The virtues of iberico ham (Barcelona day 1)

I love ham. Let me just say that. I can honestly say I used to be a prosciutto snob, thinking that it was at the top of the cured ham food chain. That was until yesterday, when I had my first taste of authentic iberico ham from La Boqueria market in Barcelona. Let me just say -- it was glorious. I knew pigs were invented for a reason, and it seems that Spanish pigs are definitely at the top of the ham food chain. (And at 80 euros a kilo, they should be!)

But I digress. Yesterday I arrived in Barcelona. I must say that first impressions were pretty blah, probably because the weather was blah, and the airport was pretty blah, too. I am staying at Le Meridien on La Rambla, well, mostly because it was free. Hey, at least it is a "five star" hotel. Haha.

Anyway, other than my adventures in Spanish ham-dom, I laid low for the rest of the evening and allowed jet lag to harass me at approximately 3am. With my 3-day plan all laid out, I had forgotten to take jet lag into account and of course, completely blew through my morning schedule today when I slept in until 11:30. Oops. But hey, vacation is vacation!

Today was a busy day of scurrying around, NOT getting into famous sights, and the 2-hour, 7-course lunch at Comerç 24 (more on that meal in a separate post). I tried to get into La Sagrada Familia, but got there too late to catch the last elevator up for the day (the stairs are closed due to "safety reasons"), and the main floor of Casa Batlló also closed early for the day. So instead I strolled around El Born, and went into La Petrada (aka Casa Milà) which had the most amazing sculptures on the roof terrace. All I can say, though, is that this Gaudi fellow must have been on some serious drugs when he dreamed up these buildings...uh, I mean...he must have been uniquely inspired. Right.

Tomorrow I am off to attempt Sagrada Familia again, followed by a little detour out of the city to a town named Sant Celoni? What's there? None other than one of the six 3-Michelin-star restaurants in all of Spain -- Can Fabes.

I survived pastry boot camp (day 5...and beyond)

The last day of pastry camp was seriously a blur. We got to class and quickly watched demos of finishing a chocolate mousse cake and a bavarian cream cake. Then we finished our fruit tarts, baked up our palmiers and wrapped up all our food to go. A quick graduation certificate ceremony and a class review later, we were free to go off on our own into the pastry-filled sunset.

Then came the fun fun fun trip home. First I had a 2 hour drive from Hyde Park to Albany, made two hours only because I had to stop and take a nap halfway through because I nearly fell asleep and hit the rumble strip on the side of the freeway. Yes, it was scary. This is what happens when you try to drive on the NY Thruway after not having slept a full night in a week. Then I had my flight from Albany to DC, an hour layover in DC, followed by a 6-hour flight home. Like I said, fun fun fun.

And now I am back home. Not sure what's next for me in the pastry category, but in three days, I start work again. Can't believe this mini-sabbatical has passed by so quickly. I wish I could say that I am more enlightened about life or even my work, but I think I'm just more well-rested than anything else. We'll see how long that lasts. ;)

Playing with sugar and my beef with buttercream (day 4)

Quote of the day: "California? Oh yes, that place filled with nuts and raisins" - Chef Schorner, referring not to the produce but the human inhabitants of the Golden State

Today I played hookie. I'll get that out of the way now. I skipped my usual 3-course lunch at the CIA and went to McDonald's for some fries and a filet-o-fish. And diet Coke. And yes, it was glorious. One good thing about playing hookie though, is that I got back from lunch early, and Chef Schorner taught me how to play with sugar and create cool sugar domes. Sweet!

Moving on -- today we finished frosting and decorating our cakes. Let me just say for the record that I hate buttercream. It's fickle and fussy and it doesn't like me. However, with a whole lot of help from the chef and repeated attempts, I'm happy to have produced my first buttercream-filled cake. I happen to think it's pretty hot. ;) We also sliced up our puff pastry for palmiers, and made a yummy apple tart. I think that might be my new pie!

Dinner today was at the American Bounty, which serves up, well, America's bounty. I had the soup sampler (which included four soups ranging from cheddar beer to alligator gumbo), the free range chicken cooked two ways (stuffed, and sausage), and the vanilla panna cotta with spiced earl grey sauce for dessert.

And with that, the last day of boot camp is upon us. Tomorrow we bake up our palmiers, finish our fruit tarts and figure out what other pastry goodies await us in the future. Oh, that and I have to go home. :(

Puff pastry galore (day 3)

Quote of the day: "Does your duck get along with your chickens" -me asking one of my pastry classmates at lunch

Today we rolled, folded and turned. In short, we made puff pastry. Puff pastry is a delicate yet scary monster, requiring lots of strength, patience and flour. Although in the end, I think my team and I did quite well with our pastry. Tomorrow we'll get to cut it up and make tarts and palmiers.

The diversity of my classmates never ceases to amaze me. Among the 14 of us, we have a restaurant owner, a retired salesmen, two doctors, a semi-retired oil tycoon, a hand therapist (no, I have no idea what that means), a food services manager for an "adult residence" (aka assisted living), a southern belle homemaker, a financial analyst for Pepsi, a high school student, a gastronomy professional from Brazil, and a nurse. And that leads to very interesting conversations such as the one about the nurse's chickens and whether or not they get along with her one duck (they don't). Or ones about how food purees are "all the rage" at adult residences these days -- she explained the "turkey sandwich" puree which consisted of a yellow portion which represented the turkey, a brown portion which was the gravy, and some green puree which was the veggie. Apparently, it's as gross as it sounds.

Okay, summary of food eaten today:
Breakfast - at Farquason Hall as usual. An *awesome* eggs benedict.

Lunch - at the East Wing Dining room as usual. Gravalox on a bed of frissee, followed by a vegetarian stuffed cabbage with beans and rice with a curry squash sauce. Dessert was pot de creme. The dessert was as we said "Mm" but not "Mmmmmmmm".

Dinner - at the crown jewel of the CIA restaurants, the Escoffier. I had a fois gras and ox tail terrine served with a cranberry compote, braised veal cheeks with a lemon sauce and mashed potatoes with baby carrots, and a peanut butter mousse devil's food cake for dessert. Decadent yumminess, except for the dessert which was more peanut butter than mousse.

As as for what we made: we worked on making our puff pastry, and filled and frosted our sponge cake with vanilla butter cream. We also had this kickass class on dessert wines. :)

Oh, and I stopped at Baskin Robbins for an ice cream. A nice elderly couple there smiled and said, "Oh how cute -- you're a chef for Halloween." (I was wearing my uniform.) I laughed and thought, "Indeed. I am."

Adventures in pastry cream (Day 2)

I survived my second day at boot camp. In retrospect, today actually passed by pretty quickly, even though I almost fell asleep in class more than once. We had early lecture again, followed by pastry cream galore (or hell, if creams are not your thing) -- we filled cream puffs and eclairs, brulee-ed some creme brulees, glazed bread puddings and presented our first set of desserts. It was magnificently decadent. (I know magnificently is not a word.) Lunch was wild rice and mushroom soup, prime rib (for lunch!), and profiteroles that we didn't get to since we were stuffed with cream puffs.

In the afternoon, we had a really interesting lecture on tea and coffee by one of the professors who runs Apple Pie Bakery, the cafe on campus. We sampled 6 different coffees side by side, and then 12 (yes, a dozen) teas and tisanes side by side. It was awesome and very eye opening. Conclusions? I still love my espresso straight up. And drip coffee is still gross.

Dinner was at the St. Andrew's Cafe, which I admit made me a bit homesick since the health-conscious, Asian-influenced cuisine was very similar to what you would find in SF. I had a spinach & arugula salad to start, followed by a pan seared salmon with a soy-orange glaze, served with shitake and edamame and steamed brown rice. Yum yum yum!

On deck for tomorrow: we conquer puff pastry, buttercreams (that was tomorrow and not today), and cookie dough!

Pastry Boot Camp kicks my ass (Day 1)

It's 11pm, and I'm exhausted after day 1 of Pastry Boot Camp at the Culinary Institute of America in beautiful Hyde Park, NY. We started with orientation at 6am (yes, 6am -- that's 3am to my jetlagged body), and then went straight to lecture, 4 hours of production (that's baking time), lunch, then lecture and critique, campus tour, R&R (afternoon break, or nap time, as I call it), and then dinner at Caterina de Medici, the campus's Italian restaurant. And I am pooped.

Some observations from day 1:

-Our instructor is this really awesome, slightly kooky pastry chef who's credited with bringing the crème brûlée to America. No joke. The guy is a bad ass. He used to work at Le Cirque (remember Top Chef with the fish and potato recreation dish episode?), Tavern on the Green and the Savoy Hotel in London!

-The food here is really good. It's like food from work (cuz it's all gourmet and free), but not all obsessively organic. For lunch we had this incredible wild mushroom risotto with sausage, a salmon dish (fish was cooked perfectly!), and cheesecake. Dinner was at the Italian restaurant where I had beef carpaccio (too much oil) and a tube noodle pasta called garganelli with a green pea and prosciutto sauce. It was delish! Dessert was tiramisu, of course. :)

-In class, we made pâte à choux (base pastry for cream puffs and eclairs), pastry cream, and a custard based dessert. Our team got bread pudding. Not sure how it all tastes yet since we are finishing them tomorrow, but preliminary critique says that our pate a choux was excellent, our pastry cream was slightly bubbly (not good) and our bread pudding was "okay". Not sure what that means

Tomorrow we are making cakes...sponge cake and chiffon cake and buttercreams!!

Oh, and did I mention that I was exhausted. Time for bed. Pics from the beautiful campus can be found here.

"Iconic Itinerary" indeed

So every month's Conde Nast Traveler features an "Iconic Itinerary", a tailored trip to a destination with recommendations for everything, usually on the splurging side. This month's? Southeast Asia. Sounds very familiar somehow (plus a few cities I didn't get to)...with the same hotels to boot. ;)

After a month of soul-searching...

I'm sitting here tapping away on my Macbook (which by the way, is definitely contributing to a relapse of my carpal tunnel) at the Red Carpet Club in the Hong Kong airport. The sun is gently settling into the horizon, and outside the window, cars and trucks zoom in and out in between glistening planes, loading and unloading bags and meals, and who knows what else.

It's strange and yet somewhat comforting that most of my trips end in Hong Kong. There's a certain sense of cyclic, full-circle-ness that comes with stopping at my birthplace each time I travel abroad to Asia. And yet, it's the same repetition that reminds me that this isn't really "my place" any longer. I've realized that the reason that I always feel so antsy after spending more than a few days in Hong Kong is that it is no longer my home. I may be born here, and I have relatives here, but I am no similar to the local people as other foreign expats are. I speak their language, but I don't sound the same. I have the same skin colour, and yet I don't look the same. Hong Kong, like many global cities, is a gateway -- which by definition, is a place that takes you to another place. But it's not really a place that you stay for long.

As I traveled from place to place on this trip, I've found that there's one commonality -- in each place I visit, I've always rejected the facades and asked for the real deal. The real people behind the tourist facades. The real history behind the sights and sounds. When I pick my tour guides, I always ask them to take me to places that's off the normal circuit, or tell me stories about how the local people really live. Perhaps it's the desire to really understand the place and its people, or perhaps that's what I'm missing in my life: a sense of tradition that is historic and authentic, as opposed things that are always shiny and new.

And after traveling to four countries in four weeks, I can say that I've learned a lot about myself. And yet, none is it is really anything that I didn't already know. I've learned that I can be independent and curious, adventurous and yet a homebody at times. I know that I'm still seeking "home" and a sense of belonging, but that San Francisco is the closest thing I've got at this point. (And it's a pretty darn good home.) I guess my point is, despite the soul-seeking nature of a long trip abroad alone, I don't have any seriously deep conclusions, and I'm okay with that. I took a trip of a lifetime, and saw beautiful things and met really nice people. The sights and sounds will remain in my mind for a long long time, and I'm blessed to have had a chance to see so many new places.

But now, it's time to go home. At least the place that I call home for now.

P.S. I just had my first Starbucks almond soy latte in over two weeks. It was heavenly.

But what about the food? (part 2)

From Macao and Hong Kong, we went to Thailand -- where a bounty of yummy foods awaited.

Thailand
I think I enjoyed the food in Thailand more this time for a couple of reasons: 1) I finally took a class and understood the ingredients and how they contributed to the overall flavours of popular Thai dishes, and 2) my recent increased tolerance for spicy foods allow me to at least sample many of the spicy flavoured dishes, which I must say, are much better than their de-spiced versions!

Most memorable meal would have to be a tie between lunch at the Blue Elephant (probably because I cooked the whole meal myself), and the traditional Royal Thai meal at the Sala Rim Naam at the Oriental Hotel. I still have dreams about my favourite Thai dessert of all time -- coconut sticky rice with fresh mango. The rice part may sound a little fishy, but all together, it's definitely a winning combo! As always, I'm still a sucker for lemongrass iced tea, which I tried to have almost everyday. :)

In Chiang Mai, I was also impressed by the calibre of non-Thai dishes that were available at the hotel. For example, when we arrived late on the first night, I ended up order pasta from room service (you know, comfort food) -- the squid ink fettuccine was cooked perfectly al dente, and the seafood flavours spot on!

Cambodia
I'll be the first to admit...I had very low expectations for Cambodian food. Not because I didn't think that they had a big food culture (because all Asian cultures have big food cultures!), but I just didn't think that I would like it that much. And in the end, the local food "won out" -- all of the western food that I had was pretty greasy and tasted slightly funny (even the eggs at breakfast), while the Khmer and Asian foods were generally okay. Rice is also a staple in Khmer food, so I always had enough to eat. :)

For my last dinner in Cambodia, I got a free Khmer tasting menu meal at the hotel's restaurant, Meric. I remember a lot of it tasting very similar to Thai food, but the dishes that really caught my attention were the green mango salad with dried snake (yes, SNAKE), and the fried frog on a stick. Well, they had a nicer name for it, but it was literally an entire frog battered and deep-fried and served on a stick. And yes, it did sort of taste like chicken. Let's just say I ate a lot of rice that night.

Vietnam
Oh I do love Vietnamese food. From their super strong coffee to the simplicity of a good bowl of pho, the Vietnamese food in Hanoi was great. I have to admit, I didn't really eat off the street that much -- I really tried, but every stall I stopped at, I managed to see where and how they washed the food and the dishes, and then very quickly lost my appetite. So in the end, I stuck to Vietnamese restaurants, where at least I couldn't SEE the kitchen. Besides the ice cream, the pho and the spring rolls, I have to say that the French food in Hanoi (at least at the Metropole) was pretty spectacular. I had some macarons that would absolutely divine, and a beef tartar (prepared 3 ways) that I had was also quite yummy. My reco's for the city: Fanny's for ice cream, the Sofitel Metropole for French food and pastries, and Pho24 for hygienic but yummy pho. Also, check out Au Lac Cafe for coffee, and Bobby Chinn for a dose of other-worldness in the midst of the chaos of Hanoi.

And as for all the meals in between (as in, in the air)? Let's just say that I'm sad that I didn't fly Singapore or Cathay Pacific this time. Thai was tolerable, but everything else (Vietnam, Bangkok Airways, and United), you're better off starving.

Halong Bay and other final Hanoi-an thoughts

Today I made the 3-hour pilgrimage to Halong Bay, which is not only now UNESCO protected World Heritage site, but also the backdrop for one scene in the James Bond flick Tomorrow Never Dies. Alas, the weather sucked today. And by suck, I mean it really sucked. Almost zero visibility with a layer of haze wherever you looked. I must admit that that my camera skills are definitely not to the point where I knew how to deal with this yuckiness...and so there are very few photos from today's journey (scroll to the bottom for Halong Bay in grey ;)).

But nonetheless, Halong Bay, with its 2,000 limestone islands and green waters was still a sight to behold. I hope I'll get a chance to revisit one day when the weather is better. Although I have to say, it did remind me a lot of Langkawi, a trip for which I also don't have any pictures. Perhaps limestone islands and I were not meant to be.

And with that, my trip to Hanoi draws to a close. A few final Hanoi-an thoughts....

-The ice cream is really really good here. Try Fanny's (oldest in town, I think) for the "Com" or young rice (when it's in season), or right here at the Sofitel Metropole for their cinnamon or sapa honey flavours. Delish!

-Hanoi is charming. I can't really describe it. It's probably some combination of the colonial architecture mixed with the crazy chaos.

-There are no Starbucks here. Or McDonald's. The people of Hanoi just wouldn't stand for it. They'd rather sit around little tables on the street drinking and eating with their friends as they have for decades. Something about that is cool and admirable. Sucks for the Canadasian chick who likes soy almond lattes though. :(

-The coffee that they do have here, though, is great. And they like their coffee strong. If you think that Vietnamese drip coffee back in the US at your favourite pho joint is strong, think again. They use about 1/3 of the condensed milk and probably double the grounds. The result is an awesomely yummy, excruciatingly buzzing caffeine infusion. Gotta love it.

And now, it's time to pack for the journey home.