The Free Food Bible

Hi Readers,

I am taking a break from my homework on noise processes. Because even though I've spent 5 hours on it, I have made nil progress. As in, I still have no idea how to approach the problem. Blah. The white board in lab is littered with my equations, each of which hit a dead end. Nope, no idea.

So here's one interesting note about how I eat here at Stanford. Most of the dinners that I eat during the week are free. This is because Silicon Valley companies and startups love to flood Stanford with info sessions, each of which comes with free food. At the U of I, it was (comparatively) very hard to eat for free; if you did get free food, there was a 99% chance it was pizza.

This is not true of Stanford. Here, our info sessions have a smorgasbord of food. In a short span of 2 months, I've seen the following appear at info sessions: Thai, Mediterranean, Chinese, Mexican, American (sandwiches), Italian, pizza, and burgers. Most of the time, you can stuff your face and not have to worry about the food running out for other people. It is quite a luxury. But there is an art to free-food hopping!

Though the frequency of the sessions have been dying out as the recruitment cycle slowly comes to an end, throughout the first month and a half of classes, you could predictably count on at least 2 meals a day. There was always a lunch session at noon, followed by 2 afternoon/evening sessions at 5pm and 6:30pm. There would be a million emails sent out about the sessions, so everyone on the mailing list knew  about them.

There are two types of people that hit up these sessions. The first type is people who actually want a job or internship. These flood to the high-profile companies such as Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, Facebook, etc. The second type is people who want free food. These flood to the lowest-profile companies they can find, where there is always guaranteed to be food no matter how late you walk in. I am a type 2, and as many type 2s, I hate going to a type 1 situation because the food will always run out super quickly. Then you're stuck between a rock (staying and being hungry) and a hard place (loudly shuffling out of the room during the presentation to dirty looks from people).

Here are some tips and basic etiquette for free food:

1. Leave your dignity at the door. If you're still hungry after one plate, stand up during the presentation and get some more immediately! Since grad students are characterized by bosons and not fermions, you will notice that you will create a domino "bunching" effect as others will see your audaciousness and copy you. Better yet, load up on a huge plate of food your first round. Just don't accidentally spill it everywhere. And if you do spill, CLEAN IT UP.

2. Free food "etiquette" dictates that if the food is almost out, you should take less and leave some for others. Please feel free to blatantly ignore this rule, since you will never see it applied to yourself when the person in front of you takes the rest of the food and leaves you pissed off and hungry.

3. For type 1 companies, get there 10 minutes early. For type 2 companies, get there on time. The earliest you should leave a session can be determined by applying the minimum function to "halfway through the allotted time" and "first person leaves the room."

4. If the food is discrete and fungible (sandwiches, burritos), feel free to wrap some up and take it to go if it is convenient to do so. Again, check your dignity at the door. Food is your priority, and the dirty looks you are getting from other grad students are actually tinged with admiration because they wish they had the balls to do what you just did. Company reps actually admire students who do this, because it shows they are not afraid of making themselves look bad in pursuit of a goal. (Being serious here - I've gotten compliments before).

5. If there are lots of food leftover and you are not in a rush, stay until the end of the session and take the rest of the food trays home. If you go to the session moderator and ask confidently whether you can take it home, there's a 99% chance they will say yes. Voila - that's more free food to tide you over when you can't find any free food for the day.

That's all for now. This was actually one of the most fun blog posts I've written in awhile. And I'm completely serious with these 5 rules. If you want to eat freely and well, commit these rules to heart.

-FCDH

A Primer on Austin

Hi Readers,

After spending an entire summer in Austin, I thought I would write a blog post all about the awesome city that is Austin. So here goes.

The first thing you need to do is to decouple the words "Austin" from the "TX" that follows it on the address labels. Apart from the constant "y'all"s that are heard around town, I have heard from many Texans that Austin is very different from the rest of Texas. Politically, it is known as the blue dot in a sea of red that is the rest of Texas, and this is very visible all over Austin. The city has adopted the unofficial slogan, "Keep Austin Weird," a prominent sign of its progressive nature. The city is extremely liberal, from the environmental viewpoint with recycling, to its stance on gay couples (i have seen many gay couples holding hands and walking around town.) Unfortunately the Texas Legislature is trying its best to disenfranchise the Austin voters by dividing up the liberal Travis county's political influence among its conservative neighboring counties. However, it does not diminish Austin's star power by much.

In terms of entertainment and recreation, Austin is unparalled in the breadth of activities that it offers. Among all the cities in the world that I have visited, I would rank Austin in the top 3. Tourists can stroll around the beautiful Texas State Capitol building, and watch the daily flying of the bats, as the millions of bats emerge from underneath the Congress Ave bridge and fly off into the night. The awesome Barton Springs allows people to jump in a cool natural spring just minutes away from downtown Austin. The Lady Bird Lake is right smack in the middle of downtown Austin, and it is a great place to go kayaking or boating. All along the lakeside and Zilker Park lies beautiful nature and miles of trails that run all along the lake. You can even stop by the Center for Performing Arts, where they will usually be having an outdoor concert on the vast lawn.

For a great shopping and dining experience, all that one has to do is to walk south along Congress Avenue. The South Congress area features many eclectic shops and boutique stands, as well as food stands and trucks that remind me a lot of the fun chaotic shopping experience that one can find in Asia. The food trucks are my favorite part of South Congress, as it feels like an outdoor food court, surrounded by market stands and serenading musicians. On weekends, downtown 6th street has the most amazing display of nightlife that I've ever seen. The entire road, which is surrounded by bars on either side, is closed down to vehicle traffic, and bar-goers crowd the entire road while searching for their perfect bar. Speaking of bars, Austin's live music scene really is amazing, as pretty much every single bar in downtown Austin will have a different live band playing at any time of night. It is always fun to just walk down the street and hear all the different bands playing, ranging from country music to jazz. Food-wise, there are a lot of great things to eat in the Austin area. My personal favorite is the Texas BBQ, probably one of the best foods that I've had in the US. My two favorites are Rudy's and Salt Lick, and every time I go to these places I always get at least 1 lb of meat to eat. It is somewhat excessive but I just love it so much.

But the most incredible thing about Austin is its surroundings. Drive half an hour north-west of Austin and you'll reach Lake Travis, from where you can watch one of the ten best sunsets in the US at the Oasis, or do watersports, or go to the water park at Volente beach. There are loads of swimming holes around the Austin area, which are all amazing places to chill for an afternoon when it is over 100 degrees outside. Just 2 hours west of Austin lies Enchanted Rock, a giant rock formation that juts out of the ground and makes for a great hike and viewpoint. Austin lies in the hill country region of Texas, and there are plenty of places to go rock climbing or to go tubing down a river.

Austin is such a great mix of activities that it is hard to imagine anybody running out of activities to do here, or being bored here. It should be a crime to waste your weekends on TV or computers here. I have done many things here, including bungee jumping, outdoor rock climbing, swimming, and of course partying. It is somewhat hard to see how Stanford and the Bay Area could be better than this summer in Austin. But I am hoping that California will be a lot better.

-FCDH

My Favorite Taiwanese Foods

Hi Readers,

I noticed that I devoted a category of my blog to food, and it has only 2 posts! What an atrocity, since food is one of my passions. Therefore, let this post be devoted to food!

No matter what people say, Taiwanese people will maintain that they have the best food selection in the world. I truly believe that Taiwan is probably the only place in the world where it is cheaper to eat out than eat in. An average meal costs US$2-3, and "gourmet" meals such as 5-course meals go up to exorbitant price of US$10. Oh noes, who can afford this? The answer: EVERYBODY. And everybody does, as every single high-end restaurant is always packed with people wanting to eat like a king. In fact, there is so much demand, that most high-end restaurants don't take reservations. It's first come first serve.

I live across the street from one of Taiwan's best (and most expensive) restaurants: Ding Tai Fung. This is fortunate, because we can walk across the street, take a ticket, go home and wait for half an hr to an hr until a table becomes available, and all the while chuckle at the people who are being baked by the scorching sun while they stand in line. Ding Tai Fung's specialty: the Xiao Long (Tang) Bao. These are little steamed buns/dumplings that come in little bamboo baskets. The "tang" in brackets means "soup", and it is a variant on these steamed dumplings in the sense that when you bite into them they are filled with delicious broth along with meat! Yum! I'm getting so hungry just thinking about it. Argh.

Taiwan's national food: the Stinky Tofu. THIS IS MY FAVORITE DISH IN THE WORLD. Most non-Taiwanese (and even some Taiwanese) people hate it, but I love it. I love it like Thai people love durian (look it up if you don't know what durian is). Stinky tofu is pretty much what it sounds like: it stinks. But it tastes great! Experienced stinky-tofu-eaters maintain that the more it stinks the better, and I am of the same opinion! Stinky tofu comes in all shapes and forms, whether deep-fried, grilled, steamed, stir-fried, cold-mixed, or more. I love it it all. If you diss this dish it will actually annoy me quite a bit, so don't do it!

Another great food item: Bubble Tea. Now, probably 90% Americans who think they know the variety of flavors that bubble tea comes in cannot even imagine all the flavors they can get. There are literally over 50 flavor combinations + 2 choices (amount of sugar and ice) per combination. Even if you drink a different type of bubble tea everyday it would take you a year to finish all the possible combinations. This is probably the biggest reason why I gain 20 pounds in Taiwan every time I go back. Last summer I averaged 3 cups a day. I gladly added the 10 pounds lol.

When I go back, there are some things I never fail to make a pilgrimage to get. One of these is the Rou Yuan / Ba Wan / "Meat Rounds" of Shuili, in the remote mountainous Nantou county. I am not sure how to describe these. It is like a gelatinous-ball surrounding a bunch of meat in the middle, fried in oil. It is simply amazing. Everytime my grandma drives us there, assuming we survive the drive (she is 82 years old after all, and those mountain roads are not exactly like the interstate through Illinois), I get at least 5-6 of them. And eat and eat and eat. And then after I'm done there's free soup! It's amazing.

I remember one time we almost got in a fight with some other family at the "meat round" place. We were in line behind them, and the dad said to the cook, "Hey give me 30 of them." The cook said that there's only 20 left and that since we were in line he would make sure we got some. The dad begin to argue with the cook and he shouted: "Hey we drove 4 hours from Taipei just so we could come here! Give me all of them!" And then my grandma shouted at him, "SHUT YOUR TRAP YOU DOUCHE, MY GRANDSON FLEW 15 HOURS FROM CHICAGO TO COME HERE!" And that shut him up pretty quickly. Good times! Did I mention that I love my grandma? =D

Shuili's Clear Ice is also pretty well known, and another thing I make the perilous pilgrimage to Shuili for. (On a side note, maybe next time I go back I will request that I do the driving, because I would actually like to live to taste these things). Anyways, the clear ice is sold at a Popsicle factory. Although it's only a popsicle made from pure sugar water, it tastes great on a summer day. Of course, I don't stop there - I quickly move on to passionfruit, peanut, red bean, mango, lemon, and whatever other flavors they have there. As these popsicles only cost about 10 cents US each, I usually get upwards of 10 every time I visit. Oh gosh I am hungry.

So hungry! I will probably stop there and continue another post on Taipei's restaurants some other time. OMG I AM SO HUNGRY! I want those meat rounds now. STINKY TOFU! ARGHHH I miss Taiwan =(.

-FCDH

My First American Thanksgiving!

Granted, I have had 2 prior Thanksgiving dinners in the US. But today was the first time with traditional Americans! And this time there were finally no stir-fry noodles lol.

After going to my first pep rally (with hilarious football moms playing musical chairs!) and ice skating with Erin yesterday, she invited me to her family's Thanksgiving celebration after hearing that I didn't really have anywhere to go. I accepted =) and almost cancelled cuz I was so exhausted in the morning....but it was definitely worth it! I met her family and cousins, who were really nice and funny =). I had a blast there with all the cousins, playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band for most of the afternoon lol. And the Thanksgiving feast was pretty awesome as well, two types of turkey and loads of other food. I was pretty stuffed.

And now I'm going to fall into my long-awaited food coma which I've been holding off the entire afternoon.

-FCDH

It's Turkey Time!!

...in Ankara and Istanbul anyway. Here it's Thanksgiving. =)

I would just like to congratulate myself on successfully baking a 10lb turkey this year, a 50% increase from last year's 5 lb turkey. Seriously, baking a turkey is one of the easiest things one could cook. I'm a horrible cook, and if I could make a turkey without any mishaps 2/2 times, everybody should be able to do it.

It's easy. Here are the steps (I'm writing this so I remember the next time too).

1) Rinse turkey in and out with cold water. Make sure all the necks / gibbets / whatever else they have craftily stuffed inside the turkey is removed...check all the crevices!

2) Put turkey on "shallow turkey pan". Or in this case, on a reused old aluminum cake pan since someone is too cheap to buy an actual pan.

3) Rub: butter, salt, pepper over turkey. Remember not to touch the stick of butter next time or it'll be ruined again.

4) Put turkey in oven. Set to 325F. Every hour, baste the turkey in its own juices. When golden, cover with aluminum foil. 15 minutes before completion, remove aluminum foil to brown turkey.

5) Eat. Try not to stuff self.

My 10 lb turkey this year!!

And voila. Thats it. Hope everyone's having a great Thanksgiving!

-FCDH