Taiwan- Ding Tai Fong 鼎泰豐

I know I have already wrote about this restaurant last summer, but this is probably the most famous restaurant in Taiwan. This Michelin rated restaurant is just so delish, I just have to show it to you again.

The famous soup dumplings.

My personal favorite, fried rice.

Their savory zong zi, sticky rice with meat on the inside.

Hot and sour soup.

Here we have the sweet zong zi.

Filled with red bean paste, just the right amount of sweetness.

 That's all. If you are interested, feel free to visit their website- here
And if you ever visit Taiwan, be sure to visit here!

Taiwan- Street Food

After a crazy month with finals and a three week trip to Taiwan, I am finally back!

In the next few posts, I will be introducing some delicious goods from my trip to Taiwan. What's better than starting with what Taiwan is famous for, street food?!

This is a look of a typical night market. Filled with clothes, food, and right now, iphone cases...

Ah, pork blood rice cake with cilantro and ground peanut… can't get better than this!

Bahn mi, Vietnamese sandwich.

Little mochi balls filled with ground peanut or ground sesame. So chewy and so good.

Oh, you know, just another vendor with chicken hearts, chicken butt, chicken liver, chicken skin, to be fried or grilled with amazing barbecue sauce!

Pork buns- choose either fatty pork or lean pork, and add peanut powder, cilantro, and preserved vegetables.

There are tea places like this everywhere. This is where you get your bubble tea or any kind of refreshing beverages!

This was new, I found this dim sum vendor at a night market. Look at all the steamed shu mais, Chinese meat balls and dumplings!

This, was delicious. This was freshly made sweet potato fries sprinkled with ling hing, a dried plum powder.

And here we have fried stinky tofu, can't go wrong with this.

Ah, this bun, this delicious, soft, bun… wait till you see what they do with this－

冰火菠蘿包－Cut the warm bun in half and shove a slice of icy butter in… you bet it was delicious.

My love for brussel sprouts

So I have decided to officially declare brussel sprouts as my absolute favorite vegetable. I actually didn't realize how much I love them until the past few years. There is just something about that texture and flavor that I just absolutely love.

Did I mention bacon? no? well, bacon and brussel sprouts is the new peanut butter and jelly. #justsaying.

This is my favorite way to make brussel sprouts- It's so easy, you cant go wrong.

Wash the brussel sprouts and just cut them in half. Lay them on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and salt and pepper (sometimes I like to add a little bit of red pepper flakes too). Pop them in the 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. Layer on the bacon and put it back for another 15-20 minutes.

I like to put them in for more than 30 minutes because I actually like the "drier" texture and taste… Depends on you, you can just put them in for 15 minutes if you like them that way.

Apple Baklava

Ok, I can't get credit for this post… it was all Amy Bite's… this apple baklava recipe is beyond divine!!

I had no idea making baklava is this easy, you just have to try it.

Here are some step by step pictures. Full recipe here!

Toasting some nuts, I ran out of walnuts and pecans, so I just added a nut mix that I had on hand… Here are some almonds, macadamia, cashews, and Brazilian nuts. Toasting is definitely the way to go, this extra step really brings out the nutty flavors, don't skip this!

Making the syrup...

Slicing apples, I used granny smith.

Start layering the phyllo with butter spray!

Layering on the apples and nut mix… and hey, it's Bear in the back! ha.

Risotto Stuffed Mushrooms

Alright, so there seems to be a trend going on with me, mushrooms, and risotto. Well, I am not going to deny it, I just love those things!

So, the newest venture for me was these stuffed peppers with risotto, and man it was delish!

They might not look as good as it taste (I am not a professional photographer, people!), but you gotta believe me, it was so delicious!

All I did was use this risotto recipe and simply split the pepper in half and filled with the risotto. I topped it with some feta cheese and baked it in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes. THAT'S IT!

Please just believe me!