Friday, September 23, 2011

snapshot/taiwanese: home sweet home


When I fly into LAX and arrive late into the night, my ritual now includes picking up some rolled tacos aka taquitos, smothered in guacamole, before I head home.

When I fly in TPE and arrive early in the morning, the perfect place to head is to Yong He Dou Jiang (or your favorite local Taiwanese breakfast joint) for some freshly fried you tiao and cold, sweet soy milk, all for the ridiculous price of some pocket change. In this case with the dan bing or egg pancake, it was a grand total of NT$55 or under NT$2.

Home sweet home, Taipei!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

August/September restaurant roundup

-Neo 19 has a bunch of new additions- including Easy House Vegetarian, all you can eat Mala hotpot and Dazzling Champagne dining and bar, in addition to the ground level Just In Bistro
-Been hearing about a California Pizza Kitchen that will be opening up at the Xinyi Vieshow food court area!
-Formerly Patara/Grand Patio is now Bangkok Jam
-Yue Yuan Pho or Savoy (which their new self-titled English restaurant name, as spotted on their new business cards) has a new location near Lane 216 off of ZhongXiao E. Road
-Wendel's German Bakery and Bistro is opening another location in Neihu.
-At Xinyi Eslite, a new fried chicken place where Double Rainbow Ice Cream used to be and no more Planet Popcorn
-At A8 Mitsukoshi, a new Waffle Waffle, Minder Vegetarian and almond tofu place

I'm finally back this week after traveling and taking a little summer vacation. Hope to have some new posts to you guys soon!

Monday, September 05, 2011

snapshot/not taipei: CARLO'S BAKE SHOP aka Cake Boss



Hey everyone! I'm on the east coast for a few days and wishing I had more time to eat around NYC. But this weekend is all about the relatives and my cousin's wedding. Took the red eye friday night and got in early at 6am.

On the way from JFK to NJ, I decided to stop by Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ, which you might recognize from the TV show, Cake Boss. My mom and dad had never seen the show before and thought it was kind of crazy there was a line outside at 8am, when you could buy Dunkin Donuts or have McD's down the street with free wifi without any wait. It WAS kind of crazy- waiting outside for the 'wave in' and ticket number and then more waiting with too many people inside the narrow bakery. I thought that it wouldn't be too crowded on 8am on a Saturday, but I was wrong! Though the line outside looked short, there was a crowd of people jammed inside and we probably waited another half hour for our number to come up.


Saw some people picking up cakes and overheard things like "and your balance is $400"!!! No prices or menu listings anywhere, so when it was finally our turn I had to quiz the server 'how much' and 'what is this?' We got a little assortment of stuff- cupcakes, mini tiramisu and some strawberry cream thing, but my eyes were on the cannolis! Available plain or dipped in chocolate, the small ones were sold by weight ($12+ per pound) and the larger cannolis were $2.50 each.


I opted to get a box of 10 of the smaller ones and then they were filled with cream and dusted with powdered sugar. Crispy, creamy, sweet- the box intended for sharing with my relatives kind of ended up as my breakfast for the next few days. 

Thursday, September 01, 2011

not Taipei: LA Costco


Dear Taipei Costco,

Can you please bring some of this to Taipei? I promise there's a market for huge trays of frozen mexican rice and beans, flautas, tamales and enchiladas. Just ask Macho Tacos, Eddy's Cantina or Mayan Grill. I love you, but the bean and cheese burritos you're currently stocking just doesn't cut it. Or how about the chicken tikka masala or Jack Daniels bbq beef?

I'll even take the "Korean brand beef street tacos." Has anyone in LA actually tried this?

Costco LA has done all the work sourcing it for you- just give them a call or email and I promise I'll spread the word if you do.

Love, a Hungry girl in Taipei visiting in LA

:)