So much for health conscious California!

So I've benn in L.A for 5 days & am CRAVING healthy veggie food. We all know the stereotypes about American food, huge serves, greasy, over processed etc.. well, sadly it's true. I've searched high & low for the so called healthy California cuisine with limited success. Suffice it to say I am looking forward to San Francisco & the foodie mecca that it is. I also think I may revert to vegetarianism when I get home.

However, I did stumble across a little gem yesterday. A mere 30 minute walk (yes, this city is ginormous & if you don't have a car sadly long walks in blistering heat is the only option) from our hostel was a little diner on Sunset called "California Vegan" all vegan food, with a massive $7.95 lunch special. Miso soup, a veggie spring roll, big garden salad, brown rice & a main of your choice. Fabulous value. You first choose the sauce you want, I went for a mint, chilli & garlic combo, then you pick your fake meat of choice, I went for good ol' tofu as, even when I was vegetarian, I hated the faux meat substitutes. It was delicious and healthy & just what I was looking for. My room mate Kate & I went & ordered the veggie dumplings to start & then got stuck into our mains. 

Delicious shitake mushroom, cabbage & carrot dumplings. 

The Lunch Special :) 

The hostel I'm staying in is absolutely fantastic! I highly recommend it. USA Hostels at 1624 Schrader Blvd. Hollywood. We're in between Hollywood Blvd/Walk of fame & Sunset Blvd. Whilst I think L.A is a once only place ( I don't care much for it at all) I have enjoyed my time here as everyone is so friendly, met great friends, awesome staff, clean, quiet and so convenient. They have all sorts of activities here, Pub crawl on Wednesday night was only $10. We went to 3 bars in & around Hollywood Blvd  & got thoroughly trashy. They also do a $6 hike up Runyon Canyon to see the Hollywood sign, for $25 a stretch hummer ride around town complete with oodles of champagne & vodka, a walking tour of Beverly Hills. There's a lounge upstairs that has movie nights, the bar in the lounge opens at 6.30 & has $3 corona's or $2 plastic tumblers of wine. Bargain! Needless to say most of us prefer to stay here most nights & drink & socialise. 

I only did the pub crawl & took the free shuttle bus on Thursday morning to Venice/Santa Monica beach. I'm staying at their sister hostel in San Fracisco & fellow travellers here have said it's even better. the general consensus amongst everyone here is that L.A is just somewhere you go to either come in from O.S or to leave from, however all agree SF is brilliant & their favourite place in America. I'm very excited! 

Last night Kate & I, after an epic day of shopping at Amoeba music (greatest record store on Earth!) & a massive shoe warehouse, headed to Hollywood Blvd for food. We ended up at a little place across from Schrader Blvd called Little Devils. Lovely gourmet burgers, ribs & pizzas, much in the style of Grill'd back home. 

We shared a gorgeous bottle of Nappa Valley Pinot Noir & I had a sublime Turkey & rosemary burger with bacon, white cheddar & beer caramelised onions with a side of sweet potato fries & a herbed aioli. Delicious. Plus is they make their own bread which was very light & use only free range organic meats, with the beef burgers having a choice of Angus, Wagyu or Prime organic local beef. 

I am off now to finish my laundry before checking out tomorrow and heading off on my camping trek :) 

Speak to you all when I'm in Las Vegas! :)

L.A Day 1:

I've not long arrived so am a mite jet lagged as I type. Forgive me.

I am chilling out debating leaving the hostel in search of food. As luck would have it I am a short walk from some highly recommended restaurants. I'm staying just off Sunset Blvd, and am not far from Koreatown. this pleases me greatly for as you will learn with this blog I am a BIG fan of Korean food. It's up there with Japanese, Italian, Sichuan & Mexican in my Top 5.

This hostel is not quite as instantly friendly as others have been (more on that in one of the many Japan posts I have sitting in my drafts folder), however I have just finished talking to the most delightfully camp German born Turkish flight attendant. They find me. I am an International Hag. To quote my idol Karen Walker, "the gays just love me".

On a food related note, hats off to V Australia for their exceptionally good food. That Luke Mangan knows his stuff. Colour me very impressed!

I will attempt to write as I go, but I'm the type of traveller that goes with the flow so may have to do a massive blog amnesty upon my return. I am massively looking forward to San Francisco, I probably won't write much as will be far too busy stuffing my face when I'm there. It seems like my kind of town.

My stomach is rumbling so may have to head off in search of food. May do a spot of sight seeing as i go :)

'til next time dear readers! Adieu!

Confessions of a Japanophile

To those reading who don't know me, it's time for a confession, for those who do know me, this will be no surprise. 


I am an obsessive Japanophile. 


Since childhood I've always had a fascination for all things Oriental. I think I get this from my Grandmother who, going by her holiday destination choices & decor adorning her home, shares my interest. 


In my teens I was a full blown Goth. Being in the Goth scene here in Melbourne in the mid '90's brought me into contact with the role-playing, manga & anime loving types who hung on the periphery of said scene. I never understood the obsession with all things Japanese (aside from the cuisine of course, which had long been my favourite). Being a Goth, the be all - end all city was of course, Berlin. Mecca for the alternate set (I did get there & loved it, but that's another post. Suffice it to say thank God I'd eschewed Vegetarianism before I got there). So this salivating love of all things Nihon was puzzling to me. That was of course, until I went there. 


Upon booking our 1st Overseas sojourn my sister Emma & I found ourselves with a 10 day gap between out tour of Cambodia & China. Where to go in the interim? We pondered Vietnam, but the season was not good for Halong Bay - Monsoon time apparently (& Halong Bay was my #1 reason for going to Vietnam). Then I remembered my best friend/brother from another Mother, Julian, was living in Japan, teaching English. "Let's go to Japan & see Jules!" I cried. Emma, being the easygoing, up for anything adventurer she is agreed. My date with destiny was set. 


I didn't read up much on Japan before going (a trend that has continued with my travels since. It's part laziness, part - I like the element of surprise. I try not to form any ideas about a place until I get there). So I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Having just been to Cambodia, I figured being a fellow Asian country, there'd be similarities. How wrong I was. 


Japan is not Asia. Asia is not like Japan. Japan is it's own country & unlike anywhere else I've been. Neither Eastern nor Western, Japan is just simply, Japan, and you just have to have been there or need to go there to get it.


As soon as we jumped on the Narita Express to take us from the airport to our hostel in central Tokyo, I knew I was in for something special. Passing through countryside & then suddenly, it began. Mile after mile of high-rise, densely packed housing. I had no idea just how gargantuanly BIG this city was. It seemed to go on forever. I got a buzz, a feeling, this was shaping up to be my kind of city & I hadn't even got off the train yet. 


Once we got to Tokyo Central Station & switched from the Narita Express to a Hanzomon line subway train to get us the whole 1 stop to Jimbocho & the awesome home away from home Sakura Hostel I was already feeling oddly at home and was growing more excited by the minute to go explore this city. 


Waiting out the front of the Hostel for us was Julian, who had a few days off work back in Kakegawa, Shizuoka prefecture, to come & hang with us in the big smoke. We checked in & off we went, hell bent on finding food, more memory cards for the camera & whatever excitements Tokyo had in store for us. 


I can't recall exactly what it was, or at which specific moment I realised I had fallen deeply, crazy, A over T in love with Tokyo, and thus Japan as a whole. I think though, it was on Day 2 of our adventures when we trekked in to the famous Shibuya and Harajuku areas that I became acutely aware that I loved this place. I'd been a bit tired & hungry & still getting over a bit of a tummy bug from Cambodia the 1st day to be aware of the feeling of "this is pure awesome!" wafting over me, but all I knew is that within 48 hours of being there & quickly becoming adept at switching from line to line on the batshit crazy looking subway, feeling at home in every neighbourhood, loving the food, the culture, the chaos, this was going to be one of those life changing travel experiences. And I was right. 


When people tell me to "find my happy place" I close my eyes & see & hear this: 


Bliss

Maiden Voyage!

Welcome to my new blog! 


I am a typically food obsessed Melbournian, and, like most Australians, a keen traveller.


As such I have decided to start this blog (I have another) to document my travels and culinary adventures therein. 


A little bit about me: 


I'm in my early 30's and, for an Aussie, started travelling late (28 years old). My first Overseas trek in 2007 was to Cambodia, Japan & China. I ate my way through all 3 countries, trying everything & anything I could. 


In early 2009, needing a sea-change after working for the same company for 4 years & realising also, that on the eve of my 30th Birthday if I ever wanted to do the great Australian right of passage & go work/travel in the U.K, I had to do it NOW. So I did. I took a 12 month career break from work & off I went. Stopping for a month in my beloved Japan again on the way. 


I lived in London for 10 months, until early 2010, returning home early due to having had enough of living hand to mouth (moving to one of the World's most expensive cities in the middle of the GFC was not my smartest move) & also, I missed the blinding bright sun & warmth of home. 


Whilst living & working in London with my younger sister/fellow bounder of adventure/even bigger foodie, Emma, we managed to travel to Paris & Berlin & ate our way through both cities with gusto!


I come from a long line of passionate food-a-holics (I try to refrain from the term "foodie" due to some negative connotations it now has. More on that in a later post). My Mother is a 1st generation Australian, having been born right here in Melbourne a few years after my Grandparents arrived from Italy (Treviso, in the Veneto region if anyone's curious). My Dad, being from a predominantly Anglo background was raised, like most people at the time,  as a meat & 3 veg kinda guy, but owing to his natural adventurousness  & also probably the fact that he's a big dude who needed to eat a lot (especially as he was a cop at the time he met Mum & had a big beat to walk), he loved my Mum's cooking & has always sought to expand his palette ever since. This could also be my paternal Grandmother's influence, as she too is a keen traveller. 


My Mum has cooking in her blood,  her Uncle once being the pastry chef at The Florentino in Bourke St many many moons ago, before opening up his own Pasticceria in High St Northcote (which still exists today, still bearing our family name, though my Zio has long since passed. I also live in the area so I am never far from what I believe to be the best Cannoli in town. Bonus!). My Cousin part owns a seafood restaurant back in Treviso, and my Mum is a top class cook in her own right. 


Both my parents are open minded types & it's to them I owe my willingness to travel & try new things. To this day I still remember my parents taking us to Kuni's in Little Bourke St back in the mid 80's - My sister & I happily gorging on sushi & sashimi, unaware of what it was we were eating - My Mother's philosophy being don't tell them, if they like it, they like it, don't give them the chance to form an opinion until they've tried it 1st. 


Marrying & having children at a youngish age meant my parents never travelled Overseas. In return for raising us to appreciate all types of food & the culture's associated with them, my sister & I both encouraged (read: pestered, cajoled & forced) my parents to travel after we got back the 1st time. So far they have been to London, Italy, Cambodia & Vietnam. Later this year they're off to Spain. Mum is collecting quite the repertoire of foreign recipes!


I studied History & Archaeology at Uni so my love of travel is primarily about exploring other lands and cultures, the fact that I adore food of all sorts is just an added bonus!


I hope to write in this fairly often, whether I'm abroad or not & I hope you enjoy my inane ramblings & blatherings :)