Category: Food

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Review: Boiling Point aka Chou Chou Guo

1075 Bellevue Way NE
(between 10th St & 12th St)
Bellevue, WA 98004

BH and I managed to try this on the eve of CNY for lunch!

Prior this meal, I HAVE NVER EATEN STINKY TOFU! haha.. and you know what? I think I am in love with stinky tofu now!! man!! hehe… BH and I were like planning another trip to this place for more yummy food!

I am feeling so hungry looking at the above pic can..

ok.. the pot consist of meat, salted vege and tofu! we ordered the bubble tea ( which we thought Oasis was better) Hotpot comes with rice… erm.. the food was soooooo good that 1 bowl of rice isn’t enuff! Honestly, I love the ma la ( spicy) part .. it’s so ‘shuang’ to eat it on a cold rainy day! 🙂

heh…  so this resturant have a card system going on. 1 pot, 1 chop. At the end of 10 chops, you get a free pot!!! how cool is that!! wahaha.. at the rate we are loving this place, i believe the free pot will come soon man!

Total damage: $30 ( 2 pots, 1 cup of bubble tea)

Will go back again.. this weekend?? hahaha

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Review: Sharis

Like pies? You’ll love this place 🙂

BH &I first heard abt this place from Denny. We drove by this resturant a no. of times but due to the colours & font of the logo, we thought it’s an Indian resturant! haha… so funny right!

anyway, before our Snowboarding trip, we made our way to Sharis for a heavy breakfast. This place is kinda like a IHOP/Denny. They serve regular American breakfast, you’ll get your pancakes, bacons, sauages.. ( similar promo as IHOP – free flow pancakes) BUT there’s more to it… haha… you can also satisfy your craving for something sweet by ordering PIES!!

wah.. they sure do have lots of pies!! haha.. once you step into the resturant, you’ll b greeted with a whole case of pies!! haha.. I went pie crazy – not sure what to choose!! in the end, I had Peach Pie – tastes great! The crust is superb!! Pls don’t tell me how mcuh calories that is! wahaha… oh..for the mth of Feb, there’s a pie promo going on.. $7.99 for a whole pie of your choice! Well, I really wanted to buy a pie home BUT I didn’t 🙁 we were kinda rushing for time as our snowboard lesson was at 1pm

Above all, I must comment that the coffee taste sooooooo good here!! geez… even better than the coffee in IHOP or Denny’s. We feel that the coffee here isn’t blend and doesn’t have the ‘sour’ taste! nice!!

However, I think i’ll still stick to IHOP for breakfast – their pancakes are better!! As for Sharis, I’ll visit you for tea!!! 🙂

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Second try: Pineapple Tarts

This time I had BH to help me with the baking 🙂 It’s the 1st time BH and I baked together! oh well, it wld be nice if we had the stand mixer. Still waiting for a good deal to make the purchase.

The pictures below are numbered. heh.. do read the descriptions after the pic if u are keen to know how we baked these tarts.

Pineapple tarts seattle

1) I prepared the pineapple jam before hand. I used 2 cans of crushed pineapple. Why didn’t I use fresh ones? Well, it’s not cheap here and I do not know how to prepare a fresh pineapple! Preparing pineapple jam takes a while coz you need to ensure that the water from the pineapple had evaporated –  you need to be patient

2) I prepared the dough. We did not managed to take pics of how I made the dough but I knead it by hand – which is so much easier than using my lousy hand mixer. This time I placed the dough in the fridge for abt 1hr before rolling out and shaping the tarts. As you can see, we do not have the pineapple tart mould so we used a bottle cap – which works fine too!

3) BH turned out to be a better tart moulder than me. So he took over the task! You got to dust the work area and rolling pin with flour

4) I was rolling the pineapple jam into small balls, painting dough with egg wash

5) In the oven! looks so good already

6) Tadah!!! pretty??

7) we felt tt it’s a wash to throw the dough away ( kneading was hard work!) so we used the remaining dough and made them into choco chips cookies

8 ) we cooled the tarts, packed them into small boxes. This might sound crazy but we are gonna ship them to SG so that our family can have a taste of them 🙂

That’s all.. hope u enjoyed reading this! haha

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Review: Facing East

Bh and I got to know this Taiwanese resturant when we met Sam & Denny.. heh….. apparently, Julius also knew abt this place and ‘bo jio’ us to eat here for the past yr :O Anyhow, it was a spontaneous decision to dine here last saturday after our failed attempt to go snowboarding

This place feels like a “zi char” store .. the place is crowded and it’s affordable.. order many dishes and eat with rice.. I love it!!! Just don’t like the Q part

Anyway, these were what we ordered:

(Fried noodle, Bitter melon with salty egg, Braised meat rice, “Kong Bah Bao”)

I am not a meat person…I don’t like pork.. so I didn’t eat the pork rice and “Kong Bah Bao” .. my fave of these all was of course the bitter melon with salty egg… man… i love it!! The guys can’t tk the bitter taste, so i finished the whole plate myself!!! I LOVE BITTERGOURD!!!! 😀 well, i don’t cook bittergourd at home coz BH don’t like it and if i were to cook for myself, i wld need to cook something else for him.. sigh… so FACING EAST is the place to satisfy my taste buds for bittergourd.. wahaha…

And we also ordered soya beancurd as desserts!! it’s diff from what we can get from SG as it has ginger, nuts, nvtheless it’ nice!! ( not pictured)

So i totally love this place…

Total damage for 3 with tips: US$60

Be sure to reach early – the Q is long and it’s not fun to Q in the cold… brrr

Facing East Taiwanese Restaurant
1075 Bellevue Way NE
B-2
Bellevue, WA 98009

Some pictures to sum up this post –

Heh.. probably gonna be slaughtered if they see this pic on my blog.. but… I’ll still post it.. keke…

YES! You noticed my pics with nice borders – wahaha… just found a super good software – PhotoScape! It’s so fun and easy to use!! Lovin’ it – makes editing and beautifying pics so much easier. Has more designs than Picasa u know!! 🙂

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Stand mixer

so.. I am currently looking for a Stand Mixer.. I’m kinda horrified by how expensive these stand mixers are.. geez.. it’s like the cost of a Coach bag!!

anyhow, I do have a hand mixer.. but the hand mixer I have is soooooo lousy – the low speed is not low at all, the batter splatters all over the place… yes!! it’s disgusting and I got to clean like siao each time i bake.. erm.. maybe I shan’t complain so much as it only cost US$14? A good stand mixer cost at least 10 times of what I paid last time!!

Having a stand mixer means u can do alot of things at 1 go also – like u don’t need to hold onto the mixer and put in the ingredients? heh… sometimes, BH will be ‘forced’ to b my stand mixer .. but it’s the splattering part tt irritates me

I seriously NEED a stand mixer – I am trying to abstain from the cheapest I can find as i don’t wanna regret again!!! ok.. so the cheap mixers have a attached bowl which is too shallow ( batter will splash again) When can I find the perfect one?

Criteria for stand mixer:
– comes with splash guard
– mixer is removable
– easy to keep
– under US$100

* I don’t mind a 2nd hand one 🙂

I am lusting for this…

Hoping to win the bid at ebay! or get it as Vday gift? wahaha

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It’s the little things

*random post – coz I just felt like blogging!*

So the long weekend came and went very quickly… we went to Serious Pie for lunch with Julius (pics on Julius’ iphone as we forgt our cam… wonder when can we get it) . Serious Pie deserves a review post!!! 🙂

I think BH had Monday/work blues… seriously…he was acting like a sick puppy…  anyhow, he still went to work today… heng ah! it’s weird but i don’t really like him to be home as I really like pte time with myself.. Eg:  I can reply emails in peace , go to the gym , eat whatever nonsense for lunch. When BH’s home, he will be like ‘eh.. what u doing?? why u smiling at the computer?’ & he will wanna eat proper lunch! sickeningly irritating!

okok.. all these things aside… today, I just felt like being nice and dedicating a post to BH.. awww.. so sweet… right?? heheh

I haven’t really blog on nice things abt BH for the longest time ..  coz i always feel tt since he’s my hubby, he’s obliged to do all these things ! oh well, so today’s post will b on the things he’s nt obliged to do but he did – tt’s what mks it ‘little’ and ‘sweet’? heh..

well,  BH is usually nice.. just tt sometimes, I don’t like to praise him.. Praising will mk him complacent… so when he does something nice and good… I’ll think of something else and urge him to go an extra mile for me.. mean? but I think it works for my ‘Jacob wannabe’  ;p

1) during the long weekend, there was this Lancome promo.. Genifique & Genifque Eye for like US$100. I don’t know how much it’s retailing at SG but imo this is super cheap > 2 items wld have been US$137!!! Of course, I wanted it – tried the sample previously and loved it.. makes the skin smooth… I was expecting BH to say tt it’s too ex… ask me to look for alternatives.. BUT he didn’t .. so he log on to the site and bought it for me ( while i was still hesitating..) !!! yay!! Happy!!

2) I was also lusting for Chanel Classic Flap bag.. man… too much of silly entertainment news / mags makes me want this bag so badly.. so BH made the effort to find out more abt the bag :O It was so random – instead of playing with his games, he was searching for this bag on ebay!! heh… not expecting him to buy for me.. it’s seriously toooooooo ex..even the 2nd hand one is ex ! but the effort and thought of getting it for me.. makes me happy! maybe a few years later? 🙂

3) he takes nice pics of me when I thought look awful.. awww.. at least I thought this pic of me looks nice 🙂

4) He spreads jam & butter on my bread for me every morning coz I told him my parents does tt for me last time… geez.. I’m such a baby…

5) He diligently wash the dishes, clean the sink and stove every night – even when he’s “sick”! wahahaha…

6) He washes my water bottle and fill up  the flask every night so that I’ll have lotsa water to drink in the day

maybe some times.. it’s the littlest things tt counts! 🙂

Just for record, *ahem* he has like 6 brownie points ONLY.. haha

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Christmas 2009

Seriously do not know if this will be my last Christmas in Seattle with BH 🙁 I feel that i’m leading a wasted life here.. but going back to work means it’s lifeless once again.. i really don’t know

Anyhow, BH and I had a “Messy Christmas” instead of a “Merry Christmas” We needed to move out of our old apartment by 30 Dec – so we did the moving and things were like lying ard in every inch of the new place. We also didn’t deco our new place or have any X’mas tree , unlike last yr 🙁  The first is always the best ( erm… just like 1st love? heh)

The day before Christmas Eve & Christmas Eve were spent baking

 
1) Cookies – cheated and used a ready made bake. heh.. turns out nice! okok.. i seriously wanted to mk my own cookies BUT all the rolling pins were OOS!! can u believe it??? man… muz stock baking supplies early here

christmas1

2) Chocolate Eclairs – baked from scratch… together with the pastry choco cream 🙂 added some x’mas candies as deco for x’mas feel

 
Christmas Eve

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(above shows our potluck x’mas bake and the gifts for White Elephant Game aka gift exchange)


Denny and Sam invited us to their friends’ Christmas party 🙂 We had fun, made new friends ( though it was sad tt Sam was sick and cldn’t mk it)

Christmas Day

erm… spent packing and moving stuff from old place – our old neighbours saw us and he was like ” you guys are moving on Christmas day?? ” manz… we have no choice 🙁

Boxing Day

BH & I exchanged gifts… I think our presents from each other were better? haha..

christmasbh

BH was a happy boy upon receiving the watch – coz i told him i didn’t get anything for him this yr.. hehe

Fullscreen capture 12282009 53307 PM

It didn’t snow in Seattle this yr… so BH gave me a snowflake 🙂 It was sweet BUT can someone pls teach BH how to be romantic? heh.. he figured out tt i was happy with the little blue box last time and decided tt the blue box will mk me happy again… geez… it did but something fresh will be niceR!

BH also made us this!! A calendar! manz… I thought this was the sweetest thing he did after soooooooooo long!!

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Every page in each mth was filled with great memories for the year (and I can see how much weight i gained each mth thru’ the pics.. thanx ah..) Anyhow, it’s still a cool and sweet gift!! Shall take pics of it mth by mth and put it up!

yupz… tt’s all for our X’mas weekend…. stay tune for my next entry for pics of our new place! okok.. give u a pic to lead u on 1st.. haha ;p

sneak preview

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Chwee Kueh

Thank you Nicole for the wonderful Chwee Kueh recipe!

The Chwee Kueh is super ez to mk and it taste great! ( Followed the above recipe 2x already!)

I was quite lucky to buy those metal cups ( looks like the shape of Chwee Kueh) from ROSS, they call it ‘Condiments cup’ . Without those metal cups, this would not have been possible

Some modifications I made:
– I used Flying Horse Rice Flour
– Corn flour = Corn starch
– My chai poh was brought over by my mum, not very salty, smells good.. so I only stir fry them with oil … and it taste like the real thing! 🙂

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Who needs Tiong Bahru Chwee Kueh anymore! wahaha

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Meeting another me!

*needed to get out to run some errands but.. it started drizzling the moment I wanna put on my boots.. so.. might as well blog 1st.. “rain rain go away!” *

heh.. I seriously need to blog about this else I think i’ll forget about our first date 🙂 aww..

12/12/2009 marks the 1st time I met Samantha in person!! haha.. i was feeling quite excited thru’out the day! anyhow, we reach the place quite early > Facing East and there’s already a line! I seriously think they need to expand the place soon – it’s juz too small and it’s crowded!

So i’m not gonna talk about the food or review about the resturant although BITTERGOURD WITH SALTED EGG is delicious!! BUT the pt is…. I met another me – haha… someone’s whose occupation is DOING NOTHING ( aka ‘Shopping’ ?) it’s so cool to meet another young couple who’s just like us! 🙂

heh… we had a fantastic dinner, after which we headed to Oasis for some card games, Jenga and pool! (BH and I sucked badly at pool.. haha.. think Sam & Denny is too good.. heh..REMATCH pls???!!!!) we enjoyed ourselves tremendously as it had been sometime since we had great company ( haha.. sorry Julius!)

manz… no photos can… *ahem* Samantha – pics!!!! ;p

Would definitely hang out again – great night!