Oh god... this really is a belated post. The last time I actually thought about the blog, I wanted to change my banner to something more spring... Now that it's fall/winter again, I won't have to worry about it till next Spring! Woot!
Ok... so I've been traveling quite a bit. SF, Tokyo, KL, BKK, HK... Have tons of pictures of yummies and of course merchandises but I am way too lazy to watermark the pictures and post them.... My tivo really doesn't make things better as I spend most of my free time watching recorded shows >_> Yes... I'm a sucker for reality TV shows. I had a Project Runway marathon where I watched the entire season 5 in ONE SITTING.
And to my defense, I currently don't own a camera anymore. My father ninja swiped my Rebel XT a few months ago, I went from the Nokia N82 to the Iphone 3G (the camera sucks... besides the battery rarely lasts till dinner time) and I never bothered to buy a point&shoot camera (partly due to the fact that I blew a ton of money during the year-end discounts at Sogo).
Also... because of a night of drunkenness at Primo about 7 weeks ago, I somehow signed up to run at the ING marathon this Sunday (Dec 21, 2008). I have been training 2-3times a week at the gym by doing 2-hrs of weights and aerobics which ultimately lead to my newfound love of steak. mmmmmmmmmmmm I lurrrrrrrrve big slabs of meats with rich creamy sides. I was at Ruth Chris last week and the waiters gave me a really uncomfortable look when I managed to polish off my plate of 12oz NY Strip with a few very "healthy" heap of mashed potato and creamed spinich. I've already been to Ruth Chris 3 times this month and it's only the 18th (oh and they also know me by my last name now...)!
Speaking of my newfound love for big slabs of meat, I did revisit Robin's Grill at the Regent Hotel last Friday. The last time I went was almost 10years ago, when my grandfather (RIP!) would bring all his grandchildren there for Sunday dinner. To my surprise, the salad bar STILL had the same orange salad dressing that I lurrrrrrved, the steak was still great (for it's price), they no longer served the grilled salmon that I used to love and dessert still sucked (I'm not really a dessert person anyways). If my memory didn't fail me, I had ordered the set which included a beef consomme (out of a choice of 4), access to the salad/appetizer bar (I made 2 trips to the bar), main course (NY strip), dessert/coffee/tea all for about 1600NT. I was a bit disappointed that they didn't offer different choices of sides. Your only option is a baked potato with choices of sour cream, bacon bits and chives. I'm usually not a big fan of baked potatoes, but I managed to cover the entire potato with a glob of butter (along with the sour cream, bacon bits and chives) and it was pretty damn good.
Ok to sort of wrap things up so I can sleep at a reasonable time, I am in the process of baking an assortment of cookies and random what nots (mostly madeleines and brownies) for the secretaries and drivers for Christmas. It took me 2 days to find all the baking equipment that I need. I swear, it was such a pain in the ass to find Silpats in Taipei, but I finally found a kitchen ware store in TienMou that has an explosion of silicone baking products from bundt cake molds to madeleine molds. Nothing too high-end, but they do have all the basics that you'll ever need. I do recommend going with a set list of items you'll need or you'll end up spending way too much like me. (They do give a free cheese knife if you spend over 8000NT!)
(I'm stealing this from their official website which I'm sure they don't mind as I'm doing free advertising for them!)
Pantry Magic
台北市士林區士東路40號
40 Shi Dong Road, Shi Lin
www.pantry-magic.com
Tel: (02) 2837 5589
Lastly...
*baking powder, baking soda and brown sugar are a pain in the ass to find in Taipei. I have not seen the trusty orange containers in Taiwan!!!
*sticks of butter sold at Welcome supermarket only have marking in 20g instead of tablespoons.
*"Black sugar" 黑糖 is somehow sweeter than brown sugar in the States.
*All purpose flour = 中筋麵粉 and cake flour = 低筋麵粉.
*Flour is cheaper at Welcome supermarket.
*For those that failed Chemistry class like me, baking soda = sodium bicarbonate (thank god my iphone still had juice and I was able to check google).
*350 farenheit is about 180 celsius.
*3oz = 6 tablespoons (I think*)
