My Day at Carytown 🌶️🍫🍜🛍️

Today was the first time I ever visited Carytown. I had a fun and memorable time there. We went to the spice and chocolate shop at first. In the spice shop, I smelled every jar that I could put my hand on. My favorite spices were probably the garlic ones and the cocoa power. I was so sorry that I did not cook a lot so I did not buy anything from the spice shop. Same things in the chocolate shop because I just do not like chocolate. Then we went to a Vietnamese restaurant, which was my favorite time during the trip. The restaurant was so beautiful with all the decorations that remind me about Vietnam, the lotus, bicycles,... I had broken rice with grilled pork, which was my favorite dish for breakfast in Vietnam. Fun fact, we actually do not eat broken rice or bread (the "banh mi" that some of us had today) for lunch and dinner, just breakfast. The food was very authentic, even though the size was a little bit smaller than it supposed to be, but that was fine for me. Then I walked around with Lexie and discovered something I have not known before, Goodwill. I did not know how I had no idea that Goodwill exists. But that was a fun and helpful discovery, now I know where to shop for clothes next time. Before we went back we had some Indian appetizer platter, including fried sweet potato, ground pork(?), and fried dumpling stuffed with peas and pork. I likes the food, even though my friends did not really enjoy it. Also, I a chocolate cupcake with mocha cream. It was delicious, not to sweet, but has a light coffee flavor and soft. I will definitely visit this place in the future.

Favorite place Carytown

Even though I didn't buy anything in there but I just bought a glasses. But my favorite place was Vietnamese food I forgot the name but I really love that food. And I want to come back there just want to eat that food again.

eating one's way down the street

We kicked off this month by a trip to Carytown~we sniffed our way through Penzey Spices and loaded up our baskets at a chocolate shop.  And then!

We went to one of the loveliest restaurants to which I've been.  Every detail in the place was exquisite.

My yummy coffee slowly dripping down into the sweet cream.

Beautiful chopsticks.

I amused myself by swirling the peppers and pretending that I had a miniature koi pond at my place setting.

After trying samples of Indian food, something sweet was needed~so we popped into Carytown Cupcakes.

Some very happy palettes and tummies.

Chloe~our resident speed eater.

Decisions, decisions.

We made it back just prior to the rains.

My little stash~looking forward to trying these new spices.

Some baking chocolate and a spring break treat.

Today's food

Each day had been a grat day for me. Because we didn't something new every day and that's really cool for me, Also the food are really good and the cookies are good too. 

those are some of the pictures below....

Caramel

You know it's going to be a good day when there's this much butter stacked on the counter!

To make caramel sauce:

Melt:

4 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons white sugar
2 Tablespoons light brown sugar
1/3 Cup dark brown sugar
(If you don't have all these sugars, you can just use one form of the brown sugar)

Boil for two minutes.

Add 1/2 Cup cream
Splash of vanilla
Dash of salt

Boil for two minutes.

You may serve immediately or it will last in the refrigerator for a week.  It's delicious drizzled on ice cream, eclairs, popcorn, waffles, oh~just about anything!

No-main-course Day: Just Desserts and Appetizers 🍪🍨🥐🥘

Today' s menu was filled of sweet and delight. We made cookies in the morning and appetizers in the evening
1. We had a fest of dessert this morning. There were spritz cookies, coconut cookies, cream puffs with whipped cream, raspberry and caramel sauce to go with ice cream. At first I even thought I was going to have a sugar shock but I did not, instead I even ate so many cookies and cream puffs. I loved the combination of the whipped cream and the cream puff. The combination tasted like the cream puff I often had back in Vietnam, which was once or twice a week since I lived next to a bakery. Also, I just figure out that my nick name (the name that my family use to call me at home) means cream puff (we call cream puff "su su" in Vietnamese, which is also my name). My most favorite dessert was the spritz cookies that we baked. The dessert was a bomb! They were not too sweet but had a taste of butter, definitely an ideal dessert for a party and it was easy to make too! I liked the coconut cookies too, but not with the jelly beans on top and I wished it had more coconut flakes on it. Overall, this morning I was so satisfied with my stomach.
2. The evening I was also satisfied as much as in the morning. We cooked food that I had never heard of or tasted before, and they turned out to be delicious. We had cheese stuffed garlic knot, pretzel strawberry square, bacon and cheese dip, and pasta with cheese ball, cucumber and tomato. I tried everything but the pretzel strawberry square because I could not eat anymore sweet food. My favorite was the cheese stuffed garlic knot. It was the perfect finger food to start a meal with. It smelled good and tasted awesome. I liked the feeling of the rich and melting cheese stick in my mouth whenever I took a bit of the pastry. It was easy to do also, so if I had time in the future, I would definitely make it again for my family. I also liked the pasta and the cheese-bacon dip. The pasta gave my mouth a different, refreshing flavor after I had tasted so many sweet food. I liked the dip both because of the cute, mini, crunchy bread go with the dip and the rich-sweet taste of cheese and bacon in the dip.
At the end of the day, I was so unsure about going to dinner because I was too full and could not eat anything more. Can't wait for the field trip tomorrow!!!

Creme Brulee

The torch whines
with a slight hiss
blows it's cries
onto the pudding of egg whites
The sugar cries back
Silently the grains melt
into the arms of other
sweet comforters
The hissing stops and the pudding cools
The excited child lifts up her spoon
She b r e a k s the bond between
heat
and
s
  w
     e
       e
         t
           n
             e
               s
                 s
The delicious aroma of the desert arises
Unlike anything she has ever tried
One eye glued shut
the other pEeKiNg
she takes a bite
So good she must take her seat
Inhaling the product
Both eyes now glued SHUT
"That creme brulee was good as ....hugs."