I Like Meat.

Hawaii Big Island - Day 4

2012-06-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

Today we leave Hilo and head to Kona side. After yesterdays adventures, we decided to give ourselves a break, and take it easy in the morning, with a hearty breakfast and great conversation, followed by some exercise running around with Peachy in the yard. Check out the breakfast that Lesles made for us today!!! Those papaya were so good, I wish I could bring home a lifetime supply!

Breakfast: French toast made with Taro bread from Punalu'u Bake Shop; Scrambled eggs from their own chickens in the yard, and bacon! YUMMY! Fruit platter had the ripest pineapple, lychee, plums (from their own yard), and papaya

We bid farewell to our wonderful hosts and their awesome pups, and set out to our last destination on the Hilo side: The 'secret' Champagne Pond. To get to this little gem, you have to drive all the way to the most Eastern point of the island, and park on a remote gravel road, then walk ~1.5 miles to the pond. The pond is surrounded by private estates that are closed to outside traffic, but the pond itself, which is part of the coastline, is public access, so walking and bypassing the private land is the only way to get there. Well, unless you have a giant 4WD truck (which Hawaiians on the Big Island love, and for good reason). Then you can drive the 1.5 mi instead of walking. We found the stroll to the pond mostly pleasant - the scenery of the jagged coast was very dramatic, and cool ocean wind made the walk not too scorchingly hot even in today's sunny, cloudless weather. The only 'pain point' is the sharp lava fragments underfoot. Hubby wore water shoes to save having to lug his shoes, but his feet suffered... The destination was definitely worth the trek! The pond looks so serene, and the water is heated from the volcano, so it's at a comfortable temperature for soaking in all day long... the best part? We saw a SEA TURTLE!!! It came into the pond to chill, and I was so excited to see one in the water while I was swimming, that I almost yelled while still underwater, and swallowed some salty water...

After lounging around in the water for so long that my fingers started to get puffy, we left the pond and hopped back into our car to begin the drive around the Northern coast of the Big Island once again, this time directly headed for the Waipio Valley. Waipio Valley is a private chunk of land that looks very idyllic from the lookout. According to the guidebook, residents of the valley are not too welcoming to visitors and tourists, because they don't like to be disturbed from their paradise-like way of life by intruders who have too many questions and not enough of a sense of fashion... So we didn't try to descend into the valley (not like we had enough time, anyways) and just snapped a few photos at the lookout. The day was a bit overcast, so the photos really don't do the valley's serene beauty justice.

Most of the remaining day was spent driving to Kona. While passing through Waimea, it rained a little and brought us a view of an ENTIRE rainbow. Yes, one where you can actually see both ends of the rainbow! And also later on while passing near Mauna Kea again, we saw a double rainbow. It's interesting how rainbows never cease to capture the imagination. No matter how old you are, or how many times you've seen a rainbow, or how cynical you've become, still a rainbow in the sky will extract excited gleeful cries of "ooooo loook, a rainbow!" from onlookers. I guess maybe it's because even though rain can be gloomy and foreboding, as long as the sun keeps shining there will always be beauty in the end. :D

If you thought that was the last of the photo ops today, you're wrong. We arrived in Kona around dinner time, and got to Ana'eho'omalu Bay (or just A-Bay) just in time to catch the sunset. It's true what they say, this place is a photographers heaven for sunset photos. Any idiot who has a camera and a finger and isn't blind can capture beautiful photos here. Exhibit A below:

Okay, well maybe not ANY idiot... just any idiot other than the one that took our 'sunset' photo... Exhibit B:

What a beautiful start to our time in Kona.

I-Like-Meat is now more Social!

2012-06-26T09:33:00.001-07:00

So some of my friends have been asking me how to subscribe to my blog updates. I added a email subscription bar to the top right of my blog page, right under the 'Search' bar. You can also add/follow me on Google+! Hope this helps! :D

Hawaii Big Island - Day 3

2012-06-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Day 3 on the Big Island was a mish-mash of delightful surprises! We started the morning with a fantabulous breakfast prepared by our hosts. At this point, I should say a few more words about our hosts. We found our lodging for our days on the Hilo side via vrbo.com. Originally we had wanted to stay in Hilo, but affordable options were booked, so we looked to the small town of Mountain View (this one is Google-less). Actually our decision turned out to be one of the best we made this trip! First of all, MV is equally close to Hilo and the Volcanoes National Park, and seeing as how Hilo town center was not actually that interesting, we didn't really lose out by not staying there. But more importantly, the hosts we stayed with, Leslea and Daryl, were such a sweet couple with such a wonderful wonderful home. They built their own home in Mountain View on a plot of land of 2 acres from scratch (yes, they own a bulldozer...), and we stayed in the Coconut Cabana, a cute cottage adjoining their own house. They also planted papaya, mango, coconut, and lychee trees on their land, and it is absolutely beautiful. The cottage itself is very clean and well kept, and decorated with style. The best part, they have 2 super cute dogs, Peachy and Scooter, who love having guests! They also have 2 cats and some birds and a herd of goats and chickens too...

Leslea and Daryl's furbabies, Peachy (husky/chow mix) and Scooter (Shih-Poo). We LOVE Peachy. Sweetest dog we ever met!

Gorgeous view of their yard from our Cabana

Anyway, we had the best time staying here. Every morning Leslea makes a 2-course breakfast for their homestay guests from home grown (literally grown in their own yard) or other local ingredients. This morning, for example, we started with a course of fresh fruits from her garden/farmers markets(she trades produce from her yard at the farmers market for items that she doesn't grow - how self-sufficient!): A plate of the most delicious tree-ripened mango, hawaiian papaya, and apple-bananas, garnished with fresh peppermint and shredded coconut. SO DELICIOUS. I thought that was breakfast. But no. For the next course, she made a healthier version of the loco moco: a scoop of rice, eggs from their own hens cooked over easy, and two hearty slices of grilled fresh ahi, and instead of the usual gravy, she made a sauce of butter, chili flakes, and oyster sauce. Heaven!

With our bellies filled with yummy breakfast, we set out for another day of fun. Today's agenda was to drive along the northern shore from Hilo to Waipi'o Valley, and check out some of the sights there. The first stop was Onomea Bay and the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens. We took the guidebook's suggestion of taking the Old Mamalahoa Hwy Scenic detour, which follows the Hamakua coastline north of Hilo. The scenery along the way was gorgeous. Lush rainforest-like foliage and vegetation line the side of the road, and with a light sprinkling of rain and sunshine just peeking through the clouds, it felt like we were in paradise. In particular, the lookout over Onomea Bay was like a scene straight out of a movie! Any one can take postcard-like photos here!

But the most enjoyable surprise was the Botanical Gardens. Those that know me know that I am way more an animal person than a plant person. I'm one of those people that plants hate, and I couldn't keep a cactus alive... But the guidebook had never failed us, so when it recommended the gardens as a "Real Gem", it convinced us to make the stop. I am so glad I took the advice!!! The garden is filled with mind-boggling plants and flowers, some so alien that it's hard to believe they are from this planet! The cute, multi-coloured geckos that poke out their tiny purple tongues to drink the flower nectar is an added bonus. Hubby's mad photography skills managed to capture this:

The garden also has a pretty intriguing history, but I won't make this blog post longer than it already is. Just a taste of the beauty you can feast your eyes on at this garden:

After visiting the Botanical Gardens, we stopped at What's Shakin', a small eatery by the side of the road, for a bite of lunch. They are known for their awesome shakes, made with nothing but the freshest fruit. They also carry Tropical Dreams Ice Cream, which is made locally on the island in Waimea. We got a tub of Kona Coffee flavored ice cream, a Farmer's Favorite shake (papaya, banana, apple, blueberry, and coconut milk), and a macadamia nut bran muffin to wash it all down. The muffin was meh, but the ice cream and shake were PHENOMENAL! I would recommend this place to anyone who's driving by this area! They also have fresh lychee from their own lychee tree. I haven't seen lychee this fresh since I was in Hong Kong!!! And it's not always lychee season. I had already bought a bunch of lychee from another truck on the way over, so I passed on these, even though they were actually cheaper and more fresh looking than the ones I bought earlier. =( Serves me right for being so impatient!

Our next stop was Akaka Falls. To be frank, the waterfall itself did not really impress me that much - I have seen larger falls, and more beautiful falls. But the really nice part about Akaka Falls is the setting. It's kind of in a tropical wilderness type of area, and if you take the longer walk around, you pass some majestic tall bamboo that sway gently in the wind. Even though it was raining a little when we visited, the view of the bamboo forest felt so peaceful that my mood was instantly lifted. The on and off raining actually added some magic to the atmosphere; fresh rain falling among the trees emanates the scent of sweet, sorrowful romance.

Next, a visit to Laupahoehoe Point to check out the waves. Apparently ~40 children were washed away in a tsunami that hit here, and locals still have memorials here for this sad event. The waves here were so big one time that a whole cargo load of cars got tipped over as the ship was about to reach port, and all the cars were lost to sea. Having been there personally, I can agree that the waves are indeed big and scary, but we still see local fishermen cast their nets. We took a nice afternoon nap here, to the sound of waves breaking against the rocks.

Heading back to Hilo, it was still early enough for one more activity. We had our flashlights on us, and enough energy. Spontaneously we decided to brave the Kaumana lava tubes. Peeking from over the ledge, the caves look like giant mouths, swallowing everything going in, including the light. We started with the cave on the right. It was dark dark dark in there. And wet. Tree roots dangling down from the cave roof dripped water, and made the cave smell lightly damp. Good thing I wore my hat - what if the water has sulphur in it and burns my scalp?! The cave opening was quite large, allowing us to walk in standing straight up, but soon we reached a choke point, and only a small hole allowed passaged to the next area of the cave, so we had to squeeze in by crouching as low as possible and doing the duck walk. Because the lava was highly fragmented on the ground, and their fragmented edges are sharp, I was staring at the ground all the time to make sure I had a good foothold. The consequence of this was that I hit my head on low ceilings and rock protrusions from the side wall multiple times... Good thing I completed my Ph.D. already, otherwise those brain cells would be more sorely missed!

Hubby Jay crawling through a bottle neck in the lava tube

At some point while we were crawling through the cave, Jay decided he would turn off his flashlight, just to see how dark it is. And you know how sometimes at night when it's really dark, you turn out the lights and momentarily you get freaked out because of how dark it is, but then a few seconds later your eyes adjust, and it's all okay? Well, I waited for my eyes to adjust... and waited... and waited... but it didn't happen. I just remained freaked out until the light came back on. I guess if one day you want to know what it feels like to be blind, this is one way to experience it. After about 20-30 minutes of trekking and crawling and grovelling in the lava tube, the air started to feel a little thin, and damp. I guess because there is no ventilation in there, the oxygen level is lower than usual. We headed out when we started feeling a little claustrophobic. After finding our way out of the right cave tunnel, we ventured into the left cave tunnel. It was interesting how the two caves were different in structure. The right one felt much larger initially, but has many bottlenecks and choke points. The left one starts out with a small and narrow opening, so you feel like you can't even proceed. But once you make it past the first bottleneck, you enter a huge cavern, with an almost cathedral like feel to the high, arching ceilings. Fascinating!

We ended our day very tired out from our little adventure in the caves, and had a very mediocre sushi meal for dinner at Ocean Sushi in downtown Hilo. Well, at least Peachy and Scooter were there to welcome us come at night :)

Hawaii Big Island - Day 2

2012-06-13T14:33:00.002-07:00

Today, I woke up at 5 AM with trepidation. Today is the big day, the day when we were going to trek through a rainforest, and end up at the foot of the Pu'u O'o volcano, close enough to see its vent. And from what I had read, the volcano had been quite active lately. Both excitement and fear of death from toxic fumes pumped up my adrenaline, and I woke up before my alarm rang.

We set out in our car to the trailhead - it is quite hidden, beyond even the remote areas where people live around here, and the last portion of the road to the trailhead is poorly maintained, just a gravel road. We reached this area and timidly drove our Mustang convertible rental over it, praying we won't get stuck in the wet gravel because it had been raining all morning. I licked my finger and put it up to the wind. Yup, a Northern trade wind. Just what we need for the toxic sulphur fumes from the volcano to be blown away from the trail, so that we don't die on our hike. The anticipation was building. And we finally reach the end of the road. The trailhead right beyond those bushes.

NOOOOOOO!!!! As we stepped out of the car and headed to the trail, we were stopped by a wire fence and a big read sign: "DANGER. Trail has been closed due to excessive volcanic activity and poisonous sulphur dioxide fumes. " This has been the biggest let down ever! After all that anticipation, only to be shunned from our adventure... =( In my disappointment and sadness, I even forgot to take a photo of the sign at the trailhead!

But hey, I have a Ph.D. now, so I should be able to quickly adapt to situations. We adapted, and headed over the the Volcanoes National Park, which is right by the small town of (and this will blow your mind) Volcano. At least getting up early for the hike meant that we beat the crowds to the park. We started with an invigorating hike through the Kilauea Iki Crater. This was a fantastic hike. It was about 4 mi loop, and took us ~2.5 hours, which is quite slow because we were constantly stopping for photos or checking out the wonderfully strange landscape and plants. It starts with a gentle downhill, taking you from the crater rim down into the caldera, then it's pretty much flat while walking over the crater floor, past steaming vents and other cool stuff. Finally theres some uphill to get back to the crater rim again, but overall not strenuous at all. Here is a map of the trail we took:

The best part was walking down on the crater floor. The steaming vents are quite intimidating at first, because you feel like there must be something going on down there, and maybe it will erupt with molten lava any minute, and melt you like a chocolate in a hot pan. If the wind blows and wafts some of that steam over, you can faintly smell the sulphur, but I guess the amount there is at a safe level. The landscape down there is also fascinating. Giant openings in the ground below, and layers of cooled lava that peel away from the bottom layers forming almost an open blanket of black rock, and piles of shattered lava everywhere, forms an image of chaos and destruction. Its as if the Incredible Hulk were let loose here, and smashed and unearthed everything. But then you see the small trees and fern blades that poke their heads out from the black, hard rock, and you realize how resilient and strong Nature is. A single seed, tries and tries, and eventually something so soft like a fern branch, can break through that tough lava rock. I guess in another eon, barring more eruptions, this crater might become a lush rainforest too.

View of the Kilauea Iki crater from the crater rim

Left: Descending into the crater. Center: Lush rainforest surrounds the crater rim, in stark comparison to the barren crater floor. Right: New life sprouting from the depths of the lava rock.

Landscape in the crater

This hike into the crater was definitely the highlight of our day at the Volcanoes National Park. We also visited the Thurston Lava tube, the Sulphur Banks and Steam Vents, and the Petroglyphs near the end of the Chain of Craters Road:

Center: Thurston lava tube. Clockwise from top left: View from an Ahu (cairn, or pile-of-rocks-marker) at Hilina Pali; Steam vent; Petroglyphs at the end of the petroglyphs trail; End of the end - the end of the trail at the end of the chain of craters road scenic drive; Ominous sign at the entrance to the sulphur banks trail.

All in all, we must have hiked 12-15 miles that day! It was definitely a very long but rewarding day of trekking around the park. By the end of the night when we reached the end of the end, we were exhausted, and hoping to just hunker down somewhere on the lava rock to watch some red glowing lava flow down the side of the mountain, like all the photos online (kinda like this, but without the weird outfit...). Unfortunately the lava flow tonight was too far away to be viewed! It could only be seen if you take a helicopter ride. =( So we settled by trudging back to the Jagger Museum near the Visitor Center, and ended our day by checking out the awesome red lava glow from the Kilauea crater.

Volcano by day Volcano by night ("oooooo..... ahhhhh.......")

A disappointing start to the day, but all's well that end's well. :D

Hawaii Big Island - Day 1

2012-06-13T12:14:00.000-07:00

Vacation is here!!! The last time I went on vacation was last Summer when hubby and I went to Europe and visited Switzerland and Germany, because I managed to get a conference there. It was a blast, but it has been waaaay too long of a hiatus between vacays. This summer we are headed to the Big Island in Hawaii to be in the wedding of two of our friends, Chung and Mel.

Vacation started out like any other vacation that leaves from the USA: with a soothing massage (for Jay) from a well-trained TSA officer. :) Our flight to Kona was made entertaining by the lady sitting in the row in front of us, who upon hearing that there were complimentary Mai Tais, immediately consumed 3 of them... In under ten minutes...

Right before we landed, we were greeted by a double rainbow in the sky!

Finally landed in Kona! The air was delightfully moist as it should be in the tropics, and it might have been my imagination, but a faint sweet scent of fruits also filled my nose. Ahhh... The smell of R&R. First thing we did was to make a trip to the Costco in Kona!! Not only to stock up on supplies for the week (such as bagels and sandwich items) but also we heard that they have great Poke! Poke is the Hawaiian take on the Japanese sashimi salad. Usually made with ahi tuna sashimi, slightly marinated in some kind of sauce, and seasoned with salt, green onions, and other flavorings. There were five kinds at Costco: regular (with seaweed), wasabi, shoyu (sweeter version with more soy sauce), spicy mayo, and avocado mayo. We bought some of the regular and shoyu - mmm tasty lunch!

With goodies in hand, we started our Hawaiian fun with a drive up the Kona mountains. The serpentine and windy road made for a super fun drive in the mustang convertible we rented. Wheee!!! We'll be coming round the mountain with the top down!

The joy riding continued up to the northern/central part of the big island. We took Saddle road, a road cutting through the island that passes by the Mauna Kea Observatory. The drive up to the visitors center at 9000 ft elevation was also very fun, because the road was lined with unique vegetation that varied with elevation. We could not go up further than the visitor center because a 4WD was needed to drive up the gravel road. Good thing we couldn't go all the way to the 13000 ft peak!!! Even after being at just 9000 ft for a while, I started to feel the effects of the altitude on my brain... We left soon, but not without snapping some photos above the clouds. :)

Continuing east toward Hilo, we make several more scenic photo stops, making the ride on Saddle road very pleasant. Some of the attractions near Hilo that we visited that day:

Rainbow Falls
No rainbow in the photo because we visited at the wrong time of day!
Morning is best since the sun would be shining in the right direction then.

Really cool HUGE banyan trees right next to Rainbow Falls.
Great for climbing on and around and under and over.

Beautiful Japanese gardens on Banyan Drive, in Hilo.
Makes for the nicest afternoon stroll.

The boiling pots and Pe'e Pe'e Falls

Dinner was at a local favourite, Cafe 100. Hawaiian food is so unhealthy, and so fatty, yet as with any fatty, unhealthy foods.... so satisfying after a long day! Interestingly, the rice here in Hawaii is not the calrose that we usually eat. Their rice is really really good! It's got more chew than calrose, but not quite a glutinous texture, and when cooked right, is just the right amount of softness without being mushy. This kind of rice I could eat on it's own! I am secretly hoping that this is an indication of the good sushi we will have on this island, since Hawaii has very fresh fish, and apparently the rice is also really good.

A local favourite: Loco Moco. A plate lunch/dinner that typically consists of rice (usually white rice), 2 eggs, macaroni salad, and some kind of meat. All topped with gravy. Here, our choice of meat was grilled spam and portuguese sausage. This was mortifyingly tasty, and I felt my arteries explode. As Alicia would say, one plate may cause Diabetusus shock.

It has been a wonderful day 1 on the beautiful Big Island of Hawaii!

Simple dinner

2012-06-01T20:45:00.001-07:00

Tonight was busy with pre-Hawaii packing, so dinner had to be simple and fast but still nutritious!

Enter tomato, egg and spinach noodle soup!

Easiest dish of all but very tasty and packed with vitamins too!

Homemade Daikon Cake

2012-05-31T20:28:00.002-07:00

Ok just to prove to Chung Wu that it is more than meta-comments, here is a review of my own creation, daikon cake.

I modified the recipe from a Chinese dim sum recipe book, and the recipe is as follows:

- 600g Fresh Daikon (about one large whole one), peeled

- 85g rice flour (note that this is NOT the glutinous variety)

- 65g corn starch

- roughly 2 tbsp wheat starch

- salt to taste (optional)

- 20g sugar

- 200 mL + 80 mL water or broth

- 1/4 to 1/3 cup Chinese sausage, diced (that's roughly 2 links)

- 1-2 tbsp dried daikon or other preserved vegetable bits that you like, minced

- 2 tbsp dried shrimp, mince if too big to start

To make the 'cake':

Mix together the rice flour, corn starch, wheat starch, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add water/broth to mix and make into a slushy batter (the consistency should be pretty wet).

To cook the daikon:

Slice the daikon into thin julienned strips (or if you're lazy, grate it with a somewhat large holed grater). If you like to have big chunks of daikon, you can also reserve 1/3 of the daikon and cut that third into cubes (1/2 inch squares) instead of strips.
Then, saute the daikon in a large pan with a little bit of oil. When it starts to get translucent, add the 80 mL of water/broth, cover and cook until soft. When soft, add a little of the 'cake' batter to the pan and mix to cook. It will become a bit sticky. Now remove daikon from heat, and while it is still hot, add it to the remaining batter and mix well.

*Note here: after i made this and tasted it, the texture was a little more sticky than I liked it. I think because depending on the juiciness of the daikon that you bought, 200 mL of water might be too much. So, in the future, I will probably add only 150 mL of water at first, then adjust the wetness of the batter after I mix the batter with the daikon, and make sure it isn't too wet.

Now for the yummy bits:

Here, the ingredients call for Chinese sausage... well, you know what? I realized I didn't have any. BUT! I had some bacon!!! So I substituted bacon for the Chinese sausage. First I made the bacon into bacon bits. Then I sauteed the dried daikon mince and the dried shrimp with a little bacon fat and mixed all the yummy bits together.

Finally, mix in the yummy bits into the daikon/flour-y batter mixture, and pour/spoon it into a steamer safe container! Steam it over boiling water for ~1 hr, or until your knife/chopstick comes out relatively clean (sometimes if the batter is too wet it won't be fully clean, but as long as it's not super runny you're good!)

The bacon was really delicious in this recipe, actually! Would make again. I actually also feel like I could have done without the extra salt. Usually I like to steam the daikon cake, then cool it down and pan fry it to eat with some sweet soy sauce, but because I added salt in the batter, it was too salty!! And I couldn't have my extra yummy soy sauce. =( I'm guessing that the bacon also contributed some sodium.

So there you have it! So easy to make at home, and super fresh. Let me know if you try it!

2012-05-31T16:27:00.000-07:00

With some prodding, nudging, and leading-by-example from Natulcien, I have decided to revive this blog. It's been pretty dead for a while. But I read back the entries that I wasn't too lazy to post from Singapore, and big-headedly thought that I am not such a bad writer. At least I entertained myself when I re-read them!

So, I-like-meat is back from the dead, just in time for my trip to the Big Island, Hawaii! Stay tuned...

Day 4 in Singapore - Wednesday April 6, 2011

2012-05-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

I've been getting better and better at going to work! You'd think it easy, but really it's quite confusing sometimes to navigate all the interconnect malls and underground passages. From Monday, when commute took me an hour, it now only takes me 35 minutes door to door! I LOVE PUBLIC TRANSIT (when it's effective... ahem *Caltrain!*)

I realize I've been talking a lot about food in this blog, but another interesting topic that I think about during my commute is fashion. When walking around in Singapore, you can't help but notice the way the ladies dress. Perhaps its because I live in Silicon Valley, but here the ladies dress a lot more formal for work than the ladies back home. This could also be me too used to the laid-back lab fashion, too. But being formal doesn't stop them from being fashionable!

Day 3 in Singapore - Tuesday April 5, 2011

2011-04-09T03:08:00.002-07:00

Woke up at 7am to go to work. How come I can never get to work by 9am when I'm at home??

Labmates seem to be warming up to me a little more, which I'm happy about. All of us went to lunch together today, but not at the hawker center. Today we went to the campus cafeteria, which looks just like a hawker center, but according to labmates is not quite as tasty. I went for noodles. Tom Yam Homemade Noodle Soup, to be exact. Big mistake. This noodle soup was literally the spiciest I have ever experienced in my life. No joke.

I've had spicy fish head hotpot in Sichuan, and I could handle that - the numbing effect of the peppercorns had something to do with it. 麻辣 is something I can do. But this - oh, this was pure BURNING. Now I really know the term "eating fire" (or really, drinking liquid fire in my case). The spiciness is distinctly different from that of a jalapeno pepper. I guess it's because of all the other spices they use, like lemongrass and all that good stuff. The noodles were indeed handmade, and had very good texture. But I just couldn't enjoy it because my mouth and stomach were both burning in the flames of hell about quarter of the way through. No way I could drink the soup.

Singaporean noodle, 1. Angela, 0. Epic KO.

And here's the culprit vendor of liquid fire - my labmate later told me it is also the spiciest place he knows of, and he cannot finish the soup either. Coming from a local, now I don't feel so wimpy.

(Ban Mian = Singapore speak for flat noodles. They also sell other kinds of noodles at that stall, though.)

Side-note: The cafeteria serves excellent iced coffee - tastes kind of Hello Boss, but even better. =D

Fast forward to late afternoon. Went and used the lab bathroom for the first time (no, the liquid fire isn't THAT fast acting...) and saw this interesting sign.

Note the "If you are unable to perform while remaining seated" part....

Today my jetlag was already much better, and I stayed in lab until 8pm, working hard! I guess this is what it's like to be single - you stay in lab much later because there's nothing to go home to. Dinner holds almost no appeal because it sucks to eat alone. Even if the food is good, people would look at you like a weirdo if you sat there eating with a goofy euphoric/orgasmic look on your face and exclaim "UMAMI!"

Finally get so hungry I head home. Originally, I had imagined that I would travel all over the island, visiting the food meccas of Singapore: Chili crab from Muthu's, Char Kway Teo from Smith Street, Pepper crab and Sambal Stingray from Jumbo, Satay from Lau Pa Sat, Bak kut teh that was so good they snubbed the Chief Executive of HK... experiencing the best of everything! But now I realize, that for the reasons I mentioned above, I have absolutely no motivation to make the pilgramage to these meccas. All I wanted to do was take my food, go home, and eat in front of the computer. Sad, I know.

Tried to make the best of the situation by at least trying new things that were on the way home from lab. Today I ended up getting Nasi Lemak, a very popular food eaten quite regularly by locals, even for breakfast. The name literally means "fatty rice", because the rice is cooked in coconut milk, Malay style. It is further 'fatty' by serving the rice with sides of fried chicken or pork cutlet, otak (singaporean fish cake), and a fried egg. All this fattiness made for a rich tasting, but not greasy feeling meal. I'm sure that the place I got it from, which was a small chain store beneath my hotel, is not the best, so I can only imagine how much better it COULD taste.

The photo doesn't really do it justice. The green stuff you see hiding under the fried pork cutlet is the coconut rice. Not sure why it's green, but it certainly tasted coconut-ey.

Aside from eating all this yummy and unique food, I've also been learning about Singaporean culture. And I realized, that Singaporean culture IS food. People here LOVE to eat. Maybe even more so than HKers! It is said that if you start a conversation with a Singaporean about food, you can continue it all afternoon. This is a testament to how diverse the food here is. Most of the best stuff is not very haute couture, and more often than not, it doesn't even look that delicious - hawker food usually just looks like a haphazardly thrown together melange of ingredients. But regardless of whether you like the exotic, spicy flavors, it is a unique blend of south-east asian, indian, and chinese cuisine that be found in few other places. Even your western fish and chips takes on a local twist here, often served with chili sauce on the side. I love the diversity, and now if only they would install some air-cons in the hawker centers......

Day 2 in Singapore - Monday April 4, 2011

2011-04-09T02:25:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day at work! I took the MRT from my hotel to the lab. It took almost an hour because I'm sure I took a big detour walking from hotel to MRT... along the way I was tempted by various coffee shops, bakeries, and local eateries, but I already had the free breakfast at the hotel, what a shame. =(

Lab was quite uneventful. It was surprisingly an all male group, so I felt at times out of place. Not that they weren't friendly when I talked to them or anything - they just seemed to keep their distance and didn't really talk to me unless talked to.

For lunch they took me to a local hawker center - kinda like a Dai Pai Dong in Hong Kong. I had what was supposedly the best HK style roast meats there. It was very tasty, almost as good as the stuff you get in HK. Forgot to take photos since I ate it so fast... =D

Started to feel sleepy at around 4pm, and non-stop yawning... especially when the labmate switched off the lights to do a photosensitive assay. =P

The boss of this lab is very nice. He saw me yawning and said I should just take off early to recover. I left at 5pm, and found the public transportation (MRT) to be super jam-packed, but still highly efficient. Although, with all the people waiting to get through the gates, it was highly embarrassing when my MRT card (kinda like octopus in Hong Kong) just wouldn't read!!! You know that feeling you get when you're holding everyone up - you start to sweat, and feel flustered, and feel as though everyone's eyes are boring into your back? Yah... in the Singapore heat, the sweating part of that reaction really doesn't help.

I got back to my room and put my heavy-ass mac down, and with my bag much lighter, I figured I should really force myself to go out so that I don't fall asleep early again. While wandering around the massive catacomb-like labyrinth of interconnected malls, I passed by this Hershey's SUPER FAN STORE:

I don't know about you, but Hershey's chocolate to me tastes like it's been eaten and then pooped out by a skunk. I hate it. To think that anyone could worship this brand of confections is ridiculous. And here I am, faced with a massive store (think SF Disney store sized) full of Hershey's candies, t-shirts, GIANT (like, industrial grade ethanol jug-sized) bottles of hershey's chocolate syrup, and other nauseating products. I took my photo of this monstrocity and quickly moved on.

More pleasingly I later happened upon a pet store. They didn't have puppies for sale (which I guess is sort of a good thing - there are too many abandoned dogs we should adopt before buying, but that's another conversation for another day), but they did have many varieties of hamsters and wabbits. One of them looked suspiciously like a nude guinea pig - you know, like the nude mice they use for lab experiments, but a guinea pig. I felt sad for the poor guy, naked and all, and to save his dignity, I refrained from photographing him. Here are some baby hamsters though!

Adorable.

Now to find some food. I went to a food court in a mall (Food Republic) and wandered around wondering what I should eat. Saw a sign for Oyster Omelette. That sounds good. Wonder how it's different from the Taiwanese version?

I have to admit that I like this version more than the taiwanese one, simply because this version has a lot more wok-breath flavour, and more crunchy bits. mmm... The oysters in this particular one was a bit fishy tasting, but I could see the potential of this dish. The soy milk sweetened the meal. I also had this red bean filled donut thing, which wasn't really a Ma Tuan (麻团), but wasn't quite like a red bean bun, either. It was good though. I could have eaten five more of those.

The decor of the food court was also very interesting (I guess these are the kinds of things you tend to notice when you're eating alone. There's nothing else to do but gawk at every minute detail in your surroundings). It was fashioned like a library, with book wall paper and brassy lamp fixtures:

After my lonesome, thought yummy meal, I made my way to Carrefour to buy some vegetables. The local cuisine sorely lacks greens. Then when I got to the store, I learned why. They cost an arm and a leg! Two stalks of celery was S$3 (~USD2.50); a bag of baby carrots S$2; bananas were S$0.50 EACH; and milk S$5 for a litre. Insane. They also don't take credit card unless you spend more than S$20. =(

I wearily ended the day by walking back to my room. It was barely 10pm, but I could not keep my eyes open any longer!

Day 1 in Singapore - Sunday April 3, 2011

2011-04-04T14:52:00.000-07:00

Arrived in Singapore today. Mostly well but my feet and legs are super bloated from the flight. I feel fat enough without the bloating, thanks.

Tried to get some food at 3pm but everything is so expensive! Same price as US or more because of the terrible exchange rate.
Ended up getting take out at a place called mr curry. Curry seemed like a safe choice and their mascot was cute. Huge cuddly one out front! Taking forever though, which is why I'm typing this. Man if I don't get some food in me soon I'm going to collapse.
After getting food I went back to my room to eat. Somehow I just really hate eating out alone.

With food in my stomach it was just impossible to fight the sleepiness. It was only 5:30 in the afternoon! But I thought maybe if I just sleep until 5 am I would be at least okay for the next day.

How wrong I was. Don't get me wrong. The nap was pure bliss. Just the dose of rest my body needed after that long plane ride. But when I woke up and could not sleep anymore, I found that it was only 1:30am. =(

Chatting online and consuming more kdrama took me to about 5 am. Hungry again. :(

All of a sudden there is extremely loud rolling thunder and blinding flashes of lightning outside! Haven't seen lightning like this for years. Funnily it isn't raining. Maybe it's regional and limited to certain area codes only? Went out to the balcony to take some photos. Tried to catch the lightning but you can't really tell from the photo.

Still can't sleep. Maybe I will see the sun rise above the Sands hotel and get some nice photos in the morning. Still hungry too. Must make a note to visit 7-eleven tomorrow and stock up on snacks.

Freshly-made froyo at Poco Cafe

2008-08-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

Froyo is all the rage nowadays. Korean tart frozen yogurt shops now litter the streets, offering tangy treats topped with even tangier fruits and mochi chunks that provide a refreshing and welcome break from the overly sweet American fare.

Poco Cafe in San Jose, however, sells neither kind of yogurt. Instead, it sells something much more interesting -- fresh frozen yogurt, freshly blended with fresh fruit chunks, using this intimidating machine:

This thing blends together a plain yogurt base with any fruit of your choosing. The machine itself is a wonder to behold, and is reason alone for you go to and see this antique and charmingly primitive monster in action. The resulting yogurt is not artificially tart, like the currently-hip Korean variety. Make no mistake -- it is tart nonetheless, but the tartness comes completely from whatever fruit you choose. Like other snacks that depend on fresh fruits, the flavor and sweetness varies from day to day; we've had good luck with blueberries, peaches and pineapples, and less with mangoes (bland) and raspberries (sour).

They also sell shaved ice, which is not quite as impressive. They do not shave their ice on the spot; instead, they pack pre-shaved ice into a box, which means it comes to your plate very coarse and very icy. You have your usual choice of toppings, and their red/green beans and peanuts are all very yummy. In my opinion, they use too much toppings for the amount of ice they give you, but some prefer it that way.

I haven't tried their tea drinks, but my friend has tried their jasmine green tea, and he assured me that it is excellent, with a very strong tea flavor.

Overall, this place has quickly become one of my favorite dessert places. If you're in the mood for yogurt, and are put off by the typical trendy, high schooler infested froyo places out there, Poco Cafe is an excellent choice.

Address:

1688 Hostetter Rd. #C

San Jose CA 95131

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Excellent beef noodle soup at ASJ Restaurant

2008-07-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

This is my first post here on this blog, and I'll be bringing some much-needed Taiwanese perspectives here!

Beef noodle soup （牛肉麵） is something that inspires worship of mythical proportions. On the streets of Taiwan, you can find plenty of beef noodle soup shops touting that they've been in business since the dawn of time, or that their soup contains SUPER SEKRIT FAMILY RECIPE that can transport you through a fantasy land of amazingly rich flavors and do your taxes for you. It's certainly a market filled with passion, bombast, and really good eats.

Here in the Bay Area, though, things are a lot more subdued. People of discerning taste for noodles now tend to pay more attention to ramen, and the heated passion that used to be associated with beef noodle soup has now faded into historical oddity. Thank God, then, that there exist stores like ASJ Restaurant that are still cranking out beef noodle soups, one delicious bowl at a time.

It's a very simple dish, really. It's -- yes! -- beef, noodle, and soup. Usually you'll get a few leafs of vegetables, and sometimes carrots or daikon. But the magic, as you can expect, comes from the soup and the noodle. First, the flavor of the soup must be complex but not muddled, savory but not salty, rich but not greasy, and spicy but not burning. Beef noodle shops reuse beef stock over the years so that their soup gains complexity with each use -- which is why shops that have been in business for decades tend to have the edge in flavor. The noodle, of course, needs to be very Q (or, in non-Taiwan terms, al dente), and comes in thick or thin varieties.

ASJ's soup pretty much passed every test we could think of. The soup was very good at just the perfect amount of spiciness, and I finished drinking the entire bowl without feeling that it's too oily or salty. Wei got the thin noodles, which were softer and not quite as Q as I'd like, though he enjoyed it a lot. I got the thick noodles, which I found to be a bit too doughy and tough, but my girlfriend Mel found it to be just fine (of course -- she's from Beijing! She'd be happy just biting into a ball of dough). Mel was also very impressed by the beef slices, which contained some tendons and were very tender, but I thought they were a little bland. Overall, though, very excellent beef noodle soup.

We also ordered their potstickers （鍋貼）. I was very excited about them because they were the open-ended kind -- a rare find in the Bay Area -- but they turned out to be pretty mediocre.

We also got their spicy wontons （紅油炒手）, which was awful -- the wontons were tiny, and the sauce is some weird concoction that's a little spicy, a little peppery, a little sweet, and very weird.

Overall, I was very happy with ASJ. Sure, its potstickers and wontons did not impress, but the beef noodle soup is killer, and surely worth a trip by itself.

In summary,

Beef noodle soup -- 4.5/5 (very impressive!)
Potstickers -- 3/5 (promising, but ultimately uninspiring)
Spicy wontons -- 1/5 (err, don't get this)

Address:
1698 Hostetter Rd # D
San Jose, CA 95131

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First post about non-Chinese food... Cluck U Chicken.

2008-07-13T11:15:00.000-07:00

I had been craving fried chicken for 2 weeks, and I had heard great things about Cluck U's super spicy wings, so since jayc and I were in the area, we decided to hit up this student hang out of Santa Clara University for some hotness.

As many people already know, their wing sauce comes in a scale of smoking-ness, ranging from MILD to NUCLEAR to GLOBAL THERMAL NUCLEAR. I'm a pretty conservative person, so after hearing all the stories, we went for the ATOMIC level, just to be safe.

In addition to 10 Atomic Wings, we also got 3 chicken tenders and some gravy fries.

I waited impatiently for my chicken, because I had really been thinking and dreaming about friend chicken for two weeks, so I was really excited about this chicken!

When the food came, it looked pretty good. The Wings were already covered with Atomic sauce, and it was a nice touch that the wings came with some celery, you know, just to balance out the meal. The chicken tenders were large, and the batter outside looked like beer batter, as opposed to the flaky kind of bread batter used normally. They were hot to the touch (temperature-wise). The fries were just regular thick cut fries with gravy poured all over. So far so good.

First I try the chicken tenders without any sauce. The batter was pretty crunchy and had that good fried taste, but it was a bit too hard for my liking. I thought it could have been a little more light and crispy. The chicken inside was just average chicken breast - not very moist but not too dry either. Meh. I was not blown away. But hey, the wings are supposed to be the big shizzle, right?

So I move onto the wings. First, I blamed myself for being too conservative because the Atomic sauce was not very atomic at all. Maybe it was the sweetness of the sauce, but initially I didn't really feel any hotness in my mouth whatsoever. It was only after a whole wing that I started to feel some warmth. I guess I should have gone for traditional death or something instead. But that is no one's fault but my own, so no complaints. However, the wings themselves (i.e. the MEAT) was also very disappointing. From the rave reviews I had heard about this place from friends, I expected the wings to be spectacular. Cripsy batter on the outside, and once you bite through the batter you get overwhelmed with the juices inside, and then you bite into the super tender chicken meat. I had been harbouring this image of friend chicken in my mind for two weeks! I didn't really get any of this from Cluck U's wings. The batter was crispy enough, given they were slathered in hot sauce. But the chicken inside was really not very juicy. It wasn't dry, because what kind of moron can really mess up wings so much that it's dry, right? But it really just was not that spectacular. Even the meat itself was more dry than I would have expected wings to be.

*I did not take this photo. It belongs to jatbar.*

Anyways, I don't have any huge gripes against Cluck U Chicken, but I have to say that it is average at best, and perhaps if I wanted to try the super hot sauce on average wings, I would go again. But if I get another craving for great fried chicken parts, I'll try somewhere else.

So in summary,

Hot Wings with not-so-ATOMIC sauce - 3.5/5 (-1 for being slightly on the dry side, -0.5 for sauce being too sweet)
Chicken Tenders - 3.5/5 (what can I say, they were just really average!)
Celery that came with the wings - 4/5 (this place gets extra pts for caring about our balanced diet)
Fries with gravy - not really worth reviewing. Just super average fries. With average gravy on top.

Address

2565 The Alameda
Santa Clara, CA 95050
(408) 241-2582

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An Adventurous Dinner at Cafe Yulong 玉龙小馆

2008-07-11T22:57:00.000-07:00

You know one of those days when you're hungry, but can't quite pick out what you want to eat, and you keep switching between wanting one thing and another? Well today was one of those days for me. jayc and I were trying to decide what to eat for dinner. It was getting kind of late, approaching 9pm, so I suggested Buca di Beppo, since I kind of felt like Italian. But earlier in the week I'd been having a craving for fried chicken, which was never fulfilled, so we then tried to think where we could get fried chicken, and only abandoned that thought when the closest place with decent fried chicken was 10mi away. jayc said he wasn't that hungry. Well maybe we could get sushi? So we went on yelp to get some ideas for sushi places that were still open at 9pm. Kappo Nami Nami in Mountain View was a place that a labmate had mentioned was good, and it was still open. So with that in mind, we headed out to Mountain View.

But as we turned onto Castro, I don't know what kind of a secret spasm I experienced in my brain, I suddenly said "Turn left!!! Let's eat at Cafe Yulong (玉龙小馆) !!!" Somewhere in the depth of my mind I probably saw a review somewhere on yelp about it and somehow I had the impression it was a small-ish cafe for eating Asian snack type foods, dumplings, and noodles... How wrong I was...

The first thing I noticed after walking through the door was that this Cafe was not small at all. Impression #1 killed. It was actually rather large and spacious inside, at least compared to my impression. Then, to my dismay as we were led to our table I noticed that 90% of the clientele were non-Asian. Specifically, they were white... hmm. Not a good sign for a Chinese girl looking for authentic Chinese eats... After looking at the menu, Impression #2, that this was a snack shop, was killed. All the menu items were pretty normal Chinese take-out type items, complete with Walnut Prawns and even General Tsao Chicken.

Just as I was saying to jayc that we should just leave and go to another place, the waitress brought out our tea, water and a dish of kimchee... I guess it's too late to back out. Me and my big mouth were going to pay the price for my brain spasm. And what kind of Chinese restaurant serves kimchee instead of 榨菜 anyways?!

We ended up ordering Thousand Year Egg with Tofu 皮蛋豆腐 (cold dish), Mandarin Style Garlic Eggplant 鱼香茄子, Mongolian Beef 蒙古牛肉，and Szechuan Sauce Noodles 四川炸酱面 (whatever that means...). The funny thing is when we were ordered, we asked the waitress for a suggestion, and seeing that we spoke Chinese, she actually said "Well... this is food for Americans you know..." =D

I had never really eaten at a fully Americanized Chinese restaurant before... *nervous*, and thus began our adventurous dinner.

The first dish was actually not too bad at all. The cold dish, Tofu with black egg, was actually quite tasty, even though it was not authentic. The traditional Chinese way to eat this dish is to serve very tender tofu with the egg, topped with regular soysauce, dark vinegar and some sesame oil. Our dish today used Japanese Tofu, which was soft but slightly more dense and grainy, and was topped with sweetened dark soysauce and... Bonito Flakes (yah, like the kind you cook miso soup with). The bonito flakes were good, but the boyfriend and I had to add so much soysauce for flavour that we were almost embarrassed, and when we asked for vinegar, there was only white. =( But despite the deviations, the dish in itself was very palatable, with the taste of the tofu complemented by the bonito and the slightly sweet soysauce.

The noodle came next. This was my least favourite dish. It looked pretty good at first (before I mixed it all up =P), with red sauce, lots of onions and shrimp and squid (although no Szechuan person would ever really make noodles like that, they're not big on the shrimp... and no Mandarin person would ever call that 炸酱）. But the taste was just... so plain. It was spicy, but not in the numbing hot 麻辣 way that is known in Szechuan - it was just chili. And other than that it was devoid of any other flavours. Bland doesn't begin to describe it. The shrimp were fresh and crisp, but the squid tasted kind of proteiny, like raw egg white, and it was rubbery. Yuck.

The eggplant and the mongolian beef came last, and they were both also average, and predictably Americanized - the eggplant not very garlicky, but very sweet; and the beef not very spicy, also on the sweet side. *Yawn* The conclusion was to go get boba afterwards to compensate our taste buds.

Summary:

Tofu with Thousand Year Egg - 3.8/5 (subtract 2 points for being wayyyy not authentic, but add 0.8 for it being actually tasty)
Noodles of some kind - 1/5 (I was going to give it a ZERO, but then again, at least it wasn't nasty - just bland)
Eggplant with Sugar Sauce - 2/5 (Mixed with the noodles, it made them palatable)
Mongolian Beef (made by some sissy Mongolian) - 2.2/5 (gets 0.2 more than the eggplant cuz it's got meat...)

So I guess the conclusion is, don't eat here unless you feel like lemon chicken or something. =P

Address
for when you actually want lemon chicken:

743 W Dana St
Mountain View, CA 94041
(650) 960-1677

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Shanghai Flavor Shop 上海生煎馆 - 生煎包 Heaven!

2008-07-10T14:44:00.000-07:00

First post ever! Yay!

My blog is actually inspired by eat.tanspace.com. Friends were 'insulted' that the blogger didn't eat lamb at a famous lamb hotpot place; they were also 'outraged' that their favourite Ramen place was ranked below another one; also the idea that using this blog I can keep track of which restaurants I'd tried and what I ordered and what was good, was mentioned by the owner of tanspace. So first I thank mr. or ms. tanspace for the inspiration.

The first place I want to review is actually one that was already reviewed by mr. tanspace. It's the little hole in the wall place in Sunnyvale called Shanghai Flavor Shop 上海生煎馆. The instant I saw the photo of that shengjianbao (Pan Fried Bun) on eat.tanspace, I knew this place had to be a winner. Why? From the way the bun is cooked, of course! To me, authenticity is key, and this is the first place serving shengjian where the bun is actually fried 'upside down' - PROMISING! I knew I had to check this place out.

Without delay, I grabbed a friend after badminton on Tuesday, and drove all the way to Sunnyvale in search of this perfect little bun. When we got to the area, it was already just past 9pm, and I was in fear that the store might be closed already (I could not find the hours for this place online). To make things worse, due to the hole-in-the-wall-ness of this place, it took another 10 mins to actually find the restaurant in the dark. When we pulled up in the parking space right outside the shop, the lights in the sign were dimmed, and to my dismay the sign on the door clearly said "4PM-9PM". =( But look! The door is still open, and the light still on inside. I asked my friend to go in and asked. My heart sank once more when she came back out saying that they had indeed closed for the day.

Just as I was about to drive away, the lady proprietor came out, and turned her head in all directions, as if looking for something. My friend waved at her through the window and she saw us, and said that if shengjian is what we are looking for, they can still make it for us to-go. HURRAY!

We quickly stepped out of the car and into the shop, and waited eagerly as the owners prepared our two orders of shengjian. We also ordered a plate of garlic stir fry Chinese watercress 蒜蓉炒空心菜. The vegetables were made fresh, as we could see into their kitchen and saw the bag of vegetables being taken out of the wrapper. As for the buns, I'm quite certain that they are not made from frozen pre-made buns, because I also saw in the kitchen a gigantic tupperware box of meat bun filling. We only waited around 5 to 10 mins for our order to be ready.

After almost 15 mins of driving, we arrive home, already too tantalized by the delicious smell wafting out from the takeout box. One key thing to note about their to-go shengjian is that with most places, you would simply not get them to go because you know that in the box they will go soggy from the condensation. But the owners clearly care a lot about the taste of their food. Not only did they line the inside of the take-out box with foil to keep it extra warm/crispy, but they also cut holes in each of the boxes to allow the hot air to escape, thus keeping the shengjian nice and dry. In addition, they also wrapped an extra bag around the vegetables to prevent the soup in that from leaking out and making a mess. I was already impressed.

Then I look at the bun. It looks very much like the authentic shengjian of Shanghai. The buns are fried upside down, so the 'top' of the bun is dark. The other side is white, and sprinkled with sesame and green onion, and it is also puffed up like a little dough balloon. I poked the bun, and the dough is bouncy, not hard. Then I take the bite.

The inside filling is very tender, as the meat is ground up finely. This is one slight deviation to the shengjian I had in Shanghai, where the meat was a little more chunky, and had more green onions. But other than that, the flavour was almost identical. Even the soup that is missing from the buns of so many lesser restaurants was there, and you have to be careful not to spill and waste any of the tasty meat juice. The dough skin was soft and chewy in the white parts, and slightly crispy in the dark parts. The sesame were grilled just right and you can taste it even with the meat being the main focus. This, is the closest I have ever had to the real thing outside of China. Some might protest that almost $1 per bun is a bit pricey, but I think it's is highly worth the price, especially if you're like me and you value the authenticity.

The vegetable is then just an afterthought. It was crunchy enough, but could be more so, and maybe slightly overcooked since the colour was darker than it should have been, but still tasted fine (you can probably tell by now that I don't care much about vegetables in general).

Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) I ate the buns too quickly and did not remember to take a photo (especially since I didn't know that I was going to start my blog)... That means I'll have to go back. ^_^

EDIT: So wei went to visit this place, and took a photo of the shengjian. Here it is! Thanks wei!

So in summary:

Shengjian - 4.8/5 (-0.2 for the meat being a bit on the finely ground side - a minor detail)
Vegetables - do you really care?

And if you ever want to visit this place:

Address
888 Old San Francisco Rd.
Sunnyvale CA

(it's near the corner of Wolfe and Old San Francisco, in a run-down mall next to a Shell and a Safeway. Without that info, it might be impossible to find in the dark. In the day time it's probably okay. =)

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