Smiles and Kittens

Just another blogger obsessed with food, kittens and smiles. Plagued by a long list of Starbucks lover and hatred for Oxford commas.

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I’ve done quite a number of posts about Guangzhou already, since my family has visited there a few times now within the last few years. This past winter break, my dad and I again went to Guangzhou for one of his conferences, so while he was out science-ing, I went out with a family friend to go explore the city. The thing about this city is that there’s so much to do, and it really never gets boring because there’s always something fun around the corner.

This time, we went to a flower garden located near the edge of the city and spent a good portion of the morning wandering around in this beautiful oasis in the middle of the bustling city. Our family friend also had her daughter with her, so it was really quite an educational trip to for me to also learn about the different varieties of flowers that thrive in the Southeast part of China. We spent the rest of the afternoon at a tea shop, just talking with the owner about the different types of teas in various regions in China, and him teaching us the etiquette for tea-drinking in China.

The next day, we went to go visit what used to be the Thirteen Factories, a neighborhood alongside the Pearl River where trade with foreigners was allowed. A number of the foreign embassies were also located in this area, and you can see the distinct architectural styles of each country throughout the neighborhood, which today is part of the Guangzhou Cultural Park. If you’re ever in the area, there’s a number of interesting things to do around the park, including the Thirteen Hongs Museum, where you can learn about the 13 countries doing trade in China at the time and the role that Guangzhou played in the Maritime Silk Road. Of course, you can also just walk around the Pearl River, and take a ride along the river at night to look at the skyline. Finally, if shopping is your thing, head over to Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street (translated: Up and Down the 9th street) to transport yourself back to 20th century Guangzhou, where the streets are bustling with people, food and both modern and traditional shops.

Wanderlust: a day in Guangzhou, China I've done quite a number of posts about Guangzhou already, since my family has visited there a few times now within the last few years.

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More than a movie: What Crazy Rich Asians meant to me

More than a movie: What Crazy Rich Asians meant to me

Just a few days ago, Jon Chu’s latest movie Crazy Rich Asiancame out in theaters. Today, I went to go see this movie, the first in twenty-five years to have an all-Asian cast and Asian-American leads. The movie itself was a hilarious romantic comedy, but to me, it was so much more than that: it was about Asian American representation. And this is my story about what Asian American representation…

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This past winter break, I visited Beijing for a couple days with my Dad, and I spent a Monday around the city with one of my dad’s students. Since it was a Monday, most places (like museums) were closed, so we decided to go visit one of the few places open, the 798 Art Zone.

798 Art Zone is located at a defunct military factory in Beijing, and the buildings each have a very unique architectural style reminiscent of both the time in which the military factory was still in use and more modern elements. There are a bunch of buildings, each of which house their own art pieces. One of the buildings we went into housed a 3D art gallery, in which the paintings are made to look 3-D when you take a photo with it. This highly interactive gallery definitely makes for some cool Instagram photos, since you’ll find yourself in the middle of the Frozen or Ice Age movies or playing chess with a figure from a medieval painting.

The second gallery we visited had many beautiful pieces created by art students who worked there. This was showcased a number of wood sculptures combining both traditional and modern Asian elements, creating very unique pieces that I thoroughly enjoyed looking at. Again, since it was a Monday, a few of the buildings inside were also closed, but I would definitely recommend spending a day here when the whole complex is open to take a look at the future of Chinese art, built upon the thousands of years of preexisting Chinese art.

Wanderlust: 798 Art Zone, Beijing (China) This past winter break, I visited Beijing for a couple days with my Dad, and I spent a Monday around the city with one of my dad's students.

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For the longest time ever, College Station never really had its own local coffee shop (minus Sweet Eugene’s, which has been around for a couple years now and is definitely a staple now). But with its recent expansion, especially in the south of the city and near campus, we’ve seen quite the influx of new restaurants and shops (both local and branches).

Near where I live down over in south College Station, a new coffee shop opened about a year or two ago called “The Tipsy Bean — Wine and Coffee Bar.” As the name suggests, they serve a variety of coffee, red wine, white wine, rose, cheese boards, craft beers and pastries. Now, the avid coffee drinker in me greatly appreciates their caramel cappuccinos, but their pastries have also won me over: every time I go, the cheesecake is a must (and each time, they change up the kind of cheesecake too, so it’s always a nice little surprise.)

I’ve started to come here every time I meet up with a friend, or just to chat with my mother, because the atmosphere here is also pretty nice. When it’s not terribly Texas-hot outside, we’ll sometimes sit outside, but most of the time, we enjoy sitting upstairs on the couch (usually you’ll find students doing homework at the tables, especially once the school year starts). The space is kind of small, so there have been times when we couldn’t find a space, but I do think that lends it a more cozy feeling (minus it being quite cold inside, actually) to the coffeeshop aesthetic.

Explore CSTAT: The Tipsy Bean For the longest time ever, College Station never really had its own local coffee shop (minus Sweet Eugene's, which has been around for a couple years now and is definitely a staple now).

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Explore CSTAT: Yangtuo Club

Explore CSTAT: Yangtuo Club

Back in Ames, I mentioned that a lot of the Chinese restaurants were so good because they were authentic, but it turns out I’ve found my new favorite Chinese restaurant here in College Station!

Yangtuo Club is tucked into a small shopping center, so it’s quite easy to miss. They’ve got quite a few options as for what to eat: you can get the dry hot pot for 9.99$/lb — meaning, you can add whatever…

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Des Moines, the capital of the lovely state of Iowa, is also the most populated city in Iowa and has been called “the center for U.S. insurance companies.” Now, I don’t care too much about that particular fact, but Des Moines is also the site of first caucuses during the US presidential primaries, and many campaign headquarters are set in Des Moines (now, that’s pretty interesting!)

In French, Des Moines means “of the monks,” and one interpretation says that it refers to a group of French Trappist monks that lived over in St. Louis (which is actually like 300 miles away). Another interpretation has it that the name was derived from Moingona, the Algonquian name for loon (the aquatic bird).

We made a spontaneous trip out to Des Moines on a Friday night, and since it wasn’t planned (and we didn’t have that much time), we decided to just go walk around the city and visit the Sculpture Park, which features artwork by 22 of the world’s most celebrated artists and is the most significant donation of artwork ever made to the Des Moines Art Center. We then spent some time just roaming the streets of downtown, and it’s pretty cool how all the buildings are essentially connected through the walkways in air. Des Moines is a lovely city, and although we didn’t get much time to explore it in its entirety, I do hope we can make another trip out during the day.

Explore Iowa: Des Moines Des Moines, the capital of the lovely state of Iowa, is also the most populated city in Iowa and has been called "the center for U.S.

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For such a small city like Ames, the number of Chinese restaurants is actually quite large. Even better, these restaurants are probably some of the most authentic Chinese places I’ve been to here in the U.S. (of course, outside those in Chinatown). Back in College Station, we have a few Chinese restaurants, but most either cater towards more Westernized tastes or are just lacking in quality.

Here in Ames though, I’ve able to find two high-quality, reasonably-priced Chinese restaurants around. The first one, called Szechuan House, is located across the street from the HyVee on Lincoln Way. Their fried rice and the eggplant with garlic sauce is definitely some of the best I’ve had in a long time, and a few days later we stopped by to go try their hot pot. The five of us were able to finish the hot pot (which you could choose four meats, four vegetables, and add on any additional food, and a base). The spicy broth was surprisingly not too spicy, and it was quite fun to cook our own food in the hot pot (albeit it was a hot day, so leaving the restaurant all sweaty wasn’t a particularly good idea).

888 restaurant is another Chinese nearby; although it’s much smaller than Szechuan House, the food here is still fairly good for the price. I will say though, it’s not quite at the same level of Szechuan; something about the taste just isn’t *quite* there. We ordered the eggplant, fried rice, and teriyaki beef, all of which lacked a little compared to Szechuan. All in all though, you get what you pay for at each restaurant, so if you’re looking for something cheap and convenient, 888 is the place to go. But for a more sit-down, authentic experience, I’d recommend Szechuan House.

from 888 restuarant

from 888 restuarant

szechuan house

szechuan house

szechuan house

szechuan house

szechuan house

Explore Iowa: Szechuan House & 888 restaurant (Ames) For such a small city like Ames, the number of Chinese restaurants is actually quite large. Even better, these restaurants are probably some of the most authentic Chinese places I've been to here in the U.S.

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Flame & Skewer is a small, nice Greek family steakhouse located with the North Grand Mall, about a short ten minute drive from where our apartments are located. A few of my friends and I headed out to go see Incredibles 2 (which, if you haven’t seen it yet, I would highly recommend; it made the inner ten-year-old in me extremely happy to see my favorite superheros back on the screen!), and before the movie, made a stop by Flame & Skewer to grab a quick dinner.

I ordered the Mo’s salad, which consists of salad greens topped with gyro strips, Greek olives, tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers and feta cheese. The gyro was pretty good, though I will have to say I’m not a huge fan of salads that consist of just lettuce as their main greens (iceberg lettuce is kind of hard to finish off by itself). My friend got Mo’s on Rice, with rice topped with grilled chicken, tomatoes, onions and cucumbers, tossed in Italian dressing. It also came with a slice of Texas toast. Mo’s on Rice is one of their speciality items; I tried a little bit, and I do think it was quite tasty! The other three from our group ordered the gyro dinner (strips of blended lam and beef served with pita bread).

All in all, Flame & Skewers was a nice sit-down restaurant with reasonably priced food for the quality, and the service was quite nice and timely. Rating: 3/5

  Explore Ames: Flame & Skewer Flame & Skewer is a small, nice Greek family steakhouse located with the North Grand Mall, about a short ten minute drive from where our apartments are located.

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Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe was started in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1991, and has since expanded all over Texas, including to College Station! I don’t recall it seeing it before leaving for Austin last fall (or maybe it was already there…), so this summer was the first time that my parents and I went together (they’d gone a few times earlier this year).

Before they got there, they warned me that the dishes were pretty spicy (though to be fair, they both have a low tolerance for spicy food). I didn’t find my food particularly spicy, though one of the sauces did force me to drink my entire glass of water.The restaurant had a very comfortable and “cajun” feel to it. Overall, the food was served quickly, in a pretty large portion, and was extremely delicious!

Salad & Gumbeaux: famous chopped salad alongside seafood or chicken & sausage gumbo

Pecan Catfish: fried catfish filet over white rice with tangy sweet praline meuniere sauce

Hurricane Shrimp: fried butterflied shrimp over white rice with a side of honey-pepper Hurricane sauce & garlic toast

    Explore CSTAT: Razzoo’s Cajun Cafe Razzoo's Cajun Cafe was started in the Dallas/Fort Worth area in 1991, and has since expanded all over Texas, including to College Station!

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As many of y’all know, I’m from College Station, Texas, a small college town located between the three big cities of Houston, Austin and Dallas. As many of y’all also know, I like to call out CSTAT for being one of the more boring towns, with nothing to do. BUT, CSTAT actually isn’t that bad, and has quite a decent amount of places with good food, so it’s time for a change. Now, let’s focus on the gems of CSTAT, because you know, there are quite a few!

First Watch is my go-to place when I’m hanging out with friends or family and want to grab breakfast/brunch/lunch. Sure, it’s a chain store, but it’s definitely one of the better chain stores in College Station by far (and it reminds me of some of the Austin places). Before I left for Iowa, my  mom and I went to First Watch to catch up, and I will say, we definitely did more eating than talking!

Tri-Athlete: Egg white omelet with house-roasted Crimini mushrooms, onions, tomatoes and green chillies. Served with housemade pico de gallo, whole grain artisan toast, all-natural house preserves and fresh fruit.

Power Wrap: Egg whites, turkey, spinach, house-roasted Crimini mushrooms and Mozzarella in a sun-dried tomato-basil tortilla. Served with fresh fruit and a side of housemade pico de gallo.

Explore CSTAT: First Watch As many of y'all know, I'm from College Station, Texas, a small college town located between the three big cities of Houston, Austin and Dallas.

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This summer, I’m in Ames, Iowa, completing an internship with the Department of Energy. Ames is a small college town, kind of like where I’m from (CSTAT, TX), and what that means is that there’s an equal lack of things to do, LOL. All the better though, I suppose, since that means more time in lab?

Just kidding, Ames is a pretty nice town, aside from it thunder-storming every other day. One of the highlights so far was celebrating one of my friend’s 21st, so our entire lab went out for dinner at Cafe Beaudelaire, and dang did it exceed my expectations!

Cafe Beaudelaire has been around since 1990, and as they call it, is “the Soul of Brasil in the Heart of Iowa.” I’ve actually never tried Brazilian food before (the only other South American food I’ve tried was Peruvian: see this post here), and it was incredibly good! Apparently, Cafe Beaudelaire also has the best burgers in the state of Iowa. As someone who comes from the state with the best burgers in the nation (I’d like to think), of course I had to try their burgers to see how they compared with Texas’. Conclusion: different, certainly, but equally delicious! Perhaps it was the Brazilian flair, but the condiments, the avocado and the fried egg are definitely interesting additions to the burger that I’d like to see more in Texas burgers, where the focus is on the meat.

With that, here’s the food, with descriptions in the order of appearance:

Beaudelaire Bauru: fresh baked wheat bread with mayo, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, corn, peas, fried egg, mozzarella, and choice of patty.

Garlic Spaghetti: tender noodles with fresh garlic, tomato, crushed red pepper, basil, olive oil, reggiano parnaggiano

Beirut: roast beef or marinated chicken on a grilled pita with muenster, mozzerella, tomato, romaine, mayo, and a fried egg

Iron Veggie: basmati rice, house black beans, onions, bell peppers, kale, crema, molho

Classic Burger: beef patty with mayo, fresh lettuce, tomatoes and onions. served with Brasilian fries

Beaudelaire Bauru

Garlic Spaghetti

Beirut

Iron Veggie

Classic Burger

Explore Ames, Iowa: Cafe Beaudelaire This summer, I'm in Ames, Iowa, completing an internship with the Department of Energy. Ames is a small college town, kind of like where I'm from (CSTAT, TX), and what that means is that there's an equal lack of things to do, LOL.

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Explore ATX: Iron Works & The Texas Barbeque Culture

Explore ATX: Iron Works & The Texas Barbeque Culture

Austin (and really, Texas in general) is known for its famous BBQ spots, such as Franklin’s (where lines can get up to seven hours long), Stiles Switch, and Iron Works. During finals week, my friends and I went out to Iron Works for a break from studying, and it is definitely worth the hype (and very quick service too!)

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When finals season comes around, I’m always trying to find new study places — to both get a change of scenery and to escape the people camping out and taking spots next to all the outlets in the campus study spots.

This semester, one of my friends and I have started going to the Austin Public Library, which was only just completed in October of 2017), which is right on the lake and absolutely GORGEOUS. (Now, I may be biased as I’ve only seen two other public library, those being the ones in Boston (totally different style, still beautiful of course) and my hometown of College Station (now that one’s just ugly — I’ll blame it on lack of funding)). The library is six floors tall and beautifully designed; unfortunately, today I don’t have any photos of the interior of the library (maybe later), so with that, let’s move on to the part about where I ate & didn’t study, HAHA.

Before we arrived, we got breakfast at Snooze: an AM eatery. Snooze has officially become my favorite breakfast place in Austin (as with the rest of the city’s, so make sure to get there early if you go!). While you wait, they serve free coffee. The best part, though, is the huge variety of pancakes: we tried three pancakes, hash browns, and another breakfast entree, and I’ll just include the descriptions below so you too can decide for yourself that this place is incredible:

I Want Sum’oa Cakes: buttermilk pancakes topped with homemade vanilla creme anglaise, caramel sauce and shortbread crumble. Drizzled with chocolate sauce and sprinkled with sticky coconut and powdered sugar.

Sweet Potato Pancakes: signature sweet potato buttermilk pancakes topped with homemade caramel, candied pecans and ginger butter

& another one that I can’t find on the menu anymore; it was probably a special: it was banana & nuts & chocolate, I believe. Also incredibly good.

Spring Has Sprung Frittata: Cage-free egg whites filled with fresh asparagus, and mushroom salad, sliced zucchini and house-made pistou. Topped with arugula, heirloom cherry tomatoes, Dijon citronette, corn salsa and grated parmesan.

What makes the library even better is the location. Like I mentioned above, it’s right next to the lake, so you can look out over the water while you’re studying. Even better, it’s close to so many GOOD food places in downtown Austin. If you’re ever there studying, I’d highly recommend making a stop by True Foods Kitchen, which is a health-driven restaurant that merges nutrient-rich ingredients with a flavor-forward menu. They have an open kitchen that showcases their craft. We ordered the edamame dumplings (which were surprisingly good; I really hadn’t been expecting it…), grass-fed burger, and a brownie topped with ice cream.

austin public library

austin public library

true foods kitchen

true foods kitchen

true foods kitchen

Explore ATX: a day at the public library (aka, surviving finals season) When finals season comes around, I'm always trying to find new study places -- to both get a change of scenery and to escape the people camping out and taking spots next to all the outlets in the campus study spots.

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It’s been a whole school year since I last posted, which means it’s been a whole year since I’ve had to publicly admit to eating out wayyy too many times than my credit card should have allowed… Anyways, here’s WTF: Where’s the Food for semesters 3 & 4 (otherwise known as WTF: Why’d you spend so much money on food, Annie??)

The Pizza Press

In order of the pictures that appeared, here are some of the places I’ve dropped money on in return for some GOOD food, which are also listed next to the place!

Houndstooth Coffee: Japanese Iced Brewed Coffee Texas Roadhouse: Smokehouse Burger & Steak Fries Clay Pit: Lamb Korma & Chicken Tikka Masala Raku Sushi: Fried Rice & Happy Hour Sushi Rolls Coco's Cafe: Curry Fried Pork Chop w/ Rice Lucky Robot: Rising Sun Pizza Press: Build-Your-Own-Pizza Velvet Taco: Spicy Tikka Masala Chicken Taco & Grilled Flank Steak Taco Honolulu Poke Bowl: Build-Your-Own-Poke-Bowl Mango8: Shaved Ice w/ Oreo Toppings Ichiban Restaurant: Bibimbap Kerbey Lane: Migas, Texas toast & Turkey & Avocado Club Sandwich Bouldin Creek Cafe: Massaman Curry Bowl Menchies: Frozen Yogurt w/ MANY toppings

Houndstooth Coffee

Texas Roadhouse

The Clay Pit

Raku Sushi

Coco’s Cafe

Lucky Robot

The Pizza Press

Tacos from Velvet Taco

Poke Bowl from Honolulu Poke Bowl

Shaved Ice from Mango8

Ichiban Restaurant

Kerbey Lane

Kerbey Lane

Kerbey Lane

Bouldin Creek Cafe

Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt

  WTF: Where’s the Food (Semesters 3 & 4) It's been a whole school year since I last posted, which means it's been a whole year since I've had to publicly admit to eating out wayyy too many times than my credit card should have allowed...

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Fredericksburg, Texas is located about an hour and a half out from Austin, and is actually named after Prince Frederick of Prussia, and most of the town are descended from German settlers.

On the Main Street, you’ll find a number of small shops, such as antique stores, chocolate stores and much more. It’s definitely a good way to spend a day exploring the small town and visit some of their museums (i.e. National Museum of the Pacific War.)

Just around Fredericksburg, though, you’ll find some of Texas’ best vineyards and wineries. If wine-tasting is your thing, or you’d just like to have a nice weekend trip to these wineries to have a picnic, drink some wine and chat with friends, I’d highly suggest taking a trip out to the various wineries — try out a couple of them! Remember to make sure you have a designated driver, bring lots of sunscreen, and if your kids tag along, something for them to do (speaking off, one of the wineries has an animal farm for the kids to visit!)

Wanderlust: Fredericksburg, Texas Wineries & Vineyards Fredericksburg, Texas is located about an hour and a half out from Austin, and is actually named after Prince Frederick of Prussia, and most of the town are descended from German settlers.

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Halsey is one of my favorite artists, and two years ago, I wrote a blog post about her new album at the time, Badlands. Last fall, Halsey actually came to Austin to perform her latest album, Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, which I had the opportunity to go see.

As my last post about her stated, Halsey, whose stage name is an anagram of her real name Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, is a 21-year-old electro-pop singer from New Jersey. After gaining attention for both her covers and original songs on SoundCloud, she signed with a record label and released an EP (Room 93) on October 27, 2014. Fans fell in love with her unique voice and Room 93 established her as a dynamic and honest singer. Her debut studio album, Badlands,was released on August 28, 2015, and that’s when I first fell in love with Halsey.

Last summer, she released Hopeless Fountain Kingdom, which has really shot her into fame. Some of my favorite songs off of that album include Strangers, featuring Lauren Jauregui from Fifth Harmony, which tells the story of a failing relationship between two women. It’s interesting both because of the female representative of the LGBTQ+ community, as well as its instrumental  featuring a heavy synth-pop background highlighting Lauren and Halsey’s alluring voices.

Bad at Love is another favorite, as well as Alone, featuring Big Sean, all of which she performed at her concert here in Texas, which was absolutely incredible, I’ll say.

From the Ears to the Heart: Halsey Halsey is one of my favorite artists, and two years ago, I wrote a blog post about her new album at the time, Badlands. 

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This past April, my college program made a weekend trip to Colorado Bend, Texas, which is only less than two hour away from the bustling city of Austin. Colorado Bend is a state park in the Hill Country region of the state, so we were able to spend some time hiking and exploring caves during our days there.

hiking

The weather was unexpectedly cold when we arrived, although hiking certainly warmed us up. A couple of us hiked to Gorman Falls, a spectacular waterfall formed by fern covered Travertine, by following the Gorman Spring trail (only about 1.5 miles round-trip). The highlights of the park trails are a travertine creek on the east, and a large waterfall with caves on the west.

There was also an opportunity to have a guided tour one of the wild caves, which was surprisingly warm since the heat gets trapped inside. Three little baby bats were also hibernating there, and we were able to see a wide variety of cave inhabitants (mostly bugs) and pretty amazing stalagmite and stalactite formations.

We spent the night at the Barefoot Camp & RV Park, a privately owned campground surrounded by a working cattle ranch. It was a very cozy place to stay during the cold weather, although a few brave souls decided to camp out in the cold (they said it wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t know haha).

All in all, it was a good two-day getaway, and given its short distance from Austin, I would recommend it to anyone looking to escape the city for a day or two!

hiking

the river!

natural cave

our lodge

campfires at night

Wanderlust: Colorado Bend, Texas This past April, my college program made a weekend trip to Colorado Bend, Texas, which is only less than two hour away from the bustling city of Austin.