Vancouver -> Redmond P:

Black Rice was recommended by some of my dad's friends/coworkers/idk. Black Rice was soooo Japanese :P

They have adorable lunch combos :D I ordered the vegetarian one with grilled vegetables and cabbage. It comes with salad, fried tofu, miso soup, yam and avocado rolls, and some picked vegetables to cleanse your palate. I love izakayas because Japanese people portion everything so perfectly; you can have a little bit of everything.

I also went to Shizenya again, which is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants. They're vegetarian friendly, and they serve quality ingredients like real wasabi, brown rice, and fresh vegetables. I got the geisha rolls :) I love the avocado and the sauce that's drizzled on top; it's an indescribable combination.

Back in Bellevue, I got to try Shanghai Shanghai (I'm not sure why they decided a repetition was a great idea...) This is my dad's food, which comes with a marinated egg :P Those are my favorite.

We ordered some vegetarian dumplings, but I'm so spoiled by Din Tai Fung. Honestly, no one can beat their dumplings and vinegar; it's not too soggy, and it tastes fresh and crisp.

These are just some vegetarian noodles, nothing too special.

Here's my bento, which comes with fried tofu, picked cucumbers, salad, and one wonton (it was so good :P ) There was a lot of sauce on the tofu, and that really overdid it for me :/ At least I had rice to even out the ratio.

Fatmine and I reunited to try out the British Pantry...and then we kind of went ham and went to Downtown Seattle afterwards uummmm...well first, British Pantry. This is her blueberry puff, which is just absolutely adorable.

I ordered a blueberry tart, which is literally the same thing except mini-pie form :P

I also bought chocolate because I just couldn't resist...ginger and rose <3 they just sound like interesting flavors. I have yet to try them P:

Our twinning bluberry pastries, mmmmmm

I also got to go to Molly Moon's, which FINALLY opened in Redmond (God bless). Molly Moon's is hands down, the best ice cream I've ever had. Ever. The ice cream is sooo smooth, and the flavors are just wonderful. It also smells like waffle cones <3<3 because they make everything fresh. There's a Molly Moon's near the University of Washington in U-Village, and I used to go their frequently, even when it was raining. It's just that good.

Ice cream makes me sooo happy (although my stomach just can't bear the lactose, dangit).

Fatmine spotted a shaved ice place, and then for some reason my legs kind of ...took off without me realizing, ummmm...that's okay, one can't have too many desserts right...oh dear.

They actually served shaved ice with actual milk, mmmm (called snow ice). We ordered the thai tea ice with grass jelly, green tea mochi, and sweet bread. :D Don't worry, we shared...hahaha...ha. I do have to say this is one of the most unique shaved ices that I've tried, and it's quite cheap ($5 USD), but the snow ice was a bit diluted. I think what they did was serve regular ice and poured thai tea over it? It was still good though, I definitely recommend coming here.

I also got to try the birthday cake frappucino from Starbucks, holy moly. The whipped cream was strawberry-flavored, and I just love the taste of birthday cake...oh man. They also wrote "Happy", that's so cute. I mean, they could've written "HBD", or "B-Day", but you know what..."Happy" just makes me happy.

My prof has mentioned Dough Zone a few times after his friend recommended it to him :P I finally got to try it, and I thought it was just okay. Dinesty or Din Tai Fung is still better, sorry guys. But the dumplings weren't bad, the filling was quite enjoyable; I found it to be quite flavorful.

Here's some onion pancakes, a favorite.

Pork dumplings, which aren't the soup dumplings (if you're curious).

Vegetable potstickers :) I loved that fried goodness.

Vegetable dumplings (not sure why we ordered vegetarian potstickers and dumplings, because one is fried and the other is steamed, but the ingredients are the same >__> )

This is the xiao long bao, otherwise known as the pork soup dumplings. The soup, in a gelatinous form, is mixed with the pork before being stuffed into the dough wrappings, and then when they're steamed, the gelatin melts :P To eat these, you pick one up by the top to keep it from ripping, and then place it in your spoon. After poking a hole to let the soup out, you drink the soup, top it with vinegar and ginger if you'd like, and then eat it :P

Durian pancakes, with like...5% durian :( such sadness.

I had more bubble tea...I know, it's a problem. I ordered a peach green tea when I was with Fatmine, and then I went to Tapioca Express with my dad and ordered wintermelon tea with grass jelly.

I made my own smoothie with strawberry banana yogurt, two small bananas, grapes, a bit of acai juice, and some superfood powder (chia, flaxseed, hempseed).

My wonderful Taiwanese friend took me to a Taiwanese cafe called 12 Baskets Cafe. I also got these custard wheels, which were soooo adorable <3 One of them even has pearls with custard, oh my.

She ordered some really nice fruit tea. I think mango is the base, and then they have kiwi and apple pieces floating around.

She recommended the sizzling noodles, which has a long list of options. I ordered the black pepper vegetarian sizzling noodles, which were just...oh my, so good. I didn't know black pepper could taste so good. It really went well with everything else, especially since cooked carrots and broccoli don't have a strong flavor.

My dad took me to Bai Tong, which was a really nice Thai place. These appetizer was quite interesting; it's chicken wrapped in pandan leaves. The leaves are super crispy, which I love :) They taste like chips.

This is the yellow curry rice, which was pretty good. I thought the cucumber and tomato were a bit random though...was it to balance the heavy flavors? Aesthetics? Both? Not too sure.

This is another curry dish that my dad ordered. I found it really hard to finish both curries.

My dad and I also went to Oasis (hahaha....more bubble tea). The one in International District serves Durian smoothies, but they ran out :( That made me sad.

I went to Panera Bread, and they've really updated the menu. A lot of the items are completely unrecognizable to me. I got this Mediterranean vegetarian sandwich, which was flavorful and fresh-tasting.

Here's Sankiupo enjoying his sammich, yumyumyum.

I visisted another friend at the University of Washington, and he brought me to Delfino's Chicago Styled Pizza. Chicago is well known for their deep dish pizza, but I was not that hungry...so I ordered a small personalized pizza with roma tomatoes and artichoke hearts, and got it "thin crust". Their version of thin is almost like regular crust thickness, lol.

My parents and I went to Monga, which a Taiwanese place. The last time I went here, I could barely eat anything because there was meat in everything. They updated their menu and dedicated an entire section for vegans :D I think that's awesome. I ordered the vegetarian combo, which is noodles served with sesame sauce, cucumbers, bean sprouts, and carrots. It comes with fried tofu and seaweed as side dishes. My dad got a combo of soup with marinated egg and kimchi, and my mom ordered beef soup.

For dessert, I got some shaved ice :D They used a lot of condensed milk, which sweetened up the ice to perfection. It wasn't overly sweet, like a lot of syrups. I ordered their homemade flan (really good stuff, super smooth), grass jelly, and mango as the toppings.

I went to Panera again, but this time with another friend I wanted to catch up with. She ordered this gorgeous coffee cake :)

She had grilled cheese with a baguette and chicken soup (not pictured here, she got it later).

I got black bean soup with an apple and arugula, egg, and cheese flatbread. :D Much yum.

I'm not sure why, but I also got a venti soy caramel macchiato. I have no idea why. I think macchiatos are so mesmerizing though; it's cool to see the milk and coffee separate. After reading an article, I found out that macchiato literally means coffee over milk while latte means coffee mixed with milk. So apparently, you're not supposed to stir up macchiatos, but to enjoy the sweet milk before drinking the coffee. I think that's an interesting concept. I've also heard of hot and cold drinks in Singapore, where the top is cold and bottom is hot (I think, or it may have been the other way around :S). I want to try that temperature contrast sometime...Starbucks, please get on it, lol.

A Little Too Much Bubble Tea...

So I may have had a lot of bubble tea. My excuse is uh...well, bubble tea and studying complement each other. 

I realized at one point that I've been skimping on fresh food...so I went out to buy a lot of fresh stuff, including avocados. I've always wanted to try making avocado pasta, and it's super easy. It's a great substitute for Alfredo as well (talking to the vegans out there). I literally mashed an avocado and mixed it with my minced garlic, and then swirled it into the spaghetti. Hyes pleasuh. 

I may have went to Chatime a few times...uh. :D This is the matcha tea latte. Isn't it beautiful <3 I ordered half sugar, so all the sugar was actually in the milk. Usually people stir it up, but I drank it the "macchiato way" by not mixing it up...even though it's a latte...and latte literally means to have the milk mixed in >__>

So this was uh, another trip to Chatime, but this time, I wanted to let my friend have a good first experience with bubble tea. He got pearls and hazelnut chocolate, but he thought the tapioca was just meh...so I ate his :P mwahaha.

I bought some super cheap beets at the new Ponderosa market, which costs $3.50. Harvest supports local farmers and sustainability, which makes me really happy that I'm supporting good things :) These beets were so good; they were drizzled in sweet lemon sauce and pistachios. The label said "Moroccan-styled beets". Whatever that means.

Got an apple there too.

I finally got to try kefir, after hearing all the health benefits. Kefir tastes like a yogurt drink, because the kefir grains ferment the milk (lactic acid bacteria and yeast). Kefir is also good for those who are lactose intolerant because it contains bacteria that can break down lactose in other dairy products. I noticed drastically reduced symptoms when I drank bubble milk tea afterwards.

This was uh, another visit to Chatime...

Aaannd a bubble tea run with Weener and ThaiThai after one of our finals.

I also like the word free, so when I saw a sign that said "Free BBQ, vegetarian options" I was like yeeees. My lunch :P

This was another time Weener and I got bubble tea. I went back to Dragon Ball and got the fresh cantaloupe milk slush..I actually wanted to try the persimmon one, but they were out. I still liked this one a lot, it was very refreshing and hydrating. The pearls are also slightly sweetened and fresh.

Weener got a regular milk tea.

I also saw a sign for free ice cream, so of course I had to get some of that. :P They had ice cream bowls too, sooo coool

Using the R-Town app, if you get 8 pizzas, the 9th one is free...so I finally reached 8 pizzas and then I ordered the most expensive pizza on the menu for my free one :D hehehe

My study buddy...Hojicha from Blenz Coffee.

Haha this is just a funny story: one of my roommates moved out, and the rest of us kind of relied on the toaster for our frozen bread....and when I was going to work out, I saw it :D

Aaaand I brought it back upstairs LOL. 

I swear, this is the last one. I got lychee green tea and a bubble waffle, yaaassss. It was too sweet for me though, I prefer slightly less sugar or half sugar. Chatime has spoiled me, lol.