Sep/090
the perfect meal
tony bourdain, food writer, former chef, television host of ‘no reservations’ has this game he plays with chefs . . . or anyone. if you were having your last meal, what would you eat? there’s a multitude of choices that i would think of, in-n-out double double, bockwurst from top dog in berkeley, shui jiao from northeast jiaozi king, but this would certainly be high on my list.
wonton noodles from jim tsai kee in hong kong. the purists at chowhound aren’t particular fans, but for me, this is the perfect combination of big meaty wonton and spring chewy noodles and nice broth.
jim tsai kee
wellington street near the escalator
wonton noodles $15 hkd
central, hong kong
Sep/090
the lights of national day
beijing might be having all of the practice what with all the tanks and dancing girls and everything.
but we got lights in shanghai.
lights!
Sep/090
you scream, i scream, we all scream for risotto
taking the woai cooking challenge, i cooked dinner for myself tonight.
asparagus risotto with feta salad
1. first sweat 1 medium sized red onion in some butter and olive oil in a saute pan, while heating up chicken or vegetable stock (about 1 liter) in a sauce pan.
2. along with the onions, place finely chopped asparagus in the butter and olive oil, and stir until onion pieces are translucent/clear.
3. add arborio rice to the saute pan and about half a cup of white wine – cook the white wine down
4. as the wine cooks off, begin adding stock by the ladle and stir stir stir. let each ladle of stock cook into the rice and get creamier and creamier.
5.when the rice is al dente, stir in several shavings of a nice parmesan or other hard cheese.
6. i served mine with a salad, made with homemade dressing, feta, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Sep/094
packing
so i’m going on a trip.
it’s a long trip. well, not that long, but my longest trip in a few years. it’s about 2 weeks. 1 week will be vacation. 1 week will be work.
it’s continuous, so i need to bring everything i need with me. suits, ties, collared shirt for work. shorts, camera, guidebook, t-shirts, for play.
thats my spare bedroom which has been turned into packing triage.
Sep/090
seen in shanghai
the scene: gourmet cafe at the shanghai center. lunch. eating a holy guacamole burger.
seen: the most hipster dude i’ve ever seen. it was like a collection of all of the hipster cliches. riding a speedcat fixed gear bike, a scoop neck t-shirt, self-cut raw denim capris/jhorts (ca-johrts? jean-pris?) and ironic retro 80s era sunglasses.
the
Sep/090
portrait of an lbx
portrait of a laobaixing.
saw this on shanghaiist - apparently these guys are going to ride around china on bicycles and take photos along the way. the photo blog up til now has been pretty awesome – and the trip sounds pretty amazing. i plan to be following online as they go. and to be honest, i’m pretty jealous.
Sep/092
pho sizzlin’
i would make a lame pho pun here, but they’ve already been made. (shanghai alone is already home to pho king and pho real – it’s only missing what the pho?)
despite the fact that in about a week, i’m going to be in ho chi minh city, i went to pho sizzlin’ last night for dinner.
like the rest of the new pho restaurants in shanghai, pho sizzlin’ is okay but not really hitting the spot when it comes to pho. the meat is decent, not great. the noodles are good not great. but in terms of places around here i can walk to (hong kong is a bit far to go) pho sizzlin will at least hit the spot when i would like some lunch.
this is maybe the most luke-warm recommendation ever, but that’s pretty much my feelings on pho sizzlin’
Sep/096
wait . . . japanese curry from mcdonald’s?
in the interest of trying every fast food formulation available, and also possibly taking years off the back end of my life, i succumbed to the constant barrage of mcdonald’s advertising and walked in to my local mcd’s and ordered a japanese curry chicken sandwich (with egg!)
before you judge me. or rather, before you judge me more, you have to understand a couple of things:
1. i love fast food. i grew up eating mickey d’s. in-n-out. carl’s jr. taco bell. del taco. subway. green burrito. bravo burger (yay san dimas!). i attribute it to being a latch key kid and growing up in la where the car culture leads to food on the go.
2. i love japanese curry. coco curry house is one of my favorite lunch haunts. i also really liked bee curry house in hong kong
3. i’m highly susceptible to advertising. maybe it’s my love of “mad men.” maybe i’m an idiot. maybe i just like to be sold.
4. i have a slight preference for mcdonald’s in only that they were a client of mine in 3 different places, 2 different continents, and for 2 different companies. they paid for 2 giant projects in taiwan and in the philippines and also were one of my favorite clients in houston.
so with the constant repetition of the television commercial, i thought, “what the heck, i’ll blow 9rmb on this sucker”
verdict: i don’t know if you’ve ever seen stephen chow’s “god of cookery” , but there’s a scene where he’s complaining about the curry fish balls that are within in his bowl of “assorted noodles.” he says “there’s no fish taste to these fish balls, but you wanted to use the curry taste to cover up the lack of fish taste – however, the curry taste is only superficial and on the surface and hasn’t penetrated the fish balls, so you end up with curry fish balls with no curry taste AND no fish taste.”
while the sandwich wasn’t disgusting or anything, it certainly lacked both a convincing curry taste and nothing more than a preliminary chicken taste. on the other hand, it’s mcdonald’s – what do you REALLY expect?
mcdonald’s – they’re EVERYWHERE man. Well, only 1000 stores in mainland china.
japanese curry chicken sandwich (with egg!) – 9rmb