Octopuscarwash's Gourmet Adventures

I live to eat. Yes, I am an Asian Jew. My favorite meal is breakfast (oatmeal in particular). I'm only in high school, so I am a complete amateur. Some of my favorite cuisines are Middle Eastern, Moroccan, Japanese and Korean. I eat so much Chinese food that it's hard to say whether I like it or not... all I know is that I don't like what most of America seems to think of as Chinese food, Panda Express. I'm a pescetarian and love coming up with my own healthy fusion food.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Mountain climbing, rustic eating

I really need to speed post, since I'm leaving for Indonesia tomorrow for three days (not very long, I know, but it was one of those meeting deals where they pay for everything)! Sadly, we're going to the most touristy place in Bali, so I'm guessing the food won't be especially good. :(
Yesterday we decided to check out a new mountain, called Jiu Feng (Vulture's Peak). It was different from other mountains we had climbed before because it was rocky and steep all the way up-- plagued with mosquitos and wasps and the like, but that's not exactly unusual.
We found out there was no restaurant at the top, so we decided to stop for a very early lunch at a completely empty "nong jia can guan," which basically means country/peasant cooking. It wasn't as rustic or cheap as we would have liked, but they did have some interesting specialties. The problem was that my dad ordered enough for an army and we didn't want to be so full that we couldn't climb!
We ordered:
A salad of Chinese almonds (Which are actually apricot kernels) and wild vegetables picked on the mountain. This had a LOT of garlic, as well as vinegar. It was good, but too garlicky for my taste.
They also brought us a ridiculously bitter wild vegetable with a sesame dipping sauce, but it was so bitter none of us could eat it. A million times more bitter than bitter melon, if you've ever had that!
Grilled trout-- Usually I'm not into Chinese whole fish because it's soaked in chili oil and is much too greasy. This was totally like a western-style fish! It was perfectly crispy on the outside but not oily at all, with a little cumin sprinkled on top.
A kind of bing called shou zhua bing, which just means you're supposed to scoop it up with your hands.
My favorite-- simple, peasant style corncakes with absolutely no flavor. We couldn't finish them, so we took them up the mountain with us.
More ge da tang (the rustic soup I mentioned before), only this one was truly like a starch... no flavor whatsoever, except for some black pepper. It was wonderful, believe it or not, and had mountain vegetables floating in it.
We had to leave so much food :( what a shame.
The hike was beautiful! Some photos of the top:

On the way down, my dad and I stopped for a popsicle. We were both totally nostalgic, because we bought a "snow cake" (xue gao), which is basically milk, water, and sugar. The really old-school kind should just be a square without a popsicle stick, but this was still pretty good.
We also saw some people selling wild vegetables, apricot kernels, and dried cherries on the mountain.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

why do you like so many dishes that are delicious but have no taste? can't wait to hear about Bali, even if only 3 days.

August 18, 2008 at 4:35 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Lida, you make me famous again.
I think the photos are very explanatory of the different steps to follow, you are a pasta expert now.
I did enjoy the lessons very much and will prepare some other recepies for next time.
Patrizia

August 31, 2008 at 7:26 PM  

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