They can make a variety of designs by request, or just do something random. Cool, huh?
Posts Tagged ‘food’
Foamy creatures
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: experiences, food, interesting, pictures
16
June
2010
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Eating ritual
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: food, observation, opinion
13
June
2010
Lately I’ve noticed that I always smell my food before I eat it, getting a good whiff of the scent to prime my taste buds for enjoyment. It may seem strange and sometimes I catch myself and wonder what people who see me doing that would think. There are times when people find it normal, like when you get a steaming bowl of soup set before you. I think it should be something we do for all our food though! There are some fantastic smells to experience and sniffing something appetizing only makes us enjoy it more. I definitely think engaging another sense, especially one as powerful as smell, can enhance the experience.
Think about how your mouth waters when you get a whiff of your neighbor’s cooking. The anticipation itself can make the experience so much better. So next time you’re getting ready to take a bite into a delicious bit of food, stop and take good long inhalation of the aroma first. I bet it will make you enjoy your food that much more.
Pseudo-vegetarian
laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: environment, food, observation, videos
05
June
2010
Funny, I was just thinking about how I always seem to be the exception and never quite fit into a category. One such case is in eating habits – I’m not a “true” vegetarian, but practically am most of the time. Then I come across this video, talking about breaking down the idea that you either have to be a vegetarian/vegan or a crazy carnivore. I consider myself neither, really. In fact, I like to say I’m a pseudo-vegetarian. I don’t eat meat much but I do have some periodically. And so now, a new breed of vegetarians can emerge, treating their eating habits sort of like a job… meanwhile, I think I’ll stick to my own brand of “vegetarianism.”
Counter creation
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: food, pictures
02
June
2010
The Counter is a restaurant where you check boxes on a list and piece together your own meal, from the bread to the dressing to the meat to the toppings. It’s pretty fun and you never know if your combo will be that great, but that’s the fun of it. They have these amazing onion strings (kind of like shoestring fries) that are perfectly thin and lightly breaded and fried! Yum.
Mmm such delicate onion strings!
Create your own concoction! I got a "breadless burger" (aka salad :-P).
They forgot to give me my tomatoes!
Fabulous food
laelene Posted in general blog，Tags: experiences, food, opinion, pictures
31
May
2010
I’ve had a major craving for Din Tai Fung that was finally satisfied this weekend. I’m amazed that there is only one shop in all of the country and it’s in a little unassuming plaza in Arcadia (although now it seems they have opened a second one not even a block away). They are renowned for their xiao long bao, which are these coin purse type pork dumplings. They have delicate skins and the insides have a juicy filling that makes it sort of like having a sip of a rich stock. I often went to have them when I was in Singapore and hadn’t had any since I returned 9 months ago! It was high time to see if the US store was as good as its Asian counterparts.
I was extremely satisfied with the little morsels, though they definitely could have been more filling (and given larger portions). Taste-wise, I can’t tell the difference between theirs and what I had in Singapore, so I was happy! I haven’t had better xiao long bao in the states. Though come to think of it, I don’t even see it on the menu in most places. My craving is still there, so I’m thinking I need to go back regularly. For me, it’s worth the 30-40 minute drive and 15 minute wait. Plus, I can take a detour on the way back to get cha for tea! The BEST boba shop I’ve ever been to. Now that is a satisfying meal and drink combo!
Larger than life
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: food, interesting, pictures
30
May
2010
In my hand, the actual soda. In the background, the blow-up version!
Apples transformed
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: food, interesting, pictures
23
May
2010
How cute! I wonder how they taste though...
Dessert gone wrong
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: experiences, food, learning, panda
10
May
2010
This week, Ralph’s has strawberries on sale for only 99 cents a box, so Panda got some for his mom. We had a box and tonight, Panda and I attempted to make chocolate-dipped strawberries. We were optimistic, but soon found ourselves with an unmanageable mess. This is how it all went down…
We had the chocolate -
- we had the strawberries.
The strawberries got washed...
...and the chocolate got melted.
Then the strawberries got dipped.
Even with lots of swirling, the chocolate wouldn't quite stick right.
We had to resort to using chopsticks when it started to get harder.
The very first one! Not too shabby... right?
Mmm, looking good!
Oh no, what happened? It's getting all dried up now.
We give up and decide to try microwaving.
Panda wanted to try salvaging what apparently was burnt chocolate by adding water. Didn't quite work out as we wanted.
Giving up on the milk chocolate, we decide to start using the white chocolate.
Somehow managed to mess this up too... I swear everything went wrong after we started to accidentally get some water in the bowl.
One last chance to try to make it right. Going back to how we did it originally.
The chocolate solidifies quickly when it comes in contact with the cool, moist strawberry, so Panda ended up working on them with his fingers.
And to think, we wanted to dip those pineapples too... Next time, I'm getting fondue chocolate!
Butterfly food
laelene Posted in video blog，Tags: animals, food, singapore, videos
08
May
2010
These butterflies weren’t shy and didn’t mind us staring as they fed.
butterflies feeding from Mary Qin on Vimeo.
A very special treat
laelene Posted in photo blog，Tags: cupcakes, experiences, food, los angeles, social media, sprinkles, twitter
21
April
2010
Sprinkles gives away free cupcakes daily, if you follow them on Twitter and get to their shop in time to be the first 25 to say the secret word of the day. Sometimes, that free offer is a flavor not sold at their stores – a much coveted prize (for me, anyway).
This day, it was this lovely chocolate cupcake with chocolate ganache and marshmallow filling, which isn’t a special flavor, but came in a very special way. I was surprised to get it so fresh that the ganache hadn’t even firmed up yet; now there’s a rare occasion! It was just about the last one left too. Beautiful.
On the left, the chocolate marshmallow with fresh ganache. On the right, the classic red velvet.
