New Places and Fall Flavors: Perch, The Soup Market, and Uppercase

Perch opens right at 11am and I got there right when it opened. Obviously, it was empty at this time.

Although some students complain about the price, I think they need to calm down. Perch is still considered fine dining, and it's a lot cheaper than similar places downtown. For the quality of the food, the price is pretty reasonable.

I got a ginger beer :P I liked how strong the ginger was, and the sweetness was subtle. This was good stuff.

I ordered a seasonal potato corn soup with crispy onions. I loved how my server poured the soup over the dry food, which kept the ingredients firm and crispy. The soup was magnificently smooth as well. Wonderful textures <3

I also got to try the new sparkling tea cider at Starbucks. It was quite interesting; the flavor from the and syrup came separately, which was pretty cool.

I finally got to try the soup at the Soup Market at the UBC Nest. It's super nice, and warms you up on a cold day. All soup comes with bread too; the bread tastes pretty fresh, and it's flavorful (from the herbs) and soft :P They also serve sandwiches here, but I haven't tried those yet.

I hung out with Fatmine while she was at her club table and I decided to buy some pumpkin bread and a mocha for her. She didn't want the pumpkin bread...so I ate it. No complaints :) It had crunchy seeds on the crust :P

Sugar Highs

Fatmine and I were going to study on the 18th floor...and I totally forgot about my building's dorm event. We made the worst candied apples ever. To be fair, their caramel was too milky, just sayin' :P

The funny thing was I bought apples from the grocery store, so after I finished the candied apple, I used my own apples to mop up the leftover caramel. Clearly, I ate a lot of fruit and processed sugar that day.

Before a performance, I went to grab dinner with my music homies. The veggie burger at Flipside is amazing. It doesn't stay together very well (use the paper), but it tastes so awesome. It has black beans, quinoa, corn...basically it tastes a bit like a typical black bean "Mexi" salad, but in a burger.

Also went to Liquid Nutrition again, and many regrets. I got the Green, which is not a sweet smoothie (just warning y'all). I don't mind the bitter taste...it's really an acquired taste. I'm also not going to spend $8 on this if I can make it at home -__-

Fatmine went to an event with free Nosh food. I am so jealous. This cookie was amazing...I prefer my cookies to be crispy, but this one was chewy...and I still liked it. I also didn't taste any baking soda (if they even used any. Some cookies still have a tinge of baking soda flavor). Someday, I'll go to Nosh...too many places....so little time.......

It's About Thai

Finally got to try one of UBC's new food trucks called "It's About Thai" (what a horrible pun, sorry xD ) Honestly...not the best pad thai I've had, and it's quite pricey. I paid about $7 for this, and I wish there was more sauce. I don't think the flavor was quite right; it wasn't tangy enough (even after I spritzed lime juice) and it was a bit bland :/ I have yet to try their curries though.

Also, I ate this during a fire drill. Oh UBC...

Biercraft and 720 Sweets

Biercraft is amaziinnngg, but it's not for broke college students, lol. For the burgers and mac an cheese, you're allowed to have fries, salad, or half of both sides. I really liked the veggie burger here, it was full of rich flavors :P My other friend got mac and cheese with beef. 

Even though we were stuffed, my friend insisted on ice cream..and she didn't want to share -__- She got the milky way, which has milk tea flavored ice cream :O That's pretty awesome. I got s'mores. My only complaint was the marshmallow...it tasted fruity, and it was only lightly burnt on one side. C'mon guysss.

Obviously, 720 Sweets is known for being super instagrammable (lol new word) because of the dry ice effect. Even though the ice cream doesn't fill the entire cup because of the dry ice, it's a lot of ice cream. Trust me.

A Collection of UBC Food

Typical campus food. Yup.

Triple O's is not terrible, but they definitely don't have the best burgers ever. I will say they're better than McD's. Almost every burger is better than that...lard. The burgers at Triple O's have a lot of sauce. To me, the main focus of a burger is the patty, and the sauce should be a part of that flavor.

These are nachos at Mahony's. You need ID to come in. Although it's a pub, I honestly come for the food lolol. The nachos probably don't take a lot of effort to make, but they're still amazing. I think they put them in the oven? The cheese gets crispy, so I think it does get baked. I'm too lazy to use my oven for just nachos, lolol. My favorite part is eating the nacho cups because they've soaked up some of the condiments.

Bento sushi will drain your wallet, so don't go here too often lol. That being said, their sushi is very interesting; it's innovative. If you come here, don't bother with recognizable sushi; get the ones that are different.

Classic cream cheese in a bagel from Uppercase. Not a nutritious meal, but I was in a hurry..and it's dirt cheap haha.

UBC's cafes have decent rice bowls and wraps. I like how they balance their food with different colored vegetables. It's important to eat different colors because each vegetable/fruit color corresponds with different nutritional content.

Study Struggles: Hungry Fatmanda at the Irving K. Barber Library (Ike's Cafe)

I decided to study with Fatmine at the library...but I always keep forgetting to pack my dinner. So...I bought dinner again, lol.

I think Ike's is really convenient if you're going to the library to study. It also stays open until about 10pm, unlike other places that close early in the evening.

I've had they're paninis before, but they're quite inconsistent. This sandwich lacked cheese, and it wasn't as crispy as the last one. :\ If you want their food at its best, I think it's better to come around lunch even though there's a huge lineup.

Over The Week: UBC Farm, UBC Nest, Blenz, and Concert x__x

Since I've been living so frugally, I decided to spend just a little more in order to try new places. 

Fatmine's roommate went to Japan and brought back yummy treats :P The matcha chocolate was so good. There's a lot of match powder, which made me happy. The matcha kit kat and pocky is totally incomparable to this.

At the UBC Nest, there was a club selling bubble tea from Bubble Queen! Online, it stated that they were $5 each, but since they were try so hard to get rid of them, they gave me a 3 for $10 deal. Um, hell yeah. I gave the passion fruit to Fatmine, and I kept the regular and honey green tea.

I decided to get some of my groceries locally, so I went to the UBC farm. You should definitely sample their honey; they've won many awards, and you can really tell the difference between each flavor. I believe the moon harvest is the one that's won a lot of awards. I like that one, and the flower honeys.

One day, I forgot to pack my dinner, so Fatmine went out and bought dinner for me (sob sob...where am I going to find a friend like you ;__; ) I've never tried the burgers at Point Grill, so I decided to give it a shot. I usually don't go to Point Grill because it's so expensive. Their menu changes all the time too; I remember wanting to try another dish I saw last time, but it wasn't there. The kimchi dish I tried last time is also gone...not that it was that great, to be honest.
The veggie burgers here are actually quite nice; the buns taste pretty fresh, and there's a lot of nice flavors; nothing too strong, but not bland either. I prefer the fries to be a bit crispier; I have a feeling they might have been frozen. So far, nothing beats Tipsy Cow's fries.

I finally got to try The Pit with my friend who's a med student...he also doesn't eat a lot, lol. I highly suggest the fried brussel sprouts; the slight bitter/smoky flavor with the tangy/sweet honey is the ultimate foodgasm. He couldn't finish his food, so I gladly ate these x__x so good.

The veggie burgers also taste like real meat. I had to take a few more bites to confirm that it was a veggie patty (the texture is slightly smoother). It looks small in comparison to other burgers, but it was still very filling. The fries here are also not as good as Tipsy Cow's; they're good and chunky, but they just....don't have that special crispiness.

Got free Qoola at the UBC Nest for Qoola's grand opening :D If I ever want to get sugar high, I'll come here to fill up my rewards card :P The best flavor is probably cake batter. I just wish I didn't choose a super sugary topping. I should've balanced it out with some tangy fruit, like strawberries or blueberries.

As usual, I go to Seedlings for lunch about 2-3 times a week. The stew here is a amazing. I've been trying to replicate it at home; I really have to make sure the salt, pepper, and curry powder are correctly proportioned.

Fatmine wanted to get Blenz' new fall flavors, so we walked to the Village. I got the spiced chai apple cider and she got a toffee mocha. My only complaint was not enough chai. :(

Go me, I forgot to pack dinner again. Actually, it was more like...I thought I had enough time during break to get food, but then I realized I only had half an hour. My friends gave me food so I wouldn't die, lol. The fig bar is quite yummy (I see it here and there in vending machines), and the chocolate date was magical. My friend said her family always buys a ton of chocolate dates from Costco, but they're discontinuing them D: WHY, I'VE ONLY HAD ONE!

Lowercase @ UBC

Before Lowercase opened, a staff member told me it was going to serve macaroons and other nice desserts. Still waiting on the macaroons. :( 

Fatmine and I got this super sweet apple and salted caramel bun. It was soooo sweet, especially the frosting. I was hungry, and it was still hard to finish with Fatmine x__x

It's quite small, but it's a nice place to go once in a while if you have dessert cravings.

Fatmine got a London Fog too, yumyum.

Banana Leaf: Pyramid of Rice, Curry, and Dessert

There are still a bunch of things I haven't tried at Banana Leaf, so I'm back <3

My mom ordered the Nasi Goreng, aka fried rice. It literally translates to fried rice. I usually prefer Nasi Goreng to other fried rice because... I think some Nasi Goreng has more flavors? Better ingredients? I'm not 100% sure what they do, but it just tastes....better. 

I got vegetable curry. The eggplant and broccoli soak up the curry so nicely :P I also couldn't decide if I wanted to pour the curry on my rice, or put the rice in my curry. Yes, it's debatable; should the rice soak up the curry or should it remain relatively clumpy and sticky? I decided to put the rice in my curry just so my plate wouldn't be as messy.

We finally got a chance to try this dessert. It's not bad; it's pandan(?) flavored crepes with sweet coconut bits inside. They drizzle syrup on top, though I don't know what flavor the syrup is. Besides the standard Pisang Goreng for dessert, this is also a good option to try.