Gourmet Voyage

L'Idiot

2008-09-25T01:06:00.000-07:00

It was one of "those" Mondays when everyone's suffering from Blue Monday (more like Brainless Monday) syndrome, and both me and my friend Michella needed a good, solid dinner. So I thought of a restaurant my yoga teacher friend recommended.

L'Idiot just opened earlier this month, where the old Tony Romas used to be. I was running late for an hour and I figured Michella would be bored in tears by the time I got there. But when I got there, she was at the bar with like four guys and a pretty drink in her hand. Turns out they all know each other! Taipei is really too small...

Starters: Cottage cheese with toasted bread and honey.

Main Course #1: Paella! Yummy...

Main Course #2: Mac and Cheese
Tomato Salad
Michella's dessert: Tofu Ice Cream
My dessert: Lemon Tart (great crust)
All in all a great experience, the decor (the whale looking "thing" in the middle) looked a bit odd at first glance, but once you go inside, it's really quite endearing for some reason... I'll take more pic. of the decor the next tiem I go.

Gimme breakfast!

2008-09-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

For any one who knows me, you know I can't think/reason if I don't get breakfast first thing when I get up. So naturally, I'm always very happy when I go back to the States since their breakfast portion is enough for 3 people in Asia. (Can't say I'm happy about the quality of their coffee...)

Throughout the convention and my stay in San Francisco, my breakfast usually consist of a maple scone from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and coffee. On the weekends, it's usually brunch with friends.

Brunch Pic.1: Cheesecake Factory, Clarendon, VA
I forgot what it's called exactly, but it's scrambled eggs with mushrooms and spinach. The toast is the same as the bread they give you at the table, only flat with butter inside.Brunch Pic.2: Scrambled egges with sour cream, mushrooms, tomatoes, and sausage. @ Bill's Cafe, San Jose, CA. Toast not pictured.

I really like this place, may have something to do with the fact they provide free coffee outside while you wait. The portions here are HUGE, and the service was very fast with the long line of people outside.
Brunch Pic.3: French toast @ Bill's Cafe
I love french toast with cinnamon sprinkled on them. Definitely a must-eat if you're in the area.

新竹之旅 Trip to Xin Ju

2008-06-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

My mom's from Xin Ju, which is about an hour south-west of Taipei, and my grandma still lives there, so we go there every now and then. Xin Ju is famous for their rice noodles and pork balls (米粉跟貢丸), so naturally, we won't be satisfied until we get a bowl of rice noodles when we're there.

This store is right by my grandma's place, called 好吃,which literally means Delicious.
The boss and kitchen.

Rice Noodle Soup

Rice Noodle Dried with Veggies and Garlic Sauce (my order)

Liver. Yum.

Non Zero

2008-06-28T05:47:00.001-07:00

I've heard so much about this place from my friend Michella, finally made it there on a very sunny Saturday afternoon.

Since Michella is on first name term with the staff, I just followed whatever she suggested!

The warm salad. The tongs really added to the rustic feeling of the place.

Shrimp sandwich, which they're nice enough to cut into half for us, since, like the Chinese said, we eat like little birdies...

And of course, dessert!

Over all, I give it an A-, the (-) for the price... It's a great place to spend an afternoon or to throw a party, their long wooden table gives it a community feeling.

[Macau]Day 1- Lunch and Dessert

2008-01-22T06:02:00.000-08:00

As the first post in 2008 and the first post of this blog, I want to wish everyone a Happy 2008!

For our company trip, we went to Macau's new Venetian for two days. Although it's a short two day trip, we packed a lot of gambling and eating and shopping in.

For starters, we had lunch inside the Venetian. And for those of you wondering, yes this is the same Venetian as the one in Las Vegas. It just opened last year, and it's very much the same as the one in Vegas, except all the dealers and gamblers are Asian.

In comparison to the rest of the trip, our first lunch wasn't the most exciting part, but I already enjoyed it very much.

The Food Court.

My lunch, fried fish and rice. It's a LOT of rice.

Then after walking around for a while, we decided to have dessert before dinner.

Red beans with milk pudding. It's so light you can inhale it. So good!