Just a Dream

Quick Entry: In the middle of my sleep last night I dreamt that I was in back of a pick-up truck with several people. One of them was sitting on a 4 wheeler, which was on the bed of the truck. Another two or three people were in front of this guy, closer toward the front of the cabin.

While on this ride one of the guys in the front asks me "What would your dream job be?"

I thought about it for a second and replied "I'm doing it right now."

This might not seem so shocking, but when I woke up this morning and went for my morning walk I thought about how incredible it was that I was subconsciously thinking that I love what I'm doing now.

I'm headed off to MongKong later today to film so streetfood adventures -- unlike Wine vs Food which is a 10-15 minute clip with a professional camera, I'm just going to take my camcorder, a wine glass, and an appetitie to film something called "5 minutes of Swizzle" -- not sure if that name works, but the clip should be a small appetizer between our monthly Wine vs Food shows. Any suggestions?

Soul Food in Hong Kong

I just came back from one of my favorite eating holes in Hong Kong and felt quite inspired to write about "Soul Food."

What is it? Imagine turkey stuffing in the US, fried plantains in the Caribbean, Sunday Roasts in the UK, or a bowl of rice and steam salted pork meat in Hong Kong....

I often wonder why the creator of the word "Soul Food" would appoint such a powerful name to describe what we eat. My best guess is that certain foods bring out the soul in all of us -- especially foods that make us feel comfort in the heart through our stomachs.

I've had a relationship with food since I was born (kind of wierd i know) and realize that sometime when we're having a sh*tty day, all we need and want is some foods that will uplift our souls. All we really need is something to feed our appetite for life.

Fortunately for me today, the soul food in the picture above just added to the beauty of life for me in Hong Kong. If you are in the city and you need some hearty soul food to pick you up (only for the equivalent of HK$28/US$3.60) then check out Mang Ambo's filipino food in Wanchai (Jaffe Road). As you can see above I tried the Chicken Apritada and Bicol Pork Express, plus a little Bagong (shrimp paste) -- a heartful menu that won't break your wallet!

Say hello to "Dante" if your going for lunch or "Lonnie" if you are going for dinner. They'll be sure to make you feel at home and hopefully by the time you finish your plate, your soul will be jumping for joy.

If not, give me a holla and we'll go there together and share a bottle of wine along the way.

Wine vs. Food. My very own show

This past weekend I had a blast filming my very own show called "Wine vs. Food." If you have ever watched "Man vs. Food" or "Man vs. Wild" then you get the idea.

The way I would like to describe it is imagine trying a mouthful of beautifully steamed chicken feet with a glass of California Chardonnay OR a plate of roast pork over rice with Australia's best Shiraz.

Many people ask me where I got the concept behind this idea and do I actually think it will work. I think there's going to be a lot of "depends" on this or that, but I'm feeling quite confident because we're producing really good and fun content that will put a smile of peoples' faces.

Right above you'll see a pic of the production crew getting their huddle on before 15+ judges and 2 challengers come join me on Wine vs. Food. The concept behind the show is that in China there are more and more wine drinkers, but traditional literature mostly covers wine pairings with western foods like pasta and steak. But in China where we eat noodles, rice, creatures that Americans find adorable and etc, there aren't many good options or at least pointers on wine and chinese food pairings. Wine vs. Food aims to fill this gap and to do it in the most outrageous way possible!

So we thought, why not create a show where we travel on location to a food market, order some local foods, and then challenge 2 wine experts to pair their wines with our foods. Moreover, we would invite everyday people who live in the area (in our case HK) and have them judge for themselves. What we ended up with was a whole bunch of laughs, red faces (from all the mixing and trying of wines), a judge having to eat pigeon head (as a consequence of losing the challenge), and a very good first episode to come.

Stay tuned ya'll. I'm editing with the production team as we speak. Should have something out by December 13th, 2010. If you like it -- hope you can also "like" it on facebook to show the world!

Pigeon Delight

I'm about to head out the door in the next few minutes to meet up with a production team that will help me develop an online series that explores my favorite street food delights in Asia with wines from around the world.

For example, what type of wine would best go with fried pigeons with a pepper salt seasoning?

(a) Merlot
(b) Pinot grigio
(c) Shiraz
(d) Chinese rice wine (eww!)

Can you believe that I'm actually doing this?

I didn't.

Aside of all the pain in the @ss details of incorporating the business, opening a business bank account, and renting out a PO box to register with the government, the whole making of this idea is quite fun.

We are basically trying out tons of "ethnic" foods and pairing them with wines which for the last 100+ years have been paired with pasta, beef steak and our "typical" western palette. We're shooting our first episode this Saturday, so if you are in Hong Kong let me know and come around!

A special thanks to those that sent out their messages of support in my first blog post. It's a new world (the blog) for me so let me know if you want to know about anything specific going on in my life or businesses. Ok, got to go now. A few pigeons await their execution and frying!

Lobster Fest

In about 3 hours I'm off to Sai Kung to have dinner with a Hong Kong seafood distributor to convince a set of brothers that they should buy New England / Atalantic Lobsters from me and my partners.

Between my partners and clients broken English and my even more shattered Cantonese, I'm going to assume that it would probably be best that I drink more than I talk and the deal-making be left to my J(oint)V(enture) partners. =) They are good for the job!

I am assuming that if you are reading this blog that you are a good friend who managed to click this link on your facebook feed. So let me fill you in that I quit my corporate life 2 months ago and have started a handful of fun, interesting, and promising projects.

One of these projects is best shown rather than described. If you see that picture of me and the pair of 6lb lobsters, then you get the idea. I'm importing live Atlantic Lobsters or otherwise known as New England Lobsters to Hong Kong, and hopefully not going to lose my shirt off of a good deal gone sour.

I can't be too specific on this blog, but there's an element of mystique or shadiness in how the buyer will move the product into China. Some would call it smuggling, others would call it creative transport, but I just prefer to call it what it is: Feeding the appetite of millions of wealthy Chinese who want to order 6 lb lobsters, drink fine wine, and enjoy a life that was once unimaginable 20 years ago in a developing country.

How time passes by so quickly.... =)

Well, I'm off to the fish markets of Sai Kung. Wish me luck and I'll try to take some photos for all of you all. Maybe, if we are lucky, we'll even end up with a PO in hand or at the least a nice seafood dinner on HK's beautiful coastline.