Charleston Take Two!

Hey all! Sorry I haven't been around much. Honestly it's not just being busy; I've been in a blogging slump. Sometimes it's hard to maintain a blog when you aren't sure anyone is reading. I'm trying to get myself to write anyway though.

I stated this blog for myself: to chronicle my adventures so I could look back and to practice my writing. So I bribed myself with coffee, lectured myself a bit, and dragged myself here to write this.

Little rant over.

So darn cute.

Photo Sunday: Tom and Jerry

Hello all!

Anyone else totally in the Christmas spirit? I love the holidays and I am so pumped.
This weekend was my grandpa's birthday, so I got to go up and hangout with my family all day Saturday. We ate and drank a lot.

One of the big holiday tradition drinks my family makes is called a Tom and Jerry. From what I gathered, it is whipped eggs, warm milk, and a shot of rum.

I think they taste like Christmas. Very alcohol-y Christmas. Also, that napkin says group therapy and has a bunch of wine glasses. My family is super classy.

Does your family have any special holiday foods or drinks? Do you know why a Tom and Jerry is named that? I have no idea.

-Alisa

Photo Sunday: Best Pho Ever

Hello all!
I was only home for about an hour this whole weekend, so sorry for the Photo Sunday on Monday yet again. Oops.

I spent the weekend in Baltimore visiting some family, which will get it's own short post.

This Photo Sunday though, is about the yummiest pho I've ever eaten from a small spot in Baltimore that my second cousin took us too. She wasn't lying when she said it was the best.

Look at all those vegetable and tofu! Tofus? Is the plural just tofu?
I could barely reach the noodles until I ate half the vegetables, but it was worth it. It was so good. So much flavor and so well cooked. The tofu and vegetables were perfect.

It almost made me wish I lived in Baltimore.

Anyone else a huge pho fan? It is my cold weather comfort food. Anyone know any other great places to get pho? Other than you know, Vietnam, which I will get to eventually.

-Alisa

Montreal Like a Local (ish)

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted much, but I haven't been home a lot. YC and I spent five days in Montreal and then I went to South Carolina with my mom for another five.

YC and I adored Montreal! I think part of the charm of Montreal was staying a cute little Airbnb. We were located in a neighborhood near the botanical garden, and I think we were the only tourists in the area.

The lovely botanical garden.

Photo Sunday: An Ode to Poutine

Hello all! I just got back from Montreal late last night, hence the super late Photo Sunday.

In Montreal I discovered a new love. POUTINE!

Mmmmmm. Look at all that goodness. (The grilled cheese was delicious too) In case you aren't aware, poutine is a Canadian dish consisting of french fries, gravy, and cheese. Fancy poutine often adds meat and other things, but as a veg head I went with the basic. I'm not going to lie to you, my tummy did not appreciate the gravy. My body can't really process meat anymore, and the meat based gravy made me a bit sick.

It was definitely worth it though. Poutine is such a guilty pleasure. You know it is greasy and not very healthy,but it tastes like magic.

So I don't care that my tummy does not approve of poutine. Poutine...I love you.


Anyone else a poutine lover? More on Montreal to come.
-Alisa

Washington D.C.: Eating All the Food and Walking All the Places

Hey all! I've been a bit busy the past week or so, but I finally had some time to sit down and write up a blog post on D.C.!

Jessi, my friend from New Zealand, and her husband, Cam, visited for approximately a week. We hung around our hometown for a bit, showing Cam where Jessi grew up, then we headed down to D.C.

Since I'm sure more of you are interested in D.C., here is a post on everything we did there!

My travel buddies and I taking a break on monument steps.

An Anniversary and a Review: Happy Valley Brewery

So yesterday was my one year anniversary with YC. To me this is quite the big deal. So I am taking a moment to gush to you guys, then I shall get on with the review of where we went for dinner.
I am reviewing it because YUM.

Last year at this time YC and I had just gotten back from a trip to NYC with some friends. We'd been seeing each other for awhile, but not officially dating. After spending a couple days with each other non-stop and surviving, I realized I could happily date this guy. So here we are a year later, and I couldn't be happier.

Gushing over.

The face of I-can't-stop-eating-for-photos

Photo Sunday: A Video! The Almighty Durian

In honor of my southeast Asian food post, here finally is the video YC took of me trying durian.
It is a strange fruit. I stand by my description of it is like weird custard.

Enjoy.

-Alisa

All the Southeast Asian Food!

I promised you a post on all the food I ate in Southeast Asia. Here it is finally! I will not mar it with too many words, so here are all the food pictures with brief descriptions.

Enjoy!

SINGAPORE:

Bubble Tea is one of my absolute favorite things on earth. Bubble tea in Singapore was so much better than in the States. Here we have honey and winter melon with foam flavors from Gong Cha.

Photo Sunday: Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year!

This year was my first year ever celebrating Chinese New Year. YC's family celebrates it, and he mentioned to me that it's the time of year where he gets a bit homesick. So, my family decided to throw him his very own Chinese New Year party!

We ended up making hot pot in fondue pots, because absolutely no one but YC was from anywhere that actually celebrates Chinese New Years. We winged it.

Behold the amazing fondue hot pot! This was our vegetarian hot pot. My mom and I are mostly vegetarian, and my one friend is a very strict vegetarian. So, we had to keep the pots very separate.

It turned out absolutely delicious and I ate so much I thought I would die.

Later this week I'll write a longer post about our Chinese New Year celebration and give you even MORE pictures to look at.

Did any of you celebrate Chinese New Year? What all did you did? Hope this year is awesome for every one of you.

Much love.

-Alisa

Photo Sunday: Valentine's Day Sushi

Hello loves!
Sorry I didn't post sooner. As you know I'm sure, this weekend was Valentine's Day, so I was quite busy. YC's been sick this week, so now I've been babying him.

For Photo Sunday, here is a picture of my yummy Valentine's Day dinner.

Mmmmm. Sushi. Sushi is one of my favorite foods. I wish it weren't so expensive in landlocked PA. In Singapore sushi was about half the price. I miss cheap sushi.

For our Valentine's Date we went to the restaurant we went to for our first date. Instead of Valentine's Day, we went on Friday. I hate crowds, as does YC, so we opted to avoid the Valentine's day chaos.

How was your Valentine's Day? Did you do anything fun?
Anyone know somewhere in the States with cheap sushi?

-Alisa

Corrupt Customs and Travelling While Ill

I've sort of been putting off this post. Don't get me wrong, I've really wanted to rip Indonesia a new one for their airport. I've never actually berated anyone on this blog before though. Even if they deserved it.

Indonesia customs deserves it. So here is the story of  my flight back from Malaysia to Indonesia, the worst trip ever.

The last picture before I got horribly ill.

Malaysia and Durian

Snow days make me so productive guys! Two snow days in a row and I've gotten two blog posts done! I feel so accomplished.

Now that I got the patting myself on the back done with, here is a post on my trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and my adventure in eating durian.

The KL towers all lit up at night.

Phomen! (Or: What Happens When You Fail at Pho)

On Saturday YC and I attempted our first Cooking Experiment!
We decided to try and whip up some pho, mostly because I'd be craving pho for days.

While it turned out very yummy, as you can see from the picture below it did not really turn into pho.
We ruled it somewhere between ramen and pho, so phomen!

It looks yummy though, right?

Cooking Experiments! A New Idea

So YC came up with an awesome idea that I think I'll be trying out in the near future.

Cooking experiments!

We'll try out recipes from various countries and chronicle the results. This will include pictures of the attempt, how it turned out, and the recipe we used.

Also, I'm really bad at cooking, as in I messed up instant mac and cheese on more than one occasion. So, this should make the whole thing quite amusing.

What do you guys think?

The other week YC and I attempted to make onigiri, so here is a summary of how it went as a preview for these upcoming blog posts.
Sorry I don't have the recipe for this one, but we will be doing a redo where I'll include the recipe. So stay posted!

Here they are! The onigiri!