For the Love of.... (Edmonton)

Twisted Yogurt. Loving the colors in the one on the right

Duchess Bake Shop potato, onion, and cheese tart. This is unbelievably good.

Good Buddy...again. Salt and Chili fried squid and tofu.

Gailan beef

Sushi tray from T&T Supermarket

Pho date at Pho Hoa with my mom (pho with beef balls and steak)

Famoso Summer Special: Funghi Tartfufo

The Funghi Tartufo: Roasted white mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, truffle oil,
 and reggiano parmesan

Pho Hoa West Edmonton Mall (Edmonton)

I know all pho lovers in Edmonton each have their go to pho joint, but mine just happens to be Pho Hoa at West Edmonton Mall (second favorite btw is the little place with pink walls left of Lucky 97 in Chinatown). I know some of you will cringe since I know this place doesn't particularly have the best reputation. However, I am no pho expert, and although I've been to Vietnam twice and obviously had it there, I can still say that I like the pho served at this establishment and it doesn't hurt that its in the mall (I wouldn't drive all the way from home to go to this place, but if I'm shopping and get hungry, why not). Pho Hoa offers up extremely simple and straightforward service (borderline rude lol), consistent quality and flavor, and large and affordable portions.  My usual is the beef and beef ball pho, and at 8$ for a bowl that could fill me up for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, how can I go wrong.

For those who have not been there, don't expect five star service,, expect something more along the lines of "what do you want" followed by your food 2 minutes later then "here is your bill". If you want a fork and forget to ask when ordering, I suggest you just walk up to the front counter and get the cutlery yourself because chances are your food will be cold by the time a waitress decides to stop by your table. This place is also a bit run down and could do with some reupholstering of its chairs, but at the end of the day if I think it tastes good and I'm happy with my food I really could care less about the decor and service.

Beef pho and grilled pork and spring rolls with vermicelli. I will admit, the pork was more
so just fat, so word of caution when ordering.

Taipan (Edmonton)

Location: Chinatown 97th street
Cuisine: Chinese

I tagged along to Taipan with my mom for one of her Indonesian ladies luncheons the other day...yey free food. Anyways, I've driven by this place countless times but was never really interested in checking it out, so coming here with my mom was a nice excuse. From what I could see it was your typical Chinese/Taiwanese food restaurant that had similar menus that you would find in similar restaurants. Price wise it was very reasonable and the serving were large and made to be shared. The restaurant itself is pretty big and was clean from what I could see. Flavor wise everything we ordered was very good, especially the garlic gailan...drool.

Chicken and salty fish fried rice

Garlic gailan (my favorite)

Salt and chili fried tofu

Soya sauce and fried garlic whole chicken (the sauce was a little of the oily side but it was still flavorful)

Good Buddy South (Edmonton)

I've been coming to GoodBuddy South to fulfill my occasional Chinese food and westernized Chinese food cravings for several years now and have always been satisfied with the food and dining experience. They serve large potion sizes which is great for sharing, I've always found the restaurant to be clean, the food consistent and well prepared, not overly greasy, and like the fact that they offer very affordable dinner combos for 2, 3, 4 etc people that are customizable. I am well aware of the negative reviews of Good Buddy (complaints about waiting time, bad customer service etc), but like I said I've been coming here for several years now and have always been happy, that is however my personal opinion. Then again I don't care much for talkative waitresses and would rather cut it down to "what do you want to order?" "Okay" "Here is the bill, thank you". ANYWAYS..haha, so about the food...

Hot and sour soup. I like it because its actually spicy

Ginger beef. Nice and crisp, none of that sticky, soggy food court stuff. Yuck.

Salt and pepper fried squid (not really salt and pepper, more like salt and chilies but yet not that spicy). Probably one of my favorite dishes.

Spring rolls and chicken fried rice. Everything you've seen is part of the dinner for 2 (30$) but feeds 3 or even 4 people. Massive servings that make you want to secretly unbutton your jeans. Just saying.

Press'd....again (Edmonton, AB)

I know I've already done a handful of blog entries on Press'd before, but I thought I'd share with you yummy pictures of my latest Press'd excursion to 'educate' and  entice those Press'd virgins to go out and try out something local.

Buenna Bella: "Roasted Portabella Mushroom, Basil Pesto, Spinach, Cucumber, Red Onion, Sprouts, Tomato" (description from the Press'd website, photo by me)

Southwestern Club: "Smoked Turkey, Jalapeno Jack Cheese, Bacon, Avocado, Red Onion, Raspberry Chipotle Honey Mustard" (description from the Press'd website, photo by me)

Crepe Symphony (Edmonton)

While I was away traveling I made sure to keep up to date with the YEG food and restaurant scene and keep track of all the new establishments that had opened while I was gone. On my list of new restaurants to check out once I get home was Crepe Symphony. I had read great reviews about it and thought that it was a great new addition to Edmonton's downtown food scene.

I decided to stop by Crepe Symphony on an Saturday morning to get breakfast before going to the Downtown Farmers Market and the place was empty which made me wonder a little but . Then again it was a Saturday morning. I really didn't care though because what I was about to eat confirmed the true reason for its popularity. At a very affordable 7-8 dollars for a serving of 2 crepes per dish, Crepe Symphony delivered fresh, tasty, and filling crepes in a cafe style atmosphere. I am not a fan of thick pancake-like crepes so I was very happy that they served authentic thin crepes. The menu offered both savory and sweet crepes which was great, however it made our decision making a little more complicated (in a good way!) because we couldn't decide which two we wanted to order. There are still more flavors I want to try so I know I will be back!

Chicken mushroom

Strawberry, banana, and chocolate crepe

Website: http://www.crepesymphony.com/

My Four Month Cross Asia Adventure

Wow, what a journey. For those who are just joining my blog now,  I have been traveling and eating my way around South East Asia for the past few months. I was fortunate enough to visit 7 different countries and spend time in many many different cities exploring what they had to offer. I also had the opportunity to spend a whole month in beautiful Yogyakarta, Indonesia interning for an Indonesian NGO. I don't know if my parents are reading this, but I just wanted to say thank you again for supporting me throughout this experience.

For those of you interested in visiting this part of the world some time in the near future, I hope my blog and my pictures can provide you with some sort of inspiration, background, and motivation to see, experience, and eat your way through Asia.

My road map

Sights and Smells of Beijing

My Forbidden City ice cream snack: red bean ice cream. The picture sure doesn't look like red bean though. I thought it was some sort of berry compote. I love red bean anything though so I was happy.

Peach, cherry and grape Tropicana

Drinking tea while having my feet soaked in an herb foot bath. It was probably just tea too.

Noodles...with what turned out to be cow rectum.

Deep fried Chinese doughnut

Sampling some tea at a tea house

My salty green tea (the white foamy stuff tasted like foamed cream cheese)

Yum yum mushrooms

Beautiful baby tomatoes

Love the colors

Kickin it old school

Love this

Acrobatics Show (Beijing, China)

I had the opportunity to watch a local acrobatics show during my time in Beijing that was rather entertaining yet nerve wracking. By that I mean I was preparing myself to witness an accident of some sort as some, if not all of their stunts were borderline dangerous. Nevertheless,the whole experience was still very awesome and kept me at the edge of my seat. Here are some of my photos:

I was pretty sure I was going to witness an accident with this stunt. 5 motorcycle drivers in that one small cage.

Great show