Ever since growing up in Hong Kong, my family (with the exception of my brother) has developed a taste for this oft reviled fruit. I have fond memories at almost every stage of my life sucking down on some durian. These may include having the Farmington Fire Department called (not once, but twice!) to investigate the scent of natural gas in the senior dorms which mysteriously emanated from an airtight container in three plastic bags in the fridge; and chowing down on some of the best durian ice cream right after a bout of food poisoning in Saigon.

The extremely sweet flavor and the custard-like texture lends itself especially well to frozen desserts… like ice cream, milkshakes, and popsicles! I found the above box while on a food excursion in the Westgate area with Bethia and Angela at Westgate Import Market. It tastes just like the real thing! I coerced B into having a bite (he loved the milkshake at Thuy Trang Restaurant in Detroit!) and watching his facial expressions was just priceless! I will convert him yet! For the time being, this is one thing I won’t have to worry about keeping stocked in the freezer.

I’m a lucky girl. For 35 of the 43 months that I’ve lived in Columbus, I’ve had the good fortune of living directly across the street from a Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams location. I wasn’t very appreciative at first: the Wildberry Lavender didn’t really click with me (tho, I love an un-seeded berry ice cream); I bought an off batch of Bangkok Peanut (previously known as Thai Chili) that had too much almond extract; and the Lapsong Suchong with Armagnac Prunes was seriously weird.

But then I discovered flavors that appealed to my ice cream proclivities (chunky but not overly, chocolate and caramel not fruit based) and I fell in love. In particular: summer’s Backyard Mint paired with Dark Chocolate Gelato or Strawberry Buttermilk (an exception to the fruit rule); Madagascar Chocolate Stracciatella, which has spawned a couple “freckle” flavors such as the Buckeye; and winter’s Roxbury Road, smoked dark chocolate ice cream with homemade marshmallows, a caramel swirl, and Krema Nut Company’s smoked almonds. Drool.

But this post isn’t about those other delicious flavors. It’s about the single best chocolate ice cream in the world. Yes, THE WORLD. I’m sure there are plenty of other fantastic ice creameries (R.I.P. Denise’s) that made delicious chocolate ice cream (hell, Jeni’s also has Dark Chocolate Peppermint, Dark Chocolate, and aforementioned Roxbury Road in its repetoire), but they do not source Snowville Creamery cream from happy grass munching cows, and they do not source top tier, single origin, fair trade, Askinosie chocolate. This is singlehandedly the best chocolate ice cream I’ve ever had. It isn’t just the ingredients, it’s also the churn, the density, of the ice cream. With very little air, it’s thick but gives easily to a spoon warmed by the tongue. The scattered chunks (more like giant freckles) of Ashkinosie chocolate imparts a fruity, almost tangy, edge to the creamy milk chocolate base. The description on the container suggests letting the dark chocolate melt on the tongue but I’m greedy and satisfyingly crumble the freckles into my molars if only to savor the flavor for a few more minutes. Given the high quality ingredients, this pint was worth far more than the $10 its sold for. Get it now! It’s (winter) seasonal, unavailable in scoops, and only sometimes available in pints because Askinosie’s having a hard time meeting demand!

A quick recollection of our whirlwind trip to Louisville last week. All we did was relax, sleep, eat, drink, nap, eat, and drink some more. It was awesome. And decadent.

Monday: Hour long massages at Apex Massage in St. Matthews. Kim and Emily were awesome and got the mini-cation off to the perfect start. We checked into Inn at Woodhaven and was floored by the gothic revival architecture and the total hospitality of the innkeeper, Marsha. Great room, with an awesome bed and linens, and a spa tub for two, more on that later!

We hadn’t eaten since breakfast so we hightailed it to Bourbons Bistro (I think “Bourbons” is plural, not possessive) where we both had a flight of “Old Favorites.” The last three were far more memorable than the first three and we were surprised at how drinkable the Wild Turkey was. We dined on an assortment of appetizers which included fried green tomatoes, fried oysters with horseradish aioli, shrimp and grits in a gravy like sauce, and a lobster pesto grilled cheese (pic: bottom left).

• Old Taylor 6yr. 80°
• Old Forester 100°
• Wild Turkey 101°
• Evan Willians 7yr.
• Old Fitzgerald 1849
• W.L. Weller Special Reserve

The Brown Hotel was next on our list for a hot brown but since we were underwhelmed by the lobby bar, menu, and cocktail list, we settled on Jack Fry’s for a night cap. An Old Fashioned for him, and a Side Car (with Old Forester) for me. As terrible as it sounds, we couldn’t visit Kentucky without a trip to a local chicken joint. Enter Chicken King’s drive-thru window: yup, tastes just like KFC. Which was promptly consumed while soaking in a spa tub.

Tuesday: Caligula would be proud. Breakfast at the Inn was a three course affair that included fruit, yogurt, whipped cream, eggs benedict, cheddar jalapeno popovers, and a breakfast pie. Such a meal required a quick nap to prepare for the culinary assault that was to take place shortly at Proof on Main. We headed towards downtown with full intentions to check into 21C but were sidetracked by Butchertown Market. It’s a cute warehouse space with gift stores, a chocolaterie, and it’s still expanding! It’s located across the street from a pig processing plant. Pig air!

Appropriately, we spy The Blind Pig from Butchertown’s parking lot and, feebly resisting better judgment, find ourselves noshing on (pic: left, center) rustic pork pate (Pork Rillettes), house made chorizo and toulouse sausages accompanied by excellent bread from Blue Dog Bakery. We drank (first round) an Old Speckled Hen, a sparkling pink prosecco, (second round) a bacon-infused Sazerac Rye Manhattan, and an Ohio River Water Fizz (Abita root beer, Tanqueray, house made coffee bitters, egg white, and garnished with mint).

This post is getting way too long… We ate and drank way too much.

After making it to 21c Museum Hotel, napping ensued, again. When we finally got to Proof, we started with a flight of Proof Selection bourbons which outshone Boubons Bistro’s selection. This flight included: Woodford Reserve Proof Selection, Van Winkle 12 year, Van Winkle 15 year Proof Selection (included 20 year barrel too). Smooth, velvet-y, and perfect for our special little mini-cation. Bob had the Strapping Lad (Cruzan Blackstrap Rum, Punt e Mes, honey, and lime), waaay too sweet for either of our palates.

We had a couple more drinks and followed up with wine during dinner which consisted of: roasted Kentucky bison marrow (pic: left, bottom), skillet octopus bagna cauda, pappardelle with hunter’s style rabbit and shaved celery, and a side of broccoli rabe. As we’re eating our dinner at the bar, in front of the tequila display, I get the great idea of having some tequila. What Miss Jenny Pittman pulls out of her stash is the BEST TEQUILA I’VE EVER HAD. Fruity, citrus-y, with a bit of sweetness, it’s nothing like conventional tequila. It’s called Tequila Ocho, Single Estate 2009, Plata. I MUST get my hands on at least two bottles before it sells out. We finish with a fantastic milk chocolate caramel tart, with Maldon sea salt and whipped creme fraiche.

WHEW!

Wednesday: After a decent breakfast at Toast, a Monte Cristo for me, a Mediterranean omelet for him, and a bread pudding pancake to share, we head to the adult playground known as Party Source. I buy too many bottles of booze, tell Bob that he is unconditionally not allowed to drink any of it unless I get to mix it, and dream of drinking Aviations once it hits 70Celsius.

The End.

Starting in Shanghai:

I blogged about crispy panfried buns when I came back from my trip and I still think about them. They are really heavy so your best bet is to pair an order (4 buns) with a clear brothy soup, like rice vermicelli and tofu skin. There may be some baby shrimp used to flavor the broth too. The best place for these babies is Little Yang’s. There is another location, on the second floor of the Number One Food Stuff Department Store pictured below (it’s in a food court and they use styrofoam & paper).

This is NanJing Road which is all pedestrian with the exception of those teeny trolleys. There are tons of snack shops where most items are measured in bulk like a candy store. The pictures along the right is just a random corner snack shop with a line a dozen deep waiting for these piping hot meat mooncakes. Flaky and pretty freaking delicious. My main recommendation for this street is the three level Number One Food Stuff Department Store. It’s got dried sea cucumbers that sell for USD1000 for half a kilogram, a huge dried meats section, and tons of season appropriate food gifts. There is also a food court upstairs with a huge prepared foods section, a dumpling joint (not so recommended), and panfried buns!

Just a couple dishes from various Shanghai eateries. Clockwise from the top left, 心太软, or heart too soft, which are reconstituted dried dates stuffed with a sticky rice flour ball and steamed with rock sugar syrup. It’s phenomenal and cannot be missed (if you can’t find this, lotus root stuffed with sticky rice is just as good too). Stir fried eel in brown sauce (maybe like the texture of braised smelts?); cold appetizers including chili oil radish, braised wheat gluten (烤麸), and quick pickled cucumbers with garlic; soy pickled cucumbers; quick braised fish with pickled snow cabbage; stinky tofu (臭豆腐, which is technically Cantonese street food, but hell, you aren’t gonna find it in Columbus); braised pork belly; more pork belly in noodles; and in the center, whole roasted green chilies.

The quintessential place to go for Shanghainese food is Little Southern Nation (小南国) which has locations all over town. They are particularly known for their crystal shrimp (lightly steamed with red vinegar on the side), red sauce braised pork butt (rural folk say that the oils from eating this makes girls and boys have smooth skin), and roasted snake (I dunno, I don’t think it’s typically Shanghainese, but good, like ribs). The noodles are from 吴越人家, a little hole in the wall, and a great place to catch inexpensive eats half a block off HuaiHai Road.

If you are really craving noodles, I’d suggest a couple Taiwanese joints around town. Most of them have multiple locations owing to the trendiness of the cuisine and the influx of Taiwanese capital in the city. I wrote a post about it here. A few of my favorites are: 千秋膳房 (great for braised spicy brisket with hand pulled noodles, soup dumplings, and beef pancake roll); 鹿港小镇 (great for all of the above and AWESOME desserts)， 鼎泰豐 (the much lauded soup dumpling restaurant, also with multiple locations, link is in English). From top left: soup dumplings, scallion pancake and salty soymilk soup, peanut “smoothie,” red bean and condensed milk over shaved ice, three cup chicken, minced braised pork (great with rice), soup dumpling with finely julienne ginger and red vinegar, braised brisket and hand pulled noodles; and the beef pancake roll with millet congee in the center.

I was going to recommend a Peking duck place, but eeehhhhh. This is long winded enough already!

Now for Beijing:

Across the northern entrance to the Summer Palace, there is a weird restaurant (红火火涮羊肉店) that specializes in lamb. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a protein heavy meal in China, but weirder things have happened. I also don’t think it can technically be called lamb cuz it was extremely gamey, but as you probably know, I like gamey.The weirdest thing was that it was singularly the most tender lamb/mutton I’ve ever had. It’s served with sauces of your choosing. They make fantastic fresh pressed tofu and their fresh unsweetened yogurt is great fodder for the muttom. They also have this weird steam basket of pasta that looks like shells. It’s weird but a cool experience. I think if you go during the “winter,” their hot pot will be extremely promising. Or it might be a total tourist trap.

What Beijing lacks in refined foods, it makes up for in extraordinary sight seeing. We were pressed for time so my brother and I hit up the Temple of Heavenly Peace and the Forbidden City in a day. In between, we caught our breath with some paomuo (泡馍, which I’ve written about here) and a giant liter of soda. 西安饭庄 is located right off a subway stop so it’s pretty easy to get to (depending on your tolerance for folks who are over eager to grab a seat on the subway).

And lastly, I think you will enjoy a ramble amongst the hutongs immensely despite large portions of walled off areas. The best path to take is around Middle Lake (中海) to avoid the trashy night “club” scene around the South Lake. This park runs along the west side of the Forbidden City and has many hutongs that branch off of it. Amongst the hutongs is a rather large street food complex with many vendors (but it’s all one business, you buy a pre-paid card, I think, and swipe as you pick out food). Appetite for China has a great post on 九门小吃 (Nine Gates Small Bites). We only had flour tea (back in the day anything that had boiling water poured in was called a “tea”) and I don’t think I’d recommend it. The cold noodles and various pastries looked really tasty, as did the candy coated fruit.

Good grief, this was an exhaustive post! Next time I take a trip, I’m just doing one wrap up post and one only! Forget those pesky single topic posts!

Picked up a couple artisan candy canes recently and finally tried them! From left to right, Doscher’s, Hammonds, Doschoer’s candy canes. While both are tasty, I prefer the Hammond’s cane. It is noticeably more minty and has a more dense, sucker potential. You’ll notice that it is also a touch pink in the middle and lends a very nice finish to a special holiday treat. On the other hand, Doscher’s cane has an airy interior and will find a place in any candy cruncher’s heart (you know them and hear them!).

You can find Doscher’s at Brewer’s Yard Kroger in the candy cane aisle and Hammond’s at Bink Davies.

Brewer’s Yard Kroger
150 W. Sycamore St., Columbus, OH, 43215

Bink Davies
668 N High St, Columbus, OH 43215