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Sasquatch 2010: Part 1

I've been fortunate enough to attend countless Warped Tours, Coachella 2005 & 2006, Sasquatch 2008, Capitol Hill Block Party 2008, Sasquatch 2010, and now, I have exactly 1 week to go until my inaugural trip to Lollapalooza; I couldn't be more excited. There are so many things that I love about a good music festival. To say "the sights, the sounds, and the smells" would be an understatement, but it's the first thing that comes to mind.

With that said, I thought now would be an appropriate time to finally share my experience from this year's Sasquatch with you guys. My second trip out to the Gorge this past Memorial Day Weekend was, as to be expected, an incredible adventure from start to finish. I'll be posting about the actual festival portion soon, but before that, here are some of my photo highlights from our three days of camping.

 

Saturday Brunch at Five Points

Today was my second trip to Five Points for brunch, and the first for my buddy Kai.  When we first made the reservation, we were hyped about getting some fried chicken; but, to our huge disappointment, it's only served on Sundays.  Even without the fried chicken, though, brunch was amazing and I can't wait to go back for another round.

We both started off with Bloody Marys -- unfortunately, I don't have a photo of the drink because I realized today that using a DSLR has caused me to forget how to work my own point-and-shoot.  But, I digress...Five Points' Bloody Mary is a tasty combination of fresh tomato juice, a hefty portion of horseradish and crushed peppercorns, a celery spear, and of course some vodka to provide you with just the right amount of kick to jump-start your Saturday or Sunday morning.  If you're a fan of a "runnier" and/or milder Bloody Mary, this one probably isn't for you.  The Five Points Bloody Mary is a little bit thick and all sorts of spicy.  But that's just the way I like mine, so no complaining on my end!

Since there wasn't any fried chicken to be had, Kai and I both ordered the Pork-Fennel Sausage & Poached Eggs, and I got a side of home fries.  The home fries at Five Points are well-seasoned, but could definitely use some more texture; I prefer my home fries with some "crunch" in them (yeah, hook me up with some of those burnt edges!).  As for the Pork-Fennel Sausage & Eggs, each delicious patty sits between a fluffy biscuit and a perfectly poached egg topped with Hollandaise fondue, and an ace roasted tomato sauce ties everything together.

It's one of those dishes where you can basically concoct "the perfect bite" each time, with the last bite providing just as much flavor as the first.  I'm a huge fan of the Sausage McMuffin at McDonald's, but I'm not sure I'll ever look at a breakfast sausage patty the same way after today.  If Five Points mass produced their Pork-Fennel Sausage patties, I would buy them by the box-load, freeze them, and eat them everyday for breakfast.  But, I doubt that's going to happen anytime soon, which is probably for the better: 1) for my health and 2) for the purposes of having a reason to return to Five Points in the near future.

Food Adventures in Asia 2009/2010: Chapter 2

I am seriously so inconsistent with my updates on this blog, but if any of you like to follow my "Food Adventures in Asia" posts, I promise that I will slowly but surely get through all of them from this past winter break.  With that said...

Shilin Night Market - Taipei

Out of all of the night markets in Taiwan, Jilong is by far my favorite.  The stalls are clean and organized, the food variety and tastes are unreal, and there's an awesome vendor that sells the most delicious mi fun tang (rice noodle soup) where you can pick and choose what cold cuts you'd like on the side...you know, like freshly sliced pork liver.  Unfortunately, it's a little harder to get to the Jilong night market because you have to take a bus for over an hour, whereas the other night markets in Taipei are easily accessible by the MRT for less than 30 minutes.  Next to Jilong, Shilin is definitely my favorite night market.  It also happens to be the most crowded and touristy in Taipei, but there's no denying that their street food is the tastiest.  Here's a selection of good eats that highlights some of my favorite things to get at Shilin.

From left to right: Sheng jian bao (pan-fried mantou/buns filled with pork and/or vegetables), zua bing with egg, Ah Zhong mian xien, and some assorted skewered meat products including duck tongue, chicken liver, chicken  heart, and a bag of tripe (or maybe intestine of some sort -- I can't remember now).

The vendor accidentally packed us some vegetarian shen jian bao instead of the pork ones, but they were still soft, flavorful, and delicious.  The zua bing with egg is something I always get from Shilin because you can't get any zua bing remotely close to as flaky or tasty in the United States. The same goes for Ah Zhong mian xien, which is my personal pick for the best Taiwanese style mian xien (dried wheat-flour noodles) -- plump fresh oysters, chewy large intestine pieces, the perfect consistency of noodles, all swirled into a lovely slightly garlic-y broth -- drop in some fresh cilantro, black vinegar, and red chili sauce, and you've got yourself the perfect bowl of mian xien.  I'm literally salivating as I write this.  There is (or used to be?) a spot back home at Focus Plaza that sells Ah Zhong mian xien, but it's not nearly as good as the original; I actually prefer the da chang mian xien from Nice Time Deli [ RIP :'( ].  And as for the skewered meats, it's not really a trip to Taiwan without a couple of those.  My mom and I make it a point to bring some skewered meats home at least one night in Taipei, so we can kick back and snack while we watch the limited availability of television channels in our apartment, haha.

Anyway, hopefully be back soon with another chapter of my food adventures from asia! Until then, happy eating.

Food Adventures in Asia 2009/2010: Chapter 1

When I went to Taiwan last year, I tried to blog about every one of my food adventures.  I doubt I'll have the time (or patience) to blog about every single one from my recent two-week trip to Asia, but I'm going to try my best to write about some of the most memorable.  With that said, here it is.  Food Adventures in Asia 2009/2010: Chapter 1.

L'ATELIER de Joel Robuchon - Taipei

I love checking out local fare and street food as much as every other traveler, but I also like checking out fine dining establishments to see how chefs either leave their menus relatively unchanged, or cater their menus to local ingredients (and tastes).  When I heard that Joel Robuchon had just opened L'Atelier in Taipei in the Fall, I knew I had to check it out.  Lucky for me, my mom loves to eat as much as I do, so we ended up making reservations for our second night in Taipei.

This was probably one of the tastiest bread assortments I've ever had.  They left the basket out for the entire meal, and by the time we got to the third or fourth course, I had already tried close to every single one.  Some would call that a risky move during an 8 course tasting menu, but when the bread is so delicious, I call it a necessity.

Pig's blood with rock salt shavings -- definitely the most refined way I've ever seen pig's blood served, but it was a little too heavy for an amuse-bouche.  It's possible that Yosuke Suga (previously the exec chef at L'Atelier in NYC) thought that pig's blood would be a crowd-pleaser amongst the asian clientelle; but, honestly, I prefer my pig's blood served with some pork intestine, sour cabbage, and hot oil. 

Raw oyster with caviar and a soy-based paste/soft pudding -- The oyster was plump and juicy, with the perfect amount of caviar that wasn't too salty or fishy

Langoustine served sliced with olive oil and crushed peppercorn -- I love langoustines, so this dish really could do no wrong

Duck foie gras crepe topped with black truffles, served on top of a balsamic reduction -- I liked the concept of the dish (maybe because I like cone shaped crepes), but was disappointed by how the foie gras was chopped into little pieces and mixed with a mushroom medley.  There were too many strong flavors that masked the taste of the foie, and made the truffles almost an excessive garnish.

I don't remember the name of this fish; all I remember is that it was from Australia and was very well cooked -- juicy, flaky, and well-dressed

This was the perfect portion of medium-rare melt-in-your-mouth Japanese Kobe.  Unlike the use of the truffles in the foie crepe, the two shavings here really brought something else out of the beef.  Unfortunately, this lovely dish was served with a side of mashed potatoes (not pictured) that were god-awful.  Too buttery, overwhelmingly creamy, and beaten to a sticky texture like polenta mash.  To make matters worse, my server kept trying to guilt trip me into finishing the potatoes, by reiterating that the dish was the restaurant's "zhao pai" or house specialty.  I had a few spoonfuls here and there, to see if I would acquire a taste for them; but, by the time I finished my steak, I realized that they were just terrible potatoes.  When I left to go to the bathroom and returned, I found that my server had cleaned off everyone's plates, but left my one crock of potatoes.  When he realized I had no plans to finish the side dish, he asked "So you don't like the potatoes, huh."  I looked at him somewhat apologetically and shook my head...but really, I was thinking,  "NO, I don't like your dang potatoes!"

The cheese course is usually one of my most anticipated courses of a meal, especially if there's a cheese cart to admire.  Even if there isn't a cheese cart, I love being able to sample a selection of cheeses.  This course had one sheep's milk cheese.  Strike 1.  It was uber soft, creamy, and pungent.  Strike 2.  There was certainly not enough walnut & raisin bread to cheese ratio!  Strike 3.  Cheese course, you're out.

Citrus and mint sorbet shot -- a great little refresher and introduction to dessert

Mixed berry foam served in a (fully-edible) sugar ornament -- As pleasing to the palette as it was to the eyes

Choice of coffee or tea, served with a single macaron -- the macaron was super delicious, cake-ier than most macarons and not too sweet.  My only beef with this last course was that it had only one macaron.  ONE macaron and no petit fours?  I don't mean to sound selfish, but what a tease for a meal closer.

Overall, minus the mashed potatoes and the cheese course, my dining experience at L'Atelier in Taipei was pretty enjoyable (but not mindblowing in any way).  I doubt I would go there again, but would definitely recommend it to Taiwan residents looking for fine French dining.

The Perfect Bowl of Ramen.

The problem with (most) people and preparing instant ramen is laziness.  I know the package says you can just add hot water, wait for three minutes, and enjoy, but if you just put in a little more time and effort, you can really make yourself an amazing bowl of noodles.

Start with your favorite package of ramen -- mine is spicy Shin Ramyun, which you can pick up at all Asian grocery stores (and even at some of the bigger western chain supermarkets in the "International" section).  Now, the trick is to actually COOK the noodles until they're well done.  Forget your hesitancy to bust out a pot/turn on the stove, or rationalizations that you like your ramen al dente; cook your ramen in boiling water for at least ten minutes on high heat until the noodles become clear (make sure to stir every now and then so the noodles don't burn/stick to the bottom of the pot).  Once the noodles are see-through, you've got yourself some nice chewy ramen.  I also like to crack in an egg or two at the end to add some protein into the mix, and if you have some leftover veggies in the fridge, throw those in too!  The bowl below has some leftover spinach with minced garlic. 

Really, all it takes to make the perfect bowl of ramen is a few extra minutes and some additional garnishes of your choice.  I hope I've convinced some of you guys and gals to keep that in mind the next time you bust out your hot water pot and styrofoam cup full of instant noodles.

Captain Crab! You aiite...

Sunday evening I wanted to go to Boiling Crab in Alhambra with my parents to see what all the hype is about surrounding the local cajun seafood craze that's going on.  I heard from a few people (and confirmed through Yelp) that Boiling Crab is apparently where it's at, and that other imitation places fall really flat.  So, we got there around 5:50 because I read that it gets insane after 6, only to find that the wait was already over an hour and a half! Crazy. If you know me, and if you know Momma Lo, there's really little food worth waiting an hour and a half for, especially in the blistering heat.  I'll wait maybe forty five minutes for chicken and rice in NY, but that is a serious, serious exception to the absolute extreme.  Anyway, we made our way down Valley to San Gabriel to eat at Captain Crab, instead.  Overall, it was pretty good, but I wasn't blown out of the water. 

Personally, I went in with a huge bias because I LOVE me some blue crabs from Baltimore (like, to the point where I once trained out from NY three times in two months just to get some before the season ended).  Eating at Captain Crab was the first time I had "real" cajun style seafood before, and I shouldn't have expected it to be of equal/close awesomeness to the crabs in Baltimore, but I couldn't help it!  Anyway, I'm not sure if this is really how seafood is prepared down South, but everything was personally a little too watery for my taste.  Don't get me wrong -- the seasoning and sauces were delicious, but there's something I find very unappealing about sticking my hands into an industrial size plastic bag of liquid cajun goop and seafood.  As for the crabs, they ran out of blue crabs, so we could only get dungeness.  While my mom complained that they weren't fresh out of a tank, I thought they were still pretty plump and sweet.  Except, I would have appreciated it if they had broken down the crab for us and thrown the pieces into the bag.  Blue crabs are easy (and fun) to go at with a mallet, but a COOKED dungeness crab? That takes some work.  There's really no need for a bib when you're munching on blue crabs in Baltimore, but I see why you need one for these. 

Overall, Captain Crab was affordable and tasty, but not tasty to the point where I am salivating at my computer right now, as I often do when I'm blogging about a recent food adventure.  I'll definitely be checking out Boiling Crab when the wait isn't horrendous to see how it matches up to Captain Crab, but I'm not expecting much...

Sweet potatoe fries -- bomb, especially dipped in the sauce

A pound of fresh shrimp, corn, and sausage in spicy cajun seasoning -- shrimps were delicious and probably the highlight of the meal (would go back to snack on a few pounds of these, instead of getting crab), corn was terrible (either frozen or old, then grilled), and sausage was tasty, but too soft for my taste (kind of felt like hot dog)

Dungeness crab in medium spicy Captain's Mix sauce (a combination of cajun, lemon pepper, and garlic)

Happy July 4th! What? It's August, already!?

Ah well, here are some photos from the little July 4th BBQ we had at home a month ago.  Normally for BBQs we like to go all out and take a more Asian-influenced route -- marinated bone-in galbi, crab, shrimp, squid, clams, chicken hearts and gizzards, kimchi and other spicy pickled goods, Korean potato salad, and sometimes a steak or two for good measure.  Since we didn't have guests over this July 4th, we took it down a notch in regards to the amount of food we prepared.  But, overall still an awesome menu and a super successful day of grilling.  Enjoy!

Gotta have the crudites to munch on throughout the day.  And yes, everything is fresh. Ok, I lied. I cheated with the carrots -- I bought a bag of baby carrots!  The rest I picked and chopped up, swear.

Mushrooms and onions getting grilled

Bone-in ribeye getting some fat grill marks
 
Brats on the left, crab in the middle, chicken wings on the right

Finished meat products

Finished crab -- yes, I see the green onion sprig in the bottom right corner

DIY mexican corn, minus the crema mexicana. The creme definitely works better to get your cotija on the cob, but I think brushing the corn with butter while grilling it does the trick (and shaves off the calories you get with the creme)
 
My mom had two. She also had her first corona and lime and loved it. Guess she was feeling particularly festive, haha.

Comfort Food

Every now and then someone will ask me to list my comfort foods.  For some reason, I'm always hard-pressed to come up with a good answer right on the spot.  I know that the first food items that pop into mind are usually mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, grilled cheeses and tomato soup, maybe some fried chicken, the list goes on.  Comfort food to me definitely encompasses many of those dishes, but one of my favorite comfort foods that I, for some reason, always forget to mention is rice porridge or "xi fan". 

My sister once commented that having porridge reminds her of our grandma, and I wholeheartedly agree.  Having porridge now doesn't just remind me of how my grandma used to always cook it, it reminds me of her voice -- "nini, xi fan hao le! (steph, porridge is ready!), and of her smile and her laugh.  And that, I think, is the essence of what comfort food really is.  It's food that reminds you of family and home.

Now, the Lo household took your typical porridge dinner up a notch tonight.  Normally we just have the porridge and your go-to canned fixings -- spicy fermented tofu (dou fu ru), soy gluten with peanuts (mian jing), pickles, maybe some canned sardines in spicy tomato sauce, and of course pork sung (rou song) and fish floss (yu song).  We definitely had ourselves some rou song and yu song tonight, but we also whipped up some other tasty delights to go with our meal.

Millet porridge (xiao mi xi fan)

Taiwanese pork sausage (xiang chang) with garlic

Firm tofu (dou gan) with some green onions and sesame oil

"Scrambled" eggs with scallions

And some cold tofu with "thousand year old egg", chopped green onions, soy sauce, and sesame oil on top

Starving in Seattle? Not Likely.

What's up party people.  I know.  It''s been a while.  It's been a damn long time since I've posted on here and I want to apologize.  And to those five or six people that still seem to be checking up on my blog everyday, thank you!  I'll have to admit that, for a while, I was getting sucked into the dark side of Twitter and becoming very unmotivated to actually write anything more than 140 characters.  Also, if you've kept up with that, then you know that I've started a separate account just to tweet about my food adventures (www.twitter.com/seesloeat).  Excuses aside, I'm back and ready for action.  And what better way to re-kick off my posts than a blog about the good eats I had in Seattle this past Memorial Weekend.   Here are just some of my personal highlights.

Buffalo Deli -- Joey introduced me to this place last summer when I went up for the Capitol Hill Block Party, and now every time I think of Seattle, I think about how delicious these subs are.  The owner is super awesome and originally from New York, so the last two times I've gone to the store, we always talk about how chill Brooklyn is, and how she's looking to buy property in Red Hook.  Anyway, I always get the house sub here, which in theory, is super simple -- deli meat (turkey pictured here), lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and cheese.  BUT, it's their house made oil and vinegar combined with the perfectly crusty/soft baguette that makes this bad boy so dang tasty.

Salumi's -- Once I heard this was Mario Batali's dad's place, and that they served up some of the finest cured meats in the pacific northwest, I knew I had to go.  The line was out the door at around noon and took about 25 minutes to get through, but the end result was delicious.  I got the special of the day, which was homemade sausage with peppers and garlic spread on a baguette, and also picked up a small container of salami; both were the bomb-diggity-bay.  The place is a little pricey (also, I don't recommend the baked four cheese pasta; it was average. and average should never cost more than 7 dollars), but anyone who loves smoked or cured meats has to check this place out.  Would definitely go again, but set the waiting-in-line cap to 20 minutes.  Anywhere past that, I'd rather just go to Buffalo deli for my sandwich fix.

Folklife Festival -- Checked out  Folk Life (yes, it is exactly what it sounds like -- a weekend full of folk music, vendors, and good times) the same day we got Salumi's, saw a sign for hot bratwursts, and didn't even hesitate to get one.  Honestly, before I die, I want to try as many sausages as humanly possible (and get your mind out of the gutter if you just chuckled to yourself and thought, "that's what she said").  This spicy brat was perfection in a roll.  I've had many sausages and hot dogs in my life, and I'll say that this one had THE most beautiful "pop" in every bite. 

Pike's Market -- We got an assortment of stuff from Pike's for lunch one day.  Fresh King Crab legs, a crab roll, shrimp roll, chowder, and smoked salmon.  It was pretty much the best lunch to have ended my weekend in Seattle with.

With that said, I'll catch you all again soon, because I'm definitely commiting myself to bringing sexy ba--my blog back.

Food Adventures in Taiwan: Chapter 13

Dinner @ Mitsui

Mitsui serves up several innovative Omakases at different price points and some of the freshest sashimi in town, in a clean, hip, and trendy atmosphere -- sort of like Nobu, but with less of a western influence, and better quality and tasting food.  On top of all of that, they specialize in providing fresh crabs flown in from Japan.  Of course, this means you can't really go walking in looking like a total bum, you should probably make a reservation, and you should have yourself some money to drop (although, you actually end up spending less than you would for a comprable meal at Nobu thanks to the power [or lack thereof] of the yuan]).  It's good to note that there are several locations, but the two on NongAn Rd are better than the newer location on DunHua Rd.  We went to the newer one two years ago, and the interior design and decor are a lot cooler than the locations on NongAn, but the food just isn't as great.  Also, I'm sure you're wondering why there are two Mitsui locations on NongAn Rd (in fact, they're right next to each other), but I can't offer you a valid explanation.  One is the original location, and I'm assuming they opened up the second one as a spillover restaurant due to increasing demand for/popularity of the original location; both, are presumably equal in quality and taste.

Anyway, my mom and I opted to not get the traditional Omakase, but rather, designed our own meal.  We purchased a Hokkaido King Crab, told our waitress we'd like a first course of sashimi, and two other hot appetizers, and she basically just recommended what she thought was the best in the house that night.  This place is awesome because you can get your crab served all sorts of ways -- we had ours grilled on a bed of salt with some ginko nuts and lime, steamed and served with seaweed and ponzu sauce, and raw on the side as our shabu shabu "protein" (Yes, my mom and I love shabu shabu).  The only mistake we made, or that my mom made, was to order the entire flipping crab.  We were originally going to order half of one (the minimum order), but my mom didn't want someone's leftover half, so she decided to ball out and get the entire thing.  In the end, yeah it was too much crab, but it was delicious and I annihalated all the leftovers the next day anyway, so no complaints here!  The meat is definitely a lot sweeter than the king crab from home, and the way it's prepared assures that every bite is super tender.  I'm a little sad that I only took a few photos of this particular night out, but I'll leave you with one shot of the crab and a few dessert pics.  Enjoy! =)