The 4th Goes Out With A Bang

The highlight of my weekend? Food. Like always, who cares about the stupid fireworks.

So, what did I eat? Three damn good Chinese meals (and a healthy dose of Boba throughout the weekend - Ten Ren has the best).

1. Small blue crabs, taken from live to screaming in a pot of boiling water. They're great to dip in ginger, soy sauce and vinegar. Lot's of work, and if you can ignore the smells-like-the-pier smell, they taste great. Purchased from 99 Ranch Market in Rowland Heights. You need at least 5 per person.

2. Roast duck, roast pork and white chicken from Sam Woo in Rowland Heights. I can't find a link to the Rowland Heights location (or a company website), but here's a link to an Irvine location with most of the same stuff. The duck is about $12 for a whole bird - and it's awesome. Make sure you get the dipping sauce for the white chicken.

3. There's a place in Rowland Heights called "Good Time Cafe." They have tons of great dishes and here's what I had (I'll try and add my English sound translations just in case you can order in Chinese) - a side of seaweed (hai dai) and dried tofu (dofu gan); fried tofu (za dofu); this egg/shrimp dish that is fried with gelatenous stuff, topped with a sweet chili sauce (I can't remember - hai shen something?); pork with noodles soup (zo gun mifun); and a pork rice dish (migow). Yeah, I realize it's not Pinyin, but it's close enough.

Living in OC, it's great to have access to such great Chinese food. The best places are within 20 minutes of my house, and well worth the drive. But, if you go, do not expect clean and orderly. You go for the food, not the look. And, keep your eyes out for those restaurants that have a "C" rating, which they hide behind those "lucky" plants with red ribbons!

Happy eating.

~ Brock