The Origin? - Chun Shui Tang in Taichung, Taiwan

Allegedly. But most likely!

Enjoying a cold one!

Boba really is the craze these days, isn’t it? Trust me, I know – I did my prom ask with five cups (it went great). Boba, the great drink that goes by so many names and refers to one thing: a drink with tea, condensed milk, sugar and those sweet little pearls made out of God knows what (PCB actually). Pearl milk tea is another name for it, a direct translation from its original Chinese name 珍珠奶茶(zhen zhu nai cha). Its origins are in Taiwan – there’s no doubting that. But there is a controversy about the exact store that started boba. The one I went to claims to be the first – it opened in 1983 after being converted from another tea shop. And according to Chun Shui Tang in 1987, pearl milk tea was brought into the world. The other shop in this race for the first is Hanlin Teahouse in Tainan, Taiwan – I’ll tell you about it if I ever head down there. Chun Shui Tang came into existence when my dad just entered into high school at the number one ranked boys high school in the city of Taichung. It’s located behind the old city hall, where my grandmother used to work at a market that took place there. Surrounding the city hall is a bunch of historical food spots – including their famous sun cakes and meatballs. The meatball stand is one I remember from my childhood in Taichung – their service while not exactly friendly s quick and smooth, allowing a plethora of customers from the busy street rush in and out getting their meal in. And to contrast this all, Chun Shui Tang.

The Los Altos Food Adventure - Part 1

Another day, another food adventure

Athena!

So one of my latest food adventures is actually a make up for one that was supposed to happen on
Senior Ditch Day – I had tentatively planned to hang around Los Altos with Athena for the day, but when another group of friends decided to go to San Francisco to eat and drink boba, I had to jump on that train. But today I redeemed myself by making it up to Athena; we spent the entire goddamn day eating food – that’s right, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Athena and I could’ve gone around the entire Silicon Valley eating food and spending money, but we were limited by one very interesting thing: her car. According to Athena (I have yet to bear witness to this) the car is fairly unreliable, and even her dad was scared it would break down if we went too far. Lucky for us, there is an abundance of high-quality food in the Los Altos-Mountain View area, so let’s just jump right to it!

Vegas Baby!!! - Bellagio Buffet in Las Vegas, NV

Piles of shrimp!

At first I was pretty confused - why should I be going to Las Vegas for my spring break? Shouldn't I be hanging out with friends, or maybe relaxing by an ocean in Hawaii? Why Las Vegas of all places - I'm not even 18 which means I can't drink, gamble, or do anything in Las Vegas!

Well, I can eat.

This Dog is my Sous Chef - Baking with Dogs

Don't be alarmed by the title

Left to Right: Kristi, Nikki, Ellie

For the past few weeks, I've been baking on Fridays with my friends Nikki, Ellie, and Kristi at Nikki's house. They're a pretty fun group of people to hang out with, and one of the best parts of baking is that there's often a dog in the house! Nikki actually fosters dogs for dpsrescue.org, and the latest little puppy to come through the program is Porter. Porter is rescued from (no joke) a dog meat factory in Asia, and I met him the first day he got stateside and he was extremely scared of humans. Literally no one could touch him(and it's still hard to get him to touch you) and when you looked at him he would just run away. Interestingly enough, I was able to look at him through a camera, probably because he didn't recognize that is people looking at him. Anyway, Porter is very much like a cat: even now he's licking himself clean, and if you're interested in adopting a loving dog who has been listening to A LOT of Shakira lately, check out Porter at the Palo Alto Food Express on Saturday March 4th from 1-4pm and Sunday March 5th 1-3pm.

I Got Baked in San Francisco - The Sequel

So is it habit forming?

Erika!!!

So Erika lets the Carleton GroupSnap (is that a thing) know that she's going to be in San Francisco on January 28th, so guess what happened: Miles and I roll out through BART and CalTrain and meet up with her at Montgomery. So Erika, Miles and I were pretty close friends during the SCSI, and the main thing that brought us together was our shared love of music. Miles likes more underground and new artists, so when he played music off his phone it was always an adventure for me (and probably Erika, I don't really know). But anyway, we're all good friends, and of course Miles and I agree to go to Erika's top choice location: Mr. Holmes Bakehouse. That's right folks, we're back. Let's get baked in San Francisco

Going Psycho - Psycho Donuts and Pho with @winnie.fried

Thought I was going psycho for a second there

Once again, we are back with Winnie (follow her here) and are more determined than ever to experience the food wonders of Downtown San Jose. I usually don't head down to San Jose, but Winnie's robotics lab is in the middle of it, so I arranged for a lunch at Pho 69. Downtown San Jose is a pretty funky place, mostly because of its location and the very, very, very popular convention center. Lots of things go on in there, ranging from volleyball tournaments to even a minor Blizzcon if I remember correctly. Anyway, this weekend was no different, with a bunch of costumed people waiting around.

Only 20th Century Kids Will Remember - SF Day Trip Pt. 3 with @winnie.fried

Proving that I can finish something besides Netflix shows

So here we are - the finale of this series I was supposed to finish two or three weeks ago. Due to it being the day after Christmas, some of the places we hoped to tour were closed, namely the Supreme Court of California and the city hall. So the only thing we were able to do was find another place to eat and figure out where to go from there. During our walk there from Japan town, we walked by this restaurant called Little Gem. At first glance at the menu hanging in the window (big windows by the way), it seemed to be a mostly Asian restaurant, but when we sat down and took a better look, it turns out to be some sort of American-Asian fusion restaurant. So I sat down and ordered the veggie bibimbap, while my friends got some smaller options. Although I recognized the fact that the bibimbap was vegetarian, I was still a little shocked to see it when it was placed in front of me. How did I forget in the span of ten minutes?

Where's my meat??? 7/10 tho

I Got Baked in San Francisco - SF Day Trip Part 1 with @winnie.fried

Future employers please disregard title

Winnie and I got baked in San Francisco

This past Monday, I went on a trip to San Francisco with my friends Winnie and Jenny - Winnie also has a food-focused Instagram page, you can follow her at @winnie.fried. So beforehand, we made a plan to visit two bakeries/cafes - Mr. Holmes and Belly Good - and left the lunch option open. Like Miles and Lia, Winnie and Jenny are friends from my time at the Carleton Summer Computer Science Institute, and this is the first time we've met since the trip despite living in the same area. So anyway, our first stop was at Mr. Holmes, which had a deceptively long line. The actual area for customers is small, possibly to force them out into the cold (just kidding), and even though we got there bright and early at 10am, it seemed that their stock of cruffins had either been depleted or not even made yet (you can check this on their website).

Meet Fresh - Cupertino, CA

Great shaved ice spot with modern design, but length of line approaches infinity.

I remember the first time I saw shaved ice - was five, visiting Taipei with my parents. And as we turned the corner, I saw it: the marvelous mango shaved ice. With one glance at the bowl the size of my head filled with about as much shaved ice, cream and mangoes you could pile in it, I fell in love.

Hard.