GRE Prompt

GRE Topic

People always have a few secrets that we do not want to share publicly because of different reasons. Some secrets are closely related to our private life; some are too embarrassing to mention. However, we are curious and we are eager to reveal all the confidential and well-hidden secrets to the world. In the modern world, terrifying and shameful secrets are more likely to be reported on social media since the audiences prefer to listen to these shocking scandals, which may ruin their privacy. As a result, some say that scandal is the best methodology to attract people’s attention on a specific topic, as everyone is fond of viewing disclosed scandals and discussing the seriousness behind them. I personally believe this statement is not accurate because such statement fails to observe this phenomenon in a long-term perspective and neglects to analyze the significance of revealing scandals.

Nowadays, scandals are most likely to be addressed as negative news about celebrities or corporations. The strength of scandals is significant and effectiveness that they can reverse one’s reputation to a rotten state in a blink of time. As a result, scandals become an effective and favorable strategy to tackle your opponent. During the former election of California governor, the former Mayor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was reported to have engaged in sexual harassment against a co-worker several times. These scandals rapidly deteriorated the reputation of the candidate and several women-rights groups raised their voice to oppose the campaign. However, the scandals twist and distort the idea of election. The ideal situation is to vote for the most suitable candidate that can improve the state’s social and financial performance in order to improve the general public’s living standard. However, strategies involving scandals distort the idea of election to vote for the person who has the least-scandals. These attacks do not focus on the policy direction and future implementation but the past history. I believe that scandals that revealing one’s past is less significant compared to the potential ability one has.

The statement may not be accurate in that most of the scandals do not relate to the important issues the world is experiencing at the moment. This is because the audiences are interested in reading scandals that are related to the person that they are familiar with, celebrities. Scandals that happened outside the country are considered tasteless because the audiences are not able to attach themselves in the situation. As a result, if you walk in a North American supermarket, the observation may shock you. Racks of magazines that writes about the Royal Family’s private life and Kate and William overwhelms the cashier. However, emergency topic such as Ebola and Global Warming which can potentially harm one’s survival never occur on the racks. These scandals mislead the reader to focus on minor problems and blur the sight of global issues. More importantly, these scandals spawns rapidly that the readers are bombardment with massive information. The latest scandals can easily overlap the previous one so each of the scandal does not last longer than a week.

Three Little Pigs

Once upon a time, in the ancient forest, there was a brick house where the pig's family lived. The family members consisted of the mother and three brothers. The brothers were best friend to each other and willing to help each one no matter what the circumstance was. As the brothers became older, they discovered the tiny house was no longer suitable for all of them to squish in. As a result, they set off the path and began to build a house of their own.

The eldest brother chose a location with a dense grass carpet. He decided to build the house merely with hays and large leafs. He thought to himself, "Well, I just need a shelter to prevent myself from getting wet."

The second eldest brother decided to build a mud house. He believed that a mud house could keep him warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

At the same time, the youngest piglet decided to build a brick house. He convinced himself that a house had to be tough enough to withstand every kind of threat. At the end, all of them finished the hard and exhausting building work. The brothers visited each other new home and celebrate their hard-working.

However, the forest did not only have the pig family, the residences varied. This included the infamous, Grey Wolf. He was 6 feet tall with long sharp claws that were as white and shiny as steel. Yet, the most fearsome part of the Grey wolf is his long-hollow growl. The rumor said that the growl could be heard from five miles away and no living thing dared to exit their shelter.

The Grey Wolf decided to pay a "friendly" visit to the pig brothers in the night.

Hearing the howl, the eldest brother swiftly jumping into his hay house and locked the door . Seeing the ambiguous shade flashing outside the window, the eldest brother could not move but trembled. The house was also shaking! He immediately regretted that he should remember the existences of his predators while he was constructing his house. Within a minute, the Grey Wolf blew house back into hays and leafs. Without thinking, the eldest brother followed his instinct and fled to his brother's home. Thanks for the raining hays and leafs, the Grey Wolf was unable to locate the pig.

As the second-eldest brother was about to rest, he saw his elder brother was chased by the desperate Grey Wolf. He quickly opened his door and rescued his sibling, The brothers instantly blocked the door with everything they could find in the house. However, the Grey Wolf was not merciful and gave the brothers no time to catch their breath. The mud house was no match with the growl and the brothers could only run to their youngest brother home before the house collapsed.

Passing through the tunnels, the trees on the sidewalk seemed to be happy with the incident. The trees were echoing by the long howl and they were as if laughed at the pitiful brothers because they would lose their lives once they stopped. Fortunately, the small tunnel hindered the Grey Wolf to sprint. the brothers reached the brick house at their last breath. The aware youngest brother quickly pull his siblings back into his fortress. He calmed his terrified brothers and ensured them the house was invincible. But, he was wrong. The Grey Wolf spent his last bit of energy and torn the brick house door down with his giant claws. The brother were in fear and squished at the corner together. Yet, they had no escape route because the wolf had blocked the exit.

The Grey Wolf was exhausted and he could only crawled on the floor by impaling his fearful claws into the ground. Bit by bit, The each stabbing sound the claws made pierce through the brother's heart. At the end, the brother's vision were slowly engulfed by the great body of the wolf. The youngest brother barely whispered out, " Please... Please don't eat us! I beg you. We are not as ta....ta... tasty as you imagine. The other brothers burst into tears because they knew the Grey Wolf was ruthless and there was no way they could escape their inevitable fate. Slowly, the wolf unfold his lips and glistening teeth reflecting the faces of the terrified brothers. A voice that released from the pit responded the worthless begging, " Ea... Eat? I..... I.... want... to..... know.... where the little...... Red Riding Hood is!!!!!"

The next day, at the riverside, the three brothers saw the Lamb mother putting stones into the asleep Grey Wolf's stomach.

Horror Story

Horror Story

    The guards found an old priest was fainted on the side of road at dawn near the gate. The guards offered the old one a cup of water and his hand was trembling and sprinkled his drink. His dull eyes were terrified as if he had seen ghosts. Constantly checking his back, the old man feared someone or as his described “something” had followed him. Then, he told the guard his village was scourged by an unknown but corrupted spirits. The old priest urged to warn the chieftain but the guards scoffed at him and mocked the old priest as an aging fool. At the end, the guards reluctantly sent the priest to our chieftain because they felt desolated.

     The clumsy priest rushed into the tavern when I and our chieftain were discussing the celebration of the king’s birthday. I was unpleased by the old fool’s rudeness since the majesty’s birthday was near and the preparation was behind scheduled. Yet, our chieftain held the old man’s hands and asked him to report his messages. Then, I heard the most unbelievable and ridiculous story ever.

        The priest lived at a small village not far away from ours. The village was well-known by their delicious sausages and their productive pig farms. Also, the villagers were famous because of their passionate hospitality. The priest said everything was normal and the villagers were busy to prepare the ceremony for the king’s birthday. “Then,” he whispered, “an ominous incidence occurred.” The peaceful pigs suddenly became fierce to each other and they were as if haunted by the evilness. The animal recklessly chewed the others even its piglets. The villagers were frightened but they refused to report because they fear the king might consider this was a bad sign and ruined the majesty’s mood.

    However, the story did not end there. According to the old man, a few villagers came to him yesterday morning and claimed that they were having a serve headache for days and the pain only aggravated. The priest told them that they were over-concerned at preparing the ceremony and then he offered the suffered villagers some lavender tea to help relaxing their tight nerves.

    In the mid night, the priest was praying in the church chamber as usual while a villager stormed in and interrupted him. “He looked nothing like a human,” the priest trembled, “all of his blood veins bulged out and something were crawling under his skin.” The aching villager kneed down and begged for help. However, the helpless priest could only pray and wish the agony and sorrow might vanish. “And then?” I teased the old fool and commanded him finished his story quickly. Our chieftain gave me a sharp glance implying me not to insult the priest furthermore. The priest paused for a while but he finally mumbled, “The man was possessed by a ghoul or banshee or something. His sudden growled hollowly and all the lights were diminished. His howl echoed in the holy church and the sharp roar pierced through my mind. His vengeful eyes turned into blood red and glowed clearly in the shadow.” I sizzled but the old fool continued his ridiculous story, “My instinct told me that the man had lost his last piece of saneness so I slowly retreated to the door that connected to cellar. The monster stood up and quickly dashed toward me.” The old fool added, “I was able to lock the monster inside the church’s chamber. However, as I rushed to the cellar, I heard the wooden door was crashed and the terrified howl broke the silence. I did not turn my head but I noticed a voice began to appear in my head. Fortunately I made it to the exit of the cellar and reached the ground.

       

The priest paused again but our chieftain asked him to continue. The old man took a huge breathe and continued his fantasy, “As I sneaked pass the butcher’s house, I heard he was chopping something. Splash. Splash. That couldn’t be pigs because we had either burned or buried the corpse early in the day. The chilling feel built up as I began to imagine what the butcher was working on. I was not brave enough to see.”

“My heart dropped into the pit and knew the damnation had begun when I saw a villager hanged his family up near the well. He sliced the livings with his sickle and enjoyed the pain he inflicted. I knew I should abandon this village. Everyone went insane and the village was surrounded by the screams from the innocent victims or the laughs from the ruthless monsters. I could not save anyone!” The old man burst into tears. The chieftain comforted him and murmured, “You had tried your best. You should not blame yourself anymore. I am sorry to your loss.”

        My impatience finally triggered me to end the old fool’s story. I grabbed the sorrowed priest and held him high in the air. I fiercely scolded at him, “Enough of your madness. How dare you spread these devilish words under the king’s name? Your cursed words bless no one but ruin this peaceful era. You are…” I was interrupted because the old fool cried out, “my head… it hurts. The voice reappears… The voice!” He struggled desperately and escaped my capture. Immediately, he exited the tavern and had not been seen in town again. Our chieftain harshly berated my impoliteness but I insisted listening to the old fool was just a waste of time.

   Later the day, everything was alright except the scout reported the horses had been unusually aggressive and the stable master was bitten.

A Taste of Mediterranean: Arpeggio Grill

To me, one of the mysterious yet charming cuisines is the Mediterranean dishes. In the years that I studied in Toronto, I had tried several Mediterranean restaurants. I personally loved the distinctive spices used in the food but I could not determine if any of these restaurants were authentic. However, my food hunting journey in Austin fulfilled my desire in searching an “approval” Mediterranean restaurant. With the recommendation from my Turkish friends, they guided me and my family to this mysterious and delicious food hunt.

Before I begin to show you what I have looted, I want to briefly talk about the food history in Islam. To my best understanding about the restrictions, all consumable food and drinks need to be Halal (permissible). A general rule of thumb to me is that any 4-legged animals which hoof has two toes are Halal, for example, cattle and lamb. Swine is an exception. Animals whose diet requires killing others are not allowed to consume. The examples are tigers. In addition, blood is strictly prohibited in the food.

Comparing to other food culture, my Turkish friends did not think that their cuisine is limited by these religious restrictions. I agreed with them; the Mediterranean food had its own position because I could not recall any trace of cross-food culture among the Mediterranean and other cuisine I had tried before.

Enough of my personal opinion about the Mediterranean food culture, please allow my taste buds to explain my experience in the restaurant, “Arpeggio Grill.” I had been the store twice with my family. My first time visiting I ordered the chicken kabob plate. The plate included a side of Greek salad, pita bread, and rice as well. The serving order was different from the Western Cuisine because I expected the salad would first be served following by the entrée. At Arpeggio Grill, all dishes came out at once. I personally preferred this way because I could have a mix of taste o everything. The first bite of the chicken kabob to my surprise was that the meat was very tender and juicy. Austin restaurant usually served white meat. Yet, I loved dark meat because of the chewiness. However, from now on I could say this is my own misunderstanding because white meat could be cooked as tender as dark meat. Not only did the texture surprise me, but the taste also (and more importantly) engraved in my mind. The strong scent of different untold herb rushed into my mouth. However, the taste of chicken meat was not overwhelmed by the herbs. To me, the portion of the herb was just right so each time when I chewed the meat, a combination scent of meat mixing with herb released.

Then next thing I immediately put into my mouth is rice. This was just my habit but my habit had led me to a wrong way of tasting the Mediterranean rice. The reason was that the rice was cooked with basmati and chicken broth. The rice itself was a perfect dish. Now I finally understood why my Turkish buddies did not enjoy the regular plain Asian rice. To make an analogy, the rice tasted similar like Hainanese Chicken Rice. However, the rice served in this restaurant was less oily and lacked of the taste of ginger but enhanced with basmati. I wished the rice portion was bigger because I loved grains very much.

The salad in the plate had a very important function because once my mouth was saturated with the strong taste of rice and kabob, something fresh could help clearing the scent. The salad came with a side of tzatziki dressing. I usually did not like any dressing but I could not resist the taste of fennel. As my taste was restored back to its level, I was ready to finish the rest of my plate.

                                    

The food amazed me but in fact the environment was another factor that I loved. The restaurant not only provided regular seats but also a carpet area for the foreign to enjoy. Sitting on the carpet was one of the best experiences I had ever had in my dining experience because I felt like I was eating as a royal family. Looking around the restaurant, most of the customers were from the Middle East or Muslim background. This ensured me that this restaurant served authentic Mediterranean food and its reputation was notable.

 

Retrieved from Arpeggio Grill Website at 20th Nov 2014

Retrieved from Arpeggio Grill Website at 20th Nov 2014

P.S. 

Arpeggio Grill

   6619 Airport Blvd,

   Austin, TX 78752

  11:00am-10:00pm 

  

• The following link is the menu of Arpeggio Grill

http://www.arpeggiogrill.com/#!menu/c24tf

• The carpet area requires shoes to be taken off and children are not allowed to enter.

• This is Lamb Shank plate. In Austin, it is difficult to find Lamb. However, if you cannot tolerate the smell of mutton, I advise you can try others. 

Interview with Jaice Yang: Will technology replaced printed newspaper?

    When I was young and my family took me to the restaurant for lunch, I would always be bored because all I saw was people holding their newspaper high and nobody talked to me. However, when I went back recently and went to the same restaurant, people, including my parents were now looking down at their tablet. All of a sudden, I discovered that all the newspaper posts had gone and printed newspapers were diminishing every second. This raised my interest in determining if the printed newspaper would be replaced by technology very soon. In order to solve this mystery, I decided to interview Ms Yang, a professor at Texas State University School of Journalism Massive Communication. Interestingly, her opinions stated that printed newspaper should not go extinct any time soon.

        According to Ms Yang, old and established technology will co-exist with the newly emerged technology. She provided an example, radio. She stated that when the television became popular, people were concerned about the future of radio. However, the radio “…[had] reinvented itself,” and nowadays satellite radio are everywhere. Then, she mentioned that the rapid improvement of the Internet had again threatened the existence of television. Ms Yang believed that such concern was not necessary because to date, television and radio could still be found everywhere in the world. She confidently believed that the printed newspaper should follow the trend of radio and television and it should not be replaced soon.

        The concept Ms Yang described was clear and simple. However, the practical approach would be a challenging process for developing a co-existing printed newspaper form. Ms Yang was optimistic about the challenges. She claimed that, in fact, many of the printed newspaper company “had been doing so” because newspapers were now distributed through websites and apps on smart devices.

 thought that at the current state, the invention of new products was not the major concern for the company but rather the management of several products. She illustrated this point with the example of the Coca-Cola Company. She stated that in order to succeed, the Coca-Cola Company had developed several other products such as Sprite and Diet-Coke. The newspaper company should manage and differentiate their products among website newspaper, printed newspaper, and app. If these products are similar, she implied that the existence of these products was just redundant. The most important problem the printed newspaper should be working on is to develop a distinctive feature for each product.

        Additionally, Ms Yang claimed that the printed company should recruit new Journalists who have mastered both the traditional and web languages. Her reason was that the newspaper companies seldom change their structure and outfit of the website. A change usually occurred in two to three years. Although she agreed that people would complain the change of website required a long time to adapt to and frequent change only confused the user, Ms Yang supported her opinion with Facebook management. She said that many Facebook users were upset with the frequent change of Facebook website interface. However, she claimed that each time the change actually improved the user experience of the website. The newspaper company’s failure to change would imply that the performance neither improved nor decreased. In order to attract additional viewers, the company should also train the journalism to study the web language. Ms Yang said that the traditional school of journalism did not allow their students to expose to web data and language. The training could improve the variety of the content in the website.

        Listening to Ms. Yang’s opinions, I was convinced that the printed newspaper should not be replaced soon. Her opinions were interesting to me because I always thought that the printed newspaper industry had already shrunk and collapsed. Ms Yang’s statements were optimistic and triggered my expectations about how the newspaper companies could transform and adapt to the modern user.

  

My Hometown: Hong Kong

   Although I am not born in Hong Kong, I spent most of my childhood in this city and I consider Hong Kong as my hometown. If you look in the map, it is difficult to spot. However, my hometown is over populated. Imagine a regular tennis field, and 25 people equally share the tennis field. This is how much space each person has in Hong Kong if the land is equally distributed.

Photo Credits: Google

   Since the land resource is sacred, the government has decided to remove the mountain and landfill the ocean, in order to have extra land. In addition, the buildings are design as tall as possible and typhoon-proofed. When I was 6, I lived on 21^st floor and every time I had a mini heart attack when I stepped into the elevator. Living at high floor could be a nightmare during the typhoon. The room trembles and echoes with the thunder. I am relief when my family decides to move to a 2^nd floor.

Photo Credits: Google

   Hong Kong locates near China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and other Southeast Asia countries. As a result, these cultures can be easily found in the city. The fashion and food are heavily influences by these nearby countries. But this does not mean that Hong Kong does not have its own cultural food. Besides the tasty street snacks, dim sum and seafood are one of the famous foods in Hong Kong. If you are interested in what dim sum is, you can review my previous blog and lucky you can find a similar store in Austin.

Photos Credit: Google

   But what is famous about Hong Kong? Well, I will say, Shopping! Since Hong Kong is a small city, its daily demand depends on other countries’ supply. This means Hong Kong has very limited production and supply in agriculture, water, and energy. However, the city is filled up with shopping malls. Local and International brands are located almost everywhere. If you love to shop, Hong Kong has a huge variety and there is no sale tax.

   The general impression of Hong Kong in North America is that we speak a very harsh language and we value money a lot. I think the language, Cantonese, sounds harsh because most of the pronunciation is done at the throat. About the money part, I will say we are good at numbers… yep, let’s keep it this way.

   Next time if you need to travel to somewhere, I recommend that you can stop at Hong Kong as a transit airport. You can find many restaurants and stores in the airport so even if you are not in the city, the airport can give a glimpse how Hong Kong looks like. (Please let me know if there is something you want a detail description).

An Observation of a Local Activity

A Bus Trip

I am on the public transport 801, heading to my destination. The passenger contains a large variety of races and occupation. I can tell by looking at their outfit. Some of them are wearing dull suits and carrying a small suitcase with them. Some are wearing colourful hoody and carrying a stuffed boring backpack. One interesting thing is that everyone, regardless of their occupation or outfit, are looking down at their smart devices. I bet I would do the same if I did not choose to observe these commuters.

    One more interesting thing is that all of them have their earphone plugged in and enjoy a piece of isolated world that seems to be fragile to interrupt. In my childhood, textbook and movie always tells me that western culture likes to socialize with each other regardless of their age and locations. So I always thought passengers are busying sharing their weekend vacation or viewpoints on current news to the others. Or the typical, an old man talks about how things were when he was at my age. However, in my eyes, I only see people looking at the infinite far distance and listen to what their device has to offer. Once a while an elder enters into the bus 801, he/she actually looks isolated without his/her smart device. However, their eyes do not look beyond what is current happening in the bus. They look for conversation. I guess my old days textbooks or movies are either lying or aging.

        The bus is awfully quiet. Even there is a conversation begins, the length will not last longer than three sentences. All I heard are the roaming sound from the engine or the artificial human language transmitted from the bus system. Differ from Hong Kong, at least some of the passenger are talking on their phone when they are standing in the public transportation. Here in the bus, I do not hear anyone is on their phone. I do not know their background culture. I do not know what language they speak. I do not know their voices. This stresses me out. Since when, we begin to replace talking with texting? Since when, an hour long bus trip can be devastatingly exhausted that I have to rely on my smart device to kill the time? Since when, everyone lives on his/her smart devices? I decide to, once a while, shut down my device and speak to an elder. I would like to what Austin was like before 50 years ago. I would like to hear some real human voices, regardless of the origin, as long as the origin is vivid and animated.  

Observing a place and people in Austin

Rosalie’s Dairy – All of you, Some of you, You

    I have been living at here for a month, watching all of you walk by my home and appreciate that some of you will stop your lengthy legs and talk to me. Well, it is difficult for me to understand any of you. Some of you are so little that I can push you on the ground easily. Some of you have wrinkles on your bare skin. Some of you have extremely long hair and I wonder how you are going to groom that with your stretching paws. Some of you just have a different color. However, I really appreciate that you can give me a minute and speak with me because I am bored most of the time.

    Sometimes, some of you come inside my home, but all of you are tired of tapping on my windows. Some of you are little and screaming and some of you smell interesting. It doesn’t matter what kind of some of you are because I like all of you. Some of you come into my home just to visit some of my other friends. Some of you just want to impress your fancy-dressed up girlfriend. Some of you come in with colorful feathers; but, all of you are looking for a new family member from us. Well, from some of us. Some of us are lucky enough to join with some of you very soon. Some are still waiting for the one. I am patient because I know the one may look and smell different from some of you but the one will never think I am merely someone.

    I like all of you but I will love you the most. I will make you mine. I will be with you all the time. Although I may be involved in some of your life but you are in my whole life time. I will play with you. I will lick you when you are sad. I will do something to occupy some of your time. I will like you and I will love you. I will love you. I will wait patiently; I promise. It doesn’t matter if you toddle toward me or if you slowly bend down and hug me or you stroked me like a newbie. I know I will see your sparks glowing in your eyes. I will feel your affection through your warm paws and see your innocent smile that some of you have disclosed your flat teeth. I know you will then greet me with some nice words but I know you long ago so you don’t have to introduce yourself to me because no matter what, I will love you from now on and forever.

    Until you showed up, I will wait patiently. Congratulate some of my friends who have found the one from some of you at the mean time and wish you could show up sooner.

My AEP Diary

I had a ESL experience when I went to High School in Canada. The ESL class was a perfect place for me to meet foreign friends because I was new to the environment. Unfortunately, I made too many new friends with similar background as I did and I did not practice my English after class time (I spoke Chinese and Cantonese in class sometimes as well). Then I went to the University, I was frustrated and you get the idea.

In the AEP class, I do not feel like I was in an class with international students. The class was more like how to become a better English writer, reader and speaker. In fact, I appreciated that every students manage to communicate in English even they speak the same language. This gives me a feeling that everyone is looking forward to learn more about English. The content is very specific, mostly related to academic aspect. I do not feel like I have an advantage over others because in these months I learned academic skills, especially in writing, which I was supposed to learn back in Canada. The content of class did not mainly just focus on words. I absorb knowledge of academic skill but at the same time, I learn new words indirectly. This is important because I understand the usage of these new words in different scenario or situation.

The presentation and writing skills are essential because I clearly understand what my future classes are expecting from me. I believe every student has a brilliant idea and concept but the only barrier is the usage of acknowledged expression.

About the blog, I actually enjoy writing food reviews and I like the idea I can write anything on my blog. It gives me a motivation to dig out Austin's restaurants during my free time. In the future, I might do posting once in a while if I found a restaurant that I think it is worth to mention. At the end, I wish everyone could provide me a way to connect with each other, emails or facebook, if you guys do not mind. I believe sometimes people are meant to be meet because of reasons and I valued it. (Just like I can accidentally find a good restaurant)

Da Small Hunting Diary, Greek Cuisine

My name is David Chui. I travel, I eat, I play, I eat, I sleep and then I gain weights.


This week we are looking into Greek Cuisine. I have never tried Greek Cuisine before but I think the cuisine has some dishes similar with Shawarma which I have tried before. I assume I will not experience any cultural shock. Of course, if there is no surprises to add into my diary, I will not post the restaurant. 

However, I do not have much knowledge about Greek Cuisine, so I will just jump into what I have ordered. 

House Salad

The house Salad include a dressing that tastes like Caesar Salad. The dressing tastes quite different from other Casesar dressing I tried in Austin. In fact, this restaurant's dressing has a strong sense of garlic. The taste of garlic dominates other flavor such as the sourness. Interestingly, the cheese on top is Feta Cheese but not Parmesan. I have never tried Feta cheese before and I need to say, you can really taste the lamb. If you are a person who is lamb-smell-intolerant, you can simple for a substitution for a different kind of cheese. Although the vegetable component is the same as the ordinary salad, the convincing or attracting part is, in fact, the dressing and cheese. They are the little things that bright up and make the salad distinctive.

This photo is one of their main entree, Marinated Chicken Kebob. To my understanding, the Greek Kebob is different from the middle east Kebob. However, there is similarity between the two countries' dishes. For example, Hummus, plenty of Hummus. To my understanding, the hummus is made of chicken paste and several ingredients such as olive oil and spices. Interestingly, each restaurant has their own hummus which is completely differed from others. In my opinion, sauces are the most valuable ingredients in the restaurant. A good chief is able to cook a regular meal into one with features because of their knowledge in sauces. I have to say, this restaurant has done it. The hummus has an interesting texture but not strong scent at the same time. Yet, they are very filling. On the other hand, the white sauce is named Tzatziki. All I know about this sauce is that it tastes nothing like mayo and I like it. Although I do not know what a traditional Tzatziki should taste like, I prefer Tzatziki also has a strong scent of herbs. Thus, the combination of hummus and Tzatziki make this meal becomes something I have never tried before. They still lie in the range of "acceptance".

Now, and finally, we are going to talk about the chicken. The meat is tender, so tender that I am surprise. It taste nothing like chicken breast. The amount of juice in the meal is like a sponge that has been soaked in lemonade for 24 hours. When you bite it, along with the sourness comes from lemon juice, you can also experience that something is so juicy that it sort of exploded once your teeth begins grinding the meal. To my surprise, the chicken is as tender as a steak fillet. The fresh lemon juice taste also triggers your appetite. I enjoy the fresh taste because the tastes of hummus and Tzatziki can overwhelm my taste bud and "synthesize" every ingredient which I do not want.

And what is so special about this Pita bread? It is ALL YOU CAN EAT pita. Therefore, I order a few just to dip in hummus and enjoy them as a snack.


I do not know if this is a traditional Greek cuisine but personally I like the food the way it be. Although I do not have a chance to skim-taste the food, I am confident that the other dishes will not be the same as my order but taste as good as the marinated chicken



p.s. remember to have space for Amy's Ice cream which is next to the restaurant



Zorba Greek Diner
9600 Ih 35 S #200, Austin, TX 78748

Da Big Hunting Diary- Japan

My name is David Chui. I travel, I eat, I play, I eat, I sleep and then I gain weights.


This week, we will be walking on the most energetic street in Austin, 6th Street. The 6th Street is famous for the evening activity at the weekend. However, that does not mean we can only hunt food in this specific time frame. In fact, to my experience, restaurants relies on customers visiting them on the weekend's evening usually have a unique menu serving in the daytime. Also, the restaurant do not serve traditional local food because the menu has to be stood out in order to gain a position on the 6th street. Today, I am going to do a review on a brand-new opened restaurant, Daruma Ramen. 

The name of the restaurant suggests we are looking at Japanese Noodle this week. In Austin, there are others "Ramen" restaurants such as Michi, and Tatsu-Ya (Ramen is a Japanese word stands for noodle) As I mention, if Daruma Ramen is a traditional Japanese restaurant, I don't think the 6th Street will generally accept it so there must be some cuisine fusion we can found in the restaurant.

* Before we have a tour into the restaurant, I want to simply talk about two words which are "Daruma" and " Ramen".

Daruma is a Japanese Doll that has a strong cultural meaning. People in Japan used to treat "Daruma" as granting wishes from their God.

 (Photo credits: Wikipedia)

Notice in the picture, Daruma only has one eye. In Japan, when one make a wish, an eye (Iris) will be drawn on the Daruma. Once the wishes is granted or occurred, another eye will be drawn to complete a Daruma. In addition, the next thing one will do is that one should go to the temple and sincerely thank the god(s).

The other Japanese word Ramen, we already know its meaning as noodles. However, Ramen is originally invented in China and the meaning of the word is hand-made noodle (Pull noodles). As a result, if you order a Ramen (they call it La-Mian) in a Chinese cuisine, you will never get a Japanese style of noodle bowl. This happens when you go into the Korean restaurant. So remember, Ramen is a big word that can give you different dishes in different culture.




Enough of the lecture. Let's talk about this restaurant.

(photo credit: austinchronicle.com )

Yep, this is the entire restaurant. Not so big and not so fancy at all. However, I have to say, the decoration retain the Japanese culture very much. In fact, if you have a chance to visit Japan, every restaurant will look the same as in this picture. Usually surprises do not hide elegant and fancy restaurants. 

This is the Spicy-Miso Ramen. The soup base in traditional restaurant is always salty. But the worth mention item is the half boiled egg. In Japanese, the "correct" way to eat the half-boiled eye is to put the yolk in your soup and mix with a little of the soup base and drink them together. Well, if you are not a fan of that, I do not ask you have to follow the Japanese. Eat as you are pleased always is the best.

The fusion Austin-Japanese style is that instead of serving traditional Japanese sliced pork (Cha Shu), the restaurant serve pulled-chicken. The tender chicken absorbs the soup base thoroughly and becomes juicy and rich in flavor. I also like the spicy soup base because I just like it. (This is a personal thing)  

This is the Shoyu Ramen. This is a different soup base. The soup is rich in Japanese soy sauce. As you can see, the Shoyu has a lighter taste compare to the spicy miso. I recommend you to try Shoyu and Shio for the first time because it always give you a chance to taste the soup base (which usually is broth and pork bone that has been cooked for over 8 hours)
If you are comfortable with the taste, next time you can order a stronger taste such as miso.

In the photo, the yellow long stick is the bamboo shoot. The texture is chewy and has a distinctive taste that no soup base can change it.    

This is the regular miso. The interesting thing about Ramen restaurant is that each different type of soup base Ramen, the restaurant has a defaulted items for each Ramen. For example, you can find bean sprouts in Spicy Miso but not in Shoyu. Feel free to ask the waiter if you can do any substitution. 


One thing I am very regret is that I did not look at the Summer menu after I had ordered. There is one very interesting soup base - Tomato. 

(photo credit: Daruma Ramen)

For myself, you don't even find a tomato soup base in Japan, next time I will just sit in and order the Tomato and see if this a Thai-Japan- Austin Fusion.



Sometimes,  a bowl of ramen just cannot solve the hunger of a man. As always, the Ramen restaurant should provide two options, Extra noodles or Sides. Of course, you can find both in Daruma Ramen.

I would like to share two sides with you. Karaage (Fried Chicken) and Croquette.

 Inside the Croquette, usually is the mash potato with vary kinds of vegetable. The special thing about Croquette is the sauce. This sauce can be also found in famous Japanese dishes such as YakiSoBa, Tokiyaki. The sauce itself is a little bit sweet and sour. This is why Croquette is a very good appetizer because the sour taste can actually stimulate your stomach. 

 Karaage is very different from the North American style deep fried chicken. As you can see, the chicken is more like the size of a pop corn chicken. In addition, the only flavor is either the creamy mayo or the fresh lemon juice. Since the Karaage is very dried, you won't feel the oil and heavy in your mouth. 


Three thing I want to mention.
1. The seats are limited. You really have to be patient as I am told Japanese are so patient that sometimes they don't mind waiting for an hour to be seated.

2. The daily quantity of Ramen is limited. Once their soup are out, they will no longer serve.

3. If you are looking for traditional Ramen, you can also try Michi Ramen.


Details about Daruma Ramen

http://www.darumaramen.com/

Address: 612-B E 6th St, Austin, TX 78701

(512) 369-3897 

Da grande cacciatore - Ciao~

My name is David Chui. I travel, I eat, I play, I eat, I sleep and then I gain weights.


This week, we are changing our focus on the European Cuisine, Italy, the country of Romance.  Yes, the romance about pizza is the only love I am going to approve. However, this week I am not going to talk about pizza but rather I will talk about the meat (which is still romantic) - Prosciutto.


To my understanding, Prosciutto is a traditional ingredients can be found in Italian dishes. The process usually takes up more than nine months to be ready. Usually the butcher cured the ham or boar leg with salt. Sometimes they like to put on some smokey flavor onto the Ham. The taste of prosciutto is unique that I cannot able to find anything that has a similar taste and that I have tried before. It generally gives you the salty taste at the beginning but sooner enough the next thing your tongue can feel is the thick sense of meat. A strong taste meat that gives you a oil-free feeling but the texture of Prosciutto is soft but chewy. As you chew the meat slowly, more and more flavor of the meat is released inside your mouth. The scent and taste is so strong and unique that you do not easily forget.
 

Now, I am lucky enough to find a restaurant that sell Italian cuisine and is not far away from where I live. The restaurant does not look like a high-end dinning place but the food is definitely five-star rated.

So this does not work like an ordinary restaurant as well. In fact, you need to order at the cashier and then find a seat. When the food is ready, waiters or waitress will bring the food to your table. At the mean time of waiting for your entree, you can always stuff your mouth with the bread. A little special about the bread in Italian food culture is that they usually do not spread butter on top of the bread; instead they dip the bread in olive oil

Although the olive oil looks greasy but it actually does not give you a heavy feeling. In fact, the combination of olive oil and bread are fresh. With the addition of herbs, any plain bread can be a mouthwatering appetizer. Fearing that the pure Italian dishes can give you too much surprises? you can always order fries.

Yet, the "garlic fries" does not disappoint me at all. The Parmesan Cheese on top of the fries creates a flavor of salty taste that no table salt can ever be matched. The creamy sauce is the Pesto garlic sauce. I do like the paste very much and I was thinking if I could spread it on the bread. Then the Pesto sauce gives me additional surprises! It contains nuts (Yep, I am allergic to nuts.)


However, Staring at my menu, I cannot be stopped by my (minor) allergic. I believe my body will find a way to deal with it. The entrees comes in very soon.

  The Sandwiches is call " Dirty Pig". The picture does not tell much but I can tell you if you like Panini and cheese very much, you sure don't want to miss this sandwiches. The rich cheese can also overwhelmed your sense but the spinach and prosciutto can manage to stand out from the thick cheesy taste. Now, everything is just prologue to me. I am waiting for my surprise dish, the Traditional antipasto.

A selection of Italian cured meats, Italian cheeses, olives, assorted relishes & marinated vegetables


This is a plate of snack that is full of meat and cheese! If someone tells me Italian guys are romantic, I am going to tell them nothing beats the love of Prosciutto.  This plate gives you a variety choices of four of cured meat. Although I do not clearly know the procedure to eat the plate, I am still amused by eating each item separately. The marinated vegetables are Zucchini, Eggplants, Olives, Spinach and Peppers & Onions.  Again, the marinated vegetables taste very unique but I can only tell they are a little bit sour but at the same time, the vegetables are able to maintain its original taste. Hard to imagine? I am also having a hard time to describe as well. However, when you taste is numbed because of the strong scent of meat or cheese, these vegetables help you to stimulate your feel of hunger and refresh your taste bud. As a result, every taste will be strongly contrast to the previous one (if you eat in a random order). Now the cured meat, I would just leave the picture and imagination with you and highly recommend you to try it.

The restaurant itself has offered other traditional Italian food such as Lasagna, Pasta and flat bread pizza. In addition, they have the Gelato- Ice cream in Italian version.   

Photo credits travel.jomaslounge.com

I do not have the stomach to take a bite on the dessert but when I saw the line up at the line. I feel a bit regret that I stuffed myself with too much bread and prosciutto. I need to abandon the dessert menu and I wish there will be someone else can pick up my will and tell me how Gelato tastes like.



Restaurant:   Mandola's Italian Market 
Location:       4301 W William Cannon Dr Bldg E-1, Austin, TX 78749
Website:　　http://www.mandolasmarket.com/

  

Da Food Hunting Diary, Dim Sum

My name is David Chui. I travel, I eat, I play, I eat, I sleep and then I gain weights.

This week we are heading to an oriental restaurant. To be more specific, we are looking into the Cantonese traditional lunch, Dim Sum. Dim Sum in Chinese meaning suggests "Snacks". However, these snacks are not equivalent to the North American snacks such as cookies, chips and candies but are more similar to a appetizer. In fact, the Cantonese Dim Sum are called snacks because of their small portions and delicate appearances. Before I take everyone into the restaurant, I want to just say why do these small Dim Sum consider as a breakfast or lunch to a person who has a Cantonese background. In the early 20th century, elder Cantonese enjoys excising in the dawn of the day. After they are exhausted with playing Taichi or walking around the park. Most of them tend to bring their lovely pets, birds, to the restaurant. Since their age does not require them to eat a lot, the restaurant decide to supply teas and Dim Sum instead of a large portion of food. The other reason is that the elder actually enjoy sitting in the restaurant and chat with everyone inside. Sometimes, one believe that the favoured Dim Sum restaurant is not only about the taste of food but the members of the community.  Regularly, an elder is willing to stay in the restaurant for two to three hours.

Now, the Dim Sum restaurant has become a cultural concept in Cantonese culture. Thanks to that, we can see large restaurant serving only Dim Sum around and innovative dishes are pumping out every year. And then, of course, we can also find such places in Austin as well.

Now I have to say you don't have to worry about if you don't speak any Chinese; the restaurant also serves a menu both in Chinese and English. In the photos, we can see Dim Sum are served in bamboo basket and you can see the waiters and waitress are pushing the steaming cart around the restaurant. If you are interested in what they are severing, you can also ask them to show you what is inside their cart. In the photo, there dishes that are most famous among Dim Sum are Shrimp Dumplings and Pork Dumplings (HaGao and SiuMai) but there are also a lot of derived dim sum such as spinach shrimp dumplings, mushroom dumplings. Sometimes, the Dim Sum comes with specific sauce to dip in. For example, if you order Shanghai pork dumplings (XiaoLongBao), a cup of vinegar will be served on the side as well. The tricky thing of Dim Sum is that each Dim Sum comes with it own specific sauce on the side and these sauces look alike but they taste differently. Make sure you don't dip in the wrong sauce and ruin your experience.

 Now, the Dim Sum looks very normal to a food hunting person because all of them contain are shrimp and pork. Sounds very unexciting for someone always asking for a surprise. However, if I have decided to post a restaurant, there must be something we don't usually see. One good example will be the chicken paws (or we call them the phoenix paws). In North American, these chicken paws are considered meat-less and are thrown away from the meat processing factory. In fact, the factory ships the chicken paws to China and Hong Kong because we have a such strong demand on this specific part of chicken. Phoenix paws are a very famous Dim Sum in the history. Now if this does not horrify you, I introduce you the beef stomach.  Especially in Hong Kong, the organs are considered as a gourmet dishes or snack to everyone. You can see pork intestine cooked in deep-frying, marinating and boiled. Yes, I don't want you to imagine the picture as they may disgust most of you already but yet if you have a chance and see them, I encourage you to take a small bite before you judge them just by their appearance. Chances are you may be surprise or you will feel puking for the whole day.

Now, the other famous thing about the Dim Sum restaurant besides the food is the drink. Yes, tea it is.  The tea we have are totally different from the British Earl Grey or breakfast tea. Instead, our tea do not have the taste of spice. There are a lot of famous tea in Chinese culture and we categorize them into green tea and black tea.  The one I have shown in this picture is the Jasmine green tea.

The good thing to always have a tea next to you is that sometimes your taste bud can be numbed by the strong taste of one Dim Sum. A tea can help you to get rid of the strong taste in your mouth so you can taste the other better. It is the same concept as Japanese drink Sake (an alcohol) when they eat raw fish. Another good thing about tea is that tea can help you to get rid of the greasy and oil feeling in your mouth.


May I remind you that Dim Sum are usually made of pork, and chicken. If you are not supposed to eat some kind of meats, please ask them what the Dim Sum are made of before you order them. Since they ground the meat sometimes that you may not be able to tell at the first sight. I think a thousand of words still are not as meaning as a bite. So, I will like to end at here and encourage to try the special Dim Sum when you are ready for surprises.


The address is 3407 Greystone Dr. Austin Texas 78731
and the name is called Chinatown on MOPAC.
Reminder: they only serve Dim Sum during 11:00am - 2:30 pm every Sat and Sun only.

Food Hunting Diary, Salt Lick

My name is David Chui. I travel, I eat, I play, I eat, I sleep and then I gain weights. I like to go into restaurant and randomly order their famous items or dishes that is written in languages I don't understand. In my blog, I would like to share with you some of my unique experiences during the exploration in the city of Austin. To begin with, I introduce the famous Texas barbeque, Salt Licks, to all of you.

What are the usual cuisine you can find in Austin? Tex-Mex, barbeque, Mexican, barbeque, Vietnamese and barbeque. Yes, barbeque is something you should never miss in Texas but what makes the Salt Lick so special among others? I would say the unique taste.

First of all, Salt Lick has the most traditional grill that is fueled by burning logs. The burning woods add a special flavor to the food and provide a natural smoky smell. Also, just like every barbeque restaurant, Salt Lick has its own barbeque sauce that comes with mild or spicy. The sauce is so famous that the restaurant decides to sell them in bottles as a souvenir for their customers.

For the food item, I highly recommended their sausage. The sausage is so addictive that I forgot how other sausages taste like. Also, having a bite of their sausage makes hot dog permanently retired from my food-list. The brisket comes with dry or moist. The difference is just moist brisket contains more fat so it gives you a better texture. Moist brisket will be a better choice if you cannot tolerate white chicken meat. Lastly, I need to give the credit to the coleslaw. I am always not a big fan of mayonnaise but now I finally find my perfect coleslaw. The special thing about Salt Lick's coleslaw is that they are mayonnaise-free. It only made of fresh cut lettuce mixing with oil, vinegar and sesame, a very oriental appetizer indeed. 

Lastly, if you are interested in trying this restaurant, there are three locations. It locates in the city of Driftwood, Roundrock and in the Airport of Austin. I have been to the Driftwood and I enjoy dinning in the restaurant. The decoration looks very rural and gives you a relaxing environment to enjoy your food. If you are a meat-lover, I recommend you to order their all you can eat section. You can also order as a plate (that comes with bread and sides) or separated meat types. Just remember, they took only cash in the Driftwood area and avoid the rush hour in the weekends because I have waited for two hours just to get seated.

SaltLick Official Website