Posts tagged as:

Panama City

Panama Flora

by KimHo on May 17, 2009 · 4 comments under: Photo Essay,Travel

I originally intended to have this post up for last week Saturday. However, things happened and, well, here it is…

It might be an overstatement at this point but I like to take pictures of trees and flowers. In fact, I think I prefer to take landscape/outdoors to that of people (read: portrait pictures). If somebody would try to hire me to do the later, I will simply refuse. However, in the case of the former, hell, I might do something similar to what Humphrey Bogart’s character did in The Maltese Falcon (take some amount to cover time and expenses). I am digressing here… So, for this post, pictures of trees and flowers in Panama! (Oh, in most cases, I won’t know the name of the tree/flowers… -_-;;;)

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Tagged as: Panama City, Photo Essay, Random

Mom’s Cooking

by KimHo on May 10, 2009 · 15 comments under: Food,Photo Essay,Travel

Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

(Phrase used in the intro of the original Japanese version of Iron Chef)

I have mentioned a couple of times already that I don’t consider myself a foodie; instead, I am just a person who enjoys food and blogs about it. One of the reasons (I don’t consider myself so) is that I don’t have any formal culinary/hospitality training – with the closest thing to “training” that I have is that from working in a restaurant when I was younger. Given the case, where did I get all my thoughts, perspectives, mindset about food then? One word: mom. Since today is Mother’s Day in Canada, I thought it would be suitable to honour the one person who made me who I am currently. And, to do so, what I ate in my last trip to Panama…


My mom’s stove.

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Tagged as: Mom, Panama City

A Wedding in Panama

by KimHo on May 8, 2009 · 5 comments under: Food,Photo Essay,Travel

So far, in all this thread about Panama, I still have not mentioned WHY I went there. Sure, it could have been a holidays but, no, that was not the reason. (Although I had planned to go there sometime in July/August so this made me change plans). Yes, as the header suggested, I attended a wedding. Specifically, AB’s wedding… A couple of months ago, AB called me and told me she was getting married. Her one wish from me: Be at her wedding. Did I mention she is really sweet? Although her family knew me, again from high school, I won’t call myself a close family friend. And, despite me being thousands of clicks away, she took the time to call me… An actual phone call, rather than an email (so prevalent these days)… How can I deny such request?

So, the day after the call, I checked my manager for approval of holidays, booked the flights, called GN, PU and my parents to tell them I was going for those days. That is, I told almost everybody… Except her. How could I? Of course I could! Being a trickster, a BOFH, I did not give her a straight answer. Instead I kept dallying, giving her uncommitted answers like “I have to check with my manager if the holidays will be approved” and then “my holidays haven’t been approved yet” to “Adding 2 extra won’t throw the invitee list of the reception, right?”. So, the day after I arrived to Panama, I visited her, which would then triggered the events mentioned in my visit to El Ranchito. Feel free to call me mean, but she was really surprised!

Now, this being mostly a food related blog, for today’s post, the food of the reception. Before you proceed, I will apologize for the low quality of some of the pictures. As you can imagine, light conditions (for taking pictures) were really poor but, otherwise, the romantic ambiance was there. Can you tell by just the picture below? ^_^

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Tagged as: Buffet, Panama City

El Trapiche

by KimHo on May 7, 2009 · 5 comments under: Food,Restaurant,Travel

El Trapiche
Via Argentina
Panama City, Panama

If you have followed the last couple of post, you should have noticed a constant trend: In all meals, I had a friend along. Yes, this post is not different. This time, it was PU, another FRIEND. Unlike GN and AB, I met PU in university rather than high school; still, she is very important to me. How much? Well, when you have running jokes that only you two understand… ^_^;;; Of course, it is possible there is a bias: so far, she has been the only person who has visited me! So, after I arrived in Panama, I gave her a call and agreed to meet during my weekend in Panama for lunch. The “usual” problem popped out when she picked me up: where? I had only one criteria: Preferably, a Panamanian restaurant. Mi Ranchito, this time, was not an option (no, it was not because of yesterday’s post) but, still, we managed to visit a well known, local, Panamanian restaurant: El Trapiche.

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Tagged as: Panama City, Pork

Mi Ranchito

by KimHo on May 6, 2009 · 4 comments under: Food,Restaurant,Travel

Mi Ranchito
Amador Causeway
Panama City, Panama

Just like my visit to The Wine Bar, today’s post is mainly because of a FRIEND – in this case, AB. I have known AB since high school (just like GN) and I think she is one of the sweetest women in the world. As a result, I couldn’t help myself drop by and invite AB and her husband, RZ, for dinner. Unfortunately, sometimes things do not go your way and we had to cancel that. A couple of days later, I was in one of my walks when I hear something that sounded like my name. I chose to ignore it because, truth said, Panama is a noisy city and it could have been background noise. I keep on walking until somebody who was walking towards me made some signals, as if somebody was calling me. I turn around and see AB running almost half a block away, trying to catch up. Either I walk too fast or she is a bit too slow… ^_^;;; It turns out she was in the area running some errands when she spotted me. AB wanted to make up for the previous night and invited me for dinner the following night. In the end, we went to Mi Ranchito, a restaurant that serves local, Panamanian food.

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Tagged as: Fish, Panama City, Seafood

Palacio Lung Fung

by KimHo on May 5, 2009 · 6 comments under: Food,Restaurant,Travel

Palacio Lung Fung
Via Simón Bolívar and Calle 62 C. Oeste
Panama City, Panama

It is said that you can find Chinese people in almost everywhere in the world. In the case of Panama, it is said that Chinese born and/or first generation accounts for at least 5 percent (150,000 of over 3,000,000) of the Panamanian population. However, Chinese people have been in Panama goes way back to the time of the Panama Canal construction (if not further back) and have intermingled with the local population. A lot of times you will find people with a Chinese surname, yet, physically, they look like any other Panamanian born. Regardless, Chinese people has made its mark in the Panamanian culture. For example, the neighbourhood grocery store, it is usually referred to as the “Chinito de la esquina” – literally, “The Chinese of the corner”. (However, this is not unique to Panama, other countries in Latin America will also use the Chinese for this expression).

And, of course, food. It is said that wherever you can find Chinese people, you will find Chinese restaurants. In this case, I took my parents for dim sum to one of the best known Chinese restaurants in the city: Palacio Lung Fung.

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Tagged as: Chinese, Dim Sum, Panama City

The Wine Bar (Panama City)

by KimHo on May 4, 2009 · 2 comments under: Food,Restaurant,Travel

The Wine Bar
Calle Eusebio A. Morales, El Cangrejo
Panama City, Panama

In life, there are friends and there are FRIENDS. When I moved to Canada, I did not tell to almost any of my friends. Before anybody jumps into any conclusion, you must understand that moving into a new country on your own is not necessarily easy and emotional attachments to your previous country might detract you from your new home. However, even then, there were FRIENDS who, despite I severed almost all contact, had faith in me (how they found out, I don’t know). One of these FRIENDS is GN, whom I met way back from high school. So, when went to Panama a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to treat GN for lunch/dinner. Of course, it would be GN’s choice. And the place we ended up was The Wine Bar.


Sure, there were tables outside but, down there, being so hot, almost nobody uses them!

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Tagged as: Italian, Panama City, Pasta, Seafood

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