travel treats

This past year was scrumptious, spicy, piquant, a little saucy, and plenty delectable. Some of my favorite eats on the road:

Perfectly proper tea at Chocolate Maven in Santa Fe for a refined bachelorette party.

What’s better than birthday cake? How about adorable, precious, and simply sweet tiny pies shared with birthday celebrants under the California sun, at I Like Pie in Claremont.

The freshest fish taco, plucked from the Caribbean shores off the Virgin Islands with a bright seaweed salad and a cool Presidente.

Island breakfast: fresh fruit smoothie, homemade yogurt with toasty oats and tropical fruits. Building a foundation for hours of snorkeling.

My first johnnycake: kind of like a biscuit top (crumbly and soft) with melty cheese in the middle. Island-style grilled cheese that I can get behind.

Crispy on the outside, hot and fluffy on the inside, this homemade conch fritter is like a subtly sweet hushpuppy. Served just steps from clear blue waters with sea turtles sunning themselves at Vie’s Snack Shack in St. John.

The fresh crab salad at the Olde Port Inn at Avila Beach is so fresh and succulent, you might forget to look through your glass table into the waters below.

Why bother getting fresh grilled tacos at a hot rod car show in Southern California if you don’t add the caramelized onions from the gigantic pan? Oh the aroma of smoky onions calls you closer…

Pennsylvania Dutch food can be simple, comforting, homey. It can also be brilliant like this apple and gouda grilled cheese with a smear of sweet apple butter.

But please don’t event think of leaving Lancaster without a slice (or 8) of the sticky molasses bottomed and crumbly struesel-like topped  shoofly pie.

Strawberries and cream from America’s oldest ice cream shop, Bassetts in Philadelphia. There’s a reason this classic ice cream flavor is favored by many: when it’s simply made with the best ingredients, you taste summer down to the last melted drop in the cone.

Pre-partying for BFF wedding duties with fantastic cocktails at the Red Owl Tavern in Philadelphia: Tom Traubert’s Blues and Of Two Minds.

Tackling a wood-oven baked pizza with plump shrimp, sweet corn and avocado while devouring and arugula and strawberry salad with creamy burrata at Revolution Brewing in Chicago. Paired perfectly with the Coup d’Etat.

Parson’s Chicken and Fish is a summertime DO for the Negroni slushy best consumed while making friends at the outdoor picnic tables on a warm Chicago day. Nevermind that it’s not legitimately a Negroni without the Campari, but it is legitimately delicious.

The stuff sugar-dreams are made of: the ooiest gooiest cinnamoniest sticky bun at Little Goat in Chicago.

Can’t decide on breaky? Have eggs-in-a-hole French Toast with strawberries and fried chicken.

Or an Indian-Latin American-Californian hodge-podge like a paratha egg burrito with avocado and beans.

The best part of my entire meal, without a doubt, was that 10AM Vietnamese iced coffee spiked generously with single barrel bourbon: thank you for this revelation.

Take out tasties and delivery diamonds

One thing I have learned from living in the Bay area, is that no matter how much you may enjoy or dread cooking, you always have the option of OK, great, and amazing takeout and delivery. Why leave your neighborhood or sometimes house for delicious good food? Unnecessary. Here are some of my faves:

The tofu banh mi at Saigon Sandwich is less than a fiver and the bread is perfectly shattering in crispness.

Pho is right up the street in Little Saigon, but you can even get delivery if you refuse to change out of pajamas.

Over by B’s place, we frequently lumber over to the dive bar Broken Record, where you can just as easily find a stellar goat cheese, salmon and asparagus omelet with caramelized potatoes and onions as you can get a pint of beer and a game of pool.

Nearby are wonderful bakeries, like a Salvadorean place with all sorts of cakes and cookies.

Pick your filling: guava, pineapple, custard within a not-too-sweet crumbly cookie.

Oh La Boulange, how I love thee. Yeah, you can now find the Bay area’s favorite local bakery chain in Starbucks, but you can’t replicate the charm of each location. I am completely addicted to the morning bun, with its layers of pastry wisps holding a bit of orange sweetness within each swirl.

And don’t forget after-dinner (or after-breakfast?) dessert – the chocolate ganache tart is deep and dark…

…and this seasonal nectarine and berry tart is  bright and cheerful.

Why, hello sweet little apricot brioche doughnut from Arlequin – I’ll be grabbing you in a sleepy stupor and stumbling back home.

For those cold an foggy days, nothing beats a savory broth stuffed with noodles, veggies and pickles from Kaka Udon.

And thank goodness for delivery services, because I can munch on my  corn arepas stuffed with tofu and avocado with a side of sweet plantains from Pica Pica while doing some heavy duty couch-surfing.

Here’s some pocket sized treats from newcomer 20th Century Cafe.

A delicate potato knish will soothe your savory snack craving.

While the tea cake is hiding a fruit treasure, so go ahead and take a big bite.

I really love the tofu banh mi from DragonEats as well, because the tofu is so flavorful and the veggies so crisp that it could be the last sandwich on earth for all I care.

More, please.

Over at Smitten, have your ice cream made to order with a shot of liquid nitrogen.

The smoothest strawberry white balsamic ice cream with a crumble of pistachio brittle.

Bread pudding at the Boxing Room is crisp caramelized brioche doused with salty sweet butterscotch and tangy buttermilk ice cream.

But some things you can’t take out for the full experience, like the tofu temptation at Izakaya Kou with its pungent sauce against wobbly cold tofu.

And alas, Smuggler’s Cove has yet to allow takeout tiki cocktails. I guess some things, like the cozy Goonies/pirate ship ambiance at SC, are worth putting on pants for.

welcome to Austin, where it’s hotter than Cambodia

Recently, I was in Austin, TX, celebrating the birthdays of a few of my favorite Librans (my life is full of Librans that are close to my heart) at the Austin City Limits music festival. I got to spend much needed face time with my pals Niti and Josh in their old/new home state and spend some much needed downtime with birthday boy, and fellow Austin first-timer, B. The good news is that although I didn’t hit up even a tiny percent of the places I wanted to eat at, it was only because I kept getting diverted by other interesting eats (and drinks) along the way. The bad news is that the festival got rained out the last day, so we missed some amazing music. The good news is that we had a free day to spend around the city gorging ourselves with breakfast tacos. The bad news is that despite the rain, its only a few degrees cooler than the temperature on the sun’s surface. I’ll be be back, Austin (when you chill out just a touch more.) You can listen along to these pairings with a (free) Spotify account.

What better way to take your mind off the unobstructed blazing sun, grass sticking to your sweat soaked  ankles, and general feeling of listlessness that overpowers every muscle in your body than the breezy, waves-crashing-ashore harmonies of Local Natives?




The first day was all about acclimation to the sun against our bodies, so there wasn’t a lot of food ingested. There was a lot of snow cones, and beers, and juices, and beers, and water, and beers. One of the few things I ate was the avocado banh mi from Second Bar + Kitchen with a cell-quenching strawberry lemonade. Verdict: too much toppings and not enough avocado, but the real offense was that the sandwich was served on a squishy sweet roll, so it should have been advertised as an avocado-ish HOAGIE. The lemonade was divine, though.  This sandwich was only OK, but what was truly spectacular was that after 30 years, DM still puts on a new wave synth-pop show to shame younger bands. Niti and I sang along to our favorite songs, arm-in-arm, gasping to keep up with their dazzling showmanship and energy.




Breakfast tacos and Tito’s vodka, part of your well balanced Austin breakfast. I can eat these every day (and not just for breakfast). Soft tortillas filled with gooey cheese, soft scrambled eggs, picante sauce and meat or potatoes as you wish. These provided the ballast we needed to soldier through the heat for the long day ahead.  We needed that fortitude to hold our own amongst the sea of fans, by far the biggest crowd for a non-headlining act, for the inimitably smooth flow of the unaffectedly cool Kendrick Lamar. Bottles up.




A full 24 hours after setting foot on Austin soil, my blood finally got acclimated to the heat and my hunger started up again full force. Niti pointed me in the direction of The Mighty Cone for a hot and crunchy avocado. It never, ever occurred to me to deep fry avocado, nature’s most perfect food, but *because* of its perfection it goes without saying that a fried avocado is a mighty tasty avocado.  After spiking the next strawberry lemonade with the contents of our flasks, we enjoyed the sharp but soulful stylings of English rockers Arctic Monkeys.




And then it rained (and rained, and rained, and washed the next day’s concert away.) The last thing I ate at the festival before ducking under an umbrella to watch The Cure serenade a football field of drenched fans is the fantastic spinach and mushroom empanada from Mmmpanadas. The pastry parcel was tender and flaky, and the flavorful filling warmed my cold, wet heart. Hand in hand with B, grinning in the rain as the music washed over us, I was pretty sure this is just the moment that the complex, lush melodies of The Cure’s music is made for.




Oh, but the rain didn’t stop us. We headed out to the flooded streets of Austin and started our evening, at midnight, with another round of tacos. From the upper left: fish, shrimp, carnitas, and egg & potato. We pushed forward into the rainy night, raising another glass to future tacos. We compared notes of the festival so far, and I delighted in the fierce edginess of Savages, who played a brilliant set (despite blistering away in the sun) as if they were born to play these songs.




Alas, the next day of music was not meant to be, so we used our bonus day to eat and also to eat. We started at the Blue Star Cafeteria where I was allowed to indulge in my enduring love for grits. The grits were buttery and smooth, with the perfect tang of cheddar. They were soul-comforting and rewarding on an unexpected level, like the heart-and-brain-engaging country-ish jams of Wilco.




Since we didn’t have anywhere to be, we shared a stack of pecan French toast and a round of all the sparkling breakfast drinks. Crisp, sparkling and sweet can describe the Smith Westerns’ music as well. Like their show at Austin, our brunch was meandering and left us overstuffed. I might stick to them on headphones.




All the drinks, then all the cheeses. That’s what we ordered at Hopfields, a small gastropub bursting with charm and Austin hospitality. After a few beer tastings to choose the perfect accompaniment to our meal, we settled on Belgian style brews to compliment the selection of hand made savory tarts. This place is a little modern, a little rustic, a whole lotta thoughtful and and a whole lotta smart – very much like breakout star singer/songwriter Jake Bugg.




Leaving Austin on a sweet note, and obtaining sweet release indeed from the unyielding heat, we waited in line next to the historic Continental Club for Amy’s ice cream. Although I loathe waiting in line for food, the queue gave us time to tailor our ice cream concoction wish list down to a personal signature creation. In addition to their famous Mexican Vanilla flavor, the have some boozy choices like Honeyed Brandy and Guiness Stout. I walked away with a cup of intensely smooth Belgian chocolate ice cream, with a a free topping of peanut butter cups because I knew the answer to the trivia question that day, hooray! And with Amy’s in town I now I see an upside to the constant heat. Good one, Austin. Let’s celebrate with the garage-rock exuberance of the precocious The Orwells, shall we?

thank you for being a food….I mean, friend.

It’s been a *ahem* number of months hiatus for the blog, folks, but not for my tastebuds. I’ve cooked a bit, and eaten a lot. These past few months have been packed with family and friends, because of which I am renewed and recharged. These next few blog posts are a bunch of my favorite taste memories, quite often recalling laughter, relaxation, and joy. First up, some fun meals out with lovely people involving silly stories, dorky jokes, and plenty of munchies.

The cheese board at Fat Angel has all of the perfect pairings for your cheeses, just add beer from their mile deep selection.

But if you don’t order their piping hot, super creamy polenta fries you consider your evening ruined.

Why have one popover when you can have three? Apples with salted caramel, berries and mascarpone, and egg and cheese makes a well-rounded brunch (with the bottomless mimosas, of course) at Luna Park.

Ridiculous brioche French toast with caramel and ice cream at Farmicia.

Reliving Istanbul at Bursa with tangy haydari and bread and creamy feta prawns.

The ice cream waffle at Kowloon Tong Dessert Cafe is literally that. These ain’t no Eggos, the waffles are chewy and the vanilla and egg flavors really come through.

An SF picnic would not be complete without the Kentucky from the Creme Brulee Cart: candied pecans swimming in bourbon caramel.

sometimes amazing people will make amazing food, likethis neverending italian meal of homemade pasta, grilled lamb and cioppino. feel the love!

and for parties, having friends with excellent taste and talent means black bean and shrimp tostones.

Smoky grilled squid at Majikku Ramen.

You can’t beat their ramen. Don’t even try.

Digging into the last of the heirloom tomatoes of the season at Mateo’s Cocina Latina; and even though this is wine country, it is fitting to indulge in a fresh margarita on a sultry summer day.

They don’t take kindly to cake-ists at the Petaluma Pie Company. Here, their nectarine-blueberry hand pie (if you have giant hands).

Golden poached eggs over rice with fried shallots and nori at 903; a perfect breakfast today to inspire me to share more, and more often.

eating hong kong

Our eating trip….er, I mean sightseeing trip…ended in the other “Asia Lite” of Hong Kong. It was a short stay here, but we managed to cram in a few great meals. You can’t go to Hong Kong and miss out on dim sum:

The best meal of all, dim sum at Maxim’s in city hall. Grab a table right when it opens and then give yourself a pat on the back as the line to get in wraps around and around….

B’s favorite dish of the entire trip: the best shu mai he’d ever had. Piping hot and direct from the kitchen’s steamers, these plump little dumplings are filled with minced pork and shrimp then tipped off with crab roe for a punch for saltiness.

I always order cheong fun at dim sum. Sometimes I’ll even share these slippery shrimp-stuffed rice crepes with other patrons at the table. Or I’ll get myself an extra plate. Or two….

You can’t go to Hong Kong and not have an egg tart. You can get them in fancy dim sum parlors, or stop in any bakery while traipsing through town for a quick warm, sweet, eggy fix.

Of course, we went to Din Tai Fung again. The menu here was totally different than the one in Singapore, so we had more to explore.

And of course, we also had to compare the xiao long bao in Singi to the ones in HK. Yup, those soup dumplings never broke until they reached your mouth and then watch out for that delicious explosion. Maybe we should’ve ordered another steamer to make sure….

Shredded greens with tofu was a stunner, with the nuttiness of sesame oil and chewy bits of tofu.

Bean curd with black mushrooms and soybeans had great chewy texture and even greater savory flavor.

The menu was like a catalog, pages and pages and pages of options. We did our our best to navigate it until our stomachs pleaded for mercy.

Walking around Kowloon in the Temple Street night market area, you’ll be surrounded by crowds of people chowing down on all corners.

We barely had to pause our stride to pick up some fresh baked goods.

When in HK, make sure to stop by a traditional dessert cafe. Baked sago pudding looks like mac and cheese.

Under the pearls of tapioca is a layer of sweet taro pudding.

Don’t think pudding has to end with chocolate or vanilla, here is a silky tofu pudding that is just barely sweet and topped with ripe fruit.

Or top your tofu pudding with fruit jelly, like the mango one here.

Or a parfait with cake crumbs and mascarpone-like creamy pudding.

You can get a hundred kinds of dessert soups, hot or cold. Here, a cold sweet almond milk soup with mochi-like ice cream dumplings. Accompany your sweet with milk tea, a sweet condensed milk tea that was traditionally strained through silk stockings.

eating vietnam

My first thought when boarding the plane leaving Vietnam: how soon can I get back here?

Vietnam is for eaters. Food is not mere sustenance here: food is art, food is culture, food is family, food is heritage, food is nature, food is “hello” and “welcome” and also “thank you.”

Vietnamese food is as different in the North from the South as it is from the city to the countryside, but in every street-food stall, artisan bistro and hotel cafeteria you will be spoiled with incredibly fresh and flavorful ingredients treated with respect. And luckily for me, it hits all my favorite tastes in one blow: sour, salty, spicy and sweet.
Everything is beautiful in Vietnam (and all drinks come with two twisty straws).

Mr. Pho Master, please make me your pho – with the melt in your mouth noodles and a heavenly-scented life-affirming broth.

Unfortunately, I was ill for my first few days in Vietnam. I found that loading up on these gentle carbs for breakfast gave me back some pep in my step: rice porridge (congee) with shrimp,  pho noodle soup without meat but with kaffir lime/chili sauce/fish sauce/basil and cilantro, and the fluffiest egg fried rice.

Upon our arrival at one hotel, we were greeted with a dragonfruit juice box.

Choosing breakfast on the streets of Ha Noi.

Fluffy-chewy steamed banh bao with pork and quail egg. Beats an Egg McMuffin any day.

Fresh baked French rolls for banh mi.

Making banh mi with pate, jalapenos, pickled veggies, and chili  sauce.

Pork pate banh mi.

Oh, it’s so sloppy to tear in half, but its so tasty in your mouth. The best breakfast sando of all: omelet banh mi with all the spicy, tart fixin’s.

The Vietnamese have a lovely culture of stopping your day for a tasty beverage. We indulged in many. Like this iced hot chocolate.

Every few hours, B and Adam would grab a ca phe sua da (an intense and brilliant Vietnamese iced coffee, with condensed milk) for the chill, the sugar, and the caffeine. At night, they’d take theirs hot.

And throughout the day, we’d load up on “healthy drinks”: fresh fruit blends and yogurt smoothies. I was always partial to the limeades. These also came with two straws, but they were never the twisty ones….

A typical afternoon snack, surrounded by a multitude of glasses per person: alcoholic beverage, fresh fruit drink, water, and then a iced or hot coffee to finish.

Goi cuon (fresh spring rolls) and cha gio (fried spring rolls) with tasty nu’oc cham for dipping.

Pho Ha Noi. The flavorful beef broth is punched up with fresh herbs and limes, and yes, even an egg yolk.

Ca kho to: caramelized fish with chilies, cooked and served in a clay pot that helps develop the thick gooey sauce.

Can not wait to have this again: banh xeo is a light-as-air crispy crepe stuffed with shrimp and bean sprouts, and served piping hot.

The white rose dumplings of Hoi An: translucent and ephemeral dumplings with shrimp and topped with fried onion.

Artfully plated garlic chili prawns.

Nutty noodles.

Money bags in Da Nang: crispy wonton bundles packed with juicy shrimp.

Bia, bia, bia.

Our first night in Da Nang we didn’t even have Vietnamese food , but it was irrelevant because even the Italian fare was amazing when you have an ocean of fresh seafood nearby. Here, a quite delicious spaghetti frutti di mare.

When in doubt, get the seafood. You will not go wrong.

The market in Hoi An.
In the Hoi An market, lunch time  means com ga – chicken rice.
Everywhere you go, you have to try the soups. Here, a subtle and delicate shrimp and egg soup.

And here, a more hearty sweet and spicy shrimp soup.

Did I mention bia, bia and bia? They’re so cheap you can try them all.

Beautiful Hoi An is chock full of eating delights around every winding corner.

For dessert, a passionfruit pannacotta (with a ca phe sua and a fresh mango smoothie and a water and a kaffir lime margarita on the side….)

Bun rieu cua is my favorite thing that I ate in Vietnam: a salty sweet tomato broth heavy with sweet crab, egg, fried tofu and slippery rice noodles. Come to mama!

Thinner than paper banh cuon: ghostly rice crepes stuffed with minced mushrooms and pork.

T0o many peppers to choose from.

Cha ca from Ha Noi: fish grilled in turmeric and served with a generous amount of dill.

Bo xao rau: grilled beef with beautiful veggies.

Local specialties in central Vietnam: mee quang turmeric noodles with shrimp, home made braised tofu, and cao lau udon-like chewy noodles with pork. The tofu seems simple enough, but this was the best bean curd I’ve ever tasted: braised with soy and ginger for savory flavor, and crispy (not greasy) on the outside with a creamy molten-hot center that melts in your mouth. The secret to authentic cao lau is that the noodles have to be cooked in the water from a single ancient well from the town of Hoi An.

That was just the first course: caramelized pork, seafood pho, and braised beef to round out those bellies.

Even better than nachos: crab and shrimp in a spicy tomato sauce served on deep fried shatteringly crisp wonton skins.

In the hot, hot middle of the day the most refreshing thing is a seafood salad. Here: lightly poached prawns with pomelo fruit (like a grapefruit) with peanuts, basil, and mint.

Get your fresh fruit on the go.

By roadside eats, I mean right there on the road.

And on every sidewalk…

 Day and night: at all hours, there will be eating.

eating cambodia

Next, our merry band of eaters traveled to Siem Reap, Cambodia, to witness the majesty of Angkor Wat. Boy, is Cambodia hot. Really, really, really hot. I was shocked that I could eat anything but all that sightseeing does stimulate your appetite, especially if there were 2-3 fresh fruit juices and smoothies in between for icy cold sweet refreshment.

Our insane hotel breakfast: fresh fruit including dragon fruit and the sweetest pineapple ever, homemade yogurt that is thick and sweet, flaky sweet pastries like coconut cake, simple veggie soup, and made to order veggie omelet with soy sauced green beens. Yup, ready for a brutal day in the sun!

Cambodian breakfast: soft noodles with beef, morning glory (a green like a more stemmy spinach) and a fried egg.

Lok lak: peppered beef, rice and fried egg for a roadside breakfast after watching the sun rise over the temple. The deceptively simple  chicken broth on the side was amazing – savory and delicate.

Cambodian street food: chargrilled fish.

Survival in the heat: fresh kaffir lime juice with simple syrup to adjust for sweetness (why don’t they do that here in the US? it’s brilliant).

Miss Wong’s serves up small bites alongside their vintage Shangai-inspired cocktails like this tea-infused broth packed with earthy mushrooms, tofu and bok choy.

A fluffy Chinese bun with barbecue pork for B.

More traditional Khmer food: aromatic coconut chicken soup with prawn spring rolls and beef and mushroom salad

Traditional Khmer dessert: barely sweet coconut cream and fresh fruit.

Fight fire with fire: on an exhaustingly hot day the only comfort was a dip in the pool with an ice cold Angkor beer and fiery Thai basil-shrimp stir fry with fried egg poolside.

Fish with kampot pepper, caramelized pork, stir fry veggies and chicken skewers.

Fruit crepes: mango, dragonfruit, papaya with a passionfruit dipping sauce.

Fried bananas with caramel. I’m not a huge banana fan, but the tiny bananas in SE Asia are so sweet and flavorful that we always had some around.

There was a ton of other things to try that we just didn’t have time for, so we stopped by the local market to bring even more new tastes home. Everything is labeled clearly with instructions and the wonderful Cambodian people are eager to help you.

For home, we stocked up on some a mok seasoning (for curried fish a mok), kampot black pepper, dried fruits, and loose leaf teas. I’m ready to start cooking!

eating singapore

Are you hungry? You should probably stop right now then. See, one thing I learned from traveling to Southeast Asia with two fun- and food-enablers is that delicious eating is everywhere. Cheap food is pouring out onto the sidewalks because the giant megaplex shopping fortresses can’t contain it all. Even in the unstoppable heat, the enticing aroma of sizzling garlic, or just-baked sweets, or the ripest, sweetest fruit possible stoke the fire of hunger and melt away any willpower.

First off, visiting my brother  in Singapore (or as I call it, Asia Lite). This affluent island city-state is a beautiful stir-fry of many cultures and cuisines. If you’re not shopping in Singi, you’re probably eating.

What better way to start off then Sumaiya’s baked eggs with beans (and imported sriracha from California)?

We were spoiled by Sum’s home cooking: for lunch an incredible seafood paella and sweet and spicy curried pumpkin.

Now that’s a beautiful lobster.

My brother took us to celebrate Chinese New Year the way that hundreds of other families do: on the waterfront, with sticky chili-sauced fingers picking apart crab.

This is all that was left over: empty shells.

To start: black pepper crab. The fiery, dry, smoky flavor is in perfect contrast to the juicy sweet crabmeat.

Adam demonstrates the size of that meaty Sri Lankan crab claw.

The revelation that is cereal shrimp: the antidote to greasy deep-fried shrimp. These shrimp were plump, sweet and juicy and the breading stayed crispy and crunchy and dry with a just a hint of corn sweetness.

Behold, the chili crab! The enormous crab is swimming in bright, red, sweet and (just a little spicy) chili sauce. Don’t wear a white shirt to tackle this (unless like Adam, you are a pro).

Otah: steamed curried fish paste. Definitely a texture to get used to.

Don’t forget the chicken and beef satay.

Food at the hawker centers (indoor street-food stands) are so cheap that it’s hardly worth it to cook at home. Each stall specializes in just a few dishes.

My favorite Singaporean breakfast/ snack/ all day eats is kaya toast: thick fluffy sweet white bread perfectly toasted or grilled  and then slathered with pandan-flavored coconut curd. I got busted for taking this picture of making toast, lest I be stealing company secrets?

Sorry this is the best picture I got of our kaya toast because we devoured it in seconds. And then got a few more boxes to take home. Pandan is a grass that gives the coconut an aromatic vanilla-ish flavor. The key is to top this caramelly sweet coconut jam with a sliver of salted butter to melt all over it – think melted butter over maple syrup. Traditionally eaten with hot coffee and a bowl of runny eggs.

Another favorite: roti-curry.  (I can eat this all day long). Hot, flaky roti paratha griddled in ghee is the perfect vehicle for delivering to your mouth the richest curry sauce. The secret combination of what tastes like 38 herbs and spices impart a deep complexity to the curry. Forget nachos, I’m bringing this to the next superbowl party.

Din Tai Fung: Michelin-starred Taiwanese mall food.

We had already planned on hitting DTF in Hong Kong, but couldn’t resist when we saw one in Singi too.

Makin’ dumplins.

Prepare for yum.

First, a refreshing cold cucumber plate drenched in a soy-garlic sauce.

The most incredible hot and sour soup to grace our palates. The softest of  noodles and earthiest of broths rich with black mushrooms. And just look at all that black pepper on top! This will kill your cold for sure.

DTF’s famous xiao long bao. These are truffle/pork soup dumplings, so the delicate dumpling wrappers yield only in your mouth (not on your chopsticks) with an explosion of savory hot broth.

Lau Pa Sat hawker center in central Singapore is detailed with architectural flourishes. Just remember to bring a packet of napkins because there are no napkins there and also you can reserve your table by placing them on top while you go food foraging.

This gentleman has a a big ol’ flat top in his stand for making the Middle Eastern inspired murtabak. He stretches out roti dough into a giant rectangle and then fills it with eggs, tomato, mushrooms (and whatever else you want) and then the incredible envelope of goodness is cooked on the flat top for the perfect char.

The murtabak takes up a whole tray. Like roti, you dip this all-inclusive meal into the savory hearty curry sauce. Breakfast sandwich of champions.

This gentleman is cooking up some noodles for a bowl of some spicy laksa.

Really spicy.

A beautiful bowl of Malaysian laksa, spicy coconut curry soup with noodles and bean curd.

Hong Kong style dumplings: shrimp and chive dumplings,  scallop dumplings, and shu mai (shrimp and pork). The sweet marshmallowy red bean buns on the right were some of the best we ever had.

Another favorite of mine, but I am a sucker for smoky rice noodles that are filled with crispy charred bits. Char kway teow is served up with shrimp and egg and bean sprouts and slathered in a sticky black soy sauce.

Our hawker stand finds. This is for 5 people. Please note that the empty lower left quadrant is reserved for pitchers of beer and chili prawns (not pictured, too busy stuffing face).

As my brother escorted us to the airport, we continued to gorge until the plane carried us away. B tried the famous Hainan chicken rice. Quite simply, chicken that is delicately poached in a gingery stock forming a crispy gel “skin”, with rice that’s cooked in the remaining stock. Seek this out if you are not a fan of the otherwise deliriously spicy and chili-filled treats in Singapore.

Throughout our stay in SE Asia I indulged in my favorite one-bowl meal: seafood noodle soup. This version is packed with prawns, chewy buckwheat noodles, and green onions in an umami-powered broth. Always get the condiments (fish sauce, soy sauce, chilis, and a fresh wedge of lime) for doctoring it up to your standards.

tennessee treats

For B’s birthday we swung over to visit our buddies in Nashville for biscuits and honky tonk and hop-skip-jumped over to Memphis for sweet tea and blues. Here’s the scoop:

After a night of country crooning and honky-tonk dancing in Nashville, we stopped by the famous Loveless Cafe for some of their prized biscuits.

I am so intrigued by Goo Goo pie.

There’s no better to way to wake up in the afternoon than with a mason jar full of ice cold peach sweet tea and a sidecar of moonshine.

Yes, there was.

Our (first) plate full of tender biscuits and gooey jam – blackberry, peach, and strawberry. Our wonderful waiter boxed up another plate to go for our drive to Memphis.

The perfect biscuit: light, airy, fluffy, with a delicate crumb, salty with butter and topped with sweet jam bursting with strawberries.
A southern breaky: BBQ pork over johnnycakes and a side of grits. That’s what’s up.

I got a side of these cornmeal dusted fried green tomatoes – crunchy, crispy, and tart.

Making Loveless biscuits.

 

On to Beale St, lit up even in the rain and cold, for Memphis’ blues and booze.

I love any town that will fry your catfish to go. I would like an order of everything, please!

Yes, it was.

The line between music and blues blurred further.

The night was light on bites, and heavier on brews (we did have a birthday to celebrate) and I was intrigued by the signs of sweet tea vodka all over. I bought into the marketing and have to say, it was delicious and tasted like a fresh pitcher of tea without a weird aftertaste. We may have ended up having some of this straight up…

Like New Orleans, Memphis allows you to take your adult beverages onto the street to hear the next band at the next club. This lovely gentleman was a great ambassador to the city of Memphis, and he will make street legal margaritas for you.

We ended that night on a classier tip, with cocktails at the stunning historic Peabody hotel.

On the way to Graceland, we made sure to stop by Elvis’ joint, the Arcade – a classic diner with no-frills hearty eats.

 

There’s no better way to head off to Graceland after a crazy night on Beale St, than polishing off pitchers of ice cold sweet tea and turning up Elvis on the radio.

picnic in the presidio

San Francisco takes full advantage of its indian summer. In fall, while the rest of the country is bristling against the crisp autumnal wind, this city is shrugging off the chilly shroud of fog and snuggling up against lazy days of sun. They don’t last long, these gifts of warmth – so the city’s green spaces are littered with sun-worshippers laying out post-brunch or post-hangover.

This past month, the city really upped the rewards by offering Picnic at the Presidio – an invitation to take over the main lawn of the Presidio, amid its gorgeous views at the base of the Golden Gate bridge, with other like-minded laze-abouts.  Brought together by the good folks at Off the Grid, they sweetened the pot with a DJ pumping out old school summer jams, bocce ball courts and balls, and of course a string of amazing food stalls from local restaurants. Oh, and did I mention the wagons of mimosas and bloody marys rolled up straight to your blanket. We gathered some buds and some picnic essentials from my local Spanish and French importers and joined the party, soaking up the last days of sun with a clear view out onto beautiful San Francisco bay.