I know I introduced some sweets last blog, but due to the high demand for sweets (mostly I crave them), I would like to deep further. Start with Paris Baguette!

Paris Baguette earned its name in the chain bakery industry years ago, but many of you never got the chance to attend! Perhaps you doubt the quality of a chain store, or maybe overwhelmed by its size and human traffic, or even you question its overrated Yelp score. But whatever options you have in mind, I am here to shatter them to the ground.

I have visited no less than 4 Paris Baguette stores across the world, each had a different style but none of each leaked out a strand of overwhelming. They all presented their simplicity in the most approachable but fancy way possible, some had bookshelves, many used artistic pictures, and overall white furnishings to welcome all the busy, tired souls who try to seek a corner for peace.

A set of trays and clips, satisfy you with any kind of sweetness you can imagine. YOU EARNED IT.

Start with 1-2 small crispy egg tarts, an appetizer of the appetizers (I know it’s a dessert). Softly bite in, the top melting caramel brings a layer of crispiness, followed by a smooth filter that’s almost liquid and ends with an endless stack of crust. Everything tastes so light until the cream and egg yolk reveal their charming flavor with a thickness that settles the overall direction of this whole tart. But that’s far from ending, a sharp sudden sweetness from caramel flows out of the surface, then quickly covered by freshly baked crust, and then slowly fades out. Every layer is linked.

Don’t rush to the next pastry just yet, take a sip of your coffee (highly support black coffee). Brush out any aftertaste, mix and left off sweets with medium-toasted coffee, you will thank me later.

Moves on to the next dish, recommend strawberry cheesecake or pineapple Brulee Pastry. You are probably no stranger to either of these choices, but Paris Baguette will refresh your mind forever.

Instead of heavy sweetness, a bite full of sugar, they focus on the expression of fruit taste itself. In both dishes, strawberry and pineapple are heavily engaged in every aspect of them. A blend flow of sweetness mixed with endless after-tasting cream (with a small flavor of fresh milk) carries out the sourness of strawberry, but it isn’t just sour, it complimented the freshness and sweetness after. Same for the Brulee, but extra sugar on top species up a sweetness a little more, not yet level of taking colors away from pineapple but owns a force of itself.

At last, plsssss give Paris Baguette a chance, you won’t regret it!

Good morning, everybody. I believe everybody has been power through the roughest midterm week, as a little treat, allow me to bring up a few hunger-fulfilling snacks in between studies and post-exam.

1. 1. Shrimp Chips – I can’t speak more about them! There are various choices at the grocery store behind the Hibachi Express/Mr. Wish, but remember, if there are Chinese/Korean characters on them, it’s a grantee soul shocking snack! Yes, yes, yes… I know what you thinking, is there any difference then regular chips? ABSOLUTELY! Different from the thin, crispy texture of potato and corn chips, shrimp chips own a texture much crunchier due to their thickness! Although they look bigger than any other chips, melting is their specialty. Exposing its full flavor, you can taste the flushing serge, vivacious shrimp, and slow-witted fishes, they create turbulences to impress all your taste buds. But weirdly, none of the flavors reacts to stick out or overwhelm, a perfect balance.                                                                   
   2. Mochi – Many of you have your favorite flavor, but for y’all who never had a chance for such a blessing, a matcha can never go wrong. A good mochi requires thin but chewy skin with the right amount of filling that won’t be oversweet or lack of sweetness, while the entire mochi doesn’t taste dry in any way. With all these strict restrictions, the final determination will be based on its sticky instead of chewy, no one should risk their life of suffocation for a mochi. If your mochi successfully passes all these examinations, then please enjoy it with a cup of hot tea or coffee! Not only does a sip of a hot beverage brush off all your aftertaste, and prepare you for the next bite, but also balances out the sweetness for good.                                             
   3. Strawberry dip chocolate – I have received two different extreme sides of comments towards this snack, either you would love it with every ounce of your soul, or you hate it with an equal amount of passion. Personally, I find them a mind-blowing matching combo for an afternoon tea snack or movie complement. The tiny bit of sourness from strawberry carries out every aspect of sweetness and warmth of chocolate out, and when you bite in, a juicy after taste of strawberry quickly follows. BUUUUUT, please don’t make a big mess with this, chocolate may get all over the table or your shirt (don’t ask why I know). Please be aware!

Hi everyone! We are one week away from spring break, let’s hang in there!

Today’s recommendation is somewhere I would hide and guard from others to avoid crowded seating, but if you promise to keep it a secret, get ready for the best dining experience ever in State College – Webster! As a book cafe, it owns shocking delicious entrees and all flavors of coffee that deserve its title of a cafe.

As you are going down the stairs, a refreshing book smell (I am addicted to this) welcomes you to this inconspicuous corner of State College. Boxes of vinyl records sit quietly by the entrance, recreating an evocative memory from the 80s. A couple of chairs are situated in the middle surrounded by laughs, conversations, and stories companies by a sense of coffee smell.

Although they hold many items on the menu, forgive me for only introducing two that are strongly recommended by an absolute fan of Webster-Ella.

“Brown Cow” – As a huge caffeine-addicted patient, I couldn’t say more about this angelic drink. First sip, the flavor of freshly baked coffee beans quickly expands softly, gently carrying all senses of yours away. But the magic has not been revealed! After a few sips, a sudden sweetness shifts over, covering the bitterness. Soon enough, you can taste the thickness of sweetness carried out by a chocolate relish, as two flavors intermingle, more and more sweetness arises after taste. Approaching towards the end, chocolate leads the savor till you almost can’t detect any caffeine. (They offer single or double shots of caffeine, but I wouldn’t encourage you to risk double shots if you prefer a sweeter taste overall.)

“The Good Earth” – Like its name, every bite is full of freshness and naturalness! I have to be honest; I have not had such a fresh cucumber for years. The crispy, juicy sliced cucumber accompanied with slight sour/spicy sauce hooks up your appetite within seconds. This sauce differs from the majority of salad sauce with a light, but hefty sourness followed by an even lighter spiciness. I can’t believe I can enjoy eating raw broccoli ever, but this sauce accomplished it perfectly! Finally, the shiniest part is no one else but Tofu. It was compressed, so the text varied to a harder to even crispy taste, but once you bite in, the softness will respond immediately. Despite how Tofu has transformed, IT’S NOT DRY! You may still taste the beans rushing in your mouth in a different manner.

And this will finish today’s blogging! Big shout up to Ella Newhouse, who discovered this wonderful cafe with me!

Hello everyone! As you know, the Lunar New Year is happening this Saturday! This coming year is the year of Dragon, which usually represents it will be a year full of uplifting events and cheerful activities. For that, the blog for today will be about a classic dish at the New Year’s dinner table – Dumplings.

Although every family will prepare various dishes, Chinese parents can never approve of a night without dumplings. THAT IS HOW IMPORTANT IT IS! Many times, a plate of dumplings contains all the joy and happiness of gathering between close friends and family. But watch out, don’t bite down the dumplings yet! If you attend a traditional Chinese party, there will be a coin secretly hidden in a dumpling’s stomach, and whoever gets that coin will receive lots of luck in the upcoming year!

With all the different combinations of dumplings, I will guide you through two different fillings that will give you a sense of festive atmosphere. First is the classic pork and Chinese cabbage (recipe), this dumpling filling has fulfilled every Chinese childhood. The tip for this filling is the thickness of the dumpling skin, you want it to be a little thicker! As you bite down the bowling-hot dumpling, the warmth of the filling passes down to every nerve of yours. Soon enough, a light flavor of fragrance from cabbage bland in the taste of pork blooms inside your mouth. As your adventure goes down, the magic of thick skin is revealed. The chewy texture encounters the soft fillings, creating layers of conflict that level up the overall experience. But the soul of dumplings is the dipping sauce! A combination of soy sauce and vinegar added a perfect sourness the clutch the ending.

The second flavor is a revolutionary product in the dumpling field – the shrimp flavor. The reason shrimp can carry the dumplings to another level is its bouncy texture and freshness. If the pork filling has a sense of meaty smell, the filling of shrimp may solve that in any aspect possible. The bounciness will remind you ocean, the world under the sea. As the shrimp jump around and activate every one of your taste buds, a mix of mushrooms, Chinese chives, and flour follows up to finish the ride with you.

And that will be all for today’s blog! Hope all of you have a great weekend and a happy lunar new year!

Along with Nittany Lion and Penn State football, Penn State Ice Cream constructed the  Penn State pride from the ashes! So today, our main character will be the reason for Penn State’s great reputation – PSU Ice Cream

For this post, I would recommend 3 different flavors of them. The best flavors of all are Strawberry and Cookie & Cream (Sorry, chocolate gang, this blog may not fit your taste) with no questions asked, and if you are caffeine addicted like me, give a shot for coffee flavor!

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For the first time at Berkey Creamery, Strawberry won my heart away. With no exaggeration, this refreshed my stereotypes of strawberry flavor ice cream. For the first taste, a minor flavor of sourness from the strawberries themself matched the sweetness from the Ice Cream just right, composing an addiction for me within seconds. In less than a second, a spoon of ice cream starts to melt, quickly spreading the coolness feeling and its taste in my mouth. As the melting process continued, a thick taste of milk and cream began to attack every aspect of your mouth, and it wouldn’t fade in minutes. Before you can express how impressed you are, another round of flavor – fresh strawberries will arrive and finish this with a perfect ending. I wouldn’t suggest a cone over a bowl of strawberries simply because I wish you may enjoy all layers of taste for it, and Penn State Ice Cream melts fast!

Now it’s Cookie and Cream’s tern, although it is a top choice for many people, it may still strike you with its over-the-top sweetness after a couple of spoons in. But the specialty of Cookie sublimates the entire ice cream to another level, it’s the crunchiness! Especially after you keep it in the fridge for a day or more, a bite of ice cream combined with crunchy cookies in between stimulates an Ice cream sandwich feeling. To pursue an even better combination, ask a cone for this flavor! Not only the cone’s crispiness but also, its bland taste will reduce the sweetness a little.

And finally, the special guest for this post – coffee. This is only targeted at all coffee drinkers and caffeine addicts, but if you can’t stand the overwhelming sweetness of other flavors, this may save you. Magically, they removed the bitterness of coffee but kept its odor, so it differs from a coffee candy or sweet coffee cake. Instead, the focus of the entire flavor weighted more on the cream itself than anything else. Due to this reason, all the sugar and coffee blocks are only complements that support the cream itself, every bite is smooth with no taste conflicting with each other.

That is all for my recommendation on PSU Ice Cream! Sorry for y’all chocolate lovers 🙂

Hi guys! Happy to see you all again after a wonderful break, it was a little too short for me, but as something to comfort our life tempo that didn’t adjust in time, treat yourself to a meal of Five Guys!

I understand the importance of a healthy clean diet, but there are always days of the month when you crave that crispy golden fries, hot chicken nuggets baked 3 minutes ago, a burger full of greasy cheese, and layers of juicy patties with your favorite seasoning on top, and a glass of iced coke. For this reason, I will introduce you to this great Five Guys located downtown only a street away from the South residence!

Just to be fair, I am not a frequent visitor to this particular store, but my roommate Lucas is an expert. Every week, he would attend at least once just to recharge his mind from busy work and to reward himself a little. His recommended menu will be a Cheeseburger (comes with double patties) with mayo, tomatoes, onions, a set of fries, and a glass of iced Coke. If you would prefer Diet Coke, I wouldn’t judge you in any way but since you are eating a burger with almost 1000 calories, a cup of Coke probably won’t damage you as much.

As I followed his instructions to order, a feast of Fast Food was quickly handed to me. I felt the warmth from the food passed through the bag to my palm, and then it flowed into my body, lighting up my appetite. When I carefully unpacked the burger, a strong smell of American Cheese mixed with the special fragrance rushed into my nose, arousing my desire for food even more. Just a bite down, the thick double layer of beef quickly fills your mouth, before you realize, the cheese on top releases its deliciousness. Just when you thought the mix of flavor was over, a tiny spice but refreshing taste of onion clutch the entire bite to another level. As you are enjoying each bite, all extra oil and greasiness are cleared by fresh tomatoes and lettuce (highly recommend myself), which allow you to continue your feast here.

Although Lucas did recommend the fries, they came too salty for me and the majority of the customers. You may adjust it with ketchup and other sauce, but I can’t promise the quality of them. (They always come in a really large portion, if you are eating with your roommate, just order two burgers and one fries).

This will be the end of this post! Please find a time in your busy schedule and reward yourself with a dinner you enjoy, YOU DESERVE IT!

Hi everyone! By this point, I believe most of you are over with mid-terms and projects. And today I may present some shocking personal opinions to you. Today I will make a few outrageous comments on Starbucks. But just before the flaming fire burns this blog down, I have to claim Starbucks exceeds many coffee shops in the current market, but it also earns the overrated title from time to time.

My criticism starts with the price. IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE! I am a huge coffee drinker, and in many places that I have visited, Starbucks overcharges the most! If you compare the price to other “fast food” coffee shops such as Dunkin Donuts, Costa, or even McDonald’s, Starbucks’s price can be registered as the highest of all here. But if you compare it with other coffee products in the same price range, you can access many different coffees with an upgrade on the quality aspect.

The second one is the quality. This one may cause many disagreements by just looking at this statement, but please let me explain myself here. Starbucks has a decent taste overall, but they are ruining it in a way! The core of every drop of coffee is the coffee itself, so when you start to add all kinds of flavors in there, it’s not an upgrade but a sabotage! I am a big fan of pure black coffee I enjoyed Starbucks’ Americano (which counted as black coffee in a way), but when I see Starbucks releasing list after list of intolerable inventions, my blood starts to boil. Just like how Italian people are rejecting pineapple on pizza with every ounce of their soul, I resist supporting these new generations of coffee. With any food, all ingredients are required to bond together to form a new taste that is balanced, and mixed but doesn’t lose its taste at the same time. But just on the opposite, this “coffee” manages to violate this rule multiple times in one sip. The taste of peach conflicts with the sweetness of the cream and then quickly blends into the bitterness of aftertaste, and now you wrap your head around it, all you have is a bite of peach, a spoon of cream, and a sip of coffee! IT DOESN’T FIT! Sure, there are many items on the menu that won the reputation of Starbucks but that doesn’t mean they won’t have some wired invention once in a while.

And the last one here is the waiting lane. This may not be accurate for all of them but surely represents a majority of them. Coffee is a soul mate of mine that supported me spiritually for years, it’s more than a dose of caffeine that I need on an exhausting morning or a tired night. If anything, I would like to consume my coffee in peace, but that can’t be the case here. Depending on which Starbucks you are at, your waiting time can be 5-10 minutes at a workday! The workers are being as efficient as they can, there are simply too many of us – the customers! With this giant crowd, a moment of relaxation will not exist.

But with all these be in said, Starbuck is not just a scam, it is popular for a reason! It got its own pros, but cons are also something on the list when you considering what coffee you are getting next time!

Good morning! As we approach the end of October, you can see the footsteps of Autumn across the campus! The pumpkins, balloons, leaf of the tree, parties for Halloween, and unsettled temperatures throughout the week all decorate this lovely season to the best of it can ever be!

As I struggled to find a new restaurant to explore for more food recommendations, my roommate suggested the Panera located at Kern Building next to the Pattee Library and West Residency. I may be an expert in many fields of food, but Panera is a well-known name that I never discovered, so I decided to give it a shot!

This particular Panera is not super big, but it still offers a variety of options, and Sandwiches, soups, salads, drinks, and bakeries mainly dominate the menu. Following the advice from my roommate, I ordered a Pick 2 including Chipotle Chicken Avocado Melt and Cream of Chicken & Wild Rice soup with a free French Baguette aside (you may choose from chips, an apple, and a piece of baguette). Even though I am a rookie at Panera, I am familiar with its drinks. Highly recommend the Papaya Green Tea and Mango Yuzu Citrus Charged Lemonade as a wonderful drink to start your morning with, but I do need to warn you they all contain a high amount of caffeine.

And bring the topic back to our main dish today. Starting with the sandwich, I asked for red onions and Country Rustic Sourdough to replace the regular Black Pepper Focaccia bread. The second I opened the package, the smell of grilled chicken mixed with fresh-baked wheat bread took over every part of my nose. Without hesitation, I took a big bite. I first sensed the crunchiness of the bread, and then avocado and mushed chicken softly landed in my mouth contradicting how crispy the bread was. And then all the taste starts to be shown. Due to the thickness of the bread this barely sensible flavor of wheat didn’t get covered by all the other strong taste ingredients, on top of that, the mushed chicken with sauce (not sure what sauce it is) set a foundation taste for this sandwich. In addition, avocado provided a fresh sense that blended into this heavy-tasting chicken, with a few red onions decorating the overall taste with a little spice. With all these layers of taste, they support each other perfectly.

Finally, my personal favorite from this order is wild Rice soup. To be honest, I don’t regularly eat creamy soup, but I did fall in love with this one. Maybe the chicken in the sandwich influenced my taste, but the soup only contained a light flavor of the chicken. Instead, it has a dominating flavor of rice, which is magical for me! As a big fan of all rice, this is the first time I have tasted rice in a creamy soup. Unlike many other soups, this soup used rice as a base and only used another flavor to emphasize to tastiness of this combination of rice and heavy cream. I don’t know if you ever put bread in your soup but trust me it’s great! The hot soup quickly warmed up the baguette and melted its shielded skin and my heart.

And that is all my first experience at Panera! Definitely highly recommend to all of you! Hope you all a happy weekend!

Believe you are all in the middle of a mid-term review or just survived through one already, all I can say is GOOD JOB! We are already halfway through our first college semester, even still confused about how but some rewards are necessary.

One of today’s recommendations can be familiar to many of you – Mr. Wish!

Mr. Wish is a boba shop with a variety of milk tea and fruit tea for you to choose from, you can detail how much percentage of sugar you want and if you prefer extra ingredients such as taro, boba, coconut, and others. The price is relatively fair compared to other boba shops around downtown, all around 4-6 dollars for small and 5-7 dollars for big cups. But the biggest advantage it has is the location! Mr. Wish is located right across the street from Schreyer’s college and south living dorms, even if you are walking from the west hall, it’s only 6-7 minutes! With this in mind, you can always get a cup of sweet boba to sit through a boring lecture, power through a review session, or a celebration of finishing your class for the day. Here is a little tip, download Snackpass on your phone and always order online. YOU GET FREE BOBA! You may stack up the credits and exchange them for free drinks, and it is cheaper online anyway!

Now I shall navigate you through the menu! First, I can’t imagine anyone disliking Boba, in my mind, there are only two types of people: Boba lovers and people who haven’t tried Boba. If you unfortunately fall into to second category, then I recommend you start your journey with Pearl Milk Tea or Black Tiger Milk. First, you can never go wrong with the classic Pearl Milk Tea, it is everything you can imagine a boba tea to ever be! In addition, you may adjust its flavor as you prefer, I would encourage you to shoot for 30% or 60% sugar so it’s not overwhelming but you still experience the sweetness you should get from a healing drink like this. The classic combo brings you a separated flavor of milk, tea, and boba itself. Then as you taste, they start to react to each other, creating chemistry that you can never expect! And now Black Tiger Milk, even I recommend this to y’all, but it isn’t for rookies! For this one, you MAY NOT change any flavor. If you do not have a sweet tooth like me, you may not enjoy it as much. Black Tiger is a drink that invades your heart with the sweetness and flavor of milk, even the boba is extra sweet! The milk tea first slides in smoothly, creating a dream-like feeling, and then the bouncy Boba drags you back to reality, but soon you will start to sense the sugar in Boba itself, all the sweets are different and unique.

And that will be everything for Mr. Wish! I hope this Boba drink can heal your mid-term and wish you preform the best you can!

Hello everyone, I believe everyone has been busy through this mid-term week, time to reward yourself with some delicious Panda Express! Today I will review some Panda Express menus and recommend a few ones that are top list in my heart.

Before I start, I have to admit Panda Express can be pricy compared to some dining hall food, but there are always a couple of days where you find yourself disgusted by dining hall food, and that is where Panda Express hits in. (Also, when you can’t find a place to eat after 8, they always open till 9:30 on workdays)

Panda Express offers three sizes of meals, I would always recommend the plate (2 sides) or a bowl (1 side) because they always give larger portions compared to places like Hibachi-San and South Asia-Market, plus they always season heavily to every side.

Now we start with entrees. Panda Express impressed me with the variety of Entress you may choose from, such as white rice, brown rice, fried rice, Lo Mein, and vegetables. From the list here I only recommend white rice and fried rice. The fried rice they provide doesn’t have a strong taste in itself which fits Panda Express’s heavy taste sides, plus you paying the same price for fried rice and white rice, so why not fried? Some of you may wonder why I choose white rice over noodles and brown rice, and here are the reasons. White rice doesn’t release much taste when you mix it with another dish, so it can reduce any overwhelming taste. For brown rice, I mean… since you are eating Panda Express, give yourself a break and enjoy the good food even if it’s unhealthy.

And now we move on to sides. The number of sides they have is scary, so today I will give you three options to consider for. First is our old classic – orange chicken! If I have to be honest, orange chicken is not real Chinese food, but that doesn’t change the deliciousness of it. Once the sourness and sweetness sauce melt your sense of taste, the crispiness of chicken will open up your appetite. When you mix it with rice, all the taste gets absorbed by rice and the taste got simpler instead of complicated. The follow up of orange chicken is fried shrimp. This fried shrimp shines with its crispy golden skin, that’s how you determine a good fried shrimp or an overcooked one. Spuriously, shrimp was seasoned just right, with right amount of salty covered with slight sweetness, the shrimp really performed its original taste out. The last one is from my roommate, the one and only – cream cheese Rangoon. As a nontraditional Chinese dish, Cream Rangoon has won the heart from everyone. The solid crispy skin with creamy cheese start to collide and mix, and slowly they became in one, kind of like how two individual fall in love. “They really complete each other” (My roommate)

And that is todays food recommendation, see you next time!

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