Arby's redux

Two 5 for $5.95 orders. Totally the way to go. You can even load up on burgers. ^.^ And I got a tasty shake too. Good thing Arby's is near where I'm living this summer.

Travels and food

Had a mediocre breakfast buffet at the Holiday Inn in Joplin, Missouri. Overpriced for the quality, but about on par with hotel food costs. The people were friendly though. ^.^ Was surprised by the number of flies wandering around the dining area and the hotel in general, especially because everything looked clean otherwise. Maybe it's a Missouri thing? Also was surprised that most people had Southern accents. Wondering if it's all of Missouri, or just the Southern part. Guess I'll find out when I reach St. Louis.

Random craving: Arby's

Been craving Arby's since we got on the road today on our epic journey from Houston to St. Louis. Finally managed to find an Arby's in Oklahoma around dinner time. Pictured is the bacon cheeseburger that I ate. I wish I had ordered the additional roast beef, but the sandwich was still tasty, although the bacon was a little burnt. I had curly fries too! My mom tried the waffle fries and found them to be too salty, but that's probably just the specific batch. Arby's is another one of those fast food restaurants that I randomly crave. I've always loved their roast beef. Now they have a lot more variety, but I would suggest sticking with what they do best - a giant roast beef burger. Although it took us most of the day to find our first Arby's, we of course saw another one within 10 minutes of leaving. >.<

Andre's

I actually had 2 lunches yesterday, one after the other, because I went to Andre's in Uptown Plaza (Houston) to catch up with Shannon immediately following my first lunch get-together. >.< Andre's was full of well-dressed professionals on their lunch break, even at 13:30. I felt a little out of place wearing shorts and flip flops, but I knew that was a possibility before I went out, and I wasn't about to dress nicely specifically for lunch. Andre's had a bunch of tasty-looking desserts on display, but I wasn't about to only order dessert and leave Shannon to eat by herself while I watched, so I ordered a lunch meal of a shrimp and avocado salad. Apparently, the lunches also come with dessert! ^.^ The salad was larger than I expected. It was delicious, so even though I was full, I made my best effort at eating it. Afterwards, we were presented with a plate of desserts from which to select. Shannon got the white chocolate mousse something, and I got the raspberry one. (I forget what they were specifically called.) We spent some time trying to figure out what the soft green stuff in my cake was. It was tasty, and I guessed that it might have been tea flavored. *shrug* The place was medium priced for the amount and quality of food. Would be a cool place for a lunch date, if you were that type of person.

First time eating tabbouleh

Went out to lunch to catch up with some old friends, Patrick and Alice. Originally intended to hit up Cabo Grill on Richmond and Fountainview (in Houston), but they had closed or moved and were no longer there. Instead, we went to Fadi's Mediterranean Grill, which was nearby. When we went in, the place was beautifully set up with tablecloths and glasses as if it were prepared for an elegant dinner. We were the first customers there. I steeled myself for an expensive meal, but the prices were really awesome for the quality of food and the setting. They started us off with chips that were like thin pita chips, but even more delicious. I ordered the lamb sandwich with tabbouleh. The sandwich surprised me by being in wrap form. My mom, who doesn't like lamb, would have approved because the lamb didn't have that distinctive lamb smell/taste. It was my first time eating tabbouleh, and I guess it's an acquired taste that I haven't acquired yet. >.< The dish was mostly parsley and tomato chunks, and it tasted very sour. Alice and Patrick seemed to really like it. I guess I'll just have to try again. All in all, Fadi's is highly recommended for lunch, and I would definitely go again! ^.^ Also, if you like watching Arabic music videos while you eat, they have 2 large TVs that were playing them the whole time. =P

Bamboo is food this time!

I'm gonna miss my grandma's cooking. Here's two ways of eating bamboo: cut up and raw, and in a soup. Bamboo shoots actually taste sweet when cut up, but you have to make sure they're very small and barely peeking out of the ground. (We grow bamboo at our house.)

Bamboo is food this time!

I'm gonna miss my grandma's cooking. Here's two ways of eating bamboo: cut up and raw, and in a soup. Bamboo shoots actually taste sweet when cut up, but you have to make sure they're very small and barely peeking out of the ground. (We grow bamboo at our house.)

Chick-Fil-A

Got some Chick-Fil-A at Memorial City Mall. I absolutely love their chicken. It's tender and cooked just right with great flavoring. Probably the best thing they have going for them is that they are not open on Sundays. This means that every Sunday I crave Chick-Fil-A because I can't have it. So on other days, I try not to pass up the opportunity! ^.^

Tiffany's birthday

Surprise party for Tiffany held at JW Sushi Bar in Houston. They have a bar setup on the ground floor, and a restaurant style dining area on the 2nd floor. We all hid upstairs and jumped out at Tiffany when she arrived. Then there was food, which consisted of a salad, miso soup, and a large plate of sushi. Guess I've been having a lot of sushi lately. >.< I had never thought of sushi as being filling, but after a plate and a half of food, I was stuffed. ^.^ The sushi had been sitting out for a while because we were waiting for the birthday girl to arrive (her boyfriend kept getting lost), but that really only affected the raw stuff. My favorite was the eel, which was cooked. I'm not usually a fan of mayonnaise or imitation crab meat, but it worked well as a topping on some of the sushi. Afterwards, we ate a birthday cake from Merryland bakery. Chinese cakes are the best! They're light and fluffy, and this one had a layer of mango pudding and a layer of taro paste. Also, Chinese cakes usually have fruit on top and don't have ridiculous amounts of icing. ^.^ My dream cake would probably be a Chinese style ice cream cheesecake... They do have those, right? =P

Mozzarella Cheese Sticks'd

Though it may be obvious even before trying them... mozzarella cheese sticks from a fast food place (such as, in this case, Jack in the Box) aren't quite as tasty as one might otherwise hope.

Nonetheless, with enough marinara sauce, especially if it's "Zesty Marinara" sauce, I'm pretty sure any mozzarella sticks can pass the "should I eat it?" test (I basically loaded up each and every bite with a heaping helping of Zesty Marinara sauce... which for some reason reminds me of zesty clams).

The cheese wasn't melted enough inside, and without the sauce, there wasn't much flavor to them. However, the sauce saved the day (or night), and the twelve mozzarella cheese sticks that I just finished eating made a pretty decent midnight snack!

Fu Fu Cafe

We tried to eat breakfast at Classic Kitchen, but for some odd reason it was closed for a half day. I say odd because there were people eating inside, and we were told it was closed when we walked in. So we went to Fu Fu Cafe. It was a little hard to order because we couldn't understand the waitress's mainland accent, and she couldn't understand ours. The tofu soup consisted of mushrooms and tofu. It was pretty good. The scallion pancakes were oddly thick, as was the bun portion of the pork sandwich. The you tiao (once met a rude British man who called them crullers) was all right, but I prefer them to be crunchier. For some reason, I included the vegetarian dumplings, but I don't really recall how they tasted. The verdict: Meh. I'd eat here again, but I sure hope Classic Kitchen gets their act together so I can go there.

I actually have no idea...

what this place is called. That's the problem with eating at Chinese restaurants without actually knowing Chinese: you can't order, and you don't know what the place is called. >.< I'll probably drive by the place in the near future and find out, though. The pictures are a dish of shrimp with peas, a sort of layered tortilla thing, fish with a sweet sauce, vegetables, and lamb in soup. My personal favorite was the lamb, but I like lamb in general. I'll update this post when I figure out the name of the restaurant. >.<

Chinese Cuisine

Yes, there is a restaurant called simply "Chinese Cuisine". It's in Golden Plaza in Chinatown Houston, and they do dim sum all day, every day. No more rushing to catch dim sum hours on weekends! Also, since they don't have room for push carts, all of their food is ordered and brought to the table. This is pretty much my favorite dim sum place in Houston because of the format. And the food ain't bad either!

Frozen yogurt finally comes to Houston!

Ever since frozen yogurt hit the big time in NYC and Cali two years ago, I've been waiting impatiently for it to migrate to Houston. We originally went to Cafe la Tea (in the Welcome shopping center in Chinatown) thinking we'd get bubble tea. We ended up getting tangy frozen yogurt with strawberries mixed in. This cup ran us about $4, but it was more than enough for two fat kids who love ice cream. ^.^

Moar Hokkaido

We typically order a plate of sashimi to share, some specialty rolls, and tempura shrimp and yams. The 2 rolls pictured are the dragon roll and the crazy roll. The tempura shrimp usually comes with an assortment of vegetables, but we ask them to only give us fried yams because Lucky loves them. ^.^ I like to order salmon roe. The pop is so satisfying. XD

Miso soup @ Hokkaido

Hokkaido in the Welcome shopping center in Chinatown Houston is a family favorite. Doesn't hurt that they offer free miso soup and red bean dessert soup!

Moniker's Grille

Moniker's Grille in the Marriott hotel near the Baltimore airport. We had brunch there on the last day of our Maryland trip. $15 for the buffet, which included omlettes to order, an assortment of the usual continental breakfast stuff, and some meat. I especially enjoyed the smoked salmon and the chicken apple sausage. And then we made faces with fruit! ^.^

A&J

Spicy beef and tendon noodle soup from A&J in Rockville, Maryland. Highly recommended, if you can handle mildly spicy food. (Hint: Too spicy for you, Lucky.) The beef and the tendons are very tender and plentiful. The meat is mostly lean as well. Really quality beef in this soup. If you're ever in Rockville (it's kind of in the middle of nowhere, unfortunately) be sure to check this place out!

Dinner took 4 hours >.<

Dinner at McCormick & Schmick's in Baltimore. The food took forever to get to our table, but it was excellent. We had a bunch of appetizers, such as crab cake, shrimp, and calamari. For my entree, I had the lobster, which turned out to be an excellent choice. We finished up with some delicious creme brulee. ^.^ All in all, a wonderful meal. The restaurant was located on the waterfront too, so the view was great. My only complaint is that all but one of the bathroom stalls were out of toilet paper. =P

John Harvard's

Beer and nachos at John Harvard's. I think the beer was called Providence ale... Or something else with a p. >.< Bad memories ftl. The nachos are enormous!I also got a burger, but I ate it too quickly to take a picture. Rest assured that it was delicious too. ^.^ The fries were so good that they were still good cold one day later.

Bubble tea

We had a bubble tea study break. ^.^ My favorite flavor is Thai tea. Actually, in New York, I got some yogurt green tea, which may be my new favorite, but New York is its own long story. This picture is Thai tea though.

Melting pot

A bunch of us went to The Melting Pot for Girls Night Out. Our meal consisted of 3 courses: appetizers with melted cheese, entree that was cooked in oil or soup, and dessert dipped in melted chocolate. For those of you who haven't gone, you stab food with skewers, dip or cook them in the pots, and eat! I also got a yin yang drink. I'm pretty sure they accidentally forgot to put alcohol in it, but they refused to admit mistake, so whatever. All in all, the experience was fun, and I enjoyed hanging out with friends. Melting Pot also seems like a great place to take a date. ~.^ Now for pictures!