SF Chinatown Bakery Sign

Painted on the closed gate of a venerable bakery in San Francisco's Chinatown, this is the first of what I hope will be a series of food-related signage photographs featured on Blog Appetit. These food signs have always fascinated me and I look forward to sharing them and their stories with you.

The Eastern Bakery at 720 Grant Avenue had been a Chinatown institution well before I arrived in the Bay area in 1979.  They are known for their moon cakes, but also, as the gate advises, serve breakfast, lunch and food to go. Try their custard tarts and steamed savory buns, as well.

Nuts for Cashews

Piles of ripe, unprocessed cashews in the market in Nam Cat Dien, Vietnam.

These nuts (technically seeds) grow beneath a dupe or false fruit.  The false fruit falls off and the cashews are harvested, the skins and shells mechanically removed due to toxins and then the seed itself undergoes some heat treatment to get rid of the poison ivy-like chemicals (yes, even the ones sold as raw.)

In some countries the cashew apple is used as a fruit (it is astringent and can irritate some folks).  In others it is fermented into a wine or made into a liquor.  I saw it as a fruit in Vietnam and tasted some vile liquor made from it when I was in southern India.

Vietnam was the world's largest grower of cashews in 2012. I also show plantations of the plants with their colorful cashew apples in northern Cambodia, where they (and rubber trees) were being planted to reforest the deforested jungle and forest areas.

A note: due to Google Blogger mobile inadequacies photos aren't laid out exactly how I'd like them and you, the raeader, are used to, but once I return home I'll clean everything up.

Restaurant Kitchen in Phongsaly

The north of Laos has a different look and feel than the rest of the country, you definitely feel the presence of its giant neighbor, China.  Its presence is felt in the look of some of the people, the food, and in the ever present signs and symbols of SinoPower, the Chinese power agency that is building hydroelectric dams throughout the area.

It was the food that concerns me here.  Phongsaly had a style of restaurant I really enjoyed.  Pick your protein and key vegetables from a refrigerator case and the chef, usually a woman, cooks them up for you as she desires.

We found pointing at what others were eating was a good technique for ordering and we did find that chicken, for example, was always prepared the same way.

Above is a kitchen from one of these restaurants.  Once again I was amazed to see who well food can be prepared without all the conveniences of our Western modern kitchens.

Iced Coffee by Dong Nai River

I'm in a beautiful lodge within Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam, about four hours from Ho Chi Minh City.  (Forest Floor Lodge.)

Here's what they brought me for my iced coffee. I'll write more about Southeast Asian filtered coffee and iced coffee later, but I just wanted to share this lovely moment.

Dry Me Some River Weed in Laos

These racks hold drying river weed from the River Ou. All throughout Laos, women and children collect the weed from the Mekong, its tributaries and other rivers, sort it, shape, press and dry it with sesame seeds and thin slices of tomato.  The dried squares are broken into sections and eaten as a snack or used with traditional Laotian fish or vegetable pastes or dips.

The texture is much like the dried seaweed snack sheets and that product would make a good substitute.

Here is a local Nong Khiew woman preparing the weed for drying.

Spicy Wood and Water Buffalo Stew

This stew features water buffalo meat and chips of what the Laotians call "spicy wood."  I think it is called mai sakahn and is a peppery tasting vine that is just for flavoring. The chips are not eaten. The stew also contained water buffalo skin and Mekong river weed. 

It was strong flavored but good with lots of smoky overtones. 

We ate it in a restaurant in Luang Probang, Laos.

Crisps (or Chips) Ahoy -- Lobster and Other Flavored Potato Snacks

The availability of snack food, or processed ones in general, varies throughout Southeast Asia. But one junk food seen almost everywhere is the potato chip (called crisps in much of the world). While they have the standard salt, salt and vinegar and barbecue flavors the ones in SE Asia also feature lots of seafood seasoning such as shrimp, squid, and lobster (shown above).

Other flavors I've seen are chili, seaweed, and rosemary. Friends tell me of one in Thailand with two flavors mixed in one bag -- lobster and cheese.  

Leave a comment below with any exotic chip flavors you may have spotted on your travels.

Fresh Fish Today (and Every Day)

Anywhere a river runs through it, near it or within motorcycle driving distance there is freshwater fish in Southeast Asia.  Often served grilled (sometimes with a salt and or herb crust) trussed in bamboo splints, it was always good.  Usually the fish was wild-caught tilapia, although sometimes in stews or braises it would be wild or farmed catfish.

At many markets, the fish would swim in a pan or tank of water until it was chosen for someone's lunch or dinner. Then it would be killed, gutted and filleted as desire by the fishmonger, usually a woman sitting on the ground or a low stool with a round wooden butcher block in front of her.  

This fish awaits a hungry customer in Luang Probang, Laos.

A Different Bowl of Soup in Vang Vieng, Laos

As regular readers of this blog and my Facebook feed know, we eat a lot of soup.  This one was different than any other we had in Laos.  For under $2 (15,000 kip), Gary got a big bowl of noodles laced with a slightly spicy red curry sauce, chicken and coconut milk.  The menu at the restaurant called it Lao Noodle Soup.  The restaurant had no sign out front, so if you are in Laos and want a bracing bowlful, it is right across from Wonderful Tours (which we also recommend) in Vang Vieng, a town once known for "happy shakes" that has been cleaned up and made a center for slightly adventurous tourism and natural beauty.  Plus it had some of the best inner tubing I've ever done.

Together for the For the First but Not the Last Time

I keep getting press releases that announce sirarcha (chili paste sauce) with mayonnaise is the new taste sensation of 2015.  While I don't disagree that sirarcha mayonnaise (or wasabi mayo or chipotle mayo) is seriously good, my new love is ketchup mixed with the chili sauce.

I first tried this as a dip for fries in Banlung, Cambodia, and I've been mixing globs of ketchup and the sauce on the side of my plate to accompany all kinds of dishes from noodles to sandwiches to fried rice since.

Sometimes I make it spicy, sometimes the chili is just a hint but the combo's sassy sweet-hot-acid taste is always a nice addition. 

Try it yourself. Always practice safe condiments and don't double dip if you are sharing.

How Sweet They Were

These fried dough treats are from the market in Banlung, Cambodia.  The provincial and commercial capital of Ratanakiri Province, a remote region near the Vietnamese and Laotian borders with a large ethnic minority population and beautiful jungle and nature preserves, it is also where guest houses, hostels, hotels and restaurants cluster for the locals and the increasing number of foreign visitors who mostly come to trek and see a wild area before more deforestation takes place and the once mighty mahogany forest is totally replaced by cashew and rubber tree plantations.

To get back to the fritters, these are made of rice four as near as I could ascertain and covered in sugar.  The ones with the sticky brown topping are frosted with palm sugar syrup, which is sweet without being cloying and has a strong taste of its own, perhaps a bit vegetal, that I found very pleasant.

Conveniently, these pastries were located right next to my favorite coffee vendor in Southeast Asia, but that's a post for another day.

Beef on a Stick in Siem Reap

Let others ooh and ahh over the monuments at Angkor Wat; plenty of folks have brought home amazing photos and insights of these temples.  I want to sing the praises of a local restaurant not featured in Tripadvisor or Lonely Planet in a humble neighborhood just minutes away from the night market and Pub Alley but worlds away in terms of style, intent and customers. 

Near the Wat Damnak was a small stall with a charcoal grill out front, a child's artwork on the walls, small plastic chairs, low tables and the best lemongrass marinated grilled beef you can imagine, served with a side of tart salad papaya salad and cool green tea.

This is one of the recipes I plan on developing when I get home, so watch for more info and directions.  Meanwhile the memory of this meal is one of my favorite souvenirs.

A Grinding New Obsession -- Fresh Green Peppercorns

Look closely.  See those little green nuggets mixed in with the crab and seasoning?  They are fresh green peppercorns.  They are used whole, usually attached in grape-like bunches to a bit of stem.

Not only do they add a bit of heat and a lot of flavor to what they are cooked with, but you can eat the fresh peppercorns (and even the stems) for additional heat and deliciousness.

I first had this amazing seasoning, so different from the brined or dried green peppercorns we see in the USA, in Phnom Penh, when an Israeli expat who grows them brought some for the local Chabad to use in a beef and green peppercorn entree for Friday night dinner.

I next had them at Otress Beach 2 (near Sihanoukville), Cambodia, which is near the peppercorn growing region of Kampot.  The green peppercorns are the fresh unripened and undried fruit of the plant.  They are very perishable and hard to ship, which limits their availability.  Besides having this crab dish and a sautéed seafood dish with them in Otress, we had them on Koh Rong Salaem island off the Cambodian coast.  We also spotted them in a few markets in Cambodia.  Here's a link to a crab and peppercorn recipe .  Once I return home and see if I can find fresh green peppercorns I'll post my own recipes.

Rice is Nice

Rice is a foundation ingredient throughout Southeast Asia. Here is a small store selling different kinds and grades of rice and rice steaming baskets used for making sticky rice. The baskets are made from bamboo which gives the rice a subtle flavor. In the background are some of the small baskets with lids used for serving sticky rice in Cambodia and Laos. This market was in Vientiene, Laos, on a street filled with rice, spice and housewares merchants. 

We Get a Kick from a Tabletop Grill

Ever hear of  sepak takraw or kick volleyball?  It's a sport my husband follows and he g0t introductions to the Cambodian national team before we headed out to Southeast Asia. After watching an informal practice the players took us out us to a bbq/grill restaurant where we cooked over a table top charcoal grill prawns, squid, beef and veggies. There were several sauces, of which the lime, pepper salt was our favorite. We also snacked on air-dried beef, crispy fried duck tongues and other local delicacies. We also had lots and lots of Cambodia brand beer (served with large ice cubes.)

Khmer and Get It: Banana Pancakes in Cambodia

I had these banana Khmer pancakes with chocolate and coconut caramel in Phnom Penh. I had Khmer or Cambodian pancakes throughout the country and they varied from something like we'd make in the USA to a crepe to something made in a special shaped pan,.  No matter what they looked like they were always delicious.

Spying inside the Russian Market

One of several markets we visited in Phnom Penh. I never figured out exactly why it was called the Russian Market.  There were no nesting dolls, caviar or vodka in sight.  Supposedly this became the market used by foreigners in Cambodia back in the 1980s when most foreigners there were ... Russian   The proper name for the market is Phsar Tuol Tom Pong. Like many of the markets I've been to in SE Asia, lighting in the market is very dim.

You Don't Know Jackfruit

I've become obsessed with jackfruit, shown here in a market in Cambodia.  There is a lot of waste since these nuggets of creamy tasting sweet tart goodness have quite extensive natural packaging (and each of them also contains a large seed).  I've had jackfruit before but never had access to so much with so little work on my part for so little money.  I may have overdone it a bit. 

Going Bananas for Cambodian Dessert

Another recipe from my Phnom Penh cooking class.  Sago (tapioca) noodles, coconut milk, bananas and  palm sugar. It thickens as it stands but stays a bit on the liquid side. Delicious, easy and satisfying with lots of texture but not at all too sweet or gooey. 

The Breakfast of Tourists

Rice porridge soup, or rice noodle soup when we can't find it, is our breakfast of choice when we are in Asia.  This is the first bowl of many this trip.  This one was slurped in a little noodle soup stand across from our hostel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  The stand was set up on the sidewalk with a low table and little plastic chairs.  After the breakfast trade was done, the Noodle Lady packed up and the sidewalk became a motorcycle parking lot. (Sidewalks are not for walking in Phnom Penh.)