Two Free Tickets to the L.A Chocolate Salon, Who's Down? (Giveaway!)

So after covering the Los Angeles Chocolate Salon since its L.A premiere in 2007 , I've made it up to the ranks of the "Salon Awards Tasting Panel" for this years event.

Why is this significant to you guys? I'm the one going to be gorging, I mean diligently "tasting" every single chocolate they have available, right?

...Well, now you can too!

Thanks to kind folks over at Taste T.V. I'm giving away TWO--count them, TWO--promotional tickets to this year's Chocolate
LOS ANGELES LUXURY CHOCOLATE SALON on October 11th, 2009.

Now for the catch...

Just be kind and leave a comment!

Stating:

A) Your full name

B) Your email (chose to be private, just email me: theglutster@gmail.com)

&

C) A Glutster moment in your life...what is the most chocolate you've ever eaten in one sitting?

Be it all the chocolate from your trick or treat bag when you were younger, five times over Chocolate soft serve at a buffet somewhere or even just a complete bar of anything...be honest!

I will select a random winner by midnight on Thursday, October 1st.

...All of a sudden I feel like Willy Wonka with the last golden tickets or something.

Good Luck!

Indonesian Immersion: Porkage and Monkey Forest in Bali (Babi Guling Ibu Oka & Naughty Nuris Warung)

The moment we had all been waiting for since our landing in Dempasar airport was finally here: Balinese Suckling Pig (Babi Guling) at Ibu Oka.



Made famous by its its full segment feature on Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations episode on Indonesia, he actually dubbed this "the best pork he's ever had" in his life. Quite the claim coming from the rude, critical and accomplished character of Bourdain...I had to taste it for myself.

The establishment was fairly cracking with tourists and locals alike. Getting a table here is an utmost test of your assertiveness, there is no one to show you to your table but instead, you and your level of willingness to stand close to an emptying table, closer than another eager patron at least.




Babi Guling (Indonesian style Suckling Pig) is a unique contender in the world of suckling swines. It is stuffed with a fine balance of Balinese spices and veggies then rotated over a controlled fire where it is continuously brushed with nature's natural glaze: Coconut water (naturally high in fructose means naturally high in glorious rind caramelization).


so juicy

Its served with a couple of pieces of blood sausage and other anonymous fried pig parts, and BEST served with a super chilled big bottle of Bir Bin Tang, Indonesia's tasty national Pilsner that is as universally available here as a bottle of coke in the states.



After this, Fiona's brother Steven murmured that he also knew of a 'good rib place'...if we were interested. Sooner than we knew it, we were in the car and on our way--

But it was not after we strolled around and "exercised" first of course, what better place to do that in than the local Monkey Forest!


He actually reminded me of how I eat a banana

A little less than an hour after the Babi Guling and we were at Naughty Nuris Warung, a well known Western style BBQ but still signature Indonesian all the way. The menu ranged from tuna melts to curry but that's not what every single patron was gnawing away at, at their table...



Being an equal opportunity protein man, I instead veered towards their New Zealand Lamb Chops, lamb-y in the least, more succulent than anything thanks to that illustrious bbq sauce which hinted of lots of Kecap Manis, a soy sauce with a really sweet tinge, a staple all around the islands here.


Oh yeah...

Indonesian Immersion: Pre-Porkage Snacking in Bali

Mosquitoes in Surabaya are fiendish little bastards, greedy in their foreign foodblogger preferred blood thirst and not stopping until you stop them. My sleep deprivation was to continue for the third day in a row as sooner than I knew it...the Surabaya sun was rising and it was time for us to jet.


To Bali, it was yet another short flight, less than a sleep deprived hour. As if my excitement was going to let me catch any Zzzz's anyway...I still couldn't believe I was going to freaking Bali!.

The morning was barely breaking in as we smoothly landed, our driver on hire had arrived kept punctuality.

At first, I was mesmerized by the sheer prevalence of people on motorbikes. For every one car there must had been at least fifteen bikes meandering their ways through the traffic stop-and-go formed smoggy labyrinths, dangerously close to the courteous but compulsive driving of cars that went to and fro everywhere.

Never thought that 100cc light-frame pushbikes were able to serve as family vehicles but guess I was wrong. I saw as many as a family of four to a simple nuclear family of three, all riding along nonchalantly.


don't worry, the baby...has a helmet

First things first, a pit stop for snackage was due before the driven scenic tour (since the suckling pig place wasn't open yet).


Nori Seaweed flavored Lay's for breakfast. Crisp and briny, mmmmmmm....

Nothing though, had prepared me for the breathtaking sensory overload I was about to behold:


Rice Paddy Terraces made me treasure every single grain of rice I ate on this trip (and that's a lot).


The traveling photo genius Mattatouille also having a field day with the scenery.

Some more pre-pork snacks was to be had at one of the many local spice and produce shops along the curvy roads.




Passionfruit, Salak, Mangosteens, Mangoes


Salak or 'snake fruit' as it is also called is up there with the unique exotic, hard-shelled spectrum of fruit. A look and feel like monstrously enlarged garlic cloves with a hard, sweet crisp. For me, a flavor reminiscent of sweetened vitamins with kiwi essences.


Exuberant Passionfruit with its alien-baby like flesh and seeds.


A Fresh Fucken Pineapple!: I never really thought about where they grew from...


Cacao trees were were also usual around these areas

And last but not least....Kopi Luwak.



This coffee achieves a particularly murky nuttiness and deep flavor due to its fecal, pre-digested sourcing: the precious droppings of the Musang Luwak.





Actually preferred it over the normal non-pooped ground Kope Bali coffee...yup, I just said that.

Next...porkage.

Indonesian Immersion: Warm Surabaya Welcoming (with Durian)

The plane to Surabaya had finally arrived and we were boarded, the shortest plane ride in my life thus far; already starting its descent as soon as it reached cruising a comfy altitude.

In Surabaya, we were greeted with the damp, warm, motor oil infused smell of the densely populated city. We were unsure whether our friend, guide and hostess Fiona Chandra was going to be there because of our delay, but, we were quick to spot her amongst the mass of burqa cloaked Muslim women.

On the way over, I couldn't help but utter out the magic word: "Durian", the anticipation had just been too much. Luckily for us, it was ten minutes before the local market closed. I followed my nose and there she was...


Durian in all its spiky, stinky glory. We picked one up and were on our way.

By the time we arrived at Fiona's family's living quarters, I was let known of yet a second welcoming party; sweet, foreign blood inclined mosquitoes who were at feast on my foodblogger select blood.

Fortunately, they were not the only ones about to feast:



Little did we know, mamma Chandra had prepared for us an ultra-traditional supper in the most warmest of Indonesian hospitality.

Sate Ayam: Chicken Sate in sweet and salty chunky peanut sauce.


Homemade Sambal: Spicy, salty, sweet, textured sauce!



Coto Makasar: Oxtail and Tripe Soup



Paru: prepared Ox Lung ("[one] must boil all the air out of them", Mamma Chandra told me)



Buras: Coconut milk cooked rice cakes




Yes, everything was as good as it looks, even better I would say with the addition of the utmost vital ingredient: love.

"With great savories...comes great sweets"...I like to think.

Behold, the tropical bounty of the Java island:

Before the King of Fruits, we were acquainted with the rest of the tropical royalty.

Jambu: Water-fleshed, crisp Tomatillo like textured fruit with an herbaceous sweetness.



Mangosteens: Known as the queen fruits with its delicate, soft opaque white flesh with a flavor reminiscent of bright cherries and sweet Cherimoya.



And finally....

Durian....The King of Fruits:



Meek human language can not possibly ascertain the experience of eating Durian, but here I go.

With a pronounced aroma that is detectable from at least a 30 ft radius, the texture of this wondrous fruit when fully ripe comes close to the most decadent of custards and the most sweet of butter creams. Eating its scarce yellow meat from one of the multiple chambers is nearly a meditative experience. The flavor is loosely like the marriage of the the usual tropical flavors: banana, coconut, papaya. But like I said, this is a fruit that has to be personally tried to really comprehend, since, it is considered a "love it or hate it" relationship for the majority of people, you'll know when you approach it...

Now, it was time to rest, tomorrow we were due for Bali in the wee hours of the morning and I hadn't caught a wink since my departure from L.A.

The Calm Before The Storm: Live Blogging (Jakarta) Indonesia‏

It's like the calm before the storm maan"

Mattatouille tells me this from across the table with his feet on top of the coffee table. We both just finished having thin airport noodles at the Mandala swanky terminal...one of the few that probably has air conditioning. And now...just relaxing and nibbling on sticky rice wrapped chicken and caramelized spice, salty, dried rubber cement like rice chips, we're at this executive all you can eat lounge waiting for our delayed flight...






Don't know the differences between lunch, dinner or breakfast anymore since we've both been travelling for a good complete day already--
We had also just had lunch at this noodle place, Bakmi Gajah Mada our Indonesian-born friend (and guide!) Gourmet Pigs had recommended. They had some pretty thin, flat vermicelli like noodle made from wheat, with multiple toppings. I got one that they cashier just recommended since there was a language barrier. Came out to be a solid, Chinese-y style, light corn-starch infused sauce with mixed veggies and Halal compliant meat and seafood.

It's actually Ramadan and peoples aren't supposed to be eating in daylight but...visiting Agnostic/Buddhist's/Ifa questioning foodblogger's are exempt.
An honorable damn of a mention goes out to China Airlines for enticing me to eat airplane food and actually enjoying it in the wee hours of the morning.

Disoriented Bento, Chinese style? Such varied flavors of soggy, meager portions added up for quite the redeeming experience:

"Seafood Rice"? Bu shi, Bu shi!! In tact with a not too sweet soy sauce glaze and Surimi cakes

Double-fat back thick strips of intensely spiced ham with a tbsp of coleslaw?

Some New Zealand Butter for your fresh, soft pliable bun sir?

Green tea and dried fruit air bread came out of absolute nowhere!

Some good, milky flavor Oolong "Chinese Tea" had me tranquil and serene through out turbulence.

All this while listening to some Reggae-ton-like Indonesian music playing in the lounge--

Now...Surabaya.

Packing my Bags and Leaving to Indonesia

yup.

Fresh Durian here I come!

An all out food immersion trek with native Gourmet Pigs and other fellow blogger Mattatouille...I can barely contain myself!




To break out of my "East L.A Bubble", you know...see the rest of world "while I'm young"?

wish me luck--

Here is some good 'ol fashioned, kind-hearted Indonesian Punk for ya'll too--happy, positive punk music is hard to find nowadays....

"I want fun! I want Happiness!"

Zabogart-Indonesian Punk