Spoon + Chopsticks = Froggetmee

by Justin Glow on

Remember the Chork, that chopsticks-fork fusion utensil we talked about a few months back? Someone was listening to my rant, obviously, because I (half-jokingly) complained that the only reason I don’t use chopsticks is because I can’t shovel food into my mouth fast enough.

Enter the Froggetmee, a chopsticks-spoon hybrid. Now I can use chopsticks when I’m feeling feisty, and flip it around to the spoon side for food-shoveling mode. Perfect! The name need some work, though. How about Spoonsticks?

$8 from shopmodi. [via]

Related: The Chork, and The World’s Most Versatile Travel Chopsticks

A Canadian in Beijing: Lost in the Market and Laughing

by Ember Swift on

With a rickety gate marking one of the main entrances, the market spills out on both sides. There are stalls of all shapes and sizes featuring all kinds of items whose colours cascade down tiered bins and flowing displays. All of the visual action splashes into my senses. The different smells from each stall curl into each other in comfort as we pass through and into the heart of the market.

I am taking it all in.

We are caught in the current of the Sunday shopping crowd and we move slowly through the stalls examining the wide variety of items for sale. I have a moment of feeling like we blend in well (despite the fact that I’m obviously a “waiguoren” or foreigner.) Well, perhaps we don’t exactly blend in considering I look so different and we’re speaking English together, but shopping with David, my Chinese-Canadian friend, makes it a little easier than shopping with a bunch of other non-Chinese folks. People are curious about us but kind and open. Before long, we are having lots of conversations about where we’re from and why we’re here. I don’t see any other foreigners in this market except for us.

Perfect.

Maybe it’s because the market is tucked away in a western Haidian area where tourists rarely go. This is the kind of market that I love the most. It’s slightly dirty with rinds and pits and lychee skins all over the sidewalks from snacking shoppers. There are stalls that look like hovels and/or temporary residences. Kids with dirty faces, bare bottoms and round open eyes are playing with dried nuts from a dried food stand. Vendors are taking naps everywhere in the thirty-two degree heat. (In fact, is there something about garlic that makes people sleepy?!)

Strung everywhere are tarps for shade. Because they are strung up by the individual stalls, they are all different colours as though we’re at a summer campsite where space is extremely limited forcing all the tents to intertwine. Some of these tarps hang a bit low and graze the tops of our heads as we pass. Sometimes we even need to duck.

David complained about the dangling ropes from the tarps reminding him of dangling spiders and I stopped to consider such an image before photographing the offending twine. These ties sometimes catch your head as you pass and if you haven’t noticed them, then it is a slightly creepy feeling, I agreed. Although I’m not arachnophobic, I probably wouldn’t appreciate a bunch of spiders in my hair! We steered around them after that, laughing each time.

Dave and I first discovered this market on the way to The Summer Palace a few weeks ago. At that time, we glanced in at the entrance but couldn’t tell what kind of market it was but agreed to return and investigate. Besides, we were headed for history. Today, we were on a market mission.

Mission successful. This is my favourite marketplace so far.

In this market (whose name I still don’t know), there are fruits and vegetables, breads, steamed buns, oils and nut butters, meat, fish, household supplies, clothing, tea, dried foods of all kinds, antiques, you name it. In fact, I couldn’t quite identify this market as anything but a “general market” if I tried. I could buy lingerie, hoses, brooms, tea, jewelry, fruit and fresh bread while also stocking up on my plumbing supplies if I so desired! It’s amazing.

Row after row of stalls kept making our bags heavier as we purchased dried foods to send home, mangosteens, lychees, and this nut butter that is sort of a combination between peanut butter and tahini. The one cloth shopping bag I brought wasn’t enough for our spontaneous purchases that were now spilling out of additional plastic bags.

Then, we found ourselves at a teashop.

I have been into tea this week, as you know, and I had already bought some chrysanthemum flowers for tea at a different stall – a flavour I truly love here and haven’t seen back home in its raw state. But, the woman at this tea stall was extremely warm and gracious. She spoke Chinese clearly and slowly and we soon found ourselves seated on stools inside the shop and accepting her offer to let us sample various kinds of teas.

She started with a type of tea that looks like a ball. When put into the water, it opened up into the flower that it is and is extremely beautiful. She said that one cup of this tea in a local downtown restaurant or tea house (like the one I went to this week) is about 160 kuai (very expensive by Chinese standards) and Dave confirmed her story. She made one cup of this tea for us and it was a beautiful flavour to top off the beautiful presentation. I watched it opening like a little kid staring into an aquarium. After tasting it too, I knew I had to have a few of these incredible bulbs to bring home for a special (tea) occasion! 40 kuai got me about 8 of them… and that’s pricey but sure beats the cost of tea in the tourist districts.

Of course, that was not all. She began to make us another pot of tea and each time heated the water perfectly, warmed the cups, measured the tea with precision and handled all of the tea tools like the pro that she was. A cup of “pu-er” tea was next on the list and we sipped and exclaimed as she described the properties and why this tea was good for you and when to drink it, etc.

An hour later, we were still in this little tea stall and we had sampled about ten different flavours of tea and had become quite chummy with the shopkeeper and several other customers. She would have kept pouring, too, had I not felt suddenly that we should buy our many items and get heading back home. In fact, I’m not sure the tea would have stopped flowing had we not stood up to leave, protesting yet another flavour she was pulling from the shelf. I laughed out loud at the feeling like I was going to float away!

We all laughed.

Dave bought a lot. In fact, he is the perfect guy to shop with because he is easily convinced to buy more when it’s cheaper to do so and vendors love him! He came away with several different flavours of tea as well as some “feng mi” or honey. (The honey here has a different flavour – it’s sweeter!) I also bought two metal travel mugs for a mere twenty-five kuai each (around $3 Canadian) that come with a built-in infuser. Those will be a welcome addition to our travelling supplies.

We left the stall in great spirits and with bellies sloshing, filled with tea of all kinds. I wondered if all of those medicinal properties combined together would cancel each other out, but if our moods were any indication of tea’s effects then I’d say that it’s all positive!

Losing oneself in a tea stall nestled deep in an authentic Chinese market in an outer district of Beijing feels like a luxurious weekend pastime. I smiled at my life. “Look at me!” I thought, “I’ve tucked myself into this corner of Beijing and it is just my size.”

Then, I popped a lychee into my mouth and let the sweetness roll around in my smile.

Festival of the Great Unknowns

by Jamie Rhein on

Here’s a music festival to add to your list of things to do immediately, as in tomorrow. Or, if you can’t swing that, keep it in mind for next year. It sort of fits between the Gadling’s unusual festivals of the World or the Massively Huge Summer Music Fest Round-up. I just heard about it myself, and if it weren’t for the Midwest, Oklahoma and Texas being so darned big, I’d hop in my car and head there myself.

If you’re in New Mexico and head to Albuquerque, I can guarantee you a great time at the Festival of the Great Unknowns. First, Deryle Perryman, one of the guys who is putting it on, is a true traveling spirit who inspires others to reach their own lofty goals-both figuratively and literally.

About 15 years ago, he and his wife Chris cashed in everything they had and hocked themselves to the hilt to start the Cornstalk Institute. Basically, it’s an alternative education center that celebrates the richness of the heritage of New Mexico, particularly the South Valley where it is located. It’s situated next to an arroyo that’s fed by the Rio Grande River and a place worth stopping by if you’re ever in town. The institute is not a classroom-centered place but one that incorporates outdoor adventure and traditional Native American-style gardening and story-telling. A high ropes course edges the apple orchard and an horno, a mud oven for baking and a teepee add to the ambiance. There is always something interesting going on, and I’m always delighted to hear what new thing Deryle is up to. Tomorrow is a case in point. Darn, I wish I could be there.

All day from 11 A.M. to midnight, the focus is musical folks who ought to be more famous. Yep, that sounds like Deryle. Here’s the line-up. I’ve linked the Web sites I could find, so, if you can’t catch them tomorrow, you’ll know where to find them in your own travels.

The musicians are from across the United States: Jeffrey Richards & the Bright Carvers, Cole Mitchell, the Ditch Dawgs and Daddy Long Loin; Greyhound Soul of Tucson, Arizona; Ken Valdez of Santa Fe; Rick Fowler of Red River; Jim Almand of Madrid; Emory Joseph of New York City; Karen Gruber and David Walton of Muscle Shoals, Alabama; Scott Chard of Edmond, Oklahoma; and Los Amigos del Valle of Valle de Sur in New Mexico.

Besides the music there will be food booths. If there are Navajo tacos, I’d order one. Basically, it’s a piece fry bread with taco fixin’s piled on top. The photo, as if you can’t tell, is a Navajo taco. Once you cross the New Mexico border, keep your eyes open. If you see a sign that says, “Navajo tacos,” pull over.

The festival is a spin-off of a documentary on Eddie Hinton that Deryle created, along with neighbor Moisés Gonzalez. The documentary, Dangerous Highway, highlights the life and work of Hinton, another unknown great who played with Elvis, Otis Redding and others. Deryle and Moisés decided that Hinton needs to be known and currently their idea is happening since the documentary is now on the film festival circuit and receiving positive feedback. (Here’s a post on the blog, Alabama Ass Whuppin’ that gives a rundown of the film. The photo is of Deryle and Moisés from the blog.)

The festival is a way to combine Derlye’s passion for music, Cornstalk and fun. If you happen to go, you could win Maybelline, a 1959 Pontiac Catalina, and a Stratocaster guitar signed by Eric Clapton and Robert Cray.

The festival pass is $30 for one person or $25 for two. You can also get tickets at Natural Sound or Bookworks or email cornstalkinstitute@yahoo.com.

Alaska without the Cruise Ship Part 15: Eating Well in Skagway

by Neil Woodburn on

Alaska without the Cruise Ship is a 17-part series exploring the ease and advantages of touring Alaska on your own steam and at your own speed.

Since Skagway is at the dead-end of a fjord, fishing is not a major industry here and, as a result, seafood is not as plentiful in local restaurants as it is throughout most of coastal Alaska.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t any good places to eat in Skagway, however.

This small town of merely 800 people has an array of surprisingly diverse eateries. And, let’s face it, after a week of eating salmon or halibut every day, it was nice to mix it up a little with some cuisine that wasn’t pulled from the ocean.

Olivia’s at the Skagway Inn
My favorite restaurant in Skagway is Olivia’s at the historic Skagway Inn. Like so many other buildings left over from the gold rush days, the 1897 Skagway Inn was initially built as a brothel. Today, this Victorian style treasure has been beautifully restored as a bed & breakfast and is proudly included on the National Register of Historic Places.

Just outside the inn is a wonderful little garden. Skagway is known as the “Garden City of Alaska” and local residents take great pride in growing their own food–as does Olivia’s. The Skagway Inn garden is the first stop of the restaurant’s Garden Gourmet tour. This is where we met Chef Wendell. With wicker basket under arm, he walked us through the garden picking lettuce, chives, rosemary, thyme, and even some edible flowers which I had no idea one could actually eat. We then followed him into the restaurant where the greens we just picked were transformed into a Garden City Salad topped with a savory homemade Shallot Garlic Vinaigrette.

The thyme and rosemary were saved for a cooking demonstration within the dining room itself–a classy, white-table cloth interior that was both charming and sophisticated. This is where Wendell lit up a small burner and walked us through the entire process of making Creamy Halibut Chowder–nearly the only seafood I would end up eating in Skagway. And what chowder it was! Wendell combined the thyme and rosemary with heavy cream, sweet Marsala wine, garlic, red bell pepper, halibut chunks, and a few other spices and vegetables to create a true delight. The chowder, which Wendell served right off the burner and onto our table, was unbelievably fresh, with individual flavors that popped and tingled and teased the tongue with its delicious creaminess. I’ve never been much of a chowder fan, but this chowder was outstanding.

The rest of the meal, like most restaurant meals, came through the kitchen door carried by a waitress. I was surprised to discover that Olivia’s specialty was tapas. These Spanish treats had made it all the way to Alaska where Chef Wendell treated them with the same culinary affection as he had lavished on our chowder. The tapas were a wild assortment of fish, meat, and vegetable and were all very delicious. Dessert was a return to the garden where stalks of rhubarb were magically transformed into a tasty Rhubarb Crisp.

Starfire
Just as I hadn’t expected to find tapas in Skagway, I also didn’t expect to find a Thai restaurant. More truthfully, I hadn’t expected to find a good Thai restaurant.

On my last night, after my friends had flown home, one of the locals I met recommended Starfire on 4th and Spring (no website). I certainly had my reservations. Having previously spent a few months in Thailand, I have a very high standard for Thai food and only expected to be disappointed.

The menu featured the regular assortment of egg rolls, pad Thai, and curries. I opted for some Prik Pao: rockfish topped with tomatoes, bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, basil, tamarind, and fresh chilies.

The menu ranked the spiciness of a dish with 1-5 stars. Prik Pao only had three. The waiter, however, was concerned that it might be too hot and warned me about the spiciness. I almost laughed. Not only have I eaten traditional food in Thailand, but I live in Los Angeles where I regularly consume spicy Mexican food. Some Alaskan chef masquerading as a Thai cook wasn’t about to prepare anything too hot for my palate!

Man, was I wrong.

That Prik Pao packs an unbelievable punch, one that literally made my forehead bead with sweat. Two beers and one glass of water later, I was happy to head outside into the cool air and return my body back to its normal temperature.

Heat aside, the Prik Pao and its mélange of flavors was shockingly excellent. I’d recommend asking the cook to tone it down a bit, however, unless you plan on melting the rest of Alaska’s glaciers.

Red Onion
Like the Skagway Inn, the Red Onion is also a brothel-turned-restaurant. The Red Onion, however, is far more casual than the Skagway Inn and is, in fact, more of a saloon than a restuarant.

As a result, the food here is mostly of the bar type. Pizzas and sandwiches dominate the menu with a couple of salads thrown in for the healthy-minded. Appetizers included chips & salsa, nachos, hummus, and chicken wings. And, shockingly, there is not a single fish entrée on the menu!

The food is satisfying but seems secondary to the drinking. One comes here for the atmosphere of a wood-floored 19th century saloon that has seen its share of mankind over the last 100 years. The best way to enjoy it is hunched over a beer. When hunger strikes, however, the bar food is a nice fulfilling accompaniment and has the added bonus of being cheap. My three-cheese pizza ($9) was greasy in a drinking-friendly sort of way and was the perfect afternoon meal after tromping through the woods of Skagway.

Dejon Delights
This is not a restaurant but rather a tiny little shack on 5th Avenue where the fishermen of nearby Haines sell their smoked goods. Had a local not recommended it, I would never have poked my head into the small storefront which was just large enough for two refrigerated cases, a couple of shelves, and a counter.

Behind the counter sat a hirsute fisherman with a long gray beard and that old weathered look that only a person who has spent far too long on a boat can achieve. As if to add to this cliché, he was actually whittling when I walked in.

Dejon Delights specializes in fish which are cured, smoked, and packaged for the long flight home. I figured I should pick some up for friends and did so out of that sense of gift-giving obligation that strikes all travelers. The next time I return to Skagway, however, buying more fish will be a top priority. It was delicious. I bought a package of smoked salmon and one of smoked halibut and when I returned home and threw an Alaska slide show party, both were wolfed down almost immediately. The salmon was wonderfully smooth, smoky, and robust. But the halibut was the real crowd-pleaser. I has never tasted smoked halibut before; It was a little tougher than I expected but the smoky flavor was infused throughout the fish, imparting subtle tones of alder wood and brine.

Thankfully, I can now get my fix without actually having to travel all the way to Alaska. Dejon Delights delivers. It’s not cheap, but I’m thinking of trying out their “Ultimate Delight” This Red King Salmon cured with “herbs and spices and slowly cold-smoked over a blend of Alaskan cottonwood and birch” sounds sublime.

If you’d like to get a taste of it yourself, click here.

Glacier Smoothies
This little nook on 3rd Avenue is a simple, homey, wood-lined café serving up local Ravens Brew Coffee (from Ketchikan) and an assortment of tasty food. The breakfast menu is bagels and muffins, but the lunch menu includes some rather good and reasonably priced sandwiches in the $6 range. And, of course, there is a nice selection of refreshing smoothies.

Glacier Smoothies is the spot I gravitated towards any time I needed a short rest from exploring Skagway. I’d order some decaf, a slice of extremely rich Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie, and kick back with my journal or a book. Locals came and went and everyone seemed to know each other. As if this café couldn’t get any better, they also play an online radio station that is just so very perfect for the place, a mellow fusion of indie music that so perfectly encapsulated the down-to-earth atmosphere of Skagway. I loved it!

Yesterday: Touring the Glaciers of Skagway by Helicopter
Tomorrow: The Crazy Nightlife of Skagway Tomorrow

What the World Eats

by Willy Volk on

When I lived in Zambia, my neighbors frequently asked what the “staple food” in the US is. Considering their diet is based almost exclusively on one food (maize), they assumed Americans ate one thing at virtually every meal.

Initially, I explained that Americans eat a lot of corn, vegetables, meats, and dairy, but for a quick answer, I usually said, “potatoes.” This answer was convenient: it was short; they knew what potatoes were; and it didn’t make me appear especially privileged.

Of course, people eat lots of different kinds of food. Time is running an excellent photo essay called What the World Eats — excerpted from one of our favorite books, Hungry Planet — that profiles 16 different families; how much they spend each week on groceries; and detailing their favorite foods. This family in Chad survives on $1.23 a week; meanwhile, the German family spends upwards of $500 per week on food!

Sadly, after seeing the American family’s groceries, versus those of, say, the Sicilian family, it’s no wonder we’re a nation of overweight people. Where’s my banana?

[Via Vagabondish]