Frozen Yogurt

I was introduced on a recent to trip to L.A. to the new frozen yogurt fad. It has this tart yogurtie taste has a frozen smooth consistency, often served with toppings to your desire (like fresh berries and fruit). They advertise that 1 ounce serving has only 25 calories. This is too good to be true for someone like me who loves ice cream or basically anything like that consistency! I didn't think it was THAT great at first, but now that I am back in Atlanta, I find myself craving for this low-calorie frozen goodness. I guess it grows on you.

Pinkberry
At Pinkberry, I had a plain frozen yogurt topped with fresh rasberries and blackberries. The combination was refreshing and guilt-free. It wasn't overly-sweet. I thought their green tea flavor yogurt was pretty tasteless. I couldn't really taste the green tea in it. The frozen yogurt consistency was a little bit on the icy side.

Ce Fiore
Personally, I liked it better at Ce Fiore (located in Japantown). I had a swirl of blackberry yogurt together with green tea yogurt. They offer a little more variety in their yogurt flavors. I found their consistency to be a little smoother, less icy. Supposedly, they will be opening soon here in Atlanta!

Unfortunately, there has been a lot of talk to what the actual ingredients to this kind of frozen yogurt. It has been speculated that this stuff comes from a powder, not real yogurt. Until they can prove that this stuff is really bad for you, I think I'll still like this stuff.

Honeydew Granita

I was disappointed by the honeydew I had bought yesterday from an un-named ethnic supermarket. It was very fragrant and felt really heavy when I picked it up at the store. But when I opened it up, it was not as sweet and juicy as I expected it. Inspired by recipes for honeydew granita from Williams-Sonoma's Ice Cream and David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop, I decided to save this not-so-good honeydew. To my surprise, the fragrance of the honeydew could still be appreciated in every spoonful of this granita. It was perfect in this hot Atlanta weather. I think I will try other flavors next time (maybe watermelon).

Honeydew Granita
(recipe adapted from books mentioned above)

1 honey dew (about 2 pounds), chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Puree all ingredients together in a blender. Pour mixture in a 9x13 inch pan and place in freezer. Remove from freezer after 1 hour and break up the ice on top/edges with a fork. Return to freezer. Repeat every 30 minutes until the ice becomes fine.

Beef Noodle Soup (紅燒牛肉麵)

My memories of beef noodle soup go all the way back to my childhood days while living in Taiwan. Back then, my grandmother ran a popular, large szechuan restaurant. Having the privilege on most days of ordering whatever I wanted to eat (with the only limitation being my mother's protest to my grandmother), I often requested beef noodle soup. Whether it's simply the pure goodness of its taste or because it brings back my childhood memories, beef noodle soup has become one of my all-time favorite comfort foods.

My favorite restaurant to get beef noodle soup in the States is A&J's (found in Northern & Southern California and in Maryland). While living in Baltimore, the 45 minute drive down to Rockville was well worth it in order to satisfy my craving.

Sometimes I make my own beef noodle soup. I like using beef shank because the meat is tastier and more tender with the tendon found within. I always eat mine with chopped Chinese sour mustard (酸菜) and a little chili sauce. As my husband decribes it, it "spikes" up the beef flavor even more. It's also important to serve it with a good type of noodle. I like mine with thick, fresh, chewy noodles.

If I am desperate, then I resort to the instant kind. My favorite is:
The only problem with this is that it can only be found in Taiwan. Besides having good flavor soup and non-mushy noodles, it comes with a meat packet with actual tender pieces of meat.

So in the States, if I'm craving instant beef noodle soup, I resort to:


This has a good flavor just like above, but without any real pieces of meat. This is a good midnight snack when I'm craving something savory.

Food Happiness

1. Fresh strawberries with blueberry yogurt
2. A freshly baked baguette, crusty on the outside and soft inside, eaten with cultured butter
3. Baci and amaretto gelato (especially from Vaccaro's in Baltimore)
4. Enjoying dimsum at a busy, lively restaurant
5. Taro, red bean, or green bean ice found in Taiwan
6. Fresh fruit tart
7. Sashimi from a fish caught a few hours prior
8. Fresh picked apple from an apple tree, eaten underneath that tree
9. A glass of iced coffee on a hot summer day
10. A piece of hot-off-the-grill medium-rare steak
11. Tomatoes
12. Amaretto biscotti
13. A glass of iced chrysanthemum tea on a hot summer day
14. A piece of Scharffen Berger cacao mocha after dinner
15. Pineapples
16. A bowl of hot noodle soup made with some kind of chewy noodle
17. A scoop of Maeda-en green tea ice cream with a spoonful sweet red beans on the top
18. Walking into a patisserie and eyeing all the desserts on display
19. Having a hot cup of coffee in my hand on a cold winter day
20. A slice of choclate mousse cake... made by my friend Kristi
21. Fried stinky tofu, a Taiwanese specialty
22. Cream puffs (especially from Beard Papa's)