#but I used to make this and/or hong kong fried noodles as a late night snack when my roommate would stay up

[sandsofdteam-moved]

actually soup is the perfect struggle meal tbh. like egg drop soup can be made with bouillon, cornstarch, water, a couple of eggs, and like 2 "specialized" groceries and with a minimal amount of those ingredients you could make like a whole gallon of soup it's epic

[borrowedbackpack]

Nepalin’

Namaste from Kathmandu, Nepal, and welcome back to Borrowed Backpack. We are Borrowed Back-Back, if you will. Ha. Ha. Ha.

           So anyways, yup I decided to go to Nepal. I don’t really know why, since I don’t care about mountains or anything. But so far it seems nice. Also I’m probably as surprised to be here as you, my loyal followers, are surprised that I’m here. See, after my last trip, I was heckin broke. So I then I made some money. But then I went to uni and spent all my money. Just as I was resigning myself to a year of no international travel (how tragic), a generous old lady decided to give me a bunch of money for writing a couple paragraphs about how much I love managing natural resources. I think this money was intended to help finance my continued education in managing natural things, so of course I came to Nepal to do some experiential learning about mountains, yaks, stray doggos, sub-par water quality, and carbs. Lots and lots of carbs.

           We arrived last night (yup, we – Borrowed Backpack found a travel companion) at late o’clock after the longest combination of flights of my life (but a limited amount of those signature Borrowed Backpack 19 hour layovers, so that was nice). Ya’ll probably don’t care about my flight itinerary, but I’m going to discuss it anyways because it’s my blog and I think it’s interesting:

·      August 17th, 4:45am: Christopher’s mother drives us to YXE. I told her we could take an Uber, because 4:45 is a very early o’clock, but she insisted on driving us so she could say “one last goodbye” (she thinks we’re going to die on Everest. I’m not sure if she knows that we’re not actually climbing Everest. But that’s okay).

·      6:30am – YXE – YVR. Not much to say. I watched a documentary about Fyre Festival. It was good.

·      7:33 am (YVR time) – we arrive at YVR and eat French toast. I buy 6L of hand sanitizer.

·      10:30am: this is where shit gets real. We embark on a 13 hr and 20 minute Hell Flight* to Hong Kong. Christopher sleeps for 8/13 hrs. Anna sleeps for 15 minutes/13 hrs. I watched all of season 10 of Modern Family, Crazy Rich Asians (to get pumped for Hong Kong), Bohemian Rhapsody, and something about the making of Back to Black. Also I listened to a podcast about Not Complaining. Which I think helped.

·      ***this was not actually a hell flight. It would have been a Hell Flight on any other airline. I will exclusively be flying Cathay Pacific from here on. Around hour 7 I started to feel some moderate despair, mostly because my entire body was sore from canoeing a bunch of 8-10 year olds around all day the previous day (weird flex, I know). It was at this point that I realized that the free alcohol on the flight was, in fact, free, and not a Trick. This was a turning point – I went from “I am never flying again. If we ever reach Hong Kong, I will stay there and start a new life as a ground-dweller. I do not care” to “oh heck yes. I love being an adult. I am a Fancy Adult Traveller. Nothing hurts anymore and I roam the skies as I please.” And then they brought out gelato! What a time.

My sweet canoeing look. Oddly, a large part of my summer job was “canoeing instructor”. Which is terrifying, considering a came in with about 45 minutes of canoeing experience. Anyways, last week I was finally able to rescue a blowing away canoe full of children without assistance so hooray for personal growth.

·      August 18th, 2ish pm HK time: we finally land in Hong Kong. Flying into Hong Kong is very beautiful. Everything is lush and green. There are a lot of boats. Also I saw the beautiful rainbow sustainable social housing project. No one else on the plane cared L

·      Slightly after 2ish pm: HK customs. A wonderful time! I was greeted by the customs agent with a cheerful “Hey lady!” then when I handed over my passport he looked at it and said “almost it is your birthday! Have a very happy birthday!” AND THAT WAS IT. No questions. 10/10. Then we were free to roam the HK airport. Initially, I was very nervous about flying through HK due to the protest action earlier in the week. Fortunately, there was absolutely no sign of any sort of Situation by the time we arrived. We were greeted with many moon cake samples and more people toting around designer leather goods than I have ever seen in my entire life. Also a sign that just said “octopus”? idk. I was very sleepy and mildly grumpy at this point. Next we decided to look for food. As a person who does not eat meat, this proved to be extremely challenging. We walked 5,474 steps back and forth through the international terminal trying in vain to find something that didn’t have any belly, neck, or knuckles in it. Finally, we found vegetable miso ramen! Hooray! The quest was over. Except not. When I attempted to order this dish, the girl at the counter was like “okay, it has meat though. Is that okay?” and I was like actually not really but thanks. So then we walked and walked more and found the best noodles and seaweed ever and I was a Happy Traveller again. Then I slept on a bench for an hour because I felt the need to return to my Airport Hobo Roots.

My noodles! My seaweed! My weird (delicious) fried peanut cabbage stuff!

·      7:00pm – our flight (mostly empty) attempts to embark for Kathmandu. Unfortunately, it was extremely rainy by then so we had to wait on the tarmac for an hour-ish. I slept for most of this and also for most of the 4ish hour flight.

·      10pm (KTM time) – arrival in Nepal. I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about the Kathmandu airport, the visa process, and the general immigration system there so I was prepared for the worst. Luckily, I found this whole thing to be extremely quick and easy. My backpack (the NBF) came zooming off the carousel very quickly. Christopher’s took a long time so I left him to deal with that and stood off to the side to eat some spicy nuts I picked up from first class during the de-planing process because I am nothing if not a resourceful gal.

·      late o’clock, idk: we took a taxi to our hostel and a very nice person showed us to our room. I tried to pay him and he was like “oh no. You’re very tired. You can just pay when you feel like it.”

This morning we woke up after a restful sleep on the World’s Hardest Bed. I had a shower, which was a big step for me because I fear the water here like I fear being struck by lightning, being involved in a shipwreck, and geology 105. So far I am fine. Then we went for a long walk, during which we went to some temples, saw a picture of a guy’s baby, almost got suckered in to buying some art (it was very beautiful art, to be fair), unsuccessfully looked for a bank, got #blessed, met a lot of dogs, almost got hit by cars/motorbikes/rickshaws  x infinity,  got pretty lost, saw a lot of plant life, and ate some delicious (and cheap) food (this country is the light at the end of the non-vegetarian friendly tunnel that was the HK airport).

Overall First Impressions:

·      so hot. So humid. Not raining all day err day as advertised.

·      A little bit…filthy. But like I understand it’s a developing country and they just don’t have the infrastructure to deal with pollution/garbage, etc at the moment so that’s okay. If anyone knows of any reputable environmental/clean up Nepal type of charities please hit me up.

·      A lot less dusty than advertised. So that has been nice.

·      No tourists. Or at least no noticeable tourists. Our hostel is mostly empty at the moment, presumably due to the current monsoon season situation

·      Very beautiful! Very culturally rich and diverse! Very lovely people! And so many doggos!!

We at Borrowed Backpack love a good roof view.

[wanderharryings]

Hong Kong from the eyes of an Instagrammer

Hong Kong’s places to visit was never of interest to me. It was all about their FOOD - I love warm meaty dim sums and sweet juicy roasts. It was a no-brainer that I will make it to Hong Kong some day for a dim sum pilgrimage.

Can’t recall exactly when but it was a day I flipped through the calendar and realised there wasn’t any holidays planned till 2020. So got onto skyscanner and booked 2 tix to Hong Kong! Boom! 

BEST. DECISION. MADE. IN. 2019.

We had a very very comfortable flight to Hong Kong via Cathay Pacific. We regularly fly via budget airlines to other parts of Asia so it was nice to fly via full-service airline on this trip. Food wasn’t fantastic but Haagen Daz on-board was a nice touch!

Landed shortly past midnight. Didn’t feel like figuring out the train services at that ungodly hours so we booked an airport transfer via Rideways by Booking.com. Wasn’t exactly cheap however service by our driver Ken Wan was top notch so I ain’t complaining. I highly recommend Ken if you are looking for an airport transfer in HK. He is so good with his instructions that it made navigating out of the airport so easy for us. 5 STARS!

Ken drove us right up to Hong Kong Island where we booked a 3-night stay at Hotel Jen via Booking.com . I have left my reviews on Booking.com so feel free to scroll through and read before deciding if you should go with our choice. It was a no-frills stay so we found it hard to justify the price we paid. However, you’ll appreciate the convenience of the location. The hood is very different in the wee hours and when the sun comes up! Love it!

Husband did the planning for most parts of this trip. He said he knew he had to pick the most instagrammable places to entice his wife to remain excited throughout the trip ;)

For the rest of this post, you’ll view snippets of my instastory to stay true to the IG-worthy theme.

Started the first day with a day trip to Tai O fishing village on Lantau Island. Wasn’t hard to get there via MTR and their bus service. You can google to find the varied ways to get to Tai O. A Singaporean we met on this trip advised to avoid Tai O during the weekends. Good for us we went on a Friday morning. There was barely any crowd. We took a leisurely stroll and munched on food we found along our path.

These spicy jumbo fishballs were the first thing we ate on this trip. It was the perfect pairing for the cold weather. My lips were on fire, in a good way.

Told ya - there was sooo much to eat as you walk around exploring the village on your own but eat sparingly because you shouldn’t miss out on this tiny dim sum stall. Their plump Har Gows simply glide down your throat one after another. Never ever had one that is this good! Do not worry about having more than 1 platter because there is soooo much walking to do (so you need to fuel up!) and of course a lot more to see besides food.

Tai O is an Instagram haven. There are so many activities and spots to photograph but I wasn’t sure how I would feel if I were to live there... at times I felt like I was intruding the locals’ personal space. Maybe no, there were plenty who greeted us with warm smiles and just went about doing their own things. 

Amidst the busy daily morning activities and the buzz in the marketplace, we stumbled upon a white building with massive Christmas decorations. Later realised it was a Church. We stood there thinking if we should go in to pay respects when a local greeted us with a big “Hello” and signalled us to go in. We entered but couldn’t find a prayer hall so exited almost immediately. Happy to have visited during the Christmas season to see the Church in it’s full glory.

We left Tai O to to check out the bargains at the Citygate Outlets located right smack at the MTR station where we have to transit. Very strategic I must say!

If you’ve been to the outlet malls in the US, then this wouldn’t excite you. Bagged a couple of items from Adidas and was mighty pleased with the discount. Left as soon as we gobbled down some roast meat on steamed rice for late lunch.

MTR’s well connected lines and undisrupted service ensured we arrived at the hotel on time to freshen up and head out for our night exploration. The moment we arrived back to HK Island, I missed the charm of Tai O. It was a great escapade from the concrete jungle. The city girl in me truly appreciated that side of HK!

For the night we decided on something a little more touristy - we cruised along Victoria Harbour on-board AquaLuna, a traditional Chinese junk boat. Hubs researched on the various cruise offerings and we unanimously agreed on AquaLuna. He got us tix on Klook . Each tix covered a complimentary drink for the 45-min sail. We ordered taro chips to go with our glass of red. It was indeed a beautiful start to our holiday!

We disembarked at the Victoria Harbour waterfront in Tsim Sha Tsui and walked along the Avenue of Stars, an avenue to honour HK film celebrities. It was just about time for the famous light show ‘Symphony of Lights’ to begin so we promptly grabbed a cup of hot chocolate each to catch the show in the cold winter night. Hong Kong is a true stunner at night!

It was hard to end the night early when there was still so much going on around that area. We pressed on and moved on to explore Nathan Street. Nightlife in HK didn’t seem any different from SG - it was all about brightly lit streets, bustling crowd and many more food options.

After clocking 25, 663 steps, we stopped for a quick wonton mee dinner and retired for the night. Thank God for our Timberland boots investment else we couldn’t have managed all that non-stop walking!

Day 2 was a lot more slower... we had to as our energy was depleting after a full on day 1!

We took the MTR once again (we did all day err day alright) and headed towards Quarry Bay to take photographs of the famed monster building. While searching for directions on how to get there, Hubs chanced upon the news that a photo taking ban has been put in place since Sep 2019. Apparently the residents complained about all the mayhem created by instagrammers so they fenced up the area! Oh, well; we didn’t give up ;)

Saw the banner and the fence? Occasionally you’ll have people coming out of their shops to monitor your movements. We were constantly whispering to each other while we were there as we were afraid of being chased out before we were done.

If you got sick of HK food and looking for some Indian/Indo fare, this is also the place to visit. We caught sight of non-locals patronising the grocery stores around this area. There were plenty of hair salons in a single stretch too!

Quarry Bay is an unconventional mix of modern buildings, old school housing charm, marketplaces, traditional bakeries, modern cafes and way more. 

Then it was back on the MTR to head towards the Central for some touristy shopping and gourmet indulgence before the next item on our itinerary - Victoria Peak!

Victoria Peak via the tram ride was totally Hubs’ idea. He didn’t manage to go up the Peak during his first visit to HK so this was a first time experience for us both. Once again, we got our tix from Klook. It was basically a combo ticket so we opted for the tram ride to Sky Terrace and a pass to Madame Tussauds.

We met our Klook guide at an MTR exit closes to the tram station. He chaperoned us to the station and briefed us on what needs to be done once we hit the peak. Clear instructions that didn’t require us to ponder much about what to do next. We followed his instructions to a T and ended up on the highest hill on Hong Kong island known as Mount Austin, and locally as The Peak. Windy and cold yet breathtaking view of the city and sunset shortly after we arrived.

It was a certainly a night to remember. In fact, it was 2 consecutive memorable nights! This called for a celebratory dinner. Hence, we trekked down to Yung Kee which wasn’t very far off the tram station. Our hearts and stomachs were so full.

Roasts and rice game strong! Hard to beat the HK folks in their fried rice renditions. Every grain is coated in grease and flavoured so well. Every mouthful leaves you wanting more. Perfection!

Causeway Bay, HK’s most up-scale shopping district was next on our agenda. We were all geared up for more walking and sightseeing. It was the perfect place to head to on our last night in HK as there’s the Wellcome supermarket that is open 24hrs which is the most perfect place to pick up edible gifts for family and friends back home. We researched quite a fair bit on the supermarkets to go to and the items to buy as gifts. A couple of supermarkets we walked into before Wellcome, were very much for expats so you don’t get local produce. I got carried away with the cool Tesco/Waitrose products manufactured just for the HK market! 

As for the specifics of the edible gifts, we got bottles of XO sauce and dried scallops from Yick Cheong Ho at Tai O. I felt it was more appropriate to get 'em sauces from Tai O than from supermarkets. The XO sauces sold in the supermarkets are brands that are available back home too. At Wellcome we picked up the remaining items on our shopping list like Greatwall luncheon meat, Nissin XO instant noodles, Holland “Black and White” evaporated milk cans and mango-pomelo sago bottled drink. 

We were extremely exhausted after clocking a total of 21, 519 steps for the day. Besides, all the edible gifts were weighing a tonne so it was only wise we headed back to the hotel. 

We’ve experienced enough of the efficient MTR system. So, it was time to experience HK’s heritage tram system, Ding Ding. It was a nice and slow ride “home”. 

Hong Kong Tramways has done a brilliant job in preserving the charm and maintaining a traditional transportation system to be functional since 1904.

On the next morning, one last hurrah before we board the airport express and fly back home...

I heart you with all of my heart, HK! Till we meet again, XO XO (pun fully intended).

[ansverato]

tagged by good friendo @lel--scissors

Time Right Now: 10:40, no worries writing this quick then back to college hw Nicknames: Ant n’ Anthon, usually.  Gender: Dude Star Sign: Aquarius  Height: 5.8 Birthday: January 27th Favorite Solo Artists: Alex Clare, Stephen, Eminem, Nujabes, Sapphire Covers... off the top of my head lot more hah   Favorite Bands: Offf the time top o my head again ahhh... BIG FAV Linkin Park (Bless your soul Chester), Rise Against, Oasis, Green Day, the Bravery etc...       When Did I Create My Blog: Somewhere back in... 2012 i think?? Apparently Ive’s had it longer than I thought. Found out about it after looking at neato artists on devianart as i was looking for some fanart of lok’s makorra, ya that far back lmao...  What Do I Post: Anything and almost everything, almost, depends, from myself, drawings, and gifs n graphics, been hiatus tho mentally.   Last Thing I Googled: How to tie your hand wraps, doing muai thai, they cool. Do You Have Other Blogs: Naaah, one blog’s more than enough for me.  Do You Get Asks: Thankfully no, anons are terrible but when i do they from mutuals or something so its chill.  Why Did You Choose Your URL: I usually just think of something randomly, that starts with Ant, or An, just cause, happens.  Following: 2,344 Blogs, basically everyone major that makes something good on this heckscape.  Followers: 549, miss my 560, buuut been quiet. Favorite Colors: GREEEEEN, and blue, light neon colors, mixed in with black to Lucky Number: Anything mixed in with 5 and/or 7 Average Hours Of Sleep: 3 to 9 hours, night owl, trying to build that up buuuuuut consistency  Instruments: Ideally wanna do Guitar n Drums, buuut mostly just little guitar dabbles right now What Am I Wearing: Heaty pj’s How Many Blankets I Sleep With: A very thick one’s been enough so far Dream Job: ...... fuck I dunno anymore dude earnestly Dream Trip: Nothing too much stands out for me, maybe just, go to Hong Kong sometime, or Tokyo be pretty rad.  Favorite Food: Any microwaveable mini foods, noodles, bugers, pizza’s, pies, ICCE cREAM, fries, fruit... no veggies, cept corn, and potatoes, made into fries  Favorite Song Right Now: RIGHT NOW lately im really into Daft Punk’s track something about us 

I’mma taaaaaag: @eclecticcelestial, @rainbow-gae , @rinlockhart, @lonelybus, @space-crows, @hatingpeopleeveryday, @jellifishskies, @blamedorange, @pompadores, @lemondropkick and @not-your-average-octopus annnd anybody else that wants ta.

When you got time to murder feel free to go for it if you wanna!

[estacalavera]

All I Know Is I Don’t Know Nothing And That’s Fine — Chris Ying

Juan the cab driver ordered tacos, but my friend Danny the chef had been talking up the soup.  For the first time on the trip, I was considering breaking my personal rule to always listen to the fat cab driver when it comes to matters of late-night eating.

Juan had not yet steered us astray.  Earlier he’d dropped us at Los 4 Ases, the roadside cantina responsible for our current state of inebriation.  We’d sat at the bar next to a vitrolero filled with pickled pig’s feet, and hurled ourselves headfirst down a steep hillside slicked with liquor.  We bounced along to a cowboy lounge singer’s up-tempo stylings, and ordered “pollo KFC” from the menu, just to see what it was like.  (It was like the Colonel’s, only a little worse.) Our disappointment was tempered by the knowledge that food is gratis at cantinas in Mexico City.  The alcohol costs money, but while you’re drinking, you can order whatever you want from a list of salty booze-sponges.  The fare had been first rate at the cantina we’d visited the previous day, the more famous Cantina La Mascota near the Zócalo, where we’d had simple fried quesadillas filled with crushed potato, picked the meat and fatty bits from the bones of a dark, slightly acidic ternera en adobo while wincing through shots of silver tequila.

Now Juan had brought us here, to La Polar, based on nothing more than a slurred request from Danny to take us to “the birria place you took me before.  It’ssssooo good.”  We sat down, Juan, Danny, and I, and fixed our eyes on the kitchen.  I was sauced and starving, but still had a full, bulbous glass of mescal in front of me along with a side plate of sour orange sliced dipped in chili powder.  I sipped at the smoky molten agave to pass the time, or perhaps to reach some threshold of drunkenness that would allow me to pass through time and skip to the point when my bowl of birria would finally, finally make it to the table.

The wait turned out to be a small price to pay, as La Polar far exceeded Danny’s earlier inebriated endorsement.  The birria arrived cloudy with chili and herbs, but san crystal clear in flavor.  I pressed down with the back of my spoon against a bumper crop of tender goat, hunting after the main attraction: the broth.  If you could juice a roasted goat, then concentrate and clarify the results, you’d have something akin to the consomé at La Polar.  A squeeze of fresh lime and a healthy scattering of rinsed white onion brightened things up, and a stack of thick, soft corn tortillas sat near at hand for meat-scooping.  But the broth was our purpose and our savior.

There’s a window outside the restaurant where one can prop oneself against a metal counter and scarf the same birria tacos they serve inside, technically qualifying as street food— my ostensible purpose for being in Mexico City.  Danny was doing research for a restaurant he was planning to open.  He’d called me while I was in the middle of another trip to tell me that I’d be an idiot not to join.  I agreed to meet him, but had no time to repack, let alone do anything resembling proper research.  From what I’d been told, you can’t throw a stone in the DF without hitting the greatest pambazo or tacos de mixiotes or quesadilla you’d ever had.  Like other poorly prepared travelers before me, I was going off something I’d heard, hoping to bump into something extraordinary.

It looks easy on TV, doesn’t it?  Land in a foreign country, ask your cab driver to head for the nearest market, and arrive to teeming crowds of diners and smiling vendors playing you with samples of grilled meat and exotic pastries.  But the reality of trying to find an amazing street-level eating experience is rarely so straightforward.  If you’re not armed to the teeth with research on what moment to be where and what to order, you can find yourself, as I have, wandering the same three blocks as dusk creeps, looking for the entrance to a place that is closed on weekdays or has been shuttered for half a decade.  And when you are prepared, the problem then becomes finding a rice-noodle cart that can meet the impossible expectations you’ve built up.  Even in cities like Rio or Hong Kong, where you can almost feel the heart of the city beating under your feet, it can still seem like the cool party is always around the next corner.  Like a swimmer being pulled by the current, you see that the shore is maddeningly near but just out of reach.

In these times, it’s tempting to let the sea take you, to drown yourself in the luxury and safety of the hotel and minibar.  But there is a better middle ground, and to get there, you must first do away with the notion that you are going to live like a local.  Short of moving somewhere, there’s no way to see everything you want to see, or to understand everything there is to understand.  You can travel well without focusing on how well traveled you want your friends back home to think you are.  

Danny had been to Mexico City recently, and for about half the time we were together we were covering ground he’d tread no more than a month earlier.  This relieved the distinct sense that I was flying blind as well as some of the pressure of discovery.  And while I can’t take credit for any great culinary unearthings in Mexico City, I can offer you this: when you’re trying to find the good stuff, it helps to ask someone who already found it.  More important, that someone should be someone you trust.  Restaurant recommendations are a chorus that does not lack for voices.  The problem is, who knows what you have in common with any given reviewer or body of reviewers?

The only filter to sift through the glut of information available to the traveler is trust.  Danny and I find the same things delicious, so I seldom put up any resistance when he leads the way.  Plus, he has a way of walking with the purpose that leaves you little time to question whether he knows where he’s headed.  For large periods of the trip, my view was of his back as he wended his way through markets and alleyways, headed for a place he’d been to last time.  Sometimes we’d end up lost at the other end; other times I’d look up to see we were exactly where he’d described we would be.  Seldom did I know where I was.

But as hound-like as Danny’s nose for tastiness is, there really is no substitute for being fluent in the local language.  The entire time we were in Mexico, we could not stop saying cuenta when we meant to say carta, and asking for the bill when you want the menu is not generally a direct path to unlocking the house secrets.  Still, I found the DF to be an altogether English/high-school-level-Spanish friendly city.

And so we muddled through the days with our pidgin Spanish, aided by a list of tips from James Casey, whose magazine, Swallow, devoted a whole issue to Mexico City.  On our first morning in country, we headed to eh Mercado de la Merced, a densely-packed market that dips in-and outdoors and houses hundreds of stalls hawking comically large piles of chilies and cactus paddles, golden-hued chickens, tremendous sides of beef and pork, tacos of all sorts, blood sausages sizzling on griddles, towers of cheese, corn grilled almost black, fresh masa, and tortillas.  On our way into the twisting, rambling market, I took a photo of the street corner where we entered so when we got lost I could point to it like a speechless chimp, which we did and I did.

We meandered with vague purpose.  Or rather, with the specific purpose of finding carnitas, but with no specific carnitas in mind.  We landed on a stand called Ricas Carnitas.  The sign featured an unlicensed rendering of a famous cartoon pig, popping out of a cauldron with arms wide open.  Two aproned men ran the operation from behind a vinyl-lined t =able, and a group of satisfied-looking customers spilled over the sides of tiny colorful plastic stools in front.  I’ll make no claims about this stand serving the best carnitas in Mexico City.  But if you’re cruising through a busy market, and you spot a crowd of finger-licking patrons hovering around a rack of deeply browned pork dripping fat and juice back into its cooking liquid, you can safely bet they’re not going to be the worst carnitas in Mexico City.  Such a rack rests prominently in front of Ricas Carnitas, easily within view and scent of passing foot traffic.  I couldn’t help but imagine the liquid in the simmering cauldron beneath it as something akin to the sinister dip from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  In goes the pig, and out comes a deconstructed pile of bronzed snout, ribs, shoulders, intestines, his hat, and his overcoat.

When it’s taco time, the meat takes a quick plunge into the dip, then gets cleavered out of recognizability, jumbling together fatting and gelatinous with chewy and tender.  Everything goes onto two tortillas heated on a smoking plancha, then is covered with a flourish of onions, cilantro, and a user-administered dose of simple salsa consisting only of raw tomatillo and chili.  Beside the large stone malcjete that holds the salsa, a dense bouquet of papalo sprigs sits in a cup doubling as a vase.  A leaf or two of papalo— an herbaceous plant related to cilantro, with leaves bearing a s light resemblance to nasturtium leaves— serves as a post-taco digestif.  

We ascertained the purpose of this little outlying shrub through a combination of gestured questions directed at the vendor, and watching the diners around us finish their tacos and then pop the leaves into their mouths.  I find it useful to keep my eyes trained on what people are eating around me.

Think of it as the Finger-Bowl Method: if someone puts something in front of you and you’re not sure what to do with it, look up before you go drining your hand-washing liquid.

We employed this practice again later at a chain joint called El Farolito.  All around the market we’d seen tortillas sitting out on curbs and on milk crates, wrinkling and puckering slightly as they dried out in the open.  Rather afraid to eat of the literal streets, I didn’t make any movements to investigate.  But then, while seated at the wraparound counter at El Farolito (one can also pull up in a car outside and place an order in situ: street food), we spotted a stack of the same dried tortillas.  Toasted on the grill, then topped or served plain with salsa or brothy beans, these tostaditas were a world apart from their fried cousins.  Crunchier than crisp, and less oil-logged, their relative lightness gave us the moral high ground we needed to overdo it on the rest of our order: alambres (a scramble of bacon, steak, cheese, onions, and chilies), tacos al pastor, cebollas (spring onions blackened and topped with Worcestershire sauce and lime), and a foralada.  The farolada is a house specialty that Danny discovered on a prior visit, again by watching others.  A piece of pan arabe (pita bread)is split open and stuffed with stringy Manchego cheese and steak, then pressed on the grill into a crisp wafer.  By my count, the cross-pollination of Lebanese influence with Mexican cooking has yielded at least two wonders: al pastor and now this.  Free restaurant idea: Taqueria al Beirut.

The no-duh assumption at the heart of the Finger-Bowl Method is that if it looks good, try it.  Easier than looking for a particular stand you saw on TV or in a guidebook, it to keep your head on a swivel and nose on alert.  As fast as information moves, street food still moves faster.  A change of ownership, an off day, an ambitious owner trying to cash in on a TV appearance— any number of factors can ruin what was a sure thing a week ago.  Making laps around another market, Mercado San Juan no 78, I waffled on trying a few more exotic dishes I recognized as quintessential market offerings that a responsible correspondent would do well to acquaint himself with.  The smell of cleaning agents turns me off, and we had arrived at the market in the late afternoon after the lunch rush, as the merchants  turned their attention to washing the floors and counters.

But near the entrance, open to the sidewalk and free from Mr. Clean’s special odor, was a rotisserie-chicken stand.  Plump birds were crammed ass to shoulder on spits, dripping juices from the upper levels down onto the lower decks as they spun.  Between the skewers of whole chickens were even more crowded spits of chicken wings, pressed together in an overlapping line like cruise-ship passengers vying to get on the last lifeboat.  Everything was roasted to the same dark-orange hue, with spots of charred black.  And while a whole chicken was unmanageable for street-side consumption, I could not pass on wings.  The chicken man peeled a few from the spit for us, dropped them into a plastic bag, and added a few shakes from a bottle of Valentina hot sauce.

Perched on a cement divider across the street, we divvied up our loot.  I pulled a wing from the reddened bag, and considered it quizzically, not sure that I had ever seen a wing trimmed to look this way.  We pulled skin and meat from bone with our front teeth and realized immediately that what we had were not chicken wings but chicken necks— a most delightful betrayal!  Even in our increasingly offal-and-off-cut friendly world, the neck remains largely confined to the stockpot.  But it has everything the gluttonous carnivore desires.  It is, after all, mostly skin and fat— in this case rendered delicate and sticky with a few crackling burnt ends.  The meat takes work to get at, probably too much for your average American looking to keep both eyes on the game while snacking, but for those willing to toil a bit, the chicken neck is the superior cut.

Mexico City is a sprawling behemoth.  When standing in the middle of it, you experience both the sense of being enveloped in a metropolis like Manhattan and being overwhelmed by the endless outward reach of Los Angeles.  Often, finding good street food comes down to dumb luck.  Our hotel was in the Condesa, a relatively chichi neighborhood, away from the markets and heavily trafficked late-night streets.  But just a short two blocks from our front door, we came across a couple of women in blue aprons who had set up a comal next to a stone planter on the sidewalk.  There, they pressed blue corn masa intro delicious huaraches and quesadillas filled with huitlacoche, stewed squash blossoms, and just a few crumbles of melty cheese.  Various plastic containers of salsa and toppings crowded a folding table covered in a floral-print tablecloth.  Napkins hung in a bag stapled to a nearby tree.  There were no other vendors around.

[marielledownunder]

Noosa & Fraser Island

After two weeks of Fiji, we went back to Brisbane for one night. We arrived in Brisbane for the first time around 21st of June, and we got back from Fiji at the 22nd of July. So we’re one month further to continue our eastcoast travels. The next day, we would be picked up by the Loka bus at 11 am. I had 1 hour to do some highspeed shopping as I lost many things on Fiji, but I made it. 

The next stop was Noosa and we would stay there for three nights. Noosa is a world-famous surfing destination, known for its expansive beaches and colourful bays. It lays north from Brisbane in the Sunshine Coast. It looks beautiful and it looks like a holiday destination for rich people.  In the evening we met some Dutch people and they invited us to a party night in Nomads.  The next day we went for a 9km walk in the national park of Noosa. The first track we walked into the woods and we got back through the coastal line. We were told there a wild koalas, but we couldn’t see them. We also didn’t have luck with finding spotting the dolphins and whales. But still we loved the walk. 

After the walk we wanted Ben & Jerrys ice cream. We’ve seen a Ben & Jerrys bar and we spoke to eachother we would earn that delicious ice cream after the walk. I also ordered 2 scoops and ate it as my dinner. 

Back to our hostel we finally made it: We watched the new season of Game of Thrones! We got luck by having a stable WiFi in our hostel haha. 

The next day, we did a beach walk on the main beach, with two other girls from Loka. After the walk we went to “Noosa surf club”. When we arrived we had to scan our IDs before we would order. Australia is pretty much strict with alcohol. In lots of places they ask our ID to scan before you’ll get inside. I’m happy we don’t have this in the Netherlands. After the drinks we got back to our hostel to wait for our Loka bus. They brought us to the next destination: Rainbow beach. We prebooked our hostel already by the travel agency as we have booked the Fraser Island tour, because this hostel organises the tour.

We arrived at the hostel and we got our room. As we spoke Dutch, 3 guys came to us and said “hey! you’re also Dutch!” So that’s how we met our neighbours. 1 hour later we had a introduction about the trip and guess what, we’re together with those 3 guys in the group. There were also 2 German girls in our group, but they seemed not really hanging out with the others, they didn’t even buy any drink. After the introduction we bought goon for the coming 2 camping nights and we’re ready to go!

The next morning we got our car, a 4wd (4 wheel driver). As we were group 3, we were supposed to get car 3. We loaded our stuff and our adventure begins!

The boys, named Rick, Sjors and Stef, gathered loads of music for our ‘roadtrip’. They started with lots of German music to involve our Germans, but they didn’t really participate..so we were hanging a lot with just the boys from our group. After 1h driving we took a ferry to Fraser island. Can you imagine that Fraser island is as big as Hong Kong? Nope, me neither. And apparently, it’s also the largest sand island of the world. There is no road, just sand, lakes and bushes. I took the chance to drive after lunch. We were told that the next drive would be easier... well let’s say that I was rocking in that car: Driving with 3000 revolutions per minute haha.

Our first stop was lake Mckenzie. Wow, what a beautiful lake. The most beautiful I’ve ever seen. We got a bit time to chill out here.

After lake Mckenzie, we went to our camp. We were told that it could be very cold during the night, so Kayleigh, Imke and I decided to sleep together in one tent. We opened our goon and the campfire has been started. Time for a drink and getting to know the others. As we were a group, we had to cook our meals. Everyone got a box. The first night dinner would be noodles with vegetables and 50 gram? chicken haha. After dinner we continued with the campfire with beer, goon and a bit of drinking games!

The next morning, we went to a certain place where you could spot the whales and dolphins. And yes, I’ve seen them!!! first time of my life I’ve seen them in Australia. Especially the dolphins were swimming together and jumping :)

After the lookout spot we went to a certain place in the beach, the Champagne pools. We went for a swim in the water and the water is so bright!

After the Champagne pools we had some lunch on the beach. Afterwards we drove to the shipwreck. On the same place you could also take a flight in those small airplanes. As I have never flown in a private plane before, I decided to get on. I could see the island from above, and it was such an amazing view! And we could see the full body of the wales and dolphins!

After the plane we got free time to enjoy ourselves. Imke and I still needed to go tubing in the Eli Creek River. The water is so clean that you can fill your bottle and take a drink. Afterwards we played some volleybal.

When we got back at the camp we started to make our dinner and we got a lovely steak with fried potatoes. After dinner we played some drinking games and went to bed late.

The next morning we woke up early. We had to pack everything and then we were heading to the dunes. We took like 45 min to get there, and just stayed for 1 hour or something. As we finally got there, we could see a big area with only sand and a small lake. There was a steep hill so Kayleigh, Imke and I decided to roll down haha. Was lovely to do. Around lunchtime we got back to the beach where we took our lunch and then we headed back to the ferry. 

Around 3 in the afternoon we got back at our hostel to rest. We decided to have dinner with some of the Fraser tour in a restaurant and we had Surf & Turf for just 16$. It was a really good meal. When we got back in the hostel, we heard about the beerpong tournament so I wanted to join. Unfortunately I lost haha. Then around 11 in the evening we ended up in a sports bar, it looked like a place for locals. Felt weird to be there haha, I was dancing with live country-ish music with some 40+ women on the dancefloor. But I only stayed there for one hour because I was tired from the tour.  Well I tried to make it short haha. This all happened 2 weeks ago and right now I am working a bit, but that’s gonna be my next post. 

[maddiecruzdotcom]

Poon Choi : A Must Try This February At Gloria Maris

It’s only been a little over a week since we wrapped up the first month of the year.   If you’ve been needing a second chance at starting over, it isn’t too late. It’s only been a week since Chinese New Year and the festivities don’t seem to be ending anytime soon.

Growing up, my family hasn’t exactly been big on celebrating Noche Buena or Media Noche. Even more so, I am a HUUUGEEE fan of Chinese food so just imagine how ecstatic I was the moment I got invited by Gloria Maris Gateway Mall to celebrate with them the Lunar New Year’s Eve.

A simple dinner with good friends (whom I consider my family too!) would suffice but I’m not one to turn down copious amounts of exquisite eats.

Just as any Lunar New Year celebration - the festivities started with a traditional dragon dance, no less.

We were served with some of my favourites from Gloria Maris’ menu : Peking Duck, Salted Fish Fried Rice, Sweet and Sour Pork and of course — Mango Sago & Taho for desert. THE FOOD WAS JUST TOO GOOD I HAD TO DIG IN, I DIDN’T EVEN GET THE CHANCE TO TAKE PHOTOS!

And finally, I was able to get first taste on the true star of the night, the HK Poon Choi.

POON CHOI

Poon Choi (Pehn Chui or Pen Cai in Pinyin), literally translating into ‘Big Bowl of Feast’ is a traditional dish usually served for special occasions. Filled with mouthwatering ingredients, the Poon Choi holds a special place in the hearts of both the Hakka and Cantonese communities all over the world.

Initially, Poon Choi first made its way to the walled villages in the new territories, the rest of Hong Kong and thankfully, the rest of the world for us to enjoy.

But what is it with Poon Choi that makes it so special? What exactly is in it?

It’s actually quite simple. But also quite complex. The traditional HK Poon Choi contains beef, chicken, pata (pork hind leg), mushrooms, shrimps and more. After being cooked separately, it’s smothered in a glorious gravy-like sauce, giving flavor to its already mouth-watering ingredients.

Living up to the reputation it has built throughout the years, Gloria Maris served us with the best Poon Choi we could possibly find in the city.

Apart from chicken, pork belly, hind leg, beef fat, mushrooms and shrimp, among its mouthwatering contents is the abalone seafood. It was my first time trying Poon Choi and my experience at Gloria Maris could not have been better elsewhere for sure!

Apart from the sauce not being too thick and heavy, the flavor did not overpower the meat and the rest of the ingredients. It also went perfectly well with my favourite salted fish fried rice. I bet it would go well with noodles too!

But what really made this gastronomic experience special was this : I am very much allergic to unfresh seafood. I’m pretty sure I devoured gigantic proportions of this dish and ALL of its contents but I didn’t feel that annoying, itchy feeling in my throat. Only proved that Gloria Maris only makes use of FRESH sea food and the BEST QUALITY ingredients.

Would I want to come back and have more of this dish? YES.

Will I recommend it to my family and friends? ABSOLUTELY.

6/5. Must try!

The HK Poon Choi is available at Gloria Maris Gateway Mall and Gloria Maris Eastwood until the end of the month. Make sure to follow them on social media to stay on the loop with the latest updates :

Gloria Maris Gateway Mall 

Level 4 Gateway Mall Araneta Center Cubao Q.CCubao, Quezon City, Philippines

Call (02) 332 5067

Gloria Maris Eastwood 

Third Floor, Eastwood Mall, LibisQuezon City, PhilippinesGet Directions Call (02) 372 1216

[coffey-to-go]

Taiwan 2016

30 Sept 2016  Hong Kong

Lindsay Culkin meet up with us the night before and we all took an afternoon train to from GZ to HK.  We ate dinner at an amazing hotpot restaurant and called it a night since we had an early morning the next day to catch our flight to XXXXX, where the Polidor’s lived.  

1 Oct 2016 Kaohsiung and the Polidor’s

In the morning we took a cab to the airport in HK and revived pretty early for our flight.  There were a ton of people traveling for the Holiday week so we played it safe by arriving extra early.  We didn't experience any significant issues getting through security so we killed time in the one of the lounges.  Our flight boarded on time but we delayed for about 45 minutes mainly to wait on connecting passengers.  It was a completely full flight.  

We landed in Kaohsiung at 1130 with only carry-on luggage but we experienced some delay because I left a bag on the plane.  Luckily, Kira was able to retrieve it in a somewhat timely manner.  Our next delay was meeting up with Mike Polidor and Colin Culkin.  Colin landed about 30 minutes before us and meet up with Mike who was waiting to pick us all up.  Apparently we walked right pass them after customs and they simply did not see us.  After we settled into Mike’s minivan we were off to Cosco to pick up Nolan’s birthday cake that the Polidor’s graciously ordered for us.  I have to say that we were all happy to see a Cosco so we decided to do a little shopping ourselves.  After we loaded up on a few things plus lunch we loaded up and headed out.  Next stop was the Polidor Inn.  

By 1400 we made it to the Polidor’s apartment.  Mike, Nicky, Isla and Paxton live in a pretty luxurious penthouse suit that reminded me a lot of Somerset in GZ.  It was quite the spread.  After we got settled and got Nolan down for a proper nap, the guys loaded up to go downtown and get on the 2 hour wait list for the Michelin star dim sum restaurant, Din Tai Feng.  The girls and the kiddos were going to meet up with us when it was close to seating time.  Mike, Colin and I decided to stroll over to the nearby night market after we made the wait list.  It is a relatively small market but we were able to grab a beer and check out some local market food.  There was a lot of seafood being cooked up and the local favorites, oyster omelettes and beef noodles were everywhere.  

After an hour we headed back to the restaurant which is located inside of a shopping mall and is directly across from another Michelin star restaurant, Tim Ho Wan.  We were close to being seated so they asked to go ahead and order.  We put in on our order and made sure to place a huge order of the xiaolongbao (soup dumpling) since it is their specialty.  The girls met us shortly after we were seated and we feasted!  It was a great meal and we ordered way too much food so we had plenty to take home.  It was delicious!  When we made it back to the apartment, we got the kids to sleep then hung out and had a few drinks and exchanged Olmsted stories.  Around midnight we decided to call it a night.  

2 Oct 2016  Nolan’s 1st Birthday  

Sunday morning we woke around 0800 and munched on some Cosco bagels and muffins for breakfast.  The Culkin’s and us had planned to walk over to Lotus lake in the morning and spend some time checking it out.  At the lake there is a wake board park where the wake boarders are pulled by rotating wires.  Also, there are shops, Buddhist and Daoist temples, pagodas and a few restaurants.  We moseyed around the lake taking photos and watching the wake boarders do their thing.  We made are way around the lake and completely missed the Daoist temple that we had intended to go into.  It was lunch time so we were okay with skipping it and decided to check out a lakeside restaurant that Mike had recommended.  I think it is the same place that runs the wake board course because the dock where the wake boarders enter is connected to restaurant’s dock.  They served up a variety of western food which included burgers, burritos, sandwiches and so on.  The food was actually pretty descent and the fries were the best I’ve had in Asia so far.  

After lunch we headed back to the the Polidor’s to rest, cool off and get the boy down for a nap.  We had made plans to cook up a huge meal in expectation of OSC 14 scholar, Dan Wynn, and his wife, Rachel, and their four kids, Benson, Cardon, Macey, and Linden, and also to celebrate Nolan’s first birthday.  I know Nolan’s Birthday is actually on the 10th of October and my Birthday is on the 2nd but since we were going to be around friends and a lot of kids we decided to swap Bdays this year so my boy could have a good one.  The Wynn’s weren't going to land until 1815 so chances were they wouldn't make it to the Polidor’s until 2000.  

After we rested up the Polidor’s took us in town to grab some shave ice sundaes and then head up to Martars Shrine to see a great view of the harbor.  The strip that we went to for sundaes was pretty lively and full of shaved ice shops.  Mike and Nicky took us to one of the most popular with the locals and it was packed.  The traditional Taiwan shaved ice is topped with mango but they ran out before we could order so we ate on some mixed fruit ones instead.  They were pretty good and refreshing.  After we got our fill of shaved ice we loaded up and drove up to Martars Shrine to check out the view.  Seeing the harbor from up there is a spectacular view and we were able to snap a Olmsted pic of the group.  

Mike, Colin, me and a pissed off Paxton booked it back to the apartment so Mike could drop us off and go pick up the Wynn’s.  The girls and Nolan pulled in right behind us and Lindsay and I got started on dinner.  Spaghetti Bolognese, garlic bread and a huge salad were on the menu followed by Birthday cake for dessert.  Lindsay and I made a ton of food for a ton of people…it was a dinner impossible at it’s finest.  

After dinner it was getting late so we cleared the tables and brought out the Birthday cake for the our main man.  The Polidor’s picked out a huge cake that was baseball themed and it read ‘Happy 1st Birthday Nolan!’  It was perfect!  Benson started things off by singing Happy Birthday in Chinese while Nicky put a Birthday hat on Nolan which he graciously wore without issue.  After Benson finished his rendition the rest of us started in with the English version of Happy Birthday.  Nolan was excited about the singing and that he was the center of attention.  We finished up and Mom cut the cake for everyone and made sure to give Nolan the best priece.  We were all excited to see him smash it but he wanted to examine it a little at first.  After a while and some encouragement from Mom and Dad he finally “burrowed” into it and took in a mouth full.  He loved it!  The kids…especially the Wynn’s really enjoyed how much fun Nolan was having and they kept on encouraging him to dig in.  Everyone had presents for the boy too, but we decided not to give them to him until the 10th.  

A special thanks to the Polidor's and the rest of the OSC China crew for making my boy’s 1st birthday extra special.  It meant a lot to us and we will never forget it.  Happy Birthday, son!

3 Oct 2016 Kenting National Park

On Monday morning we said our goodbyes to the Polidor’s.  We had a great stay and now it was time for us along with the Culkin’s and Wynn’s to make our way to the east coast.  Kira booked a rental car in advance and or the man-made bricked path.  The park is very clean and there is some wildlife to see too.  We saw a couple of monkeys hanging out high above us at one point but they were not interested in getting their picture taken so the scrammed.  There were fresh deer prints on the ground and a lot of bugs including huge spiders that Lindsay didn't like.  It is a cool place to just roam around and the kids loved it.  After a couple hours we drove over to the lighthouse which is the exact southern most tip in Taiwan.  The area is pretty with a lot of cool looking trees and a simple lighthouse but it wasn't anything to spend much time at.  Fifteen minutes is all you need.  

From there we loaded up in cars and split ways with the Wynn clan.  They were headed back to the Polidor’s for the night and we were on our way to Taitung for the night.  Along the way we stopped in at a part of the park which has natural gas that comes out of the ground and it has been lite so you can see the small fire coming out of the ground.   The small area is roped off with a ‘no trespassing’ sign posted but that doesn't stop the mainland Chinese visitors from hoping right over the ropes and digging in the ground and popping popcorn.  Yeah, popping popcorn apparently is a “cool” thing to do for the mainlanders here…Hell!  You can buy popcorn and fireworks, yeah…I said fireworks form the vendors in the parking lot.  There is a huge sign posted saying ‘no smoking, no trespassing, and no fireworks’ yet the only place I saw fireworks for sale was in the parking lot of this place.  After a couple of minutes of shaking our heads at these idiots we loaded up and got the hell out of there.  If you have time to stop and see this spot…don't.  

We loaded up and we're off for a 2.5 hour drive up the east coast to a B&B in Taitung.  We checked in at 2000 and went to a noodle and beef shop that the owner recommended.  It wasn't bad but nothing to write home about.  

Around 1800 we walked to the night market and sampled some more street food.  Kira snacked on some rice cakeit arrived early in the morning.  Colin and Lindsay loaded up with us while the Wynn’s borrowed the Polidor’s minivan. We set sail for Kenting National Park which is the southern most tip in Taiwan.  It is about an hour and a half drive from Kaohsing.  

Around noon we made a stop in a little surfer/tourist town to chi some fan since it was around lunch time anyway.  We stopped in at Smokey Joe’s which promoted BBQ and steak.  Kira had a Cuban sandwich which was pretty tasty but I had the ribs which were pretty darn good.  Smokey Joes could set up shop stateside and still do pretty good business.  If you are in Taiwan and need a “rib fix” then Smokey Joes is the place.  They also had a solid beer selection including Goldun Draak and Erdinger Kristalweissen.  Good stuff!  

After we all stuffed ourselves we shoved off to the park which is less than 10 minutes from the town we were at.  We hiked around and took in the view of the beautiful ocean and the nature that was all around us except f noodles (like the ones in Korea) while I chowed down on a local favorite, blood on a stick, which is rice and chicken blood mixed together.  It was actually pretty good.  Unfortunately we witnessed a scooter wreck that resulted in a young girl hurting her arm.  She was the passenger and her dad was driving when he lost control (in a huge crowd of people where there should be no vehicle traffic but there is) causing the scooter to fall over on its side.  The young girl took the blunt of it so Kira and I raced over to make sure she was okay.  She was crying but the main concern was if her arm was broken.  We don’t think it was but there was the possibility of a fracture.  The dad blamed it on one of the local vendors for having a foreign object laying in the road and he was demanding money from them instead of tending to his daughter….sad.

After snacking on a few appetizers we stopped in at a place called Cow Boss for some dinner.  They specialized in beef noodles which is a popular Taiwanese dish.  It is simply a cut of steak placed over a bed of noodles covered in a sauce.  Mine was really tough, chewy and unseasoned.  It wasn't the best.  Kira ordered a better cut of meat and her’s came out very undercooked.  She had to send it back to cook a little longer.  Her meat was better but still nothing to write home about.  After the meal the girls went to get massages while the boys returned to the hotel.  Colin worked on some school work while I put the boy down and hung out. 

4 Oct 2016  Hualien  

In the morning we ate free breakfast at the place we were staying and hit the road.  We planned to stop at a museum of sorts located in the mountains.  It was a museum of an indigenous tribe of Taiwan known as the Bunun.  Unfortunately we missed the morning tour which was the only tour for the day since the rest of the day was devoted to cleaning and repairs from the previous typhoon that hit.  They did agree to let us walk around and do a self guided tour.  It was interesting seeing some of the wood and stone works and to see how they use bamboo charcoal for just about everything, but there wasn't much description so we differently missed out on the tour.  

After a while we headed to a local tea farming area that was near by.  There is supposedly a place called Teani where you can do a tea tour and tasting.  The place is on TripAdvisor but we couldn't find it and when we asked locals they said they had never heard of it.  Oh well…instead we stopped in at a local tea shop and had a tasting there of some of the local teas and bought some to take home.  After that we we loaded up and began our drive to Hualien city.  We drove in the valley and stopped a few times for some scenic photos then after a while we decided to detour east and hit the road that runs along the coast.  We continued north and encountered a lot of rain but it was worth it because the view was great, the road was better and the Tropic of Cancer marker was along the route.  We pulled over and snapped a quick group photo in the rain.  We had no idea that that marker was there so it was a nice surprise.  

We made it to Toong Mao Resort at 1800.  We unloaded a few things then went in search of dinner.  Since we only snacked in the car for lunch we were starving.  We drove into town and found another BBQ/steak place called Salt Lick which is American owned and ran.  They have a huge summer out front that looks like a train engine.  They pride themselves on American BBQ and I have to say that they are doing a good job. We started with some decent poutine to start and for entrees I got ribs, Colin went with pulled pork and the girls did burgers.  Everything was good except for the mashed potatoes that I had, they were very bland…stick to the fries and onion rings.  After we stuffed ourselves we went back to the hotel and just took it easy and called it a night. 

5 Oct 2016  Yilan

In the morning I went down to the breakfast buffet while Kira stayed with Nolan so he could sleep a little longer.  I had to battle two huge Chinese tour groups for food.  There is no civil way to go about a buffet with a bunch of mainlanders so you basically got to get in there a throw a few “bows.”  After breakfast we loaded up and set course for Yilan.  We didn't waste much time getting to Yilan.  We checked into the ant infested Sun Sweet around noon and walked to the local market and grabbed a few things for lunch.  We took easy so we could all catch up on things while we let the Taiwan.

6 October 2016  Whiskey and Jiufen Village  

In the morning we met for the included breakfast in the hotel.  We loaded up the car and hit the road.  We were off to a whiskey distillery which was about 30 minutes away.  There was suppose to be a guided tour that starts at noon.  We had a few issues finding the place but we eventually made it right at noon.  Colin rushed in a head of us only to find out that the tour is self-guided and you can go when ever you want.  We did our own thing and toured the facility and later noticed a guided tour with a small group going through…whatever.

After checking out the facility we went to the shop where they have samples that you can smell.  They do a tasting as well but only at certain times.  We made the 1300 tasting and Colin and I expected to sample a few of the whiskey but they only gave out one which was there “house” batch.  It is a lighter tasting liquor with a bit of a sweet finish.  After the tasting the heard everyone into the gift shop.  We bought a small bottle for Olin and a bottle for us to consume later.  We bought some sandwiches for the road and soon after we were off for Taipei.  

After driving for an hour and a half we stopped in on the outskirts of Taipei at Jiufen Village. Jiufen village is basically a giant market that is similar to Mont Saint Michelle in France, with very different food obviously.  It is a market on top of a hill with narrow streets winding through shops and restaurants.  We snacked on some of the street food and took our time strolling through.  We stopped in at a team house that was over a hundred years old.  They had some very old tea pots and display and of course tea for sale which was pretty expensive.  After a while we made our way back to the car and to drive into Taipei city center and find Olin’s apartment.  The first thing you notice when driving into Taipei is the massive Taipei 101 building.  It’s shaped like a giant pagoda and stands proud in the heart of the city.  Olin lives very close to it so it was sort of a beacon for us.  After a little confusion on trying to find Olin’s place we finally found him and the car rental lady just outside of his building just after 1800.        

Olin Johnson is an OSC17 scholar who is doing in-country language training.  He was still in transition of getting settled and waiting for his unaccompanied baggage.  He only had one bed which he gave to Kira and I while the Culkin's took the spare bedroom and used the blowup mattress they bought from Costco.  Olin was going to take the couch.  Olin is a bachelor so he had no food, only a fridge full of beer.  We made the best of it and ate out for every meal.  

After we got settled, Olin took us to a hotpot restaurant for dinner.  It was pretty good and instead of one big hotpot it did individual hotpots for everyone.  After we ate, drank and visited for a while we headed to a mall and stopped in at a Zara so the Culkin’s could buy sheets and pillows for the mattress.  After that we headed back to the apartment and put Nolan down for the night.  We stayed up and drank on some whisky and beer and around 2300 the building began to lightly shake.  The chandelier began shaking so I took some video of it.  It was Nolan’s and Mom’s first ever earthquake.  Pretty exciting!  It lasted about 20 seconds then stopped.  Nothing news worthy came of it.  

7 Oct 2016  Taipei, Museums, and a Ton of Rain

We left Olin’s apartment at 0830 in search of Dan Pi, a Taiwanese breakfast burrito shop that Olin recommended to us.  They had a huge line out the door even for the to- go customers.  Colin and Kira ordered a few burritos for us all.  It was pouring down rain so we had our hands full with trying to keep everything dry, including ourselves.  Eventually we made it to the National Palace Musuem and went in out of the rain.  We toured the museum for about an hour.  

After that we walked in the rain over to the National Taiwan Museum.  It was free to enter but honestly, it was kind of lame so we didn't stay to long.  We ended up walking around and taking the metro over to a western restaurant called the Corner Place.  We all had burgers, wings and some three layer dip and of course a few beers.  They had a pretty wide variety of beers including American, German, and Belgium.  The food wasn’t bad but the service was a little “too cool for school” type attitude.  It reminded Kira and me of Philly waiters.  After lunch we went back to Olin’s to rest up and get Nolan down for a nap.    

Around 1800 we all left with Olin to meet up with his Taiwanese girlfriend, Yolanda, at a Taiwanese restaurant on the other side of the city.  The area was a bar/restaurant strip and it was very busy.  Yolanda ordered food for the whole table and we all shared, tapas style.  Everything was good but nothing was amazing.  Nolan was having a tough evening so that didn't help much.  Being off of his normal schedule wasn't helping so he was due for a cranky day.

8 October 2016  Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

In the morning we set out to see Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall.  We were expecting rainy weather but the sun was out and it turned out to be a beautiful morning.  The memorial is huge and stunning and it was definitely the highlight of Taipei.  Every hour on the hour they have a changing of the guards which we highly recommend seeing.  Get there about 10 mins before the hour to reserve a good spot for pics.  Hint…go to either one of the sides, just behind one of the guards and get right up to the fence.  Most people flock to the center but they clear everyone out and push everyone to the side.  I accidentally figured this out by luck…right place at the right time.  

The memorial where the changing of the guards happens is very similar to the Lincoln or Jefferson memorial in DC.  There is a huge statue of former President, General Chiang Kai-Shek sitting in the back of the memorial.  The guards are directly in front of him.  The guard changing is a skilled display not to be missed.  After we witnessed the changing of the guards we took the elevator down underneath the grounds where there is a huge and very impressive museum.  The museum contains a lot of Chiang Kai-Shek and Dr. Sun Yat-Sen artifacts worth seeing.  

We spent around two hours at the memorial and then we decided to go in search of lunch.  We grabbed some quick and easy sandwiches from a little shop and walked around a bit.  Kira decided to take Nolan back to the apartment so he could get a nap in.  The Culkin’s and I strolled around looking for a couple of craft bars so we could kill some time before we rendezvoused with everyone else including the Wynn family at Taipei 101.  We stopped in at ON Tap and had a beer but honestly didn't get a great vibe there.  The people were nice it just didn't seem to be a happening place so we left after on drink and found Craft Beer and Co.  We liked this place much better and the bartender was from Oregon so he knew a thing or two about craft beer.  Colin and I could have easily “pushed it up” a bit there but we need to meet everyone across town at 1600 and it was already 10 till.  We finished our beers and hailed a cab.  We arrived at Taipei 101 at 1610 and met up with everyone except for Olin who decided not to come for some reason.  

Taipei 101 is basically a large mall.  It is full of restaurants and department store and you can also take the super fast moving elevator to the top and check out the view of all of Taipei.  We chose to take the ride up even though it had become super hazy and overcast.  We couldn't see much but checking out the giant damper was pretty cool.  The tuned mass damper is basically a steel pendulum that acts as a counter weight when typhoon winds and earthquakes rock the building.  It keeps it from swaying and breaking.  The damper is huge as it stretches from the 92nd floor to the 87th and weighs 728 short-tons.  On one of the floors you can see old videos of the damper swaying to one side during an earthquake.  It is quite a site o see and it was our highlight of 101 due to poor visibility outside.  

After that we decided to head back down and do dinner at Din Tai Fung which is where we ate at with the Polidor’s in Kaohsiung.  Unfortunately the weight time was two hours since we had such a large party of 11 people.  We opted to hit up Ningxia Night Market and snack our way through.  We did our best to se everything but since it was raining we opted for the inside section of the market where there are a ton of restaurant stalls.  Amazingly we were all able to sit together.  We pigged out on some jiaozi and and XLBs and stayed dry in doing so.  After that we decided to walk around a little more before calling it a night.  The Culkin’s and us had early flight back to the mainland the next morning.  We consulted with Olin’s door man about a taxi for 0600 and he said he would arrange it for us.  He was very nice and helpful.  

9 October 2016  Home

We woke around 0500 and packed up.  The taxi was right on time and we had zero issue getting to the airport.  We said our see ya laters to Colin and Lindsay and made our way to our terminal.  Everything went smoothly and we made it back to GZ without issues.

It was a fun trip but I would like to spend more time in the center of the island of Taiwan….perhaps more time on the coast as well.  Taipei seems to be a cool place to live but not necessarily a great place to visit.  It is kind of a boring city.  Everyone speaks English and it is very westernized.    

[vlecaine]

Last day in the Sri

Our flight was cancelled so we got rebooked to an earlier red eye to Hong Kong which means that last night was our last night in Sri Lanka.

We get up super early ( 5:45) so we have time to get packed, eat breakfast and meet the morning train to Columbo. Breakfast is served in the garden and feel a little like a scene from Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In our way to the train station, we pass the central square of the fort and there are 11 wedding parties at 6:40am, taking wedding pictures. Only one bride is in white, many in rose gold and many in “country” wedding attire which is more like a costume. Men wear a black velvet outfit with ornate gold embellishments, shoulder pads, and jodhpurs type pants. It’s quite a sight!

We arrive at the train station and the train is already full to the gills so we wait for the next one. It’s a morning commuter train so it’s standing room only. We rush the train to get on and about half of us get seats.

We finagle a few more after the first spot but it really is a push, shove situation. And we have 2nd class tickets! The upside is that the rail line runs along the ocean for most of the journey so it’s a pretty nice ride.

Arriving in Columbo is like arriving in any Asian city. It’s growing exponentially, we see beggars for the first time ( and only 1 or 2). Columbo is building a number of huge 5 star hotels and because the city is running out of space, they are in the process of “reclaiming” the land from the ocean by pumping in sand and rock. It’s a joint project with China which will see China get the land lease for 99 years. China has also been super friendly to the Sri Lankan’s and built them an Opera House and convention center....as gifts. I let you form your own opinion of that one!

A quick city tour, a stop for real coffee and a visit to an ethical trade shop, we stop for lunch at the Sri Lankan version of a food court. There’s a Pizza Hut but everything has chili’s or curries as toppings ( not kidding) and then three or 4 restaurants that look the the Chinese food section of the food court. But they have nasi goring, devil chicken, squid and fried eggs instead. And stuff is served either on a huge round silver tray that is sectioned or on a bamboo tray covered in a lotus leaf.

Powell orders noodles which is actually squid and we share the nasi goring.

It’s finally late enough to check into our hotel and we get a couple hours to explore before our final dinner. Powell and I want to see the Red Mosque up close and the crazy market streets that surround it.

Full disclosure- we barely slept the night before waiting to hear about our flight, then we had the early train and now it’s 1:30 in the afternoon with searing heat and roughly 99% humidity. We walk about 15 min through the insanity that is traffic here, having to cross 2 major roads with no lights or crosswalks ( follow a local) and arrive at the mosque. On our way, every single male wants to talk to Powell and give him a tour or a tuk tuk ride. Once he starts, he gets 60 seconds then I take part in the Powell Jones Abandonment program and begin to walk away. Best advice for the big city- say no thanks once and disengage. Or be prepared to have a tail , your choice!

When we get to the Mosque it really is spectacular. This part of Columbo is very Muslim and many of the woman here are covered head to toe, hands included, in black.

We find a guy making fresh “potato” chips which turn out to be cassava. He puts this spice on them and they are soooo good ( and only 50 rupees a bag).

We munch away, throwing caution to the wind and eat the street food as we walk about the busy market. Eventually the heat and humidity win and we trek back to the room for showers and naps.

Final dinner with our crew and now we are at the airport. Tried to upgrade but their machines will not take our credit cards. They threw mercy on us and gave us a bulkhead because Powell is a giant and everyone feels kinda bad for him ( not bad enough to comp us the emergency seats but bad enough to chase us down in the airport to give us a little more leg room. #CathayPacificforthewin

[afterourhearts]

food i’ll miss the most in RVA

Hi guys! This is almost more of a post for myself to think back and remember all the delicious cuisine in Richmond that I won’t be able to readily access anymore. As my last month here creeps up on me, I’ve been thinking more and more about how much I’ve grown to love this little “river” city. It’s only apt that I’m taking an archaeology class about Richmond in my last semester as it only reminds me yet again about how rich in culture this place is. Of course, I’m still thrilled to head back to Ohio (or maybe Philly if the interviews went well?), but I think I’ll always be willing to visit Richmond in the future and show my future friends around this adorable place :) ok, but on to the food (not ranked in order of best or anything just places I absolutely adore):

1) Huynh’s now turned Vietnam One Vermicelli with Tofu & Spring Roll - ok so most people have tried this popular Viet dish but I’ve tried at least like 10 of these from diff. places and nothing beats the dish at Vietnam One here. It’s the TOFU. It’s seasoned and cooked to perfection; crispy on outside and soft on the inside and bursting with flavor (as opposed to a lot of other places that have pretty bland fried tofu). Honestly I could just eat the tofu and be pleased. So many memories and probably 50+ trips to this place with my apt., definitely forever going to be in our hearts.

2) Jack Brown’s BBQ chips with mac n cheese burger - only like $6, 5 minutes from my school, juiciest homemade patty, amazing pairing of creamy mac n cheese with crispy chip pieces, and all served with the most refreshing pickle. UGH I WANT IT NOW.

3) Frank West’s Pizzeria Cheese Pizza - omgomgomg so everyone here likes Christian’s which is a NY style thin crust heavy cheese pizza and also fairly good but Frank West’s is even better though less known! A local here showed it to me and I’ve been in love ever since. Crust is on a thinner side but not crazy thin, generous amounts of sauce which I love, and the cheese is speckled with some kind of seasoning that is perfection.

4) Peter Chang’s Dry Fried Eggplant - so there isn’t much Chinese food here to rave about due to the heavily viet but low chinese population in rva but they at least boast one authentic szechuan place (though hong kong house in cbus is def better) STILL they have this standout eggplant dish here that I’ve never seen elsewhere. It’s fried eggplant “fries” seasoned in szechuan flavors/cilantro and it isn’t greasy b/c it is dry fried rather than deep fried. AMAZING alternative to fries!

5) Sugar Shack Donuts esp. lemon poppyseed and strawberry lemon - ok so RVA is KNOWN for donuts and for good reason. Sugar shack has been ranked in national magazines/food blogs all the time and it has literally the yummiest donuts I’ve ever had. Coming from cbus where donuts is just Krispy Kreme, I truly can say I’ve never known anything better existed. Sugar shack is like a bigger, better krispy kreme. It doesn’t melt away in your mouth in seconds like krispy kreme but it is still so fluffy and airy inside like lightweight bakery bread almost. Planning on bringing a dozen of these home after graduation!

6) Bombolini Pasta - a little place in Carytown that has really authentic pasta and delicious sauces, as well as a bunch of homemade frozen ravioli you can buy and cook later at home. I love that the noodles here are never overcooked, like true pasta should be served :) 

7) Honey Truffle Fries and Salt n Pepper Fries with Garlic Aioli at Postbellum - this place has a cute little rooftop bar and the most amazing thin fries!!! honey + truffle oil topped with shaved parmesan - could there be a better combo?! The only fries I like better than here are the crispy BonChon ones but BonChon can be found outside of RVA too!

8) Social 52 Crab Dip with Pita - I’ve never had better crab dip, or maybe I was just really drunk xD this bar does have a ton of tasty fusion style apps though!

9) Toast Sweet Potato Tater Tots - a gastropub right beside my school that often rotates out some really unique fusion style dishes (kimchi aiolis and shiz like that) but we always come back to their staple side dish, the sweet potato tots. MMMMMM mmm mm! People make sweet potato fries all the time, but tots? wowzaa

10) Gelati Celesti Chocolate Decadence - hands down the creamiest, thickest, chocolateyest cold creamy gelato goodness you’ll ever try! 

11) Noorani’s Gobi Manchurian, Chicken 65, Egg biryani, and Seekh Kabab - omg I could go on and on about this place forever. Yes your stomach will rebel against you the following day but it is worth the later pain hahaha. I just LOVE their gobi manchurian (fried cauliflower tossed in an indo-chinese sauce), they have the most well-spiced chicken 65 ever, biryani is on the wetter side which I LOVE, and mmm the seekh kabob is served in the most amazing sauce with sliced ginger and it’s just like pakistani heaven!!! It breaks my heart thinking about how much I’ll miss this place :’( even though service is crap, food is always delicious.

12) Zzzaaaam bibimbap bowls - this place is like a korean chipotle but it has every topping you’d ever want in your bibimbap at extremely reasonable prices, with a variety of super tasty sauce combos and topped with sesame oil drizzle. I always feel fairly healthy eating here too which is a bonus :) 

13) New Grand Market Cafe’s Jajungmyeon with Tangsooyuk = ehrmygawd this is the most amazing combination ever created!! Tasty hot noodles in black bean seafood sauce paired with crispy sweet & sour pork & bell peppers/onions = heaven on earth; place is also a supermarket so you can stock up on asian snacks while you’re here!

14) Chadar Thai’s Drunken Noodles and Curry Fried Rice - the best Thai place in this city. Ignore the overpriced and underwhelming Carytown places (thai diner, mom’s siam, ginger thai, thai top ten, elephant thai, thai palace, etc) and come here! Definitely the BEST and most flavorful thai place around!! Their drunken noodles are UNBEATABLE and yes I’ve tried like 7 other places so I would know lololol

15) Shyndigz Fruit Cake and Key Lime Pie - this place is the cutest little date dessert spot!! they have christmas lights everywhere indoor and outdoors and just the cutest little southern belle/rustic theme; grab a slice of their super moist and fresh fruitcake or absolutely perfectly tart key lime pie with the tastiest crust with your girls or a boo thang and enjoy it under the christmas light warm glow!! you’ll 100% have a night to remember :) 

16) Plaza Azteca burritos/enchiladas - so I’m not a huge fan of Mexican because I find a lot of the dishes bland but this place is diff. and they believe in heavy use of sauces/queso which I LOVEEEE. the free nachos/salsa they give are amazing (super thin crispy nachos and the smoothest/freshest salsa), made to order guac is perfect!!, and any of their burritos/enchiladas are bound to be completely covered in sauce and other drizzles and also laying in like a literal pool of more sauce so ohmygoodness yes I’m a big fan

17) Burger Bach New Zealand Burgers - def on the costlier side but comes with a side of fancy salad w like arugula and shiz not just iceberg lettuce and a bunch of creative dips for your fries; burger is also bigger and more flavorful than at Jack Brown’s but Jack beats this place based on price and bun and size and convenience and that freaking pickle ... lol burger bach to jack browns is like shake shack to in-n-out ... one is obvs more expensive and better in quality but the other is unique in taste and affordable sooooooo ya just love BOTH!

18) Mama J’s Southern Kitchen - if you want real soul food this is where its at; here is the only place I like collard greens and they have the sweetest yams and amazing catfish (only place better was in new orleans!) and these freaking awesome wings you must ask for tossed in something called Edy’s sauce. not even sure wtf is in that sauce but it’s bliss

19) Addis Kitchen’s Injera - have you tried ethiopian bread before?? liz and I came across this place when we went to a lackluster italian festival and still needed more food and tried injera for the first time. it was delicious!! it’s a sour, spongey bread that isn’t heavy at all you could literally eat it for ages and just paired amazingly with their veggie/meat dishes which remind me of indian curries a bit. def an experience i’d recommend!

20) Foo Dog’s Fried Tofu and Malaysian Ramen - ok so this place is no fukuryu but the coconut based lemongrass soup is really tasty (noodles need work) and their fried tofu app is deliciously stuffed with a bunch of flavorful veggies and sauces and if you want some bao sandwiches/asian street food combos this is def a good place!

21) Continental Westhampton’s Poutine Fries - omggg this plate of fries is not only covered in gravy but also scallions and an EGG and cheese and if this isn’t your idea of dream loaded fries idk what is

22) Galaxy Diner Malt Shakes and Pickle Chips - so this diner serves breakfast all day and is perfect for post drinking food binges that will do major damage to your waistline but all the greasy foods are just okay in my opnion; really not a standout place except for the funky atmosphere/lighting and one particularly spectacular drink: their malt shakes!!!!!! enough said

23) Don’t Look Back Fish Tacos (traditional style) and Chorizo tacos (gringo style) - it’s not quite LA street taco quality but it’s about as good as it gets around here!

24) Cookout banana shake, chili cheese dogs, chicken nugs, cheese fries, and onion rings - a late night drive through that has everything you’d ever want at 2am in the morning at dollar prices. how perf is this? 

There’s probably places I’m forgetting (as you can tell I’ve eaten out a LOT in college hahahhaa) so I’ll try to keep updating this but for now, these are the places that will always have a special place in my heart and that I highly recommend you trying if you’re ever heading to VA beach and feel compelled to stop by adorably historic and tasty Richmond!

[ma-hao-huh]

I am now a professional surfer

what a weekend!

friday the rest of my class and I went to a birthday dinner for one of the guys in the class, which was also the birthday dinner for his brother. so there were about 20 people and we had a great time. the food was pretty typical but it was all free along with beer so by the end I was having a blast. now. that night my new American roommate was going out with his friend already in Taiwan and two girls that were coming in from Hong Kong for the weekend. I was gonna meet them out if it wasn’t too late when they made it to the bar/club, but Brody still hadn’t texted by midnight so I knew I wouldn’t have gone anyway. of course later found I out that my roommate texted him about going and he got to hang out with them, so I guess I should have followed up???? anyway... no loss as I got happily tipsy with my fave roommate but spent v little money. 

anyway Saturday I went on a DATE. yeet. I had exchanged some nice messages with this guy on tinder but nothing substantial. his profile made him seem v smart, cute, pretty easygoing. his name is Ping. we met up for dinner at this very popular place where you have to wait in line for 1n hour just to get a table for 50 minutes before they kick you out lol. the noodles were good but definitely not worth the trouble, it seemed more like a young generation hype place than a good experience. so anyway we had to introduce ourselves and get to know each other standing in line in the heat for an hour rather than across a table. thinking about it later, that whole period of the date is what I imagine most dates are like - two people trying to see if they have a connection, and having some enjoyable moments, but mostly just an average level of interest, nothing magnetic. it definitely didn’t give me the same electricity as the date I went on in December. 

anyway, he’s late 20s, about 28 I think, and recently finished his masters in linguistics at Georgetown. I believe he’s Taiwanese but I honestly didn’t push to hear about his background in that moment. he speaks fluent Chinese and English, but we communicated in English. when we chatted on tinder, I threw some Chinese in there and he was impressed by it, but when he dropped some into the conversation it was always a struggle. he spoke a little too quickly and softly and I didn’t give him much to work with. I feel like that disappointed him a bit, but maybe that’s my anxiety talking. overall my impression was we might be a little too similar in terms of introversion...I just feel like I belong with someone a little more outgoing than me. it was a little hard to get on the same wavelength as him but the moments we did connect were nice. after dinner we went Taipei’s biggest night market and got a beer at a pub. the only (but huge) turnoff for me was at that moment when he looked at the fried crackers the barman gave us and the beer said “what am I DOING?” with actual pain on his face. I thought something was actually wrong and then “I'm going to gain so much weight from this!” ugh, dude. calm down. I feel like I was honest but still considerate in my response which was along the lines of trying not to worry about stuff like that and just enjoying the moment whenever I can. I love my tummy and the rest of me and enjoy knowing I'm not a part of the terrifying gay six-pack clique that rules instagram. after that I felt confident this was a friendly thing. and he had a friend come meet him to leave because he had to get up at 6am. I hugged him goodbye and then when they walked away the friend was very touchy with him, had his arm around him.... I have noticed in Taiwan men are definitely more physically comfortable with each other than in the US. but I still read into it that Ping was on the same page as me.... he had also mentioned getting together to play some games with other friends some other time, so I assumed we were shelving this as a friendship tbh. 

well, he messaged me again about my week and I was honest about feeling a little low. he was very tender and wanted to see if he could help and the messages he’s sent today are more flirty than not. anyway, I'm a bit lonely so I'm just going to go on another date I think to see what the energy is like. is that dishonest? I think it’s right on the line and If I still don’t feel much then doing another date would definitely be disingenuous. we’re probably gonna go watch a scary movie together this weekend....my first movie date ever. yeet. 

ANYWAY that was Saturday, and on SUNDAY.....

three housemates (my Taiwanese roommate, a Japanese girl and a Taiwanese girl) and I drove out of Taipei to Yilan, a coastal city about an hour way, in order to go surfing! I was pretty sure this wouldn’t be in my wheelhouse but I wanted to give it a go anyway. -----surfing is hard, and made harder still when all you really get is a 5 minute demonstration on the sand about how to jump up on the board. I’m definitely open to doing it again later on if there’s someone in the water giving me a good lesson. I was able to sort of master swinging onto the board and sitting on it, and a couple of times I rode a wave while seated. but standing was impossible. honestly, the times that I did ride the wave I wasn’t even paying attention and just happened to be in the right position at the right time. maybe that’s the secret of surfing? and of life? 

so, I had fun, but of course surfing is just about the most exhausting thing I think anyone could do with their time. and I only put sunscreen on my face right at the beginning, so by that afternoon you could already see my skin starting to redden. cue a tired and slightly uncomfortable grant. lunch was pretty good although it was more amazingly satisfying to fill my stomach with anything so I didn’t care if it was good or not. then one of the girls took the bus home and the three of us decided to go on a scenic hike. the hike (Sacred Mother Trail) literally starts out at a gorgeous waterfall and then you hike up and around some mountains for about 6 km, which doesn’t feel too bad on the way up at all. we had a really good time and it was so, so stunning...but when we got to the second rest point, 2/3 the way up, we were so tired, hot and knew there wouldn’t be time to finish the last portion, which was the steepest, hardest, and actually in woods as opposed to a paved trail, so we had to turn around. I honestly wanted to finish but since we started hiking around 1 there wasn’t time and would have been crazy to try and descend the mountain in the dark without lights, so back we went. it took half the time but was twice as exhausting getting back down, so by the time we got back to the car I was sweaty and my face burning. amazing hike, sticky ending. 

we drove back into the city and found salvation. 雪花 (xuehua) which I guess literally means snow flower but is actually a bowl of shaved ice....literally saved me. I think mango is the most common and it comes with cubes of mango jelly and chopped walnuts on top, AND, since it’s summer, fresh mango with condensed milk on the side. I've never eaten anything that literally sucked the heat out of my body like that did. 

okay, at this point it’s 5:30 and me and the girl I'm with are both thinking it’s about time to head back. but my roommate is the driver and he says, alright, time for dinner! and takes us to yilan’s biggest night market. oh boy... I understand the importance of doing everything you can and making every day count. but it took everything I had not to say please, please take us back home now...oof. ((((((((((on top of being exhausted and burnt....I forgot that the swim trunks I wore are defunct and always cause my inner thighs to chafe like crazy. so I'm tired, burnt, AND having to walk like I'm constipated in order to keep my thighs apart. Lordy))))))) the night market was one of the biggest I’ve been to, and one of the most crowded. the food was all hot as hell, no room to breathe, oh baby. I actually felt like my skin was peeling off I was so overheated. thank GOD for the bubble tea and juices we got or otherwise I would have actually passed out. (we ate green onion balls that are wrapped in dough and fried, different chicken parts, a pork stick covered in what was basically buffalo sauce...all of it was decent but honestly none worth my discomfort). around 9 or so Chandler (roomie) finally realized we were ready to go and we headed back.....of course traffic was insane so we got back at 11. oof. what a day. 

I know I got a bit whiny at the end. I suppose I'm a comfort creature so while it’s been exciting to put myself in different situations and challenge that here, that night was just more Than I could handle. I actually felt whoozy from how overheated I was. but that doesn’t discolor the fun I had earlier in the day at all. I'm so glad to have experienced a little piece of that part of Taiwan. 

I'm very lucky to have someone like chandler as a roommate who wants to go out and do things when he has time off and is so willing to drive me around the country and pay for most of the stuff we do. he’s definitely saved me a ton of money already. 

okay, test tomorrow and then another fun weekend hopefully...... 

[bordersmash8-blog]

Andrew Zimmern’s Lucky Cricket Is More Than a Controversy. It’s Also a Bad Restaurant.

It’s awkward to enter a restaurant like Lucky Cricket during a moment of controversy: The staff must carry on and do their jobs, knowing that some of their guests might just be rubberneckers hoping to get a glimpse of the place that its co-owner, travel television star Andrew Zimmern, claimed would save the Midwest from bad Chinese food. The ceilings of the dining rooms are decorated like the woven bamboo sides of a Chinese cricket cage, and that night, it felt like an apt touch: We were trapped here, restaurant staff, suburbanites, and media vultures all, trying to dig both meaning and livelihood from a place suddenly overloaded with the wrong kind of fame. On the night I went, the restaurant was three weeks old and chugging along, with Zimmern reportedly popping in once in a while to expedite in the kitchen.

I came to see Zimmern’s vision for the future with my own eyes — to view his secret weapon in the crusade against faux Chinese-American cuisine. To be absolutely clear, the firestorm around his remarks to Fast Company, wherein he said, “I think I’m saving the souls of all the people from having to dine at these horseshit restaurants masquerading as Chinese food that are in the Midwest,” was never a conversation about whether a white man could cook Chinese. (Of course people can cook whatever they want — relax.) It was about the strange idea that the food-court Chinese joints of the nation were a problem that needed fixing in the first place. That we the people have been duped by orange chicken and crab rangoon, and he, the world traveler and gourmand, would release us from our ignorance. In the fallout from Zimmern’s remarks, an essay I wrote in 2013 on cultural appropriation was quoted by Eater’s early coverage; writers of subsequent stories asked me for meatier quotes, and I obliged. For my trouble, I got an anonymous call on my cellphone from an earnest Zimmern stan, which made me want to go to Lucky Cricket even more.

Lucky Cricket is ostensibly our escape vessel from the tyranny of shopping-mall cashew chicken — so what does it look like? It looks dark and full of logos, a jumble of confusing signifiers. Adorned with a palm-thatched roof and giant Tiki faces with slushie machines in their mouths, the bar screams, “Rainforest Cafe but also Margaritaville.” Its tables’ surfaces feature iconic exotica album covers, celebrating an American musical genre famous for mixing the sounds of kotos, bongos, and gongs into a pan-Pacific pastiche of sound. That room was the first red flag.

If Lucky Cricket is meant to show us “real” Chinese cuisine, why is there a heavy Tiki element here? The Tiki aesthetic itself is mired in illusion, an invention of post-World War II Hollywood. You get the sense, being there, that you’re in a Disneyfied vision of the East. You see a Thai tuk-tuk (which of course you can sit in), photos of Asian marketplaces so generic it’s hard to place them, and posters that say “HAWAII,” while tucking into a plate of hand-torn noodles inspired by the cuisine of China’s central plateau. If this restaurant were a piece of writing, an editor would call it a “centaur”: two distinct organisms slapped together in an uncanny mess.

By the host station, there was already a wall of merch: T-shirts saying “Get lucky” awkwardly machine-translated into Chinese characters (a point of pride for Zimmern in the Fast Company interview) and a collection of kitschy Tiki mugs. Regardless of any complaints one might have about the rest of the restaurant’s authenticity, at least we know the mugs were manufactured in China. A private party space in the back, with sparse but blood-red decor, was labeled “Kung Food Room.”

In his remarks to Fast Company, Zimmern revealed that the goal of Lucky Cricket, aside from its own propagation as a nationwide chain, is to educate the Midwestern consumer and share the Chinese flavors and refinement that he experienced on his own culinary journey. The menu, he said, would feature his “favorites from around China.” Considering all of the bombast surrounding this opening, I at least expected the food to be decent, to be forced to admit that, yes, it was at least better than PF Chang’s, or even better than the Leeann Chin — Minnesota’s own Chinese-American chain — across the street. Yet the short menu felt incredibly watered down, and there was something fundamentally off about the execution of the majority of the items my group tried.

Top left: Stony’s Flyhead lettuce wraps. Top right: Soy sauce noodles. Bottom: Soy sauce noodles; Hong Kong waffles and Shanghai fried chicken; sheng jian bao; roast duck at Lucky Cricket.

The dan dan noodles were perhaps the most disappointing item we ordered. The flat egg noodles were a strange improvisation from the thin and cylindrical ones that a diner would normally see in this dish — are Midwesterners not used to spaghetti? To make matters more dire, the noodles were overdone to an Easy Mac consistency. The ground pork topping, meant to carry tang from pickled greens and numbing spice from ground Sichuan peppers, tasted like microwaved, airline economy-class breakfast sausage and was bereft of moisture. If we evaluate Zimmern in his self-appointed role as an educator, he has failed to introduce the dish properly.

Another basic item, the fried rice, was minimally and unevenly seasoned, absent of any crisp or wok-induced char. Even the bits of char siu, which one would normally expect to contribute some flavor, were tasteless. The dish required more than a little dousing with soy sauce and chile oil, provided to the table in Lucky Cricket-branded bottles. (The typeface may look familiar to fans of the late food magazine Lucky Peach.) More compelling were the Stony’s Flyhead lettuce wraps with ground pork, tofu, and loads of chopped garlic chives and an eggplant duo, one portion deep-fried and the other glazed with soy sauce and chiles. Both dishes were openly borrowed from other Chinese restaurants: Happy Stony Noodle in Queens, New York, and Peter Chang Cafe in Glen Allen, Virginia.

That the kitchen’s interpretation of the basics of Chinese meals — noodles and rice — were remarkably deficient is telling: So much went into the over-the-top aesthetic of the place, yet the details, those nuances that would supposedly shame every Panda Express cook in the nation, were actually worse for the wear. If Zimmern hadn’t set expectations so high on the realness scale, perhaps one would have forgiven the kitchen for its mishandling of building-block Chinese dishes. But if you can’t do noodles and rice, maybe try barking up someone else’s tree.

According to his Instagram, Zimmern occasionally checks in on the restaurant, though surely he’s not the one sending out those plates (nor would anyone reasonably expect him to). But if he were, perhaps that would be even more troubling, considering his claims of expertise. What Zimmern said during his video interview with Fast Company clarified for many what his intentions for the restaurant, for which he is a business partner, would be. And it’s not appreciation for the countless Chinese-American restaurateurs and cooks who adapted their cuisines to meet American palates where they were. Those pioneers did this for the sakes of their livelihoods and families, working day and night hawking General Tso’s chicken and sweet-and-sour pork so their kids could go to college. It’s hard to watch a well-resourced and connected outsider like Zimmern denigrate their contributions to American food culture while intending to profit off of the same.

Call me optimistic or naive, but I don’t think that the diners of Middle America, an increasingly diverse and worldly bunch, would be satisfied with an experience that is actually worse than food-court Chinese — as if a few aesthetic distractions like giant Tiki faces and Google-translated Chinese would make the experience feel more “real,” whatever that means. It’s hard to leave the restaurant with a strong impression of what it wants from you: It carries kitschy, mildly racist irony in one hand, and an argument for its own expertise in the other. That said, the vision of authenticity that Zimmern and his partners are peddling here exists in tension with a clear desire to filter it out of fear that Middle America can’t handle the good shit. And say what you will about Panda Express, but at least the fried rice is seasoned there.

Soleil Ho is a Minneapolis-based writer and podcaster, who is moving to California next year to be the dining critic at the San Francisco Chronicle. Katie Cannon is a Minneapolis-based photographer. Editor: Hillary Dixler Canavan

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Source: https://www.eater.com/2018/12/7/18130579/andrew-zimmern-lucky-cricket-controversy-visit

[eclecticeccentrickz]

Heyyy… It’s been a long, long time since I actually shared a new post. But I’ve been checking my notifications and I’m so glad and grateful that you guys (and a few more new followers) are still here! Thank you. I do have a legit excuse for my absence. My husband and I have been super busy building our new home. Yep, this is The Eclectic Eccentric Shopaholic on full “Adulting Mode”. Lol Good news is I’ve been traveling lately. So hmmm… I suppose I’m not that sorry. After all, more travels mean more stuff to write about. I sooo cannot wait to share with you some of my recent travel experiences!

Just this month, hubby and I went on a Macau Michelin Star Restaurant adventure. We dined in some of Macau’s most popular fine dining spots, sampled their signature dishes, and compared each restaurant with the other. And of course, what better place is there to share my photos and thoughts than here on my blog?

It’s not my first time to visit Macau. In fact, I consider Macau as my “happy place”. It was, however, my husband’s first time there so I was extremely eager to make him understand why I feel the way I feel about Macau. If you’re one of my first blog friends, then you probably know that I’m more of a night person. My energy level peaks at night and so sometimes, it gets pretty lonely when the world around me is asleep. The great Poppy Z. Brite couldn’t have said it better: “The night is the hardest time to be alive.” And yes, 4 am is no stranger to my secrets either.

But you see, Macau at night is warm and beautiful and vibrant and eager to wrap me in its neon arms. To me, it’s a place where the bright lights and golden painted ceilings will never, ever feel tacky. As a tourist, you won’t even have to fuss over an itinerary. Just hop on a shuttle bus for a free ride and see where it takes you. Indeed, Macau never falls short of ways in which to entertain its nocturnal callers. Casinos, grand theatrical shows, upscale bars… and the food, lord, don’t get me started on the food! I didn’t even know this before planning this trip but apparently, there’s no shortage of Michelin star restaurants in Macau! In fact, the place is a treasure-trove of Michelin star Chinese restaurants as well as Michelin star/Michelin recommended restaurants featuring international cuisine.

Macau is a great place to eat authentic Cantonese cuisine. Also, it was once colonized by Portugal so there’s no shortage of Portuguese cuisine/ Portuguese influenced dishes in Macau either. An investigation was conducted on behalf of my father’s side of the family to determine our ancestry. Much to our surprise, our lineage was traced back to a Portuguese ancestor. Well, perhaps that’s the reason why I feel such a strong connection with Macau. What do you think? Haha Luckily, I was able to sample some rare Portuguese treats during my stay at St. Regis Cotai Central. But right now, we’re going to talk about my first Macau Michelin Star Restaurant meal.

It was my birthday and my husband and I decided to have lunch at Lai Heen, a Michelin Star Chinese restaurant located within Ritz Carlton Macau. Our flight from the PH to Macau was in the morning. I was a bit worried that we would have to cancel our reservation in case the flight should be delayed. Thankfully, the flight was right on time (ahead of schedule, even). My husband and I had more than enough time for an early check in at the nearby Galaxy Hotel before attempting to find Lai Heen. Lai Heen is located at the 51st floor of the Ritz Carlton Macau. Thanks to the friendly and helpful hotel staff, we located the elevator exclusively servicing the 51st level without any difficulty.

We were welcomed by the smiling restaurant staff who confirmed our reservation and escorted us to a table by the window. As we studied the menu, we decided to order ala carte rather than to go with a full course meal. That said, the dishes were still served to us according to proper sequence, with the staff unfailingly providing us with fresh plates for each course.

We were provided with a complimentary appetizer. I believe this is fermented radish.

I’m a sucker for dim sum so we definitely ordered some steamed dumplings along with steamed barbecued pork bun with preserved garlic in oyster sauce. My husband and I have a tendency to over-order. It’s a great thing, therefore, that the restaurant staff assisted us in customizing our meal. As a result, we were able to sample a greater variety of their dishes in portions that we can actually handle.

  The presentation of dim sum was pretty. It was my first time to eat steamed dumplings topped with edible gold.

The next course was the barbecued Iberico pork in honey sauce.

Next came the chef’s special braised pork belly. It was served with the stir-fried greens recommended to us by one of the servers. I failed to take photos of the greens and I forgot what its called 😦 Worst food blogger ever. haha I asked the staff if it was similar to bok choy but he said it’s entirely different. Anyway, it tasted good with the sweet soy sauce. The leaves and stems weren’t bitter at all. Plus, it complemented the pork dish really well.

And then there was the simmered vermicelli with roasted duck, sliced pork, and preserved vegetables.  By this time, we were too full to actually finish our order. We allowed the staff to serve the noodles to us in two small bowls and declined the refills.

Speaking of, I love how they never failed to refill our cups of lapsang souchong tea throughout the meal. I’m a tea lover and now, my husband is one too! I chose lapsang because I like my tea strong but not bitter and it’s perfect for cleansing the palate and transitioning in between courses.

And finally, we arrive to my favorite part: dessert! Hubby and I were super stuffed because the chef kept throwing free stuff our way! Loved it! I ordered sweetened almond cream with egg white and some custard-filled baked glutinous rice dumplings. Because it’s my birthday, we also got complimentary festive-looking cookies and some steamed dumplings stuffed with egg custard.

All in all, I would rate the food 5/5.

All of the dishes were amazing, with my favorite being the steamed shrimp dumplings with bamboo shoots and asparagus. I also particularly enjoyed the steamed mushroom dumplings with bamboo pith, yellow fungus, and carrot. My least favorite dish was the vermicelli. For me, it’s good but not great. I’m so used to vermicelli cooked in strong shrimp broth with loads of pork and veggies. My husband, however, was able to appreciate the unique smoky aroma of Lai Heen’s vermicelli.

The service is certainly 5/5. The staff was attentive, showed great initiative, and made sure to explain each dish to us.

IMHO, Price is 4/5. Lunch for two cost us HKD 1,192. Was it worth it? I believe it was. Lai Heen’s prices are still lower compared to another Macau Michelin Star Chinese restaurant that we visited on the same day. Moreover, I noticed something when I was reviewing our receipt. Since we were only able to eat two small bowls of vermicelli, they did not charge us the full price for the dish. We also got a 10% discount for being SPG members.

What I loved most about Lai Heen is that even though it’s one of the most popular Michelin star restaurants in Macau, it’s totally non-pretentious. And, yes, you are allowed to take photos of your food. The staff even volunteered to take photos of me and my husband.

Given the chance, I would definitely eat at Lai Heen again. I recommend that you give it a try in case you find yourself in Macau.

Tips for dining at this restaurant:

Reservations required (we made ours online)

Attire is elegant casual

We paid in HKD because that’s the currency we were carrying at the time. However, if you plan to settle the bill in cash, I recommend that you do so in MOP. The Hong Kong dollar is more expensive that Macanese pataca but HKD:MOP is 1:1 in Macau establishments.

Okay, this post is a lot longer than my usual posts but what can I say… I get a little crazy when I talk about food. Lol!

I’m now thinking about which Macau Michelin Star restaurant I’m going to review next. The Eight, perhaps? We’ll see.

Talk to you soon. ❤

xx

KZ

My Review of Lai Heen – a Michelin Star Chinese Restaurant in Macau Heyyy... It's been a long, long time since I actually shared a new post. But I've been checking my notifications and I'm so glad and grateful that you guys (and a few more new followers) are still here!

[vivianrhopper85]

Pinky’s Ca Phe

 It's like stepping onto the set of Miss Saigon, a walk back in time to an American G.I. bar in Vietnam during the war. I can't say I have any personal experience with the experience in 1970 Vietnam but Pinky's Ca Phe, hidden in a small house in Little Italy is certainly what I would expect if someone asked me to describe one.

Something between a speakeasy and a diner, all with a vintage twist, Leemo Han has created a truly unique dining venue in what is sometimes considered a saturated restaurant scene, especially if you are tired of the same old phở shops and bánh mì joints that are ubiquitous across the city now.

Like many of the restaurants that take unique, themed risks in Toronto, Pinky's is not the first attempt of owner Han as he has plenty of experience with snack bars. He currently also operates Japanese-style izakaya Hanmoto and Korean tapas-like OddSeoul, both of which—like Pinky's—cater to the cocktail and late-night snacking crowd. At Pinky's, there is a definite Vietnamese slant to the menu but don't be surprised to see a little Thai influence as well as the dishes are the chef's own modern takes on diner fare from 70s Vietnam. So, if you'd like to be transported back in time, this hipster snack bar can check all the boxes for vintage vibe, cocktails, small plates, good music, and a look at Vietnam as perhaps you've never experienced, it's worth a trip to Little Italy.

Atmosphere & Decor

One word? Shiny! Complimented by old hardwood floors, bare brick walls, and vintage snackbar signs, everything is shiny and glowing with the sort of fluorescent lightning that is more common in old Hong Kong gangster movies and dive bars rather than the upscale eateries of Toronto. The entire area is covered in tinsel that reflects what little brightness is given off by the coloured lights, and is further adorned with old American and Vietnamese flags, as well as prints of old Saigon. Like many of these throwback speakeasies and diners, it's reminiscent of an era that is only familiar to some of us through movies or stories.

The music is a blend of popular oldies from the 60s, 70s, and 80s which are familiar enough to sing a few bars but not so much that the bar is going to launch into a Broadway chorus a la Miss Saigon. It fits the feel of the venue and the only thing this place would require to truly be an authentic replication of those scenes in film is a thick haze of cigarette smoke—which is thankfully absent here. Lighting is quite low with a golden glow of yellow. Out front is much better lit section and a patio outside is open in summer months.

Menu Range

As Pinky's is essentially a snackbar, the menu is limited to 13 choices of Vietnamese inspiration. However, if you're looking for the Vietnamese food you're familiar with elsewhere in the city, you may be in for a surprise. Absent from the menu are any of the take-out classics like spring rolls or eat-in big bowl soup favourites such as phở. Everything on the menu is a twist with a flair for something a little more upscale than the usual fare such as Han's take on butter beef or french dip. Sure, you'll see words like vermicelli, bánh mì, wings, and phở but each of these is taken up a level.

There's no clear definition between appetizers and entrees, mostly as it seems everything is generally the same size. At the top of the small menu is mango papaya salad with grilled squid for $15 and it's the only salad on the entire menu, followed by bánh xeo broccoli for $7 which is not actually the French-influenced crepe dish of the same name but rather a plate of battered broccoli. Then it's back to $16 for the ever-popular Tiger's Milk ceviche with tuna, scallop and surf clams. The latter half of the page consists of sticky wings or eggplant claypot for $10 each, and marrow beef for $16. It's worth noting that the marrow beef offering is a version of butter beef and quite possibly the most Instagrammed dish on the menu. Clearly, Toronto still isn't over the marrow-served-on-the-bone craze. And it's not for naught as it is indeed a good-looking plate of food.

If you're looking for something a little more pedestrian or familiar, the second page of the menu might be more appealing. Lemongrass chicken bánh mì could be the perfect choice, especially for the low $8 price tag or the So Fly! Rice which is fried rice with the added bonus of deep-fried soft-shell crab for $17. At $15, mushroom vermicelli is one of three vegetarian offerings on the menu and is exactly what the name implies. The take on french dip here is called phở beef dip for a very reasonable $10, but you won't find any rice noodles in this dish.

Down near the bottom of the menu are the charred chicken legs, beef curry claypot, and the "lucky" strip for $18, $16, and $25 respectively. Chicken legs are grilled over charcoal and the striploin is smoked or seared with phở butter and served alongside Viet chimichurri.

Following up is a small dessert offering of two dishes: the Vietnamese tres leches and purple yam smash at a very modest $8 and $10 but continue with the cohesive theme of the restaurant.

As this is authentically South-East Asian cuisine, it's very important to understand that most if not all the dishes likely include ingredients that many Western eaters may be allergic to such as shrimp (paste), fish sauce, shellfish, and nuts, especially peanuts. The servers will generally ask about allergies when ordering and it's important to check with the server if you have one of these common allergies. They are accommodating.

Appetizers

As previously mentioned, this snackbar doesn't divide itself into traditional apps and mains but instead has everything together with moderately-sized portions and mid-range prices across the board. After all, this place is about casual bites and tasty strong drinks, not complicated sit-down fine dining.

It was hard to make a decision about how best to start out the meal but being a huge fan of Thai green papaya salad and grilled squid, it seemed impossible to pass up the dish at the top of the menu that combined both of these things. It came fairly quickly in a looming tower of greens and reds on top of mango, papaya, and bean sprouts with a surprising amount of charred squid. Unless you order a specifically squid dish such as calamari, it's not all that common to be given so much at once. What a pleasant surprise! The best part of the squid was not only that it was cooked absolutely perfectly with a thick char on it (exactly the way I like it), but that it included both body and tentacles. It was crispy on the ends and a good bite without being too chewy. It actually reminded me more of various octopus dishes I've had in Toronto rather than squid in how it was cooked. Excellent.

The fruits and vegetables were all grated and mixed well, with various herbs like cilantro and Thai basil seemingly used more as a garnish than an ingredient. The heat wasn't particularly strong but came on eventually. This contributed partly to my opinion on the salad. As I'm quite familiar with the Thai version, I wondered if maybe I was too blinkered by what I'm used to a papaya salad tasting like instead of this new Vietnamese-style papaya salad. I miss the sharp and strong contrast of cilantro and Thai basil with the hot red chillis, and there seemed to being something more overpowering, possibly the ginger? Vietnamese mint was missing, lime juice was also lacking and the peanuts included where candied beer nuts, which I found a bit strange but not unappetizing. Nước chấm sauce was there but I could have had more and the delicious salty brine of fish sauce seemed to be tampered down for some reason. There were quite a few scallions mixed in but again, I'm not sure where I was losing their flavour but something else seemed to be overpowering most of the dish. It was not by any means a bad papaya salad but it was not exactly what I was expecting, and that is probably a good thing.

Entrees

For the "entree", I wondered about going the trendy way of the marrow beef, the tempting crab and fried rice, or something more unfamiliar. There are enough opinions of the marrow beef on every review of Pinky's and I wasn't sure if an entire bowl of fried rice to myself was exactly what I wanted despite my never-ending love of crab so I opted for what I didn't realize was basically a roast beef sandwich with broth dip. That may be my mistake for not thinking carefully enough since the words "dip" and "phở" were enough to catch my attention! Although, in my defense, there is no mention of bread on the menu.

It was a small pot of dark phở broth and cilantro with a sandwich based on french dip, which itself is an American invention. The bread here was not the fluffy and soft Vietnamese roll with a hard crust that is present at bánh mì shops but instead stays very close to traditional American french dip which uses a much harder baguette-style bread. I tasted no asiago cheese, nor much hoisin sauce but the trendy sriracha sauce that is omnipresent in all Asian restaurants in North America was definitely here as well. The broth itself was hot and quite delicious and paired exceptionally well with the beef. It managed to soften the slightly difficult hard bread. With the addition of lime juice, it really helped the broth's flavour to pop.

The contents of the sandwich were tasty and as I'm used to ordering rare beef for my phở, this tasted mostly like well-cooked phở beef, just on bread instead of with rice noodles in soup. On the whole, it was just a roast beef sandwich. That may sound dismissive but there is something to be said about a well-made, tasty comfort-type food. I can imagine an American soldier in a bar in Saigon (before it became Ho Chi Minh City) soaking up the familiar food and being incredibly grateful for it. So, for a restaurant that mimics such a place, it makes sense to include some dishes like this which hark back to meals its patrons would have indulged in as well.

Combined with the good prices, it has to be said that the plates are the perfect size for one person and anyone wanting a quick bite would not go amiss here. In fact, As I was sitting at the bar enjoying my meal, someone came in, ordered the ceviche and a pint, and was out again before I'd even started dessert so it is a place to stop in briefly and have a snack as well. Next to them were two friends who shared the marrow beef, beef curry claypot, and fried rice and they couldn't stop raving about what a good choice the curry pot was. So, whatever you choose off the menu, it seems to be a hit.

Dessert

There are only two options on the menu for those with a sweet tooth but both are well-priced. Tres leche cakes have never been a particular favourite of mine but perhaps the ones here are excellent. I was told by the bartender that the yam smash is the better of the desserts and I can't say I question that considering how tasty it was! Not only that, but it was massive. Three huge scoops of coconut milk ice-cream on top of a mashed purple yam with beer nuts, toasted coconut, and fresh lime. The ice-cream was obviously homemade and that is a good thing and the flavours were smooth and complimentary, especially with the squeezed lime on top. When taken with the tasted coconut and beer nuts, the crunch with the delicate ice-cream and grilled yam all brought out the best parts of each ingredient. By the time I was done with the salad and sandwich, it was impossible to finish all 3 scoops by myself but the yam went down really well. This is a dessert best shared between people if everyone has already had a meal but it wouldn't be a bad idea to just order this dessert for a snack if you're after something sweet.

Drink Options

The cocktail list here is where to look for a good drink to accompany your snack. It's small and each drink caters to a different taste but all of them maintain the feel of a Vietnamese dive bar taken up a notch. Whether it's lemon or lime, there will be a sour punch to each cocktail that harks back to subtropical Asian locales. All except the Pink Lady are at a reasonable $13 with the former being just one little loonie more. The Pink Lady with the housemade raspberry syrup seemed to be a particular favourite of patrons at the bar with one commenting that it is the best cocktail she'd had in quite some time. The Mango Popper includes a jalapeno-infused vodka which is done in-house as well.

I chose to try the Saigon Rock as a fan of gin, passionfruit, and lime. I had no idea what orgeat was, but that's all the more exciting in a cocktail. I know now that it's a sweet, almond-based syrup with orange or rosewater and also that I'm not much of a fan, as it turns out. The cocktail itself was nicely balanced and used fresh lime juice and if perhaps the orgeat had been absent, I would have enjoyed it more. I felt there was just a hint of that store-bought lime cordial in the drink even though I knew from watching the bartender that they used their own squeezed lime and lemon juices so it was just niggling on my tongue. It seems like it was the orgeat syrup causing that. Otherwise, it was a refreshing drink and if you enjoy almonds or amaretto (or Mai Tais which also use it) you'd likely enjoy the cocktail more than I did.

As it's based around expat Saigon bars, Pinky's has a full cocktail selection and a very good, enthusiastic bartender so beyond their signature offerings, they can probably whip up whatever you have on your mind. Bar rail drinks are an easy $7 a pop.

The other unique offering on the drinks menu are the $14 Foco Loco cocktails which you may recognise from Pinky's Instagram as being the juice cans on top of ice. In fact, they are either rum or vodka on the rocks with juice poured over top and served with the tin. It comes in 5 flavours: mango, coconut, passionfruit, guava, and lychee.

There's also the Hua-Hua Iced Tea which is a similar alcohol mix as a Long Island Iced Tea but with a Vietnamese tea blend instead of Coca Cola. It's made for two or four people.

Of course, a bar isn't complete without beer and Pinky's has 3 brews on tap including Sapporo (Japan), Laguintas IPA (USA) and 8 Man EPA (Canada) all for $8 a pint. They also a have small selection of beer by the can for $6-7, and tall boys for $7. Three Ontario ciders, two from Revel and one from West Avenue, round out the list, ranging from #13 to $24. There are also a few wines on offer by the 5oz glass or bottle: two whites and two reds, as well as a sparkling cava. Bottles are either $50 or $55, and glasses are only $11 or $12 a glass.

Service

Even showing up at around 6:30 PM, the restaurant was half-full and as a single, it's bar seating only. I quickly found a free spot and the bartender was prompt with water and asking if I had any questions about the drinks. Of course, I ordered after a quick glance over the cocktail list and from that point on, I still had no complaints about attentiveness despite she was often running hostess, bar, and taking guests orders all at once. As the place quickly filled up, even on an icky spring evening, servers and bar were on point. Food came quickly enough for the demand of the place and I was never left with an empty water glass or looking at my watch. All the food arrived hot and ready to eat, except the dessert obviously which must have just been dished up as the ice-cream hadn't even had the chance to begin melting yet.

The bartender was friendly, conversational, and skilful and overall, everyone seemed to be in good moods and happy to be there.

Feeling Afterwards

As I wandered out through the old house, I felt incredibly full. Had I forced down the entire dessert perhaps I would have felt a bit ill but as it stood all the flavours still remained pleasantly on my tongue with no hint of disappointment. The place was totally packed and stepping onto the darkened Toronto street was not jarring since, despite its small size, the restaurant itself never felt stuffy or overfull even with every seat filled.

Walking down the pathway, I met a young man who looked to be a backpacker who asked if it was a restaurant and I told him it was. He said, "I never would have found this!" and proceeded to go straight in. And that's how Pinky's works: it's word of mouth mainly as there is no signage and looks more like someone's old house is having a warm house party in the front room. So, if you're ever wandering down Clinton or across College, make sure to take a peek around the corner and keep your eyes peeled for a white house which otherwise is indistinguishable from its neighbours apart from the patio out front. This is definitely a place to come for a filling dinner, for a quick snack, for dessert, or even just for a flavoursome drink. Be prepared to be surrounded by vintage vibes, oldies, and crowds of young people who know a good deal when they see one.

VL00KV

from News And Tip About Real Estate https://jamiesarner.com/toronto-restaurant-reviews/pinkys-ca-phe/

[blackoutnursery]

I’m multi-tasking; this short piece of writing hops across topics like Southeast Asian cuisine, Bubiko Foodtour, self-promotion, AR, VR, branding, racism, philosophy, and the meaning of life. In short: I’m rambling.

We get out of a Grab car in front of a McDonald’s. A young Malay is standing and eating soft ice cream. We ask where the police station is. He doesn’t know, but asks an elderly Chinese, who does. Both men are friendly. We quickly set off down the covered sidewalk. Our destination is the cart of a vendor who sells kidney bean soup and almond paste. The internet says he sells out by 5, sometimes earlier. It’s now 4:30.

VRLab! I didn’t know there was one here. This morning I had exchanged emails regarding an interview with Dato Jack, VR Lab’s founder. From outside, I can see two women signing in. I enter, explain my connection with Dato Jack, and am allowed to watch. A thorough explanation and instructions are given and then the two women put on their headsets. First, they move their heads in all directions, then they slowly manipulate their hands and arms, acquiring the skills to become virtual archers. I study all this because I am writing a book about VR and haptics, as well as planning an AR startup that will eventually expand to VR.

The TV screens in the room show me what they are seeing: a castle under siege. Suddenly, an axe-thrower attacks so suddenly that the woman with braids jumps. Her headset falls off. I leave after a few minutes, by which time they are fully immersed: crouching, cautiously turning and laughing. They are killing people with arrows.

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We rush back outside. The sky is soft and complex: rainclouds/blue sky/sunlight/evening. The atmosphere is fresh and I’m glad to have a camera. We find the soup vendor. He’s surrounded by people, all of whom seem to have placed large orders to bring back home. Nearby is a truck stall selling assam laksa. The aroma is uniquely seductive, like a tart, mysterious fruit beckoning from a bed of homemade noodles. We are soon seated at a rickety table, experiencing multiple foodgasms from the assam laksa, the kidney bean soup, the almond paste and a plate of perfectly fried kway teow that we couldn’t resist. We finish and head into the U-shaped market. In an hour it will be packed.

Ears of sweet corn! I can honestly say I am a farmboy from Ohio, with many memories of corn fields and corn roasts. However, the corn I picked and the cows I milked were actually in Michigan. (OK, full disclosure, about the cows: There was only one. I was a five-year-old visiting a farm with my family. I was too shy to squeeze anything.)

A sign for Pun Tofu! I write, often about food. Eight books. One, i ate tiong bahru, is a national bestseller in Singapore. Stories about my IT/VR/AR adventures in Hong Kong and Singapore will soon be a series on Popularium. This trip to the market is research for the text part of Bubiko Foodtour, an AR project. A stall sells kuehs and this is good: I heart kuehs.

The sky is peacefully exploding. Sharply outlined clouds, bulging with water vapor, dissolve into darkening, ragged zones of blue and orange. More generators are started. The lights of the night market come on as the moon rises in a kaleidoscopic sea of twilight. We eat black tofu. This same stall had intrigued us at another market, but we hadn’t tried it. We watch it being made and find a table. Surprisingly, the chicken soup served with it has the taste of green tea. The news of the day encroaches unexpectedly: skin color and Charlottesville. I remember an article I found while doing research. In a city in Malaysia, over an unspecified period, the police took action on illegal street vendors. The breakdown: 158 actions against Chinese-based businesses, 103 against Malay businesses, 31 against Indians and 13 on other races. The harmonious flavors in the black tofu soup are wonderful , but not enough to take me away from thoughts about Nazis, Communists and the White House.

We step into the crowd one last time, studying foods like nasi lemak, Vietnamese pizza and salt-baked chicken. Five blind Chinese, all elderly, sit on red plastic chairs and sing Chinese songs. A man plays acoustic guitar, a woman taps a tambourine. There is a bowl at the woman’s feet. We listen as we watch Murtabak Sam make pandan pancakes with bamboo charcoal flour. We call a Grab and wait. Now, here on Medium, are some of my experiences, my reality at that market. As I wrote this I remembered scenes, recalled what I was thinking and added new thoughts. I input my data into the internet, and now it is all over the world. This post reminds me of the early days of twitter, when it seemed to be filled with nothing what-I-ate-for-lunch. Perhaps Medium, in a small way, is a longer, more thoughtful version of twitter?

…one kind of wonder after another kind of wonder, all in something wondrous…

Black Tofu Soup and The Reality of a Late Afternoon. I’m multi-tasking; this short piece of writing hops across topics like Southeast Asian cuisine, Bubiko Foodtour, self-promotion, AR, VR, branding, racism, philosophy, and the meaning of life.

[missguomeiyun]

dinner @ Urban China

Good evening, everyone~

I have been busy with other things which I will reveal (maybe later???) so I haven’t been checking out Groupon lately but remembered I still have this one for Urban China around & it’s expiring soon so..  . you know? It’s Monday, kinda hot with sunny & cloudy periods throughout the day. I had to work today.. just felt like today was the day to use it & try out their dinner food.

I went to my family around 5:45pm & besides my table of 5 adults + 1 baby, there was only another table of customers (like 12 ppl? it was one of those larger tables). They were pretty much half way thru their dinner by the looks of their dishes but anyways, we were seated & were given the menu. My family & I have been here for dimsum in the past. My bro had dinner here with friends from out of town so I’ve had some of their leftover dinner food - it was pretty good. There’s something about greasy Chinese food that makes me feel.. . I don’t know what the right term would be ‘homely’ ??? Don’t know =P & somehow it tastes better when it’s leftover from the night before... lol

In any case, we ordered the following items:

They gave a print out of our order so they could check it off once they bring the dish out.

#1: Hong Kong-styled fried pork cutlet. OMG! The sprinkled seasoning was lethal! Fried garlic, green onions, & chili pepper slices. What can go wrong with that combo?? The batter on the pork was salty (which I was expecting anyway) but the flavour sort of exceeded my expectations a little. I thought it’d just be plain “salty” but it had some other spice to it that I can’t put words to. Peppercorn??? Garlic powder? Like there was definitely something else & it was addicting! The fact that they started us off with this dish worried me a little bcos it was very salty.. . would it “bland out” the rest of the dishes???

#2: Cashew, mushroom & bell peppers tossed with cubed steak in a black peppercorn sauce. I’ve always had a soft spot for black peppercorn sauce & this hit me (like usual). So tasty! The steak cubes were mostly soft with a bit of chewiness. I was not a big fan of the bell peppers bcos they way they cooked it, it was in that half raw-half cooked phase & I don’t like that. Not a big nut fan either. ..so the cashews were no for me. The mushrooms they used were the Korean oysters mushrooms, my favourite! Didn’t soak up any sauce but that’s ok, it was still coated with the sauce abundantly so it was delicious! I think that if you like a lot of texture/consistencies in your dishes, you will like this dish cos everything is just so different in texture.

#3: Shrimp & egg over flat rice noodles. Yes that is a raw egg yolk! Back in high school, I knew a guy who would get this every time when he visited a Chinese restaurant that served this - I knew about this “white” version of flat rice noodles thru him bcos my family always gets the pan fried beef version. Anyways, I haven’t eaten this in almost 10 yrs that I almost forgot it exists! The “sauce” is actually a smooth mixture of egg whites & either flour or corn starch (as a thickening agent) plus simple seasoning like salt (or MSG lol). Some places serve it with shrimp, others have chicken. The raw egg yolk is meant to be mixed in with everything else so it’s creamier (without actual cream) & smoother. At Urban China, you can get this over flat rice noodles or rice but we went with the flat rice noodles. This my whole family’s favourite of the evening! It was very ‘plain’ & it went well with the 2 savoury meat dishes we got earlier.

#4: Pan fried ‘Yee’ noodles (AKA “e-fu” noodles). The restaurant has several version of this & we got the more expensive version as this one comes with shrimp & baby scallops. The other one has mushrooms (3 kinds I believe) & it’s vegetarian. I can’t remember what was in the other one, but I know they have 3! In my opinion, this was the dish where you would get the most bang out of your buck; it was a huge plate! Flavours were excellent, not too salty, had that ‘wok’-ness to it, wasn’t too greasy.. . & a decent amount of shrimp & scallops even though they cut it up into such small pieces. I highly recommend!

#5: “Jer Jer” chicken pot. Ok, if you have another name for this dish or if there’s a more English-fied term, pls let me know lol for those who are not familiar with this dish, it’s essentially marinated chicken + Chinese mushrooms (plus green onions, onions, & sometimes cabbage) in a pot, with a special sauce. It’s traditionally made & served in a clay pot. The sauce doesn’t have a name bcos it’s actually a potion of various sauces commonly used in Chinese cooking, such as soy sauce, “chu hou” sauce (which is already a mixture of things), seafood/hoisin sauce etc.. . diff places/ppl make it differently but the idea is, it’s saucy chicken “sizzling” in a pot. This was our least favourite dish of the evening. The chicken is supposed to be very soft & tender (braised-like) but the chicken here was very stiff. Rather than marinated, the sauce is merely coating the chicken pieces; furthermore, we were not likers of their sauce =/

5 dishes.. .like all of them except for #5. Service was alright.. . 8/10!