Seattle Food

Here are some of the foods we had in Seattle. I would say majority of the foods below are restaurants selected by H’s cousin. Shoutout to her for taking the week off to take us around town.

Austin food

The last of my Texas trip recap, some of the foods I ate around Austin.

The Salty Donut (2000 S Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78704)

These are the best donuts I’ve had in a long time. They are also very expensive donuts — around $4-$5 per donut making them premium donuts. The star-shaped donut is a churro donut stuffed with dulce de leche cream. The white cream donut is the horchata donut. The chocolate donut is Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake.

Galveston half-day trip recap

We did a day trip from Houston to Galveston. In retrospect, I think we should have gone to the space center first and then spent the afternoon and evening in Galveston. It rained the whole day wherever we went. My friends and I noticed people wearing high rainboots — I guess they must get a lot of rain and it must be really high. Thankfully, I was wearing my waterproof hiking boots that day. My hiking boots got a lot use during the trip even though we only went on one hike.

Houston food

Here are some of the food places we dined at in Houston. Please note, I am not a foodie. I don’t necessarily go to food places because I saw it on a magazine or TV. A lot of times it’s serendipitous — but really I’m just hungry. Also since I went with friends, they helped me decide where to go.

Phat Eatery (23119 Colonial Pkwy Suite B-2, Katy, TX 77449)

Cuisine: Malaysian

The first place we ate when we arrived to Houston after a 2.5-hour drive from Austin. This restaurant was in a large strip mall, I decided Phat Eatery because my friends never had Malaysian food.

Top from left to right: Sizzling Tofu (my favorite!), Roti Canai, Beef Rendang. Bottom: Sizzling Tofu, Mi Goreng, and I am guessing the vegetable side is water spinach (?)

Cold Food recap

…and now since my husband is home from training today on Tuesday, August 2nd, I feel like I have breathing room again. I felt like it all month was a cycle was a triathlon of dealing with my physical health, mental health, and caring for my young child and two dogs all month. Plus I’m still on a probation period at my job so I am determined to perform well.

Cheese recap

I usually have a goal in mind of what I would like to make each month. This month I wanted to try to make ricotta cheese, but it’s been so hot this month. I was already looking forward to experimenting with cold dishes which is July’s food theme.

Strawberries around the World (recap)

I decided not to do a deadline. At some point I’d like to do a standing page on previous food themes so I can continue to update and share some recipes around that theme. After my Eggs post recap, I thought to myself, “I don’t want to stop sharing recipes about eggs.” A few days later, I made shakshuka. I have to admit, it was not the best shakshuka recipe but I will continue to find a good shakshuka recipe even if April is long over.

So rather than being bound by deadlines, I’ll continue to share some egg dishes just as I want to share some recipe wins around ice cream and festive dishes. But also I do enjoy recap posts because I get to reflect on the past month through food. Plus I think it is fun to focus and explore on a certain food or theme for a month.

Eat Around the World: Strawberries

Anything with strawberries are hit and miss with me. I like fresh strawberries, but I am not a fan of strawberry flavor such as strawberry ice cream, strawberry candy, strawberry milk, etc. because the flavor tends to come off as artificial. I ask “did they really use strawberries?”

Eat around the World: Eggs (recap)

Now back to the fun foodie post. Did you hear? I experienced a racist incident. I was so steamed I had to write about it.

I have to say, keeping a blog has saved me many, many times. It has helped me deal with difficult and dark moments. Rather than being drowned out by what everybody else thinks, I get write my own narrative and I find that empowering. In blog world, I kick ass.

Anyways, here egg dishes I got to try this month. Most of the egg dishes were chicken eggs. I was hoping to find some eggs bonda or maybe make some this month. I did not even get to make eggs bonda during my week off. I think I may have under estimated the free time I actually had during my week off.

Foods shaped like rings (Eat around the World)

Initially, I wanted February’s theme to be bagels because I like bagels. Instead, I thought maybe I should go a little broader and explore different types of ring-shaped food. This theme is so fitting for February because the Winter Olympics start this Friday. Also, this month is Valentine’s Day and I thought of engagement rings — cheesy, I know.

Salads recap

I thought doing a post on salad should be a fun twist on a common New Year’s Resolution, losing weight. Instead of the focus being “to lose weight,” it could be to eat more salad or more vegetables. The challenge was looking for salads that use cold-weather vegetables or grains.

Just a grain of salt…

Happy weekend coffee share! Let’s have a light brunch at Huckleberry in Santa Monica. I’ve been hearing great things about this place for years. I even borrowed their cookbook from the library to try out some recipes even though I’ve never been at the time. The jam-filled brioche loaf on the cover page caught my eye and that’s why I borrowed it. I was ambitious to venture into brioche-making. When I was about to return the library book, my miniature Schnauzer, Teddy, ruined the cover. Maybe he thought eating the cover page was a delicious idea. The library did not want want the book back in that condition (obviously). I had to pay for a replacement and got to keep the wrecked version.

To be honest, the damage is not as bad you think. Thank god for hardcover. Plus the pages are in great condition.

I guess I never bothered going because there are many other great brunches between there and where I lived. This morning I decided to finally go because it’s hot where I live. I wanted to escape the heat of the Valley for a little bit and hang out at Santa Monica. I am happy to say I am glad I made the small trek. This quiche gruyere and mushroom quiche is amazing! I also had their fruit crisp. This place definitely lives up to the hype. I’ll definitely go back to re-read this cookbook and replicate these dishes.

Anyways, if we were having coffee, I want to share a thing that bothered me. Background: my daughter’s daycare is at my work in the hospital so I get to see her during my lunch breaks. The other day, I decided to have lunch at the daycare to watch Lana do waterplay because it was first time doing waterplay. I like to see her have fun and engage with the other kids. I asked the daycare supervisor if I could eat lunch at the daycare and he said it was ok but as long as I’m not eating chips or other junk food in front of the other kids. He was explaining the importance of modeling good eating habits for the kids at the daycare. Also, he did not want to have some kid say “hey I don’t want to eat this watermelon, I want to chips because she’s eating chips!” I understood where he was coming from and I am not against this policy. Funny thing was that I had a bag of chip with me. All I had to do was walk a few feet to the staff cafeteria and eat them away from the kid’s sight. No big deal.

But that is not the part that frustrated me. After work, I met up with my husband for dinner and his friend tagged along. I shared with my husband about their lunch policy because we don’t want Lana become a picky eater as she gets older. But his friend exploded saying “Oh my gosh…ugh…they’re social engineering your kid. This is why you should not put your kids through public school, blah blah blah. This is why homeschool is far superior blah blah” Side note: this friend does not have any kids. And if you think public health and teaching kids and anybody about healthy eating (and washing your hands, brushing your teeth, etc.) is social engineering, then sure… Then hope you have one or all the things as a result of not doing any of these healthy habits. Also daycare is not the same as public school because I pay for daycare. It’s completely ridiculous. As much as I am ok with hearing other perspectives, I prefer to keep them at arm’s length. I commend my husband for taking these comments with a tiny grain of salt, while I am a little bit more sensitive.