What's that I hear...A Top 10

Ahhh...it's that time again.  I haven't done one of these in a very long time.  So let's make today...Saturday Funday.  Stupid Wei, should've done this on Sunday Funday.  Anyway, today's topic, top 10 Chinese dishes to me.  In honor of last nights gringo Chinese Buffet, and a suggestion from a lovely friend of mine. I'm gonna run with this gag here.  Most likely doing more authentic Chinese dishes than not.  So with an open heart and and an open, let's get this list done eh?  Yeah.

10.  Sautéd Spinach in Fermented Bean Curd Sauce

Trust me there aren't going to be many vegetable dishes on this top 10, so I'm getting a majority of it out of of the way.  And when I say a majority of it, I mean just this.  Cause this is the only vegetable dish that is on here.  However, I just had to put this dish up.  My Mom makes this dish, and it's excellent.  I love my Mom and Dad's home cooking, they make some of the best dishes ever.  I can say that, my parents owned Chinese restaurants, and they were great at their profession. 

So what does this spinach in fermented bean curd sauce taste like?  Well I'll explain, you first get this strong salty taste, however it is quickly cut with the fresh sautéd spinach.  It's not what you think.  It's delicious.  Because the beans are fermented and salty, and there is so much liquid in the spinach, when the two come together, you naturally get a sauce from the pain, since so much liquid is drawn out.  It's a simple dish, however it is delicious.  Something you wouldn't expect from me on this thing I call a top 10.  But it's good, and I'm gonna say.  My family makes it the best.  

9.  Clams in Black Bean Sauce

Oh yeah, baby clams are so sweet and the mix of ginger, garlic, oyster sauce, soy sauce and mix of other ingredients makes this one of my favorite dishes growing up.  Between the sautéed fried pork, and the little black beans of salty fermented goodness, to that sweet seawater taste that you can only get from the ocean makes me smile.  Wow, this is some good some.  try it, you're not going to miss that Big Mac you're eating.  

8.  Hong Kong Style Wontons and Noodle

Nom, nom, nom, nom.  I really can't explain this, however this is one of my favorite meals as a child growing up.  I love the Hong Kong style wontons, not those fake Americanized wontons.  The best part about this soup/dinner is that the roasted duck is the most amazing portion of this soup.  I love ever bit of it, and you know what, you should probably try it too.  Deliciousness to the max!

7.  Chicken Feet

Yup, this isn't your type of dish that you usually eat.  You're taking the cheapest and most obscure portion of the chicken.  Then you cook it in a spicy brined sauce for hours and wait until it becomes so tender until it falls apart, and it's the most delicious thing you have ever eaten.  I know, I know, the thing looks like talons, and you're pretty afraid of how it looks like.  But take that look off your eyes and try it, you gotta be able to try these things, don't be afraid to try new things in life.  It's what makes it exciting.

6.  Shanghai Soup Dumplings

Well well well, the elusive Shanghai Soup dumplings.  Well okay they're not really elusive.  However these dumplings are just pockets of deliciousness.  However you gotta take your time, and they are quite dangerous.  Be careful of the third degree burns.  Cause when you bite into these little morsels they burst with a pocketful of soup in ever pocket.  Yeah, you got to try but like I said, be careful...cause that soup is hot hot hot!

5.  Hong Kong Style Pan-Fried Noodles

Ahhh...Hong Kong noodles.  Yum-O!  What makes this awesome?  The noodles are pan seared and then a seafood dish with a white sauce is added on top.  So here it is, you get this crispy, then a part of the noodle gets soaked and the noodles become extremely delicious.  Seriously delicious.  I mean it's what makes the meal.  The seafood is awesome, but my favorite portion is the noodles.  You try it, and you'll think the same.  

4.  Mapo Doufu

Spicy, porky, tofuy, deliciousness.  Molten hot sauce, and a blend of all the ingredients makes you well up in tears.  Why?  Because it's really really good.  It's something you don't want to miss.  Why?  Because these are tastes you don't get in any old General Tso's or Kung Pao Chicken or whatever.  Crazy thing.  Enjoy!

3.  Chinese Roast Pig

The best animal on earth.  I can't become a vegetarian because of that little guy up there.  And the Chinese make an epic roast pig.  As a child growing up during the moon festival, we had these guys all the time.  We don't do it as often anymore, however when we did, the meat was succulent and the skin, EXCELLENT!  Crispy and delicious, can't stop won't stop.  

2.  Chinese Clay pot with fish and tofu

Deep fried fish, and tofu, then take some veggies, and throw them in a clay pot and simmer till it is perfection.  It's a great dish, I don't know, the fish is flaky, the sauce is perfect balance of saltiness, and the veggies are crisp.  That taste where you know everything is right.  Yeah, go ahead and eat it.  Cause it is.  It's just right.  

1. Peking Duck

My favorite meal of all Chinese meals, and here it is.  Peking duck.  I love peking duck.  Crispy, meaty, and delicious.  I love it all.  I love the pancakes, I love the hoisin sauce, and I love the scallions, I love that medley when they are altogether.  Cause it makes the best combinations ever.  So yeah, that's my favorite dish ever.  It's great, it's delicious, and Asian can make a hell of a dish.  I just named ten.  Try it, and find out how it's like.  

They Call it the Combination

What a busy weekend, Friday for me started off with a surprise email from Dave, "Oh Wei, are you still coming up this weekend?"  Why yes Dave, I would love too.  You just saved me from an utterly boring and blah weekend.  So with that in mind, I went to an Old Navy, picked me up a pair of sandals, cargos, and a shirt, and off to Dave's I go.  It was a great time.  Jose Tejas, my first night.  I drank waaaaayyyy too much for my own good.  Margaritas, beer, margaritas, and beer...and then drunken Jeopardy...like an idiot. Shots for every wrong answer, and yes.  Me and Dave got a lot of wrong answers.  Sigh...why don't I ever learn?  Cause...I love alcohol.  A lot...a damn lot.  Mmmmm....mmmmmmmmm......

Saturday arrives rather quickly.  Waking up at around 6:30...I started my day with a few hours of Battlefield.  Nice indeed.  However it was the second portion of the day that I enjoyed most.  I got to watch Steffie, Aaron, and John run an epic mud run.  These guys are good.  Very good.  I just tried to do a regular 5k and it was difficult.  To me, these guys are my hero.  How epic to do a run, and then an obstacle course included.  How can I top that?  Well, I can't really.  So I'll leave it to the professionals and let John, Steffie, and Aaron to all the hard stuff.  Have fun guys, you guys are doing great.

So what's after a epic 5k run?  How about another Man v. Food adventure, and hitting up the awesomely epic, and out of this world portions of Harold's Deli.  I probably should've taken pictures, however I didn't I just ate and ate and ate.  We received an extra large of pastrami and corned beef.  Man, I do love me some pastrami and corned beef.  They aren't the type of sandwiches I look to make.  However, I don't go out of my way to avoid them either.  I love the brining process.  I love the peppercorns, I love everything about the brisket meat.  It's delicious, fatty, and ever so good.  That's some good eats.

Last and final thing of the day?  Auction night.  The auction wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be, however it was still good.  I still want to go again.  Maybe a few weeks from now.  I'll do it all over again.  So the rest of the evening was all fun and games, and the last portion was between me, John, and Dave, good cigars and an even better conversations.  Life was perfect.  However Dave and John, sorry, I just couldn't stay up till 6:30 a.m.  I already woke up at 6:30 that day, and doing 24 hours was not going to make me survive a morning of driving.  So I salute you guys.  You guys are amazing.

That's my weekend folks.  So a few things.  If I make mistakes on here...my apologies.  I just don't check my grammar very often to care.  It's my blog, and I make mistakes.  I just type too much.  However, if you point it out.  I'll try my best to fix it.  Oh and another thing...life is good.  Remember that folks.  If I learned anything from my friend Tony Matz, any day you can lift your arms above your head and to your side, it's going to be a good day.  R.I.P. Tony, R.I.P.

A good night is Frank on the record player, and a good cigar or pipe and a nice rocker of very good scotch.

Grind My Gears

You know what really grinds my gears...sellers on Amazon.com.  So this week I just wanted to return some things to the place, however it sucks when the company that you're returning the product to seems to just rip you off.  So I paid for my products, however you're telling I have to pay for both shipping and handling both to a back.  Seriously?  So because I get to have my own soapbox.  4noggin, I loved you're short and unhelpful emails, and I love that I wasn't returned my full price on my product.  So once again, 4noggin, you suck, and especially Rich Gottlieb.  You stink.  I guess I shouldn't complain too much, but you know what I just paid $10 worth of shipping and handling.  So yeah, sorry since I expected a better customer service outing instead of short and quick answer.  Douche.

So that's my grind my gears moment tonight, however that's not the only thing that has been going on this week.  Gotta say, Dave is quite impressive playing BF3.  I'm actually quite jealous that Dave flies plane so well and easily.  I wanna be able to do that as well.  He's so good.

So here we are on a Sunday night.  Watching repeats of, "No Reservations," man I love this show.  I love the character Anthony Bourdain is.  Well not the character, however the person Bourdain is.  He's awesome, I trust his foodie nature and more and more I want to become something like that.  I would love to travel and eat.  I think that's something I got to put into action.  I let Anthony tried my pork sandwich, and what makes me feel good?  He let his family try it, and it was a hit among them.  More and more I'm gaining confidence in my cooking.  And not just the Italian chicken parm, but more of my bacon risotto, and my lamb.  I feel good about it, and getting approval from family and friends is awesome.  I really need to take that step and get it out to the rest of the world.  Man, I want to start my restaurant.

Well ladies and gents, live life, and love.  Cause it's all too short.  You know who is awesome?  Kina Grannis, always rolling her dreams, and she is so talented.  I aspire to be like her, or at least attempt to do what she does.  Here is an interview of her below...she never sold out.  That's what makes me happy.  I know Dave and Jay joke, but she really never did sell out.  I'm glad.  Go Team Kina!

Hmmm...Indeed, Quite Shallow and Pedantic

Oh weekends...why can't you last longer?  You come and go so soon, you're always like dust in the wind.  WHHHYYYY???!!!! No seriously good times.  First off, Friday night we had a little drinking action yo.  Hitting up a Tavern with George, Jason, and Jillian, nice start.  Very nice start.  However it is when Saturday that hits, that I thought was going to be the best day ever.  Poor Davie H.  He saw it all coming.  However we did it anyway.  Sorry buddy.  We love you many.

Saturday.  So Saturday started off with me purchasing a crap ton of balloons and party stuff.  I also purchased tobacco for Davie H's pipe.  However we'll get to that in a bit.   So anywhoo, after purchasing all the goods for the party, I went over to Dave's to swim a bit.  Oh, and I don't know how to swim, however I had a blasty blast, especially on the blistering hot day.  Playing basketball pool is awesome, you da man Dave.  Oh and a little ring toss and in the end 2 on 2 basketball with Dave and Po and Big Dave (Mr. Haberle).  It was awesome.  

Then the big event.  We went to Pizza Hut for Dave's big party.  I guess I can't say it was a surprise, however I think the 20 balloons really threw him off, and the party hats and noise blowers/thingies were pretty cool.  Oh, and yes the Miley Cyrus and Hello Kitty balloons were the best part.  Woohoo.  What a great time at pizza hut.  We ordered 5 epic pizza, Hawaiian Luau, Pepperoni, Plain, Vegitarian, and Jalapeños.  Oh man, good times, and delicious.  Poor Dave, sorry I embarrassed you buddy.  But I hope you liked your pizza.

We went back, Dave, Jay, and George went swimming for three hours, and we had an awesome ice cream cake made by Jillian.  Fun times had by all.  Oh, and Dave got some awesome gifts.  Sixers gear from Posef and Jillian, and Battlefield 3 from me, Jorge with a PSN gift card for BF3 and a pipe from I.  However that's going back so most likely Dave is getting a new and better gift from me.  I don't care what you say Dave, you're getting one.

So yesterday was an epic day.  However there is one thing that I've been wanting to do, however I didn't do because I had to do a 5k in June.  However the 5k I did miss was the Color Run.  I've seen all my friends do it and I'm pretty much jealous of this.  I definitely want to do this next year, and that is definitely my goal.  It's just a fun run, with lots and lots and lots of color.  I don't know it reminds me of the Indian festival Holi.  Lots of color and it's awesome.  So next year after I do my RTK 5k, I'm going to attempt to do this 5K, which should be amazing.  So friends and family, get your shit together, cause I'm really expecting all of us to do this next year....PPPPPPWWWWWEEEEAAAASSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEE.  Thanks guys.

So yup, that was my weekend in a nutshell.  Fantastic time with great friends and family...and definitely ju-ju-ju-ing with Dave and Jorge...good times.  What did you do? 

Happy Blow Up a Piece of America Day!

Well it was a fantastic July 4th.  Spent the day making a great sandwich for my Mom and Dad, ahhh the classic pork sandwich, with a love pork drippings, and broccoli rabe, oh and of course a cut of sweet red peppers and yes, the classic sharp provolone.  It's what makes the sandwich great.  Mixing the best of all the worlds into one, and yes I think you would enjoy it if you'd try.  The recipe turned out great, my next goal is to tweak it a little and make it even better.  Not much more I have to do, but you just gotta try.

The second portion of my July 4th?  Heading to Conshy to meet up with Jorge and Suzanne.  Had a nice dinner at Cheesecake factory, and well after our credit card roulette, we headed out towards Norristown to see our fireworks.  Ahhh...the fireworks.  It was amazing.  An amazing night indeed.  And that's where I am at now.

It's short tonight, I think lately I have this stressed non zen like chapter in my life going on.  I don't know...I just think things should be changing.  I don't get it, I'm at this age where I think I know...however, I don't know squat.  You know what I want most...I want to be a travel something something.  No I have no idea what I"m talking about.  However I do know something is in order.  I said this year I would have change.  And whether it is big or not, change has occurred.  However I definitely want bigger change.  So here's to moved my cheese.  It's next.

Little Help...

What do I have on my mind?  Well not much just for this thing I have tomorrow.  However, you know for once, I wish my family wouldn't be afraid of change.  Oh, but if you get it can't you get this?  How do you know it'll be better?  Blah blah blah, money money money.  Fuck money.  It's nice and everything, however the thing I dread the most.  Going to a shitty place, where I fucking hate.  Lots of cursing today folks.  Just saying.

I don't know, I'm sick of all this bs.  Isn't life too short to be unhappy.  Shouldn't you like what you do?  Shouldn't you be something that will improve the quality of your life, make you live to your full potential?  That's what it's about right?  All that philosophical bull crap.  However in the end, what do you have when no one supports you?  Nothing, it seems.  I don't have anyones blessing at the moment it seems.  Is that bad?  For some odd reason, I'm beginning to think that.  Or is this some manipulative bullshit that they're putting on me so I stay at a place that I hate?  Hmm...

Well, I guess I should end the rant there.  Sorry folks lets talk about something a little happier.  DMB concert, pig roasts, and best friends.  Let's start off on Friday.  Last week Friday I had gone to the Dave Matthews Concert at Hershey Park.  First of Hershey Park...A-ma-zing.  It really is the sweetest place on earth, and if you do it just right...the drunkest place on earth.  Roller coasters and fun, honestly you can't beat it.  I had a blasty blast.  Thanks Dave, you're the best buddy.  I know you didn't like the set DMB had, but I thought it was pretty awesome, and they played one of our faves...Grey Street.  I think we can be happy about that.  

Saturday, ahhh...the Ronan annual pig roast.  There was fun and games, fantastic food.  And above all else a wonderfully and tasty pig.  MMMMmmmm...the greatest animal on earth.  They give you sausage, pork chops, ribs, pull pork, and above all else the king of meats..."BACON."  I love this wonderfully tasty and magical animal.  Am I going to have problems when I get a little older, probably.  However I'm going out eating my favorite little animal.  You oinky McOinkster you.  Oh and Erin...sorry, I sucked at beer pong that night, however you carried the team like a Creighton/Ronan/Highland team member you are.  Thank god, cause it was embarrassing that I only made 2 cups that night.  Oof fah.  

Sunday, good old Sunday.  Those lazy Sundays where I mix them up with those fakes Sundays that always almost get me fired.  Hung out with my super awesome best friend Shirley, we got to shoot the shit for a bit, had some ribs, ate some watermelon.  It was a grand old time.  Also so the Phillies lose which was also very disappointing.  Le sigh.  Anyway, back to hanging out with Shirley.  Pretty sure she's the bestest. I don't get to hangout with her enough, but when I do, I always realize why she's one of my best friends.  Here's to you Shirleynator.  You're the bestest.  Great weekend all in all...now lets hope for a speedy and quick week.  Cause I am already over this week.  

"Movement in a new direction will help you find new cheese."

 Oh, and Shirley.  If you're reading this.  ElfQuest be mad expensive, found some for $150.  You got yourself a collection there missy.  I'm still looking for some hardback ones.  I may have found a few.  I probably should call you.  Peace out girl scouts.