I'm back in Manila, back in the heat and humidity. The elevator wasn't working in our building and I walked up and down the stairs all day-- we live on the 11th floor! I'm sitting in an air-conditioned cafe right now in the middle of Chinatown, Manila, sipping on this really good sesame tea latte. There is an ant or some other creature crawling on my cake but I don't even care. I continue eating. Roaches probably crawl on me at night for all I know. I've mostly been packing all day with my grandfather, getting ready to head back to Toronto soon.

Being in the Philippines is always a funny time for me. It's the place where I'm supposed to fit in the most-- as it's the place of my birth-- but I almost always feel completely foreign and uncomfortable. Plus, there are so many customs and certain ways of doing things within the subculture of the Philippine-born Chinese community that are even more difficult to grasp and understand. I don't want to say anything negative or sound ungrateful, so I'll just leave it at that. In the meantime, I've mostly been staying at home watching Mad Men (seasons 1-3) and chatting with my grandfather and a few special people that sometimes drop by. Also, really enjoying the food as always. I guess eating is one thing that can always unite people!

The good stuff.

 San Hsi Tang teahouse, located on the 4th floor of the National Museum. One of our best meals, with great dim sum and nice selection of tea (we had Tie Kuan Yin.) Our favorite dishes were the beef noodle soup and taro cake dessert.

Food court at Taipei 101, too many stalls and so little time! I had tan-tzu noodles with sides of tofu and veggies. Warm tofu-hua with peanuts and tapioca pearls for dessert.

At Ching Yeh, where we waited 30 minutes for a seat. This is the food I grew up on, except that I never knew people actually served it in restaurants! It probably originated from Xiamen, where my people-- and the Taiwanese-- are originally from. I can also get this type of food in the Philippines, in Chinatown, but not this good! Above, my comfort food: sweet potato congee with radish omelette.

Honestly, I can't get enough of all the "small eats" that Taiwan has to offer. Our last meal, breakfast at the famous Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang, or "Soy Milk King" We paid 200 NTD one way in taxi fare for this 150 NTD meal! Soup dumplings, fried you tiao, and of course, the warm sweetened soy milk. We also ordered fan tuan and radish cake. So good!

Taipei, Taiwan

The tea of cool.

Look what my grandfather found for me! Indeed, I am content =)

Two months since my last post. I've not been very good at streaming my life on the web! All I can say is that things have taken an unexpected turn for me and although it hasn't been easy lately, I realize there's lots to be grateful for and I'm happy to be living one day at a time. I'm always eager to make plans-- vacations, classes, my next career, haha. And though making plans is a good way to set goals and keep life organized, sometimes I think I need to just focus on the present.

So presently, I am in Taipei, Taiwan with my grandfather. We are taking a short vacation before we head back to Toronto. The last time I was here was 1996 when my sister and I stayed the summer with our grandparents. Taipei reminds me a lot of the cities we visited in Japan-- except that I can actually understand what people are saying! I'm loving the food and I don't think I've ever had better tea. Heading out now to start our day!

Finished the first layer of my painting last night. A little nervous, as it was my first time picking up a paintbrush but I was surprised at how much easier it is than drawing. It's also really calming. Looking forward to the rest of the semester.

By the way, how awesome is this weather we are having, so cool and breezy. I love fall!!

Enjoyed the last of three days off in a row, went to Shake Shack for lunch and walked around the city. Tonight, just finished watching Blood Simple on Netflix, which is a great movie to see before going to sleep, haha. Actually, I couldn't stop laughing at the end. But anyways, Frances McDormand looks so young and pretty-- it was after all her first film. Now I want to re-watch all her other Coen brothers movies she did throughout the years. And I'm also curious to see Zhang Yimou's remake of the film, A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop, which is now playing at the Landmark. Too bad I'm going back to work tomorrow night, and for the entire long weekend!!

My (Post) Midnight Snack

Tomatoes and berries from Greenmarket today and Neil's yummy blueberry pancakes.

Recent Trip to Toronto

Following my sister around downtown.

Finally got to see I am Love last night.

Seems like I only update this blog when I'm on vacation. In Toronto right now, just for 3 days, but nevertheless enjoying the nice weather and, um, daylight in general-- basically very happy I'm not at work!

For anyone that's interested, I have been meaning to share this Terry Gross interview with the creator of Mad Men, Matthew Weiner. And since I have no one to talk about the show with in NYC (and my husband has about as much interest in it as I have for watching the YES channel), and because there's only so many times I can re-watch an episode while waiting an entire week for the next, I have been reading the TV club entries about the show on Slate. Three more days until the fourth episode!

Neil's off cooking in the Hamptons tonight. Gonna enjoy the food he left behind for me, including this couscous dish with baby scallops that we made together.

Nothing Beats Home-Cooked Food!

More pics from my trip to the Philippines. 

From the Philippines

Adobo pusit (squid) from Cafe Romulo

Fried banana with calamansi sorbet for dessert

Suman for breakfast (rice cooked in coconut milk and steamed in banana leaves)

Freshly baked pandesal in the morning

Garlic rice with lunch

During my layover at Korea, I found bubble tea-- BUBBLE TEA!-- at Dunkin Donuts! Nevermind that it kept me wide awake for the entire 13 hour flight back to NYC... it was worth it!!

First batch of our fruit share from the Park Slope CSA!

Interesting NY TImes article about home-grown, hand-made food at the Greenpoint Food Market in Brooklyn. Next market is June 26th, 2010. I will try to go, even though I will have just worked a 13 hour graveyard shift... sigh, such is my life.

A Lovely Weekend in Portland, Maine

Breezy, seaside weather. Great company. Really good food. We tried as many eateries as we possible could in America's "Foodiest Small Town". Favorites were omakase at Miyake, dinner with friends at Fore Street, and poutine at Duckfat.

It's been getting a lot warmer lately so we decided to go check out some of the food at the Brooklyn Flea that we've been hearing much about. We tried Pizza Moto's margherita pizza and Red Hook Lobster Pound's lobster roll, Maine style. My favorite were ice pops from People's Pops. I tried the rhubarb and chamomile pop, which was tart and filled with small chunks of rhubarb-- totally refreshing for a hot spring day.

While I'm on the subject of small businesses, I'd like to say some good things about a small LES restaurant called Soy. We happened to pass by last week while going to Global Grub (which you should also go eat at!) and were caught by their slogan "Japanese home cooking". So we gave it a try tonight. The atmosphere is totally unpretentious-- there were clothes hanging by the window above a bookshelf, made to look like someone's home somewhere in Japan. The gyoza were made by hand and the chilled silken tofu appetizer was so good. We tried the tofu pockets and also the spicy tuna and avocado bowl, which we noticed almost everyone who stepped in the restaurant ordered. Since they are "for vegetarian and non-vegetarian" alike, there is something for everyone. Will definitely go back.

By the way, the owner's adorable baby-- which you can see on their website's main page, as well as at the restaurant-- really is that happy all the time =)

Trip to Japan

Just a few days back from our trip to Japan and I wish we hadn't left. It seems like we only caught a glimpse.

As we explored parts of Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and Tokyo during our 10-day trip, we walked and took trains and saw shrines and shopped. 

But mainly, we ate. Yes, we were absolutely guilty of over-indulging ourselves with all the great food-- from yakitori and sushi, to kobe beef, and of course, lots of ramen.