Urggggh….
Recovering from last night’s dinner. Which consisted of:
2 slices of pizza and a diet Pepsi
Grey Goose martini, twist, extra dry
Stella Artois
Pint o’Guinness
Jagermeister shot
bottle of Bud
Jagermeister shot again
another Pint o’Guinness
Sapphire Tonic
It’s da Liquid Diet!!
Broke two of my big drinking rules (besides mixing different types of alcohol): No Jager (it’s like cough syrup without the positive side effects) and No Bud (not the greatest beer).
I’m paying for it now…can you not type so loud??
Opening Day (night)
The deluge known as the spring rains has lifted, albeit briefly. Today was a sunny day! See? Blue skies over my backyard!
Almost forgot how blue the sky can get…
Which means that it will be a dry evening. What’s for dinner?
Yeeeeeah! Meeeeeeeat!
Continuing on the “let’s grill some meat” theme started in Oz, here’s dinner via the first grilling of the season!
A “natural” New York Steak, 1 inch thick and looking deeeelicious!
The grill fired up just fine. A bit surprising since the charcoal bag got soaked when the basement got flooded a few months back…
erm..Fire. Yeah, that’s hot.
A few minutes on the grill
Then, perfection!
That’s called “medium rare”. Burp.
Which is more that can be said about the Giants’ Opening Night last Friday (7 April). I got a last minute phone call from a couple of friends about an extra ticket and a pre-game party.
Hey, I’m only human! I braved the rain (that was coming down in buckets) and the traffic (nothing worse than a San Francisco driver except a San Francisco driver in rain…) and the “great parking space hunt” to get downtown for free dogs, beer and snacks. And a game ticket.
and a two hour rain delay ! Look at that drenched tarp!
The worst thing was that there was the delay and then the jints decide to walk 8 runs during the top of the 7th. It was 2300. It was time to go home.
Sooo cold and miserable and wet (because it had started to rain again), we made our way home. The Giants need pitching reeealy bad!
Meeeeeeeeat! For Apple…
A good thing to do after you get off the plane is to get a meal. A good meal. Or, if it’s too late, maybe just a big sandwich from a legendary deli.
Now THAT’s a pastrami sandwich! Dun get points for neatness. Burp.
Late night snack
Yup, it’s just like being back in Uni again…
Anti VD dinner
Based on the blogs I regularly read, there’s a general sense of apathy about VD (valentine’s day) except for one lucky blogger who got an Ixus (but does it walk?) for her VD gift.
If you can’t tell already, I too, fall under the “VD, so what?” crowd. So on VD (or VN?), I had a small cook-over with a couple of frens (single too).
Since we are all guys here, the menu was simple:
Thick NY Steaks (two of us ate this)
Chicken Breast with salt and pepper with garlic inside (the other one ate that)
Angel Hair with olive oil and parmasian (all eat)
2001 Domaine La Roquette Chateauneufdepape (all drink, some more than others)
I should mention here that it was 10C (50F) outside (with 5c (41F) wind chill) when I started the coals. It was soooo cold and windy, that the wind, instead of feeding the coals, was actually COOLING them!! But I WAS smoking a cigar while cooking, so I guess that’s the trade-off. Pain vs. Pleasure.
For dessert, three bottles of nihonshu, one nigori (unfiltered). That’s sake for the rest of you. See the bottles in the post below? Gone!
Then ended the evening, driving one of the guests home. Which means he drank most of the booze. Burrp. Best thing was, with a good meal and good booze, no hangover!! *whispering*
Back into it
So, after being under the weather for about a month, I’m got an appetite and it’s cold and rainy.
It’s time for ma-bo-to-fu!
It’s time for Spices!
But not the one on 6th Avenue, the original one on 8th!
Nice spicy burn your tongue goodness just waiting to be poured over faan and devoured!
Burp.
Dine and Dish: Asian Persuasion
Sarah from The Delicious Life has arranged a Dine and Dish with an Asian theme.
What it means that on Tuesday, 6 December, bloggers should eat somewhere Asian and blog about it. Which means that on my blog, it’s Tuesday, 6 December A LOT!
So this evening, after my noise-reduction headphones died on the airplane (filling my left ear with the kind of static that makes things fall out of one’s ear) and my subsequent arrival into Tokyo, I needed some food at a reasonable time.
I’m staying at the Juyoh Hotel again, in the Taito-Ku ward of Tokyo. This is “cheap lodging” central for Tokyo, and though it’s a bit off the beaten track, kanna beat Y2990 a night with free broadband! However, they have competition that’s a block closer to the JR/Metro stations. I may check them out next visit here. They also have free broadband allegedly. I’m holding my breath for an English version of their website…
Anyhoo, there’s a commercial block nearby with the usual bakeries, coffee shops and booze shops. And this soba shop.
When you walk inside, there’s the usual table and chairs. And to the right is a tatami platform with the short tables for you to eat at. Being the masochist I’ve been accused of being, I chose the tatami.
Singapore was 32 degrees. HKG was 11. Tokyo is 5 degrees at 2310 hours. Yeah, it’s cold. And it’s time for one of my favourite dishes in this kind of weather, tempura soba! The other dish I like in cold weather is ma-bo tofu over rice. Both of these dishes are great and hits the comfort food spot if done right. Done wrong, it makes my stomach like a brick and leaves me craving for a McDonald’s double cheeseburger.
The soba was good; it was springy and not soggy. The tempura was dark (an ebi and an jalapeno pepper) which usually means it was fried in old oil. But the soup went overboard with the MSG. But not too much that I got sick because of it. I liked the big side of scallions that came with it. Mmmm. Bad breath!
Mmmmm Mak’s Noodle! And Yum Cha, and Daan Taat
I’ve broken one of my HK traditions, sorta. I arrived on Wednesday PM late, ate a LOT on Thursday and will bug out to Republik Singapura on Friday AM. Then I’m returning to HKG on Monday PM and bugging out AGAIN to NRT the following AM. Yes, this trip is panning out to be the “fastest Asia trip ever”. And my trips are usually anything BUT speedy.
I met up with a friend here in HKG that happened to be on holiday from the land of tax, I mean the United States. He was able to help me gather information about Hoiping and how to get there. After we got all that info, we were kickin8 for most of the day. Which meant a little bit of shopping, meeting his frens and doing a LOT of eating.
So back to the breaking of tradition. No Tsim Chai Kee this trip. Even though they got spiffy new digs right next door to their former location. Gotta go there when I return next March!
Instead, we went to Mak’s Noodle.
It’s right across the street and it’s HK$25 a bowl, probably the most expensive in HKG. But the noodles were springy, with just the right amount of give, the wontons were stuffed, but not too stuffed and the gai-lon was cooked just so, not too much or not enough.
In short, it was a nice balanced HK supper. And was worth the premium. I like!
Before that it was a late (1400) yum cha in Mong Kok. Imagine a typical HK scene. Three people at the table yapping away. Then 6 steamers came to the table, stacked one atop of the other. In unison we went, “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!” I think I was the loudest one. And the tables around us looked at us with happy amusement. Yes, yum cha is a joyful thing.
Then the rattling of chopsticks and the business of eating began.
But even BEFORE that, we began this “day of eating” at Tai Cheong Bakery in Mong Kok. MK? Yup. And in a mall, no less. See, after I queued up at their old location in Central back in May and they closed, they opened a new location in Mong Kok in July. Then they reopened in Central up the block in September. So Hong Kongers didn’t have to go cold turkey without their daan-taat fix.
Funny thing was that my friend finally realized that these were the daan-taats that his mum would bring home when he was little and living in Hong Kong. And I think he would agree that these ARE a big deal.
The night ended late with yet another meal at a HK steak place. Then it’s off to Singapore via heaven, I mean Singapore Airlines! Am looking forward to real service and food, especially having been subjected to UAL and it’s AFA “flight attendants” for 14 hours.
The Delicious Life!
This is a blog I found while looking for stuff for my Anthony Bourdain entry.
enter The Delicious Life!
She’s a transplanted midwesterner currently in Southern California (AKA, heaven on earth) dining her way through the basin. A good writer and funny too!
Although, I wonder if she’s ever made it to Chano’s?
Anthony Bourdain’s TV show
That new tagline at the top of the blog was pinched from his TV show, No Reservations.
It’s a fun show. He’s sarcastic on camera, but incredibly courteous to people he meets and interacts with on his travels.
He eats, smokes, drinks and does unusual things wherever he is. And gets paid for it. In other words, he’s got my dream job, lah!
Quite observant too. For example, when in Iceland during the winter, “It’s dark. A lot”.
Kanna beat wisdom like dat…
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