Bits and Pieces

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"Goodies" from UNC Campus Heath Service

I am finally done with this tedious routine. What a relief! Yahoo!

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Last Friday, I was stressed out after attending a notationally heavy class which I did not understand. Symbols such as and were driving me nuts. I would need some time to imagine/visualize what these sets are; but the professor seemed to think that they should register in less than 2 seconds, and moved on with lecturing without pausing.

So, after class, a bunch of my classmates (apparently I was not alone) decided to get some beer on Franklin Street. I was rather tired, so I did not join them. But I decided to get a bottle of wine while I do my grocery shopping before heading home. I got myself a bottle of sauvignon blanc, and when the cashier rang it up, I handed her my driver’s license for ID verification. She politely declined; when I perused the receipt, the spot that usually indicates the customer’s date of birth stated instead “Cashier has bypassed age verification.“

My goodness, I am not even in my late 20s, yet!

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My teaching is going well thus far. Even though Math 110 (College Algebra) covers elementary material, but introducing the notion of quadratic equations to first-time learners does require considerable amount of effort. Students generally find completing the square absurdly hard to perform. Nonetheless I am enjoying this experience, since deep down of a corner of my heart, I am passionate about being an educator.

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Last weekend was the Labor Day weekend. I was in the mood of hosting a small and simple dinner with some of my friends in the Mathematics Department. I invited two friends, Carole Agyeman-Prempeh and Indrani Rao, to my humble abode.

Almost done cooking

Carole arrived before I was even done preparing the meal, which was nice, as I had someone to chat with while cooking.

Boston lettuce, drunken chicken, and seafood platter

Voilà! The dinner I prepared consisted of three main entrées: Boston lettuce with oyster sauce, Chinese style drunken chicken (a cold dish), and seafood platter with tamarind sauce. I had a pot of herbal chicken soup to complement these dishes.

Myself, Carole, and Indrani

After dinner, we went over to Indrani’s apartment (she lives in a neighborhood which is 15 minutes walk away) to taste some chocolate cake that she baked. It was a wonderful way to spend a relaxing evening.

Weekend and etc

Last Saturday, I woke up rather early (by my standard) to go biking with a math colleague. I biked to his apartment (which is about 3 miles away) to meet up with him. We then biked together to downtown Carrboro for breakfast at Elmo’s Diner.

It was my first time at Elmo’s Diner. The décor in the diner reminded me so much of Angelo’s, a popular breakfast diner in Ann Arbor. Memories in Ann Arbor started to flow back. I had always brought my guests to Angelo’s for breakfast during their stay in Ann Arbor. I decided to order my favorite entrée in Angelo’s — egg benedict. Ah, the taste of poached eggs on toasted slices of bread, all topped with delicious hollandaise sauce.

When the waitress was taking our orders, I expressed my interest in getting an egg benedict. She broke the disappointing news to me, informing me that the entrée was not available as they ran out of hollandaise sauce. Bummer! “Don’t despair,” I told myself. the chicken enchilada on the other page of the menu seemed to be equally appealing. She apologized again, as the “chicken” option was out. I could get a spinach enchilada, though. Finally, my third choice was available. I settled with quiche of the day, with bacon, turkey, and Swiss cheese.

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Today, I took an afternoon off to catch a film. I went to Lumina Theatre and watched The Ugly Truth. It’s a romantic comedy by Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. There is no spoiler alert as a disclaimer since I don’t plan to spill the bean. Let’s just say that I found it cynical and hilarious. I had a good laugh throughout the film.

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This summer, I am watching two series — Royal Pains on USA Network and Mental on FOX. They are both medical dramas with interesting perspectives and interesting flavors. Royal Pains is about a concierge doctor in the Hamptons for the rich and the poor; while Mental features a psychiatrist who handles his patients and treatments in a novel, perhaps somewhat unorthodox, way. I recommend both TV series if you have some spare time.

Autumn is approaching, which is both exciting and worrying for me. You see, I think I may be a TV junkie — I watch quite a lot of shows during the regular season. To name a few, I follow House MD, Prison Break (before its finale), Heroes, Chuck, Lie to Me, and The Big Bang Theory. I ought to thank the industry though — they have certainly made my graduate school life more sustainable.

Sunday Dinner

It was a lazy and sunny Sunday. At about 15:00, I biked to downtown Chapel Hill to chill at Starbucks café. I brought my MacBook for Internet surfing. Surprisingly, I managed to get some (math) reading done!

Four hours later, I went back home for dinner. I was not at all in the mood of preparing something proper (read: laziness from the afternoon). I had some leftovers, but in quantity not large enough to be a complete meal (at least for me).

A random thought came to my mind — why not pair the chicken curry (the leftovers) with some creamy scrambled eggs?

The ingredients

I gathered the ingredients that I need for my scrambled eggs — butter, whipping cream, shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes, chives, and of course, eggs. First I broke the eggs into a pot. Then I put in a slab of butter (1 tablespoon). On low heat, I began to scramble the eggs and butter with a spatula. From time to time, I repeatedly remove the pot from the heat, continue scrambling the eggs and butter, and placing the pot back on the stove top. At the same time, on a separate frying pan, I greased the surface with some olive oil and cook the sliced tomatoes and shiitake mushroom on low heat. Not much attention was needed for the frying pan.

Then, I seasoned the eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper. I continued mixing the eggs and added some whipping cream later. After about 8 minutes (or when the mixture in the pot starts to look like scrambled eggs instead of being liquid), I served the eggs on a plate along with the mushrooms and tomatoes, which were cooked by the time the eggs were done.

Sunday dinner

The end result was the unorthodox paring of curry and scrambled eggs — the fusion tasted surprisingly delicious. Please pardon the resolution of the photos as they were taken using my iPhone instead of a camera.

Bon appétit!

New York City

My last-minute spring break trip to New York City was rewarding! I managed to meet up with some of my friends and pampered myself gastronomically.

JFK Terminal Five.

I arrived at JFK Terminal Five, the new terminal for JetBlue Airways. Among other U.S. airport terminals, I have to say that JFK T5 was pretty impressive — with space, simplicity, and functionality. So what did I pamper my stomach with? I started with one of my classic, favorite entrée – the barbecue roasted pork (with chicken). I dropped by Yee Li Restaurant (1 Elizabeth St, New York) in one mid-afternoon.

Barbecue Roasted Pork with Chicken.

To be frank, despite the appealing presentation, the roasted pork was so-so — I guess it was because of my patronizing at 1500 in the afternoon, which was way after the peak lunch hour at 1200. The pork was a little stale. It was not terribly bad though, maybe my expectation was too high after living in Chapel Hill (read: severe lack of good food in Chapel Hill). This place seemed to be a restaurant that serves decent chinese food.

May Ying and I at Kyotofu Restaurant.

May Ying (University of Chicago) and I did meet up at a Japanese fusion-themed restaurant which she recommended — the Kyotofu Restaurant (705 9th Avenue, New York). The dessert was simply amazing. This restaurant specializes in desserts. The portion may be petit, but the workmanship was definitely exquisite and the taste was thrilling. The nowhere ordinary complex flavors in the dessert brought satisfaction to a different level. With its relaxing décor and ambience, this is no doubt a nice place to have a chat and catch up with friends.

My dessert.

I do not remember the name of the desserts we ordered, but they surely look mouthwatering?

May Ying and her dessert.

I was excited to have found a new Malaysian restaurant (by new, I mean a restaurant that I had not been to) in Chinatown. Edmund (University of Michigan) and I went to the Skyway Restaurant (11 Allen Street, New York) to enjoy some good home-tasting food. But we were downright disappointed.

Java Noodles

We were excited to spot Java Noodles on their menu, since it is more of a Northern cuisine (a lot of Kuala Lumpur residents have never even heard of it!) and most Malaysians restaurants in the U.S. do not serve it. However it was a below-average entrée. The presentation was once again okay, but the gravy was too sweet and tasteless at the same time, that is the lack of flavor. It almost felt like a pure combination of corn flour and distilled water. I won’t even bother to post pictures of nasi lemak and the war tan ho (Cantonese style flat noodles in egg-starchy gravy) that were equally disappointing.

Beef Rendang and Kangkung Belacan

Lucky me, I did find the courage to try out another new Malaysian restaurant. This time, Edmund and I, along with his roommate Vernon (Cornell University), ventured to Sentosa Restaurant (3907 Prince Street, Flushing). This place exceeded my expectation. The food was not only good, but fairly authentic I have to say. We made our stomach bloated by ordering three dishes, namely the beef rendang (a South East Asian flavor of curry), kangkung belacan (stir-fried water spinach, Ipomoea aquatica if you will, with shrimp paste and chili), and asam fish (steamed fish with tamarind).

Asam Fish.

During the weekend, we had above-average Hong Kong Dim Sum with a bunch of friends, before we caught a film The International at an AMC Theater at Times Square.

Dim Sum on Saturday.

Golden Unicorn Restaurant (18 East broadway Street, New York) serves a variety of dim sum. It was quite crowded when we got there; I took it as an indication of good food! (Picture, from left: Wooi Yang Chang, Binit, Jon San Ng, May Ying Ng, Melissa Lee, Eric Fu aka me, and Edmund Ooi.)

Pad Thai with Shrimp.

Another worth-mentioning restaurant is Pongsri Thai Restaurant (244 West 48th Street, New York). Here, I tasted truly authentic Thai food, not only the rich flavors per se, but also the level of spiciness. Here, you can bypass the Americanized “spicy level” and opt for the true Thai spiciness. The papaya salad that Edmund, May Ying, and I savored was enough to turn on my tongue with its subtle, yet  not negligible tinge of spiciness.

Grilled Chicken à la Thaï.

The main entrées were heavenly. I would say that this was the best Thai experience in all of my culinary Thai delight in the United States. We got ourselves the standard pad thai with shrimp, grilled chicken (Thai style), and some really spicy minced pork whose Thai name I forgot.

Spicy Minced Pork.

Danny Ng’s Restaurant (34 Pell Street, New York) offers palatable Hong Kong cuisine. Moreover, I had a good bee bim bop at a Korean restaurant, that is the Hanbat Restaurant (53 West 35th Street, New York). I shall not forget the crunchy Korean style fried chicken at Bon Chon (314 5th Avenue, New York). Neither shall I miss mentioning some good street foods in New York City too; try the shish kebab at Union Square (or pretty much any street hawker you see; they should be equally good) and also the one buck (used to be three quarters) Peiking duck bun at Main Street and 40th Road (right next to the Long Island Rail Road station). The Taiwanese bubble tea at Ten Ren (13518 Roosevelt Ave, Flushing) was delightful, too.

An amazing trip! Even though this is my fifth trip to Manhattan, I do not discount the possibility of the sixth or seventh trip for the diverse, delicious food!

For a complete collection of amateurish photos taken throughout this trip, visit my Flickr NYC set.

The Pacific Northwest

This Christmas, I decided to explore the Pacific Northwest, a region in the United States to which I had not been. The initial plan was to visit Seattle, Washington and Vancouver, British Columbia. However, Steve and I had to make some changes to our travel plans when his Canadian visa application got rejected.

Hence an international trip was humbled to a vacation with domestic flair. Portland, Oregon supplanted the Canadian city. I was still looking forward to this trip because I would be able to meet up with Yun Xin, a long friend of mine.

My flight to Seattle on December 20 was at 0600, and I had to wake up at 0400 in the middle of the night to catch this super early flight. Oh well, since this flight is almost free (I redeemed my Northwest WorldPerks miles and paid taxes only), I shall not complain. It was not a direct flight; the layover at Detroit Metro Airport was short but I managed to have my breakfast in the terminal before boarding the connecting flight. The snow scene in Detroit reminded me of my hearty enjoyment of snow.

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

I met up with Steve who flew directly into Seattle from Chicago O’Hare and we took a bus shuttle to our hotel — Best Western Loyal Inn. Expecting to see a raining scene, I was greeted instead with snow in Seattle. Confounded I was, yet I did not care much as I was tremendously excited to see snow and feel the subzero (in Celsius) breeze. Only during the check-in at Best Western did the front desk receptionist told me that Seattle was hit by a severe snow storm.

Apparently the last time such a “severe” snow storm beleaguered the Pacific Northwest region was more than 30 years ago. Such inclement weather was therefore considered an anomaly and the entire population seemed panicked and did not know what to do. The city of Seattle has only 27 snow plowers. As a result, it took them more than a few days to clear the streets. The city municipal further refused to use road salt, arguing that it will cause unsought pollution in the Puget Sound. Hence there was no effective snow removing throughout our stay in Seattle.

This in turn impeded our travel as more than half of the city bus routes were cancelled until further notice. We had no choice but to surrender the opportunity to visit the Capitol Hill region — St. Mark’s Cathedral, Volunteer Park Conservatory, Water Tower Observation Deck, and the Seattle Museum of Mysteries. With the extra time in hand, Steve and I went to the cinema (AMC theaters) and watched Transporter 3 and The Day The Earth Stood Still.

On the second day, we made an effort to wake up early for the Pike Place Public Market visit. We strolled to Pike Place, which is situated about 1 kilometer away from our hotel. We stumbled upon a beckoning French bakery shop (la pâtisserie française) on Pike Place. The delicious-looking pastries on display lured us to have our second breakfast (Best Western provides guests with complimentary continental breakfast).

Le Panier dans la rue Pike à Seattle

Aptly named as Le Panier (literally, it means “the basket” in French), the bakery is located right across the street from the famous Seattle Public Market and a few shops away from the first Starbucks in the world.

Un croissant aux abricots

We ordered two items — an apricot croissant and an apple tart. They were so good that I went back to Le Panier for breakfast on the following morning.

Une tarte aux pommes

All pastries were labeled in French, and it felt good to be able to understand those labels! I even tried to converse in French with la caissière (the cashier), but she replied that she rather not as she did not speak much French.

Seattle Public Market

The Public Market was certainly one of the highlights of the trip, I shall say. There, I witnessed a scene of local vendors bustling around, forming a unique community of local producers. There was an impressive seafood stall right at the left entrance of the market. The Pike Place Fish Market had a variety of seafood, including the fresh parrot fish and monk fish!

The Pike Place Fish Market

Here’s the fresh parrot fish…

The Fresh Parrot Fish

… and the monk fish — Don’t be afraid, boys and girls!

The monk fish

Check out the fresh jumbo scallops (from another merchant):

Gigantic scallops

And of course, fromage (cheese) too!

Fromage

Then, I dropped by the first Starbucks café in the world! I mean, how could I miss it, being an avid Starbucks fan? Notice the pioneer logo:

La première café Starbucks

I got myself a Pike Place Starbucks Collection Series mug as a souvenir. Can you correctly guess which one?

Starbucks merchandise

Before we left for Portland, we ascended the Space Needle for a bird view of the city. Also, we took a short tour around the University of Washington district and had a Vietnamese lunch there. I was very impressed by the UW campus.

Seattle Space Needle

We spent some of our time (especially me) shopping along Pike Street and Pine Street. Consequently, my wallet is squirming now.

Bon-Macy's at Pine Street

En route to Portland, we had to endure our Amtrak experience. In Portland, due to inclement weather, we did not get to visit parks and gardens. However, we did spend some quality time with Yun Xin and Yusuke. Together we visited the Discovery Museum at the World Forestry Center. I enjoyed learning from the exhibitions there.

Les forêts pour la vie. Les forêts pour les peuples.

In the evening, Yun Xin pampered us with a simple, yet wonderful Christmas dinner (on Boxing Day). It was technically a full-course meal with appetizers, main entrées, and dessert. The dinner, which was totally a fusion meal, started off with a Japanese appetizer, followed by rice with Asian dishes as the main entrée, complemented by mashed potatoes and miso soup as side dishes, along with a bottle of Californian wine. At the end, we made our already bloated stomachs even more bloated by savoring a cake from an Italian bakery as well as some chocolates. We chatted for so long that Steve and I missed the last bus back to our hotel!

A fusion Christmas dinner

The trip ended 8 days later. I flew back via Minneapolis-St. Paul back to Chapel Hill, awaiting the new semester to commence on January 12.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

My EWR-DTW-LAX-HKG-KUL-AOR Journey

I had a wonderful Cathay Pacific (CX) experience when I flew to Malaysia last summer. Therefore, I continued flying with CX this summer.

As expected, the in-flight meals were fabulous. For supper (LAX-HKG), I had

• Shrimp salad served with ranch dressing
• Chicken tai chi, steamed rice, and mixed vegetables
• Blueberry cheesecake

That was definitely a good meal before I went asleep. For breakfast (LAX-HKG), I savored

• Fresh seasonal fruit
• Yoghurt
• Chicken and black mushroom porridge
• Banana muffin

I did not have a smooth, continuous sleep during the 15 hours flight (14 hours 40 minutes to be exact). Sometimes minor turbulences shook me up from my sleeps. There was a time when I felt hungry in between the meals. I courteously asked for some midnight snacks. My mum and I ended up sharing char siew pao, delicious cup noodles, and deluxe Häagen-Dazs ice cream!

Finally, on CX 723 (HKG-KUL), I was served chicken rice.

Marvelous CX flights, overall!

Buffet Dinner at Nikko Hotel

Last summer, I took my sister and mum to Shangri’La Hotel for a buffet lunch. My dad was not able to go to Kuala Lumpur, so he missed it. This year, I planned a weekend in KL for my dad and decided to bring him (along with my mum and sister) to a buffet dinner.

Café Serena at Nikko Hotel featured mostly local food, despite the “international varieties” description on its website. The relaxed ambience in the café was, however, there to be experienced. The food was good, and I especially loved the beef rendang.

The variety of dessert was impressive, too, though not as impressive as that of Shangri’La’s.

Overall, the meal was okay, given that I had a 50% discount. I would not be happy to pay the full price for absence of “food diversity.” Frankly, I will not return to Nikko Hotel for buffet in the future. I am more likely to dine in Sangri’La Hotel.

But we did have a good time there, as a family.

The price was MYR 90 (USD 28) per person. As a Citibank credit card holder, I was entitled to a 50% discount. So I paid MYR 180 (USD 56) for four.

The Häagen-Dazs Fondue

During my one-week stay in Kuala Lumpur in the beginning of June, I brought my sister (and mum) to savor exceptional Häagen-Dazs ice cream. Somehow, I was cajoled into making this promise by Carmen before I traveled to Malaysia.

I kept my words, and voilà, we found ourselves looking at the menu in the MidValley Häagen-Dazs Café. I refrained myself from drooling as I turned from a page to another when looking at the menu. All the entrées looked fantastically appealing. However, I almost wept at the price.

Häagen-Dazs ice cream is very affordable in the United States. One pint (473 ml) of Häagen-Dazs ice cream cost less then USD 4 (MYR 12.80). In Malaysia, one such pint will cost you MYR 30. Unbelievable! Nonetheless, I was more than honored to be her brother who treated my sister her first Häagen-Dazs!

Carmen decided to have the fondue – a chocolate fondue with 12 mini scoops of Häagen-Dazs ice cream, apart from other food items such as fruits and cookies. The 12 mini scoops of ice cream consists of 4 Häagen-Dazs flavors, namely the classic vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry, as well as vanilla with cookie dough, I believe.

Look at the array of food items that compliments the ice cream – green apples, strawberries, bananas, marble cake, chocolate waffles, to name a few.

This should give you a more “holistic” view of the fondue.

Can you resist these tiny little scoops of Häagen-Dazs ice cream?

We enjoyed ourselves. You should go have a try if you are a chocolate fondue and/or ice cream person. It was expensive, but worthwhile for a one-time or once-in-a-blue-moon experience. The price was MYR 73.80 (USD 22.95) after adding the 10% service tax and 5% government tax.

Food

So what’s with Eric recently? He has been (compulsively?) obsessed with food – food here and food there. Supper at Jalan Pintu Sepuluh, then supper at Ming Tian. Not to mention that food tag…

Well, I think this is not an obsession, really, but appreciation. I realize that I am appreciating Malaysian food more now. Three years ago, Malaysian food can be found everywhere – in the hawker center, along the street, and even in the mall. I just need to walk out to the street to get some good food. But there aren’t any fried keoy teow stalls near my apartment in Michigan, nor there is any Ramlee burger stalls around, too. A couple of years abroad taught me to appreciate Malaysian cuisine.

Of course, I am not suggesting that Western food sucks. I love some of them big time! It’s just that when Malaysian food is not easily available around you, you’ll never take it for granted anymore.