Tales from Taiwan, Part III: Bento Lunch

For lunch, I present to you... bento (便當).

Bento is a concept originated in Japan, consisting of a packed meal for one person. It's composed of the usual - rice, meat, vegetable - all in single portions, neatly packed into a box. In Taiwan, bentos are a popular lunch item. You can choose a few "side" items with a main protein.

Pictured below is the grilled pork bento. My four side items were cauliflower, slivered cucumbers, chicken hearts, and some sort of sliced bean curd. The grilled pork was really good - it was well-seasoned and tendered, and the sesame really added a great final touch. The side dishes were all very good except for the bean curd, which I found slightly odd. I think it was the fact that it came with dried anchovies - the two flavors didn't mix well together or something.

Bento 烤肉便當

Another popular lunch item that I tried was the soup dumpling (小籠包), which originated in Shanghai. They are not your typical baozi (包子, or steamed bun) - thus, the word dumpling describes them more accurately. They are, however, steamed in a bamboo basket, just like baozi, and their shape somewhat resembles baozi, so they are called "xiaolongbao" - little steamed bao. They are filled with not only the ground meat, but also soup - so that the whole bao becomes super juicy.

I'm not too big a fan of these soup dumplings in the first place, but I tried them since the Taiwanese are quite obsessed with them. I must say, out of all the soup dumplings I've tried, these are not the best.. they were not the juiciest I've had.

Soup dumplings 小籠包

The soup dumplings also came with a bowl of soup, and I chose corn chowder. Taiwanese corn chowder is not the same as American corn chowder, which adds cream to make it very thick. I like the Taiwanese style more... yum. Although from this photo, I guess it looks just like egg drop soup, haha.

Taiwanese corn chowder 玉米濃湯

Tales from Taiwan, Part II: Breakfast

O.m.g. breakfast is heaven. Or maybe it's just breakfast in Taiwan.

At school, I rarely eat breakfast due to 1) a late morning schedule and 2) a busy morning schedule. But here, due to jet lag, I've been waking up early enough to eat breakfast. Plus, I want to catch as many meals as I can. The first morning, we went out to get 蛋餅 (dan bing - Taiwanese omelet), which is very, very different from the Western omelet:

It's made with a thin Chinese crepe wrapped around a fried egg. You can get yours stuffed with a different ingredient such as tuna (canned tuna, that is), pork sung (Taiwanese pork sung is so much better than the stuff you can buy in the U.S.), corn, ham, etc. I got mine with corn. They also add some thick soy sauce (醬油膏) and sweet chili paste (甜辣醬) if you ask for it spicy - which, of course, I did. It was delicious.

蛋餅 Taiwanese omelet

Next day, we went to eat 飯糰 (rice ball), which was AMAZING. Inside was fried dough (油條), pickled radish, pork sung, marinated egg (滷蛋), and corn, seasoned with sesame. Mm... the fried dough and pork sung provided the crispiness of every bite. So delicious - I loved it.

飯糰 rice ball

Did I mention that I got real Chinese soymilk both mornings? Mm-hmm. Yup, goodness in a cup.

Third morning, we went back to the Taiwanese omelet place, but I decided to order a breakfast sandwich instead. It's quite simple, and I've made it before back at school: toast, Asian mayo (which has an addicting sweetness), fried egg, pork sung, and slivered cucumbers. But honestly, the Taiwanese pork sung makes all the difference - and makes the sandwich soo much better.

早餐三明治 Breakfast sandwich

All in all, deliciousness. Are you jealous yet? ;)

Tales from Taiwan, Part I: The Plane Ride

The plane ride was... long. The route was from RDU to ORD to NRT to TPE. Two meals on the Chicago to Tokyo flight, one meal on the Tokyo to Taiwan flight.

I didn't bother taking any photos of the airplane food provided. Needless to say it wasn't very appetizing. Watch out for the dinner roll from AA - I think it can really be used as an assault weapon. JAL was slightly better - the cold noodles with sesame sauce was actually pretty decent. However, all the entrees were so salty! I couldn't eat more than two bites of each...

The highlight of the trip was definitely the layover in Tokyo. I had originally planned to splurge on sushi and sashimi at the NRT airport, but unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my wallet), I didn't land in the terminal with the sashimi place, so I ended up just getting noodles instead:

味噌拉麵 miso ramen

As you can probably tell from the name, this is miso soup with ramen. Some additional ingredients include cabbage, corn, carrots, tofu, and sliced pork. The soup was full of flavor, and the noodles' texture was perfect. As S says, they look really rubbery but have just the right amount of chewiness.

牛肉烏東 beef udon

The beef udon has a fewer ingredients than the miso ramen - only onions, thin beef slices, and scallions for garnish. The udon texture, again, is wonderful. The soup is pretty heavy in flavor - I wouldn't have finished the entire bowl. But without the heavy flavoring in the soup, I suppose the udon noodles wouldn't taste as good since they really soaked up all the aroma of the soup.

So those were the highlights of my ~30 hours of travel. Oh, and the biiiig cup of milk tea that S's parents brought me when we got picked up from the airport =D

Destination: Taiwan

I am in Taiwan! I have wanted to visit for ages now, and finally, I am here. I cannot wait share my food experiences with you guys :)

Chubby's Tacos

I am the worst blogger ever.

The past who-knows-how-many-times I have been to Chubby's Taco's, I have either forgotten to take pictures or bring my camera/ phone altogether... but finally, today, I remembered... after taking a bite out of my tamale, that is...

Anyway, Chubby's is one of my favorite Durham eateries! I was first attracted to the salsa bar (thaaaat's right folks, salsa bar) - all freshly made, all very delicious. Of course, the first time I went, I tried every single kind, but I have narrowed down a few favorites: Bandido's Salsa, Chile de Arbol, and the Habanero. The habanero is honestly one of the best spicy sauces that I have ever had, by the way - and that's speaking for all the Asian spicy foods that I've eaten...

The amazing salsa bar at Chubby's.

I usually order a taco and make it a meal, which comes with rice and beans (black or refried) and a bag of corn chips. However, recently I have discovered that their tamales are quite good, so pictured here is my meal from today, tamale with spicy chicken tinga:

I have also ordered the smothered tamale, which is the same thing but with chili, shredded lettuce, and tomato on top. I think I prefer the regular tamale, to be honest...

Tamale, refried beans, rice.

But of course, if it is your first time here, you must try the tacos. I really like the carnitas or spicy carne asada. My friends also highly recommend the fish tacos - the chipotle cream sauce does look very delicious.

If you haven't made your way down to 9th street yet for taco and salsa, you are definitely missing out. You'll get a great meal at an unbelievable price. And you'll probably see me there, sampling another flavor of salsa... (yes, I am easily entertained).

Restaurant: Chubby's Taco's

Price: $5-10

Sawasdee Thai Restaurant

**Wrote this review a while ago, but S hadn't given me photos from the evening until now... I really enjoyed this place, it's been voted the best Thai place in Indy's Best of the Triangle, and it has awesome reviews on Yelp, so if you're nearby, give it a try!

Also, sorry for the blurry images. 1- They're taken with a phone camera because I forgot my camera, and 2- It was really dark inside...

A while ago, S and I went to Crabtree Valley Mall, and on the way back, we decided to go to Sawasdee for dinner. I have heard about this place for a while now and have wanted to try it, so we went to their new location on Glenwood. It's a pretty well-hidden, dimly-lit place, but don't be deceived by appearances...

We didn't know what to order, so we asked our waitress for suggestions. Upon hearing that we liked spicy food, she immediately pointed out two items: Pad Prik Kra Paw, which is a stir fry with bell peppers, basil, chili, garlic, and onions, served with rice, and Drunken Noodles Chicken (Pad Kee Maw), which is spicy rice noodles, stir-fried in chili sauce with egg and basil leaves. We ordered one of each, as well as a calamari appetizer (too hungry...)

The calamari appetizer was decent (although small), reminded us of Twisted Noodle's fried tofu actually - I think it was the batter.

Calamari with sweet-sour sauce

The Pad Prik Kra Paw (with pork) was super spicy! We ordered both of our dishes to be two stars (out of three) on the spicyness scale, and I consider myself to be quite spicy tolerant, but wow, that was some dish. Other than that, the pork was cooked pretty well, and there was a lot of other flavors.

Pad Prik Kra Paw with pork

The drunken noodles were really, really good. It was also a very spicy dish, and you could tell that the spicyness was blended in beautifully with all the other flavors to create a really nice aroma. Unfortunately, towards the end it got a little too oily for me, but I still finished everything (yes, the entire entire plate!) because it tasted so good. Yup, that's how great it was.

Drunken Noodles Chicken (Pad Kee Maw)

Aaaaand because we loved everything so much, we decided to order dessert! (Funny how when you've eaten a lot of good food, you want to eat more...) We were instantly attracted to one thing on the menu: kanom tuay (sweet coconut pudding). It was served warm in four small cups on a long tray - an elegant presentation. The pudding's consistency was not as soft as custard or jelly, but not as sticky as sticky rice. The coconut flavor was strong but not overwhelming. Overall, it was a great combination of texture and taste. Both of us enjoyed it very much, and we left the restaurant very satisfied.

Sweet coconut pudding (Kanom tuay)

If you can't tell already, I absolutely adored this place. No wonder it's voted one of the best Thai restaurants around here and has such good restaurant reviews. I really want to go to the Capital Blvd location now and see if the food is consistent... or you can try it and let me know how was your visit. I hope it was as enjoyable as mine!

Restaurant: Sawasdee
Price Range: (dinner): $15-25

A note about BOGO sushi

So I don't know if you guys feel the same way, but IMHO, the quality of BOGO sushi in Durham has gone down the past month or so. Sushi Love has hired some new sushi chefs who are not doing so well with the proportions and sauces. S and I have gotten a plate back that was flooded with a mix of eel sauce and spicy mayo. Very disruptive of the flavors of the rolls - we felt like we were eating sweet & sour sushi.

Mt. Fuji, on the other hand, is just a lack of taste and freshness, which I have mentioned already. I tried a couple of rolls the other day, and they have not been memorable or impressive.

I have not been to Shiki Sushi recently, but hopefully they have retained their creative and consistent flavors...

What has happened to the sushi in Durham? The economy, probably. Or maybe just the wrong season for fish?

Korean Grill Buffet

So it was my birthday a couple of weekends ago, and my friends and I went to a Korean barbecue in Raleigh, Korean Grill Buffet, to celebrate! My roomie has heard some pretty good things about this place. It's an all-you-can-eat grill, which of course gets all the guys really excited. The pricing is decent, so I was looking forward to it.

If you don't know how Korean bbq works, basically you have a grill at your table and cook the meat at your own table. Some of the meat has been marinated already, and there is sauce available for the others. I usually make a lettuce wrap with a couple of pieces of grilled beef or pork, a small amount of rice, and tiny bit of Korean chili paste, and I eat the entire wrap in one bite.

The restaurant is medium-sized with a buffet in the middle and grill tables on the sides. We had a rather large party so we took up an entire 8-person table with two grills, but if your group is smaller you'll be pretty close to your neighboring party. The interior was overall a little too dimly lit for my liking, but the individual tables had more lighting from the overhead exhaust fan set-up.

The buffet had the meat assortment at the start: chicken thighs (both marinated and unmarinated), marinated pork belly, marinated pork/ bulgolgi, and unmarinated beef. Moving on there was lettuce, different sauces and kimchi dishes, cold noodles, seaweed salad, etc. Finally, at the end of the buffet were some soups and typical Asian-style dishes like kung pao chicken and mapo tofu.

None of us really went for any other of the side dishes and of course all stacked up on the meat (9 Asians, 6 of them guys.. what did you expect?), and began grilling. Our server was helpful and attentive - changed the grilling surface regularly, replaced the shears when we accidentally took them apart, gave us another set of tongs...overall, pretty good service.

As for the grill itself? It was not bad. The marinated meats had way too much flavor, which was expected - the meats were basically sitting in sauce, so they are soaking up the flavor the entire time. The bulgogi is particularly salty - the thin slices are very easily overseasoned. The unseasoned beef slices were much better, and we enjoyed those a lot. The flavoring of the pork belly was good, although it did not hold up well to the grilling because the texture became rubbery very quickly. Finally, the chicken thighs were very tender, especially the unmarinated ones, but they do take a while to cook completely on the grill, so you should be advised to cut them into small pieces for faster cooking time.

Table-center grill, filled with assorted meat, mushrooms, etc. I am attempting to cut the meat pieces smaller & easier to handle.

After I was satiated with meat, I decided to try some of their other offerings. Nothing in particular impressed me, although I was really horrified by their red bean soup, which was salty... I'm beginning to think that this restaurant really has a salt problem. Actually, most of my fellow diners and I believe that they've made a mistake and used salt instead of sugar in the soup. Whatever the case, it was quite bad.

Overall, it was a decent experience. Lunch price is pretty reasonable at just $12.95 per person on weekends. (You can check out their full menu pricing on their website.) I'm not sure I'll be coming back anytime soon, though, partly because of the drive, and partly because I just don't want to smell like grill for the rest of my day.

Restaurant: Korean Grill Buffet
Pricing: (for lunch) $12-15; (for dinner) $17-20

Merlion

A few weeks ago, we went out to Chapel Hill for dinner. We went to Merlion, a Southeast Asian restaurant, which was recommended by a friend.

Two of my dining companions had a Tom Yum soup for a starter. I tried the broth, and it was very rich and full of flavor. I didn't have any of the seafood, but they said it was nicely cooked.

Moving on to entrees...

Singapore Hainanese Chicken Rice:

This dish was done very authentically because the rice itself was cooked with the chicken broth. The accompanying sauces were garlic sauce, some sort of soy sauce, and sweet & sour sauce. Overall a pretty great dish.

Hokkien Noodles:

It doesn't look very impressive (actually, looks like just a messy pile of noodles and seafood), but the flavor was actually quite neat. Add some of the accompanying chili and lemon, and you have a lot of layers of flavor. If you want a lighter dish, this would be a pretty good choice.

Roti Prata with Chicken Curry:

I really enjoyed this one. The roti was fried to perfection, and the curry was really tasty. My only complaint is that the chicken is pretty dry, but then again, it's chicken breast... so I guess that's to be expected. Other than that, I liked this dish a lot. I recommend ordering some extra roti to go with all the curry sauce that you'll have.

Char Kway Teow:

This was the entree that I actually ordered. It featured both broad and soft noodles and had shrimp, bean sprouts, chives, and eggs, and was seasoned with soy sauce. I liked it a lot, but I must say, it reminded me a lot of 1) ho fun, and 2) pad see ew...

Overall, we had a really nice time here. Price for dinner was a bit high, but we've found that CH restaurants are typically more expensive than Durham. Their lunch special pricing looks pretty good, but unfortunately, it's a bit too far out for us to make it a restaurant to be frequented. If you're in the area, though, you should definitely check it out. It's worth it!

Restaurant: Merlion

Price Range: (dinner) $15-25

Contest & Tiramisu

So I didn't win the dessert contest, but I did have a lot of fun making and serving my tiramisu, so I'd like to share my recipe! Here we go!

The recipe actually came from Emeril Live's Tiramisu Recipe, with just a couple of slight modifications.

Classic tiramisu consists of ladyfingers soaked in espresso and rum (or some other flavored liqueur) then layered with mascarpone cream. I chose to use sponge cake, which is fluffier and more likely to absorb the espresso and rum. However, the problem with using sponge cake is that you'll have a more difficult time with layering and setting the cream.

Making a tiramisu takes a lot of time and effort, but it will definitely be super rewarding, and of course your friends will love you a lot. So try it, and send me pictures! I would love to see them (and post them here)!

Ingredients:
Sponge Cake
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp butter
1+1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 egg
1+1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolk

Espresso Mixture
1/2 cup+2 tbsp espresso (or very strong, concentrated instant coffee. I've used Starbucks Via, Italian Roast)
1/2 cup+2 tbsp hot water
3 tbsp rum (or other flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier)

Mascarpone Cream
1 cup (8oz) Mascarpone cheese
2 tbsp rum (or other flavored liqueur such as Marsala wine)
3 eggs, separated
6 tbsp granulated sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
Cocoa powder
Powdered sugar

Preparation of the ingredients

Directions for the sponge cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper (use the butter to stick the paper to the bottom of the pan). Grease and lightly flour the parchment paper. Alternatively, if you wish to make a rectangular tiramisu, you can use a 9x13in baking pan.
3. Heat the milk and butter until the butter melts. Keep the heat low so that the milky film won't form.
4. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder.
5. Set the eggs, sugar, and egg yolks in a large bowl over a hot water bath. Whisk (using a mixer) on slow speed until the color becomes very light, and the volume of the mixture more than triples. This step is crucial for the sponge cake to rise. It may take a while, but please be patient. (See photo).
6. Remove the egg mixture from heat. Sift the flour mixture over the egg mixture. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
7. Fold in the milk mixture.
8. Divide the batter between the two pans. Tilt the pan so that the batter runs all the way around the edge of the pan - this will ensure even rising.
9. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cake has risen. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, and the cake should spring back when pressed lightly. Cool on a wire rack.

Top: Texture, volume, and color of the egg mixture after it has been whisked over the water bath. Bottom: Sponge cakes.

Directions for the espresso mixture and mascarpone cream:
1. Combine the espresso, hot water, and 3 tbsp of rum, and set aside.
2. Combine the mascarpone cream and 2 tbsp of rum in a large bowl, and beat until smooth.
3. Combine the egg yolks and 3 tbsp of sugar, and beat until smooth. Set the egg yolk mixture over a hot water bath and beat until the mixture is light and foamy.
4. Remove the egg yolk mixture from heat, and without waiting, beat into the mascarpone mixture. Set aside.
5. Whip the heavy cream until it holds a firm shape.
6. Fold into the heavy cream the vanilla extract.
7. In two small additions, fold 1/2 of the mascarpone cream into the whipped cream.
8. Then, fold the whipped cream back into the mascarpone cream. This ensures even mixing. Set this aside.
9. Beat the egg whites and salt on medium speed until light and foamy (soft peaks).
10. Add 3 tbsps of sugar, then beat on high speed until glossy, but not dry (hard peaks should form). This is basically the process of making meringue*.
11. Fold the egg whites, all at once, into the mascarpone cream mixture.

Top: Meringue. Bottom: Mascarpone cream before addition of meringue in large mixing bowl; meringue in small bowl.

Now, you are ready to assemble your tiramisu!

Directions for assembly:
1. Moisten one of the cakes with the espresso mixture.
2. Top the cake with half of the mascarpone cream, spreading it evenly.
3. Sift cocoa powder and powdered sugar over the cream.
4. Top with the second cake. Moisten with the espresso mixture.
5. Top with the remaining mascarpone cream.
6. Sift cocoa powder and powdered sugar.
7. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 2 hours before serving. (The cream needs to set.)

You may wish to decorate with additional elements such as chocolate curls, mini chocolate chips, etc. I would recommend decorating with all these things - and even sprinkling with cocoa powder - after the cream has set in the fridge.

Please enjoy!

The final product!

Neo-Asia's weekend dim sum

We had heard good things about Neo-Asia's dim sum - at least that it was better than Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant's (see previous post) - so we absolutely had to drive out to Cary and give it a try.

**Note: Neo-Asia/ Neo-China has a few different locations in the RTP, and only the Cary location serves dim sum on weekends!

We ordered the typical yum cha stuff, a few of which are pictured below (sorry, I didn't quite get a chance to take a photo of the food before my hungry meal companions poked their chopsticks into the food): siu mai, spare ribs, shrimp dumplings, shrimp with fried tofu, shrimp cheong fun, and the like. All of them were pretty decent, but not that much better than HK's except for the siu mai. However, I did enjoy in particular the chives dumpling, which is not available at HK.

Select steamed dishes

What we thought was really special about the dim sum at Neo-Asia were the cold meat platters: sliced chicken with garlic sauce, sliced pork with garlic sauce, sliced spicy pork (some of which are also pictured). Those were really delicious - especially the spicy pork. The spicy sauce that was used really had a special taste that wasn't too strong, and the meat in all the cold platters was very tender and fresh.

Select cold meat platters; potstickers; green beans

We also ordered some potstickers, the obligatory veggies, and a sticky rice chicken. I didn't try all of the dishes since I'm not particularly fond of sticky rice stuff, but I was told that the sticky rice was pretty good, since it had lots of fillings (chicken and Chinese sausage and ground pork and whatnot).

Finally, for dessert, we tried the tofu pudding and sesame ball. The sesame ball was freshly fried and very yummy. The tofu pudding was both a surprise and a disappointment: the soup that accompanied it was ginger soup, which was perfect for the cold day, but the tofu itself wasn't soft enough to achieve the pudding-like texture. I definitely enjoyed the ginger soup more than the tofu part...

Overall, my favorite part of the meal was definitely the cold meat platters, but they obviously made the meal very expensive. You also do not know how much each item costs, since your card is stamped with a server's number instead of in price categories. My buddies and I enjoyed the meal, but we decided that we'll probably still stay in Durham and go to HK when we crave dim sum...

Restaurant: Neo-Asia (Cary location)
Price Range: $20-$25

My First Contest

I'm entering a contest! The Duke Culinary Society is hosting a Dessert Expo on Monday, November 9th, and I will be one of the participants! I am super excited, and you should definitely come by and check it out :) More details & updates to come!

Firebird's

Firebird's! Finally, a steakhouse :) I hope you guys aren't starting to think that I don't like steak or something.

There are many things on the menu, but as I've been here a couple of times before, I'll just tell you this: if you're here for steak (and you should be), get the prime rib. Herb-crusted, rubbed with black peppers, oven-roasted to medium-rare perfection - pictured below. Top photo is my 10-oz, and bottom is the dinner date's 16-oz. As you notice, the difference is in the thickness of the cuts, so as you might be able to imagine, the thicker 16oz cut is better.

10-oz prime rib, cooked medium rare and served with sauteed mushrooms

16-oz prime rib, cooked medium rare and served with Colorado baked potato

The steak is served au jus and with a light horseradish sauce. I prefer the au jus, but the horseradish also goes pretty well, too. It's not so overwhelming that it covers up the taste of the steak, yet it provides enough flavor. A bit too creamy for me, though, I think.

There is an assortment of sides, although the default is a Colorado baked potato. I chose sauteed mushrooms, which were very delicious, although the flavors were just a bit too much for me towards the end of the meal.

Overall, we love Firebird's - one of my favorite steakhouses all around (and that's sayin' somethin', folks - my home is out in Fort Worth, Texas.)

Firebird's (located in the Streets at Southpoint)

Price Range: $20-$40

Pho 9N9

Finally had a chance to go to Pho 9N9 after I started this blog! I've heard from Vietnamese acquaintances that this is one of the best places to get pho and such, so I'm pretty excited to give it a review.

It was quite a warm day, however, so I actually decided against ordering the pho and went with the grilled pork over vermicelli instead - shown below.

Grilled pork vermicelli, served with fish sauce

Grilled pork on top, vermicelli, and hidden below the vermicelli noodles is a layer of bean sprouts, sliced cucumbers, pickled radishes, etc. Add the fish sauce, and you can imagine that there is plenty of flavor in this simple bowl. However, I will say that Saigon Grill beats Pho 9N9 in the grilled pork department...

Seeing as it's getting colder outside, I will most likely be reviewing 9N9's pho sometime soon.

Pho 9N9
Price Range: $8-10

Goodberry's

I've heard about Goodberry's for a while from a dessert-lover (hehe), so I decided to stop by one day for a treat. They have three flavors each day: vanilla, chocolate, and a flavor of the day (ok, technically four if you count sugar-free vanilla).

Some background about frozen custard - it's a little different from ice cream in that it's made with eggs in addition to cream and sugar. It has less air than ice cream, so the overall texture is thick & creamy, and should be more smooth and soft in comparison with ice cream. It is served at a high temperature (-8 degrees C) than ice cream (-12 degrees C), which also contributes to the softer texture. (For more information on frozen custard, you can read the Wikipedia entry.)

Anyway, Goodberry's does a pretty good job with the soft and smooth consistency - I could definitely taste the difference. Also, they actually blend in the toppings you want into the custard (they call it the 'Carolina Concrete'), so you can get a pretty good mixture. I really enjoyed that.

Pictured below was my mini chocolate-hazelnut custard. It was delicious, and I'm very sad that the weather is getting colder - less frozen treats. It's rather unfortunate that they do not provide indoor seating, because I can't imagine business being good in the winter time...


Goodberry's
Price: $3.50 for a mini with one topping

Recipe: Chocolate-Chip Almond Cookies

I had a cookie craving the other night. But I didn't want to make a batch of chocolate-chip cookies again, so I rummaged around the fridge and found a bag of slivered almonds. Perfect! Chocolate chip and almond cookies.

Because almonds are quite oil-rich already, you don't need as much butter in this recipe as other cookie recipes. Also, I chose not to grind or chop the almonds (mainly because I don't have a food processor...) but the author of BakingBites chops the almonds in her recipe into fine pieces and uses almond extract, which will probably make the almond taste more even throughout the cookie.

The key of using almonds is to toast them – that will bring out their fragrance. It’s easy to toast them using a conventional oven; you can do it while preparing your cookie dough.

Toasting almonds:
Heat oven to 350F. Line a pan with baking sheet or aluminum foil, and spread almonds evenly. Bake for 20 minutes until almonds are browned at the edges. (P.S. Your kitchen will smell delicious.)

Chocolate-Chip Almond Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1/2 cup toasted almonds
1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Directions:
Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil (no need to grease).

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small mixing bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars until just combined. Stir in the vanilla. Finally, beat in the eggs, one at a time.

With the mixer on low speed, stir in the flour mixture in small additions, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure that the flour is incorporated into the dough.

Finally, stir in the almonds and chocolate chips until well combined.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons unto the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart from each other. (Rounded dough will ensure that your cookies will come out as almost perfect circles!)

Bake for 10-11 minutes at 350F, until browned at the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Yields 3-4 dozen cookies.

Enjoy!

Watt's Grocery

Watt's Grocery is one of my favorite restaurants in Durham, and I was happy to have the chance to take my father there when he came to visit me. Their menu features all local items, and they have a bar with NC draught beers.

The atmosphere of the restaurant feels quite organic, although it's always packed. I recommend you to make reservations, otherwise you're in for a long wait. My dad and I didn't make the reservations, so we decided to sit at the bar instead.

Our food - appetizers:

Housemade terrine with artichoke pickles and seasonal compote

Terrine, in case you didn't know, is basically a pate, and they serve it to you with toasted crackers. It's a good combination, but I felt like the taste is really overwhelming for one person. If you get this, you might want to share it with someone...

Market Lettuce Salad with radishes, fried shallots, little tomatoes, and dijon vinaigrette

The salad, being local, is always an interesting combination of vegetables that you might not have seen before. My dad was pretty surprised. He didn't add too much of the vinaigrette because it was a little too sour for him, but the greens were pretty fresh.

Entrees:

Grilled Center-Cut Pork Porterhouse over brown butter apple galette with seasonal vegetables and Nut Brown ale reduction

This was AMAZING. The pork was so incredibly tender, and the sauce was just the right balance between sweet and tart. I absolutely loved it. Also, the sauce went quite well with the vegetables on the side - an added bonus. 

NC Fish of the Day: grilled NC trout with mushroom and peas sauce and a side of hush puppies & basil mayo

The trout was pretty tender, but I didn't think the sauce was too special. The hush puppies, however, are definitely amazing. It could be that I just love the basil mayo dip, but I seriously think that they're flavored and fried to perfection...

 

Overall, Watt's is always a great experience. Even though the trout wasn't too impressive, it still didn't make me love this place any less. I think the cheerful and friendly attitude of the servers, the speed of the service, quality of the food, and reasonable prices overall just makes this one of the best places to dine.

Restaurant: Watt's Grocery
Price Range: $25-40 (for entire meal)

Blu Seafood and Bar

Whew, I haven't updated so long that it's almost embarrassing. I suppose I should take this long weekend (currently on fall break for school) to catch up on some reviewing...

So, where to begin... Let's start with Blu Seafood and Bar, which I visited to celebrate a seafood lover's birthday.

First off, this place is super crowded. Thankfully, we made reservations - but our table in the corner was right below a couple of speakers, which was pretty annoying because the music was quite loud, and the waiter also never seemed to stop by our table throughout the night.

The waiter started us off with some sourdough bread, which was pretty soft but a bit cold already. However, my very hungry friends were displeased with the few pieces of bread, and since the waiter didn't stop by often, they couldn't keep asking for more...

Anyway, on to the appetizers. We ordered an array of different items:

Steamed mussels with chile and lime

Yellowfin tuna tatare with avocado and miso

I was kind of surprised at how much tuna they gave us, but the tuna also wasn't quite as fresh as what you'd find at a good sushi bar.

Crabcakes with mango salsa, cilantro oil

The mango salsa was great - wish they had given me more of it! The crab cakes themselves are just so-so, though. There's also quite a bit of cilantro oil...

Parmesan fried oysters with basil dip

And of course, the mandatory oysters on the half-shell

I didn't actually try this myself, but my friends told me that they were delicious. I think they'd be one of the best deals for appetizers.

As for entrees:

Pound of steamed crab legs

The crab legs were pretty good. They were fresh, and also steamed well - not too overdone.

Cornmeal encrusted NC trout with corn succotash, chipotle butter

The trout was very heavy. I think the first few bites were great, but after that the taste just kind of overwhelms you...

Lemongrass marinated diver scallops with shrimp, coconut peanut Sauce, fried udon noodles

Whole fish of the day: blackened sea bass, served with mashed potatoes and green beans

Overall, the food was all right - just slow. The service, though, was pretty terrible - it was incredibly slow, and the waiter was quite inattentive to our table. I'm sure they were busy that night, and we did have a corner table, but that's not really an excuse for not stopping by our table, not refilling our waters, not getting us more bread, etc. Unfortunately, I think the service really ruined the Blu experience for us.

Restaurant: Blu Seafood and Bar
Price Range: $30-50 (appetizers + entree)

Bruegger's Bakery

Sorry, I've been running way behind on the posts. With the start of the school year, I suppose I tend to procrastinate everything...

Anyway, on to Bruegger's! It's a nice little bakery on the corner of 9th St & Perry St, and around lunchtime on Sundays, it is full.

They have your normal assortment of bagels: plain, everything, sesame, poppy, etc. But they also have interesting flavors like cinnamon, rosemary olive oil, and pumpkin! You can tell that their bagels are made fresh, since they're very soft. Also, there are "HOT" signs indicating which ones just came out of the oven.

Primo Pesto Chicken "panini" on a whole wheat bagel

I ordered a primo pesto chicken panini, but on a hot whole wheat bagel instead (they can't press the bagel for you, but I didn't mind). It was delicious! The overall environment of the bakery is just a great place to grab coffee and lunch (or breakfast, if you're an early-riser, unlike me...). I really encourage you to check out this little shop!

Restaurant: Bruegger's
Price Range: $5-$10

Saigon Grill, Part II

Another visit to Saigon Grill, and this time, a Vietnamese friend recommended the egg noodles. I ordered the "special", which is egg noodle soup with a pork broth base, char-siu style sliced pork, shrimp, squid, and imitation crab. They also provided an additional plate of sprouts, jalapenos, cilantro, and lime for you to add if you want, just like pho.

I liked their egg noodles better than their pho - the noodles had the right texture, and the soup had more flavor than their pho soup (I think it was from the celery). I'm not a big fan of squid, but the char-siu style sliced pork was very tasty.

If you're in the mood for noodle soup, then you should definitely try something from the egg noodle section of the menu over the pho.

Purely Decadent non-dairy frozen dessert

I don't know how many of you reading this are lactose intolerant, but if you are, and if you have ice cream cravings, go to Whole Foods and get yourself a pint of Purely Decadent frozen dessert. Seriously. It's amazing.

I didn't even like ice cream very much, but my mom bought me a pint of the turtle trails when I was home a couple of weeks ago, and this stuff is good.

Turtle trails is vanilla based with chocolate-covered pecans and caramel (my favorite). I've also tried the blueberry cheesecake, which has cheesecake crust pieces and dried blueberries. You should try every flavor and tell me which ones are the best. You should try it, even if you're not lactose intolerant.

Purely Decadent non-dairy frozen dessert, Turtle Trails flavored

(If you go on their website, you can print a coupon for $1 off, too!)

Sushi Love's non-sushi

Being Asian, we don't think most of the things on Sushi Love's menu are authentic enough for our taste (Asian fusion doesn't really float our boats). Being cheap college students, we always go for the House Fried Rice, which is $8 for dinner.

We decided to share a Salt & Pepper Calamari appetizer ($6) and a Beef Fried Rice...

Salt & Pepper Calamari

House Fried Rice with Beef

The calamari was served over crispy straws with a "yum yum sauce" that tasted like soy sauce, a bit of vinegar, sugar, and water. But it went well with the calamari, so I have nothing against it. I also love the calamari. It didn't have a strong squid-y taste, and just the right amount of chewiness.

The fried rice is your typical fried rice: an assortment of vegetables (carrots, sprouts, scallions), eggs, beef. Some of my friends have complained that it's not salty enough, but I don't like things with too strong of a flavor, so for me, it's just right. Also, if you're not a big eater (like me), the fried rice is probably enough for you to share with another non-big eater if you order an appetizer.

In the past, I've tried a few different things off of Sushi Love's menu, but in the end, I felt like the fried rice was still the best deal (keep in the mind the "cheap college student" part!). If you want to spend a few extra bucks, the pineapple fried rice is indeed very good (get it with shrimp). Just my two cents - let me know what's your favorite at this restaurant...

Restaurant: Sushi Love
Price Range: $10-15