A bunch of new posts to come, but just to share a great link
Posted by: sui on: January 15, 2009
Natural Resources Defense Council’s tool for eating local for every month! It’s really convenient.
Go check it out!
(And for my own reference:
Things to buy:
- fish sauce
- Better Than Bouillon
- agave nectar
- honey, maybe?)
Another something random: missing
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
While editing my About page I suddenly missed something very important:
Xian Rou Yue Bing (Meat Mooncakes) from Shanghai First Foodmall on Nanjing Road in Shanghai, China.
Along with them, Lao Po and Lao Gong Bing (Wife and Husband Cakes).
I haven’t been to Shanghai since summer of 2007. I wasn’t so much into documenting my food experiences at all back then for a number of reasonable reasons (heh). But I do remember certain food moments: rice and traditional Chinese food at a fast food place in Huangpu District the lunch after I got mugged, my first bowl of hand-pulled lamian (my big brother tried to get me to eat some Henan lamian in 2006, but I didn’t know it was hand-pulled, I just thought it was regular ramen which did not interest me), and these. Buying them for my [now ex] boyfriend along with boba milk tea and delivering them to him as a lunch. Him giving me some sort of foreign fruit that I peeled and ate using my lap as a table top. The night I met him and he smashed open a mini watermelon. Okay, this is getting a little too sentimental. Still, here’s the documentation of my quest for Xian Rou Yue Bing in 2007:
Nanjing Road, busiest road in Shanghai, and home of First Foodmall.
Almost always a huge line, and from experience the lady working there back then wasn’t very nice.
She wouldn’t give me a box, so I had to make do with a bag.
Ohh, just looking at these pictures, and not even seeing the juicy parts, makes my mouth water and makes me miss Shanghai so much.
Also on Nanjing Road is a bunch of other good food, and a Japanese ramen place of whose name I forget now, but it was pretty damn delicious at the time. I miss Shanghai. Next time I go, I’m definitely going to have some epic fooding experiences to write about. And sexy food porn to boot.
Infusions of Tea today, my first Chipotle experience, and random other things… or thing.
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
This is going to be out of order according to the title, oh well. I just realized I have yet to write about my first– yes, first– real Chipotle experience, in [one of] my hometown’s Chipotle in Pleasant Hill, California. I remember when downtown Pleasant Hill was just opening and with it came this foreign-seeming chain of “Mexican food”, Chipotle. I went there with my dad when I was a lot younger and I don’t remember the burrito at all, and this was way before my friends and I were old enough to even fit a bite into our tiny little mouths.
Well I had a gift card that expired in 2008 and lo and behold, what did I do? I went on the last day of 2008 to go experience my first own burrito. Acquaintances and friends have lauded the supposed deliciousness of the affectionately nicknamed “Chipootle” before, and I’ve stolen maybe a couple of bites over the years, but have yet to try it myself. Then again this wasn’t really only my own either since I had my friend take large bites out of it. But no matter.
Look at that shiny wrapper.
I got steak and medium spicy salsa, or something.
Lots and lots of protein and, well, rice. The rice was okay. What can I say. Hrm. It wasn’t bad. It was huge, as I’ve heard, and took hours for my slow-digesting metabolism to get rid of. But it was yummy and filling, indeed it was. I’m not a huge fan of Mexican food to begin with so I can’t say much about it. I liked it enough, though. Not enough to be a big fan (as my friends as Chipootlers are) but, well, there you go.
Mini-review follows:
Food: 4/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5
—
So today a friend with whom I’ve been meaning to hang out since last year and I (wow long subject there) finally got the chance to hang out. She suggested we get tea so I Yelped tea and Infusions of Tea came up as the highest rated. It’s off of Genesee, across from UTC, in San Diego near La Jolla, in the Costa Verde shopping center.
Infusions of Tea is a serious tea shop. Most cups of teas run from over $2 to $5, and their pastries aren’t too cheap either. Despite the price, though, their tea is high quality, and very srs bsns. I’m not sure I would pay $3 for a cup of “pomelo black tea blend” (black tea infused with hints of grapefruit) again.
Today was their fifth anniversary, though, and as a result, they had free snacks!
There was one snack in particular– a cracker with some sort of cheese spread and salmon sashimi on it with a bit of garnish (which I couldn’t recognize because I’m not a super-aware person when it comes to food, actually).
And lots of sweet treats, too. Cookies and such. I haven’t ate cookies in a while. It was delicious.
I believe that they ran out of the sashimi eventually and resorted to tomato slices. The crackers themselves were cute. Butterfly-shaped crackers? Aww.
Because they were free, I can’t really review them on that point except for their generosity on anniversary days. They were some mighty good and filling snacks, too. And sweet pastries/cookies always go well with a not-so-sweet cup of hot liquid.
Tea: 5/5
Service: 5/5
Ambience: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5… but because it’s so expensive, I am hesitant to give them a perfect score.
—
In other news, Burger King is offering people one free Whopper for defriending ten people on Facebook. Ahh, the betrayal. The icing on the cake is that instead of Facebook’s usual policy of anonymity, Burger King’s Whopper Sacrifice Facebook Application will actually notify your defriended friends that you defriended them. For a Whopper. Geez, BK is out to get some friendships, now isn’t it?
It’s a milestone!
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
Ate my first blood orange the other day. Imagine, five years ago I didn’t even know what a blood orange is. Anyway, once I was aware of this citrus delight, I’ve always wanted to try one. And so I have. And it was glorious.
Restaurant Review: Sichuan Fortune House, Pleasant Hill, California
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
The reviews on Yelp were fantastic, so I decided to go check it out. I came here with my parents, a middle ground to satisfy all three of us– Chinese, and spicy for me.
They started out by giving us complimentary pre-meal snacks of peanuts and spicy vegetables and the like. We ordered a few appetizers, one of which was a sampler of many things– spring roll, fried wonton, etc. The spicy pork was rather good (I don’t know what it is in English). For main courses, we ordered a seafood clay pot– which was delicious but the actual clay pot was rather shallow and doesn’t seem worth its hefty price– cumin lamb, which was deliciously delectable, and zhajiangmian (noodles with black bean sauce).
The food was excellent. I miss the zhajiangmian, though the black bean sauce was not exactly the taste I prefer. The cumin lamb was rather delectable. We didn’t actually order many spicy dishes as my parents don’t take spicy so well, but all in all it was a good experience and I shall go back once I return to NorCal. The service was also very friendly, though seemed a little weird for some reason, which is why I’m not giving them a perfect score.
Food: 4.5/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.5/5
Restaurant Review: Eddel’s Deli, Mira Mesa, San Diego, California
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
Hungry, forgot to get dinner again, wanting something warm yet cheap…
I ventured into Eddel’s Deli. I’m not very familiar with Filipino food, so I didn’t know what anything was or what it was called, but the woman working there tried to help. I got some sort of “beef stew with vegetables, except with pork, not beef” and rice. The price was fantastic and the food.. well, the pork and vegetables combo was good but not completely warm, and there’s not much I can say about rice.
If I find myself forgetting to bring a meal again, I shall definitely come back.
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: Inside of Vinh Hung supermarket, there’s not much to say about ambience…
Overall: 4/5
Restaurant Review: Giant Chef Burger, Pleasant Hill, California
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
My neighbor recommended this place for late-night noshing, an alternative to Nations or Denny’s. Breakfast foods at three in the morning are always good. The only thing is that they only take cash, so I had to walk across the street in the middle of the night to the 7-11 to use the ATM. But that is a-ok. Food was good, prices decent.
Nami’s food.
Mine, and…
fries.
Photo quality due to forgetting my camera and having to resort to shaky camera phone.
Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Overall: 3.5/5
Restaurant Review: Eclair Pastries, Berkeley, California
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
Eclairs are my favorite desserts and I also wanted boba and Moccacino Cafe was closed the first few days of the year. So in I went into Eclair Pastries, a place I’ve passed by on Telegraph many times but have never entered.
First, I couldn’t even find the eclairs and I almost believed that they didn’t even have them (what kind of placed called Eclair Pastries/Bakery doesn’t have eclairs?!) but my friend helped me find them.. they were at the very bottom of the display on the far right.
So I ordered an eclair and taro boba. I used to work at Surf City Squeeze so I know how to make blended taro milk tea drinks. This one was passable, but the boba was too soft.
The eclair looked better behind the counter, but once I got it, the chocolate was a bit lopsided on the pastry.
It wasn’t the best eclair I’ve ever had, but it was alright. All in all, a satisfactory but not outstanding experience.
Food: 3/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3/5
Overall: 3/5
Restaurant Review: Tapioca Express @ UCSD, La Jolla, California
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
Out of all the TapEx’s I’ve been to…
Could it be that the only one I’ve found to like is the one in Price Center, of all places???
I suppose so.
The service was excellent (the cashier named Van is especially friendly), the fries– while not mildly spicy at all, nor were they fat and juicy as I prefer them– were nice, and the chicken bowl special (I got grilled) with chicken over a “bed of vegetables and rice” (bed recalls lettuce or cabbage, not peas and corn, but that’s okay) was filling and, dare I say it, actually kind of good?
While the prices are still ridiculous compared to NorCal ($7.45 for combo meals that don’t even include that much?), and while I have yet to try their boba, I rather like this one. Hurrah for TapEx at UCSD (boo on the ever-present long lines of students).
Food: 4/5
Service: 4.5/5
Ambience: 3/5
Overall: 4/5
Happy New Year!
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
A week late, I know, but I wanted to post pictures of my family’s New Year’s Day feast with some family friends. My brother came over, actually cemented into our family, and we had a lovely time. Honestly my parents are rather awesome cooks, I don’t give them enough credit.
Plus, making so many dishes for a huge party is a lot of work!
Spring rolls. Mmm.
Our family friend was kind enough to drive from Antioch to Oakland early in the morning to pick this cake up for us. I love cakes from Chinese bakeries with fruit, and even though I don’t usually like cream, I don’t mind them on these kinds of cakes.
Mmm, close-ups.
Happy New Year everyone!
May your year be blessed and filled with delicious noshing.
Saturday Lunch for One: 1/10/09
Posted by: sui on: January 10, 2009
Preparing for another onslaught of posts…
First, my lunch today.
When I cook I never follow a recipe. I just throw things together, totally wing it, and then hope it tastes good. If not, trial and error. Usually the only error is that something doesn’t have a very strong taste, which is okay.
Rice (Lundberg’s eco-farmed brown basmati) and veggies. I bought some sort of squash at Henry’s the other day, randomly, and just threw it in. I still don’t know what kind of squash it was.
[Somewhat obligatory] side dish of kimchi.
Fried garlic and pepper Tofu Steak. Mmm, olive oil. Other than the slight taste of garlic and pepper, however, it had very little taste. Remedied with Sriracha and a little soy sauce.
All done!
I love this plate.
—
Food excites me. I bought free-roaming organic eggs from Vons/Safeway yesterday. Reminder to self: Look for agave nectar next time I’m out. I will bake soon, hopefully today. Friends, cookies are coming!
Yogurt Review: Céfiore, San Francisco, California
Posted by: sui on: December 29, 2008
My brother's froyo
Being the yogurt lover that I am, when I saw this froyo shop that I had never seen before– granted, I haven’t been in Bay Area for several months, so it could already be old news– I was excited. I had to give it a try.
I loved all their flavors, especially green tea (a personal favorite of mine). They all had a very good texture and flavor to them. They even had a Froyo Fan Club thing… for which I signed up, though by the time my birthday rolls around I probably won’t be in the area to actually take advantage of whatever offer they have, but who knows.
My froyo waffle
I ordered a Froyo Waffle and was told it would take 15 minutes, so I decided to bum around and it turned out it took less than 15 minutes (and I wasn’t there to receive my order, my brother was; now, if it hadn’t actually been my brother, how would they have known? but I suppose that’s just semantics). They didn’t have enough toppings in my opinion; at the time, they had no berries of any sort, only pineapple, kiwi, tangerine, etc., all of which I enjoy but don’t prefer on my frozen yogurt.
The waffle was way too soft. The point of something cold + something warm or waffle-y (like an ice cream waffle) is the contrast in textures. I had expected the waffle to be crispy, and it was not. Soft + soft does not equal a good combination.
However, in general their froyo is rather good. No indoor seating and the place is kind of small, but it has potential.
Close-up. Powdered sugar and sliced almonds? Mmm..?
Flavors: 4.5/5
Service: 3.5/5
Ambience: 3/5
Overall: 4/5
Restaurant Review: On The Bridge, San Francisco, California
Posted by: sui on: December 29, 2008
I’ve been here before but hadn’t actually ordered anything the first time. I’ve passed by every time I go to Japantown, reading about their curry pizza and make-your-own-curry-dishes of which information is posted on the wall. Well I was hungry, I’m really into curry lately, why not.
Now at first I was a bit confused about the service (whether it was seat-yourself or whatnot), but then the guy told us to sit wherever we liked. Well we did, and immediately the guy asked us to move to another table, since a party of five was coming in and my brother and I, only two, were sitting at a four-person table. We acquiesced but later I saw there were two other empty four-person tables. The heck?
We sat down at their bar and several minutes passed. The guy had forgotten to bring us menus. After we got the menus, the water came much later.
As I was ordering the XXXSpicy Vegetable Curry, the guy warned me and asked me if I was sure. To be fair, he was a nice guy, just terrible at service. I changed my order to XXSpicy, which turned out to be a good thing, considering the XXSpicy was rather intense.
Then I waited. An hour. For my one plate of curry with rice to come.
My brother joked that maybe people who spoke in Japanese only were served faster, since the man next to us had ordered in Japanese, and he arrived after we did– got his food before we did– and left before we even got our food.
When it came, it was good, sure, and spicy, but extremely.. well, late. And not good enough to make up for waiting an hour for it. I had wanted a quick meal so I could go home earlier, but that apparently was not the case. While the tofu was nicely tender, it was rather spicy, and our waters were not refilled until I got the attention of one of the waitresses. Then, after I downed both mine and my brother’s glasses of water, still no refills came.
Food was good, sure, but not good enough to make up for the lack of good service.
Food: 4/5
Service: 1/5
Ambience: 3.5/5
Overall: 1.5/5
Grocery Store Reviews: Draeger’s, Danville, CA; Whole Foods, La Jolla, CA; & 99 Ranch, San Diego, CA
Posted by: sui on: December 29, 2008
While CSA (community-supported agriculture), farmer’s markets and the like top my list for buying groceries, I do like my grocery stores. (In the more mainstream, I prefer Safeway/Vons over Albertson’s/Lucky and, in general, Target over other similar stores. Oh, and Barnes & Noble over Borders.) Here are some random reviews I’ve written on them. This is by no means a complete list. Another favorite of mine might be the 99 Ranch in Milpitas, Whole Foods in Walnut Creek, … the list goes on. Oh, and I don’t like Ralphs.
Draeger’s in Blackhawk Plaza, Danville, California:
5/5
Amazing grocery store. Or can it even be considered a grocery store? It’s like a winter wonderland for all seasons.
I have cravings just to go and shop here. Yes, it IS that cool.
They carry items that no other place does, and sometimes, when there are sales, their organic fruit is cheaper than the nearby Safeway’s. Still a bit pricey at times, but I can handle that. Also, samples! Squee!
Whole Foods in La Jolla, California:
4/5
This place is great. I love Whole Foods in general.
Of course, it IS pricey compared to other places, but quality over quantity, yeah?
Still, add that to a cashier who acted really weirdly to me… I take off one star.
Besides that, it’s awesome. Where else can you get all-natural herb-enhanced toothpaste, even if it is $10?!
99 Ranch Market in San Diego, California:
4/5
Prices are okay. Moderate. I love my bargains– there weren’t as many as I would have liked– but it wasn’t unreasonable.
Lots of selection. Cute strawberry snacks were on sale today! Strawberry Pocky, Strawberry Pucca, Strawberry Yanyan…
Mostly I’m giving this place four stars because for the first time since I’ve been in SD.. as I was shopping here tonight.. I felt like I was home.
Or maybe I’m just really, really, REALLY sick of school food. Either way.
A cozy Christmas Eve at home.
Posted by: sui on: December 25, 2008
My brother’s home feels just like home (maybe more so).
Minus the fireplace, I got my Christmas wish this year of having hot cocoa with someone I love.
My brother's hot cocoa.
Mine.
Merry Christmas and Happy Boxing Day to you and those you love.
On being a kimchi monster, hot cocoa, and warm milk (green) tea boba at home
Posted by: sui on: December 23, 2008
I purchased a jar of King’s Asian brand kimchi today and proceeded to wolf down half of it. I am a monster when it comes to kimchi. I am not kidding, I devoured seven ounces of fermented spicy Napa cabbage in the past few hours. I also made some curry with romaine lettuce (my favorite kind of lettuce and one of my favorite vegetables) and combined with rice, bam! Yummy. I have been craving rice due to not really eating any in San Diego, bleh.
But that is besides the point. The point is that this post is actually about hot cocoa.
I have been dreaming of an idyllic holiday this year: Drinking hot chocolate/cocoa with five tiny (mini, are they called?) marshmallows (see The Holiday) by a roaring fireplace with a loved one. Well the latter half of that scene did not happen today, but I got a hankering for hot cocoa in this uncharacteristically super-cold Northern California weather (I mean, it’s usually cold in the winter, but not this cold) and so…
I bought two flavors of hot cocoa: dark chocolate and amaretto. (I also want to try dulce de leche, but they were out. Also, raspberry and hazelnut sound good too..)
Amaretto was my victim tonight.
Along with some “Jet-Puffed Holiday Mallows”, apparently. (I have mini marshmallows, but I’m saving those for the idyllic scene. The funny thing is I don’t even like marshmallows, yet I’ve bought three bags in the last couple of days.)
They’re shaped like a mushy attempt at pink stars and green Christmas trees.
Honestly I haven’t “made”/had hot cocoa since I was a wee lass, so read: not yet in this century. Not for a very long time. And back then, we had packets. So the milk wasn’t hot enough because I didn’t actually boil it in a saucepan, I microwaved it because I was lazy and Nami called and I am terrible at doing things while on the phone.
Thus the marshmallows weren’t hot enough to sort of melt into the cocoa, which would probably have made it better, since I don’t really like marshmallows. (See above.)
It was pretty, at least.
Speaking of warm drinks with projectiles– er, solid stuff in them, yesterday I “made” warm milk (green) tea with tapioca. As in, a warm boba drink at home in my glasses that are not really made for drinking hot liquids but that doesn’t mean they can’t handle them.
Mmm, a pretty glass with a spoon in it and a Nagasaki green milk tea packet. (And mochaccino-scented candles?)
Bobabobaboba.
Too bad I didn’t have a boba straw. That would have made the experience much better, no doubt.
In the spirit of the holiday season
Posted by: sui on: December 21, 2008
Here are some gifts I’ve received this year that I’ve enjoyed greatly and for which am very thankful.
- My brother Charles bought me four boxes of Taiwanese brand Japanese milk tea before I left for San Diego.
Look at the pretty colors!
That there on top is a gift to myself, Harney and Son’s Hot Cinnamon Sunset Tea. - Gifts of Kiigasm from Nami. And, more recently, one deliciously chunky chocolate chip cookie from her as well.
- My neighbor Khoi gave me a bottle of Sriracha hot sauce, the kind one can usually find in many restaurants. I’ve wanted a bottle of my own for quite a while.
I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season! :) ♥ Eat lots of delicious food and simply enjoy: life.
P.S. Hot sauce + hot water = hot…!
P.P.S. Word of the Day: parboiled. adj./past tense v. partially boiled.
Finishing my post-binge with some food porn: Nami’s frozen yogurt, from CocoSwirl
Posted by: sui on: December 20, 2008
Just look at those pretty colors. ♥
Bubble and Crepe: Chicken curry crepes and warm boba ♥
Posted by: sui on: December 20, 2008
The other day I visited Bubble and Crepe ♥ in a mad frenzy with cravings for
Curry. Chicken. Rice. (Bento.)
The owner, April, had just come back from Minnesota the day before, and in her absence, her workers had forgotten to buy any supplies. Including rice.
This could have been a disappointment except April instead made me a custom chicken curry crepe which was freakin’ delicious and if I didn’t love rice so much and weren’t so apathetic to crepes, I would have loved it even more, surely.
There was also a buy-one-crepe-get-one-free special that day, and I got a honey almond crepe as well. Although the order seemed a bit reversed (the honey almond/sweet crepe came first, before the savory crepe), it was also delicious. Though, one could barely taste the honey, and it was literally just almonds and honey. But the chicken curry crepe definitely makes up for it.
Warm milk tea and boba is nice as well. I keep on forgetting to tell them to put less sweetener though, because it’s way too sweet for me. Warm boba = ♥, though.
April also informed me she’s opening a new store in downtown Pleasant Hill. Hurrah!
My honey almond crepe:
Restaurant Review: Thai Osha, Pleasant Hill, California
Posted by: sui on: December 20, 2008
I’ve been in a curry phase lately and craving Thai food, so off I went to try Thai Osha on Yelp’s [metaphorical] recommendation (the existence of positive reviews were enough for me!).
Upon arriving, I realized that I have passed it millions of times, since I’ve lived in the area for years and have never noticed it. It seems small and easy to miss, but Thai Osha itself was well worth seeking.
We ordered spring rolls with shrimp, the Chef’s Special lamb curry with rice for me, and fried rice with prawns for my brother.
The spring rolls were delicious but the sauce was a little meager, we ran out after a few rolls. The lamb curry had been labeled spicy… but, once again, I was disappointed by a mislabel. Not really spicy at all, unfortunately. It was good, though the portion provided was absolutely tiny considering the price (and the rice was a separate side order). The fried rice was pretty good, but nothing spectacular.
Somehow, though, I really enjoyed this place. The service was nice and the food was pretty good, though a little overpriced. No complaints (other than the lack of real spiciness in the “spicy”-labeled food!)
Food: 4.5/5
Service: 4/5
Ambience: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
