Seattle's Chinatown-ID Dragon Fest 2014 w/ Food Reviews!

This past weekend was the McDonald's presents Seattle's Chinatown-ID Dragon Fest and I was so glad that I went!

I couldn't pick between two ice cream flavors, so naturally, I got both!

 

Here's a look at the event and of course..some food pics!

Day time on Saturday

 

Night Market on Saturday Night

 I didn't spend much time at Dragon Fest on Saturday since I went to the Mariners game, but on Sunday, I was there the whole day working, but of course, I had to try some food places!

My first stop was the My Sweet Lil Cakes food truck that makes, as it says, sweet cakes, but in stick form which I loved the idea behind. The workers there were also very friendly.

 

 

It took awhile for them to open, but when they were ready, they had the Free Range Chicken & Waffle w/ syrup and butter ready to go!

 

 

As you can see, this piece was a fried batter of goodness drenched in syrup and butter. I wouldn't recommend eating too many of these, but one is definitely enough to indulge yourself! I loveeeed this!

 

Inside of the chicken & waffle on a stick.

Here's my friends Chicken & waffle (It looks way better and more like a waffle than mines! Haha)

 

 

I also then ordered their Red Velvet pancake with cherries inside. This one wasn't quite ready and I had to wait 30 mins for it, but I honestly didn't mind because it gave me tummy time to digest the chicken and waffle so I could really enjoy this one. Doesn't it just look amazing!?! drooools 

 

 

Inside the pancake  you can see the cherries.

For a mid meal break, I then went ahead and got some ice cream bars! I love Full Tilt Ice cream (local to Seattle) and especially their Salted Caramel one. When I saw that they had it in bar form, I had to get it!

 

Buttt, when I saw that they were 2 for $5.00 and had an Orange Rosemary Honey flavor, I knew I had to get both, and both I did get!

 

It probably wasn't the best idea since at the end they started melting a bit, but I was able to finish them both off fine! I didn't care too much for the chocolate dipped on top of the bars since it took away from the natural flavor of the actual ice cream itself but once I finished the chocolate, I could taste the ice cream flavors. I really enjoyed the subtle hint of orange and honey on that bar (couldn't really taste too much rosemary). The salted caramel wasn't as salty as I thought it would be (slight disappointment) and  parts of the bar was iced over, so not smooth ice cream but weird iced bits that were crunchy and not what I was expecting. Still good for a hot day, but could have been better!

=)

 The last thing I ate, I wasn't even going to eat, but once I saw that it was El Salvadorian food with pupusas, I had to try it!

 

 

I  had the Crazy Pupsa with everything in it and a side of their version of horchata (made not just with rice but with nuts too!)

 

 

 

 

side of pickled cabbage

 

The pupusa was nice and hot, they put it on the grill once I was there. It is like a pancake stuffed with a lot of ingredients, or if you're familiar with the Korean Pajun (pancake) it is kind of like that. Another way I can think of describing pupusas is if it was like a tamale in pancake form but less dense. The flavors all melded together and the pickled veggies were a nice cooling touch to the salsa and heat of the pupusa. 

The horchata was different than most I've had that were just rice and spices since this one also had peanut in it as well (hence the more brown color). I really liked this a lot and it reminded me of a few Asian drinks that have peanuts in them.

 

Overall, this was a successful event and I was glad I was able to eat such good food and try some new things! I love Summer time in Seattle and can't wait to go to more events!

 

Do you like going to festivals and fairs in your home town? What are you favorite ones? If I ever am in your area during your summer, I'd love to check them out!

Queen Mary's Tea Room: Afternoon Tea

A couple of weeks ago, my friends and I celebrated the birthday of our friend's daughter and she decided on going to Afternoon/High tea!

I was in the mood to 'dress-up' for tea time so I opted for this outfit.

Mimi Chica Lace Dress, Eddie Bauer Jacket, Black Tights, and Dollhouse Oxfords.

Queen Mary's Tea Room is located just north of the University of Washington and has a tea room&restaurant as well as a tea emporium/shop for customers to buy the tea as well.

The store front is so cute and charming and you can tell they are very detailed!

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Once you enter the tea room, you are blasted with cuteness surrounding you! There are tea cups and pots everywhere as well as many different types of tea as well!

There is even a display showcasing the types of desserts they had and let me tell you, I wanted to try all of them!

Their menu, of course, showcased a bunch of teas as well as food options for breakfast, lunch, dinner, tea times, etc.

We decided on the Afternooon Tea menu option which came with an assortment of items that you get to try and a pot of your choice of tea.

They also let you choose the tea cup you want when you walk in an dof course, I wanted the purple one! Look how pretty it is!

The table you are seated at also comes with a pot of colored sprinkled sugar to go with your tea (should you wish) and the presentation was just so darling!

 My tea of choice was the Fairy Princess cookie Rooibos and let me tell you, it smelled and tasted delicious! I absolutely love rooibos teas and this one was definitely spiced to perfection. It smelled like a warm baked cookie. I tried it both with and without sugar and actually prefer it without sugar so I could enjoy the natural flavors.

Our Afternoon Tea sampler started off with a palette cleanser of a trio of sorbet in raspberry, pear, and lime and they were all really refreshing.

Then came our tray tower of food. It had two people worth of food on it including hot baked items such as scones, then fruit and cakes, as well as sandwhiches. For the most part, I enjoyed everything but was slightly disappointed by the crumpet! I imagined something totally different than a flat small pancake looking thing...

I did really like the tomato scones and quiche they had and the sandwhiches too. The desserts were tasty as well, especially the chocolate fudge cake.

Overall, this was definitely more of an 'experience' type of thing and would love to come back. It is perfect for a girls get together or even a mother-daughter date! I loved the decoration and ambience the room provided and it is also a nice way to try a totally different tea!

I'm glad that there are places like this in Seattle where I can experience Afternoon Tea as best as I can without being in Europe. This is more of a pricier meal, since the food is a bit more than you would expect to pay, but you are paying for the whole experience along with the food and tea. The service is wonderful and the ladies working there are very friendly and are happy to answer any questions. They also have a gluten free menu which is nice to have as an option!

The place is really small, so reservations are highly recommended ahead of time!

If you are looking to experience High Tea/Afternoon Tea and are in the Seattle area, then I highly recommend checking out Queen Mary!

Have you experience Afternoon Tea? What is your favorite type of tea?!

Japanese flavored Cheetos in Nori Shio (seaweed&salt): REVIEW

I absolutely love Japanese snacks. They are by far my most favorite type out of all the kinds I have tried, as a whole. I especially love when well known American brands team up with Japan to create new and unique flavors of what we would know here as 'normal/typical' such as Frito Lay's Cheetos!

The flavor profile we will be exploring today is Nori Shio. Nori is the Japanese word for seaweed, and Shio is the Japanese word for salt. This is a very popular flavor combination in Japan used in other snacks such as the popular Calbee chips or even with fries.

I don't believe this is an everyday flavor/thing that comes from Frito Lay Japan, but if you can find it online or at a Japanese grocery store, then I would highly recommend it! ( Also if you like seaweed/seaweed flavor).

As you can see, the Cheetos aren't fully loaded with cheese like the Cheetos in the US. When we eat Cheetos, we mainly think of that yellow cheesey stuff that leaves stains on the fingers. This one, however, is mainly just that corn puff itself and no cheese on it (from what I can tell, just maybe some other flavor additives). The flavoring comes from the salt and the green specs you can see which are the seaweed flakes.

If you had tried furikake and liked it, then you would really like these. I found myself munching on these for the longest time and didn't realize how quickly I ate most of the bag! I love seaweed and I love the texture of cheetos so the combination of the two was genius! I love snacks like these and can't wait to find and try more flavors of well known snacks.

I found this at my local Japanese grocery store for $1.99 which is actually a pretty dcent price for an imported Japanese snack.

Would you try different flavors of Cheetos? What type of Cheeto flavor would you come up with?!

Kawaguchi Bara no Shizuku--Rose Candy: Review

As a fan of all (most) things rose scented, I also have a knack for rose flavored food items (gum, drinks, etc).

Today's goodie post is on this rose flavored hard candy that has a soft jelly like substance in the center.

As always,  Japanese packaging is #1. The pink rose in the background of the bag is just so pretty and makes it seem more welcoming!

Back of bag

The candy comes individually wrapped inside also in the same pretty pink rose wrappers.

The candy itself is like most other hard candies, round in shape. The

The candy is light pink in color (reminds me so much of Spring!)

And as you can see below, the inside does indeed have a softer/gooey filling inside.

I was surprisngly pleased by the flavor of this candy and was expecting something stronger, in terms of rose flavor. The outside rose hard candy is a soft and somewhat subtle rose flavor that leaned on a tangier side. The inside filling was sweeter and was rose flavored without the tangy note.

Overall, this rose candy was very lovely and wasn't perfume-like at all. It was nice popping this in and just enjoying the weather outside (does that sound a bit cheesy? haha oh well).

I bought this item for around $3.29 more or less (Japanese candy is pricier in general, but I don't blame them since they go all out for the packaging and it is also an imported item). If you ever get a chance to try Japanese rose flavored candies and you like roses, then I highly recommend checking out your local Japanese or Asian grocery store!

Would you try a rose flavored candy? What's your favorite flavor for hard candies??

More Food: Marination Station + Vostok Dumpling House in Capitol Hill

The other week, I did a post on this Soviet inspired dumpling house in Capitol Hill, Seattle called Vostok Dumpling House and decided to go back and try more food along with grabbing some goodies from Marination Staton (right next door) to bring to-go for home.

A look inside Marination Station.

Marination Station is a fusion food place mixing Hawaiian, Korean, Mexican, etc. all together.

Now a look at what I ordered!

From Marination Station, I ordered the Kimchi Fried Rice w/ Beef (comes with a Fried Egg $7)

I love when the egg yolk is like that above, so perfect when it oozes over the rice.

This is probably my most favorite item to order at Marination Station. Being that this was the second time I ordered from here ever, I just had a craving for this fried rice. The beef was a little tough, but it really didn't bother me and I overall enjoyed it and had some the next day for lunch and it was still good!

I also had ordered 1 of each of their tacos. The best of the pork and beef ones. The chicken and tofu ones were mediocre...and I probably won't order those again.

Teriyaki chicken soft taco.

Next are the items from Vostok!

I ordered the chicken dumplings with the Garilc and herb sauce (above) and also their pork dumplings with their KGB (a super spicy sauce) pictured below.

I loved both of them and couldn't have been happier! The pork with the KGB was a real kicker, in terms of heat and I would totally recommend this to any spicy food lovers. I can't say much else about the dumplings besides that they were delicious and satisfying. My parents also tried it and liked it as well. It's a nice change to the Chinese style dumplings we usually eat.

Pork w/ KGB sauce

Chicken w/ Garlic & Herb Sauce

Last but not least, I had to also order the borscht (red beet soup) from Vostok. I had always been curious about borscht but have never tried it. I saw it on their menu and ordered it with the sour cream.

I have to say, THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST SOUPS I HAVE EVER HAD! I don't know where borscht has been my entire life?! To b honest, I'm not a fan or cooked red beets (I prefer them juiced) and I usually eat golden beats. This just changed my mind about red beets in general. This was a vegan recipe I believe, but still had bold flavors from the other veggies used. My mom was also obsessed with this so the next day, she went out and bought all the ingredients and we made a big pot of this stuff! It's pretty easy, but it wasn't as good as Vostok's, but still, tasty.

Okay, that's it with my food post! I hope you enjoyed this post and the pictures >.<

Do you like fusion foods? What are your favorite food fusions?!