The Breakfast of Champions

A typical weekday morning breakfast of The HOchieS looks a lot like cereal.  Some days there may be nothing but wind pies to keep us full until lunch.

Then there are mornings that look much like today did:

Your eyes do not deceive you! Unless you thought it was a puffy white cloud condensed and trapped into a plastic container, then yes, your eyes are playing tricks.

That my friends, as I am sure many of us know, is a bao. 

In the many years of blogging, it occurred to me that I have no pictures of baos.  There are many instances where the bao has been mentioned.  There are even  pictures of bao heads dutifully protecting the faces of friends and friends celebrities but no clear picture of a meat-filled bao.

Why is that?

Well, for one, The HOchieS have been eating baos or 'pows' as we used to call them in Trinidad for as long as I can remember.

Therefore, taking a picture of a bao would be like taking a picture of my unflattering hand (incidentally a picture of that is forthcoming in the next blog I post! Stay tuned!) - something second nature that we have easy access to.  The fact is, we never even order them at dim sum because why when we could order all the other things we probably get only at dim sum?

Do not misunderstand, we love baos! What's not to love, really? It's a sweetish bread filled with char siu pork amongst other things.  We like our baos steamed and filled with pork but you can get it with chicken and if you're lucky, you can get one with custard.  Yum!

I've even eaten a pizza bao during my trip to Japan.  It was...odd.  I probably hated it at that time but you know, maybe I could eat one of those again.  Perhaps Cafe Zaiya might surprise me one day.

Always one to try to correct previous oversights, I present to you, Breakfast 2/10/2011.

As you will see though, I may have misrepresented or even misled some to believe they would be gazing upon a char siu bao.  No, no.  That's going to have to wait for another day because we did not eat one of those today.

Instead, we shared the behemoth you see before you - filled with pork in two varieties and half of a boiled egg.

It's bliss, I tell you! Anything filled with steamed pork, lapchongs and boiled eggs can be nothing but blissful.

So there you have it: the infamous breakfast bao.

Tomorrow there will be chobani yogurt for breakfast because as much as one would like to eat pork every morning and twice daily after that, sometimes a little yogurt is welcome as well.

Currently listening to: "The Life and Death of Kirby" by Insert Rupee (Benjamin Brigg, Halc) from the Overclocked Remix Album Heroes vs. Villains.  If I could listen to this song every minute of the day, I would be in the same situation as the pork.  I'd need to flavour it up by listening to something else.

The Chinese, Cardboard and Bao

It turns out that the cardboard bao story, which we posted earlier this month, was untrue.

The Chinese claimed that the story was fabricated by the journalist to increase television ratings.

That's a bit of a relief. Or is it?

We think the Chinese Government's doing damage control!

You just don't fuck with the Chinese, as we already know.

Uhhh, but if by chance members of the the Chinese Government read our blog...heh heh, we only keed. That story was a fabrication, just like you said!

Currently watching: our backs...

O.M.G. I am BEYOND Traumatized

BEIJING, China (AP) -- Chopped cardboard, softened with an industrial chemical and flavored with fatty pork and powdered seasoning, is a main ingredient in batches of steamed buns sold in one Beijing neighborhood, state television said.


Steamed buns sold in Beijing contain 60 percent cardboard, a report on China Central Television said.

The report, aired late Wednesday on China Central Television, highlights the country's problems with food safety despite government efforts to improve the situation.

Countless small, often illegally run operations exist across China and make money cutting corners by using inexpensive ingredients or unsavory substitutes. They are almost impossible to regulate.

State TV's undercover investigation features the shirtless, shorts-clad maker of the buns, called baozi, explaining the contents of the product sold in Beijing's sprawling Chaoyang district.

Baozi are a common snack in China, with an outer skin made from wheat or rice flour and a filling of sliced pork. Cooked by steaming in immense bamboo baskets, they are similar to but usually much bigger than the dumplings found on dim sum menus familiar to many Americans.

The hidden camera follows the man, whose face is not shown, into a ramshackle building where steamers are filled with the fluffy white buns, traditionally stuffed with minced pork.

The surroundings are filthy, with water puddles and piles of old furniture and cardboard on the ground.

"What's in the recipe?" the reporter asks. "Six to four," the man says.

"You mean 60 percent cardboard? What is the other 40 percent?" asks the reporter. "Fatty meat," the man replies.

The bun maker and his assistants then give a demonstration on how the product is made.

Squares of cardboard picked from the ground are first soaked to a pulp in a plastic basin of caustic soda -- a chemical base commonly used in manufacturing paper and soap -- then chopped into tiny morsels with a cleaver. Fatty pork and powdered seasoning are stirred in.

Soon, steaming servings of the buns appear on the screen. The reporter takes a bite.

"This baozi filling is kind of tough. Not much taste," he says. "Can other people taste the difference?"

"Most people can't. It fools the average person," the maker says. "I don't eat them myself."

The police eventually showed up and shut down the operation.

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

...

I'd try one.

The Tokyo-Ho Japan Chronicles - Day 4

Day 4 - Wednesday, May 30

I waited up or tried to until 12.55 AM to catch Death Note as it aired. I watched a few minutes and gathered that Near was freakin' out for some reason. That was cool for all of 5 minutes until I fell asleep. I so need to play catch up in that series. It's almost done and I'm three episodes behind! ::sigh:: That also reminds me, I can't wait to eat my L Death Note Chocolate Cake.

The Day of Cheap

This was the day I discovered that my ATM was not going to be working in Japan and all I had for money was the 1000USD I converted for food, travel and whatever else. Oh the love of the credit card until I see my bill.

And this was the day we were traumatized and it's something we'd rather not remember, yet I still took video footage...

We call it, "Sanrio Puro Land".



There was a boat ride, a ton of children, a kiddie show and pink. Lots and lots of pink and of course, Hello Kitty. Everywhere. We went to her house. That cat's living the good life and apparently loves to watch Britney Spears videos in her den. Odd. We also took pictures with the cat herself. She held my hand. I am still very confused and feel slightly sullied and unusual.

Here are some pictures and yes, a video of the boat ride (which shames me to admit was one of our finer Tokyo moments - alright, don't judge me!) so you guys can join in that madness we experienced not that you could ever understand.

No Sanrio related blog of mine would be complete without Badtz Maru!



Why didn't you guys ever tell me about that male kitty that Hello likes to hang out with? He's fantastic! And um, trapped in a cage. Ahahahahahahahaha. Whatever, he's still awesome.



And I thought this was a kids' show! This villain is the stuff of nightmares. Though, the entire Sanrio Puro Land is the stuff of nightmares really.



And the boat ride footage. Okay. It's 2.45 minutes long and not even the entire thing, so you don't have to watch it all. In fact, I can guarantee not many of you will sit through this thing. But as I said before, I actually liked this. It was confusing and cracked us the hell up:



Gen and Battler, I went for you guys and came out with some stuff for you and that's all that matters.

It was raining lots when we got out, so after Sanrio, we just walked about and visited another arcade. It wasn't Sega Joyopolis but it was a Sega Arcade World. We did the usual but then we also did some of the things all the girls are into over there - those damned picture poses with your friends. It was fun times but ridiculous.

We then hit up a department store in that area in search of a bag for the pigghies and found a grocery. There we got some fugu sake. It's gross. It has a little piece of fugu floating in it. It's Clownie's present and he can drink it at his own risk.

The WTF Moment of the Day:

1. On the Virtual Adventure Trip we had to Digimon Digital World ('cause you know, I love those Digimon to this day), why did we get sprayed with mysterious puffs of smoke?! It reminds me of that Bidet incident I need to blog about in a future post...

Things We Observed That Day - Volume IV:

1. If you ever need assistance at a ticket machine in the subway, it's the funniest thing. You hit the assistance button and out of no where, from the wall pops open this little trap door and a little Japanese guy will pop up and start talking to you. And then he'll prattle off something crazily, slide the trap door shut and come out from the magical room behind the ticket machines, invisible and unknown to all.

2. The Japanese love them a clear umbrella. For the love of crap, why couldn't I get one that'd fit in my suitcase?! I'm so sad.

The Day's Eats:

1. Onigiri - bacon, salmon, pickles, tuna roe.

2. Street Pork Bao. Mmm.

3. Wendy's - The worst chicken nuggets ever. I'm not even sure it was chicken at this point.

4. Beetchie had a blue flavoured popsicle, which she swears is the best flavour ever.

5. Mister Donut - it was unimpressive and kind of dry actually.

6. Gyoza chips and peach & orange wine coolers in a can.

The Obligatory Photo of the Day (I mean, I really couldn't just post about Sanrio Puro Land and not post a picture of the betch herself, right? Here she is with my boy):