China - Part 3: Guangzhou (Seafood Extravaganza!)

Seeking lower altitudes, we headed from the Yunnan province to warm and sunny Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. Located in the southern part of China, it is a port on the Pearl River. It is renowned for its seafood, pottery and the very cool safari hotel - ChimeLong Hotel...the home of 2 white tigers, dozens of flamingos and a wild animal park. GZ is rich in history and the home of my ancestors. We visited the countryside where we had the opportunity to see villages and palaces called "Diew Lao". Chinese businessmen who conducted overseas trading with the U.S. ended up settling in this area of GuangDong and built these "palaces" once they made their fortune. For these businessmen, after making their fortune, they shifted focus to building a family.

One of our memorable meals was upon our arrival in Guangzhou where we hit up a local seafood restaurant located close to our hotel. This restaurant came highly-recommended from my dad's friend who is a GZ local.

Fresh homemade meat buns

Baby shrimp and fish stir-fry

Handmade Shrimp Wonton Soup

Freshly-milled black seasame seed pudding

With the abundance of seafood in this harbor city, our last meal in Guangzhou was at another famous seafood restaurant. The restaurant occupies four stories. The first floor consisted of a supermarket where restaurant goers had the opportunity to select their meal. From live crocodiles to fresh sea urchin, we were in awe of all the live selection.

Live crocodiles

Sea Urchin

Lobster

Water Bugs (looked like roaches... :S)

Sea Turtle

Sand worms

After walking through the first floor, we were ready to eat! The special thing about this restaurant was that it was all private dining rooms. Each room had its own personal waiter/waitress, private bathroom and private food preparation room. The room itself was elegantly designed room with plasma TV. GZ locals sure know how to live and eat!

Razor clam stir-fry

Roast pork

Fresh shrimp stir-fry

House specialty chicken

Garlic baked scallops

Soy-braised duck wings

Shrimp dumplings

Turnip pastries

Sweet clementines

Our stay in Guangzhou was short but definitely memorable as this province represented our roots. The flavors of this province is the heart and soul of Cantonese cuisine. Not to mention, our accommodations at the Chimelong Hotel was top-notch. Waking up and having breakfast next to white tigers and pink flamingos located in the atrium of the hotel was quite a site. Thank you Guangzhou...Macau here we come!

China - Part 2: Shangri-La

Our quest continued as we headed north in the Yunnan province to Shangri-La.

What and where exactly is Shangri-La? Well, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia that explains it pretty well...

Today, various places claim the title, such as parts of southern Kham in southwestern Yunnan province, including the tourist destinations of Lijiang and Zhongdian. Places like Sichuan and Tibet also claim the real Shangri-La was in its territory. In 2001, Tibet Autonomous Region put forward a proposal that the three regions optimise all Shangri-la tourism resources and promote them as one. After failed attempts to establish a China Shangri-la Ecological Tourism Zone in 2002 and 2003, government representatives of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces and Tibet Autonomous Region signed a declaration of cooperation in 2004. Also in 2001, Zhongdian County in northwestern Yunnan officially renamed itself Shangri-La County.

On our trek up to Shangri-La, we stopped at the Tiger Leaping Gorge where we soaked in the natural beauty of a contender for the world's deepest river canyon. Part of the Yangtze River, it is located 60km of LiJiang. This area is a primarily Tibetan county and formerly called Zongdian.

Once we met up with our tour guide, who's name was Tiger (how appropriate), he took us for a typical "tourist meal". We were pleasantly surprised when Tiger took us to this little restaurant located along the Yangtze river for lunch. We had a delicious sampling of locally grown mushrooms and vegetables, along with the infamous rice noodle soup.

Mixture of various varieties of mushrooms

Pumpkin Stew

Rice Noodle Soup

Once we arrived in Shangri-La, we were greeted by extremely cold temperatures and high altitudes. At the highest peak, we were 4150 meters above sea level. The cans of oxygen they were selling became my best friend. Some of us in the group (namely J & I) had trouble walking and climbing stairs. When we were touring the National Park, we hit turtle speed. Luckily our eating abilities were not affected. Our meals at our hotel featured mainly local comfort foods. Such as stew pork belly, soupy rice noodles, steamed ommellette and spicy beef.

Soy sauce stewed pork belly

Spicy crispy beef

Stewed Egg Ommelette

One of the highlights of our Shangri-La experience came at the cultural show where we were served local snacks and drinks. This included yak butter milk tea, yak cheese, soy nuts, and some uber potent rice wine. Although some of us tried some of these snacks, it did not really suit our palates.

After an enjoyable day and a chilly night in Shangri-La (or as they call it: the roof of the world), we headed back to lower altitudes and prepared for our next destination: GuangZhou.

Tah-shi de-leh!

China: Part 1 - LiJiang - Let the Eating Begin

Our Christmas holiday was one for the books - spending it with my family in various parts of China was a real treat - especially for our palate! J and I were super excited to join my Dad and the rest of the Ma clan on this cultural experience. We started our journey in the beautiful Yunnan province, located in the southwestern part of China. The province borders Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province in the east, Sichuan Province in the north, and Tibet Autonomous Region in the northwest. It shares a border of 4,060 km with Myanmar in the west, Laos in the south, and Vietnam in the southeast.

One of the most breathtaking sites I saw was actually on our plane ride from Kunming to LiJiang. Peaking out from the clouds was the majestic Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. The far side of the mountain forms one side of the Tiger Leaping Gorge.

The Yunnan province is well-known for its numerous varieties of mushrooms, potatoes and corn. At the onset of our trip, we were mainly fed "tourist" meals. This typically consisted of a type of stir-fry assorted mushroom dish, chineses-style omelletes, mixed veggies, and minced meat. Once we were even served french fries! Quite often we would see local street merchants roasting potatoes and filling the air with numerous deep fried meat skewers and breads.

After several rounds of "tourist meals", my dad decided to put his foot down and take matters into his own hands. A foodie at heart, he wanted to savour the true flavors of LiJiang and "eat what the locals eat". With a push and a nudge to our tour guide, we were immediately taken to a local restaurant that specialized in MUSHROOMS! Oh yeah...this meal was definitely memorable. We had the opportunity to dine on one of the most delectable mushroom hotpot ever! The broth was rich and earthy, filled with various chinese herbs. As we waited for it to boil, in came a plethora of mushrooms - several varieties of chicken-tast mushrooms, enoki, chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, morels, and cow liver mushrooms - to name a few. Since these were wild mushrooms, we received specific instructions to wait at least 10 minutes prior to diving in. As we sat around and starred at the pot located at the center of the table, the aroma of the broth, along with the mushrooms (and not to mention the whole blacken chicken they threw in to further flavor the soup) filled the room. We finally attacked the soup and all I can say is...dude, this was da bomb. Honestly, words cannot describe the richness and natural flavors of this hotpot. Without the hinderence of MSG and other manufactured chemicals, I would describe the taste of this soup as mother nature's gift.

Our culinary adventure continued that night as we rang in the new year with a Sichuan meal atop the Jade Dragon Revolving Restaurant located on the on the 23rd floor of our hotel (GuanFang Hotel). Overlooking LiJiang in the highest restaurant in Yunnan, we were amped for our meal while trying not to get too nauseous from the rotation of the resto. We were delighted to try a few new items and to also see some old favorites....here is a sampling...

Szechuan-style roasted jalapeno peppers

Crispy-rice served with a seafood medley

Chili Pepper Chicken (more chili than chicken!)

Salt & Pepper Shrimp (and oldie but a goodie)

Our last meal in LiJiang was capped off at a fantastic restaurant that served some Shanghainese goodies. We sampled on some of these specialties....

Lion-head meatballs

Dry-roasted spicy spare-ribs

Lotus roots stuffed with sweet sticky rice

Roasted pork

Traditional shanghainese buns

A couple of foot massages later and a few attempts at karaoke bars, our crew was ready to take on the next part of our excursion....Shangri-La. We certainly enjoyed the flavors of LiJiang and the hospitality that the city offered. Being so far removed from HK, SH and BJ, LiJiang was truly a city that showed a lot of tradition and culture. One word of advice - pass on the tourist meal and be a little adventurous and take the path less travelled.....

Gobble Gobble - Annual Thanksgiving Bash at J & J's....

Being away from family for the holidays is never easy...so over the past few years, I've been hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for friends who's families are far away. We've become family to each other here in LaLaLand so it was pretty sad to know that the tradition is coming to an end as this is our final Thanksgiving in L.A...J & I are making the big move soon and so I vowed to make this thanksgiving bigger, badder and better!
As tradition would have it, I always make my turkey "asian style". Yup, you heard me...instead of traditional stuffing, it's all about sticky rice for me! I was inspired by my friend D-Kuo who first introduced me to this phenomenon. Stuffing my bird with sticky rice (consisting of shittake schrooms, chinese sausage, dried baby shrimps) and slathering my bird with hoisin sauce and basting every hour on the hour has become an instituition in my home. So how do I top last year's turkey fest where I served up 2 turkeys (15lbs each)? Well, i went to my local Ralphs and fished out a 24-pounder and decided that I was going to make the biggest turkey I can find!

Asian-Style Turkey with Sticky Rice Stuffing

Ok, so that was the turkey and the stuffing...but no Thanksgiving is complete without ooey gooey mac and cheese....gourmet style, of course. I've been working hard over the past year to perfect this dish...it's so simple, yet...it's NOT! I was determined to replicate the mac and cheese I had at Violet...sooo good! So I decided, to load up on cheese (white cheddar, sharp yellow cheddar, gruyere, asiago, mozzarella, parmesean and pecorino romana). I paid extra attention to my roux and decided to add some leeks and nutmeg to the concoction....2 hours later, tada! 2 lbs of Mac n Cheese delight!

Ooey Gooey Mac n Cheese - there were 2 more pans of this stuff...yum!

Other sides included a homemade cranberry sauce made with freshly squeezed OJ, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar (this is so simple, takes so little time and is a bizillion times better than that canned crapberry sauce). Steph brought over a shrimp potato salad and a zucchini casserole, Rinny made some string beans and Thanny brought over a delicious raspberry chocolate mousse cake. All in all, it was one of the best Thanksgiving - we had leftovers for 4 days (and I still have a whole pan of mac n cheese that it not yet baked and frozen in my freezer).

Gobble Gobble and Happy Thanksgiving - let the holidays begin!

C5 (Crystal Five) - Toronto

J & I have been quite busy these past few weeks visiting my family in Canada - we spent a little bit of time in Toronto and the reminder in Montreal. While in Toronto, we met up with my cousin Angelina where she treated us to a new restaurant, C5. Located in the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal of the Royal Ontario Museum, C5 provides a beautiful panoramic view of downtown Toronto. The decor is simple, modern, clean and contemporary. Ceiling to floor windows, artsy sculptures and an open kitchen concept defines C5. The service was terrific where our waiter was both well-versed with food and wine. They have a regular menu as well as a tasting menu. We opted for a la carte dining since we wanted to try as many dishes as we can.

Charcuterie Plate: Smoke Salmon, Pate, Foie Gras Bonbon & Salami with Bread Chips

Excellent starter dish and easy to share - the pate and the foie gras bonbon were delish!

C5 Raw Tasting: Tuna, Hamachi & Hadai Sashimi, Summer Breeze Oyster & Beef Tartare

Fresh fish, beautiful presentation and a great conversation piece

Black Cod with Lobster Hollandaise Sauce over Lobster Lentil Salad

Beautifully seared black cod with a light yet creamy hollandaise. The lobster flavor comes through in this dish without over-powering the cod.

Piglet Trio

J enjoyed this dish, however the pork belly pales in comparison to the one we had at Craft L.A.

Overall, we enjoyed all the samplings from C5. Unfortunately the dessert was not too memorable (no pic and no recollection of what it was). The three of us were mostly impressed by our mains - the complementary bread and amuse bouche were also delicious. Dining in great company overlooking a beautiful city is hard to beat.

Crystal 5 @ the Rom.

100 Queens Park, Toronto (enter from Bloor street, across from Lobby)

416.586.7926

www.rom.on.ca

www.c5restaurant.ca (C5’s site is still under construction)