Marble Cake!

Loving it, as always!

Lunch At Shahi Maharani

Out of love, not for food, but more for Miss L, we went to this restaurant, Shahi Maharani, two Saturdays in a row. This second time around, there were only three of us, hence we ordered a couple of dishes fewer.  We love their Vegetarian Samosas and we had them again last Saturday as starter.

We ordered the same assorted bread like we did the week before. There were some Naans and other breads too. It has a nice variety that we all like.

We love Butter Chicken in general and we also love theirs. We re-ordered this one too. (I know, it's boring!)

Another dish that's always a favorite of ours is Aloo Gobi. Our kids love the dish so much. 

It now will be a while before we go back to this place again. I think, we have enough Indian food for a while

Cookie Brownie Bars

I woke up from a short nap on Saturday and suddenly felt the urge to make brownies. It had been a long while and I did long for my brownies, I did not know why. I went to Miss K's room to express my desire and she suggested that I make Cookie Brownie Bars from the mix box that we got last Spring in the USA, the Betty Crockers one. Why not! That's even easier and very devilish! Just what I needed.

This wicked dessert is a combination of cookie and brownies and a tad too sweet for my taste but these bars are super yummy and I can simply forgive the sweetness. I will gain a couple of pounds for sure if I do not restraint myself from eating too much.... 

Pineapple Pastry, Chia Te

Taipei is famous for its Pineapple pastries or cakes. There are so many different brands available and many of which can be sampled in many shops around the city. The truth is, it's so hard to choose which one is the best. The pastries from Chia Te Bakery are highly recommended and their Pineapple Pastry is is one of the most popular ones and the better ones. It is almost a must to try their pastry. And try we did.

The pastry is tender and buttery while the filling is not too sweet. There's so much goodness in it. It is definitely something to come back for!

Papadum, Shahi Maharani

We were served with some papadums when we were waiting for our lunch at Shahi Maharani Indian restaurant yesterday. Nicely rolled and placed!

A Mural...

This mural was found on the wall of OCBC bank in Bukit Timah Rd. Looking so real, I like it!!

Adenium....

There has not much going on in the garden, it's primarily the reason why I had not posted much about it. For weeks and weeks, we have not had much rain in the island. It has been really hot and sunny on daily basis and we have to water the plants so much. Many of the plants are not doing too well under too much sun. I put this one Adenium plant away from the area that has too much sun exposure. This plant is having plenty of flowers, looking really beautiful!

Unagi Rice, Again!

Sometimes, it can become so difficult in deciding what to eat. We were nearby this Japanese restaurant in Great World City, Ichiban Boshi. This restaurant tends to be really packed during lunch and dinner times, but since it was around 3PM, the crowd was no longer there. I was hungry and Miss K agreed to joined me for lunch there. Again, as we tend to do, Miss K ordered a few sushi and I had Unagi rice again. My Unagi rice was less than $20 and it was just okayyyy...... My favorite so far is still the one from Kaetsu, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong!

On Pizza Night

It was Singapore National Day last Thursday and we sat in the living room, watching the celebration on TV and tried to occasionally peek from our terrace on what's going on from afar. The Olympics channels were also on, there were definitely plenty exciting channels to watch. DH went down to Limoncello restaurant downstairs with two of our kids and bought two pizza back home for dinner. 

More Pictures From Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial

Now we are back in the comfort of our home and my own computer, I am able to upload pictures to my blog so much more easily than doing it from my iPhone.....

Bellini Pasta Pasta, Taipei

I am so glad that DH is over with his obsession on visiting Chinatown and eating Chinese food whichever city we go. We have been to Chinatown in so many cities around the world, let me name some; Boston, San Francisco, New York, DC, Vancouver, Sydney, Melbourne, London, Manchester and so forth. They all look similar in some way. Of course when we visited Taiwan, it's like visiting a giant Chinatown. It's non-issue. Never mind about that, DH is now crazy about Italian food. Wherever we go these days, we have to have Italian food. (Sigh......) So when we walked around and we bumped into this restaurant, we knew what we likely ended up with.  DH checked out the menu, viewed the video presentation that was set out outside the restaurant and later on told us that the restaurant was ranked one in Taipei (God knows whose ranking that way, not that it mattered anyway....)

There were five of us, one of which did not want to eat. We had a mix of Fried Chicken Wings, Fried Calamari and Fries as appetizers. (Frying for the win!! It's holiday, I am more forgiving about eating fried food). This could have been DH's great day as we also had his favorite Pizza Margherita and Spaghetti Carbonara. They all were good, but for me, a person who loves strong seasonings, I could use more salt in all the appetizers. DH should have left a very satisfied man! I hope he was!

The Bench

The morning after the typhoon when we were in Taipei, we wanted to get out of our hotel just do something, anything. A bookstore nearby was open after 11AM and we took a walk there. This interesting looking bench was found on the way.

A Fancy Hat...

When the fine day arrived in Taipei last Friday, we went to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. So were lots of other tourists. A lady was walking in front of me with a very fancy and also functional hat. It was a hot sunny day after all.

Activities Resumes

We began to see to livelihood of Taipei after typhoon Saola moved away from Taiwan and workplaces, schools and attractions were re-opened. Tourists and people in general appeared in places. Shopping malls were crowded and business was back again. Streets were filled with cars and traffic was heavier than the days prior to that. Yellow cabs made much more noticeable appearances on the street too. Life seemed to be back to normalcy again. The picture above was taken in the afternoon outside Mitsukoshi department store. It was a cloudy afternoon after a beautiful sunny morning.

Waiting For Jeremy Lin

Jeremy Lin was in Taipei and he got thousands of fans here. It was super crowded at Xi Men, the place where the fans were scheduled to see him.

Boston Cream Pie

This cake or pie (actually is a cake) was served during cocktail hours last night at the lounge of the hotel where we were staying at. The cake was fluffy and yummy and the chocolate on top was so heavenly. It's worth every calorie!

Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall

The sun shone this morning and the worry of typhoon was no longer visible. We took opportunity of the good weather and went to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. The driver took us there in a short time and we began our sightseeing shortly under the hot sun. 

While Waiting...

The rain and the typhoon warning continued, many point of interests in Taipei were closed. We waited. My companies played Uno until the bookstore that we were going to, was confirmed to have opened.  Thank God for Uno!

Zhao An, Taipei

Good morning, Taipei. ( the picture was from yesterday, but it looks very similar this morning too.) Typhoon morning has been issued and .... Just waiting for things to get better....