Pearl Tea House's Pineapple Boba

2633 E. Shaw Avenue
Fresno, CA 93710

Brother's boba. I controlled myself and didn't get their to-die-for green tea slush latte with boba. ::sigh:: The kinda mean lady (sorry, but she was rude to me a few years ago when she got my order wrong and blamed me) was there, as always. I normally wouldn't go back to a place with rude service, but I haven't had problems with her since (she's just scary-looking and kinda cold), the other employees are nice, and this place is the best boba place in Fresno (in my opinion). Man...this place brings back high school memories.

Cracked Black Pepper Crackerthins

,These are good! Specks of black pepper make them slightly spicy. My aunt & uncle had them out with salmon and other snacky hors d'oeuvres toppings, but I liked them just plain.

Kijima's Oyako Donburi

Saturday, 11.29.08
Shaw & Peach
Fresno, CA


Yumm. Thought it was the perfect size.

Dad's Side's Thanksgiving Desserts

Parents and I went back to Uncle J & Auntie J's house for the desserts we missed (we left their place to eat and visit at my mom's side). Homemade blackberry pie, chocolate cake, and pumpkin pie (all very good!!!):

Auntie Joanne's delicious blackberry pie:

Thanksgiving Sweet Potato Mashmallow Thing

I dunno what this is called, but my grandma makes it every year for Thanksgiving. Hecka sugary, but it's really good if you eat the tops of the potatoes with some of the marshmallow (the bottoms of the potatoes are saturated in sugary syrup, which is too much for me to handle).

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Meatloaf Sandwich

Call me weird, but I like meatloaf. Dad made this with the leftover meatloaf my Gpa made.

Ryan's Court of Honor Food

Last time I only posted the pics of the desserts. Here's what my main dish plate looked like (mmm...the other now-Eagle scout's aunt's restaurant's food; unfortunately, I don't know the name. Hong Kong something?):

Girdled Grape's Lemon Blueberry Shortbread Bites

My dad gets stuff like this from his customers all of the time. They used to be just chocolate-covered raisins, nuts, and cherries, but lately they've been getting more interesting. The center is hard like a cookie. It was good, but not amazing, and I wouldn't go out of my way to get them somewhere. Just thought it was interesting that they now make "shortbread" into little candy bite things.

Grandparents' Japanese Treats

My grandparents received these Japanese treats from another family I think as a housewarming gift (they recently moved in with us). Mom said you're supposed to give them to guests. I was surprised at how huge those bean jelly/jello things were (kanten & that other word i can't think of right now). Hopefully the Japanese aren't starting to supersize like Americans do.... Anyways, I already knew what these things would taste like...so I didn't eat them (they're not really good). Pretty much sembe/arare (pretty much crunchy crackers made with soy sauce, sugar, sometimes fishy things, etc.; sounds gross, but they can be tasty sometimes) and those too-sweet jelly things with red beans in them. Oh! And they included little mini scoopers/spoons with which to eat the jelly things. Japanese and their cute things.

Easy Brownies

Baked these for Nick over the summer, but of course I ate one to make sure it didn't taste awful. I thought it was good, and this recipe was really easy.

Original recipe here (I just excluded the walnuts; see below for recipe).

I love the top part...and the edges! Speaking of brownie edges, I got my cousin a brownie edge pan like this one earlier this year, and she said it works really well.


Recipe from Recipezaar:

• 2/3 cup butter
• 4 unsweetened chocolate squares
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup flour, less 1 tablespoon
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
   
2. Melt chocolate and butter together in saucepan or microwave. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. In mixing bowl beat together the sugar and eggs, salt and flour, add melted chocolate and butter mixture. Stir in walnuts and vanilla.
4. Pour batter in greased and floured 9x13 baking pan.
5. Bake approximately 25-30 minutes. Test with toothpick. ome chocolate batter should remain on the pick.
   

Grandma's Persimmon Cookies

Mom gave me these yesterday. I used to make these with my mom's biological mom. I think this is the one thing that stands out in all of my childhood memories of her (she's still alive; I just don't see her that often). I believe I developed a love for just plain butter + sugar together while making these with my grandma. Haha! Today I still sneak a piece of butter covered in sugar whenever I bake (my hands are clean, and I don't contaminate the ingredients at all).

Anyways, Kurtis said these were like spice cookies (whatever that means...I rarely eat spice cookies...). I can't really taste the persimmon, but these have a muffin top texture. I actually just realized yesterday that muffin top cookies aren't as good as you'd expect them to be. Maybe it's because actual muffin tops are always so ... perfect...but then when you just have the muffin tops, they're too much like cookies, and since your cookie schema interferes with your cookie schema, your mind gets confused and thinks the muffin-like cookie is weird. I don't even know if that makes sense, but I'm too lazy to reword that. I'll just say that a muffin top cookie isn't as fun as an actual muffin top because you can't bite it off of something. I dunno. It's just weird. It's interesting too...because you'd think muffin top = muffin top cookie. Actually, you'd think the muffin top cookie would be even better because you'd have the hard bottom part as a bonus. I really need to stop avoiding my paper.

It's PURPLE!!

My parents just gave me a bottle of Purple! Dessert wine only found at Quady Winery in Madera, CA. 15% alc/vol. Doesn't it look like a kid's drink? It's sweet, tastes like an alcoholic grape popsicle, and it's delicious alone or with vanilla ice cream. I also posted about it here. I shared this with a few of my friends in Berkeley and in Fresno, and they all liked it. One guy was VERY enthusiastic about how wonderful it was. I wish I had it on video so you could see his reaction. Quady could've used it to advertise. :P

Find Purple HERE at the Quady website.

Brazil Cafe's Tri Tip Sandwich

Mmm. So garlic-y (that green sauce on top is their special garlic cilantro sauce, which is one of the best I've ever had) and flavorful. This is the second or third time I've bought this. Their Oba Oba sandwich is good too, and I haven't found anyone who was dissatisfied with Brazil Cafe's food. Look at their reviews! They're on the expensive side for sandwiches (around $7 and up), but if you think about it, these aren't just cold-cut sandwiches with mayo. I think their prices are reasonable. This is just half:


Darn...too much flash!

Crixa Cakes: Boston Cream Pie

*N0...I haven't gone a fourth time; I just forgot to add this to my krendel post. This is Alex & Sam's mini Boston cream pie. Surprisingly soft on the inside (when you stick a fork in it, it sinks down). SO GOOD! Here's the online description: "Tender chiffon cake with creamy vanilla custard, covered with dark chocolate ganache. Individually sized." <--Um...I think it's a bit big for an individual!

More of Japan '05

If only Americans would cut down to these portion sizes! (I think everyone was still hungry after this lunch):

This was one of the food platters at the conference we church people attended, which was all in Japanese, and, therefore, incomprehensible to most of us (all I remember was "arigato gozaimashita!"). Hmm...actually, this picture looks more like American food...all fried and stuff.

Cafe Durant: French Toast, Breakfast Burrito, & Homefries

*Morning after Cherry's party*
Sunday, 11.16.08

Both Alex and Mina got the breakfast burrito, which looked delicious:

I got the French toast. Disappointing compared to the last French toast I had at Jupiter's, but it wasn't bad at all. I should have asked them to leave the powdered sugar and whipped cream off though.

Why do I always forget how big the side of homefries is? Soooo good though. Took most of them home and ate them the next day with my leftover ground turkey, which was delicious. I always have to have something salty with my sweet things.

Mina ordered strawberries:


*Used Mina's camera bc mine's still broken*

Finally Went to Fat Slice!

People told me this place was extra greasy. I agree. Also extra cheesy (maybe that's why), which is not a bad thing. I was just telling Vanessa P. that I had never been to Fat Slice on Saturday (11.15.08), and then that night, during Cherry's party, Mina, Daniel, Derek (? I'm pretty sure that's not his name), and I went to Fat Slice and got cheese slices because they were out of chicken pesto. Goood...but not the best. Luckily Daniel wanted to split one with me...so I didn't feel so guilty eating pizza late at night.



*Used Mina's camera*

Another Trip to Venus For Brunch

Went back to Venus.
Tuesday, 10.11.08 (Veteran's Day)
2327 Shattuck Ave
Yelp ratings.

My "french toast challah bread" (apparently they like lower-case letters) was SO good! Best French toast I've ever had that I can remember. I loved the texture, thickness, and flavor, and the poppyseeds were a nice touch; I should have ordered scrambled eggs because over-easy eggs always get messy...but the chicken sausage was good; mmm I want that French toast just by itself):

John's "chicken sausage scramble" (we both liked it!):


I've also had their lemon ricotta pancakes (SO good!).

*Used John's camera bc mine broke that morning*

Kurtis's Molasses Cookies

Kurtis decided to spend Veteran's Day...Eve by baking molasses cookies with his grandma's recipe. At first they were too sugary, but then the spicy and gingery flavors were delicious. Mmm. I still think I'd like them better with less sugar because I'm just weird, but these were still good, and I'm having a difficult time keeping myself away from the ones that are still on our sharing shelf. :o/

Sparkly because he rolled the dough balls in sugar before he baked 'em:

Sugar Bowl Bakery's Petite Brownie Bites

Best brownies ever I think. Close to the Adult Brownie from Andronico's. Maybe they're about the same (haha--reminds me of my eye doctor: "1 or 2? Or about the same?").

Anyways, Kurtis's parents brought a huge box of these, and so far I have stuck to my goal of eating ONE only. I'm getting better at controlling myself. You can find these at Sugar Bowl Bakery in Berkeley (wait...the last I'd heard about this one was over a year ago when it was in the process of moving into that nice little shopping area down around the west side of University just north of Spenger's Fish Grotto, but Yelp just has SF's location and it lists the Berkeley one as closed) or San Francisco...OR you can get their stuff at Walgreens or I think Costco. For sure at Walgreens though.

* Note: I just found out the founders are Asian! Interesting.


But before you get all excited and eat a bunch of these (because you really will want to), check this out: SERVING SIZE = ONE BROWNIE!!!!!

Dagoba's Xocolatl Bar

Xocolatl = chocolate in Aztec, according to the reader (person--not a book) in my Anthropology of Food class, but it also refers to an Aztec chocolate drink specifically. I decided to buy this bar because I'm taking a class on the Maya (yes--MAYA--not Mayans! apparently you only add an "n" at the end when referring to the Mayan languages) and we discussed Maya and Aztec uses of chocolate. So yes. Spicy chocolate.

THIS IS SO GOOD! I've been eating a tiny piece each day to control myself and make the enjoyment last longer.


You can see the chilies & cacao nibs (SOOO GOOD!):




This is my new favorite chocolate bar. My last favorite was Ghirardelli's peanut butter-filled chocolate bar. That'll always be among my favorites though.

Crixa Cakes: Bread Pudding & Lemon Cream Cake

Oh wow. I suck. I had Crixa Cakes food three times over the past week and a half. Gross. But TO DIE FOR at the same time.

Purchased (only partially eaten) on Tuesday, 11.11.08.

My BREAD PUDDING (MMM!!!! It's actually not made out of bread; ingredients = vanilla or chocolate sponge cake soaked with pots de cremé batter, a super-rich egg custard) - $4.25 per slice:


John's Lemon Cream Cake (OMG--I'm picky with lemon things, but this was pretty amazing; so creamy and tasty - $4.85 per slice); ingredents = Lemon mascarpone cream and kirsch soaked sponge cake:


*Used John's camera bc mine broke that morning*

Crixa Cakes: Krendel

Saturday, 11.8.08

I went back to Crixa Cakes last night. Didn't want something sweet, so I planned on getting a piroshki, but they were out of it. So I got a krendel instead. Go here for more info. Pretty much a sweet bread that looks like a bagel with currants, raisins, and sliced almonds. Yum! Just don't like when things have extra sugar on top (see below). I picked some of it off.

Cheeseboard's [Something] and Praline Muffin

Sorry!!! I can't remember what the other main ingredient was. It was good but not amazing until I bit into a praline. Mmm...Corrie's starting to love nuts in her bakery goods. Except for walnuts that aren't candied. This was $1.50, by the way. Bought Monday, 11.3.08 on the way back from paying rent. NB Properties should NOT be near Cheeseboard. It's really my fault for being weak though.

Turtle Chex Mix Bar

Caramel-covered Corn Chex pieces, Wheat Chex pieces, chocolate, peanuts & pretzels.


Yum...but I wish it didn't have caramel. Too sweet. I love the rest of its ingredients though!