Oreo Thin Bites

Unlike the Oreos I've been talking about.  This kind of thins are not like the others.

First of all, these are mini Oreos dipped in fudge.  

It's tiny, and this is what they look like, especially in Texas heat, where they melted together. It still taste like Oreo inside, with chocolate on the outside.  Each back is 100 calories.  You can find that at HEB

 

Sons Stir-Fry Jajangmyeon

Saw this in the fridge section of H-Mart and was curious.

This is basically instant Jajanmyeon, or the Chinese version is the Black Bean noodle.  The dish is really originated in the Chinese culture and now the Korean has excel in making this accessible for every household. 

The package comes in 2 servings.  It has the noodles & sauce separate.  You first, open up and heat up the noodles.  Then in the baggie, heat up the sauce.  Then you mix everything together.  It does have a very thick texture to the sauce, it might be too much for my taste.  There are chunks of tofu in there, which with the carb, the sauce, it was a tad much for me.  Oh yeah, doesn't help that I have fish cake and veggies on the side too.  That was a bit much.  You can try it for yourself at the fridge section of your Korean grocers.

Typically, Jajangmyeon is to be eaten on special occasion, like when someone newly moved to a new home.  Jajangmyeon wasn't introduced to Koreans until early 1900s, but yet they even have a Jajangmyeon Museum.

 

Betsy's in Evenlyn's Park

This is my first time eaten at Betsy's to be honest.

Tons of seating outsides.  There are picnic tables in front and on the side.  Every seat is shaded somehow, either under a pavilion, under an umbrella, or under a big tree.  You see that the line is out the door, it's just because the counter is right by the door, so between social distance and picking up food, people lining out the door all the time.

Got me some sweet potato fries, it is definitely chunky.

This is a Ham & Cheese sandwich.  It is a fancy one and I even added bacon.  

There is a lot of stuff that goes into it here.  I will say, was a tad disappointed that they did not follow instruction.  I asked for it dry, it came with mayo and mustard.  But I was too hungry and too lazy to go stand back in line to have them re-make the sandwich.

The trick for ordering here is that you go on their website and hit Order Online.  Once you get that, you can place your order.  Although, apparently they don't read the instructions that I placed on there.  Once the order is done, they do send you a text to let you know when the order is ready for pick up.

Betsy's in Evelyn's Park

4400 Bellaire Blvd

Bellaire, Tx 77401

713-660-6692

https://www.betsysbellaire.com

 

Knoppers

I love anything that has hazelnut in it. 

Found this at World Market.  It's called Knoppers and from Germany.

It's essentially a wafer sandwich that has milk chocolate, hazelnut spread, milk cream, of course the wafer. I will say that it is a not-bad item.  The wafer is not as crunchy or crispy as other ones I've had.  But it definitely have hazelnut flavor, both in the spread and the nuts.

You can find these at Aldi or World Market.

Knoppers

https://www.knoppers.com

  

 

Siu Lap City

Been meaning to try this place out.

Now that I'm going to move out of downtown, figured I'd better take advantage since it's on the way home.

Look at the glorious Chinese BBQ meat!

I was going to order Char Siu but accidentally got BBQ Pork Ribs instead.  I will say, surprisingly, the meat is pretty lean.  The color does look very good though.  Given this is ribs, the meat are pretty generous.  It's over a bed of white rice, you can choose fried rice.  It comes with veggie, and loads of meat.  If you want another meat, you have a nominal charge.  

Then, I got the Soy Sauce chicken. They do give you lots, and it's not as salty as I had expected.  

So they don't have a very complicated menu.  For lunch, you can choose small or large size, it comes with meat of your choice, type of carbs you want, and veggie.  You can also buy the meat by itself and it can ego by pound.  If you're looking for roasted pig or Peking duck, you can order ahead.  They do accept credit cards but it has a $20 minimum.  I happened to be right around there and they let me slide, so keep that in mind.

Siu Lap City

2808 Milam St

Houston, TX 77006

https://www.siulapcity.com

 

Burge & Board

This is such a nice treat from a thoughtful friend.

This is truly a great trend during Covid times.  You get a curated box of adult snack: cheese, nuts, fruits, honey... etc.  Well, don't listen to me, see for yourself!

It's a mini charcuterie board in a box.  You have: 2 types of cheeses, honey, pesto, fruits, cucumber wedges, nuts, salami, pickle/olive and 2 types of artisan crackers.

I would say, as far as cheese board goes, this is compact and has tons of stuff.  Since the weather was nice, I decided to do a picnic with my box.  The honey was good, I was super impressed by the pesto that came with.  The nuts was nicely done, and the combo with the cheeses, cracker, and salami worked out very nicely.  

Another nice thing is that they will deliver, remember to read the fine prints.  Follow them on their Instagram, sometimes they run specials on there.

Burge & Board

https://www.burgeandboard.com

 

Purple Kow

Went back to Purple Kow for some bubble tea.

They were closed for a bit because of Covid, but they took the opportunity to make a few upgrades to the shop.

I got the Peach Oolong Crema, I've never had that before.  When you get it, the boba is all warm like it's freshly made.  And you see, proportionately how much they give you in a cup. 

As to the crema, if you let the drink sit, it will sink.  But otherwise, it is just a little cream with tea, it does add texture to the tea and doesn't impact much on the taste.

The other is a Purple Kow Milk Tea with Boba.  Again, the Boba is warm to touch.  And it's pretty fresh from the batch I got.  They pride themselves that they only use Organic Milk, if that's important to you, please make note. 

Purple Kow

2531 University Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

https://www.purplekow.com

 

Milk & Cookies

I'm telling you, having Milk and Cookies so accessible have its' pros & cons: pros - I can get to it easily, cons - I can get to it easily.

Anyway, I love that they have a walk-up window, everyone follow the boxes on the ground and wait 6 ft apart.  Though, people often mixed up the order line and the pick up line often.  That does confuse things a bit.  Otherwise, pretty well done. 

We happened to come upon a lull where there was nobody in line.  We all grabbed some ice cream and enjoyed it by the school down the street.  I do miss the days where you can sit by the curb and it's no big deal.  For now, I'm enjoying my Mint Chocolate Chip.

Milk & Cookies

3636 Rice Blvd

Houston, TX 77005

713-352-3086

https://www.tinyboxwoods.com/location/west-university/

 

International Snack - Jaga Choco chip

This is my second time to have this.  This is what we've been dreaming of in our twenties: potato chips dipped in chocolate. 

I love the cute little cup that it comes in.  Make sure it won't get too stuck and melty in the Texas heat.  The other Japanese company has it in a bag, so it's free for bouncing about.

Now granted, there's room to bounce here too, but it looks pretty protected to me.  

The quality, let's face it, it is fully dipped in chocolate, so it's not as crisp as you'd imagine.  But luckily it's not super soggy either.  The chocolate you can tell is milk chocolate, and it's not super sweet because of the potato chips.  I can tell that the potato chips weren't salted, I mean, what's the point, right?!  Anyway, I was super grateful that the chocolate didn't melt in this heat and it came out nice and crisp.  If you see it, definitely worth a try.  The other company that sell something like this, is Royce Chocolate.  Check them out.

 

Bovine & Barley

As a celebration of end 1st day of school, yes you read that right.  My neighbor organized for the Adult Ice Cream truck to make an appearance, and I'm grateful for that.

So, how that works.  You call them, and arrange to get on their calendar.  They usually ask that you have 9-10 orders to make it worthwhile.  In addition, they do ask you to buy food.  So, for food, they do offer Chips & Salsa or House Chips.  I really do like their House Chips, so I ordered 3.  You have to text them the order ahead and they are pretty efficient on keeping track on orders too.  

This time, I also ordered the Cuba Libre (fancy Rum & Coke with lime).

They showed up on time, and there were more parents that needed that drink that I had anticipated.  Again, they give you a virgin drink, and an airplane size bottle of booze, and you can add as you see fit.  That works for me, because last time I didn't finish my bottle and can make it as strong or not as I want. 

Bovine & Barley

https://bovineandbarley.com/frozen-cocktails/

 

Wing Kee

We used Chowbus app again.  This time, we ordered from Wing Kee.  It has been a long time, and they're out of our normal route, so it's nice to order delivery that way.

We have here, Salted Fish with Diced Chicken with stir-fried vermicelli.  This is unusual because we usually see them with fried rice, or flat rice noodle.  You don't usually see them with vermicelli.  That said, I can hardly taste the salted fish, definitely see and tasted the chicken.

Garlic stir fried snow pea.  I guess it's kinda out of season, it's really a winter vegetable.  There were some leaves that were more tired looking that the others.  Luckily, the taste saved it.

Braised pork with Preserved Vegetables.  The pork here is pork belly, so you see decent amount of fat on the slices... yum!  I grew up eating this... not so much for the meat which I did not come to appreciate until I'm a grown up.  But the preserved veggies plus the sauce.  It goes very well with just a bowl of rice, which is typical for Asian families to give you.  So I would be content eating the sauce and rice with the little veggie that accompanies it.  It's more nostalgic more than anything.  The taste on this dish is not bad. Amazingly as a delivery dish, it travelled well.  Keep in mind, it is braised pork, so it's super fatty.  So for second day re-heating, the sauce congealed and does take a bit of heating back up.

This time using the app was interesting.  The restaurant forgot one of my 2 drinks.  I used the Help function on the app.  The rep quickly reached out to the restaurant to confirm.  Very quickly, they were able to confirm, offer me either a credit on the app or refund back to my form of payment within 5 minutes time.  That's impressive because as I ended the conversation on the app, the credit already appeared.   So I appreciated that kind of customer service.

Another funny fact, the delivery driver was driving a car that is way nicer than mine, I thought that was interesting too...  To bearing to the app or the restaurant, just interesting side note.

Wing Kee

6938 Wilcrest Dr

Houston, TX 77072

281-741-7118  

 

85 degrees Bakery

Had to grab a bubble tea, and 85 happens to be open before noon.  So, here we are.

Typically the shop is filled with people.  During the 'new era' they now limit 20 people and stand in line 6 ft apt.  I noted that the flow of traffic has now became one way, which is great for limiting traffic.

I got the Tiger Boba Milk Tea.  Mom got the Cafe Latte.  So, I never really understand the appeal for Tiger Boba Milk tea, but sure why not?!  Essentially, the 'tiger' pattern is from when they drizzle in the brown sugar syrup down the side of the cup and by the time the pour in the milk and mix is all up, it creates the tiger pattern on the side of the cup.  It's nifty.  

How does it taste?  Definitely outstandingly sweet.  It is not to say, it's the best 'kind' of sweet I've ever had in a milk tea.  But it is standing out, and strongly highlighted.  I will say, the boba weren't from a fresh batch because some were chewier than the others.  But I was jonesing for something, so this'll do.  

They do have online pickup, they do have pastries but not a lot of the buns for online order.  I saw that they also offer up some popular pastries that are either frozen or unbaked that you can order and make it at home.  That would be a cool thing to make at home.  You too can be a baker.

85degrees Bakery

9750 Bellaire Blvd

Houston, TX 77036

832-831-2458

https://www.85cbakerycafe.com

 

Candelari's Pizza

Went to Candelari's to pick up some pizza.

Call ahead and it's actually pretty fast for pick up.  There is a drive thru lane that pulls up to their second door and the staff comes out ask for your name and grab it for you.

Cheese pizza.

Since they don't have Hawaiian on the menu, it becomes a Create-Your-Own pizza.  Pineapple and ham as toppings.

I got the T-Rex.  That has two types of sausages, pepperoni, bacon, Canadian bacon, and ground beef.  If this is not a meat-lover, I don't know what is.

All of the pizzas are gluten free, and there is an up-charge for that.  Out of all of them, I'm still sticking to my T-Rex, is my tried and true.  Definitely worth getting a few more of those.

Candelari's

2617 W. Holcomb Blvd

Houston, TX 77040

713-662-2825

https://candelaris.com/pizza-place-west-university

 

Roostar Vietnamese Grill

When I went to pick up the Miso Sweets, it was at Roostar.  Figured, might as well pick up dinner while I'm there.

It's been a while since I had Bahn Mi, sure why not?!

Off hand, I ordered the Grilled Pork Bahn Mi.  

Then, I ordered a Pate Bahn Mi.  I grew up eating pate, so was curious how they would make a sandwich out of it.

To my surprised, they give you tons of meat, and they're nicely marinated and super tasty.  You can also taste the quality of meat, they didn't skim on that.

For the Pate one, I was surprised on that one too.  First of, I took off the usual, cilantro, carrots and what nots; then added fried tofu in there.  That was serendipitous because the pate would've been strong, which is fine, but having the fried tofu slices balances out the flavors and the texture helped made the sandwich.  Overall, it was a pleasant surprise.  

I'll definitely go back to check out their other dishes, like the Sous Vide Pork Belly Bahn Mi, their Boxes (which is protein + veggie/carb, sauce), their Bulgogi Fries (or variations thereof), or their wings.  Hmm, wings.

Roostar Vietnamese Grill

5551 Richmond Ave

Houston, TX 77056

832-767-3319

https://www.myroostar.com

 

Miso Sweets - Mochi Donuts

So been seeing these posts on my Instagram feed.

Then a mom friend posted in her FB feed, and the delivery spot will be inside the loop.  I'm all down for that!

They're so darn adorable.

Here are their flavors for the day... 

Comes with an adorable saying - but let's get to my donuts!

I got a dozen.  Had I seen their post about taking pre-order, I would've done that and go pick up whenever.  But since I didn't see the post until late, I had to get there early to pick up a la carte.  In some ways, that worked out, because I can pick and choose and can also do smaller sizes instead of by the dozen.

Here I got: Vietnamese Coffee, Chocolate, and S'more

The Vietnamese Coffee, does have a strong coffee taste and also ends with a sweet after taste like a Cafe Su Da would.  I'm telling you, the flavor nodes were bright enough that it feels like you took a sip from a real cup of Vietnamese Coffee.  The Chocolate is good, it fills with chocolatey goodness.  The S'more, they must've used marshmallow fluff as the topping.  You do taste the chocolate, marshmallow togetherness.  Oh by the way, the S'more is their newest flavor.

Here we have: Taro, Pandan, and Mango.  The Taro is a great intro to Mochi Donuts.  It's mild in flavor and showcase the texture.  The Pandan is legit pandan and coconut combo.  The Mango is outstanding on flavor too, fresh and delicious.

So my impression on these Mochi donuts is that it's chewy and sticky.  Well, duh!  It's made with rice flavor and very much like the Japanese Daifuku or Chinese Lo Mai Chi.  They do tell you that you do need to enjoy them soon... and they were not lying.  By the second day, the donuts started to get stiff.  I guess, that make sense as the lady said, you wouldn't want several days old (regular) donut, same with these guys.

Miso Sweets

https://www.facebook.com/MisoSweetshtx/

https://www.instagram.com/misosweets/

 

Banana Bread

Since we've got these riped bananas, what do you do but to make banana bread?

Since I'm lazy, I used the 3 ingredients recipe on Mashed.

It looked good when it's warm.  Once it cooled down, it was hard as a rock.  

The recipe is unique where it asked for banana, flour, and condensed milk.  I've never used condensed milk before, so thought I'd give it a try.  The reason why it didn't get fluffy is really because you need an egg and need some butter to make it work.  

Since I'm stuck with all of them, I just heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds and it'll soften up.  Not too bad.   

 

Daido prepared meals

Trying a different pre-made meal at Daido.

This is pork katsu curry - the curry is a bit darker than the normal yellow Japanese curry I get (from a box), but the flavor is there.  What would be perfect is to add some potato, I love curry potato.  Carbs, carbs, and carbs.  

The roux is not too thick, but it has texture.  Of course, my favorite is to mix it with rice.  Just for good measures, I threw in some broccoli to have some veggies to balance things out.

Daido Supermarket

11146 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77042

https://www.facebook.com/daidomarkethouston/

 

Awesome Bites Co.

Been following Awesome Bites Co. on Instagram for a bit.

They are located in the Heights behind the art district.

Even their flavors are artsy.  They are known for allergies friendly ice cream.

Another artsy flavor....  they are also known as N'ice Cream.

Awesome Bites are known for not using added sugar, lots of fruits and veggies

Made in-house from scratch, you couldn't tell that there are no milk, eggs, nuts, soy or sugar.

So, what did it taste like?  It's definitely got a consistency of ice cream.  I got the Lavender Earl Grey, which I would say that there's more lavender honey than Earl Grey.  I can tell because I drink enough Lavender Honey Lattes.  You can tell the nodes on the flavor fairly easily.  

This is a cute and small shop.  They also sell donut cupcakes (combo of best of both worlds), muffins, beanie brownies, I've also seen some granola for sale too.   I got 2 little muffins, literally finished it in 2 bites (not pictured).  One was Lemon Blueberry - which to me was a tad dry.  The other was Apple Spice, which you do have chunks of apple in there and the muffin is moist and leave you wanting more.  Instead of sugar, they use fruits and veggies, they don't even use honey or agave as sweetness.  Not all muffins are gluten free, so do double check or ask the server for help.  Oh by the way, the muffins come in 2, 4, dozen pack at the store, which is different from the website.

Basically, if you have any kind of allergies in food, this is a super friendly place for you.  Do note, while everything is Vegan friendly, it's not Kosher and not Halal, even though looking at the ingredients you would think it'd be ok.  It's not, if you're strict to those dietary guidance.  They do have gluten free options, but not all things are created gluten free.  I do appreciate that they do treat items in separate kitchen to avoid cross contamination.  

Awesome Bites Co

2313 Edwards St

#185

Houston, TX 

https://awesomebitesco.com