Bon Vivant

Korean Barbecue – A Hard to Kick Habit

Hailey — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 19:51:04 +0000

Hubby and I are both carnivorous, yes we love eating meat, and one of our greatest pleasures is eating Japanese err.. Korean barbecue.

Obviously, there are hundreds of places here in LA to enjoy Korean Bbq, particularly in Korea town. Though I despise eating the grilled meat inside the restaurant because you will come out smelling smoked meat afterwards.

Even so, it’s a win-win situation, considering that you will be able to indulge in an array of meat and vegetables in front of you but must go easy with soju, Korean version of Japanese Sake.

You’d probably would not think we are currently in an economic downturn from the hubbub and bustle at the Korean barbecue restaurants, as at early as 5:30 pm, diners are packed waiting for the tables at the reception area.

Mobile phones chirping, , exclusive suites inflated with get-together as well as in the garden-like, outdoor eating spot outside of the weighty glass doorways, a large number of celebrations are positioned on the table-top.

There are numerous locations comparable to this in Taipei, and they are most likely pretty much identical. Basic distinctions… certain areas offer to eat all you can at a fraction of cost, as compare to US, the price is like gold.

However, Taiwan fixes all of this just about everything food related, Korean/Japanese bbq is actually super economical. You spend NT$ 399 (equivalent to US$13) for all you are able to consume, it’s cheap isn’t it?.

Grilled meat! This picture was taken at one of the bbq places in Taipei called 我!就厲害. I am convinced the only real things around the barbecue grill in this photo are pork belly and beef short ribs. Once the fat from the meat melted onto the fiery coals… darn, that aroma is one thing you simply cannot identify or perhaps duplicate beyond a bbq place. It is a cooking wonder as you would expect. The particular smell alone is sufficient to make myself crazy.

Panoramic View and Blue Linen

Hailey — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:09:05 +0000

I feel like am on top of the world just gazing upon this bedroom overlooking the panoramic view outside. It feels like a massive painted canvas hanging on the wall, I could stay on this room forever.

Check out the overhead wall enclosing the room, the books, the fireplace, the fantastic view – I can expend the whole day on this room just enjoying the view, reading my favorite book while sipping a mug of espresso. And oh, I will change the bed sheets to be crispy white I guess.

This particular room is actually sort of the complete opposite. This cause me to remember a vacation in Greece with all the white colored and blue bed linen, the charming azure bed plus the teeny windowpane. It is extremely peaceful, a getaway from this all. Absolutely, nothing to wake you up. It really is gorgeous in all of its simpleness, in general less is more, isn’t it?

Ordinary Looking Bun but Extraordinary in Taste

Hailey — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:20:12 +0000

Taipei has a lot of finger foods that are worth mentioning, and one of my favorites is known to local Chinese as Hu Jiao Bing 胡椒餅. This is a clenched fist sized bun stuffed with scallions and peppered pork and stick it into a massive metallic trash can of fire to cook. There is actually one famous makeshift stall selling these pepper buns situated at the night market 饒河夜市.

As you can see a lot of people are standing in line, what is nice in here because you can witness how they make the bun in front of you. However, there’s no joke in cooking this bun, it needs skill and technique in sticking the bun inside the baking pit, just imagine the intense heat inside.

The bun cooks real quick, creating a flimsy crisp layer at the bottom while the meat emits its tasty mix juices without being overcooked. This pepper bun kinda look plain or ordinary by looking outside but mind you, the inner fillings are abundant with marinated pork and scallions, which is really delectable. On the other hand, the sesame studded piece of bun is tasty as well, it is somewhat sweet and chewy but dense layer of bread.

Each bun cost NT$45 equivalent to US$1.25, so if given the chance, you should try this culinary crack in a form of bun. It is one of my best loved finger foods.

I never Thought I would Recommend a Buffet

Hailey — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 21:18:33 +0000

Among the stuffs that I love in Vegas is the ubiquitous buffet selection that truly entices your empty stomach to overeat like there’s no tomorrow regardless you are on diet.

Besides, a trip to Vegas entails a visit to a buffet, or else you missed something heavenly. Okay, let’s start with dinner, it really isn’t surprising at 3 pm that many people are lining up taking part of themselves for the dinner frenzy (it’s normal during the weekend).

Imagine a snake pattern of people willing to wait for more than 30 minutes just to get the taste of the Wynn’s buffet, the cost is $35 per person (+ tax of course) basically its expensive compare to other buffets out there but Wynn’s food line, in my opinion, is the best.

We made a number of trips for the King crab legs and sampled a great deal of ethnic dishes, and I focused on the marinated salads and Italian food fare.

Each of the Italian food that I tested out was excellent but the remarkable one was the ricotta stuffed pappardelle pasta with braised pork shoulder. I could hardly contain myself looking at the assortment of food in front of me, so I wandered around in the Oriental section and relished a couple of pot stickers profoundly.

My hubby prefers lamb and steak so, he was all happy with the two lamb dishes available. The level of quality as well as the food preparation seemed to be what you will anticipate inside a fine dining restaurant serving individual plates.

The assortment of fares incorporated traditional cuisine along with modern Indian, Asian, American, Japanese and Italian. The dessert choices were also mind-boggling and the presentations were splendid.

So if you happen to visit Vegas one of these days, make sure to stop by at Wynn’s buffet and you will experience what I’m talking here.

Blue Monday – Pool in Blue

Hailey — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 17:05:07 +0000

For the past couple of days, the weather is really sunny and balmy that made me think of dreaming of lounging all day by a pool like this. We went overseas for a vacation and the scenic beauty of the beach is truly amazing.

How I wish I could just stay in vacation mode forever but I guess it would be impossible because we need to be back to reality and that is toiling ourselves to the real grind.

Taiwanese Stinky Tofu – Deliciously Malodorous

Hailey — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 14:36:18 +0000

This stinky tofu or chou tofu in Chinese appears so innocuous resting on the dish, isn’t it?

Asians in the South have their fair share of the stinkiest fruit like durian, a spiny oval tropical fruit containing a creamy pulp with a fetid smell but agreeable taste. Scandinavians occasionally adore lutefisk, which is known as a customary dish of the Nordic countries made from soda lye and air-dried whitefish. Nevertheless, the Taiwanese refers to smelly tofu on the subject of scarfing a little something truly fetid or stinky.

Oftentimes referred to as “Chinese’s cheese” owing to its taste similarity to the strongest European blue cheese, stinky or smelly tofu is done by way of bean curd fermentation inside ceramic containers using the brine or salt water solution for preserving or pickling food or perhaps, sometimes, rice-wine vinegar for months.

Taiwan stinky tofu is often deep-fried and adorned with chili sauce or sauerkraut (chopped cabbage, which has been salted and allowed to ferment until sour). For most people not familiar with this kind of exotic food, quite a few point out it tastes like vomit, other folks consider it more has a resemblance to feces in its smell, but once you have tried it, most people anticipate to fall deeply in love with smelly tofu.

If you’re able to endure the particular stench for getting close enough to the vendors’ chou tofu stand, I suggest giving it a go simply because it really tastes great. Have you tried one?

Exotic Food – Marinated Animal Parts

Hailey — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:40:35 +0000

Lately, I’ve been inspired to browse around the wonderful pictures of foods I kept on my laptop that I truly missed in Taipei, I don’t know about you, but I’ve been craving for lots of foods these days. Do these cravings signify another bun in the oven? I hope so.. (crossing my fingers).

One of many destinations in Taipei stands out as the favorite place called Xie Men Ting 西門町 that houses the famous soy marinated eats generally known as Lou Wei 滷味.

The famous Shop – Notice the Crowd

Chicken Feet

Pig Tendons

Dried Tofu

Top Selling Duck Tongues
At which all pieces tend to be initially marinated in scented soy sauce as well as herbs of up to fourteen varieties and then cooked in steam or cooked steadily at a certain temperature and chilled in order to seal in the tasty mix and dished up either in warm or cold.

There is one particular shop called Lao Tien Lu 老天祿 that specializes on this kind of marinated animal parts. In the event, you are willing to try this type of exotic food, this is the place to visit. Most likely not numerous Japanese travelers around on this area though, yet a massive number of HK tourists nested right here.

It happens that Lao Tien Lu 老天祿 soy marinade tiny bites is definitely the favorite of very famous HK pop and celebrities, this includes superstar Andy Lau. His photographs are all over the place, which was perhaps taken during the period of the 80′s or early 90′s.

How about guys, have you tried the marinated animal parts?

The Mighty Peking Duck in Los Angeles

Hailey — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:27:21 +0000

I truly missed eating Peking Duck 北京烤鴨 …of course it can be found here in California considering the ubiquitous Chinese restaurants available. However, what I’m really craving for is the Peking Duck Taiwanese style in which I can barely found one over here.

In Taipei, aside from carving the skin from the body, the big pile of leftover meaty bones will be fried in a big wok along with the special sauce with lots, lots of basil leaves sprinkled with spicy chili peppers that make the meat scrumptious and relish { drooling }. That gives you another side dish to nibble.

So I dragged hubby to go to this restaurant in San Gabriel that specializes in the famous Peking Duck, a Chinese prepared food, which has been a tradition way back in 11th century and made well-known in Beijing.

The restaurant is relatively considered high end and was crowded even weekdays. The servers speak Mandarin and a tad of English, but I could say the service is extraordinary. They require one hour notice to prepare the Peking duck. Therefore, you need to call in advance to make reservations.

The mighty duck dish costs $30 – because of all the work and cost involved in preparing the dish. On the side are steamed pancakes, cucumbers, scallions and the plum sauce that goes when you roll the bits of crunchy skin up. It’s quite expensive if you compare to Taiwan of course, but I swear it tastes so damn, good and worth the try.

Below is the address of the restaurant if you wish to try this delish Peking duck:

Lu Din Gee, 鹿鼎記
1039 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 90189
(626) 288-0588

Blue Monday – My Thoughts About Blue Things

Hailey — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:13:09 +0000

Various items comprising the color of things always find a way to ease and comfort my heart and soul. I’m attracted to blue or azure any time I must come up with a color preference. The sight of anything blue tends to make myself experience the comfort and warm. The shade of blue continually assists me to create a sensible decision. I find an amazing “level of comfort” in picking a little something azure, specifically blue outfits on my wardrobe!

I find the majority of varieties of music soothing and comforting, as well, but I favor playing, for the most part, pop and soft rock. Don’t ya know, I am not especially keen on blues or country music? I suppose all sorts of things cannot be blue! I find country music and blues so mellow for me personally. I have a preference for something more enjoyable, anything more lively, and something, which has a beat. It must be some kind of music that is certainly fun!

I end up finding peace of mind in thinking about vivid blue, sun-drenched places. I occasionally recommend blue seas and cozy sand beaches for any pleasure trip or perhaps an extended getaway. Azure waters along with grainy beach locations are invariably on my thought, wish and comfort list.

This is my first entry for Blue Monday.. click the banner above to post your linky.

My Thai Food Cravings – Delivery not Available

Hailey — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 10:40:34 +0000

Among the many things I missed about Taipei is the Thai food, but the only problem is, delivery is not available. Here in California every time I have cravings for Tom Yang soup or Phad Thai, I can simply make a swift telephone call and 30 minutes after, I’m ingesting my piping-hot meals, and need not to battle the traffic or find a parking space.

In Taipei, in case I feel like eating Thai food, I typically go to Mei Kung or Thai Town, equally fantastic Thai restaurant, but more of a sitting down, an ideal for meals for a bigger party so you can enjoy much more food assortment. I still have to discover a Thai bistro in Taipei that provides delivery, or perhaps I simply missed out some specific code or spot that a lot of folks forgot to tell me.

Therefore, the next most convenient thing to delivery is to-go, and I opted for a pad Thai that cost me (NT$150 around $5) soon after pondering over the food list of noodles, curries, fried chicken and starters.

The costs vary from NT$60 – $190 and I was pleasantly impressed to learn that along with my to-go order, I can pick either Thai ice tea or soup. Of course, I’ve chosen the Thai ice tea as it is one of my favorite beverages.

One more thing that taken me aback was the hors d’oeuvres on the side such as pork and egg, which had an intense sour and spicy tastes that complemented my order as well as the glass noodle salad. The serving seemed to be satiating although it’s only enough for each person.

I anticipate heading back to try a few of the other items shown on their menu- next time I wish to try the curry chicken, which is the best seller according to their cashier.

I encountered some bad incidents with Asian food in Taipei, especially in the fast food area, particularly in the Singapore/Malay stand in the Taipei 101 building as well as in the Pho located at the Breeze Mall. But I highly recommend Blue Spice (at Breeze Center B2) as a must try for any Thai food enthusiasts.