Year of the Dragon diorama, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/200, f1.4, ISO 1250

I may look Asian, speak a bit of Taiwanese/Mandarin, and know my way around a dim sum cart, but don’t be fooled—there are countless aspects of Taiwanese/Chinese culture that my parents never explained to me. Still, the lunar new year (which I don’t “celebrate” in any traditional sense) is as good a time as any to share some shots I took on New Year’s eve 2011 and New Year’s day 2012. (Yes, I’m still digging my Olympus PEN EP-2 and CCTV lens combination.)

C and I spent New Year’s eve day at Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, marveling at its multitude of detailed dioramas, elbowing past toddlers at the carnival games and sideshow displays, and then flipping out (hee hee) over their slew of pinball machines both old and new. (If you’re a pinball fiend visiting the Bay Area, Playland and Pacific Pinball Museum should be at the top of your to-do list.) We then rang in the new year with a rock’n'roll dance party at T’s house.

San Francisco pier, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/200, f1.4, ISO 1250

Chinatown, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/125, f1.4, ISO 1250

Polar bear wash, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/100, f1.4, ISO 1250

Madam Ashbury's House of Wax, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/50, f1.4, ISO 1250

Slayland-at-the-Beach, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/50, f1.4, ISO 1250

Frankenstein & his bride, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/50, f1.4, ISO 1250

Sarcophagus, Playland-Not-at-the-Beach, El Cerrito | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/50, f1.4, ISO 1250

8-tracks | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/30, f1.4, ISO 1250

New Year's eve dance party | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/125, f1.4, ISO 1250

On New Year’s day, we got a late start heading to A’s cookout in San Francisco and were delayed further when we stopped off at the Embarcadero to capture the sun setting over the city. We never made it to A’s, which was a shame. I suppose I should’ve resolved to finish what I start in 2012. Perhaps I’ll do so for the lunar new year. That, and play less online Scrabble. Here’s to more productivity in the Year of the Water Dragon!

Happy new year | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/40, f1.4, ISO 1250

Port of San Francisco | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/200, f1.4, ISO 640

Bay Bridge | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/30, f1.4, ISO 1250

Iggy & the Stooges | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/100, f1.4, ISO 1250

Most experienced photographers have a preferred camera/lens combination for specific situations. Landscape photographers, for instance, require wide lenses for sweeping vistas. Traditional portraitists use long lenses (minimum 85mm) to capture intimate close-ups without straying into their subjects’ comfort zones. For live shows in small venues with no flash restrictions, my go-to setup is a Canon 5D with a wide lens and an external flash. No flash allowed? The Canon 60D with the 50mm f1.8. The last thing I ever expected to use was an Olympus EP-2 outfitted with a $20 CCTV lens C bought on eBay, but that’s exactly how I caught Iggy Pop, James Williamson, Scott Asheton, Steve Mackay, and Mike Watt ripping through the Stooges’ catalog (including Raw Power!) at the Warfield on December 6.

And to think I almost took my uber-lofi Digital Harinezumi, which is practically useless in the dark but so tiny I could stick it in my jeans if necessary. In this age of phones with built-in HD cameras, large concert venues can only reasonably place restrictions on “professional” cameras with interchangeable lenses (i.e., dSLRs). Luckily, my Olympus EP-2 performs like an entry-level SLR but, with its “woodgrain” skin and the low-tech lens, looks unassuming to anyone but camera geeks.

Olympus EP-2 with toy lens | Canon 60D, 105mm, 1/40, f5.6, ISO 1250

Olympus EP-2 with toy lens | Canon 60D, 105mm, 1/60, f4, ISO 1250

I had absolutely no expectations with this lens/camera pairing. First, the EP-2 suffers from shutter lag and terrible autofocus in low light. Second, the lens (the equivalent of a 50mm on a 35mm camera) was of questionable quality (glass? plastic?), manual focus, made for CCTV cameras, and untested by me prior to the show. Third, I was one row of people back from the stage barrier, which itself was a good five feet from the edge of the stage.

I snapped a few practice shots of the opening band Le Butcherettes. Its members more or less kept their distance from my side of the stage, and these initial photos looked like they’d been taken with an iPhone—fine for documentation purposes but nothing to blog about. It wasn’t until I captured Teri Gender Bender running straight at me for a stage dive that I realized I had an enchanted box in my hands.

Le Butcherettes | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/60, f1.4, ISO 1250

Focusing was a challenge at f1.4 (when isn’t it, really?), but the results were magical when I nailed it—everything but the in-focus point was rendered a creamy wash of color or light. The lens devoured the intense stage lights, warping them into swirling halos, heavenly beams, or silky brushstrokes. In effect, it transformed the EP-2 into a digital Holga or Diana camera, complete with vignetting and smooth, film-like “grain.” It was wholly unpredictable and totally fun to use. I highly doubt either of my SLRs would’ve done as well amid the crush of bodies dancing to the beat of the living dead.

Here’s a smattering of the 200 photos I took that night. You can view more of them here.

Iggy & Occupy Warfield | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/80, f1.4, ISO 1250

Iggy & the Stooges | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/100, f1.4, ISO 1250

Iggy & the Stooges | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/100, f1.4, ISO 1250

Iggy & the Stooges | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/100, f1.4, ISO 1250

The Chairman of the Bored | Olympus EP-2, 25mm, 1/100, f1.4, ISO 1250

As for the show, it, too, was unbelievable. Happily, the band didn’t “polish” the songs like many recently reunited bands do; every classic, from ”I Wanna Be Your Dog” to “1970″ to “Search and Destroy,” sounded as primal and raw as when it was first recorded. Iggy, at 64 years old, flaunted his trademark lean physique and boundless energy, gyrating across the stage, diving into the audience, and climbing onto speakers with the same exuberance he had in live Stooges videos from the late 1960s. He even rallied the rest of the band to play two encores (including “Cock in My Pocket,” “Death Trip,” and “Louie Louie”), more than their previous shows. The entire floor of the Warfield shook with the weight of the pogoing audience. I was amazed there wasn’t a riot when he invited the crowd to occupy the stage during “Shake Appeal.” The show let out by 11pm, but I was so amped I couldn’t sleep until well past 2am. This was, by the far, the best concert I’d seen in ages.

Back to the lens: The lens requires a C mount adapter in order to be used on Olympus and Panasonic micro four-thirds cameras; it needs a different adapter for the Sony NEX. The lens (for Olympus and Panasonic only) is available at Photojojo for $90, or you can search for it on eBay (type in “25mm f1.4 micro 4/3 CCTV”; some vendors include a C mount adapter) and Buy It Now for roughly a third of the price. Mine came with the adapter as well as several macro rings I’ll probably never use.

I suppose you could group it with the Lensbaby, but it’s more straightforward and way cheaper. I like that I can control both the aperture and the focus, although there aren’t any notches to keep the aperture ring from slipping from f1.4 in one shot to f8 in the next. That’s just a minor inconvenience. Frankly, I can’t wait to try it out at another big concert with professional stage lighting. If only I had it and the EP-2 when I saw one of the New York Dolls’ first reunion shows at the Fillmore in 2004. David Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain, and Hanoi Rocks’ Sami Yaffa (Arthur Kane had died that July) shared the stage, and it pained me to not have a photographic device of any kind in hand—especially when everyone around me had somehow snuck in slim point-and-shoots (iPhones had yet to be invented). I know you can’t put your arms around a memory, but sometimes you can still look at it, with or without a TV eye.

New York Dolls 2004 setlist | Canon 60D, 35mm, 1/30, f4, ISO 1250

Seaweed ramen | Canon 5D, 29mm, 1/80, f4, ISO 800

When I was in Sebastopol in September, I had the misfortune of picking up the debut issue of Lucky Peach, a quarterly food journal spearheaded by chef David Chang (owner of NYC’s Momofuku restaurants), writer Peter Meehan, and the Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations production team. I say “misfortune” not because it’s a waste of a perfectly good tree but because it renewed my appreciation for ramen. But I suppose it would’ve been a failure on its end had it not, seeing as the whole issue centers around the humble, chewy foodstuff that sustained me for a good three-quarters of my life.

Kraft macaroni and cheese may have been popular in Western households, but instant ramen was a staple in our Taiwanese-American home. The Tung-I brand (the Chinese onion flavor in particular) was our favorite, with its brick of crispy, wavy noodles, foil packet of dry seasoning (MSG, dehydrated chives), and clear packet of fragrant, partially solidified oil and fried shallots.

We never ate it for dinner (somehow my mom always managed to whip up a soup, a protein, and several plates of greens and vegetables each night), but we devoured it as a snack. Occasionally we had it ungarnished, but most of the time we’d crack in an egg or two and/or toss in some fresh spinach. My dad would drop in dollops of chili paste until the broth was an unseemly red. I was probably 10 when I started making it on my own. Unsurprisingly, I packed a big box of it and an electric kettle when I moved 500 miles away to college.

Of course, my family also had a variety of Nissin Cup Noodles on hand for the times when we were either too busy or lazy to deal with a pot and a bowl. Even though I haven’t touched the stuff since the 1990s, I still remember the treats found within each cup, more so than I remember the various shaped marshmallows found in Lucky Charms cereal: spongy, yellow cubes of egg; small pink curls of shrimp with black intestinal tract intact; sweet orange tabs of carrot; green balls that never seemed to properly reconstitute into peas.

Eventually, once I was on my own and paying for stuff with my own money, Top Ramen and Maruchan (inferior brands, in my opinion, because they lacked oil packets) caught my attention with their 20-for-$1 sales. When I was feeling adventurous, I’d splurge on Shin Ramyun, a spicy Korean brand. I stopped eating instant ramen completely when I started reading nutrition labels and learned, to my horror, that each pack was 400 calories and 24 grams of fat.

I was long out of college when I discovered that cooked ramen existed in a commercial setting. A non-Asian friend introduced me to the handmade gook-soo noodles (similar to udon) at Bear’s Ramen House, a Korean hole in the wall in Berkeley’s Asian food ghetto. They also served ramyeon, but I didn’t see the point of paying $5 for something that I could literally get for a dime. Eventually, I ate my first bowl of restaurant ramen there. Even though they used dried instant noodles, the broth and accompaniments blew away my home attempts.

It wasn’t until years later in 2009, on my second trip to Tokyo, that I finally had fresh ramen. In Japan, ramen is considered fast food, and it’s as ubiquitous as burgers, sandwiches, and pizza by the slice in the States. Whole eateries (called ramenya) are dedicated to the stuff, and they’re not shy about showcasing their offerings, either through photos or plastic replicas so well done that you can almost see the steam wafting off the vinyl chloride noodles.

Ironically, I ordered my first bowl of fresh ramen from a vending machine. Many ramenya prefer an automated system in which you choose what you want from a machine outside, insert your money, and take the ticket it spits out to the person at the counter inside. I liked it because I didn’t have to struggle with the language and could take my time marveling over the menu.

Kamukura's vending machine (Shinjuku, Tokyo) | Olympus E-P2, 9mm, 1/320, f9, ISO 1000

My meal looked just like the replica, and the noodles were chewy, savory, and comforting, with a bite that instant noodles never had. How had my parents kept this from me for so long? Were they even aware of this magic in a bowl?

My first bowl of fresh ramen | Canon 5D, 70mm, 1/40, f6.3, ISO 250

Little did I know that ramen had many more dimensions, as illustrated in Lucky Peach. The noodles could be curly or straight; the broth clear or milky, fishy or porky or both; the eggs soft-boiled, hard-boiled, or raw. And then there were the various combinations of toppings: green onion, seaweed, fishcake, pork, corn, spinach, bean sprouts. When I went back to Tokyo this past Thanksgiving, I made sure to squeeze in a few more bowls.

Kamukura ramen | Olympus E-P2, 18mm, 1/25, f5.6, ISO 1000

"Piss Alley" ramen | Canon 60D, 45mm, 1/50, f4, ISO 1250

"Piss Alley" ramen | Canon 60D, 50mm, 1/100, f4, ISO 1250

My ramen journey didn’t end there, however. Somehow during the course of writing this post, I became mildly obsessed with instant noodles and learned that they were invented by Taiwanese-born Momofuku Ando for Japan’s Nissin Foods. (I assume David Chang borrowed Ando’s name for his restaurant.) I also developed an unexpected longing for the Tung-I ramen of my youth.

I bought two packs at the Asian supermarket and saw that the packaging had changed a bit (“Unif” had been added to the name; the flavor was now simply “onion flavor”; instructions were also provided in German and Norwegian). In addition, the product was now made in Vietnam. Yikes! Did they change the recipe, too?

Tung-I instant ramen | Canon 60D, 40mm, 1/60, f4, ISO 1000

Tung-I ramen package | Canon 60D, 40mm, 1/100, f4, ISO 1000

Curious as I was, it took me a good two weeks to work up the courage to prepare one pack. Yes, I know that makes me sound like the biggest food snob, but not only was the fat/calorie content daunting, so were the ingredients. MSG was one thing, but what were disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, and tertiary butylhydroquinone?

As it turned out, the ramen smelled and tasted exactly like I remembered, from the heavenly scalliony oil to the dried chives to the spirals of noodle. I ended up eating both packs with minimal guilt, knowing that I’d never knowingly eat instant ramen again.

Fresh ramen, on the other hand, is a completely different beast. And what about cup noodles…? Oh, why did I dare to eat this particular peach?

Rip Offs, Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco | Canon 5D, 15mm, 1/6 sec, f8, ISO 1000

It’s been so long since my last post that I almost forgot how to insert a photo and put together a sentence. Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to expound on the joy that was the Budget Rock showcase since I have some serious packing and eating to do. Whether or not you were able to take part in the sometimes-inhuman festivities, I invite you to visit the Budget Rock galleries I put up. Hopefully the pictures will make up for my lack of words.

Andrew Zimmern, genial host of Travel Channel’s Bizarre Foods, makes traveling, eating, and filming around the world look easy. I’m sure it helps that a professional crew of directors, writers, cameramen, and soundmen tag along on his excursions.

C and I had no such advantage when we decided to slap together a three-minute video for a “Share Your Adventure” video contest Lonely Planet was having. C learned about it at the start of Labor Day weekend, Friday, September 2. The deadline? Tuesday, September 6, at 11:59pm PST.

Ordinarily, we would’ve just thrown our hands in the air and spent the weekend as other Americans might (lounging by a refreshing body of water, congregating with friends in someone’s backyard for gossip and food), but the grand prize of $10,000 was just too tempting. We had no grandiose notions that we’d whip up a cinematic masterpiece in 96 hours, but maybe we could do something stupid/funny/intriguing enough to win the prize. What was there to lose except a few winks of sleep and maybe our trim physiques?

Sharing a culinary adventure (as opposed to urban, family, visual, and outdoor adventures) seemed to be our best bet. We brainstormed and considered cobbling together video footage we had taken while in Spain last year, or hitting San Francisco or Wine Country for new footage, but none of those options motivated us. I must’ve been subconsciously craving Shan Dong’s handmade noodles because Oakland’s Chinatown, right in our backyard, suddenly felt right.

And why not? With Chinese street signs; sidewalk grocers yelling out specials in Cantonese/Mandarin; windows displaying a menagerie of roasted animals; and droves of Asian locals elbowing past each other for the freshest bok choy, longan, and walter caltrops, Chinatown really is like stepping into another world.

With the Canon 60D and Olympus PEN EP-2, we filmed on Saturday and Sunday, spending four hours the first day and ten hours the next hobbling up and down every one of Chinatown’s 16 blocks at least half a dozen times. I don’t know how real TV people do it, but I jotted down a few lines of monologue the night before the first filming to give us some direction. But even my inner boy scout wasn’t prepared for the strangest development—the lack of hustle and bustle.

Chinatown on the weekend is usually a zoo of double-parked cars, sidewalk vendors hawking miscellany such as (illegal?) baby turtles, extended families heading to dim sum, and locals buying groceries for the evening. Much to our surprise and dismay, most people seemed to have left town for the weekend. On the up side, we didn’t have to wait long for our food and could film scenes with relative ease.

Still, we faced other minor challenges. The biggest one was probably getting up early enough to get to Madison Square Park by 8:30 a.m. to capture different groups practicing taiji, wushu, and kung fu. The other: Staying awake after dim sum (ordinarily, I’d go home in a daze and just laze around until the food coma wore off). It was also difficult coming up with witty commentary on the fly.

In fact, we reshot my pandan waffle and cassava cake scene (on separate days) because, after viewing the “dailies,” I was mortified by my unrehearsed ramblings (did you know that tapioca is made of cassava root? You do now). I actually felt like a sham for pretending I was taking my first bite of each…until I read Eating China‘s fascinating behind-the-scenes account of appearing on Bizarre Foods. That’s some talent right there—not letting multiple takes suck the freshness out of a moment.

Here’s a rundown of the places featured:

• Gourmet Delight Seafood Restaurant (dim sum)
• Shan Dong Restaurant (vegetable bun)
• First Cake (bakery; formerly Delicious Food Co.)
• Golden Lotus Vegetarian Restaurant (pho noodle soup)
• Cam Huong (refrigerated coconut milk sweets in cups)
• BC Deli Sandwiches (pandan waffle, cassava cakes)

In the end, our submission was disqualified for having music in it. Major bummer, for sure, but I for one appreciate the kick in the pants the contest gave us to create a travel video. C, on the other hand, would’ve preferred spending that weekend lounging by a refreshing body of water, congregating with friends in someone’s backyard for gossip and food.

There are two separate contests, one for Twitter heads and another for Facebook fans. You can enter one or both. The contest begins on Tuesday, September 6, and ends at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time on Friday, September 30, 2011.

To enter the Twitter contest:
1. Follow me @jetlagrnr.
2. Find my Tweets about the book giveaway and retweet them. One retweet per Tweet. Easy!

To enter the Facebook contest:
1. Like The Anatomy of Martial Arts Facebook page.
2. Post a comment/question under one of the book giveaway statuses throughout the month.
3. Share the link! One entry per person per day. That’s it!

One winner from each contest will be chosen at random from all eligible entries. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Winners will be notified by October 5, 2011; they will have 48 hours to respond to claim the prize. Prizes are not transferable and cannot be redeemed for any cash value or credit.

Good luck!

Mini cupcakes | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/125 sec, f4, ISO 1250

Considering that my last two posts were about cupcakes, I’m mildly embarrassed that this one’s also about cupcakes. I swear I’m not a fanatic—these portable sweet treats just happen to be everywhere.

It so happened that I had a soon-to-expire Groupon for a dozen mini cupcakes from an online cupcake baker that now has a storefront in Oakland. I redeemed it the other day for multiples of six different flavors: red velvet, peppermint patty, sea salt caramel, mocha, vegan sweet potato, and bananarama.

I ate all six in one sitting and realized that peppermint patty, sea salt caramel, mocha, and bananarama all had the same chocolate cupcake base with a topping (thick, slightly grainy, easily removed) that reflected their respective flavors. The cake was light, airy, and slightly oily, with a moderate dose of chocolateyness. But since I’m one of those freaks who scrapes off the creamy center of an Oreo cookie, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I’ve been spoiled by all the amazing cupcakes in the Bay Area, but I like a cake that’s imbued with different flavors. So my ideal mint chocolate cupcake would be just that—a cupcake that retained its minty chocolateyness even if I plucked off the frosting. A lemon cupcake would have lemon cake, not just vanilla cake with lemony frosting.

Despite the sameness of the chocolate-based cupcakes, sea salt caramel and bananarama managed to stand out. The woman who helped me drizzled on the salted caramel and sprinkled on sea salt right before she put the cupcakes in the box. I ended up eating most of the sweet/salty sensation. Bananarama didn’t really have frosting, just a dollop of milk chocolate buttercream, a banana slice, and a splash of caramel. These flavors melded wonderfully in each of my three bites.

Salted caramel drizzle | Canon 5D, 40mm, 1/200, f4, ISO 1000

As for the other two: Red velvet was indeed red, but wasn’t as chocolatey as I prefer; the cream cheese frosting lacked a tangy kick. Sweet potato could’ve been spicier, but it was so moist I didn’t realize it was vegan until later, when I checked the company’s website to confirm the flavors.

I somehow ended up eating the rest of the dozen (sans 90% of the frosting) in the course of two hours. Afterward, I truly believed cupcakes were out of my system, at least for while. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Mini cupcakes overview | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/125, f4, ISO 1250

Cupcake duo | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/160, f4, ISO 400

On June 11, 2011, Rock Paper Scissors, an art collective in Oakland, hosted its 3rd Annual Vegan Cupcake Bake-Off. It’s pretty awesome that it was vegan and they’d already had the bake-off two other times. But even better? Anyone could be a judge for $5.

Official cupcake judge | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/250, f4, ISO 400

I learned about the shindig just hours before it commenced and instantly knew I’d be there. Allie (of White Wires, Peach Kelli Pop) was in town and equally intrigued by the chance to 1) sample an undetermined number of cupcakes for a fiver and 2) decide the fate of one lucky baker.

I don’t know about her, but in the last year or so, I’ve become addicted to reality cooking shows: Top Chef, Master Chef and Master Chef Australia (which is basically a long, drawn-out Dr. Phil with aprons and spatulas, unlike its ridiculously cruel American counterpart), Chopped, The Great Food Truck Race, and even Top Chef Canada. Considering my sweet tooth, you’d also expect me to be a big fan of competitive baking shows such as Cupcake Wars and Ace of Cakes, but I’m not. They bore me, probably because I’m hopeless as a baker and don’t care to change the fact.

In any case, the judging on these shows always seems pretty straightforward: 1. Taste all the entries. 2. Pick the best one.

As it turned out, judging food is way harder than it looks.

This bake-off featured seven cupcakes:

Lime raspberry-inthemiddle cupcake

Cardamom cupcake with strawberry jam and basil buttercream

Pastel de tres leches cupcake

Peach melba

Rhubarb-apple cupcake with burnt sugar drizzle

Blueberry surprise cupcake

Inlaw cupcake

Two contenders (lime raspberry-inthemiddle, blueberry surprise) made mini cupcakes; the rest quartered their full-sized versions to distribute to us judges. Receiving clumps of cupcake presented an unexpected challenge: Once I got all the entries on one plate, I had trouble visually distinguishing between several of them (rhubarb-apple, peach melba, cardamom); comparing them to the uncut cupcakes was not necessarily enlightening. Even more troubling, I still wasn’t entirely sure which was which after tasting them. But as an official judge, I had to soldier on and pick my favorite from the batch. My method? Process of elimination, weighing in flavor as well as technique.

Here are my comments, from least to most favorite:

7. Peach melba: dry cake; the raspberry sauce overwhelmed any peach essence the cake might’ve had.

6. Blueberry surprise: double blueberry action was darling but the cake was a bit dry and lacked flavor.

5. Rhubarb-apple cupcake with burnt sugar drizzle: tangy and moist but a little too pedestrian; did they forget the burnt sugar drizzle?

4. Lime raspberry-inthemiddle: topped with lime “cream cheese” frosting and garnished with a handmade lime and raspberry, this was truly a work of art. The raspberry in the middle of the cake helped maintain moistness, but overall the sweetness of the cupcake made my jaw hurt.

3. Cardamom cupcake with strawberry jam and basil buttercream: well-spiced, moist. Had the next two not been in the running, I could’ve stopped here.

2. Pastel de tres leches (cake of three milks) by Hella Vegan Eats: amazingly moist and rich, with a delicious, complex flavor profile due to the cake being soaked in coconut milk, rice milk, and almond milk. Accompanied by a grapefruit/lemon/mint cleanser.

1. Inlaw cupcake by Tastes Like Yum: chocolate/coffee decadence, with dark chocolate chunks, coffee buttercream, and chocolate coffee ganache. A definite buzz and everything I look for in a chocolate treat. It was so incredible I went back to the cupcake station and asked if I could buy one. Christina, the creator, wouldn’t take my money and gave me a whole one, much to my delight. It was then I noticed her Bake and Destroy shirt. (Funnily, Natalie, who runs the site, was in San Francisco that weekend but wasn’t able to make it across the bay in time.)

My first choice: The inlaw cupcake.

I managed to arrive at my personal favorite, but not without a heap of agony. Frankly, had this been a function with free cupcakes for the taking, I would’ve made the rounds and happily inhaled at least two of each. I’m not necessarily a chocoholic—I’ve often been torn between ordering, say, a chocolate lava cake, a fresh-fruit galette, a carrot cake, and a crème brûlée, and requested a non-chocolatey option. But I will say that whenever I do that, I usually pine over the chocolate dessert for a day or two afterward (that is, if I didn’t end up ordering it, too).

Yes, I have a problem. But the first step to recovery is recognizing it, right?

So how do professional judges put their personal biases aside? Or do they?

In the end, the pastel de tres leches took first prize. Allie and I weren’t able to stick around for the results, but I believe the inlaw got third place, which surprised me. How did the sole chocolate entry not get one of the first two spots? The mind boggles.

(By the way, I just discovered that Whole Foods carries vegan cupcakes in their bakery. The chocolate one is as gratifying as their non-vegan option, and far better than the crumbly slices of vegan cake they have.

Wait. Didn’t I say I wasn’t a chocoholic? Right. Like I’d ever buy vanilla cake.)

Lime-raspberry cupcakes (vegan) | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/80, f4, ISO 640

I can’t believe this is my first July post! I’ve been crazy busy but still made time for five cupcakes (so far) this summer.

1. Lime-raspberry cupcakes were a tasty entry in the Vegan Cupcake Bake-Off hosted by Rock Paper Scissors in Oakland (read about it here) in June. It was there that I received a newfound appreciation for judges on reality TV cooking competitions.

2. Whole Foods crafted owl cupcakes for graduation season (is this a yearly tradition?). They were cute, but not enough to eat.

3. K baked nautical cupcakes for S & H’s surprise engagement party. H has a weakness for ships.

4. Fancy candles topped A’s gluten-free birthday cupcakes. The box claimed the flames would match the color of the candles, and they appeared to do just that.

5. Fourth of July cupcakes look good in front of everything.

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"Graduation" owl cupcakes | Canon 5D, 50mm, 1/250, f2.5, ISO 160

Nautical love cupcakes | Canon 5D, 40mm, 1/4, f4, ISO 400

Cupcakes (gluten-free) with candles with matching flames | Canon 60D, 70mm, 1/60, f2.8, ISO 1600

Patriotic cupcake | Canon 5D, 70mm, 1/125, f4, ISO 200

Tortuga torta, Cafe con Leche | Canon 5D, 80mm, 1/100, f4, ISO 800

In tribute to the Nervous Eaters’ song “Get Stuffed” (see video below), I resolved to eat as much as I could while in Chicago for the HoZac Blackout music festival over Memorial Day weekend. No, the song isn’t about stuffing oneself in a gastronomical sense, but doing so is certainly the preferred alternative.

Unfortunately, I forgot I have trouble reaching my stomach’s maximum capacity whenever I travel. I can’t recall one single trip in which I had to unbutton my pants, waddle out of a restaurant clutching my belly in pain, or fall into a deep stupor shortly after a meal. Not even in Italy, where pizza comes in one size (12″?) and is meant to be consumed by one person—before continuing with the rest of the meal, which likely includes pasta, meat/seafood, salad, and dessert. And not even at Fresc Co in Seville, Spain, a branch of the all-you-can-eat buffet chain that seemed to be one of the few Spanish eateries that offers fresh vegetables and fruits that aren’t fried, deep-fried, or drowned in oil.

Oh wait! One time in NYC, after the Radio Heartbeat Power Pop Fest, I had two lunches two hours apart—one vegan lunch special at Sacred Chow, followed by $16 worth of sushi rolls and sashimi at Noodle Cafe Zen, one of those half-price sushi joints on St. Mark’s Place. I really didn’t need that second meal, but the goading and gusto of my visiting Italian friends created a moment of unexpected gluttony that I apparently remember with fondness.

Other than that, I seem to have a mental and physical block against gorging in destinations other than my home turf, which is not a bad thing. The last things I need are gastrointestinal discomfort and ill-fitting pants getting in the way of my rabid sightseeing or, in this case, hours of standing in front of deafening speakers with no indoor plumbing in sight.

So I failed my mission to stuff my face to the fullest this weekend (see rundown below), but did manage to eat well regardless. Thank you, Chicago! May I eat your deliciousness again soon!

WEDNESDAY

[NOT PICTURED] 1:00pm: San Francisco Soup Company at SFO—Large Southwestern corn chowder in sourdough bread bowl. I ate all the soup (highly recommended if you’re looking for relatively cheap but filling airport food) and saved the dense, chewy bread bowl for the flight. Good thing, too—not only was our plane late, we sat on the tarmac for at least an hour before taking off.

[NOT PICTURED] 11:30am: Big Star—4 fried tilapia tacos topped with a smoky, addictive chipotle mayo, 1 spicy ejote (green beans) taco. I meant to eat only one fish taco but it was too good to stop at one. As for the green bean taco, the texture of a green bean just doesn’t work well.

THURSDAY

11:30am: Yuca Cafe—2 poached eggs on challah bread with home fries (sausages went to M), a dish called “Rocky Mountains” on the menu. I ordinarily associate this food term with bull testicles, but if it means I don’t have to agonize over ordering something sweet or savory, I’m all for it. By transferring the eggs onto the potatoes and smothering the challah (flavored with cinnamon and vanilla and lightly fried) with pure maple syrup, I essentially had two breakfasts. OMG, can you hear me drooling all over again?

"Rocky Mountains," Yuca Cafe | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/40, f4, ISO 1250

[NOT PICTURED] 1:00pm: Bake—1 chocolate chip banana cookie, 1 pretzel chocolate chip cookie. They were exquisite but too melty to be photographed.

[NOT PICTURED] 11:30pm: El Cid—3 grilled fish tacos, rice, beans, and 1,000 chips. The tacos here were a letdown after Big Star.

[NOT PICTURED] 12:15am: Longman & Eagle—Small plate of decadent beef fat fries that killed my craving for any more food. And then my moist pineapple upside-down cake with boozy cherries and toasted coconut arrived. It was flavorful but I was glad everyone wanted a bite.

FRIDAY

12:00pm: Cafe Con Leche (Wicker Park)—Baskets of freshly made chips and salsa; huevos montados (poached eggs over thick sopes, or corn husk shells) with two kinds of salsa and black beans. It was satisfying but not mind-blowing. Perhaps I should’ve gotten a tostonillo instead, a sandwich that substitutes bread with fried plantains.

Chips & salsa, Cafe Con Leche | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/50, f4, ISO 640

Huevos montados, Cafe Con Leche | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/100, f4, ISO 800

(This was the day we checked into Longman & Eagle. Check out their see-through shower; the frosted-glass toilet is right next to it.)

Room, Longman & Eagle | Canon 5D, 24mm, 1/50, f4, ISO 1000

7:00pm: New Wave Coffee—Vegan chocolate cupcake, simple, moist, delectable. I can’t believe I didn’t get more over the weekend.

Vegan chocolate cupcake, New Wave Coffee | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/80, f5.6, ISO 100

1:55am: Longman & Eagle—Small bowl of mixed nuts.

After hours at Longman & Eagle | Canon 5D, 24mm, 1/25, f4, ISO 1250

SATURDAY

1:00pm: Longman & Eagle—”Market scramble of roasted Nichols Farm peppers, Werp Farms arugula, foraged mushrooms, and housemade fromage blanc” served over a croissant with home fries. Tasty! Since I didn’t have dinner the night before and knew that I’d probably skip dinner again, I also ordered Bananas Foster french toast with banana pudding, bourbon caramel sauce, and goat cheese semifreddo. I liked it, but the french toast could’ve been soaked longer for a more custardy texture.

Scramble over croissant, Longman & Eagle | Canon 5D, 70mm, 1/40, f4, ISO 1250

Bananas Foster french toast, Longman & Eagle | Canon 5D, 82mm, 1/40, f4, ISO 1250

12:00am: Rockin’ Horse—Veggie burger and too salty cajun fries. Thanks to Jason Morgan (of East Bay Grease, who have a single titled “Just Head”) for buying.

Burgers & fries, Rockin' Horse | Canon 5D, 24mm, 1/8, f6.3, ISO 800

SUNDAY

[NOT PICTURED] 3:00pm: Zen Noodles & Sushi (delivery)—Cambodian fried rice. I love plain ol’ Chinese fried rice, but adding basil pushes it to another taste dimension.

8:00pm: Boiler Room—Hummus with the best grilled flat bread ever (dense, chewy, almost like focaccia); too-tangy salad with pieces of grilled focaccia. It also has Jameson soft-serve ice cream, which 1 out of 4 people in our party liked. The bathrooms are like mini CTA trains!

Hummus and grilled flat bread, Boiler Room | Canon 60D, 50mm, 1/6, f1.8, ISO 1600

MONDAY

1:00pm: Handlebar—Vegan biscuits with seitan sausage gravy and poached eggs. It was really toothsome but almost had too much gravy. M and I split  the hot, gooey fried pies: one filled with PB&J and the other with blueberries. They reminded me of being at a county fair.

Vegan biscuits with seitan sausage gravy and poached eggs, Handlebar | Canon 5D, 105mm, 1/50, f4, ISO 800

Fried pies and ice cream, Handlebar | Canon 5D, 93mm, 1/50, f4, ISO 800