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6/22/2024 0 Comments

Apple Cider Donut and Cinnamon Stick at Honey Dew Donuts.

I knew I wanted to try an apple cider donut, but was talked into also trying a “fruit stick” at a local donut shop by a friend who was from the area. So I found a place and ordered them with my coffee. The best thing about it was my coffee. Thanks, Chef Matt.

Not their fault, mine. I have preconceived notions of what MY donut should be.

But first, let me explain my theory of when people tell you to try something they loved as a child. It may never have been as good as they remember it was. They may have not had it for a while, and so have built an almost mythical expectation of it. Or it simply may not be made the way they used to be.

Then, there are your own expectations. I am not a sweets person, and do not eat a lot of donuts. Except for one. I truly enjoy an apple fritter. I had my first one 33 years ago, in Fort Collins Colorado, at 3am, at a truck stop. I was about to go trout fishing on the Colorado. The guide stopped for gas, and to get coffee and donuts, so I did also. I was sold.

So now all other donuts have to measure up to that one. Only a couple at home do, especially the one on Union Mall, thanks
Mr. donut.

The ones at Honey Dew were good, but not as good as those.

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6/22/2024 0 Comments

Cuban Breeze | Little Falls, NJ

The Oxtails were delicious and soft, natch.

Roast Pork was good as all roast pork is, but not flavored enough, needed citrus. Tostones, twice-fried plantains (starchy banana looking fruit). These are peeled, which is very hard to do. Then cut into @2” lengths, and deep fried. Then they are smashed down, and fried again. Unlike anything at home as has a starch-like taste, but more complexity and not much flavor. I appreciate these as I recognize the effort it takes to make. It’s a whole lot, to take a very hard-to-produce food item, and make it edible/palatable. I do not profess to know how to eat them properly, as I am not from where these items are from, but I had to have them to appreciate them.

Yuca Fries, tasty, softer than a potato. Yucca is a root vegetable. Almost like a Jicama, just not so juicy. Not much flavor, but creates a better French fry.

Red beans, plain. If by now you realize that almost all the food items were either pork, or a starch, I guess we all get it. Ingredients
to make these dishes are all from Cuba, and are what is available. Things they can raise and grow, and there is hardly anything brought in for them.

Cuban tamale, even this needed help. Just corn masa in a husk, steamed. Had to add hot sauce to give it a chance.

I know I must have missed other things, but I did ask for recommendations from the server, but I fear he knew less than I.
There must have been more to this, hopefully condiments. The sauces and toppings needed to make it more than what it was.

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5/22/2024 0 Comments

The Pilgrimage's Inaugural Blog.

May 2024

"So why pilgrimage. That is how I view my need to eat of the place."

May 2024

Peter Pao's Pilgrimage:

If it were not for others saying I should post something about my culinary adventures,
I would never do this. Who am I that others would care to listen to about where I went, and what I ate. What were my thoughts of the places, the way it looked, the service
I received, and the food I ate. I am no social media influencer, and certainly not an Elite 24 or any other poster-or imposter. This is my first, as an intro. Intro into why. Intro to who I am. Intro to what made me who I am. First and foremost, this is how I look at things, what I like. I simply do not care what you like.

I also never considered to "post" anything before simply because I am old. I did not know how to do that, and was not interested in learning how. It was a suggestion from one person who said I SHOULD post my experiences, and that this platform could be used. Thanks sis and thank you chef Ronald.

I actually disdain the mere thought of anyone "influencing" others to like or dislike something based on my experience. My experiences are my own. I do not even like taking pictures of my meals, as the meal is MINE to enjoy. I always felt that if you want to enjoy something, YOU go enjoy it. Your likes may not be mine, nor should they be.

So why would I feel qualified to say what I am embarking on saying? I looked at who WAS speaking up, and realized I would never listen to or care what they say. They have no talents, culinary or otherwise. The Kardashians (sorry, I am about to ostracize the Keeping up with Kim fans), have NO talents. It was simply a sex tape that created that four headed monster (yes, 3 sisters, but mom is head monster).

I had worked in every job within every type of restaurant. I had swept the parking lot, washed the dishes, chopped the vegetables, cooked the food, served the food, cleaned the table, worked the register, and managed the restaurant. I also owned a few, and continue to invest in them. I do love this industry. I was a food salesperson, a restaurant cooking equipment salesperson. I taught at a culinary school. Now, I work with the largest manufacturers of cooking equipment and cookware in the country. Much of my work is designing custom pieces to restaurant operations. The kitchen cooking lines, prep areas, plating tables, to the buffet tables in schools, employs cafeterias, to the salad bars in the best dining rooms. And I have been doing that for, well, 50+ years.
I might know a bit more than your average vlogger or blogger.

I travel extensively for work. Not just every island in Hawaii, but most of the United states (34 so far-more to come). When I say traveled, I mean I slept there, and ate there, not just traveled through. I eat to make travel fun. I study where I am going. What are they known for as far as ingredients. Which foods are iconic to them?

When I travel, I eat of the place. I do not go to a national chain, nor eat food I can get back home. Heaven help the person who tries to get me to eat poke in Wisconsin. I did have a waiter try to get me to eat fresh fish from Hawaii once in Milwaukee. I left him in tears.

The mere thought that I or anyone should tell you what is good, or what in YOUR opinion is the best of something you have had, is preposterous. I firmly believe that we are products of our environment, and of our personal experiences and history. That first bite of a well cooked steak, a slice of pizza, or a scoop of ice cream? That memory, that taste, is now the benchmark you will use that all others will be measured against. It may not be the best, but it was YOUR first, and is now the best YOU ever had.

So why pilgrimage. That is how I view my need to eat of the place. Actually, it’s how
I view all food, or any enjoyment for that matter. I am not a hedonist. I do not give into whims. I create a NEED to do things, or to eat them. If I know I am going to Maui for work, I will fit in as many meals as I can, to be able to eat at all the places I love, for the ONE thing they have that keeps bringing me back. And if I miss any, I feel like I cheated myself. So that pilgrimage? It becomes a quest. A quest so deep seated within me that it must be satisfied.

I eat at the places visited. I plan for the stops, the meals, the experiences. They are indelibly ingrained on my mind. I need no photo to remind me of when an eggplant at The French Laundry made me cry. When I ate Portuguese food in New Jersey that made me realize that Portuguese Bean Soup, was NOT Portuguese. Or when a donut reminded of my grandmother making hers in her kitchen in an old home that was formerly an officers quarters from WWII, that my grandfather had moved from ten miles away, on a train.

I ate reindeer in Alaska. I ate lobster in Maine. I ate a burrito in Arizona. And I ONLY eat Poke in Hawaii.

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Peter Pao

Apple Cider Donut and Cinnamon Stick at Honey Dew Donuts.

Cuban Breeze | Little Falls, NJ

The Pilgrimage's Inaugural Blog.

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