Merry Christmas!!

Disney World Eats

We spent our first night in Orlando at Downtown Disney. After finding one another at the airport, getting our luggage, getting to the Disney Resort, checking in, and then taking a ferry boat ride to Downtown Disney, it was about 8pm and we were starving because neither of us had eaten anything since breakfast.

After quickly scanning the dining options, we decided to have dinner at the new T-Rex Cafe (so new it doesn't have it's own website yet!), where we had a "prehistoric" dining experience. ha ha.
See here, we had dinner with a family of triceratops. I had a Brontosaurus Burger (minus the cheese). The waffle fries were sooooo good. I should have ordered another side dish of it.

The Boy ordered a half slab of T-Rex Ribs, which were so tender and juicy, and the meat literally just fell off the bones. I also tried to feed some mashed potatoes to the momma triceratops.

We spent our second day at Disney's Epcott Center (more to follow), had breakfast early in the morning, and then didn't have lunch until 4pm. Boy, it's hard work trying to fit everything into one day, but we did it! Below is what we had for our linner - Mexican cuisine of soft tacos, burritos, and a ton of chips and salsa/guacamole.
On Day 3, we spent the morning at the Animal Kingdom. After seeing all the musicals and attractions we wanted to see, we had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, where they had these funny looking bar stools. What a genius idea, eh?
We had a selection of appetizers at the Rainforest Cafe - quesadilla, chicken tenders, calamari, chicken rolls, and spinach dip. Guess what? We finished it all. Yep, we did. I was hungry.
We spent the second half of Day 3 at the Magic Kingdom. My main goal for the evening was to get my hands on one of those giant turkey legs. We didn't have dinner until about 8pm, but we each got ourselves a turkey leg, and it was GOOOOOD.
Our last day in Orlando was spent at Hollywood Studios. By this time, The Boy was getting the early signs of a cold and we were both getting a bit tired from doing 15-hour days marathon of the parks.
We had a lunch break at Mama Melrose's Risorante. We started off with an appetizer of calamari, which was really good, not fishy and very tender. The marinara sauce was especially tasty because it had a bite of spice to it, but the spice wasn't overwhelming.
The Boy ordered the bruchetta, which had a really nice balsamic vinergrette on it. The combination of tomatoes had a nice taste to it too.
I had the spaghetti with clams and mussels. It had the same marinara sauce as the calamari so I was happy.
We later went back to Downtown Disney for some souvineer shopping and dinner, which was at Planet Hollywood: buffalo chicken sticks, crispy chicken tenders and sliders. We ordered a bit too much and ended up taking home the leftovers.
And as I sit here updating my blog, both The Boy and I have a cold - he's slowly getting over his and mine is just starting. Hopefully, we can both be better in time for Christmas dinner, because let me tell you this - food just doesn't taste good when your nose is running like a faucet and you're sneezing up a storm.

first snow

From my bedroom window:

From my camera phone - outside my apartment complex


I like fresh snow. I've seen it and taken a picture of it. I'm satisfied. Therefore, the snow can now go away.



Two more days until sunny Florida and Disney World!! Oh, and I'm excited to see The Boy too. =)

free advertising

Looky what I created from scratch: click here

Now I can add website designer to my list of "Alternate Jobs"* in case I won't ever get employed as an attorney after graduating from law school.

*Alternate Jobs List
-Flower arrangement
-Cake Decorator
-Cookie Maker

baking the day away

Being done with finals, I have nothing productive to do. I feel a little at a loss because I should be reading for class or checking things off my to-do list for school.

Oh well, I'm not complaining. I kept myself busy today with baking. The original goal was to make Ginger Pumpkin Bread for girls night tonight, and then I was craving chocolate chip cookies so I made that too. For some odd reason, the pumpkin bread turned out too dry and didn't even taste like pumpkin. I probably shouldn't have used a can of pumpkin puree that was a year old (the expiration date on the can said April 2009!). Oh well, the cookies turned out well. Hope the girls like them.

In between batches of cookies, I was also researching the Disney World website. "Why?" you ask? Courtesy of The Boy--he's giving me a long weekend in Orlando, Florida, for Christmas. And I just realized this is our first vacation where we actually go outside the state of California. I'm counting the days until I get to see Mickey and Minnie again (6 to go!)

Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe -- Click HERE. I just didn't add any nuts to the batch I baked today.

DONE!!

Whoo hoo! Just finished my one and only final exam, and now I am DONE with papers and all!

Five semesters down, one more to go!

WHEEE!!!!

food for thought

I'm taking a study break to update my blog with some final photos of food from my recent trip home to Boston. Yes, I'm also hungry at the moment, that's why food is on my mind.
For dinner one night, I bought one of those rotisserie chickens from Costco. I brought it home, left it on the dining table, and decided to go take a quick nap before the parents got home from work. As I was napping, I heard all sorts of banging and clanging in the kitchen. Wanting to know what was going on, I discovered my uncle was chopping up the rotisserie chicken, adding a special soy sauce concoction, and garnishing it with cucumbers. His fixings made the chicken taste more "Asian"...
On Thanksgiving morning, my brother went out to have breakfast with his GF (who I have yet to meet!), and brought me back some pigs-in-blanket from IHOP. That's right, I didn't realize IHOP was open on Thanksgiving either. Someone (either my brother or the people at IHOP) forgot to include the syrup.
On another day, my dad bought home some Vietnamese sandwiches from a place I think he called "Kinh Do" on Dorchester Ave. To my great dismay, my favorite sandwich shop went out of business. But this place is proving to be a good replacement.

Okay, time to forage for some food and back to studying.

Vietnamese Crepes

For my mother's birthday, and her day off from work, she made Vietnamese Crepes for lunch/dinner (linner!). Um, you're probably asking why my mom is cooking when it's her birthday AND her day off. Well, I was still sleeping when I heard her in the kitchen, and she didn't tell me she wanted to eat Vietnamese crepes. She just came up with the idea when she woke up that morning. Besides, I made it up to her by buying her a wallet she wanted when we later went shopping.

Anyway, I find it funny that Wikipedia has a really good description of what Vietnamese Crepes are. And here's an online recipe I found. As for the pictures below, it's my documentation of what my mom did in the kitchen on her birthday.
First, mix the batter for the crepes.

Next, get the pan nice and hot.
Add a little oil to the pan.
Pour thin layer of crepe batter to the pan.

Cover and let sit.
Then add the shrimp. Cover and let sit again.
Then add the beansprouts. Cover and let sit.
Fold half the crepe over.
Remove from pan and put on plate, with a piece of foil inbetween crepes so each crepe doesn't stick to the other (also makes it easier for serving).
Serve with fresh veggies and dipping sauce (aka nuoc mam).

dim sum in Boston

Emperor's Garden early on a Sunday morning, where the crowd doesn't come in until a little before lunchtime (we were there at 9:30am).
See, the dim sum cart ladies were just standing around because they had already circled the diners four million times with the same dishes.

Siu Mai -- pork dumplings
Shrimp and Chives dumpling
Ha Gow -- shrimp dumplings
And a deliciously sweet way to end a meal -- fresh soft tofu in sweet ginger sauce.

It's a good thing we were going shopping and thus could walk off all the food we ate because I was ready for a food coma right after eating.

Friendly's

What's a good addition to a day of outlet shopping in super cold weather? Hot, greasy food goodness of course.

A few days ago, we were shopping at the Wrentham Premium Outlets and took a lunch break at Friendly's. I was starving and freezing, so I was ready for some warmth and food. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait eons to get seated, and it didn't take forever for the food to come out.
My little cousin had a bacon cheeseburger, which from the looks of her eating it, it must have tasted pretty good.

T and I had the chicken tenders. I asked for two things of honey mustard sauce because it is the best honey mustard I've ever had. And I like to drown my chicken tenders in it. Fries too.

As I'm procrastinating from my paper to update my blog, I wish I had some chicken tenders right now.

homemade favorites

My mom is blaming me for requesting all my favorite home cooked meals because she claims she's gained ten pounds since I got to Boston five days ago (and still another five days to go!).  Usually, my mom would cook the dishes, but I've been preparing dinner lately since I don't want to wait until 10pm to have dinner (parents don't get off work until 8pm).

My mom wanted to go to Costco on my first night here, and she went gaga over how cheap the pork was, so she bought a ton.  As a result, she told me to boil and shell a dozen eggs to make "braised pork with eggs in coconut juice" for dinner.  Basically, I just boiled the pork and then washed it clean.  Next, I put a liter of coconut juice into a large pot, added about three cups of water to the pot; waited until the liquids came to a boil before adding the cooked pork and shelled whole eggs into the pot.  I added some fish sauce and black pepper for taste.  Then I let it sit over medium high heat for a couple hours.  Here's a similar recipe I found online.
The next night, we had my all time favorite meal -- Make Your Own Springroll!  Okay, that's my name for the dish, because it's like fondue and you basically do roll your own springroll.  This is just a shot of what is laid out for the dinner.  My dad went out to buy a new electric griddle since we couldn't find the electric cord for the one we had.  So while he was out, we used the Lean Mean Grilling Machine to grill the beef in butter.  And once the beef was done, you make your own springroll with rice noodles and veggies, then dip it into a sauce for eating.  YUM!
And then the next night, I made Bun Rieu, which surprisingly is best described by Wikipedia. =)  I would have described it as a seafood gumbo of sorts, or maybe Vietnamese sphaghetti.  Either way, it was good.  I probably ate more than I should have too.  Still, YUMMY!
Last night, my mom gave me a break from cooking and ordered fresh eggrolls from someone she knows.  So you call this lady, tell her how many eggrolls you want, and she'll make it, fry it and have it ready for you to pick up in a couple of hours, which was easy enough for my mom to swing by the lady's house after work to pick it up.  And since we had plenty of rice noodles and veggies left from the Bun Rieu, I just made a bowl of Bun Cha Gio with the leftovers.  It was a nice meal to end a long day of shopping in the cold weather.  I was hoping it would put me into a food coma, but due to a massive headache, I laid in bed staring at my eyelids for two hours before going to seek out sleeping drugs.

greetings from Boston!

Look at all this leg room I had on the connecting flight from Cleveland to Boston!  The downside was that I had a whole aisle to myself, but because the trays were built into the arm rests, I couldn't lift up the armrests to make use of the two empty seats.  Well, there was plenty of leg room for me to stretch out and take a nap.

So, Boston -- one word: COLD!  Want two words?  FREAKING COLD!!  Want three words?  okay, you get the idea.  It's cold here, especially when the wind blows and freezes my checks and ears.  But, I spent the weekend doing outdoor things anyway, because I was out with T and my little cousin, both of whom I haven't seen in a while.  Shopping in cold weather makes me tired.
So, this is the Old State House.  I took a picture while we were quickly walking towards downtown crossing.
Here is a shot of Newbury Street, the upscale shopping street in Boston.
We started off our Newbury Street shopping with Filene's Basement.  We were there at 10:50, and it didn't open until 11.  So we were jumping around trying to keep warm, and then taking pictures and stuff, and then I saw this sign.  We were loitering and photographing.  All we needed was to solicit something and we would have been three for three on the restrictions.
If law school doesn't work out, I think I could make a pretty good living maintaining a parking lot in Boston.  Only problem would be actually acquiring an empty lot to use as parking space...

crunch time

Dear fellow readers,

It's coming down to the end of the semester, so I've been a little swamped with homework because I've been such a slacker of a 3L all semester.  This means I've also been eating mostly non-exciting things like cereal and ramen noodles (also haven't missed a Pizza Friday yet), so there hasn't been much to post in regards to food.  

I'm going to be glued to my chair this weekend, simultaneously writing two papers.  My goal is to finish a "good" draft of each paper, so that I don't have to lug all my research with me to Boston next week.  Yep, I'm spending turkey week in Boston, so there will be lots of good eats to post about.  

Winter break starts on Dec. 6 for me, so look forward to more cupcakes-cookies-food-baking-cooking-Christmas-holiday-extreme-stories galore.  

So, until Wednesday (when my turkey vacation starts), have a happy weekend!

Yours truly,

Q-Pig

i like to move it move it

Madagascar 2 is out today!!! I'm going to indulge myself by giving into my cartoon cravings and actually go watch it in theaters instead of waiting for the DVD (which I'm still waiting for Kung Fu Panda to come out). And, we decided to catch a matinee showing so I don't feel like I'm compromising my principles entirely since I'm not paying $10.50 to see a cartoon.



I'm not going to see the movie until tomorrow night, so for today, I'll just keep bopping to the music with the lemurs.

dumpling bar

This week's latest restaurant outing was dinner at Po's Dumpling Bar. If you want dim sum eats at any time of the day, any day of the week, this is the place. Although it doesn't have the whole range of dim sum delicacies, its selection of dumplings (as appetizers, mostly) will suffice for those once-in-a-while-dim-sum-cravings.
We were STARVING when we got to the restaurant. The little plate of pickled cabbages held us over for about two minutes before we were agonizing for real food. And if you haven't figured it out by now, that dark liquid is a blend of vinegar/soy sauce for the dumplings, and the red oily stuff is just hot oil crushed red peppers.

Our dumpling selections: Above - Chicken Emperor Dumplings; Below - Cha Su Bun (okay, so this is not a dumpling, but it's a dim sum staple)

Above: Shu Mai (pork dumplings); Below: Har Gow (shrimp dumplings)

Above, a food interpretation of what my face would look like if I had taken a picture of myself. All the dumplings were good, and the straightness of the Emperor's Dumpling represents my mouth being full from stuffing it with dumplings.

We finished off our meal with a plate of mini red bean sesame seed balls. Not only were they cute to look at, they were just the right size to quell a sweet tooth (okay, it took two to quell the sweet tooth).