The Greasy Spoon

So this little spot opened up, in my neighborhood and the name intrigued me.  I”ve been meaning to drop by and give it a try for ages, but it’s so close to home that I usually just head home and make something or I go to sushi or Vietnamese because they are just as close and I KNOW they are good.

Anyway on my way home from work today I thought.. oh what the hell.  So I swung by and had dinner.  The overview?  It was fine, nothing super exciting, but decent.  I guess I’m spoiled by KGB and Forkers, any other burgers seem to be lacking.  Cute little place though.   I might go there to have tea and study or something.  I really like the cute little tables and chairs outside.

I got a cheese mushroom burger, it came with a side of fries, a soup
(or a glass of juice… weird but cool) and a nice little surprise at the end.  Some little creamy poofs.  I think the creamy poofs were the best part, not because the food was disappointing, they were just such a delightful surprise!!

I took it as a wonder full excuse… as you can see 😀  to play with my camera and take a few pictures of the place and the food.  Mostly because I’m 5 and I wanted to play.

So would I recommend going there?  If you’re in the neighborhood, sure thing go check it out.  It’s a cute place and it’s worth giving a try and deciding for yourself.  But is it worth going out of your way to find? No, not really.  There are a lots of places that are easier to get to and equally as good that are probably more convenient to where you happen to be.

But if you find yourself near or at Wangfang hospital, it’s on

Xin Hai Road Section 4, #254   辛亥路4段254號        02 2932-9698

They are open from noon to midnight. 🙂

They don’t appear to have their own web page but here is a [link] to a review and some comments about it on another site in Taiwan.

Eggnoggin’

Christmas in Asia is kinda blowage, there is just no festive happy Christmas feeling and cheer.  Not the end of the world but it doesn’t make for awesome time.

For Christmas, I made Eggnog for my University students.. and they went nuts for it.  Which was kinda surprising as it’s is quite boozy, and they don’t drink much.  A couple of them were really keen to try to make it themselves, so I gave them instructions.  Actually what I did was take a crazy rich but good ‘cooked’ recipe and modify it a little.  Turned out pretty good actually.

• 4 cups of  milk + 5 cloves + 1 tsp cinnamon  + 1/2 tsp of vanilla =heated in a sauce pan
• several egg yolks (6-12… up to you) + a cup of sugar in a bowl, mix until fluffy
• Slowly stir the hot milk into the sugar and egg yolks (mix the whole time)
• Put the whole thing back in the pan, cook on a low heat for 3-5 minutes stirring the w

Tipping the Nation

What is a ‘Tip’?  According to Wikipedia it’s a gratuity made to service people in addition to the cost of the product (or something like that).

Well you know what I think a Tip is?  A pain the the ASS.

Don’t get me wrong I used to be a server, (waitress) I’ve lived for my tips, and I STILL think the whole thing is BS!  At least the way things are now in North America.  Now, I’m more than willing to admit that I’ve become a lot more conscious of my cash flow now that I Track all my money (more on that in another post).  Also living in Asia where tipping isn’t really part of the culture has definitely given me a little ‘perspective’ on the whole issue.

Service in Taiwan sucks, not always and not as a rule, but generally speaking you can expect to be ignored and a great deal of apathy from your server.  While that can be annoying, it’s also a little liberating.  I like that I can just shout “OYE, MISS” to get the girl’s attention with no fear of

AlleyCats, Very Disapointing

I guess I should have gone in it’s hey day, although I have been once before a year or so ago and my impression from that visit was meh too.  Last time it wasn’t particularly exciting but it wasn’t especially disappointing either.  I remember thinking the pizza was nice, but not really worth all the hype and to be frank.. not worth they money it costs.

It was my friend who actually asked me to remove his real name from my blog (insert eyeroll here) birthday (aka Frostfox) and we all went to dinner at Alleycats.  We went to the original store, which when I said I wasn’t so impressed last year everyone said I had to go to.

Well as far as first (or second) impressions go, they failed.  HORRIBLY.  Best pizza in Taipei?  Really I think I would have preferred Napoli, you know the greasy cheap shit that costs a couple of bucks.

I ordered the Napoletana: Fresh Tomato, Goat Cheese, Anchovies, Olives and Spinach.  I swapped out a couple of ingredients.. (anchovies for Italian sausage), and mmm sounds delish right!

Well, the whole experience was a disaster.  I asked them to separate my bill, I even ordered completely separate from the other people at the table.  And at the end they Just threw my stuff in with the bill, not a big deal but an annoying detail.  And before you dance around about how

Grumpy sickypoo and MSG

So I’m sick, and I’m feeling very sorry for myself.  I had to work all day.. and what’s worse I always feel better in the evening when I’m done work and then I can’t sleep.  But all day I wish I was in bed… sigh 😦 I guess it’s better I went to work, at least I made some money.

This last weekend I didn’t do a durned thing, well I did do a lot of studying.  I didn’t really have anything else to do in my room other than watch tv and study Chinese.

I just got an email from my sister about the evils of MSG.  I always knew MSG was bad for you and caused all kinds of health problems.  But I didn’t realize that it was in quite as many things as it is.  Apparently it may be one of the major causes of obesity in North America.

I’ve never been much of a fan of packaged stuff, I make most of my food from scratch or reasonably close to from scratch.   I don’t really like most junk food, well bought junk food, I’m so down with the junk food I

Where have all the weevils gone?

I’m avoiding my life and avoiding talking about it.. ( there is nothing much to talk about other than I have a bad temper).

On to the weevles!

So I have become a popcorn junkie I pop it myself because I don’t want an entire bag .. that I heard a rumor that the butter stuff in there is like cancerous or something (it’s a rumor I heard about something bad and I’m not in the mood nor am I inclined to research as I don’t really care :P).. My popcorn kernels chill in the pretty tall blue glass container on the counter top.

A little while back Tracey made a crack about weevils ( they love chillin’ in my rice), and I mentioned how it was funny but I’d never seen them in there. Now let’s get something clear… weevils so don’t stress me out. I mean in the rice.. I couldn’t really care less, honestly, they amuse me… besides they float so

I made Chocolate Mousse!

That is what I made today 🙂

that is all 😀

here is the recipe…

Chocolate Mousse:

4 ounces (115 grams) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, cut in small pieces

2 large eggs, separated

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

3 tablespoons sugar, divided

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy whipping cream

Dining: Bongo’s In Taipei

So we kicked off the year with some laziness and food, which I mentioned I think in my post yesterday (checking checking.. no I did not.. :P).

Bongo’s

(one of the first of this burger places to open in Taipei) {review}

#3, Alley 5, Lane 74, WenZhou St
(02) 2365-6059
Hours: 11:30 am-10 pm
Cash only. Smoking area outside.

I went for a run yesterday 🙂 and after that just shivered in my room until it was time for dinner. Tracey made reservations for Bongo’s and got us a table outside. She did this because she is a mean heartless cow and hates Melissa and I. LOL.. ok, she did it because usually sitting outside is totally

Faux Christmas 2008

So this year I was a little grumpy about Christmas but in the end it was pretty nice, several of the people who forgot to let me know they got my cards, got back to me in the last couple of days 🙂 .

Melissa, Jodie, Arden, Tom and our roommate Adam joined us for dinner last night. Tracey and I managed to get the turkey and dinner all prepared with minimal mishaps and injuries…. besides the potato slicing tragedy of 08.. (which we hilariously misnamed 09 in the video).

As per my usual MO I hadn’t had a shower or in anyway prepared myself for

Last Tuesday in Taipei: Chocoholic

Last week I went out for lunch with Amanda and Rob, we had lunch at Sababas again. MMM I love those Gi Pi pita’s 😀 It was a Tuesday so we all had loads of free time, after lunch we went too look at stuff to buy people for Christmas. No real success there, but while walking down the street I remembered that another time I had been wandering around the area I had found a place called Chocoholic. It looked mucho fun especially as everthing there is chocolate or chocolate based.

I mentioned it, and everyone was like..ooh sounds good. Rob just says, ‘hey let’s go now’ Followed by one of those moments where everyone look at each other and tries to think of reasons that we shouldn’t go. Since it’s a hot chocolate place and

Dining: Thai Station In Taipei

Yeah, I’m totally loving this lunching thing. Went for lunch with Amanda (prettiest girl in da world … lol since I claimed I said that on my blog and now it’s true!), and Rob at this great little Thai place on the corner of Hsin Yi and Xing Sheng last Thursday.

The name is a little confusing one sign says Thai Discovery, another sign (this is the name I know it as) Thai Station. I need to go back and get the card so I can add it here.

Almost everything on the menu is around 100nt ($3.50 ~ CAD), green curry, shrimp cakes yum yum. It’s pretty simple and basic stuff but everything is delicious and it’s all pretty inexpensive. I actually I forgot about this place, until Rob

Dining: Out of India, Shi Da

So Thursday was a food-a-riffic day… went to dinner with Tracey, Melissa and Jodie at this little Indian place in Shi Da called out of India. Really nice curries and dishes there, nothing terribly fancy but quite tasty. Dishes range from 150-400nt, plus rice and naan. The chick pea dish is 180, and the Lamb Saag is 340, naan’s are around 50nt. I tasted the chickpea one (chickpeas yuck (mealy buggers), but the sauce was delicious!), I nibbled on Jodie’s as well, something with potato’s and cauliflower also really nice and I had the lamb which was delicious.

Out of India is really easy to find, it’s down the alley across from the Watsons on Shi Da Road, in the alley it’s directly across from Evan’s (a burger joint). The address is a little ‘funny’ and somewhat counter intuitive but if you follow my directions it’s pretty easy to find. It’s considered by many to be one of the best Indian places in the

Lunch at Sababas

First I would like to say it sucks my friend Amanda is going home, I mean it all great that she is going home and will get to be with her family for Christmas… but what about me and ladies who lunch? lol I’m just kidding.

In the past couple of month we have been going for lunches and it’s been super fun.. plus then we get to be ladies who lunch! yay!

We usually pop around to places that are kinda central in the city, so she can walk from work. We’ve hit up The Diner, The California Grill, Mykanos, and a few others. Today we went to Sababas. For those who don’t know,

Dining: Saigon Saigon Awesome Vietnamese

So it’s occured to me that I don’t often write about things in Taipei and Taiwan, and as I don’t know how long I’ll be here for (you never know what might happen or come up). It seems like something I should probably get on :).

Today I went to my favourite Vietnamese place, which happens to be down the street from my house, but even if it wasn’t I would go out of my way to go there. It’s super yummy and really cheap. Your average meal runs you from 90-180nt ($3-7) more towards the lower end of that scale. I’ve tried the food at most of the other well known Vietnamese places around town and they are always more expensive, and never anywhere as good as it is at Saigon. So if anyone has a hankering for really amazing food at a price that is perfect, you totally have to come by. Oh, if you do, Call me!!! I’ll totally come with.

Plus they just opened another branch .. somewhere.. near shir lin I think.

The one by my house is near Wang Fang hospital MART station, walk straight out of the station, cross the street and walk past the McDonald’s, take a right in the lane after the 7-11, it’s on the right 2/3’s of the way down the lane.

Phone: 02-2934-8717 02-2934-1177 Mobile: 0932-196-550 Skype: saigon168

Address: Taipei City, Shin Long Road, Section 3, lane 36, alley 14, #2, 1st floor

Web page: http://www.just-eatting.com/

Back to my lunch 😀 Hello Yummy Pho (I should take pictures next time!)

Interesting post script and side bar….. I don’t write anything and my blog gets 36 hits and I do write and 5… lol.. does that mean I should write less?