Shock of the Day: Food is Home

I am currently chatting with a friend in Thailand and I made a realization that the concept of home has changed for me now that we are moving all over the place.  We'll it's more like my concept of home has evolved over the years.

I indefinitely consider Hawaii home.  It's where I grew up and lived most of my life.  My family is there and I've got a lot of memories invested in that place.

What has changed is it seems that now a days, especially since I'm moving more often and not making a firm home base as I did in Hawaii, I may have added a new criteria to the list.

FOOD (and drinks)!

Good food that make me feel at home.

Yes, I am now using a food as a way to feel anchored to my location.  It sounds weird but it's true.  At the rate that we are going at traveling and seeing new things, I won't have a new home home for a while and that fine.  I've now found that food is my way to connect myself to a place because it's as close to a feeling of home as I'll get on my fleeting visits or stay.

My first ever Flat White in Western Samoa in an Italian Restaurant of all places!
Best Flat white so far but whenever I drink it (now available at Starbucks) it takes me back to Samoa.

I guess you can say it all started with basing a good trip on the best food we can find in the region, but now it's come to the point where I miss food just as I would miss my home.  I get HOME SICK for food.  I can care less about the place as I've enjoyed my visiting and seeing new sites but food and drinks are where it's at!

YES, of course, meeting great people and seeing beautiful scenery is great but that in itself is an added bonus on top of the food.  I know it sounds a bit fucked up, me putting food over more tangible things like people and actual places but hear me out.

I miss people and associations and I also miss and yearn for those good times that we've had with them more than anything.  In fact, I still pine over my times with friends and family in Hawaii, Thailand, Japan and California even.  My separation from those people were really tough but I think once I left Thailand the first time, I may have mentally prepared myself for not coming back in a way I never did before.

Yes, I knew I wasn't going back to my other homes, but my leaving for Taiwan was different.  I knew I was leaving Taiwan in two months and then going back to Thailand for a week before heading for China.  That may have steeled me from getting too attached to people and places as I've done in the past.

Don't get me wrong, I made some really great friends there but in the back of my mind, I always knew I would leave so I lived more in the moment there than I did in most other places before hand because of that very finite end in sight.  Hence, why I've invested more into food and less into everything else.

I think that's why I really honed in on my need for food as not just a emotional crutch -which it really is - but also a thing to keep me grounded in my lofty state of carpe diem as I flit around like a butterfly moving from place to place.  My attachment to the places and people were just as fleeting as my attachment to the food but while I had it, I'm totally committed.

Doesn't this look amazing? Taiwan's famous Manguo Bing!  It tastes as good as it looks.

Once it was gone, it was gone.

Maybe I associate food as comfort and a way to feel safe and just....GOOD.

I really don't know, honestly!

Back to the ranch...

Maybe it's also because I can associate good food with great memories as well.  The cake below is my absolute favorite for it's subtle flavors and overall scrumptiousness but....it may also be well loved because it was also the cake I chose to be my wedding cake.

Almond Teres Cake at my favorite baker in Hilo Hawaii (BI) at Moonstruck Patisserie

I just know that when I'm in Hawaii, I want good poke, kalua pig and go to my favorite Hilo dives to make me happy.  These foods reminds me of home and familiarity and brings me to my happy place.


I know that if I am in Thailand, I want to go to Salaya in Nakhon Pathom and eat at "Crazy Bird" - We named it that because I have NO IDEA what to call it and have my Tom Kha, Prikang, and Gai Pet Met Mamuang (I can't spell Thai stuff) and then go around the corner, get Cha Yen or Nam Manaow to drink or even eat Kao Soi Gai.  I love getting my fresh fruits and Mango with Jim Nam and oh, Muslim chicken.  These foods remind me of our time living in Thailand and how all I had to do was walk across the street from my old home to get great food and around the block to get everything else I'm hankering for.

Cooling off with Malaysia's version of shaved ice, Cendol

Unagi in Hiroshima or Miyajima Island on a nice rainy day

If I'm in Japan, I need to eat Matcha ANYTHING but I also want to eat Shabu Shabu, I love their bento boxes - don't judge me but I find bentos from the grocery store to be the best!  Buying sweets and getting just about anything from vending machines - I mainly LOVE cold season because then you can get hot cocoa in a can from vending machines.  Don't get me started on all-you-can-eat/drink buffets over there because the food is VERY good (nomi houdai and tabe houdai)!  These food remind me of the great time I've had in Japan and I can always aesthetically appreciate the presentation as well as the great taste.

When I'm in Taiwan, I want to eat Mango Bing, Niu Rou Mian, and drink Zhen Jiu Nai Cha and many other great street food delicacies at the night market.  I just think about the batered deep fried mushrooms, jipai, bacon wrapped grilled cheese, nai cha and so many more good foods!

Now here in China, I am associating Niu Rou Mian and Chou Doufu and Rou Jia Mo with Shaoxing.

I can be home everywhere and when I eat good food I can feel at home because it's like a security blanket.

The Golden Rule I did learn though, was not to eat a country's cuisine in another country.  If that Thai food isn't from Thailand (or in my case from a specific eatery within BKK) don't expect it to taste perfect because you'll most likely be disappointed.

It will NEVER be the SAME!

You're just setting yourself up for failure because you were jonesing for that perfect Prikang, well, save it for when you go back for a visit.  If you find something that is exact, you're VERY fortunate but honestly, the best way to feel at home in these new places is to find what food is their specialty and eat at that location.  It makes it a lot easier to transition to the new place you are visiting or living in by giving you something you can look forward to or rely on.

So instead of wishing to revisit that same exact experience, how about try something new until the next time you can say hello to that 'old friend' again in the future.

I promise it makes the wait that much more bearable. 

3D Printing

May I start out by saying, I LOVE 3D printing!
You can do so many cool and creative things with it and save money especially for mass production:
Furniture:

It brings up questions like, 'What if you had a company that can challenge places like IKEA with only a 3D printer."  Opendesk is one example of a company doing just that with their unique designs created by various artist and contributors.

What may have started as an innovation for aesthetics has turned into an invention of "Anything Goes".  People have started to see the potential that 3D printing is not just for simple items but for useful, life quality and life changing innovations as well.

HOUSES:

Organs:

Now, with my new found interest in Biopunk culture, I'm very interested in open source lab equipment because normally, it ain't cheap.  I worked for a cancer research lab and stupid little shitty plastic equipment that looks like stuff you can buy at Toys R Us were ungodly expensive.  Scientist are constantly searching for grants for funding and sometimes it's a substantial amount but a good portion of their budget goes towards lab equipment and its upkeep and that in itself can take up most of the grant.

Scientist have found ways to keep their research costs down by creating their own equipment via 3D printing.  If it were 3D printed, it may not be top of the line equipment according to the industry, but sometimes, science is conducted in bare-bones types of labs mainly because of funding issues.  Now, all you need is blue prints, which are readily available online and open sourced for all to use, and finding a 3D printer which is now becoming very common placed in different communities.

I love innovation and collaboration!

Things that would be time and money consuming have now become more and more accessible thanks to the 3D printer and the imagination seems to be the limit.  Granted, there are still many innovations and testing/trials that needs to be completed with the bio-printer and other printing but maybe someday in the near future, that scene in Star War where Luke gets a new hand will not be much of a fantasy.  People can customize their own houses down to the most minute detail and have back up organs at a touch of a button but that'll be a very distant future.  It's still fun to think about and imagine, though.

For your enjoyment:  FOOD PRINTING

10 Things I like about Kyoto

Not in any particular order:

1.
Reunion

We met up with our friends and were staying with their family the few days that we were in town.  One of the best experiences during that trip was the friendship and time we spent with them in Kyoto



2.
Washing our hands.
I love the sign that shows you how to wash your hands or "Tearai (?) no Tsukaikata"
Different people will tell your different ways to cleanse but at least, if you didn't know, they have a how-to sign.

The holiest of holy water

3. This Place!
Fushimi-Inari is the shrine with all the Torii and I absolutely adore it.  Apparently each gate represents a business and the owners would purchase a Torii to bring them luck.

There are various sizes and costs but the more money you put into the torii, the bigger the torii and wider the gate for good luck and fortune to walk though it.

These are smaller but I wasn't sure if you can take them to post at your own business or if they have to be posted there.

Apparently after so long, the torii gets decommissioned and taken down to be burned in a ceremonial fire...but I'm thinking that's after a few decades or hundred years or so.
The stakes are the designated spots for the new business that have commissioned a torii erected in their name.

4. These Places!
Kiyomizu & Tofukuji  

5.
Hit and Run Tour of Temples around Kyoto

6. Food!

When you go to a Kaitensushi place, expect to get plates of sushi like this.

Now it may not seem like much when you look at it but sushi is actually pretty filling and the rice can really satiate you.

7. Gion & Ginkakuji

8. Onsen

9. Frozen in Japanese





10. Family
After this trip, I feel like we were adopted into their family and made some great memories.

We had one of the best trips of our life in those two weeks and one of the highlights was coming to Kyoto and spending time with our family from Japan

Penpal and Indian Chili Chicken

I was part of a pen-pal exchange more than 10 years ago (just look at that post date!)  My original goal was to exchange letters and recipes but no one likes to write letters then (or now) so I exchanged recipes from my pen-pals all over the world.  This one was my favorite one.  I cut and copied it from my friends e-mail but my favorite part of this recipe is #9.

Ajinomoto is monosodium glutamate or MSG.  Back then, there were cautions about how MSG is bad for you, and nowadays, even more so.  Ajinomoto is the #1 producer of Aspartame but MSG is one of the main products Aji no Moto is known for.  There has been some concern the consumption of MSG but nothing was conclusive under laboratory controls.

Anyhoo, if you have any qualms about MSG, don't use it and replace it with something else.  Enjoy!

Indian Chili Chicken
Posted Date: : Sep 14, 2005 7:32 AM
Chili Chicken

Ingredients
1) 1 kg of small pieces of chicken
2) 200 gms Ginger cut into small pieces
3) 300gms Garlic cut into small pieces
4) Coriander leaves
5)1 nos Onions cut into long pieces
6) All purpose flour - 200 gms
7) Egg - 1
8) Bell pepper - 1 cut into small pieces
9) Aginomotto - a pinch
10) chilli powder, salt, balck pepper to taste
11) Vinegar - 5 tablespoons
12) Green chillies - 10 cut into small pieces

Preparation:
1) Mix the all purpose flour, beaten egg, ginger garlic paste, salt, chilli powder to make a paste.
2) Add the chicken to the paste and let it for 45 minutes
3) Heat some oil in a pan and deep fry the chicken.
4) Heat a little oil in a pan and fry the onions, bell pepper, ginger and garlic pieces,cut green chillies.
5)Add the vinegar
6) Add the fried chicken pieces to the boiling mixture.
7) Add the agin-o-motto and coriander leaves.


Thanks TiTu for the Recipe

Hacks for University of Hawaii at Hilo Students living in Hilo Part I

Welcome back to school, UH Hilo Vulcans!  A brand new semester and for many, a brand new home.
I will recommend you look up on Google and ask Siri where these places are because it's way too tiring to hyperlink EVERYTHING (don't forget to add Hilo to the name because these are common names)!  This is stuff that my group of friends and I did to to keep ourselves busy.

Here are just a few tips on Random things that'll help you survive the semester:

1.  What do I do in a town that essentially closes at 7pm?

• Go Sing Karaoke - Most of these places will give you free appetizers if you order a drink - definitely better than peanuts 

• Go Star Gazing on Mauna Kea at the Visitor Center - granted not Hilo but still something to do
• Go to the beach to watch the stars or have a picnic at night on a full moon: I recommend Carl Smith Beach Park
• Go and find all the porn shops and check them out - yeah, we were that bored

2.  I have the munchies, it's late and I don't know what's open after 11pm.  Try:

• Fast Food Joints: Mcy D's, Jack in the Box, Taco Bell, 7/11
• Supermarkets that close after 12
• Safeway closes after 12
• KTA closes at midnight
• Walmart closes at 1pm
• Ken's Pancake House - This on is a typical one but open 24/7
• Zippys - normally open until 11pm but 24/7 on Friday & Saturday 
• Kampai's Sake and Ramen - open 5pm to 1pm

3.  I'm craving a bit of ethnic food.  Where do I go?

If you want more info Click HERE.

• Thai
• Thai Smile
• Naung Mai Thai Kitchen
• Chiang Mai
• Tina's Garden Cafe

• Indian
• Kamana Kitchen - AMAZING Lunch Special
• Pakistani
• Akmal's Indian and Pakistani Kitchen
• Chinese
• Hilo Rice Noodle Soup
• 
  
• Vietnamese
• Pho Viet
• New Saigon
• Pho 808
• Hilo Rice Noodle Soup
• Yen's Cafe
• Japanese
• Takenoko
• Sakura Restaurant (on Kilauea St across from the County Buildings)
• Miyo's
• Kampai
• Kenichi Restaurant
• Greek (only Gyros)
• Pizza Ala Slice - This is the closest you'll get but their Gyro Dinner/Sandwich is amazing!
• Italian
• Cafe Concerto 

4.  Need something to do during the day?

• Volcano National Park (obviously)
• Mauna Kea just before Sunset
• Beaches along Kalanianaole Avenue 
• Carl Smith a.k.a. 4 Mile
• Richardson
• Onekahakaha
• Leleiwi
• Kings Landing
• Chocks
• Drangers
• Break Wall

• Go to Waterfalls
• Rainbow
• Akaka Falls
• Boiling Pots

5.  I need a quiet place to study and Starbuck EVERYWHERE is filled.

• My super secret spot I never shared with anyone (but now that I've graduated, I don't mind sharing)

UNCLE BILLY's Store - Kope International

It is the sweetest spot to get shit done!

Not only does this store/cafe have great ice cream for hot days, but you can also get some of the best loose leaf teas and sandwiches (I LOVE getting loose leaf bergamot (a.k.a. Earl Grey) tea and a Lox 'n Beagal)

They key is to go into the back room!

You walk through the main store, Past the Cash Register, Past the refrigerated section and into the back room that looks like it's for employees but REALLY it's an extra sitting room that is comfortable and best of all, QUIET.

It's the absolute best way to study and have time alone time.

BONUS:

If you're up for a hike and some beautiful waterfalls, check out my other ultra secret spot.

Also, now that I'm leaving the Island for an adventure soon, I don't mind sharing it with everyone :D
Granted over the years the word has gotten out and more and more students are going there but back when I used to go there, you'd get that place all to yourself.
To find it check out this blog.

If you want to check out different sites around the island, check out my board.

If you have any suggestions and want to add things for all the new residents in Hilo, Please leave a Comment!

Memory Lane 懐かしい... Cendol and other goodies from Malaysia

I LOVE Cendol!

I first had it in Malaysia and it was my go to dessert to cool down.  In fact, it has to be my favorite sweet from Malaysia.

This is what I would call the food for the Gods or Ambrosia but better!

I just love it and there are so many different ways to make it!

I was looking up the recipe and found this site. 

Here's one that I found online:

Cendol Batter Recipe

5 Tbsp Hoen Kwe flour (mung bean flour)
4 Tbsp rice flour
1 Tbsp tapioca flour
½ tsp salt
625ml water
A few drops pandan concentrate

1. Combine all the ingredients and mix well.  Cook on low heat, stirring constantly until the batter thickens and turns translucent.
2. Prepare a bowl of iced water.
3. Put a small amount of batter into potato ricer and squeeze into iced water.  Repeat until all the batter is used up.
4. Transfer cendol into container. It’ll keep in the fridge for about 4 days.

Cendol Drink Recipe

This is the recipe I used for my restaurant cendol drink, and it’s heavily modified from what you can expect to get in Malaysia.  That’s because I don’t have access to fresh coconut milk; I use packet coconut milk and add a bit of evaporated milk to it.

3 TBS cendol
60ml clear sugar syrup*
80ml coconut milk
20ml evaporated milk
½ cup shaved ice
30ml palm sugar syrup **

1. We put the cendol in a glass, then add all the other stuff and top up the glass with cold water. Feel free to experiment with sugar amounts and adjust to taste.

* made by dissolving 2 cups white sugar and pinch of salt in 375ml water, then cooled. Store in fridge.**made by dissolving 2 logs Indonesian Gula Jawa or Gula Aren in 4 cups water, then cooled. Store in fridge.

Very delicious pineapple tarts that I got from Chinatown in Melaka.  It was still warm!

My lovely couch surfing host made a lovely spread of food for us

Here is more from our lovely host!

I have no idea what this drink is but I LOVED IT!

And now, for something different:

A chicken stew with lemon sticky rice and a lovely limeade.

I like checking out franchises in international settings to see what they do to accommodate local tastes and food and this Micky D's did such a great job I think!

I was eating an egg sandwich but I ordered a HUGE cup of Mile (I LOVE Milo!) and I had to take a picture of the paper menu with a Chicken Pita sandwich and Azuki bean sundaes