Vacation week planning

I like to fill my vacation weeks with plans for cooking. I usually plan too much, so we'll see how it goes this vacation.

We recently subscribed to the Cooking Channel, so I've been watching a stupid amount of cooking shows. Max has been pretty happy to sit with me on the couch for hours on end. I've also been reading through the bunch of cookbooks from my last purchase.

So far, here is my plan for the week:

Mu ssam:
After the success of the last batch of mu ssam, I figured I should make some more so they are ready when we want them. I bought a korean daikon last week, so I hope it's still good. It takes two days to prep the mu ssam and then they have to cure for at least 5-15 days.

Momofuku pork buns:
We went to Momofuku a few years ago and had these pork buns. I actually wasn't that impressed but I learned later that was because my pork was not as tender as some of the others, and that was what didn't impress me. But this is a great cookbook. So I decided to make the pork buns at home. I saw David Chang do it once before on Martha Stewart. The whole recipe is pretty simple in concept, so we will see how it goes.

Vietnamese noodle salad:
When you watch like 15 cooking shows in one day, at least one of them will call to you. For me, it was Luke Nguyen's Vietnam and the recipe was for the rice noodle salad topped with grilled pork, though I think I'm going to go with beef. I was going to make his recipe, which looked pretty good, but the Cooking Channel wanted me to register to get the recipe and I just don't feel like it. So I pulled out my copy of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen by Andrea Nguyen and I'm going to make that one instead.

Cassoulet:
I've never had a cassoulet, but I really want to make one. The recipe is pretty intense and takes several days to make, at least without stress, says Julia Child. It calls for great northern beans, pork loin, pork rind, pork belly, lamb, lamb or pork bones, and toulouse sausage. I think it also calls for duck that I somehow didn't write down so I'll have to go look again. Basically, you cook all the meats separately and then put it all into the pot to cook together with the beans.

Thanksgiving:
Well, that's the whole reason we have off, eh? Josh had originally asked for venison, but it's so hard to find these days and it comes from New Zealand when we can find it. So we are going to do duck, probably a Jacques recipe. We have hakurei turnips from the market (hope they are still good) and we have to do mashed potatoes. What else from there... I don't know yet. Apparently we missed out on serious chanterelles and broccoli at P'tree Road yesterday. Tsk on us.

Gnocchi:
I always ask Josh if there is anything he wants me to make for him. This time, he chose Michael Chiarello's Bottega ricotta gnocchi recipe, which we have talked about trying before, but there are really a lot of steps. So I put that onto the list. I could make the ricotta -- and it's not out of the question yet -- but the last time I made it, I think I overdrained it and wasn't too happy with it. Anyway, the ricotta takes a couple days and then you serve it with his nonna's sauce which calls for cooking a hen (a fiesty one) in sauce.

I don't know if it will turn out as we had it, but we'll see. (see picture from the restaurant)

Paella:
I bought two paella books in my last batch and have been wanting to retry paella. The thing is, I've been so disappointed with my last attempts that I'm kind of turned off from doing it again. But you can't get any better if you don't do it again, right? And you should always make paella on the day you go to the market. Well, we'll see how I feel when I am making my shopping list later.