food articles

I guess another reason why Americans are getting fatter and fatter.

From BBC: "Watchdog blasts 'X-treme eating'"

Another interesting article I read was that South Pacific has the highest percentage of obese people (around 90%).

Finally, another article that showed the Neolithic people in Europe might not have been able to drink milk due to the deficiency in a gene that produces lactase.

Warisan

Last night to celebrate my birthday, Wid took me to Kafe Warisan a French Mediterranean restaurant for dinner. We've been wanting to try this place out for months, but for various reasons we never made it there. The place is on Jl. Raya Kerobokan in Kuta. The ambiance was quite romantic and pretty, like we were in a antique store surrounded by rice paddies. There were a bit of a mosquitoe problem, but they provide some Off mosquitoe repellent for their clients.

The restaurant had an extensive wine list, but we only ordered water and a margarita. Wid liked the margarita from Bubba Gump's more because it's more slushy. For dinner Wid ordered their special of the day, which is toro tuna with fois gras and asparagus, while I ordered the duck leg confit, sauté potatoes, caramelized shallots, honey and balsamic garlic sauce as well as garlic soup with coutons and Swiss cheese and country bread. The garlic soup was surprisingly mild but still tasted of garlic. The lightness of the soup reminded me of the mushroom room recipe I got from Pepin's Fast Food My Way. The country bread was warm with crunchy crust and soft inside. The duck was crispy (skin) yet moist and tender (meat). It's a bit saltier than I liked, but it paired wonderfully with the sweetness of the sauce and the slight bitterness of the greens. Wid really enjoyed his tuna as well. The tuna was much lighter than my duck with a hint of Asian flavor.

For dessert we decided to try the sampler, which ended up a very good decision because everything was very delicious and filling. The sampler consisted of millefeuille (puff pastry with vanilla cream), crème bruleé, chocolate profiteroles (I think?), and lemon meringue tart. There were little cream puffs filled with ice cream also. Wid said the creme brulee is the first he had in Bali that actually tasted like creme brulee. I still like the one from La Dolche Vita better, but this one was very good also. I also really liked the puff pastry and the lemon tart also.

In the end the price is close to that of Ku De Ta, but we think it's worth it considering Warisan used ingredients not easily found in Bali and the dishes are actually something interesting and not commonly found in other restaurants. For the two of us, the meal was around 600,000 rp with drinks, dessert, soup, and two entrees.

For lunch I had noodles with eggs and veggies, a standard dish on birthdays for Chinese. :D

Woman Chef Wins Top Michelin rank

Woman Chef Wins Top Michelin rank

Found the article on the BBC website. Anne-Sophie Pic is the first woman in more than 50 years to get three stars. She's the the fourth woman to receive this distinction since they started the ranking system in 1926, and she's the only woman with this ranking right now. Kind of sad that the industry is still dominated by white men.

It's pretty cool that both her grandfather and her father won the three star ranking in the past and that now she carried on the tradition by winning three stars on her own.

ramen

Watching Kamen Rider 555 and eating a nice hot bowl of special ramen from Ippin Nyukkon. What a lazy yet relaxing way of recovering from a cold. I don't know what they put in their ramen, but I'm addicted to that stuff.

Dog Food

This is a food blog so I don't see any problem posting about food for others, including our doggies. We've been giving Bonnie different kinds of foods to see what she likes and doesn't like. We're worried that she lost her interest in her boring dry dog food and she stopped eating proper food and started to pick trash. She also got a lot of junk from the kids who are here very, very often. Wid's mom and I have been giving her various fruits and vegetable. My dog book said that fresh produce is a good treat for dogs and they recommended things like broccoli, carrots, apples, and grape. Bonnie hates carrots, cooked or raw. She loves cooked spinach, grapes, green beans, bananas, mango, and even durian (I did not give her that). She's not so keen on apples, like our black-capped lory Niblets, which is kind of ironic because Niblets doesn't like banana but he loves apples. I've seen her trying to chew on shallots, onions, and even a rock that she found. The book suggested cheese too, and Bonnie seemed to like that too. Her favorite treat is still ice cubes though yesterday I gave her a couple of frozen grapes, which she seemed to enjoy after a little bit of confusion.

We also tried to mix different kinds of food into her dog food. A couple of times when we give her plain dog food, she would sniff at it and then walk away. When we saw her eating from the pot of rice and stock that was reserved for our Balinese dogs we decided to mix a bit of rice into her dog food, which she enjoyed. She slowly started to lose enthusiasm for dog food plus rice, but when I added a bit of water into the dish, she ate it with enthusiasm again. Her favorite food is chicken liver with rice and spinach, and Wid noticed that she was eating the area with the most broth first so we think that she wanted more moist foods. This hypothesis is supported by our observation that she loves eating dog food even if it's mixed with a bit of meat broth. I tried to mash banana into her dog food; she seemed ok with it, but many times she would try to pick the banana out of the dog food.

It's a bit strange that Bonnie's turning into a bit of a vegetarian who loves tropic fruits and rice. She's becoming an Asian dog.

Potato Salad

I mentioned Warung Italia in yesterday's post, and from the same place I was inspired to make their version of the potato salad. I really like the creamy texture and the addition of scallions. In the end, mine didn't turn out the same as the restaurant's version, but it's fine because I intentionally made it different. I first cut up the steamed and skinned potatoes into chunks. Instead of adding onions, green/red/yellow pepper, and cucumber, I only added scallions. I then added mustard, mayo, salt, pepper, and sugar. I think the restaurant version doesn't use mustard but has a generous amount of mayo.

For the same dinner I made my usual tuna melt for me and Wid. When his parents came home, Wid's mom say the potato salad, and immediately helped herself to a spoonful. Hehehe. It's always nice to see people being ethusiastic about my food. :D The next day I noticed my potato salad was reheated. I guess people here don't understand the concept of potato salad, but the reheated version tasted fine.

Aligo Olio

I've been very lazy about cooking recently. Maybe it's the weather, maybe it's taking care of Bonnie, or maybe I've been spending way too much time playing Final Fantasy XII. A few days ago, Wid's mom, her brother's family, and I went to Warung Italia for lunch. I like that place because of the nice food at a very reasonable price. I got the gnocchi which was ok, but I still like their selection of canteen food more, like the crepe in bachmael sauce and the potato salad. While we were eating, mami commented that the aligo olio tasted different from other Italian restaurants in the area, and she wondered out loud if we can make this at home. I'm no expert on aligo olio have never heard of this dish until I came to Bali, but from the look and taste of it, it seems like it's prepared in a similar way as spaghetti carbonara (heat the "sauce," cook the pasta, and combine).

Yesterday for lunch I decided to try out this dish. Our cook actually makes a decent version already, but I wanted to experiment. I wanted to see if what I deducted based solely on my observations would produce the same result. While I waited for the water to boil to cook the spaghetti, I minced a lot of garlic and then cooked the garlic and a bit of the hot pepper flakes in olive oil and butter until it was golden brown in a wok. I guess it was like deep frying garlic, like what we do with fried shallots... Once the spaghetti was cooked and drained, I combined the spaghetti with the garlic and oil mix, add more pepper flakes and salt, and cooked the pasta on low to medium heat. I then transferred everything to a pre-warmed bowl.

Wid and mami seemed to like the dish. Mami thought it was very garlicky, which is what she wanted. Wid thought it tasted different but better than the ones in the restaurants. I told him I used butter. Hehe. Mami said next time I should try soaking the garlic in oil for a few hours before cooking for better fragrance.

Babi Guling

新年快樂，吉祥如意!! Happy Lunar New Year to those who celebrate it! Since it's the year of the pig, I thought it was appropriate to make the first post of the year about a pork dish.

I finally appreciate the tastiness of babi guling. I tried this dish several times already at various warung, but for some reason I didn't like it very much. A couple weeks ago, Wid's parents brought some back. While according to Wid, it wasn't the best babi guling; I actually enjoyed it. Then, a few days ago on our way to Kintamani to pray at the ancestor's altar, we stopped by at Gianyar because Wid has been craving babi guling. Apparently, we were lucky that day because business was a bit slow that day (due to the heavy rain) so plenty food was left even though we were there late (around 2 pm).

Maybe I was starving or maybe it is possibly the best babi guling rice on the island or maybe my taste buds finally opened to that dish, that babi guling was one of the best I've tasted. I enjoyed it so much that I finished off the entire plate. I didn't realize how full I was until I stood up. The pork meat was so tender and juicy and the skin was crunchy. Best part is skin that still has bits of fat attached to it. This dish is definitely best when fresh. Their egg sausage was quite good too, and it supposed to be one of their signature dishes. We also got some fresh fried peanuts discs too, but the one place that sold chicken rice in Ubud still makes a better version. To wash everything down, Wid and I had the orange flavored fruit tea. We later decided that the ones in the bottle seem to taste better than ones in a box.