emily, tim & mel

昨天上班前，看了一部電影 "Bridesmaids"。 對於一個single girl approaching 30, 這部電影真是讓人覺得又好笑又噁心又激昂。除了班底幾乎都是SNL出身的以外，製片團隊也是歷年來拍出很多經典(也是我很愛的)comedy的Judd Apatow. 好笑的原因...當然就是因為片子裡頭充滿了SNL慣有的sarcastic jokes -- 所謂的型男總是過度的suave又有點自戀又有點多毛(Ewww!)，然後像拉肚子啦、牙縫裡塞東西這種必要出現的entry-level笑點讓人看了又噁心印象卻又深刻(哈哈哈)。但也許因為編劇是女性的關係，這部片子很細膩得描寫著女生之間喜歡互鬥爭寵卻又要保持表面平和的微妙關係；還有在自己的人生停滯不前時，身邊的女性朋友卻一個個結婚、生子，所要面對的除了自身的問題，還有那無形之間單身的壓力(笑)。

我也不是要主張甚麼輕熟女或是女人自強的狗屁，只是單純就Comedy而言，我很喜歡。Lighthearted and funny.. best of all, it's still a happy romantic comedy!

這篇blog的title是三個人名，Emily是指台中的 Sweet Emily, 而Tim & Mel 則是指最近幾個月在台北東區竄紅的法式甜點店 "Tim & Mel".

Emily真是個好名字(大笑)。從我在high school的時候，Emily就已經是美國的baby名排行榜常勝軍了，進年來英國也跟進，讓"Emily"可能是全英語系國家最popular的女孩兒名了! 

在台中這家Sweet Emily甜點店是老姐帶給我的。盒子的外型很漂亮，是珍珠白的，正中央的藍色貼紙有點點Photoshop template-ish (I'm sure my designer friends would agree), 但整體來說還算有質感。我很期待的打開發現裡頭竟然是6顆愛心的巧克力! 原本我以為會是馬卡龍的說!!!?!

而且每顆巧克力上頭都灑上金粉，再加上盒子的內襯也是亮銀色的，我看得好眼花撩亂。說實在裡頭有把我嚇到了。

但是，這竟然是個令我印象深刻的甜品。每個巧克力裡頭包覆的竟是一顆愛心的馬卡龍。甜上加甜! 但可惜的是我只對草莓口味有印象，因為當每一個都是這麼的甜，之後吃起來的味道都差不多了。外型可愛、口感也不錯、再加上包覆了巧克力的關係，馬卡龍也相對比較保濕。不過破表的甜度應該是很多台北女生不能接受的。

Tim & Mel這一盒馬卡龍是我某天下班後去敦化誠品逛的時候，順道pick up 的點心。

黑色底&簡單的燙銀字的盒子走極時尚簡風，和店裡的風格很搭。是東區貴族2代會喜歡去的店(哈)。店裡頭也有賣S. Pellegrino的氣泡果汁，賣的也比agnès b L.P.G 便宜(廢話)。那天去的時候他們在推FB打卡馬卡龍買五送一的活動；我有個不打卡的policy, 因為我不懂為什麼要把你的行蹤公告給200多個人?! 但是在馬卡龍的誘惑下，我破戒了! 

 

我挑了咖啡口味、藍莓、黑醋栗、萊姆、芒果、開心果這六個口味。店員還跟我說，因為他們家的馬卡龍比較胖，所以第六個放不進盒子，要用小袋子包給我。不過當天天氣頗熱的，卻沒有付小冰塊，我一邊走在回家的路上一邊擔心那顆落單的咖啡馬卡龍。

Tim & Mel的內餡是以custard cream為主的，若吃習慣有混著chocolate ganache的口感的話，會像我一樣不習慣。畢竟我是習慣吃到有綿密紮實的ganache的馬卡龍愛好者。

味道來說都中規中矩，但咖啡口味苦到我覺得自己在喀咖啡豆(大笑)。藍莓和白色的那一顆(萊姆?)我特意放在盒子裡頭冰在冰箱裡多兩天，果然拿出來後皮Q的跟口香糖一樣，不好吃。原本馬卡龍就不建議放在open space太久，內餡的水分會跑到外殼裡頭，讓口感變Q變硬，不好吃。

不過在Tim & Mel的名片上頭有說馬卡龍可以回溫30分鐘，不過我倒覺得這樣會有點太久了，畢竟他們是以cream的內餡為主，如果回溫太久，cream的口感會變得溫吞，不好吃吧?! 10分鐘tops我覺得...

Tim & Mel的馬卡龍沒有impress我，不過我覺得這只是他們賣的一小部份的餐飲，其他的鹹食和甜點，我還是會有興趣去試看看的。

最近不知道是怎麼搞的，很愛聽幼稚的Punk Rock. The Click Five, All American Rejects, Fallout Boy還有the one and only Greenday都老在我的iTune裡頭跑來跑去。不知道你是不是還是一樣?

The Reason by The Click Five


Standing still
I'm waiting round to see if this is real
Cause I feel like I'm asleep
I'll open up my eyes
Cause you might be the type
Of girl that makes me dream when I'm awake

Could it be that maybe it's our first mistake
And baby that's alright
It's crazy how we lost ourselves tonight
There's a reason why they say that we should give it time
But time is not enough
And that's the reason why
When you're young you fall in love

Time & Mel (homepage)
Sweet Emily (homepage)

穴場

在日文 有個字叫做"穴場"....
這是我很久以前在看Viva Viva V6這個莫名其妙的美食節目學到的
根據Infoseek的字典定義是: 人のあまり知らない、いいところ。
就是沒有人知道的好地方

很難在台灣可以找到一家餐廳是真正屬於這種感覺的 我個人是怪罪於行動上網太過方便以及consumerism的相機太過唾手可得... 素人餐廳或是食物review網路上多的不得了 好餐廳通常都是充斥著從四面八方來"取材"的網友... 想要在自己的部落格留下一個戰績: 我終於和OO去吃了XX餐廳啊!!

上個禮拜 和老姐相約台中 哈利帶我們去吃了在公益路小巷子內 一家偽裝成民宅的的瑪麗亞 義式料理...
主廚的"瑪利亞"十分豪爽 煮一煮菜 還會出來看個電視 休息一下 和客人大聲聊天

那天我們點的是menu上的おまかせ
也許是當天剛剛好買了和蝦子 當天的菜色: 海鮮湯 墨魚麵 (超讚) 蒜味蛤蠣麵 和奶油risotto都幾乎都是以這兩樣食材為主
蛤蠣之新鮮!
我在嚐地一口的海鮮湯的時候 我嚐到了海洋的味道...

我覺得瑪麗亞的每一道菜都很rustic 一點都不做作也不會感到過度精緻或裝飾
我很喜歡這種感覺

享受美食本就應該是這樣 不需要太過矯飾
也因為美食當前我無法忍受 通常我都沒有辦法花10秒鐘為它拍照
可以的話 我只想要好好的讓他們在我舌尖展現他們的magic

我朋友說我"愛吃" 簡直就是老太婆的行為
我說吃美食你才能appreciate 甚麼叫做食物 in turn 你才能做出更好的美食..!

這家店很棒 總結
很美味&新鮮的食物 + 有種在家隨興的氣氛 + 在兩個很乖的高中生可以做到的好服務 = super delish..

Nordcap

I've always wondered about this coffee shop and I finally tried it today. The shop is designed like a big gift box wrapped with flowy ribbons. It's actually a complex, called "Moving Box". There are a total of three different shops: in the corner occupies Nordcap, a coffee shop, to the east, a bakery shop, Moving Box and a steakhouse, 洛克牛排.

This is obviously an installation art trying to catch people's attention on 公益路 where every inch of the road stands a restaurant, a coffee shop, a patisserie or eatery of some sort.

I ordered my usual choice of coffee, Latte, which only cost me NTD$50. I wasn't exactly expecting espresso with that price, so as far as I was concerned, if it's got caffeine in it to wake me up, it'll do. With the coffee, we ordered a chocolate marble cake, which tasted really.. well, marble-like.

The good thing about this corner coffee shop is that the whole side of the shop is covered with a big pane of glass window, so it actually looks bigger than it does from a spatial prospective. It also allows coffee-shop hypocrites like me to look out the window pretending not to give a shit about the world (while the pedestrians can do the same thing to me).

Overall, I think this coffee shop is OKAY.. like, if you really can't find a Starbucks nearby and coffee is all you crave. Except for the deco that really was wroth writing about, I find the food just mediocre, and probably was manufactured from a factory in 三重 and distributed to 700 different coffee shops in Taiwan. (Okay, I'm sorry, I don't think there are actually that many coffee shops in Taiwan.. after subtracting the number of Starbux).

Anyways, nice to have tried it though.

Stumbling upon Las Vegas

I like Taichung, for its gourmet food, designer brand shops and mobbish people.

Last weekend, a casual sunbathing in Miaoli led me and Harry down to Taichung searching for food after two hours of frying on the beach. We were in a mood for American food, burgers, fries and sodas. Since we allowed ourselves in developing a taste for finer foods, the ol' Colonal and McDonald just simply wouldn't do. So in the spirit of exploration, we tried our luck in the vicinity of SOGO Department Store. And indeed, we stumbled upon Lusso Restaurant.

The whole restaurant's image is based on Las Vegas casino, it's not hard to see, cuz the restaurant logo gave it away.

It even says Nevada down at the bottom of the business card.
Not hard to miss the connection.

The bar, with music video of Moby and The Verve playing on the screen, I think it'd be cozy at night.

The velvet chairs, comfy.

The wallpaper, is this Victorian? Gothic? I've no idea.

The waitress was cute. She sat in the empty chair while taking orders from us. Really cool.

The stack of tissue paper was already present when we were seated. It wasn't till later that I realized why the whole stack.

The food was awesome! H ordered the beef patty burger, and I ordered the Jack Daniel Chicken burger. The beef patty wasn't actually really authentic, because it was actual a STEAK sandwiched in the buns! The fries tasted really good too. Hot and freshly fried, not greasy at all. Salty but not overwhelming. I didn't need any ketchup to finish the fries on its own.

My Jack Daniel burger was huge. I had a hard time finishing it on my own. The chicken was sauteed to exact tenderness, yet the skin was crispy.The sauce was sweet and it glazed nicely on the chicken. Both burgers were super juicy and that's why we needed the tissue paper, to wipe our hands and mouths.

This is H's order of beef burger.

This is my Jack Daniel chicken burger.

Lusso would definitely be much more relaxing and enjoyable at night. There was a section closed off when we were there. It probably will open up at night since on the door was a poster of party invitation scheduled on June 13.. hey, that's this Saturday.. HRRMMMMMMM...