25 things - the food edition

What a great way to waste away Sunday afternoon of the long weekend...

I think the premise is 25 Foods/Meals that are memorable?  Not sure, but here I go!

1. Grandma (mom's mom)'s wontons are the best I've ever had anywhere, and even my mom can't quite duplicate them.  I used to ask for them whenever I went back to visit.  Grandma will now claim she doesn't know how to make them, nor did she ever make them in her life...very sad.
2. Grandma (dad's mom)'s "healthy congee" was my favourite growing up.  Dad's mom's actually not that dazzling in the kitchen but this is the one thing she couldn't mess up.
3. Tempura on the street corner near my apartment in Taiwan.  They sell out by 9pm daily, while the rest of the vendors tend to stay there till about midnight with their food carts.
4. Rice noodle soup on another street corner by my apartment in Taiwan.  With a side of pork cheeks doused in garlicky sauce, it's heavenly.
5. Vermicelli noodles in Ximending in Taipei with Iggy, eaten standing up outside the shop because they're too famous to seat their patrons.
6. Deep dish pizza at Uno's in Chicago.  It was a deceiving little bastard that I couldn't conquer in one sitting.
7. Cheesecake with strawberry topping from Save-on-Foods.
8. Chocolate mousse cake my mom made for my 18th birthday party.  Every other cake has paled in comparison, including the more recent ones my mom made.
9. Steak frites at Pastis with Alex - he was incredibly sick, and I was incredibly full from eating all day.  We wanted to kick ourselves for not being able to indulge as much as we should've.
10. The warm platter at Zwolf Apostelkeller in Vienna.  Best meal on our backpacking trip.  Best German/Austrian food ever.
11. Lobster meals by the sea with my dad.  He takes me there every time I'm in Taiwan, regardless of what's actually in season, just so we can both satisfy our lobster cravings.
12. Some type of melon (don't know the English translation for it) we had in the Pescadores Islands in Taiwan.  They are supposed to be a vegetable but they were so full of flavour and so juicy that even though I never liked them before, I became a convert.
13. Barbeques in my grandma's front yard (we closed the gate).  It was always a fun gathering of family and friends, lots of good food, and full of silly conversations until the wee hours.
14. Candies my grandpa gave me after dinner.  He'd give me one after dinner every time we were over, without fail.  My grandpa's the best.
15. Chocolat chaud at Angelina's in Paris.  That's what heaven tastes like.
16. Scrambled eggs from the Queen's Head in England.  The chefs would add two parts eggs, one part heavy cream, and one part butter.
17. Sprinkles "black-on-white" cupcakes.  Never was there a store-bought cupcake known to be so moist and chocolatey, with the lightest buttercream that had the best balance of butter and sugar.
18. Full breakfast at Campus Hi-Fi in London.  Definitely my favourite greasy spoon breakfast. 
19. Sushi from Sushi Marche - spicy tuna (genius use of green onions) and kamikaze rolls (genius use of lemon peel).  
20. Frrrozen Hot Chocolate from Serendipity3.
21. Grilled artichoke hearts at Mercatto.
22. Truffle frites from V Bar at Hotel Valencia on Santana Row in San Jose.
23. Stir-fry potatoes with rice vinegar that my mom makes.  Sounds weird, but so delicious.
24. "Chinese spaghetti" (nothing like the Italian version, don't worry) that my mom makes.  I just can't do what she does.
25. Our last meal at the Queen's Head.  Finally treated with some food respect as a paying customer.

roots

so, it is officially february and has been for a few days, and i'm sad to announce that i'm a bit behind my overly-optimistic schedule (are we surprised, really)...

however, here's an update and an exciting announcement (for me at least):

- video for 2009 department meeting was a hit, and it's being shown to the president and ceo of the whole company worldwide tomorrow!  i feel like a rock star.  it's complete, but i need to export it in a smaller format to be embedded into our country manager's blog, as well as post it onto our department's wiki site.

- flash project for my fantastic eyebrow guru is almost complete - i have all the frames built, just need to string it all together.  i will be showing her the work so far hopefully early next week and then from there plan to upload and push it live next weekend (in time for valentine's day)!  it's been interesting...it was my first time working in flash (kids, when i was making websites, flash didn't even exist, so don't balk at me and my blissful ignorance).

- third project, 52 restaurants in 52 weeks, came to an abrupt halt on monday.  one of our founders is extremely annoyed with some of us that the work has stalled (esp. the actual restaurant reviews), that he has stopped speaking to the rest of us.  i'm a little bit relieved but also a bit sad as i had already started toying with the design.  it's not uploaded yet, so if you go to the link, there's nothing to look at...but still!  oh yeah, and the whole friend-not-speaking-to-friend thing is so not cool.

- fourth project, and my announcement - we're moving!!  er, not physically.  this lil' blog is moving into a bigger home!!  i have been getting back to my roots (my so-called web design roots, that is) and bought a domain and have started some work.  as of tonight, wordpress is installed and a mock-up is drawn for the layout, so i will be working furiously away to get that live as soon as possible.  i love blogging, and hope to make my blog/the site much more fun to visit...while gaining some serious readership so i don't feel like i'm boring the same people over and over again.

righties, that's it.  as much as i'd love to stay here and chat and install new fonts onto my computer (yet another obsession of mine once i get into the photoshopping mood), i must get to bed.  i have failed to show up at the gym way too often due to sleeping late!!