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Showing posts from January, 2015

Coconut Chia Pudding

Recent trips to Fashion Island have introduced us to a tasty application of chia seeds : coconut chia pudding, which we spotted at True Food Kitchen as well as Le Pain Quotidien. True Food Kitchen adorned theirs with banana and coconut chips, and Le Pain Quotidien used a seasonal fruit compote as topping, as well as seasoning the chia seeds with lemon, mango, and agave syrup. Given that our sample of True Food Kitchen's rendition was quite tasty, we thought, why not make this at home? So that's what we ended up doing. In the process of purchasing coconut milk, we ran into a cool ingredient--coconut nectar--and decided to use that as sweetener instead of sugars or syrups. The Big Tree Farms Organic Amber Coconut Nectar is a decadent ingredient-- it has a very condensed, dark, roasted, and rich coconut flavor which provides great depth of flavor to whatever you're adding it to. Making the chia pudding was very simple. First, start off with chia seeds.

Cathay Pacific CX 391: PEK - HKG Premium Economy

After some time in Beijing, I moved onto a visit to Hong Kong, given that I hadn't visited in several years. Time has flown so fast that I haven't even been able to post about lots of the restaurants I visited in Hong Kong last time! Check-in for Cathay Pacific is done at Terminal 3. This flight in particular was also a Air China codeshare flight, but check-in was was preferably only done at Cathay Pacific.

Santa Monica Seafood- Costa Mesa, CA

We heard about Santa Monica Seafood as a reputable place to not just buy fish, but also to eat, and thus visited Santa Monica Seafood during a trip to Orange County. During our first visit, the cafe had just opened (11 AM), and being one of the first customers, they were very attentive, immediately requesting drink orders and introducing us to their daily specials. Bread and butter were available on request after ordering, and it was quite delicious-- fresh, crusty sourdough bread with a tender interior coupled with soft, unsalted butter! We had plenty of this. We wanted a smaller lunch, and so we went for soup and oysters. First, we ordered the large New England Clam Chowder (8 USD), a highly recommended item according to our waitress.

Asiana Airlines OZ 333: ICN - PEK Travel Class

After an eventful seven hours at Incheon International Airport , it was time to go on-board my next flight to go to Beijing. Asiana Airlines Flight OZ 333 June 3, 2014 Service from Incheon International Airport (ICN) nonstop to Beijing Capital International Airport (PEK) Travel Class (Economy) The cabin of this Asiana Airlines A330 actually happened to be slightly newer than that of the Boeing 777 I traveled on earlier.     Seats in this case did have an adjustable headrest. Furthermore, there was an in-flight entertainment remote that guided the Audio Video on Demand system, which did have a good selection of movies, music, and games on offer. The entertainment screens may have looked the same, but you could do a lot more with this system. One option was available for lunch: a beef and pepper stir-fry with sweet and sour pork with rice. What was special was that an aloe drink was on offer as a beverage--this was nicely sweet, with a light grape flavor as well

Transferring at Incheon International Airport (ICN)- Incheon, South Korea

After disembarking from the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 , it was time for the next step in my journey: a seven hour layover in Seoul Incheon International Airport! Prior to beginning the trip, I had read about how Seoul Incheon International Airport fuses culture for all passengers through various tours and programs . As I disembarked the plane, this became quickly evident, with large poster boards displaying delicious Korean cuisine and picturesque landscapes. Walking down the walkway, a transfer sign then directed me to the next step in the transfer process: a quick security screening. Given that the Asiana flight arrived so early in the morning (around 5 AM), there were barely any passengers other than those on my flight, and as I was one of the last to disembark, I barely even had to wait! A looser screening took place-- no need to remove belts and shoes, and no full x-ray scan-- and I was off to explore the airport. *Note: If you wanted to go on one of the ma