A new beginning, a non-beginning.

The last three weeks have been the most consistently eventful of my life.  After spending an adventure-soaked three days in Yangshuo, China, splitting time between rock climbing, biking, cave exploring, mud bathing, and cherishing every minute of my first (and likely last) hot air balloon ride, I returned to Hong Kong for a hectic final few days, juggling packing, attending to family matters, pursuing job options for next year, and saying goodbyes.  At a certain point I felt blindsided, painfully numb, while struggling mightily to maintain a collected front.  Leaving Hong Kong despite having failed to fully complete any of the above, I headed for Thailand, where I spent a week and change traversing Bangkok and Chiang Mai.  In Bangkok, we alternated between fending off blatantly dishonest hawkers and cab drivers and taking in the city’s diverse sights, though rarely with an appreciation free from distraction.  Still, I located moments of reprieve: a delightful Thai massage riddled with bone cracking and groans tuned to the pleasure of pain, an exquisite Thai lunch, a day trip to the ruins of Ayutthaya, the long-awaited companionship of a dear friend.  We laid low in Chiang Mai, Bangkok’s Siem Reap, day-long downpours passed in the company of Girl Interrupted, Volver, Little Miss Sunshine, and several cartons of phad thai.  I returned to Hong Kong, never glimpsing the sun as I rose bleary-eyed the next morning to make the four-airport trek home.

The point of all this being that my life has lapped my blog and left it reeling as result.  I do feel a bit guilty, but I’ve also come to realize that blogging, as much as I enjoy it, is an expendable part of me.  And that realization is liberating, in the sense that there’s no longer a need to obsess over synchronizing my blog with my life: that while it’s a priority to blog regularly when I’m in a position to do so, skipping a week here and there isn’t going to bring TLG world crashing down.  Instead of insisting on picking up exactly where I left off, letting gaps be gaps and focusing on creating a continuous larger picture.

Outdoor communal kitchen at a minority village in Guangxi Province

Chinese bottled water

is funny.

China: 6/8-6/21

Since time is short, posts on eats from my recent travels in China will probably take the form of pictures with ever-so-brief commentary.  Coming soon!

Tuna, scallions, and couscous-stuffed peppers

For a friend’s birthday dinner, I recently made these stuffed peppers, which were paired with an asparagus and mushroom frittata and went well with some red wine. Even though 1) my inattentiveness resulted in the peppers’ overcaramelization in their first trip to the oven and 2) I accidentally left out the capers I had planned to include in the stuffing, I still thought it turned out decent. The scallions provided both an onion-y and grassy edge and the (canned) tuna added some texture and saved it from being a vegetarian-friendly dish, which is always a plus . Perhaps if all goes as planned next time, the result will be closer to the fabulousness I had originally envisioned.

A day of eating. Literally.

A few weeks back, one of my fellow foodies suggested a “day of progressive eating.”  The idea was novel to me and the territory unknown — an entire day devoted exclusively to eating – and I’m always one for stretching myself and my stomach capacity, so I eagerly got onboard.  This also gave us an excuse to try some of the best-rated restaurants in Hong Kong according to the local food website, openrice.com.  An itinerary was mapped out: 11 restaurants/food stalls were chosen for the task, most within walking distance of each other, cuisines spanning Chiu Chow, Malaysian, Thai, and local Hong Kong specialties like wonton noodles.

Our first stop was a place I had been meaning to visit for months, Australian Dairy Company.  I’ve heard nothing but the highest praise for this restaurant’s simple fare of eggs, toast, and macaroni soup.  At the entrance I ran into some friends of my parents, who apparently recognized me even though I had not the slightest clue who they were (and still don’t).  It’s always a bit awkward and disorienting when people you don’t know claim to know (of) you.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, ADC was to be my favorite restaurant of this day.  But the scrambled eggs and thick-cut toast were spot-on and satisfying in the visceral way that only foods like scrambled eggs and toast could. I could see why even the humble-sounding macaroni soup had secured a faithful following, as the salty broth with supermarket ham tidbits and elbow macaroni could very well be the Hong Kong equivalent of chicken noodle soup.

Australian Dairy Company:
47-49 Parkes St, Jordan

Scrambled eggs with toast.

S to the Z

Shenzhen is one of China’s designated “special economic zones“.  It’s right across the border, and for me that means ready access to dirt-cheap massages, trinkets, DVDs, and Chinese food.

Sushi at the 7

As I was reaching to grab some milk cartons this morning at 7-11, I jerked back in silent exclamation when I noticed that to the left of the milk section, there was a display of assorted sushi and hand rolls for sale.  I studied it curiously for a moment, taking in the neat rows of individually-wrapped servings in such ‘flavors’ as radioactive green seaweed, a burnt orange seafood concoction, and dried pork floss.  I’ve long accustomed myself to the 7’s curried fish balls, garlic-laced ramen noodles, and those shiny mystery meat hot dogs churning slowly on the electric grill, all party to the certain kind of fast food the 7 specializes in.  But the sushi definitely caught me off guard, even if it may not be sushi proper.  I haven’t tried it yet though I’ll be sure to, but in the mean time, I wonder if this taking of the supermarket/deli-zation of sushi one step further is contributing to the denigration or democratization of it.  THoughts?

Eggplant tteokbokki

Tteokbokki with eggplant has quickly become one of my go-to dishes.  This is only my 4th or 5th time cooking it — though that’s probably the most I’ve ever cooked a single dish — but I’m confident I have this one in my back pocket. By that, I mean I know what to look for in the supermarket, how to prep everything, how long I’ll need to cook it, and have thought up enough variations to keep it interesting.

 

Ad hoc Cake

When I dog-earred this pound cake recipe from Nicole Rees via Serious Eats, I had every intention of making pound cake loaves that were true to form.  The tender, golden crust and moist, rich crumb spoke to me this rainy morning, and having superfluous sticks of butter in my fridge did not hurt.  After removing the loaves from the oven and letting them cool, I eagerly prodded the cakes out of the loaf pans, only to discover that they would not budge.  Even after knifing clean the sides, the cakes resisted removal.  And when the tops of my loaves finally did break free, the lower halves did not follow, remaining stubbornly clung to my insufficiently-buttered pan bottoms.  So much for proper pound cake.  But, rather than mope around and proclaim the failure of a lost cause, this blog entry by David Lebovitz on the non-difference between banana bread and banana cake sprung to mind.  Who needs pound cake in bread-shaped form, anyway?  So I scraped everything out and packed it all — tops, bottoms, pan crumbs — into a casserole dish and baked this collection of former pound cakes for an additional 10 minutes.  Dress with some makeshift chocolate ganache to hide the blemishes and voila, the end product bears a strong resemblance to the classic yellow cake with chocolate frosting, which, like blessed few things in life, never goes out of style.