During the tour, lunch and dinner consisted of pasta, bread, and Chianti. Pasta in tomato sauce, in squid ink, in saffron, with local porcini mushroom, with wild boar, with rabbit… We tried them all. The pasta usually cooked just right – not too soft, just enough to give each bite great textures. Over time I nailed down my favorite pasta dish. After a long day cycling hills, roasting under sun, nothing beat a plate of fresh pasta in tomato sauce.

Some outstanding meat and seafood during this trip – calamari, salami, tripe stew… I fell in love with seafood salad. Whether it’s soaked in olive oil or in light vinaigrette, they were always tender and delicious.

At Chianti county, certainly Chianti were always on the dinning table. Chianti from different region have distinct flavors. I am not knowledgable enough to review the different kind of Chianti we had. I did like them.

At Castello de Brolio, ours guides Pier and Emanuele prepared a feast of local cheese, meats, tomatoes, assorted olives & pickled vegis, bread, fresh fruits, juices, and cookies. We picnic under a shaded spot between two vineyards. I still recall the bird chirping and warm breezes at the picnic. We stayed for as long as we can. What a peaceful and tranquil moment that was.

Then there was the croissants at Hotel Colombaio in Castellina. Every morning, the kitchen staff at the hotel baked these jam-filled croissants. As we walk by the kitchen, we smelled the wonderful fresh pastry in the air. Minutes later, biting into these warm, buttery and crisp on the skin goodness. Man, I miss these croissants!

The original recipe is easy and fool proof. It’s comforting to know good things in life can be so simple.

My first attempt making Angel food cake ended up in miserable failure. I was not been careful and was getting experimental again – some egg yolks got into the egg mixture, and I switched granulated sugar to light brown sugar. Yes, I had nobody but myself to blame for the failed attempted.

I followed the recipe exactly in my 2nd attempt. Well, only change was I cut 1/4 cup less sugar. Finally, we have a cake.

It was light and just the right amount of sweetness, perfect with Vanilla ice cream.

Sharon and Zinc invited us to Stage after our beach wedding. Conveniently, we were properly dressed, except the flip flops on ktula and my feet.
Located inside Honolulu Design Center, Stage offers Asian-American fine dining in a contemporary setting. We chose the 5-cours tasting menu to get the full experience. And what an experience it was. The presentation was astonishing; each dish was uniquely decorated and the taste was simply superb. The ingredients were fresh and enhanced through sauces and garnishes.

Appetizer
A bite size crab meats and corns. Just enough to wake your appetite.

Hamachi Sashimi
Radish salads, Japanese cucumber, Togarashi, Yuzu-Mustard Vinaigrette, and Soy Reduction. It was a small spoon size portion.

Butter Poached Kona Lobster
Waialua Asparagus, Potato Puree with Lemon Essence. This dish is phenomenal! Lobster was cooked to perfection.

Herb Crusted Seared Ahi
Shiitake Mushrooms, Sake Braised Spinach, Nori Butter Sauce.

Grilled Beef Tenderloin
Caramelized onions, Mascarpone herb mash potatoes, grilled Waialua Asparagus, Red Wine reduction, Hollandaise sauce. One of the best tenderloin I had for a very long time.

Grilled Colorado Lamb Chop
Marcona almond herb crust, parsley potato puree, honey Dijon, red wine demi glance. At this point I was beyond full. But I still had some bites and it was good.

Trio
3 kinds of desserts.

At the end, Sharon and Zinc surprised us with this lovely cake.

We were so stuffed at the end. What a great dinner with awesome company.

Eating here tonight. Afterward, I gave it a 2 stars on Yelp.

With my Vancouver half-marathon came to an end, ktula’s eating marathon just getting started. His warm up was the famous Japa Dog on the corner of Burrard & Smithe St. While we were waiting in line, a Japanese media was doing coverage about the widely popular Japanese’s takes on hot dog. There were photos of celebrities next to the stand to proof its hot dog rock-star status.

Sunday morning after the race, we headed straight to Granville Island to pick up some Prosciutto de Parma and landjagar from Oyama Sausage Co. As soon as we got back to the car, ktula rolled up a piece of prosciutto and emerged himself in the salty taste of cured meat.

Next, we drove to Richmond for some Asian yummies. Shanghai River ( 滬江海派料理) is the home of the delicious soup dumplings. We didn’t have reservation so naturally it was a good 45 minutes wait. It was well worth the wait when a basket of 8 steaming soup dumplings were served to us. Ktula rushed one into his mouth and quickly realized it was steaming hot inside. These juicy little dumplings were filled with delicious broth and grounded pork. I’m not a big meat eater. But I love these dumplings.

Other dishes we ordered were good. The chive pockets were a little too greasy for my liking. The restaurant doesn’t have seasoning tray on each table. Because there’s no need for them. Dishes at Shanghai River are tasty just the way they are served.

We were quite full at this point. But there’s one more stop ktula must make before going home – Getting some roasted pork at Parker Fresh Meat (百家店(香港仔)燒臘肉食公司). Other than the delicious meat, the star of this little joint is the master butcher. He takes order from customers, pick a piece and present to the customer. Once the meat is approved, his knife does a little dance around the meat, in seconds the piece was chopped up and beautifully arranged in the container. Every time we came, his hands and knife are in constant movements. He does it with such speed and precision it’s becoming an art form.

That pretty much summed up the food destinations during this trip.

Posted via email from Smelly’s Snapshots

Success! This patch of cookies were a hit at home and at work. This time I followed the recipe exactly, no substitution or random experimentation. My very picky personal food critic ktula actually liked these cookies. Too bad he only had a couple before I devoured what’s left at home.

My second cookie challenge is Chocolate-Molasses Cookies from Martha Steward site.

Normally I experiment when I’m cooking. Baking is no exception, I can’t help but to tamper with original recipe ingredients – I replaced butter with apple sauce, and semi-sweet chocolate is now 60% bitter-sweet chocolates.

I brought a few finished cookies to work to share with Lara, a talented studio artist also a baking veteran. She tasted it and was able to tell I didn’t follow the recipe exactly.

The cookie was more densed than she expected. She explained when butter was swapped with apple sauce, the protein in the recipe was taken away, therefore affected the texture of the cookies.

As for me, I liked the cookies. Then again I never not like anything I made. Ktula didn’t like it though. The taste is “too healthy” for his liking. Fine, I’ll use butter next time.

I found an Oatmeal Cookie recipe online that looked simple enough for novice like me. Slowly and unsurely, I measured and mixed according to the recipe.

It was my first time using electric mixer. In fact, it’s my first time using mixer of any kind. I was careful not to make a mess.

End products came out of the oven looking more like oatmeal cereal bars than cookies. They did taste fine though.