Though it’s no where near summer yet, thanks to wacky Los Angeles weather you can enjoy your frosty desserts pretty much any of day of the week. In my list of favorites, I have not added any frozen yogurt and that is deliberate. Fellow offender, Roger Fan became an early adopter and hardcore pusher of that drug called ‘Pink Berry’ and I joined him in those early days of mile long lines at the West Hollywood crack den – I mean, branch. I OD’ed but joined yogurt rehab and now have little interest in going back to anything that has that tart, ambiguously artificial taste of mass market frozen yogurt. Here’s my 12-step recovery program, but it’s in only 7 - Read more...
Phil’s blog reminded me of a story that A.C. Lyles told at a function I attended once. A. C. Lyles is a producer and unofficial ambassador for Paramount Studios. He is 91 and sharp as a tack. Having been in the business for 78 years, he has a lot of stories to tell. One of them was about Paul Newman’s tuna casserole. It went something along the lines of this:
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Most of us are familiar with the 5-second rule, which states that if you drop your food on the ground, it is safe to eat it as long as you pick it up before five seconds is up. It’s unclear where this “rule” came from, but is there any truth to it?
Well, Molly Goettsche and Nicole Moin, two biology students from Connecticut College put this axiom to the test. In a series of experiments, they dropped everything from apple slices to Skittles on the floor and measured how long it took before dangerous bacteria made the food unsafe to eat. The result? Read more...
Over the past couple of years or so, I started to notice that there seemed to be a high incidence of older Asian people being afflicted with stomach cancer, including my own father who passed away last year. After doing some research, I found out the startling facts. If you are an Asian American/Pacific Islander or eat Asian food as a staple, read up:
• Asian American/Pacific Islander women have the highest rates for new cases of stomach cancer compared to women of all other groups. Rates of stomach cancer are three times higher than among white women.
• Asian American men are twice as likely as Caucasian men to have stomach cancer and
• Korean men in particular experience the highest rate of stomach cancer of all ethnic groups: five times the rate of Caucasian men. Read more...
How come they get all the cool stuff in Asia? A 215,000-square-foot “Chocolate Wonderland” theme park will open in Beijing on January 29. The park, which will be located near the Olympic Stadium, will feature an architecturally realistic chocolate Great Wall of China, life-size chocolate replicas of the Terracotta warriors and other Chinese artifacts made out of…yup, chocolate.
The chocolate items will be displayed in five temperature-controlled indoor venues and two outdoor facilities. But there’s just one problem which is why the park will close after April for a hiatus before re-opening on January 2011. Read more...
No, I’ve never been to Little Caesars but their slogan is marketing genius. As for fellow offender Phil’s request for me to shortlist the pizza joints in Los Angeles, here are my favorites in no particular order:
1. Tomato Pie: I’ve hit up the one in Silverlake and Melrose, and love them both. Their ingredients taste remarkably fresh and are gourmet quality but the pizzas are far from fussy and precious. The thin crusts are crisp, yet chewy and have a rustic quality that reminds me of fresh baked baguette. I usually get a half ‘Grandma’ and half ‘Mr. White’ for that savory yin and yang effect. The Grandma has chunks of plum tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil and the Mr. White is a blend of ricotta cheese, olive oil, and garlic. Both are scrumptious yet different. The acidic sweetness of the tomatoes from the Grandma are a perfect counterpart to the rich, creamy ricotta of Mr. White. Staff and owner are super cool, take genuine care in making their pizzas, and give you that special, cozy neighborhood joint attention (it helps though that I go probably once a week). Read more...
For those of you who read fellow offender, Phil’s post about heart-shaped pizzas in Domino’s Japan and have failed to drum up the cash to cover the costs of Fedexing your pie from Japan to the Los Angeles area, have no fear – there is a local joint that can make a heart-shaped pizza.
Apparently, Valentino’s in El Segundo and Manhattan Beach make heart-shaped pizzas all year round and can hook you up. Though I am partial to my favorite joint Tomato Pie and would eat their pizza any day be it round, heart or gonad-shaped, Valentino’s is pretty solid. They use fresh ingredients and work a pretty good thin crust pie. Per their site, you need to order in advance…Amoré!
If you’ve always thought that the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your special someone would be a pizza in the shape of a heart, Domino’s Pizza in Japan is way ahead of you and will be serving its heart-shaped “Happy Valentine Pizza.”
But this isn’t the first time a pizza chain is offering such romantic fare. If you remember in 2009 (or maybe not since the promotion was a bust), the Papa John’s chain offered customers their own “Heart-Shaped Pizza” for Valentine’s Day. As I said, it didn’t sell too well so I doubt we’ll be seeing it again this year. Read more...
Saw this recent post by Aaron Hotfelder entitled “Which Ethnic Cuisine is the ‘Safest’ in the U.S.?” that caught my eye. The titular question was posed to Tyler Cowen (an economist and some sort of ethnic food expert) and what he deemed the “safest” was Korean cuisine while the most “dangerous” was Chinese food.
Here’s why Cowen says Korean cuisine is the “safest”: Read more...
I knew something was wrong the moment I tried to call. The voice on the other end was saying this number was no longer in service and if I felt this was an error to try again. It had to be an error. So I dialed again. And again. And again. Same message. I double-checked the number online and with information—it should’ve still been working. But if it wasn’t…well, it was too horrible to imagine what might have happened. So I did the only thing I could do. I jumped in my car and drove. I drove as fast as I could through the holiday traffic and when I got there…my worst fears were realized.
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First off, Taipei rocks! I love this city and like all major cities in Asia, it’s an ideal place for foodies and insomniacs. Where else can you have 24h bookstores, pubs, karaoke, and dim sum? And don’t get me started on the famous night markets! Here’s Shilin Night Market, circa 1:00am:
There’s just too much to eat at night markets, but I especially love the candied cherry tomatoes, strawberries and yams. Read more...
Since I am a connoisseur of both fast food and Asian cuisine, thought I’d share this piece my friend Michelle did for CNN GO on “10 Asian-inspired fast food menu items.” I’ve had the McDonald’s bulgogi burger as well as their kimchi burger which I believe is either seasonal or no longer available since I couldn’t find it on my last trip there a couple of years ago (though other places including the Lotteria chain carry this). Now, all of this looks great, so my question is—why can’t we get any of this stuff out here?! Read more...
I love trying to learn new languages when I’m traveling through a foreign country. I’m never really the type to be shy saying it wrong because that way I can learn from my mistakes faster. If someone was trying to learn English, I totally would understand their struggle and help them build their confidence in any way I can. And when I’m traveling, knowing how to say the food is key…especially the way I love to eat. But the other day I ran into a huge discovery. I was trying to find some fried bananas. If you ever run across them, you must try it. In thai, it sounds like “guay tod” but I kept saying “quay tod”. After repeatedly asking around for it and tons of laughter from the locals, booyah, I found it. At first I thought they were laughing because of my horrible thai sounding tones. Let’s face it, I would laugh at myself too. But then when I told my thai friend this story of my journey for “quay tod”, she finally explained to me I was asking everyone where to find fried penis! Hmm, no wonder the lady boy asked for my number.
My version of a truly relaxing vacation is a place in Northern Thailand called Chiang Mai. It may be a kept secret for most but those who know this place can instantly relate to the calmness, relaxation, and humbleness this city brings you. If Bangkok were Los Angeles, then Chiang Mai is San Francisco… hence my second home. But since I like to keep things super interesting, I decided to get a little wild here to add some spice, in this case, saltiness to this blog.
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i love foreign/international travel. i try and do it as often as i can without permanently damaging my financial well-being.
when i was younger, i used to be organized and regimented about my itinerary prior to departure. i’d map out what i would do, see, & eat each day. however, in my greying years, i traded in my anal “to do” lists for a more relaxed, zen-like approach, allowing the unexpected to be my most frequent travel companion. my strategy is quite simple now… get up early, pick 2-3 things I want to see that day, sling on a day pack with a bottle of water, and walk. no cabs allowed but any other form of transportation is ok (foot, bike, monorail, venicular, bus, train, hot girl on moped, etc). for food, it’s even simpler – avoid 5-star chic and zagat/michelin darlings and just look for the most crowded mom and pop shops with the longest lines. it never fails. Read more...
My cat.
He was 47. I had met him in a bar. It was at least a semi-respectable bar that had a post-graduate crowd of mostly-employed.
We had gone on one date. It was a straight-forward dinner date that costed a lot of money. In the hundreds. Plural. I felt guilty. I felt like I shoulda slept with him, or at least had given him an ‘E’ for effort. In any case, the only thing I gave him was a good night kiss on the cheek.
About a week later, I get a text from him.
HIM: miss me?
(Truthfully, no. We had gone on one date… and it wasn’t like we blew each other’s minds.) Read more...
When I was in Orange County this past weekend, I was lured by the nostalgic glow of the local Dairy Queen with its cheerful, iconic red sign and had the soft serve chocolate dipped cone which triggered all my happy childhood food memories. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this little piece of fake vanilla and chocolate heaven. I generally prefer natural or organic food – the taste is often so much purer, fresher, and just better. And for a long time, I merely tolerated fast or packaged food as something to stave off hunger when trapped in hermetically sealed environments like the airplane, office buildings, and shopping malls. But there was something magical about this dessert. The vanilla soft serve melts in your mouth like a marshmallow cloud. The chocolate shell tastes nothing like grown-up, antioxidant rich, high percentage cacao content chocolate but instead, evokes the taste of “kiddie” chocolate – a cold-fusion of cocoa and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil that graces treats from Eskimo Pie to Klondike Bars. This was the kind of blissful sensory and taste combination that nature just can’t invent. Read more...
Have you ever been K-clubbing (aka Korean clubbin’) in Los Angeles? Its definitely an experience that I’ll never forget. Crown Royal bottle with watermelon platter, waiters “booking” girls to your table, and all the Korean music you can dance to. As a Chinese boy from San Fran, its something that was quite shocking for me. My good Korean friend took me for the first time years ago and I showed up with my loud, hip looking shirt. He instantly told me to take that off and gave me a plain black button-up. I guess he keeps spare black shirts in his car. As we walked into the club, I noticed a group of Korean guys walking out all wearing black shirts too. Maybe it was black t-shirt night. Read more...
