SkyBlueSky

Use your noodle

A bunch of years back I used to work in San Francisco and on many a chilly summer day I would hike up to a tiny Vietnamese noodle shop on Broadway where I'd tuck into an enormous bowl of pho. It was cheap, cheerful and satisfying and everyone said - 'If you go to Vietnam - you gotta have pho'.

Fast forward to 2003 and I'm living in Saigon and traveling frequently to Hanoi - the home of pho - but my food obsessed collegue in Hanoi says there's more - and she's so right. Ok, the southern version of pho is great, but it didn't take long for me to start discovering a whole world or noodles 'beyond pho'.

Last month we headed to Hanoi for the first time in (?) 6 years for what turned out to be a 10 day assignment. 10 days and not a single bowl of pho and we ate so well. Check out our lastest Zester Daily  piece for 4 must have un-pho-getable dishes if you hit the streets of Hanoi.

New on Zester Daily - Organic Farming in N. Thailand

Our lastest in a 2 part series on sustainable, organic farming in Northern Thailand is out on Zester Daily. Read the article here and check out the slideshow. For more on organic farming check out our earlier piece in Zester Daily from China.

As an aside I shot this piece 2 days after this adventure.  One of the great things about photography is that you never quite know what's going to happen from one day to the next.

 

Come to Lake Van, Stay for Breakfast

Most people go to Van in eastern Turkey to play in the clear waters of Lake Van.

We being, well us, went for the breakfast.

Read all about it in Zester Daily. 

Lao now - on Zester Daily!

Earlier in the year we spent a few weeks snacking our way around Luang Prabang. Some of those impressions, images, and a fantastic recipe for steamed fish in banana leaf can be found in our article in Zester Daily .

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Tarlabasi - The Untold Story

Istanbul's Tarlabasi district, is famous for all the wrong reasons - drugs, prostitution, crime. It seems that nearly every report from the area focuses on these aspects to the point of it nearly being a cliche. Photos of mysterious figures in the shadows, pimps, transvestites smoking cigarettes, and men slinking up to hotel rooms makes one think that's all there is to Tarlabasi.

We spent some time in the neighborhood chatting with residents as we reported on Tarlabasi's Sunday market for Zester Daily and came away with a somewhat different impression.

Sure, the nasty stuff exists, but so too does a sense of neighborhood and community.

It's the kind of place where people know their neighbors and look out for each other.

 
 
It may be down but certainly not out.

Going with the 'flo

Water buffalo ( or carabao as they are called in the Philippines) are a mainstay in the predominately rice growing area of Pampanga province. These hardworking, gentle giants are part family dog and part diesel tractor.

 

You'll see them everywhere - pulling carts, plowing fields, shuttling passengers, rolling in mud - and if you get up real early you can see them being milked. That super rich milk, in the hands of a confectionary master like Elisa Carreon produces some of the best sweet treats I've had in my many years in Asia.

 
For the real lowdown check out our article and slideshow in Zester Daily . Enjoy

Make Way for Progress?

Efforts by the Chiang Mai municipal government to widen roads threatens Chiang Mai's oldest market, Gat Luang.

The story and slideshow can be found in today's Zester Daily .

A local friend told us that the planners want Chiang Mai to look like Bangkok, but I was under the impression that Thailand already had one of those. Come on guys, what are you thinking?

Man's tastiest friend?

Robyn reports in Zester Daily on proposed legislation to ban the sale of dog and cat meat in China. There is a short slideshow  as well. Check it out. Viewer discretion is advised.

Cultivational Revolution

Our story on organic farming in Anlong Village, Sichuan Province, PRC appears in today's Zester Daily .

If you happen to be in Sichuan (or China for that matter) make it a point to drop by and see the Gao's. It was one of the most pleasant days I've had in recent memory (and one of the tastiest lunches, too!)

Duman

Our article on Philippine duman production appears today in Zester Daily .

UPDATE : The slide show is up and running. Check it out!