Category Archives: Food & Drinks

It is Almost Over: The Selfish’s Top 20 Experiences

04 Wednesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Africa, Asia, Best Of, Europe, Food & Drinks, Oceania

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Mr. Selfish and I are winding down our posts on the blog. We are currently driving cross-country and fondly reminiscing about our epic selfish year. We’ve had so many wonderful experiences that we both smile every time one of us says, “Remember that time…” We’ve decided to do some wrap-up posts, including some best of lists.

Here are our top 20 experiences in no particular order:

Best Drive: The Dingle Peninsula

Mr. Selfish and I took Rick Steve’s advice and did a driving tour around the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland. We were so fortunate to have perfect weather that day. It was so lovely that we even considered buying a summer home in Dingle.

Dingle

Best View: Milford Sound

Flying in a four-person plane from Queenstown to Milford Sound in New Zealand was truly amazing. It was more beautiful than I could have imagined it to be, and I don’t even like the Lord of the Rings series.

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Best Animal Experience: Holding a Panda in Chengdu

We had many wonderful animal experiences during this trip. The one experience that stands out the most for me is holding this 9-month old panda cub in Chengdu, China.

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Not Just the Mouse: Eating Orlando

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

Posted by in Florida, Food & Drinks, North America, Orlando, United States

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Mrs. Selfish and I lived in Orlando, Florida for 8 years before we left on our Selfish Year. We both moved there for work, and somewhat reluctantly stayed after getting a house. Orlando was in many ways a place we were forced to live, not a place we wanted to live.

That being said, 8 months later when we were drinking cocktails in Beijing with an awesome view of the Forbidden City, we actually found ourselves missing Orlando!

So we decided to go back.

Back to Epcot, to drink our way around the world. Back to Orlando, to visit friends. Back to Winter Park, to eat.

 

The Ravenous Pig: Gastropub Goodness

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Located at 1234 N. Orange Ave. in Winter Park, the Ravenous Pig was probably the first good restaurant we ate at in the Orlando area. Opened in 2007, the Pig has won numerous awards, and was a semifinalist for the James Beard Awards in 2011 and 2012!

They have a great selection of wines and microbrews with a menu that changes weekly. Lunch typically runs from $10 – $18 for most orders, and dinner comes in at closer to $18 – $30.

Mrs. Selfish and I have probably eaten at the Ravenous Pig over a dozen times, and we’ve never had a disappointing meal. This time around I ordered their fried chicken sandwich, and Mrs. Selfish ordered the shrimp and grits.

The fried chicken sandwich was perfectly cooked: tender, crispy, slightly crunchy, yet still moist. The hot & sour sauce had a nice BBQ as well. The shrimp and grits were spicy, savory, and overall satisfying. I was glad we went back!

 

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Enjoying the Festivals and Rides at Disney’s Epcot

30 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Disney, Florida, Food & Drinks, North America, Orlando, United States

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Yesterday, I went over how much me and Mr. Selfish love the World Showcase at Epcot. Even aside from the World Showcase, Epcot is a very enjoyable park.

International Flower and Garden Festival

We love all of the different festivals that occur at Epcot, such as the International Flower and Garden Festival. This annual festival usually occurs between March and May. It’s fun to see what Disney has dreamed up in plant form each year.

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Drinking Around the World Showcase at Disney’s Epcot

29 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by in Disney, Florida, Food & Drinks, North America, Orlando, United States

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Before our selfish year trip, Disney’s Epcot was definitely our favorite Disney park. Now, it’s a tossup between Epcot and DisneySea in Tokyo for me. I need to visit DisneySea a few times to make that decision considering that we’ve been to Epcot probably dozens of times.

When we visited Orlando recently, we decided to stop by Epcot for old time’s sake. We love Epcot mostly due to the World Showcase, which is a permanent world’s fair containing 11 pavilions each representing a different country. The pavilions are all around a man-made lake that has a perimeter of 1.2 miles.

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The Selfish’s Cross-Country Drive

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Cross Country, Food & Drinks, North America, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I are almost done with our selfish year. We begin our cross-country drive from Richmond, VA to San Francisco in less than a week.

Here’s our itinerary: (1) Richmond, VA, (2) Arlington, VA, (3) Willingboro, NJ, (4) Pittsburgh, PA, (5) Chicago, IL, (6) Sioux Falls, SD, (7) Mount Rushmore, (8) Yellowstone, (9) Salt Lake City, UT, (10), Lake Tahoe, and (11) SF.

USA! USA!

We are definitely looking forward to the following:

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Do you have any recommendations for us? We would greatly appreciate food recs or pointers on random tourist attractions we should see on the way!

New York City: So Many Places to Eat, So Little Time

26 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Food & Drinks, New York City, North America, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I love New York City. We have considered living there but I don’t think I would like the winters too much. We therefore included NYC as our final stop before heading to my parents’ in Virginia. Not only do we have some great friends that live in the city, but we love the cheap, plentiful, and delicious food. Here are some of our favorite eats during this last stop.

Russ & Daughters: Infamous Lox Bagels

Although Mr. Selfish never really cared much for lox bagels, I have enjoyed them in the past. When our friends recommended Russ & Daughters (179 E Houston St NY , NY 10002) for lox bagels, we figured we would give it a try.

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We were astonished at the amount of choices you had for a single lox bagel, but we ordered an everything bagel with regular cream cheese, the Irish salmon, and red onions. As the man at the counter was handing us the bagel, he told us, “You’ll love it.” And indeed, we did. It was mind-blowingly delicious!

72nd Street Bagel: Cinnamon Raisin Rampage

Although the lox bagel from Russ & Daughters was mighty delicious, Mr. Selfish still wanted a regular bagel while we were in the city. We tried a cinnamon raisin with regular cream cheese at 72nd Street Bagel (130 W 72nd St, NY, NY 10023).

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It didn’t disappoint. Mr. Selfish gobbled up that thing so fast that it was gone in a matter of seconds.
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The Final Park: Disneyland

25 Sunday Aug 2013

Posted by in Disney, Food & Drinks, Los Angeles, North America, United States

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Mr. Selfish and I finished our Disney tour with the first ever Disney park – Disneyland in California. It opened in 1955 and is the only park designed and built under the direction of Walt Disney. It is the second most visited park in the world with 16 million visitors in 2011 (Orlando’s Magic Kingdom has the highest attendance).

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I was quite surprised as to how small Sleeping Beauty’s Castle is. It is tiny compared to all of the other Disney castles around the world, but I guess it was the first one. It is nevertheless quite photogenic, just like all of the other castles.

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Mr. Selfish had previously visited Disneyland but I had never been. I therefore had a list of rides that I wanted to try that aren’t at the other parks, including the Matterhorn, Mr. Toad’s, and Indiana Jones.

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Fit for a Queen: The Food in Queenstown

19 Monday Aug 2013

Posted by in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania, Queenstown

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The food in Queenstown was amazingly fresh and delicious. Mr. Selfish and I didn’t have a single average meal. It was all outstanding.

Fergburger: The Legendary Burgers

Prior to arriving in Queenstown, we had heard tales about the hamburgers at Fergburger (42 Shotover Street, Queenstown Town Centre 9300). We were skeptical that the long line would be worth the wait but we figured that we would give it a try.

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I ordered the traditional Fergburger with blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion, aioli, and tomato relish. After an hour of waiting, my Fergburger arrived. The patty on my Fergburger was perfectly cooked. The bun was delightfully toasted, and the aioli and tomato relish were a perfect balance against the blue cheese. It was quite tasty.

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Mr. Selfish went the less traditional route and ordered the Chief Wiggum, which is a pork belly burger with lettuce, tomato, red onion, hash brown, aioli, and an apricot seeded mustard. The pork belly was quite yummy, and the hash brown provided a very good crunchy texture. The apricot seeded mustard also added a nice sweet flavor. Although the traditional Fergburger was quite good, I think the Chief Wiggum was better due to the novelty factor.

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If you’re in Queenstown, you should definitely try a burger or two at Fergburger. It met and exceeded all of the hype.

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Dilly Dallying in Dunedin: Penguins, Haggis, and a Farmer’s Market

16 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania

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One of my top priorities on our selfish trip was to see penguins in the wild. I did lots of research to determine whether we should see the penguins in Australia or wait until New Zealand. Since we were in Australia during the winter, we weren’t likely to see hoards of penguins ascending from the beach at dusk, which is more typical during the summer. I therefore opted to see the rarer yellow-eyed penguins in Dunedin.

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These yellow-eyed penguin only exist in New Zealand, and there are only an estimated 3,000 left. These penguins are different from every other penguin in the world, because they are quite anti-social. They do not live in large colonies. In fact, each penguin has one long-term mate, and they can only mate when they do not see any other penguins. Other than mating and raising their offspring with one other penguin, they do everything individually. Hence, they go hunting alone and come up from the beach one by one.

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The Devastation that is Christchurch

15 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania

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Mr. Selfish and I had heard about the 2011 earthquake that hit Christchurch but we hadn’t realized the extent of the devastation. Following an earthquake in 2010 that had a magnitude of 7.1, the 2011 earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3. Due to the succession of these earthquakes, Christchurch suffered immensely.

We had thought that by the time we visited Christchurch that the city would be mostly in repairs. We were wrong. The city center of Christchurch is still devastated. Apparently, other subsequent quakes have occurred, which kept setting the city back.

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The Drive between Marlborough and Christchurch

14 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania

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The coastal drive between Marlborough and Christchurch takes about four hours and is quite lovely. Based on advice from our Highlight Wine Tour operator, we made two pit stops. First, we stopped at the Ohau Stream Walk, which is about an hour and a half away from Marlborough, to see the seal pups. Second, we had lunch at Pegasus Bay winery, which is about 50 minutes away from Christchurch.

The Adorable Seal Pups at Ohau Stream Walk

Mr. Selfish and I were lucky enough to visit Ohau Stream Walk during the height of the season for seal pups. During the winter, momma seals leave their pups at Ohau stream and waterfall while they are out at sea hunting for food. The pups frolic and play in the stream with the other pups while waiting for their moms to come back.

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The Selfish Wine Tour in the Marlborough Region

13 Tuesday Aug 2013

Posted by in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania

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Mr. Selfish and I spent two days in the Marlborough wine region. We rented an Airbnb apartment in Renwick, which is a perfect home base for wine tasting. We booked a tour through Highlight Wine Tour and the rest is a Sauvignon Blanc blur. We visited nine wineries and below is the summary of our impression of each winery.

1. Saint Clair: Best Sauvignon Blanc

While in the States, we loved drinking Fault Line, which is a Sauvignon Blanc from the Marlborough region. We learned that Fault Line is actually produced at Saint Clair winery, so we knew we had to do a tasting there. We learned that the Fault Line is one of Saint Clair’s multiple labels that is sent to the States.

Saint Clair

The Fault Line was not available for tasting, but we tried the 2012 Sauvignon Blanc Wairu Reserve and ended up buying two bottles. It is the one of the best Sauv Blancs I’ve ever tasted.

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The Top and Bottom of Food in Auckland

09 Friday Aug 2013

Posted by in Food & Drinks, New Zealand, Oceania

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Mrs. Selfish and I ended up flying into and out of Auckland’s international airport, which left us with a gastronomic dilemma: eat at the same (delicious) place twice, or try for a broader sampling of Auckland’s foodie delights?

While my policy has normally been to spend my last night in a city enjoying the greatest hits, Mrs. Selfish and I decided to vary things up with Auckland. First, we tried Food Alley, a collection of small Asian eateries. For our second and final meal, we ended up eating at something more upscale, the Orbit Restaurant in Auckland’s iconic Sky Tower.

The Bottom: Eating at Food Alley

Only a 10 minute walk away from the Hilton is the awesome Food Alley. A collection of 13 little Asian restaurants, Food Alley is a food court located at 9 Albert Street. The food there is ethic, cheap, and above all delicious.

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They have pretty much every Asian cuisine you could want: Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Malaysian, Indonesian + a few more. Basically everywhere we ended up visiting on our trip, oddly enough.

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Food Alley has a slightly dodgy vibe, but is actually really clean. Alcohol is allowed on premises and can be purchased from the drinks vendor.

Mrs. Selfish and I decided to go with a Chinese sausage and chicken clay pot dish from Chinese Clay Pot Rose and seafood pad thai from Thai Noodles.

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The Delicious Wines in Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale Near Adelaide

30 Tuesday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania

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South Australia is home to hundreds of vineyards. Although we couldn’t visit them all, Mr. Selfish and I did manage to visit eight of them during our short stay in Adelaide. We visited four wineries in Barossa Valley, which is about 60 km northeast of Adelaide and is known for its red wines. We then visited four wineries in McLaren Vale, which is about 35 km south of Adelaide and is known for its production of shiraz wines.

Alcohol

No, just kidding. Mr. Selfish wasn’t even driving that day.

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Meet and Eat in Adelaide

29 Monday Jul 2013

Posted by in Australia, Food & Drinks, Oceania

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Mr. Selfish and I spent three lovely evenings in Adelaide, which is a coastal city in South Australia. One of Mr. Selfish’s friends from grad school, Greg, and his wife, Tanya, graciously showed us around and introduced us to the concept of the “meet and eat.” It requires two steps: (1) you meet animals and then (2) you eat the animals from step 1.

Step 1: Meeting the Animals

For step 1, we visited the Cleland Wildlife Park. We purchased the feed for $3 a bag and started meeting and feeding the animals we would later devour.

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We met quite a few emus, which are large flightless birds. They are similar to ostrich in size and taste. Mmmmmm…delicious!

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