land of canaan
july 02, 2007
people always give me that puzzled look when i say "i don't really eat very much chinese food." i guess that's like hearing that a latino not liking tacos, a japanese not liking sushi (and i know alot of them), a korean not liking kimchee (i know of 1 of these too). i guess whatever your ethnicity, you're expected to be IN LOVE with the food of your motherland and your roots. i on the other hand don't exactly LOVE chinese food although i will eat it occasionally. i used to never think much of it when i was younger but as i got older, i noticed that every time i eat chinese food, i really do.not.feel.good. about myself.
but alas, i'm married to a chinese boy and i have to from time to time indulge his craving for the food of our people. :p tonight we headed to one of the restaurants in the plaza walk food court to see what they have. this place called canaan has a family special of 3 dishes for $16.99 and no wonder so many people have been going there. the food is pretty decent and it's in a new food court so you're not in a restaurant per se, although there are waitresses who bring you food and take your orders at your table. it's a faux food court really. housed with 6 or so overhead lcd tvs for your viewing pleasure of chinese news, cnn, chinese dramas and so forth.
since i haven't brought my digicam out with me in a long long long time, i decided it was time to get back into the swing of taking photographs. i think not carrying a camera with me was a true sign that i was taking a serious break from this site. but now i'm back!
from the top: eggplants and leeks in bean sauce. fish filet with tofu in hot bean sauce. 3 types of shredded meat in spicy garlic sauce. deep fried maan tou (sweet bun).
canaan also serves a lot of taiwanese dishes so i HAD TO ORDER their stinky tofu or should i say "fried tofu w/ oder" (according to their menu). the stinky tofu was i would say....medium stinky. definitely not stinky enough for my preference but good enough and it didn't stop me from eating the whole plate. :p i still have the garlic sauce wafting in my mouth as i type. i'm sure if i knew how they fermented this shit, i wouldn't stand within 15 feet of it but since i don't know, ignorance is bliss.
i spied a shaved....ice (for you rob) thing on the menu and proceeded to order it thinking it's a small little dish of ice. the dessert ended up being a gigantic monster of a shaved ice. they didn't have too many great toppings so i only got boba, grass jelly and red bean (not my fave mind you). but it was ok. we just chatted and slowly made our way down this glacier of a dessert.
overall, food was good. but from the pics you can see the nice oil slick of chinese food stamped all over it. this place says they use "no msg", "less oil" and "less salt" for healthier chinese food.
er....then it's no longer chinese food right? :p
currently listening to: ziggy marley, beach in hawaii
