and then later, perhaps a couple of photoshop adjustments...We each staged our own shots but then as always happens had the collaborative help of the other but when it comes to which photo we chose and what we did with them, that's all in the chromosomes and personalities baby...(I think his looks a bit like a Lachapelle.

(the photo at the top is one I did afterward when writing this blog, nothing to do with our original j'anniversary photos.)

Enjoy

He said:


She said:

Island food and décor in Oak View; next stop, Big Buddha Lounge

*Photos by Chris Jensen
Originally published in the VC Reporter 12/30/2010

Big Buddha Lounge
530 Ventura Ave.
Oak View
$2-$10

Driving up to Big Buddha Lounge in Oak View felt almost illicit. I was simultaneously flooded with memories of the Hilltop Bar that previously occupied its building since 1945, and terribly curious about the huge black Buddha head by the front door. It felt exhilarating to drive to Oak View as a destination to visit this new, chic, furniture-lounge meets restaurant, wine-and-beer-bar experience.

Inside, the lounge is island exotic, filled to the brim with Balinese furniture, wooden lounges with throw pillows and a variety of chairs and tables. A bar to the right features carved wooden barstools shaped like large cupped hands. The walls are hues of green, and twig ball pendant lamps cast subdued light as surf music and blues twang over the speakers.

On pretty days you can sit on the huge porch outside that wraps around the back of the building, where the owners are planning to host a dozen or so larger music shows each year. Otherwise, smaller acts are being featured in the intimate funky interior.

All the furniture and accessories are samples of what they sell on their website, so if you are hungry or thirsty or needing furniture, or particularly if you desire all three, this might just be your lucky location.

The drink list is ever-evolving but ours featured fresh juices, including coconut water, served in the shell; wines like Pillsbury Wildchild Crop Circles Blends and Casa Baranca’s Pink Moment Blended Rosé; and a selection of beers from a variety of destinations like Thailand, Mexico, Hawaii, Tibet and Colorado. The drink menu isn’t large but it’s varied and intriguing.

Similarly, the food menu is small but fun. There are salads, flatbreads, skewers, coconut rice and one dessert.

Everything is reasonable to the point that you’ll want to try a few options and share. My favorite part of the menu is that each entree skewer comes with a different salad that complements it, so by ordering all three skewer entrees, we also got to sample all three salads, dipping sauces and coconut rice for $30, which equals about 90 percent of the menu.

Our drinks arrived and we first tried a Lhasa, the first beer allowed to be exported out of Tibet.

We both loved this all-malt lager and the art on its label, but I’ve since discovered some are boycotting it. Google if you, too, are intrigued.

We also tasted the Red Nectar Pale Ale from Paso Robles. It had a sweet, caramel/fruity scent and first note, then a strong bitter finish. Our mouths were just starting to wake up as our food arrived.




Each plate looked beautiful and simple, and the shrimp were skewered on flat pieces of sugarcane. Each dish came with a pristine mound of subtle, tender, white coconut rice sprinkled with black and white sesame seeds, a unique dipping sauce (made in-house) and a bowl of salad.

The shrimp had a chili-lime dipping sauce and was accompanied by Big Buddha’s Pacific Caesar salad, which has a wee wasabi kick to its dressing.


The four large shrimp were well-seasoned and perfectly cooked. The chili-lime sauce was sweet and tart with a slight hint of fish oil. The romaine Caesar with toasted flatbread croutons was cool and crunchy, and the wasabi presence was just enough to lightly notice.

The chicken satay skewers featured flattened grilled chunks of tender chicken and a smoky, spiced peanut sauce. The chicken was also perfectly cooked, very tender and more mildly seasoned, which gave us the excuse to use more sauce. Its Uluwatu salad (named after a Balinese temple), of fresh mixed greens, diced tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, shallots, cilantro and coconut flakes, was tossed with a sesame dressing. The light coconut sweetness and the sesame dressing gave this salad a delicate sweetness that complemented the chicken satay. This was my companion’s favorite salad.

Finally, the beef satay skewers were served with the Big Buddha salad and a teriyaki dipping sauce. In contrast to the other dishes, the beef was tough and chewy. The teriyaki sauce was delicious, and the Big Buddha salad was by far my favorite. It had fresh mixed greens, diced mango, green onion, slivers of jicama, napa cabbage and crispy noodles served with the in-house green goddess dressing, featuring avocado. It was such crunchy fun and had so many different flavors; I almost forgot the chewy beef. The tender coconut rice was very subtle and combined well with each of the dishes.

We also sampled the Pineapple Express flat bread and the Monkey Forest banana rolls as our two sweeter items. The flatbread looked intriguing – Christmas-colored triangles of red and green with hints of yellow pineapple.

It was crunchy and thin. It featured pesto, pineapple, Thai basil, cilantro, roasted red peppers, mozzarella and smoked Gouda. For me, the idea of the flavors was, on the whole, good, but the way they layered tasted sludgy. The pesto was heavy and not very flavorful and sank into the flatbread, making it dense. The smoked Gouda also lent a heavier note, and the roasted red peppers just sort of squeaked around the fresh chunks of grilled pineapple. I think this dish should be reworked.

Unfortunately, I feel the same about the official dessert of the menu — Monkey Forest banana rolls.

It was billed as banana chunks wrapped in spring rolls that are grilled and drizzled with hot chocolate. But the bananas weren’t even warm, the spring roll wrapper was just a hard shell around them with a couple of grill marks, and the cup of chocolate dipping sauce tasted like Hershey’s out of the can. Disappointing and far from what the fun decadence I imagined when I ordered.

Our meal was fun, and the adventure of driving to Oak View for the new hot destination made it an adventure. As we left, a younger crowd looking for beer was filtering in. I applaud the conceptual aspect of this furniture lounge/restaurant that is starting slow with a small, select menu, but I want that small menu to be a home run.

If they can work out the kinks and build on their strengths, it could be a little go-to getaway full of fun and ambience. I look forward to watching how the exotic future of Big Buddha and Oak View unfolds.