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 :)

taste of taiwan

Today for lunch we got to taste real taiwanese food @ DinTaiFung (a chain restaurant serving traditional taiwanese food). From what I have gathered in the past week, Taiwanese food is pretty unique and has some distinct flavors. It is entirely different than what we would call chinese food in America (greasy beef and orange chicken). One, the majority of meat used here is pork, not chicken or beef, and two, a lot of the food is actually pretty light: soups, light noodles, small portions, few additives (unless you're talking about the food at the street markets which is typically fried or drenched in some kind of sauce). Either way, you can't get these flavors at P.F. Chang's or Panda. There is a good hole-in-the-wall place in San Diego called Dumpling Inn, which now having more knowledge of real Chinese food, can say is pretty authentic and really good. Still doesn't compare to this:

appetizer: bitter melon, not a fan

xiao long bao: steamed pork dumpling

what their famous for

hot&sour soup-very bland but that's the taiwanese way.
it is a common soup, revived by Americans (once again,
making American Chinese food not really Chinese at all...)

steamed green vegetable & po

learned i don't like po, whatever that is...

steamed Chinese-style layer cake

eight treasure glutinous rice 

dessert made my mel's grandma
 kind of like mochi, but served hot in a sugary syrup 

all in all, i really like taiwanese food. there are a few things that i have tried that aren't my favorite, but that goes for all types of food. what i don't like is taiwanese desserts. not sweet enough and they substitute chocolate for red bean. for someone who can't go a day without chocolate, this is a crime.