Taiyaki is a Japanese snack that’s usually the shape of a fish. The most common filling is red bean paste but I decided to try custard. These are amazing when they’re fresh and you can get them fresh from Mitsuwa Marketplace, which is located in Edgewater, New Jersey. When I saw how they made it, I was so interested because it looked so easy for them. The custard is very sweet and the outside is fluffy, soft and warm. This snack was very delicious!

Over this past weekend, I was invited to a commencement down in Richmond, Virginia. On the day of graduation, we went to this place for brunch. Since it was Mother’s Day, they had a special brunch menu. I decided to get shrimp & grits. I’ve never had grits but I heard it was really good. On the menu it was white-cheddar grits topped with bacon, shrimp and chives. My grits was so warm and soft and it melted in my mouth. The shrimp and bacon gave it the salty kick that went so well with the grits that they complimented each other. The white cheddar grits is something I would love to get again!

Elote is a Mexican street food that is a corn on a cob. It is usually served on a stick but I heard that it can be served in a cup. I had one this weekend and I am craving for another one! The corn is grilled and there are condiments that you can add to the corn; such as, mayo, Parmesan cheese, chili powder, and lime juice. For me, I wanted all those topped on to my corn. I don’t usually like corn, but after eating this, I actually started to like corn. When you get pass the corn getting stuck between your teeth, elotes are very delicious. It is spicy yet sweet and creamy because of the mayo. The Parmesan cheese gives a bit of saltiness to the corn and all those flavors blend in altogether and makes this street food very mouthwatering.

Over this weekend, I had a chance to try takoyaki. Takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack that is made of wheat flour batter and is made in a special pan. It is filled with minced/diced octopus and is then topped with tempura scraps, pickled ginger and sometimes green onion. They put a sauce that is similar to Worcestershire sauce and mayonnaise. When I first tasted the takoyaki, it was soft and had a lot of flavors popping out. The octopus was very chewy but it was delicious when the dough and the sauce. The tempura scraps were very crunchy and it wasn’t such a heavy food that filled your stomach fast.

This weekend, I went to Long Island with my family to do some shopping. My uncle suggested this Filipino Grocery Store that also had a dine-in/take-out section. This place was called Asian One Best Grocery, Inc. I’ve always heard about Filipino food but never had the chance to try it. Today, I tried one of their desserts – Halo Halo. Halo Halo is a popular Filipino dessert with mixtures of shaved ice, evaporated milk, and then you add jello, sweet beans, and fruit. It is then topped off with ube (purple yam) or ice cream. Sadly, they ran out of ube and had given us this ice cream that was orange, which I believe was perhaps Thai Iced Tea flavor, and is then topped off with pound crushed rice. This dessert was really sweet and I really liked the ube that they had on the side. Hopefully I can come back to eat some more.