Afternoon snacks at TMSK

I did super tourist-y stuff while I was at Taiwan, and one of them was to visit art museums.  There was an art exhibit next door, so afterwards, we stopped by TMSK for some fuel to keep us going (art exhibits can be quite tiring!)  But once we got to TMSK, we realized that the art exhibits wouldn't end.  TMSK shares the building with Liu Li Gong Fan, which is another collection of art... but that explains why TMSK has such awesome decorations.

Walking into the dining area was an art exhibit in itself. The neon blue lights were all throughout the room, even on the floors!  And they had all sorts of figurines, from tiny ones to life size birds.  Plus, the bench-style seating arrangements had an outdoors-y feel...kind of reminded me of PUBLIC in New York, but much more decked out.

Rows of wine

Pound cake served with 3 types of cookies

Cranberry scone served with three types of cookies

I was a little disappointed by the afternoon snack sets here.  They only had 2 options: pound cake or cranberry scone.  The honey pound cake was very soft and moist, but it had a very faint honey sweetness.  I liked the cranberry scone much better.  It was served warm and fluffy, and it was so soft, almost like a sponge cake!

The cookies were quite delicious as well.  They were the buttery kind with the rich, crumbly texture, and it just went perfectly with a nice, ice-cold glass of .... 

... BEER!

Just kidding, this is just green tea.

They have tables and tables of figurines all throughout the dining area that you can look at!  But don't worry, it's not like you're in a museum and you can't step over the line.  It's a very casual setting, and at nights, they even have bands playing live music!  Sadly I didn't get to meet any celebrities when I went, but apparently some pretty big pop stars played there before.

But the best part about TMSK is not the art, or the music.....

It's ..... THE BATHROOM!!!

Wooooo, it was like going into a club on ecstasy!  All the walls were reflective mirrors so there were like 837103543 images of myself and the toilet.  (Perfect place if you want to camwhore...your face is on the walls 360° haha.)  There were so many people taking pictures in the common area, probably because it's the trippiest bathroom you'll ever walk into.  Makes all other bathrooms seem like prisons...ONE MIRROR AIN'T GOOD ENOUGH NOW!

TMSK

信義區光復南路133號, Taipei, Taiwan 110

+886 2 2766 5610

http://www.tmsk.com/xst/

How to Make Bacon Cinnamon Rolls

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!  I like to think of the holidays as a license to stuff yourself crazy.  "I shouldn't be eating my sixth slice of pie but...oh heck!  Thanksgiving is only once a year, might as well finish the pie."  Yeah...that's me.

Highlight of Thanksgiving dinner: the big juicy (or, if unfortunate, dry) turkey.  And you know what's also awesome?  TURKEY BACON!  I'm so addicted to this stuff, I could probably eat in place of the real turkey (imagine if you brought out a tray of bacon instead of a turkey harhar).  It's got all the good fatty taste that normal pork bacon has but with turkey flavor and 60% less fat!  That right there, is winning.  Less fat in each piece means you could eat more of it.  BOOYAH! 

And with these strips of gold you can make...

Bacon cinnamon roll

...the King of Breakfast: best of the savory and the sweet.   And you could even use this as a side dish to your real turkey!  Of course you could use whatever bacon you'd like but I'm telling you, turkey bacon is MMM!

Making it is super easy

You'll need:

• Pilsbury Cinnabon Cream Cheese Rolls
• 8 strips of bacon

Turkey bacon...mmm...

What's in the can: the rolls and cream cheese frosting

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Unroll each piece and just place a strip of bacon on to it.  Roll it back up.  By sticking the raw bacon right in there to bake with the roll, all the good bacon fat gets soaked up in the bread!
3. Bake for 10-15 minutes.

And then BAM! 

How mouthwatering is that?  I'm writing this post two in morning right now and I'm starving!  My tummy's making all these crazy noises.

And for the final touch...


4. Drizzle on the cream cheese frosting.

I always loved pairing savory with sweet!  And for some reason, breakfast items are the best.  Breakfast sausage dipped in maple syrup = heaven!!(On the other hand, Cathy thinks they go horrible together.  She doesn't know the good stuff!)

Eating this in the morning makes waking up so much easier!  I should make this a Monday ritual

Shilin Night Market in Taiwan!

Now that New York is over, it's time for Taiwan!  Over the summer, I (Cathy) went to Taiwan with my family (without Jocelyn, how heartbreaking...)  But I ate enough for the two of us (not in the pregnant way haha), and I can't wait to share all the food with Jocelyn and everyone else!

One of Taiwan's most popular attractions is the night market, the biggest and most popular one being Shilin Night Market. And OHOHO I felt so at home.  Everyone was just eating and having fun, regardless of the time.  It felt like the night could go on forever!

"Large Fried Chicken"

I'm sure everyone has tried fried chicken before, but I bet you've never had chicken like this!  I mean, it was bigger than the size of my hand and probably even my face.  It was like popcorn chicken on steroids, but since it was so big, it was SUPER JUICY inside.  I really wanted to finish it while it was still fresh and hot, but I also wanted to save room for what was ahead.

Oh my gosh, look at all that food and people!  It was quite overwhelming walking in and being surrounded by food everywhere you looked.  It was like a little kid walking into a candy store, not knowing where to start.  It would have been pretty awesome to try one item from each stand, but it was pretty hard to say no to all that good food...and also the pressure from the vendors.

Squid Soup

Yes, those are all sausages.

This was the most interesting stand ever.  I mean, how on earth (in Taiwan) do you eat so many sausages?  Well, the trick is to get rid of the bun and substitute it with a sausage, and voila!  You've got yourself a sausage in a sausage sandwich! 

Taking the first bite was rather interesting.  You bite through one sausage, just to find another sausage inside.  And the sausages even have different flavors. The lighter sausage on the outside had a more rich and herb-y flavor, and the darker sausage in the outside had a sweeter, more mellow flavor.  Sausages are usually already packed with flavor, but having two in one bite was just BAM BAM! 

Sausage in a sausage side profile

Mango Shaved Ice

Mango Shaved Ice innards

If you're in Taiwan, you have to get mango shaved ice!  I upped it up a notch and got the mango snow (for like 50 cents more...harhar gotta love Taiwan), which has a fluffier texture and milkier flavor.  Top that with sweet mangoes, mango syrup, and condensed milk, and you got a happy Cathy .

After eating all that food, make sure you browse around!  Asia in general has the cutest things (although they may not make sense).  Here's some adorable stuffed alpacas.  They love you!  And haha, don't they kind of remind you of an inverted sausage sandwich?

Shilin / Xilin Night Market
Dadong Rd., Danan Rd., Wenlin Rd. and Jihe Rd., Shilin Dist.
Taipei City 111, Taiwan 

Let's get nostalgic about New York

Sophomore year of college, all of a sudden the two us were addicted to good food and we started this food blog.  Then we started looking at other people's food blogs and we ran into The Wandering Eater and her fabulous blog.  The food in New York looked so much better than the food we were eating on school campus.  We couldn't tear out eyes away from her photos and practically looked them everyday.  We even set her photos as our desktop wallpaper. (Haha, looking back we sound crazy.)

And then one night, we were laughing and joking around.  "What if we went to New York?"  And then a few days later, we thought, "Why not go?  Nothing is holding us back!  We should go while we're young and have a fast metabolism."

And BOOYAH!  A few months later, after much planning and money saving, we hopped onto a plane to New York to eat our hearts out!

This is our last post for New York but it pretty much summarizes our whole trip in New York.  All of our favorite moments in photos.

A stop in Chicago Airport

The Carlton Arms Hotel: Our home base

How do we lock our hotel room?  Old school padlock baby!

Our room was painted 360°

Pubic hair woman on top of our mirror

Third floor.  Check out the bathroom sign (harhar)

Third floor bathroom walls

That's 20 layers

Cathy

1st attempt: Jocelyn and car

2nd attempt: fail

3rd attempt: YAY!

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park

Can you spot Cathy?

Trump Tower

Ice rink at the Rockefeller Center

Can you spot us?

Flatiron Building

Broadway: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Going up to the Top of the Rock

WE'RE ON TOP OF NEW YORK!!

Empire State of mind

Creepy Ronald McDonald

Grand Central Train Station

Washington Arch

Pylos Greek Restaurant

We walked so much, Jocelyn got a callus...say hi to Mr. Krabs!

The different people who ride the subway

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge was quite tiring

LOVE LA from NY

Sitting under the Manhattan Bridge

It was 4°C and we were still out walking

Dip your card!

The best dessert ever.  EVER.

The last supper

Sending love from New York to California

Ending with a BANG!

Crippled bag.  It was SO heavy!  (We didn't take the wheelchair.  That's be horrible.  We just placed it there a few seconds to relieve our shoulders.)