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Thursday, March 12th, 2009
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I haven't been feeling well lately, so I will leave you with some pictures of tonight's take out.
It's my grandmother's birthday today, so we ordered in and here is some of what we ate! (I stress SOME, we did it big but I didn't get a chance to take pictures of all the food. I'm missing the soup, fish, noodles, lobster, more veggies and other good stuff, I apologize!
"Goo Lo Yook" - Sweet and sour pork
Crispy skin chicken
Taro bird's nest with mixed vegetables, chicken and seafood.
My most favorite vegetable in the world prepared in my most favorite way in the world.
Garlic "Dau Mew" - Snow pea greens.
Mom's famous Cellophane noodles - with scallions, bean sprouts, squid and BACON!!!
All dishes (except my mom's, duh) was from:
Restaurant Kum Mon
6565, chemin de la Cote-des-Neiges
514.733.6029
(Side note: ever since I can remember I've always laughed at the name. In Chinese Ping yin (phonetics) "Kum Mon" is supposed to say "Golden Door", but the romanization is off and to me it comes out as "C'mon!".
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Comments: Read 2 or Add Your Own.
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So you would think that the snow should let up anytime soon right? Nay, we live in Montreal where the weather is as temperamental as our road rage and as unpredictable and the Hab's. So in the plight to stay warm, three of us found our way to Chinatown in search for food.
I was saying how there is exactly three restaurants in all of Chinatown that I have yet to go to, this being one of them. I always thought it was rather funny to have a Japanese shabu shabu place in Chinatown. But in retrospect, it's not that funny at all. Our Japanese community isn't big enough to justify a district of the city called Japantown, however there is that stretch of Sherbrooke street in NDG that I like to call "Little Korea". So we asians gots to stick together, the wars are over. So we decided to go to Hanashima.
"Shabu shabu" in Japanese is translated to "splash splash" in English. Better known as "hot pot", you're presented with a plate of raw ingredients and you basically boil your food in a pot of simmering broth. As with the last place I went to (Korean BBQ) this theme of cooking your own food is totally unintentional. In hindsight, I think it's pretty funny to pay to go cook your own food, and then have someone clean up after you, kind of like when you were a kid and tried to cook for the first time and had someone follow you with a mop.
We walked in and immediately noticed the seating configuration. The place features a giant "U" shaped bar, with integrated induction burner hot plates. Guests are seated around the outside of the U while the waitresses are busy shuttling food and plates back and forth from the kitchen from the inside. There were also little tables for small groups in opposite corners of the room. Cozy, however I would find myself feeling awkward after my waitress has finished setting up my food and then I'm left sitting facing a wall having lateral conversations with friends while we're all sitting next to each other in a row. Although, if you're lucky enough, you might be placed in the other corner facing a small sun-oxidized picture window overlooking a field with a light blue and purple mount Fuji. We sat at the U.
There are various combo meals. Beef, pork, lamb, seafood and vegetarian. Each of these come as a large serving or small serving. What made me laugh was the fact that the beef combo had two options. A regular beef combo at $8.99 and a "Grade A Beef" combo for $12.99. Wait a minute... what exactly is in this four dollar upgrade? Despite the fact that we're in a Japanese restaurant, we're still in Chinatown. Give it to me straight, are we really eating cats and raccoons for $8.99? Cos if that's the case, as my friend said, bring on the cats and raccoons cos they sure are tasty!
I had the seafood combo. It included, muscles, squid, scallops, crab, surf clams, salmon, snapper, as well as fish cakes and two types of udon. This was more impressive than the vanilla looking plates of beef and pork my friends had.
All meals came with a platter of mixed vegetables including fresh button and Enoki mushrooms, lettuce, daikon radish, tofu, napa cabbage as well as udon noodles.
The combos are also offered in a choice of three soup bases, chicken, the traditional kelp as well as a spicy option. We all chose the traditional seaweed soup as it was our first time shabuing and had to keep it gangsta.
Everything came with two different kinds of dipping sauce. The first was a "Goma" - sesame sauce and the other "Ponzo", which I deduct to be a form of "Ponzu" sauce because it was tangy in flavour and soy sauce based, unless it was just a spelling mistake.
What Japanese place would it be without Furikake (rice seasoning)! Dried scallions, black sesame, bonito flakes and dried masago and chili. YES! It tastes as good as it is fun to say. FURIKAKE... FURRY-KAKI.... Eh hem, maybe it's just funny to me because I used to call a bathroom function as "making kaki"... nevermind.
All in all, it was a great experience. It was nice to get off the pace of the all you can eat hot pot places that are around the city, and especially when the unfriendly weather is creeping outside, Shabu shabu is a kind welcome to the blistering wind and pavement whitening temperature. Oh yeah... did I mention it's NOT all-you-can-eat? So if you're hungry, I suggest you order the large platter combo, although extra dishes of raw ingredients are always an option if you're still hungry, at a reasonable additional cost. The food was fresh - as it came right from the kitchen - which is a great relief as opposed to the other places where they sit in open refrigerator units or in a hotel pan full of ice. So if your hankering for some hot pot goodness without the stenchy aftermath then Hanashima has the non shabby shabby shabu shabu for you and you.
Hanashima - Shabu shabu, Fondue Japonaise
75 De La Gauchetière
514.396.4746
http://www.jasonwaynelee.com/blog
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Friday, February 20th, 2009
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I met Dan for dinner after work. We headed up to Cote des neiges for "fun pei" (in literal translation is, "noodle skin".) Lao Beijing, which translates to "Old Beijing" is a tiny hole in the wall, family run eatery on Cote des Neiges. Situated on the corner of Dupuis, one street south of Cote St. Catherine, might seem odd for Chinese joint that's over shadowed by a catholic church, a bunch of University bars and the Jewish General, however, don't let the basement location and shabby decor deter you from the wonders of authentic Szechuan cuisine.
I've been there numerous times and I feel the need to shed light on this place because it does not have enough online representation. This is the kind of place where you might need a bookmark to get through the novel of a menu, however, though tough choices, you will rarely make a wrong decision when ordering.
We started with what is called "Da Li Pi", which we Cantonese call "Fun Pei" - Noodle skin. Broad rice noodles with fresh cucumbers, carrots and salted pork in a sesame and soy dressing. Being a chilled dish, I guess you can categorize this as a noodle salad.
You know you're in a good Chinese restaurant when then staple table condiments include homemade cooked chili oil. A process of which uses the "cooked" cooking oil (after draining off of deep fried items) and then sauteeing and frying up cooked and fresh chili peppers in it. I highly suggest drizzling this chili oil over this noodle dish. It adds the "Je ne sais quoi" to the already "Je ne sais pas" of this dish.
Our next dish was Tripe with Coriander. They were out of coriander and checked with us first if they could substitute it with something else. I've had this dish before and whatever they would do to it, I was certain that in no way shape or form would they mess it up, and I was right. The substitution was with Chinese spring onions and leak. This dish is usually in the spicy side, but we opted for the non-spicy version, for we both had important appointments tomorrow and could not afford to be breathing fire, 12 hours later.
The tripe was crunchy, yet tender. Every mouthful was accented by the subtle ginger and white pepper sauce that was not overpowering.
Our second dish was Fried eggplant with peppers and salted-preserved fish. If you've had salted fish before, you'll know what I'm talking about, if you haven't then have this dish and consider the loss of your friends totally worth it. The eggplant is flash fried in oil, tossed with onions and peppers then cooked with ground pork and salted fish. A smooth mild chili and hoi sin sauce finish off the dish.
We were discussing the quality of their salted fish. As with most salted fish bought in store, theirs was not as pungent or kick you in the gut, fishy and hard to the bite, which led us to believe that Lao Beijing might be salting their own fish. Something that is extremely admirable because this process is not easy. Dan and I drew this conclusion based on the texture and the bones left in the fish. Normal bought salted fish is hard and turns into a powder or paste when you bite down on it and sometimes the unpleasantness of biting into pin bones due to the fish being dried whole. However, their salted fish was chewable and firm, which suggests a shorter curing phase which led us to believe that this salted fish was made in-house.
I'm a firm believer that Chinese food does not consist of General Tao chicken, sesame beef or eggrolls and fried won tons. The grittiness of authentic Chinese food is what the general public is missing and Lao Beijing fills that void. However, the entire menu is not as exciting as these dishes. They do provide your lemon chickens and chicken fried rice for the less adventurous people. As with all Szechuan cuisine, this place serves up FIYA, sraight up slap-your-mom-in-the-face-spicy. Toning down upon request is cool with them, but be sure to flip up the lid on your tea pot which signals a refill on water. The chiliheads of Montreal rejoice. Here is a great place to fulfill your burning desire for your spicy vice.
...another thing. GO.HERE.HUNGRY! With over generous proportions to match the hospitality, Lao Beijing serves it up big and don't be surprised when you're walking out of here with doggy bags.
Restaurant Lao Beijing
5619, chemin de la Cote-des-Neiges
514-731-8978
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Wednesday, February 4th, 2009
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Quick mixed green salad with boccaccini cheese with walnuts and a homemade raspberry vinaigrette.
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Saturday, October 11th, 2008
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My favorite keychain... gone... GONE... :'(
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Thursday, September 25th, 2008
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...Sporadic journal entries due to it being friends only, friend.
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Friday, September 19th, 2008
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Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008
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Does evaporated milk contradict itself when it comes out of a can in liquid form? What's the point of it anyways?
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Thursday, August 28th, 2008
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Thursday, August 21st, 2008
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SO FUCKING DONE!!!!!
SEE YA LATER BITCHES!
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Sunday, August 12th, 2007
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Me: I didn't see her come back... she's so stealthy.
Her: What does stealth mean?
Me: You don't know what "stealth" means?
Her: No, what does it mean...
Me: Euh.... STEALTH! How do you not know what it means?
Her: TSK, I'm French, how am I supossed to know?!
Me: OK...... LE Stealth... get it now?
Her: You're stupid.
Me: HAHAHAHA.
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Thursday, July 26th, 2007
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I read this somewhere... I did not write it.
There is, in fact, one primary reason that white guys (and no doubt Asian and black guys too)are attracted to Asian girls.
It's the packaging. The package, and the stereotypes conveyed by the package are what hold the appeal.
They're generally slim, and that means slim all over. You seldom see an Asian girl who's top-heavy, or bottom heavy, or particularly curved in any way.
The shape and angle of their eyes produces an illusion of flirtatiousness and subservience - they are permanently, whether they choose to or not, looking from beneath lashes
The shape of their face tends to to be rounded, with taut skin, and their features tend to be small and delicate within that rounded frame - to the extent of being doll-like, when cosmetics are used to emphasise.
They are petite. You are not going to find an Asian girl who towers over anyone
They tend to have high, even fluting, voices.
What this adds up to is an overall impression of being childlike, not in a way that calls to a pedophile reponse, particularly; because they are usually clearly adult, but in a way that stimulates the natural/socialised response of a "strong" male to protect what is apparently fragile. An Asian girl may be hard as nails - just like her caucasian counterpart - but her combination of size, smooth skin, slimness, upward glance and childlike voice will make her present as intensely "feminine" in the old damsel in distress fashion, right before she beats the shit out of you on the judo mat. This is especially true, of course, in girls raised within Asian cultures, which emphasise specifically feminine behaviours for women, but is also evident in Asian girls raised in Western traditions.
This is not meant as any kind of derogatory judgement of men, or Asian girls, but an analysis of the artifice of nature. The physical peculiarities of the young Asian female are such that she tends to present to men partly as a little girl - and nothing is more guaranteed to arouse a tender, protective response than a girl-child -- and partly as a flirt, sexually available and challenging but ultimately non-threatening. It's hardly surprising, then, that men are attracted.
You'll note that throughout, I've used the word "girl", rather than "woman". This is because with age, the particular attraction of Asian over other races of women fades fast. When the illusion of childishness disappears, so does the intense aura of femininity, slimness becomes gauntness and tendency to lack curves can often lead to an almost genderless appearance in middle-age and beyond, where other races of women retain a greater level of feminine .
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I had a dream about you, and it was dumb. I told you everything that I wanted to and needed to tell you. It was dumb because only in a dream did I find the courage to confront you for the last time... and even then, you were unable to do any wrong.
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So it's quite an eventfull week. Just want to thank everyone for their calls, visits and wonderful show of love. I truly appreciate it. I'm recovering slowy and will be at 100% soon!
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Wednesday, June 27th, 2007
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"Someone who blames or is weary of their partner cheating, has a high probability of cheating on the partner they are accusing." - FHM
Sooooo true!!! I've seen it happen twice! So weird. I've read this before and it's pretty accurate. I think it's because people who accuse someone of their own insecurities, or blaming someone else for something they would do, lets the other person be the scapgoat, take the blame and then in the end, only divert attention way from themselves....
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Saturday, June 23rd, 2007
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Fueled by many bottles of wine and sophisticated conversation, we derived to the "Uncle-son" gene tree... hahaha.
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Thursday, June 21st, 2007
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Drinks at Mess hall... check
Dinner and a bottle of wine each... check
Drinks at St. James... check
...5 of 7 days so far... not bad... 5 more to go... who knows.
... bb, you so fine... your touch is always so soft and your breath is always sweet... your smile is hypnotic and your parfume is taunting... can't wait to see you again.
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I've been carrying around this guilt and remorse for two years.
I've asked for forgiveness.
I got the "it's ok", which is so arbitrary to me because I can't acheive closure or forgive myself until I hear thoes words themselves.
I think about it often and the thought of the tears that I was responsible to have evoked still kills me.
I was everything and so was she.
But I let her down on what was supossed to be the happiest day of her life.
Feels as though there aren't enough sorries in the world,
but here's one more,
I'm sorry.
... but this time, for so much more
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It's been so long, i don't even know if it works anymore... but we'll find out.
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djkeelo's journal
