Manny’s California Fresh Cafe: Move Over KFC

1612 Pacific Ave
Stockton, CA 95204

If you’re ever in Stockton and craving some fried chicken, this is the place to be. Manny’s might possibly make the best fried chicken I have ever had. Seriously. For $20, my friend and I were able to share a 6 piece meal (that includes garlic bread, potato wedges, and 2 sides) and an avocado burger. Good deal!

We didn’t even get to finish the avocado burger because we were so full from the chicken, but I can assure you they did not skimp on avocados. I think if they used Dutch bread or something crunchier the burger-sandwich would have been even better than it was.

Their potato wedge was the biggest wedge I’d ever seen. It was alright, it just tasted like a standard potato wedge…there wasn’t much seasoning on it.

One thing I have to say about this place is the service though. Know what you want to order before you get to the counter! The cashier clearly showed his displeasure to the point where it was rude when we were still making up our mind while ordering. On a good day, it’s something amusing to laugh off, but on a bad day I think you might be offended if this happened.

Despite the service, I’d still highly recommend this place for their awesome fried chicken!

Oreo Tuffles: No Bake, Piece of Cake!

Today was one of my roommate’s birthday’s and I decided to make Oreo Truffles, since her favorite cookies were Oreos! I realized even though I haven’t been eating out at as many new places as I used to, I can still share my cooking experiences…so here goes! I’ve been cooking a lot more because 1) to save money and 2) having a gas stove just makes cooking so much more fun :D. It’ll be hard when I have to go back to a electric stove back home.

Anyways, this recipe is another super easy one, which seems to be a trend with my cooking/baking ;). Only 3 ingredients are required and there is no baking involved.

Ingredients

1 package Double Stuf Oreos (you can use other flavors too)
4-8 ounces cream cheese
Dipping chocolate (Chocolate chips will work)

Wax/parchment paper

Directions

In a food processor, blend the Oreos until they are crumbs. (I used my Magic Bullet so it took a bit longer since I could only crush a limited amount of Oreos at a time).

Mix in cream cheese with the Oreo crumbs in a bowl until you get a moist “dough”. I say 4-8 oz because certain recipes call for 4oz, others ask for 8oz. I had only used 2/3 of the Oreo package and used about 2/3 of an 8oz pack of cream cheese.

Once you have the moist “dough” consistency, roll into balls, arrange on wax/parchment paper, and put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

While you’re waiting, melt the dipping chocolate (best if you use a double broiler).

Take out the balls and dip them in the chocolate and place on parchment paper. If desire, you can sprinkle some Oreo crumbs (as I did) while the chocolate is still wet. I have also seen others drizzle white chocolate over it. A trick I found for making chocolate covered balls was breaking off the two middle prongs of a plastic fork and using that to “scoop” and shake off the excess melted chocolate. Even though my Oreo balls weren’t perfect circles, the fork eliminated the problem of a messy chocolate covered ball rolling around.

Lastly, you can put the tray of Oreo truffles in the fridge (or freezer if you need the chocolate to harden faster) and you’re good to go!

Café Biere: The Lunch Buzz

3986 Adeline St
Emeryville, CA 94608

www.cafebiere.com

Since my friends and I headed off (and graduated) college, it’s always been hard to all be together in one place. Thanksgiving is the rare occasion nearly all of us can rejoice together. During that weekend, my friends and I just found our new favorite lunch happy hour. Woohoo! I must say, I don’t think I’ve been this excited about one of the places I’ve tried in awhile (Taiwan excluded).

Cafe Biere wasn’t too hard to find, though music and the hipsters may have given it away ;). People here really know how to get the fun started early! I’m already a big fan of the bottomless mimosas, but the best thing about the ones at Cafe Biere is that every round of yummy mimosas is a different flavor! How awesome is that?? My favorites of the 7 we actually go to were watermelon, mango, and strawberry. Surprisingly cucumber was quite decent as well!

It’s so rare nowadays for aw restaurant to have some specialty thing going on AND good food, but Café Biere has both! When my friends and I were deciding what to order, we couldn’t decide between calamari or mussels for an appetizer, so we asked if we could do half and half, and the server obliged :). +1 for great service! The appetizers turned out to be delicious, especially the sauce for the mussels…to die for! After seeing how good the appetizers were, I was really excited about their main dishes.

My friends and I ended up ordering a sandwich, omelet and eggs benedict (Sorry I can’t remember the exact names!). The entrees were good, but they definitely don’t compare to their appetizers. Next time I come back, I am ordering mussels again!

Overall picture: Café Biere is such a fun place to chill with friends! Their appetizers are stronger than their entrees, but still all good. While prices are fair, they give pretty big portions for their entrees. Service is great – the servers are friendly, attentive, and personable. Bottomless mimosas with different flavors…enough said. If you have a big group, beware, the place is small and there is usually a bit of a wait (we waited about 20 minutes for a group of 6).

All in all, Café Biere is truly a great place for good food, good people, good times.

p.s. We are sorry for the lack of recent posts! Vy and I have been busy adjusting to a new chapter of our lives. As Vy may have mentioned before, our posts probably won’t be as frequent as they used to be, but we will try to update when we can!

Taiwan (Day 8): Taiwan revisited

After a week in staying in Taipei, I got to go to TaiChung for the weekend with my uncle’s family (big foodies!). Like Taipei, there are also many many good places to eat here if you know where to go.

One of the first places we stopped at was QingShiTang tea cafe. This franchise started the revolution of pearl milk tea, boba, whatever you want to call it. I wouldn’t say it tastes any different than other tea places, but it’s always fun to know you’re at the first of something.

Later that night for dinner, my relatives and I headed down to Tong Hua street, which is a night market with primarily street food. As you can see, it’s just rows and rows of savory-smelling street vendor foods! The trick here to knowing what place is good is to look for the vendor with the long line :).

Oyster egg pancake. Authentic Taiwanese food!

Ordering up some barbeque stuff.

Cuttlefish and chicken thigh to be barbequed! So good. This is making me drool thinking about it =(.

What we brought back to the hotel for dinner. We just snacked on the street =).

Taiwan (Day 7): Good Eats Here I Come!

Lunch: Ootoya Japanese Restaurant

This seems to be a popular restaurant at the Taipei train station since there’s a usually a wait here. Despite the popularity, I’m not sure if I’d come back here again. Nothing in particular seemed to stand out. Not to mention the food was quite bland.

Teriyaki lotus roots (above). Chicken katsu (below).

(I apologize for the hiatus everyone! I finally have time to finish up the Taiwan eats. Hopefully it’s still enjoyable…I’m not going to lie…revisiting my Taiwan pictures makes me hungry!

Taiwan (Day 11): Taiwan revisited

On this day my aunt took me to Dan Shui, a touristy spot by a bay. It consisted of another day of eating :D.

Lunch: Fish ball place. Another very popular place. Often times people take frozen bags of this stuff to go after grabbing lunch here.

More Taiwanese sausage! This time with wild hog, which can be aggressive and they’ve been known to kill people o_o.

Basically a glorified potato chip. It wasn’t as good as it looked.

Carmelized tomatos and fruits :).

Cong Bing (below). This is not the usual green onion pancake, even though the English translation has the same name. The green onion pancake we normally see, literally translated is actually green onion oil pancake. Instead of the green onion roughed into the dough as in green onion oil pancake, this pancake is stuffed inside with layers of green onion. Still delicious!

Taiwan (Day 10): Taiwan revisited

Breakfast: Dante’s Coffee. I got french toast this time. This place has such an expansive menu, yet the majority of the items are good. I love, love the citrus tea here!

Lunch: Din Tai Fong.

This place always has a crowd. Japanese tourists often come by the busloads just to eat at Din Tai Fong. Lucky for me, Din Tai Fong is only a block or two away from where I stayed in Taiwan :P. On this particular day there was a lot more people than usual waiting outside because many of them were fans waiting for Japanese pop star, Tomohisa Yamashita, to come out.

Above: Hot and sour soup

Above: cabbage, drunken chicken, bitter melon, and dumplings (I think..I can’t remember).

Shiao Long Bao!! What I like about Din Tai Fong’s shiao long bao as compared to Shanghai Dumpling is that the skin is slightly thinner. I still really love both places!

Dessert: Black Sesame Bao

Taiwan (Day 9): Taiwan revisited

First stop: Picking up Sun cakes!

Typical day with my uncle’s family: another day consisting of going to different places just to eat yummy food :).

Second Stop: Mao Gao sausages! Taiwanese sausages are one of my favorite things to eat in Taiwan because they are so flavorful. I learned the best way to eat Taiwanese sausage was to take a bite of the sausage then take a bite of raw garlic. I’m converted!

This little sausage stand is famous because they offer a variety of unique Taiwanese sausages, such as cuttlefish sausage, lavender sausage, and one with alcohol in it!

Third stop: Getting our stinky tofu on! Stinky tofu, another authentic Taiwanese dish, can be hit or miss depending on the place that makes it. Many people can’t even stand the smell of it, but people who like it really love it. I used to hate the smell, but now the smell doesn’t bother me at all.

Fried stinky tofu (above). Steamed stinky tofu (bottom).

Taiwan (Day 6): Good Eats Here I Come!

Breakfast: Dante’s Coffee

Hot dog with lettuce??…Okay…I guess they eat hot dogs differently here.

Lunch: 東門市場 (DongMen Traditional Market)

Love this place! It’s known for their 福州魚丸 (FuZhou fish balls), which were really something special. The outer layer is minced fish while the inside is is kind of like the meat inside bao zi. You can also order the fish/meat balls to take home to cook on your own.

We ordered minced pork belly over rice, blue marlin fish ball soup, and 福州魚丸 (FuZhou fish balls). I was pleasantly surprised with the mince meat dish because I thought it’d be ground meat, but it was actually pork belly (even fattier….I mean better!)

Dinner: 山西一品刀削麵 (Shan Xi Yi Ping Dao Xiao Mien)

Another place down the street from where I stay in Taiwan. This place is known for their fried rice as well as their tomato beef noodle soup.

Word of warning though: order regular noodles, not the knife sliced kind. I didn’t know they had different options and made the mistake of ordering knife sliced noodles, which don’t go as well with noodles in a broth. If you like thick, chewy noodles check out the knife sliced noodle place at I at from day 4 in Taiwan.

Taiwan (Day 5): Good Eats Here I Come!

Lunch: 喫飯 (Chi Fan restaurant)

This is a traditional Taiwanese restaurant that hosts a lot of authentic Taiwanese dishes.  After ordering at the door (which you do before sitting down), we ended up with 5 dishes.

I have to say every dish here was good. My favorites would have to be the succulent pork belly and the 山蘇 (San Shu) vegetables. Note: If you are health-conscience you probably shouldn’t need the rice here since they drizzle pork fat over it.

Dessert was on the house. I’m not sure what kind of custard (tasted like taro) was inside but it’s coconut on the outside with custard and red bean inside. You can’t get this dessert anywhere else because they make it in the house. One cube is just the right amount for a dessert.

Afternoon Snack: 光華車輪餅 (Guang Hua Car Tire Biscuit)

In 光華 shopping district there is a very well-known car tire biscuit stand. You know it’s popular because there is always a crowd waiting to buy some of this delicious snack. Car tire biscuits (Sorry I don’t know the English name) are a type of snack where the outside is a crepe-like ingredient and the inside is either a sweet  (i.e. peanut or custard) or savory (i.e. marinated vegetables) filling.

Dinner: 師大夜市 (Shi Da Night Market) Street Vendor

(View of 師大 Night Market entrance)

If you’re ever in Taiwan, there is no doubt you will go to a night market at least once during your stay. The great thing about night markets is that you get to shop and instead of having to leave the place and find a sit down place to eat, there are plenty of snack booths selling night market specific foods. We decided to go with the barbecue stand because it smelled yummiest :).