Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

This was the second Year for Jetblue to have this promo. I paid one fixed price and I could go anywhere where Jetblue flies for a month. It’s not going to get any better than this. I went with a friend for the first AYCJ and I went my wife this time around. We did not go every day like most people do but we managed to go every weekend.

On this trip, we went to Austin, TX for the first weekend, Portland, OR for the second weekend, Orlando, FL for the third weekend, and lastly New York, NY. It was tiring but fun.

I took a lot of pictures during the AYCJ trip and I had to separate each trip into its own page.
The first stop in Austin, TX was the State Capitol. We lived in Austin before and it’s really good to be back.

State Capitol was under construction.

State Capitol in Infra Red Vision

Now, let’s take a look inside!

Cool floor

Free Parking for visitor

It’s time to replenish all the energy that was lost under the scorching Texas sun. How does BBQ sound? I’d say Yuuuumm! BBQ was the main reason to go back to Austin. There were 5 places on my list of pilgrimage. They were: Salt Lick in Driftwood, Black’s BBQ, Smitty’s BBQ, Kreuz Market in Lockhart, and City Market in Luling.

The BBQ Pilgrimage 1 – Salt Lick BBQ

BBQ doesn’t get any better than this, trust me on this one! The infamous Salt Lick BBQ.

The plate was a tad small, but keep ‘em coming! Note: They have BYOB policy (Bring Your Own Beer)

Could this be the secret? You tell me.

The BBQ Pilgrimage 2 – Black’s BBQ

A humble, small BBQ place in Lockhart. You can’t miss Black’s BBQ due to their overcrowding signs everywhere
We’re supposed to go to Kreuz Market first, but they’re not open yet (yeah, we were 30 mins early). The 3 BBQ places were all nearby, the Kreuz Market, Black’s, and Smitty’s.

It’s a nice welcoming Air Conditioned environment.



If you are going to Black’s, just get the brisket and the sausage (the Jalapeno cheese one). It’s good stuff.
I think they have the best briskets which bursts with smoky flavors.

The BBQ Pilgrimage 3 – Kreuz Market

This is the biggest BBQ place in Lockhart, though bigger doesn’t mean it’s better.

OK, I don’t like the idea of having no forks, no spoons, but knives only.

I like their sausage so much but no so much on their briskets.

The BBQ Pilgrimage 4 – Smitty’s Market

My wife in front of Smitty’s Market

We were greeted by intense heat!

The sausages and the briskets were alright. I got the fatty part of briskets and I think it was too oily for my taste bud.

The BBQ Pilgrimage 5 – City Market

The Last Lunch: Ribs & Briskets (+ Sausage Inside)

To wrap up the bbq pilgrimage: Taste is really subjective. To me, everything was good and each BBQ place had its own distinct taste. For best deal, I’d prefer Salt Lick night and day over any BBQ ($20 for all you can eat BBQ).

FIN

My wife and I went to Berkeley last Sunday weekend and it was raining on and off. We started off going to downtown Berkeley to try some Indonesian food at Jayakarta Restaurant.

We started off with Siomay Bandung (fish cake) as an appetizer and we were really dissapointed. The fish cake is supposed to be tasty and have a soft texture. This fish cake says otherwise, it was not tasty and the texture is hard and rubbery. I would not order this again in the future.

As for our entree, we ordered Nasi Bungkus and Mie Tek Tek (fried noodle). These were a lot better than the fish cake (thank god).

The service was nice, everybody was corteous. I would definitely come back to this Indonesian restaurant in the future. After we were done eating, we went to Pyramid brewery to try out the factory tour. They have the factory tour everyday at 4pm however they might not be on time at 4 sharp. While waiting for the tour, I gave myself chances to take pictures.

The tour was quite a bummer, they did not allow taking pictures inside the factory, plus it was a short tour. I went to Widmer brothers brewery factory tour and it was awesome. I would say this tour was about 20% of what Widmer brothers had to offer. The best part of this tour was the beer tasting (hehehe). My favorite beers were the Hefeweizen, the apricot, and the HumBug (with slight coffee taste)

After the tasting, we ended up eating appetizers there and drank some more beers. Love the Hefeweizen and the Apricot Ale, cheers!

I went to my sister’ boyfriend place and my sister cooked some extraordinary food for this rare occasion. You can look all you want, but you can’t eat!

Here are some of the close-up look of the food….yumm =)~~

Sorry. There is no salad Close-up.

For the entrees: Some super juicy steak with a hint ot spiciness.

Now the Fun Part: Playing with fire!

Burn Baby Burn!

Burnt! XD

Et voilà! Crème brûlée

Credit to my sister for inviting me to this lovely 3-course dinner.

I just got better from a cold and luckily my family is in town. I believe the cold was from eating too much lamb @ buffet in Paris. 3 days in Vegas full with buffet, prime rib, & Steaks made me eat lamb.

The Buffet @ Wynn was awesome. Appetizers all they way to desserts were all fantastic. After having Wynn Buffet for brunch, we headed to Delmonico in Venetian for dinner. Before we got to Delmonico, we stopped by @ illy’s.

We ordered bone in rib steaks, lobster bisque, and some foie gras @ Delmonico. All was delish but was too much.

Going to Vegas with my family was a lot fun, but getting sick was not part of the deal.

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine day!