Brasserie Ten Ten, Boulder

Update Tuesday, April 28, 2020

I'll keep updating this post as I slowly get through more food pics ^.^

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Original post Sunday, April 25, 2020

This food tribute post to Brasserie Ten Ten of Boulder, Colorado, is long, long, long overdue, because hubby and I have been dining here since our college days. Yes, nearly 20 years. Way to feel old, huh? ^.^

Snack Time Part II

Last year, in addition to my obsession with ochazuke I ventured into snacking territory as well. Again, I think this was my nostalgia for Japan taking on the form of cravings for certain foods and snacks. 

First up: Shijimi Wakame Soup. I was really looking for something similar to the one I found at Nishiki Market in Kyoto. I bought 4 packages to share with my parents. Too bad these didn't taste anywhere near as good as the Kyoto version (of course, what was I thinking?). They weren't too salty but had a heavy briny and fishy taste that the Kyoto version didn't.

Alexander's Patisserie, Mountain View

Upon exiting Maison Alyzee, I promptly crossed the street for Alexander's Patisserie. Talk about a literal patisserie face-off--they're staring each other down from across the street. Fine with me though. More patisseries means more sweets for me to enjoy ^.^

Maison Alyzee, Mountain View

As hubby and I grabbed a quick snack at the Hong Kong Bakery & Cafe, I couldn't help but notice Maison Alyzee right next door. After he left to do work stuff, I went in to check it out despite having had a snack. I could never pass up a patisserie. There's always room for desserts in this tummy ^.^

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area Part VII

The last of the Roppongi food posts :(

Hubby and colleagues were super excited when Blue Bottle Coffee opened yet another branch in Roppongi (they're up to 6 branches in Tokyo now!), in the spanking new Tri-Seven Building across the street from Midtown. It made their daily coffee run much easier than, say, Omotesando (will post soon!). Hubby loved going there, and he loved to drag me along. I was more, umm, indifferent. Sure, I like coffee, but more so the flavor than the actual beverage, which can sometimes be too strong and bitter for my unsophisticated taste buds.

Tokyo Eats - Shinjuku area

Throughout our time in Tokyo, the majority of our visits to Shinjuku was to eat sukiyaki tabehodai (all you can eat hotpot) at Nabezo with a host of friends and visiting family. The remaining of the time was me exploring the Shinjuku Isetan and a few other shopping destinations, me meeting up for lunch and coffee with my old friend K., and our afternoon tea club hanging out at the Peak Lounge or the New York Bar of the Park Hyatt Shinjuku ^.^ So suffice to say we did a great injustice to the enormous and super dense Shinjuku and didn't explore it as much as we could and should have.

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area Part VI

My god, how many food photos did I take?!? I finally made it to the first week of August in the photo backlog, and it filled up yet another Tokyo Eats - Roppongi area post! I guess it was because hubby worked there, and so I went there everyday to meet with him for lunch. That was how I ended up with lots and lots of photos of mostly food ^.^"

Tokyo Eats - Roppongi Area Part IV

More food in Roppongi, though probably not the last since I'm still waaay behind on photos. I'd thought to wait until I'm all caught up but the post will grow too long, so I'm posting what I have now, already pretty darn long as it is!

An art display at Midtown, along with even more photos of sakura that I didn't get to in the previous installment. I know, I'm posting spring photos in the fall and summer photos in the winter. Ha.

Taipei Eats - Yongkang Street area (永康街, Picture heavy!)

I "stumbled" upon the greatness that is Yongkang Street (永康街) purely by accident. I read a little bit about Taipei prior to our arrival, but there were so much to absorb (still!) during the first couple of weeks I had forgotten everything I read (the internet is a godsend!). And then one afternoon while walking home from school, hubby and I ran into my Japanese classmate and she asked if we knew where Yongkang Street was. That weekend (Mid Autumn Festival), we consulted google to orient ourselves and headed straight there. Turns out the street is also a mere 15 minutes walk from our apartment, just like Shida Night Market ^.^

The Little Chef Pastry Shop, Princeton

Last post on our one day whirl-wind visit in town is reserved for this little patisserie I love so much - The Little Chef Pastry Shop. Let's just say I used to lurk around here all the time, as the shop sells out very quickly. Usually, by 2p.m. you'll have nothing left to choose from and that's that, which is particular hard on me since, well, I sleep in till noon on the weekends :P It's just as they say, you snooze you lose.

***Picture from yummyinthetummyblog's flickr.

White Day Macarons

French and Italian sweets are all the rage in Japan, and that means macarons (not to be confused with the coconut macaroons) on are everywhere, though honestly I was never curious enough to try these. After all, they're just...cookies. But I was so very wrong. A couple of weeks ago hubby's advisor gave us an omiyage - a box of macarons - from her trip to Nagoya, and that was when I finally realized what a fool I was for not getting all over these much much sooner. They're delicious!

So when White Day was approaching, I thought I'd treat myself to an 8-piece gift set from my local Patisserie Chou Chou.

Birthday Cake from Patisserie Chou Chou

Hubby had a bday week full of parties with different groups of friends (Ko-cho, Garlic Jo's, and Shichirin Yakiniku AnAn). But this is a small celebration at home with just the two of us and a cake from the neighborhood Patisserie Chou Chou.

There's actually a funny story with this cake. Hubby went to order a cake for his bday, because I don't speak Japanese, of course.

The conversation went something like this:

- Patissier: What should we put on this cake?

- Hubby: Happy birthday.

- Patissier: What is the name of the person?

- Hubby: E. (and proceeded to spell it for the guy)

- Patissier: And what is your name?

- Hubby: Umm...uhh...C. (he gave his surname instead because he was too embarrassed to reveal he's the E. buying himself a bday cake ^.^)

Yes, the cake was itty bitty, but it was heavenly. I had 2 small slices and hubby inhaled the rest. And he doesn't even like sweets!!!

Patisserie Chou Chou

What do you do when there's a French patisserie right around the corner of your house, as in, 4 minutes walk away?

The college girls fear the freshman-15, I fear the foreigner-20. Can you blame me?

You would never guess that behind the door of the quaint little Patisserie Chou Chou is a tall and stern-looking Japanese man in his chef uniform. But don't let his mask scare you. Evidently, he's a sweet, sweet man ^.^

The first time when hubby brought home some Chou Chou sweets for me, we both gobbled them all up before I could take a picture. This time, I was able to stop myself to take a photo :) Check out this Japanese review site for even more pictures, including a photo of the store front, which I was reluctant to snap. These are not the best little cakes I've had (and the Japanese review site agrees with me!), but for a mere 4 minutes walk, they'll certainly hold me over for a while. I must note that I do appreciate very much the fact that Chou Chou's pastries are on the light side and are not overly sweet at all!

Clockwise from top:

- Coffee eclair

- Pistachio mousse cake

- Strawberry mousse cake

- Cream puff

Taped to the left side of the box is a mini icepack, just to keep the sweets chilled in the melty Japanese summer.

And where have I had the best little cakes?

I have had the best coffee and chocolate eclairs as well as different flavor napoleons (original, pistachio, strawberry, raspberry, etc.) at The Little Chef Pastry Shop, but his cakes and tarts are a bit too sweet for my taste.

Chez Alice has the most delicious red velvet cake. Ever. I generally love their cakes, but overall my experience with Chez Alice was marred by 2 incidents in which they sold me moldy cakes. As in, I bought the cakes, brought them home, ate a slice, thought it tasted funny, dumped the slice into the trash bin only to see medallions of green and white fuzzy mold at the bottom of the slice, dumped the whole cake into the trash bin and saw the same on the rest of the cake. Yep, not once, but twice. I stopped buying their cakes unless it was a special order and made fresh.

I think my favorite cake shop would have to be Andre's Confiserie Suisse. I learned of them several years back when my cousin, J., had a Mocca Torte cake made there for a special occasion. I became a devoted fan since. Their mini pastries can be a tad on the sweet side, their Mocca Torte, Tiramisu, or just tortes in general, are to die for. Need proof? Here.

Tiramisu Torte

The Mix Torte, for when you can't have just one, like me, with a quarter each of (clockwise from top) Rum, Chocolate, my beloved Mocca, and Pistachio Torte.

A slice I can't have enough of.