Travel to Live. Live to Travel

Buoyancy isn't something we'd worked on yet...

Something I’ve always wanted to do is learn how to scuba dive. Imagine my delight when I found out that not only does my cousin dive, but she was willing to take us out somewhere to go on an intro dive.

We drove out to Anilao in Batangas to a small resort. When I arrived, I looked out to the grey ocean and felt a bit anxious. It was a gloomy day and the water looked choppy and cold. Did I mention I am actually afraid of the ocean, and more importantly, putting my head under the water? It all stems from when I almost drowned trying to surf in Hawaii….but I digress… =P

I was a bit nervous during the briefing, I knew it was just an introductory course and that everything would be okay…but you know, the fear was there. So we get geared up, we get on the boat, and I’m told I need to fall backwards into the water (oh good lord, I thought!) Managing all the courage I could muster, I let the weight of the air tanks pull me backwards and…

Well, I entered a whole new world. If the sea looked grey and bleak from the surface, it was completely different below. I saw so many fish, and bright coral, and weird looking plants. You know when you go to an aquarium and you see all the neon colored anemone, and coral that look like brains, and weird stripey fish? Yeah, somehow I just thought all that stuff was fake and created for aquariums. But then I got to see it for real, and it was just amazing. All my fear washed away.

Hugh eating fresh uni out of the sea

After our intro dive, we went to shore with a bag of uni (sea urchin) which we had plucked from the rocks near the shore (apparently it is not illegal to get them in the Philippines.) I’m not a fan of uni personally, and I think I’m even less of a fan after watching the resort chef hack them open. It’s amazing how little meat is actually inside of those suckers! Anyways, Hugh and my cousin were both extremely pleased by the quality of the uni which they ate with calamansi juice.

We had so much fun we promptly decided to sign up for our certification. It took a week and with it came a whole new set of stress and tears (on my part) but when I actually accomplished the task I couldn’t do for days (clearing a mask underwater) I felt a very happy sense of accomplishment. Oh, and I also got stung by a firecoral down there so I guess now I have battle scars =P

It’s wonderful to have conquered a fear AND crossed something off my Life To-Do List!

Chick on a stick...not actually very tasty.

While in the Philippines, my cousins and uncles have been trying endlessly to gross out Hugh with “exotic” Filipino food. I think this is a pretty common practice around the world, where rather than be embarassed about some local delicacies, most people consider Americans (and its usually Americans who are so grossed out by foreign delicacies) to just have boring diets. And honestly–with our health, who are we to be grossed out by what people eat? I’ve come to consider the giant bowls of fat they serve at restaurants back home to be pretty foul.

However, Hugh’s a pretty adventurous eater so he always ends up grossing people out in their attempts. In Japan we/he sampled such delicacies as: bees, sake with a dead snake coiled in it, raw horse meat, not to mention many of the more normal things like seaweeds and shellfish that some people would find repulsive. In Laos, we tried silkworms and water buffalo. I’ve had turtle-shell jelly in China and Taco Bell in America. It isn’t about trying to gross each other out, or be adventurous or anything. There are certain things we won’t do–I won’t eat anything killed before my eyes (like the snakes and their beating hearts in Vietnam) which are often done just to be grotesque for tourists and not because the majority of the population eats it. But we figure that if people in a culture eat this sort of food, then it’s certainly worth trying. At worst, just don’t eat it again. It PROBABLY won’t kill you. We rolled our eyes at tourists in Laos who would go on and on about how horrible it was that Laotians ate certain things (civet cats, random wildlife, birds), never realizing that certainly certain groups of people think the Western diet of beef is possibly horrible, or that Laotians are poor and hunting game in the forest isn’t about sport, but about survival.

Food is all very cultural anyways. I never grew up on fancy cheese (many Asians don’t) and as a result, I often find the cheeses that my European friends love smell and taste like vomit, or worse. I mean really, do you know WHY blue cheese has blue flecks in it? My point is–blood pudding or dog meat or whatever. Food is food.

Saddam Hussein pizza?!

In the Philippines there are delicacies such as dinaguan, a stew made of pigs’ blood, which isn’t really that strange to some cultures who eat blood puddings or marrow, but most infamous with non-Filipinos is balut, which is chicken embryo.

Somehow though, Hugh managed to finally put my family’s taunts to rest when he ate a day-old chick which are served whole on a stick and meant to be eaten as such–bones, innards, head, feet and all. My uncle who will eat balut seemed positively disgusted by the fact we ate it, though you could joke and call it overripe balut. My cousin Jean made him do it and he heroically did so, announcing “tastes yolky!” as he did so.

Lemongrass, galangal, spicy wood, and many other things make up the base flavors of Lao food

Hey foodies! This post and photos are for you! In Luang Prabang, we decided to check out the cooking class by Tamarind (a restaurant) which was highly regarded (and turned out to be good).

The class started out with a market tour led by our Lao teacher, Jack. He pointed out various herbs, meats, and sauces used by Laotians (insert whinging by an annoying old Australian couple here about the cleanliness of the market and how awful it is to eat certain meats, waaaah). After that, we were taken to the riverside kitchen to cook.

Something I noticed before is that in Lao, most cooking is down over hot coals. Most people don’t have electricity at home and therefore, no stoves or ovens (remember, electricity only really came to Lao 15 years ago). Cooking is primarily done by grilling, stewing, or steaming. This is also one of the poorest, most isolated countries on earth so, traditionally, food is also very simple. The ingredient list might be quite long, but it’s all stuff that can be picked in your garden (or foraged from the forest/riverbank.)

Steaming sticky rice over coals, the Lao way of cooking

Another important point in Lao cuisine is the fact they use sticky rice to eat. They pull rice out of the steamer, then ball it up into their hands and dip it into different food. Therefore, Lao food tends not to be as soupy/creamy/oily as Thai food. Lao food tastes more “herby,” and what we discovered was that it was flavor overload for basically everyone.

On the menu were several dishes. Orlahm, is a traditional stew in Luang Prabang made with buffalo meat and basically every herb you can think of in huge quantities. It also contained something they call spicy wood, which is…wood. It was pretty weird eating wood, the outside is super bitter and spicy while the inside tastes like peppery chicken. It also makes your mouth feel like you’ve been injected with novacaine. I don’t feel any guilt in saying I’d never eat it again.

Hugh models a wonderfully marinated tilapia

We also made a delicious steamed Tilapia in banana leaves. Once again, the marinade was made up of every herb in existence. But it was really, really nice. A few little alterations and I could definitely add this to my dinner repetoire (the authentic way is a little too flavor country for me.)

Next was the technically difficult to make, stuffed lemongrass. How do you stuff lemongrass, you ask? Well. It was hard. But the results were delicious. Ingredients were minced chicken, lemongrass, every herb in existence (okay, okay–Lao basil, coriander, kaffir lime…oh geez, I don’t know.)

We also made our own spicy Lao dip and laap (a meat salad–I made mine with water buffalo meat). Hugh indulged in the fried worms/catepillars that were offered as a snack. I declined. Nonetheless, I knocked back a shot of lao-lao (aka moonshine) mixed with honey and orange. It still didn’t provide me the courage to eat the grubs though.

All in all, a very good use of the day. You know how they say the quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? I always thought that saying had real meaning beyond men being really hungry. =P I believe food is a great way to understand someone, and a culture. Thailand knew this when they sent chefs all over the world to open up Thai restaurants: get people to love your food, and they will love your country (or at least they’ll be up for a visit.)

Grilling stuffed lemongrass while orlahm bubbles on the "stove"

Voila! Stuffed lemongrass and steamed tilapia

Today began as many of our days in Asia have: with a trip to Starbucks.

Now, let me preface this by saying that I have drank Starbucks in America approximately 3 times in my life. However, as any expat will tell you there are certain things that you just sometimes miss. Western food has something about it (fat and cholesterol) that tastes like home to me; so just as my Asian-born friends constantly sought out authentic Chinese food in Los Angeles, we seek the same thing. Except for us it’s so much easier: Authentic America = Fast Food. Whatta world.

Anyways, we were also struck by how kind the people of Taiwan were. At the train station we couldn’t figure out why the turnstile wouldn’t take our tickets. In Japan, we would have had businessmen try and shove their way through, climbing over our baggage and what have you. In Hong Kong, people would have gristled and sighed loudly about our stupidity. However, a young business-type just politely said, “Sir, you need to turn the ticket this way,” while demonstrating the proper way to insert said ticket. Amazing.

We then arrived in Kaohsiung and met up with our friend Kevin (who we know from Japan) who took us to one of the many food-stall nightmarkets, a specialty in Taiwan. I had something called a danbin which is like a wrap with all sorts of random stuff in it. Very tasty. And Hugh got to try pearl milk tea (aka boba aka tapioca) the way it was meant to be drank (since it was invented in Taiwan).

All in all, very good start to our 2 weeks in Taiwan.

I’m currently editing a video of some of our eating adventures, but I thought I’d share a sneak peak.. =)

A mushroom base hotpot, tasty!

Lunch in Yu Bazaar, soup dumplings made with crab roe

Slurp, slurp...

Actually, I’ve been in New York for about a week now. After a fabulous wedding in Chicago, Hugh and I set off for the Big Apple.

And, well, we’ve spent most of our time eating, eating, and eating… but it’s so glorious. Hot dogs, rubens, pastrami, pierogis, pizza, pasta, pinkberry, vitamin water, hamburgers, new york style, katz’s, mercer kitchen, food, food, food…

Thank god we’ve been attempting to burn it off by walking across Manhattan several times a day.

Whale Meat Steak..
Originally uploaded by Janelle (Himene).

Minku Kujira…or in English, whale meat.

I’m not a vegetarian. However, I have always been bothered by the Japanese take on whale meat. They constantly claim it’s for scientific research and not primarly for consumption, as you can see in this photo it about $5.00 for about 300g. To put that in perspective, that is LESS than the cost of beef in Japan. Furthermore, this is a typical grocery store in rural Japan–not a fancy food store. I’ve actually had it for school lunch before! They must be killing a lot of whales to sustain that, and we all know that they are and it really isn’t for scientific research.

Yes, yes, I’ve had whale. No, I don’t really feel guilty for it. I don’t know what’s worse, killing the poor thing under the guise of science or me throwing out food when people are starving in the world because of my (hypocritical) moral indignation. I’ll admit it’s delicious, at least if it’s been deep fried (but what ISN’T delicious when deep fried? Okay, okay, the Midwest girl in me is coming out…)

Like I said, I am no vegetarian–and while I say I’m not that into animal rights, I didn’t mean I go kicking puppies or anything. On the contrary, I pay about $5 for six eggs because I make the effort to buy honest-to-god free range eggs (and not ones that claim to be free range and aren’t really.) I’ve made every effort to educate myself on how animals are treated in industrial farms and try and stay away from that.

At the same time, I disagree with notions that we shouldn’t eat whale because they are smart or cute. Sheep are pretty cute. Pigs are quite smart as well. In my head, there’s no hierarchy for which animals we can eat and which we can’t. Harpooning whales isn’t anymore or less horrifying or disgusting that shooting a metal bolt into a cow’s head. I think we should stop deluding ourselves and really understand how we go from cow to red cubes in white styrofoam tray. If finding out that cows get shot in the head disgusts you, then go vegetarian. The less you know about the food that goes into your body, the more dangerous that is. The reason we shouldn’t eat whale is because by most accounts they are endangered, or at the very least, threatened. On a global scale, there are far more deer and rabbits than there are whale.

I also have a problem with the guise of scientific research. Why exactly do they need to kill thousands of minke whales a year? Uh, for science? Unless of course, the scientific research is this: The Thesis Of Whether Or Not Feeding School Children Whale Will Cause Them To Be Lifelong Consumers of Whale

One of the best things about my job is that I have the liberty to create and execute my own events. Two years ago me and an ex-co-worker started (bi-)monthly cooking classes, despite the fact neither of us were particularly excellent cooks.

I just held my 9th cooking class yesterday and it was one of the best yet. We did Thai cooking and I was just really pleased with the outcome. One of the biggest frustrations are the crotchedy housewives who join and complain about everything. Some Japanese women go crazy if you tell them, “cut it however you want,” or “put as much pepper as you like,” for some of them they must know EXACTLY how many milimeters to cut a cucumber or exactly how many teaspoons of pepper goes in…and anyone who cooks knows that it is rarely EVER so precise (except in baking). I’ve hosted classes when a group of women snickered to themselves, “hah, just like an American to be so sloppy,” when I said that it didn’t matter how you cut the carrot as long as the pieces were bite size.

Ah well, cultural differences, right?

Luckily, those sorts of people rarely ever come back, and instead I have a bit of a following of people who come every month to learn new recipes. I love that they’re always so shocked the ingredients mostly come from the local supermarket. But I mean, it takes an outsider sometimes to tell you about the things you never notice. For example, I never noticed the grocery stores in Indianapolis only sell 3 kinds of cheese (mozerella, american, and cheddar) until Hugh (who is used to seeing more in Melbourne) pointed it out. Geez, what is gouda cheese anyways? (Note: I know now, because my little town in Japan only sells 2 kinds of cheese, one which is gouda.)

I’m never going to “internationalize” the whole city, but I am very pleased when I see that I can make a difference on a smaller level.

I’m reading this book called the Omnivore’s Dilemma which discusses how our ways of eating and producing food have changed. Naturally, this made me think about my own relationship with food.

For those who have known me since my teenage years, you’ll know I’ve had a rocky relationship with food. I was absolutely NEVER an anorexic, but I weighed about as much as one, and like an anorexic I disliked eating and was pretty malnourished. It wasn’t a fear of getting fat, it was more that I hated the time wasted eating. Eating was a chore, especially when food itself generally tasted so disgusting. The things that I did eat were absolutely trash. Since I don’t really like Filipino food, my dinners were things like Taco Bell, pizza rolls, instant pizza, TV dinners, etc. which I often didn’t really like the taste of either, I just ate out of convenience.

All of this changed when I moved to Chicago, then later California, and was introduced to a very vast world of different types of food. Friends might think me to be this worldly traveler, but the reality is that I never had Thai food until university, and wouldn’t know real Italian if it fell on me until I moved to Australia. This is when I discovered eating delicious food to be one of life’s great pleasures. I now consider myself fully to be a foodie, a gourmand-in-training, an epicure. I have absolutely no shame in saying I have partaken in a $100 meal. It’s something I do maybe once a year and I don’t consider it expensive considering I save more than than choosing to cook for myself and not eat at McDonald’s. I never liked chain-restaurant food or fast-food in my youth, and you certainly won’t find me there by choice unless I am just really, really being deprived of a comfort food like cheese fries (which I also make myself.)

So now I’m in Japan. What most Americans imagine Japanese food to be is true, but only as true as the image that Americans eat only hotdogs and hamburgers is true. For all the tuna casseroles, quesadillas, roast beef, etc that average Japanese are unaware we eat there’s the konyaku (gelatinous blob), crab guts, and natto (fermented beans) that the Japanese eat. I’m not going to lie to you–living in Japan has actually made me dislike Japanese food in general, with a few exceptions.

However, living in Japan has made me love food in general even more. Living out in the country certainly helps. Seasonal food used to piss me off for the inconvenience, but now I love it. Certain foods (strawberries, corn, etc) are only available certain parts of the year here–but when they are available they taste far more amazing than anything I ever had in America did (my mother shops at Wal-Mart, btw.)

Another thing I’ve grown to appreciate is locally grown food. Lettuce is delicious here, and so are tomatoes, another vegetable I used to hate. I used to think it was quaint that before every school lunch the students would say like, “the corn came from Fukushima-san’s grandmother, and the onions were supplied by Abe-san’s mom,” but now I see it as a great thing. It sustains the community, and it tastes better. Recipes I cooked before in America suddenly taste better here and it’s probably solely because the food is fresher and it’s easy for me to buy organic, or local, or free-range (for real, not just labelled free-range).

I don’t really know if this is better or my health or not, but all I can say is that in America you do not often see many 90-year old people who work on the farm every day or walk several miles up and down hills for fun, but out here it’s pretty damn normal. I’m always struck when an 80-year old grandma can not only out drink a foreign exchange student under the table, she’s in better shape too. It’s pretty embarassing to be schooled by a granny.

I’m posting from Chiang Mai, Thailand (in the northern mountainous region) and I don’t think I have ever taken to a city so quickly. This city has the feeling of a small, provincial capital, but yet manages to feel 100x times more international and cosmopolitan than your typical small, provincial capital.

I’ve had a lovely time with Hugh browsing markets, walking everywhere (and possibly getting a reputation from tuktuk drivers as brokeass foreigners) and eating delicious food 4 or 5 times a day.

We spent the first few days exploring the city on foot, negotiating transportation fares, meeting up with some home-stay students I met in Japan, and just in general enjoying ourselves. It’s laid-back and people are friendly. We have been trying our best to speak in Thai, but everyone seems to have passable English so I don’t think we’ve made much progress.

We took a Thai cooking class, which was fascinating…I had no idea so many of my favorite dishes were so easy to make…assuming of course, I have access to the ingredients (unlikely–have I ever mentioned I grow my own cilantro and chives back in Japan and it ended in absolute failure?) Afterward, we indulged in my personal favorite aspect of Thai culture–the belief in the mental and physical benefits of massage. Great.

Tomorrow we leave for Cambodia….

P.S. I have had an epic chili-cheese-onion-saurkraut hotdog and the BEST enchilada I have ever had…in CHIANG MAI. The quality of food is ridiculously good here, both Thai and Western. I am amazed.

I teach periodically at elementary schools and while there I am obligated to eat the school lunch with the children.

Today my lunch consisted of a small salad, soup, bread, and a few pieces of fried meat. I assumed it was fish, since it didn’t look like any meat I had seen before; however, on tasting it I figured it was perhaps pork. A few thoughts entered my head while eating it:
“Wonder what meat this is?”
“This meat is awfully dark for pork…”
“This shit is awesome.”

So while chit-chatting with the students, one girl gleefully proclaims, “Do you know what this is? It’s whale!”

I ate whale.

Now, I try to be as environmentally conscious as possible, I’m hardly a role model, but I try. I have always, always, stood firm on not eating whale, at least willingly. Alas, it has been done. I’m a bit bothered by it, but I am viewing this experience positively. At least now when a Japanese person defensively asks, “Have you ever eaten it?” I can say, “Yeah, it was delicious–but that doesn’t mean we should eat it.” (The subject of whether or not to eat whale is a pretty delicate thing to try and discuss in Japan.)

But then I wonder, why not? Is it just that they’re endangered? What if they suddenly where to become not endangered (this is all hypothetical.) Would we be bothered then because it was cute or cuddly? But people eat rabbit and deer, which are pretty cute to me. Maybe it’s because whales are smart, which is fair enough, I don’t like the idea of eating smart things either. However, pigs are also known to be very smart.

So anyways, if you’ve ever wondered what whale tasted like–I had it deep fried, and it tasted like a tender, magical blend between beef and pork. And yes, it did taste really good. Even for a school lunch. No, I will never eat it again now that I know what it looks like, but don’t ask me why not–I don’t think I have a real reason.

the wagashi 和菓子 i made at my cir retreat~ Wagashi is traditional Japanese cakes, they’re made of azuki (red bean) and super sweet. The top one is a chrysanthemum I made, the third is a bar of green tea stuff I didn’t make, and the bottom is meant to look like a chestnut…

Going to Australia in a month and I can barely contain my excitement! I’ll be seeing my boyfriend, seeing the sun, warm weather, beaches, and zomg FOOD. FOOD! Non-freakin-Japanese food. Look people, no matter how many times you think you can live on Japanese food, I guarantee you, six months eating the same food kills you. Man cannot live on the same food every day. Okay, maybe you can, but I cannot. Variety is the spice of my life. Furthermore, just like Americans don’t eat steak every night for dinner, Japanese people aren’t eating tempura every night for dinner. Restaurant food in America is restaurant food in Japan.

I want…pizza…tacos…enchiladas…steak that isn’t ground up first and called “hamburg”…I want pasta without seaweed on it that’s laden in garlic…I want fried chicken and waffles…collard greens…macaroni and cheese…mashed potatoes…p.gumbo…jambalaya…pizza rolls…pizza pockets…dim sum…chinese food…korean food…filipino food…mexican food, oh god, mexican food…

*deep breath*

Okay, right. Australia. God, I can’t wait.