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Went to see the Black Eyed Peas in concert in Hong Kong today. I am not their biggest fan, but I do like some of their stuff. We had standing seats in front of the stage, and were probably about 20m or so from the stage.
One amazing moment that is likely to remain in my memories : towards the end of Where Is the Love?, they asked for all the lights to be turned off in the arena, then asked the audience to take out their cell phones so that the only light would be from the phones. The sight of 10,000+ cell phone lights swinging to the music in the darkened arena is pretty awesome.
The band played for a bit more than 2 hours, and closed with Let's Get Retarded which brought down the house.
July 17, 2006
July 4, 2006
Welcome to my first blog!
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I never thought I'd do a blog of my own...always thought it was for people who had too much time and too little to do. Well.... here I am starting my own! I felt the urge to share the latest news with my friends, and a personal blog is probably the easiest. Just came back from a fantastic vacation in Spain and Portugal. It was a 2-week gourmet tour. We were in Bilbao, San Sebastian, Barcelona, and Rioja in Spain, and also spent time in Lisbon, Porto and Pinhao on the other side of the Iberian Penninsula.
I never thought I'd do a blog of my own...always thought it was for people who had too much time and too little to do. Well.... here I am starting my own! I felt the urge to share the latest news with my friends, and a personal blog is probably the easiest. Just came back from a fantastic vacation in Spain and Portugal. It was a 2-week gourmet tour. We were in Bilbao, San Sebastian, Barcelona, and Rioja in Spain, and also spent time in Lisbon, Porto and Pinhao on the other side of the Iberian Penninsula.
- 3-star Michelin restaurants visited: 3 (El Bulli, Arzak, Martin Berasetagui)
- Total Michelin stars this trip: 11
- Total amount of food consumed: way too much
- Total weight gain: about 1 kg
Will write a more extensive review later. It's 5am and I'd better get some more sleep before going to work...
June 22, 2006
Dinner at elBulli
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Note: this post was composed in December 2010, a full four-and-a-half years after my dinner at elBulli. Somehow I never got around to writing about this evening, but it definitely deserves its own post...even though the dinner pre-dates me setting up the blog.
elBulli certainly needs no introduction. Back in 2005 when I came up with the idea of going there, it was the single hardest table to book, and I conservatively estimated that the 9,000 covers they do each year means the chance of getting a seat was about 0.2%. Things have surely gotten worse since then.
In the fall of 2005 I had asked my concierge service to get me a table. I didn't have high hopes of actually getting a table, never mind getting one on my birthday. In order to maximize my chances, I asked for a table of 6 instead of 8 as I originally wanted, given that the restaurant only seats 50. I was therefore elated when I received confirmation in December 2005, notifying me that I would be spending my birthday at elBulli the following year.
Note: this post was composed in December 2010, a full four-and-a-half years after my dinner at elBulli. Somehow I never got around to writing about this evening, but it definitely deserves its own post...even though the dinner pre-dates me setting up the blog.
elBulli certainly needs no introduction. Back in 2005 when I came up with the idea of going there, it was the single hardest table to book, and I conservatively estimated that the 9,000 covers they do each year means the chance of getting a seat was about 0.2%. Things have surely gotten worse since then.
In the fall of 2005 I had asked my concierge service to get me a table. I didn't have high hopes of actually getting a table, never mind getting one on my birthday. In order to maximize my chances, I asked for a table of 6 instead of 8 as I originally wanted, given that the restaurant only seats 50. I was therefore elated when I received confirmation in December 2005, notifying me that I would be spending my birthday at elBulli the following year.
June 15, 2006
Lunch on a hill
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This post was written 7 years after the meal, so memories are VERY hazy…
After a day visiting two three-star restaurants, we're lunching at Akelaŕe today. The restaurant sits on a hill just outside San Sebastián west of Monte Igueldo, with fantastic views of the Bay of Biscay. Pedro Subijana has earned himself a little star, and we were all looking forward to this meal.
Once again we are able to order everything in half portions, and I'm absolutely loving the practice here in Spain! Make your own dégustation menu!
Bacalao en costra de bacalao (half portion)
Panceta de Ibérico y gelatinosa menestra (half portion)
Manitas de cerdo con carrilleras (half portion) - yummy piggy goodness with trotters and cheeks.
Foie a la sartén con sofa de nueces - all of us shared this.
Cienhojas de mango asado
One of the others tried the Gin-Tonic en plato, which is a deconstructed gin and tonic as a dessert. Very cool.
We had a bottle of 2002 Kastanienbusch Riesling, but can't remember the winery… I also had a glass of 1998 Disznóko Tokaji 5 Puttonyos.
Nice lunch in a lovely restaurant on a beautiful day. What more can you ask for?
This post was written 7 years after the meal, so memories are VERY hazy…
After a day visiting two three-star restaurants, we're lunching at Akelaŕe today. The restaurant sits on a hill just outside San Sebastián west of Monte Igueldo, with fantastic views of the Bay of Biscay. Pedro Subijana has earned himself a little star, and we were all looking forward to this meal.
Once again we are able to order everything in half portions, and I'm absolutely loving the practice here in Spain! Make your own dégustation menu!
Bacalao en costra de bacalao (half portion)
Panceta de Ibérico y gelatinosa menestra (half portion)
Manitas de cerdo con carrilleras (half portion) - yummy piggy goodness with trotters and cheeks.
Foie a la sartén con sofa de nueces - all of us shared this.
Cienhojas de mango asado
One of the others tried the Gin-Tonic en plato, which is a deconstructed gin and tonic as a dessert. Very cool.
We had a bottle of 2002 Kastanienbusch Riesling, but can't remember the winery… I also had a glass of 1998 Disznóko Tokaji 5 Puttonyos.
Nice lunch in a lovely restaurant on a beautiful day. What more can you ask for?
June 14, 2006
The least memorable 3-star meal
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This post was written 7 years after the dinner, so my memories are even more hazy than it was…
After our nice lunch at Martín Berasategui today, we went back to San Sebastián for our second 3-star meal of the day - at Arzak with our traveling companions Mr. and Mrs. Locust.
The menu for the evening was as follows:
Caldito de alubias rojas con puré de manzana
Puding de pescado con fideos
Queso con dátiles y vinagreta de papaya
Plátano frito con mousse de "arraitxikis"
Arroz crujiente con setas
Calabacin Kefir y frutas atomizadas
Cigalitas inyectadas con maíz
Productos de temporada en cuatro líneas
Flor de huevo y tartufo en grasa de oca con txistorra de dátiles
Lenguado en equilibrio
Rape con hilos y médula
Rape con verduritas
Pichón con judo de lula
Ternera mechada con leche de chufas
Cordero con malta de cerveza
Torrija anaranjada con espinacas
Chocolate, taro y té verde
Sopa de racimo de chocolate
Piña asada pomposa
Avellana fluída con frutos secos
I can honestly tell you that I remember almost nothing from this meal… That's how underwhelming it was.
We drank a bottle of 2000 Clos Erasmus with dinner. I love this wine.
What was memorable was how we got dissed by Juan Mari Arzak. We saw him make his rounds to chat with the guests, and eventually made his way to our table. We told him we were from Asia and that the Locusts were from Singapore (at the time), and he started mumbling about having been to Singapore. He then made his not-so-graceful exit and escaped from our table, after about a minute or so… or maybe less? We were flabbergasted. He took time to speak with every other table - except ours. And I do believe he speaks good enough English… he just chose not to talk to us.
As we left the restaurant and stood outside waiting for a taxi, Juan Mari came to say goodbye, but again made his escape after a couple of sentences.
So I guess none of us will be going back to Arzak again.
This post was written 7 years after the dinner, so my memories are even more hazy than it was…
After our nice lunch at Martín Berasategui today, we went back to San Sebastián for our second 3-star meal of the day - at Arzak with our traveling companions Mr. and Mrs. Locust.
The menu for the evening was as follows:
Caldito de alubias rojas con puré de manzana
Puding de pescado con fideos
Queso con dátiles y vinagreta de papaya
Plátano frito con mousse de "arraitxikis"
Arroz crujiente con setas
Calabacin Kefir y frutas atomizadas
Cigalitas inyectadas con maíz
Productos de temporada en cuatro líneas
Flor de huevo y tartufo en grasa de oca con txistorra de dátiles
Lenguado en equilibrio
Rape con hilos y médula
Rape con verduritas
Pichón con judo de lula
Ternera mechada con leche de chufas
Cordero con malta de cerveza
Torrija anaranjada con espinacas
Chocolate, taro y té verde
Sopa de racimo de chocolate
Piña asada pomposa
Avellana fluída con frutos secos
I can honestly tell you that I remember almost nothing from this meal… That's how underwhelming it was.
We drank a bottle of 2000 Clos Erasmus with dinner. I love this wine.
What was memorable was how we got dissed by Juan Mari Arzak. We saw him make his rounds to chat with the guests, and eventually made his way to our table. We told him we were from Asia and that the Locusts were from Singapore (at the time), and he started mumbling about having been to Singapore. He then made his not-so-graceful exit and escaped from our table, after about a minute or so… or maybe less? We were flabbergasted. He took time to speak with every other table - except ours. And I do believe he speaks good enough English… he just chose not to talk to us.
As we left the restaurant and stood outside waiting for a taxi, Juan Mari came to say goodbye, but again made his escape after a couple of sentences.
So I guess none of us will be going back to Arzak again.
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