Shopping in Yangon

It’s hard not to shop a bit in Myanmar as the country and its people were known for centuries the arts and crafts works, most of them still made purely by hand with traditional methods carrying on from generation to generation. The first stop of my shopping spree was at Bogyoke Aung San Market, one of the major indoor bazaar in central Yangon and one that everyone should not miss if they only had time to shop at just one place.

Taichung Street Food Part 2: Markets Day and Night

"The Sixth Market" in Taichung is a farmer's market/food hall located inside an upscale shopping mall in the city center - so named because the other public food markets in Taichung was named by the number system from first to fifth.

Touring Middle East 9: Walking Around the Local Market

It's unfortunate that we didn't spend quite enough time to explore the modern side of Jerusalem, as one can never see the full picture of this town so steep in history just by looking at century-old buildings and artifacts in the Old City and other religious sites in the proximity. We tried to spend as much free time as we could exploring on our own, but we probably hardly scratched the surface in such a short period of time.

Feb-ulous Kyoto: Cooking at Our Temporary Home

One of the main reasons of renting a house rather than staying in a hotel was to have the opportunity to spend more time eating in rather than dining out all the time during our quick weekend getaway in Kyoto. I am always fascinated at the variety and quality of food ingredients found in the area, so I thought it will be interesting to actually cook with whatever I came across in the market at the time of our visit.

Weekend Pottery Bazaar

For all ceramics lovers, the weekend creative bazaar organized by The Pottery Workshop (樂天陶社) Jingdezhen should be on their must-do list if they happened to be in town. The organization Pottery Workshop is relatively well-known in Hong Kong, having set up their old workshop facilities at The Fringe Club in Central in 1980s before moving to their new site on Hollywood Road just last year.

50 Hours in Tokyo: Aoyama's Farmers Market

Going to the farmers market gotta be one of my favorite things to do whilst visiting a city. To me that's my way of "feeling the vibe" of local culture or catching a glimpse of people's daily lives by observing what they shop for food.

Top Morning Market? What?

One place we sorta regret of making a detour for was the Yobuko Morning Market (呼子の朝市) at the northern tip of Saga Prefecture. According to the guidebook, it's one of the "Top 3 Morning Markets" in Japan with street vendors lining up the entire block selling seafood and other fresh or prepared food produce, with many literally just unloaded off the fishing boat onto the dork at the port every morning. So we decided to take a look before we head down to Arita in the south.

Early Morning at L'altro

A few Saturdays ago I was at the Italian restaurant L'altro in Central again to check out the new seasonal dishes by Chef Mauro. He also wanted to do a few bespoke dishes for us using seasonal ingredients, so we began early in the morning on a "field trip" to Graham Street Market, one of the oldest market in town and only a block away from the restaurant.

Early Morning at Tsukiji Fish Market

A couple months ago just as I was planning my itinerary for the multiple trips to multiple destination, I suddenly realized it's been a long while since I went to Tsukiji Fish Market and that this might be the last chance to go before the market's moved further away from the city some time next year. So I tweaked my itinerary a little bit by adding an additional stop in Tokyo at the end of my second Japan journey.

Exploring Local Markets (Part 2: Paris and Milan)

(Continued from the previous post)

Shopping in Paris. Okay, I know what you are thinking. Yes we did spent some quality time at Galleries Lafayette and Printemps, fighting shoulder to shoulder with fellow Asian shoppers parading through the department stores with their bags and luggage during the sale season, but what I wanted to say was another kind of shopping - buying cookware and food.

Exploring Local Markets (Part 1: Kyoto and London)

For us, part of the fun when traveling was to check out the local markets and explore the different ingredients available in different countries. Through that you learned so much more about their cuisine and culture and had a glimpse of the lives of the locals, so much more than going through museums or eating at the finest restaurants.

This time we didn't spend enough time in each place to really settle and cook, still we had a good time walking through aisles, going around stalls by stalls, admiring the fresh produce offered, and in some case, buying some and carrying them home whichever possible.

Let's start with our first two stops, with 2 iconic markets which serve locals for their daily grocery shopping needs, and tourists for their sightseeing experience.

Seafood Barbecue in Hachinohe

After leaving the onsen resort of Hoshino Aomori-ya, we made a pit stop at Hachinohe, the second largest city of Aomori Prefecture, before continuing our journey south to Morioka. Specifically we dropped by a local market called Hasshoku Center for a casual seafood lunch.

Making your own Nokke-don

After spending the night in the town of Aomori, we decided to walk over to Furukawa Market just a block away from our hotel for an early breakfast. The Furukawa Market (古川市場), officially known as Aomori Gyosai Center (青森魚菜センター), is where locals shop for fresh produce (Gyosai means fish and vegetables) with rows of stalls selling mostly seafood but also shops selling other grocery products. In addition, working like a co-operative, they also offered something called "Nokke-don"(のっけ丼) for people who want to "dine in".

Open-Air Market in Milan

Scrolling in the local markets has always been our favorite thing to do whilst travelling to a foreign country. You can't find a better spot to feel the pulse and dynamics of the town then taking a look at where locals shop for food and other daily necessities, plus I am always curious of what kind of food they buy and eat.

Easy Summer Recipe Part 4 - "Green Monday" Salad

Since late last year, I have been working with the social enterprise Green Monday team to develop a few vegetarian recipes for a project that they do with The Link REIT, which managed several wet markets in Hong Kong in their real estate portfolio. Beginning in January, those recipes were printed as colorful leaflets and be distributed at the markets on a weekly basis throughout the year as a way to promote green living and inventive cooking. 

Culture Walk - Yaumatei

I played tourist for one Saturday morning and signed up for the Culture Walk event down the memory lane in the old Yaumatei. This was part of Hong Kong Arts Festival program and during this 2 hour walking tour, the curator gave us - a group of around 10 - a brief introduction of Cantonese opera development in Hong Kong through various spots around the legendary Yaumatei neighborhood.

Cooking at home: Candied Kumquats

I found these beautiful kumquats in a farmers' market recently and thought they are perfect for my spring cooking projects. Kumquats are one of the few citrus fruits that you can eat as a whole, with their thin skins on. The slightly bitter zest combined with sweet, juicy flesh created this unique, complex tangy taste that are good on its own, or along side with other food, in savory dishes or desserts.