SF

I'm back from SF! Honestly, I wasn't very impressed. I didn't go to the places I was really looking forward to. Mostly we ate at whatever was convenient and close by at the time. My favorite place was probably the farmer's market at the ferry building. They had a blue bottle coffee cart, but I didn't care for it. I dunno what the hype is all about??? I had breakfast at Tartine Bakery because I couldn't wait 10 mins for Delfina to open. was that a mistake? The food at Tartine was just okay. The bread pudding was....good? It tasted more like egg pudding. The open faced turkey sandwhich was uninteresting. My favorite was the au lait. I guess I like drinking out of bowls. On to some pictures...




my bowl of cafe au lait
Tartine Bakery
600 Guerero St. (@18th street)
San Francisco, CA 94110

Ferry Building Farmer's Market.


This was very refreshing. It stayed cold for hours because it was frozen.


Blue Bottle Coffee
My au lait was mediocre. I've had better.





Miette Cakes
Ferry Building Marketplace
San Francisco, CA

I'm a sucker for macarons. This place is really cute and everything looks lovely. It's pricey and probably not the best macarons I've ever had, but I try to go here whenever I am in sf. I can't say much about their cakes because I've never had any, but I'm sure it's worth a try.

nothing really wowed me in SF, but I like the city in general. why have all my travels been disappointing in the food department? I'm really starting to like LA more and more.

Violet's Cakes

http://www.violetscakes.com/
21 East Holly Street
Pasadena, Ca 91103
phone: 626.395.9821
fax: 626.395.9571
Hours:
Tuesday:
10:00am – 3:00pm
Wednesday-Friday:
10:00am – 5:00pm
Saturday:
10:00am – 4:00pm
Sunday & Monday:
Closed

I LOVE these cupcakes! In my opinion, they are better than Sprinkles or Crumbs. Yes, I said it! I love everything about it. They are moist, yummy and cute! Plus they are not far away. That scores extra points. I tried the blackberry and the red velvet. I will definitely be back to try other flavors.

tous les jour

Tous Les Jour Bakery
17861 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

My sister brought over cake from Tous les Jour. I've always enjoyed their pastries. This is probably the first time I've had their cakes. The first one we had was the sweet potato, it was really good. It was pretty light. We had the tiramisu after dinner. It's pretty rich and indulgent. It's not too sweet, which is good. Definitely something to savor over a nice cup of tea. 12 of us couldn't even finish the cake and it couldn't have been bigger than an 8" or 9". I've been looking forward to something yummy. Since I couldn't have my bday cake from extraordinary desserts in SD, I think Tous Les Jour was a good alternative. Their cakes did not disappoint.

Royal/T

Royal/T cafe and gallery

8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232

It's pricey, but their food is not bad. I tried the baked eggs with prosciutto and shitake mushrooms. Chris had the Salmon rice bowl. Portions were small for the price, but just right for my stomach. Both dishes were made well, nothing spectacular but worth going back to for the art. I also tried their Royal milk tea. Again, nothing spectacular but I liked that it wasn't sweet and I could add my own sugar. The maid waitresses didn't do anything for me. Actually, I wish they didn't dress that way. I understand the concept, I just don't think it made my experience any better. The place still feels like a work in progress. Service is slow, but what's the rush? As for the gallery space, it's fairly big. It feels like a nice open space, nothing confusing or confining. That worked for me.

LA Chocolate Salon

http://www.lachocolatesalon.com/






www.cosmicchocolate.com



True to my blog name, I actually ended up with a few chocolate stains on my top today. It's unavoidable.

Out of all the vendors, I only purchased the genmai chocolate from Jadechocolates.com because they've been on my mind since i bought them in SD. It got crowded, stuffy and smelly very quickly. It was like a chocolate equivalent of comic-con. I couldn't look at another piece of chocolate by the end of the day. At one point I spat out a marshmallow into my nespresso sample because it was so disgustingly sweet(picture above). I didn't care for the coffee either. I've become quite a coffee snob. I thought I would be in chocolate heaven, but instead I think I may have to give up chocolate for a while. Don't get me wrong, there were alot of yummy choices, but I just couldn't stomach it all. It all just blurred together. I remember liking the fluer de sel caramels from I forgot who and the ones from cosmic chocolate. They remind me of Ethel's in Vegas. That's all folks. I think I would prefer to review chocolate one at a time. NOT ALL AT ONCE. my stomach is still not happy.

Washington, DC

I didn't get to try too many places in DC. there's really only one or two places worth blogging about. First is Teaism, it was the first meal I had there. I liked that they were quick. The food is quite good and reasonably priced. here's my salmon chazuke and tea cookies.



we stumbled upon Madeleine cafe after dinner in search of sweets.





George attacks D.C!