3 weeks in Vancouver

As my new love and I navigate and negotiate our way into a relationship, we faced the ultimate test of all: visiting friends and family as a couple. It just so happens that we are both from Vancouver, but met 10,000 km away in Hong Kong. I do not exaggerate when I say that we are serious about food and libation. When people comment on the fact that although we grew up 5 mins. from each other, went to some of the same schools but never met, we tell them that the most incredible thing of all is that we both adore the same local pub :)

Of course, our encounters with friends and family took place over many memorable meals:

1.) Family bbq in Gibsons where we ate hamburgers with cowboys. Someone asked my HK dwelling boyfriend (who asked for a bottle opener) why doesn't he just pop the beer cap with his belt buckle?

2.) Dim sum with the parents- what every white guy must do with his Chinese girlfriend's family. To score brownie points, my sweetie used chopsticks, humored my folks with broken Cantonese, and ate chicken feet (ok, I exaggerated- he'd rather eat dirt).

3.) Pho, the official cheap and cheery food of Vancouver. I swear, they make it better here than in Vietnam.

4.) St. James Well, our favorite local pub. We got pints, met up with long lost friends and even got a counseling session from one of them. His dating advice:

-No matter how sophisticated you think you are, never ever assume anything about your partner's friends and family. If they tell you what to do or not to do with them, you follow their advice and grin and bear it. You avoid a lot of problems later- each family is dysfunctional in its own way, and each friend has issues beyond your imagination.

-Never, under any circumstances, make fun of or disrespect your sig fig's parents. Your mate can express her anger or frustrations with them all she wants, but the minute you do it, the tide will be turned against you.

-Real life is what it is- REAL. You have to deal with work, family, friends, accidents, mortgages etc. etc. etc...Sometimes, it sucks double when you have to truck along with another person's needs and wants rather than just your own. Life is not a bed of roses, so you really should choose wisely about who you lay with, and work together to ensure that it is more flowers than thorns. (Ok, I came up with this one, after years of being pricked and pruned).

Love is like cooking. You start with good ingredients, and use your creativity to spice things up. Sometimes it becomes a masterpiece, and other times, it may be a freaking disaster. It is a craft that demands your attention, and requires years of practice and study. But like all good chefs, you must never give up, because finesse will come with time, and there is nothing like having angels cry on your tongue.

My Wild Ass Plan

It began a long time ago while I was hiking the Inca trail. Well ok, 5 years ago, really.
I was trying to "find" myself after surviving the shards of a broken relationship, and a completely shattered ego. Instead, I found a pretty amusing boy who was a struggling writer and a delightful wine drinker. That began a series of profound but unfruitful relationships with men which I shall name: post traumatic boyfriends. PTBs are often people who you share a great deal of unhealthy intimacy with. They see the most insecure side of you, and they failingly try not to provoke you to cry over that broken heart of yours, which you bandaided with their affections. But my PTBs are also people who I had tons of fun with, loved with abandon, and in essence, learned a great deal about myself and relationships.

Anyhow, during one of my many deep, philosophical conversations with A. over candles and glasses of beautiful Napa wines, he asked me what my Wild Ass plans are, you know- your bucket list. I told him a bunch of stuff, mostly travelling to exotic places and eating coveted culinary treasures. Look, I was in no shape to fantasize- my life was a mess, and it would have been nice just to survive a day without wondering how I was going to get my joy back :(

Right, so fast forward 6 years and I finally got my shit together. I am living in another country, enjoying the life I want, and already been to most of those exotic places I listed for my wild ass plans. My life is in order: I have my health, my career is good, and my friends and family are blessed. In comfortable circumstances like that, I was inevitably doomed to ponder the question reserved only for the privileged: what are my dreams and how to make them come true?

So, what are my dreams?

1.) Be with someone I love and who adores me back. Who is he? He must be my partner in crime, my shoulder to rest on, my coolest friend. He would actually want to go through the ordeal of getting a reservation at El Bulli, buying plane tickets to get there, and close his eyes and sigh- as I feed him a spoonful of Ferran Adria's masterpiece. Or he must be so smart, so amusing, and so good looking that I am willing to forgo the opportunity of ever meeting someone who matches the above description.

2.) Go to Paris for a month and attend the Pastry course at the Cordon Bleu. I envision a beautiful month of sweat and tears over perfecting croissants and brioches. Morning coffees at the local cafe, and lots of wine and luxurious dinners with friends :)

3.) Owning a business that I can have fun with and makes enough money to take my family on vacations without struggling to pay for the plane tickets.


I just read a section in Paulo Coelho's The Pilgrimage, in which he envisioned his death during a meditation exercise. He wrote:

I remembered also the number of times I had failed to do what I wanted to do, thinking I could always do it later. I felt very sorry for myself, not only because I was about to be buried alive but also because I had been afraid to live... ... My wife is going to forget all about me and will marry someone else and spend the money we have struggled to save for all these years! But who cares about that. I want to be with her now, because I'm alive!

How profound is that? We are always afraid of consequences, thinking about what may happen. Like John Lennon once said, "life is what happens while you are busy making other plans." It finally occurred to me one night at dinner with my cousin when he asked me the age old question: what would you do if you win the lottery? And I told him about plan no. 2. Then I was like, wait a minute, I don't need to win the lottery to do that do I?!

Oh, and one p.s. to my W.A.P.s. To write a book. Any life worth living is worth the self centered act of writing a memoir.

Cooking at Home

I love the privilege of working in a big kitchen, and I mean anything bigger than the 90?! square feet one I have in my HK home. So on the eve before going to the land of scarcity (in space), I prepared my darling sister an early birthday dinner and feasted with my extended family. On the menu:

1.) Maple biscuits with Smoked Salmon tartare
2.) Deviled curry eggs
3.) Organic greens with pears, walnuts and dressed in blue cheese
4.) Maple glazed Salmon with oranges
5.) Baked gnocchi with Asiago cheese

And finished off with chocolate cake that is wholly decorated with skills learned from my latest escapade: Wilton's decorating courses 1 and 2.

I love cooking for my big skinny Chinese family. We show love by feeding and we reciprocate love by eating more. Almost every Chinese kid has the memory of their tiny eighty- two year old grandmother shoving something with her chopsticks into your rice bowl. May it be her famous dumplings, or store bought char siu.

Tonight, as I see my family around the dining table, listening to my cousin embellish her misadventures in Korea, I get that warm and fuzzy feeling of home. The laughs that cause a little spitting, the uncensored second helpings, the wine in whatever mismatched whiskey glass...so unsophisticated, so real, and so loved :)

Nothing like HOME cooking!

So I am spending ONLY one month vacation home...and hoping to keep weight gain at a minimum :) Food highlights so far...

1.) My mom made a bouillabaisse of sorts from the Cooking Light cookbook she purchased in honor of my arrival. It isn't the best or most original french fish soup ever, but it was DELICIOUS! I suppose 'cause my mommy made it and the whole family was there, chowing it down. And of course, we paired it with the family favorites- Little Caesar's pizza, crazy bread, and a bottle of revered Chardonnay that we bought from our wine tour last year.

2.) Now that I have friends who own gigantic homes, bbq and wine on the patio is one of my favorite things to do on hot summer days here in Vancity. Better yet, on a trip to Whistler at a friend's cabin, it truly felt like I was in a movie. You know, sitting around a HUGE dining table in a luxurious log cabin- eating, drinking and being merry with friends.

3.) I make a yearly pilgrimage to the Raincity grill with my good friend Brandy. The food is notoriously well prepared, the service delightful, and the atmosphere exquisite. However, given what is out there in Vancouver for the price point, the reason that I keep coming back is really the tradition of my annual date of catching up, drinking good wine and having a great laugh with Brandy;)

4.) Yes, I almost always across the border whenever I am home- to shop, to eat, and to be merry.
This year, for our annual family fun excursion, my sister suggested Seaside Oregon. I love eating in the US, there is something giddy about being served a gigantic portion of food and having the option of supersizing it. And when quality matches the quantity, that is when it gets dangerous :/

Indulge...

Ahh...summer break.

Time for lazy mornings and long lunches. I don't indulge nearly as much as I used to given the latest obsession with body sculpting and general well being. However, I am totally getting into the holiday spirit and once again, indulging in my gluttony delights...

Hmm... Some highlights:

1.) A Real American Burger

One of the best burgers around HK is at the American Club. It is juicy and flavorful...and for $80, you can have whatever toppings you desire. I had it with the mushrooms, grilled onion, and of course, good ole American cheddar cheese. Also, I cannot eat a burger without a beer, kinda like how I cannot eat dessert without coffee. So upon my friend's suggestion, got a Samuel Adams. Let me just tell you, there is this power from food- this lingering pleasure from just having indulged in one of the best burgers ever, that just keeps me satiated. Side note: my excitement could also be due to the fact that I have lived in Asia for far too long now that I oogle over a good burger.

2.) Leisure lunch at Lucy's.

I live in Stanley where the view is good and the restaurants are not. Ok, to be fair, they are not that bad, just not the kind of places where I EVER have a craving for. The one exception is probably Lucy's. I don't think the food there is exceptional, but it is very good, and I always feel like it is a treat going there because it is the best restaurant in Stanley, and atrocious to get a reservation at night. So my indulgent friend P. and I spent three hours having a divine noon time meal of velvety broccoli soup, risotto with plump chunks of salmon, and the most decadent toffee pudding (he had this delicious pavlova with cream and berries). The best part: catching up and not caring about the time :)

3.) Posh Cafe Gray

So amidst all this kerfuffle with moving and doing my Master's paper, I direly need to indulge and pamper a bit. So my two dear friends, J. and V. and I got decked out and enjoyed an early bird dinner at Cafe Gray. It has been far too long since I shove the diet, budget and other practical matters aside and just purely enjoyed a delicious meal with good friends. We drank loads of wine, nibbled on chocolates and, horror of horrors, emptied one bread basket after another. By the way, they make the most divine yoghurt dip to go with the bread. We all ate pretty much the same things: scallop on cold noodles, barramundi in Lavendar sauce, and the girls had the apricot tart while I lapped up the panna cotta. We all agreed that the scallops were nothing to write up about, but the barramundi was a sensuous dance of complex flavors on the palate. I normally don't like things like lavender in food items, but it really worked with the other spices to bring out the delicate flavors of the fish. We did what all great girlfriends gather to do: chat, laugh, eat and walked out of the restaurant 4 hours later :)

Risky Behaviour

I understand why Hongers love to jet off to Thailand every chance they get. It is the only place I've been to so far that boosts both cheap eats and clean toilets pretty much everywhere. There were many memorable meals in the land of smiles. My friends and I ate our way through Koh Samui (nothing to write home about), cooked at a farm in Chiangmai, and treated ourselves in Bangkok :)

However, one of the most memorable nights was when we went through the Sunday market in Chiangmai, and ate horror of horrors: street food!!!

I am adventurous, and LOVE the amusing selection of street vendors everywhere in Asia. But I have also gotten food poisoning before, and vowed to do anything I can to avoid it, especially when I am a flight away from home. I try to avoid eating things off the street whenever I can, but I am weak. I am easily tempted and somewhat of a glutton, so I end up breaking this rule pretty much every trip I go on, except maybe when I was in India...

Anyhow you weigh your risks and figure whether it is worth it to you to indulge in this incredible looking seafood pancake that everyone seems to be buying. Of course they were Thai, and seafood is probably the most popular breeding ground for nasty microbes. But it smells so good, and looks so fresh...Wait, the people cooking don't seem to ever clean their hands, and what is that puddle the vegetables seemed to be resting on?

There are those of us who figure: heck, you only live once, and being able to taste one of the most glorious pancakes at a food fair in some temple in Chiangmai is worth getting sick after. Of course, we forget that it is the most gut retchingly terrible kind of sickness...

Then, there are those who, even tempted, will remain steadfast and resist. They care about consequences, and would rather risk not getting ill, thank you very much...

Guess what kind of person I am?

Thai Cooking!

I think for each of us, there are always hidden agendas when going on vacations. Architectural buffs like to visit monumental buildings, fashionistas love to visit shopping areas, and of course, a foodie like myself is all about the restaurants and food markets. As my travel companion noted, "C. likes to talk to cute boys, and J.(me) likes to talk to farmers :)" Yes, I am curious to know the difference between white vs. purple vs. miniscule Thai eggplants.

As an inquisitive glutton, I go one step further, and look for educational cookery opportunities whenever I explore a new country. On my recent trip to Chiangmai, I convinced my travel companions to join me for a class at the Thai Farm Cookery School. Excellent choice, it was!

The farm is run by a Dutch lady Nathalie and her Thai husband Sawat. Nathalie is the one to chase us for payment while Sawat tells us jokes while teaching us how to cook. Their farm is beautiful, and their hospitality is exceptional. We made a four course meal that was enjoyed for an outdoor lunch overlooking the picturesque papaya and banana trees.

But what I enjoy most when I take these classes is the people you meet and the stories you hear. I met a boyfriend/girlfriend couple from France who are in their fifties. His English was sparse, but we chatted about Thai and French food and really, you don't need to speak the same language to communicate. I learned about this "sacred" water from the spa she works in French that dispels your hunger and makes you look years younger. So maybe she is actually in her sixties?? I also met people from Brit, the usual Aussies, but the most intriguing story is from Sawat about how he, a boy from rice farming family grew up to become a trekking guide, and how that path eventually led him to his wife and his life now.

His story makes me think about the choices we make and the destiny we are given. How every step and every gesture contributes to this moment where we meet. I think about the tears that propelled me to a trip in Peru where I had a 3 hour conversation during a layover with a missionary worker and a Peruvian man who hasn't seen his family for three years since he began working in the States as a laborer. That conversation probably contributed partly to my perspectives now, and led me to travel around, taking cooking classes and meeting more people whose words have the power to enlighten me to do more interesting things in the future...

The Art of Dinner Partying

One of the fringe benefits of writing a food blog is that people feed you and ask you what you think of their food. To tell you the truth, everything tastes good to me when someone else makes it out of love rather than profit. But once in a while, your friends will surprise you with their culinary skills or lack there of.

But really, here are the basic ingredients to a good dinner party:

-one or more really entertaining guests
-a few bottles of fine wine
-music that goes with your dinner theme
-appetizers to tie people over while dinner is being readied

I really do enjoy throwing dinner parties, but they also stress me out. I NEED things to be perfect. The cutlery must be shiny, the napkins stimulating, and the food...
Let's just say that I am the type of person who once spent half an hour perfecting the technique of slicing paper thin cucumber "leaves" to garnish my appetizers.

Over the years, I have learned to take it more easy and use tricks of the trade such as serving main dishes that come out of the oven- it can finish up while you entertain your guests. But really, the most important asset to hosting any type of party is to have a good co host-preferably one who is charming and cleans up well. I don't care for many theories on compatibility between couples, but there is definitely validity to the idea of people who cook together stay together. Being able to indulge together and be comrades in the kitchen is truly a remarkable aspect of any good relationship. And if you and your loved one can throw a dinner party together with style and grace, wow! Then you are truly meant to be together. It is just as simple as that!

The Cake that Sings!

What would provoke someone to spend three grueling hours baking, frosting and decorating a cake that would be devoured in three minutes? I can't really tell you the answer except for the fact that I did it, and I did it with pleasure! Actually, if I really think about it, a couple of reasons seem to justify the extravagant use of time and cost I go towards producing good food:

1.) The giddy feeling I get when I admire the finished product.
2.) The ohh and ahhs from others when they see and taste what I have made.
3.) Cooking is my art.

I think all of us has this innate pride in things we make with our own two hands, no matter how crappy it comes out. In fact, the worse it comes out, the more inspired we are to produce a better prototype, and the more pride we get from the improved version. It is an especially vicious cycle with cake making. Cakes and pastries take the most precise of measurements. A little too much flour, a little low on temperature, and you end up with a gooey mess. As a bit of a perfectionist, I decided against seeking help to manage expectations, but rather, to obtain resources that would help me make a finished product that would meet my standards. Therefore, I rarely bake at home, where I can screw up in more ways than you can imagine. Instead, I sign up baking classes by pastry chefs where I can get professional help.

My most recent masterpiece was created at Coup Kitchen under the supervision of pastry chef owner Alfred Cheung. The Opera Cake is one of those delectable chocolate creations that you know is worth more calories than one can afford, but it is so delicious that you don't care.
There are many stories about the origins of this cake, which is also known as the Clichy cake. It is aptly named after Louis Clichy who first showcased it at the 1903 Exposition Culinaire in Paris. However, a similar dessert was also sold at another pastry shop, Dalloyau, called L'Opera in honor of the Paris Opera. Regardless, all can agree that whoever came up with this combination of chocolate ganache, hazelnut and coffee buttercream, nestled between sheets of chocolate and vanilla cake, was a genius!

So how did I honor this cake that took a total of 200 minutes to make? I made it into a birthday cake for my dear friend Michelle. We also had a full on Mexican meal in which I made everything from scratch including the tortillas and nacho chips. So, were the fruits of my labor worth it? Absolutely! We ate, we drank and we were merry for hours into the night. I really think there is this deep appreciation when someone cooks good food for you. You feel all warm and fuzzy as if you can taste the love through each morsel that goes into your mouth. And from the cook's perspective, there is truly nothing like the delight you feel when you see people close their eyes and savor the food that you made!

Japanese Feasts

So the boyfriend and I gallivanted to his motherland, Japan, along with 8 of our finest friends to enjoy some R&R at an onsen, do some skiing and of course, partake in my favorite travel activity: eat, eat and eat!

If there is one thing I truly commend Japanese people for, besides producing some pretty cute boys, is that everything in that country tastes good, even that nasty little dish called natto. There is this unparalleled standard for quality, that even if you pick up a sushi roll at the local A.M./P.M., you can be sure that it is fresh and tastes decent.

So this time around, the eating agenda is even better as H. worked in Japan and knows quite a few eateries that are not only tasty, but have good atmosphere. But the place that I love the most, is at the onsen restaurant where we gluttonized ourselves every night with feasts that involved many tiny dishes of delectable delights. I don't know if it is because H.'s relatives owns the hotel, but the treats we got were AMAZING!!! The freshest sashimi, the tastiest morsels of things that I don't even know exists. Regardless, I cram them into my mouth where they danced and had a party. Ummm....

We also delighted ourselves with eating delicious ramen, perused through the basements of department stores where the food markets are surreal, and had some of the best beef around at this teppanaki place where they focused on the cooking rather than the typical knife wielding show we get at teppanaki places in Canada. Actually, I was kind of looking forward to the performance that never happened :(

So what do I think are the top 10 foodie things to do in Tokyo? Here goes:

1.) Go to Tsukji fish market and line up for 2 hours to eat the BEST sushi that patience can buy.
2.) The Japanese's fascination with French perfection is obvious in the beautiful pastries you find at practically every bakery around the city
3.) Eat ramen, anywhere! Although there is this hole in the wall place in Shibuya that I love but won't be able to tell you how to get there. Sorry!
4.) The fruit in Japan not only looks so perfect they look fake, but in fact, tastes perfect. Except for an U.S. $10 apple, that for sure, was not the best apple that money can buy as advertised. But it was definitely worth the money for the fascination and anticipation that it brought me.
5.) Go to any Izakaya where it looks busy, and practice sign language with the local waiter/waitress as you ask for recommendations because you cannot read Japanese. A nice beer also helps in the process, and most Izakayas chill their beer just right.
6.) Eat natto. Just get the process right. If you mask those foul smelling beans with a raw egg and plenty of soy sauce, it can actually be quite a tasty breakfast with rice.
7.) The crepes off street stands are more delicate and refined than the ones you get in France.
8.) There is this guy on the main food street in Ueno who makes this strange pancake with an egg on top. You will not miss him, as I heard he is constantly surrounded by a crowd.
9.) There is also this place that sells beef croquettes in Kochijoji that has a perpectual crowd of people. There are specific marks on the ground by this shop to guide the line up so that you don't block human traffic.
10.) Go to the basements of department stores such as Mitsukoshi and Isetan where there is edible eye candy everywhere. You will see kiosks upon kiosks of delicious snacks and take away. Perfect place to go before the airport for souvenirs and a snack!

Fuzhou Eats

I went to Fuzhou a couple of weeks ago to visit my grandmother. Fuzhou is my ancestral province, where both sides of my family is from. I don't know what it is, but it seems like the preference for Fuzhounese food is imprinted in my DNA. Usually, I am not as brave when I visit other parts of the world. I prefer not to eat the street foods, and while there are many parts of the world that I gluttonize over, none compares to feasting on food from the homeland.

Fuzhou is known for its Lake Seafood. There are many different types of seafood there that I have never seen anywhere else, and my family has an addiction to razor clams. Every visit to the motherland involves a big family feast where my aunt and uncle cooks up a storm. Homemade food highlights this time:

-Razor clams
-Fuzhounese fish balls with meet stuffing
-Mashed taro dessert
-Steamed sticky rice with lake crab
-double boiled lake duck

But the most usual thing I ate on this trip is some kind of a crustacean that my uncle ordered at a restaurant. Apparently, it is an endangered species in Hong Kong, that is why we can't get it here. I confess, I ate it, as I don't think it is endangered in China, yet?! Regardless of how something tastes, I feel that it is my duty to boycott resources that are not managed properly. However, I confess, I do want to taste it once it is on the table in front of you. And really, it just taste like a cross between a lobster and a crab. With choices abound in this world, there really is no need to over stuff ourselves with scarce food source, is there?

BTW: I attached that funny crustacean for your viewing purposes.

I made a Salmon and tomato soup with wontons and stir fried yams with garlic and sesame.
Paired it with a glass of Penfolds Riesling. Delish!

I have finally figured it out!

After years of struggle with balancing weight and my love of food. I took the Anthony Robbins approach, and researched people who love food and are skinny. How do they do it? What is their secret?

I asked people far and wide, and made some assumptions on the way, and ta da.......

1.) They EXERCISE! regularly. You know, they run a marathon before inhaling a steak.
2.) They graze. They eat everything, but only until they are satisfied. Because you know there is something better to eat in just a little while!
3.) They only eat the best of everything. No canned soup for dinner because hey, life is too short to be mediocre.
4.) They cook their food with the best ingredient. Which may help with the moderation idea because heck, good food is EXPENSIVE!
5.) They eat slowly and in small bites so that each morsel is savored. Mmmm.....

So I have decided that every night, I will attempt to make my dinner a treat. So no matter how tired I am, or how lazy I get, I will NOT eat Campbells and crackers, or Terra chips for the evening meal. As fellow singletons may attest to, living by yourself puts your gourmet self to shame because who wants to make all that effort for only one person eating by her or himself?
However, once you have a very nice piece of edible art in front of you, you tend to savor it, instead of stuffing yourself until you are full. Really, exercising epicurean ism is actually a way to a trimmer, slimmer you.

Therefore, I will attempt to post my dinner diary here. For the first entry, here is what I ate last night:

Portuguese clam, pork and bean stew with green salad dressed with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Okay, I admit, I made the stew last weekend for my cousins, froze a portion and added some canned beans to it. And yes, I believe that every good meal should be accompanied with a glass of good wine. It was a glass of Pinot I had with it.

Hanoi Elegance

The girls and I decided to make a little jaunt to Hanoi over the Easter Holidays. Being the teaching nerdballs that we are, we used the cooperative learning model and devied up our responsibilities. Of course, I was in charge of the food itinerary.

My list includes:

-Cha ca La Vong

-Brother's cafe

-Cooking Class at Hidden Hanoi

-Highway #4

-Bobby Chinn ( for Pauline who fancies him)

We took our 2 hour flight and went to our hotel, Hanoi Elegance (which I highly recommend). I went straight to work and asked about a recommendation for lunch. The cute little guy at the reception told us to go to this place called Noon.

We decided to walk there, which was a truly frightful experience for people who have just arrived in Hanoi. Scooters are everywhere, cars are not stopping for red lights- basically, you just have to walk at a steady pace and hope for the best. After about half an hour of inefficient walking due to stops at shops along the way, and practising new ways to cross the street, we finally arrived at the street where the restaurant is. We walked along and saw this really neat lively open air eatery called Quan An Ngon surrounded by stalls where people are making all sorts of different Vietnamese street food. We thought, screw the restaurant recommendation- let's eat here instead!

Well, it turns out that we misread Ngon on the map and thought it was Noon, so we actually went to the right place. Now, I know my mates may not agree with me, but in retrospect, I would rate this as the best restaurant on the trip. I love these spruced up versions of traditional eateries. Ngon is like a food court of street vendors from years past with their adorable sun hats, squatting down and fanning their creations.

So the two hungry girls and I ordered: crab and sea snail vermicelli, beef pho, grilled mackerel, grilled squid, shrimp sweet potato cake, and spring rolls. Of course, nothing washes Vietnamese peasant food better than Hanoi beer. Really, I wanted to order much, much, more....but I had to pace myself- it was only our first meal, after all.

The food was tasty, but the seafood was a little overdone in our opinion. We finished our meal with an authentic cold Vietnamese coffee and a green sticky rice pudding with coconuts.
This was a very promising beginning to our Vietnamese culinary adventures....

My favourites so far....

While I am stuck waiting between appointments for student teacher conferencing, I actually have time to peruse through food blogs and get inspired again.

Since being in Hong Kong, I have noticed that people here are obsessed with food. If there is space in a block, there will be a restaurant in Hong Kong. So,when you are in a place where food is cheap and bountiful, one of two things happens to you:

1.) You become a fussy eater. Gone are the days when you eat whatever is laid out in front of you. You would rather wait in line for an hour or take a 15 minute taxi ride to your preferred restaurant even though you probably will pass by a hundred (literally) restaurants on your way there.

2.) You get fat or go on a diet. The pounds keep packing in, and healthy and delicious have yet to become the trend here. For some reason, even though everyone is very image conscious and freely give out comments about your weight and theirs, they still think brown rice is just wrong and it is perfectly delectable to eat meat rendered in fat for lunch.


Actually, both things happened to me. I am a fussy eater on a diet. However, a girl has got to live vicariously once in a while, so I still go out and eat fabulous meals. Here are my favourite haunts in Hong Kong so far....

1.) Brunch Club

It is the perfect place to chill and catch up with girl or boy friends. There walls are lined with magazines, their latte is hot and service is great. I normally don't order omelettes because very few resaturants do them right. However, the smoked salmon omelette I had last time was absolutely delicious. Cooked just enough that it is fluffy but the middle is not runny. There was also chunks and not bits of salmon. Yummy!


70 Peel Street- Soho area
4 Hysan Road- Causeway Bay

2. Modern China

You must visit the food forum in Times Square. There is a separate line of escalators under the big TV screen that goes up to 3 floors packed with restaurants. Most of them are good, but it will take me a while to try all of them and give you a best of list. However, I particularly like Modern China because it serves delicious Shanghainese and Pekingnese food at an economic price in a cool environment. The only thing is you might have to wait an hour before you eat because they do not take reservations after 6:30 p.m. The good thing is, you can shop while you wait.

10 Floor Food Forum, Times Square, Causeway Bay

3. Isola

On a typical warm day in Hong Kong, the best place to chilax will be at Isola. Their outdoor patio is huge and if you are lucky, you may get a couch table along the glass fencing facing the ocean. I admit, the drinks are pricey (approx. HK$80 a drink) and the food is okay. But really, this is a case where the atmosphere is worth the hard earned dollars you are shelling out. Another thing I find particularly refreshing about this place is that when you sit outside, there is some rule (government or restaurant imposed) where the servers cannot go beyond a few steps into the patio, so your waiter will not bring you the food or drinks, but will come to inform you to fetch it from a little stand they put by the patio door. This is good, I think, because one will always know that it is time to stop with those delectable martinis when one can no longer carry the glass in high heels across the patio...

Isola- IFC mall Central

SORRY!

Dear friends and readers,

In case you wondered where I have disappeared to- place with too much to do and not enough time!

I've realized that moving to a new country, starting a new job and working on a Master's degree definitely hinders my shopping and socializing. But since I cannot avoid those things, I just need to not do certain things that I enjoy such as blogging.

However, do email me if you need restaurant recommendations!

Cheers,

Hong Kong, Finally!

So I have finally arrived in the motherland with my good friends Carm and Mal. Hong Kong is ultra hot and humid and even for this tropical lover, it is a bit of an adjustment. There are tons of people around, shops opening until midnight, and best of all rows upon rows of restaurants.

What would three girls possibly do in a place like this?? Well, shop and eat, eat and shop. It is truly my version of paradise. Restaurants line the streets like Starbucks line the streets of America. There is not one block where you cannot get food. So far, I've been stuffing myself at Hong Kong Style cafes and Noodle and Congee places. I mean, this is what Hong Kong is about, cheap and tasty eats. True, it is more eat to life style where you have to share a table with strangers while shamelessly slurping your noodles. But the noodle is just the right texture, and the broth is deliciously fragrant and the whole thing costs you $2 CDN. So what are you going to complain about?

The best thing is that I just met a new friend called Christina. She loves eating almost as much as I do. And she has been living and exploring all the eateries in HK all her life, so I cannot wait to hang out with her more and give you the insider info on the tastiest most econo way to eat through Hong Kong.

I love my life!!

Deep Dish Pizza

There are a couple things on this foodie's agenda when planning her trip to Chicago. One of this is.....tada......Deep Dish Pizza. Every one seems to know about Uno or Gino's. However, my good friends Peter and Vanessa recommended this place called Pequods. I was a bit skeptical at first because really, who has heard of Pequods? But I trust my friends and crammed an outing to Pequod's on our jammed packed restaurant itinerary.

Pequod's is the typical Chicagon pizza joint where it is dimly lit with booths and wait staff running around with deep dish pizzas they carry around with clamps. I checked out the other tables, and they all have gigantic pan pizzas that looked quite promising, with loads of cheese and meat on them. I don't think vegetarianism is big in a place like Chicago.

Anyways, we ordered Deep fried zucchini for appies and Peter convinced me to have some Cheese Garlic Bread as well. I normally don't want to get filled up with bread before devouring more carbs. But that garlic bread was just too delicious to have only two bites.

Next came the pizzas. Basically, you can pick any toppings you want for a deep dish pan pizza or a thin crust. Pequods are famous for their caramelized cheese crust on their pan pizzas, so we got one with sausage, spinach, and mushrooms. We also got a thin crust one with ground beef, and half with pineapple and half with anchovies. Oh man, they were great. Especially when washed down with a couple pints of cold beer.

So if you are ever in the Chicago area.....

Pequods Pizza
2207 N. Clybourn Ave.
(773) 327-1512

Taste of Chicago

It's true, everything is bigger in America. They even have one of the biggest food festivals around: Taste of Chicago. I first heard of this momentous event way back when I was studying abroad for a semester in Denmark. Back then, my interest in food only lay in cheap and tasty eats, so I didn't have to literally be a "starving student". Imagine my delight when I met a girl named Karen, who loves to cook for friends, and I was an eager recipient of her generosity.

Karen also au paired in Chicago, and told me that for once in my life, I have to go to this crazy food frenzy called the Taste of Chicago where there are aisles and aisles of food for you to sample. I listened, mesmorized, and imagined that is heaven must be like for foodies.

So I took advantage of my summer holiday and the fact that one of my best friends now lives there. It was really my duty to go see her before I took off to HK, so I decided to coincide my visit with this yearly event which takes place around the July 4th weekend. This year, 70 restaurants had a booth there and you can buy 11 tickets for $7. Most entrees cost around 9 tickets. There are also "Tastes", which are samples of a chosen dish for 3 tickets.

And I was not disappointed. We went on July 3rd, which is a big event at the Taste because there is also a firework show for all to enjoy after a nice big dinner. It seemed like every Chicagon and their dogs are here. The only downside is that the crazy crowds really make it difficult for you to enjoy your food without beer being spilt on you, or bbq sauce smeared by the people pushing through the crowd with their newly procured dinner.

Here's what we ate: Robinson's Ribs, Ellie's Cheesecake, BJ's Mustard Crusted Catfish, and Bacino's Stuffed Pizza. And if I had more room, I would also have gotten the bbq turkey legs from Helen's and also this freshly fried chips everyone seemed to have a plate of.

We went back on weekday around noon, and the crowds were much more manageable. So I would go then if I were you. And try the Robinson boneless rib sandwich. It was DELICIOUS.

www.tasteofchicago.us

On Vacation

I know, I am not the most diligent blogger, especially when summer comes and I am consistently on vacation. However, hold your horses, as I am in one of the gastronomical capitals of U.S.A. ....Chicago. I am eating my way through restaurants, going to the Taste of Chicago, and cooking for my dear friends who I am visiting. And I cannot believe that I am on a computer at this moment, as I believe that vacations should be internet and mobile free. I will reminisce about my adventure with you when I get home in about a week.

Btw, I am enjoying a nice glass of riesling and eating a nice piece of Mung Bean Coconut cake that my friend's Mom made for us.

CHEERS!!