China Part I: Homecooking

Meal spreads paired with "bai jiu"

Usually when we go to China, its filled with lots of eating out where I wind up stuffing myself silly. This time around however, most of the eating was done at home (where I still wound up stuffing myself silly). My na-na whom I guess would technically be my great aunt in law (or something like that) cooked us the most scrumptious breakfasts, lunches, and dinners. I only managed to capture 1/4 of all the food she made us since the rest of the time I was too excited to eat. Added to that are my aunt and grandma and grandpa who are also amazing cooks (most be a family trait). Life back in the states these days has appeared quite sad compared to all of the great food I got to eat for the past 2 weeks :(

Welcome Lunch

Fried fish, thousand year old eggs, fish meatballs, pressure cooked chicken, pork belly, spring veggies, potato salad

May Eats - Prague & Beijing

May literally came and went: semester finals, Prague farewells, sojourn to China, move to NYC and now the first week of June is already reaching its conclusion. With the end of May, it also meant the end of my travels (and eating) through Europe. I am so extremely grateful for having had the opportunity to experience not only Prague but all of the  vibrant culture and history that each city I visited had to offer. I know for a fact that this will not be the last time that I journey to Europe (especially with many countries left to visit!). It also really does not feel all that long ago that I was blogging from NYC  about all of the ramen and cupcakes I was planning to feast on for the summer. Now, here I am once again in the Big Apple having completed yet another week of training (ironically, it was the exact same training program) - what a weird sense of dejavu. So here is the official wrap-up of my  final days in Prague and an overview of my eating adventures in Beijing.

1) Back to Aromi 

+ Seafood tomato soup with fish sashimi on croutons

Linguine with crab and tomato; Agnolotti filled with cooked ham and ricotta served with asparagus

Aromi quickly became one of my favorite restaurants in Prague. With michelin level quality of service and a bowl of authentic pasta for around 15USD - its one of the nicest experiences I discovered in Prague, too bad the only place you can find a deal like that is in Central Europe. Compared to the pastas that I ate in Italy - Aromi's pastas are easily just as good as what you would get from the home country.  During our visit, we were given an amuse bouche of smoked salmon and a hummus-like puree as well as a refreshing lemon sorbet drink. I never got a chance to post the pasta dishes I had for my first visit at Aromi (mostly because I devoured too much of my meal before I remembered to take a picture) but those dishes we ordered were also amazingly good and that was right before my Italy trip.

2) Completing the trio - Mlynec 

Veal Sausage with Celery puree; Deer Medallions with potato dumplings; Crispy Roasted Duck with bread dumplings

Mlynec is owned by the same restaurant group that also owns V Zatisi and Bellevue (probably one of my favorite restaurants of all time). The three together are some of the most popular and prestigious restaurants in Prague. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to post about V Zatisi or Bellevue since all of those food pictures are on V's phone (maybe I'll have a nostalgia Europe post on all of the eats that I missed). Mlynec is located right next to Charles Bridge and the menu has a heavier emphasis on Bohemia and Czech cuisine compared to its sister restaurants. The meal was hearty and satisfying and pretty much what you would expect when it comes to Bohemian cuisine.

3) Oh Hello Beijing & Ding Tai Fung

Spicy Wonton dumplings; Dan dan mian; Seaweed & tofu cold salad

Shanghai juicy buns: original pork and crab roe (look at those 18 folds on each dumpling!)

Sweet red bean buns; grass jelly ice dessert

Korean Eats

4 weeks later and I have finally discovered Korea town. How it took me so long to find the place I have no idea but thank goodness I did. Although K-town is awkwardly located between home and work with neither being walking distance, I have still managed to find enough excuses to frequent the street. Especially after eating at work and in Hells Kitchen for so long, I was starting to seriously crave my usual staples of noodles, gochijang, and soy.

After a friend from Penn got settled into the city, we journeyed to K-town where I finally got my first Korean BBQ adventure. Talk about a serious food experience! I don't think I have ever eaten that much since the Chinese New Year's. Long story short, easily one of the best meals of life if for no other reason that the food was good and there was so much of it :)

Look at this massive array of banchan (korean side dishes)! Our favorites were the dried tofu skin, cured radish and two selections of kimchi.

BBQ sampling of gal bi, pork belly and tenderloin (?) Not sure what the last one was but lets go with tenderloin. Funnily enough, the gas for the BBQ was broken that day so they created this makeshift grill on a portable gas stove.  Not the truly authentic BBQ experience but I wasn't complaining. 

I think my favorites were the two beef selections since they were both marinated nicely and seasoned. The pork belly was cooked well with some kimchi and garlic. 

Egg in hot pot, tofu, rice and snapshot of an (almost) empty plate. tehee. It always baffles me how closely so many Korean dishes resembles Chinese dishes (ok yea one would intuitively come to that conclusion) but still. Take the egg dish, gyeran jiim. I literally grew up on the exact same thing from the time I was maybe two to well...now. My grandmother still makes it for breakfast everyday. Custard like and piping hot, this was one good gyeran jiim.

To add to the this foodie joy, I was shown Marks Plaza 1 day later where I saw the mecca of ramen and I was seriously seriously in love.  An impromptu dinner at Ippudo where I had a dead phone and no camera meant yet another ramen meal with no pictures to share.  Oh well, at least Momofuku is still on the to-do list.

Dinner on a rainy Thursday at Soba-ya. Tempura in hot broth had never seemed like a culinary feasible idea and after finally trying it, I think I am still of the same opinion.  We had a sampling of dishes including some salmon (meh) and pork belly which was served with a poached egg in a slight broth (yum).  As the name of the restaurant indicates, Soba-ya is known for its buckwheat noodles but I found them to be rather unimpressive - maybe it was just the dish we ordered since soba is normally eaten cold. Or maybe I just don't like buckwheat. haha. 

Fried Rice Balls with Sesame Filling at Tkettle, Ja Ziang Mian at Shanghai Mong, Chocolate Soup Dumplings at Rickshaw's Dumpling Bar and Red Bean Smoothie Bubble Tea at Tkettle. 

Shanghai Mong, located in K-Town, calls itself a Chinese fusion restaurant... aka the Korean version of Chinese food.  I'm not sure what the exact sauce they used for the ja ziang mian was but it must be a common Korean ingredient since my friends have cooked with it before.  Of course, it tasted nothing like Chinese ja ziang mian but who is complaining as long as the food tastes good?

TKettle is also an adorable snack/bubble tea bar located at Saint Marks Plaza. They serve an interesting version of french toast, omelets as well with an assortment of dessert snacks. 

Dessert after work at Kyoto Tofu.Black Sesame Tofu with hoji-cha syrup and white sesame tuile.
Mango and Coconut Soymilk Soft Serve Sundae with fruit compote, matcha mochi, brownie topping and pocky.

Tofu? In a dessert? My friend promised me this was worth losing an hour of sleep over after I returned from work on a Tuesday night. Even though I had already changed into my pajamas, the foodie in me still ventured out (fortunately, the place was only around the corner) to try this famed tofu. I absolutely loved the soft serve but the smorgasborg of toppings  was a bit of an overkill. The black sesame tofu was light and refreshing, akin to a very subtle version of a panna cotta. I will admit it was worth the trip over :)

FINALLY I got to try the famous Bonchon Fired Chicken! And YES it was worth all of the hub bub because they were everything they promised to be: perfectly fried, crispy, juicy and flavored to the level of spicy that  makes me want to do a little dance (which yes, I did). The cold noodle dish of the day was also exactly what we needed after walking around the city for 4 hours. Apparently, some of the dishes at Boka are hit-or-miss but the fried chicken is a winner :D

Dinner at Grand Sichuan in Chinatown: Fei Pian, Spicy Lamb and Eggplants with Green Peppers.
The lamb was sadly nowhere near as spicy as a Sichuan restaurant should be serving but the fei pian was some of the best I have had. It was served with crushed peanuts, grounded garlic and just enough spicy pepper oil. 

Travels

A rather belated post on some traveling from the past two weeks. Mostly belated because I thought I hadn't taken any decent pictures but then I looked through my phone and what do you know? Quite a few pictures to share! Besides the pictures though, I also thought it'd be kind of fun to share some stories, adventures and rants from the cities of Charleston, Chicago and Milwaukee.

Charleston, South Carolina
The land of Southern charm, Lily Pulitzer, and a lot of sweet tea. 
I still don't understand the appeal of Lily Pulitzer. The clothing kind of reminds me of those tropical patterns you always see on lawn chairs and the wall paper of a condo in Hawaii. Why would you want to match the chair you're sitting on? (The neon colored sun dresses are kind of fun though) There were a bunch of other clothing-related things I supposedly learned but they have all escaped me.  Oh well, at least I do remember the food :)

Poe's Tavern, located in a quiet neighborhood on Sullivan's Island, Poe's is an ode to the famed poet as well as the island which inspired his short story, "The Gold Bug".  All of the items on the menu are named after his various stories and poems and the bathroom walls are laminated with pages of his works. We went for a lunch on a Tuesday (maybe it was Wednesday or Thursday...) and the place was completely packed!

Snapshots: Kaminsky's Desert, the famed Poe's Tavern, Sweet Tea, looking like a "Southern Belle", burgers, banana splits & the water front.

Kaminsky's
From the swanky Harbor Club to the touristy market place full of vendors selling trinkets and souvenirs,I got the full experience of downtown Charleston. The most exciting part of the day though was probably when we stopped by Kaminsky's, a famous dessert cafe, and my friend ordered a coffee drink where the caffeine and sugar content was probably illegal. Redbull should find the recipe of this drink and start selling it by the liter. College students (me included) would have quite a field day.

Scenes from Kaminsky's. Iced coffee, Chocolate mousse and a rasberry drink with about 5 shots of espressso.

Jestine's Kitchen
Featured on the Food Network, 10 Best Restaurants of South Carolina, Post & Courier and every other local and national food website/newspaper in existence (oh and Oprah), this is apparently the place to go for Southern cooking. Probably should have tried something a little more adventurous then a grilled cheese.

Southern classics: Mac and cheese, green beans, fried chicken, grilled chicken and grilled cheese.

Anyways, after a week of nonstop Southern cooking, I realized my body was getting kind of angry with me so I decided to eat some vegetables...and then got yelled at for wanting broccoli. Oops, sorry! I'll know better next time to detox after I go home :o.

Chicago
I absolutely LOVE Chicago. Yes it was freezing, rainy and windy for most of the time we were there but it was still quite an adventure. The first time I was in the city of Chicago, I was 15 and there for debate nationals. There was no one else  I knew except for my debate coach so I spent most of my time wandering and exploring. I even attempted to walk to the Navy Pier from our hotel which turned out to be  really really far. Much farther than the map led me to believe. I did this in my newly purchased $2.50 Old Navy flip flops. Yea those shoes lasted me a grand total of 24 hours. 

Little Italy

Not so much a section of the city as a random collection of streets on the periphery of  Chi-town. You know you have arrived when the street signs turn into red, white and green (and there are Italian flags waving everywhere).

It was quite a bit of a hike to get to Little Italy but the food was definitely worth it. A brief lunch turned into a 3 hour affair including a bottle of wine, various courses and a lot of chatting. By the time we were finished it was 4:00pm. By the time we got back to the hostel, it was 5:00pm. By the time we met up with our other friends, it was 5:30pm and time for dinner.No dad, I did not eat like this this everyday :p

[Fried Ravioli] Perfect little pieces of heaven.

[Roast Beef Sandwich, left] [Sword fish & Risotto, upper right] [Scallops & something under the scallops :p, lower right]

Chinatown
The last time I was in Chicago Chinatown, I was twelve (maybe 13 or 14....one of those nebulous tween years) and the Chinatown was tiny comprised of just a smatterings of restaurants with very ghetto looking tables. The place has had a complete makeover (sort of like those house rendtions on ABC) with a massive collection of authentic Asian cuisine and the typical hair salons.

[Mongolian Lamb, upper left] [Sour Cabbage and Fish Soup, upper right] [Baby Sprouts, lower left] [Chives Dumplings, lower right]

The cuisine literally reminded me of all of numerous times we ate out with the family while in China. I was telling my mom about our eating adventures and I could tell the next destination in her mind is now Chicago. Haha, I should totally work as a restaurant promoter...if those things exist. I guess, they're called food critics. Oh well. That can be my backup plan.

Half way done!

It is official.  50% finished with college. WOW. But since I have already mentioned the sadness that is the end of half of college career, the big news is this blog post. I have been waiting to blog about this meal(s) for two weeks now. The first time, the lighting was really terrible and we were too hungry so I only got a handful of pictures. The second time, the pictures were slightly better and the third time, I was prepared and finally got some proper shots. Yup that's right. I have been to Han Dynasty three times since my last blog post. Some would call it obsessive, I just call it a really good excuse to eat really good food.

This has got to be one my favorite dishes of all time.

What can I say? It just happened that three different groups of people all suggested the same restaurant. I'm not going to argue when I get go to a restaurant where the spiciness is measured on a scale from spicy to more spicy. WIN. In my last blog post, I also promised myself to start taking more pictures and also getting around to starting a portfolio.  So the first step of that promise is to start using my Prime lens more often. I haven't been using it too much lately mostly because I seriously don't know how to focus the thing. BUT I think I am finally getting the hang of it. Maybe.

Meal 1: With the roommate and debate partner. On a random Saturday night, we ventured to Olde City and devoured four dishes in 30 minutes.

An array of SPICY.

[Mapo Tofu] Sadly not as spicy as it looks.

[Shui zhu yu aka water boiled fish] More like hot chili oil boiled...hehe. I remember eating this for the first time when I was in China with my grandparents. It was just the three of us, we ordered a feast and then promptly devoured just about everything.

[Garlic Sauce Beef]  I'm still not the biggest fan of bamboo but this dish made them tasty enough to eat :p

Meal 2: Lineage dinner with biggie, twin and little Lisa [yup, there's another Lisa in the sorority now].

[Cucumber Salad] Seriously need to find out what is in that sauce. Mission 1 when I get home is to recreate this dish.

[Wonton in Chili Oil] The key to checking to see if wontons are made well is by seeing how thin the skin is. The thinner the skin, the more pro the cook.

[Dan Dan Mian]. Ok, hands down best noodle dish in existence. Mission 2: Making this for lunch everyday.

 [Scallion Pancakes] Crispy and flaky

[Dry Pepper Chicken] As my Biggie said, this is one Bad ASS dish. SO salty and delicious.

[Walnut Shrimp] I don't think I have ever eaten shrimp so big.

Meal 3: The celebration of the end of Finance 203 with the case group. 8 cases and 80 hours later, we are still alive.

[Bok Choy, Shitake Mushrooms] Another amazing sauce, another dish to recreate.

[Dry Pot Style Chicken] With a medley of veggies including mushrooms, bamboo and celery all covered in dry chili peppers.

[Hot Pepper Style Lamb] Another moment of nostalgia. I actually hated the first time I tried lamb but my mom grew up in Northern Mongolia and basically lived off of lamb meat for 15+ years. So of course, it grew up me too :)

 And in case that wasn't enough, here are some more gratuitous shots to feast your eyes on. Enjoy.

Can you tell I really liked taking pictures of the Bok Choy? One last shot because I promised I would.

Aw aren't they cute? To the hardest working guy I know and the loudest guy I know =p. Thanks for a great semester and for being even better eating buddies.

Speaking of which, the continuation of this blog post is to come! Franklin Fountain will be next. Hurray to the beginning of summer!

Snapshots

1. Stuffed Eggplant. Enough Said

2. The best fried chicken wings I have ever had. oh man. Three hours later and I'm still full. Probably not a good sign. harumph.

3. More cupcakes. Here's my theory on cupcakes. There are good cupcakes ie made from scratch with good ingredients and tender love and card. There are bad cupcakes ie the ones you buy from the grocery store. When there are bad cupcakes (first off, I usually just avoid the card board tasting, unnecessary calories) but if I was absolutely coerced into eating one, I would definitely go for the chocolate since the chocolate tastes marginally less card board-y than the vanilla ones. However, when it is a good cupcake I am a big fan of just the plain old vanilla ones. The vanilla cupcakes are always a lot more dense (reminiscent of pound cake. pound cake...yum) with a really well made buttercream icing. Anything past that: red velvet, german chocolate etc is obviously delicious but its just more of a good thing. Anyways, enough rambling. Here are the pictures.

4. Thai Iced Tea. Condense milk = love.

5. Heart + Coffee.