travelingbytastebuds

[travelingbytastebuds]

PALESTINE Bawadi Mediterranean Grill and Sweets Cafe (6304 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22044) Bawadi is one of my favorite restaurants in NOVA (Northern Virginia for those who don't know). I was there before for Jordanian mansaf, though it has a much varied menu with a plethora of dishes coming from all over the Middle East. I was so glad to see that it was still around after the pandemic started to die down, and in fact I think it was slightly improved because when I got there I saw all the tents they set out in the front of the parking lot. They made the whole place look like a silk road marketplace-- these were really nice tents not just make-do uncomfortable huts, I really wish I had taken photos of the colorful fabrics, the giant floor pillows and the hookah set ups out there under the stars, but it seemed weird to take photos of other people eating so I controlled myself. I had to eat inside since all the tents were taken up (probably because they were such pretty and unique cabanas). But I was able to get a table inside to try some Palestinian Qidra-- this delightfully melt in your mouth lamb, rice and chickpeas, served with yogurt and cucumber salad. I love my Middle Eastern lamb dishes and this one so tender, incredibly soft and made my eyes roll back in my head as I made little happy noises. My mother used to LOVE lobster and she would make this involuntary 'mmmm-MMMM-mmmmmmmmm' noise when she slurped down her lobster... and I realized I was her daughter then and there when the same sound came from me while eating this thing. I just love this place and I'm so glad they got creative with their seating so that they could make it through this really rough year for the restaurant industry. I am definitely going to go back and work through the rest of their menu in the coming months!

#middle eastern #middle eastern food #bawadi #northern virginia #nova #virginia #palestine #palestinians #Palestinian #qidra #lamb #rice dish

[travelingbytastebuds]

CABO VERDE WHERE: Cantinho Bar & Grill (82 Pawtucket Ave, Pawtucket, RI 02860) Rhode Island is such a strange place. My dad always had car trouble in Providence when we went to Maine when I was a kid, almost like it was some New England version of the Bermuda Triangle.  Pawtucket, a northern suburb of Providence I drove through on my summer vacation is very run down and reminds me of a rustic broken down mountain town, there's a casino, and then there are really large lake parks. That is what Rhode Island is to me now. And I really can't synthesize all of that together somehow. It's like it shouldn't exist. Oh, and family Guy took place there. And somehow they call it a state. Despite it not being an island too. It just doesn't know what it is. It's so weird! There are large groups of Cabo Verde immigrants, including no less than three Cabo Verde restaurants-- it might be the only city in the entire United States with any authentic Cabo Verde food. Maybe the Cabo Verdean islanders got confused by its name and wanted to move across the Atlantic to another island. I stopped by Cantinho, a tiny little restaurant with a large enough selection of food. It was the only one of the three that was open on Sunday. I got the pastel de bacalhau (cod fish cakes inspired by their Portuguese roots), pastel de milho (corn cake much like the cod fish cakes), and pastel de atum (again, another fried cake full of warm fish-- this type tuna). They were all the basic fritters, tasting of the seafood that is plentiful around their archipelago and also of corn. Nice fried pockets of goodness. Then for desert, I tried the most ungodly concoction called Doce Papaia com Queijo which is roughly translated into "Papaya in heavy syrup with cheese". Also known as WHYYYYY would you do this to food?! It's syrupy and sticky and cheese and fruit... it was the only thing that I ever ate on my Traveling By Tastebuds adventures that I had to spit out immediately after biting into it. Maybe those weirdoes who put cheddar cheese on their apple pie would understand it, but I just couldn't understand why anyone would inflict that on themselves. Maybe I should just chalk it up to the weirdness of Rhode Island. I drank it all down with the Portuguese SUMOL passion fruit drink, again highly influenced by Cabo Verde's Portuguese colonization-- this drink is still very much enjoyed in Cabo Verde, and I have to say it was probably my favorite part of the whole meal. I decided to make a picnic of it out on the lake of Lincoln Woods State Park that Sunday afternoon. It might not be the sandy beaches and crystal clear Atlantic waters of Cabo Verde, but it was a close second.

#cabo verde #cape verde #portugal #portugese #traveling by tastebuds #travel #ethnic food #african #africa #island #seafood #fried food #rhode island #providence #pawtucket

[travelingbytastebuds]

ROMANIA WHERE: European Taste (10604 Patterson Ave, Richmond, VA 23238) First of all, I want to apologize for this review. European Taste, another Balkan restaurant on the outskirts of Richmond, gets RAVE reviews on Google. 189 reviews at a 4.8 leads me to believe that I may have just gone on a bad day or something... The owners also donate meals to hospitals around here all the time and really give back to the community, so I hang my head in shame of my actual opinion of my meal that day. Again, maybe I went on a bad day. Romanian is the home of Transylvania, but during this trip I was left wondering if Borat was from this little restaurant (nope, he's from Kazakhstan after checking, though the movie itself was filmed in Romania). It was pretty cramped in there with some old furniture and menus, kinda reminded me of those tiny Chinese food places. There were some guys sprawled on the floor trying to fix the coke machine (though, I mean, they're probably not there ALL the time and if the soda machine is broke somebody's gotta fix it) that I had to step over in order to get inside. A tiny Romanian flag hung in the corner of the mom and pop shop. During my visit, something also exploded in the kitchen, the bathroom was through the storage shelves and the owner was giving a back massage to one of their friends who had come in to the place across one of the other tables. If a goat had wandered in through the kitchen, it would not have felt out of place. The food itself, cabbage rolls filled with sour cabbage and pork called samale, were... wet. Very wet. Wet cabbage drowning in tomato juice. They reminded me of Greek dolma, only they were drowning on my plate. Won't somebody please save the samale?! The mashed potatoes were a little better, but again they were soaked in tomato juice from the samale that refused to stay on their side of the plate. I know they sell shawarma here as well, and I just realized I've ever had shawarma before. Maybe the shawarma wouldn't be drowning? I'm probably going to go back at some point, give it another chance and try something a little more drier. Here's hoping the second time around someone alerts a lifeguard!

#dolma #Romania #Romanian #borat #Transylvania #Europe #Balkans #Baltic food #samale #cabbage #mashed potatoes #Ethnic Restaurants #restaruant #virginia #richmond #ethnic food #traveling #european

[travelingbytastebuds]

BULGARIA WHERE: Bosna Restaurant (8030 W Broad St, Suite F, Henrico, VA 23294) I've tried to stay away from simple dishes like salads during my Traveling By Tastebuds adventures, since they're not really a cooked dish but when it's the National Dish of a particular country, you have to make some adjustments to the 'not-so-much hard and fast' rules. Shopska salad in particular is the National Dish of Bulgaria. It is made from tomatoes, cucumbers, onion/scallions, raw or roasted peppers, red wine vinegar, sirene (white brine cheese), and parsley. It was specifically created for the state tourist association and designed with the colors of the Bulgaria flag in mind. You got the white of the flag (love, peace, freedom), the green (youth and nature) and red (valor and sacrifice) all jumbled together to make a light, airy and cheesy salad with a hint of vinegar taste. The sirene cheese tastes just like feta (I actually thought it was feta to be honest before I double checked the menu) and was my favorite part of the whole lunch. Not bad on a day when I was trying to eat healthy while hiking around Richmond. It was a lovely break, just eating out there on the patio and sitting in the afternoon sun. The shopska salad went nicely paired with bubbly Jupi orange juice soda from Slovenia. Bosna Restaurant has a lot of different food from several Balkan Peninsula countries. I've already been there for a Bosnian cevapi and plans are in the making to go back for some Hungarian goulash. They also have a lovely little ethnic marketplace where you can get all sorts of cookies and treats from various countries in the Balkans. Such an excellent gem right here in Richmond!

#Bulgaria #bulgarian #richmond #virginia #Bosna Restaurant #travel #culture #salad #ethnic food #national dishes #tomato #cucumber #sirene cheese #healthy food #shopska salad #vegetarian #slovenia #jupi

[travelingbytastebuds]

IRAN

WHERE: Shamshiry (8607 Westwood Center Dr, Vienna, VA 22182) I thought I had lost these photos from last year, but I just found them again buried away in an old email to myself. Sweet!

I actually went to Shamshiry in the Beforetime, back in early 2020, which really just goes to show my utter procrastination. It was a really classy joint, oddly hidden away in an office park, with very cute waiters and a window into the kitchen where you could watch the kabobs roasting (and smell the delightful aroma of that fresh meat cooking).

The word shamshiry means 'sword' in Farsi, and is also a commonly used term in Iranian kabob houses when ordering skewers of kabob. Over in Iran, kabobs are very popular from street fare to the finest of restaurants, and once you walk through the doors of Shamshiry you can see why-- all that good lamb just sizzling there on the fire wets your appetite even before you sit down.

One of the things I loved about this place was actually the menu that gave some historical descriptions on their food. Ha, they did my work for me! So I'll let them give the information here:

But first I'll just say that the bread service was amazing! Flaky, warm, with excellent dipping sauces of some sort-- and it was free, so that's always cool. The best flatbread always seems to come from these little ethnic restaurants.

After that I had what they called 'doogh', which the menu says is a "delightfully refreshing yogurt drink very popular in Persia. It is always on hand at home to serve to family and guests. Vendors who sell Doogh on the street corners are familiar sights. Very often the advertise their products with a poem or two from Omar Khayyam and replace Omar's 'jug of wine' with a 'jug of Doogh'." So you can see the menu really gets into the history of everything-- I'll say it was oddly liquidy yogurt with a bit of spice to it. I'm not sure yogurt is supposed to be drank like that, but I didn't hate. heh.

Next came the entree of the aforementioned kabobs. Chelo kabob kubideh to be exact. As the menu stated, "Kabob is the Persian word for meat or fowl cooked over a charcoal fire. There delicious strips of charcoal broiled ground meat are served with a snowy mound of rice topped with saffron. All the beef dishes achieve greatness when you add a raw egg yolk on the side, which you rapidly pour into the hot rice, continuing to toss it so that the egg coast all the grains as the heat cooks it. Stir in as much butter as you dare, and sprinkle in the brown powdered sumac that's in a shaker on the table. It's tart spiciness is irresistable." And yeah, the meat was pretty good and a little spicy, but that egg yolk rice though... that was some good egginess!

For the dessert, I had Rollet, which was a whipped cream roll. Super moist, filled with fluffy vanilla cream. Very light and airy. Tasted a lot like a strawberry shortcake without the strawberries.

This restaurant definitely continued my belief that the Middle East is my new favorite area of the world for food. From the eggs, to the rice and meaty spiciness-- the Persian delicacies were quite a delight!

#Iran #iranian #iranian food #persia #persian #kabob #shamshiry #traveling by tastebuds #ethnic food #middle eastern #middle east #middle eastern food #chelo #doogh #farsi #virginia #nova #northern virginia

[travelingbytastebuds]

AMERICAN SAMOA WHERE: Homecooked! I've done Samoa before on Traveling By Tastebuds, but just a hop, skip and a jump away is American Samoa-- the more Americanized version of the cookies! Though we took over the southernmost islands to use the territory as a navel base in 1900, the Samoan culture is alive and well on those five volcanic islands. You can see that especially in these traditional half moon pies which are quite sweet and tropical. One of the things I love about south Pacific cooking is the liberal use of fruits like coconut and pineapple, and pai fala delivers on theme. And they came out looking so adorable! I was so giddy at the aesthetics of the finished product I almost didn't want to eat them. Like cute little empanada pockets, all bursting full of warm fruity goodness. Considering some of my favorite foods are hot pockets and pop tarts, I think I generally just like food that comes in it's own warm pouch. lol I wish I had used a little more pineapple though as my can was a little short of what the recipe called for originally, but perhaps I'll make these again at some future point.

#american samoa #samoan #samoa #the rock #pai fala #south pacific #ethnic cooking #ethnic food #pie #us territories #pineapple #pineapple pie #tropical food #luau #recipe #homecooking #cooking #travel #traveling #food blog

[travelingbytastebuds]

BRUNEI WHERE: Malaysian Kopitiam (5085 Westfields Blvd, Centreville, VA 20120) Brunei is a tiny little nation in Southeast Asia that is even younger than I am since it was founded in 1984. It's surrounded completely by Malaysia and made mostly of Malay descended folks, so most of the traditional food has a lot of crossover with one of my new favorite ethnicities for food, Malaysian. Hence, a little bit of a stretch, since there's very little traditional food that is specifically from Brunei-- and over to a semi-near by Malaysian restaurant, Malaysian Kopitiam. As Wikipedia puts it, "[Nasi Lemak] is commonly found in Malaysia, where it is considered the national dish. It is also the native dish in neighbouring areas with significant Malay populations such as Singapore, Brunei, and Southern Thailand." And on a side note, "It is considered an essential dish for a typical Malay-style breakfast." Though by the time I dragged my lazy butt up over to the restaurant, it was most decidedly afternoon-- hopefully that doesn't spoil the traditional-ness of it, heh. Nasi Lemak is basically coconut milk rice, very creamy and soft, served usually with fried fish, cucumber, nuts, eggs and sambal chilli. I'm still confused as to what part is the nasi lemak actually, since it seems synonymous with the whole platter. It's like saying 'which one is the BBQ" but then there's ribs, hamburger, coleslaw, corn, ect on the plate. Which one is the BBQ? Maybe it's allll BBQ... It definitely had a southeastern Asian flare to it, reminding me a lot like spicy curry. But the mix of the creamy coconut cut down the spice in the sambal chilli, which brought out the flavor instead of just hurting my tongue. Usually it's served wrapped in a banana leaf, but they gave me a nice fancy plate instead-- they must have mistaken me for fancy peoples. In March 2016, nasi lemak was mentioned as one of the 10 healthy international breakfast foods by TIME magazine, but it was pretty good for a nice light lunch too!

#Malaysian Kopitiam #malay #brunei #traveling #food blog #nasi lemak #ethnic food #southeast asian #asian #asia #cucumber #nuts #eggs #healthy #northern virginia #nova #virginia #washington dc #sambal chilli #spicy #centerville #Centreville

[travelingbytastebuds]

#link #indonesia #romania #mexico #philippines #poland #polish #mexican #romanian #filipino #comfort food #youtube

[travelingbytastebuds]

CHINA WHERE: Beijing on Grove (5710 Grove Ave, Richmond, VA 23226) I've lately been catching up on the countries I automatically crossed off my list early on in this project where I was like, "oh sure, I must have had that one before". Seeing as how Chinese food and Mexican food are neck and neck with each other for the ethnic food enjoyed by most Americans, with Chinese food winning by a nose on the East Coast, I'm pretty sure that I've eaten Chinese food probably before I could even walk and talk. But I'm still a little confused as to how much of those crab rangoon, spring/egg rolls, wontons, lo mein, chow mein, all the meins!, sweet and sour pork, kung pao chicken, ect was truly Chinese food and which were just Americanized versions of what they eat over there.. and where my line with Traveling By Tastebuds is drawn anyway.

So I looked up the National Dish (peking duck) and found that I have never eaten it before. I had the Hong Kong version of roast duck last year, but never the traditional Beijing meal that has been prepared since the Imperial era in the mainland country. I found it being served at a very upscale gastropub in Richmond that just happens to serve fancy Chinese food-- which really begs the question whether this is more authentic since it wasn't cooked by a Chinese chef, or whether those Chinese food take out shops are more authentic even though the food is slightly Americanized, but I digress.

Anyway, the place was really fancy and had a tasting room in the back you could rent out-- I did not rent it out, but it seemed really classy. That's fitting since according to Wikipedia, "By the Qianlong Period (1736–1796) of the Qing Dynasty, the popularity of Peking duck spread to the upper classes, inspiring poetry from poets and scholars who enjoyed the dish." So I guess it was always supposed to be enjoyed all fancy-like. I should go write some poetry about it! After ordering the peking duck, it arrived to my table in pieces: the roasted duck, spring onions, sliced cucumbers, bao pancakes and hoisin sauce. I did not know I was ordering a taco bar... Unfortunately, the place does not have the best wi-fi so after attempting to look up how to put this thing together (for the price, I feel this meal should have come already put together, lol), I just made due and made some cute little Chinese tacos. I hope I did it right. I did find out afterwards when I was looking it up that it is customary to ask the waiter for more pancakes if you run out and I wish I had known that because bao buns have become one of my favorite things this year after getting them from the Hong Kong shop near me regularly. And there were just not enough of them to make an efficient amount of tacos here. They also have duck spring rolls where I guess the tacos are already made, and I plan to go back and get those some day soon. Those are thankfully significantly less expensive! When I came back home, all stuffed and happy on peking duck, I found an article when I was researching (https://www.businessinsider.nl/chinese-american-food-isnt-from-china-2018-12/?jwsource=cl) about how most Chinese food is adapted from old recipes by immigrants and how it's more cultural adaptation vs. cultural appropriation. As they put it, "It’s easy to knock Chinese food served in American restaurants as being mostly inauthentic, but as Clarissa Wei asked, how can it be inauthentic if it’s made by Chinese people for Chinese people (and others)? As people from different cultures travel and adapt to new places, their food naturally changes. When my dad came to the US from Bangkok, he couldn’t find fresh, fat rice noodles in nearby stores, so he substituted lasagna noodles to make pad siew. At the time, it was a necessary – and ultimately delicious – adaptation." So it comes down to the fact that food, like many things in life, can not be entirely boxed in. Culture is always changing, always flowing, moving and adapting. Culture is a living thing, which picks up different flavors as it journeys forward in its life. So whether it's crab rangoon (probably not authentic because Chinese didn't traditionally have cream cheese) or pekin duck (with recipes that go back several dynasties), just chomp down and enjoy! PS. After I finished my meal I went to the park. Bad move. Major guilt trip seeing the duckies there. lol

#peking duck #china #chinese #asia #asian #national dish #national dishes #food blog #hoisin #culture #cultural adaptation #travel #traveling #food #roast duck #richmond #virginia #beijing on main

[travelingbytastebuds]

ENGLAND WHERE: Penny Lane Pub (421 E Franklin St, Richmond, VA 23219) I remember going to some fancy little tea shop in Stony Brook almost two decades ago when I used to hang around Selden House. We all went as a big group after sleeping over there one night. I don't think it's entirely a British place, but I do remember there were plentiful scones and I learned back then that I did not really care for scones in the slightest. I also made a huge plate of cucumber sandwiches for Dan one afternoon-- like a HUUUUGE plate... and I didn't realize back then that it would be easier to put the spread on them first, so I basically sat there for like two hours spreading each of the little tiny finger sandwiches so they would be ready for him when he got home from work. But two hours later, cucumber sandwiches, kippers, TARDIS Tea (from Tea & Absinthe) and cue the Doctor Who theme song... geeky British dinner was served! I've definitely also had my share of earl grey tea along with fish and chips in the past-- so I guess I already finished this one off my checklist before. In fact, it was one of the few countries that got automatically crossed off on the first day I decided to create Traveling By Tastebuds. Still, I figured I would hit up Penny Lane Pub for the fun of it anyway. I knew I was in the right place as soon as I parked my car, because while trying to figure out if I needed to pay the parking meter or if I was far enough way, I heard a very strong British accent. He helped me figure out that yes, the meter did need to be paid (only $1.50 so not that bad). Anyway, the place was really cute from the outside-- Union Jack flags all flying, painted Queen's guards standing by-- but once I entered the building it was like walking through the Cardiff rift. It's half museum when you walk inside, every single piece of wall covered by Beatles memorabilia, British classic rock albums, soccer and rugby souvenirs with a red phone booths standing in the corner. Then you enter the main pub area and the sounds of people cheering for their soccer teams complete the imagery. I ended up getting a table in the dining room with an enormous fireplace, swords and clan emblems on the walls, my Royal Stewart Tartan over the fireplace mantle-- it definitely felt like I was not in Richmond anymore! I've never really been that into British food before, but the ambiance there is like a quick hop over the ocean which already made the place a winner in my book. I got the cottage pie (which came with some good homemade-style rye bread). I've never really liked British food since it's a lot of meat and potatoes, but it was really good. Very classically done, felt rustic in a way. It came with some HP sauce, which I've never heard of but it's supposedly some brown sauce that comes out of the United Kingdoms. The brown sauce was not my favorite and I still regret pouring it all over my much better mashed potatoes. I really wish I didn't have to return to work right after this lunch though because I should have realized a pub would have an extensive list of beers. British, Irish and Scottish beers were all listed by country and I really need to get back there at some point and sample each and every single one of them! I have needs! After my meal, I walked around a bit looking at all the memorabilia on the walls (they even let me go upstairs where more stuff was hanging even though it wasn't open when they saw I was so enthusiastically checking everything out-- Titanic souvenirs, old English antiques, Queen Elizabeth posters, ect). They even had a TARDIS in the bathroom. I found the whole place just adorable and it definitely lives up to how they billed themselves as "decor-rich" and "a tribute to all things English". Almost felt a little bit of a shock when I stepped back outside and I was all of a sudden back in Virginia.

I should also point out the UK box from Universal Yum Yums from June 2020. England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales all in one box. I'm surprised they got to my apartment without fighting each other... Heh.

#universal yum yums #universal yums #england #united kingdom #rugby league #british pub #richmond #virginia #europe #european #food blog #foodie #cottage pie #HP sauce #pub #the beatles

[travelingbytastebuds]

SERBIA WHERE: Balkan Restaurant (8905 Patterson Ave, Richmond, VA 23229) This quiet and classy little restaurant that serves a mashup of Balkan entrees and appetizers was the first place I went after the pandemic where I completely forgot my mask. I was just so happy to find the place after my GPS died on me that I ran in once I finally made it there. It was about five minutes after it opened and I had the place all to myself for most of my meal though. The owner and waitress were so gracious and welcoming once I finally did get there though, lovely people, great accents. I was going a couple of different places on this trip, so I kept my appetizer course light. I tried the urnebes, which is a traditional spread made with mixture of roasted red peppers and feta cheese. It was very refreshing. It reminded me of a chicken salad with a slightly roasted flair to it. I thought it was going to be spicy with all the red peppers in it, but I guess it's 'European spicy' which was pretty mild-- but so very refreshing. The bread it came with was amazing too. I'm getting to eat so many different great breads lately, from the Samoan panipopo, to the Lebanon real pita bread to whatever this delightful baked masterpiece was called. Light and airy, with that roasted salad spread on top... such a perfect afternoon appetizer. I also tried this white Tamjanika wine, which wiki says, "has characteristic Muscat notes of cinnamon, elder plant, basil, pineapple and strawberry" and the menu said "white peach and tropical fruit" but I just call it yummy. Totally got a little buzz going off that drink. It was such a classy little wine joint. And can I just show you the wine list, every country these wines came from was listed on the menu and it totally brought back memories of drinking in Epcot. Perhaps this is where I'll go the next time I want to train for drinking around the World Showcase (and then head over to Penny Lane in Richmond for beers from all the UK countries). I usually don't like Balkan food, but this was such an elegant cute cafe for a delicious lite appetizer. I'll definitely be back to pretending I'm all high-class and stylish again! PS. Closer look at that wine list below!

#serbia #serbian #appetizers #roasted red pepper #urnebes #bread #wine joint #cafe #european #europe #balkan #balkans #tamjanika #richmond #virginia

[travelingbytastebuds]

JAPAN

WHERE: Shiki's Sushi Babylon, New York *has since closed*

My first experience with Japanese food was when an old friend of mine took me to Shiki Japanese Restaurant in Babylon, Long Island way back around the early 2000s. She loved sushi but back then sushi was not yet a mainstream thing, so I had never had it before. When she took me there, she asked if I knew how to use chopsticks. I had to confess that I did not. So she told me that they didn't have any forks at this restaurant so it was either use the chopsticks or I wasn't going to be able to eat my lunch.

It took me a good hour of looking like a complete fool, trial by hunger and dropping the pieces over and over again before I finally was able to eat anything. By the end of the meal, I was able to use chopsticks at least a little-- enough to finish my lunch at least. Hunger can be such a motivating teacher!

She smiled as we were leaving and told me, "actually, I lied, they do have forks, but I didn't want you to look like an amateur."

My mouth fell open, dropping right down like one of the pieces of sushi that had fallen to my plate dozens of times.

I forgave her for this after sushi became one of my favorite meals though. And she paid me back for her prank by teaching me the difference between sashimi (raw fish/meat and vegetables), sushi (fish, seaweed, vegetables and rice), nigiri (raw fish, seaweed, veggies and rice) and maki (fish, seaweed and rice). And I was able to pick up a new skill that day, which was fun to show off. I can still remember my grandfather watching me with chopsticks and Chinese food (switching ethnic cuisines a bit here), and he laughed and said, "You don't know how to use those. Just grab a fork." and I smiled at him, winked and used my chopsticks just like my friend had shown me. Life is pretty cool when you've got skills you can show off like that when people are laughing at you.

My favorites types of sushi have always been the cooked versions. Firstly because the sushi episode on The Simpsons still scares me and I don't trust any chef to give me the right part of the blowfish, heh. Secondly, because once I actually tasted raw sushi many years later, I found it far too slimy for me to enjoy. And thirdly, the crunchies and the tempura are the best parts!

AND ALSO...

WHERE: Jimmy's Sushi (600 Portion Rd, Ronkonkoma, NY 11779)

Sushi started to pick up steam in the mainstream throughout the early 2000s and eventually more places were offering it. One of my favorite sushi places to go to on Long Island eventually became Jimmy's Sushi. I LOVE this place! I even had sushi at the fancy Japanese restaurant in EPCOT years later, Teppan Edo, but no one does sushi like Jimmy's. They were a favorite amongst my college friends and I have so many memories of groups of us going there, popping open the edamame appetizers, and talking about random stuff while devouring mango topped tempura shrimp and other delicacies.

Jimmy's Sushi was also where my then-fiancé took me and his family when they visited up from Florida, wherein his little nephew looked over his little marinated octopi and lamented, "why do baby octopuses have to be so delicious?" And then proceeded to gobble every last one on his plate like a madman. It became a running joke for us back then.

AND ALSO...

WHERE: Kit Kats sent from Japan

When I moved to Virginia, my Japanese food eating days were far from over. A friend of mine went to vacation in Japan and asked if he could send me some souvenirs. I'm not one to turn down free gifts, so I replied,  "please do!"

He proceeded to send me a huge box of an assortment of Japanese Kit Kat bars.

The Kit Kats for today only had Japanese writing on them with no picture and I had to search for a translator online to help. Found out that they were green tea. They were... very strange. I think if I knew what flavor I was eating it would have made more sense to my taste buds. According to Wikipedia, "Marketing for Kit Kats in Japan is believed to have benefited from the coincidental false cognate with "Kitto Katsu", a phrase meaning "You will surely win" in Japanese. Some market research has shown that the brand is strongly correlated to good luck charms, particularly among students ahead of exams." And back then, having just come out of my relationship with my fiancé and living in a completely foreign new state with no job yet, I could use all the luck anyone would send me! Why are my friends so good to me?

I taste tested all of them as I devoured every single one (partially due to the fact that I didn't have a lot of food around that time to begin with). My findings were that peanut butter Kit Kats are pretty good (not as good as Reese's which I love, but Reese's is like professional at that kind of peanut butter/chocolate combination). And strawberry was my favorite at first, until the cherry cheesecake flavored ones beat those by a nose.

AND ALSO...

WHERE: King's Sushi (9125 W Broad St & 9111 Midlothian Turnpike, Richmond, VA)

Once I was successfully living in Richmond, I found my new sushi joint which really has been the only place to ever tie with Jimmy's Sushi. It's called King Sushi, and as far as Virginia goes, it is the absolute best Sushi joint down here! It's part buffet but also table service-- you pay one price and then just keep pointing at the menu, ordering things until your stomach feels like it might explode with food... but like in a happy way, you know? heh. I'll never get tired of this place. It filled my heart with the power of sushi when I could no longer go to Jimmy's, so it definitely gets a nod.

AND ALSO...

WHERE: Random Pocky snacks and Universal Yum Yums Subscription Box

I have also had my fair share of Pocky chocolate-coated biscuit sticks just being around a lot of people who are into anime at geek conventions and such.

Universal Yum Yums has also been a great place for me to get some Japanese snacks. In May 2017, they send a box of kawaii snacks and treats, my favorite being the little baby gummy hamburgers that made me feel like I was a giant Godzilla here to eat all the human food in one bite. Rawr!! Always fun to chow down on some Japanese treats when playing Sushi Go (such an adorable game, btw!).

AND ALSO...

WHERE: EPCOT Festival of The Arts 2020

Also want to just point out the frozen sake they have in Epcot. Sake might have been first produced in 500 BC with its invention predating recorded history, but freezing the traditional rice wine is a new style of eating it straight out of Florida. A little of the new world and old world, creating something so very tasty. I think all alcohol drink should be slushies! I would drink so many more of them that way. I ran away that weekend, heading out of town because I was annoyed and needed to go someplace other than home for a while and I just somehow ended up at Disney that Valentine's Day.

In my own drunken social media words, "I'm drunk in Japan in EPCOT drinking frozen sake. There are some manic episodes I regret, but this is not one of them."

#japan #japanese #sushi #maki #octopus #octopi #shiki's sushi #jimmy's sushi #long island #babylon #florida #epcot #sake #chopsticks #universal yum yums #universal yum yums subscription box #subscription box #subscription services #Festival of The Arts #pocky #king sushi #kit kats

[travelingbytastebuds]

Adding Serbia to my Visited World Map.  This is the app I use to keep track of all the places I will be tasting-- though I have to say this app is a bit weird because sometimes it’ll add in random territories that aren’t countries so I really have to hone my researching skills to find recipes from those places. But that just got me to eat Puerto Rican and other places, so it’s not such a bad feature after all. PS. Check out my rare 100% cell phone battery power! Shocker!

#visited world map #world map #app #progress #tasting the world #countries #links #percentage

[travelingbytastebuds]

SAMOA WHERE: Homecooked! Sadly, Girl Scouts samoas cookies did not count for this Oceanic country. I really tried to find a link between them, but the closest I could get was maybe Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson might like girl scout cookies... no real luck on that front there. However, oh my goodness-- pani popo, oh sweet delicious milky coconut cream smothered rolls of warmy baked bread and island flavor, where the hell have you been all my life?! These are like cinnamon rolls but island-y! Samoa's national dish is also ridiculously easy to make (especially if you go for the frozen rolls which half the recipes do these days because Samoans don't have time for that cooking bread nonsense). I'm so used to finding recipes for national dishes that start "so you take this fermented meat and you stuff a seal carcass with it" or have ingredients that make you think you're reading a witch's spell not an actual recipe, so having a four ingredient, very few steps, national dish recipe was nice. Just mix some coconut milk with water and cornstarch, smother rolls with sauce, bake a little longer, take out, put in your Disney Polynesian dish, lay back, listen to some ukuleles and watch some hakas. This moment can't really get any better! Pani Popo Recipe: Here!

#panipopo #samoa #dwayne johnson #the rock #coconut #bakery #recipe #homecooking #cooking #recipes #polynesia #national dish #national dishes #coconut rolls #four ingredients #oceania #oceanic #south pacific

[travelingbytastebuds]

Such a cute present for anyone who wants to start tasting the world! I gotta get one for myself.

#links #ethnic food #scratch off #postet #culture #presents #etsy #foodie #exotic #art #someone buy me this

[travelingbytastebuds]

I would LOVE to go food adventuring up in NYC someday, but the funny part about this article is that these cuisines are not that off the beaten track and I’ve eaten most of them... heh.

#new york #nyc #ethnic food #slovakian #Liberian #Danish #Laotian #Tunisian #Icelandic #Guatemalan #Korean #Uzbeki #panama #Serbian #links

[travelingbytastebuds]

MEXICO

WHERE: Quinto Sol Mexican Grill (8809 Jefferson Davis Hwy) ... among hundreds of other places, I'm sure!

Of course I've had Mexican, I love Taco Bell!

lol... just kidding of course. Taco Bell being a distinctly Americanized version of Mexican food. But I have definitely had my share of taco tuesdays with their tacos, quesadillas, barbacoa, tamales, enchiladas, chalupas, burritos, huevos rancheros, carne asada, horchatas... even pickled pigs' feet (I tried it on a dare-- never again! lol). Mexican being the second most popular cuisine in America, it is quite plentiful throughout much of the United States.

Far too many meals have been tasted throughout the years to list them all, though I'll give special mention to the meal I had from Quinto Sol Mexican Grill (8809 Jefferson Davis Hwy) on the day of Biden's inauguration, January 20, 2021. Take that 'build a wall' Trump!

There truly was nothing better than eating a whole plate of tacos, some carnitas (Mexican slow cooker pulled pork) with all those chips, sour cream and salsa and then having some sopapillas (puffed fried bread coated with cinnamon and sugar) and knowing in my heart and soul that the wall Trump wanted was never going to be built now. You can't stop good eats at the border, the tastes must flow!

AND ALSO ..

WHERE: Universal Yum Yums June 2017

I should also point out the wonderful Mexican box put together by Universal Yum Yums! It introduced me to the wonderful product of Tajin, which is a spice that comes out of Mexico and literally if you put this stuff on ANYTHING it just tastes 100% better.

The box also came with a recipe for a Mexican salad including mangos, corn, salsa verde tostitos, tomato, cucumber, tajin and lime/salt peanuts (traded out the sour cream for the nuts). And wow! A salad that's actually delicious! Just put on some Latin Rock in the background and you are good to go!

  AND ALSO .. WHERE: Epcot International Festival of the Holidays 2017 These were also a tasty treat from years past. They’re fried dough covered in cinnamon sugar usually eaten around Christmas.  Es tan sabroso! It seems almost every country had a version of fried dough and sugar, but these were all the more special because I got to eat them by the steps of the Mexico Pavilion pyramid! San Antonio Magazine says that the difference between sopapillas and buñuelos is that “A sopapilla (soap/pah/pee/ya) is soft, sweet dough (made with flour), flash-fried to puff up into a pillow and drizzled with honey when served hot. A buñuelo (boon/whale/oh) is the same dough, deep fried to a flaky crispness, dredged in sugar and cinnamon, and usually served cool. “ So I guess I ate vaguely the same thing twice, just in different ways! Epcot has also been the home of copious amount of margaritas... possibly too many to safely count, lol.

And just one last special note for the time me and my then-fiance tried our hand at cooking churros. We had a good time, but I’m not sure they tasted just right. It was also back when he was a bit more open-minded about other cultures, so I guess this whole entry again comes back to Trump in a way. Damn it, Mexico, stop making me think of Trump and make me think of your historic aztec pyramids and beautiful cancun beaches instead! ✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤✤

Now for something completely different... a food song, brought to by yours truly. It’s Cinco De Mayo In This Quarantine Town

It's Cinco De Mayo in this Quarantine Town Gimma a margarita, I'll drink it all down Then add some tortillas if you wanna be kind Some cheesy quesadillas? Sure, I wouldn't mind! Lotsa nachos and tacos-- I'll fill my whole plate! For tasty enchiladas I don't want to wait. Next I'll have hmm... the carne asada if you please And tostadas will fit in my gut if I squeeze Wash all of it down with a horchata or two But now comes the hard part, I'm not sure what to do Somehow I still have to fit out the door... Oh, no, don't worry-- that's what quarantine's for!

#mexico #mexican #tamales #tacos #burritos #ethnic cuisine #epcot #tajin #barbacoa #horchata #international food festival #cinco de mayo #taco tuesday #Quinto Sol Mexican Grill #carne asada #margaritas #cancun #aztec #enchiladas #nachos #quesadillas #tortillas #sopapillas