岩波庭餐廳 Zen Garden Fusion Cuisine

Being in Yilan…. at the spa resort, my uncle reserved a place for us at the Zen Fusion for dinner…. basically we got a set menu and it was DELICIOUS.

We all wore the kimonos that the spa provided…. which was sooooooooo inspiring and free-feeling

Sparkling Sake… oh Uncle, you know me too well

Delicious Scallion Bread…… Yilan is known for their scallions…. so this was amazing

Afterwords when my family went up to the rooms to gossip and talk I stayed at the bar… having whiskey and wine.

Before heading to the hot springs bath in my room to chill out with a bottle of wine.

Life is just so grand.

Tattoos at 西門町 Ximending and 三味食堂 Sushi

We met up in the afternoon and immediately decided to headed down to 西門町 Ximending by subway to eat and then get my last tattoo there fixed and decided to get a new one.

Stars!!!

Afterwards we were sooo starved so we headed to 三味食堂 for sushi.  This place opens at 5pm so we walked around shopping and took us forever to find the location… we were scared that we would have to wait in line but we ended up not having to at all YAY.. which is great cuz the crowd outside grew fast,

Tiny place but worth the $$ and free Miso Soup.. all you can drink :]

We got some sushi handrolls… Asparagus for S and Shrimp for me – filled with veggies, corn, bonito and other yummies….

They’re HUUUUUUUGE

As is the SUSHI

Each slice of the salmon over a tiny it of rice is about 4-5 slices of regular sashimi. It’s wrapped ALL around the rice…. and thick cut – super fresh.

Chicken Yakitori… tender and yummyily sauced

Agedashi Tofu

It was delicious…. we ended the night super full so we met up with his brother at Cellar Lounge and then headed back to 09 Whiskey Bar for a night cap.

阿嬌海產店 – Deliciously Fresh Seafood

Headed to Hsinchu to pay respect to my grandparents’ alter in the old house and to visit my uncles…. we were expecting to get there around 2 but since I woke up super early we ended up there around 1130 or so…. and my uncle & aunt know me to well (4th) so they made us my favorite dumplings!!!!!

I visited all of my uncles and then after looking at some amazing condos in the area to possibly purchase, we headed out to dinner… at 阿嬌海產

Sashimi…. Delicious Red Snapper…

Salt & Pepper Shrimp

Pan fried/Deep Fried Fishies, 竹夾魚… which is basically Mackerel… sooo delicious!!!!

Basil & Clams

Chinese Celery and Squid

山蘇 aka Asplenium….. SOOOO GOOOOOOOOOOD

Yummy Noodles

A modernized 蚵仔煎 … Oyster Pancake… without the gooey corn starch… and some shrimp…. but just fried oysters in batter which you would dip in the traditional red 蚵仔煎 sauce.

And then a delicious fish skin, 紅紺, soup… 

Ended the night at 09 Whiskey Bar with lots of wine…. :] and here is one of the drawings one of my nieces drew for me today :]

Best Vegas Trip Ever… until next time [Day 1]

Everyone say Happy Birthday to Kelly!!! Her birthday was Feb 6!  Two years ago we went and saw Nick Carter in Boston…. who would’ve thunk it we’d see him AGAIN in exactly two years? — yes that was a preview of blogging to come…

Waking up at 4:30 in the morning is no fun… esp on barely an hour of sleep.. what can I say?! I’m psyched to be going to Vegas to see my girl Kelly on her birthday.. it’s all planned out. Planet Hollywood, Britney Spears show, dinner and on guestlist and vip lists for parties/clubs every night of the trip.. and then some… several per night [haha] I got overexcited….

I kissed my baby doll good bye and promised that her mama would be back and headed off to the airport looking like a hot mess…

The usual breakfast at Boston Beer Works. I still hate how they don’t serve alcohol before 8am there.  I want my bloody mary and I BOARD at 8 grrr…

Cheesy veggie omelet with the best home fries EVAAAAAAAAA….and toast – which I smothered in buttaaaa <3 I was hungry yo. And while I had subpar coffee and no booze….. the food made me happy….

It’s okay tho, I got my mimosa on the plane!!!….

and another and another.. and also my dosage of my favorite brothers, the Winchesters AHH.. “The Purge” is now probably my second favorite episode of Supernatural.  The first, still being “Yellow Fever”

I LOVE DEAN EPISODES!!!
I LOVE DEAN. I LOVE DEAN’S APPETITE. I LOVE DEAN!

BTW, I wore my “BIG IN JAPAN” cropped sweater on the plane… and the attendant was like “I was trying to figure it out the whole plane ride and now I get it! It means that in Japan you’re considered well endowed!” BWAHHAAHAHAHAH she was awesome!

My plane was an hour late due to the storm the day before – HELLO it’s New England, a little snow isn’t so scary GEEZ – so flights got all messed up but Kelly waited for me :] And we headed over to PH..

I tried to get the guy at the counter to upgrade our room… and 9 out of 10 times it works but he didn’t budge :[ Waaa… he did look kinda nervous tho haha.. we got our Britney keycards – since we were going to the show and got ready to get weird….

Best elevators EVERRRRRRRR….. Britney is such a Queen PURR*

Getting excited….

The view…

Our room was Indiana Jones themed…. I was about to put my bag down on the table when I screamed “WTF? A SHRUNKEN HAND” hahahaha…

We ordered some room service [DUH, me and room service = DANGER ZONE]… and started to get ready whilst drinking…

Lots of bubbles, lots of food…

And so it begins.. danger danger

This also sums up me and Kelly… me being Archer

We actually did a little shopping beforehand and I bought a shizz load of Britney things from the Britney store so I wouldn’t have to wait hours after the show tomorrow… including glow in the dark bracelets and rave lights for during the show….

And then we headed back to get ready for dinner…. dress picked, hair started… time to get funky…

DANNNNNGER ZONE

Happy Birthday to my favorite Asian Doll <3

It was Chinese New Year themed EVERYWHERE… and not just this casino a lot of others…

Before we got to the restaurant we found Britney… and of course, being vain, MORE PHOTO SHOOTS!!!!!

… and of course I can never take a serious picture…….

Yay time for the Birthday Girl’s Birthday Dinner at Koi – Japanese, our tradition is to ALWAYS get sushi our first dinner together, anywhere! Anytime. Haha.

I called ahead and told them it was Kelly’s bday and they gave complimentary champagne YAY

Tuna Tartare on Crispy Wontons…

Kelly was being all lady like and classy and eating it with a fork but I just stuffed the whole thing in my mouth….. an animated GIF might just happen soon…

They recommended, and I was gonna order anyway, the Salmon Carpaccio with black Truffles and citrus sauce… and of course some micro greens.. this was amazing.. not so much for Kelly so I got to eat most of it :D TEE HEE HEE

Oh, of course Edamame is REQUIRED….

Suddenly I remember a table of white people next to us:

“Can we have fried rice?”
“We don’t serve that here”

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…. too funny

Ok onwards….

Just some Salmon Sashimi and a Rainbow Roll. YUM. Simple and Perfect.

And then as an entree we shared, ……..

Steamed Chilean Sea Bass with Ginger, Ichimi & Shiitake Mushrooms

DELICIOUS… I also ate  most of this cuz I’m a fatass….

But this plant wanted to get in my pants…

They were super awesome and gave Kelly a surprise free dessert!!!!

Chocolate Lava Cake, Ice Cream, OMG… sugar rush HIGH and then crash…..

Now to prepare to go to the Bank….

TOO BAD WE PASSED OUT FROM FOOD COMA…!!!!!!!

At least we looked super cute doing it :]

It’s okay, we made up for it on Day 2…………

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.

Car Accident after delicious Duck

I had quite the traumatic experience last nite.. on my way back from a delicious fun night at Harvard Sq with an old friend…..

But before I get into that…. back to my story. I got in a hit & run just like 10-15 minutes away from my house.  Witnesses behind me said they saw a hit and run… I just heard a boom, freaked out, swerved, hit the curb and mailbox.  Entire right side TOTALED.. windshield shattered… front right part of car GONE… front right tire FLEW off, back right tire flattened… and it just looks horrible.

The tire that flew off

Fucked up

Bye bye my baby…

No worries I passed all the sobriety tests [def wasn’t drunk] just had to deal with insurance and police reports, ugh.  A bit sore and possibly bruised from the seatbelt… neck is sore… but other than mental distress I think I’m OKAY right now.. just want to keep on sleeping.. woke up super late today to file insurance report and then made some scrambled eggs and had it with a whole avocado with chulula hot sauce.

Bye bye my baby red Matrix XS. I did love you so.

Altho I am annoyed and kinda glad my airbags DIDN’T GO OFF.  And to the guys who came and helped me and was my witness.. thanks thanks so much for being amazing and sweet.

[https://socialcam.com/v/PoC7cW7h?autostart=true]

So I guess onto the good parts…

Old friend showed up late…..  so I had was at Chameleon myself.

I got a touch up on my ankle… and a new addition to my collection.. actually dedicated to my mother. There’s a little story behind it… my mom, when I was little, used to ask me all the time “How much d you love me?” and I’d open my arms as wide as I could and say.. “for infinity…” :]

If you ever want a tatt at Harvard Sq’s Chameleon ask for Rueben.. he’s my man!!! He’s the shit!!! :]

Anyways finally met up with my friend for a few drinks before dinner…. got him the most awesome book “How to tell if your car is plotting to kill you”… [he has two cats] thanks to Oatmeal.  A few Garden Saison beers at John Harvard’s Brewery

And then a delicious dinner at Upstairs on the Square

Dinner time… with bubbles..

He got the grilled salmon on top of pearl onions and saurkraut and broccoli….

My roast duck with blood orange and other yummy flavors…. so fatty meaty and delicious. JUICY TO THE CORE!!!

Dessert was a Napoleon… with the most amazing chocolate chip vanilla bean ice cream.  The Napoleon definitely wasn’t what I expected, more cake than flakey. No flake at all.

And then a champagned induced addition….

范家 Fun Time: Restaurant Jun [pictures]

After the fun 范家 Party Bus for the day… we went to a REAL lunch at Jun

Mango Beer..

SASHIMI

Deep Fried Lobster Sandwich

Adventures of Serina and Tiffie Ninjas….

She got me this gorgeous Hello Kitty Swarovski Ring <3

I brought her to get her ears pierced a a Birthday present <3

Met Bar

Worst Sole EVER

Cubano

My Athens Burger

I think she got the LA Burger

Brunch at Bullfinchs

I made dinner for everyone

Fugakyu for Girls’ Nite

We wanted a boat

Szechuan Chili Beef a la Mama

I made Breakfast for me and Serina

Sisters <3

Legal Seafoods

Black Friday Shopping

Best Purchase

Love you S <3 Miss youuuuu!!!!

P for Pabu & Perfection [Baltimore, MD]

PABU.

SAll I can say is that I have heard so so so SO much about this place. And I am a HUGE Japanese / Sushi fan. I’ve eaten a LOT of it. EVERYWHERE.

Literally. EVERYWHERE.

Definitely lives up to the hype. I suggest you take a trip to Baltimore specifically to eat here. Make sure you have a big empty tummy ready to fill up.  If needed, walk around the aquarium first.

[Note that it’s day time and bright out… we ended up skipping our original train ticket to eat more and go home later!]

I’m ready to rock and roll… [WOK and roll HAHAHA get it? Yeah I know bad joke, but AT LEAST I’m laughing!!!!]

Look familiar? Apparently they donate 1$ to breast cancer research everytime someone orders this. YAY

It’s called the Maiko Onee and contained hakutake sochu, pamplemousse rose, and yuzu. YUMMMMMM…

And before we knew what we were getting ourselves into, a little plate of small bites arrived. DELISH

Happy Spoons [oysters, caviar, mine had uni and lots of happiness], eel rilette, miso- carrot/burdock, ohitashi [the spinach], lotus root and tiny tiny white fishies.. I forgot what they’re called but so tender and yummy

SUCHHHH a palette opener. SO delicious. I could’ve used another plate. Haha. Sharing is hard when food is this good.

Good thing next course W and I both had our own bowls of sashimi.  AMAAAAAZING.

There was this one fish, seared… you eat with ginger and scallions. OMFG. Amazing. This was the most amazing fresh delicious creamy sashimi EVAAA

And suddenly we got free sake

Next came the most beautiful creamy custard-y soft homemade tofu. SOOO much better than the other day.

Some nori, scallion, mushrooms, japanese yam and OMG the tofu…….

Seeng this guy at work knew… yakitori was in the works

Foie Gras Pops wrapped in Nori.

HOLY FUCKING HELL. SOOO GOOD.  I love my foie. This was amaze balls.

At this point I was about to burst.  So I ordered some hot tea to help wash it down…

But I’m a trooper, so off I go go go

I’m pretty sure there were more nigiri… but.. just relooking at all of these makes me full again hahaha… we ended with this.  “Just one more… just one more…”

And it was simple and delicious.

But of course there is always ALWAYS room for desserts.

Gingerbread amazement. MIND BLOWING.

Dessert

No words just perfection. Go. Now.

Sushi Taro — Kaiseki & Sushi Tasting

Me and my W wanted Sushi… so after a day of work we finally decided to go find sushi. We KNEW we wanted sushi and didn’t know where to go.

THANKFULLY we met up with L and some of W’s friends and we decided on SUSHI TARO – a tiny walk up next to a CVS

Mr Octopussy says hi

So I’ve been back and forth about how to blog about out food since we both got different tastings.. So I’m gonna do it separately.  We shared our food but it’s easier to separate it.

We decided to get two different tastings.   W got the sushi tasting minus shellfish…

Sushi

Liver……. something….. and eggplant

Sashmi

Sushi

He’s so Jiro

We actually both got this soup so you can see more detail on my tasting.. except his didn’t have shellfish i it.

More sexy sushi

W totally shared his sushi with me…

Looked gross.. but very very soft and tender… W wasn’t into the texture as much.. i think it was beltfish.. but still.. NOM

More sushi sexiness..

And for the last course he got MY spicy tuna roll…

And I got the Kaiseki with wine pairing for me…

Kaiseki

Delicious aperitif sake with flower petals…

The most beautiful soft tender tofu

With a yummy pairing

Monkfish, oyster and eggplant

By this point my pairing kept coming super super late.

My Sashimi – DEEEElicious

The soup I talked about before…

Squeeze some lime…

Shrimp, fishcake, fish, etc.. YUM

SOOO GOOOOOD….. fried soba, fried fish, wasabi lotus root, squid, sweet potato, pome seeds, tomato and squid ink fried wakame.

OH and a escargot W helped open for me.

I got a yummy fish… that tasted SUPPPER sweet.. shisito pepper and then some… YUM

A duck meatball in a daikon wrap and surrounded by crabmeat. Sadly the duck meatball was COLD so  only ate around it.

I got W’s sushi in exchange for him getting my maki roll. Eel. Scallop and Salmon. <3

Next time we will try TURTLE!!!

For dessert, W picked the chocolate cake:

And I picked the chestnut cake…

YUMMMMMMMMMM. Will go back.