Return to the Market

After what seemed like a long absence from the Farmers' Market, Sidney and I made our return. Turns out, our absence was longer than we thought. When we arrived, there was no one else around.

Turns out that in our aforementioned absence, the times for the Market changed from 0700 - 1100 to 0800 - 1200. We knew this time change would happen, but apparently we didn't quite know when. Oh well, we just sat in the van for a while and waited.

When the Market finally did open, it was time.

Oh yes, it was time. It had been a long time since I had had one of these breakfast burritos, and it was time.

It was satisfying on a level so satisfying that it was satisfying to feel that kind of satisfying satisfaction.

(Un)fortunately, we didn't quite sell out of cookies. Oh well, guess I have to get rid of this thing.

Better drink some milk to wash down the evidence.

There was also this cookie that was suspiciously missing half.

But a missing half of a cookie was alright, because we were headed to dinner at a new restaurant. Now, this restaurant isn't exactly new, but I've never been there before. It's a place I've been wanting to try for awhile now, and today I would finally make good on that wish.

For the longest time, I assumed that Encore Cafe was a "regular" cafe. You know, the kind of cafe that serves coffee and breakfasty stuff. The only thing they have on their exterior is a simple black and white sign that reads "ENCORE CAFE." There isn't any decoration or theme to speak of. However, I recently learned that Encore Cafe was not a regular cafe but instead an Asian Fusion restaurant. I was now all the more intrigued. I'm also not entirely sure what Asian Fusion means, but I was pretty sure that I would like it. 

Let's find out. 

There are certain things that, given the opportunity, simply must happen. One of them is drinking milk when eating cookies. Another one is ordering calamari as an appetizer if it's available. It was, so we did. 

We also got some dumpling/potsticker thingies. Both were very good. They also had some tasty sauces to go with them. 

Also, being an Asian restaurant, I took advantage of the opportunity to order a mango bubble tea. 

Now, the term "bubble tea" is really becoming a sort of colloquialism for me. I say this because there wasn't a drop of tea in this thing. It was really a mango smoothie. But that doesn't matter. What really matters is that it had those tapioca "bubbles" in it. You know, they really don't have that strong of a flavor, but for some reason I really like them. It's weird.

For my actual dinner, I ordered the beef teriyaki. It's served in this bamboo food vessel thingy. Interesting. 

It was stuffed full of beef, mushrooms, rice, onions, and other tasty yumminess. 

I was also warned by Encore veterans that if I wanted to dump it out to do so away from me. Apparently, it's so full that if you try to dump it toward yourself, it will end up not only on your plate but also on your shirt, you pants, and likely on the floor. Not wanting to even take risk, I elected to just eat it straight out of the bamboo.

What I can say is that they offer the option to make it extra spicy or not. I chose the "not" option. It was so good, I was actually surprised. I wasn't thinking it would be bad or anything, but when something tastes this good it's always a surprise. I mean, this was well above the restaurant average in terms of taste (and presentation, too). I mean, it was like the biscuits and gravy at WheatFields, the gyros at Aladdin Cafe, the "Bill Self" at 23rd Street Brewery, the butter chicken at Bay Leaf, or...

...yes, the ice cream at Sylas and Maddy's. Seriously, this is the best ice cream there is. I'm reminded of this every time I eat it. And this brings me to another example of an unbreakable rule of the universe. Rule No. 1: "When eating dinner on Mass, one must get Sylas and Maddy's for dessert." So it is, and so we did.

Today, it was just a little bit extra special...

In case you couldn't tell what that beautiful thing was in the background, here: 

And in case you still didn't quite get a good enough look at it, here:

The Audi R8 really is one of the prettiest cars. It may not be the fastest or best sounding car, but it sure is attractive. 

More Free Food???

This pretty much sums up my life. A brotein bar and a box of tissues. Especially during allergy seasons, in which I full participate. Looks like I've got all I need!

When I got to school, I found some more free street food. I was on a role! Granted this was in a stairwell and not actually on the street, but, eh, close enough.

I again decided to leave it. I have to watch my figure!

Upon arriving in my chemistry lab, I was excited to see that we had a guest TA this week!

After that 3 hours of mercy, I replenished my crazed brain with some more brotein.

When I got home, I found this:

I was very impressed by someone's ability to construct a sunflower out of bread. I was also very thankful that someone had constructed a sunflower out of bread. Moreso, I was thankful that someone had made bread. And left it at my house. So I could eat it. And I did.

With butter.

I also had half a cookie because cookie.

Oh, and some lemon heads because sugar.

Finally, it was time for some real food! I got some macaroni and cheese...

...and ate some more bread with it!

The parts with the  sunflower seeds (how fitting!) was especially good!

There were many more bites that looked like this, rest assured.

Dinner Burritos Again!

It was an early morning brotein bar kind of day. Getting to class by 0800 really isn't a lot of fun, but having my brotein bars by my side sure make it better.

That's actually all I ended up eating for most of the day. Sometimes I just get in this groove at school and I either forget to eat or I don't have time. Either way, that means that I can get huge at dinner! Let's begin.

I started off with some fancy European style butter (whatever that is).

I put a generous amount in a pan...

...and invited some friends.

Pretty soon, these friends were all getting along so great. It was like they were born to be one.

After the addition of my secret ingredient (heavy cream), they were done. Let's recap the dinner burrito steps from yesterday.

First, dump some meat on there.

Then eggs.

Then cheese.

Finally, wrap it up.

It's that easy! Today, I decided to cut it in half to try to get a better presentation. I'll say that worked pretty well:

And that was that. I ended up not getting as huge as I thought. Sometimes when you go so long without eating, you just don't feel like eating that much. Stomach shrinkage, curse you!

Dinner Burritos

Being a Wednesday, I naturally  and instinctively headed to Sprouts. Wednesday is a magic day at Sprouts. It's the day that all of their sales from the previous week overlap with their sales for the upcoming week. That means that there is always something good to be had for a relative bargain. Today, I decided to honor a former Royal and go with some breakfast sausage, aptly named "Country Breakfast."

I also got some lemon head-esque candies. I mean, they just look so lemony and refreshing!

For dinner, I wanted to make breakfast burritos. But the thing is, if they're for dinner, aren't they now dinner burritos? While contemplating this profound philosophical food conundrum, I went ahead and threw some chorizo in one pot and some eggs in another.

I scrambled the eggs while come cheddar cheese skulked in the background.

I also had gotten these big tortillas from Sprouts.

Their appearance reminded me of Chipotle tortillas, so they must be good, right?! I was about to find out. Here is how to build proper dinner burrito:

First, dump some chorizo on the tortilla.

Then, throw some eggs on there.

Finally, pile on plenty o' cheese!

Wrap it up and you're good to go! Now, I knew beforehand that I couldn't accurately determine the goodness of such a burrito by only eating one. I came up with the perfect remedy for this situation.

Just look at all that wonderfulness in there:

And because this wasn't enough gains or carbs for me, we had some dessert. I'm still not sure if I had enough carbs, but take a look and decide for yourself.

We had pie, ice cream, and milk. And as I expected, you don't think that this is quite enough carbs. Alright, then. I can do you one better.

Whipped cream! Not only am I adding more carbs, but also some more fat, too! What could be more perfect?!

Unfortunately, the above photo was not representative of what only I would eat. I would only get half. But that's okay, because that's still a lot of carbs.

But was it enough?