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Dear
Food Lover |
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| Globetrotters
Morrison and Robert returned from a blustery holiday in America's verdant Pacific Northwest, missing a white Christmas, but seeing in the New Year's biggest snowstorm
since 1996. (By contrast, Sydney's Christmas temperature reached
106F/41C!) Our special highlight was a quick jaunt to the Oregon Coast
-- a restful respite in glory for these sometimes-jaded jetsetters.
Overseas, British Columbia gets most of the travel press, but as foreign
currencies continue to climb, Oregon and Washington states are destined
to attract more attention abroad. Read our Northwest coastal
travel primer below, including oysters, smoked salmon, dungeness crab
and more... |
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Speaking
of exchange rates, Asian currencies continue to hold par to
the US dollar - making this part of the world a true bargain
for Americans squirming over the cost of European destinations.
(And making Asia even cheaper for Canadians and Europeans!)
Consequently, we've been able to hold firm prices on
our next Food Lovers' Tour to Regional Vietnam, starting
on 28 March. CLICK
HERE |
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There is still space open, but final cut-off
is in early February. The only criterion to join is a love of
food, as it's geared for both for the food pro and novice alike.
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| We
begin four nights at the sumptuous Metropole Hotel and Hanoi's grande
dowager with a rich, colonial pedigree. Executive chef Didier Corlou
and sous chef Nguyen Thanh Van contributed to Robert's latest book,
Vietnamese Home Cooking,
and we are consequently delighted to include special market tours
and cooking demos with them deep in the bowels of the hotel kitchens.
Among our other activities are a pho noodle soup "crawl"
among the alleyways of old town. There is no better way to decipher
the best unless you compare. In the charming 17th century fishing
village of Hoi An in central Vietnam we visit a factory producing
delectable "white roses" noodles, deliciously stuffed with
ground pork; and in the former capital of Saigon, now known as Ho
Chi Minh City, find out why its cooking conjures the old rhyme "sugar
and spice and everything nice." Vietnam is a long country with
distinct geographical regions -- but the outside world knows only
the cooking of the south's diaspora. You will be amazed at the regional
differences. READ
OUR DAY-BY-DAY ITINERARY HERE |
| Oysters
are invariably best in the cold months.
So while visiting America's Pacific Northwest, we wallowed in
coastal estuary oysters, corn-flouring them in polenta and topping
with cole slaw to make the world's best po' boy sandwich. We
spike ours with hot English mustard, and its hybrid cabbage
remoulade never tasted finer. Recipe
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| Tiny
Olympia points, which are native to the region, now compete against
trendy small Kumamoto oysters. Because Kumamotos are notoriously lethargic
growers, harvesters take a different tack, cultivating them before
fully grown, making them thrifty competition to Washington native
Olympias. More about oysters
If you're having trouble shucking oysters, try microwaving them for
a few seconds prior to prying with a knife. The trick is to get the
shell to loosen, but not heat the meat. Purists will rebel, no doubt!
We also hear the French have patented a "pull tab" oyster,
but its encountering consumer price resistance. It consists of a plastic
tab connected to a wire loop threaded around the oyster's adductor
muscle. When pulled, the noose slices the muscle, and the shell loosens. |
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Globetrotting
along the Oregon Coast took us from the magical ocean sand dunes
of Florence and nearby Honeyman park, up through the "20 Miracle
Miles" of Lincoln City where we chanced upon Barnacle Bill's.
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| Little
more than an open shed on the side of Highway 101, their alder-smoked
salmon is divided by body section: from head, to back and ribs,
and finally tail section. The tail is the driest, the head and
back medium, and ribs moist. For our NW Coastal Primer plus
more about smoked salmon CLICK
HERE. Indian folklore holds that the tail is best,
but that's probably because of its paucity of bones. Oregon
coast shrimp proved uniformly disappointing this winter - mushy,
badly shelled and almost tasteless. No wonder many coastal restaurants
were adding it free as a salad garnish. But our perennial favorite
is dungeness crab. Freshly cracked, its meat is sweet with a
slight tang, ranking as some of the best crab in the world.
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| En
route to the States, we did quick stints in Singapore -- ever delighting
in its incongruous Christmas decorations, with visions of icicles
and snowmen smack on the Equator in monsoon season. The shopping mecca
of Orchard Road even hosted artificial snow flurries each evening!
Robert's Christmas menu with an Asian slant was featured this year
in the daily Business Times newspaper there. Afterwards, the two Globetrotting
Gourmets headed north to Bangkok and Thailand's remote Isan region
bordering Laos and Cambodia. Isan is famed as Thailand's finest silk
weaving centre, but also for some of the kingdom's best food -- from
delicious grilled gai yang chicken, to green papaya salad, and sticky
rice -- which we like to serve as a dessert, swimming in sweet coconut
milk with fresh mango slices. Recipes for all these can be found in
Robert's book Thai
Home Cooking available through Amazon. |
| When
visiting Bangkok, one of the Must Sees is a trip to
the Vertigo Restaurant and Bar, on the open air 61st floor of
the Banyon Tree Hotel. Can't imagine this being legal
anywhere else in the world, as the handrails come only mid-height.
Definitely no wheelchair access, as the final three levels are
within reach only by stair. As they say in Michelin, "worth
a detour." |
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| While
in Isan, Robert and Morrison scored a coup -- securing space at the
renowned Surin elephant roundup! To use an appropriate
cliché, there are more elephants here than you can shake a
stick at -- and as there are more elephants in Thailand than in the
entire Indian subcontinent, that is a lot of sticks. Like eels heading
to the Saragosa sea, each year the kingdom's mahouts herd their pachyderms
to a remote corner of Isan for their version of a rodeo. Being off
the beaten path, so to speak (and our own description of Globetrottng
Gourmet® FoodTOURS!), there are few reputable hotels in the Surin-Buri
Ram area. But we found the best!!! We are taking provisional reservations
now for this popular post-tour extension of our Feasts & Festivities tour, 5-19 November. Dates for the optional extension to the
Surin round up are 19-22 Nov, continuing directly from our Feasts &
Festivities program. SIGN
UP here to be kept abreast of this unique tour. Although final
pricing for our November tours are still to be finalized, pre-registering
now assures you information on any special promotions. We
proudly donate a portion of our proceeds to Community Aid Abroad,
preserving traditional farming methods, as well as protecting the
endangered giant catfish of the Mekong. |
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November 5-19 dates for
Feasts & Festivities are organised around regional
cultural events during this time of the year. It coincides with
the Phimai Festival -- a local fair plus sound and light extravaganza
set amidst 1000-year old Khmer ruins, held around the second
weekend of November, while the elephant Surin round-up is the
third weekend. Conveniently, our tours finish in time for you
to be home for the American holidays. But if extending optional
travel to this year's lantern festival of Loi Krathong on 26
November, you can still return over the relatively quiet
post-Thanksgiving Saturday, as you gain a day crossing the International
Date Line. |
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Reading
this month's Travel & Leisure magazine, we were
reminded that Air New Zealand's Los Angeles to Auckland flight is
ranked one of the world's longest at 13 hours. However, it's beaten
by Qantas' LA to Sydney and Melbourne flights, also serviced by
United Airlines. But if you are planning on joining us on an upcoming
food tour to Asia, a new benchmark in the world of aviation begins
this February. Singapore Airlines record-breaking non-stop travel
between Los Angles and the city state takes 16 hours travelling
East and 18 1/2 hours back (due to adverse tradewinds). This will
be the world's longest commercial flight, and although it makes
for a lengthy haul, it saves both time and the hassles of
offloading and reboarding in Japan, Korea or Taiwan. The airline
is likewise due to introduce non-stop Singapore to New York service
over the arctic polar in August, 18 hours in all each way. These
flights have only two classes: business and an upgraded economy
class with extra leg room. Singapore Air is one of the best carriers
in the world, and its modern airport hub makes a convenient hub
to Southeast Asian destinations. |
| Coinciding
with the world's ubiquitous acclaim for Lord of the Rings,
we stopped in Middle Earth, New Zealand to take in a local sheep
shearing competition at Coalgate Tavern, about an hour
from Christchurch on the foothills of the Southern Alps. Expert
shearers do the job in under 40 seconds, which is a feat to
see, complete with struggling lambs wedged firmly between legs.
(We can now appreciate all the jokes about nervous NZ sheep!)
Older hoggets (1-2 years) and mutton (3 years old) take slightly
longer. In a country where sheep outnumber humans some 60 to
1, this is the place to stock up on woollens, and especially
for great affordable chops. Top of the range farmers there focus
on premium Texel breed, which today dominates the lamb supply
in England. Texels originally came from a Dutch island of the
same name, notorious for its selenium-poor soil but similar
to New Zealand's own dirt. These animals are slightly meatier
in the legs, tighter grained, and leaner. (Which means it tastes
and smells less distinctly of lamb.) |
| On
a side note, a local farmer explained to us that female sheep
taste better than rams. Contradictorily, most of the meat sold
is male. That's because only one ram but many ewes are needed
for breeding. Lucky farmers save the spare female sheep for
cooking at home. |
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| On
the press front, read Robert's Christmas menu with a real
difference in Singapore's Business Times newspaper.
The brief was to design a Thai/Vietnamese-inspired holiday spread.
Surprisingly,
menu flavors of Southeast Asian foods translate well for winter
dining, short of seasonality restrictions of some herbs and fruits. Business Times article/recipes
Also: The year-end edition of Washington's Post-Record
newspaper ran a front-page article on Robert, and his book "Fondue"
was featured in the Holiday edition of Sur La Table catalog.
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| On
the food styling front, Robert spent weeks in New York working with
acclaimed photographer Sang An to create new packaging for Uncle Ben's
rice. Korean-born Sang shoots natural-light settings from a
sky-lit studio facing the Hudson river. No small feat, considering
New York's short and notoriously inclement winter days. As well, Robert
and Morrison styled the company's latest two television campaigns.
Robert now hosts his own food styling website, complete with
show reel, CV and portfolio. Click
here
Morrison's tassel and trimmings are accessible at www.passementeries.com |
| Finally,
Chinese New Year falls on 22 January. As it's date is determined
by the lunar calendar, the day varies each year. This week will
be especially busy for those returning home to families, cleaning
out the old for the new, shopping and cooking. The holiday period
culminates this year with a family eve feast, followed by rest on Thursday. To all our Asian friends, have a great Year
of the Monkey. Or in Vietnamese: chuc mung nam moi; Cantonese: kong
hee faat choy; and Mandarin: gong xi fa cai. |
Happy
New Year,
Robert and Morrison |
| NOTE:
For those joining us in March on our Globetrotting Gourmet® Vietnam
regional food lovers' tour, please arrange your Vietnam visas NOW
from your local consulate or embassy. Vietnam visas must be obtained
in advance, and are not available upon arrival. Bangkok, Singapore,
Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur (in that order) are the most convenient
Asian hubs for travel onward, and visas are not generally required
for short stays in any of these countries. Visas to Cambodia may be
obtained at arrival in the airport. If you visit Cambodia after our
tour, Bangkok is the best hub. |
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