Pinkberry

The southern California's most famous dessert place, PINKBERRY. Frozen yogurt is such a hit down south. It's no reason but the sunny weather and the heat.

Since Seattle doesn't anything close to that, I took Heidi to there after a fulfilling dinner at Villa Sorriso.

You know Pinkberry is such an interesting concept for me. When I was in Seattle, Coldstone often ffered me a little "guilt seeking" getaway from straight dieting. Now down here, I met Pinkberry, I don't need to feel guilt from eating dessert. I can have it as much as I want, as long as I sub this as my regular meal. Matter of fact, I still only buy smallest size with no topping every time I go to the store. It's good enough for fulfilling my sugar-crave. Pinkberry has 3 flavors in the menu, 1)cofffee, Greentea and orignal. 95% of the customers I saw had original with 3 toppings. I don't know how people can finish them at once after dinner but they do kill every bite in the cup.

The store has a very good computer system to manage customers' order. I was impressive by how much details they can put in 5 seconds. The label indicated 3 toppings and 2 favors of frozen yogurt and the customer's name. WOW!~















Pinkberry Pasadena
19 S Fair Oaks Ave
Pasadena, CA 91105
(626) 744-0505

Crepe in the Grip

Crepe in a Grip is located in San Gabriel's Valley Blvd. As you Californian knows, San Gabriel is well-known as the Chinese ghetto neighborhood. You can hardly hear native English in here. It's one of the fobbiest place you can find.

Anyway, my JJ brought me to this place for dessert when we just began dating. Its specialty is sweet crepe but it also serves savory creepy crepes, such as teriyaki chicken and teriyaki eel. For sweet tooth satisfying, they have oreo, tradition nutella, fruit mixed with ice-cream of your choice. Not only crepes they are selling, they also have Japanese Takoyaki (squish balls) and also funnel cakes. It's a mix of east and west. However, still we don't dare to try these "adventurous" choice.

Critics for the sweet crepe, my French boyfriend said that its Crepe with simply nutella passed his standard. The crepe (the wrap) is always freshly made by one single Taiwanese cook who standing in front of the transparent counter next to cashier. That's how the French street food is actually displayed in Paris' street corner.

It's the last night my lovely girlfriend staying in LA, I brought her to Crepe in a Grip to meet my beloved one. It was a bless. He ordered 2 crepes and iced greentea from Starbucks for us. Crepes: Crepe Nutella and Crepe filled with strawberry ice-cream, kiwi and banana. Both are good.

Crepe in the Grip
7 E Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91801
(626) 284-1237

Hong Kong Cafe

I brought my best friend to my favorite Hong Kong restaurant for breakfast. 3 months ago I took her sister, Zoe (my other best girlfriend) to the same place and she fell in love with the place too.

I think they serve the best Hong Kong style food there, especially breakfast menu. It's great value too!! The left picture is the instant noodle with spam and egg, sprinkled with green onion.

This is the specialty dish of the restaurant. It's the best rice roll in Los Angeles I guess. I just cannot think any other place can make a better dish. However, I like the texture of rice roll I have in Hong Kong more.

For about 5 bucks, you can have a plate of rice roll, a plate of soy-sauce fried noodle, a pineapple bun, a medium bowl of puree and a drink (choice of tea or coffee). You just never can expect anything at that price in United States at that quality.

Hong Kong Cafe

162 W Garvey Ave
Monterey Park, CA 91754

(626) 288-3282

Villa Sorriso Italian Restaurant

It's the second last night that Heidi was in LA. She was so smart to find this lovely Italian restaurant in Pasadena. It was better than I expected. The environment is spacious, especially it was weekday, there weren't many people there.

We ordered one starter, one salad and an entree.
The dinner began with Crab Cakes
"Served with Lobster Cream Sauce topped with Mango Pico de Gallo"

The salad comes as "Grilled Wild Salmon Salad"
Baby Mixed Greens and Arugula, Watercress, Romaine Hearts, Pear Tomatoes, Orange Wedges With a Dill Citrus Vinaigrette Topped With Fried Leeks

The salmon was dry and a bit overcooked. However, I was always craving for vegetable each meal.

The pasta dish was called Frutti Di Mare Pasta
"Linguini, Clams, Mussels, Shrimp, Calamari & Scallops, Spicy Garlic Tomato Sauce"

I could only find linguini, shrimps and zucchini from this dish though. Where were those other seafood they supposed to serve with? I have no idea. It was good overall, not too creamy or oily like food from the American national restaurants.


Villa Sorriso Ristorante

168 W Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91105
Phone: (626) 793-2233

Creme De La Crepe

My best friend, Heidi came to visit. The first place I brought her was a creperie. It got the lovely western environment that we craved for.

It's the sweet crepe, Crepe Fruite we ordered after the savory one. It got strawberries, peach and banana, served with whipped cream. This was good but the savory menu is always more impressive.

It's our savory crepe order. It's called Crepe Japonnaise. I have no idea how does a crepe relate to Japan. I thought the real Japanese crepe is called Okonomiyaki. The ingredients include smoked salmon, egg, fresh tomatoes, asparagus, and cheese. It was very very lovely. The fresh ingredients harmonized together very well.

Creme De La Crepe (in Redondo Beach)
1708-1/2 S Catalina Ave
Redondo Beach, CA 90277 (310) 540-8811

www.cremedelacrepe.com

PinGo Frozen Yogurt

I found almost every frozen yogurt chain stores in SoCal has very similar packaging and products, sometimes even name. From the most well-known Pinkberry, to fancy-named CeFiore, to smaller local brand. I saw some called Snowberry, Yogurtberry, this time I found PinGo. I guess they want people to relate it with Pinberry at some points. The store is very alike to Pinkberry's interior. The menu is more or less the same, except this PinGo got blueberry flavor while Pinkberry has Coffee instead.

This place is the mock of Pinkberry, nothing really original, the toppings and the idea. The staff isn't too friendly.
The price is higher than Pinkberry and Ce Fiore, which upset me a bit.
The only reason I would go there is because it's close to my house

PinGo Yogurt.
626-282-9558.
35B W. Valley Blvd.
Alhambra, CA 91801

Van's Bakery- Flan

"
I always love sweet egg custard, in Vietnamese, French and Mexico, they call it "FLAN".

It's nutritious and it's "guilt-free".. sorta depend on how much syrups they put.

The flan was firm and not too sweet. We Asians like sweet but not like Westerners who can loads their drinks and desserts with tons of sugar.

Van's Bakery

121 E Valley Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91776

(626) 288-7272

McDonald's Breakfast Break

I haven't eaten McDonald like forever. I always am a healthy eater, that's why I always avoid fast food, or anything with grease/heavy cheese/high refine-carb/deep-fried... whatever you can relate to a word, "UNHEALTHY".

This morning I guess I have my second or third time of fast food since I've moved to Los Angeles. I went to Walmart early morning for grocery with my roommate Jenny. I was always wondering how lovely the pretzel looked in the shelf.

The pretzel is awful though, for your curiousity.However, the brewed coffee was surprisingly good!!! It's almost compatible to compare with Starbucks' Americano. The taste was insentive and strong caffeineeeeyyy. I love the coffee but definitely a no-no for the pretzel.

McDonald in Walmart Rosemead

1827 Walnut Grove Blvd
Rosemead, CA 91770

(626) 307-1010

85% Cocoa Chocolate- Valrhona VS Lindt's

85% Cocoa Battle between Valrhona's Le Noir and Lindt's 85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate Excellence

I love sweet but also love dark chocolate with bitterness and high content cocoa.

Two days ago, I did my grocery at Trader Joe's and found Valrhona, the fine chocolate imported from France. There is only a few manufacturer produced any chocolate over 85% cocoa so when I see Le Noir, I just grabbed the bar to the cashier without thinking.

It costs $2.99, about the same price as Lindt's Dark Chocolate 85% Cocoa (before on sale). However, the weight of Valrhona is heavier because of its thickness. Although the cocoa content was high but the calories should still be aware of. 250 calories per chunk and there are 2.5 servings in one bar.



Well well... Lindt VS Valrhona
Overall, I like Lindt's Dark Chocolate Excellence more, in term of the cocoa intensity and bitterness. However, Valrhona's Le Noir is more fulfilling because of the size of each chuck, and I sorta think that it's more buttery too.

Anyway.. I'm not a food blog pro but it's a good start here.

Trader Joe's

7260 Rosemead Blvd
San Gabriel, CA 91775

(626) 285-5862