A Full Belly

sushi video primer

The Japanese Tradition: Sushi. Great video primer on sushi and sushi customs and etiquette. [via FP]

fast food chains in malaysia

Big US fast food chains like McDonald's, KFC, Pizza Hut and Burger King have all sorts of awesome products and promotions in other countries, and Huai Bin of the infamous Malaysian blog sixthseal.com does a great job of keeping track of the ones available in his neck of the woods. My favorite product names are the KFC Tom Yam Crunch, Starbucks Coffee Jelly Frappucino, McDonald's Prosperity Burger Chicken and Prosperity Desserts, Pizza Hut Ocean Tempura King Prawn, Bubur Ayam McD (McDonald's Chicken Porridge), and the KFC Curry Crunch.

rion's mercats de barcelona

Mercats de Barcelona. My friend and favorite photoblogger Rion Nakaya was in Barcelona recently and wandered through one of the city's many markets with her camera. There are lots of other gorgeous photosets on her site; of the many food-related ones my favorite is of Tokyo's Tsukiji Fish Market.

Airport Dining

WSJ rounds up your dining options at airports around the country.

pizza farm

Illinois pizza farm draws tourists. "R" Pizza Farm is "a half-acre circular plot divided up like the slices of a huge pizza. Each of the eight wedges represents something used on a pizza - from tomatoes to peppers to herbs including rosemary and sage. Three goats represent milk and Cleo the cow is symbolic of beef. Seven penned-in pigs illustrate pork." They do tours from April through October, teaching people about farming and organic growing, and wrap by serving pizza made mostly with ingredients from the farm.

eating well in madrid

Top Madrid Chefs Draw Inspiration From a Catalan Star. Jonathan Reynolds visits Madrid and finds Ferran Adrià's spirit of scientific experimentation doing well in the city's restaurants, some of them run by his acolytes.

Salsalito Taco Shop

This weekend I traveled to Sausalito, California to practice the art of leisure. By all accounts, it was a success. One of my favorite meals from the weekend was a late lunch at the Salsalito Taco Shop.

Salsalito Taco Shop
1115 Bridgeway
Sausalito, CA 94965
(415) 331-5595

Austin Eats

Earlier this month, I spent a weekend in Austin, Texas attending SXSWi, and of course, eating. Here's a quick report of some the restaurants I visited. Enjoy!

Iron Works Barbecue
100 Red River St
Austin, TX 78701
(512) 478-4855
* Styles of barbecue vary widely, but Central Texas barbecue tradition is heavily influenced by the influx of German and Czech settlers in the late 19th century and their tradition of sausage and smoked meats. Beef brisket figures prominently in Texas barbecue -- I, however, threw caution to the wind and opted for the Jr. rib plate at The Iron Works, conveniently located around the corner from the Austin Convention Center. It was a tasty mess, just like I like it.

Dragon Fruit

While we were wandering around La Boqueria in Barcelona, we spied this strange looking fruit. Bright pink with large scales on the outside, cut in half to reveal white flesh flecked with what look like tiny black seeds. Wena kindly informed me that these are Dragon Fruit, or Pitaya. It's part of the cactus family, grows in tropical regions, and apparently is very tasty. More information and photos of Pitaya.

Back in NYC

Back from Barcelona and busy as ever. I've uploaded a couple of photos from La Boqueria to hold you over until I can update properly (probably tonight or tomorrow).

Read about La Boqueria.