stumbling upon the good life – savoring food, discovering wine, and exploring places
From the category archives:
It’s always an adventure ordering food in Asia, even in 5-star hotels
I am in Jakarta at the moment, staying at the posh Ritz Carlton hotel and I just couldn’t resist sharing with you an admittedly mundane but seriously amusing experience I had this morning when ordering room service. [keep reading…]
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Thought I’d share something light and fun with you this weekend. This has been out a while, but it still makes me laugh every single time I think about it. If you’re not a fan of bacon, I bet you will be after you hear this bit about my favorite breakfast (maybe anytime) meat. Bacon jokes start around 2 minutes in 
Paul
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Hey all,
As some of you may be aware, we’ve started putting up some of the funny things we see when traveling out and about in Asia. I was recently looking through my iPhone pictures and realized I had a lot of funny pictures from signs and thought I’d throw a few of them up for your enjoyment 
First off is this one. What is up with this baby???? Is this a bathroom specifically for babies with rickets?
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Anyone who knows me knows how much I love a good joke. At the risk of alienating some readers, I’ll come clean and admit that engrish is one of my favorite types of jokes. Living in Asia I get to witness some pretty epic engrish firsthand, as one might imagine. So from time to time I’m going to throw up a picture or two from random things we see around Asia that make us laugh. Hopefully they’ll make you laugh too.
The first one of these posts is from a food court nearby my culinary school in Singapore. The menu is full of little things that make me laugh… but nothing as much as their fish and chips plating…. now that’s branding!
Being from Texas I particularly appreciate the “Cowboy Meet”. I loved grilling up some “meets” with my friends on a warm summer’s day. I haven’t ordered it yet, but it’s hard to pass up a 12.80 “air flown” ribeye steak. Don’t know if that means imported or if it’s like how “grass-fed” next to the steak means it lived eating grass instead of corn products. Maybe “air flown” means the cows flew around in planes?
The food isn’t “bad” for the money. It’s no match for the wonderful black pepper chicken being served up a couple stalls down, but somehow it does manage to fill my need for crappy western food… think mash up of food served at a sport’s stadium and college stoner food (chicken chop with generic mushroom sauce and covered in cheap Velveeta type cheese). And as I’m the only Ang Mo (white devil) at my school and this food court, I guess this restaurant is for me. Thanks Mr Western for reminding me just how bad our international food reputation really is
Paul
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Hey all,
It can be hard to discover new music in Asia. Radio stations are spastic at best… playing such random gems as “Achy Breaky Heart” followed by “You’re Beautiful” and then a hard-core rap song. Not ideal for those wanting to keep informed of the latest indie darlings. If your musical tastes stray away from Top 40 or club anthems you’ll have to seek music out online. A long trusted source of great & varied music online for me is NPR’s All Songs Considered. Host Bob Boilen (and frequent guests and contributors) cover the important festivals and give great round-ups throughout the year. They’ve just published their listener’s choice and editor’s choice of the year. Check it out after the jump and see how informed you are of the top albums to come out in 2009. [keep reading…]
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Hey All,
For this Epicurean Concept we bring you a dining etiquette tip from Joanna’s days at finishing school. No I’m not playing an epic, online version of The Circle Game. This is a visual clue like making a L with your left hand (if you can’t separate your right and left hands… which shouldn’t still be practiced past age 5 people). With this little trick you can avoid a common table faux pas. [keep reading…]
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Wow, just wow. That’s all I can say about the new campaign for Oscar Meyer branded bacon. I’m not completely sure about the bacon itself as I’d prefer a locally butchered bacon if I were in the states and had my choice… but this well executed ad campaign makes me reconsider mass market bacon.
I love taking food photography… and I have to admit to being slightly jealous here. This is food art at a whole other level. I’d like the art itself without the copy, framed and hung in my house (or at least as a background image on my desktop
Bonus shot after the jump.
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Hey all,
Found this article from Chow.com the other day and was impressed by the sheer originality in some of what’s going on. The list does seem to be pretty USA centric however with the editors struggling to balance the east and west coast. It’d be nice to see not only more middle states represented in future additions, but also some world people as I’m sure there are unique things going on that’ll shape the food industry outside the USA.
Our first annual awards, presenting a baker’s dozen of provocateurs, trendsetters, and rabble-rousers
I particularly like the butcher featured and butcher movement as a whole. I would love to travel pub to pub with a whole hog… butchering it on spot and hosting a good ol fashioned pig up pickin’.
Wonderful illustrations by Nathan Fox, Yuko Shimizu, Frank Stockton, and Eamo!
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I will never forget where I was when I heard the story of the third biggest pumpkin in North Carolina
Great video for the fall holiday season.
Paul
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Thanks to everyone who came for making our second Accidental Epicurean Event a great evening. Also a big thank you to our sponsors for the evening. Suresh and the staff of El Toro Restrobar provided a cool, calm, and casual venue for us…just the right Latin vibe we needed for the night. Chris from PengWines was informative and the wines were wonderful. Anyone who can get their hands on the King from PengWines needs to do so quickly before it runs out, it’s a true stand-out wine. (pics after the jump)
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