mmm-yoso!!!

Guadalajara - Dinner at Restaurante Allium and Antojitos Sanchez (at Tianguis del Parque Rojo)

Our flight from Mexico City to Guadalajara International Airport was right on time. Our driver was on time and the drive to our hotel; the Hotel Portobelo took about 30 minutes and was uneventful. The hotel is large, modern, and close to Zona Centro and all the historical sights. It is also right across the street from Parque Revolucion, which I found out is more commonly known as Parque Rojo, the Red Park to locals. Our flight had arrived at 1130 and it was just after noon when we arrived at the hotel. Check-in time was 3pm, so we decided to stow our luggage and go for a stroll. Lucky for us; there's a huge flea market, called Tianguis del Parque Rojo that occurs on Saturday.

And we spent a good amount of time exploring.

There was just about everything under the sun available here.

Something we soon noticed. Folks were quite friendly here, people would smile at us, wave us forward, we were the only Asians in sight, so I'm sure we stood out.

Soon we came across a food stall named Antojitos Sanchez. Folks seemed to be enjoying their meal, so we decided to give it a try.

One of the young men eating spoke perfect English and told us to sit next to him....folks actually moved over for us, in case we needed some help. Like I said, great people.

The Missus got a coconut agua fresca, which She loved so much and chugged down in like a minute! We ordered a second one!

We ordered tacos. The chicharron....the young man was surprised we ordered that, was so tender and full of flavor.

The fatty portions and meat basically melted in your mouth! Such porky goodness, we didn't want to spoil the flavors by adding anything....we just wanted to "pig out" if you know what I mean.

We got the quesabirria tacos. The tortillas were very good and the cheese had been expertly melted and were so crisp!

The birria was fairly mild in flavor, though quite tender. For us, this was mostly about the wonderful texture.

The folks working were just plain wonderful; as was the young man who volunteered to help us! This was such a nice start to our visit here!

Antojitos Sanchez (at Tianguis del Parque Rojo)
Americana, 44160 Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico
Market on Saturdays

We headed back across the street to the hotel. It was getting pretty hot and we thought we'd just wait in the air conditioned lobby of the hotel. Luckily, our room was ready early and we settled in.

As for dinner; well, it was going to be the total opposite of lunch. I had made reservations at Restaurante Allium which I had read about being a champion of local products and possibly the best restaurant in the city. To make things interesting, the restaurant was 5 kilometers (like 3 miles) away from Hotel Portobelo and we decided to walk, which was quite interesting.

Anyway, we made it to the location, which seemed to be an upscale business district with many high rises.

The restaurant is set-up in a modern, somewhat minimalistic style, with a visible kitchen. The service is warm and professional, it seems to be the place where the business elites come to eat.

Things started with an amuse sort of a aguachile bite, which was nice and refreshing.

There's only three wines by the glass, none of it from Mx, but the Missus though it fine.

And various salsas and butter are kindly provided.

We ended up ordering two appetizers and two entrees.

First to arrive was the Octopus Carpaccio.

As we would find with the other dishes, there's a lot going on here. From "tomato overload", both fresh and sun dried tomatoes, to an interesting flavor that seemed like dashi, which I later found was Katsuobushi, there was nice acidity, the avocado was nice and buttery, and the octopus very tender. The sourdough bread was a bit over-toasted, but still retained a nice balance.

The other appetizer we ordered was the Seabass Ceviche.

There was a bit too much going on here, though the texture of the fish was wonderful, it was overshadowed by all the acidity in the dish.

The Missus ordered the Lamb as Her main.

My goodness, those asparagus tips were amazing, so sweet and tender. The lamb shoulder was fine, a bit tough, we wished it was a bit more gamey, the dish gravitated to the sweeter end of the flavor spectrum.

I got the Pork Belly.

Once again, the produce was so good, those green beans had a nice, slightly sweet-chlrophyllic flavor. The frisee added a much needed balance to the sweet sauce. The pork belly was tender, but I wish there was more porcine flavor and less sweetness to the dish.

In the end, this was an interesting dining experience, the staff were so professional, yet warm and friendly.

Restaurante Allium
Avenida Providencia 2411, Plaza Leben Providencia
Guadalajara, Jalisco, México

We decided to catch an Uber back to the hotel. It had been an interesting day. Such diversity between our first two meals in the city. And yet there was one thing that seemed universal; the kindness and smiles of the folks here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chiayi - A Lou Shi Turkey Rice (阿樓師火雞肉飯), Wenhua Road Night Market (Again), and River Bird Coffee Roaster (江鳥咖啡- 嘉義吳鳳北路店)

After returning from Alishan we had some snacks at the 7-11. I was quite shocked to see draft beer "pulls" in the store....you can get draft beer at a 7-11!

We returned to the hotel, took a short nap, then headed out for an early dinner. The Missus was really in Her element in Taiwan. She would chat up folks and get recommendations. We were so taken by the Turkey Rice that we wanted to have that again. The young lady at the Tea Shop right at the corner recommended a Turkey Rice shop named "A Lou Shi". She told us it opens at 4pm, so we headed on out and wouldn't you know, we found the place!

And there was quite a line! Since this is Taiwan, the line was a good thing! It moves so quickly.

Check out who was waiting for some Turkey Rice right in front of us!

One quick look at the counter and you knew what they specialized in.

The place was in continuous movement of folks ordering, eating, then vacating.....

We really enjoyed the stir fried veggies in Taiwan, so of course we ordered all of it!

All the greens were prepped the same way, blanched, then sauced, then minced garlic were added.

The ong choi was crunchy, there was a light sauce which heightened the flavor. The garlic added a nice pungency.

The lettuce had what tasted like oyster sauce on it, along with the garlic.

The yam leaves had a texture like spinach, without the "gooeyess", but also had a nice mild sweetness along with the chlorophyllic flavor.

All were quickly blanched so the flavors weren't leached and there was some crispness to things.

And of course, we loved the bamboo shoots.

Crunchy, with a earthy-nuttiness and a hint of sweetness.

This place served Turkey Rice two ways. Sliced and a version more braised.

   The rice was perfect, but the sauce was greasier and milder in poultry flavor than what we'd had earlier and the turkey meat was more chewy/tough as well. 

Overall, we preferred A Hong Shi.

A Lou Shi (阿樓師火雞肉飯)
No. 102 Wufeng North Rd.
East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan

Still, check out the line as we left!

We had to walk thru Wenhua Road Night Market on the way back to the hotel.

And the Missus decided to stop at this charming looking stand for some Douhua - beancurd pudding.

Which She enjoyed.

And of course there was a "show" going on at the Central Plaza that evening as well.......

There's always something happening here I guess!

In an earlier post, I mentioned having problems getting train tickets because of the Qingming Festival (i.e. Tomb Sweeping week). Well, in order to get back to Taipei, I ended up hiring a driver, which in terms of US prices is quite inexpensive. In fact, after doing this car hire, I went ahead and did the same for other "excursions" during our trip. One good thing about having your own driver is that you have greater control of your schedule. So, I timed things so we'd be getting to our hotel in Taipei right at check-in time. This meant that we wouldn't leave Chiayi until after 12.

So, after grabbing a snack at the Hotel, we checked out and stored our bags and decided to take a walk around Chiayi.

There was a kind of rusticness to Chiayi, making it quite different from Taipei and Taichung. Businesses dotted the landscape all along Wenhua and Wufeng Road.

On Wufeng Road we came along this shop and decided to get our caffeine fix.

It turned out to be quite the hipster coffee shop.

The young lady working was so nice and sweet, while also being a bada$$ barista!

She made the Missus's pour over and I got my cold brew.

And she gave us some "treats" to have with our coffee.

River Bird Coffee Roaster (江鳥咖啡- 嘉義吳鳳北路店)
No. 132 Wufeng North Rd.
East District, Chiayi City, Taiwan

After our nice caffeine stop, we decided to stroll on back to the hotel. We stopped to do some shopping (and sampling) along the way.

Right at the center of the city is a fountain that dates back to the Qing Dynasty when Chiayi was the center of the sugar industry. The fountain stands where the city wall stood during the Qing Dyansty. But there's something else that catches your eye.

Yes, it's a baseball player; specifically a pitcher. This is known as the "Kano" statue. The statue is of the late Wu Ming-Chieh, star player of the Kano Baseball Team, the team from Chiayi was chosen to represent "Formosa" in the Japanese High School Baseball Championship in 1931 and against all odds made it to the final, losing in the championship game. Wu Ming-Chieh was the pitcher on that team. It is said that the success of the Kano Team encouraged Taiwanese to play the sport and now baseball is considered to be the national sport of Taiwan. An award winning movie was made about the team in 2014. And this is a wonderful article if you'd like to have more info! Everyone loves an underdog story!

We walked back to the hotel and in a few minutes our driver arrived and we were headed back to Taipei.

Thanks for stopping by!

Chiayi - The Wenhua Road Night Market and Alishan National Scenic Area

**** Not much food in this one....though I did love that Pepper Bun!

I thought I'd give you a break on all my Paris/France posts and head on back to Taiwan......

After checking into our hotel and having lunch at Ah Hong Shi Turkey Rice, we relaxed for a bit. We were staying right off Wenhua Road, right across the Central Plaza. Wenhua Road Night Market is but one block away and we weren't very hungry after our lunch, so it was a natural pick for grabbing a light dinner and getting in a nice stroll.

  And even though it seemed pretty busy along the whole 500 meter route, there was a laid back vibe to things. And so, we actually enjoyed this night market more than the Yizhong and Ningxia Night Markets. Of course Taipei and Taichung are the first and third most populous cities in Taiwan at 7.8 and 1 million, while the entire population of Chiayi County is 260,000. The city just seemed quite laid back and we could take our time to notice people....and their pooches!

It seems like folks really like to take their dogs around in dog strollers in Taiwan!

We did get to take our time visiting various stands.

And ended up getting some baozi; sorry the photos of that didn't come out.

And our favorite item of the night from this stand.

   The woman working was quite a good salesperson. She saw the Missus and I walk up and immediately started conversing with the Missus. And apparently this tactic worked as we got a Hujiao Bing - a pepper bun. 

I found that I really enjoyed Hujiao Bing, a juicy meatball laced with scallions, a the flavor of white pepper dancing on your tastebuds....

This was one of my favorite items on the trip....until we came across an even better version in Taipei.

As night set in, we headed back to our hotel.

As I mentioned earlier; our hotel overlooked the Central Plaza. The hotel was a bit dated and kind of noisy, but it was interesting to watch the happenings at the plaza from our window. On this evening there was some kind of talent/music show going on.

The next morning we woke and headed on over to Chiayi Station where I grabbed something quick from the 7-11, before we boarded the bus to Alishan.

And we were dropped off right in front of the main gate to the area.

And very popular......

We found Alishan quite easy to navigate, with wooden walkways, easy trails, a pleasant experience for all.

There are actually four villages within the confines of Alishan.

As you walk within the park, you'll come across amazing trees. An example would be the "three generation tree". Where one tree grew upon another, each serving as a base for the next generation, a symbol for all who some here.

All the trees are known and have names.

It's quite impressive.

  There were very nice wooden paths and bridges making Alishan a very easy visit. Perhaps too easy for the Missus as She was getting kinda bored with the whole place. Whereas I enjoyed the view and the trees. Oh the stories they could tell!

We eventually found our way down to where the Alishan Railway Station was. This would have been our transportation here had all our planning worked out; but of course I didn't know anything about the Qingming Festival at the time.

From here we headed off.

This is the Tree Spirit Pagoda.

The relations between Japan and Taiwan are quite complicated and I won't really get into that because there's much I do not understand. What we did see in Alishan was the Tree Spirit Pagoda. Which the sign describes.

There are amazingly old Red Cypress trees, many of which have interesting shapes. This is called the Elephant Trunk Tree.

This is the Xianglin Arch Bridge.

Beyond which there was this wall, which was busy with people.

They were all interested in this flower.

The Missus tried to figure out the significance of this flower and asked several folks, but couldn't get a clear answer. Perhaps one of our "FOYs" can clarify for us!

From here, it was a close walk to Alishan Shouzen Temple.

And there was one thing I wanted to see. I had read that in every April....we were here in the beginning of April, moths will roost on the statue of the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven, whose birthday is the 21st of April. We were here during the first week of April and guess what?

My goodness, do you see the moth? Whoa.....

At this point...well, the Missus needed some tea, with aiyu.

From here we walked back to the main village making a atop at a tea shop.....Alishan tea is quite famous a renowned and the Missus wanted to sample some.

And She ended buying  some tea.

Before heading back to Chiayi....

It wasn't quite noon when we headed back, so we'd have time to grab some lunch.

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Island - Dinner at Merriman's and Waimea Town Market (Kamuela/Waimea)

During our last trip to the Big Island, we decided to stay the night. As I've mentioned in a previous post from almost 10 years ago, Kamuela holds a special place in my heart. I'm glad the Missus enjoys the laid back, gentrified, farm-village vibe of the town. This time around we decided to stay for the night; something we hadn't done in years. We stayed at the Waimea Country Lodge and enjoyed strolling around town. For dinner, I had made reservations at Merriman's. We'd had dinner there over two decades ago and really didn't enjoy it much. This time, I hoped for better.

We walked on over.....

We arrived a bit earlier than our reservation; but the young man at the host stand told us "no problem" we have a table. We experienced this type of warm and accommodating service during our entire meal. It was such a pleasure dealing with folks who were efficient and professional, yet so very warm and kind.

The place was about two-thirds full at 530 pm. The Servers and staff seemed to know quite a few folks eating, so I'm guessing many were regulars from this town of about 9500. The Missus and I were so impressed by the staff....there was a young man with obvious learning/cognitive disabilities having dinner with his parents. Apparently he's a regular. All staff members dropped by to tell him hello, they knew he was wearing his "favorite shirt", they knew his favorite dishes....they embodied the "Aloha spirit". And this reminded me of why I almost took a job there back in the early 90s!

It's totally a tasting menu here two starters and desserts and a main. What we really enjoyed was that you could order 2 first courses and bypass the dessert! We ended up ordering three starters and one dessert which suited us perfectly!

Peter Merriman is considered one of the pioneers of "Hawaii Regional Cuisine", something that I have a love-hate relationship with. At its best the food represents the melting pot of people and cuisines of my home. At worse it is a cliched, soul less con-"fusion" of flavors and textures. I was hoping for the best here and the wonderful service had us off to a good start.

The amuse was Smoked Ulu (breadfruit) with Taro Chips. Basically a version of pulehu ʻulu.

I don't think the Missus has had ulu before. There were all the flavors She enjoys in this; a mild smokiness, a pleasantly sweet-rich flavor which harkens to a mix of sweet potato and roasted chestnut. She loved it.

Next up, the Shoyu Poke.

The Ahi as of excellent quality, so tender, well marinated in shoyu, though we would have appreciated more inamona and ogo. The mashed avocado kind of dulled the flavor of the poke.

The shrimp in the Grilled Wild Shrimp Bulgogi was fabulous; sweet and briny.

This really didn't need much and we were glad that the "bulgogi" flavoring did not interfere with the wonderful sweetness of the shrimp which were also cooked to perfection.

The Kalua Pork Quesadilla was our least favorite dish of the evening.

The pork was too salty, the smoke flavor too mild, the "tortilla" was more too hard and brittle; the sauce too sweet. This could have used something with a bit of "heat" to it.

The Missus ordered the "Day Boat Catch". 

The fish was mahi mahi and was quite fresh, nicely cooked, mist and tender. The prawns were the highlight of this dish; fabulously tender and sweet. 

This being cow country; I went with the Kua'Aina Beef Tenderloin. It was a great choice.

   It was cooked to a perfect medium rare, loved the beefiness. I was told this is grass fed beef, so I expected it to be more toothsome. The cauliflower was delicious; at least that's what the Missus said as She quickly poached them all from the plate. The jalapeno mashed potatoes were quite creamy and not really spicy at all.

The Missus enjoyed the "Chocolate Purse".

Overall, we enjoyed the meal and loved the service. We'll definitely return in the future.

Merriman's Big Island
65-1227 Opelo Rd.
Waimea, HI 96743

I had picked the Waimea Country Lodge for a simple reason. Right next door is the Waimea Town Market, which opens at 730am on Saturdays! In fact, I could see the market, which takes place at the Parker School from our window.

And we headed on over right after the market opened.

We enjoyed our time there.

And made some nice purchases.

Waimea Town Market at Parker School
65-1224 Lindsey Rd
Waimea, HI 96743

On a fun note; the gentleman who was working the Akaka Falls Farm stand started chatting with us. He asked us where we were from and we told him "San Diego". He asked "where in San Diego"? And we said "Bay Park". He stuck his hand out to us for handshakes and told us, "North Clairemont baby!!!!" We cracked up.

Such a small world, huh?

Roadtrip - Revisiting the Torrance Farmers' Market and Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Westminster)

We slept well after our dinner at Mountain House, we thought our room at the renovated Best Western wasn't bad, except for the terrible WiFi, but heck, we were here to relax, right?

We got up rather early (for a Saturday) since we had three stops in mind. The first being Porto's in West Covina, we used to go to the Buena Park location when I was doing work in OC and you can read all about Cathy's visits in her Rose Parade float posts. We just basically stop for two things the Missus wants, the dulce de leche cookies.

Next stop was a place we used to drive the 90 mile round trip to almost every Saturday when we lived in LA, the Torrance Farmers Market, which I've posted on several times already. Though it had been over ten years since our last visit! Sheesh, time sure does fly! We found parking where we've always have and was surprised to see that the Farmer's Market has grown a bit since the last time we were here!

We ended up buying quite a bit of produce and stuffs! Which was great since I was missing my usual Saturday shopping.

Torrance Certified Farmers' Market
2200 Crenshaw Blvd.
Torrance, CA 90501
Saturday 8am - 1pm

As for our last stop?

I mentioned that I had another place for Cha Ca Thang Long in my last post on Song Long. I had done a bit of research and the name Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ kept appearing.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall on Westminster Boulevard along with Stater Brothers, Seafood Paradise, a Shabu Shabu place, a Pho Shop, and a score of other businesses and homeless folk.

The place is known for their Cha Ca Thang Long and Chao (rice porridge).

It opens at 930am. We arrived at 945 and there was already a large party seated in the place.

An older couple run the place, the gentleman the front of house and the woman swings between the kitchen and the dining room.

We placed our orders and soon enough a large plate of herbs and veggies to accompany our Cha Ca arrived. The gentleman placed the plate on our table and I took a look noticing that there was a lot of brown and wilted produce on the plate.

This didn't seem like a good start. But a minute later, the woman came out of the kitchen and did her "rounds", quickly noticing the state of our plate, swooping in, and replacing it immediately. We didn't have to say a word! Good save!

Soon enough, all the other accoutrements made their way to our table.

And good lord, that mam nem was serious business.....whoa was did it smell potent.

The Cha Ca was quite lovely......

The portion sizes are quite generous, the fish very moist and tender. The seasoning is on point and that mam nem takes it to another level. Wish the onions were a bit more caramelized, but I didn't order this for the onions. The dill just helps to restore the palate while adding a citrusy-anise flavor to things.

We had seen another table order the Cha Gio, so we ordered that as well.

    Man, these were super stuffed, full of porky goodness, hint of sweet- savory tones, and wrapped with rice paper. It was slightly more chewy than I prefer, but man, the overall package was much better than anything here is San Diego. This also heated up well in the air fryer!

As we walked out the Missus said to me, "looks like we have a new place for Cha Ca, huh? I think I want to come back here next week!" Whoa......

Canton Restaurant - Cháo Cá Chợ Cũ (Cash only)
8550 Westminster Blvd.
Westminster, CA 92683

Well, we were two for two on this overnighter. As for returning the following week....well, we'd have to wait an additional week for returning!

Thanks for stopping by!

Six for Saturday Silliness

Recently, when I was having coffee with our good friend "Alle" and went over my typical Saturday morning errands she was incredulous and couldn't quite believe I could make 5-6 stops and finish in 3 hours and change. So today, I decided to pay a bit more attention to things and decided to do this silly Saturday post.

My Saturday usually starts with a cold brew from Bay Park Coffee. I usually get there around 720 - 730, get my cold brew and head on down to the Little Italy Mercato. As I mentioned in an earlier post I park on Ivy, I'm usually there around 745 or so and take a nice stroll to the market. I always enjoy the art and slices of life I see along the way.

Though there have been adjustments and different vendors I'll check out; the first place I stop is across Columbia Street at the Indian Summer stand, which I also mentioned in that earlier post.

The proprietor, Andrew knows all his regular customers and is a really friendly guy. Andrew has 20 dozen eggs for sale each Saturday. It's kept behind the counter. It's the Missus's favorite eggs at this time, so I usually get 1 or 2 dozen each week. I'll also get various produce items as well.

I'll then cross Columbia and hit up the produce stands there.

Being careful not to disturb the "Shiba gang".

The Missus is currently on a blueberry kick ("it's brain food!"); so I'll pick up a three pack from here.

I then cross over India to do more shopping. Right now, the Missus's favorite avocados come from this stand.

The folks here are so nice. I'll tell them I need three avocados, one for tomorrow, then another two days after, and then another for one to two days after that. They'll pick out a set of fruit to match my requirements. Such great service!

Little Italy Mercato
Saturday 8am - 2pm

I'll then head back to the car either taking India Street.....

Or Kettner. Anyone want to title the photo below????

This morning it was 820 when I headed off to my next stop. There's not much traffic or crowds at this time of the morning on Saturday.

My next stop is just 10 minutes away as I head up India Street, then take a right up Washington to.....

For certain produce items (they often have decent white asparagus when in season) and specialty grocery like the stuff below that the Missus is currently obsessed with.

Lazy Acres
422 W Washington St.
San Diego, CA 92103

Well, remember those avocados? The Missus is still wanting avocado toast a couple of times during the week, so I have to make a stop at Con Pane for some sourdough. This morning, my drive down Washington to Pacific Highway, then Barnett took a mere 12 minutes. Yes, Con Pane is super busy on weekend mornings, but since I'm not getting sandwiches, etc, I can take the "Bread line".

Even if there are one or two people in front of me, I usually get out and to my car (I usually just park by Slater's 50/50) in 20 minutes.

Con Pane Rustic Breads & Café
2750 Dewey Rd.
San Diego, CA 92106

My next drive is the longest. I usually drop by Nijiya every Saturday morning. There's usually something we need from there; whether it's tofu or sencha for the Missus, or like right now, She is requesting Katsu Don or Kelaguen on a weekly basis and prefers the chicken from Nijiya. I make Nijiya my fourth stop since it opens at 9am. This morning, the drive took 17 minutes and I arrived at 910 avoiding the initial mass of humanity at the doors waiting for the market to open.

Nijiya wasn't very busy on this morning, so I got out of the place in 15 minutes!

Nijiya Market
3860 Convoy St Ste 109
San Diego, CA 92111

Now on occasion I'll stop by the 99 Ranch Market on Balboa...which would make it a "seven for Saturday". But there was no need on this day so it was off to my next stop; down Balboa and onto Morena.

This morning it took 14 minutes to get to the Fruit Stand. I can't believe I last posted on the place 17 years ago! Anyway, more produce, especially when I'm grilling veggies for the Missus.

The Fruit Stand
4330 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

The last stop, for odds and ends, is only a few blocks from home; Sprout's. Even with the hell that is the road and pipe work happening on Clairemont Drive (we avoid like the plague during weekdays) it was but a 10 minute drive.

On this day, it was scallions, sweet onions, alkaline water (for the Missus), and some various snacks. I take advantage of the self check-out here which is usually much faster than waiting for the cashier.

Sprout's
3015 Clairemont Dr
San Diego, CA 92117

I walked into the house with our bags of groceries at 1020! Just in time to start working on lunch! Sigh......

Thanks for indulging me and I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

Toulouse - A Day Trip to Albi and Lunch at Ebisu Ramen Bar

We were really enjoying Toulouse. It had a totally different vibe than Paris, more grounded, mellow, down to earth. We wanted to do a bit more exploring, so I had booked train tickets to Albi, a town with quite a history. As a plus, Elyse of Toulouse Guided Walks informed me that Saturday was Market Day in Albi which was well worth checking out. Our location right at Place du Capitole made it a snap getting to Toulouse Matabiau via the metro. We took an early train (725am) to Albi-Ville, arriving just past 840 on this crisp Saturday morning. From the train station, it was a short 15 minute walk to the main square and the immense Sainte-Cécile Cathedral (Albi Cathedral) a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is also said to be the largest brick cathedral in the world.

The red brick buildings really catch your eye.

The Market stalls were being set-up. We walked on over to the Marche Covert passing stands with some humongous produce. Check out this frisee.

Or these Cepes.

We were both shocked at the size of the veggies!

We stopped for a coffee at one of the local shops.

Before heading into the covered market.

There wasn't much going on as most shops hadn't opened yet. The bean vendor was open and I saw actual Tarbais Beans being sold. I was quite excited as I use the wonderful beans we get from Rancho Gordo and wanted to compare. Then I saw the price; it was 35€ a kilo! Yikes, that's like $20 a pound! For beans? Still, I went ahead and bought a half kilo.

From here we decided to cross over the Tarn a check out the view from there. So we headed down the atmospheric streets....

Down the Quai Choiseul.

And down to the river before crossing over on Pont Vieux which dates back to the 11th century.

Things were even more quiet on this side of the river. And the views were wonderful.

Things got more lively as we headed toward the other, larger bridge to cross on back. And a market was going on here as well. This one was more bustling.

We eyes the produce before crossing back over the Pont Neuf.

It was now getting close to 10am, when the Cathedral is opened for visitors, so we headed on over.

As much as the church really looks like a fortress, the interior was quite stunning. Your eyes are instantly drawn to the enormous mural of the Last Judgement which dates back to 1474.

It is the largest Last Judgement mural from the Middle Ages.

After wandering about for a while, the Missus was ready to head on back to Toulouse. So we strolled on over the Albi-Ville and caught the 1126am train. 

Arriving back at Place du Capitole, we decided to look for a place to get some lunch. Walking toward our hotel, we passed this Ramen shop.

It was pretty cold, so some ramen sounded pretty good. Of course we wouldn't be having our ramen outside either. The drill was interesting. Ordering was done on a machine, memories of Japan, but payment was not. You basically got a number from the machine and placed it on your table. Once your order is ready it is delivered.

As we would often do at these places, we got a rice bowl, in this case the Sukiyaki Don.

We had ordered an extra tamago with this, which was a shade on the over cooked side and not marinated well. The egg yolk in the bowl was also too hard and over cooked. The rice was on the mushy side, but the beef was fairly tender, with a decent soy-sweet balance. What was interesting was that a good amount of togarashi was used giving this a bit of a kick.

As for the ramen. We got the Shoyu Ramen.

   As you can see, the Missus was all about the tamago on this day. This bowl had a lot of "stuffs"; scallion, spinach, bean sprouts, cabbage. The best item in the entire bowl was the menma which had a wonderful texture and the earthy-soy sauce tones were on point. The two slices of "chashu", I use the quotation marks because the two thin slices were not pork belly, it was lean and tough. 

The broth was really "flat", lacking in richness, hardly any shoyu flavor, and was the color of muddy water. And this was one of the rare occasions where I think the soup needed salt!

The noodles were overcooked and mushy.

You can't win 'em all......

Ebisu Toulouse
3 Rue Lafayette
31000 Toulouse, France

At least we were just steps from our accommodation. It was time for a nap!

Taichung - Yizhong Night Market, Revisiting Miyahara (Twice), and Doing Some Shopping

This is a pretty long post, so I'm going to try to keep the verbiage to a minimum.

After our late lunch at Taichung Rou Yuan we took the short walk back to our hotel and took a break. For dinner, we decided to visit another night market. We didn't feel like getting a cab to Fengxia Night Market, which is said to be the largest in Taiwan. Instead, we decided to take the 20-30 minute walk to the Yizhong Street Night Market instead.

Along the way we strolled thru Taichung Park, which has a large man-made lake.

Folks in Taiwan really know how to relax and seem to be very social.

As we crossed Jingwu Road onto Yizhong Street, things didn't look too busy.

But one block further down....well, man it was super packed.

It was just overwhelming to say the least.

Some of the lines were crazy. We walked from one end of the road to the other end.  Not only were the stands busy, but the shops that line the street with everything from food, to cosmetics, gifts, clothes, and knickknacks were as well. As we hit the far end of the street, things calmed down a bit, the crowd seemed a bit older and there was even some seating.....

From here we took a quick loop around the stands again and found our places.

This booth made Rou Jia Mo, which looked good. It wasn't the typical Shaanxi style rou jia mo like we had in Xi'an, but featured and light and almost flaky bread, not like the typical "baijimo" (flatbread). This was very tasty.

This booth was selling XLB like dumplings.

Which were being made on the spot.

You placed your order, was given a number. When your order was ready it was called out.

These were pretty darn good...so porky!

Because we'd had a huge breakfast and a late lunch; this was enough for us. Plus, even though this was a bit of fun; the crowds were getting to us.

We took a quieter, roundabout way back to where our hotel was located.

On the way back, we decided to drop by Miyahara again.

As I mentioned in that earlier post; Miyahara is owned by Dawncake whose main store we visited earlier. This place has all kinds of "stuffs" that you never knew you needed.

While this fanciful, "Harry Potterish" shop used to be an ophthalmology clinic, it's now known for all their stuffs and the ice cream served here is super popular. We loved this "punny" sign.

After all the walking we'd done, we slept quite soundly.

The next morning we woke refreshed.

And availed ourselves of the nice and huge buffet breakfast.

The variety was impressive.

Our train to Chiayi was not leaving until 120pm, so we packed and stored our luggage at the front desk and headed out to do some additional Pineapple Cake shopping for my MIL. On Ziyou Road we found several shops selling pineapple cake, after having tastes, two of them past muster and we bought some.

I thought that the Pineapple Cake from this shop was the best I tasted during our entire trip.

Of course, I don't have much of a sweet tooth, and I've had my fill of Pineapple Cake so don't even ask me to taste any......

We saw a location of Ten Ren Tea and having visited the SF location many times were curious. We walked in and were greeted by the sweetest woman.

The Missus loved one of the Oolong Tea's and was told it's a limited crop and is only sold in this area and is not exported so the Missus got it.

While chatting with the woman, the Missus was constantly cracking up. Later She told me that the woman was dissing other tea producers, but doing it in the most "sweetest" way that She couldn't help but crack up!

We did a bit more exploring.

And took our required tea break.

And even headed back to Miyahara.....

Before heading back to the hotel, picking up our bags and making the short Taichung Station. We weren't catching the HSR, so we could leave from the station in the city.

The original Taichung Station has become a historical park and the structure along with the very modern station next to it makes quite the juxtaposition of buildings.

The old rails have been converted to sitting and dining areas....

And of course, there was yet another craft market going on!

Of course we had a train to catch and did not have much time to dally, so my wallet was left unscathed!

And soon enough we were off to our next stop! Chiayi!

Thanks for stopping by!

Big Island - The Volcano Thursday Market, Revisiting Halemaʻumaʻu, and Dinner at Kilauea Lodge Restaurant (Again)

After lunch at Suisan we headed back to the Kilauea Lodge and took a short break. I also made late dinner reservations at the restaurant, this would allow us to spend more time revisiting Kilauea Caldera. We decided to head back out before sunset so we could easily find parking and relax and watch the "show". Before heading back there, I had one more stop in mind. It was Thursday and Volcano Village has a local food and crafts market at the Cooper Center. So, we headed there first.

It's a quaint little market and it seems that a lot of the folks there were locals as folks were having fun socializing.

Food and craft booths were set-up thru the community center.

It was a nice little stop.

Volcano Thursday Market (At Cooper Center)
19-4030 Wright Rd.
Volcano, HI 96785

We then headed back to the Kilauea Overlook and easily found parking adjacent to the lookout. There were folks just arriving to check out the "show".

Folks even brought beach chairs! We chatted with a few folks and they were all locals; some driving all the way from Kona!

Several folks brought offerings for Madame Pele.

We just stood and watched Halemaʻumaʻu doing its thing.

As the sun slowly set the bright red colors became the star of the show.

You could even make out the spatter cone!

We just loved this! We stood our eyes fixated on the crater, just as amazed as we were the night before. Heck, if we stayed another night, we would have returned again!

As it was, we felt blessed to have been able to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience twice!

More folks started arriving and the parking lots were closed. It was time to head back for dinner.

We just wanted to take things easy on this evening and had made dinner reservations at Kilauea Lodge Restaurant again.

The staff here are wonderful, so warm and friendly.

This time we started with the Coconut Brie which came with the bread made inhouse.

 The coconut crust was a bit too sweet for us. There were also spots where the coconut was burnt, adding a rather unpleasant bitterness to the dish.

We enjoyed the bread.

The Missus had the same main as previous night, Crispy Tofu.

Again, we thought the star of the dish was the cauliflower and mushrooms.

This time around, I kind of went against my better judgement and got the Seafood Risotto.

The risotto was the standard par cooked version and some of the arborio rice was under cooked and hard in the center, it was also on the salty side. The Kaua'i Shrimp was outstanding, sweet and briny, cooked perfectly. The mussels were overcooked and dry; but the clams were nice and tender.

Overall, based on our dinner the previous night, we got what we expected. Of dishes, made better by the fantastic staff.

Kilauea Lodge Restaurant
19-3948 Old Volcano Road
Volcano Village, HI 96785

And most of all, we got to witness the glory of Madame Pele and nature!

Taipei - 2/28 Peace Memorial Park and Ningxia Night Market

After lunch at Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles we decided to slowly make our way back to the hotel for a break before heading out in the evening.

But first, we would stop at one of the hundred of tea/boba shops for some light refreshment.

We ended up making 2-4 "tea stops" everyday....these places are so inexpensive....our drinks would usually be 30-35NT$ - think $1 -$1.15! We stopped at so may places that I just couldn't keep up with documenting them.

We made several stops on the way back.

This one is the Taiwan Provincial City God Temple.

This temple is dedicated to the "City God", Chénghuángshén (城隍神).

This was quite a busy and colorful temple. This page has more info if you're interested.

There was one last stop for us. A few blocks away was a large and pleasant park, where the National Museum resides. On this day, there was a group of students looking to take what seemed to be school yearbook photos?

The park was lush, green, and quite pleasant, especially with temps hitting the 80's with the equivalent humidity.

It was fun watching folks enjoying their lunches; or in the case of this pooch trying to get a squirrel to play with it.

This park was established in 1908 by the Japanese; the first European style park in Taiwan. It was then renamed Taipei New Park when the KMT took over. The current name is in recognition of what is called the 2-28 Incident. Which is detailed on this sign (click to enlarge)

Event which led to Taiwan being under Martial Law for 38 years.

Hard to imagine all of this taking place in such a peaceful green area.

We got back to our room and took a nice nap in airconditioned luxury.

For dinner, well, we thought it would be a nice night to finally go to a night market. After doing a good amount of research, we decided on Ningxia Night Market. I know many folks recommend Shilin Night Market, but after doing some reading, it seemed that night market has many more tourists. We'd have our choice validated by several cab drivers during our stay. The best quote was "Shilin is the place where tourist and young people go to spend money on things they don't need. Ningxia has better food and less crowds." 

We decided to walk the mile and half to and from the market.

When we arrived, except for a couple of stands, things weren't too busy. Things would start picking up a few minutes later.

Ningxia Market stretches along a single street, lining both sides of the avenue. There are also restaurants on the street as well with any choices.

We decided to walk the length of the market before making our choices.

My first choice was a Scallion Pancake with Salted Egg Yolk.

This was crisp, fairly light, the eggy flavor coming thru quite distinctly.

Of course, once the Missus saw...well, more liked smelled the "fragrances" from this booth Her mind was made up.

The chou doufu was still being fried up, so we were guided to the table behind the booth.

Soon enough, the Missus's stinky tofu was delivered. Man, the smell was quite potent, though nothing like what we had in China.

And in terms of chou doufu, this was "all bark and no bite". It was crisp and smelled the part, but was very mild in flavor. I guess the Missus's rule for me still goes "if you can eat it; it isn't stinky enough!"

As we walked back down the street we saw this stand.

These looked good so we ordered some. After ordering, the mushrooms were refried to heat and crisp up.

Crisp and earthy enoki and two types of oyster mushrooms.

  We'd enjoyed the vibe at the Ningxi Night Market, though I think the Missus had gotten Her share of fried food and really wouldn't order much for the rest of the trip!

We also enjoyed the walk back which took us thru some other neighborhoods in the Datong where places seemed open a lot later than where we were staying. There seems to be more younger people and boutiques and other shops the Missus enjoyed.

I was kind of bushed when we got back to the hotel. I guess I was a bit our of shape and not used to putting in the mileage like we do in, say Paris?

Obviously, I slept well. 

Thanks for stopping by!