15 Friday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Vietnam
Mr. Selfish and I spent a lovely six weeks in Paris. Every now and then, I look back and think about how great those six weeks were. I miss Paris now and would go back in a heart beat. I therefore looked forward to visiting Dalat, Vietnam – especially because it has a miniature Eiffel Tower. Although you can’t go up it, it was still nice to behold.
13 Wednesday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Vietnam
Tags
Asia, Baba's, Cơm Niêu Sài Gòn, Ho Chi Minh City, Plan B, Saigon, Vietnam, Xu
Mr. Selfish and I took it easy in Saigon. We rented an apartment via airbnb, so we cooked and ate in mostly. We also worked out almost every day. It was glorious. Nevertheless, we had to eat out a few meals…
Our favorite restaurant in Saigon is Xu. We went there for our honeymoon in 2009 and couldn’t forget the coconut martinis. As it turns out, Xu had a buy-one-get-one-free happy hour from 5-7pm. Mr. Selfish and I went – twice.
The coconut martinis were as delicious as we remembered, but we also got the Xu Tini (with vodka, tea, vanilla, honey, and cream), which was phenomenal. We also sampled the “edible cocktails” which are made with liquid nitrogen. We tasted the coconut (vodka, fresh coconut juice, and liquid nitrogen) and strawberry glacier (rum, strawberries, and liquid nitrogen). Both were quite interesting and fun to eat/drink.
11 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Philippines
Tags
1945 Memorial, Asia, Baluarte de San Andres, Bicol Express, Intramuros, Manila, Max, Philippines, Sisig, St. Agustin Church
On our last day in the Philippines, Mr. Selfish and I spent some quality time with our friends in Manila. We went to Intramuros, which is the historic portion of Manila. We attempted to go into the Manila Cathedral, but it was closed for renovations. However, nearby we enjoyed the 1945 monument, which was dedicated to the victims of WWII. Then, we walked to the Church of St. Agustin, which had a wedding going on. It was interesting to see Asian designs incorporated into a Catholic church (after being in Europe and seeing so many cathedrals there).
10 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Philippines
Tags
Aling Lucing, Asia, Goldilocks, Mall, Manila, Philippines, Polvoron, Sisig
Mr. Selfish and I learned that Manila had quite the mall culture meaning that because it is so hot out, people usually hang out at the mall. We accordingly acted like locals and spent time at the mall.
Not only were the malls huge with fun arcades but they usually had a floor full of pampering stores. I got a facial and a couple of massages from the mall. The massages were quite well-priced (about $6USD for an hour) and the masseuses used A LOT of pressure. Mr. Selfish also got a haircut at the mall, which only cost about $4USD.
08 Friday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Europe, Food & Drinks
One of the problems with long term travel is you start to miss the familiar. It can be a comforting TV show, a radio station, an appliance (read: dryer), but for Mrs. Selfish and I it was more often than not food – American food.
Since we spent a lot of our days in apartments, this wasn’t a huge problem – we even brought along a knife, a cutting board, and a pack of spices just in case. Unfortunately, there were some things we couldn’t make. Whether we lacked the proper equipment, couldn’t track down the right ingredients (Southeast Asia has a shortage of Parmesan), or just couldn’t make it to begin with there were times where we had to track down restaurants to fill that need.
And most of the time, they were horrible.
04 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Philippines
Tags
Amarela Resort, Asia, Bohol, Cebu, CnT, Lechon, Panglao Island, Philippines
After spending a day in Manila, we flew south to Cebu, which is a province in the Philippines consisting of approximately 168 islands. I was excited about Cebu since the lechon (roasted suckling pig) there is legendary. We opted for CnT Lechon, where they chop up the suckling pig in front of you behind plexi glass and you have to buy it by the kilo. It was savory, juicy, and delicious.
03 Sunday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Philippines
Tags
Asia, Bulalo, Gerry's Grill, Jeepney, Manila, People's Park in the Sky, Philippines, Sisig, Taal Volcano
Mr. Selfish and I spent nine lovely days in the Philippines with our friends and their adorable son. As I’ve noted previously, we are a little travel planning fatigued, so it was nice just to tag along with what they were doing. They were perfect planners, and we had a wonderful time in the Philippines.
During our first day in Manila, we went to Taal Volcano, which is about 30 miles from the city. It is an active volcano that is a part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. The last time it erupted was in 1977 but it has been showing signs of activity recently. We kept our distance and enjoyed the beautiful view from the People’s Park in the Sky. The park is on top of a little hill, and you could walk or take a jeepney, which is a means of public transportation made from left over US military jeeps that have been decorated. We opted to walk for the exercise.
02 Saturday Feb 2013
Posted in Asia, Bali, Food & Drinks
Tags
For our last day in Ubud, we decided to take a cooking class. We signed up for Payuk Bali Cooking Class, which is probably the best cooking class I’ve ever taken.
First, they drove us to a rice field and explained to us when and how rice is harvested. My cousin asked if she could walk in the rice fields for the photo op. Our guide promptly told us that she could but that there may be water snakes in the fields. Of course, she walked in the rice fields and immediately came upon a water snake. Below is the action shot of her running from it. I love hanging out with my little cousin; she’s always good for a laugh.
30 Wednesday Jan 2013
Posted in Asia, Bali, Food & Drinks
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I didn’t know much about Balinese food prior to this trip. The only other time we had had Indonesian food was in Amsterdam. We had enjoyed a variety of delicious and very spicy small plates, which is known as Padang and is from the area of Sumatra. This type of cuisine is entirely different from Balinese cuisine, so we were excited to learn about actual Balinese food.
One of our best meals in Bali was at Ibu Oka, where they serve roasted pork (“babi guling”). This dish is distinctly Balinese. The Balinese prepare the pork by stuffing and infusing it with a spicy concoction typically involving turmeric, coriander seeds, lemongrass, black pepper and garlic and then the pig is spit-roasted. Yes, it is just as amazing as it sounds.
23 Wednesday Jan 2013
Posted in Asia, Food & Drinks, Singapore
Tags
Amoy Street Food Centre, crispy curry puff, Fried Kway Teow, Hainanese chicken, Hainanese curry rice, Han Kee, hawker stands, hawkers, Maxwell Food Centre, oyster cake, Rafee's Corner, Singapore, Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Yuan Chun Famous Lor Mee
The primary reason that Mr. Selfish and I wanted to go to Singapore was to eat at the hawker stands. We had heard tales of delicious and cheap food in government-regulated hawker stands, and we wanted to try as many hawker stands as possible. Unfortunately, we only made it to two hawker stands.
The first hawker center we visited was the Amoy Street Food Centre, which is near Chinatown. We were still jet-lagged so we showed up at around 10:30 am. As a result, there were no lines, and we could eat whatever we wanted.
21 Monday Jan 2013
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, Portugal
Although Mr. Selfish and I are not wine experts, we have drank enough wine so that we can tell what is a good versus bad bottle of wine. During our six weeks in Paris, we drank many cheap bottles for around five euros each. Once we dipped below that price point, the wine was not palatable.
When we heard that Lisbon had vinho verde or green wine, Mr. Selfish and I knew that we had to try it. Green wine does not refer to the color of the grape but is actually wine made from young grapes. It is meant to be consumed within one year. The wine is a little sweet but mostly tart. We tried it and loved it. So we drank green wine at every opportunity we had.
Our favorite place was a little wine bar called Grapes & Bites. The wine was well-priced, and the food was yummy. Their cheese platter paired perfectly with our wine. Mr. Selfish and I actually went to Grapes & Bites twice although we were only in Lisbon for three days.
20 Sunday Jan 2013
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, Portugal
Tags
Belém, Egg Custards, Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon, Padrão dos Descobrimentos, Pastéis de Belém, Portugal, Torre de Belém
By the time we arrived in Marrakech, it was starting to get dark. Because the streets twist and turn in so many directions, Mr. Selfish and I had some trepidation about how we were going to get dinner that evening. While we were waiting for a map from the hotel staff, Mr. Selfish heard a family speaking American English. I hadn’t heard American English in ages, so it was a sweet comfort to my ears. I immediately started speaking to them and asking them about where they were going to dinner. Fortunately, they invited us to follow them to dinner.
The other fortunate coincidence was that part of the family was currently living in Lisbon, Portugal. Mr. Selfish and I accordingly asked them for recommendations since we were going to Lisbon right after Marrakech. Their best recommendation was the egg custards at Pastéis de Belém. Although I haven’t eaten many egg custards, I found these to be utterly delicious and creamy. They were really fresh since the place does a great deal of business.
18 Friday Jan 2013
Posted in Asia, Flashback, Food & Drinks, Vietnam
During our homeland honeymoon, Mr. Selfish and I stayed in the Sofitel in Hanoi, Vietnam. The hotel had a French colonial theme and was utterly charming. It is one of our favorite hotels of all time. Since our good friends (Uyen-Minh and Mike) paid for a day trip to Halong Bay as our wedding present, we decided to splurge and arranged for the trip through the Sofitel.
It was a little extravagant but we had a private driver and an English-speaking tour guide to Halong Bay, which was about 1.5 hours away. Along the way, the tour guide made some disparaging remarks about Americans to us, which is fine but we found a little odd since we had just told him that we were American.
When we arrived at Halong Bay, we discovered that we had an entire junk boat to ourselves. It was a two-story junk boat that could probably fit about 100 tourists. There was also an entire crew just for us.
14 Monday Jan 2013
Posted in Africa, Food & Drinks, Morocco
Tags
Mr. Selfish and I were a little skeptical about eating the market food in Marrakech. However, I learned from the Lonely Planet guide at the riad that the market stands are actually regulated by the government and have stringent sanitation standards. With that knowledge, Mr. Selfish and I ate our meals at the market stands and have yet to suffer any consequences (other than a full belly).
We started with a local restaurant right outside of the market. There was an outdoor elevated patio, at which we enjoyed a nice view of the market. We ate the tangine and couscous, both of which were divine.
10 Thursday Jan 2013
Posted in Europe, Food & Drinks, Spain
Tapas originated in Andalusia, which is a region in southern Spain. Supposedly, the original tapas were slices of bread or meat used by sherry drinkers to cover their glasses between sips. The tapas were meant to stop flies from hovering over the sweet sherry.
Although Mr. Selfish and I didn’t drink any sherry, we did enjoy lots of tapas during our trip in Spain. The first place we had good tapas was from La Flauta in Barcelona. The stand-outs were the deep fried eggplant chips, large shrimps, and bocadillos.
The Selfish Years 