New Years Eve Dinner 2016 at Duexave

FINALLY I’m GONNA POST THIS!!!!!!!!!

So I’ve been backlogged… I have half written blogs up all in this shizz and it doesn’t seem to be coming out (ha! – Sorry dirty mind!) I keep having ideas and then writer’s block… my current obsession with watching Frozen and Tangled and seeing their soundtrack 24/7 isn’t helping either… haha “hashtag dork”… and I also started obsessing (yeah a few seasons… like 6, late) with 2 Broke Girl$ (hastag ILOVEMAXSHEISMYHERO) so yeah.  Work, Disney, iTunes is ruining me…. in a wonderful way.

So let’s catch up on 2017… Let’s start off with my last night of it…. NYE 2016 :) which sadly I had a stomach bug so I threw up all night with my date.  Which was funny cuz my date and I went to watch college football first, and me being over-underdressed  puked a few times at the bar.  My stomach finally calmed down on the way to Deuxave (owned and cooked by one of favorite chefs Chef Christopher Coombs) And while I was being careful with my tender tummy… I am NOT about to throw up any good food… I didn’t eat my usual overstuffed way, but all the food was amazing!!!! I haven’t been in forever!!!

We started off with delicious warm sourdough (great crust and fluffy middle) with a ribboned creamy butter.

Funny story [sidenote] about sourdough bread.  This total bully that lived across the street from me when I was a kid in New Mexico, LOVED sourdough bread. I played with her because 1. She lived across the street from me. 2. She was a bully. 3. She had no friends. 4. I am overly nice even though she did horrible things to me…. etc. etc. ANYWAYS, she loved it, I hated it and she even held it against me. She also forced me to watch Child’s Play which I ran home crying after. I was like 7. Bitch. Her, not me. She also grabbed my arm and bit it once because I said I didn’t want to play with her anymore… #whyineedtherapy [/sidenote]

Then came the complimentary amuse bouches…. All topped with microgreens!!!…

Crap, I forgot what these balls were.. they were fried balls of yumminess though… I think it was crab… When in doubt just shove it all in your mouth (ha!) when in a spoon… especially if shaped in little balls (double ha!)

Some Creamy Lobster Bisque. (HA! The lady next to us even asked for spoons… LOL duh you sip it, it’s a tiny little cup… and if anything just freaking eat your balls and use that spoon… LOLOL.. she complained a lot all night LOLOL!) Anyways.. tasty, thick and rich.

And some duck liver terrine with pomegranate seeds on cute little crostini…. I could never turn down anything duck liver… or things on a crostini.  I admit it. I love the trend… it shall never grow old… anything on toasted bread (preferably buttery… even more buttery and garlicky) will forever be delicious!!!!!

For appetizers (thankfully my date was happy to go with my (get two of everything we would eat so we can try more foods) we got the Wagyu Beef Tartare with Forbidden Rice Chips, Green Papaya Salad, Avocado Puree and Crispy Shallots!

And the Hamachi Crudo with Fennel Dill, Pickled Shallots, Rye Crisps and Smoked Aioli… which is fresh and delicious…. simple and perfect! And gorgeously plated…. and oh oh oh how I love the roe :] Roe roe roe!!!

And then came the seafood plates!  With Seared Nantucket Bay Scallops with Maitake & Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Brodo, Fines Herbs and a Chili Oil….. hehe I always love when they table side pour for you… I had to whip out the camera in time to catch it in action.

Look at those beautiful cute things.  Now, date doesn’t do seafood, but he did for me :] And liked it!!!! —- Although he did pass on the hamachi crudo… still need to ease him into sushi…. (bad experience, supposedly)

And obviously anything with pork belly.. am I right?  Crispy Spanish Octopus(sy) & Pork Belly with Chorizo, Choucroute, Potato, Parsley and Aiji Amarillo.  Octopus on point with crispy ends… and a melt in your mouth pork belly :] NOM!

And then comes our main courses!!!!! Which contained the highlight of the night… Prime Beef Tenderloin & Perigord Black Truffles with Egg Yolk Raviolo, Celery Root and Bordelaise.

This Raviolo was the dish I was waiting the whole night for, especially since Chef Chris posted the instagram online.  Yeah, you should follow his instagram.  I stalk it religiously for amazing food porn and cute baby pics :]

Spiced Long Island Duck Breast & Housemade Sausage with Romanesco, Baby Shitake Mushrooms, Foie Gras & Cipollini Vintrigrette and Persimmon.

Perfectly cooked and I adored the small chunks of all the foie and sausage.  It didn’t overwhelm and the duck was amazing.  You know I’m a duck girl, if there is duck on the menu, I am sure to get it.

We were nearing close to midnight……..

We got complimentary bites nibbles whilst waiting for our desserts…. nervously so, since it was nearing midnight.  They weren’t a hit…. Not to be a party pooper but the other customers around us didn’t seem to enjoy them either…..

And the desserts came…..

“Cafe Chocolate” with Coffee Biscuit, Cardamom Cremux, Caramelized Vanilla Glace…. Super yummy!!!!!!!!…. I loveeeee cardamom in sweet desserts…!!!!

And I, being a lover of Chestnuts, I picked “Chestnuts Roasting On an Open Fire” with Chestnut Cream, Vanilla Meringue, Kalamansi and Banana Glace.  The Ice cream was delicious but unfortunately the citrus inside the ball was just way overpowering so I ended up getting no chestnut flavor. :[

We sipped on glasses of a delicious Rose bubbly the whole night and had such delightful conversations… (I think I might be a bit loud and embarrassing to him) —-and even got to chat with my buddy, Chef Chris for a bit [yes! Hang soon! And I’ll be in for the waffles & foie ASAP]… unfortunately we were rushing to our venue at the W Hotel to countdown to the New Years so I couldn’t squeeze in a pic with him :[ WAA WAA… It’s okay… it’s not like I’m far from this place.  Adore this place!!!!!

 

Indulging at uzna omom; harajuku pancake

Recently I discovered a new place in Taipei…and the smells and the menu looked quite alluring….

The wait is quite long, it is indeed a new place, but I was ready to wait.  I was dying of hunger, but I needed to try this place.

The decor was adorable!!!

Aren’t the ceiling fans freaking adorable? I love this place, it was just so warm and cozy [minus the fact that the AC was turned up super high – haha – on the inside I was warm and cozy]

I ordered a sparkling white grape juice with no sugar – which is sad cuz they added so much lemon in it, I could barely taste grape, it was basically lemonade.

I ordered a cooked spinach salad with smoked duck.. it came with a delicious creamy corn soup and two pancakes [they are famous for their pancakes]  All was delicious!!! Although the spinach was barely cooked so it was basically raw.. but they did add a few mushrooms slices, which was nice… and the duck was delicious, just wish there were more.

For tea time places, I wish there was always choses when it came to soup – I’m not a creamy soup person – I’m lactose intolerant – but I did enjoy this soup.  And pancakes were delish!

Also ordered a side dish of broccoli with shrimp and some mushrooms… and some bacon.  It was overly salty, I think they accidentally salted it twice or thrice, cuz it was painfully salty.

The next concoction was this coffee with shaved ice and condensed milk. Gorgeous and delish!!!

For dessert i had the Honolulu Soufflé pancake and it was smothered in a delicious cream and caramel-y sauce, and crushed macadamia nuts. OMG it was SO GOOD, but extremely filling.  Half of this filled me up like no other. SO RECOMMEND THIS!!!!

I’d say come here for the desserts/pancakes and amazing matcha tea lattes and stuff but don’t expect a lot from the savory.  The desserts are delicious!!!!

BTW like my new cell phone case?  She wanted a selfie!

國立傳統藝術中心 Natural Center for Traditional Arts, Bike Riding, & Coffee at 小熊書房 in Yilan

We wanted Goose but it didn’t open til 5pm so we headed to the National Center for Traditional Arts (國立傳統藝術中心)  Sometimes pictures speak louder than words. Or they do, and sometimes, rarely, I just don’t wanna talk that much.

Those are pointy red tomatoes. insane right?

Yilan is known for their scallions…. so we found a food booth that was made with everything scallions.. noodles, dumplings… everything. YUM.

Modeling as a 格格 aka a princess of a chinese emperor.. if only.. ;]

小熊書房 – Little Bear Cafe

吉凡尼的花園 Le Jardin de Giverny in the 美術館 area

Woke up super hungry…… time for some delicious eats at 吉凡尼的花園 Le Jardin de Giverny – I’ve been here before, years ago and it was pretty bad but they changed owners and have definitely improved 10 fold.

I so hangry

We ordered two add on lunch meal sets and two a la cartes to share.

Delicious Fresh Foccacia Breads

[You can actually buy breads and pastries in the front of the house]

You can also buy different vinegar, oils and balsamics in the front as well… yay for dipping yummy warm bread…

Fresh Veggie/Fruit Juice

My clear vegetable soup… which tasted a bit buttery to me so I wasn’t that into it. The flavors were great though.

And of course for my “drink” that came with my meal I got a nice glass of white wine.

Fresh salad with walnuts and starfruit.

Appetizer: Ratatouille

It was absolutely delicious and one of the few times I’ve ever had it.  I’m so glad I ordered this.. it was between this and escargot.

My aunt’s appetizer: A Crab “Tart” which is so not a tart, but it was good and fresh none-the-less

And for her main dish she got the seafood risotto.  YUM.  I had a bite and you could taste yummy saffron…. reminded me of a paella but creamier…

Mama, of course, got the pan-fried duck breast, but which was cooked really well and just fatty enough. So so tender.

My other aunt got the pan-fried sea bass, which was one of my choices….

But I ended up getting, DUH, the spicy seafood stirfry :]

And then we went straight into dessert….

A mini Creme Brulee… which I gave to my aunt since she rarely gets to eat these things….

But I enjoyed my delicious iced coffee…. MMM froth

地址：台中市五權七街58號 (台中綠園道)
電話：886-4- 2376-9755

I ended up staying for tea time as well but while my aunts chatted I explored the area a bit…..

New Song Museum, Agnes B. Cafe and Khaki Cafe

No words Necessary for this post… let your eyeballs enjoy

New Song Museum

Agnes B. Cafe

I won a mug :]  They were surprised cuz people usually only win once a week or so and I got it on the first try – what what?!?!?!… heyyyoooo

SO CUTE AND YUMMY

And then late late dinner was at Khaki Bar/Lounge

Beef Noodle Soup

Dumplings

Boom!

Dim Sum at 新葡苑 – Cantonese Style

Was ridiculously hungry today… I slept in til super late…. so by the time I was up it was tea time….. which is usually between 2-4 in Taiwan… instead of going to one of my go-to places to eat… I decided to finally try out the Cantonese restaurant I’ve been wanting to try for awhile and just never went to… 新葡苑…. while the waitresses all had stinky faces and meh attitudes… the food was freshly made/steamed…. it took awhile for each dish to come out but it was definitely worth it. If you’re into small dishes and trying lots of different things, this is the place to go.  Don’t expect HUGE portions… but expect fresh, hot and yummy!

Delicious “health” tea.. which had goji, jujubes and lots of different asian herbs… naturally sweet and just delicious.

I’m hungry, please feed me…. waiting for the food was SOOOOOO frustrating because it WAS slow… but, like I said, it was worth it.

叉燒酥 which is basically.. .Char Siu Sou…. Flakey Buttery Pastry with Char Siu Pork inside…. this was the only thing I wasn’t really into… I’m not into Char Siu… and I thought the outside was too buttery for a savory dish…

Squid Ink Dumplings… this was amazing… Seafood innards and just the most delicious thin squid ink wrapper… NOM NOM NOM

Boy Choy and Mushroom, Veggie Dumplings. This was actually my favorite of the meal.

Leek Pan Fried er… bun/thing.. uhhh yumminess?!… needed  more leek/onion taste.. but the skin was crispy and delicious… the filling needed a little more ooomph

Fried Shrimp Roll… we actually ordered a steamed one but they got it wrong and gave us this instead… so we kept it, ate it and re-ordered what we wanted. I’m not a huge fried food fan, so good but not a favorite.  But that’s just personal preference.

Pork Ribs.  Sadly, while it was good, there was little meat and mostly bone :[ Sad. I LOOOOOOVE Pork Ribs at dim sum…. they need to give more, and actually give ribs WITH meat.

Chicken Feet. My favorite Dim Sum item.  It wasn’t greasy like a lot of other places.. had a nice black bean taste to it… not spicy  and just yummy. I can eat tons and tons of chicken feet for ages.

Trotters…. aka Pigs Feet… the same thing as with the Pork Ribs… a lot of bone, not a lot of meat… but I did get some good skin.. and some meat.. so it wasn’t too sad… it was a bit too sweet for my taste and it was on a bed of boiled peanuts.  I did love the addition of cilantro… I LOVE CILANTRO… it really enhanced the flavor of the pork feet…. just wish there was more meat/skin to it than just bone.

This is the steamed vegetarian tofu skin roll that they got the order wrong of before…. I had a better pic but I’m too lazy to re-upload.  This always reminds me of my dad cuz it’s his favorite dim sum dish :]

燒賣, Shu Mai… of course… it’s so typical but I love this shizz… 

After a nice walk…. I went to my fav place for boozy coffee drinks… Cafe Kitchen… got a Rum Coffee and a Jameson Whiskey Coffee… 

YAYAYAYAYAYAY… I’m a LUSH

Me after my lovely massage :]

EVA Hello Kitty from LAX to Taipei!!!!!….

For once I had a plane ride at 6pm instead of 6am….  so off I go…. Boston to LA….

I’m excited for the warmer weather…. so tank top it is

Got a yummy Chicken Marinara with Green Beans over Rice meal… Salad, Roll, Butter, the works… had some nuts too…. MMM, nuts… (I may have already snacked and had a few glasses of free booze at the VIP Airlines Lounge earlier…)

LA!!!!… Beautiful view…

Sat in the VIP lounge and ate tons of food include this self made “Asian Salad” with Champagne….  I took some of the “Asian Salad with Wonton Strips” And added some Teriyaki Chicken to it… why not?!… a lot of the other stuff didn’t look too appealing except for Korean Ramen and Japanese Noodles… all which was consumed (duh)

WAIT “Why is this a Hello Kitty ticket?????”

HOLY CRAP!!! We’re on the EVA HELLO KITTY PLANE!!!!

Life is now… complete!!!!

Scallops

Sea Bass? It was freaking CHILEAN SEA BASS!!!! SOOOOO good… and of course more and more booze…

And los of veg…

Dessert was fruits and a yummy mousse cake, some tea… and more wine :]

Midnight snack while watching FROZEN was a Turkey Sandwich… which, I have to say was greasy and pretty gross….. sorry EVA… I didn’t like it, maybe I would’ve more if there was a Hello Kitty face on it…

Breakfast Time…

Coffee….

Congee…. with 1000 yr egg, fried tofu with fish ball…. shredded dried pork, Fermented Spicy Tofu, pickles… and then some…

And fruits <3

Oh hello…. Taiwan beer… I’m definitely back in Taiwan

WEEEEEEEEE 5am and ready to party

Yes we’re back in Taiwan

Miami Day 4 & Joe’s Stone Crabs… and 72oz of Margaritas at Primetime

It’s our last day in Miami…. I don’t wanna leave…

Neither does J.

Time to say bye bye to our beloved free amazing gourmet breakfast buffet at Eden Roc

Note: See all of J’s beloved donuts. Yes he’s a donut fanatic. :]

My last free omelette and bacon

Bye Bye Bye :[

Sad Good Bye

Had the most AMAZING time with the most amazing person.

Bye bye Lobby Bar [Bartender Tommy haha J’s new friend]

SO OFF WE WENT… hiked the beach… first stop, nostalgia…. Wet Willie’s…. we got some blue shocker mixed margarita. SO sweet…. but hey I felt 18 again.

We continued our long walk on the beach… a nice long walk from Eden Roc [Miami Beach] to the end of South Beach at Joe’s Stone Crabs

Woot woot finally got to sit INSIDE. Last time I was REJECTED cuz of dress code. UH. Tube Top and skirt was a NO-NO.

AMAZING BREAD. Pretzel bread and the flatbread crips were the SHIT!!!

One again I was in charge of food and J was in charge of wines….

Delish!…. he got a Chard… I got… uhhhhhh…….. something spicier?!… I don’t remember..

Crab Nicoise
shaken with jumbo lump crab, locally grown tomatoes,
olives, green beans, eggs, potatoes, red onion & herb vinaigrette

Chock full of fresh sexy crab…. amazing crisps… and just UGH delish!.. Even the dressing was SOOOOOOOO divine!!!!….. I loved how they served this in a cup and shook it out in front of us. HOOKED.

We got the SELECT Stone Crab Claws… I’ve had the medium and I’ve had the jumbo [bigger isn’t only better] which were ok, so select was definitely the best choice.

Best last lunch in Miami.

And of course their famous Key Lime Pie.

Demolished. LOVE.

But our day wasn’t over yet. We were determined to get a GIANT margarita on Ocean Drive. So where do we end up? Primetime. Of course :] We could’ve gotten smaller ones but it was 2 for the price of one and I wanted the giant one… so we both got 32oz ones…..

J got the
Aperol Spritz
Aperol Liqueur, Astoria Prosecco and splash soda

And  I got the
Champagne Kiss:
Champagne, Chambord raspberry liqueur blended  to perfection

I was taking pics of us so the waitress offered to help…

Much better..

Bigger than my head.

Tipsy tipsy weeeeeeee… time to head to the airport to drink more….

Miami Day 3… Pool, Cigars, Bubble Bath and Blade Sushi at Fountainbleau

After a super crazy fun night… we just wanted to relax… and cover up from all our sunburns.. of course J took caution and I didn’t…

Ready to beach….

After our free breakfast!!!

That’s a pulled beef  benedict…. OMG….

We also got some cigars for later…

Adult Pool

Beach

Yep I got tanner and burn-ier….

And then it was cigar time.. the “cheaper” one so we can compare

GANGSTA YO

And then I left J to the balcony and a good book and I decided to bubble bath…. not enough bubbles….

CAW CAW CAW CAW

Ok too many bubbles…

Drowning…

UHHH…

I am now dubbed the bubble/foam Queen <3

This is After I let the water out and got out of the tub…

And awesome BF cleaning up my mess hahaha

SO MUCH BUBBLES

This is for you Steve. Stellar Revival shoutout YO. Wait what… yo… way to be so famous and have a FAN OFFICIAL FACEBOOK PAGE….

OK cleaned up and time for my last night in Miami… Mokai here I come….

So first we had dinner at Blade Sushi Bar/Lounge at Fountainbleau… yes yes remember I came here last year? Well we were supposed to go to Hakkasan… but decided that partying after dimsum and Cantonese food/dimsum [omg I’m so craving dim sum tho] would suck [food coma] more than sushi at Blade.

BLINDING menus. Unnecessary

Magical hot towels that grow…

Edamame

I love piping hot edamame… freshly steamed and large sexy sea salt flakes… :]

We couldn’t choose which sake to to buy so our waiter suggested we try a flight first and then choose what we liked most.

Sake Flight

The Sake we ended up choosing… delish! Oh and J called it… we liked #1..  the others were way too sweet…

Octopus Carpaccio
Sweet pepper, Tomato, Red Onion, Cucumber and Spicy Vinegar Dressing

AMAZING. I remember I loved it when I got it the first time and was asked if I was in the food industry/food critic – cuz I guess, people don’t REALLY get the things I do?!

Yellowtail with Yuzu Miso Glaze
Asian pear, Avocado, Micro greens, Yuzu Miso vinaigrette

Amazing… delish yellowtail… yuzu tang… and the sweetness of the asian pear and creaminess of the avocado… this literally MELTED in my mouth. SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO GOOD.

Salmon Sushi and Uni Sushi

You can never fuck up OG sushi. AMAZE.

Geisha Maki
Yellowtail, Ooba leaf, Orange, Asparagus wrapped in Soy paper,  Wasabi, Tobiko, Yuzu Miso Glaze

This was my roll choice. I loved it… jalapeno… light, refreshing.. definitely super fusian…. so Miami.. reminded me of Samba Sushi.

Bleau Maki
Tuna, Yellowtail, Salmon, Avocado, Scallion, Masago wrapped with Daikon, Soy Onion dressing

J’s choice. Also good. It was tasty but WAYYYYY over-doused in that dressing…. ugh.. drowning in it….

And dessert…

A gorgeous Key Lime Tart with pineapple and blackberries

The tart was creamy and also grainy from the sugar. Not sure how much of a fan I was… but it was quite delicious, super sweet…. hey we had a HUGE ASS bottle of sake to finish, we needed to keep on eating until it was gone… and while, yes, if you havent noticed we rarely do dessert, we did it and loved it.

Afterwards…. we decided we were old. We hit up the Lobby Bar… got some scotch, whiskey and champagne… brought it up to our balcony and had our other cigar and drank the night away in the beautiful weather and view. Life is perfect.

Miami Day 2 Beach, Yardbird & Nikki Beach Club

After a nice relaxing, semi-early, night in…. uhhhh…. actually okay, fine, not so “early” :] We woke up around 1030 for our FREE BREAKFAST

Dressed for the beach and ready to tan and swim after brekky… OFF WE GO…

How did we somehow get upgraded to an insane room AND get free brekky?!?!?!

One of our first plates of many….

And an omelette bar <3 UGH love

And then we were off to the beach. I swear we were the youngest/sexiest ones there. Check out my hot beach date.

My view for the whole day.

Is that a flying dino?

OH also decided to turn Mormon after finding this book in our hotel room….

HA. Just kidding. PS. This bikini is dedicated to Elliot Wronski :]

Our hotel.

Booze since 11am…

We later got ready, chilled on our balcony…..

 

And then headed to LUCKY STRIKE to watch the HEATS game. YAY Basketball.

J with his sexy cousin G and her fiance S [from the group Stellar Revival] 

Yeah, the band is pretty killer…. go to some shows in their next tour.. if it’s east coast I’ll probably be there :] Def any Boston or NYC shows :D

Live:

Ok i keep trying to put up the link to The Crazy Ones on here.. but it’s just the lyrics to Saving Grace…

Something about some punk and rock that just gets a girl going….

I’ll hopefully go help out at a few East Coast shows on their next tour so look out for me :D *grin* and also check out the drummer’s food blog — The Hungry Dummer .

We played a game of pool [worst game ever] but me and J won <3 WOOT. Nerds unite!!!!

G asked where I wanted to eat in Miami and I said YARDBIRD and her and S had JUST had brunch there… but then they decided to take us there after the game…. AWESOME.

Sadly no Chef Jeff McInnis here :[  HASH TAG #topchefcrush

Of course when I saw this I had to get it.  G and S warned that it was a lot of food but I was up to the challenge…

G ordered milk. I think I love her.

The cute soon-to-be-married-couple <3

Kale Salad for J and I

And our Chicken n Waffles n Watermelon!!!… we DEVOURED, DEMOLISHED, KILLLLLLED this <3 Hahahaha…… we’re fatties

Altho I did lose a watermelon in the feed fest. So I pour a little bit out to my homie watermelon…

My Feedback:

And then G and S kindly dropped us off at Nikki Beach Club…

Yeah the mojitos were overly sweet and sucked… I had lots of champagne and lots of douchebag Jersey Shore guys here….. probably never coming back to  Nikki Beach Club… but it was definitely an experience and fun..

Ended up going back and having fun enjoying Eden Roc late late night ;D

PS. Best line of my night to a guy “Catch me if you can, POKEMON” and I LITERALLY ran away”

PPS. I also had a guy ask me: “If I took you away tonight do you think your bf would mind?” UHHH YES. FUCKA.