REVIEW: Happily Ever After Cafe (Philadelphia, PA)

I just found my new favorite cafe in Philly and it's called Happily Ever After! The entire place is filled with cute movie memorabilia and plush toys. (They even have an R2D2 trash can, no joke!) But even better, they have yummy food, drinks, and dessert.

What's better than having Yoda as your study buddy?

and having miniature lego displays as your table?

I had a Far Eastern Promises panini which was like a Korean BBQ sandwich. The flavor was good but I'd probably still to the sweets next time. I was hoping for from green tea froyo, but was just as happy with my green tea bubble tea.

This is a great study spot, although seating is limited. The few tables that they do have are close to outlets. The lighting is great and it's nice to people watch through the window when taking a little study break.

I thought I took more pictures but now I'm realizing that most of them were snapchats that I didn't save :( But don't worry! I'll be back soon to snap some more and to try their delightful looking froyos.

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REVIEW: Green Eggs Cafe (Philadelphia, PA)

I've been meaning to check out Green Eggs Cafe in Center City [Philadelphia, PA] for a long, long, long, long, long time. I finally went a couple weekends ago (I know I'm late with these blog posts...) and let me tell you, it was worth it the wait!

Here are the KID-SIZED Red Velvet Pancakes. If these were the kid-sized I can only imagine how much the full-sized pancakes were. These were huge! I could barely finish them all. (I said *barely* because I *did* in fact finish them. #noshame) Note: You can only order the kid-sized if you order a full-sized entree.

Hence this....

I ordered the regular sized Tofu Scramble (so that I could get my kid-sized red velvet pancakes). These were SO good as well! It was a hearty breakfast in and of itself. It came be a decent serving of vegetarian sausages, potatoes, and bread. I was so full by the end of the this meal that I walked 2 miles after. 

But yes, Green Eggs was incredible. Definitely worth more visits. Just be sure to remember to make a reservation (that place is crowded during weekend brunches-- the line was all the way out the door) and remember that it's cash only!

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REVIEW: Moon Cafe

I've had Moon Cafe on my radar for quite a bit now. I've been meaning to check it out. From the cute decor to the tasty sounding menu, I was intrigued. It'd rare to see such a spot in downtown Flushing. Although, I daresay, more and more of these cute cafe spots are popping up all over town more recently.  

The first thing I tried was the Lady M Green Tea Mille Crepe (it means 'A Thousand Crepes'). I had high hopes given Lady M's reputation and its exorbitant price. Just one slice here will set you back ten dollars. The cake was good-- don't get me wrong. But it wasn't ten-dollars-a-slice good. For that much, I was expecting it to be out-of-this-world extraordinary. This was just OK. Perhaps I have to give Lady M another try at one of its actual stores. But so far, not impressed...

Then I went for a Green Tea Latte, to complement the mille crepe. But I must say I was sorely disappointed with this item. First of all, the presentation was a far cry from the pretty Yelp photos. I opened up the cover and was anticipating some cool latte art when all I got from foamy frothy green. Then, I took a sip and was even more disappointed. Even Starbucks has got this beat. I could barely stomach this gross chalky mess. I barely tasted any green tea. 

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this new joint isn't all that it's chalked out to be. The ambiance is nice. So if you feel like shelling out 20 bucks for disappointment, gone on ahead. But I warned you!

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UPDATE: Feelin' Groovalicious!!!

Hey guys,

I may have prematurely written off Groovebook in my previous blog post. It took me a long time to get my hands on my Groovebook. But today, it finally arrived! And I LOVE it!

I love it so much I'm considering reactivating my account. The book came out gorgeously. I absolutely love this month's cover design.

But more importantly, I love my photos inside! I was impressed my the photo quality for 90% of the pictures. But the blurry 10% was more the fault of my own. 

Word of wisdom: if an image appears even slightly blurry on your screen, do not expect it to come out crystal clear in print. It will be twice as blurry printed out. 

As I was browsing through my photos, there were one or two I didn't remember uploading and I think were added on by accident via the app. But any errors here were negligible. 

Overall, I was very satisfied with the product itself (though not as satisfied by the long wait and customer service hassles). What keeps me from definitely deciding on resubscribing is that I don't think I'll have 100 photos to print each month. Maybe if it were 50? Or 20 photos? The pictures I have in my current groovebook probably were amassed over at least 3 months, not one. Sure, I have hundreds upon hundreds of photos (or better yet, selfies... LOTS of selfies #noshame) on my camera right now. But I don't necessarily want a paper copy of all of those. 

If Groovebook offers a smaller picture plan of maybe 20 to 50 photos a month or a separate plan that prints 100 photos every 3 months, I'd totally jump on the bandwagon and subscribe. But until then, I think I just might wait for the new app Flag which allows you to print up to 20 photos a month for free! The catch? The photos come with an advertisement on the back. But who cares? Nobody looks at the back of pictures once you frame them up. 

In the meantime, I highly recommend checking out Groovebook for yourself! See if the subscription service is right for you. You can get a free Groovebook if you use my referral code: LIU99

Enjoy!

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REVIEW: Pho Xe Lua Viet Thai Restaurant

I have a confession. I've never tried pho [pronounced "fuh"] before.

Well I may have tried it but I don't really remember. So I'm just going to say that I tried it for the first time today.

After walking around Chinatown for a little while, we came across this little Vietnamese place called Pho Xe Lua Viet Thai Restaurant. (Long name, I know. But it had "pho" in its name so I knew it had to be good.)

And I sure was right!



It was magnificent. I didn't know what to expect. But it definitely exceeded expectations (For all your HP fans out there, this was definitely a solid E). I got the pho with beef, tendons, and tripe. The broth was light but flavorful. It complemented the noodles very nicely. Halfway through, though, I made the mistake of adding a little too much sriracha (I know, it didn't know it was possible either). I love spicy foods but this spicy just wasn't doing it for me. It masked the delicate flavors of the original pho and turned the soup into a brightly colored orange, as you can see.

I also ordered a cold French Coffee with Sweetened Condensed Milk.

When it first came out, I was kind of confused. How did this contraption work again? Thankfully, the waiter quickly explained, mixing the sweetened condensed milk and coffee up quickly before adding the ice. 

Ta da! It worked! Like magic. Just kidding. 

This coffee was strong. Definitely woke me up which was definitely needed after a week of tiredness.

I'm glad a tried something new today! I thought for a long time that I just wouldn't like food. But as I've gotten older, I've transformed from a seriously picky eater into an aspiring foodie who will eat just about anything.

So my challenge to you all is to try something new today! Who knows? You might just end up discovering a new favorite dish.

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Guide to Hair Care

Haven't posted in a couple of days cause I was swamped this week with midterms! [Didn't even have the time to go to my jazz dance class this week :( ]

But thanks to Winter Storm Pax I have a day off tomorrow and won't have to worry about my psych midterm till next week!

So in honor of this glorious much-needed snow day, I've put together this side-by-side comparison of two hair care products I've recently tested out.

First contender into the ring...

Garnier Fructis Style Sleek & Shine Blow Dry Perfector
Straightening Balm with Argan Oil
3 Day Frizz Resistance

I bought it at CVS for ~$5, I'd say. I was looking for a stand-in for conditioner to help achieve a silky smoothness for my hair. This Fructis product seemed promising. After my shower, I towel dried my hair a little and began to massage in the straightening balm. It felt goopy. It was a little weird putting the lotion in my squeaky clean right-out-of-the-shower hair. But once I used the hair dryer to blow dry, I hardly noticed it was there. It didn't cut down my blow dry time noticeably, despite the claim on the bottle. But it did leave my hair felt light and untangled. The product holds true to its 3 day frizz free guarantee as far as I can tell. However, after multiple uses, I felt like my hair became dryer and more brittle. It's great for a short term fix; but I'm not sure I'd want to continue using this product in the long term.

And to contender numero dos...

Aussie Moist 3 Minute Miracle 
Deeeeep conditioning treatment

  Now, let me just start off my saying that I love Aussie hair products. I currently swear by their regular moist conditioner. I've heard rave reviews about their 3 minute miracle conditioner but I wanted to try it out for myself. The conditioner looked pretty similar to their regular moist conditioner. But the results were far better. Sure, 3 minutes is a fairly long time to leave the conditioner in. But it's definitely worth the wait. Twenty four hours later, my hair still feels super silky and soft, like it did just out of the shower. I think I'll be adding this to my hair care regimen-- not everyday, but a couple times a week when I want to add some extra oompf to my do.

The Winner?

No surprise, Aussie's 3 minute miracle wins this round hands down with Fructis's Sleek & Shine is KO'd in the corner.

Don't believe me? Let my hair do the talking.

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REVIEW: Duncan Hines Deluxe Decadent Brownie Mix

Today in honor of two of my friends' birthdays, we baked brownies! Not just any brownies... Marbled Cheesecake Brownies!

Beautiful swirls

Marshmallow decorations

     
The end result sure did look good! I finally learned how to properly do the marbly swirls for the cream cheese topping. And we topped it with marshmallows (which really added a nice gooey-ness) in the shape of an 18.5 because one of our friends was celebrating his 18th birthday and the other was celebrating his 19th.

We used Duncan Hines Double Fudge Decadent Brownie mix. It even came with a packet of fudge to add to the mix. However, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the brownies. They were far from the delicious Ghirardelli mixes. The brownies were a little too cakey, too airy for my tastes. Only the edges were a good consistency. And they most definitely did not turn out like the picture on the box.

Rating: 4/10

Sweetness: 3/10

Fudge Factor: 3/10

Would I buy again? Most definitely not.

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REVIEW: Dunkin's new Cookie Dough Donut

I'm not feelin' the love for Dunkin Donuts' new Cookie Dough-nut (see what I did there?).

I was super excited to try their new special February flavor. I've had the Brownie Batter doughnut before and LOVED it!! I've been craving cookie dough ever since watching that Shark Tank episode with Cookie Dough Cafe. As you can see, the Cookie Dough version is heart-shaped just like the Brownie Batter one and has some chocolate chips scattered on top.

However, it tastes mostly like a regular chocolate yeast donut. It took at least three good-sized bites to get to the gooey center. The cookie dough inside doesn't actually have any chocolate chips. (One lone chocolate chip fell from the top in the picture on the bottom right.)

The filling tasted mildly reminiscent of chocolate chip cookie dough. But it wasn't enough to satisfy my craving. It's good. But forgettable. Would I buy it again? Probably not. I think next time I'll go for the Brownie Batter. 

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REVIEW: Sweet Potato Showdown

In a quest to discover the most delicious... most satisfying sweet potato fries...
we ventured out into the unknown to visit... *cue dramatic music* HipCityVeg.

Below are the results:

  

Overall: 8/10

Crunch: 6.5/10

Flavor: 7/10

Dip: 4/10

These sweet potato fries were thinly cut and tossed with salt. They tasted great plain! I had them with the sriracha aioli dip. The dip was a little too creamy for my taste. I'd prefer more sriracha. In the end, I ate most of them with ketchup (which was tasty too!) 

Would I buy again? YES.

Stay tuned. The quest continues as I taste test the sweet potato fries at Taco Bell (yeah, had no idea they sold them either) and Bobby's Burger Palace (which unfortunately was out of fries both times I went).

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