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Lenoir, you little jewel-box of a restaurant... you precious salon. Thank you to you and your chef, Todd Duplechan, and your on-point waitstaff (Hi, Melinda) for making my birthday so wonderful. Lenoir is pretty terrific, guys. They have a prix-fixe menu, where you can choose three courses for $38. Considering that most of the items are local and everything is so carefully considered and prepared,
Life goes on! Obladee, obladaa, et cetera. Logan's working, I'm working (well, actually, strike that - I'm temporarily unemployed as of this morning, hooray end-of-project!), the cats are freeloading, and we've mostly been good little homebodies. What else is up? Well, we clearly have not been feeding and watering this here blog. It took us a bit of time after we got back from the trip to start hi
Today here in Austin it's sunny and cool, a perfect Southern winter day. But I would chuck this glorious day and its eye-piercing brightness in a moment for Singapore's humidity and heat, if it meant I could stuff my face with crab. Perhaps Singapore's most famous dish, chili crab (or pepper crab) can be found at any number of outlets around town, from the down and divey to the fancy shmancy. We t
September! A time when young folks' minds turn to... well, as it turns out, marriage. We went to two weddings in September, one in Denver and one in Boston, and, hey! here's the evidence that we were in Colorado. Or at least a place that looks very much like Colorado and has "critter" problems similar to Colorado's. (and, yes, this post is stepping back from the travelogue for a bit, since I clear
cough cough cough HELLO! How is everyone? Doing well, I hope? Enjoying the beginnings of fall - well, at least you fellow Northern Hemisphere-ers? Drinking cider and all that, fighting off the first of the hopefully few winter colds? I've been casting around at what direction to take this blog for a while now, and while I've been doing that I've just sort of been letting it fester quietly over her
Man. I'm dropping the ball here... Sorry, guys. There are only a few more trip posts to write up, and there's definitely a part of me that just doesn't want to DO them, because then it'll be like real actual life has started back up! We've had a good September. Been to Colorado to get my cousin married off, and then to Boston to be in my college friend Megan's wedding. Good times, good food, good
Before we leave Bali behind for the shiny pristinity that is Singapore I wanted to share a little bit about the older side of the island that we found so enchanting. Tradionally these ladies would be topless. One thing that stood out immediatey about Bali was the focus on family and community. All of the classic houses are built as little compounds carefully aligned with the cardinal directions an
Oh, man. Singapore. (Yes, Singapore! Can you believe it?) Such good food, but I feel full just LOOKING at it. We were really lucky; a childhood friend of Logan's opened his house to us for the week we were in the city-state. He lives right near a metro stop, and it was so nice to have a home base while we were there! ...and then we completely failed to take any pictures of Kevin and Logan together
While we've been industriously not blogging (I've sold my creative energy to Terrence Malick for the time being and Rachel is busily re-establishing our life in Austin) we have managed to put together a couple of fun articles for Edible Austin. Edible Austin is a great local magazine that's part of the nationwide Edible Communities. If you haven't heard of them you should definitely check them out
The food on Bali is interesting for Indonesia because it's the only major island out of the 18,000 or so that isn't Muslim dominated. Over 90% of the population of Bali are practicing Hindus. And that means pork. Probably the most hyped dish on the island is babi guling. It started out as a real special occasion dish where a whole pig was slowly spit roasted for a wedding or bris or end of season
Sacred Monkey Forest. Or minor place of panic, at least for me. Monkeys are kind of cute, right? Or at least goofy? Well, yes. BUT. The Sacred Monkey Forest, just outside of Ubud, Bali, is FULL of monkeys. Monkeys that have no fear of humans. Toothy monkeys. The Sacred Monkey Forest is a big tourist destination. And, though there are signs asking you not to feed the monkeys, there are also enterpr
I swore I wouldn't go to Bali. At the very start of the trip people kept telling us over and over, "you can't miss it, it's just amazing." All I could picture was middle aged women on journeys of self discovery, thin fingers extended gracefully from the loose sleeves of their flowing kaftans as they pecked away on expensive laptops in the corners of overpriced tourist cafes. But I keep an open min
Let's just get right back into Georgetown, Malaysia, shall we? Part I kicked things off with some classic nasi kandar, a couple unmissable starch dishes, and drinks to wash it all down with. This time, I say we start with dessert. You know, because you can. You're an adult, damn it! The beauty of this next spot is that it's a three-for. For whatever reason the little alley of Lebuh Keng Kwee is ho
Over the weekend, a very exciting thing happened! Reshma Kirpalani at the Austin American-Statesman wrote an article! About us! I'm pretty terrible at self-promotion, so I find the whole thing more than a little embarassing (it took me ten times starting to read the article before I was able to finish it). But it is pretty cool to be in print like this! Here's a link: Austin couple goes around the
Surprise! The beaches of Bali are gorgeous. Insert any and all superlatives of your preference here. By day, they look like this. And by twilight: And the sand on some of them is ROUND! Even more comfortable to lay on! Several have, of course, been pretty thoroughly discovered. Still pretty, just less secluded. Some are in villages with wonderful snorkeling opportunities, like Amed with its Japane
George Town is such a densely packed labyrinth of food amazingness that I'm pretty sure you have to live there for a few generations to master all the nooks and crannies. In our time there we averaged about 5 meals a day. I'd say they were small, but you know I always get that weird look on my face when I'm lying. I won't embarrass either of us with a coverup. So we got in a little practice, most
...hi! You, er, may have noticed that there haven't been any posts here for a week. OK, more than a week. It's because we are back, in Texas, and life has once more gotten in the way of our blogging! No worries, we'll be back to talking about the rest of our trip soon. Look for continuing posts on Malaysia, then on to Singapore and Indonesia! Here's a taste: See you soon!
We left Kuala Lumpur for George Town, Penang; a spot long on my list of dream food destinations. George Town has a very small community feel to it but they manage to cram more variety, zip and spiffy surprises into a few square miles than we've seen almost anywhere. The city is a pousse-café of Indian, Chinese, Muslim, European, and Malay with little touches of travelers from every corner of the g
Pudu Market in Kuala Lumpur, for me, is the quintessential southeast asian market experience. Behind the scenes It's big enough that you can lose yourself in the narrow lanes watching the bustle of commerce and exploring a large variety of fresh and prepared foods, but it's small enough that it won't wear you into the ground or leave you feeling like you might have missed the best part if only you
Kuala Lumpur is just a fun town to eat in. The long simmering blend of Malay, Indian, Chinese, British, and other random cuisines has produced a modern food scene that can keep you entertained for weeks. As long as you don't need a lot of fresh vegetables. KL is huge and our time on the ground short, so instead of making a futile effort to unlock the deepest secrets of the food matrix, we happily
Getting to the tiny island of Koh Tao from Bangkok was relatively easy - Solar Air sells through tickets that take you from plane to van to ferry for one price, and all went fairly well. The plane was the smallest I've ever been on, seating 15. But, sadly, we did NOT like Koh Tao. And you are going to look at these pictures and think that we're crazy. What the pics DON'T show you about this tiny i
On our trip we were lucky enough to catch three new separate New Years. We started with the traditional Western celebration when we were in India, then we hit up Chinese New Year in Beijing, and as a final bonus we found ourselves in Bangkok for Songkran, the annual astrological reset button for a good chunk of southeast Asia. Since Songkran falls right at the end of the dry season, in the hottest
I didn't have much of a preconceived mental image of Kuala Lumpur before we arrived. Petronas Towers, big Southeast Asian megalopolis, yup yup yup. And... that's what we saw! In between chowing down on lots of noodles and curries, of course. The Petronas Towers are hugely tall, but seemed a little puny after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. They're beautiful skyscrapers, all chrome and shine. Fancy lobb
For the most part, people go to Siem Reap as a staging ground to visit the massive temple complexes in the area surrounding Angkor Wat. The town itself has devolved into a fairly grim tourist mishmash (although not as sad as Aguascalientes at the foot of Machu Picchu). Don't be fooled by the "Night Market" sign. It's a market in about the same way as the clearance bin in Pier One is a market. The
This will probably sound kind of snotty, but I was totally prepared to dislike Koh Samui. It's one of Thailand's larger and more touristy beach islands, with an international airport and super high-end resorts, and I figured it was just going to be totally bleached of any semblance of "real" "authentic" Thailand. Turns out, in a stark contrast to Koh Tao, WE LOVED IT. We holed up at Harry's Bungal
This is mostly a story about fish sauce. Nu?c m?m is the single most famous export of this small island, and it's considered by people in the know to be among the best in the world. Often, fish sauce made in Thailand or other parts of Vietnam will slap the label "Phú Qu?c" on their product, hoping to make a buck off the caché this product has with the cognoscenti. Most of the stuff here seems to b
Phú Qu?c is an island, right? So, unsurprisingly, the thing to eat there is pizza. Steak. Potatoes? OH! Seafood! Right! Yes. And it turns out these guys boast some of the best squid in the whole world. There are beautiful restaurants on the beach if you are in the mood for ambience and romance. Tables are set up on the sand, so kick off your sandals and just jam your toes right into the ground. It
Ðà L?t, or Dalat, is a town in the highlands about 7 hours away from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). Its altitude means that the weather is lovely and springlike year-round, which is perfect for springtime vegetables and flowers - very different from the tropical heat of the surrounding countryside. We knew our bus from Nha Trang had to be getting close to Dalat when we saw all the greenhouses. Entire
Since we'd hit some of the biggie top sights the last time we were in Bangkok (the Royal Palace, for instance), on this visit, we made it to a few of the sights sometimes considered lower-tier. Of these, my favorite was the Jim Thompson House. It's kind of hard to get pictures good enough to convince you to visit, since most of the house is off-limits to cameras, so please trust me when I say that
I love Bangkok. For some reason the place gets a bad rap with a lot of travelers and is generally used as a transportation bridge more than as a destination in its own right. Lame. The city is a crazy blend of high brow culture and urine soaked debauchery. You can go straight from a world class folk museum to a Michelin starred restaurant* to watching a lady do things with darts that you'll swear
Oh Bangkok... WE'RE BACK! Are you still as cray-cray as we remember from our visit in 2007? You know, with the humidity, and the prickly fighting awful cabbies, and the heat rash, and the tourist scams, and the ladies of not-so-great repute hanging out in bars on Soi Cowboy shooting ping pong balls and darts out of their hoo-haws? To that question, Bangkok answers: Sorta. Remember Kent and Larisa,
And, shooting right to the top of the List of Things I Did Not Know Before This Trip: Turns out, Angkor Wat is HUGE. It's not just the iconic central temple complex that we've all seen pictures of and know and love, it's a sprawling ruin miles and miles across made up of hundreds and hundreds of temples of varying sizes spread around the countryside near Siem Reap. Seeing all of this in one day is
How can I even presume to talk about a period in Cambodia's history that was so indescribably awful and so full of terror and pain that I can barely even conceive of it? I've been sitting with these pictures for weeks now, and I'm still not sure how to answer that question. What follows is pretty ugly, and I don't blame you if you don't want to read it. The Khmer Rouge was in power for such a shor
After spending some time in Luang Prabang proper, we decided that a nice day trip was in order. We'd heard that there were some gorgeous falls nearby, just ripe for the splashing around in, and that they also happened to have a bear rescue center right next door. Sold. The drive out to Kuang Si takes about an hour. Once we realized that a tuk-tuk would charge more than the cost of a moped, the dec
Lao is home to some pretty exotic food and ingredients. We had seen some really unusual things in the markets but of course had no way to cook any of them or any clue where to begin if we did. The local restaurants weren't much help either, most being tailored to more western tastes or else with menus in Lao and completely undiscernable. Tamarind to the rescue! This cute little place down by the r
And welcome to our short stint in Lao! It was absolutely worth getting a multiple-entry visa for Vietnam so that we could easily hop in and out of its landlocked neighbor. We flew from Hanoi to Vientiane on an evening in March, and I couldn't figure out why everything I could see from the plane was so hazy and gray. Turns out April in Lao PDR is "burning season", when farmers burn off overgrowth o
Ha Long Bay is a fantasy landscape of jutting rock spires, color shifting seas, and twisting, dripping limestone caves. When the mist blows in things get downright eerie and extra cinematic. It doesn't take much work to pretend you're the lead in some exotic, old time pirate epic. Ha Long Bay is also a tourist mill. One of the new Seven Wonders of the natural world and a UNESCO world heritage site
This post could otherwise be known as "Hanoi: The Best of the Rest" or perhaps "Hanoi: Other Stuff We Ate But Didn't Like Quite As Much As Our Top Five, Which Was Posted Yesterday." Do you have more time to eat in Hanoi? Well, here are a few more ideas for where to find food to insert in your foodhole. 1. Bun Cha Nem Cua Be Dac Kim This bun cha joint is much more tourist-famous than Bun Cha 34, fr
The markets of Phnom Penh are fascinating. There are jewelry markets where tourists can get "fanstastic" "deals" on rubies and clothes, but there are also still lots of large markets catering to locals where things remain a little grittier. For instance, here's the live poultry area at Orussey Market (please don't show this photo to Customs when we get back to the States; I'd rather not get tested
Cambodia is a tough country to get a handle on, especially given the short amount of time we were able to stay there. The Khmer Rouge's reign of actual, literal, terror, that broke families apart and killed one fifth of the population all in pursuit of some collectivist agricultural utopia, was not that long ago; there are many people alive today who still don't know what became of cousins, parent
Ah, Phú Qu?c. One of those destinations that had been on our personal "must-visit" list ever since we discovered that it's the ground zero/ne plus ultra/pinnacle of fish sauce production AND has pretty beaches. We happened to be able to time our visit for the week of Logan's birthday! SCORE! We found us a terrific beachfront resort, the Phú Qu?c Sea Star, rented us a little motorscooter, and proce
Bánh Xèo. Sure, yeah, whatever. It's just, like, a fried rice-paper crepe with some bean sprouts and pork and shrimp or whatever. Maybe some coconut milk. Nuffin' fancy, right? I mean, we all know pancakes, amirite? WRONG! GO TO District 5 in HCMC! SIT DOWN in Bánh Xèo Ng?c Son (you might have to go up a floor or two - the place is pretty popular)! ORDER a Bánh Xèo! You will get... THIS. (Oh, righ
We spent a few days in Saigon and since I'm clearly suffering from some sort of brain lesion, a fine chunk of that time was used to track down and obsessively eat a single food: ph?. Ph? from Ph? Anh. Much like with xiao long bao in Shanghai, we sought out the most famed, the oft recommended and the randomly spotted, then pitted their fare against each other in a battle to the death. (Note: very f
Oh, were we excited to get back to Ho Chi Minh City! Back to the streetfood of dreams, back to our favorite market in the world, back to the constant exhilirating games of Frogger as you scurry between motorbikes on the busy boulevards... But it turns out things have changed in Sài Gòn since our visit in 2007. The city is more developed, tourist paths are easier, and good food is a little trickier
Before we arrived in Vietnam, I'd been dreaming about doing a tour with the Easy Riders. This blog post from Surrounded by the Sound, which I read pretty early into our trip last year, really clinched it for me. Get out in the countryside! See the people going about their daily lives! Get away from all those other lame-o tourists too afraid to see the REAL 'Nam! Well... just before we arrived in Ð
Food in Dalat (or Ðà L?t) was quite a surprise. The town is in the highlands and is home to a lot of ethnic minority Vietnamese. Both of these were new to me, so I guess coming across a bunch of new dishes should have been expected. Regardless, I was extremely pleased. In Dalat, in general, stick to the street food. Most of the restaurants we saw wanted to sell us nachos alfredo or fettuccine burg
I had to go to China to find out about Japanese Kaiseki. Perhaps I should have been more up to speed...
WARNING WARNING WARNING This post contains a pair of the most adorable puppies I've ever seen. Be careful when you scroll down - I wouldn't want you to cut yourself on the razor's edge of cuddliness! As far as I can tell, the Perfume River of Hu? has no particular odor, good or bad. And we spent a day on it, so I feel like I should probably have been able to tell. First, a word of caution. The dra
Hu? is one of the places I was saddest to miss on our last brief swing through Vietnam in 2007. It was the imperial capital of Vietnam during the Nguy?n dynasty, and is famed throughout the country for the quality of its food and the beauty of its historical sights. So this time, we couldn't be stopped! Unless we were traveling in one of these conveyances. Then, I guess, during certain times of th
The best thing about Nha Trang was getting there. The train ride from Hu? headed south, especially the first few hours, is one of the most beautiful we've ever been on. The tracks hug the coast as little villages, hidden coves, and secret fishing spots zoetrope past the windows. Verdant tropical forests plunge down steep hills pulling up just shy of miles of white sand for your viewing enjoyment.
