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!

Another FAILED Perm, Tea Time & another dinner at Din Tai Fung

They FUCKED up my perm last time. Yes. Perm. Embarrassing YES. But they fucked it up, so they should be embarrassed.

You know the bigger the boot…

The bigger the foot!

Tea Time @ Afternoon Tea in Sogo

Delicious Corn Chowder….

Duck Risotto with Poached Egg and Salad

Spicy Spaghetti with Grilled Prawns

Chicken Sandwich Salad [yes with buttery toast]

Tons of Espresso alllll for meeeee…

Happy Happy Joy Joy

Banana/Kiwi/Walnut Roll

Lemon Angel Cake

Raspberry Chocolate Mousse Cake

Delicious

… I went back for a nap…and to rest my poor twisted swollen ankle…… afterwards I met up with all my aunts and mama at Din Tai Fung for dinner…

Woodear Fungus with Goji

Dan Dan Noodles – mmmm Spicy and Peanuty

Meat Buns

All this food, ALLLLLL consumed by us ladies…

Xiao Long Bao <3 The loves of my life

I ended up in food coma with Mr. Piggie staring at me til I fell asleep…. icing my ankle

Mövenpick Cafe at 明曜

I woke up with I NEED ICE CREAM FACE

OK I woke up late… I’ve been taking SUPER meds since I’ve got stupid ear infection and then I got a weird skin allergy that gave me super hives :[ I wanted ice cream…. but I needed some grub with it as well…. HRM… but I ended up wandering around til like 330ish before I finally sat down to eat something….

*I dream of Ice Cream*

OOOO LA LA… after getting insulted by a short stout girl saying I needed a size L corset for my wide waist and that I couldn’t fit into her smaller size, I DID and it was LOOSE. BITCH! GRR. So, after getting the TINIEST size corset, telling them HA! I headed over to Mövenpick Cafe for ice cream :] I’ve ALWAYS had their ice creams all over Taiwan but just at restaurants, buffets and stands.. not their Cafe. And OH MY YUM have I been missing out!

Here are some things on my list of things to tryyyyy!!!

VOLCANO!

Strawberry Princess..

Alcoholic Dress Toast

Dutch Waffle Pastry :] MMM Layers

And their DELICIOUS Ice Cream Flavors.. gotta eat them all!

First I needed some real food, there was some Tea involved [with a chocolate muffin]

And a Seafood & Chicken Salad with Rosemary Bread

Cucumbers, Romaine, Tomato, Egg, Shrimp, Crab, Chicken, Olives & Corn… YUM!… with a creamy Caesar dressing on the side [sans anchovies haha]

Then after a quick gobble down I was ready for my DESSERT!!!! Come baby come!!!

Americano [x2]

Fantasy Ferris Wheel

Pistachio, Stracciatella, Maple Walnut, Chocolate, Black Currant, Vanilla, Strawberry

The Maple Walnut, Choc, Vanilla and Strawberry were the ones that came with the wheel and I got to choose 3 more.. BOO! I thought it was 7 of whatever I wanted and I made my whole list and submitted it until they told me LATEAR that I could only pick 3 :[ *pout* I hate rules!

But this plate was licked clean! Maple Walnut & Stracciatella are still my favorites. The vanilla was SOOO creamy tho and the chocolate had chocolate ribbons in it like the Stracciatella :] And each ball was on top of a slice of brownie. NOM!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

Right after, I headed to SOGO to meet up with my cousin, his gf, their adorable baby girl Zoe, my aunt [cous’ mom] and my mommy for dinner at Ding Tai Fung!!!!

She looks so much like when I was a baby :] My mini-me! She was posing with me all nite!!! TEEHEE* And we played peekaboo after dinner until she was ready to fall asleep and started getting a lil fussy hyper. LOL CUUUUTE!!!

I’m an Auntie ;]

Tea Time at 明森宇治抹茶

Right after lunch, we headed to 明森 for Tea Time.. yep after a 2.5 – 3 hour lunch we then went straight to a 2 hour tea time.. told you us Taiwanese ladies know how to eat ;]

It was slightly hidden in a small straight off of a main road…

We got our own room to fit all… 11? 12? however many of us… doors had to be closed cuz we were super loud and laughing the whole time.. but doors kept opening cuz we kept getting drinks and food ;] HAHAHA

And my favorite cousin met us there!!! <3 My fellow tall Taiwanese fashionista twinnie!!!

We shared two different pots of teas with two other daughters at the table and me and her both got a Matcha Soft Serve Ice Cream over Tofu Pudding [豆花] and covered with Black Beans

SOOOO GOOD! SOOOO GLAD I got this. Slightly salty and barely sweet THICK HUGE Black Beans [good for black hair] over DELICIOUS SUPPPPPPER MATCHA infused soft serve over totally tender freshly made tofu pudding. OH HAPPY DAY!

Us being sillies :]

Black Sugar Jelly w/ Peanut Powder

These were so good. I cut them up and dumped them into my sundae. What I love about Taiwan is that they have so much black sugar stuff now. Black Sugar Mochis are my favorite *hint hint* ;]

Puffy Matcha Macarons

Puffy and filled with a matcha cream, it was soooo good! The first one I had still had a firm creamy filling but the one I had at the end of the day was SOOOO melty and creamy. MMMMMMM… different varieties *LOVE*

Basically a 綠豆椪/綠豆凸 but with Matcha…

Nothing was too special abotu this, they WERE really pretty looking though, but I eat these all the time. Flakey/powdery and kind of melts in your mouth and binds it together like a mouthful of …. powdered sugar almost. But not crazy sweet.

Matcha Ice Cream Sundae with Matcha Jelly, Mochi, Red Beans, etc…

We got a few of each of the hand cakes/cookies/snacks/jellies so we had SOOOO much – we ended up with 11/12 different dessert plates… And YES we ate it ALL. Actually, my cousin and I had to clean up shop at the end since the other two girls were weaksauce and the older ladies were whining about getting fat/being full ;] Hey the more macarons and jellies, the merrier, well for us two :] We ate, we drank, we laughed, we conquered. Great day out with the ladies – minus a snotty bitch or two, HUMF! Won’t complain about it here tho, SEE TWITTER for my anger management issues LOL

Now?… off to dinner :] After heading to the ER first.. my hives were at it’s worst and I was DYYYYYYING and looked like I was freaking sunburnt and stun by bees :[ OK, LOL, not that bad, but pretty bad AND SOOOO UNCOMFORTABLE. SO TOTALLY DYING.

Lunch & Tea Set from Aunt Stella’s

I woke up super late.. exhausted.. especially from being out all day… and night and it was close to dinner time so I knew I needed a quickie snack before hand before I passed out… soooooo….

Aunt Stella’s Handmade Cookies & Cakes

I usually come here just for their waffles and cookies with my coffee/tea but today I needed some savory with my sugary sweet :]

Auntie Stella…

So is this Uncle Stella? Mr. Auntie Stella? TEE HEE…

We both got the Daily Set A which is Entree, Soup or Salad, Drink + Dessert! Perfection!

We waited… sipping on our waer glass.. and then the delicious piping hot bread came…

Smiles all around…

Oops wait, not that one ;] Besides puppy says “I’m NOT Bread!!!” But this is:

Scallion Bread

Crispy crunchy skin with delicious herbs and scallions sprinkled thru-out the innards of the fluffy white bread. OMG YUM!

Creamy Vegetable ChowderCreamy, light chowder with chunks of different garden vegetables and potatoes. YUM!

Garden Salad

Fresh and yummy with a light vinaigrette

燒烤風味牛肉佐南瓜燉飯/Pumpkin Risotto with Beef

Delicious creamy risotto… tender delicious beef and yummy steamed asparagus with a nice drizzle of delicious sauce over it.  Chunks of pumpkin in the yummy orange rice… which was a lot lighter than regular risotto I get in the States, uuber yummy!

凱薩沙拉 烤雞腿/Caesar Salad w/ Roasted Chicken 

Fresh romaine and other greens… crunchy yummy croutons, a nice boiled egg, a sprinkle of parm and roasted dark meat chicken [with skin] – honestly it’s SO rare to eat white meat/chicken breast here in Taiwan lol, Asians love their juicy fatty dark meat – and chicken skin :] TEE HEE.

Super Anchovy Caesar Dressing

Love caesar dressing, love anchovies but all together this was too overpoweringly fishy for me!

Dessert Time…

詩特莉有機咖啡/Stella’s Organic Coffee

咖啡榛果捲/Coffee Roll Cake

Dense with coffee cream and a firm hazelnut spread.  The outter cream had a chocolate nib and coffee sauce drizzled over it.  The cake was way too dense for our liking and tasted a bit like it’s been in the fridge a little too long… so we just ate the cream :] But then after my choice of the pomelo cake, anything wouldn’t taste as good :]

柚子優格捲/Pomelo Roll Cake
SOOOO delicious! This was my very favorite.. one of the tastiest fluffiest creamy cakes I’ve had in awhile :] Full of yummy pomelo flavor. Oh so light. SO different from the coffee cake roll… fluff fluff mmmmm I could eat a whole roll of this <3

Hot Pot at 上都和食

After a day of shopping, exploring and tea time at WooBar…. we got a Tea Set again… and always some others…

Chicken Satay Skewers with Cucumber Peanut Butter Relish

Bubbles in the Tropics

White Rum, Fresh Lemon, Passionfruit, Champagne

This was so super tasty!!!! I love the passionfruit seeds in it!!! The flavor was great, and ya’ll know how much I love my bubbles!!

Taipei Champagne

Lychee Liqueur with Fresh Orange and Lemon, Topped with Champagne

I’ve always been a sucker for lyrhcee flavored things… especially booze ;] #soasian

…with my mom’s bestie and her daughter, Serena we headed to Hankyu department store, right next door and after wandering a bit we went upstairs knowing we wanted Japanese food.  So sushi + hotpot it was at Uni-Sato 和食 Japanese Fusion Restaurant.

I’m obsessed with buttons and knowing that this was here made me obsessed with pressing it to call the waiters over. *big bong*

Complimentary Oshinko Su/Pickled Radishes

Straight up we ordered the 海鮮味噌紙火鍋, a seafood/crab hotpot set.

Veggies, squid, fish, fish balls, seaweed, etc etc

Miso Soup HotPot

Giant Japanese Oysters & Crab

Fat Juicy and Tender.. reminds me of the ones from Kenka’s.

Peekabooboo ;]

Adding in some veggies

Yummy White Rice

Scallop Sashimi

It was supposed to be half the scallops cooked and half of it raw but I wanted it all raw. These, unlike the ones back in the States, were whole thick fat scallops, I’m used to them sliced thinly… still good.

Salmon Sashimi

This, like the scallops, was supposed to come with cooked AND raw salmon but I asked for all raw… Why is sashimi in Asia so freaking skinny?!?!.. LOL.. I like my salmon nice fat and juicy ;]

酥炸軟殼蟹/Deep Fried Soft Shelled Crab

Ok I know these noodle-like things are made some sort of veg but I can’t figure out what it’s called in engrish, waa. Help?!

Grilled Japanese Fish

Fishy, tender and succulent.. full of flavor.  Came with shaved radish and a nice juicy lime to squirt over it.

Side Salad/Dish of Cold Shrimp, Japanese Taro, Peppers, etc…

Fresh fluffy rice with tea infused 蝦米, tiny shrimp YUM

Miso Soup that came with the Fish set

信田蒸/Chiwan Mushi that came with the Fish set

And finally they came out with our Sashimi platter.. with different fishes, roe, sweet shrimp and delicious creamy yummy uni :]

Sucked the shrimp head dry, ate the tender body.. and of course the creamy uni slid one by one, blob by blob over my tongue and down my throat. Delicious.

Complimentary Dessert of Sweet Red Bean Soup thickened with mochi paste
SOOO GOOD!!!!

This place was delicious. So much more food and so much cheaper than EN from the other day [worst lol]

菊島 – 澎湖海鮮餐廳 Seafood Restaurant

Dressed up and headed off to Hsinchu to see some relatives and eat some good grub early this morning…. new Tod’s foxfur purple bag and furry Prada boots :]  I gots my hair curled and wore some cute short shorts!! HUZZAH!!

Eating Wax Apples/Bell Fruit/蓮霧 on the HSR :] One of my favorite fruits EVER AND I’ve only ever since it here in Asia – none in the States :[ BOO!

When we got to the station we waited for some of my aunts to get there, I was starved so I stopped by the 7 to get some grub…

Salads… For Men, For Women…

Fried Patties? In the fridge?!… interesting…

Steamed bunnnsss!!!

SNAUUUUUSAGES!!!

And then I got some of this yummies

Deliciousness!!!

YAYYYY!!! My fav sort of cheap eats…

Daikon :D

We got to my uncles house and had our own little tea time…
Aren’t these tea strainers and cups cute?! They’re from Starbucks!! How come we don’t sell these in the States? BOO!!!

The most delicious cheesecake in Taiwan :] From a little bakery in Taichung near my aunt’s house!!

Eating cheesecake, peanuts, oranges, cookies and others ALL right before dinner time… :]

菊島 – 澎湖海鮮餐廳 Seafood Restaurant has been open for only a month or so…

A nice welcoming sign :] The lady of the house was a pretty young lady by the name of Sophia!!! She was so nice and came to talk to us :]

My Uncle is pretty VIP and has already been to this restaurant like 4x so we got the Chef’s Tasting… we had no idea how many courses or what was coming out, just a set price and lots of yummies brought out to us!

Housemade super spicy Kimchi. DELICIOUS!

Salad with a Japanese dressing…

Corn, okra, cucumber, apple, asparagus, onions and lettuce!! YUM!!!

Conch and Sashimi plate!

Delicious crunchy fresh conch and tender super super fresh sashimi!!!! :D

Blowfish Skin Sashimi & Quickly Poached Oysters

You pour this garlicky sauce over the raw blowfish skin.. it was crunchy and SO good. A little fishy but fantastic. What a great experience.  The poached oysters were fat and juicy and full of flavor.. but it was the skin that totally won my tummy over.

Fried octopus balls and Fried seafood/chinese chives rolls

I completely fell in love with the octopus balls, they may have been fried but were super light and the innards were ALL octopus, no batter so definitely not like takoyaki.  These were SO good and dense of octopus, tender octopus.  The seaweed rolls were filled with unrecognizable parts of seafood… me thinking squid and sorts. and lots of chinese chives.

Seaweed with  Baby Clams

The seaweed was cooked to the point of mushy but so goood… delicious seaweed taste and simply cooked with juicy tender fresh baby clams! YUM!

Thinly sliced Sirloin with Ginger and Gingko

Each piece of beef had a thin slice of ginger on it.  Simply cooked in a light broth filled with plump juicy gingko seeds.

Sake Shot :]

Partway thru the beginning of dinner we started drinking cold shots of sake – SO YUM!

They brought out a HUGE plate of mixed veggies and mushrooms.. filled with lily bulbs, gingko seeds and a variety of wild mushrooms YUM

Spicy Fried Fish [烏魚 – Mullet] Belly over Flash Fried Basil

The flash fried basil just melted on your tongue into a delicious basil-y goodness… the fish belly was thick and tender and super juicy and mixed with a spicy spice blend and fried. SO GOOD!

Next came Scorpionfish cooked over pickled cabbage and thickly sliced raw scallions
Tender and while not meaty, we had this earlier before and I was so in love with the pickled cabbage… YUM!  Wish it was meatier.. :[ Hahah I probably could’ve eaten the whole thing by myself in minutes… but #mustbealady ;D

Miso Fish Soup

A nice huge hunk of fish.. while boney, so delicious and lots of daikon

Pumpkin Rice Noodles [米粉] stir-fried with Pumpkin, Fatty Pork and baby Clams

Apparently this stuff is famous in HsinChu… oh oh oh oh oh so yummy!!!

I got a nice big bowl of it and ate it all up.  The noodles were tender and orange and pumpkin-y all on it’s own.. not to mention TONS of slivers of tenderly cooked pumpkin with the occasional bite of baby clam or fatty pork. YUM!

After a satisfying and totally delicious meal, out came a light dessert.. Asian ppl have fruit for dessert ;]

Jelly made from 愛玉 [Ficus pumila var. awkeotsang] flavored with caramel and a splash of lemon juice

SO good and refreshing!!!

This place was delicious and totally recommended!!!  It’s brand new and hopefully here to stay.. hopefully it just gets better :] YUM!

雞窩 G-WOO

Woke up to have some yummy Taiwanese Egg Crepe [蛋餅] and fruits….

It’s like a scallion egg omelette on a thin thin tortilla-ish crepe :] YUM!

Source: IAmWen on Flickr

….and then after getting ready headed out to get lunch with mommy and daddy..

XOXO to a certain YOU from Taipei ;]

So mommy and daddy were already there since they came from elsewhere.. sitting and already eating [they eat SUPER fast] and they had rice noodles and pig’s blood soup with veggies on the side – I got there late and got a hotpot :] My fav.

Extra extra spicy tomato based broth with seafood and beef and clear noodles – YUM

A nice gooey runny egg… super delicious and creamy – my favorite and only type of yolk I eat… GOOOOP!!!

Daddy saw that they were selling Takoyaki [たこ焼き aka 蛸焼], my fav, and he got a “boat” of them for us to share – they were piping hot. The batter was spiced with delicious herbs and while the octopus was slightly lacking.. only one chunk in each giant ball… they were pretty tasty and goopy on the inside.

Bought some buns and waffles [you’ll see I had mine for a midnite snack tonite] at one of my favorite bakeries…

PIckles Donut?!?!?!

Also bought some of my favorite asian fruit.. a HYBRID only found in Taiwan…

鳳梨釋迦 – a Cherimoya + Pineapple Hybrid aka Atemoya, a whopping 5lbs of amazing delicious juiciness
See that big one on the top? That was the one I bought.. took me forever to eat it lol… ate so much I got nauseous lol SO FREAKING GOOD!!!

Afterwards I headed to the hospital to get my piercing infection checked out… once again I’m in Taiwan, half sick and on tons of meds… woop. At least I’m not on tons of pain medication this time [hehe, pain meds, always a fun time!!!]

I hit up some sports stores to find Daddy + Mommy some workout clothes and then needed a sugar and caffeine recharge…

Alas, after wandering about, I still figured Afternoon Tea was my best bet. Didn’t wanna try anything new. PLUS they had new desserts/cakes on display and on their menu that I HADDDDD to try!!!

Strawberry and Orange Zuccotto Roll Cake

While the banana/kiwi roll is light and fluffy, this cake was chocolatey and dense [but in a good way, definitely not overwhelmingly so] and tons of strawberry and orange pieces in it. YUM!

Black Tea Chiffon Cake

SOOO delicious. The frosting was light and creamy… like a super light whipped cream consistancy and BURSTING with a black tea flavor.  The cake itself was super fluffy and also full of tea flavor and had some walnuts chopped into it. YUM – Nevertheless, I thought that it could’ve used a few layers of creamy tea goodness between layers of the cake.

Condensed Milk Cream and Strawberry Mousse Cake

I had been stuck between this and the chocolate roll above but ended up going for chocolate cuz.. I duno, maybe I’m being hormonal or stressed but whatevz I needed my chocolate but I still NEEDED this. So me being the greedy little fat kid after eating those two pieces I ordered another. It’s my tummy, I do what I want!

[rant about Taiwanese youth deleted. hahahahahha I was tipsy and angry last night when I wrote it… LOL – just annoyed at how superficial and immature ppl can be here.. act your age peeps. kthanks!]

SOOOO back to the food… A few cups of seriously strong espressos later.. [and all those cakes] I headed back to the hotel to refresh… not before stopping by Salad to buy a new short short jean skirt ;] WHICH I ended up changing into for dinner TEEHEE.

Around 630ish or so Mommy, Daddy and I headed to 雞窩 [G-WOO], just a few short blocks away from the hotel I’m staying at… it’s the sister restaurant of 驥園 which is a Sichuan restaurant famous for their clay pot chicken soups… This is the baby sister and is a little more chic, more casual and has a wider range of food…

Bamboo & Fatty Pork Strips w/ Peppers

This was really good.. altho I prefer my bamboo to be a lot thicker cut and these were some of the thinnest I’ve had – almost to the point where it didn’t seem very “bamboo-like” delicious nonetheless and the fatty pork wasn’t too fatty – which is good and bad.  Bamboo is great when paired with a fattier type of meat or in a greasier sauce since it helps get rid of the grease/fat when in your belly :]

Spicy Beef & Tofu Strips w/ Cilantro

Spicy and delicious.  Tender beef, not overcooked, and tons of tender tofu strips. NOM!  Great with rice!  I added extra fresh chili peppers to it since I’m a spicy food fiend ;]

My own bowl of  Vegetarian Fried Rice [炒飯]

Delicious.  And definitely tasted like it was made from fresh rice, not ghetto leftover rice like a lot of restaurants, but then you never know LOL…

五更肠旺 – Spicy Pig’s Blood & Large Intestines w/ Tofu

Chewy pieces of intestines with a little bit of crunch to it.. and creamy blocks of pig’s blood and soft tender tofu…

“五更肠旺 – Wu Geng Chang Wang” [is] a spicy stew with preserved mustard, tofu, pork intestine slices and congealed pork blood cubes.” [Source]

Vegetarian Stir-Fried Noodles [炒麵]

Spicy Clams Sauteed with Basil [炒海瓜子]

Daddy ordered this just for me :] Spicy, basil-y and tender and fresh. I FREAKING LOVE CLAMS!  I ate at least more than half the dish. Sorry. But, lately, I need my clams fix on a daily basis.  I’m some crazy preggno woman. BUT. Not preggo. In order to be preggo you need booty. I ain’t getting any. Haven’t. Hasn’t. And we won’t even talk about getting GOOD booty cuz then this blog will just get depressing.. okay, more food and food pix to drool over.. [btw NO feeling sorry for me. I chose not to get booty cuz I’d rather get no booty than bad booty or random gross booty. KAPEESH? Hi Mom! Hi Dad!] Btw here’s a great Clams recipe.

Salt & Pepper Fried Chicken

Not too salty, not too peppery, good flavor and lightly fried.  Not usually my favorite thing to eat but I had a nice big juicy piece anyways :]

Sauteed Pea Shoots [豆苗/Dau Miu]

The plate was tiny but they were fresh and tasty.  Not greasy at all and cooked to perfection!

Fried Crumbled Soy Beans over Steamed Cod

The balance of textures and flavors were great.. the fish was silky, soft, mild and tender while the crumbled soy beans were a bit crunchy and salty.. YUM!

TOTALLY recreating this and one.. three-uping it, when I go home. Strangely I totally thought this was more of a chilean or butterfish but they said the direct translation was Cod. Didn’t really taste like cod but delicious nonetheless.  I tried to be anorexic and lady like at first but I was hungry dammit so I took two huge portions. :] Fat kid’s gotta eat or she’ll be cranky. SOOO.. yea. ;]

Clam and Ginger Soup

The soup tasted like chicken soup tho, not clam soup.  Which makes sense since both sister restaurants are known for their chicken soups and dishes.. just slightly disappointing but also fine since, even tho the chicken soup was mild, I’ve been having clam/ginger soup almost every day since I’ve been in Taiwan LOL. The clams were so good and juicy and soft and plump.  Not overcooked which is many many thumbs up!

Stir-Fried Tomato with Egg [蕃茄炒蛋]

One of my favorite dishes since childhood.. and I love my mommy’s the bestest.  Great over rice or noodles… I could eat a giant bowl of it by myself.  But I found there’s to be dry and not as “wet” as I’m used to.  I also love it with tons of tomatoes as well as tons of eggs, and scallions.. lots of fresh scallions :]

Soft Tofu with Veggies in Brown Sauce

Fried Shrimp w/ Pineapple and Mayo – 奶油核桃蝦
[but without the Walnuts and Rainbow Sprinkles]

My favorite version of this dish, I’ve mentioned before, which is ALSO like the only time I ever eat mayo and preferably ONLY Kewpie mayo… is Fried Shrimp with Candied Walnuts, Mayo and Rainbow Sprinkles — UUUUUUBER Taiwanese :] Rainbow Sprinkles is KEY!!!!

[Source: Maya83 on Flickr]

酸辣羹 – Hot and Sour Soup

Pouring the Sea Cucumbers Dish over the Sizzling Rice

Sizzling Rice is basically fried uncooked rice which puffs up and is SOOO good…… when it touches something wet it starts popping and literally, “sizzling” YUM – I eat it by itself as a snack all the time – they sell it in snack packs :]

Sea Cucumbers Over Sizzling Rice

Twice Fried Green Beans [乾煸四季豆]

My daddy’s favorite dish, but I still think my mom makes it best!  It’s supposed to be the blacker and “drier” and “flatter” aka the 乾 [dry] and 煸 [flat] the better BUT I still like the way my mom makes it, still twice fried but less fried and still green and pretty [altho the blacker the softer and greasier and deliciousnessssss… hahahaha]

This year for Thanksgiving my mom had made it with chilis which is more of a Sichuan [四川] style  – speaking of which I need to make the Tday 2011 post asap ;] Hahaha.. but the Photo Album is here. and this green beans dish pic is here <3 YUM!

Happy 78th Bday Grandma…

SO why the “80”? Because in Lunar Years she’s turning 79… and we don’t celebrate #9’s in our culture so we always skip to the next number :] SO, 80!

Coffee Brulee Cake

Lots of different candied nuts with a nice tiramisu/brulee type of cake with a light creamy coffee-flavored whipped cream sort of frosting.

The Ding’s [丁家]

I ended the night, not too stressed out, but definitely in need of a drink or two [long long story]… so I headed to the 09 [09倉庫] Whickey & Wine Bar near my hotel…

Delicious Salty Bar Snacks…

A few glasses of a nice Red Cab

And of course a few plates of delicious juicy piping hot Taiwanese Sausage [香腸] with Raw Scallions/Garlic

Other than Black Taiwanese sausage from Lao Yo Ji this is my favorite Taiwanese Sausage to get in Taipei!!!! I have NO idea where they buy it from but it’s the BOMB DIGGITY YO!

And slightly tipsy and whooopdedooooing… came back home to sour straws and my love, my only my Chocolate covered sugary Waffle from earlier today :]

G’nite world, this chica needs to sleep now… she’s running on booze, sugarrrr and pure adrenaline right now ;D

Tea Time at Spring City Resort in XingBeiTou

Every year I go to different Hot Springs Resorts to find out which I like the best… I haven’t been to Xing Bei Tou in two years so it was time to go visit again.  Last year I went to one in Taichung to live at for a few nights at Fresh Fields and it was AHHH-MAZING!!! I never really finished blogging about that place. OOPS – this is why I’m trying to blog while I eat HERE :] I get lazy and distracted with more fun and eats when I’m back in the states. #randombabbling…

HEE HEE HEE these figures are all over the train station SO CUTE

Nuuuuude

Climbing Taipei 101

CHEEEEZING*

Certification hahahaha….

First of all, I was displeased in the beginning since it looked nice but then they misplaced our vouchers and it took FORRRRRRRRREVER for them to find them even tho we had called in the morning to make reservations. WHAT THE DILLY YO?!??!… FINALLY after choosing Tea Time over Dinner – since we could only hot springs for an hour with the “set” and we’d have to wait a few hours after to eat dinner.. we got Tea Time. BAD CHOICE. More on that in a bit…

BUNNY

Obviously no pics of me in the hot springs since it was NUUUUUUDE ;D The room was TEENY TINY – boo – and super stinky.. and there was only 3 bathrooms for ALL the people in the hot springs to use instead of individual – I should’ve brought my bikini so I could Hot Springs outside for better air ventilation and just.. less stinky?!… more space?!… this was kinda disappointing since i’ve been to so many good ones in Taiwan so far :[ Sniffle.

All cleaned up, dressed back up and ready to grub – STARVED

Opted for Tea Time… the chinese and japanese menus looked promising but dinner was TOO FAR AWAY for my tummy to wait

Tea Time was a set meal and than a dessert/soup/salad bar attached.

I made two huge helpings of salad

Got some French Onion Soup – minus the crouton and cheese…

And ordered the Pan Fried Salmon

Salmon is a very flavorful fish and this wasn’t overcooked and had good flavor.  Came with yellow rice and steamed veggies.. the sauce was a bit too greasy tho :P

My Hot Springs date got the Chicken Roll

I thought the outside would be tofu skin but it ended up being chicken skin.. the chicken meat itself was bland :[ BOO! And same rice and veggies as my salmon…

“Sweet” Soup for Dessert

Everything was just overly sweet so I just got two bowls of the hot Grass Jelly and added Green Beans to it :] YUM!

I’ve never had HOT grass jelly before, it comes out liquidy and slowly solidifies while you eat.  The green beans [mung beans] were the least sweetened of what they offered.. [Peanuts, Jacob’s Tears, Red Beans, etc etc…]

Desserts Bar

Scone, Cookie, Honey Cake, Portuguese Egg Tart

NOM NOM!

Yeah the desserts weren’t good either… :P The egg tart was the best out of the bunch and it was probably the worst honey cake ever :[ SADNESS.