Well, that was fast. A little uptick in workload, a few life events (of which I shall elaborate further in an upcoming post), and before you know it an entire season has almost come and gone.

And here I am, several months late with “a good one.” In truth, I’m not sure how to write “a good one” about an experience like dining at the French Laundry. I must confess I have, in fear of doing some injustice, procrastinated to the best of my abilities when it comes to this post. I consider myself a good eater, a decent cook, and a barely competent writer, but—let’s be honest here—any attempt to write intelligently about the work of Thomas Keller and his staff would require a wealth of culinary experience I don’t have. And even that might not be enough to really say anything meaningful.

I’ve said it before: I love a cheesesteak. I’ve certainly eaten my fair share of them, and even posted a recipe that I like to make at home. In fact, it’s probably my favorite junk food.

So I would be remiss if I didn’t stop by the famed Tony Luke’s original south Philly location at some point in my life, no? Well, that point came last week, as we were up that way to visit our friends in the city.

File this one under “only in Japan.”

From this blog, you may know me as a lover of cooking, food, and travel, but you may not know about my other great and true love: video games.

It all started in the 1980s with my dad’s Radio Shack computer, which played a few basic games, and his Intellivision, which was a lesser-known Atari competitor with fairly basic games and terrible graphics. I barely remember those days, but I know I enjoyed playing with those primitive machines, watching the blocks of color moving around and, eventually, learning to control them. I played a lot in the arcades, too… back when arcades actually existed. I’ll never forget the first time I played Super Mario Bros – it was at the local pizza shop (remember when pizza shops always had arcade games?) standing on a milk crate, my father helping me reach the controls.

A quick one… during our Asia trip earlier this year, we returned to Suzuran (our favorite ramen shop in Tokyo) and got this amazing braised pork belly with wide dipping noodles. Just had to post a couple of pics… so good! Ramen is becoming huge in D.C. lately, but I haven’t been out to try any of the new places yet. We will see… I hope it succeeds so that I can eat it more often.

Tsong yo bing (green onion pancakes) at “The Old Place” restaurant with Teresa’s cousin, Tina. It’s things like this that I miss most about Taiwan.

When our Taiwanese cousins asked if we wanted to try spicy hot pot for dinner one night, my answer was predictable: yes, and when are we leaving?

I have a serious love for xiao long bao (pork broth dumplings), and Din Tai Fung is definitely one of the best places to get them. I’ve recently had a special opportunity – visiting the first and original Din Tai Fung location.