San Francisco Vacation - Hog Island Oyster & Bi-Rite Creamery

“I've long believed that good food, good eating, is all about risk. Whether we're talking about unpasteurized Stilton, raw oysters or working for organized crime 'associates,' food, for me, has always been an adventure.” 

- Anthony Bourdain

When it comes to food, there is one thing I love more than trying new things and that is introducing people to a new food experience. Especially a food experience that leaves them wanting more. 

A couple of months ago I took a trip to the Bay Area. My little sister cam back with me on her way back to school in San Diego and decided to stay a few days in the Bay Area. This gave me an opportunity to take her to a few of my favorite places in San Francisco. 

One thing I always want when I visit the Bay Area is raw oysters, and one of my favorite places to go is Hog Island Oyster Co. in the Ferry Building. With a farm less than 50 miles from San Francisco, you are pretty much guaranteed fresh oysters. My sister's experience with raw oysters had not been so great, but I convinced her to try it out one more time. I ordered some of the Hog Island Sweetwater Oysters. I told her to add a little bit of their vinegar sauce and a dash of Tabasco. She took a slurp of her first truly fresh raw oyster and loved it!  I couldn't have been a more proud older sister. 

Another great dish the at Hog Island is their chowder. I will even go as far as to say it is my favorite clam chowder. The ingredients are fresh and the soup flavorful. The best part about it is the fact that they top it with fresh clams. The fresh clams give it that final touch to make it a great chowder.

After a great lunch, I decided to take my sister to my favorite ice cream place in San Franciso, Bi-Rite Creamery in the Mission. No matter what the temperature is outside there is always a line, but it is well worth it just to try their salted caramel ice cream. Every flavor I've tried there tastes like a cold, creamy version of the real thing. For this trip, I opted for the Salted Caramel (obviously) and the Roasted Banana. 

Stay tuned. More posts to come soon from my Bay Area trip!

World Expo - Shanghai, China

one of the reasons we choose shanghai for our family trip was because it was the host city for the 2010 world expo. it was quite the experience. in terms of crowd control, there were a lot of things shanghai could have done better. waiting time for lines were anywhere between 2-4 hours. because of these wait times, we only saw the inside of 2 buildings. one thing is for sure: the work countries put into the architecture of their buildings was amazing.

one saving grace for our experience was the food the world expo provided. each country's pavilion showcased their food. one country highlighted their food more than others, spain. spain brought in highly rated spanish chefs and created a tapas bar in their pavilion. it wasn't hard to choose where to eat since spanish food (due to it being part of our heritage) is one of my family's favorite cuisines. everything we had was delicious and good quality.

sangria

paella

stuffed peppers

croquetas

gambas

jamon serrano

Din Tai Fung- Shanghai, China

for my parents' 25th wedding anniversary/my 25th birthday/my sisters' 21st and 16th birthdays, we decided to take a family trip to somewhere new. after much debate we chose Shanghai, China. thanks to foodicles' suggestions, it turned out to be a great food trip. our first stop after checking into our hotel was din tai fung. all the food we had there was outstanding especially the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings).

"draft" tsing tao

hot and sour soup

dumplings in spicy sauce

xiaolongbao - pork

siopao (bbq pork buns)

mushroom dumplings

xiaolongbao- pork and crab

sauteed green pea shoots

i'm back!

After an extremely long hiatus i have decided to come back to the blog world. My trip to the Philippines, Shanghai and Guam (home) inspired me to write about my travel and food experiences once again.

Since my family and I frequently travel to the Philippines, we have our favorite restaurants that we continue to visit during each trip. One of these is the Italian restaurant Cibo. The menu includes soups, salads, pastas, pizzas, paninis and other italian entrees. Definitely a must try if you ever visit the Philippines.

mango shake

red grape shake

crema di zucca- summer squash.cream.bacon

spinaci zola- spinach and gorgonzola

patatine fritte- home-fried potato chips w. garlic mayonnaise

penne al telefono (my favorite)- stewed tomato.mozzarella.white cheese.basil.cream