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Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Wordless Wednesday #17: Tamago kake gohan





japanese breakfast

When I was in Japan in 2006, breakfast was served for free in the hotel where I was staying in. Out of curiosity (when in Japan, eat what the Japanese eat!), I ordered the the traditional breakfast. The whole meal is consisted of grilled fish, fermented soy beans (natto) soup (miso), pickles, dried seaweed (nori), steamed rice and other side dishes.

For the second time, I ordered another breakfast meal that is also traditional Japanese (photo above). The usual soup, fermented soy beans, seaweed, pickles, steamed rice with fresh egg. The egg is simply mixed in with the rice and soy sauce. It is known as tamago kake gohan, or, simply translated, egg-sauce over rice. As you can see in the picture, the bowl of rice is traditionally placed on left side with the soup on the right. Both traditional breakfast sets were good and light, just enough to give my stomach a little more space to accomodate more food in a little while.



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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wordless Wednesday #16: Juice mio!




Living in Cambodia for a long time now makes me get used to signs that are funny or are not intending to be funny but because of the outrageous word combination (i.e., translations or context) it takes on another meaning (humorous) or no meaning at all. Previously I posted pictures of funny signs most of which I saw in my frequent trips to the countryside. This time, I am posting something that I found in a Chinese restaurant's menu. Juice with fancy (funny) names available at one of the Chinese restaurants (forgot the name) near Hun Sen park, just a stone's throw away from Java Cafe. Have a look:

ohmyjuice@!

Since it was really hot that day, so I ordered myself this:

juicemio!
Can you guess what I ordered??

No, not the Relieve summer heat the plum juice. They were out of stock.

Tried asking for the Keep like good health the turnip juice. No luck.

So I just settled for the cool water melon juice!

How about you, what's your choice?

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Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Wordless Wednesday #15: Fiery Sri Lankan Curry



I was in Sri Lanka in 2002 for a conference and was amazed at how spectacular the whole spice island is - from its blue waters to rolling hills of tea plantations, to its great nature and wildlife and intoxicating cuisine... man, I just would love to go back there!

Despite a predominantly Buddhist country, there is a sizable Muslim (Tamils) and Christian communities. Sri Lankan cuisine is borrowed from many cultures - Moor, Dutch, Malay and Portuguese. Rice and curry is the main staple and expect the cury to be very hot and spicy.

So I went on to taste Sri Lankan curry at a roadside restaurant. I ordered chicken curry and it was served with roti and a side dish of vegetable.



hot Sri Lankan dish

Having inherited my mother's penchant for hot and spicy dishes, I was not prepared for what happened next. My eyes watered and my tongue started burning spreading to my mouth and neck. Even my ears went numb! My friend, Srilal, panicked upon seeing me like that. I was rushed back to the hotel, amidst my non-stop laughing and crying, where I was given lots of milk to cure my burning mouth. I felt sorry for the waiters who looked concerned genuinely sorry over what happened to me. So that was my introduction to the fiery Sri Lankan curry.