A-salting the palate

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I'm back in Hong Kong spending some time with Tigger and family, and we went to Sushi Kato (寿司加藤) for dinner.  It's a little out of my usual patrol area, but apparently Mrs. Tigger used to come here a lot many years ago.  Given I'm with old regulars, I decided it would be wise to let them do the ordering.

The amuse bouche was herring roe (数の子) with Chinese cabbage.　The young sansho leaves (木の芽) provided a really nice kick...

Destination wedding Bali day 3: lunch and go

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A lazy morning after a late night of partying.  Hung out in the villa cabana and surfed the net, while I waited for lunch time to roll around.  My two-day stay in beautiful, sunny Bali is coming to an end.

I head back to the Warung for lunch, and take in the wonderful view of the deep blue sky.  I enjoy the last few moments I have at the Alila Villas Uluwatu.

Destination wedding Bali day 2: east over west

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After a late night, it was late morning when I opened my eyes.  I decided to hang out in my villa and get some use out of it for once…

There was a plate of local fruits in my room, and I decided to have it as breakfast.  The mini bananas were somewhat ripe.  The carambola was ripe and reasonably juicy.  Salak has never been my favorite, as it's always too sour and I don't like the texture in my mouth.  The mangosteen was ripe and juicy, and it's been a while since I last had some.  My favorite fruit in Bali is the local passion fruit.  I just love the fresh, subtle fragrance and delicate flavors - in stark contrast to the intense flavors of "normal" passion fruit that we are used to seeing.

Destination wedding Bali day 1: welcome to Bali!

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I'm in Bali this weekend for another wedding.  Bali sure has become a popular choice for destination weddings particularly among those of us in Asia.  It's an easy location to get to - with direct flights from many Asian cities - and the beauty of the island of the gods is indisputable.  I'm happy to be back after a 3-year absence.

After finally collecting my checked in luggage and suffering from anxiety about having it picked up by someone else from the carousel, I took a taxi to Alila Villas Uluwatu, where some of us are staying for the weekend.  The villas here are a little too modern for my taste - mostly straight lines at 90 degrees with sharp corners.  Too much concrete and cement, and virtually no Balinese or Indonesian architectural elements.  Having said that, the villas are very spacious - both indoors and outdoors.  I look forward to dipping in the pool.

This is the first time I'm in Bali by myself, and with just a few hours until the welcome dinner, I decided to spend some time in my villa.  The sky is a beautiful hue of blue, and the temperature is a relatively cool 27°C with a nice breeze.  I hook up to the hotel wifi and sit under the shade of the cabana, enjoying the view out to the distant ocean.  No, I did not come to Bali to surf the waves.  I'm surfing the net.

The dessert ribbon

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Having done a whole series of birthday dinners last year, I figured things should be kept low-key this year. After all, most of my foodie/wino network remains in Hong Kong, and flying back to Hong Kong to celebrate your own birthday seems a little full of oneself…

I didn’t really start to think about what to do for tonight until a few days ago, as honestly I just wasn’t in the mood to do something “really special.” The one tradition I do keep to is popping open a bottle of wine from my birth vintage. This year, through a complete lack of planning, the only bottle I have with me in Taipei was a bottle of vintage Port. While I have attended a dinner where Port was the focus of the evening, my mind still tells me that this is a wine for after dinner, perhaps with dessert…

…which naturally led me to STAY. When I came here with my friend some 2 months ago, I was so impressed with the desserts from Chef Loïc that I talked about returning for a meal where I would only have dessert. It seems kind of crazy to do something like this, but then again, it wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve done something from left field when it comes to food. I ended up being joined by a couple of friends, although I wasn’t going to force anyone not to have savory dishes before the dessert fest…