Food in LA: Metro Cafe Culver City

Posted on 5 June 2011 by christao408

For our first three nights in Los Angeles, we stayed near our friends’ house at the Travelodge Culver City. While I would normally worry about a Travelodge (especially one in a big city) being a bit sketchy, the one in Culver City received really good reviews – lots and lots of “10’s” – on TripAdvisor.com. Sure enough, for about $100 a night, they offered these very large rooms with two king beds (and room for at least one more if they wanted to add it). A recent remodel had included a lot of thoughtful touches such as ample cabinets, granite countertops and tiling, and even the shower curtain rod that bows out from the tub so the curtain doesn’t cling to you. A surprising find for what is normally considered a two-star hotel.

An even bigger find is the Metro Cafe, a coffee shop that is located in the front part of the hotel. Guests of the hotel get a coupon good for $5 off at the metro and the Serbian owned restaurant received just as many good reviews as the hotel itself. It is every bit the kitsch cafe of the 1950s without trying too hard to be that. In fact, with the solid ceramic coffee mugs, sturdy chairs, and laminate tables, it may just be the real article, still extant.

We had breakfast our first morning there and had we not made arrangement with friends to dine elsewhere during our stay, we would have been very happy to have eaten all our breakfasts there. The lunch menu looked good and everything I read – and heard first-hand from friends who have eaten at the Metro Cafe – indicates that the dinner is very nice including many Serbian specialties.

After a full night’s sleep and a cup of joe, Tawn looks ready to tackle LA.

One item that caught my attention was the French Toast. Thick slices of fresh brioche were lightly battered and fried on a well-seasoned grill. Fresh strawberries and bananas were accompanied by a homemade raspberry sauce. This was one of the most enjoyable French Toasts I’ve ever had.

Tawn had the eggs benedict, which was unpretentious and expertly executed. The potatoes were well-seasoned with crisp edges. Just a really satisfying start to the day. We’re here for another 10 days or so. I think we really need to come back!

After breakfast we set out to run some errands. For the two days I will be at work, Tawn will have the car and be on his own, so he wanted to get back behind the wheel in the US, the first time in the more than six years since he moved back. The car, a Dodge Charger, was a bit more powerful than what he drives at home, but he did a good job getting reacquainted with driving on the right side of the road. And also scaling back that Bangkok style aggressiveness behind the wheel!

In the afternoon we did some browsing in West Hollywood, sharing a veggie burger and fries at a shop on Santa Monica Boulevard. The patty was tasty but had no cohesion as a burger, falling apart as we tried to eat it. The fries were tasty but I prefer the fries at in-n-out burger. The bun was nice, though.

Flying to LA on EVA

Posted on 3 June 2011 by christao408

Tawn and I flew from Bangkok to Los Angeles yesterday, a journey that was about 18 hours gate-to-gate and went pretty smoothly, thanks to the good service of EVA Airways of Taiwan and an upgrade on the transpacific segment to business class.

In the EVA Airways lounge in Bangkok we had a bite to eat, including this passable pad thai. Not bad for something that was prepared in advance and was sitting, covered, under the heat lamps.

And ice cream! Passion fruit and cookies and cream. That was a nice treat.

Nice view at the gate area at Bangkok Airport in the mid-afternoon sun.

Our flight out of Bangkok was in the premium economy class, which offers about 6 more inches of legroom than regular economy and one fewer seat across the width of the cabin. Only a little bit more expensive than economy class – and actually similar in price to what US carriers charge for their economy class – and a lot more comfortable. The food is nicer, too. This was the dinner served out of B angkok.

Close up of my chicken and rice dish, which was very nice.

Tawn’s seafood and noodles wasn’t very pretty, although it did taste okay.

In Taipei we visited the EVA Airways lounge, which is available to even their “silver” tier fliers, which is a relatively low bar to achieve. Two flights from Bangkok to the US is pretty much enough to keep that status. While in the lounge, Tawn tried some of their congee (rice porridge) which he pronounced was quite tasty.

For the Taipei to Los Angeles segment we cashed in some miles to upgrade to business class, which is a nice way to fly. Considering I’m not at a point in my life where I would ever consider paying for business class, using miles is about the only chance I have!

Appetizer of smoked duck breast, pate served in a plum, and shrimp.

One of the benefits of being in business class on EVA is that you can pre-order dishes from a special menu available online. That way you know exactly what you will have to eat. I ordered lamb chops served with mint sauce, gratineed potatoes and mixed veggies. Tasty.

Tawn’s dish, which he pre-ordered. A Chinese style sea perch with three types of sticky rice and steamed veggies. The sauce is made of fermented soybeans. Tasty.

Fruit plate

Some sort of a cake, served with chopped pistachios.

During the flight, the window shades were closed, lights were dimmed, and in the business class cabin, there are LED “stars” in the ceiling and a cool blue glow. The idea is that the ceiling lates can gradually change colors to simulate sunset and then sunrise in order to help you adjust your circadian rythm. However, they change a bit too quickly for that to happen.

Before landing, Tawn enjoyed congee (“jok” or rice porridge) with a variety of condiments. Compared favorably with the one served in the lounge before the flight.

Made to order latte with a crystal sugar stir stick. Very nice.

Special ordered “breakfast” shortly before our descent into LA: chicken noodle soup with pickles and side dishes, made by Din Tai Fung restaurant in Taipei.

Coming in over the central coast area of California as the sun’s rays grow long on the hills, about 7:40 pm.

Coming in over west Los Angeles, about ten minutes before landing. We were a few minutes ahead of schedule but, even then, it still took about two hours to get through immigration and customs. In any case, we’re here now!

Food in Bangkok – Santawa

Posted on 2 June 2011 by christao408

This dining experience happened nearly a month ago and I’m just now getting around to writing about it. Since returning from Hawai’i, I feel like there’s been a certain amount of delayed reality to my entries, probably due (at least in part) to a very heavy work schedule. That said, I’m trying to get caught up.

A few weeks back another Singaporean friend invited me to join him for lunch at Santawa, a classic Thai restaurant located on a soi, or alley, back behind the Bangkok Bank headquarters on Silom Road. We set a date for a holiday so the streets were very quiet as I walked in the blazing sun to the restaurant.

The restaurant itself is quite well-hidden, despite being right on the street. There is no English-language sign (and I was working from the English spelling of the name, not the Thai spelling) and even with the sign it is still sort of nondescript. In fact, I almost walked past it and Kelvin saw me and ran out to catch me before I wandered away.

Santawa has been a fixture of the Silom / Narawathiwat area for decades. Its primary lunch crowd is local housewives and the proprietress usually ran the show from a designated table near the front of the shop. Lately, it seems, her health is declined and she is no longer coming in regularly. Everything else, though, seems to continue unchanged.

Goong gra beuang – Crispy fried multilayered pancake with fresh shrimp and a sweet chili dipping sauce. Not the highlight of the meal, actually.

Tom kar gai – a coconut-milk based soup that is usually quite mild and bland. In fact, it is often used as an early food for children. As you might imagine, it is quite popular with foreigners. However, I was pleasantly surprised that the broth had a very complex flavor and it was really, really good.

Kelvin initially thought that Tawn would be joining, making four of us including his Thai friend. However, Tawn was unable to make it. When I arrived, Kelvin and and San had already ordered so we had massive quantities of food. Rice, anyone?

Yam makeua yao – Grilled eggplant served in a sour sauce with ground pork on top. This is one of those dishes that is a mainstay here in Thailand but is regrettably uncommon in Thai restaurants overseas. Soulfood Mahanakorn does a neat version of this dish that uses bacon instead of ground pork. Santawa’s original, bacon-less version was still very nice.

Panang curry with pork and heaps of basil leaves. Panang is one of my favorite types of curry and it, along with Massaman curry, is generally a more accessible type of curry for those not accustomed to Thai-style curries.

Stir fried greens with a salted fish sauce. Clean, simple, and satisfying with lots of umami. Salted and fermented fish and shrimp are common ingredients in Thai cooking, not to mention the near-ubiquitous fish sauce, which adds a certain something-somthing to the dishes that, if not added, taste a little flat.

The final dish, one I have never had before, is a duck breast, pounded, breaded and fried, served on deep-fried kale leaves with a mayonnaise like sauce. It doesn’t look as good as it tasted, so you may just have to take my word for it.

All in all, the restaurant was a pleasure, one of those bits of old Bangkok that have somehow been caught in a time warp and (thankfully) fail to keep up with the times.

Fancy Paperclips

Posted on 30 May 2011 by christao408

When David and Chor Pharn visited from Singapore a few weeks back, they brought some interesting Japanese-made paperclips as a gift. They were in transportation-themed shapes and made for some fun photographing. Go macro lens, go!

Train

Bike

Plane

Car

And a box of small airplane paperclips, which looked nice in black and white.

Very thoughtful and fun gift.

Sleep Deprived

Posted on 30 May 2011 by christao408

I’m more of a morning person and Tawn is more of a night owl. Last night, as I was lying in bed starting to doze off, he came in and wanted to talk to me about Something Important. Of course, I ended up being awake, unable to fall back asleep.

After an hour or more of lying there awake, I got up again and decided to do something productive with my time. Several hours later, pushing 3 am, I decided I had better take a sleeping pill so I could get some rest.

Unfortunately, I forgot that I had asked my sister to call me in the morning so we could discuss an upcoming vacation. So at 7:30 my phone rang and I answered it and started my day.

Despite running for 45 minutes in the morning, hoping to get my circulation going, I’m still dragging. It is 4 in the afternoon and my head aches and my body is tired and I just want to sleep, but I don’t want to mess up my sleep cycle this evening so I’m going to try and avoid napping.

Rats. Usually I’m such a good sleeper, too. Let’s hope this doesn’t cause me to get sick before we leave for the US on Thursday.

When Did Glee Become Gay?

Posted on 29 May 2011 by christao408

Not that long ago we were having lunch with a couple we know from California. They’re a straight couple, the husband is a pilot (which is a relatively macho profession, I guess), and they really enjoy the TV show Glee. The husband was mentioning how much guff he gets from fellow pilots – the vast majority of whom are male – about this. Of course, the running conceit of the show is that the glee club students keep getting bullied because being in show choir is “so gay”. That got me to wondering, when did the idea of being in glee club become gay?

Consider examples of men singing through the ages: Think of the cowboys who had a guitar or harmonica, singing by the campfire. Think of the family gatherings a century or more ago where different members of the family would play instruments or sing in the family parlour after dinner to entertain each other. Think of the famous opera singers with their rich voices. Think of the bad boys of rock and roll, hip hop, and punk. Think of Bruce Springsteen, for goodness’ sakes.

None of these strike me as particularly effeminate. Sure, I can make the jokes about Brokeback Mountain (“wasn’t just the harmonica he was blowing…”) and there are the occasional Freddie Mercuries and Frankie Goes to Hollywoods as counterexamples. But for the most part, being a singer was a sure way to get the girls. So when did glee club in school get this negative association?

The good news is that, in an age when the arts budgets are the first on the chopping block in local school districts, it seems that the TV show Glee has sparked some new interest in show choirs at high schools across the US. Both my mother and her father were music educators and I’m sure they’re happy for anything that renews interest in music at the school level.

Goddess Tubtim Shrine

Posted on 28 May 2011 by christao408

Tucked behind the Nai Lert Hotel, alongside the San Saeb canal and underneath an ancient ficus tree, lies a shrine dedicated to the goddess Tubtim. Originally a spirit house, the place where the spirit of the land (who was disrupted by your building on it) would reside, the shrine evolved over time into an unintentional fertility shrine as more and more worshipers brought offerings of phalluses. Ranging from the symbolic to the highly realistic, the collection fills the area around the shrine.

While my friend David and Chor Pharn were visiting from Singapore, we stopped by for a look. Here’s a short video to give you a sense of the setting.

A healthy selection of phallus-shaped offerings left around the largest ficus tree at the shrine. The irony is, sex toys are illegal in Thailand so if you were to try to bring a legitimate dildo into the country, you would be stopped. By highly realistic phalluses for the purpose of spirit worship? That’s okay.

Some of these phalluses are quite detailed. And at least one has studs in it, perhaps representing the Folsom Street Fair community?

Normally, spirit houses have some small sculptural figures meant to represent both the spirits as well as those who are there to entertain and serve them. So many figures have been added that they are arranged on two adjacent shelves. You can see the San Saeb canal in the background.

The figures include representation of parents as well as a host of animals.

Also, there are more than 100 traditional Thai dancers to keep the spirits entertained.

And, inexplicably, a pair of male dolls. Barbie’s gay brother Eric and his lover Stephen? The women on the upper shelf are all ladies in waiting.

Who’s living in the spirit house? I spy a kitten!

This one seems to have a fungal infection. Experiencing any itching or burning sensation?

On a tangential note, I thought I’d share this picture of the jasmine garlands that are sold by local flower vendors. These are the types of garlands that Tawn and Chor Pharn were trying to make in this entry.

Malaysian Roasted Root Vegetables with WORLDFOODS Chilli Coconut Marinade

Posted on 26 May 2011 by christao408

Recently, I was invited to attend a dinner sponsored by WORLDFOODS, a Malaysian based maker of high quality Asian-inspired sauces, marinades, chutneys, and pastes. I walked away with a bag of several of their 51 different products and a challenge: come up with and blog about new and creative ways to cook with their products.

The first product I used was their Malaysian Chilli Coconut Marinade. It was a weeknight and I needed to prepare a quick meal. One chicken breast and thirty minutes later, I had a tasty protein ready to cook and add to a salad. There were two things that caught my attention about the marinade:

First, one reason I cook a lot is that I want to know what I’m putting in my body. Looking at the ingredient list, I was pleased to see familiar, pronounceable words. No artificial colors, preservatives, flavorings, MSG, or gluten.

Second, the flavor was remarkably good and remarkably authentic. Unlike a lot of “Asian” products that are watered down versions of popular sauces, the WORLDFOODS products have the same ingredients (and the same amount of chilies!) that you find when eating these foods in their home country. While available worldwide, you won’t find any “Americanization” of the flavors.

Wanting to find ways to use the marinade differently than its traditional use, I put the right side of my brain to work. The idea I settled on was to do roasted root vegetables, something I associate more with olive oil and rosemary, and use the Chilli Coconut Marinade as a glaze.

I decided on a combination of yams and beets (about 1.5 pounds or 750 grams total), with two yellow onions and a handful of garlic cloves. These were scrubbed and, except for the yams, peeled. Then I sliced them into approximately 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces.

When I cut open the yams I was surprised to discover that they did not have the orange-colored interiors I am familiar with. Instead, they are purple. In the end, the flavor wasn’t that different, although it did lead to a slightly more monochromatic dish than I had anticipated.

Once the root vegetables, onion, and garlic were combined, I coated them with about 1 cup (200 ml) of WORLDFOODS Malaysian Chilli Coconut Marinade and 1/2 cup (100 ml) of chicken broth. You can substitute water or vegetable broth, if you wish to keep the dish vegetarian.

The vegetables were poured in an ovenproof dish and then placed in a preheated 350 F (180 C) oven for about 25 minutes, stirring every 5-10 minutes to keep the vegetables coated with marinade. There is enough marinade that it forms a bit of a pool at the bottom of the dish, helping cook the vegetables by steam as well as direct heat.

Once the yams and beets were getting soft but not yet fully cooked through, I stirred in about 4 cups (90 dl) of kale, washed and cut into wide strips. The dish returned to the oven for about ten more minutes, enough time to finish cooking the root vegetables while still leaving the kale a little crunchy. You can cook the dish for longer if you prefer your vegetables softer.

Uncommitted to the idea of this being a fully vegetarian meal, I also pan fried a plate of Northeastern Thai style sausage called Sai Oua, sliced it, and served it on the side.

The end result was very nice. The marinade had thickened into a nice glaze, coating the vegetables with a sweet, tangy, and spicy sauce which countered the natural sugars in the yams and beets. The kale provided a fresh contrast that made for a very satisfying meal.

All in all, I’m very pleased with the WORLDFOODS Malaysian Chilli Coconut Marinade and look forward to trying it in other dishes, as well as to trying their other products.

While WORLDFOODS is based in Malaysia, its products are available in major countries across the world including Australia, the UK, the United States, and Canada, as well as most Southeast Asian countries. To locate a store which carriers their products near you, use this store locator. In the United States, you can also order WORLDFOODS products for home delivery through MyBrands.com.

Full disclosure: While I am not being paid or otherwise compensated to write this entry, I did receive the products for free and dinner that night was paid for by WORLDFOODS. It’s important to me that you know that the opinions expressed in this blog are my own and are not bought or paid for by others.

Ruining Our Lives for an Ideal

Posted on 24 May 2011 by christao408

A few days ago, I finally caught the film Certified Copy at the local art cinema. Directed and written by Iranian Abbas Kiarostami and starring Juliette Binoche and William Shimell, the movie is an afternoon-long discussion by a man and a woman as they visit a Tuscan town. Their conversation covers a lot of ground and it is never clear whether they are or are not a married couple.

As the story opens, we see that he is an author in town on a Saturday afternoon for a speaking engagement about his new book, in which he argues that copies of masterpieces are as valuable as the originals themselves, in that the copies can bring us to the originals and a greater appreciation of them. She is in the audience but has to leave early, giving her number to the organizer of the event.

The following morning, he shows up at her shop and she drives him to a nearby town to see a famous painting there that was, after hundreds of years being assumed to be an original work, determined eventually to be a copy. It is on that journey that their conversation happens.

I won’t talk about the film as a whole, although it is worth watching. What struck me, so much so that I grabbed a notepad from my bag and scribbled it down, was a phrase uttered by a secondary character.

The man and woman stop for a coffee at a small shop. The man steps outside to take a phone call and the old lady running the shop speaks with the woman. She assumes that the man and woman are married, an assumption the woman does nothing to dispel. In fact, the woman complains about her husband’s long absences for work, propensity to shave only every other day, and his other faults.

The old woman running the shop observes that it is a Sunday morning and the man has taken his wife out for some coffee, whereas most men would instead choose to sleep in. “It would be stupid of us to ruin our lives for an ideal,” she admonishes the woman.

It would be stupid of us to ruin our lives for an ideal.

That line seems a very apt piece of advice, both about relationships (certainly!) as well as our lives in general. It also seems to balance nicely the entry I recently wrote about being the best possible version of ourselves. While perfection cannot be achieved and we should certainly strive to be our best, what is the value of striving if the cost is the ruination of our lives?

My Winning Photo – Xanga Site

Posted on 22 May 2011 by christao408

Quick plug for a Xanga site you may not know about. It is titled MyWinningPhoto and it holds a weekly photo contest. A theme is announced, Xangans go out and take photos related to the theme, then the photos are posted in one place and we can vote on them. Turns out (probably no surprise to you), there are some pretty talented photographers on Xanga.

If you’d like to check out this week’s contest, which is on the theme of “yellow”, the link is here.

christao408

The adventures of an expat American who moved to Bangkok for his husband.

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