Hello SALLY ♡ THINGS readers! If you follow me on any social platforms, you might have noticed that I have been out more and doing more solo. Lately, I have been pushing myself to do more things solo and forcing myself outside of my comfort zone. This has been something that I’ve been working on for years and years now. When I turned 30, something really clicked and I just see life in a new perspective. I get to be “selfish” by standing on my boundaries and choosing better. You only get older, so live your best life. Stop holding yourself back. One of the best advice I ever got was to date yourself. ♡
My original plans did not work out, but instead of just staying home I decided to make new plans. The week of, I decided to buy Jonas Brothers concert tickets in Detroit. I am a long time fan of the Jonas Brothers, ever since 2005/06. I’m very blessed that I have the privilege of being able to do things so last minute. I took this day to date myself. I explored, adventured, spoiled myself and got to sing and dance my heart out to the Jonas Brothers. I have only been to Detroit a couple times and never have I’ve driven or really explored the area, so this was very brand new adventure for me. Come explore the east side of Michigan with me!
My first stop of the day was two hours away to Moose Pastry & Tea in Novi, Michigan. Moose is a pastry shop that has tons of buns and sandwich-like options. I’m never really on the east side of the state, but when I find myself over here I try to grab some goodies. My go to buns are the Garlic Hotdog Bun, Moose, Doraemon, and Piggy (Buta). The pastries are all a good size and price! I believe all the buns I got were only $3 each. I bought a bag full to take home with me.
Garlic Hotdog Bun:Filled with hotdog and pork floss (dried, shredded pork) topped with garlic butter
Moose: Our signature animal! Filled with blueberry cream cheese richness.
Doraemon:Come and test our ability to recreate the famous Japanese manga character, Doraemon. This delicious pastry has a creamy custard filling and a cherry on top
Piggy (Buta): Our strawberry jam filled bread is the perfect reason to PIG out
Down the street from Moose is this place called MIRAI – Coffee, Bubble Tea, and Stationery. Yes, it has all those things plus more! I was surprised at how much seating they have for the cafe side. They also had a lot of gashapon machines and a decent amount of mini claw machines! I got a hot vanilla latte to keep me going, it was an early morning & late night day. I also won two little plushies from the mini claw machines. I couldn’t resist!
I was all over the east side of the state. My next stop was to OVERRATED in Clinton Township, Michigan. The store is located in The Mall at Partridge Creek. I found this store on tiktok and everyone kept saying that they had tons of blindboxes, so you know I made sure to visit. I bought a Sanrio fruit keychain plush blind box and a snowglobe Studio Ghibli blind box. Let’s say I was very satisfied with my pulls! Can we get an OVERRATED over on the west side? They also sell authentic Labubus, Sonny Angels and Smikis. OVERRATED really does have it all!
Not the final destination, but the final city. HELLO DETROIT! (located midtown Detroit) At this point I was on the road more than I was visiting places. There’s a lot of construction happening on that side of the Michigan, but what’s new? 40 minutes later, I made it to Hihi, a super cute store with all the Sanrio plushies and merch that you can think of. At Hihi, they have some items that were only released Japan or Korea, so it was very cool to see those items in person! They sell more than just Sanrio, like Bearbricks, Toki Doki, Pusheen, Pokemon, etc. The prices here are a little higher, but you do have to consider the out of country items and how much it cost for them to get them here.
What is a solo date without a nice wine and dine? Choosing where to eat was a challenge for me because Downtown Detroit has so many good places to choose from and let’s face the real fact, I’m a girl. It’s very true. We have a hard time deciding what we want to eat! I wanted to splurge on myself and try something new. We live to eat and not eat to live, right? I decided on Experience Zuzu for: 1) easy parking 2) menu items and 3) aesthetic. Parking was pretty easy, even with the blocked roads for a jazz festival and all the construction going on downtown. I was having cravings for a really good steak or lamb chops, which all three options had, but what really caught my eye was the Sailor Moon Mai Tai. I’m a sucker for cute things. Since I’m a sucker for cute things, I saw photos of the interior of Experience Zuzu and knew they would be the place I would eat it.
Experience Zuzu has a very fun vibe the moment you walk in and it was perfect to get me concert ready. There’s lots of reds, golds, and metallics. I sat at the bar and was blown away at the set up. I bartend myself, so I LOVE seeing how other bars are at other places. The bar itself, like the table, has built in LED lights and the table changes colors as you eat. The music they play is the perfect mix of edm house, it was a great time. I got the Sailor Moon Mai Tai, which came in a cute Artemis cup; the Waygu Beef Gyoza, 10/10, very rich in flavor and melts in your mouth; and the Prime Miso Lamb Chops, full of flavor and tender. I would recommend Experience Zuzu, so if you’re ever in downtown Detroit area give them a try!
Prime Miso Lamb Chops: Tableside Grill Presentation, Red Onion + Mint Salad, Pickled Cucumber, Shishito Pepper, Fingerling Potatoes, Miso Anticucho Sauce
Before heading to theJonas Brothers concert, I drove and ran around downtown to try to find a portable battery because my phone was dying and my car charger takes forever to charge. That was the adventure of my life because why did I have to go to FOUR different locations until I found a power bank? I even got a parking ticket, RIP. Nothing like being stressed right before a show, right? This caused me to get to Little Cesars Arena a lot later than I wanted to be and I still had to find out parking around the arena.
I’m not sure if you guys are aware, but this Jonas20: Greetings From Your Hometown Tour is super important because not only is this their 13th tour, but it also celebrates their 20 year anniversary as a band! It’s a huge milestone, especially since the band broke up for a bit. If you love them, you know how it is. As I was in line for their specialty drink, Boys Like Girls were closing out with ‘The Great Escape’. It took me back to middle school days. Russell Dickerson was the hometown guest for this show and Marshmello played a set mid concert, so there was a little rave break. Then at the end, Detroit got all the Jonas men (Paul Kevin Jonas Sr & Franklin Jonas) on stage singing ‘When You Look Me In The Eyes’. Even though I was by myself, I had the best time singing and dancing with thousands of people around to my favorite boy band. To describe what a Jonas Brothers show is like, a room filled with thousands of feral women, ready to jumpship LOL. Nick sang “ReeeEEEeEeED DReeeeEEssSSS” and the crowd went wild, Joe took his jacket to show a shoulder and the crowd went wild, Kevin played a little guitar solo and the crowd went wild. Look, WE LOVE HOT DADS, what can we say? I’ll also admit that I did cry when they first came out on stage. These boys are seriously so talented with voices from heaven. Listening and watching them on tv in 2005 to seeing them live for the second time in 2025. It’s been a great 20 years of music and to many more ♡
Burning Up’ “Slip into the LAVA with the Joe Bros Hurricane” Captain Morgan, Barcardi, Passion Fruit, Orange Juice, Lime Juice, Grenadine in a Red Flame Glass & Light Up Ice Cube.
Once you got your drink, you got to choose from three different stickers and OF COURSE I needed the one that said “Greetings from Camp Rock Bar”. How Iconic.
I see more concert trips to Detroit in my near future and more solo dates. Do what you love for yourself and don’t let anything stop you from experiencing life! It’s fun to be with friends, but it can also be fun being with yourself too. Date yourself and give yourself love. Until the next adventure, live your best life and live for you ♡
Not in my vlogging era cause I never finished this 😂 I visited Overrated in Clinton Township, Hihi in Detroit, ate lamb chops at Experience Zuzu and then to the Jonas Brothers concert 🙂↕️ It was a great day #vietnamesegirl#detroit#solotraveler#jonasbrothersconcert#healingenergy @Jonas Brothers @Nick Jonas @joejonas @Kevin Jonas @Franklin jonas
Yes, it’s finally here, the San Francisco adventure! I posted up some clips and videos on my personal instagram as I was in San Francisco and I got a lot of ‘where is that at?’ questions. You’ll find all your answers in this blog!
After my 2 days in Colorado, I flew to San Francisco to finish off my birthday trip. I have never been to San Francisco, but has always wanted to visit. I loved it and I’ll definitely be back. There were so many other things that we didn’t get to do or visit. What took me by surprise though was the weather. It was 85º F in Colorado, so I was expecting the same, but I was very wrong. I guess in July for San Francisco the temperature is between 60º-75º F, or in better terms a warm Michigan Winter 65º F. It was quite a weather change for me coming from a hot and humid Michigan summer to a dry and hot Colorado summer to a long pant, light jacket cold San Francisco. I also read that this July in SF, it is holding the record for the coldest July they ever had. I also read that SF summers don’t start until October. So if you ever plan to go to San Francisco make sure you REALLY look at the weather! Do your research!
San Francisco, California – Day One
The first stop in San Francisco was Boba Bless. This stop was not planned, we actually were walking around the area while we waited for our table to be ready at Gao Viet Kitchen. After a super early morning of traveling, something sweet and cold sounded like the best snack before our first meal of the day. Boba Bless is a smaller cafe, but it’s cozy feeling and the workers are super nice! We got a taro milk tea, one of my favorites.
I actually didn’t even realize this when we were there, but the L in bless is a cross, so I decided to look up their website and socials pages. Boba bless is actually a mission driven business that opened exactly 1 year ago on the day that we went. They are involved with their community and serve the homeless every month on the 4th. This is what I got off the internet, “Boba bless is a mission driven boba shop. Boba Bless partner with a missionary organization in support to raise funds & awareness of their missions across the world giving and being a blessing to communities that are often ignored and needs help.” I’m not trying to promote religion on my blog as all, so I’m sharing without that aspect, but what they do is very awesome and wholesome. It deserves to be recognized!
I’ve been following Gao Viet Kitchen for a while now, so it was a must go for this trip! The location we chose to visit was in San Mateo, California. They are known on social media for their huge Zilla bowls. We wanted to try multiple things, so we opted out of those and got the regular sized bowls. For appetizers, we ordered the Fish Sauce Chicken Wings and the Marrow Cracker. Then for the noodle soups, we ordered the Chubby Pho and their Old School BBH (Bún bò huế). I also ordered the Milky Pandan to drink, which was non-alcoholic.
I have mixed emotions about Gao Viet Kitchen. Everything was good, except for the Chubby Pho. The Chubby Pho in my opinion isn’t anything special, it was actually less in flavor than some pho places here in Grand Rapids and it hurts me to say that. Plus, they use the bigger and thicker pho noodles and I’m not a fan of those. I would love to give the pho another try. I’ve convinced myself that the flavor comes from the specialty meats and other proteins, so maybe we just didn’t order the right one this time around. Am I delusional? Could be, but I would love to give it another shot. The Old School BBH (Bún bò huế) on the other hand was actually so flavorful! It tasted great as leftovers too, probably even better than when it first came out! The appetizers were the best though. The Fish Sauce Chicken Wings were so good, I could have just eaten those the whole time. The flavor/taste of wings had the perfect amount of fish sauce and a burst of flavor with every bite. The Marrow Cracker was also good. The crispy sticky rice that the bone marrow sat on top of was an interesting choice however. The crispy sticky rice could have been crispier in my opinion, I think a rice cake/cracker could have been used instead. Note that the Marrow Cracker is best when eaten right away!
Milky Pandan:Creamy milk and sweet coconut meets the unique flavor of pandan
Fish Sauce Chicken Wings:Chicken Wings, Fish Sauce, Vietnamese Coriander, Garlic, Chili, Jalapeño, Bell Pepper, Lettuce, Onion
Marrow Cracker: Crispy Sticky Rice, Pork Belly, Beef Marrow, White Onion, Green Onions, Fried Shallots, BBQ Sauce
Old School BBH: Spicy Lemongrass, Shrimp Paste, Brisket, Pork Blood, Pork Belly, Pork Hock, Vietnamese Ham, Thick Vermicelli, Vietnamese Coriander, Onion, Green Onion, Cilantro
After eating, it was time to check in to our cute Hello Kitty themed Airbnb! It was meant to be with this airbnb. We had a budget, certain dates and a certain location to stay, so it would be centralized according to our itinerary for this trip and this Hello Kitty airbnb fit all of that! The host had so many cute Hello Kitty/Sanrio items everywhere, it was perfect for the Hello Kitty lover that I am. The best part was the big Sanrio plush wall! I can’t lie, I have about a quarter of the same plushies in my room LOL. The airbnb fit our needs perfectly for our trip and the neighborhood was great! Jessica was also a great host and attentive. I would recommend this airbnb for a party of 2 and I would definitely book it again. If you want to check out the airbnb just click HERE for the listing!
Chinatown, San Francisco
After checking in to the airbnb, we headed to San Francisco’s Chinatown. I have also heard so much about it and seen it in movies, so it was must go on this trip. I wasn’t surprised by how it looked or how busy it was, but I was surprised about the parking. The parking signage in San Francisco can be so confusing and there’s garages/driveways everywhere, so finding street parking can be a little chaotic and you have all of the electric trolley buses and driverless Waymo cars going around. I think we drove around for about 30 minutes and 500 times around chinatown to find parking.
Fun fact: San Francisco’s Chinatown is the largest chinatown outside of Asia and the oldest in North America!
We walked all around Chinatown, visited all the stores and checked out all the cute trinkets that they had there, but there’s one place that everyone talks about online, so we had to visit too. Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory is this tiny store where they make tons of fortune cookies and gives out fresh free fortune cookie samples. They have tons of different flavors and types of fortune cookies to buy as well. The workers were so hardworking too! I didn’t get the hype and the line was so long, but I will admit that fresh samples were really good. Fortune cookies are best hot right off the press.
Okay, I looked it up and Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Factory has been open since 1962 and is known for making custom fortune cookies by hand ever since. They are the oldest handmade fortune cookie factory and they have tours available! We love fun facts!
We couldn’t leave chinatown without getting Dim Sum, so we choose a random place out of the many and ended up at House of Dim Sum. They had a huge variey of dim sum to choose from and it’s all decently priced. There is some dine in tables inside and outside for you, but it is quite small and can be loud. We ordered our dim sum to go, but ate it when we got back to our airbnb. It was delicious! I wanted to grab more on one of the other days, if we had time. We ordered Har Gow (Shrimp Dumpling), Siu Mai (Pork Dumplings), Shark Fin Dumplings, and Chives and Shrimp Dumplings.
Day Two – My 30th Birthday
HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, SALLY! ♡
We started day two’s morning at the Balloon Museum: Emotion Air San Francisco. It’s a fun and interactive museum with all sorts of different types of balloons and ballon-like art concepts. There’s other locations and they each have a specific theme, the San Francisco theme is Emotions, so you’ll see a lot of “alive” balloons. I love these types of museums, they bring the kid out of you and they are just pure happiness and fun, plus the photo ops are always great! At the end they have a gift shop and a balloon bar, where there were huge balloon dogs and flowers. If we didn’t fly and drove instead, I would have bought some. They were so cute and huge, you can also customize your own colors and get other balloon shapes!
Right outside of the Balloon Museum building is the Palace of Fine Arts. It’s a structure that’s around a small body of water by the marina with a trail to walk around. The architectural structures themselves are beautiful and transport you to another place in the world. A great place for photos, it’s absolutely stunning!
Fun Fact: The Palace was featured in the video game SimCity 4 as a landmark. It was also replicated at Disney’s California Adventure as part of the entrance to a theater showcasing California’s history.The Palace of Fine Arts made famous cameos throughout the years in films like Vertigo (1958), The Rock (1996), Bicentennial Man (1999), and The Room (2003); and in series including Monk and Sense8.
It was time to get food that would be along the way to our next sightseeing location. We found the restaurant Blackwood and made it in time for their brunch menu! Our server was awesome, the food was great and the restaurant atmosphere was charming. We ordered the Ahi Scoops, which were full of different flavors that blended very well together, the Souflegg Skillets – Savory, which was a great big portion and the souffle was so soft, and Not Yo’ Average Ramyun, which the presentation was insane and it was such an upscale version of one of my favorite ramen packs.
Ahi Scoops: Sesame crusted seared Ahi tuna on spicy cucumber, seaweed salad and wasabi cream sauce
Souflegg Skillets – Savory:Soft steamed egg served on a skillet with rainbow potatoes and ciabatta. Fluffy, delicious, and wholesome. Savory: Spinach, crispy bacon, green onion.
Not Yo’ Average Ramyun:Dry tossed “Shin” cup noodles tricked out with maple candied bacon, fried egg, bell peppers, cabbage, mushroom
When in San Francisco, you need to visit the Golden Gate Bridge. The viewing area that most people talk about is right before you drive on the bridge, but I’m just a girl and I led Alan onto the bridge instead. While I was trying give directions on how to get back, to go the other way, I somehow got us to this other viewing/parking area. In the end, it turned out to be the perfect spot for our mini photoshoot! The photos turned out so nice and it was one of my favorite places of the whole trip. Sadly, the fog was out and it was windy, but we were warned ahead of time.
We were still so full and it was too early still for dinner, so we drove and walked around this neighborhood/shopping street. On my list of places that I wanted to check out, there was a charm bracelet shop called Tibetan Golden Lotus. I came in the store to just look around and came out with a brand new charm bracelet with the cutest charms that I personally picked out and a cute new ring! I’ve been to charm stores before, but none of them compare to Tibetan Golden Lotus. I still have my charm bracelet on now and it’s still in perfect shape, no rust or skin coloring and nothing has fallen off! The charms that I chose have little and simple meanings – a heart lock & key since we were going to put a lock next, ‘S’ for Sally, Hello Kitty for my love for Hello Kitty, a moon with July’s birthstone, and a bow because it was so cute and I’m just a girl.
Side note:Shoutout to my nail tech for absolutely slaying my nails, she did such a great job. These are so far are my most favorite nails and everyone else loved them too!
Yes, you read that right. We did put a love lock at Battery Spencer Overlook. This is actually our fourth love lock that we locked together around the US. Our first lock is in Houston, Texas, the second lock is in Orlando, Florida, the third lock is in Dallas, Texas and this one in San Francisco, California. We’ve been putting our locks around since 2021. It’s cheesy, but so cute, leave us alone! Let us have these little cute moments ♡ This is an overlook of the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was so windy and foggy up there that this is the most clear picture that I have of the bridge from here. They are saying that this year’s July weather is their record coldest.
Side note:I was super excited to be up this high cause I was pretty much where Prue, Piper, Pheobe, Rose Halliwell and Leo Wyatt felt when they orbed or transported to the top of the bridge in Charmed!
You would be surprised at how much of an appetite you build up when you’ve been fighting the wind and your long hair in SF, LOL. I was having real life moments of delivering Krusty Krab Pizzas. If you don’t know by now, read this next sentence carefully. We always try a seafood boil place when traveling and King Cajun in Orlando is still my #1 place. Cajun Bowl has an all you can eat option or order a la carte. We opt-in the ayce because we’re big backs. Cajun Bowl could have been better in my opinion, it wasn’t the best, but it wasn’t the worst either. It didn’t give me a wow factor at all. They have a good selection for their ayce and don’t limit you on items like lobster tails and snow crabs, but it is an extra charge every time you order them, which I would rather have that than the extra charge and limit.
What’s a birthday without a birthday drink? We ended the day with drinks. I’m old now and day drinking for me means I’ll need a nap and there’s no time for a nap when you’re on vacation! Surprisingly there weren’t many bars open on a Sunday night past 9 pm. Maybe I’m just spoiled here in Grand Rapids. Nighthawk in Redwood City, CA was the place to be on a Sunday. It’s a smaller bar lounge, but it was packed and everyone stayed there for a while. The seating inside was cozy and their crafted cocktails were delicious. I ordered Lucid Dreams and the boyfriend ordered Tiki in the Trees.
Tiki in the Trees:Mezcal, Pineapple, Benedictine, Lime, Orgeat and Amaro di Angostura
Day Three
We were so tired on my actual birthday to do the cake, so we did it on day three. The cake Alan got me was from Paris Baguette and it was in the cutest white bear design. Not only was the cake super cute, but it was also super yummy. It was a vanilla cake with fresh strawberries in between the cake, whipped icing (which is my favorite because it’s not as sweet) with coconut flakes. Overall, it was light and refreshing. The day we had to leave, we had a little over half the cake left and we couldn’t take it with us, I stuffed my face with it. I almost ate the whole cake before we had to fly out because it was too cute and too good to be left behind like that.
Day three is another stacked day, hope you’re ready for it! First outing of the day was to Pulgas Water Temple. It’s beautiful here and it’s another place that really transports you into a different world. It was so calm and peaceful here. There were people here, laying on their beach towels by the gates reading books and tanning. They had the right idea because I would absolutely do the same thing if I was a local! I love finding parks that have great sunlight, great views, but also not crowed and peaceful, so I can hear my own thoughts to journal and to be with myself.
We stopped at a Pacifica State Beach to try to touch the water, but it got pretty windy by the shore, so we just took a small moment to enjoy the sand before we made our way to Devil’s Slide Bunker. Pacifica State Beach is known as the beach with a Taco Bell, not even kidding. If we had Taco Bell right on the beach, best believe that is where you would find me!
The Devil’s Slide Bunker is an old WWII bunker that’s been abandoned and now heavily graffitied. The area that it is on is called Devil’s Slide. The history behind the name: that area is known for landslides and for being steep and rocky. When you are on the cliff, you have the prettiest view of the ocean and the surrounding coast and caves. Thankfully, it was clear and not foggy when we came. You do have to be careful about being too close the edge.
If you haven’t noticed yet, seeing the city of San Francisco from a higher view is very hard to do in July. You’ll have to deal with strong winds and fog. Our time at Twin Peaks was super windy. I thought it was pretty windy at Battery Spencer, but it was even stronger here. I was scared that I was going to get blown off the stairs going up and down the peaks. The pants I wore acted more like a parachute, so that was an interesting time haha. The views from Twin Peaks are beautiful though. You really get another view of the city. You feel so big & tall, but yet so small.
Miffy, do I need to say more? I’m obsessed with Miffy (sorry Hello Kitty). I even got a Miffy tattoo before a HK one. So when I heard there was a store that sells Miffy products, you know I had to go! The Kira Shop has so many cute Miffy products that you don’t usually see in stores, like stationary, plushies, keychains, clothing, houseware, beauty, etc. I got this cute plush keychain and a crewneck that saids SF with Miffy on it. They have another location in Hawaii. Fun fact: I just found out a couple days ago that at SFO Airport, there’s a Miffy store! I didn’t know and missed out, so it looks like I HAVE TO go to SF again! 🙂
There’s this park called Golden Gate Park and you can walk around and find other parks or amenities to go into with admission. There’s the Conservatory of Flowers, Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco Botanical Garden, The de Young Museum and The California Academy of Sciences.
We only had time to do one, so we chose the Japanese Tea Garden. It’s a smaller park, but there tons of spots here to sit down and enjoy all the Japanese plants and structures. The koi ponds are so fun to walk around and the koi’s are huge! There’s also a gift shop and cafe located inside, so you really could spend a good amount of time here. I heard that the matcha is one of the most popular things that you have to try at the cafe, but we were short on time and there was quite a line. A very tranquil place.
We drove over to the Haight-Ashbury District to check out a number of locations on our list and came across Dragon Eats. Dragon Eats is a small Vietnamese cafe/eats. We needed a mid day snack before the big dinner. I can never say no to Café Sua Da (Vietnamese coffee) and Bánh Mì (Vietnamese sub). The Café Sua Da and the Pork Meatball Bánh Mì were on point. The meatball pork was so good and full of flavor that I ordered a second one so I had it for my flight the next day.
Writing every place we went to in order, I notice that we keep going back and forth from nature to the city. We’re balanced, okay? *cues music* – in the city, ‘member used to drive a Yukon* San Francisco has a lot of vintage photo booths around, either in stores or in their own locations. The Photomatica Photo Booths were the ones that we found in the Haight District. This neighborhood is a thrifters dream. I think we visited 3-5 different thrift shops and that wasn’t even all of them!
There were 4 photobooths in the front of the store, each with their own printing style and color. The photo booths are vintage, meaning they are older so there is no screen that shows you what you look like and it’s an old school flash bulb that goes off when your photo gets taken. You definitely have to wait a little in between each photo booth for your photos to develop and for your eyes to recover from the flashes. Your photos strips will come out good as long as you fully draw the fabric shade close!
We visited the most talked about Pier 39 and as you can see, it was still very windy. If you have long hair like I do, just plan to wear your hair in a pony or bun in July. Save yourself the trouble and don’t curl your hair, cause the wind will just blow them right out. I’m not sure how Pier 39 differs from the others, but this one is known for it’s carnival like charm, gift shops, restaurants and the sea lions! Yes, you can watch the sea lions chill on the docks all day and you can see Alcatraz from a distance!
Finally the birthday dinner! Everyone has been asking questions about where I chose to eat for my birthday and why. The Holbrook Housewas the restaurant of my choice for my 30th. The Holbrook House has 3 dining options to choose from – regular dining table, martini table and patio. I specifically wanted to experience the martini table. You still get full menu service, but you also get the champagne and martini switches! Whenever you are ready to get another drink, you flip the switch and they come around with either the champagne cart or the martini cart. They have drink menus specifically for the carts, so you get to customize your drink and they’ll make it right in front of you!
It was the good ol’ dirty thirty, so martini me please! I got to customize my drink every step and it was the best dirty martini that I have ever had. The caviar bump was *chefs kiss*, it was an add on, but for the price I would have done more bumps.
Sally’s Dirty Thirty Martini:Harku Japanese Vodka, Veso Tomato Vermouth, Olive Juice, Tabasco Hot Sauce and Blue Cheese Creme Fraiche Olives with a bump of Caviar on the side
We ordered from the raw bar, the Petit Seafood Tower, then Deviled Eggs and Caviar for an appetizer and an entree to share the Baked Pasta Alla Vodka. Everything was phenomenal, 11/10 would recommend The Holbrook House. It is on the little pricier side of dining, but everyone should treat themselves with good food once in a while. I dream about eating here all the time and it won’t stop. I can’t wait to have it again!
Deviled Eggs and Caviar:American White Sturgeon Caviar, Shallot Brunoise
Baked Pasta Alla Vodka:Calabrese Sausage, Parmesan, Vodka Sauce
Before ending our last full day in San Francisco, we went to a spot nearby to look at the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge at night. It was very simple, but still pretty to see. There’s definitely nothing like it in the midwest. This time I did not accidentally take us on the bridge and I’m very thankful for that! When I was flying in to SFO, I saw the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge from above and it was actually terrifying. This super long bridge in the middle of a large body water with nothing surrounding it and once you are on it, you can only go one way to get off. CRAZY.
Day Four – Last Morning in San Francisco
We only had time to do one last eating adventure before heading off to the airport and the lucky winner was In-N-Out Burger. I still think In-N-Out Burger is overrated, but it’s not bad like I said it was in my past food blog. I’m slowly coming around to it. Except this might be the last time that I ever eat In-N-Out Burger, I’m traumatized. It could have been all the flights and layovers that I had or the drastic altitude changes or the time change, but I had super bad motion sickness on my travels back to Michigan and (sorry for the details) threw up the In-N-Out that I ate. Literally it was In N Out of me, it was pretty bad. With that, I’ll be taking a break for a while.
Visiting San Francisco has always been on my list since watching Full House and Charmed growing up. I didn’t think that San Francisco would also transport me to all these other places too. I’m grateful for it! It was like multiple mini trips within my trip. Everyone should plan a San Francisco trip and do all the tourist things. I actually loved all the typical tourist spots that we were able to fit in our itinerary and will be coming back to do the ones we couldn’t get too.
Thank you for making it to the end of this blog post! This one was a long one and we did a lot. I probably should have split it in two blogs, one for food and the other for places visited, but now you have this mini guide all in your hands. Below is just a little video I put together of both Colorado and San Francisco, Welcome to the roadtrip to my 30’s and cheers to this new decade that I made it too. Time to make more memories, see you all in the next SALLY THINGS ♡
I’m back with the traveling and food blogs! I know, it’s been taking me forever and the only thing I can say is that I’m sorry. Life becomes life and it really takes me away from writing, BUT I’m entering a new decade and I want to take what matters to me most with me. This is a two part blog about the food I ate and the places I visited for my birthday trip. Welcome to the first half of my roadtrip to 30’s – Colorado.
Colorado Springs, Colorado
The start of my trip was to Colorado Springs to meet up with my siblings, dad and their families. They all drove to Colorado Springs and arrived a few days before me, but I got to join them for two days before flying over to San Francisco. The Colorado part was actually a trip planned by my little sister for her son, my nephew, Mateo. He had his last chemotherapy treatment for his leukemia in April/May and was cleared to do everything and anything. So this trip was to celebrate that and him beating leukemia.
First stop, Snooze A.M. Eatery in Colorado Springs. Snooze A.M. Eatery serves breakfast/brunch items and their own specialty cocktails. I wasn’t too hungry so I shared a Benny Duo with my niece. With the Benny Duo, You can choose two different benedicts instead of two benedicts of the same and we got the Smashed Avocado Benny and the Ham Benedict III. The benny’s weren’t bad, but they weren’t anything special either. I definitely had better at other places. An entree that was really good and worth mentioning would be their Habanero Pork Belly Breakfast Fried Rice. It was full of flavor and had the right amount of hotness!
Ham Benedict III:English muffin topped with shaved ham, perfectly poached cage-free eggs and our house-made smoked cheddar hollandaise
Habanero Pork Belly Breakfast Fried Rice:Jasmine-garlic fried rice with seared cider-braised habanero pork belly, sautéed red bell peppers, onions, poblanos, carrots and pineapple. Topped with a drizzle of our house-made Sriracha maple aioli, two crispy sunny-side up eggs, scallions and kimchi spice.
Garden of the Gods was the first non-food place we went too. With all the younger kids, we didn’t walk or hike the other paths, but we did walk around the main path and still had a good time! For me it was surreal to be in a mountainous area with most of my family. It’s already hard to get all of us at the same function, let alone on a trip in a state on the other side of the country. We were still one person down, my mom, but she called everyday of the trip to check in with all of us. I would love to come back to Garden of the Gods to do some of their other hiking trails/paths. It was absolutely beautiful, so I could only imagine how it looks like from a higher view.
Denver, Colorado
My two days with the family was pretty chill, they had gone on the more intense hikes earlier in the week and by the time I arrived the kids were all sick of hikes. I can’t blame them though, they did some pretty tough ones! Go them though, they all made it to the top, even if it was hard with the elevation or with the heights. Second day, We made our way to places closer towards Denver, Colorado. Our first visit was to Red Rocks Parks and Amphitheater. I’ve always wanted to make a stop here and watch a show. Iykyk. This is suppose to be one of the best venues and specifically for EDM. I was happy that we were able to check it out. It has a lot of potential still and I can’t wait to see all the new additions they are working on! No show, but they were playing music and that sounded great already. Red Rocks, I’m coming for you!
After Red Rocks, we took a drive over to Lookout Mountain / Buffalo Bill’s Grave. It was an easy drive and for the kids no major hiking was involved. There was a nice lookout of the city and mountains. I think sunrise or sunset watching there would be a beautiful spot. We were all getting pretty hungry, so we didn’t go into the Buffalo Bill museum that they had there.
Now for the yummy location! My family and I went to Tatsu Izakaya for lunch. Now this spot was so good, especially their ramen. I work at a ramen and sushi restaurant which I think our ramen is really good, but I will have to say Tatsu Izakaya did it better. I got the Spicy Tonkatsu Ramen, Hamachi Kama appetizer, White Tuna Sashimi and a Grape Ramune. Everything was super delicious and the portion size of the ramen bowl was huge. I had leftovers and it was my dinner as well.
Spicy Tonkatsu Ramen:Creamy pork bone broth topped with chashu, half egg, mushrooms, sprouts, naruto, bok choy, green onion, scallions & ginger
Hamachi Kama:Grilled yellowtail collar/cheek
Everyone ate so much, we needed to walk it off. We went to Denver’s 16th Street Mall. Sadly malls are dying everywhere, so it nothing much to show off. There are a lot of restaurants on the street and a lot of them looked very aesthetically pleasing and had a good menu. I have been to 16th Street Mall before towards the end of covid and back then it was more lively than what it was this time around. We walked around down 16th Street and visited the train station as well. There where cute stores in there and a grand dining area. It was a nice walk around. When we were all done, we left and drove back to Colorado Springs.
I’m super happy that I was able to have that time with my family and next time I hope my mom will be able to come with us too. The one place that I would love to go with my whole entire family is Disney World. I have been many times, but it would fill my heart x1 million if I went with my parents! Growing up my mom and dad would always talk about taking all of us and I just know when it happens, it’s going to heal a big part of my inner child. Going places and doing new things with my family now as an adult, brings me back to when I was a child doing things with my family, my aunts and uncles. So I get to be the fun aunt and make memories with my nieces & nephew like how I had with my aunts. It’s one of the best full circle moments ♡
P.S – Don’t forget part two of Roadtrip to 30’s: San Francisco – Food & Place Alert is coming soon! There’s a lot more foodie adventures there ♡
I decided to spend my July 4th over at Royal Oak Taco Fest! It was a very last minute decision, but in the end worth it. I’ve been saying that I wanted to challenge myself to go out and do things solo more, so I did just that! I’ve never been to any Taco Fest, so I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but it was well worth the drive and admission fee. Royal oak is about 2 hours to 2.5 hours away from me, so I made it a small foodie adventure. Admission tickets were $12 per person and when I got in, there were tons of food trucks, vendor booths and a huge kids area. There were all sorts of food beside tacos and plenty of drink booths, both non-alcoholic and alcoholic. Now, let’s eat!
It was pretty hot out, so a freshly squeezed lemonade was a must! There was an option to add alcohol to the lemonade, but I decided not too. I was not going to make the mistake of “eating” alcohol like I did with previous festivals that I wanted to blog about. The first food truck was Eight Claw Crab Boil. I will say, I was hoping they had their seafood boil available, but sadly it wasn’t. Instead I ordered the Crab and Lobster Grilled Cheese. I’ve never had a grilled cheese that was this tasty. It was like heaven. I might have to hunt down Eight Claw Crab Boil pretty soon.
Next was Spicy Jerk Chicken and the famous BBQ Mac & Cheese from Chef Collier Willis of House of Barbecue. I was walking around and the smell of the ribs was so amazingly delicious that I stopped and grabbed food. The ribs were a big portion and I wanted to be able to try more foods, so I skipped on it. Don’t worry, I’m coming to find you too! The BBQ Mac & Cheese was nothing special, still good though, but the Spicy Jerk Chicken was SPICY. It had a great kick to it. I usually don’t like chicken that much because it usually is dry, but this was perfect and juicy. You got everything fresh and right off the smoker. House of Barbecue also got voted for ‘best entree’ out of everyone else!
I always try to go on these foodie adventures and get so full after the second food truck or booth. I opted in for some dessert just in case I was going to call it a day. I was so stuffed after eating this delicious strawberry and pineapple milk chocolate skewer topped with sprinkles, marshmellows and peanuts from Lekker Choco Treats. It was just what needed on a hot summers days. They have different fruit skewers to choose from, then you get to choose your chocolate and then your toppings. You can’t go wrong!
Who was I kidding? Who just quits after the third food truck when you go on a foodie adventure? Definitely not this girl. I was at the Taco Fest for hours, just trying to walk off the food I already ate to try more. I walked around for a good hour and even sat at one of the stages trying to stay awake and away from the food coma that was trying to get me LOL. Ya’ll I was struggling trying to not nap. I succeeded and decided to celebrate with some tacos! Finally the item that the festival was named after.
I know, I know. This might knock down my foodie credit with some of my readers, but I like flour tortillas over corn. Don’t hate me, okay!?! Please still support me ♡ I visited Galindo’s Authentic Mexican and ordered their red queso steak taco and just a regular steak taco. No, I didn’t eat them dry. I added both of their spicy roja salsa and verde salsa. They were good tacos, but nothing that made them stand out to be the ultimate best. Galindo’s got voted for most authentic taco at the festival!
Dessert time again! I’ve been really into sweets lately, which is very unlike me, but I’m not going to question it. It is what it is. There were some carnival like food booths and this one had deep fried candy bars. I’ve never heard of such thing or have seen one, so I had to give it a try. I ordered a deep fried snickers. I don’t know what I expected it to look like, but not a corndog like item with powdered sugar on top. Let me tell you though, if you haven’t had a deep fried snickers bar, you are missing out. I was impressed with this chocolate corndog delight. It may not look like it in the video though. I was passed full and starting to sweat being out in that heat.
I could no longer eat anymore, I was about to pop. It was time for me to leave, BUT before leaving I had to get one last drink. I tried the Watermelon Sugar topped with blue punch. It was a mix of the blue punch with raspberry tea and strawberry melon. It was very sweet, maybe a little too sweet for me. I think it would have been better without the added blue punch. It was pretty refreshing though, so I do recommend everyone to visit The Fern when you find yourself in Royal Oak!
I’m very happy that I did the solo trip to Royal Oak Taco Fest. Sometimes you just need to self indulge and take adventures. How would I rate Taco Fest? 8.5/10. It was a family friendly event with tons of craft tents and blowup obstacles for the kids, then tons of food options to choose from, plus multiple of the same food trucks, so lines were short. There were multiple vendors and chances to spin a wheel and win prizes from the merch ones. I will point out that if you are against cannabis, then this might not be the event for you. Most vendor booths were cannabis and THC products, so that’s all that I will point out. I’m not sure if this event is held in multiple cities, but you can always get a good idea of what vendors will be there based off of the sponsors! I’m not sure what the next foodie adventure will be and I won’t promise anymore about certain ones because I might end up “eating” alcohol again.. oopsies. ALWAYS remember though, we live to eat and not eat to live! ♡
Here’s a local Food Alert for my Michigan readers. I was able to attend the last day of the Grand Rapids 55th Festival of the Artsthis past weekend! This one is a special one because for as long as I can remember, my family and I always attended this festival. It was always so fun with all the painting and different crafts that we got to do, then all the food that we would eat and who can forget about handmade lemonade? I remember we use to design our our own t-shirts with paint, get our face painted, make our sculptures with wood and glue, get ballon animals, spiral painting and even just regular painting. Then as I got older, I was able to take some of my nieces with me and watch them do all the same that I use to do as a kid. It’s such a fun family event that happens in Grand Rapids! I haven’t gone in the past 9 years, so when I was able to make it this year I made sure to make the best of it. A lot has changed from the last time I attended and it was a lot smaller with less activities and vendors, but I just know it’ll get there again! Now let’s jump into the food ♡
I went by myself to do a little foodie adventure, which was very hard because I can’t eat a lot. I got full quick. I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat everything and all of it, so I came prepared and brought some to-go containers from home in a bag to store what I couldn’t finish for later. That was actually such a smart thing to do. GO SALLY! First stop was at the Chinese Association of West Michigan booth. One of my favorites, even as a kid, are these chicken skewers! It was a nostalgic way to start off the foodie adventure.
Not even 2 minutes after buying the chicken skewers, I saw the Sanse Filipino food truck and knew my second stop would be there. With the chicken skewers in hand, I ordered their Pork Lumpias. If I had more hands, I would have probably ordered more food like their chicken adobo, but I also needed to not go in so hard right when I got to the festival. You guys should have seen me sitting on the sidewalk taking a bite of the chicken skewer in one hand and then a bite of the pork lumpia in the other. I was in such a happy place!
After the first two foods, I was feeling full already. I know, it’s not even that much, but I really have a small appetite! I walked around and looked at all the merchandise vendors for about 45 mins before grabbing this Tamales Platter from the Tamales Mary food truck. It has been a while since I had tamales, so it was everything! I really like tamales, especially with extra hot sauce. The spicier, the better. I got a red shredded chicken tamal and a green shredded pork tamal. I tried to eat as much of the platter that I could, but look it was perfect for leftovers for later.
I could have taken a little food coma nap at this point if I tried. I had to be a champ and walk around again and explore more of the festival. I sat down at a few stages and watched a few performances. It got blazing hot after a bit and I needed something cold and something sweet, so why not find some some ice cream? There were a few vendors to choose from, but I decided on SemiFreddo, an Italian food truck. The other ice cream trucks were ones where I’ve had them before, so I wanted to try something new. Plus, a sparkling cream float sounded so yummy and perfect! I knew that if I didn’t finish the ice cream part before it started to melt, at least it would still be good as a float! In the sparkling cream float was a scoop of lemon semifredoo, strawberry sauce mixed with sparkling water. I’m not a huge fan of strawberry sauce because it’s usually just artificial syrup, but their strawberry sauce had chunks of fresh strawberries. They won me over. I had a great time eating/drink my float and watching the jazz band, Big Band Nouveau. It was one of those ‘life is good’ moments ♡
With two hours left of the festival and an over stuffed tummy, I needed to choose what would be my last foodie options. I really wanted to try Honeybee’s Kitchen Caribbean & Soulfood food truck or Big Ed’s BBQ food truck, but their lines were super long. I should have because I’ve been thinking about them since! Long lines usually = really good food. I walked past the Holy Trinity Greek tent twice before deciding that I just needed to get a Souvlaki. This was also one of my favorites to eat when we came to Festival of the Arts when I was a kid. It was just as good as I remembered it!
The last item of the festival foodie adventure was, of course, a Shaker Lemonade from the Big Mike’s Kettle Corn tent. Fresh lemonade is top tier. Usually at this festival it would be a booth by one of the local high schools, but I noticed this year it was more food trucks than associations or organizations like in the past. Not complaining though, all the food trucks were still Michigan local and I was able to have the chance to support them! Also, the streets of downtown Grand Rapids is such a cute place to take photos.
Honorary Merchandise Vendor Mention
You all know how much I LOVE FLOWERS! I was so excited to see a vendor selling flowers and had to get a cute bouquet for myself. Thank you to Leaflet for making this beautiful bouquet and making my whole day. I’m absolutely obsessed with them ♡
I wish I had more space in my tummy to try ALL the other food trucks or tents that I couldn’t get too. If you weren’t able to attend Festival of the Arts, but is now interested, it happens every year in June, downtown Grand Rapids! It is a free event, no admission fee! Just keep your eye out or sign up for emails on their website. You can also follow them on facebook as well! I’m very happy that I had the day off to go. I’m also proud of myself for going on a solo foodie adventure and how much I was able to eat on my own.
This upcoming weekend is the Grand Rapids Asian-Pacific Festival, so if you are in the area you might catch me on another foodie adventure! It’s also held downtown Grand Rapids, this will be my first year being able to attend. It is also a free event with no admission! Another great family friendly event to bring the kids to. Like this one, there will be a Food Alert blog on that coming shortly after! I actually tried to do the same thing with Michigan Asian Fest in Novi, Michigan, two weekends ago, but I ended up only eating beer with a side of papaya salad and kapoon. I had a little too much fun there at Michigan Asian Fest. It was well worth the memories though. See you guys soon! Remember that we live to eat and not eat to live ♡
I feel like I only ever food blog about two locations and Orlando is one of those places. You can read the other Orlando food blog here! This time we have both Tampa and Orlando. This won’t include all foods from our Epcot day, but you can read the Epcot foodie adventure here. Stay hungry! ♡
Tampa, Florida
So let’s start off with Tampa! Our first meal after arriving in Florida was in Orlando, but we drove to Tampa and got food to-go for a dinner and night in at our airbnb. We got pretty random foods from 3 different places, La Casa Della Pasta, KFC, and Taco Bell. We said we wanted to “eat light” before the wedding, so much for that LOL. Taco Bell is nothing special to write about, but we did try the Chizza from KFC. If you don’t know what the Chizza is, it’s just a fried chicken pizza. Literally a fried chicken topped with pizza sauce, cheese and pepperoni. If you like lunchables, then you’ll enjoy the Chizza. There’s definitely that nostalgic pizza sauce taste.
There’s no picture from La Casa Della Pasta, but what I can say is that they know what they are doing! I really wanted some pasta. (Pasta is my favorite type of food btw. It’s an easy way to my heart.) La Casa Della Pasta was the closest to our airbnb and that’s how we chose it. what we didn’t know was that according to Tampa Bay Times, they are the best Italian restaurant in Tampa Bay and have been four years in a row. It was everything and more! Next time in Tampa, I’ll have to come back and try more. I love a good pasta. I got the Pappardelle Al Ragu’ (Bolognese). It’s made with their homemade Pappardelle pasta, ground beef, tomato sauce, basil and garlic. Besides all the flavor, it was very fresh.
The morning of our friend’s wedding, we went to Banh Mi Factory. Banh Mì Factory is a cute spot to chill with friends or even go to study. Not only that, but they are so good. They have tons of different bánh mì options to choose from. I said before that I thought Lee’s Sandwiches in California was good, but this place is even better. You always have to try the classic Bánh Mì Đặc Biệt or the Special Combination, so we ordered that and the Bánh Mì Bò Nuớng or the Bulgolgi Beef. Both were super good. The way the bread soaked up the juice from the bulgogi beef and the crunch of the baguette was *chefs kiss*. I wasn’t going to start my day without any coffee either, so a Viet Coffee or Cafe Sua Da was a must. On their menu they call in their Vietnamese Phin-Drip and I got the Saigon Savory option. It was more like a ca phe trung with the cream on top which is a little different from just a regular coffee. It literally translates to coffee egg. The cream is a mix of egg yolk and condensed milk. It may sound a little weird, but it’s so good and elevates the drink!
The morning after the wedding, we chose to eat at Ha Long Bay – New Tampa location. After a day of open bar, this was needed. I can’t tell you enough how GOOD the Thai Tea was and how it brought me back to life! I would come back just for the Thai Tea. I almost ordered another one to go because it was so good. Don’t worry I ate too. Noodles with broth is also another life saver after drinking.
We ordered Bún Bò Huế (Spicy Beef and Pork Noodles) and Bún Riêu (Crab Paste Noodles). For me the Bún Bò Huế was a little too sweet for my liking, but the Bún Riêu was the best that I have ever had at a restaurant. Nothing will ever beat my mom’s homemade bún riêu though.
Bún Bò Huế: Thick noodle, rich and spicy beef soup with tender beef slices, beef tendon, Vietnamese ham, and topped with mixed fresh herbs
Bún Riêu: Thin vermicelli, crab mixed seasoning, ground pork paste, Vietnamese ham, fried tofu, and tomatoes
Orlando, Florida
We landed in Orlando first, ate, drove to Tampa, stayed a couple days, then drove back to Orlando for the rest of our trip. In Orlando, we had a foodie adventure! So let’s get into it.
Our first stop was at Twenty Pho Hours. It’s a super cute 2d noodle bar. They are known for their 2d decor and their fast & casual dining service, which was great because we were both starving. They had these cute bear cups, so you know I had to get one! You can never go wrong with a taro bubble tea. We tried their Short Rib Pho and the “Black Ox” pho. For fast and casual dining, the meats were so tender and melt in your mouth. I was super impressed with the flavor of pho with how little time it came out.
Short Rib Pho: Rice noodles, onions, cilantro, scallions, bean sprouts, basil, jalapeños, lime, eye round steak, short rib and brisket
Our next stop was Disney downtown or now it’s known as Disney Springs. I absolutely love Disney Springs and all the restaurants and shopping. It’s such a happy place to be at when you aren’t at Disney World! I am IN LOVE with Amorette’s Patisserie located in Disney Springs. Every time I visited they have new cakes and desserts to try out, plus boozy sweet drinks! We got the Amorette’s Rose dessert with a little milk carton on the side. It is a chocolate biscuit with dark chocolate mousse and raspberry sauce. This dessert is as decadent as they come. I’m not a huge raspberry fan, but the pairing of the raspberry sauce and dark chocolate mousse just paired so well together!
After Tampa, we drove back to Orlando and went to Icon Park. We’ve always driven passed the wheel, but this trip we had the time to visit it. Sadly, the iconic wheel was not being used, so we weren’t able to ride it. One of these days it’ll happen though! Icon Park was smaller than I imagined, but there’s still tons of things to do and see. I chose to do the Museum of Illusions. Maybe it’s the kid in me, but I love interactive museums like these. They are so much fun and the photos came out pretty cool. My part was the spinning tunnel where you try to walk straight on the path, but it gives you the illusion that your pretty much walking drunk. The only reason why that was my favorite part was because right when you get out of the tunnel, there’s these 3d holographic pictures framed on the wall and my boyfriend had a little jump scare from the Albert Einstein one. I still laugh about it today when I think reimagine it in my head.
After 4 long years, we made it back to King Cajun Crawfish. My ABSOLUTE FAVORITE seafood boil place. I dream of the seafood boil here all the time. I’m literally obsessed. I have not found a better seafood boil than King Cajun Crawfish and I know you guys have seen all the different seafood boil places that I have gone to on every trip. The absolute best, my mouth is watering as I type. I wish there was another location closer to me than in Florida. TAKE MY MONEY. This is a must go to if you love seafood boils!
We had to go with their Shabang sauce with the hot spice level. Their Shabang sauce is a mix of all their flavors which are: lemon pepper, rajun’ cajun, and garlic butter. The hot level spice was pretty hot, our noses was dripping and there were moments of sweat, but it made the flavor 100% better. I believe we ordered the Royal Feast and that includes 1 cluster snow crab, 1 cluster dungeness, 1 lb. crawfish, 1 lb. shrimp, 1 lb. clam, 1 lb. green mussel, 4 corns, 4 potatoes, and sausages. Seriously unbelievably amazing.
Sometimes I wonder, “how can we eat so much in one day?” The answer will be forever unknown. Maybe the foodie in us comes out on vacation. We went to Universal CityWalk to try to walk off all the food, but instead found ourselves grabbing a drink and dessert at The Toothsome Chocolate Emporium & Savory Feast Kitchen. There we ordered the Chocolate Potted Cream, Chocolate Old Fashioned, and Vanilla Chocolate Cocktail. The drinks were good and strong, the pudding was amazing and perfect consistency, it was a chocolate heaven. After, I had the biggest food baby that I have ever had. I don’t remember when I had that much to eat and drink in one day. I was happy!
Chocolate Potted Cream: Creamy chocolate pudding served in a copper pan
Chocolate Old Fashioned: Bird Dog chocolate whiskey, cherry liqueur, sugar, chocolate and orange bitters
We went to Epcot at Disney World and you can read all the food and drinks in that blog here. It’s a long one, but well worth the read if you plan on visiting Epcot! On our last day of the trip, we went to the Florida Mall and shopped until we ran into Gatcha. Gatcha is a clawcade. Yes, that’s right an arcade full of claw machine! I love claw machines, so I was having a blast. My secret talent is how good I am at claw machines. I don’t know when it started or how it happened, but 90% of my plushies in my room are won from a claw machine. I’ve never seen a clawcade in person before so this was really fun. Gatcha has two spots in the mall, one is filled with plushies and figurines and the other spot is filled with drinks and snacks. Plushies? I got you, we’re winning tons! Drinks and snacks? Sorry, but we might be out of luck there. Those are so hard to pick up and the items are heavy compared to the claw. Gatcha is opening new location around the US, so hopefully they’ll make their way to Michigan!
A little dessert never hurt anybody! I’ve been having a major sweet tooth lately and when I saw this cute dessert shop in the mall, you know I just had too! Lucciano’s is the ultimate gelato place and they had a cute table/photo op! We got the Mango Gelato Icepop.
Our last stop on our trip before flying out was to SnowBean. It’s a cute small cafe that’s located right next door to Izziban Sushi & BBQ, which we have eaten at a few times. We just never know that SnowBean had their own little Love Lock Bridge! (We did order a strawberry smoothie from there as well) My boyfriend and I put up our own lock on the bridge. This would be our second lock that we put up together, out first one is located in Houston, Texas on a love lock bridge there from our trip back in 2021. It may seem like a silly thing to do, but I honestly think it’s so cute to do and it’s fun to have that memory and souvenir to go back to on your next travel back!
Traveling and exploring makes my heart super happy. It’s one of the best things in life. If I could travel all the time, I would! Thank you Florida for being so wonderful again. The food will never not amaze me. I’ll definitely be back soon! Remember, we live to eat and not eat to live! Live your very best life ♡
Drinking at DISNEY? YES, you heard that right. The happiest place on earth just got happier for the adults. Disney World already sells alcoholic beverages in all of their theme parks, but it’s nothing like Epcot. You’ll want to experience a drink and food tour around the countries at Epcot at least once! Honestly, I got a little drunk towards the end and have never, EVER eaten so much in one day. I went to Epcot thinking that we would have time for eating, drinking, rides, shopping and checking everything else out, but we ran out of time. The International Flower and Garden Festival was going on as well, so there were extra things to look at. We were there from 11 AM to 10 PM too. We’ll for sure be back another time to try more foods and drinks and actually ride the rides.
Now let’s go world traveler, to Epcot we go! ºoº
Lunch Reservation at Chef de France (France)
Cassolette D’escargots Casserole of Burgundian escargots baked in parsley and garlic butter
I don’t even know how to describe the taste of this except for the word délicieux! It may not look very good in the photo, but you can trust me that it very much was. I could eat this appetizer all day. The mixture of flavor is perfect. C’est vraiment très bon!
Boeuf Bourguignon Linguine Braised beef in Cabernet, baby onions, carrots, pasta
Jarret De Porc Braise Au Miel Braised Heritage pork shank, mashed potatoes. Scallions, tomatoes
In NO way did we regret eating here, but what we ordered for lunch was pretty heavy to start off a drink and food tour. Maybe next time we’ll start off a little lighter, but we just couldn’t resist. Both proteins were so tender and melted in your mouth. The sauces and flavors were out of this world. Chef de France knows what they are doing in the kitchen!
France
BeignetCaramélisé Caramelized Beignet filled with Vanilla Cream and glazed with Caramel Fleur de Sel
Sparking Pear Cocktail Sparkling Wine with Pear Flavor
Yup! We started our drinking and eating tour right after our big lunch. I was already so full, but there’s always room for dessert! Usually the cocktail is a Sparkling Raspberry, but they ran out already so pear it was. Then the BeignetCaramélisé was good, but nothing too special in my opinion though. It was like a crème brulée doughnut.
Morocco
Orange Blossom-Saffron Cake
Cider Flight: Keel Farms Pear Honeysuckle Hard Cider (Plant City, FL)
Woodchuck Imperial Sippin’ Citrus Hard Cider (Middlebury, VT)
3 Daughters Brewing Pomegranate Hard Cider (St. Petersburg, FL)
I couldn’t find a description of the Orange Blossom – Saffron Cake online at all, so let me try to describe it in the best way that I can. The top orange layer is a cream almost like vanilla ice cream and it was covered with a orange chocolate like layer with orange powder. That tasted like an orangesicle, then the green layer was a pistachio flavored cake (with pistachios on the side) on top of a raspberry syrup. It was a perfect burst of flavor!
Japan
Cocktail Flight: Winter Melon Cocktail
Tokyo Sunset Coconut Rum, Peach Schnapps, Banana Liqueur, and Pineapple Juice
Violet Sake Sake, purple pear, and lime juice
Again, I couldn’t find a description online about the Winter Melon Cocktail. It was very sweet and tasted just like those little winter melon candies that are in small balls, very nostalgic. The Tokyo Sunset and Violet Sake were also sweet drinks, but all three were very good The Violet Sake was actually my favorite drink out of all the drinks we had! It tasted like a grape jolly rancher, but lighter in flavor mixed with lemon. Third country and 7 different drinks later, I was still feeling sober. The food we ate was doing some work or maybe I have a high alcohol tolerance, but let’s say it was the food!
America
Spicy Chicken Gumbo with Andouille Sausage and Long Grain & Wild Rice
Bayou Cocktail Spiced Rum, Coconut Rum, Fruit Punch, and Orange Juice
The Spicy Chicken Gumbo was my most favorite food item that we tried all day (besides our lunch at Chef de France). Who knew it would be gumbo from America? The Bayou Cocktail was okay. I think it reminded me too much of a drink that we serve at the restaurant I work at, so it wasn’t anything new to me.
Italy
Arrabbiata Pennette Pasta, Spicy Tomato Sauce, and Buttery Shrimp
I am a pasta lover! At this point I was so full of food, but I had to try a pasta at least. The picture does not do it justice, it really just looks like school food, but you’ll have to trust me that it wasn’t. The sauce had the perfect spicy kick for those who only want a mild spice. The sauce had a thick, rich consistency too!
Orangecello Cocktail orangecello, orange juice, pineapple juice and strawberry puree
Peachy Dream Bellini peach purée and Prosecco
I must have started to feel a little tipsy around here or was too excited to drink because this is the only photo that I have of our drinks from Italy. These two went down too easy! Out of the two the Orangecello Cocktail was the better one. I still loved the Peachy Dream Bellini though! This is when we were getting drinks back to back at a quicker speed.
Germany
Apfelschaumwein Apple Sparkling Wine and Apple Liqueurwith a Rosemary Garnish
I’m still trying to pronounce the name of this drink, so if anyone would like to teach us all feel free! This drink tasted like a light apple flavored hard cider, but with the perfect amount of sweetness. The rosemary garnish was super strong and we left it in the drink the whole time. That was our fault because it took over the taste towards the end of the glass.
China
Dragon Butterfly Butterfly Pea Flower Gin, Vodka, Green Tea, Lemonade, Soda Water, Hibiscus and Dragon Fruit Syrups, with Blueberry Popping Boba
Did I use this as an excuse to put a picture of me in here? Yes, I definitely did. Plus the picture that I got of this drink is not that great. I was feeling the drinks for sure at this point and even more after this drink. This drink was very strong tasting. The popping boba at the bottom was our chaser with every sip. From here to the end, the Disney cast members were heavy handers!
Mexico
Tamale de Rajas Poblano Peppers, Corn, and cheese in Masa topped with Poblano Cream Sauce, Crema Mexicana, Pickled Carrots and Onions with Chives
As you can see from the picture, that I was drunk. I did not care for the photo HAHAH. That Dragon Butterfly drink from China really got me. THEN, our Lychee Margarita wasn’t any lighter. I swear it was pure tequila. I still was having a good time though! The tamale was good, but I feel like the cream sauce made kind of made it less authentic, it tasted more like mayo. My tastebuds could have been a little off at this time though. In the end, I would get it again.
Germany
Welsh Dragon peach schnapps, melon liqueur, creme de menthe, orange juice, and pineapple juice
I can’t tell you why the last drink of the night has the best photo. I amaze myself and also confuse my own self A LOT. Anyways, the last drink we had! It was another sweet cocktail and my second favorite of the day. It was pretty close to being my first favorite. This drink wasn’t as strong as the last few and we had a little bit of down time before getting this drink. I was better after this.
BONUS: Disney Traders & Port of Entry
Soy-glazed Sticky Ribs with Green Onions and Peanuts
Bonus foods! The down time we had between Mexico and United Kingdom, we got some more food and visited Canada (no purchases). So these foods aren’t in any of the countries, but in their own section. You can find these Soy-glazed Ribs by the Disney Traders. These are good, but I think they have great potential to be better. If they had a little more of the soy-glazed flavor, then it would have been perfect! The ribs were tender and fell of the bone otherwise.
Spicy Hotdog with Pineapple Chutney and Plantain chips
You can find this Spicy Hotdog in Port of Entry. I was so full that I only took one bite of this, but that one bite was pretty good. It actually has a spicy kick to it. Yes, I know how basic it sounds, but plantain chips on a SPICY hotdog? An actual spicy hotdog? You can’t beat that. I’ll be coming back for it next time with an empty stomach. Maybe I’ll get two!
9 countries, 2 worlds, 14 different drinks, and 10 different foods all in one day. We even skipped getting drinks and/or food from two countries, Norway and Canada, to make sure we would make it through the whole park at least. We also skipped a whole bunch of other restaurants and food booths in every country and multiple items from the booths that we bought drinks and/or food from. There’s at least 4 different restaurants and booths to choose from in each country. To try everything at Epcot that we want, we’d probably have to spend at least three more full days at Epcot. There’s just tons of delicious sounding options there. I’m already drooling over the thought of trying more again. ♡
Yes, I know. CHICAGO, ILLINOIS. I should move there, I visit like every few months. It’s in a great area so traveling is super easy! So this a combination of food and places you can visit while you’re there. Some places are repeats from previous food alerts because I just can’t get enough. Can you guess where? Let’s get into another weekend in Chicago!
DAY ONE IN CHICAGO
First thing first, FOOD! We got into Chicago and went to Iron Age Korean Steakhouse for some all you can you Korean BBQ. It was a Friday, so it was dinner price of $29 per person. For the options of meats and sides, I thought that was a good price compared to other prices that I have seen. So you get unlimited rounds, but it’s 3 meats and 3 sides per round for the whole table. So you order more as you finish the rounds. If any leftovers remain, then you do get charged a percentage of it to your bill. We only ate two rounds. Yikes I know we’re getting weak, but you actually get a decent portion of each protein.
First round:Spicy Pork Bulgogi, Hawaiian Bulgogi, Iron Age Soy Beef Steak, Rice, Kimchi and Veggies. Second round:Top Blade Steak, Spicy Squid, Spicy Pork Steak and Japchae.
My recommendations would be to skip out on the Top Blade Steak and go with the Iron Age Soy Beef Steak. The Top Blade Steak is very plain and simple, while the Iron Age has the soy flavor and a richer quality meat. I really enjoyed both Bulgogi meats, the Hawaiian Bulgogi and the Spicy Pork Bulgogi. I would like to come back to try their chicken options and especially their Beef Brisket.
What’s a good meal without some dessert after? Look there’s no rules to dessert, you can eat some after every meal if you really want. We’re all grown here, we make our own rules!
We had the pleasure of being overloaded with sweetness and cuteness at Kurimu! We had a small sample of their ice cream when we visited the Color Factory for my birthday back in July, so it was nice to see what the actual store had! There was a Care Bear x Kurimu Popup, so a lot of the ice cream flavors were based on the theme. We had the Black Sugar Milk Tea ice cream with Mochi topping and a Pink Vanilla cone.
It’s still summer time, so what did we do? Grabbed some rooftop drinks with a beautiful view of the city. Club Cabana was perfect for that. It’s a rooftop part of a hotel, so you might have some people in the pool, but if you bring your swimmies then you can join in on the fun! They played good music and had a good selection of drinks on the menu. It’s outside of downtown Chicago, so you don’t get the traffic or noise which was nice, you also get a beautiful view of downtown. I am a sucker for rooftop bars, eating, etc. I love the city views, it makes me feel some type of way, but a good type of way. I was obsessed with my Paloma drink made with tequila because of the Tajin rim. I vote that we get rid of the salt rims on drink and replace it with Tajin, everything would taste 5x better.
Last place to end our first day was of course **DRUMROLLL PLEASEEEEEEEE** Jolliebee!!! It’s now a mandatory visit every time I come to Chicago. I won’t post a picture because this will be it’s like 3rd mention on my blog I think? Can you guess what I ordered? If you said Jolly Spaghetti, you’re completely right. This time I skipped out on the fried chicken and got mashed potatoes instead. I can never get enough, the Jolly Spaghetti is like a drug to me. I wasn’t hungry when we got back to the hotel and said I was only going to take a bite or two. I then ate half of it, it’s seriously that addicting to me.
DAY TWO IN CHICAGO
Breakfast for this day was spent outdoors on the patio of Parlor Pizza at the Wicker Park location. We made it in time for the brunch menu and decided order something unconventional. Pizza in the morning, but make it brunch! The Eggs Benedict Brunch Pizza on the menu caught our eye, then it caught out tastebuds. The Eggs Benedict Brunch Pizza consist of three eggs, Canadian ham, baby fontina, Spanish manchego, scallions, chives, and lemon hollandaise sauce. I love how creative and different it was. I can now say I’ve had a pizza that had a sunny side up egg on it! It was delicious and I would love to come back to try other items on the menu.
A little fun fact about the Wicker Park location of Parlor Pizza, on the side of the building they have this mural of a bear eating pizza! I think it’s so cool. Here’s a picture of us from 2019. We didn’t eat there that day, but said we would come back to try it and we finally did!
Next, we made our way downtown Chicago to finish out the rest of the day. We stopped by some stores to shop on the Magnificent Mile. We had some time to kill, so why not stop by the Starbucks Reserve Roastery for some drinks? Yes, as in alcoholic drinks! The Starbucks Reserve Roastery has a total of 5 levels and on level 4, they serve alcoholic beverages. Plus you can get a seat by the windows and see the view of Michigan Street. The drinks are pretty strong and after my Roastery Boilermaker and one of the Espresso Martinis from the Espresso Martini Flight, I was feeling it. So I grabbed a Salame Piccante Pizza before we left.
The Espresso Martini Flight give you three different Starbucks Reserve® Espresso Martinis fused with global liqueurs: Orange Cacao, Molé Spice and Cherry Limone. The Roastery Boilermaker is a Chicago location exclusive and has Starbucks Reserve® Cold Brew, Koval Four Grain Whiskey, Malört, Combier Pamplemousse, Honey Syrup, Fever Tree Club Soda, Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit Bitters, Pink Grapefruit Juice, Lemon Juice, Grapefruit Wheel, Salt Tincture, Rhine Hall Bierschnaps.
I have never had a boilermaker before nor did I know it existed, so I was a little confused about the separate shot glass. I was wondering if you take it separately or if you poured it in the drink. I did a quick google search and read that you’re suppose to take the shot then chase it with the main part of the drink which is a warmer beer. I did that exactly and I was not expecting the taste at all. The main glass had a lot of grapefruit flavor, but it was more of the bitter grapefruit rind flavor. My reaction is actually pretty funny, so enjoy the video below hahaha. No drink went to waste, I just chugged the rest and chased it with some sour power strips that I got from the candy store before.
Surprise! Believe it or not, but we don’t only eat. We actually do non food related activities too. Over the many, many years that I’ve been visiting and making trips to Chicago, I’ve never taken a boat tour before. So we found one to go on! There’s plenty of different boat tours, but we did the Shoreline Architecture Tour at Navy Pier. We chose the 7:10 PM time slot and it was perfect for the sunset behind the city. I actually learned a lot of interesting things about the different architectures that are in downtown Chicago. I like learning things like that so it was very worth it in my opinion! Plus beautiful views.
On the way home, we stopped by this diner drive thru place (looks like Sonic, but older) called Superdawg Drive-In. We saw it on the way back to our hotel on day one and said we would try it out. What caught our eyes were the two huge hotdog people with laser beam eyes. One was dressed in a caveman or circus muscle man outfit and the other was a hotdog lady in a dress. That was pretty cool to see. Fun fact: Superdawg Drive-in has been there since 1948 making it 74 years.
DAY THREE IN CHICAGO
We went over to Little Vietnam on Argyle Street, the Vietnamese town for Tank Noodle. I wanted to try something other than Phở. I already knew that it’s pretty good at Tank Noodle, so I went with the Bún riêu. Bún riêu is a traditional Vietnamese soup with rice vermicelli noodles. This one had shrimp, pork, tofu, quail egg, pork cake, pork blood, tomato, onion, green onion, shrimp paste, cilantro, crab paste, and pepper. I would have to say Tank Noodle has the best Bún riêu out of the other restaurants that I have tried it at, but nothing beats my mom’s homemade version of it!
On the way back to our cars, we quickly stopped in First Sip Cafe and ordered the Ubae Nior Latte. It was such a cute decorated cafe with black walls covered in plants and lights. Then around the register there’s a bunch of different teacups hung up and gave it a very dainty feel. I thought that was super cute. The picture may not look as appealing, but it was a really good drink. I would order it again! It’s a black tea with activated charcoal latte, sweetened with Ube or sweet purple yam.
The Museum of Ice Cream was our last stop. Back in July we came across it, but it wouldn’t be open until the weekend after. I first found out about the Museum of Ice Cream through some friends when they were visiting New York, so I was excited to find out about Chicago opening one up since we couldn’t fit it in our NYC trip earlier in the year. I wouldn’t say this museum is made specifically for selfies and photo opportunities, but more for you to learn about ice cream while tasting a bunch of different versions! You can definitely get your photo ops in though. I’ll do a separate blog on the Museum of Ice Cream and my experience there. All you need to know is that we ate 6 different ice creams going through the museum and everything’s pink!
Another weekend spent in Chicago, a lot more places explored, and still so much more that it has to offer. I can’t wait for the next trip and the places/foods that we’ll try next. Very soon, I’ll be writing individual blogs on the Museum of Ice Cream (Chicago) and the Color Factory (Houston and Chicago) and my experiences there as well as the various locations visited! You can follow me on socials or you can sign up to receive email newsletters on new blogs that I post right under here.
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Stay hungry in both your stomach and heart until the next adventure!
I know ANOTHER Chicago post?? Sorry, but Chicago is only 2 hours away from me and there’s constantly new things to try. This time I’ll include places that we also visited so it’s not just food! Welcome to our one day trip to Chicago ♡
So I have a huge list on my phone with places to visit food wise and entertainment wise. Whenever we decide to go to whatever city, we’ll look through my list and choose what places to visit that time around. I do save every place, so if you would like my full list I can definitely give it to you guys, just send me a message.
I took a little bit of time to get ready, so by the time we got into Chicago this cafe was just about to run out of their pastries. Luckily, we got to Vietfive Coffee just in time before the last Bánh Mì Empanada was gone. It’s exactly what the name is, it’s a traditional Viet/French Baguette style sandwich in a form of an empanada and the flavor we got was the 5 Spice Tofu + Veggie. It was pretty good so it’s a must to come back early and try the other meats. Then of course, I had to get an Iced Cà Phê Sữa Đá with Condensed Milk or their Vietnamese style coffee.
After, we went walking around to see if there was anything cool nearby and we ran into Eat Me Milk Me Coffee & Tea. Here we ordered two different Chinese Baos, the traditional Taiwanese Pork Belly Bao and the Korean Style Beef Bao. These baos were so flavorful! The pork belly literally melts in your mouth and the korean beef was perfectly paired with the kimchi toppings. Not only do they have food, but they also serve coffee and boba tea. We just didn’t order any which I do regret, but that just means we’ll have to visit again. They also have a concept store, so you can buy these cool jackets and purses.
We weren’t expecting to go to two food places back to back, so we continued walking around to try to walk off the food and honestly the weather was just perfect. Guess what we ran into next? Hamburger University.
You are missing out if you don’t know what Hamburger University is. Before I get into their pretty cool menu, Hamburger University is a training McDonalds facility, it’s the corporation’s global headquarters. They train high-potential restaurant managers, mid-managers and owner-operators in restaurant management. It’s pretty big on the inside AND they have some of their different global foods that you would find in other countries! We had to absolutely try the global menu even though we were already full. We ordered the Taco seasoned Fries from Norway and the Matcha Oreo McFlurry from Japan. The fries were okay, nothing really special. It was pretty fun shaking the seasoning in the bag, just something different, but the Matcha Oreo McFlurry though. The only difference is the matcha flavored ice cream, but it takes it to a whole other level. Please bring the Matcha Oreo McFlurry to all US McDonalds please!
There was just way too much food within a sort time, so we drove off to Chinatown Chicago for some shopping! I love going into Chinatown Chicago. There’s just tons of little shops, bakeries, and restaurants to go too. Plus it reminds me of all the times my mom would take us when I was younger, so I guess you can say it’s nostalgic for me. The shops and restaurants have been changing more recently, but you still have the classic JoyYee. We didn’t eat there, but it was so tempting! We did some shopping and walking around. I got a new Hello Kitty plush and we found some different flavor lays chips like lamb cumin. It’s pretty good, strong in flavor, but good.
We checked my list out and found that there was a food place about a block or two away, so you know why not? Kong Dog is where we went next. There’s not a single Korean corndog place where we live, so we couldn’t pass the opportunity up. I was still so full, so I let my boyfriend choose what to order and he chose the Rainbow Kong Dog with sausage. It was an interesting choice I would say, but it still tasted pretty good! Who knew a corn dog covered in fruity crunch puff and sausage would taste good together.
There was no way that we were going to let the perfect weather in one of our favorite cities go to waste. You know it, we brought along our longboards and decided to take a cruise along Lake Michigan. It was so beautiful, the video doesn’t do it justice. Plus I love that they made this area for those who want to skate, bike, walk, run, etc. If I lived in Chicago I’d be on this path or trail everyday. I’d be way more active outside than I am currently. Cruising along the lake with the sun setting and city views? I love it. I just love it! ♡
Our last stop of the night, we found on accident. We were making our way out of the downtown area so it wasn’t so busy and was going to grab fast food on the way home until I spotted the Jollibee sign. I was so excited cause when did a Jollibee exists in the midwest?? I’ve only seen it on social media over on the west coast. I made my boyfriend turn back around so we could eat there, no way was I going to miss out on it. It was the best decision ever though because Jolibee is my new favorite fast food or quick restaurant place. My new go to!!! Jollibee is a Filipino chain fast food.
It’s so good that this Jollibee blog section is getting two pictures. It might look like it’s nothing special, but when I say FLAVOR I mean it. I basically dream about the wings and spaghetti everyday. We ordered the 10 pc ChickenJoy Bucket in Spicy with gravy for dipping and Jolly Spaghetti. The wings were perfectly spicy and juicy, not a dry meat in sight! Then the Jolly Spaghetti sure made me Jolly. It’s addicting stuff. The description on their website for the spaghetti is “our unique spaghetti topped with Jollibee’s signature sweet-style sauce, loaded with chunky slices of savory ham, ground meat, and hotdog.” It’s the best thing in the world.
I’m in need of some Jollibee after writing about it, looks like I need another Chicago trip soon. Ugh, Chicago has my foodie heart wrap around a finger. I will always go back for more food and regular adventures. I really don’t think I’ll ever get tired of Chicago. I think the next time I’ll be in town is for the Taste of Chicago Food Festival in July. Hopefully it all works out and I’ll be posting another blog soon! I know a lot of my followers live in the midwest, so these Chicago blogs are perfect hahah I hope everyone has a good day and night. You’ll be seeing more of me soon! Remember!We don’t eat to live, we live to eat♡
Helloooooo, I’m back with another food blog from Chicago! You’ll probably see tons of Food Alerts blogs from Chicago because I only live a few hours away and I’m the type of person to drive for some good food. What I love about Chicago is the variety of food spots that exists and how there’s constantly new places popping up! This one has a special location because we also have one of these restaurants in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Yes, you read that right! You don’t have to travel as far to my Wisconsin readers. In today’s blog, I’ll be talking about all the spots that I visited in one day. Let’s get HUNGRY.
First stop of the day was Bearology. Boba teas are always a must when traveling! I don’t exactly enjoy tapioca pearls like that, but the teas or the drink part is where it’s at. This was a smaller location in Schaumburg, but they had this cute bear decor on the wall! If only they had it on sale, I would have bought it on the spot. The green drink on the left is their Shimmering Kiwi Lemonade with Tapioca Boba and the right drink is their Strawberry Mango Green Tea with Lychee Jelly. The cool thing about Bearology is that you can choose their jars or flask to have the drinks in and if you bring it back on your future visits, you get 10% off your drinks! We love reducing plastic waste ♡
Imagine this, you’re sitting down in a small convenient store eating a pizza puff, Pho Bo, an Ube Cookie and the Viet Dip while listening to Slow Down by Bobby Valentino. Yeah, you bet I felt like I was 10 years old back in 2005 eating a home cooked meal blasting the radio. Phodega is where it’s at if you want that nostalgic experience. The food is authentic Vietnamese food (yes, even the pizza puff. It’s the bread dough that they use.) Plus where can you get a pizza puff and pho at the same place? The place has limited seating, but it’s worth the wait! The Viet Dip is an Italian dip, thinly sliced ribeye, cilantro, onions, and jalapeño on french bread with a side of pho jus to dip in.
Now let’s talk about some drinks! A foodie adventure is not an adventure if you don’t have some drinks and I’m not talking about our boba from earlier either. A L C O H O L, but make it unique and innovative. Yes, you heard that right! Machine: Engineered Dining & Drink is the place to go for that. I’ve never seen a place like this before, they had a flower wall and fall trees indoors. Then you can request the florist and flower cart to come to your table and make a personalized bouquet for you right on the spot! Now that is service! I ordered the Caged And Infused cocktail drink and it came with a little hammer to smash the candy cage. I failed pretty badly, but it was fun. My boyfriend ordered the Dragon’s Breath.
Caged And Infused Butterfly flower infused roku gin | Maraschino | Lemongrass | Lemon | Violet candy cage
Dragon’s Breath Tenjaku Japanese whisky | Spice note cinnamon tequila | Lemon juice | Triple syrup | Orange peel | Served hot
Boba, lunch, drinks and now some sweets! You can’t forget the dessert treats, you always have to make room for dessert. I came across 2D Restaurant on Instagram and knew we had try their mochi doughnuts. The idea of the restaurant is super cool, the interior decor is painted to look as 2D as possible like you’re in a comic strip! 2D Restaurant has more than mochi doughnuts, so we had to try their Mild Rooster Sandwich and the Iced Organic Blueberry Tea. The chicken sandwich was very good and very mild, basically no spice at all. I think we could’ve handled the hot one. The Mochi Doughnuts that we ordered were The Pooh, Strawberry Sprinkle, Berry Easter, S’more, Matcha Dream and the Churro.
2D Restaurant is also very limited in seating, so you might have to wait a bit in order to get in! I believe you can make reservations though.
Last, but not least…. SEAFOOD BOIL!!! Yes, we are obsessed. We’re always on a lookout for a new seafood place to try. Lowcountry is the name of the restaurant and good news for us Wisconsin readers, they have a location open in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So we’ll be able to have it again whenever we’re in town. The seafood boil here was good, not the best cause Orlando is still my #1, but I will definitely be eating here in Milwaukee. Lowcountry is doing something right cause when we ordered the heat level as hot, it was actually hot. A spicy hot, but a good spicy hot. It lived to its name.
We ordered a Combo A – Shrimp Combo (1 lb shrimp, 2 piece corn, 3 piece potato, 2 piece cornbread and drink) and did a fill your own bag with 1 piece Snow Crab Cluster, 1 piece 8 oz Lobster Tail, and 1 lb Crawfish. Both with the Everythang sauce and one in heat level hot (2 pepper) and very hot (3 pepper). The sauce was addicting even when our mouths were burning from being pretty spicy, we kept smothering our seafood in it. I’m actually ready to burn my mouth again for it, I can never get enough seafood boil!
You can visit a good amount of restaurants in one day, you just have to plan it accordingly. Food trips are one of my favorites. So many good foods and drinks out there that’s waiting to be consumed! I told my boyfriend once before “I don’t eat to live, I live to eat” and I will forever stick to that hahah. All I’m thinking about is the seafood boil now because I just relieved the experience through writing about it. I’m also about to heat up the last of our mochi doughnut for a quick morning snack. I hope you guys are enjoying these Food Alert blogs, many more on the way! STAY HUNGRY ♡
SALLY♡THINGS 