Yellowstone National Park Adventures

In May my family took a long awaited trip to Yellowstone National Park and it was literally the best experience I have ever had.  The sheer beauty of the mountains, lakes and rivers constantly kept me in awe while the wildlife kept my whole family on the edge of our seats.  Bison dotted the rolling hills and bear sightings caused traffic jams. And you can't forget the most famous aspect of Yellowstone: geysers. I loved walking the boardwalks and waiting for them to explode, shooting hundreds of gallons of water straight up into the air! Nature never ceases to amaze me.

The Grand Tetons

The adventure started out in the snowy, stormy Grand Tetons.  As far as sightseeing goes, there isn't things that standout like things in Yellowstone. However, don't get me wrong, it's a great place for recreational sports like biking, hiking, kayaking, etc.  I would definitely go for a week just to hike deep into the woods or kayak between towering mountains.

A peaceful morning at the Grand Tetons

Since eating in the national parks was going to be expensive, we hit the Walmart in Idaho Falls and stocked ourselves with random food we never really eat. Ranging from carrots to canned oysters (Gross by the way. Even my family who eats seafood hated it.)  In the Grand Tetons, we stayed in these little cabins near a lake. Really cozy but with no wifi or TV, we were pretty limited with entertainment at night.  So what did we have to do with our food the first night with no fridge?  Use the snow of course and stick it in the car at night as a makeshift fridge. Must save the yogurt!

Yellowstone National Park

For the rest of the week, we cruised around Yellowstone and stayed at various hotels around the park. Originally we were going to camp but good thing we didn't because it rained a chilly rain on the first night.

Lake Hotel

Delicious bread

First stop was Lake Hotel situated next to Yellowstone Lake. The hotel itself was a 122-year old yellow Colonial looking building. It's probably the fanciest looking hotel in the park with 3 stories and massive high columns greeting the visitors. What about food? Well we chose to go with the quite expensive ($23) buffet that featured bison ribs and loads of cocktail shrimp. Beforehand, the waiter will bring you a plate with bread, crackers, butter and goat cheese.  The bread had an assortment of grains inside and went well with the butter and goat cheese.  The main feature of this buffet is the pile of bison ribs right up front.  The bison ribs tasted like beef but the texture was extremely tough and it wasn't something you could pull off the bone with your teeth.  With a fork and knife, you'll have to slowly slice the meat off the bone and chew it several times to prevent yourself from choking and huge piece down.  Even with the toughness,  I thought the ribs were delicious and worth a try.  Overall, if you think you can eat tons of bison ribs and shrimp, the buffet will definitely be worth its price.

Buffet items

Gardiner, MT

With no washing machines at Mammoth on the North side of the park, we headed to a small town just outside of the park to do our laundry and have a bite for dinner.  Gardiner, MT is a quaint little town with most business running for tourism from Yellowstone.  After much contemplation, we settled for dinner at Cowboy's Lodge and Grill near the Yellowstone River.  They served mostly country food like steak or brisket. Everything sounded so good but in the end, I went with the country fried steak and it was delicious after days of eating bread and carrots. Each of the entrees comes with two sides and a piece of Texas toast.  If you were looking for stellar food, this isn't where you should be eating but if you want to be in a quiet environment with a friendly staff and comforting food for a decent price, come here for a break from expensive food in Yellowstone. 

Country Fried Steak

Old Faithful Inn

On the final leg of our trip, we stayed at the grand Old Faithful Inn, the most famous hotel in the park.  It was a wonderful experience staying in the inn because the entire structure is built with dark golden wood from nearby pines, like a  giant lodge cabin.  People claim it's the largest log cabin in the world but in fact, because it uses wooden planks above the 1st floor, it is technically not a "log" cabin. Nonetheless it's still very grand and puts all other architecture in shame.

Bison Pot Roast

The food on the other hand wasn't as good as I expected. Given a very limited menu, there wasn't much to choose from and things seemed to be small in portion size.  Bison pot roast seemed like a reasonable choice given that it'll be the last chance to taste bison for a long time.  As the waiter served my dish, my family looked at my plate and was surprised at how small and bland looking it was.  Maybe I'm wrong but shouldn't pot roast have a tiny bit of juice?  At least the bison was tender but they definitely were adventurous with the choice of vegetables.  The yam/sweet potato was bitter and probably ruined the whole dish but I ordered it so I might as well eat it.  The pot roast was served with polenta that tasted cheesy. Not sure if it went well with the pot roast but I need a source of carby stuff to go with the pot roast.

Buffet Items

My brother went with the buffet and it was basically an American cuisine buffet as you can see in the picture. It looks like vomit but it's actually spinach, mushrooms and some kind of beef.  Nothing like the one in Lake Hotel but granted the slices of beef were HUGE and thick and JUICY.  Can't go wrong with huge pieces of meat.  My mom went with the quail which was tender and moist with good flavor while my dad went with red trout, or salmon he claims.  If you had no where else to eat, I guess you'll have to eat at the inn but if you're look for something special with good portions, don't expect it at the restaurant in Old Faithful Inn

Pictures of Yellowstone National Park

Here are just some of the hundreds of pictures taken of Yellowstone and though I'm not a professional photographer with a giant camera, I tried my best to capture the essence of Yellowstone.  I wish it was easy to show the grandness of the park through pictures but looking through the pictures again, the only way to do that is to see it with your eyes. Our cameras aren't wide enough to capture entire swaths of land like our eyes can but at least places like Yellowstone are right in our backyard.

Morning Glory Pool

Grand Geyser

Sunset at Yellowstone Lake

Upper Geyser Basin

Post I started a semester ago...

"Finals week is rounding the corner but unlike most people, this is what I have been waiting for this whole semester. Considering the fact that I only have one final to worry about, finals week is basically the start of winter break.   

So I'm taking a business ethics class and as our final chapter, we studied case studies about the famous McDonald's coffee case and pseudoephedrine with meth.  It's actually quite interesting to read about the struggles between the government and companies to pass some regulation.  The sensational case of the McDonald's coffee, classical example of outrageous lawsuits, was not as what you may think of it.  The woman who got burned by the coffee "

That was a semester ago.  And now I have one final left for this semester.  I can do this.  In this post, I have a bunch of stuff you can find in Taiwan's Dan Shui River in Taipei.  It's great place to hang out with your friends, go on a bike ride, or even watching the sunset with your date. And of course, you'll find delicious food every step you take.  It's not the greatest place if you want some privacy though as hundreds of people gather here each day.

A line snaking out from Starbucks

I wasn't in the mood for eating that day because my uncle took me to eat delicious food that I couldn't refuse hours before but my friend and I stuffed a decent amount of food.

"Little sausage inside a big sausage"

Of course the title of that food above sounds much better in Chinese: 大腸包小腸。 The "big sausage" is a rice based sausage with no meat in it and the "little sausage" I believe is 香腸, a specialty in Taiwan.  Below is something I only saw at Dan Shui but it might be found else where.  It is basically battered quail eggs that are grilled by a lady at a small cart.  There were two carts right at the front of the street so who could refuse it?

Quail Eggs on a Stick

Since this is right next to the ocean, you have to have the fried calamari.  Very crispy and tasty with nice flavor.

Ice cream

Papaya Milk

Things like ice cream and papaya milk can be found anywhere in Taiwan. But here's some pictures.










And of course, I had to post some pictures of the beautiful scenery of Dan Shui River.

Too much nacho cheese

I think I ate too much for lunch today but my stomach always tells me "you can eat more!"  Unfortunately, because I hate seeing food being wasted and uneaten, I end up eating what my friends can't eat.  In the end, I was given the unfortunate nickname "human disposal" for taking everyone's leftovers.  For example today, my friend ordered nachos while I had my usual sandwich.  After finding a seat and getting settled, my friend opened up her box of nachos.  In the box was a ton of nachos with so much nacho cheese covering the chips that it looked the the chips my drown.  Also on top were globs of tomatoes, guacamole and sour cream creating a bit of decor but added to the mess.  My friend hates the texture of tomatoes so I knew half of those chips weren't going to be eaten.  Plus her stomach is tiny so she wouldn't have finished them anyways.  

I attacked my sandwich anyways just because I was famished after working in the morning but that sandwich didn't last and soon I was munching on her nachos.  The nachos were quite a challenge to eat considering every time you grab a chip and bite, your fingers and mouth get covered with cheese.  It's not the most go to food if you want to eat attractively.  

After 10 minutes of complete mess, my friend couldn't take anymore and she needed to head to class but what about the leftover chips?  Leave it up to me.  With 10 minutes before I need to head to class, I will find a way to finish it up whether or not it looked appetizing.  And with 5 minutes to spare I strolled to the trash can, discarded the box and headed to class.  With my awesome stomach and eating skills, no food can get in my way.  Well, maybe except seafood...

Back to Taiwan. After a day of shopping and eating, I was dead pooped by the end even though it was only 10 pm.  Stumbling back to my aunt's house, I noticed how uncreepy it was compared to where I lived.  In my town, there is no one on the streets or walking around by themselves but in Taipei, people were speeding around, some still in their school uniforms.  That's one of the things I love about Taipei is that no matter what time, there will be people of all ages doing their errands.  Though I couldn't enjoy it for long because I must hurry back home to a nice shower and a surface to sleep.  The day was over before I knew it but hey it was only the second day of my two month stay so what is there to miss?

The next day before I met up with my friend to go biking and to do more eating, my uncle needed some lunch and whether or not I needed it, he was going to take me.  Not that I would refuse such an offer in Taiwan.  Navigating through what seemed like tens of twists and turns, we arrived at a little restaurant in an alley (all good restaurants exist in an alley, or it seemed).  My uncle had brought me to eat fried chicken.  But don't mistaken it for KFC fried chicken because this is way better.  The thigh of the chicken is used with it covered in a thin crispy layer of skin and flour, unlike normal fried chicken that is covered in a bumpy layer.  Oh it was a delicious, juicy fried chicken.

In addition to the fried chicken, it came with some rice and 2 small sides like a traditional Japanese bento and a bowl of soup if you would like.  The cuisine in Taiwan is very influenced by Japanese cuisine not only because of the occupation by Japan for a number of years but also of how much admiration they have for the Japanese.  I may or may not get to this later but it's a lot to talk about.  But anyways, this meal was delicious, simple and way more than what I could eat.  Unfortunately, for some reason when I'm in Taiwan, my stomach actual feels satisfied after a normal amount of food.  If they had this type of set in my town, I would be happy, my stomach would be happy, and my family would be soo happy.  And it wasn't expensive at all.  There are a lot of these types of meals in Taiwan because it's a quick way to get lunch or dinner without being too expensive.  Sometimes, it's just better to eat out than to cook.

Craving some crepes now

Today was quite a productive day in a sense the I completed many many assignments and goals.  But it was also a very antisocial day where I never left my apartment to see anyone or to do anything.  It's pretty much how I spend my weekends but today I cleaned my nasty nasty apartment.  No, it's not me.  It's my roommate.  She is really the nastiest person I have lived with so far because she doesn't clean and she leaves loads of dirty dishes in the sink, on the table, stove, counter, does not put food in the fridge etc.  It did not occur to me that I would have to be dealing with this when I agreed to room with her.  And what's hard is that I cannot command her as if she were my brother.

Ha but my greatest accomplishment is cleaning the toilet.  That toilet seemed like it wasn't cleaned for ages and I really couldn't take it anymore because it was gross and I cannot allow my friends to go to the bathroom when they visit.  Blech.  Anyways, it's clean now but my roommates really need to know that they are living with other people.

Continuing from my last post where I introduced 西門町, my friend took me to 師大夜市 one of the many night markets in Taiwan.  Night markets dot the island of Taiwan and each one is filled with yummy food stands and alleys of merchants selling clothes.  Here is where you will find many famous Taiwanese 小吃 or snacks like 水煎包 (steamed buns), 豬血糕 (Pig's blood rice cake) or 蚵仔煎 (oyster omelet).  Night markets are the place people go during their free time because it is a good way to meander through streets and talking with friends as you snack on some great food.  I have asked my friends from China about the night markets there and they say, it's not as famous nor organized as those in Taiwan.  So definitely visit one night market if you go to Taiwan.

師大夜市 used to be one of the best night markets in Taipei before residents around the area complained about the noise, forcing many shops to close and restaurants to shut down.  What's left is a couple of rows of clothes and small accessory shops and one row of food carts.  It's quite depressing when you think about a once bustling night market reduced to a couple of streets. The last time I visited, there were plenty of small dine-in restaurants hidden along outer edges of the market.  My aunt had taken me to a Japanese curry restaurant that was delicious.  Simple and filling.  But those restaurants are no longer there and stores change constantly as they lose business. However, it still boasts an impressive amount of shopping with awesome prices that are cheaper than any other place I have seen.

Onwards with our unhealthy eating and shopping craze, my friend and I stopped in a bakery that smelled like fresh baked bread.  Mmmmm.  These bakeries also line every street in Taiwan so if you're craving something sweet and delicious for a breakfast or a hiking trip, just walk in to one, grab a few, pay and done.  The pineapple bun is a staple at any of the bakeries and it's a favorite of mine.  The green onion bread on the other hand is a more savory bread and is my mom's favorite.  In the United States, you might find a couple of these stores in areas with Chinese influence but the prices and variety just can't compare with the ones in Taiwan.  I always wonder how they can make the bread so soft with a perfect golden color.  I want to be able to make some!

We didn't end up buying anything we got our free smells like in those Jimmy John's shops with the "free smells" signs.  What was to come was unexpected because the whole time my friend was saying what sounded like Cola cake and she really couldn't describe it until we came upon a flashy little shop.  The fake food displays got me really excited because it looked like giant ice cream cones packed with fruits and giant balls of ice cream.  It wasn't giant ice cream cones but giant crispy 可麗餅 (crepes).

阿諾可麗餅 is a rare shop selling the crispy crepes filled with whatever you desire and is located the middle of the first row of shopping.  Seating is limited with just counter space lined on the three walls and 4 tables and once the night goes on, long lines form.  The ambiance is quite similar to a local restaurant with dark walls and names scrawled everywhere.  Almost an impossible task, finding a spot to leave my trace was difficult. But right in front of me I spotted a little white submarine soon to be named "Jasmine."  My parents would say "有病", meaning you're weird, for signing my name but for me, it is a necessary to take the opportunity when it shows up.

My friend and I were lucky to arrive to no lines and barely enough seats for the two of us.  We settled for a dessert crepe with banana and honey and a milk tea boba because where ever you go, you have to get one.   It's a weird tradition among us especially the American-Asians.  With a milk tea boba and honey banana, it became a sugar overload but the filling looked wimpy with just the bananas.  The star of the dish was the crepe itself as it was nice and crispy with the right amount of sweetness. To eat the crepe, you break off the pieces with your hand because it would become quite messy if you bite.  You can also make the crepe into a savory crepe by switching up the filling and adding ham, corn, mayo and lettuce.  If you're not looking for a meal, be sure to split it with a friend or it will fill you up, leaving no room for other food.

 Another type of cuisine found frequently at night markets are various foods that are barbecued.  Typically a cart would have different kinds of items such as sausages, chicken wings or legs, pork blood rice cakes or chicken hearts.  These are great to snack on while you're shopping because the are in bite size portions and pretty cheap, about $3 for one bag of stuff depending on your order.  I usually get the blood rice cakes and some sausages and maybe a couple of hearts here and there but sometimes the options are endless I can't pick.  These are the least healthiest things on the planet but they sure are delicious!

I am back...since a long time ago...

I just got back from an amazing 2 month trip to Taiwan and a 5 day stint in Japan and there was so much food that I think I don't want to eat anymore.  That's what I last typed just as I got super busy with school and neglected to update the blog any further and indeed, after I returned to the States, I would feel hungry and be perfectly fine with it.  But now that I'm back, I miss the convenience of walking out the door and have access to so much cheap food, things they should have in college.  If you don't know what I'm saying, you have to go visit Taiwan yourself because literally the lives people have revolve around eating.  So everywhere you go, there are at least 10 places to eat, especially in Taipei.  I suppose in a tiny island home of 23 million people, there has to be an abundance of food or else people will starve.

Because of the lack of WiFi and plain laziness, I did not blog for the entire two months in Taiwan and the months I've been back.  So now I'm stuck with uploading all the pictures and writing descriptions for them so I apologize if it seems incomplete or halfheartedly written.  Definitely nobody's fault but mine.

On the first week of my stay, my friend took me on some day trips around Taipei mostly to relive what I missed for the last 3 years.  I haven't been back the Taiwan in so long that I was so excited about every food and every object on the streets.  I needed to meet my friend at a subway station but right from the start, I got lost.  Getting lost in Taiwan is pretty terrifying because everything is in a different language and the street names are seemingly all the same.  Turns out the "station" that I was waiting at was just the entrance to an underground passage and I had only needed to walking forwards for a couple of more yards.  And I learned what a subway station looked like...

A frequent sight in Taiwan

The first place we tackled was 西門町 (Xi Men Ding), one of the hubs that young people go to hang out.  Xi Men Ding is a large swath of area with multiple streets and ally ways just dedicated to eating and shopping so it's not a surprise as to why it's so busy day and night every day.  It's a shame that we could not eat at every restaurant and every stand but we did have a decent amount while we were there.

If you are familiar with Chinese food, then you will think that this food look unappetizing especially when you learn what else is in it.  A little hole in a wall called 阿宗麵線 (Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodles) provided some simple yet delicious.  Each bowl is a good portion for a large snack with it containing flour-rice noodles and pig intestines.  Pig intestines are not something to cause a scare in Asian cultures so you will often see it in many dishes, whether served in soup or just as a cold side dish.

Flour-rice noodles

I'm hungry, who needs seats?

Only costing $1.50, the noodles were sheer yummy goodness as I slurped it up with just a spoon. Tons of others clearly agreed with me as they stood slurping their noodles and chatting with their friends.  Yes, there are not enough tables for people to sit but who cares?  Everyone just goes on eating their noodles standing up right in the front.  My suggestion would be to share a regular size bowl with friend so that you can leave some space in your stomach for other goodies while you are there.




After that, we chilled at 祥發 港式茶餐廳 (San Fa HK Style Restaurant) eating some dishes that you may frequently find in Hong Kong.  From what I could see from the menu, there are some dishes you could find at Dim Sums and some that are twists on dishes from Dim Sums.  

For example, one of the dishes we ordered was 蘿蔔糕(daikon cake) fried with been sprouts, eggs, green onions, tofu and probably some meat.  The daikon cakes are the big brown rectangular chunks you see in the picture.  Usually the daikon cake is eaten plain at Dim Sum but here they had fried it up with other things to make it a dish rather than a small appetizer.  I particularly loved the flavor of this dish and it had a slight kick to it too!  Each bite made you want to have more and more.

Another cool snack you may find here that's famous in Hong Kong is the 菠籮麵包 (Pineapple bun).  In Hong Kong, you can order this dish at many restaurants as a side dish, or even just your breakfast paired with milk tea.  It's definitely something you should not eat everyday for the sake of your health but treat yourself sometimes.  This warm bun is a sweet bread filled with butter on the inside with a thin flaky layer on top.  It was a good portion, almost half the length of the chopsticks.  It was a trip down memory lane as I remember my last trip to Hong Kong.

After that nice break from walking and shopping, we stopped at 成都楊桃冰(Chengdu Starfruit Ice) to get us some cold refreshing drinks.  Neither of us had tried this before so we went classic and ordered the starfruit drink.  It was certainly a cold drink but refreshing wasn't really the word to describe.  The taste had a 酸梅 (sour plum) taste to it so it was a little sour, but not the sour you might encounter in a lemon.  I wasn't a big fan of this drink but I'll accept it.

Buddy cups

Though one of the shopkeepers asked us why in the world we even went there because it isn't very good so I guess it really isn't great. Somehow it's because this one isn't the original but another one opened by a feuding relative.  Classic.  But that shopkeeper guy was a judging person because he questioned why my Chinese was so 卷舌 (retroflex?) even though my parents were from Taiwan.  He and my friend ganged up on me, trying to tell me it's so much easier to talk like people in Taiwan and there I was blubbering because I hadn't used my Chinese in so long...

Sometimes I wish I could spend a week browsing Xi Men Ding and enjoying all the great food it has to offer but time is precious and I have other things to do so it'll be a few years before I come back.  All of these places I have visited, you should be able find more information on travel blogs or websites if you wanted to know more.  

Goodbye Canada

On our last day in Canada before leaving at 3 o'clock in the morning the next day we took a trip to Calgary to check out their Chinatown.  There was actually a decent number of restaurants in what was considered Chinatown and it was way too hard to pick one restaurant to eat lunch at.  We decided on Gee Gong (珠江菜館) because it was less nice looking but it was still crowded.  That means it must be very good and somewhat inexpensive.

We were seated at the last open table which happened to be right next to the bathroom but who cares?  The waitress served us tea right away.  The sheer number of dishes made it difficult to chose just a few.  You could choose dishes that you eat with rice, or you could order things like noodle soup or jok (Chinese porridge).  I just wanted to order everything and devour it all but after some compromising, we ordered 3 dishes from the 合菜 menu and 2 noodle soups from the paper menu.

榨菜鴨絲湯麵 (Duck noodle soup)
(front) & 牛肉湯麵 (Beef noodle soup)

The noodle soups came first.  The noodles are Hong Kong style noodles that you would typically find fried but in soup form, it tastes just as good.  The Peking duck was still crispy and juicy making it even more scrumptious.  Everything about the soups were excellent except they seemed a bit saltier than necessary and they clearly used the same soup base for both.  But it's hard for us to waste any food so we downed the bowl.  The size of the bowl is more than enough for one person unless you are a big eater which in this case, it would probably be not enough.

煎封龍利 (Fried fish)

Everything else was superb and delicious.  Nothing was dissatisfying and not before long, the plates were squeaky clean.  Even though I dislike eating fish, I found this one to be ok because it was fried to the point that even the bones could be eaten.  However, I wouldn't eat it if you are worried about your health.

牛肉炒時菜 (Beef with seasonal vegetables)

五香牛腩煲  (5 flavor beef pot)

I have to point out how interesting the way the serve their rice is.  At most Chinese restaurants, they either give you bowls of rice or in a larger plastic bowl, but Gee Gong had it in a metal bucket.  We were totally fine with that and it even adds to the traditional Chinese restaurant, making it even more authentic.  They also charge for rice but it isn't as expensive as the Silver Dragon restaurant we ate at.

Yea we had some fast food

A friend of ours told us that in Canada, Tim Horton's dominated McDonald's and if we had nothing else to eat at home, we could eat their donuts.  She claims that because Canada is so cold, you'll end up burning through the calories so don't feel guilty about eating a donut.  Sounds tempting.  We decided to give it a try since all of us were tired and didn't feel like cooking anything later.  However, my brother and dad took one look at the menu and saw it wasn't burgers and fries and marched right over to the Wendy's next door.

Besides donuts, Tim Horton's mainly sort of a "cafe" or small meal style restaurant because they have bagels, paninis, soups, etc.  To be honest, nothing really appealed to me and the price didn't seemed just a tad expensive so I just ended up ordering a bagel and soup for around $5.  My mom did order a panini which was fairly large and thought it was delicious.  A very rare comment for a western dish.  I guess Tim Horton's is like a Einstein Bagel type shop so it's not really a place for a meal but not at all similar to the Wendy's next door.

Wendy's Poutine

Apparently there's this thing called poutine that Canada is famous for and my brother said it was absolutely necessary to try it while we are here.  Poutine is basically fries with gravy poured over topped off with cheese curds.  Sounds like an American dish right?  But it's Canadian and my brother just had to order it from Wendy's.  The gravy made it pretty salty and the cheese wasn't completely melted but I can't expect much from a fast food chain.  Making this at home must be a piece of cake.  I mean all you need is some fries, gravy and cheese curds and voila, you've got poutine.  And it would probably even taste better if you bought some McDonald's fries to use instead of trying to make your own fries.  Usually ends up nothing like fries unless you're a pro, which I'm not.  Wait, I usually bake mine so that's probably why.