Last night, we hit the Richmond Night Market. This is what we did ate…
- Off to a great start: bacon-wrapped quail eggs on the left and grilled fish on the right.
- Akemi gets the go-ahead from HQ via comm-link: Start eating!
- Three types of skewers (beef, chicken, and bacon-wrapped asparagus) that were just meh, although if I had to choose, I’d go with the bacon-wrapped asparagus. There’s just something about bacon…
- Akemi calls Osaka home, and if there are three things Osaka is known for, it’s the Hanshin Tigers, okonmiyaki, and takoyaki. The latter, depicted here, is always an always popular Night Market mainstay: octopus bits and various other ingredients batter-mixed and cooked up.
- Topped with mayo, okonomiyaki sauce, and fish shavings, they aint exactly light eating.
- …which is the whole point of this outing.
- Er, sausage on a stick with garlic sauce. A tad dry.
- Heavenly pork belly sliders (steamed rice buns) and very good short rib tacos. I’d have gone back for seconds if I didn’t have so many other menu items to get around to.
- Like these pork dumplings that weren’t exactly a hit.
- Or these curry fish balls that were just so-so – but that didn’t stop us from eating them.
- Dragon Rice Balls containing Chinese sausage and I don’t recall what else.
- Here we go!
- Spicy squid. One of the highlights of the night. I had just stuffed an enormous piece into my mouth when a roving reporter stopped to ask me some questions. He was all smiles and laughs while the camera was on and then, abruptly, said “We’re done.”, instantly lost his smile and moved on. I guess I should’ve offered him a tentacle.
- After our second round of takoyaki from a competing (and, in my opinion, superior) stall, we spotted this jovial sport selling crispy fried potatoes on a stick.
- Akemi had hers with ketchup.
- I went with powdered cheese.
- Akemi stopped for corn. I elected not to fill up on empty calories and pressed on.
- Now this is more like it! Milk chocolate-stiffed mini spring rolls.
- And churros, milk and what I thought was vanilla custard but turned out to be – horrors of horrors! – strawberry cream.
- And deep-fried cheese cake topped with crushed Butterfinger and whipped cream.
- And, er, pink cotton candy.
- But Akemi seemed to.
It’s almost dinner time the next day and I’m still not hungry.
That looks amazing!
What was wrong with the pork dumplings? I’m a big fan of dumplings, and especially pork. They looked quite tasty! Sometimes that filling can be a bit bland though, so my guess is that was the case.
The pork belly slider & short rib taco looked amazing.
Hopefully it is my destiny in the near future to attend a food event like that.
Hi Joe! I thought of you as I waded through protesters at the end of my workday yesterday. The restaurant next door was being picketed for their Fois Gras Bon-Bons. I’m vegetarian and all that screaming about animal murder made ME want to order a burger. I now *totally* understand why you order Fois Gras when confronted with picketers.
If you’re ever in Portland, Oregon, you might want to visit ‘Beast.’ Apparently it’s a foodie’s dream. I hear good things but being vegetarian … I haven’t visited yet. 🙂
😆 Joe – you and the pink cotton candy has to be my favorite pic of you, ever! LOVE IT!! 😆 (I’m guessing that’s just about how you’d look at me if we ever met in real life. 😛 )
Good to see Akemi again…or, should I say, good to see you finally fessin’ up. 😉
RE: Corn. It’s one of my favorite foods. But you have to eat it right. Lightly boiled (so it’s not mushy, but still a bit ‘crisp’), or – better yet, grilled – then eaten the Mexican way – topped with mayo (or butter, if you prefer), drizzled with lime juice, and sprinkled with this:
http://www.mexgrocer.co.uk/Valentina-Chile–Lime-Seasoning-140g-Chile-en-Polvo-con-Limon-p-16325.html
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this here before…but somewhere in the back of my head I’m thinking you don’t care too much for lime. If so, too bad! You’re missing something great! 😀
Not having the best of nights…went to a party, got a plate full of food, took a bite (of green beans with bacon), and broke a tooth…big chunk of tooth and filling broke right off. I just pushed the plate aside, asked Mr. Das to drive me home, and I’ve been moping around here all night, eating leftover pizza, drinking wine, and eating chocolate. Comfort food. 😛 Tooth doesn’t hurt, or anything, but I’m worried about what it’ll cost to repair…considering I really need new contacts (mine are super-expensive because my eyes are so crappy), and still paying for the roof, and just spent $130 bucks on cat food/litter, and I have to get a test for my hand problems this week…AND pay the bills for the month…and now I gotta get to the dentist, and it’s been really, REALLY hot and humid this past week (heat index was 103 again today and I walked to the party – where I broke my tooth – in that heat), and needless to say, I’m MISERABLE! (No, Joey…don’t dedicate anything to me…just post some bloody Wraith pictures! I know there MUST be some never-before-seen picture out there, somewhere…of long, white locks and minty-green skin).
If you do…I promise I won’t make any more snarky remarks about you kissing yourself in the mirror…until next month. 😀
OO! OO! Lemme tell ya about my dream last night!!
I was in Sears – an old Sears store that we used to go to back in the 70s, when I was a kid. There were a lot of people there dressed like drag queens in the San Fran gay pride parade…not sure why… but I was dressed in one of my really nerdy outfits from the 70s…jeans, cowboy boots (though I never owned cowboy boots…only…Earth Shoes… 😛 ), a really tacky button-up polyester shirt with a wild red/black/cream/orange print all over it, and a denim jacket. I walked up to a display cabinet with all sorts of ‘native American’ things in it – carvings and pocket knives and jewelry. There was this really good-looking black guy trying to select something to purchase, and I warned him that none of it looked like it was actually made by Indians, but instead by the Chinese. I wandered away from the cabinet, and started noticing that now everyone in the store were albinos…and there was this one in particular who was quite fetching, with shoulder-length white hair and a white mustache…and I really don’t like mustaches, (except on Carl), but I couldn’t take my eyes off of him even though he was with a girl (who had no face…lol), and then I woke up.
I wonder what it all means??!
Have a good night, Joe. I’m watching a new Miss Marple on Mystery! right now, then I’ll be off to read some comics. The last issue I read of Wolverine Origins (#49) was awesome! Loved it! Perfect, pure, Wolverine. I need more comics like this.
Speaking of comics, here’s my growing problem with them. I don’t like ‘horror’, and I don’t need killing on every page. I don’t need my comics trying to outdo one another on the gruesome scale. I also don’t need sex, or magic, or other gimmicks. What I need is good character exploration and development…and fewer and fewer comics are doing that. When they do get into the character, each one seems the same as the last one – nothing new. So I decided to look into Howard’s Solomon Kane. Maybe – eventually – I’ll get into the actual books, but for now I’m reading comics based on his creation. I really liked the first one I read, and hope that I’ve finally found a decent character to get into. I tried Jonah Hex, but he’s a bit too cold, too void of remorse, for me. I’m also going to check out Casanova (Matt Fraction), a series currently going into reprint under a new publisher, and a character that is inspired by Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius, who is – of course – another aspect of the Eternal Champion, and therefore ‘Elric’ in a different universe.
And I’ver rambled far too long. Thanks for your time and the use of your space, Joe…despite everything I’ve said, you’re still a sweety. Or…mebbe a sweaty…I haven’t decided yet (but you are Italian…). 😉
das
Still not hungry? That doesn’t surprise me. What does surprise me is that you and Akemi managed to eat that much in the first place and didn’t explode! Nevertheless, it does look like a really fun place to go.
Short rib tacos.
I’m a big taco fan…just not while I’m driving…that’s the one thing I haven’t mastered eating while driving.
Hello Joe,
I am not sure this officially counts, but thanks for answering my question from a few days ago about how Akemi is doing. I am glad to see she is doing okay, and still enjoying all the good food that Canada has to offer. 😉
I don’t remember you mentioning that she was back in town… When did Akemi arrive? I hope she had some great stories about other areas that she visited?
Best Wishes,
Bryan
So, is the Richmond Night Market a 7 day a week thing, or something seasonal? It looks like a place worth visiting for anyone travelling through Vancouver.( you’ve been holding out on us, eh?)
The pictures were great, though the churros picture made me do a doubletake. I think you’re a courageous man to post it, but then I guess I just have too much of a gutter mind.
Thanks for the food review. And glad to see you have suitable company for your culinary wanderings. I’ll even be nice and not pester you with any more questions than I’ve already asked tonight.
Wow! You two are lucky that you can eat so much and not gain weight! 🙂 I’m jealous. 😉
Thanks so much,
Major D. Davis
is it just me or does this guy like taking pictures of a disproprtionately large number of attractive women, versus ordinary women and men?
hahaha Sparrow hawk took the words out of my mouth…
I don’t know how you fit that all in..
I love the way different English speaking countries have different terms for things.
You call it a carousel, we call it a merry go round (even though that’s changing)
You call it cotton candy, we call it fairy floss.
That deep fried cheese cake…say what? Is that featured on that site you posted yesterday?
All that food – and I am sitting with a tin of Heinz Baked Beans in tomato sauce! 🙁
@ Elminster Thanks for the Twinkie link. They don’t look very exciting or tasty.
That is a lot of food….. A massive amount in fact…..was it your last meal? Are you dead yet? I was feeling guilty that my last meal had 4 desserts and it looks like that’s business as usual for you. *giggle* Not that I’m counting but churros, cheesecake, chocolate spring rolls and cotton candy. HOLY CRAP!!
It all looks really good, particularly the sliders and the tacos. A couple things I would have passed on, I don’t like mayo, or asparagus, I would be kinda iffy on the curried fish balls. Although I would have applied the One Bite Rule Too bad about the dumplings, normally I love dumplings. How can they screw up dumplings? The dragon rice balls sound interesting. What else could you have on the stick potato, not a big ketchup fan and I don’t think cheese powder would have been that good, unless it was like a spicy nacho cheese type powder, then that would have been really good.
That deep fried cheesecake looks like it is straight off of that website you profiled yesterday Thisiswhyyourefat.com. But I would sooooo eat it.
Several years ago I had taken an Internet quiz as to which Circle in Hell I would inhabit. (Assuming I would be going to Hell and if I actually believed in Hell….) Turns out I was going to be spending it in the Third Circle – Gluttony; I think I will be in good company….. *snorts* Gluttony is in Upper Hell, so how bad can that be eh?
I really like the black Hello Kitty sockette. Hopefully, they came in pairs LOL.
Have a Good One!!
Kymm
…Akemi’s corn looks like a variant of kasa!
(casa? kasa?)
mmm, mmm, good!
😀
Akemi is very pretty! Glad she can keep up with you and your passion for food.
Looks and sounds like a great adventure.
Found a website. Looks like fun.
http://www.summernightmarket.com/main/default.asp
Mmmm… takoyaki. Man, it’s been ages since I had that (well, at least since new years on my yearly trip to Japan).
The thing that always kills me about them is they are sooooo good, but as my friend says, they are nuclear! Pop one in your mouth and be prepared to weep as the entire orifice is set to a bajillion degrees. But that never stops us from scarfing them down anyway.
Why after Destiny’s wormhole disengages do the floor vents open and issue a blast of CO2?
das – I get the same look Joe’s sporting from Thai’s when I head to local markets with blonde, curly … hang on, just substitute the pink fairy floss for my head and that’s a pretty accurate representation of my hair in humidity. Until I get it to the dread locked curl stage two weeks later.
Joe! Where the hell do you put it all??? Do you hire some poor stooge to rent out his stomach to catch the overflow? Do you have some highly secret (because it would seem kinda gross to talk about openly) tubing that siphons out what you just ate to make room for more? How can you (and Akemi too, it seems) physically fit that much food in? I am in awe. And slightly nauseated.
@ annie from Fremantle – Ohh fairy floss…. that name is sooo much more magical/better than cotton candy. I also like that you call cupcakes fairy cakes.
Joe – did you have the chest pain before or after you went to the Night Market?
Kymm
Mmmm!!! Most of that looks delicious!
I still don’t understand your hatred of fruit, Joe, but on that I guess we can agree to disagree.
Cotton candy is where it’s at, btw. 😀
Is the market an all the time thing or just on certian days or a special one day/weekend event? And where about’s is it?
I have a HUGE passion for food myself and THAT looked like an accurate description of heaven for me. I always say “life is short, eat more main course!” And with me coming to Van in a week from this Wednsday, I would love to check it out. (slowly building a “things-to-do list with Widgeon Park already on that list!) 🙂
Too bad on the dumplings. I love dumplings too if they are made right. Probably the filling was on the bland side would be my guess or the pastry was too doughy. Have had that happen before.
sliders and tacos just gave me a reason to go to nightmarket…now if only I can get a day off on a weekend to go…
Fun pics of food! After World Cup debacles for dear old England team, that was very cheering.
I know this is OT for today, but Joe – have you read “She Climbed Across the Table” by Jonathan Lethem? I’m sorry if it’s been mentioned before. It’s been recommended to me – what a great title! – and I’d like to know what other people think before venturing to read it.
Thanks in anticipation – and if there’s anyone else who has read it…
Fairy cakes are now being called cup cakes unfortunately – we still have fairy bread (which is bread, butter and what Americans call sprinkles – we call 100s and 1000s)..I’ve now noticed that some people are now calling icing on a cake ‘frosting’ NOOOO!!!!
Hey Joe, tell Akemi that I said she’s sooo pretty!!! 😀
*tries to surpress laughter*
“I guess I should’ve offered him a tentacle”
Mayb e it’s just me being a Anime fan etc, but… that really cracked me up!
“Joseph (to reporter): Tentacle?”
“Reporter: (staaaare) (then runs screaming away)”
Um…congrats Joe….happy for ya 😉
I have a theory that all food tastes better on a stick. It all looks fantastic.
Adore the photo of you with the fairy floss…does anyone else think Joe looks like Jeremy Piven in that photo?
Cheers, Chev
Ah Joe, I wonder now, why you might have had a wee bit of indigestion,,hmm, well if the deep-fried cheese cake didn’t top it all off, wow, it does look good. You all have strong constitutions to have tried it all, very adventurous. So hard to find cotton candy unless there is a fair or some such activity here, but just as well, that like funnel cakes, if you have them all the time, its no longer a treat. No squid for me thanks. So your next career will be a food critic, a food eater, an iron chef judge, do a throwdown of your own, you can throw something can’t you… Akemi is a pretty lady, glad to see you have company on your culinary quests. And bet the pups are happy to have her visit. (thanks for the pictures)
@das sounds like a serious affliction you have there, maybe Joe will look into the film closet and find you what you are asking for, just for the sake of dreams. I couldn’t even begin to analyze that dream,lol.
Voilà! dès que j’ai le dos tourné, c’est la pagaille dans l’équipe SGU. J’apprends le départ de Rob C Cooper.
Quelles sont les raisons de son départ ?
annie from Fremantle: love the word fairy floss! You are converting us to the Aussie language. Keep it coming!!!!
susan the tartan turtle: Twinkies lose their magic in adulthood. They were great in a school lunchbox, though! I liked the chocolate cupcakes, as well but the frosting melted in the heat (we had no ac in school).
I agree with Sparrow_hawk! The food did look good but I grew out of fairy floss years ago.
hi Joe how about Fish Fingers and custard like dr who #11 likes?
@ for the love of Beckett – So good to see you! I really miss the old ‘Atlantis’ group here – many have just moved on. 🙁 No word on Anne Teldy (??), I do keep in touch with Perragrin Falcon every once in a blue moon, and now and then an old ‘face’ pops up in here, but so many are just gone. Needless to say, very good to see you here! Give Sassy Dad hugs for me! 😀
@ Joe – Please forgive the small, blurry, through-the-screen photo, but I just had to show you a pic of my cat China doing an impersonation of one of your dogs:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v54/dasNdanger/chinadog1.jpg
😀
das
Re: Anne Teldy, the last I heard about 2 maybe 3 weeks ago. She misses being on-line and visiting, but she lost her modem and did not have time frame on replacement.
So, she is reading a lot during the interim.
I think she would be delighted to get the old fashion snail mail greetings since the on-line style is not working now.
it doesnt help i read your blog when im hungry, and you put up these pictures of very delicious looking food, lol.
@ das Sorry to hear about the tooth, that sucks!
I’ve been wondering about Ann Teldy myself. I should drop her a line when I get stamps again. I habitually send her postcards from every trip.
Takoyaki? TAKOYAKI!? I am so going to Vancouver just for takoyaki. The first time I was stationed in Yokosuka, there was a little takoyaki place between my apartment and the base, if I walked the shopping route instead of biking the main route, I always stopped for takoyaki. The next time I lived there, my little house was on the other side of town. So sad. But the new okonomiyaki place opened on my route home and that became my new dinner stop. That was if I could get past the pastry shop, the sweet shop, and the house of pan with their amazing breads.
Bland gyoza? That sure looks like gyoza. I usually have wasabi mixed into my dipping sauce, so perhaps I’ve become accustomed to the sauce being the flavor kick? One of the few Japanese dishes I like to make at home from scratch. Also good deep fried.
The socks are adorable. That’s one tiny detail I miss about Japan, incredibly cute socks in abundance.
I got a new ice cream maker yesterday. Plus I picked my own beautiful strawberries from my garden. Woohoo! Now to see if I can make an edible frozen dessert while avoiding milk and cream. Sigh. The vegan recipes are so depressing. Coconut milk and almond milk, we shall see!
Looks like you both had a wonderful day. Love the pics. So what’s the deal? First time Akemi shows up, you have us all do your housework so the place looks spotless and the second time (what we THINK is the second time), you don’t enlist the troops? It is true first impressions are the only ones that count so why bother cleaning the house for the subsequent impressions? Or perhaps I was secretly fired because I missed a spot in the tub? 🙂
Fingers and toes crossed for the stem-cell procedure. While I am not sure she may be there for your “old age”, know that in the place that may exist beyond this, she’ll make sure your doghouse is upgraded.
oh man. thank you for posting the image of you vs. cotton candy.
Hello =) ça va Joseph!!!
Yaaaaah toutes photos!!! Contente de revoir Akemi! Elle a l’air en forme!! Waou vous avez goûter pleins de truc O_O!! ..toujours un plaisir de vous voir en photo ;)!…Tiens aujourd’hui j’ai était au restaurant !..en entrés j’ai pris un carpaccio au chévre chaud , en plat principal un Burger au fromage savoyarde et en dessert une créme brulée :)!!
Moi journée c’est bien passé, je pense que la vorte aussi=p
Gros bisous!!!
Looks like fun, thanks to Sylvia for the link to the Night Market website link.
All that eating and you guys didn’t stop into the kickboxing demonstration, ending the meal with a delicious round house kick? Food, drinks and martial arts, sounds like my kinda place.
I think Joe should enter one of the eating contests; better yet make it an SGU staff eat off at the Night Market. Something tells me Joe could eat Carl under the table.
Deep fried Cheesecake sounds ‘interesting’ 🙁
And that comment comes from somebody who lives in the country which ‘invented’ deep fried Mars Bars. I have never tried one – maybe one day.
🙂 Lots of love to Jelly 🙂
Oh dear, those socks are terrible – unless you are 8 *g*
@ Shadow Step – I wasn’t gonna say anything about those socks…but (since you started it!)… I’ve noticed Joey tends to like ‘schoolgirl’ type. And HE has the nerve to call ME a perv. 🙄
😉
das
Ah Cotton candy, I think out of everything there that would be the first thing il’d personally go for. Though I haven’t ever seen a color beyond pink, does non pink cotton candy exist Joe?
Joey, some quick questions for your next mailbag…
1. With Rob gone, will there be any additions/adjustments to Team Stargate? Like…will you get a bigger office, or anything?
2. Have you ever wanted/owned a big dog, or do you prefer the little ones?
3. What’s your least favorite chore around the house (that you actually do)?
4. You’re watching a movie at home and eating popcorn topped with fresh shredded cheese. What kind of cheese is it?
5. Any opinions on the ever-increasing negativity towards the use of salt in our diets?
Thankies in advance.
das
Hello cruel world!~
Sticks her head up, looks around for a Jabulani ball.
Oh Sh*…crawls back under the nearest car.
Between lost tourists, heavy traffic and drunken revelers I’m actually enjoying this World Cup.
Next up, Spain vs. Portugal here in Cape Town…and it’s going to rain.
Hey, it’s winter here. It rains. The temperature very rarely gets colder that 5 C but still it gets miserable.
Sorry about the USA, and England but hey, Argentina are going to get this one.
Maybe. 🙂
Totsiens mense, time to blow that Vuvuzela. 😀