The Tastiest Road - Raohe Night Market in Taipei Taiwan

Bring comfortable walking shoes!

Some nice takoyaki we found

Night markets are often what people think of when they think of Taiwan - long narrow streets filled with people bustling around trying to get their hands on whatever grub the stands are peddling. But what no one tells you is how much you walk because yes, it might seem obvious because it’s a night market on a street but the feeling of being stuck in foot traffic and your ankles begging and whining for mercy really put things into perspective. Luckily I wasn’t alone and brought my friend Nathan, who was in the neighboring city of Taoyuan for a mission trip (he went back to the US early after fracturing his arm in some serious street ball).

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.

R-Eel-ly Good - Fei Qian Wu in Taipei, Taiwan

So good it might be eel-egal but it’s not. Illegal, that is.

Rain drops are dropping faster than mixtapes in the summer. There’s even a little thunder and lightning going on. So why am I braving the elements with my family and a few umbrellas on this dark night through a supposedly haunted park? Well, I’m trying to get to some delicious Japanese food! Wait - Japanese food in Taiwan? Yeah! Taiwan, over the recent years, has become more and more like something resembling America—a mixing pot of people from around the world doing business. And as the international influence and populace grow, international cuisine naturally starts to take prominence in the region (see: San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles). The same has happened here in Taipei, where there is one whole road dedicated to Japanese cuisine. Nearby is a whole set of stores that cater more to the Japanese tourist populace.

Not Your Grandma's Cooking – Shanghai Grandma in Shanghai, China

Just kidding, probably close to it

Their 

So if you've been following this blog, you know that I was trying to find a certain restaurant, walked in and was met with a barrage of bugs. Well, the restaurant I was trying to find was Shanghai Grandma, and it turns out it was right next to the one I went into. Winnie and I were out walking after eating at Da Hu Chun that day when we spotted the real Shanghai Grandma, on the way to the Bund. So the next day, right after getting out of the Oriental Pearl Tower, we ran straight for Shanghai Grandma on the opposite side of the Yellow River.Shanghai Grandma, at first glance, is a classic nice restaurant with velvet chairs and glass topped tables. When we went at about 2pm, it was understandably pretty empty, as it was after the lunch rush. We were quickly seated at a corner table and presented with a menu filled to the top with some Shanghai classics. The first thing I saw on the menu was the chaoniangao (炒年糕), which is essentially sticky rice cakes mixed with veggies and meat, then stir-fried. The flavors were delightfully balanced, as the salty flavor complemented the sticky texture of the rice cakes. That was probably the best dish there, as everything else was very…salty.

Three Times Will Do It – Da Hu Chun in Shanghai, China

Worth the three attempts!

Shengjianbao

As the rain came down, Winnie and I quickly rushed through with our umbrellas, trying to find the restaurant marked on our map. As we hurriedly splashed through the puddles, we passed a familiar wooden sign. Not today, we thought, we're going to try something new. But as soon as we opened the door of the new place, a fly flew out. Then another. There was a swarm of bugs in the restaurant, crawling on the floor, the ceiling, everywhere. And that's when I turned to Winnie and said," hey, maybe we should go to Da Hu Chun."

The Los Altos Food Adventure - Part 2

Dish or Dash?

Sk8tr Gurl

So after we got out of our comfy leather chairs in the bookstore, we decided to head out and grab some dinner – but it was only like 3pm. So like any responsible person, I decided to teach Athena how to ride a skateboard. We headed over to a local elementary school and I steadily guided Athena through a few easy steps on how to skateboard, as I know it. I'm a left foot forward guy, and I like to put my non-pumping foot at the front of the board. For me, the key to skateboarding is to always lean forward, something I learned from wrestling (where Coach would slap my face in different directions, telling me "your body goes where your head goes!"). So to start off our afternoon I watched as Athena clumsily skated laps around the blacktop of my local elementary school.

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!

Ditch Day! Let's go get some boba, guys! - San Francisco, CA

Classic

BOBA!!!

Every year, around 400 Saint Francis seniors are blessed with an official "Ditch Day" where they go off to the beach to have fun or fish at a nearby lake. But because I run a food blog, I went to eat food in San Francisco. Our plan was for the South Bay people to meet up at the Mountain View station and head up to San Francisco by Caltrain (with Jennifer, the lone East Bay person, heading up by BART), but things kind of went wrong as soon as we started. Our great friend William woke up an hour after we got on the train, so we decided to check the the Museum of Modern Art without him. One of the main purposes of this trip was to get Jennifer some more photos for her Instagram, but the other big one was to check out some great bubble tea. The boba shop we decided to go to was Boba Guys - regarded as one of the best in the city. I just knew I had to check it out.

Indian Pizza! - Tasty Subs and Pizzas in Sunnyvale, CA

Nice and spicy

Have your friends ever agreed to meet up at a place then decide to pull out and move the entire group to another place? Well, that's how this food adventure started out. I was out with my friends after watching Alien: Covenant (spoiler alert: it's scary) and Paras, Athena and I were literally about to order at Teanado (maybe I'll write an article about this place sometime) when Shlok gives me a call and tries to convince me to go get pizza instead of some good bento. I had never heard of "Indian pizza" before, and I wasn't too keen on getting my mouth burned because of how spicy it was, but I decided to trust him and we went off to the next plaza. Just a word of caution: parking in the plaza is pretty rough. It took a slightly shady parking lot move for us to get a spot for Shlok and Nihar but it did the trick (Please note that this blog does not endorse the use of shady parking lot tricks).

Big Burger - Gordan Ramsay Burger in Las Vega, NV // Vegas III

Erika ready to chow down!

Heavenly burger

So after finding our next dinner spot, Erika led the way and got us lost. Luckily, she regained her bearings before we lost too much time. Long story short, we made our way through the sea of people between the MGM Grand and Planet Hollywood where we saw everything from strippers to people biking for charity on the sidewalk. Yeah, it was quite a classic “Vegas” night. The wonderful thing about Vegas is that after you get through the smell of weed and look around you, all the different people really contrast against each other. The city really becomes quite a diverse selection of people, with suited businessmen sauntering in the summer heat alongside scantily clad ladies with nothing covering their upper body except for two strategically placed stickers. There are the men on the bridges playing music and the tourist groups filling the bridge, with reflections of major brand signs on the glass walls around you. Luckily, there wasn’t this many people in line for Gordon Ramsay Burger, where we queued for about a half hour before making our way into the eating space.

Grill Talk - Sumika Grill in Los Altos, CA

Miles P. Olson (2017, color)

Smoky

Actually, before we move on to the next parts of Vegas, I have to write about a stellar dining experience I had in my hometown Los Altos, CA. This place is better known as "Steve Job's Hometown", or even "small town next to Mountain View", but the downtown has some restaurants that can definitely hold its own. I'm here this time with Miles P. Olson at Sumika Grill, one of the higher rated restaurants in the town. Miles and I talk often on Snapchat and Messenger, but we only really make the commute to hang out when someone is visiting from outside of the Bay Area. That being said, I was really excited to see Miles again, since we had quite a bit to catch up on since our last time out for food.

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.

Sorry, Vegan Cheese Doesn't Taste Like Cheese - Veggie Grill in Saratoga, CA

Vegan Cheese is bad

Winnie!!!

Once upon a time, this young man was a vegetarian. That's right. From fifth through 8th grade, I thought that vegetarianism was really cool! But starting in freshman year, I decided that I wanted some more protein in the form of meat so I reverted to the good old omnivore lifestyle. I've never considered going vegan though - in fact, being vegetarian was a pretty big hassle in and of itself! But the point is, I've eaten quite a bit of vegetarian foods in the past. And a lot of substitutes, including the all famous Tofurkey which can taste a bit like actual turkey! In my past experiences with substitutes, if it's good and I forget that I'm eating a substitute, then I won't notice a difference. Well Veggie Grill has earned my respect for creating a few Vegan dishes that I ate without noticing the fact that they were Vegan. So a gold star to the salad with bacon substitute and the Koreatown tacos, but a frowny face (like the one your physics teacher puts by a question when you make a mistake) to the nachos.

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.

Stacks on Stacks - The Original Pancake House in Los Altos, CA

Nostalgic comfort food at 6:30 am

Carter looking dramatic

The Original Pancake House has been around in my hometown, Los Altos, for a long time - like Tom's Depot, it's a staple of Los Altos life and history. I remember my dad dragging me there at some early hour when I was like five in order to get a good spot in line! It used to be packed with people every morning - especially Saturday mornings - trying to get a taste of some of the best pancakes in town. It's kind of like when baby boomers look back on "good old days" - things are different these days. More specifically, there was no wait to get in to the famed Original Pancake House in Los Altos this morning when I came in for breakfast with my friend Carter Fox.

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.

Cutest Crepes Everrrr - SF Day Trip Part 2 with @winnie.fried

These crepes are belly good

So after a much needed sugar boost from Mr. Holmes, Winnie (follow her at @winnie.fried),Jenny and I marched on to our next destination: Belly Good Bakery. As we walked, we were stopped by a nice elderly gentleman who saw us taking some photos in front of the wall across the street from Mr. Holmes, who gently informed us that there are many awesome walls in San Francisco. This included the whale, naked people, and bee walls, all which were found pretty close to each other. I don't know why you're reading this article - I may have forced you to, or you're looking for some food suggestions in San Francisco - but spots in San Francisco suitable for some hipster-ish photos are abundant. Make kissy faces with the fish, or stand near the enormous whale for some cute photos.

Bonchon: The Real K(orean)FC - San Mateo, CA

Lia!!!

A little back story on some of my friends - most of my friends that live outside of California I met during a summer program at Carleton College. It was their Summer Computer Science Institute summer program, and I spent three weeks stuck in the middle of nowhere (Northfield, MN) with a bunch of other teenagers. Here, I met some of the best friends of I've ever made (hanging out 24/7 around someone will do that), and every so often one of them will come visit California BECAUSE WE'RE THE BEST STATE YEAH.