Breeze Centre, Eslite and mentaiko bread

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Food, Taiwan, Travel April 29, 2012

Sunday was another relaxing day while I waited to meet up with Vi. Mike was not feeling well so plans were changed.

I took a coupla peektures of my view from my hotel window, since it was too rainy when I first checked in.

Sloppy, comfort dressing. Loving my S$8 boots!

I had walked past Breeze Centre a few times previously, since it was near my hotel. Decided to pop in for a good look around. There was meant to be a Balenciaga store, but it was still under renovation! Bummer.

There was a Chloe store though. One of my previous obsessions. Also a brand that Vi and I shared a passion for! I took sneak peektures of these baby Paraties for her…

The red python was gorgeous! Too bad Chloe’s now feel too heavy for me, after getting used to Balenciaga’s.

After leaving Breeze, I went into Sogo to buy some mentaiko bread buns, and got stuck at a beauty cosmetic counter. The SA was so persistent! I only managed to get away after buying an eye gel. I figured, if I were to buy something from them, it might as well be something I would use (my eye gel was running out). I refused to cave in to the products they were trying so hard to push to me (eye masks and I can’t even remember what else). And in the end, I literally had to say, quite forcefully, that I was late and I had to go.

Vi was waiting at her hotel for me, so I jumped into a cab and headed over. We then went to meet her family for dinner. I loved meeting her family! Everyone was so nice. I met her grandma, her aunt, cousin, and her parents. We had dinner at an organic Chinese restaurant. It was lovely chatting with them.

Bidding a hasty goodbye, we scrambled into a cab that Vi’s dad had flagged, and headed back to her hotel to check on Mike. Then, Vi and I went to Eslite (again) since we didn’t spend much time there previously.

I found Laduree books, but resisted them!

And other macaron books too. Also resisted them!

But I did get one more Jimmy Liao book, in addition to the ones I bought previously.

We also went and bought Char Siew buns for Mike from that Hong Kong cafe so Vi could bring them back for him.

I had a mentaiko French bun for supper back in my hotel room. I wish the bakeries in Singapore would start making these!

I found Totoro like this on the bed, placed there by the housekeeper. So funny! I’m sure it was by accident but he looked like he was tilting over saying hi.

My own starry, starry night in my window. <3

The next day was a frenzy of activities so I didn’t take any peektures at all. This was the morning when I had no hot water, and got delayed meeting up with Vi and Mike for the last time. I was pretty upset with the hotel. But I did manage to spend slightly less than an hour with them. We did some last minute shopping at Sogo and I bought my last mentaiko French bun for my plane ride home. I was so glad I did – it was such a treat on the plane! I totally could have had two.

Taipei was absolutely lovely. Of course, the best part was meeting my BFF Vi and her DH Mike! <3 Even though my planned schedule did not happen at all, except for Villa32, it was actually pretty nice not keeping to a schedule at all. It was good getting all that research done anyway, so I had an idea of where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see, but there was no stress to cover all and everything. Definitely will be back for more of Taipei next time! Maybe next time I will get a travel companion, as it is pretty challenging to explore the night markets alone. It is definitely possible, and I did it, but I would have liked to be able to eat more stuff (oink).

Notes for next adventure, especially to a cold climate where I’d be wearing boots: Must get pedicure done before traveling, or be brutal and cut toe nails short even if the polish hasn’t been removed. This was the first time my toe nail has actually broken from being in closed-toe shoes. Lesson learnt. Pack fewer sets of clothing, if hotel has laundry service. I definitely overdid it on the socks this time (brought one pair for each day but only used half of them). I need a lightweight coat, something between my Juicy Couture hoodie and wool winter coat. That said, I did manage to travel quite light this time and I’m quite proud of it!

Can’t wait for the next one. Where will it be? In the meantime, I might post peektures from my previous Japan and Vancouver adventures (both were in 2010). I haven’t actually blogged about them proper. :) I also have the Taipei edition of **The Macaron Scribbles** coming soon. Stay tuned!

x o x o
bB

ChiaTe pastries

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Food, Taiwan, Travel April 28, 2012

With the help of one of the Taipei colleagues 牛哥, I snagged six boxes of the famous ChiaTe 佳德 pastries without facing the daunting queue. 牛哥 even sent them to me right at my hotel. Thanks 牛哥!

ChiaTe pastries are a must-buy in Taiwan. Apparently, the president of the country likes to give these as gifts. I think that alone is good enough to show how good they are meant to be. bB tried to reserve lots of luggage space for these.

Three boxes of cranberry pastries…

And three boxes of pineapple with egg yolk pastries…

OMG. I was in heaven. Pastry heaven. Floating along on the deliciously buttery scent and juicy, tangy cranberries. The crust was light, fluffy and rich at the same time. And they certainly do not scrimp on the filling in these.

Wow, look at that. A little cube of buttery perfection.

I went to heaven again. A savoury one this time. The entire thing was so fluffy and awesome.

bB proceeded to eat a few more after that, hence there were missing slots in the boxes she brought back to Singapore. LOL!

I’m glad I didn’t buy the plain pineapple pastries. After doing my research, I found that most people seem to think the cranberry ones are the best, followed by the pineapple with egg yolk. I wholeheartedly agree, after nomming them personally!

http://www.chiate88.com

A bit of personal advice on the shelf life of these pastries, if you are planning to bring some back to your home country from Taiwan, it is best to consume them within a week for maximum nomminess. They are good for up to two weeks, but I found that the crust became more compact as the days went by. They seem to lose that beautiful fluffy texture over time. So, eat them as soon as possible! Which isn’t a difficult thing because they are so nommy!

x o x o
bB

Shilin Night Market (again)

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Eating Out, Food, Friends, Pretty Things, Sentimental Circus, Taiwan, Travel April 26, 2012

The next morning, bB took her time getting out of bed, after a wicked long Friday the day before.

This peekture reminds me of how soft that doona was… Ah…

I decided to take it easy while waiting for Vi and Mike to get back to Taipei (they were traveling outside of Taipei with family and relatives). After an intermediate packing of my luggage, I decided I could fit in more tee-shirts from that wonderful little shoppe at Shilin. With a bit of research, I also found out the vermicelli I had yet to taste also had an outlet there.

A quick cab ride later, I was back at Shilin Night Market. Bought a few more tees for me, and a few for Mr Bb as well, and asked about 阿宗面线, which was quite easy to locate.

Unlike the original location at Ximending, this outlet actually has a seating area for patrons. Patrons at Ximending are known to stand or squat around with their bowls of vermicelli. LOL. I’m kinda glad I went to this outlet. I can get quite self-conscious sometimes.

The seating area wasn’t anything glamourous though. It was rows of benches, with no tables.

The vermicelli was AWESOME. Wicked awesome, Mr Bb would have said. This kicked major ass. I finally know why they are so famous. I cannot describe it well, but the texture was perfect. It was absolutely slurpable without being soggy. And it was bursting with flavour. I wish I had eaten this a few more times during my days in Taipei. But it’s okay, I just have to visit Taipei again!

Then, I went around looking for Sentimental Circus things. Saw lots of cute stuff, like Totoro earphones!

Found what I was looking for, little phone decoration plugs. One for Vi, one for me. <3

Then, I headed back to the hotel to rest up and wait to hear from Vi and Mike. We met up later on at Eslite, a famous bookstore in Taipei which is 24 hours! But we didn’t stay long, because the cafe queue was crazy long and so, we went off to a Hong Kong cafe nearby for dim sum.

Vi loves Char Siew Buns. :)

It was so good to see them again and catch up about what we were all up to for the past few days! We were so sad that our holiday meet-up was coming to an end soon!

x o x o
bB

Murals by Jimmy Liao 几米

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Taiwan, Travel April 25, 2012

After our mission for macarons at Bella Vitta, Xinhui headed home (it was quite late at this point) while Yuting took me to Nan Gang 南港, for the murals I wanted to take peektures of.

A few weeks ago, Mr Bb came back from a work trip somewhere and said he saw the best movie on the plane – Starry starry night directed by Tom Lin, based on an illustrated novel by famous Taiwanese illustrator Jimmy Liao. We watched it together on a weekend and it was AMAZING. Mr Bb, very much a film buff, has named it his personal Movie of the Year. It was only later that bB realised Jimmy Liao = 几米, a name I’ve been familiar with since a long time ago, for his awesome illustrations. Talk about the brain having a short circuit!

With a bit of research, I found out there was a train station in Taipei with lots of Jimmy Liao murals. I had to take a look! Xinhui and Yuting looked it up for me and found out it was at Nan Gang 南港, which was on the way home for Yuting. I was stoked to have Yuting for company, and also so she could help me with taking peektures!

Jimmy Liao seems to like to draw adorable elephants…

At this point, I realised there was this little white fluffy dog that kept appearing everywhere on the drawings…

Was he a friend of the blind girl’s?

There he is again!

Loved this one… Mommy and Baby elephants. <;3

I have to find out who this white fluffy dog is.

I like this one. Yuting wanted an eye-contact peekture of me and the monster. LOL!

Angels…

And demons?

It was so funny when we were snapping peektures on the platforms. I kept going very near or right on the boundary line when posing for peektures. The station staff were quite anxiously watching us, even followed us around at one point. I felt bad for making them worry, but we were always very careful with watching out for the trains coming in. I must say though, the Metro lines are super efficient. The frequency of trains coming in was quite astonishing, even at that late hour!

After our adventure at Nan Gang, bB bade farewell to Yuting and made her way back to the hotel. The crazy long day was finally concluded!

x o x o
bB

Bella Vitta, Taipei

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Food, Macarons, Taiwan, Travel April 24, 2012

Sorry for the slow posts… bB is down with the flu. :( But I will try to continue slowly! :)

After exploring Shida Night Market and the surrounding streets, Xinhui and Yuting took me to Bella Vitta, so I could purchase macarons for **The Macaron Scribbles**. Thanks to them, bB had her first experience of taking a bus in Taipei. I would never have figured out the routes on my own.

Bella Vitta is an up-market mall, with all the big brands. Reminds me a little of Ion Orchard.

So this was the chosen macaron shoppe for **The Macaron Scribbles** in Taipei… Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki!

Ooooh! <3

Unfortunately, after this peekture, bB was stopped from snapping any further by the counter staff. I was hoping to snap peektures of the flavours. Oh well. Stay tuned for the actual entry in **The Macaron Scribbles**!

http://www.sadaharuaoki.com

x o x o
bB

Shilin and Shida Night Markets

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Taiwan, Travel April 22, 2012

After Villa32, bB was in a cab, pondering her next move. I had two hours before I was to meet Xinhui, my colleague in Taipei. So on impulse, I decided to drop in at Shilin Night Market, to look for that shop Charlene was telling me about.

Miraculously, I actually found it. This was simply from Charlene’s description of “It’s somewhere in the middle”. LOL! What’s more, it was my first time at Shilin. I bought ten tee-shirts and the nice SA gave me another three for free.

Feeling really accomplished, bB decided to be brave and take the Metro. It wasn’t difficult, but there was a significant walking distance to change between lines. Thankfully, it was before peak hour.

After a ten-minute walk, bB finally got back to the hotel to drop off her loot of tees. It was still cold and wet, and I was tempted to cancel my evening plans to stay in and snuggle in the awesome doona.

But I decided not to be lame. :)

Xinhui and Yuting were so nice. They took me to Shida Night Market, which is the preferred night market that the locals go to. Apparently, Shilin is for tourists. LOL!

It was fun walking around, exploring the little streets with them. They also took me to the famous beef noodle shop, but the queue was crazy and I was still too stuffed to eat.

Next, they took me to Bella Vitta, so I could carry out my macaron mission for Taipei…

x o x o
bB

Villa32, Xinbeitou

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Eating Out, Food, Taiwan, Travel April 20, 2012

This was a super long day for bB! I shall start with my hot spring adventure at Villa32!

So, after doing a tonne of research, bB had decided to make her way to Villa32 at Xinbeitou by the Metro. However, the morning itself was cold and wet, and the hotel staff actually advised me to take a cab straight there, which wouldn’t cost very much anyway. Thankfully, bB took up the suggestion. Traveling by Metro would have taken an hour. Getting there by cab was half an hour. What’s more, it wasn’t easy to locate! If bB had been alone, walking from the Metro station, it would have been a total disaster.

There was no signage at the door, only the number 32. In the rain, it was very difficult to spot. Cabbie and I went round and round before we found it.

This was my private hot spring room. Gorgeous! <3 I was in love once I stepped in. It was huge and luxurious, lots of natural and rich textures.

L’occitane products are used here! And Evian. One must rehydrate when in a hot spring.

Slight disappointment was the view outside the windows. There wasn’t much of a view at all. I was hoping to have the windows wide open to a valley or something. But there was only a wall and some plants. Still, I kept it open and could see a little sliver of sky over the wall.

90 minutes passed too quickly. I could have stayed in there all day!

And then, it was time for my gourmet lunch (reservation required, no walk-ins).

Unfortunately, it was a rainy day so no outdoor dining was available. I was really looking forward to having lunch on the lawn. Maybe this means I have to revisit them. :)

Amuse bouche… I had no idea what it was. The waiter did inform me but I promptly forgot. LOL! There was apple in it though. It was an interesting and pleasant taste.

Grilled quail with stewed sweet potatoes flavoured with anise. This was awesome. Maybe a little heavy as an appetiser, but the quail was tender and flavourful, and the sweet potatoes were amazing. That brown sauce came from cooking the quail. It was divine.

Oxtail broth. Thankfully this was kept light, though in other circumstances, I would have preferred a hearty broth.

My main was wagyu with duck liver. I loved the presentation, but the duck liver was undercooked. When the waiter came to ask if everything was okay, I gave my honest feedback and he offered to take it inside to be grilled further. It came back exactly the same. LOL! The beef was excellent though. And those little balls were Chinese yam, broccoli, sweet potato and zucchini, on a bed of mash potato.

Creme brulee dessert was good. A nice way to end the meal.

I must say, the service was excellent except when it came to dealing with the duck liver. No one came to verify that it was okay the second time, until much later at the end of the meal. Other than being exactly the same, the liver was also way too veiny. It was basically impossible to eat. When I informed them of this, the waiter was apologetic, but could not offer any explanation.

Despite the duck liver incident, it was a lovely experience in general. The whole place was beautiful. bB will definitely be back again when visiting Taipei the next time! Maybe will try the public pools the next time, apparently has much better views!

http://www.villa32.com/

x o x o
bB

Is it better…

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Love April 18, 2012

… to love or to be loved?

In the ideal world, it would be both.

What if the ideal world does not exist?

Hotel B, Taipei

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Taiwan, Travel April 18, 2012

bB’s second hotel in Taipei was Hotel B, a short cab ride away from Eastern Star Hotel.

I was in a room on the 11th floor again. Coincidence much?

Hotel B has nicer decor than Eastern Star does. I heard they were renovated in recent years.

The room! Awesome view! Awesome huge windows!

Definitely lots more space than Eastern Star Hotel, even though it wasn’t as cosy and homely. It was very much easier to get organised in this room, with the extra vanity/desk area. However, it did take me a longer time to feel comfortable in this room. Maybe it was all that space around me. LOL.

The bed was super comfortable though! Possibly even more comfortable than Eastern Star’s, which was already excellent. Fluffy doona, feather/down pillows, softer bed.

Unfortunately, the air-conditioning could not be adjusted as I liked. It was way too cold on most days, because it was quite rainy. The staff said it was because they had to keep it within a certain range across the floor. Perhaps they need to upgrade the system to allow individual temperature control. But I was quite happy to turn it off when they told me fresh air would still be flowing into the room.

Vanity/desk area with a nice, spacious coat wardrobe, electric kettle etc. No snacks provided, only tea and coffee. One big disappointment was the hair dryer provided. It was a terribly basic one which fries hair. I did not use it at all.

The funny slanting floor lamp. LOL!

The bathroom was good and pretty spacious. No leaking on the floor. But the water temperature was a bit of a problem. For the first few days, I noticed that while there was adequate hot water, there would sometimes be spurts of extremely hot water during my shower. This made it slightly uncomfortable but I could deal with it. But on the last day, when I was due to check out, I had no hot water running until I complained to the recep. They apologised and said it was because many guests checked out (it was a Monday) and they turned down the water control. WTF. They told me to leave the water running for five minutes. It didn’t work. They sent a guy up to look at it. It didn’t get fixed till like an hour later. Even then, the water was still very cold unless I turned it down to the smallest stream level, which made my shower really slow. This was my last day when I had plans to meet Vi and Mike for the last time before my flight. Time was precious! I was quite upset.

Even though they were apologetic, all the manager could offer was a 50% off for my next visit. Next visit? We’ll see. He did bow to me several times though. And they gave me several Hotel B cups as gifts, which I gave away to my hired driver because I didn’t want to carry extra things on my flight. Thanks, but no thanks.

If they could fix that horrible water problem, I would consider visiting them again. Because otherwise, it was quite a nice stay. There was a laundry area with one washer and dryer, free to use for all guests. Sometimes you may have to queue for it, but I was quite lucky to be able to get some laundry done a few times during my stay.

The housekeeper here was a lot nicer than the one at Eastern Star too. Eastern Star auntie was very grumpy. This one was always very happy and always said good morning to me. On one of the days, she also chatted with me a little, asked me where I was from and said I was very cute. LOL!

So the first day I checked in, it was a wet and rainy day. I was tempted to stay in, but decided to brave the cold and explore the vicinity for food. Somehow, even though it was a quieter area, I was more willing to go out exploring. Maybe I am afraid of crowds.

Thankfully, the rain actually paused right when I stepped out of the hotel. I walked round and round, and found this little street with this little eatery that offered vermicelli with intestines.

You place your order on this notepad on the table, and take it to the counter to order. My table was #8, by accident.

I had a mini feast of vermicelli with intestines, braised egg, and lots of vegetables. It was awesome. And so cheap!

After that, I wandered back to the hotel, without getting lost. A miracle!

bB had an early night, in anticipation of the early start the next day for my appointment at Villa32, my hot spring session!

Woke up early and hence could catch the hotel brekkie hours! It wasn’t as good as Eastern Star’s, in my preference, even though they had a bigger selection of savoury and sweet items to go along with the plain congee. I still preferred the brekkie at Eastern Star. The orange juice they provided was kinda lame (syrup juice) and the soy milk tasted burnt.

bB filled her tummy anyway, with two bowls of congee, and got ready for her hot spring adventure…

http://www.hotelb.com.tw/

x o x o
bB

Charlene’s Beauty Studio, Dazzling Cafe, Taipei

Posted by blooberrymuffin in Beauty, Eating Out, Food, Pretty Things, Taiwan, Travel April 17, 2012

Sorry for the sudden silence! bB had the most crippling headache ever. Thankfully now under control, but am still feeling kinda slow.

So the next day after Raohe Night Market and Wufenpu, bB was determined to make it for the hotel brekkie just once. It was my very last day at Eastern Star Hotel. LOL! It turns out brekkie was quite good. Congee wasn’t plain, it had sweet potato chunks. And there was a selection of pickled vegetables and other stuff to choose from.

I had a second round of egg and bacon with toast. Good of them to provide different options!

After that, I made my way to my nail appointment that was made the day before. This was a little nail studio I stumbled upon. It was actually a little room in the back of a clothing store. By appointment only.

Charlene served me warm water in the most adorable cup. She told me it was from Daiso nearby. Unfortunately, they were sold out when I went to have a look.

It was a very cosy little nail studio. If I were a Taipei resident, I wouldn’t mind coming here regularly for nail services.

This was how my toe nails looked before (after she removed my existing French Gelish). My right big toe nail was breaking in the middle. I should have gotten my nails done (and trimmed) before going to Taipei, so they wouldn’t break if I wore closed shoes, but I couldn’t get an appointment before my flight.

After Charlene was done with them. She did an awesome job.

And an awesome job on my hands too. Total cost for fingers and toes in French Gelish was NT4,000. No cheaper than Singapore, but I’d say her handiwork was better than many of the manicurists in Singapore.

It turned out to be a funny and good chain of events because if I had gotten my nails done before Taipei, they wouldn’t have broken, and I wouldn’t have needed to find a nail studio to fix them. If I didn’t get to meet Charlene, I wouldn’t have found out from her where to buy great, plain tees at Shilin Night Market, which was the only item of clothing I was hoping to stock up on in Taipei.

With my nails all perfect, I was starving. I noticed this place, Dazzling Cafe, a few steps away, and vaguely remembered reading about their fantastic toasts. It was a rainy day and there was no queue, so I decided to try it out.

Lovely white interior. bB likes white interiors. :)

My strawberry toast came looking amazing… The cafe is very encouraging towards patrons taking peektures of their food. They actually serve this to you, let you take peektures, and then offer to cut it up for you after that.

To my further amazement, the toast was sliced up to reveal ready toasted fingers inside! The adorable waitress placed everything expertly and gave advice on how best to eat it. LOL! Everything was well planned. And it tasted awesome too.

I had a fruit tea to go along. Can’t remember the name now but it was a berry tea, which was quite lovely.

This was bB, all wrapped up on a cold, rainy day in Taipei. How cute are those little plant figures? This was in the Ming Yao Departmental Store building, when I went looking for the pink cup that Charlene had.

And after that, it was time to shift hotels…

x o x o
bB

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the blooberrymuffin

life and everything in it — food, friends, love, animals, travel, musings and pretty things.

Monthly Archives: April 2012

Breeze Centre, Eslite and mentaiko bread

ChiaTe pastries

Shilin Night Market (again)

Murals by Jimmy Liao 几米

Bella Vitta, Taipei

Shilin and Shida Night Markets

Villa32, Xinbeitou

Is it better…

Hotel B, Taipei

Charlene’s Beauty Studio, Dazzling Cafe, Taipei

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