Category — Food Around the World

As we plan our Summer trip to Thailand and check out the ticket price, I am SO not prepare to spend more than $1,000 per ticket to get there but I digress..

Traveling to Asia might seem like an out of reach for many families due to high cost in ticket. But don’t let that prevent you and your family from enjoying and learning about the East culture. A trip to any Asian grocery store will give you a glimpse and will provide you with a fun day of exploring.

We are very fortunate to have lived in Atlanta where there is a big population of Asians and countless opportunities for us to enjoy Asian cultures without living town.

Every once in a while I take my kids to the Asia/International Supermarket like Super H Mart or Assi Supermarket in town. This mega supermarket sells all things international but mainly focuses on Asian.

Our first stop has always been the food court within the market itself. This is a great place for you to try out different food without breaking the bank. I have been craving Korean food – Kimchi Fried Rice for a while. So I was so pleased to taste it in the hot stone bowl.

I ordered Ramyeon – Korean Instant Noodle soup for Miss J. Yeah.. It’s something we can probably make it at home but where else can I serve it up in this cool hot pot for her.

Environment sure does help encourage kids to try new thing. Even though, my kids are 100% Asian (Thai and Filipino). They still don’t know how to use chopsticks nor do we use it on a regular basis. I was so proud to see her eating her noodle with chopsticks and she seemed to have a lot of fun with it.

After the meal, it’s the fun part. The walk around the store is my favorite part and my most dangerous part. I tend to grab everything I can find. Japanese rice cake in multi-color looks too good to pass up. The mochi ice cream (which I finished it before I could take any pictures) is a different take on ice cream. Thinking of it as rice cake with ice cream filling.. Yum!!!

If Mr. Rojo wasn’t there with us and encouraged (nagged) us to go home, I probably would spend hours and hours there and filled up my grocery cart to the brim.

This is one of the best way for us to introduce our kids to Asian cultures before the big trip. It might not give them the real perspective but it sure will open their eyes to the new things.

Super H Mart and Assi Plaza (Lotte Plaza) has several stores in various states.

On our trip to Destin, we had sampled a couple restaurants that are on the Must-Eat list. (Don’t you love that list? Must-Eat..Who can resist a must-eat list.) With trying to do a budget travel that doesn’t compromise the experience, I planned our trip down to the hours.. Yup.. I’m crazy that way. Asked Mr. Rojo. I had a spreadsheet on what we would do and eat each day. Well, I like to know the plan but we didn’t necessarily stick to the plan. In order to save some doughs, we plan to eat out during lunch and cook our own dinner at the condo. I chose easy meal for dinner like Hamburger Helper, Taco Dinner Kit and Publix Chicken on my menu.

Our first stop on the list was McGuire Irish Pub. We went there right before lunch so we didn’t have to wait at all. The first thing you will notice when you walk in is thousands of dollar bills on the ceiling, on the wall and everywhere else around the restaurant. It is a tradition started with friends of the owner gave him the dollar bill and signed his name. The owner then put it up on the wall. And one by one now they have almost half a million bills on their wall. Amazing!

The food was amazing! I had cornbeef and cabbage.. Oh. It was so yummy and huge. I didn’t think I could finish it but I did! The cabbage had sweet taste the compliment with the cornbeef perfectly. Mr. Rojo got Fish and Chips.. By far I think it was the best Fish and Chips I have had. It was crispy enough but not too hard. The breading was perfectly… Yum-O… Also make sure you pay attention when you ready to freshen up and head to the bathroom. See the sign? Better read before heading to the Men room or you thought.

I love to eat but I have to admit that I am not a cook by nature. I cook out of necessity. So I always surf and check out other great food blogs for inspiration and recipes. Here are my top five finds for this week.

1. Lunch Nugget – A great blog for any family looking for a more creative and heathtier way to pack lunch for their school-age kids. I love the picture for each post since I’m such a visual person. I won’t even look at any recipe that doesn’t have the picture. So this is my life-saver blog.

2. Thai Table – A great Thai recipe site with step-by-step instruction. I cook Thai food once in a while. Just because sometimes I feel like it. And no, I am not a great cook for Thai food so don’t ask me to cook Pad Thai for you. Sorry, not all Thai people can cook. Or should I say my Thai food standard is very high so if I can’t make it taste like what I ate in Thailand then I won’t bother.

3. Closet Cooking – I found this blog via Cheap Healthy Good. A great simple blog with great photo and recipe. The simple cooking is my kind of cooking.

4. Steamy Kitchen – Jaden’s blog for the modern asian food with great simple recipe is not a new blog that I just found. I have been following her for a while.

5. Chez Pim – I’m so so behind in the Blog world. I’m sure everyone knew about Chez Pim’s blog but I just recently discovered her via my fellow Thai blogger – Oakmonster’s Den.