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Selamat datang (welcome) to yet another KennethT SE Asian food blog! This time around is to Lombok (an island in the Indonesian archipelago just east of Bali) and then a few days in Jakarta before heading home. I'm still a little punchy getting over the jetlag/lack of sleep - I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or and still slightly sick or what, but it's definitely taking me more time to bounce back than usual - so please bear with any grammar/spelling, etc! Travel time wise, this trip was one of the longest we've had. Door to door from our apartment to the hotel in Lombok was about 40 hours but the excruciating part was in Jakarta... but I'm getting ahead of myself. As normal, flying Singapore Airlines to Jakarta (connecting through Singapore) was a pleasure, even in premium economy (there is no standard economy on this flight)... the food on which is shown starting here. Our roughly 18 hour flight to Singapore actually landed a little early and we had about 3-1/2 hours in the airport before our flight to Jakarta. As efficient as Singapore is, this isn't nearly enough time to do anything - I wouldn't even want to try to go through immigration to be able to go to the Jewel which is in the airport, but it was certainly enough time to hang out in the newly renovated Terminal 2 which is amazing! Almost as soon as we left our arrival gate heading toward the transfer area of the terminal, we came upon the Enchanted Garden which is a great collection of orchids and tropical plants, complete with koi pond. The carpet in T2 is made to be an accurate topographical map of the area around Singapore. Even though there's certainly no shortage of food on Sing. Airlines (all of which is quite tasty), I was looking forward to our layover as I had read that my favorite Hainanese Chicken Rice place now has a branch in Terminal 2, along with my old friend and fried food purveyor, Old Chang Kee. One of the things I love about Wee Nam Kee is that they provide an unlimited amount of chilli sauce and grated ginger as opposed to many places which put a squirt on your plate and off you go. The chilli sauce/ginger/sesame oil/sweet soy sauce bar is on the left next to the freshly made chickens (the kitchen is behind the wall). Luckily for us, this branch is actually open 24 hours, so we could get our chicken rice fix at 5:30AM. On the left is their classic chicken rice with breast meat, and on the right is with leg meat. We usually only get the breast meat, but I was curious about the difference - both white and dark meat were super tender and juicy - succulent would be a good word and the skin of the chicken was silky and gelatinous. The rice texture was perfect as well - nice to see that the quality doesn't change just because they're in the airport. Each plate of chicken rice was SGD$8 (about US$6 at the current rate of exchange). We enjoyed eating it in another garden area they called the Gourmet Garden.... A few stalls down from Wee Nam Kee was my sentimental favorite, Old Chang Kee. It's sentimental to me as it's the first food I ever ate in Asia, on our first trip almost 20 years ago. Back then, our flight landed early in the AM and after a nap, we started walking around to explore and stumbled into an Old Chang Kee cart on the sidewalk and I couldn't resist getting some crab nuggets while walking around. So, all these years later.... Crab nuggets and prawn nuggets. Both were really crispy and not greasy at all. About SGD$2 each (about US$1.50). After our feast, right next to the Gourmet Garden was more garden type stuff: complete with indoor waterfalls. I spent a bit of time studying this as I'm looking to build something similar in my apartment at some point soon (hopefully). The mosses and tillandsia are both kept in great shape with hidden misters while everything else is hydroponically grown in either horticultural felt or coconut coir. Continuing on towards our departure gate is what they call the Dreamscape which is amazing. The sky is digital and made from photo/video of the sky above the airport. It compresses 24 hours into about a 30 minute show. The area has speakers around it playing realistic sounds of the jungle with birds and chirping frogs. In the center is a pond covered in glass which has water plants (like in the front - some papyrus on the right) with lots of fish. The sky also changes sometimes to seem like you're underwater looking up.

As times and available resources have changed, members have started their own food/travel blogs. These are not listed in the eG Foodblogs index below. You can find them, though, by searching with the tag "foodblog". The tag search box is near the upper right corner of the Forums Main Page. It looks like this:

Hi everyone, I just came back from a trip to the Big Island. It was not my first time there, far from it, but this time I made sure to document everything food-related so I would eventually share here. So here we go. Aloha! 🌺 The night before leaving, I made classic Trader Vic Mai Tais to put us in the mood. I used homemade orgeat of course, Denizen rum (which is a mix of Martinique and Jamaican, especially designed for Mai Tais), and Clement creole shrubb for the orange liqueur component. Perfection! Then I finished packing my carry-on for the week-long trip. We did check one bag for bulky snorkeling equipment and my trusted kitchen knife (a must-have when staying at a rental, actually bought at a kitchen supply store during one of my first trips to the Big Island, many years ago).

Prologue With little one having almost two weeks of „Pentecost“ (Pfingsten) school holidays and last years hiatus from major holidays due to a new job, we decided to start up our holiday season already in May. My idea was to go to Ireland, because of the lovely nature, the food (of course) and also because I studied at UCD Dublin some 25 years ago … As my parents are not up to holidays on their own anymore, but my mom really wanted to see Ireland again, we took then along as well. So, here we go …

Good morning! I decided to add a little more crazy to this week and do a blog. As you guys know (or some of you know), we have a friend that comes at least once a year and stays with us. He's a very good guest--along with hunting he usually helps Ronnie with some of the more major difficult chores around here. Last year he even hung storm windows on every window in the house. Not a small task. Anyway, he arrives this morning and will be here until Sunday afternoon. I'm going to send a camera along with them with strict instructions to snap photos of their adventures going after birds. It's dove and teal (duck) season now. And, there might be some river fishing thrown in, too. There will be a lot of cooking going on. So, since I'm alone in the kitchen putzing around, I figure I'll take you guys along with me . PS: Our guest will be returning the first week of December for deer season (and goose etc.) so maybe we will lock this blog until then and open it back up. I've promised for years to post pictures of cutting up deer. Maybe this will be the year I get it done lol.

OK - so I think it's very fitting for my 1000th post that I start this food blog... I love eGullet, and have been a member for several years, but I don't post that often, and have never done anything like this, so please bear with me!!! My wife and I left NYC for Singapore on July 1st, at 1:25AM on an EVA flight connecting through Taipei, Taiwan. There used to be a direct NY to Singapore flight on Singapore Airlines, but SA discontinued it a few years ago. I like the long overnight flight to Asia because, on a 14 hour flight, it gives you plenty of time to eat (they feed you very well on those flights), medicate yourself and sleep for 6-8 hours, then wake up and watch a few movies before landing at about 6AM. Plus, since the flight leaves so late, it makes it much easier to sleep on the flight (especially after working a full day beforehand). The EVA flight is quite comfortable, even in coach. When I say they feed you well, I mean it - dinner was a stir fried chicken with steamed bok choy and rice, with many sides. Throughout the flight they came through the cabin with mustard coated fried chicken sandwiches as snacks, then breakfast of pork congee with many sides (including a package of fish floss). Sorry, I didn't take photos of the above - I was exhausted! We had about a 2 hour layover in the airport in Taiwan, so what does that mean? Time for dim sum and beef noodle soup!!! This was our breakfast destination Left to right, Xie Long Bao (Shanghainese pork soup dumplings), char siu bao (fluffy buns filled with BBQ pork - although this Taiwanese version was not nearly as sweet as the typical Hong Kong version), Taiwanese beef noodle soup, and a loose leaf oolong tea. With the waters, cost about US$20!!! It was quite the feast, especially after the constant EVA flight 'buffet', and the fact that they were going to feed us again on our next flight to Singapore!

When I completed my culinary school, they sent me to do my internship at one of the best restaurant in the world Celler de Can Roca, just imagine working at one of the top restaurant in the world with no prior experience in a professional kitchen, I was shocked and scared at the same time. When I got to Girona I was nervous, mainly because I was scared of making a mistake, but also because I am with people who had prior experience in the kitchen, it was quiet intimidating for me, I got to meet a lot of interesting people that I got to work with and surprisingly they all helped me out during my months working there. During the first months I was working in the production section, it was difficult at first but once you get used it it was easier, after I worked in carnes or the meat section for 2 weeks doing double shift for those 2 weeks which was exhausting, and after finishing the meat section I went to cuatro frio which is the salad section, and I got to say compare to all the other sections this one was more intense, because you have to do a lot of multi tasking and running back and forward from the freezer, cleaning room or the pantry back to the kitchen. I was sometime frustrated and sometimes excited because it was always back and forward between the different plates in the section. On the final day or the final service I was sad because I have experienced and changed in so many ways that I didn't expect that I would change so many ways, my personality and physique have changed, all my companions and friends in Celler de Can Roca said I came in as a boy and now you came out as a man. To summarise, working in 3 Michelin Restaurant is intense, a lot of hard work and a lot of patience, sometime you wish you don't want to go to work or want to sometimes cry because of how hard it is, but you have to remember that every day you changed and get better then the previous day, and work is work, it is not a game where you can quiet and start over, you have to force yourself and push yourself past your limit, and their will be people who will help you and make you sure you push yourself past your limit.

OK - we're back at it again. I'm here to lay on you some amazing food stuffs and regale you with more tales of getting sick while being half way around the world. I swear, it seems like the more careful we are, the more assured we are of getting sick while traveling. Prior to our trip, we basically quarantined for 3 weeks. Yes, I still went to work, but I wore a major N95 mask pretty much any time I was around people (and I still kept my distance as well!) or in an area where people had been a half hour before. My mask never came off at the airport except for very brief stints when security demanded it. And I finally removed it on the plane once we had been in the air for about 20 minutes when the air filtration system has "supposedly" reached the optimal point where it changes the air in the plane every 2-3 minutes. And I put the mask back on whenever I had to leave my seat to go to the bathroom or the snack area! So, enough of my tale of woe (for now) and let's start getting into the fun stuff. North Sulawesi is a fascinating section of Indonesia (not that it's all not interesting). Unlike most of Indonesia, the vast majority of people are Christian, not Muslim, as Dutch missionaries brought Christianity there a long time ago. The area is a peninsula, surrounded by water on 3 sides which means that fish/seafood are very important. The interior is mountainous and traditionally, the local villages there have little access to the ocean and are in the middle of a large rainforest - so the traditional diet of the Minahasa people (the local people of the interior highlands) has a history of using any meat source available: dog, monkey, bat, snake, etc. They also have created tons of small areas for fish farming - usually taking up the majority of a person's yard area. There are usually at least a few people per village who have small fish farms at their house and they sell their fish to their village. But before we get there, we had to spend a day in Singapore - oh the horror! If you've read any of my stuff before (or see what I post in RecipEgullet or the dinner section) you'll probably know that I love Singapore, so having to spend the day there is certainly not a hardship. This time we had to spend an overnight there since the flight from SIN to Manado (the main city of North Sulawesi) only goes 4 or 5 times a week and it just so happened that there was no flight the day our flight from NY landed. We landed around 5:30AM and true to form of the efficiency there, we were checked into our hotel in the middle of the city in just under an hour after the plane arrived at the gate - that includes the time to get off the plane and we were in the rear 2/3 of the plane! Since we had sent our immigration info in beforehand (using Singapore's immigration app) we were able to use their automated immigration lanes which is super speedy, but even still, our bags were waiting for us on the baggage claim belt when we got there. One of the reasons I love Singapore is all of the tropical plants. It's like the whole city is dropped into the middle of a giant garden. This feeling starts at the airport: The immigration hall Baggage claim (obviously). Once checked into the hotel, we took a nap for a few hours, then headed out for lunch. A while back, I had realized that in all our time in Singapore, we had never had fish head curry!!! How is this possible? It's one of their national dishes! One of the most famous places to get it (and supposedly the inventor of the dish) is Samy's Curry Restaurant, located in the lushly green Dempsey Hill neighborhood. One of our requirements for dining in Singapore on this trip was that we had to be able to eat outside, as we wanted to take all precautions against getting sick since our first few days in North Sulawesi was dedicated to scuba diving and we wanted to make sure we were completely healthy for that. So that means N95 mask in the short taxi ride (the driver was masked also) and doing all outdoor activities. A few weeks before, I had made a reservation for lunch and requested an outside table. Unfortunately, when we got there, they couldn't find our reservation - basically because I had made it for the wrong day!!! Arrgghhhh.... but they were super helpful and with only a 10-15 minute wait, they were able to seat us outside anyway. This restaurant started as a standard South Indian style restaurant - which means that your plate is a banana leaf where they pile rice and a few sides (included) and then you add whatever else it is you ordered. I didn't take photos of the whole menu, but here's most of it: All prices are in SGD, where 1 USD = 1.35 SGD at the current rate of exchange. I didn't know if just the fish head would be enough food for us, so I also ordered the Masala chicken which also looked really good. The portion that arrived was a LOT larger than pictured in the menu and we barely made a dent in it - but it was really good. The masala is typical of South India with mustard seeds and curry leaves. I definitely have to make this at home! My plate with rice, some type of onion/cauliflower side (on the left) and masala potatoes on the right. More mustard seeds. Note to self, must order more mustard seeds. Another guy comes around with two vats of sauces and asks if we're having fish or chicken. Since the fish head curry was to be the main event, I said fish and he put a ladle full of fish curry sauce on my rice (with a piece of okra). Homemade pappadum (included), just in case there isn't enough food... And of course, when in Singapore, a pitcher of lime juice: This is how the main event arrives: There is a ton of meat on this fish head, and it is perfectly cooked. The curry also contained some small green eggplant and okra. The curry sauce is really good - tons of spices and slightly sour from tamarind. So aromatic. A complete plate. And yes, we used utensils. Many of the South Indian patrons there ate traditionally, using the fingers on their right hand, but we don't have experience doing that yet and didn't feel like that day was a good day to start. Holy crap, that meal was good. We were stuffed to the gills. So, what better way to work it off than by walking around the Singapore Botanical Gardens? ...

Let's go to the city! But it's not just any city, it's a mega city. Ciudad de México! I have been at the airport a bunch of times but it's the first time I had to exit it after passport control. Ay ,caramba! So good to see you again Benito (as in Juárez, international airport)! Immediately grabbed a taxi to the bus terminal to catch the first bus to a small town in the mountains 2 hours away. It's a massive city from the air, and it's really massive seen from the taxi. Streets are full of cars in pitch black at 4:30am. Getting off the bus in Zitacuaro and another taxi ride to a small village deep in the mountains on the border of Mexico state and Michoacan. We are staying at this lovely guest house, the only place to eat and sleep here. So tranquil and green. Best thing is a hot shower and breakfast after 24 hours straight without sleep. But first coffee. Everything in this part of Mexico is about the butterflies. But it's not just any butterfly, it's the mariposa monarca! Btw, we are off the grid here in Macheros village. The hotel has to build their own communication tower and there's no cell phone service/signal. With cheese My favourite: with tomatoes and onions. Fruits, fresh juice and corn tortillas. Chilli poster in the breakfast room One of the avocado trees in the guest house's garden Some of the things I've brought to give away. I am giving the camera and Chile wool bag (which only this camera fits in) to someone who works here at the guest house, a family member who's also a butterfly guide and one I had been in communication with. Some T shirts, 2 brand new blazers, shoes, headphones, bag, Bolivian cookery books are for the 3 ladies who work in the kitchen. There are also toys, slippers, new underwear and other things that are not in the photo. My rucksack is suddenly half full! Tomorrow off to see the monarcas in one of the sanctuaries. 2 hours on horseback up a steep trail to reach the butterfly colony. It feels fantastic to be back in one of my favourite countries!

It's that time of year again, for a KennethT SE Asian adventure. This is our first trip to Asia since COVID. We'd been looking to go to Penang for a long time - it's nickname has been the Pearl of the Orient since colonial days, but more recently it's more commonly referred to as one of the street food capitals of the world. In order to get there, we flew non stop from NY to Singapore, detailed here: We had a few hour layover in Singapore, where we had dinner. Terminal 4 of Singapore's airport is relatively new and smaller than the other terminals, but they have a hawker stall type of food court with a lot of different choices. To get in the Malaysian mood, we decided on a place that makes nasi lemak - coconut rice with a lot of stuff with it: Chicken curry with spring roll, ikan bilis (small dried fish with peanuts), sambal, cucumber and shrimp chips. Requisite neon yellow "lime juice" - this was a barely diluted concentrate! Yikes.... Same thing but with sambal chicken which is a different sambal to the one they put on the side. Both meals were pretty tasty - especially after sitting on a plane for 18 hours. Our flight to Penang (about an hour or so) got in around 10PM, so there was nothing else until the next morning.

Where to spend the real first summer vacations after the Covid hiatus - definitely not an easy question to answer. For reasons that might be disclosed later the Duvel family opted for Scotland. It was not an unanimous decision … Nevertheless, there is sufficient food content that makes me feel comfortable to share some parts of this trip with you 🤗 Stay tuned …

It's been unseasonably warm here in Southern Ontario - until Thursday morning when we woke to a significant chill in the air. Yesterday was downright cold! So that means it's time to head north again for my usual couple of weeks of work in Little Current. The car is packed (actually overpacked) - though I'm sure I will forget a thing or two - there is a cooler full of odds and ends, a nice chunk of brisket I picked up at Wegmans on Monday, a honking big duck breast, the colcannon I made yesterday that I'm sure hubby won't eat while I'm away, lots of cheese (some smoked), some tomato chutney, red pepper jelly... Cocktail books include my handwritten favourites and a copy of Death and Company that everyone seems to be making recipes from lately. I'm taking a couple of new bottles I picked up - some mescal, a bottle of Carpano Classico and some Suze for one the cocktails mentioned from Death and Co that I want to try. I don't think I've packed any regular cookbooks now that I think about it - I may regret that when I arrive. I may be asking for recipes from people as I go along. I'm taking along the rice wine under construction - inside of the house here is going to smell better, the condo perhaps not so - and a few odds and ends I've been fermenting lately. There's some grape juice fermenting downstairs - but that will be left behind - perhaps it will have finished itself by the time I return. The fridge and freezer are filled with meals for hubby and rug rat - I'm sure they won't starve while I'm gone. Not sure if I'll be able to post from the phone as I drive up today - but I shall try. I'll certainly catch you up when I arrive on the island and get settled in.

Good morning, everyone and happy Monday! It's me again....that girl from Kansas. This is VERY spur-of-the-moment. I was sitting here yesterday thinking of all of the canning etc. that I needed to do this week and I thought, well, why not ask you guys if you want to spend the week with me while I do it? I got the ok from Smithy so away we go! This will not be nearly as organized as my first blog was. But, really, when does a sequel ever measure up to the first? Most of you know all about me--if you missed my first blog you can read it here. Nothing much has changed around here. Same furry babies, same house, same husband . Right now we have field corn planted all around the house. In the outer fields we have soybeans that were planted after the wheat was harvested. Sorry for the blur....it was so humid the camera kept fogging up. I just came in from the garden. I snapped a few pictures....for more (and prettier) pictures you can look in the gardening thread. I always start out saying that I will not let a weed grow in there. By August I'm like..."Oh what's a few weeds" lol. Here's a total list of what I planted this year: 7 cucumbers 8 basil 23 okra 4 rows assorted lettuce 20 peppers-thai, jalapeño, bell, banana 4 rows peas 5 cilantro 1 tarragon 2 dill many many red and white onions 7 eggplant 3 rows spinach 57 tomatoes 5 cherry tomatoes 7 rows silver queen sweet corn 11 squash 4 watermelon 2 cantaloupe 6 pumpkin I killed the cantaloupes...and I tried damn hard to kill the squash lol.....sigh...squash bugs came early this year and we sprayed with some kind of stuff. WOW the plants did not like it, but they've come back and are producing. I just love okra flowers Found some more smut

Start spreading the news. We are on our way north. Just stopped in Barrie for breakfast at a place called Cottage Canoe. Will post more shortly.

My son married a lovely young lady from Yakeshi, Inner Mongolia, China. Mongolian: ᠶᠠᠠᠠᠰᠢ ᠬᠣᠲᠠ (Ягши хот); Chinese: 牙克石; pinyin: Yákèshí We had a wedding in the US but her family also wanted to have a traditional wedding in China. DH and I have never being to China so this was an exciting opportunity for us! We spent a few days in Beijing doing touristy stuff and then flew to Hailar. There is only one flight a day on Air China that we took at 6 in the morning. Yakeshi is about an hour drive from Hailar on a beautiful toll road with no cars on it. I wish we took pictures of free roaming sheep and cows along the way. The original free range meat. The family met us at the airport. We were greeted with a shot of a traditional Chinese spirit from a traditional leather vessel. Nothing says welcome like a stiff drink at 9 AM. We were supposed to have a three shots (may be they were joking) but family took pity on us and limited it to one only.

Wow, this is my third foodblog for the eGullet…. Welcome! I'll be with you from Palm Sunday through Holy Sunday to give you all a taste of the veritable food festival that is Easter in Ecuador. As usual, I intend to eat on the streets, visit a plethora of small shops and vendors, and talk about (and eat copious amounts of ) the specialty dishes of the holiday. A bit of background on me and where I am. I'm Elizabeth; I'm 33 years old and since the last foodblog I've ceased to be a Canadian expat in Ecuador, and become a full-fledged Ecuadorian citizen. I run a catering bakery out of Ambato, and I deliver to clients on the entire mainland. I've got a large customer base in nearby Baños de Agua Santa, a hot-springs town about an hour downslope of me to the east; I'll be visiting it on Wednesday with close to 100 kg of baked goods for delivery. Ambato, the capital of Tungurahua province, is located almost exactly in the geographic centre of Ecuador. It's at an average elevation of 2,850 meters above sea level (slightly higher than Quito, the capital) - but this is measured in the downtown central park, which is significantly lower than most of the rest of the city, which extends up the sides of the river valley and onto the high plain above. We've got what amounts to eternal late springtime weather, with two well-marked rainy seasons. Ambato has about 300,000 people in its metro area; it's the fourth largest city in the country. But maybe the most important thing about Ambato, especially to foodies, is that it's a transport hub for the country. Anything travelling just about anywhere has to pass through Ambato on the way; it gives us the largest, best-stocked food market in South America. I have simply staggering variety at my fingertips. This view, which was a teaser for the blog, was taken from my rooftop terrazzo. It is a fraction of the panorama of the river valley that I see every morning, and since Easter is traditionally somewhat miserable weather-wise, the clouds stick to the hilltops. The barrio you can see in the middle distance is Ficoa, one of the most luxury districts in the city. Ambato is notable amongst Ecuadorian cities for having small fruit farms (300-500 m2) still operating within city limits and even within its most established barrios - it's from this that the Ambato gets one of its two sobriquets: The City of Fruits and Flowers. The tendency for even the poorest barrios to take tremendous pride in their greenspaces gives the other: The Garden City. My barrio, Miraflores Alto, is a working-class mixture of professors and labourers, and my neighbours keep a mixture of chickens, turkeys, and ducks in their yards; someone down the hill has a cow that I frequently hear but have never seen. Consequently, if the season is right I can buy duck eggs from my neighbours (and if the season is wrong, entire Muscovy ducks for roasting.) Today, I'll be doing my largest fresh-food shopping at the Mercado Mayorista, the largest market of its kind in South America - this place covers nearly 30 square blocks, and it exists to both buy and sell produce from across the country. Sundays and Mondays it also opens up to a huge, raucous farmer's market where smaller quantities are available for purchase. Sunday is the day of the freshest food and the largest number of vendors. And I'm going to cross more than half the city to get there - I've moved since the last blog, and my new house, on the slopes of the river valley is further away than the old one on the high plain. I promise to take many pictures of this - particularly close to the High Holy days, the Mayorista is alive with vendors and there will be special sections cordoned off for sales of bacalao, truly enormous squashes, and if it follows the previous years' trends, a festival of Hornado (about which more later). Apart from mangoes, which are just finishing up their season, it is harvest time across the country, and the Mayorista will be well stocked with all manner of fruits and vegetables. To start us off, I'll demystify one of my teasers a bit. The Minion head that peeks out of my cupboard every day belongs to my jar of ChocoListo, the Ecuadorian equivalent of chocolate Ovaltine. Since I gave up coffee for Lent, it's my go-to morning beverage. ChocoListo normally comes in the plain white jar with orange lid that you see in front of the Minion; that's now my hot chocolate jar because I just couldn't resist when the company came out with the specialty jars. I firmly believe that one is never too old to have whimsical things!

In December, I spent 3 glorious weeks eating my way through Japan; Tokyo, Kanazawa, Kyoto, Sapporo, Hakodate and back to Tokyo. It was my 11th (!) trip to Japan but my mother had never been, so I thought I'd take the old girl over for a good time. We did not kill each other, surprisingly. I'll come back and caption these a little more informatively over coming weeks, but as you can see, we ate rather a lot. Midori Sushi, Mark City, Shibuya (always my first stop when I arrive in Tokyo, as my preferred hotel is directly above it) Toro tuna belly, Midori Sushi, Mark City, Shibuya Squid gristle for snack time (as you do) Uni tempura, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Uni tempura, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Eel, fish and scallop tempura, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Clam meat, chopped, stuffed back in clam shell and tempura'd, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Crab leg tempura, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Maitake mushroom (a cluster of them) tempura, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Squid, prawn which had been alive right up until this point, lotus root tempura, dipping sauce, radish and green tea salt, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Prawn head tempura, Tsunahachi, Shinjuku Evening hotel room snack - an AUD$15 tray of uni from Isetan depachika (food basement), Shinjku Amaebi (sweet raw prawn) gunkan sushi from Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya ' Engawa (flounder fin), lightly grilled, Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya Otoro, chutoro and akami tuna, Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya Marinated raw baby squid sushi, Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya Otoro fatty tuna belly and minced daikon (takuan), Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya Fried oysters, Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya Negitoro - fatty minced tuna belly and green onion, Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya Salmon, flounder fin and tuna belly aburi (lightly grilled), Umegaoka Sushi No Midori Sohonten, Shibuya

Happy New Year! I'm sitting at the gate waiting for my flight from Saigon to NYC connecting through Taipei so I figured this would be a good opportunity to get started... But this is just the intro- the rest will gave to wait until I land about 22 hours from now, sleep for about 12 hours, then get my photos in order! We had a great week enjoying beautiful weather, taking in the frenetic yet relaxed street life and eating some amazing local food... Our flight here was on EVA Airline and was very pleasant and uneventful. Our flight from Nyc to Taipei left around 12:20 AM on the 24th. I love those night flights since it makes it very easy to get a decent amount of sleep, even in coach. EVAs food is quite good eith both Chinese and western choices for dinner and breakfast, and they came through several times with snacks such as a fried chicken sandwich with some kind of mustard. I think I had 4 of them! Once I get home, I'll continue posting with pics from our feast in the Taipei airport.... Spoiler: those who have read my Singapore foodblog from July may see a slight trend...

Introduction I spent the weekend in western Hunan reuniting with 36 people I worked with for two years starting 20 years ago. All but one, 龙丽花 lóng lì huā, I hadn’t seen for 17 years. I last saw her ten years ago. One other, 舒晶 shū jīng, with whom I have kept constant contact but not actually seen, helped me organise the visit in secret. No one else knew I was coming. In fact, I had told Long Lihua that I couldn’t come. Most didn’t even know I am still in China. I arrived at my local station around 00:20 in order to catch the 1:00 train northwards travelling overnight to Hunan, with an advertised arrival time of 9:15 am. Shu Jing was to meet me. When I arrived at the station, armed with my sleeper ticket, I found that the train was running 5 hours late! Station staff advised that I change my ticket for a different train, which I did. The problem was that there were no sleeper tickets available on the new train. All I could get was a seat. I had no choice, really. They refunded the difference and gave me my new ticket. The second train was only 1½ hours late, then I had a miserable night, unable to sleep and very uncomfortable. Somehow the train managed to make up for the late start and we arrived on time. I was met as planned and we hopped into a taxi to the hotel where I was to stay and where the reunion was to take place. They had set up a reception desk in the hotel lobby and around half of the people I had come to see were there. When I walked in there was this moment of confusion, stunned silence, then the friend I had lied to about not coming ran towards me and threw herself into my arms with tears running down her face and across her smile. It was the best welcome I’ve ever had. Then the others also welcomed me less physically, but no less warmly. They were around 20 years old when I met them; now they are verging on, or already are, 40, though few of them look it. Long Lihua is the one on the far right. Throughout the morning people arrived in trickles as their trains or buses got in from all over China. One woman had come all the way from the USA. We sat around chatting, reminiscing and eating water melon until finally it was time for lunch. Lunch we had in the hotel dining room. By that time, the group had swelled to enough to require three banqueting tables. Western Hunan, known as 湘西 xiāng xī, where I was and where I lived for two years - twenty years ago, is a wild mountainous area full of rivers. It was one of the last areas “liberated” by Mao’s communists and was largely lawless until relatively recently. It has spectacular scenery. Hunan is known for its spicy food, but Xiangxi is the hottest. I always know when I am back in Hunan. I just look out the train window and see every flat surface covered in chilis drying in the sun. Station platforms, school playgrounds, the main road from the village to the nearest town are all strewn with chillis. The people there consider Sichuan to be full of chilli wimps. I love it. When I left Hunan I missed the food so much. So I was looking forward to this. It did not disappoint. So Saturday lunch in next post.

We were going to call it "Manitoulin Unrivalled" but after Kerry's adventures over the week or so unravelled seemed more fitting. Those who follow us faithfully know the routine: Technical difficulties..... Stay tuned...

Hi everyone, Recently, I just found this paradise for Foodie and it is my pleasure to be here. My name is Ian and I am from Salzburg. I love to eat but have to hold myself back before I could roll faster than walk. Last month, I started my own food blog (mostly about restaurant, travel and stories). Reasons I want to be here are to improve my knowledge about food/wine and to learn more how to describe ingredients around me. Thank you and have a great week =D Guten Hunger (German) Mahlzeit (Austrian) --> Enjoy your meal =D www.iandao.com

Fasten your seatbelts. It is that time of year again. We are a day late and a dollar short as they say but I was able to attend my granddaughter's graduation last night. We are on our way to Manitoulin via Sudbury. As always our vehicle is packed to the gunwales and then some. I hope we have both remembered all the essential things. As if we really needed more in a fully-stocked townhouse! Mostly we will be carting ingredients that will be hard to find up there. We are both unduly attached to our Joules so they are packed. Kerry does not leave home without the Thermomix. The Instant Pot and the Cuisinart Steam Oven are already there waiting for us along with most kitchen toys that one might need. Kira is securely strapped in her seat. Wouldn't do to forget her! I expect will stop somewhere for breakfast and one of us will remember photographs.

OK.... here we go again!!! While this post is a bit premature (we don't take off until around 1:30AM tonight), I am extremely excited so I figured I'd just set up the topic now. As in previous foodblogs, I may post a bit from time to time while we're there, depending on how good my internet connection is, and how much free time I have... but the bulk of posting will really get started around July 9th - the day after we get home (hopefully without too much jetlag!!!)

My "first taste" of Iceland and now I want more. Watch in full screen.

We are at the airport waiting to board our flight. As we seem to have interested folks from different parts of the world who may not know too much about our province, I thought I would start this blog by giving you an overview of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). Before Newfoundland became part of Canada in 1949, it was a British Colony. Cupids, a town on Conception Bay, was settled 406 years ago, and is the oldest continuously settled official British community in Canada. Most of the early permanent settlers came from southwest England and southeast Ireland although the French also settled here and in the 17th century Newfoundland was more French than English. French is still spoken in Port au Port Penninsula, on the western side of the island, with English spoken everywhere else. Just off the coast of south west Newfoundland, St. Pierre et Miquelon are islands that are still a colony of France. There is a regular ferry service between Fortune, NL and St. Pierre et Miquelon. Geographically, the capital of St. John's is on the same latitude as Paris, France and Seattle, Washington. In size, Newfoundland and Labrador is a little smaller than California, slightly bigger than Japan and twice the size of the United Kingdon. NL covers 405,212 sq. kilometers (156,453 sq. miles) with over 29,000 kilometers (18,000 miles) of coastline. By itself, the island of Newfoundland covers 111,390 square kilometers (43,008 sq. miles). The population of NL is 510,000, of whom 181,000 live in St. John's. While there are some larger towns, vast areas are sparsely populated. In Newfoundland there are no snakes, skunks, racoons, poisonous insects or arachnids. There is also no ragweed - allergy sufferers rejoice! There are over 120,000 moose and it is home to one of the world's biggest caribou herds. They also have some of the continent's biggest black bears. Note: This information was taken from the official Newfoundland and Labrador web site.