must.not.get.lazy.

AH! it's been so hard for me to get myself to keep blogging, seeing as i'm back in cali now...not really sure why though; the only thing i have to show for myself is 42 yelp reviews (currently on a quest to become an "elite" yelper-should get a life first, i know).

my last post was kind of just me ranting about the disgusting food we got at the hello kitty cafe, so I want to remind you that was an EXCEPTION in Taiwan, as proven by our duck lunch (wish i remembered the name, but honestly probably couldn't spell it anyways). after getting the ham-like "duck" at the hello kitty cafe and literally getting food poisoning, Ann wanted to take me to get real duck, and that's exactly what we got:

to be honest, seeing the head of the animal i used to feed by the pond when i was a little kid lifelessly curled under on a platter kind of threw me off...i was a vegetarian for a little bit for ethical reasons & i still dislike eating cute animals (my form of vegetarianism) so this was a challenge for me. but how many times am i gonna be in taiwan being exposed to all these different types of food? plus, they prepare it on a plate, sin head.

apparently there is a process to eating duck here. first you order (rea ordered for us ahead of time, thank you!!) & then they prepare it (slice it) and you decide if you want a porridge with the rest of it or soup. 

step 1: take a tortilla (not like mexican ones tho..)

step 2: add the sauce (sweet & kinda tangy)
& the onion with chile
(not as hot as it looks, unless ur name is chris kim )

like so...

step 3: add the duck!

& step 4 is self-explanatory: eat!

we also got some other dishes--> 

oh & we opted for the porridge; if i hadn't been so full, i would have eaten more because this was surprisingly great! 

all of us were uncomfortable full afterwards, but it was well worth it. & although i loved the meal, i don't think i would chose duck over other meat. it really was hard for me to get past the fact that i was eating a duck. i know it's weird because cows are dirty and gross, but i justify eating them because of that...wierd mentality that makes no sense, so don't ask. 

hello kitty craze

hmmm since there was so much stuff that i didn't blog about (gah blogging is way harder than i thought it was, takes so much energy) i guess i need to keep this thing updated. don't know who is really reading this/keeping up with it especially now that i'm back, but whatevs, i'm kinda doing this as a journal for myself.

i'm back in cali, still in la & feel trapped here without my car. not a fan of la really, although it's fun once in a while. maybe just not right after a long trip. i've been living out of the same suitcase for over a month (i went up to sf before taiwan) and 1) am getting bored of having wrinkled clothing 2) getting sick of the clothes i packed & 3) need to do laundry. chris is still sleeping (i swear he has some sort of sleeping problem where he can go an abnormal amount of time not sleeping but then reversely can just sleep ferr days. so im sitting in his brother's room downloading music, looking for a job, & blogging. i guess since half my friends at ucsd love hello kitty and have converted me into a fellow hello kitty fan, ill post about the hello kitty cafe (also directed towards my sissy).

we had read about this place on multiple blogs actually and it was on our list of things we HAVE to do (also on that list was palm reading, massage, & macaroons-we covered 2outta3). So rea and an made a reservation for us at 7pm after Danshui. the place wasn't too packed but there was a birthday party going on next to us, so it's probably a good thing we had reservations. sidenote: mel and i were talking about how cool it'd be if you were 10 or something and got to have your bday party at the hello kitty cafe with a hello kitty cake!!! eek!! check out the decorations & cute little details of the place!!

looks like hello kitty is being hung -_-

the napkins i stole for my obsessive sister 

blinged out, u kno i like

so cute!

couches that every young girl would want in their room!! 

anyways, it was around dinner time & we knew we were gonna be going out later, so we decided we probably should order real food as opposed to my idea which was to just get cake (pulling a kristi ordering 2 cheesecakes for dinner on her birthday lol). we got a side of fries (duh) and then seafood pasta for me+mel, curry for an+rea, & chris got the steak. each dinner came with soup, salad, & a appetizer (we ordered the duck, but really it was just like gross ham:

the menu/table-->

 

our food-->

bread was just...bread 

salad was okay

soup was kinda good, mushroom or something with cream

fries were all of our faves (garlic fries, even better)

escargo (fancyy)

grossest thing there-ham like duck?

our entres (the grossest food in all of taiwan...)

made us sick

chris said his was okay

AH really cute presentation

we all took way too many pics here...

carrot-we were amused

my coffee-fave thing there

pink sugar!

so the food was gross. like not just taste wise, but we all felt really sick after eating here. mel and i were sick for the whole next day (this food combined with drinking was a bad combination). we came to the conclusion that we basically were just paying a lot to take pictures and sit on a hello kitty shaped booth. we were still glad we went at the time, but now looking back, i don't even know if the cuteness was worth the money and bad food. at least the desserts were good--

 

 

 

also something that made it slighhhtly worth it, was the bathrooms!!! the decorations were so cute, i had to bring my camera (and had a really embarrassing encounter with the staff...)

so i would only recommend this cafe if you JUST get desserts, are a crazy hello kitty fan, and don't mind paying a lot :)

on a good day

so we are reverting back to our old ways; going to bed when the sun comes up and waking up mid-afternoon. i really should stop this before i have to enter into the real world. but taiwan is known for its nightlife, and we are known for our commitment to sleep, so it makes sense we are waking up so late. yesterday was one of the best days we have had since we got here. partly because the weather was so beautiful, partly because of the food we ate, partly because of the places we went, but most importantly, because of the company we were in.

we started our day off kind of late, getting out of the house at around 4pm (pretty impressive since we had gone to bed at 6)...it was a perfect time to leave: the sun was shining and it wasn't as hot as it has been. we all agreed that it was the best weather thus far (well, chris just kinda repeated what we had already established 5 minutes later...UC).  we had read about this really good italian place on hungrygirl's blog, so were in search of Primo Trattoria...we had the address and a map, but everything on the map was in chinese. thank god mel speaks mandarin, but still it was almost impossible to find. just when we had given up on finding it & decided to just eat wherever looked good, we saw it!!! our excitement quickly died down when we were told that they had a 60 person party coming in & we had to sit outside. we tried, but couldn't imagine eating a whole meal in that heat...so the search continued...

Here are some pics of our walk to get dinner.

sunshine 

getting lost :)

primo trattoria-probably gonna go back if we have a craving

GUSTO: SPANISH TAPAS & COFFE BAR 


we walked around a little more & came across a Spanish (NOT Mexican...) place called "Gusto"...we were sold with the pictures (i love when restaurants show pictures of their food)!! this place seemed pretty authentic & i loved the decor.

            

it's a tapas place, but being the fatties we are, we didn't want to risk it by getting a small dish, so we all ordered paella. when i first had paella in Barcelona, i fell in love with it. i love seafood, i love rice, and i love sausage...it quickly became one of my favorite foods. when i tried it in the states, i was thoroughly disappointed with its bland flavors and the skimpy servings of seafood. i guess there's a reason spain is so famous for it & not america. i still wanted to see how taiwan measured up, so i ordered the seafood paella (mel got clam&meat paella and chris also got the seafood paella)

clam & mixed meat paella 

seafood paella

meat combo

the paella was pretty good...i was disappointed mine had no sausage though (i thought it came with it, but i guess i was wrong & this is only in mixed and Valencian paella) but it tasted pretty good. the seafood was really fresh (benefits of being on an island) and it was significantly better than the one i had in america. mel was telling me that when taiwanese restaurants are influenced by other types of food, they make a big effort to remain authentic. this seemed like the case & the flavor was pretty spanish. we all agreed that it could have been spicy, but then again, i don't think paella is supposed to be spicy. it is supposed to have a layer of the hardened rice at the bottom (my favorite part) which this rendition didn't have. it also used bell papers and i am not a huge fan of that. i'm definitely not complaining though, this meal was really satisfying & pretty cheap (300NT, $10). Chris also got this meat combo, which looked pretty cool when they lit it on fire (i swear the taiwanese are pyromaniacs), but wasn't very good. the meat was over-seasoned & under-cooked. if we were to go back, we would not get this again, and maybe try one of the tapas. but we were all happy with this meal :)

CHIN CHIN CAFE

we had some time to kill before meeting up with rea & an, so sat down at a cafe called Chin Chin Cafe. we were pretty stuffed, so just came for some coffee, but the desserts here looked incredible. honey toast and waffles are big here...for honey toast its bread with ice cream and toppings in it and waffles can be served plain or stuffed with ice cream. the best twist on breakfast food i've ever seen!!

mmm NEED to go back to get the chocolate&banana toast

i told you i love pictures of food

so many choices

mel's coffe

they had such a unique selection of coffees & teas. taffy candy latte, tiramisu latte, strawberry flavor hot cocoa, mexican milk scented tea, vienna mixed fruit green tea to name a few. i was deciding between the lavandar latte & rose cappuccino and went for the rose.

rose cappuccino 

THE TOP: HILLSIDE RESTAURANT & BAR 

rea made a reservation at 11pm for this lounge on top of a mountain called The Top. i was expecting something beautiful, but was completely blown away by the scenery & atmosphere at this place...we all loved it! it's all outdoors with these private "huts"...with couch type benches and silk curtains.

there are island-inspired roofs on both the huts and used as umbrellas on the outside tables (thank god the rain stopped & the sky cleared up in time for us to enjoy the night!!)

the walkways are all surrounded by water tinted blue by the lighting. along the walk there are stone designs of thai gods (i have no idea what they are actually, they just look thai...)

there are torches and lamps making the lighting subtle and really romantic-we saw one of the guys we met at luxy the night before there with his gf & beagle :)


so im guessing it's thai inspired based on the music & designs around the place:

enjoying the view

bathroom sink-glad the cockroach wasn't there when i went in ;)

looks thai, right?

the food wasn't thai however, it was hotpot. it's funny because most Americans don't really know what hotpot is or that you can cook your own food. the first time i had hotpot was with mel & chris at this place in san diego called Little Sheep Mongolian Hotpot. you get all the vegetables & meat & tofu raw and then you cook them yourself. it's a lot more fun than just getting your food served to you and it's a lot more social. we ended up staying there for 4 hours, enjoying the view, getting drinks, eating & our time together :) 

top two: noodle balls & corn

hotpot!

drink #1-sex on the beach

mai thai & food in our private booth :)

drink #2: mojito 

group pic

one of the chillest nights we have had...being on top of a mountain looking at all the lights of taiwan really makes you think about the important things in life. if u know me, you know that sometimes i just get really quiet and its not because i'm bored or sad or anything like that...i just get caught in my own head sometimes, which is what happened here. it was just a beautiful atmosphere to relax in & a beautiful night.

i'm so thankful that i am here with mel and that her friends have been SO helpful and kind in showing us all the best spots around the city. they have had plans for us every day since we met up with them, and that combined with the warmness of mel's family, i feel like i am getting the royal treatment here. excited to go to Patisserie La Douceur to get macaroons!! an is so cute & called them to make sure they had the macaroons! i wish i could speak chinese so that i could talk to her more, but you don't always need language to communicate :)

hopefully i don't come back too drunk...all you can drink @ twiice :/