I found another love when we moved to Los Angeles some years later.The LA County Fair has a special place in my heart. It reminds me of my childhood and also good times with family and friends. It’s now become a tradition with my family and friends that we attend the LA County Fair every single year. Hubs and I even took our engagement photos at the fair. Yes, we are hardcore like that. (we are not carnies by the way.)

The main reason for my going to the fair is not to see who won the best banana bread or see the fattest chicken. I go for the FOOD. I’ve done so much “research” that I have a eating strategy planned out.

I always start off with a giant turkey leg size of my arm to pad my stomach with some protein.

This place has the juiciest turkey legs at LA County Fair. The meat just falls off the bone.

Next is always roasted corn. On my way to the roasted corn stand, I saw a blue gorilla.

Another great thing about the fair is the abundance of condiments. This was the corn dressing table with lemon juice, salt, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and lemon pepper.

While the group was chomping away on corn, Hubs and I snuck away and went to get some Tasti Chips. The stand has only been around for the past 2 years but it’s becoming one of my faves at the fair. Tasty Chips are basically very fresh potato chips. One would think that it’s pretty greasy and one would say it is but oh so delicious.

Again, a plethora of condiments and vinegar in a spray bottle too!

Hubs and I are traditionalists so we only put lemon juice, sprinkle of salt and a side of tapatio to go with our Tasti Chips.

After years of meticulous research, I discovered that pacing is key to getting your bellies full of fair food so it was time to take a walk around the fair and just simply enjoy and sights and smells of this lovely place.

The 2004 Nanciful was all over this stand with the fried twinkies and oreos. The fried sweets were just so so tasting but the friend olives and pickles were quite interesting. I like battered sourness. But the new and improved 2009 Nanciful knows it’s time to give her old arteries a break.Yes, that is a Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich. Yours truly has love for donuts and chicken sandwiches but even this crazy eater would keep those 2 foods separate.

I have to say this sight made me sad because pork chop on a stick several years ago were all the rage at the fair. It had a prime location and throngs of people lining up. But now it’s just a depressing little stand with no love.

It was not long before our stomachs were demanding some more fair goodies. My sister had a hankering for some cheese fries and we started to make our way towards the fries cart. On the way there, A from our group could no longer ignore his calling of a jumbo corn dog.

As we reach our fries destination, Sis orders the regular cheese fries. However, the menu boasts several other goodies including yam fries with cinnamon sugar and marshmallows.

As the fried foods start to settle in me, I knew it was time to get something light and refreshing. I wanted a mixta, a Mexican seafood salad. It was on the other side of the fairgrounds but we valiantly braved our walk and finally reach my next foodestination.

The mixta consisted of fresh shrimp, crab, squid, fresh cucumbers, tomatoes, black beans over a bed of tostada.I then squeeze half a lime onto the mixta and sprinkled it with hot sauce. This really hit the spot after all the greasiness.

By this time, it was dark and our savory glands where satiated for the moment. We walked around the carnival side of the fair as our stomach settles.

Every year as a tradition, we will also go down the big ass slide, called the Euroslide. It looks unintimidating here but it’s like a 3 minute hike up to the top and a quick 8 seconds down.

And of course as tradition, we would always finish the night off with some sweet treats at my favorite ice cream and I always get the ice cream sandwich half dipped in chocolate and nuts. The ice cream is actually soft serve so it doesn’t seem so heavy.

With this sweet treat downed in my system, I am finally happy and ready to go home. Until next year, LA County Fair.

**Fair ends on Oct 4**

We start out our dinner with a yogurt drink. My coworker insists that I coat my stomach to prepare for the fire that will be in my stomach after eating the spicy and sour fish stew. It makes sense right? But I think she just likes yogurt drink because we went for garlic crab earlier in the week and she ordered the same drink and the garlic carb was nowhere near spicy.

After serveral weeks in China, I oftentimes crave raw things like salad and sushi because everything Chinese is usually cooked. So coworker orders some sort of raw veggie side dish for me lightly coated with salt and vinegar. I really don’t remember what vegetable it was but it had a like scent like a cross between shiso and basil. All I know that it was very refreshing.

We ordered a variety of other traditional Chinese side dishes. Chinese pickled vegetables, cucumbers topped with roasted peanuts

Boiled napa

Sauteed bean curd strips

And one of the main attraction, spicy sour fish pot. From the picture, the pot looks mighty spicy with all the chili peppers but it was not an in-your-face hot but more of a slow burn. Very savory, very sour, very delicious. The pot was also twice the size of our torsos and we could not finish it.

Then came the next attraction of the night.duck heads. I did a double take when the plate was set down in front of us. For some reason, I imagined the heads to be half that size but it was the size of my palm. I’ve funky duck parts before such as the tongue with the connectors attached and etc but I was a little wary of eating the heads. The restaurant graciously pre-chopped the heads in half for easier access.I regret not taking a picture of all the glory of the insides.  I ate half of a head and just couldn’t go on anymore. From what I remember, there wasn’t much meat. There was something that had the consistency of egg yolk, maybe the brains? There wasn’t that much taste to it. For those of you wandering, I left the beak alone and just didn’t go there. When I started having gag reflexes, I knew it was my body telling me no more.

Later that night, I felt really nauseated and felt like throwing up the entire night. This lasted until the next morning. I’m not sure what caused that bout of slight food poisoning. Could have been my lunch, could have been the salad or the spicy & sour fish stew but I blame it on the duck heads. To this day, I still gag when I look at this picture. So yeah, gotta go.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, that is a sheet of deboned smoked duck, vacuum packed with a lovely twine handle, courtesy of my co-worker’s girlfriend who just came back from the Motherland (Taiwan for those of you not familiar with where I was made). Look it’s even won an award which is made obvious by the picture of the trophy printed on the vacuum pack.

My co-worker does the honors of preparing above mentioned smoked duck sheet with a pair of scissors.

However, a knife later proved to be much more efficient.

Look at all that fatty goodness! I couldn’t help myself any longer and helped myself to a couple or eighteen pieces of the smoked duck and it is what heaven is made of, it’s simply delicious. Surprisingly, it’s not as oily or greasy as I have imagined and it definitely had a very intense smoked flavor. it is however, a little bit on the saltier side. Therefore, I imagine this would go well plain over beer or a nice merlot but also would be great paired with a nice cheese or on pizza or thinly sliced and wrapped around dates.my word, the possibilities are endless!

With only 3 hours of sleep last night and belly full of white wine, I am a little drunkz. So this calls for a photo laden post.

My friend C is one of the best cooks I know. Not only is her food delish, the presentation is unbelievable. When she invited us over for a nice sushi dinner, I knew I was in a treat but I wasn’t expecting a FEAST. Check it!

Shrimp cemetery!

Fish cemetery! Okay, I’ll stop. Isn’t it a beauty?

Tuna albacore tataki, just like how it’s served in the restaurants but much fresher!

Smelt fish

Chawamushi

The dinner also included miso with seaweed,shrimp heads and Japanese mushroom and spicy tuna hand rolls and of course, lots of sake. Check out the impressive HOMEMADE spread!

For dessert, C knows that Hubs does not like cake (Blasphemy I know!) so she prepared creme brulee, prepared tableside by C’s MR.

Some strawberries and fresh mint from the garden, powdered goodness and we’re done.

When we were about to cry UNCLE from fullness, C brings out..you guessed it..CAKE! YAYAYAYAY!!!! It’s her famous homemade chocolate cake roll with espresso cream filling. The cake was perfection, not too sweet,not too bitter, not too spongy and not too dense with just the right amount of fluffiness. I thought I could snag Hubs’ portion but before I knew it, he had polished it in a few bites. So there is hope.he can be converted.

Here is our lovely chef C at work. I’ve asked her several times to marry me but she’s already taken.

Thanks so much guys for such a fabulous dinner and wonderful night of pictionary! Should I post up pictures of our drawings? Skydiving? Macaroni?<———- ??? 

Calbi’s pork taco took about 15 minutes to prepare. It was overflowing with toppings such as scallions and lettuce. The pork was flavorful as any Korean bbq meat but I wished there was a bit more of it in the tortilla. What stood out to me was the sesame oil which I thought paired very nicely with the tortilla and salad-esque toppings. The taco was good but I wouldn’t go out of my way for it. My thing is, if I want a taco I will visit my favorite al pastor taco stand in Highland Park, if I want Korean bbq (pork), I will go to Honey Pig in Koreantown.

It was a national holiday in Hong Kong that day so the place was packed with tourists as well as locals.

Right under the Giant Buddha.

We had originally planned to have the vegetarian meal here but since it was a holiday, the restaurant was packed and the wait seem days. I was bummed because I was looking forward to having lunch at the restaurant on the temple grounds. However, we discovered a walk up and order cafe next to the restaurant. We were hungry and the line was short so we ditched our place in line at the restaurant and headed over. No meat was served on temple grounds so everything at the cafe was vegetarian. I was delighted to the case of [crispy] pastries!

They had a “prix fixe” menu for the price of HKD 25 per person (around USD 3.50) which includes a  plate of vegetarian vermicelli or noodles, 2 pastries and hot or cold tofu (the sweet kind that you get at dim sum) We also ordered a plate of vegetarian meat (veggie pork, veggie squid,tofu)  for HKD 20. So our entire meal only cost us USD 9! A steal even in Hong Kong.

For the pastries, we ordered vegetarian egg roll, mochi with sesame filling covered with coconut shavings, cream of mushroom tart and veggie barbeque chicken pastry.

Hmm.sweet tofu. We ordered one hot and one cold. Since the weather was warm that day, I preferred the cold tofu. The consistency was also less jello-y like the hot tofu.

After lunch, we decided to take the local shuttle bus to Tai O, an old fishing village where people still live in houses on stilts over the water.

We walked through the outdoor marketplace where most of the vendors were selling dried fish/sea creatures and their skins.

Of course there were street vendors selling food such as dried squid so we stopped to grab a quick bite. You pick out the dried creatures and the ladies will grill them over an open flame. It’s like a mobile yakitori on a cart!

Before grilling it over the coals, the ladies brush the dried squid with some sort of teriyaki sauce.

Taste like squid jerky.

What is the facination with things on sticks in Hong Kong. Here is something that I had to get because it was on a stick. Can you guess what it was?

Another example of food on sticks, molasses sandwiched between crackers.on a stick.

Ready to eat.

I had to interrupt my blogging about the rest of my trip in Hong Kong and China because this place blew me away, thanks to Sinosoul and the power of Twitter. ednesday is Date Night with the Hubs and I was stumped on our dinner destination. But I had a vast amount of resources at my fingertips; I tweeted for help and got a slew of replies along with links to the recommendations.

Among them was Cube. Sinosoul had already written a review on the place  (and way better pics!) and sent me the Aperitivo menu for the week. Alas my attempts of getting there before 7pm was futile. Damn you LA traffic. But that’s okay, there’s always the regular menu. Cube’s menu changes every week according to what the chef gets at the local farmer’s market and the food is inspired by a region in Italy. The week we went, the fare was inspired by Umbria. Cube offers Italian fare with strong Californian influences. After perusing their menu online, I was in the mood for tapa-esque, fusion-esque foods so this place was perfect.

As we were seated in a corner surrounded by chocolates, jams and olive oil from Italy, it’s evident that Cube is a restaurant/cafe with a nice marketplace incorporated within. there were chocolates in packaging that would put the Japanese to shame. We were handed a menu, a wine list and another small leaflet of their cheese flight. Cube carries 85 different types of cheese and thus the required leaflet. Hubs and I decided to consult our very nice and informative server Nick for his favorite cheeses. Nick was extremely helpful throughout the entire night. We ordered most of what he suggested and they were just perfect.

A word of warning here, I am still learning how to take pictures in the less than daylight conditions with my point and shoot. So add that on top of hunger, you get fuzzy pictures.

After giving Nick a very generalized preferences of how we like our cheese (no goat and nothing that smells like toe jam), he presented us with the below slab of beauty:

From left to right: Gruyere (semi-hard, cow, Switzerland), Tomme Brulee (semi-soft, sheep, Switzerland, Hubs’ favorite of the three) and my favorite, couch farm triple creme (soft). We also ordered mixed olives and regular prosciutto to go with our cheese. The slab was sprinkled with almonds, rosemary jam, dried apricots and these mini raisins. We were also offered their house crostini which I quickly devoured with the triple cream cheese.

Next up was my favorite of the entire meal, the diver scallop crudo with peaches, blood orange juice and peppercress. OH-EM-GEE, scallop crudo was melt in your mouth, made me feel like frolicking through a field of sunflowers goodness. It was a burst of refreshing goodness in my mouth. The peaches were sliced so thin but the flavor so pungent.

Soft shell crab was next and although fresh, the batter was a little much and tasted like a pastry. However the sweet corn puree that the crab was sittin’ on was delish.

I’m a sucker for any dish with the word crunch or crisp so I had to order the summer crunch made with farmer’s market beans, sweet corn, hazel nuts and pecorino. It was definitely a crunch a offered a pleasant contrast to the meltiness and gooeyness of the 2 items that preceded it.

Hubs and I decided to only order one main entree so we can save some stomach space for dessert and antipasti. With the high recommendation of Nick, we had the seared diver scallops with lemon risotto, asparagus and bacon vinaigrette. Yes, those were bits of bacon on top of the scallops. This is a MUST EAT at Cube. I’ve had my share of scallops before from French restaurants and Cantonese restaurants. But these scallops are possibly the best ones I’ve had so far. The bacon bits on top provided a nice opposition but not overly salted addition to the dish. I am not a fan of risotto but I was fighting Hubs for the last spoonful.

Next up was Hubs’ favorite of the bunch,the baked 4 cheese mac and cheese with fried guanciale and truffle oil. I have no idea what fried guanciale is but man it’s delicious! It taste like bacon but with a denser composition, very similar to the Chinese cured meat. The top layer of the mac and cheese was slightly crunchy and bottom layer a melted heaven. Great contrast and not too creamy.

By this time both of us was stuff to our throats but desserts (and soup) ends a good meal. There were so many tempting choices on the menu so we had to consult our server Nick again for his must haves. Here is what we ended up getting the Victorian rhubarb and raspberry cobbler with tahitian vanilla ice cream and  crispy cinnamon fritters  with dark valrhona chocolate and fresh cream for dipping in which Hubs’ proclaimed upon first bite, “They are like bites of clouds!” Gotta give him kudos for that since his literature consists of curly brackets and semi colons. The cobbler was a very generous portion of sweet and tart goodness. The top crust was not too overpowering and was a good balance to the mounds of berries underneath. Both were Nick’s suggestions and both were unforgettable in a delicious kind of way.

So here’s my only decent picture throughout the entire night.

Yes yes, take some time to admire that. See what a full and happy stomach can do?

Cube is now one of my favorite restaurant in Los Angeles. I was so in love with my experience there that I wanted to come back the following weeks but didn’t because I was ashamed that I haven’t blogged about it after telling Nick I was going to. (Sorry NIck!) Cube’s food is fresh, fabulous and flavorful and the service is top notch which made the food that much better. Now that I blogged about this gem , I can return without shame.

615 N. La Brea Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90036
Tel:323-939-1148

One of my must go places is Lucky Dessert in Causeway Bay. They are famous for their mango sticky rice roll. Fresh mango wrapped with mochi like roll sprinkled with coconut shreds. I love the consistency of this dessert, chewy then juicy.

Another one of their house specialty is mango sago with fresh pomelo pulp. However, I always get this when I come Hong Kong so I decided to be different and  add some sweet silky tofu in the mix. I like to think that I got my fruit servings and also my protein intake with this dessert.

Another one of my must go dessert destination is Hui Lau Shan Dessert. These are almost as abundant as Starbucks use to be in the US.one of every other corner. This place is famous for having several variations of the fresh fruit slushee drinks with mango, aloe, coconut, kiwi, strawberry with mini boba balls, rice balls or herbal jelly.  Cantonese desserts of red bean soup, mango sago, fresh fruit with mango sago and the like are also popular at this restaurant.

Here is an example of one of their drinks, red bean soup with sticky rice balls with sago topped with coconut milk.

Here is their variation of their mango sago with pomelo pulp with fresh fruit. They added a scoop of mango ice and a nice dollop of coconut milk.

Next up is Honeymoon Dessert in Causeway Bay at the World Trade Centre. Again they offer traditional Cantonese dessert such as herbal jelly, red bean soup, sesame soup, walnut soup, sweet tofu, rice balls, sago, more mango and pomelo pulp and more. They have an extensive menu but from my keen observation, they are just different combinations of the above items with or without fruit, hot or cold. Either way, it’s delicious and good for you (from a Chinese medicine type of way).

Sweet tofu with freshly grounded sesame soup. Thick and silky texture.

Red bean soup with herbal jelly.

Last but not least is turtle herbal jelly from Hoi Ting Tong. It’s basically an herbal jello made with Chinese herbs and boiled turtle shells. Click here to see the making of this weird but good for you treat. I know I just lost some of you at “turtle herbal jelly” but I think it’s a great treat that is also good for you. The consistency is just like jello and the taste is slightly bitter with herbal aromas. You can add syrup or sugar to suit your taste. However, I like to have it straight up without any other condiments. This place boasts having the herbal jelly will cure many ailments such as constipation, acne, respiratory system problems and generally detoxifies your body.

There are just so many dessert places in every nook and cranny in Hong Kong. Just like Hong Kong, the desserts cover a wide range of tastes and styles.

My favorites are the fish balls dunked in spicy curry sauce. I’ve already 3-4 sticks in the past 4 days that I’ve been here.

My sister is a huge fan of the octopus. She likes her smothered with mustard. Look at those tentacles!

Our most recent obsession with the stall is the styrofoam bowl full of goodness with the likes of pig’s blood, intestines, pig skin, turnip and a few sprigs of chives in a broth. Of course we add spoonful of the spicy curry sauce to give the mixture a little kick.

Here’s the lady cutting the intestines.

Turnips

The masterpiece.

The cost of each stick is around $1 and each bowl of pig’s blood goodness is around $2.50. A good deal for a light dinner if you ask me. More versions of Hong  Kong comfort food to come.

The price per bag is around $8.99 and you can find it at your local Target or grocery store. Get it free sample here!  Since you’re online already, go waste some  more time  here and create a donut!