Cheer Up With Food

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!