Friday, August 26, 2011

If I Could Only Eat 5 Foods... (#1) + Honorable Mentions

And my #1 food that I would eat if I could only eat 5 foods...

1.  Chinese BBQ Pork Ribs (Cha Shao Pai Gu)
And I don't mean just any ribs from anywhere.  I'm talking about the ones my mom makes.  I don't have a photo of them, unfortunately, but you can just imagine.  Ribs marinated for days in the cha shao sauce - a smoky, sweet, delicious flavor - so that the flavor truly penetrates into the meat.  The ribs are cooked and basted every 30-45 minutes so there's a nice crusty exterior and juicy interior.  She seriously makes the best Chinese BBQ ribs - and I don't think it's because of my bias.  I haven't tasted better - period.  You really just have to try it to believe it.

Not in its ideal form, this was some Chinese BBQ Pork from Ting Wong Restaurant in Chinatown in Philadelphia.

So that's it - my top 5.  There were many things that got shafted, so I decided to put together a quick "honorable mentions list."  Here it is, in no particular order:

Lamb - just because it is the most inherently-delicious meat.  I like it on a stick or in a gyro.


Shaved Ice - especially with condensed milk, red beans, mung beans, and mochi


Da Bao - Steamed Bun with deliciousness inside - usually ground pork with some type of greens, a quail egg and a Chinese sausage


Sun Chips - I could eat these all day.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

If I Could Only Eat 5 Foods... (#2)

2.  Red Bean Steamed Bun
Red bean bun from a pastry shop in Taiwan.  This one had mochi as well, which was different, but not bad.

This is basically the perfect combination of things I love eating.  Chinese steamed buns + red bean.  I like pretty much any kind of Chinese steamed bun - stuffed with ground meat, Chinese sausages, vegetables, eggs, scallions, taro, milk powder, or nothing at all - it's all so good.  But in my mind, the ultimate steamed bun is one with red bean paste (and preferably with actual red beans as well) in the middle.  The bun is soft, fluffy, and slightly chewy, while the red bean paste with red beans are sweet, not too heavy, and just pure delicious. Hands down my favorite dessert / pastry (although shaved ice is up there as well) - I could eat red bean buns all day long and my stomach would be very happy.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

If I Could Only Eat 5 Foods... (#3)

3.  Honey Roasted Crunchy Peanut Butter
Ashamedly, I don't have a photo of me and peanut butter, so I created this picture using Paint (yeah I'm not even good enough to use Photoshop).  I'm not sure what it is about peanut butter that makes it so delicious to me.  I enjoy the crunch (I am definitely a crunchy guy - I like my textures in my food), I like the creaminess of the "butter" part, and peanuts are yum - so it really just makes a great combination.  And a few years ago, I discovered honey roasted crunchy peanut butter, which pretty much put me over the top with regards to peanut butter consumption.  I'm a sucker for sweet things (so far, all of my foods have been sweet), so it's easy to imagine why I inhale this stuff.  I think I go through a normal 16 ounce jar of peanut butter in about 2-3 weeks on average.  I am mainly a PB&J guy, but peanut butter cookies are my favorite type of cookie, and I like slopping some PB on my banana or just eating a spoonful of it.  In fact, I think I'm going to have some right now!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

If I Could Only Eat 5 Foods... (#4)

4.  Gala Apples
Gala apples in a Walmart in China - they cleverly posted stickers on their apples so words would appear on the skin.

Like soymilk, apples are a staple food for me.  It's hard for me to wake up in the mornings and not want an apple.  It's almost become habit - the saying "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" has really struck a chord with me, I guess.  Honestly, I think it's because I became convinced (probably through my parents) that apples help with your digestion and helps clear out your system, making you more regular.  It might be psychological, but I'm usually pretty regular, and I attribute a lot of that to my daily apple.  Gala is my favorite of all the apples, although I do enjoy Fuji, Honeycrisp, and Golden Delicious apples.  Red delicious are my least favorite, probably because it tastes least like an apple and most like grainy junk.  I like my apples crunchy, sweet, and somewhat juicy, which explains why I like the apples I like.

Monday, August 22, 2011

If I Could Only Eat 5 Foods... (#5)

I was recently presented with the question from a classmate: "If you could only eat 5 foods for the rest of your life, what would they be?"  Granted, this is a totally impractical question, it's still fun to think about what foods you absolutely love to eat and couldn't go without.  After much thinking (literally 2 weeks of just thinking about this question and constantly revising my list), I think I've come to a final top 5 list.  I'll be posting them for the next few days (in ascending order of importance).  Feel free to comment with your own top 5 list - I'll have to warn you, though - it takes a bit of time to think about it.  Here it goes.

5.  Soymilk
Cup of soymilk at a small restaurant called Yong He Dou Jiang in Shanghai, China.  They sold good breakfast / snack food.

Soymilk is simply a staple in my diet - it's a drink I can have pretty much at any time of the day.  But I do particularly enjoy it with my breakfast, whether it be with my bowl of cereal, accompanying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, with some sao bing / you tiao (Chinese breakfast foods), with some other Chinese pastry, or just by itself, it's just a delicious drink that always seems to hit the spot.  Plus, you can drink it hot OR cold and it still tastes just as good.  Of course, I prefer the Chinese variety, probably because it's sweeter and it's what I grew up drinking.  I was so happy when I found out that they sold a cup of soymilk on the streets of China for 1.5 yuan or less (about 15 to 20 US cents).

Cup of soymilk from the streets of China - I want to say this is in Shanghai.