Cheer Up With Food

I realized I never did an entry on coffee before!  I enjoy the smell of coffee, it soothes and awakens me.  I can survive without drinking coffee for months unlike other people, but this doesn't mean I despise the drink.  Ever since I can remember, I always saw my dad drink coffee, day or night.  Somehow this might have caused me to rebel against drinking it regularly?   In Las Vegas there's many coffee shops.  I always go to major chain coffee shops instead of small businesses.  I need to change that!  I guess I had a bad experience going to an unknown coffee shop once, it was obvious this place was imitating Starbucks .  Once I venture out more and find a nice local business I'll post an entry about it! A coffee shop that I'm fond of is The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf  across from UNLV .  I like it for its location, discounts offered to UNLV students (I'm an alumni though :-p), enough tables to merge for a study group, and my dr...

For breakfast time with my mom, we ate at  Pho So 1  to eat some pho instead of traditional American or Filipino food.       Eating a soup consisting of rice noodles, thinly sliced meat, bean sprouts, lime, and basil early in a chilly morning is refreshing to eat! In the pic below is  tai chin nam gan sach - rare steak, well-done flank, brisket, tendon, and tripe.  I enjoyed this soup because it's broth was amazing and it wasn't too salty like other pho I've tried in town:

When I called to reserve a table at  SATAY , the lady I was talking to asked if there was a special occasion.  I told her that I was celebrating my birthday and she responded in excitement as she greeted me... I felt special haha.  My huge taro smoothie with boba  - I enjoy eating taro, the use of this root is endless: Fish meat ball satay - Common food seen all over Asia: Thai Ginger Tofu - comes with onion, green onion, celery, and red bell pepper.  I love foods with ginger because of its tangy taste: Coconut fragrance rice only has a slight scent of coconut:  Thanks for the free green tea ice cream  Satay!

For lunch I went to  Bahama Breeze  for the first time with my friends.  I was a bit skeptical about eating here because from my experience eating at a few nice looking restaurants in the area of Flamingo Rd. and Paradise Rd., their foods weren't that great.  I hope Bahama Breeze would be different... It was different, the food was actually way better than I expected! When it comes to  Caribbean food , I'm not knowledgeable about it mainly because there's not a lot of places that serve this cuisine here in Las Vegas =(  I only know that Caribbean food consists of: seafood , the popular  Jamaican jerk seasoning , and its fusion of African and some European cuisine. For appetizers, we tried the Fire-Roasted Jerk Shrimp - the shrimp are soaked in a garlic-thyme butter and comes with warm Cuban bread .  The flavor of the shrimp was overwhelming and addicting!  I just wanted to keep ordering more! I decided to try this combinat...

I think the container of this  Eat Pastry  vegan cookie dough looks neato because of it's 1920s (?) look:  yummeh!

My fuel while studying, tofu hot dogs - looks like the real deal:

When planning for my birthday dinner with my family, I wanted to eat somewhere that had fresh and healthy foods. From what I've heard by mouth, Swish  had what I wanted! Swish = shabu shabu (Japanese hot pot). Shabu shabu is similar to fondue where you dip thinly slices of vegetables, meat, or seafood into a boiling water or broth made with kelp.  While submerged in the water, the foods are swished around. After the foods are cooked you can dip it into sauces like goma and ponzu . I got the Salmon shabu shabu vegetables ( napa cabbage , carrots, and onion), tofu, and udon noodles: Boiling: Vegetarian Delight - Asparagus, napa, onion, baby corn , mushrooms, green onion, carrot, tofu, udon, etc.: Other kinds of foods that are served here: appetizers (of course), bento meals, and sukiyaki .

Whenever family or friends come back from the Philippines they bring a gift of treats.  As for my mom, since she is my mom, gave me an overload of treats: So whoever is an adventurous eater, please eat the treats, I can't finish it all!

This was Jasmine's 18th & Andrew's 21st birthday - I still remember when they were babies! Their party food wise was simple consisting of traditional Filipino foods and abundance of candies. As for the decor, there were balloons that represented gumdrops ... Sweet!

I've been a fan of Anthony Bourdain for a very long time, even before he had the show,  No Reservations  on the  Travel Channel . Thanks to Netflix , I get to catch up with this show whenever I get the chance! One of my favorite episodes is when he goes to Brittany. I would reeaaalllyy like to visit this place when I go to Europe: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations - Brittany

Blue Martini  @ Town Square is my favorite place for martinis, hence their name!  There's an assortment of martinis to choose from their menu so you're bound to find a specialty martini that suites to your own liking!  As for me, I like Mango Madness -  Van Gogh Mango Vodka, Roses Mango, and a splash of pineapple juice... I'm a tropical gal ;] If you plan to get a table there with table service and want to order vodka, I recommend the  Van Gogh  Blue Triple Wheat Vodka.  It's really smooth and has no slight sour after taste!

I recently found out that the James Beard Celebrity Chef Dinner will be coming to Las Vegas this November 15th.  Whoever goes to this event will get to eat food cooked by top chefs and get to interact with them!  The proceeds go to benefit the James Beard Foundation — a nonprofit dedicated to celebrating, nurturing, and preserving America's diverse culinary heritage and future.  The event will be held at the Rick Moonen's rm Seafood (which is on my wish list on places to eat at!).

Lately I've been watching TLC's Cake Boss .  I haven't seen much cakes for special occasions until I saw this show, so it amazes when I see Buddy Valastro and his crew make a cake into a masterpiece.  When I saw this cherry blossom fondant cake being made on the first season, I fell in love with it's simplicity: I saw online through Google and YouTube that this cherry blossom fondant cake is commonly made.  Common or rare, I'd like to have this kind of cake for my wedding :-)

My fiance couldn't stop talking about how much he missed yellow curry for days!  So he surprised me in bringing me to the Indian restaurant,  Origin India  across from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.  It is a very simple and modern looking restaurant thats nice to have a quiet or romantic dinner. Masala Chai  - This spiced tea was milky!  I'm glad I chose this than an alcoholic beverage because I'd rather drink milky teas or coffees: Homemade paneer cheese tikka -  stuffed with apricots and raisins, marinated in coriander and basil glazed in Tandoor, and pickled red cabbage.  If you're a cheese lover, try this appetizer!  This fluffy looking paneer will crumble in your mouth: Punjabi Kadhi  - Punjabi gram flour and veggie dumplings in yogurt sauce with coriander seeds, chili, cumin, and asafoetida  (spice).  If you're just thinking that yogurt sauce = Yoplait , you're not close... One way of making yogurt sauce is mix...

I got the chance to eat Amenian food yay!  Thanks to Cece :-)   To the left is the popular Middle Eastern dip,  hummus  made of mashed chickpeas , olive oil, etc.  Now I know the difference between store bought and homemade hummus!  Its very smooth in texture.  To the right is tabouleh , a Middle Eastern salad. From what I tasted, its made mainly of parsley, onion, tomatoes, mint, and extra virgin olive oil (?): This is a customized treat of Cecilia's.  Its like a fritter with Armenian cheese inside!  The cheese was thick and stringy:

I finally went to Cadillac Ranch  for the first time on my friend's birthday.  Before I entered the bar, a guard asked me if I came here because of Spy On Vegas .  I said I wasn't and wondered what kind of event was going on.  We sat at one of the bars and were asked if we wanted beer because it was free!  Spy On Vegas was giving out free Samuel Adams Octoberfest beers in honor of Okotberfest .  I could not refuse a free drink and celebrated in honor of the German celebration.  I also got a free shot of lemon drop  - apparently this is a common shot that I never heard of until that night!  It tasted just like iced tea.  All the bartenders were nice, funny, and made my friend's birthday quite entertaining! This place wasn't on my list of places to hang out at Town Square because I had heard their food was nothing to rave about.  I still tried an appetizer to confirm what I heard was true.  The birthday lady and I shared...

My family and I were 'hunting' for a good Chinese restaurant along Spring Mountain Rd. and came across Anna's Garden.  We decided to give the place a chance.  What makes this place different from other Chinese restaurants is that it specializes in Hong Kong cuisine .  HK cuisine is obviously influenced from China (mainly Cantonese ) and other Asian countries.  This is the second HK style restaurant I've been to and am starting to notice the slight differences between HK and Chinese foods.  I think its the type/amount of spices and salt that are added in their foods?  I should research about it... When we entered the Anna's Garden, there was only Chinese speaking patrons there.  I thought to myself this place has got to be legit then my dad thought the same thing, but said it aloud! The dish I ordered was the Tofu Hot Pot .  It had a creamy texture to it and the chunks of tofu were HUGE: We got Chinese broccoli as our main veggie dish. ...

The  Nove  @ the Palms  was a pleasant surprise to me.  I didn't expect it to be so elegant and modern, and their Italian food was the same too!  Some items I tried was a thin crispy pizza with mozzarella di bufala as the cheese topping and a rigatoni  dish - I enjoyed eating this one because it was rather spicy!  I had never had a Italian dish like that at a restaurant before. I thought they accidentally put too much spices in the sauce, but realized they couldn't have.  The spices added a nice 'kick' to my mouth!  If you're looking to eat somewhere with an awesome view of the Strip, eat at Nove!  Trust me you won't be disappointed :D

There are little variations in making corned beef Filipino style.  One simple way I learned from my parents is cooking Hereford corned beef (our favorite brand) with sautéd onions and garlic, salt, and pepper.  Other ingredients you can also add are diced potatoes, tomatoes, bay leaf, and MSG.   My mom told me when she was growing up in the Philippines, corned beef was  expensive because it was imported from the US.  So this was considered a delicacy to her generation.  This must be the reason why my parents always have a can of corned beef in their pantry!

Pigs in a blanket from IHOP ... Fluffy goodness!

I've been deprived of cheesecake for quite some time!  So I ate at the Cheesecake Factory last week.  I usually order the Low Carb Cheesecake with Strawberries  - comes with whipped cream and is sweetened with Splenda ®. I don't notice a huge difference between the low carb and The Original cheesecake except not feeling heavy after eating a slice of the low carb cheesecake. After eating there, I still longed for more cheesecake!  I later found a scrumptious no bake cheesecake recipe from  http://cottagemagpie.com/recipes/no-bake-cheesecake .  I made it and topped it off with Comstock blueberry pie filling. I let my mom try it, who also gave some to my dog -.- she didn't believe that I made that cheesecake.  She thought I got it from Marie Callender's  - I was flattered!

One evening I went to pick up dinner I ordered down the street from my home.  After I got my dinner, I saw this taco stand put up in front of Taqueria Santander.  I thought to myself its late at night, the street lights are dim, and there's men surrounding the taco stand... I'll go try a taco!  I went up to the stand as was greeted in Spanish (I don't think they could see me well so I went closer to the light that was on the grill).  A man asked me if I wanted carne or ____?  His accent was thick so I asked what else they had other than beef.  The man said intestine.  I chose it... I figured I've had enough beef tacos, I'll try something new.  The man smiled and gave me two thumbs up haha.  While he was preparing it the other men were making conversation with me.  One asked if I was Filipina, if I was from there, and so on.  I replied in Spanish to some of their questions, I'm surprised I still remember!   Here is the taco de ...