Happy Holidays

A bit late, but Happy Holidays!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

p.s. I moved at the end of the summer; sorry for not letting people know. I plan to open a Facebook account *gasp* in order to try to keep in better contact with people.

p.p.s. I just had the most fantastic evening at The Dining Room at the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. I'll post pictures later. I have to say that my friend's red wine was marvelous and I don't even like wine. One of my favorites was the caviar and poached quail egg appetizer. The fragrance of the trapped wood smoke (hickory?!?) was delicious and satisfying in and of itself. Who knew a scent could be so filling? But the caviar was savory and smoky and well balanced by the mild poached egg. The sommeliers were charming too. Exquisite food and fantastic service.

Food blogs

Some interesting blogs I've run across lately:

* Kuidaore which roughly translates as "eat till you drop," which is so clever a title that I am envious I didn't think of it :P The blogger is based in Singapore and has the most gorgeous food photos. She seems to be quite the chef.

* Mad About Shanghai: Shanghai Food, a self-evidently titled blog.

I leave you with a picture from a recent Indonesian meal in Singapore. The grilled squid was marvelously tender and smoky.

ny bacon

I love bacon. In all its incarnations. Again proving that I love anything unhealthy, practically. It's a good thing that I like healthy stuff too.

Anyway, you lucky New Yorkers out there should try this restaurant and tell me what it's like.

The first thing you notice about Char No. 4 is the smell. It's an aroma you could eat with a spoon—smoky, full-bodied, and porky. It turns out that the chef makes his own bacon, and, consequently, the entire place smells like the inside of a smoker. Even after you leave, the smoke clings to you; when I got home, my dog tried to eat me.

- Sarah DiGregorio

Channel [V] kicks MTV's ass

Who plays more music? [V]. [V] wins hands down.

MTV has this annoying 5 sec. clip of some wanna-be rapper that they play over and over and over. Ugh. Can't they make more interesting content?

Is Kylie Minogue big in Asia? She's on all the music channels. I haven't really heard much from her, but I wonder if her proximity to Asia helps her popularity here. I don't think she's that big in Japan or the U.S. but I could be wrong.

Happy Thanksgiving

I wish everyone the best.

Although evil people should remove themselves from society if they can't stop being evil.

the awesomest sleeping cat photo ever

See Baobao here. The other photos are fantastic too.

people who cannot cook

really ought to know better than to hazard mixing random ingredients in the hope of making something appetizing. Unless it's tried-and-true combinations like chocolate and fruit, or yogurt and fruit, or something similar, it's doomed to failure.

Doomed.

Yet I persist, lately. I'm not sure why.