Friday: ARUN'S!

Yesterday was weird... when you only get three hours of sleep, the world looks entirely different. All your movements also seem slight delayed. This might also just be me, since three hours is a third the amount I usually get. We stumbled out of bed and I made breakfast (for myself). Page doesn't eat breakfast, and I used to feel weird raiding her fridge and cooking for myself, but now I feel comfortable doing it. I scrounged and made myself some oats with a mini banana and a cup of soy milk, since it was light and that stuff is basically the equivalent of water. To the oats I added vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, raspberry jam, and topped it with both smooth and crunchy peanut butter. On the side I had some cottage cheese with cinnamon and chopped apple. It's strange, since this is actually less than I usually eat for breakfast, but it kept me full until lunch without a snack, and my lunch was lighter than normal!

I felt crazy the whole day, though, and mainly just told people about Twilight.
A glimpse of what we're doing with our fermented apple juice:
I needed some CAFFEINATED TEA.

For lunch, I ran over to the Business School, since I obviously didn't pack a lunch, I just got a salad with sundried-tomato salmon.
For some reason, this filled me up. My appetite has definitely decreased. Somebody surprised me by asking, "Don't you usually eat more than that?"
I also knew that I was going to ARUN'S that night, so I really didn't want to eat too much. I also knew that I was really underslept, and planned to go home right after school (which ends at 1:45 for me on Fridays!) and sleep. I took the bus and jumped into my parents' bed, because their room is darker, with the first two twilight books, read a little, and fell asleep. Sometime in that period my dad came in and said he would wake me at 5:3o, since we were getting picked up at 6.
When I woke up the last thing I wanted to do was get up, but I managed to throw some nice clothes and get downstairs, where we were being picked up by a limo!!!
It was strange how many other people were invited... one of them being the AP US history teacher at my school! (Thankfully I'm not taking that class this year)

When we got to the restaurant, it definitely fit the descriptions I'd heard: unpretentious and decorated everywhere with paintings by Arun's brother. It was small and homey, and Arun was wandering around and saying hi to all of us. Sorry, it was freezing and I'm wearing my dad's coat, in case you're wondering "what the hell is she wearing?"
Apparently Korean TV was also there, but I didn't see them. First, people drank champagne and wine. Then, we sat down, where a 12-course menu had been prepared for us. I'm not sure if the menu is always printed like this, or if it was just because we were a special party. They asked if there were any restrictions, and I mentioned how I eat seafood but no meat. The only problem with this (happened at Moto too) is that they feel compelled to replace every meat dish with a fish or seafood one, when I would be just as happy with some vegetables or tofu. Maybe next time I'll just say I'm a vegetarian.. but then I would also miss out on a lot. Either way, here were the dishes.
Course 1: Khao Tom-- rice porridge with shrimp-stuffed tofu, toped with golden fried wonton; accompanied by minced ginger, scallion, fried garlic and hot mustard.
For me they replaced the wonton with some crispy rice noodles. What I liked about this dish was that the porridge was very authentic homestyle Asian cooking, like the zhou I love. I also liked how the tofu wasn't fried the way I expected it to be. My only complaint was that even with the accompaniments, it was a little bland.
Course 2: Salad Talay-- Garden fresh salad leaves, dressed with spicy lemon-grass vinaigrette, and topped with sauteed calamari, pan-seared red snapper, succulent scallop and batter-fried prwan. This dish, in all of its simplicity, was probably one of the best. The vinaigrette was great, and the prawn was perfectly cooked and tender on the inside. I gave the calamari to my dad because I don't really like squid, and there was no scallop :(. The red snapper was nice and firm-fleshed.
Course 3: Por Pia Sod (Spring Rolls): vegetable spring rolls with soy sauced tofu, cucumber, scallion and cilantro; graced with sweet and sour tamarind sauce.
The tamarind sauce was sweet, but it had tones of Chinese medicine... I couldn't figure out why. The spring rolls were also not fried, and they were wrapped with a layer of nori and then a layer of wonton wrapper. I would guess that these were more Pan-Asian. I only ate one, because I knew how much food was left.





Course 4: Kauy Teow Lord (Noodle Roll): fresh rice noodle roll filled with seasoned ground chicken, Jicama and morsels of Dungeness crab; served on a bed of sweet chili-tomato vinaigrette.
They left out the chicken for me. This was a delicate roll, and a lot like the dishes I order at dim sum, but it wasn't the strongest dish.
Course 5:
This is what everybody else got, and according to them, it was the best dish of the night: Rice noodle rolls in a rich soy sauce with five-flower pork, thin-sliced tofu, shiitake, white cloud ear mushrooms, and soy-flavored egg; accompanied by jalapeno vinaigrette.
Mine (they chose to give me a completely different dish): Wide rice noodles in a pastry ring, set over creamy rich spinach/ sweet pea sauce, topped with threaded prawn, split sugarr snap, and accentuated with baby Shangai bok-choy leaf, crescent shape wonton and coral somen.
It was so beautifully presented that everyone at my table was jealous. Component-wise, this starter was the most interesting. I ignored the pastry ring, but the spinach and pea sauce was 100% western, whereas the flavors in the prawn and bok-choy were similar to the earlier dishes. Since I love peas, this was fun to eat.
Course 6: Everybody else-- Larb Kai-- minced chicken with fresh herbs; lemon grass, scallion, cilantro, saw leaves, hot chilies, cilantro, and fresh lime juice.
Me: a fish cake over cucumbers and the same tamarind sauce, garnished by a fried leaf of some sort. The leaf was basically tempura, and probably the best part. The fish cake was EXACTLY the same as the one I had last weekend, which made me absolutely positive that the food had been made in the kitchen and then sent over. The lemon grass flavors were a little strong, but by this time I was getting full.
I was happy to find that they served the entrees "family style," so everybody shared and cook take whatever they wanted. It also sped up the eating process, since I still really wanted to get home and sleep.
We were served rice, and here were the dishes:
Ones I couldn't eat:
Kai Phad Khing: stir-fried sliced chicken with shiitake mushrooms, sweet red peppers, cloud ear mushrooms, lily buds, Asian celery, scallion and cilantro.
Panang Nua: rich curry of beef, featuring fresh herbs and spices; cooked in coconut milk and accentuated with roasted peanuts.
Larb Chiang Mai: seasoned diced pork stir fried with spices: Kaffir-lime leaves, garlic, cilantro roots and red chilies.

Ones I did:
They stir-fried me some baby corn, eggplant, zucchini, and curry leaves with some shrimp.
Shrimp and asparagus bundle in coconut curry sauce.
Plus my favorite, Goong Mungkorn: succulent lobster ladled with dual sauces: Kabocha-curried and Taro-Portabella.

I loved the contrast of the two sauces: the squash one was full of coconut milk, whereas the taro was thickened by the starchy taro. The lobster was actually half lobster and half scallops, my favorites! I bit into a disc and realized that it wasn't lobster.

On to dessert:
1) Bua Loy: petite tri-stick rice quenelles in a rich and creamy coconut milk coulis.
First of all, what are "quenelles?" Either way, I was imagining sticky rice cakes drizzled with sauce, but it turned out to be the dessert from last weekend that I loved so much! To refresh your memory, that was the ultra-sweet coconut soup with balls of kabocha, taro, and possibly lychee. I always thought that they had tapioca, but according to Marion, who made them at Arun's cooking class, the texture comes out of the vegetables releasing their natural starches. Nothing added!
2) Refreshing lychee-Okchla blossom sorbet drizzled with raspberry coulis, accompanied by poached baby pear.
Check out the presentation! We should fan out our poached pears like that. This was a refreshing end.


What did I think overall? To be honest, no one dish popped out at me, but that didn't mean the food wasn't great. The presentation, atmosphere, and service were all great. There just wasn't one thing that made me think "I have to come back and have that again," or "I have to have another bite of this." It was also a different kind of upscale food than I'm used to: although there were definite western elements in there, it was still pretty traditional Thai. It's much easier to be harsh about fancy ethnic food, because often the most delicious places are the hole-in-the-wall shacks. What defines good food? That's way too broad a question.

Bali, day three (I'm almost through!)

This post is about the last day in Bali, and then I have to move on to Singapore!
The morning of the last day I went for a swim in the lagoon, but it was unsucessful. It was impossible to do laps because the pool is in a lagoon shape, but besides that, they were cleaning the pool while I was swimming in it (too early in the morning I guess). I still managed to get about 45 minutes in.
We were taken to explore the island again, but this time, the more touristy part, with lots of little crafts stores (Bali is known for its handicrafts) that actually seemed pretty authentic!
As always, our plan for the day was centered around eating, and Mr. Tek and Michelle wanted to take us out for "street food." It turned out not to be actual street (hawker) food, but one of many restaurants on a popular street that were half outside, half inside.
The menu seemed to have about half Indonesian, half western food: they had club sandwiches and pasta, but also the classic noodles, fried rice, seafood, etc. Of course we went the Indonesian route.
On the whole, this was not the best meal we had, but there was something about the relaxing atmosphere and the humbleness of the presentation that was extremely refreshing in comparison to last night. The same would apply to what we ate for dinner.
We ordered shrimp skewers, grilled tuna, lamb kabobs (why?), calamari, fried rice (which turned out to have chicken in it), BROWN RICE, gado gado, and a vegetable dish.
I must say that what impressed me most were the brown rice and the gado gado. The brown rice turned out to be the same red rice that was in the dessert the night before, and made me realize how inferior white rice and refined grains are.
The gado gado was completely different from, and in my opinion, better than the Dirty Duck Diner's. Instead of separate ingredients with a dipping sauce, it was tossed like a real salad-- it also had more beansprouts, greens, and cabbage, as well as crumbled pieces of tempeh and peanuts on the top. The texture was fantastic: chewy tofu, crunchy peanuts, tempeh and vegetables, and that smooth creamy peanut sauce to pull it all together.
Shrimp and tuna were decent-- the most I can say is that they were fresh, as all seafood is here. They were cooked as they should be-- just on their own, with french fries that we didn't eat.
The vegetable dish had meat in it the first time, and when we realized that we were still hungry, we ordered it again, but without meat. This dish was like the kind of food I eat 70% of the time: in fact, it was more like a soup, and I ate it in a bowl. It had tofu, carrots, cabbage, broccoli raabe, and possibly mushrooms, all floating in a wonderful soup with hints of lemongrass and possibly seafood paste.
After lunch we continued to walk, seeing many more parades for the final day of the holiday. Michelle also took us to her favorite shoe stall, where you can get ridiculously comfortable sandels for the equivalent of 20 yuan each (about 3 dollars)! So we went crazy.
They also took us to a beach that was swarming with tourists, but seemed to have great waves and just radiated excitement and vacation vibes. We hung around the beach for a while, and since by then it was already late afternoon, we decided to go back to the hotel and relax a while before dinner.
Strangely enough, my parents and I were starving, despite everything we ate for lunch. My parents went for a swim because they hadn't gone yet, while I watched a terrifying episode of Buffy called the Puppet Show, then started freaking out because I realized my dad had bought my aunt a puppet from one of the crafts stores and that it was sitting somewhere in the other room!
I couldn't wait until it was time for dinner, especially since the place we were going to had been recommended by drivers and people working in the hotel, not just Mr. Tek.
It was called Cafe Aroma, but I feel like it also had another name. Anyway, it was a casual seafood place swarming with both locals and tourists. In fact, it reminded me a bit of an East Coast seafood shack! What you do is go to the counter, on which is all the fresh seafood for the day, pick out exactly what you want, and then go sit down at a table. Everything you order comes with rice, vegetables and fresh fruit. The restaurant itself had a lot of space inside, but the whole reason to go is to be able to sit on the beach. Because it gets dark at around 6:00 in Indonesia (no daylight savings), it was unreal: hundreds and hundreds of tables, all lit with candles, stretching down the beach for miles, all from different restaurants.
We were first given peanuts, but peanuts coated in some kind of spice rub.
I'm sure we picked the best one, though. Mr. Tek, Michelle and I ordered young coconut juice, which I hadn't had yet on the trip. It tasted even better with a squeeze of lime, and it seemed that the more I drank, the more there was.
I used my spoon to scoop out some of the coconut flesh and stared in fascination... it was hard to believe that the flesh was all saturated fat! Of course, coconut is good for you in moderation, but to think it's the only plant source of saturated fat, and not only that, but that it has way more saturated fat and calories than butter (55 g, 618 calories a serving, I think). This is the flesh I'm talking about, not the juice.
The food arrived on what seemed like banana leaves on plastic plates with lime halves, a tray of spicy sauces, plates of vegetables (watercress, I think), and a huge basket of steaming rice.
We ordered: lobster, red snapper, another kind of fish, shrimp, calamari, and clams.
Everything was incredible: I never really paid attention to what was really good seafood, since I originally only started eating fish to add some variety and protein to my diet, but my mom kept saying how this was the best seafood/ meal she had ever had in her life.
The lobster was my favorite: it seemed a completely different creature from the lobster we had in Cape Cod-- whereas Cape Cod lobster is simply boiled, its flesh in huge chunks and just a bit too cloyingly sweet for me, this lobster was a bit stringier, and since it was grilled, much more interesting to eat.
Calamari, which I don't usually even like, not eating much fried food, was fantastic, because it was crispy and not oily at all.
The only unsuccessful dish were the clams: shells full of cold, soupy liquid and a taste that made me feel nauseous. We left those alone.
We all ate a lot, and I must say that by the end of the meal I felt I had pushed my limits for making animal protein the central feature of a meal. Usually I eat mainly vegetables and just a bit of fish. After this meal I knew I wouldn't be eating so much seafood at once for a while, but that didn't mean that it wasn't delicious.
I just wanted to say that part of the reason the Bali vacation was so relaxing is that we didn't need to make decisions about anything, especially ordering food, which is something we argue a lot about. Planning just makes everyone stressed out, and so I really want to thank Mr. Tek and Michelle, who took us places when they really weren't obligated to. If you're reading, THANK YOU!
We left the next morning for Singapore (they came with us), where I didn't eat that much amazing food, but saw it EVERYWHERE.