Asian in a Strange Land

Ciao Bella--a hidden treasure

I’ve got a healthy backlog of food places and family stuff to post about, which is very much par for the course, but I thought I’d go ahead and get this post about Ciao Bella written up while the memory is still fresh.  As a new business I think they’re doing a great job and deserve as much good pub as they can get.

“Why do you have a picture of Piccadilly as the lead photo for a post about Ciao Bella?” you ask?  I don’t really.  See that door with “6B” above it and a white rectangular sign with the Italian flag on it?  That’s the door to Ciao Bella.  They’re painfully aware of the lack of signage and are working on getting a sign.  I post this picture in case they still don’t have a sign and you’re having as hard a time finding the place as I did.  I ended up going elsewhere the first time I tried visiting after I had driven 4-5 times around the Lefleur’s Gallery parking lot looking for it and couldn’t get anybody on the phone.  Turns out I was calling the catering number and not the restaurant number, duh.  Called the right number, they told me where to go, problem solved. » Continue Reading…

China Express Restaurant at closing time

Score another local find for Denise.  A couple months ago she noticed that China Express Restaurant had taken up residence in the old location of the by-then-defunct Euphoria Smoothies and said that some Asian folks were eating in there.  I remember her saying that but for some reason it didn’t register in my consciousness that this could be the first solid Chinese place in Clinton, so we didn’t go until recently after being reminded of its existence by a friend from church (thanks, James!).  Maybe the name made me dismiss it right off the bat, but whatever the reasoning at the time I was sorely mistaken.  Oh, China Express… please forgive me for neglecting you.  I prone myself before you both begging for mercy and basking in your magnificence, for you are truly a marvelous restaurant–to my knowledge the first and only authentic Chinese restaurant in Clinton.

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Tiger Roll and Tsunami Roll at Edo

Just a quick public service announcement reminding everyone that Edo is still the best sushi restaurant in Jackson.

Sofia's sushi

Sofia and her chipmunk cheeks agree.

Denise feeding Penelope Chicken Teriyaki

So would Penelope if she had sushi.  Not quite ready for that yet, so she had Chicken Teriyaki instead.

Sofia's first sparkler

I’m late as usual, but happy 4th of July.  Hope you had a great long weekend.  We went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast for a couple days (more on that in the coming days) and came back in time for the 4th.  We thought we would catch the fireworks here in Clinton on the 4th but they did them on the 2nd instead.  Lolwut???

Sofia got to play with her first sparkler, which she enjoyed immensely.  We also got a few other tame fireworks to play with, all of which were a big hit with Sofia and Penelope.

Going to town on a fruit bar

And of course there’s gotta be something food related.  Saw these Edy’s fruit bars on sale at Kroger so I picked up a box.  We got the non-Splenda sweetened Lime, Strawberry, and Wildberry assorted flavors.  Sofia is pictured here gnawing on a strawberry one.  They’re so good–made with real fruit.  The lime is refreshingly sour, and the strawberry tastes oh so strawberry-y.  Definitely getting the bigger ones soon (we tried the small ones this time).

Up and up

Penelope is climbing now. Uhm… yay?  We already had to move things higher to get them out of her reach, and now not even those things are safe.  She also kind of knows how to get back down but not always.  Personality-wise we were already pretty sure she would be the kid to get all the bruises, scrapes, and broken bones; this confirms it.  Kid is fearless.

Bakmi Goreng

As significant an event as it was that I was actually cooking, I figured I’d document it.  This is the noodle dish I cooked for Penelope’s 1st birthday.  There’s no recipe to it so there’s not really a name for it, but if I had to identify it I’d call it bakmi goreng, which is an Indonesian dish that means “fried noodles”.  The noodles are actually boiled and then seared in the wok with the rest of the ingredients.  The dish has Chinese origins but has a distinct Indonesian twist to it. » Continue Reading…

Partied out

Penelope turned 1 year old last week, so we had a tiny celebration in traditional Pamudji family style–we cooked a special meal.  It’s always about the food!  I cooked a Chinese/Indonesian noodle dish as is the custom, and Denise baked some carrot cake cupcakes. » Continue Reading…