Thursday, July 3, 2008
Chop Sticks on Stranmillis Road
Dine About Town #2...
Every Wednesday is our takeout night. I get a break from cooking and I get to sample the food out here. Last week, we had a hankering for Chinese food so we decided to check out the local Chinese takeaway in our neighborhood: Chopsticks
Inside is your below average joint. Most main entrees come with a choice of boiled rice (white rice), fried rice, or chips (plain, garlic, or curried). To save ourselves some money we opted to just order the main entree. We could make our own rice at home. We ordered the honey chili chicken and mixed vegetable stir fry. £9.40for the whole lot which is the average price for Chinese takeaway here.
If this doesn't look appetizing then you are correct! Both dishes were drowned in sauce that it over powered everything. The Honey Chilli Chicken was way too sweet and the mixed vegetables were way too salty. After awhile, it just tasted like sauce over rice. Food wasn't inedible but I'd only go here if I were stuck in the middle of a desert and that was the only place to eat.
Food: 1 star for the free tupperware they give you w/ entrees
Customer Service: 3 stars for politeness, fast service, and efficiency
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
My First Bodhran Lesson
I had my first bodhran lesson tonight! Don't wanna bang my own drum but...I wasn't bad at all. He said I had a good sense of rhythm and I will be able to pick up the bodhran very quickly. It's a style of drumming that I have always wanted to learn. The playing technique is a bit unusual. You hold the drum on your left thigh. You hold the back of the drum against the drum skin with your left hand. Your right hand beats the face of the drum with a stick called a tipper with an "down, up, down, up" motion. You hold the tipper in the middle as if you hold a pen and it's all wrist action from there. All the while your hand on the back of the drum can do lots of things to change the tone.
30 mins into the lesson, he made me play solo to a jig. A jig is in 4/4 time as opposed to a reel which is in 6/8 time. I felt self conscious playing solo while he was trying to correct me but whatever. Apparently, I played in rhythm 90% of the time which was pretty good for someone who has never picked up a bodhran before.
He demonstrated the various sounds you can make while accompanying music. I was completely in awe! Not only is he a bad ass but my teacher was so nice. He gave me a free CD to practice with and let me borrow one of his drums until I buy my own. He suggested that I can either go to an instrument store on Royal Avenue or go to the best drum maker in Belfast who can make bodhrans tailored to your specifications. Hmmm...that's not a hard decision to make. I'd shell out the money and how many opportunities can you get to buy a custom made bodhran from Ireland?
I am utterly in love. Not my teacher but with this instrument. And I'm still giddy that I'm learning how to play bodhran IN IRELAND!!! How many people get to do that? I'm so happy! The old Maddy is back again! :D
"The Proper Sausage Roll"
Craig thought it was time that I try a "proper sausage roll". The first time I had sausage roll was at John Campbell's Irish Bakery in San Francisco. I wanted to put the bakery to the test so I took him there. The baker is actually from Belfast. Craig took one bite of the sausage roll, spit it out and was offended, "This is NOT a proper sausage roll, it's actually a pastie made out of minced meat!" Sheesh!
Anyways, I am here in Belfast and now I have had my "proper and authentic sausage roll". My opinion? It's an acquired taste for sure. He told me you must have it with ketchup because that is the PROPER way to eat it. He promises me it will be so good that I'd have to have three hands. Two to eat and one to wank. O.K. so I ate it and I really don't think it classifies as wanking material. I actually like the one at John Campbell's better. I'm not too fond of boiled minced sausage meat with hardly any spices. The filling was bland. Although I did like the pastry, it was buttery flakey goodness.
So there you go, my first and last experience with a "proper sausage roll".
Giraffe on Stranmillis Road
This is my first "Dine About Town" series. I thought it would be fun to go around Belfast and do a review on all the restaurants and cafes that I happen to meander in. I hope it will be helpful for those of you who plan to visit Belfast. Although, I must warn you that I have a discriminating San Fran palate. I'm a self proclaimed food snob. So if I seem a bit harsh, you'll know why.
Anyways I digress back to Giraffe...
Craig wanted to have breakfast somewhere. We stopped off at Sinnamon, but unfortunately it was crowded (which is a good sign). A few doors down was Giraffe which was quite empty (later we knew why). I read a review in the South Belfast paper on this place. It had good reviews for the dinner menu. I figure it couldn't be all that bad for breakfast. At first, staff was friendly and a waitress promptly took our order. We had, as described on the menu, "a triple stack of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup", a side order of O.J., and tea. As we waited anxiously for our order, I noticed it had a nice atmosphere with people quietly reading their newspapers, and a group of people chatting about.
The only thing I didn't like, was the television in the background. Real appetizing while BBC shows a woman in labor and a close up of her cooch while she pops out a baby covered in mucus and blood. Nice! I really hate televisions in cafes and restaurants, it takes away from the restaurant experience. If I wanted to watch tv while eating then I would eat in my living room! Anyways, I digress again.
Our dishes finally came and it looked nothing like what was described in the menu. The most pathetic pancakes I have ever seen at least compared to American standards. It looked like 3 crepes. Craig was like, "Does this look like a stack to you?" I responded with a resounding, "No".
Not only that, the waitress informs us that they don't actually have maple syrup and asked if honey was OK. Honey on pancakes?!?!? What a sacrilege!!! I was bewildered and asked Craig, "Why state maple syrup in the entree description when they don't have it?" Craig rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders. He was annoyed as well and he lives here! Whatever, we had no choice so honey it is. So we sit there like a bunch of idiots waiting for our honey while the waitresses were discussing their next holiday in Tenerife. Craig called the attention of the waitress and asked for the honey. The same waitress who promised us honey in the first place. She comes back and gives us butter. Uh, what about the honey?!? Oh yes, she says. She comes back with the honey and with a soulful roll of her eyes, "So is that us then?" which is Belfastian for "You're really getting on my nerves making me work because you're interrupting my all too important discussion on my holiday to Tenerife. So, are you finished here?!?" I see, that customer service isn't their forte. For me as well as for Craig, customer service is what really scores points in a review dontcha think? People go to restaurants and PAY money for food, not only to stuff their necks but also to be pampered? We might as well stay home and cook our own food if we were to be treated rudely. I took a bite out of the pancakes hoping that the food will redeem itself and cancel out all the other negatives. It didn't. The pancake was very thin, crepelike, and gooey. It was a sad pancake. Very sad. The bacon was good though.
We then knew the hard way why Sinnamon was full and why a restaurant only two doors down would be empty.
£11.25 for 3 crappy pancakes with no maple syrup but honey that took forever for it to get to our table and a waitress who was more interested in her holiday at tenerife than DOING her job.
Food: 1 star for the bacon and huge glass of orange juice
Service: negative infinity factorial
Needless to say, we won't be back here again!
Anyways I digress back to Giraffe...
Craig wanted to have breakfast somewhere. We stopped off at Sinnamon, but unfortunately it was crowded (which is a good sign). A few doors down was Giraffe which was quite empty (later we knew why). I read a review in the South Belfast paper on this place. It had good reviews for the dinner menu. I figure it couldn't be all that bad for breakfast. At first, staff was friendly and a waitress promptly took our order. We had, as described on the menu, "a triple stack of pancakes drizzled with maple syrup", a side order of O.J., and tea. As we waited anxiously for our order, I noticed it had a nice atmosphere with people quietly reading their newspapers, and a group of people chatting about. 
The only thing I didn't like, was the television in the background. Real appetizing while BBC shows a woman in labor and a close up of her cooch while she pops out a baby covered in mucus and blood. Nice! I really hate televisions in cafes and restaurants, it takes away from the restaurant experience. If I wanted to watch tv while eating then I would eat in my living room! Anyways, I digress again.
Our dishes finally came and it looked nothing like what was described in the menu. The most pathetic pancakes I have ever seen at least compared to American standards. It looked like 3 crepes. Craig was like, "Does this look like a stack to you?" I responded with a resounding, "No".
Not only that, the waitress informs us that they don't actually have maple syrup and asked if honey was OK. Honey on pancakes?!?!? What a sacrilege!!! I was bewildered and asked Craig, "Why state maple syrup in the entree description when they don't have it?" Craig rolls his eyes and shrugs his shoulders. He was annoyed as well and he lives here! Whatever, we had no choice so honey it is. So we sit there like a bunch of idiots waiting for our honey while the waitresses were discussing their next holiday in Tenerife. Craig called the attention of the waitress and asked for the honey. The same waitress who promised us honey in the first place. She comes back and gives us butter. Uh, what about the honey?!? Oh yes, she says. She comes back with the honey and with a soulful roll of her eyes, "So is that us then?" which is Belfastian for "You're really getting on my nerves making me work because you're interrupting my all too important discussion on my holiday to Tenerife. So, are you finished here?!?" I see, that customer service isn't their forte. For me as well as for Craig, customer service is what really scores points in a review dontcha think? People go to restaurants and PAY money for food, not only to stuff their necks but also to be pampered? We might as well stay home and cook our own food if we were to be treated rudely. I took a bite out of the pancakes hoping that the food will redeem itself and cancel out all the other negatives. It didn't. The pancake was very thin, crepelike, and gooey. It was a sad pancake. Very sad. The bacon was good though.
We then knew the hard way why Sinnamon was full and why a restaurant only two doors down would be empty.
£11.25 for 3 crappy pancakes with no maple syrup but honey that took forever for it to get to our table and a waitress who was more interested in her holiday at tenerife than DOING her job.
Food: 1 star for the bacon and huge glass of orange juice
Service: negative infinity factorial
Needless to say, we won't be back here again!
Christmas in July!
We finally slept at a decent hour last night and got up before 1pm. We had breakfast at Giraffe on Stranmillis Road. Review on this later. Then we went to the post office to pick up my parcel! YAY!!! 
I love care packages especially from my mom. She goes way overboard. When I lived in Africa, she actually sent a portable toilet. Now THAT was humiliating! But she still rocks cuz she sent proper organic maple syrup from Quebec (which is hard to find here. The only place I found maple syrup was at Marks & Sparks. Even then it tasted watered down. Not good at all) and packages of mac & cheese, pancake mix, crystal light (which is now Craig's favorite), cornbread mix, and stove top stuffing!!! 
After we dropped the box at our house. We went for a walk across the Kings Bridge to find my teacher's house for my bodhran lessons. YES, I WILL BE LEARNING BODHRAN!!! I finally got in touch with a teacher yesterday after month of back and forth emails between the Crescent Arts Centre and The Belfast Traditional Music Society. I'm so excited!!! I feel like I'm back to my old ethnomusicological self again. 
Craig wanted to walk back on Stranmillis Road and people watch. We sat outside at a cafe and soaked in the atmosphere. We saw a lot of interesting people. Such as this guy with spiked hair. There were also a lot of young adults in hooded robes. I guess commencement for Queen's University is today. I found the hoods fascinating. Some were trimmed with white fur others just pink and blue satin. What is that all about? In the states, if you graduate with a B.A. you don't get a hood. You just get a gold cord around your neck (like a nuce) if you graduated with honors. All the other higher degrees (ie MA, PhD) receive a hood. I never really understood the whole academia pomp and circumstance. I didn't even walk in my graduation. I got my diploma and ran fast and as far away from campus as I could. So far that I ended up in Cuba!
I love care packages especially from my mom. She goes way overboard. When I lived in Africa, she actually sent a portable toilet. Now THAT was humiliating! But she still rocks cuz she sent proper organic maple syrup from Quebec (which is hard to find here. The only place I found maple syrup was at Marks & Sparks. Even then it tasted watered down. Not good at all) and packages of mac & cheese, pancake mix, crystal light (which is now Craig's favorite), cornbread mix, and stove top stuffing!!! 
After we dropped the box at our house. We went for a walk across the Kings Bridge to find my teacher's house for my bodhran lessons. YES, I WILL BE LEARNING BODHRAN!!! I finally got in touch with a teacher yesterday after month of back and forth emails between the Crescent Arts Centre and The Belfast Traditional Music Society. I'm so excited!!! I feel like I'm back to my old ethnomusicological self again. 
Craig wanted to walk back on Stranmillis Road and people watch. We sat outside at a cafe and soaked in the atmosphere. We saw a lot of interesting people. Such as this guy with spiked hair. There were also a lot of young adults in hooded robes. I guess commencement for Queen's University is today. I found the hoods fascinating. Some were trimmed with white fur others just pink and blue satin. What is that all about? In the states, if you graduate with a B.A. you don't get a hood. You just get a gold cord around your neck (like a nuce) if you graduated with honors. All the other higher degrees (ie MA, PhD) receive a hood. I never really understood the whole academia pomp and circumstance. I didn't even walk in my graduation. I got my diploma and ran fast and as far away from campus as I could. So far that I ended up in Cuba!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Diamond in the Rough
Looks can be deceiving. Behind these doors, you will find hidden treasures from the Orient. Ingredients from China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, and India. Craig and I were casually strolling along the Lagan towpath and around the corner on the Ormeau Rd, we saw a bunch of Asians carrying bags and bags of stuff! My radar went off and something told me to go in. A bunch of Asians is a sign that there's good food for cheap! When I went in, I was surprised to see the same brands that my mom uses for cooking, she would be mighty proud! And Craig can finally taste authentic Filipino dishes that he has been dying to try like lumpia and chicken adobo! They sell produce as well and their prices are a real bargain! Looks like I'm shopping here more often!
When we walked home, I kept reminding Craig that Belfast isn't so bad. You can find really neat stuff if you look for it. I think he's beginning to believe it! :)
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