Authentic Cooking Experiment: Battle of Kimchi-Jigae

The second segment of our Asian cooking experiment brings us to Korea.  In keeping slightly with the theme of last week I decided to test Momofuku's version of Kimchi Jigae against a more traditional recipe. For those unfamiliar with this dish it's simply a soup simmered with kimchi, pork and tofu as the base. Additional ingredients such as eggs, mushrooms and rice cake can be added if preferred.  This dish is great...

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Authentic Cooking Experiment: Tonkotsu Ramen

After a trip to NYC last week and eating at both Momofuku and Yakitori Taisho, I decided to take on the task of making ramen from scratch myself. After all 100 miles is a long way to travel every time I am craving good ramen. Luckily a quick search online provide many foodie with the same idea as me and in no time I was able to compile a few veryinteresting recipes. One that showed to be the most promising came fromhttp://norecipes.com/blog/2009/12/30/tonkotsu-ramen-recipe/ which...

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Authentic Cooking Experiment: Tackling Thanksgiving!!

After a few weeks of taking culinary classes, I was extremely excited for testing my skill on Thanksgiving.  In the November issue of Bon Appetite they featured a complete menu with an Asian twist.  It seemed like a perfect fit for my guests. First off, the bird is brined overnight in an apple cider, soy sauce mixture with shiitake mushroom, cinnamon and star anise.  To further ensure the white meat came out moist, the turkey was...

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A Wondering Ending to a Wonderful Trip: Sydney

As my plane flew over Sydney preparing to land, I couldn't believe just how big this city was. Though I knew this was Australia's biggest city, I wasn't prepared for it's sheer size. Unlike the CBD of Melbourne which could be walked in an hour tops, walking around Sydney was not an easy task. Even the CBD is divided further into districts, most with being at least a ten block radius. The bus and rail lines that runs through the city is as intricate...

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Visiting the Land of Kiwis

At first glance, Auckland reminds me of a scaled down version of NYC, with tiny shops on busy main streets and skyscrapers at every corner. However the streets are much more unforgiving to the ill-fitted as some are so slopped that to say they are on a 45 degree angle would not be an exaggeration. Climbing up and down a few times provides enough cardio for a day. Another major contrast is the friendliness of the people, but I guess it's not really...

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A View of Melbourne, Vineyards and All

Unlike the previous stops, I think this one needs to begin at the airport pre-boarding to fully paint the picture of the effort it took to get to Melbourne. The adventure began as I arrived at KL and was told I had to go through the whole custom process to pick up my luggage and then re-check in for my next flight! Franticly I ran through the airport, picked up my luggage and then preceded towards the departure terminals. As I arrived at the check...

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My Public Service to All Coming to Brunei

If you were to take a look at a map of Southeast Asia, it would be fairly easy to miss the country of Brunei. Located in the South China Sea in the vast Borneo Island, it is but only two tiny slivers of land lodged in the northern coast of Sarawak. This country is not only small in land mass but also in population with only 400,000 currently. However what really distinguishes this country amongst its neighbors is that it's main source of income...

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Exploring Borobudur...One of the Greatest Buddhist Monuments in the World

A few years back I had the pleasure of backpacking through Southeast Asia. On that amazing trip I visited both Ankor Wat in Cambodia and Bagan in Burma. Though both were spectacular in their own ways, I was always a little disappointed that I couldn't make my way to Borobudur at the time. So on this trip, I jumped at the opportunity to fulfill this longing desire. I have always heard different opinions as to which of the three was viewed the most...

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