Roka Akor

Roka Akor is a contemporary Japanese restaurant that uses the 'robata grill'. 'Robata grill' is basically a charcoal grill, which makes the food have more of a burnt flavor compared to the regular 'teppanyaki', also known as steel grill. We came across this restaurant on Groupon. I like that it is not a widely spread chain restaurant, making it more unique. In United States, there is one in Scottsdale, AZ and they recently opened another one in Chicago, IL.

The Scottsdale location is in a stand alone building right off N. Scottsdale Road, near the McCormick Ranch Golf Course. Upon entrance into the restaurant, we were greeted and given a choice of sitting at the bar or at the table. As we walked towards the restaurant, we saw that they had outdoor tables and given the nice weather that evening, we opt to sit outside. When we were guided to our table, I noticed that they have an open kitchen setup. It would have been fun to sit by the open kitchen to see all the cool cooking techniques they use.

Roka Akor is definitely the fanciest restaurant I have been to in the States. It is an upscale restaurant where you pay for not only the food but also the ambiance and service. We had a server who was very informative on the dishes and helpful with the recommendations. They were very alert on when we need refills for our drinks and the food came out at the appropriate timing.

The menu is definitely full of unique dishes with the Western-Japanese fusion theme. We wanted to try as many dishes as possible so we opt for a variety of their appetizer dishes rather than their entree dishes.

We started out with the Japanese Shishito Peppers. This is definitely a must try for pepper-lovers! The ponzu sauce (the Japanese version of soy sauce) enhances the juiciness of the pepper that was lightly grilled.

Robata-grilled Japanese Shishito Peppers with ponsu and bonito flakes, $7

Our server highly recommended their Salmon Nigiri for salmon-lovers. This is the first time I tried flame seared salmon and it has definitely left a mark in my taste bud. The salmon was so fresh and searing is definitely a better option because it cooked the salmon just enough, leaving it still juicy and the melt in your mouth taste. This was my favorite dish of the night.

Flamed seared sesame Salmon Nigiri, $11.50

Not getting enough of the salmon and of course, how can we pass up sashimi when we are in a Japanese restaurant, we ordered the Chef's Selection of sashimi. The selection was tuna, yellowtail and of course, salmon! The sashimi was served on ice, the proper way, unlike most Japanese restaurant.   It is very fresh and the sweetness from the fish bursts with every bite. It is definitely the best sashimi cuts I have had.

Sashimi Chef's Selection, 3-pc, $19.00

Another fish dish that we tried was the Butterfish Tataki. I don't think I tried butterfish before so this was exciting. This is the most attractive dish - the asparagus butterfish was steamed and served with yuzu, a refreshing citrus flavor sauce. Although this is an appetizer dish, the yuzu sauce was a great transition towards dessert.

Roka Akor Butterfish Tataki with white asparagus and yuzu, $11

For those who are not a big fan of seafood, they have very tasty vegetable side dishes too. We tried their signature Sweet Corn and Sweet Potato. They are definitely the most expensive corn and sweet potato I have ever ate but the robata grill definitely made a huge difference. The sweet potato is crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. The corn is so juicy it feels like we were eating some kind of a melon instead of corn.

Roka Akor Sweet Potato with ginger teriyaki, $4.50

Roka Akor Sweet Corn with butter and soy, $4.50

We ended dinner with their Green Tea Custard for dessert. The custard is not too sweet, which is always a risk when ordering custard, and is great when eaten together with the banana-vanilla foam. I suspected that they have a tinge of pandan added to the custard but since I couldn't remember what pandan is called in English, I didn't ask about it. This combination reminded of the sweet and salty kuih talam. The chef recommended dipping the caramelized banana into the custard but I preferred eating them separately. While it is a tasty custard and definitely made with green tea (rather than flavored), I can't say it is the best dessert I have had.

Baked Green Tea Custard with caramelized banana and vanilla, $8

I would definitely go back to Roka Akor just for their seared salmon but probably not anytime soon as their pricing is on the high side. But, I do highly recommend it for a pre-dinner place to visit. It is also known to have really good shochu (unfortunately I can't vouch for their quality as we didn't get any alcoholic drinks) so for those who want to get some drinks and light snacks before dinner, it is a great place. Off to think of a special occasion or celebration to go back there…

Mexican Food Galore

When it comes to eating out, Mexican food is my choice if the real Chinese food is not available. Taco Bell, a fast food chain selling simple Mexican food like taco and burrito is one of my most visited places when I was too busy to cook. My list of ‘favorite restaurants’ also consists of several Mexican places – Qdoba, Pancheros and Los Tres Amigos. The style is very similar to Malaysian ‘chap fan’ – rice (or beans) with seasoned meat – but of course the taste is very different.

BUT, it wasn’t until the trip to Mexico that I realized how different real Mexican food tastes like. They are so fresh and full of spices. Now it is even more like Malaysian food. Four very important ingredients – cilantro (ketumbar/芫荽), lime (limau nipis), salsa (sauce) and tortilla. Onion is widely used too but I tend to ignore it since I am not a fan of onion. J Cilantro can be found in anything. Lime are cut in halves and served as a side dish. Some of us have had a halved lime served on our dishes, especially on seafood dishes. In Mexico, you get a whole bowl of it! It is served along with tortilla chips and of course, salsa! Lime is also used to make lime juice, which of course, is also a very popular drink in Malaysia (limau ais!). You can have it made with water (natural) or with soda (mineral). Hehe, yes, I learned the difference between natural and mineral pretty fast. Tortilla also comes in two choices – corn (maize) or flour (harina). The corn tortilla is really yummy when it is warm but becomes dry and hard easily. It is always served warm and wrapped in cloth. Salsa – this is the must try ingredient no matter where we go. Every place has its own style, from really spicy to mild and from watery to more chunky, almost like pico de gallo (raw, chopped up mix of vegetables).

Cuatro Cienegas is a desert. Sure, there are lots of desert springs with aquatic life but you would not expect the place to have any restaurants with good seafood. Wrong. The first week that I was there, we went to a little restaurant that served ceviche. Ceviche is a dish of raw fish seasoned with lime and peppers. However, I did not try it since it was also loaded with raw onions. Instead, I had a fish soup (caldo de pescado) that was very light and refreshing. It was not ‘chao cho’ at all. There were also a significant number of huge chunks of fish!

Calde de Pescado (Fish Soup)

 While it was fun to eat out and try all the different food at CC, it was also pretty costly to be eating out all the time. The house that the guys lived in has a small kitchen where we get to do some cooking.

Kitchen in the house

JC and JR were great cooks of Mexican food, giving me the opportunity to learn a recipe or two. We had lots of tacos and pasta (not so ulu until we can’t find pasta sauce lah). JC is a vegetarian so she made really good vegetarian tacos like the lentil taco.

JC's lentil taco

JR once made us vegetables enchilada. Enchilada is like a mini burrito but covered with some kind of chili sauce. Like in Malaysia, there are all kinds of chili sauce in Mexico. I can just snack on chips and chili sauce all day!

JR's vegetable enchilada

Another Mexican dish that looks like a mini burrito is the flautas (flute). The flautas is the crunchy version and the sauce is serve on the side. We had this at one of the local restaurant in town. Like every restaurant that I have been to in this little town, it is very casual and there are only about 4 or 5 tables. The owner of this little restaurant was the cook, the cashier and the server.

Flautas de Pollo (Chicken Flautas)

I also had the opportunity to try a very unique dish, crepas de huitlacoche, at a more upscale restaurant that we went to in town. Huitlacoche is a type of fungus that grows on corn. It is more like a paste and occasionally you bite into little black pieces with springy texture. It reminds me a lot of ‘bok nee’ but has a stronger flavor. This place also has the best salsa in town, in my opinion.

Crepas de Huitlacoche (Corn fungus crepes)

On my birthday, we went to the east side of town for dinner at a little hawker stall called Alheli. It was my favorite place of all the places we went to at Cuatro Cienegas. It reminded me so much of mamak stalls back in Malaysia. One of their specialties is a set of tacos with beef, pork and two other parts of cow (probably some kind of intestinal parts). It was lots of meat but delicious! The meat was very well marinated and cooked very ‘thiam’. They also had baked potato that was so good although you don’t want to know how much butter they put in it.

Alheli

Taco set

Butter loaded baked potato

As you can see, most of the dishes are meat dishes. It was a little ‘jelak’ after a while. The vegetables are mainly lettuce, avocado (neither of which are my favorite) and tomatoes. It is a desert with very harsh environment for growing vegetables. But, they do have very delicious mango. Since I didn’t get to go back home to dad’s garden for fresh mango this year, I got my share of it from Mexico. There is an ice-cream shop in town that also sells popsicles (paleta) and ice-cold drinks. They have a mango drink that is made out of fresh mango. It is basically mango juice with ice. No added sugar since their mango are so sweet and besides the ice, it doesn’t seem like the juice was diluted with any water because it is a thick drink. On a hot sunny day, which is everyday, the mango juice is definitely a blessing!

I also discovered a Mexican spice that tastes very much like ‘sui boi hun’ that we use for ‘jambu’ – tajin. It tastes great with mango and hijama (hong guak).

Tajin with mango

Lastly, I also got a nice surprise on my birthday. The team bought some cinnamon buns and topped it with Mexican chocolate chip cookies.

The birthday surprise

It was nice to try all the different food there but I sure miss vegetables and fruits. Unlike most Mexican food that I have had, the food in Cuatro Cienegas does not have lots of rice. I definitely missed having rice after being there for two weeks.

Most adventurous birthday

This year’s birthday was pretty special even though I didn’t get to spend it with any family members or close friends. We had an early breakfast and head out to Poza Azules, one of the ponds in the Cuatro Cienegas Valley. I get to go along this trip because two of the grad students in the team here, JR and JC, are monitoring the limnology and hydrology of the pond systems in the Cuatro Cienegas Valley. Poza Azules is named for its blue color. It is a decent sized pond but just one look at it will take your breath away. The blue color is due to carbonate precipitates of the high metal content in the area.

Poza Azules

It definitely made me wish we could swim in there. However, it is no longer open for swimming due to the negative human impact on the stromatolites (structural outcome of the interactions between microbes and chemicals in the water column). In the picture below, the stromatolites are the spherical looking sponges in the water. 

Stromatolites at Poza Azules

The plan for that morning was to sample only two sites but as we were driving towards the second pond, JR noticed that the GPS showed another site of interest, Poza Tio Candido, to be very close to us. As it was still pretty early, we decided to check it out. We parked by the path and walked according to the direction provided by the GPS. A first timer here, GPS coordinates are very important! A lot of the landscape looks very similar. If it weren’t for the mountains surrounding the valley, I would not have a good sense of where North is (the Sun is not always helpful because it stays right above us for a good part of the day).

As we walked to Tio Candido, I had an unfortunate encounter with a pile of old cactus. Throughout the entire trip, I wore my Teva flip-flops as we often had to get really close to the pond where the ground is muddy and we are likely to sink. It is easier to clean and wash off with flip-flops than when wearing sneakers. I was looking around the area as we were walking instead of looking down. All of a sudden I felt sharp pain on my foot and realized that I had stepped onto a pile of old cactus. JR had to remove my flip-flop and individually remove all the cactus torns that got stucked to my flip-flop while I balanced on JC as at that position, I was surrounded by cactus. Phew, lucky thing that it was old cactus and the torns were more brittle.  

Tio Candido

Unlike Poza Azules, Tio Candido has a completely different ecology. The vegetation around and in the pond is much denser. We also got to see some turtles and frogs on the lily pads. It is just amazing to see all these water bodies in the desert and each of them has their own unique ecology. 

The channel feeding into Tio Candido

After we sampled Tio Candido, we head towards the last sampling site for the day, Poza Escobedo. On the way there, we passed by a cattle ranch. The pond there looks completely different, like an oasis in the middle of the desert. The grass around the ranch definitely looks like it is well fertilized by the cattle. While the green grass looks really fresh in the desert, it just feels weird standing around it. It does not seem to fit in the desert. Furthermore, the pond is extremely green, which is worrisome because it can be polluting downstream water. 

The pond by the cattle ranch

The last pond for the day, Poza Escobedo, was named after a revolutionist, Escobedo. The fort that he had fought in still stands near the pond. 

Escobedo Fort

The fort is just a square building with an entrance and two windows. Poza Escobedo is formed from karstification, which is when the minerals dissolved and the ground is eroded, allowing the ground water to rise above the ground level. This pond also has high mineral content, causing the water to have a bluish color. However, unlike Poza Azules, Escobedo does not have all the stromatolites growing on the sediment. This makes the pond looks like a clear blue glass with the sediment so white and clean. 

Poza Escobedo

Clear water of Poza Escobedo

While these ponds are pretty far apart, some of the ponds in this valley are connected underground. Driving through the dessert, one often sees a water body that appears and then disappears underground. While the entire terrestrial ecosystem is pretty stable, the wetland ecosystem is not at all. Talking to the researchers in the group and also some of the conservationists in town, the water levels in the ponds and the structure of ponds can be highly variable. It is definitely a very fragile ecosystem. This is why it is had caught the interest of environmental organizations such as World Wildlife Fund and the Nature Conservancy.  

We travelled to all these ponds with the guide of a biologist from Pronatura, a local non-profit organization that is responsible for the conservations of various ecosystems in Mexico. His group had started a project to try to create a wetland to attract migratory birds to the valley. To do that, they created a dam at one of the river that runs in the valley. It was a great opportunity for us to look at some of the conservation projects that goes on in the valley. 

The river that was dammed.

The area in which the wetland will be created. 

It was an extremely hot and long day but definitely very educational and interesting. 

Cuatro Cienégas Part III: The Lab

Here at CC, there is no real field lab - the 'field lab' was setup in the cabin we live in. Unlike the KBS sampling trips back at MSU, where the sampling trip is solely sampling and no sample processing, we do have to pack for some sample processing for this Mexico trip. For example, we have to prep for water filtration, spiking samples with formaldehyde or RNA Later, adding chemicals to some of the water samples for chemical analysis or preparing samples that are to be frozen in a dry shipper. There has to be lots of think ahead in terms of the types of samples to collect, number of replicates, number of items required and the amount of chemicals.

They already had a large amount of items here but when the second team came (I was part of the second team), we still had to bring 5 action packers filled with all kinds of lab goodies and a dry shipper (the dry shipper amazes me! It was charged on the last week of May and it is still holding at -80C today, June 15).

The project I will be working on has two major sampling 'trips' and two one day sampling trip. However, everyone in the team has different projects and we all look at different aspects of the ecology in this desert area. Therefore, whenever we go out sampling, we sample for all kinds of analysis - observational, hydrology, limnology, chemistry, entomology and of course, microbiology. So it turns out that we are out sampling almost every day. Some days are just an hour or two out in the field while some days everyone goes out for an entire day.

Back in the cabin, I was in charge of the FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) station, which is to prepare samples for FISH from both sediments and water. I have a filter (known as La Flautas) that allows me to filter six samples at the same time, all using a hand pump! A centrifuge was also brought there to wash sediment samples.

There is also another water filtering station where Laura pre-filters water before the guys filter it through a 0.2 µm syringe filters to prep the water for chemical analysis. In addition to that, Laura also filters water through glass fiber filters to collect bacterioplanktons for DNA/RNA analysis. That is our only vacuum pump, which heats up very quickly. Every few samples, Laura will have to move it into the bedroom to place it in front of the air-cond so that it can cool down before continue to filter more water.

Next to the water filtering station is the drying area for all our dishes. Washing dishes here is quite a chore. We have very limited amount of clean water. We buy drinking water from the store to clean out the dishes before soaking it in the acid bath. As chemical analysis can be easily contaminated by lots of stuff, including water, every dish has to be acid washed. This was not as much of a concern when I was working with soil samples but I also did not do chemical analysis myself (except for dissolved organic carbon and total nitrogen). The nice thing though, we do get deionized water for all our washes, field blanks and of course, to make solutions. For solutions, we have to make fresh ones just before we need to use them since it is challenging to maintain sterility. We have limited syringe filters and have to conserve the usage because sometimes we may need to use more when the water samples we collect are murkier.

Our hazardous waste area - all with tags! 

The hall is where we gather to label our bottles/tubes/etc.

Somehow, this trip reminds me a lot of my experience at Woods Hole when I took the Microbial Diversity course. A more intense one. I am definitely getting lots of arm work outs here and learning a lot more about the big picture. Working with scientists of different expertise reminds me all the time that we must be able to relate our work to the interest of the environment and the people in the environment.

Life in Cuatro Cienegas

At Cuatro Cienegas, we (the ladies) get to stay in a cabin at Villas Del Desierto. There are only five cabins there and ours are often the only occupied cabin there. We get housekeeping service everyday, which helps a lot on crazy field sampling and sample processing days.

Love the cabin porch! 

There is also a small pool where we jump in to cool down on super hot days with no wind.

The cabin is located near the edge of the town and during the nights, it can be super dark. It is so dark that we can see way more stars in the sky than I have seen before. In fact, Laura (the lab tech @ lab manager) and I saw a shooting star on the first night that I was here! We also do not have to worry about doing our laundry because we just drop it off at the laundromat and pick it up the next day! How awesome is that? Plus, it only costs 50 pesos ~ USD 5!Interestingly, if the laundromat is closed, we just have to knock on the door next door (the purple one) because the owner lives just next door!

CC is a very laid back town. In the afternoon, while walking around town, you will always see little kids playing on the pavement, parents and neighbors sitting outside to chat, and there is just so much sign of life out here. Simple life. They do not need a lot of the luxuries we have. All they have is each other. My favorite is walking by a house where the older couple who lives in the house will always sit in their porch on their rocking chair, just relaxing and enjoying each others' company. It is like in the movie Up!. Every time I walk around town, it reminds me more and more of the days in Bayan Baru when I was a little kid.

A typical house in CC.

One of the streets in CC.

Oh, how simple life can be. 

But, all of us still have to check our emails and try our best to be on our regular work schedule. Lucky thing for us, one of the house that was rented for the guys, is owned by a hotel in town - Quinta Santa Cecilia. So they allow us to use their Internet.

Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico

My first job assignment - field sampling at Cuatro Cienegas, Mexico, one of the spots featured in The Lonely Planet. How exciting is that? Microbial ecologists typically don't spend as much time outdoors as most ecologists. A lot of our work is performed indoors with a test tube of DNA solution extracted from minute amount of samples followed by a whole bunch of data analysis in front of the computer. My previous experience with field sampling was limited to Kellogg Biological Station, which was very well equipped for field studies. This trip is definitely an eye-opening trip for me! It is always a lot easier to learn about the samples and to think of ecologically relevant questions when I get to see where the samples come from and all the biogeochemistry dynamics related to it. It is also a long one because we have a six-week long mesocosm experiment.

Cuatro Cienegas is a little town located in the state Coahuila. To get there, we had to drive from Saltillo (the capitol of Coahuila), which we flew to from US. Saltillo airport reminds me very much of Kalamazoo airport where it only has one baggage conveyer and you have to walk from the plane to the airport building. I was super glad that I was accompanied by Spanish speaking colleagues! EVERYTHING was in Spanish!

From the airport, it was about 30 minutes drive to the town area. We stayed in Saltillo for a night before driving out to Cuatro Cienegas. The lab had a rented Jeep, which we filled to the brim! Literally!! As the trip is a long one, we had to bring everything we need in the field and also materials we needed to process samples for measurements that are time-sensitive. The weirdest was bringing a dry shipper with us! It felt like R2D2 came with us. Everyone at the airport at Saltillo was curious about it. Well, we need a way to freeze our samples for DNA and RNA extraction.

Surprisingly, all the luggages placed on top of the Jeep were totally secured. It did not bulge the entire four hours drive from Saltillo to Cuatro Cienegas. The drive was quite boring, as the roads seemed endless. It was a pretty sight though, with mountains and endless desert view. It was also fun to see the dust devil, which are little dust tornados.

Once we arrived at CC and unload the Jeep, we went to get dinner at one of the local restaurant called El Doc. Like some Mexican restaurants, they serve chips and salsa as starter. In addition to salsa, they also have this pickled veggie dish that reminds me of acat! I could make that a meal if only I have some rice!