burn baby burn

I grab this drink because of it's pretty look, pretty name: Midnight Moon, and pretty fruity cranberries inside. Got home, couldn't wait to taste it; and it burns! The flavour is quite nice and sweet, and I can almost say wonderfully tasty if not for the burn that spread through your chest to your every organs. I like it, I wish I can drink more of it. I need a stormy chilly freezing night, then Midnight Moon can burn me.

what's cooking...

To welcome Dr. Castle back, I made dinner; seared scallops on top of kale (slightly burnt, oops); green pepper, tomato, onion couscous and sirloin steak.

what am i currently snacking on...

Really good pumpkin ice-cream from Trader Joe's; creamy and strong of pumpkin spice. Even Mochi, my kitty, loves it. Was really hard to take a photo without Mochi trying to lick the ice-cream. I topped it off with anise pizzelle. Now, usually I am not a big fan of the taste of anise. However, with the spiced ice-cream, it works wonderfully.

Tria Wine Room

Dr. Castle and I went to the happy hour at Tria Wine room in west philly. The atmosphere was quite nice, we both had the red wine, 5$, cheers! For food, we had the Tria meat plate, Brie de Nangis with Allagash Cherries and the luscious Gallego cheese. All were very good. Will definitely go back again.

Sushi at Fat Salmon

The food was already partly eaten before I took the picture. I do love sushi, sashimi. At Fat Salmon, the place is cool and atmospheric, plus the food is great. We ordered three special rolls; Miss Sake Bomb, Rock & Roll (my fav.), and Salmon Yaki. We also had a regular yellow tail roll. Um... um... so good, I want to go back.

Creperie Beau Monde

I love a good crepe, savory and sweet. I have been to Beau Monde over a dozen times, and was never disappointed. Just recently had brunch there with Dr. Castle, whom had the steak and poached egg with crepe. I had the smoked trout with leek; sooooo delicious. Plus, I order the sweet lemon and sugar crepe, finished too quickly for me to take photo of. I want more crepes!

Hell's Kitchen Chili

After work, back home and feeling the winter chill; Dr. Castle greeted me with hot chili on rice. It was very delicious, and warmed me up quick.

melting snowman

PEPSI 1969

by artist John Alcorn.

Latest Dish

At the Latest Dish, the dishes were quite pretty looking, however I was quite disappointed at my dish which was the roasted chicken. The skin texture of the skin was a bit soft and rubbery, and the flavour was okay. The calamari was pretty good. We also ordered the special duck and salmon dishes. My friend whom ordered the salmon quite disliked the creme leek mush underneath the fish. Well, I heard good things about the restaurant on yelp, but was sadly let down.

1951 Donut Queen

Road trip + snacking

Who doesn't like snacking while driving, especially when it's a long drive. I am back now from a wonderful trip to N. and S. Carolina with Dr. Castle. Other than candies and beef jerky, we also had peanut butter filled pretzels and turkey jerky from Trader Joe's, and rice crackers. Plus, some salt licorice specifically for Castle.

KAMP North Carolina

We thought we would be in the woods; camping in the cold with a simple shelter and wood fire to heat up simple food. However when we arrived at our camp site, we found our cottage neatly furnished with kitchen appliances, and utensils. To our surprise, we also got a mini refrigerator! Tucked in a corner was toilet with shower! So we cooked ourselves a nice meal of semolina penne with a tomato, green pepper, mushroom, and onion sauce, along with a bottle of 3 buck chuck from Trader Joe's.

COAST bar and grill

Last night at Charleston, we dined at Coast, a great seafood restaurant. With Mojitos, we started with baby octopus ceviche; very strong flavour and quite refreshing. We ordered two wonderful fish dishes. One was the grilled wreckfish with grilled potatoes, peppers and onions mixed with pork belly bits in buttery vinaigrette sauce. The other was the blackened escolar on a bed of sweet potato nochi and bok choy with light fig reduction sauce. The food were marvellous; belly stuffed.

quick and tasty in Charleston

Charlestowne is a beautiful historic place, perfect town to walk around in. Grab a quick lunch at Caviar & Bananas, then off again to enjoy the history of the town. Caviar & Bananas is such a delightful gourmet market and cafe, they have great salad selections, and tasty sandwiches. We enjoyed their smoked salmon sandwich. They also got good coffee and bakery items.

Poogan's Porch

The first night in Charlestown, Dr. Castle and I went to a wonderful restuarant 2 doors down from where we stayed, the Poogan's Porch. Castle had the Carolina BBQ Hanger steak with warm bacon and gouda potato salad and collard greens. I ordered the sweet tea glaze salmon on top of candied lemon mint risotto and sauted asparagus. The dishes were delicious, I would definitely visit Poogan's Porch again for another great meal.

Good and Simple

Last night at the Castles. We had vegetable chili which was very flavorful. Mrs. Castle also made cornbread, perfect for eating along with the chili.

Thanks Giving Dinner

A wonderful tasty dinner with the Castles. I really did stuffed myself. All the dishes were so delicious, I couldn't help getting seconds. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

First dinner at the Castles

Moist, juicy pull pork and beef, from the Smoking Pig, with sides of succotash and coleslaw made a mouthwatering dinner. The beef and pork were cooked to perfection, quite tasty and nice texture; topped with mustard and bbq sauce, just heavenly.

131 Main

Near Davidson we had a wonderful meal at 131 Main. We started with the corn bread and is easily the best I ever had. In hot skillet, the corn bread was so warm, and buttery; tasted like real corn, and the crunchy crust just made it one of the best.We all ordered fish dishes; salmon smoked on cider wood, grilled trout and Ahi tuna salad. 

Gaffney Peach

On the way to Dr. Castle's family for ThanksGiving!

Morning Glory

O yes, I love breakfast food! Morning Glory diner is one of my favourite place to go. Their frittatas are pretty good. We had the special godfather frittata and stuffed Challah french toast with fresh berries. They are incredibly delicious, very satisfying.

Fanciful making of Beet Cake

Koreana Restaurant

There are not many Korean restaurant in Philadelphia. This weekend Dr. Castle took me to this place in West Philly. I had the Dwen Jang chigae, a soup dish with assorted vegetables, tofu, pork, and rice. The broth is what makes the dish unique and flavorful. Dr. Castle had Bibim Bap, rice dish with various vegetables, beef, fried egg and spicy sauce mixed in hot stone bowl. Koreana Restaurant is great, there aren't many others to compare to, cheap and tasty. I wish there are more Korean restaurants in Philly.

etsy goodies: tasty jewels

See more at Art Wonders store.

Hot Fudge

Coops's all natural hot fudge is interestingly packaged. Try it!

Beautiful Ceramics

Rare Device ceramics will light up the fall.

Tasty treats @ Manakeesh cafe

The Manakeesh cafe in West Philly offers great bakery treats. I enjoyed their lamb Manakeesh, Lebanese flatbread baked in open flame oven.

How to make Pumpkin Potage with a dog

ENJOY!

bright up kitchen floors

Paint Chip Placemat from LEIF.

Horror movie night

No dressing up, or crazy halloween party; just friends and food and couple of horror movies. We had lemongrass chicken, shepherd's pie and wintersquash apple soup.

Down Home Diner

I love going to the Reading Terminal Market, they offer so a great variety of tasty goods. Sunday brunch at Down Home Diner in the Terminal was very good and satisfying. I had the white garden scram with biscuit. Their biscuits are a bit dry and hard, they are meant to be soak in gravy!

BoooooCake

Halloween is around the corner, here is this awesome ghost cake from I am baker.

etsy goodies: Autumn shades

EgleBibiliute's aprons and leaves coasters.

Nyonya porcelain vessels

Nyonya porcelain vessels (traditional domestic wares native to Chinese-Peranakans in South East Asia) are subjected to a surface treatment which overlays the original multicoloured pattern with a new dotted pattern. Spotted Nyonya collection are hand-made by Singaporean designer Hans Tan.

Fall picnic

A beautiful Sunday; fancy creamy brie with smoked trout and baguette, carrots and hummus. (all from Reading Terminal Market) We also had a lemon tart... sunny bike ride plus a book and a nap.

Homemade coffee ice-cream

With some really good local heavy cream, and good coffee beans, Dr. castle and I stirred up some pretty wonderful magically tasty coffee ice-cream. So good that I dreamt about it!

Winter Vegetable soup: Leek

Some leeks, onions, celery, vegetable stock, potatoes, spinach and heavy cream; cooked and half blended...warm and creamy wonderful winter soup.

Etsy goodies: fall knits

ADs: Louis & Gilbert's hotel cocktail

Two 1980-era newspaper advertisements designed by Robert Miller for Louis & Gilbert's pre-mixed cocktail concoctions. These scream 1880 just as much as they do 1980.

It's apple season

With the rest of the apples we picked, Dr. Castle and I made another sweet warm delicious apple pie.

Beautiful Glass Design

Ambassador wine decanter and large covered candy dish are designed in 1925 by Oswald Haerdtl. I saw them at Moss online. They are made by clear mouth-blown crystal, very thin-walled; quite elegant and charming.

Acorn Squash Dessert

So at the apple orchard we also got this squash, which we made it into a wonderful dessert. Buttered, add brown sugar and maple syrup... baked to sweet sweet goodness.

My cat Mochi eats: squash

My kitty Mochi loves spaghetti squash! He is enjoying the fall season :D