| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 |
|
20
|
21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
Paul Young is a townie who graduated from the University of Illinois twice: once with a bachelors in graphic design and then again with a masters in education. Paul has been a foodie all his life (even though he didn't know what a foodie was until recently). He has eaten his way through New York City (eight years) and Milwaukee (two years), but has finally settled down here in Champaign-Urbana (since 1994). When he's not eating, he is either doing graphic design or teaching at Parkland College in order to earn money to buy food. In a former life, Paul was the founder and publisher of The Octopus, a weekly newspaper where he wrote about food every now and then.
Our home away from home in Jimbaran is the Villa Balquisse, a boutique hotel near the beach.
The pictures on the Internet didn't do justice to this hotel. From the curtains to the furniture, the attention to detail was astounding. Everything was perfect including the food and the service provided by the staff. Most hotels in Bali provide a free breakfast for guests and Villa Balquisse is no exception.
Every morning, we are offered freshed squeezed juices (papaya is our favorite), an exotic fruit plate, croissants (the owner is French-Moroccan), coffee or tea, and a entree of our choice.
We quickly skip over the bacon and eggs section and go for the Balinese-style breakfast dishes. On the first day, we tried Mee Goreng, a delicious fried noodle dish with chicken, veggies and spicy chilis. There's also a bit of sweetness laced in with the spiciness, which makes this noodle dish distinctly Indonesian. The next morning, we ordered Nasi Goreng, a fried rice dish that tasted kind of like the noodle dish from the day before. When we asked our waiter about this, he explained that Indonesian breakfast dishes are typically just leftovers from the night before, all mixed together and reheated.
So here we are, in a beautiful pool-side setting, being served a gourmet version of peasant food for breakfast.
Ironic, but tasty.
