Sunday, August 31, 2008

Wings+Japanese

I've always wanted to try Wings but never been motivated to go because I've always heard such bad things about this place. Things from bad wings to medicore food to dumb waitresses.. Besides, this place is a little out of my way (alllll the way down granville.) Abby recently opened a new wings so I thought this is an opportune time to try it out. I mean the restaurant selection here kinda sucks: regular chain restaurants, apparently a really bad spaghetti factory, bad brunch restaurant 62, either AYCE or mediocore or shittay japanese joints (more below), dragonfort (no making fun of that one there. we know them.), and ..what.. apple betty? gross.

So for drinks, we ordered gin and tonic and bellini. my gin and tonic was way too sweet and the bellini was so gross. It was made by mix, and it was really really awful. We ordered wings: westcoaster and louisana. The WC were way too lemony and the louisana were way too sweet. Lovely.

For dessert, the menus made them sound soooo good so we ordered two. They looked exactly alike! except that the hugs and kisses one had brownie layers between the cheesecake. oi.

The service was ok, but I would not come back to it again. I want to give Blustone another try.


Last week after my class 5 (which I got yay) me and my father went to ken japan bistro for quick lunch before I headed back to burnaby. When I say quick, I actually meant slow. to the point I got sooo frustrated but I didn't even know how to express it because there was only one waitress, she was already running around, and I don't want to express my anger at a young asian fob girl. My father said it's still her fault because she's just slow . period. he thinks she was doing unneccesary things or didn't know how to prioritize the workload. Like she would be doing back of the house things (filling up kettles but not using them yet, or giving orders but there were already lots of orders there) instead of tending to customers needs first. I don't know, she's just slow. honestly FUCK.

We had the tonkatsu (ken japon style apparently) dragon rolls and alaska rolls. The rolls were ok. a little expensive for 5 pieces. (around 7.95-9.95) and the tonkatsu was soo gross. even my father thought so. The breading also came right off when we picked it up. Not only this, but the pork was fried so long it was so hard and chewy. gross. I keep saying even my father thinks so because he's so easy going and never finds a problem with anything. I mean he does, but he is usually forgiving or understanding or thinks everything tastes fine. Unlike me, I am really picky and nothing usually "wows" me.. so when I say even my father thinks so, then it's prettyyy bad

Obv I am never going back. I want to try Mars bistro by old abby. It's a small place, but it could be good..?

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Ho Yuen Kee



Ho Yuen Kee.. I've been here several times and have always left happy and full :). There is a variety of choices of tasty authentic chinese dishes that are served hot and fast. On top of that, this place is not expensive at all. excellent

I went here late one night for food because I was absolutely Starving (I don't usually eat after 6-7). We ordered Congee, wonton soup, salt and pepper spareribs, steamed eggs (dun dang), and beef tendon soup. Everything came super fast and they were all good. At first I thought the congee and spareribs were too salty but then they got yummier. I had 4 bowls of congee ! (even though they are small bowls that's a lot for me) and so many spareribs. They were not dry or super fatty but packed with flavor. The wonton soup wasn't that great (I don't like wonton soup though) but the dun dang was yummy. The bill came to 25! Cheap, fast, and delicious. This place is good, if only it weren't so far (fraser st).

Ho Yuen Kee on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Garlic Bread+Figs


I made garlic bread yesterday. I sliced it in half and made two different versions: one being toasted, the other was soft. Both were absolutely delicious! But I prefered the soft one more because it was a little crispy yet soft in the middle, and I think it captured the garlic butter+parsley more so than the toasty one. This is the toasty pic. I also made fish (too much salt), blitz (too much cinnamon), and crab cakes (yummy). I don't know why I was in such a cooking mood yst.

My favorite fruit in the whole wide world is fig. My neighbor grows them and knows how much I love them and always bring them over for me. They were so nice and even planted a fig tree for us in our yard. Anyways, this years weather has been soo crappy that my indulgence for figs was never fulfilled :( Even so, I had a couple :) they are not very ripe but I couldn't resist! Honestly, I come home to the boring valley for figs. There's nothing else to do here.. what, pick berries/mushrooms? oi.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Sunday

I went to Tomo today at east broadway and the service was pretty bad. she's very non responsive and slow, never cracks a smile, nor does really anything! I tried to be friendly and smile and be super nice and she was just a robot (and this is coming from me- ice queen herself.. long story). The place was dead empty and it was like around 1pm. Whatever so we ordered unagi don, chirashi don, ebi mayo, salmon mango roll, and chicken yaki soba.
everything was forgettable, only the roll was good..but this is because it was a simple cali roll with mango/salmon on top- which in my book, makes any roll good. Aiya. I am never coming back here again. a couple years ago, these people we know from the states came to vancouver and said specifically they had to go to Tomo because it was highly praised. really???

I was still tad hungry afterwards so I got a bbq chicken viet sub from Carolina Deli next door. This is because I am very curious to what a viet sub tastes like. and I must say, I am a fan! even with the hot sauce on it, it was very good! I think it was the crispiness of the french bread mmmm.

That night my parents wanted to go to Tsim Chai Noodles in Richmond (obv stopped by the public market to get some che lung bao :P) they had the wonton soup and beef noodles. I sat there because I was too full from the che lung bao. haha. they said the place gone downhill since the last time they were there (a year ago?) I wish I could recommend where to get good noodles and wontons but I never eat this stuff.. aiya. the only thing I can probably give my two cents is cheesecake.. haha

Thursday, August 21, 2008

pizza+dessert


so now that I am back in the valley I decided to cook something new everyday since I am only here for a week. Yesterday, I made a normal pizza because I have never done so before. I bought already made dough because I hate dealing with dough. I loaded it with toppings to make it healthy and yummy. but I overloaded and it turned out soggy and overfilling, especially with the massive amounts of tomatoes. dang
Today I made some super quick apple rolls. They are so easy, you just basically wrap apple in a crescent roll and then make this 2 second sauce and that's it. They definitely fulfilled my sweet craving!

The next couple days I m gonna make sheperd's pie, pb cookies, ravioli, peach gazette, garlic bread, quiche, and etccccc

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

California pt 3

Oh i forgot to mention, after Madeo, we saw the paparazzi and they told us to have a good day :) I didn't realize they were the paps until a few blocks away :(:(

The last day, we went to Ketchup and had the 3some fries and I had the tuna melt sandwich. I thought it would be like tuna salad. WRONG. it was a big piece of tuna. I don't like tuna! :( so me and my friend swapped, I had her meatloaf sandwich. The bread isn't very good. so we just had the filling. Meh.
The fries were good though! I really liked the yam fries, they sprinkled cinnamon on top of it. Out of the 5 types of ketchup they gave, I liked the sweet/sour one most .

That night, we got back to Seattle and went to the Daily Grill.. It looks nice, but it seems like they are trying too hard.. I had the blackberry pork chop and my friend had the filet mignon. They both came with a huge ass piece of broccoli. I liked it, because I like broccoli, my friend didn't. The pork chop was done WAYY too much for my liking (and what I told them) and I was Stuffed after. The creme brulee we had was way too sweet.

The next day, we were so poor we had food court food at tullalup (we went outlet shopping even though the outlets sucked ass). I had sweet and sour pork with fried rice. It was adequate.

California pt 3

The next day we went to AMMO for breakfast. The place was very clean and fast! I had the eggs with potatoes and chicken. She had the waffle. they were plain breakfast food. Nothing special. Well, the sausages were apple+chicken so they had a sweet taste to it. It was..different.

We went to Beverly Hills afterwards and Rodeo Drive. We went to Luxe cafe but unforuntately they were having power problems so they couldn't Cook anything. We walked all the way to Madeo afterwards. Funny, people thought we lived in beverly hills and asked us for directions :D
Madeo was small and reminded me of a boat. The bread was gross. and the people RUSHED us. my friend wanted to order a glass of wine and he took our menus and left before she could say anything. I had the veal stuffed ravioli in walnut sauce. It looked like PUKE. the first bite was ok but they it got gross. and NOT worth it. We finished dinner in HALF AN HOUR. wtf. Even in Van, i've never finished a dinner in 30 min. That's how rushed it was for us.

We walked back to Beverly Hills (we like walking.) and had dessert at Spago. The place is Beautiful. It is very open, spacious, and the outdoors courtyard looked enjoyable. We had 2 desserts- the peach cobbler and cookies. The cobbler was delicious! I loved how they had it baked and removed it from the pot in front of us. The cookies were ok. Nothing special. We got complimentary wine which was absolutely alcoholic. oi. I would definitely go back for food if I could!

California pt 2


After gordon, we walked all the way back to hollywood which was a long ass walk. But it was nice to walk on Sunset Blvd

We went to a mexican place because we were really thirsty. It was called Loteria? I had free watermelon juice but it was really sweet for my liking. We shared a taquitoes as my "birthday cake". They were like spring rolls but they were yummy. The chips and salsa were very good too even though a little spicy for my liking.

That night we had dinner at Beso. the place is dark as hell, we saw people looking at their menu with the cellphone and one even brought a flashlight! HAHA.
I felt really rushed, but everyone else was pretty rushed as well. I had the grilled chicken (I wanted protein) and she had the scallops. The flatbread came WITH the food. grr. however, the flatbread was probably one of the best complimentary bread I've ever had. it was so delicious I ate it all. It kinda melted in my mouth yet crunchy at the same time. The taste was amazing too.

However, my chicken was just horrid. When it came I seriously thought there was a mistake. it looked like a freaking salad with tortilla. The chicken was so flat it looked like bread. the salad was bitter and gross (i think fennel?) the big hunk of random cheese on top of everything was just weird and gross. Every bite I had was torture. It was probably one of the worst choices of food I've ever done (I choose really bad too) I would rather have forked over more money for something much more enjoyable. I couldn't even finish half of it, and I tried to really hard because this restaurant is so nice. fuck.

We shared a "blackberry + peach cobbler" at the end. Cobbler my ass! it was a freaking muffin! Maybe a clafoutis. but definitely not a cobbler. Ugh .

California

So after canvas (ok place..), we drove off to seattle in the wee hours to catch the morning flight to Cali :) I was really drunk (as I should be since it was my birthday!) starting from car to airport and beginning my hangover in cali. We arrived in the early morning and went off to our first destination to eat. We didn't want to pay much for cabs, so we used the metro. Fuck, it took us like 2 hours. I was hungover, hungry, and grumpy. We finally got to eat.on.sunset. and as we sit down, the waitor asks another dude to get a black napkin, then he gives it to me.. uh.. what? no one around me had a black napkin, and I already had a white one.. I am very curious.

My friend had the steak and fries because she was rice bowl hungry (we began to describe our hunger through food. Since she doesn't like rice- when she's 90-100% hungry, she's rice bowl hungry. me- it's burger hungry). and I had the fish tacos because I still wanted a taco.
Her steak and fries were fine, mine was absolutely gross. I ended up just eating the halibut without the taco portions. The place is nice for a chill time

That night we went to two and a half men taping (charlie sheen said hi specifically to us :D) and they gave us free pizza and water. nice. It got really late and I couldn't make the geisha house reservations :( I really wanted to try that place.

The next day, after an amazing sleep since we hadn't slept in a nice bed for about practically 3 days. We were revved up for Gordon Ramsay at the London. Wow this hotel+restuarant is beautiful. We sat next to a loud couple which kinda turned me off. The bread was gross. However, the lamb i had absolutely made up for it. It was the best meal I had the whole trip. The lamb and lamb shoulder were done just right and complimented well with the mashed potatoes and asparagus. mmmmm. I am drooling as I think about it. The dessert I had, the tapioca wasn't that great. The dabs of orange sauce? made it too sour for my liking. I like tapioca the asian way more.

more pics at my flickr

Cactus Club+ Tapastree

Before going to California, we went to the test kitchen for cactus club (also in hopes to see our first local celeb- rob feenie which didn't happen :<) I had the calamari burger and she had the duck sandwich.

The calamari burger was disgusting. It was soggy and I was not a fan of the curry calamari. however the duck sandwich was very yummy. Very good taste starting from duck to bread to everything else

The place is nice, but please take the calamari burger off the menu.

That night we went to Tapastree for wine and dinner. The place inside is kinda stuffy. She described it as the non moving air which is also correct. We just had the lamb chops which were nothing special. The wine was nice. We wanted dessert but they were unimaginative and boring.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Bundt cake/chicken pizza

I went through a faze where I wanted to make a gazillion different cakes. I found 24 layers chocolate cake, black forest, a million variety of cheese cakes, princess cake! , etc etc cake recipes I wanted to try. One of the crazes I went through included pound cakes and bundt cakes. I loved the patterns and the way a glaze would look drizzled on top of them. mmmm. So I got a new bundt cake pan and got cookin. the pan was freaking HUGE (it cost about 50-60 dollars I think? aiya) so a normal cake recipe turned out to be 1/4 full in this pan!

I love to cook but I don't like eating my own creations (that sounds weird but i don't know how to explain. I guess I get satisfied by making it I don't need to eat it? it's like when I m hungry and I look at pretty food piccys online and I am fulfilled. People think I m crazy because usually ppl get hungrier and not fuller haha :P) and my parents don't like sweet things. and I feel weird when I get my friends to eat my cooking. So obv I m not gonna double/triple/even quadruple (this pan is MASSIVE) my recipe to cooperate with my pan.

This was an orange cake with a lemon glaze? the glaze didn't work as well as I hoped :( so you can't see it. The cake was too dense for my liking, not as fluffy and soft.. I think I added too much of something.. ohhh wellll.

Today for lunch/dinner I made pizza :) Actually it's a piece of chicken with loads of cheese mushroom and pizza sauce on top.
Even though I like to try out new recipes, I don't cook for myself daily. My daily eating plan is just: cereal, salad, and a TON of fruits and a piece of cookie. I am too lazy to cut things and wait for things to cook and wash the dishes afterrr haha. So I don't know why I decided to make this today (maybe it's because I m still procrastinating) but it took like 10 min max. Very fast and filling :)

I just realized the pic would probably like ten times better if the mushrooms were on TOP of the cheese. oh wells, cheese is pretty too


I am not posting until next week. after my exam I am jetting off to CALIFORNIA... when I come back there will be a lottttt of foodie pics :)

Saturday, August 9, 2008

White Chocolate Cookies

If you haven't realized from my other posts, everytime I go out to eat, I need dessert or something sweet at the end. I have to have a piece of chocolate each day or something to satisfy my sweet tooth. anyways, I keep procrastinating even though I need to ace my next two finals.. But I need sweets!

I quickly whipped up these white chocolate cookies. They were supposed to be chocolate chip, but I had two blocks of white chocolate left around so i thought what the hell, they are both chocolatey It'll do. They are really soft and practically melts in the mouth. mm soo good!

the recipe: here

Tsui Woo Seafood Restuarant

This restaurant was surprisingly good and adequately priced. The service was efficient and food was very fast. We had the normal stuff: ha gow, siu mai, ham sui gok, beef cheung fun, mango pudding, egg tarts, bbq pork buns, and jung ju gai. (sorry I don't know most of the english names)

They all had good flavor and huge sizes (like the siu mai) the only complaint is that the jung ju gai and the siu mai lacked the ingredients like there wasn't a lot of chicken or filling in the jung ju gai and there wasn't any pork in the siu mai! it was mostly shrimp.

however the ham sui gok was very crispy. kudos.

I got bored and I didn't feel like studying so I photoshopped to make them prettier :)






Monday, August 4, 2008

Kalvin's Restaurant

hmm maybe I was sick or something.. I don't think so though...

so me and my family went to kalvin's restaurant on Victoria Dr today.. it's a really small place that serves taiwanese food. The waitress is efficient and nice but hard to understand because her canto was mandarin canto I dno if I can judge because my mandarin is canto mandarin.. haha.. anywayss

we had the onion pancake, three cups chicken, beef wrapped in pancake, fried pork and noodles, and xiao long bao.

Onion pancake was tasteless, beef wrapped was nothing special (my parents thought too much sweet sauce), pork and noodles was tasteless, three cups chicken (to me) was also tasteless but my parents thought it was TOO tasty (too much sauce). the xiao long bao were ok.

Everything tasted tasteless to me today! I don't know why, well apparently the onion pancake and noodles were tasteless and bland. I don't know, meh.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Macaroni Grill

Before fireworks, we went to mac grill for some pasta + drinks. I've only been there once before and I had a great time. We had the family style dinner and was absolutely stuffed. This time around.. it wasn't that great.

The place itself is pretty nice. It's a huge mansion with places for large and small groups. I am not a fan of the paper on table but it's cute when they give you crayons to draw on it. hum not this time :P

we had a pitcher of sangria and the complimentary bread to start. They were both ok. I had the bruschetta and I guses it was just 5 dollars. but it looked like crap. Like I could have made it. They toasted 3 baguettes, sprinkled cheese and tomatoes on it. awesome. The ones from timbre are soo much better.
Then we shared the straberry cheesecake.. and it was too moussy for my liking. Also had a baileys on the rocks which came with wayyy too much ice! :(

My friend had the spaghetti and felt like they decreased their portion size.. which really sucks if so. I don't know, Mac grill isn't exactly a top priority on my list/fave place . But the mansion is nice to sit in. and close to fireworks..

Romano's Macaroni Grill (West End) on Urbanspoon

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Water St Cafe

I went to water st cafe for dessert yesterday. The place is really cute and small. Everyone seems super nice and etc.. The dessert was pretty good. We had the apple and rhubarb baked in filo pastry with ice cream. The only downside was the apples were super sour. We also had long island iced teas. yum.

We went to Guu after and i love the ambience inside. I wish I was jap so I'd understand. Chinese people are no fun :( jk. We had these crazy cocktails but they were so freaking sweet. They were only ranked 3 on sweetness too. oi. So since it was tequila shooter night, we got 2 each to spice up our drink. haha.. maybe 1 would have been ok cuz it was really really strong after.
My other friend had a mojito that she didn't finish because it was really disgusting. well, all mojitos are disgusting imo.
We also shared the pop corn ribs.. meh.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Metrotown

I went shopping today and decided to venture on Kingsway for a bit.
We went to green basil first and shared a sweet and sour chicken with pineapple dish with rice, salad, spring roll, and soup for 6.95.
umm. It Seems like a good deal but I don't really think it was. It seemed like chinese fast food (sweet and sour pork?) from Manchuwok. It was fast, because I am sure everything was pre made already in the back. Probably works like manchuwok too. With pre made, and then scoop it with rice and soup and spring roll. So don't be decieved that this place is a 'restaurant" so 6.95 seems cheap and good! you can get the same dish and maybe more at Manchuwok!!

Then we went to Isami Sushi, the menu is so small... was definitely not impressed by the menu. We shared a spider roll that was really mushy inside. My friend said it was the rice, but I thought it was the crab. I don't kno. One thing's for sure though. 3.00 drinks? holy shit! If this place was on Granville or even just downtown, I'd be there predrinking every time.
Lastly we went to Abdul's BBQ for a shawarma. It is HUGE for 7 dollars! Lots of lamb and etc.. and apparently much much better than the ones at SFU. It was too spicy for me though.. and it was mild!

side note: i am addicted to nail polish right now.. that's navy blue but I am hoping to try light green soon :)