Monthly Archives: March 2009

Links and news

Posted on by bruleeblog

Are you gonna eat that? linked to this Cambridge student’s food blog research project. Click to see a photo of (part of) my refrigerator and contribute to her survey. (And no, I don’t really drink that much soy milk in a week. They were on sale and the cartons last a while.)

Avenue Edmonton has an article on the “hidden” ethnic parts of Edmonton, mostly focusing on food.

Only Here for the Food pointed out that Courtney and Brooke’s blog Take it and Like it was featured in Avenue as well.

From Serious Eats: Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?

Shanghai’s Wujiang Snack Street to Be Demolished at Year’s End

On April 5, the Food Network will be broadcasting a new show called the 100 Mile Challenge. It follows 6 families for 100 days, and the website even includes a 100 Mile meal planner tool and a directory of where you can find local food all over Canada.

When is a recipe YOUR recipe and not someone else’s? Watch this educational video on intellectual property for the food and hospitality industry. The video is of a bunch of lawyers talking so it’s not the most dynamic thing to watch, but they keep it fairly simple and show you real examples. The recipe part starts at about 10:22.

Jamie Oliver is now Britian’s top selling author, beating out J.K. Rowling, Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith.

L&W Family Restaurant – Jasper, Alberta

Posted on by bruleeblog

This weekend I took a drive to the Rocky Mountains – specifically to a little town called Jasper, Alberta.

The Rocky Mountains in Jasper, Alberta

The Rocky Mountains in Jasper, Alberta

For dinner we wanted somewhere casual and not too pricey, and after some research on my part we decided to grab some pizza and burgers over at Lou Lou’s Pizzeria. Unfortunately for us, Lou Lou’s was closed and the lights were off, although through the window you could see working coolers holding bottles of pop. We later found out that they had moved down the street to a new location. It was disappointing that they did not place a sign on the door of the old location to notify people where they were.

With our first choice gone, we decided to head to the L&W Family Restaurant; partially because we could get a 10% discount because we were staying at a certain hotel, and partially because it seemed like a place that could accommodate a relatively large group.

L&W Family Restaurant, Rocky Mountains in the background

L&W Family Restaurant, Rocky Mountains in the background

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Langkawi food

Posted on by bruleeblog

Langkawi, in the province of Kedah, is a gorgeous place. Picture a number of beach resorts scattered all over an island, with beaches like Thailand but without the crowds. Time tends to pass slowly here, and service is slow. But when you’re on holiday and there to relax, you go with the flow!

There are some good places to eat on Langkawi. Too bad we didn’t go to those, despite my pre-trip research and suggestions. Instead, due to “too expensive” and “don’t feel like that kind of food,” we usually ended up at different places that we passed as we travelled around the island.

For dinner on that first night, we went to Difiqa, a Thai halal restaurant in Pantai Cenang (Cenang Beach). From the outside it looks like a giant hut. The food was okay but nothing too special. And it wasn’t attractive looking at all, so I felt no desire to take a photo except of the sign for memory’s sake. Should have taken it before dinner when there was more light, but oh well.

Difiqa restaurant

Difiqa restaurant, Pantai Cenang (Cenang Beach)

On another night, while shopping in Kuah Town, we found a non-halal restaurant called Rootian Seafood Restuarant. This was probably the first (and only) place I saw during the Malaysia part of the trip that had a huge sign up warning that it was not halal. Muslims are a majority of the population, and most stores and restaurants tend to reflect this.

Why did we stop here? Because they were cutting up crispy roasted pork (siu yook) and my siblings immediately demanded some fatty pork. I had no idea they loved pork so much until that moment. They were so deprived that the meat vanished in mere minutes. And even though we were at a seafood restaurant, we didn’t eat any seafood at all. The food in general was okay. I missed the food back in Georgetown.

Took a photo of this place for three reasons – you can see the booth where the pork is being chopped up, the non-halal sign, and the giant (and inexplicable) lobster-selling Italian man painted on the wall.

Rootian Seafood Restaurant, Kuah Town

Rootian Seafood Restaurant, Kuah Town

Difiqa
Pantai Cenang (Cenang Beach), Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
(along the row of restaurants and stores that line up next to the beach)

Rootian Seafood Restaurant
89, Jalan Pandak Mayah 5,
Pusat Bandar Kuah (Kuah Town), Langkawi, Kedah, Malaysia
www.langkawi-online.com/pages/kuah-town/rootian-seafood-restaurant.php

Chinese parties

Posted on by bruleeblog

A friend asked for ideas about Chinese food her family could order for her mom’s big birthday bash. My suggestions that are under consideration:

  • crispy roast pork, possibly a whole pig instead of just chopped pieces (siu yook)
  • bbq duck
  • from T&T – cold appetizers like pickled daikon radish and carrots, spicy deep fried tofu, jellyfish and jai (Buddha’s Delight)
  • spring rolls
  • Chicken and pineapple fried rice, fried noodles, and vegetable dishes from Double Greetings
  • a cake and red bean buns from Garden Bakery or Hong Kong Bakery
  • fresh made deep fried tofu and maybe some dessert tofu from Ying Fat
  • almond cookies

Dang it, now I’m hungry.

Rojak, Malaysia

Posted on by bruleeblog

This is another dish I had at one of the kopitiams (apologies for the blurriness). Rojak is a kind of salad found in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia. This specific one pictured here is one made of fruit.

Rojak

Rojak

According to Wikipedia:

Fruit rojak consists typically of cucumber, pineapple, turnip (jicama), bean sprouts, taupok (puffy, deep-fried tofu) and youtiao (cut-up Chinese-style fritters). Raw mangoes and green apples are less commonly used. The dressing is made up of water, belacan (shrimp paste), sugar, chili, and lime juice. Ingredients vary among vendors with some also using hae ko prawn/shrimp paste, tamarind or black bean paste in the mix. The ingredients are cut into bite-sized portions and tossed in a bowl with the dressing and topped with chopped peanuts and a dash of ground or finely chopped bunga kantan (pink ginger bud). Penang Rojak is another type of Rojak found in Penang, Malaysia. It is similar to fruit rojak, but adds jambu air (Water apple), squid fritters and honey to the mixture.

It was an odd mixture of the salty and sweet dressing, layered on top of the fresh tastes of fruit and cucumber. While it was interesting to try, it’s not something that I would go out of my way to look for.