When I was on student exchange in China, I was very fascinated with these milk-in-a-plastic-bag. Besides regular milk, other types of liquid also come in these bags, eg: watery yogurt or peanut milk.
From where I grew up, liquid milk either came in a bottle or a paper box.
I like milk in a bag. It’s more convenient to pack since it won’t have the pointy edges of paper-boxed milk or the awkward shape and weight of a plastic bottle.
But I don’t like how awkward it is to drink. I either have to cut a hole and drink it like I’m sucking on an udder or find a glass to pour it in. There’s also a risk of the bags leaking because of sharp and pointy things in my bag.
If you’re ever in China, give these milk-in-a-bag a try. They taste good.
During my week vacation in San Francisco, I relied a lot on Yelp and its local reviewers for advice on what to eat. The app was also very useful to narrow down eateries that were still open at the time I want to visit. A lot of the stores seem to operate at a very specific time range.
Yelp, with its HQ in San Francisco, is also promoted a lot by the restaurant themselves. A lot of the shops proudly display Yelp stickers or have Yelp-related promotions, such as the half price-coffee I got at M Cafe. I am not sure how both parties benefit but it sure benefits me as a consumer.
I want to be married to Yelp, in a polygamous marriage with TripIt too.
Thanks to Yelp and one or two IRL (in real life) local recommendations, I had some very amazing meals while in SF.
Bon appetit!
Sammich, panini, torta, burger
Torta from La Grande Torta in Mission district
I made one friend at the hostel! (Good job YQ!) K brought me to thirft stores and to eat real Mexican food.
My torta was stuffed with all sorts of meat. I washed it down with hot chocolate spiced with cinnamon. Mmmm…
The Godfather Panini from M Cafe
Found the shop through Yelp. The sandwich was dripping sauce when I ate it. Good but not absolutely fantastic. I love the warm toasted bread. (Psst, Wi-Fi password there is godfather.)
Sandwich from Freddie’s Sandwich at Pine Street
Daily special at the highly rated Freddie’s Sandwich. It was so big I packed half of it in a container for dinner. Yummy!
Philly Cheese Steak from Buster’s
I was looking for real steak but ended up with a sandwich. (Stupid non-local me.) Surprisingly nice with melted cheese and bits of beef.
In-N-Out Burger Hamburger from In-N-Out Burger
Do burgers count as sandwiches? In my book, bread with meat in between equals a sandwich, so here it is. Jesse from Discovery Walks recommended the place as the best burger place.
Instead of cheeseburger, I went with hamburger because I am clueless about which burger to choose. It was alright. The fries felt a bit flat.
Hotdog from Zog’s Dog
Accidentally stumbled upon the stand while waiting for a walking tour to start. My first American hotdog! The meat was hot from the pan and my mustard flavored the plain bun very well.
Desserts
Plain vanilla creme brulee From the crème brûlée cart. Stalk them at @cremebruleecart
The cart and its goodies were something I’ve heard about even before the work trip was known. It’s quite fun to know that a food cart would announce its location on twitter for its fan to look for it.
I had the dessert when Off the Grid was happening at Fort Mason. Off the Grid gathers about 10 food carts/trucks in one location with head banging music and not much moving space.
I also picked up a nutella and strawberry creme brulee when I saw the card downtown. Sweet!
Not my best meal in SF .I just arrived in San Francisco from San Jose and I was really hungry for food so I picked the cheap set.
Supermarket strawberries
Straberries were humongous. I ate all, except four, in one sitting. It washed away the bad sushi taste.
Main meals
Pizza from The Golden Boy
Another Discovery Walks guide recommendatiom: a Sicilian pizza joint.
I picked the one with clam garlic topping. It tastes of salty seafood but the crunchy crust tempers the saltiness. I got one to go and sat on the grass at Washington Square while the locals lounge about soaking up the sun. (I was in the shade.) It was a very satisfying meal.
Clam chowder in sourdough bowl from Bordin at Pier 39
I had a coupon for a free drink at Pier 39’s Bordin so I got myself a clam chowder in sourdough bowl.
After a taste of the bread, I am now in love with sourdough. But the soup was already cold by the time I got it so it wasn’t fantastic.
Pho from Golden Star Vietnamese Restaurant
My very first Yelp-referenced meal, also my first sit-down meals in SF.
I was hungry for something soupy and checked for good and cheap food places around the hostel. Turns out the restaurant is around some corners so I grabbed my jacket and went in search of the place.
I was served a medium pot of tea. It wasn’t really good tea but I drank probably the three-quarters of the pot because I am that thirsty.
The dish itself wasn’t salted enough. But it was satisfying because of the hot soup and the large chunks of meat. Mmmm….
Breakfast at M’oz Cafe near Union Square
I was heading to the SF MOMA on Bay to Breakers day so I looked up breakfast places around the area.
The hash brown is flaky and tastes 10 times better than the piece of potato McDonald’s gives me when I order its breakfast set.
Sushi burrito Royal prince burrito at Sushi Taka on Kearny-Sacramento Street
A sushi place just around the corner of my hostel. I found it funny that its opening hours was from 8am to 2.30pm on weekdays. It feels like they don’t need to earn money.
My picnic was at the square which I don’t remember while I wait for the Chinatown tour to start. I felt like I was intruding on the local old Chinese granpas’ place.
Lunch set at Scoma, Sausolito
My most expensive meal in San Francisco area. It was a posh seaside restaurant at Sausolitio which is opposite San Francisco.
I had cycled there and was hungry. I got the clam chowder lunch set as well as three raw oyster.
Yummy!
Drinks
Caramel macchiato
I like the stamped logo. The coffee is good too but I probably should have ordered something more plain.
Who says my #FoodFri has to be about good food? Not everything I put in my mouth taste yummy–especially that mouthful of detergent I once accidentally sipped.
So today, I shall show you one of the most disgusting meals I had in the US. Hmm… I think it’s the *only* disgusting meal I had.
I knew I needed to eat sushi in San Francisco but I was too timid to enter posh looking shops. In the end, I picked up a sushi set from Safeway supermarket.
If I could travel back in time, I would devote all my energy to change the course of my life around 8-9pm May 23. I would stop myself from buying this set even if it means physically forcing Marty McFly out of the time machine.
The wasabi tasted suspiciously like chilli. I wonder if they put jalapenos in it.
The California roll was sad. It has the traditional avocado in it–leaving me feeling “UH?”. The not yummy taste could not be covered up by the wasabi. Sad!
The salmon. Is this San Francisco? How could your fish taste so bad? They must have been made in China.
But what can I expect? It’s supermarket sushi. (Although I still can’t believe Cold Storage sushi can be better.)
The store is located in a pedestrian lane, far enough from the main street for us to enjoy the quietness.
The store front was plain–a display fridge, two round tables outside. There were two bins by the wall, telling customers to recycle its glass bottle and plastic cap and spoon.
The pudding, like its name, tasted silky and the caramel tasted slightly burnt. I’m not sure if it’s deliberately like that to contrast the sweetness of the custard or if it was fluke.
Anyway, mom and I polished the glass bottles clean. Yum!
Here’s a Google Map of the place if you happen to be in Asakusa.
Today’s #FoodFri is the giant profiterole found at The French Stall.
Vanilla ice cream sandwiched between two croissant-like buns with liberal doze of chocolate syrup.
I first had French food at The French Stall in Singapore. It was supposed to be an outing for NUS Francophile but there only three people went–two from the committe.
The French Stall is located at 544 Serangoon Rd. It closes on Monday though.
Well, I didn’t know much about Ipoh before heading there. The most common thing I’ve heard when people talk about Ipoh is its food–hor fun (white flat noodles) and white coffee.
I tried doing research on sites in Ipoh but the four-pages of description in guide books made me underestimate the place. I didn’t even bother jotting down sites to see (except Kellie’s Castle). Luckily, Lilian did her research and informed me of some interesting places.
Instead of a travel guide book, I brought along a food guide instead. (Typical YQ.)
Food guide book
The guide was helpful not only as a food map but for me to coordinate myself on the grid. Sometimes my human compass skill fails me and Lilian would step in and ask for directions. (I am still allergic to asking for directions. Problem of being an ISFP?) Continue reading “Glutton in Ipoh”→
I love eating and food in Indonesia sure was good. I’m not sure how much weight I’ve gained during this trip. Hopefully, all the calorie intake has been canceled out by all the walking with my heavy backpack.
While we spent two nights in Solo, most of the eating was done in Yogyakarta. Here are some of the highlights of the food we ate.
Nasi Gudeg
Yogyakarta is famous for nasi gudeg which has cooked young jackfruit inside. (I had thought that the dark cubes of jackfruit was meat. I’m easy to bluff when it comes to food.)
We only had gudeg twice during this trip. The first was not as good as the last I had. The last dish was right before our plane back in a shop just around the corner of the road leading out of the airport. The dish was fragrant with coconut milk and the sides were really flavorful. Yummy! Continue reading “Glutton in Yogyakarta and Solo”→
Finally, my one week trip in the two cities of central Java–Yogyakarta and Solo–has come to an end. These seven days seem longer than they are and that’s always a good thing to feel when you’re having fun.
While my memory of Jogja and Solo is fresh, here are 10 things I’ll miss after leaving Indonesia. Items are ranked in priority and each deserve their own blog post.
1. Food
Feast at Mie Nusantara
Food in Indonesia is cheap and good. Most noodle dishes that we had didn’t cost more than S$2. Their noodles are good and the rice dishes are yummy. I even had siomay which we thought were siewmai posing as meatballs.
Surprisingly, we had Peranakan food for two (three?) times during our trip. We accidentally stumbled upon Kedai Tiga Nyonya while being lost. The avocado juice there made me think I went to heaven. Those were the more expensive meals that we had.
YQtravelling 