Matcha Green Tea Waffles [Recipe]: Super easy!

I finally tried making waffles! Waffles are one of my favourites - either for breakfast, afternoon snack, or dessert! Recipe below!

Ingredients

I used the Hamilton Beach Waffle Maker. It's very easy to use, and extremely easy to clean as well. Put in batter, flip, wait, flip, done!

Matcha Green Tea Waffles

Ingredients: 

1 egg

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup milk (I used Flax Delight)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp matcha powder
2 tbsp sugar
Topped with: Raspberries + Nestle Chocolate Syrup

Procedure:

1. In a bowl, mix together sifted flour, baking powder, matcha powder, and sugar thoroughly.

2. Make a hole in the middle and crack in the egg and pour in milk. Mix it until you get a smooth batter.

3. Depending on your waffle maker, you may want to butter the inside. Heat up the waffle maker and when ready, place 2 scoops of batter in the centre. Close the lid, wait for a minute, flip it over, and wait another 2 minutes. The waffle should be crispy on the outside, while soft in the inside.

4. Serve with chocolate syrup (or maple syrup) with fruits of your choice.

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Kiss Me Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder [Product Review]

Green tea is not only one of my favourite teas, but also one of my favourite flavours to go to when it comes to bubble tea, ice-cream, mochi, etc. Also, whenever there's the option of matcha, I'd always choose matcha because it has a much stronger and smoother green tea taste when compared to "green tea". This is because matcha is a finely grounded up powder of the leaf, so when you use matcha, you actually have the whole leaf, rather than just the brewed water. Believe it or not, there are many different grades of matcha, depending on the location of the leaves, the grounding technique, oxidation, etc. Today, I'm going to talk about a matcha green tea powder that I've tried - Kiss Me Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder.

Kiss Me Organic Matcha

Matcha green tea is said to 

• be high in antioxidants (specifically 137 times the antioxidants of brewed green tea for this one)
• detoxifies the body
• improve cholesterol (decreasing the "bad" LDL cholesterol)
• be a metabolism boost - believe to contain a thermogenic component
• increase energy and focus - yes, there is some caffeine in matcha, but apparently it also contains relaxing properties which counterbalances the caffeine effect (Buddhist monks drank it to remain focussed and calm during long hours of meditation!) 

And specifically this one, it is 

• USDA certified organic - leaves are lab-tested to ensure the purest form and that they're free from pesticides, herbicides, harmful fertilizers

Kiss Me Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder comes in resealable bags of 113g of matcha powder. In addition, you also get a downloadable recipe book that includes a variety of recipes including cocktails, smoothies, muffins, truffles, cookies, dips, curry, soups, and the list goes on! 

Now, I know some of you may be reading this and doubting all the benefits that I've listed. (I did too, because they sound too good to be true). However, do you really need all of them to be true or to have scientific evidence in order to love matcha? Personally, I think if just 1 of the above reasons is true, then that's already enough. With so many benefits, so many recipes, and the unique flavour, there is no reason to not love matcha. 

Here's the matcha latte I made, super easy!

matcha green tea latte

1 tablespoon of matcha green tea powder

melt the powder with hot water (~4 tbsp)

steam 3/4 cups of milk (hot!)

pour into your cup along with foam

sprinkle with powder

drizzle with honey (optional)

Kiss Me Organic Matcha green tea powder brought a rich, authentic taste into my cup of latte. The aroma from the powder is strong, yet pleasing. There is also a slight bitterness that comes along with it, so do add some honey if you don't like that. Personally, I like that slight taste of bitterness. This was so easy and so deliciously good! You can also easily customize the amount of matcha green tea powder to your liking. 

Since I couldn't do any fancy latte art......

I also made matcha green tea waffles from scratch! 

Kiss Me Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder is exclusively available on Amazon.ca ($29 CAD) and Amazon.com ($25USD). 

Disclaimer: I was provided with the product for the review purposes. The opinions and content of this post are entirely mine.

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Sushi California (Broadway): Great rolls, but not great for long conversations

Every time I pass by Sushi California, whether it's 12pm, 4pm or 7pm, it's always packed. Hence, I just had to see what it was all about as I knew the previous restaurant at this same location had very little business since that area has many restaurants already. 

I went right when they opened and so we were seated quickly. Upon skimming through their menu, I already noticed why it may be so popular - their prices are very reasonable. I decided to get the Crunch House Roll and the Box Sushi. 

Crunch House Roll consisted of crab meat, avocado, tuna, salmon, wrapped and deep fried $4.50

Box Sushi had smoked salmon, shrimp, scallop, avocado and sliced lemon $4.95

Crunch House Roll and Box Sushi

The Crunch House roll was definitely phenomenal. Everything tastes better when deep friend. Outside was nice and crunch, while inside was filled with soft yummy crab meat.

The Box Sushi may look nice with the slice of lemon, but I didn't want to eat the peel so I had to take that off one by one. There was also very barely noticeable scallop. This is the first ever box sushi I've had and while I do agree that the presentation looks very nice, the chunk of rice is proportionally too much, as shown below.

Crunch House Roll and Box Sushi

Yes, there's a small bit of avocado in the middle of the rice (it's not wasabi).

Box Sushi

Crunch house roll  

Add caption

The Assorted Sashimi platter was beautifully presented.

Assorted Sashimi $14.95

Takoyaki is great for sharing as an appetizer, but I felt like these takoyaki here are small.

Takoyaki $3.95

By the time when we were done and on our way out, the restaurant was already full and had people waiting for seats! 

For such unique and creative rolls at super reasonable prices, I'd definitely come back here. Not to mention that it's super convenient and transit-friendly! However, I do not recommend this place if you're looking for a long chat with a friend or date, because they'll have people waiting for your seats. Nevertheless, you could go across the street to Marulilu Cafe or across Cambie street to Moii Cafe to carry on the conversation!

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Sushi Garden: Affordable, wide variety, but be prepared to wait!

When I talk about sushi in Burnaby, I hear Sushi Garden a lot. Hence, I had to go see what it was all about. The pictures and this post will actually reflect my second visit there as I did not take any pictures on my first visit. Yes, I've already returned to Sushi Garden once. If you do plan to meet up with friends at Sushi Garden, be sure to clarify which location as there are 2: one is right across from Metrotown Shopping Centre (4635 Kingsway) and the other is on Lougheed Highway (4269 Lougheed Hwy). Both times, I visited the one on Kingsway as it at a more convenient location for me. 

We got there on a Monday at around 6:30pm and it was packed! We waited for about 30 minutes before we got a seat for 2. As we got to look at the menu while we were waiting, we already knew what we wanted.

Recently, I've discovered spicy salmon sashimi and have been craving it since I last ate it. This is like a Korean x Japanese dish as the spiciness comes from the kimchi that the sashimi is mixed with. I loved it as it was very appetizing.

Spicy Sashimi $8.95

Their combos are super good deals as for less than $10, you get a roll and the common nigiri. In this dynamite combo, the nigiri included 2 salmon, 1 tuna, and 1 ebi (shrimp). As you can see, the piece of salmon sashimi is quite big, but as for quality and freshness, it was mediocre - like in typical average sushi restaurants reflecting the price.

Dynamite Combo: dynamite roll + nigiri $8.30

Now there is one more piece in that picture that is not included in the combo that I had ordered separately. Yup, that is the tobiko (fish roe) with quail egg.

Tobiko with quail egg $1.50

Even though I'm not a fan of fish roe, I wanted to try this combination with quail egg. Basically, you should eat this in one bite because you want to break open the yolk in your mouth and have the creamy yolk mix with the popping tobiko. I think this is a rather nice combination as they both complement each other to give a unique texture. 

I can see why Sushi Garden is rather popular. At a rather central location, their prices are super affordable and they have a wide variety of sushi catering to everyone's favourite sushi and rolls. 

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Cafe de l'Orangerie: Japanese-style Spaghetti (Great First Date Location)

A hidden gem as it is located on West 73rd Ave in the residential areas, so I had not even heard of this French x Japanese cafe when my friend suggested it. French x Japanese reminds me of Moii Cafe, but that one specializes in crepes while this one features Japanese-style spaghetti, which is spaghetti with a much lighter sauce as compared to Italian sauces.

Creamy Tomato Spaghetti may look a bit plain as you can't even really tell if there's sauce or not, but trust me, it tasted very creamy (though not overwhelming). If you're a fan of creamy spaghetti like me, you'll enjoy this dish!

Creamy Tomato Spaghetti $9.80

Ponzu is water-based citrus sauce, kind of like vinegar. I know that ponzu is often used in Japanese cuisine, so I wanted to try it with the pork on rice. The pork was tender and I really liked it. The sauce was very appetizing and I loved the citrusy tinge that it brought to every bite.

Onion ponzu pork: pork sauté on rice with onion ponzu sauce $9.95

A popular item on their menu is the masago de creamy spaghetti. Even though this one is a creamy pasta with the same spaghetti, it wasn't as creamy as their Creamy Tomato Spaghetti. It had bits of seafood and masago mixed within the noodles, which created a unique texture to it.

Masago de creamy Spaghetti $9.80

A common Japanese dish, but one that you won't get bored of as I would call it a classic - chicken teriyaki on rice. It came with some fries and greens.

Chicken teriyaki on rice $8.50

When I saw chocolate fondant on the menu, I really wanted it because of 3 main reasons: 1. I love cutting open a dessert and having chocolate flowing out, 2. it was really cold in the restaurant and I wanted something warm, and 3. I wanted to see if it'd actually take 15 minutes (as the menu stated). 

All their desserts are made in the house, so I guess I can understand why it'd take 15 minutes to make this one. However, I was hoping it'd just come in a plate instead of a cup so that I could see the chocolate flowing out. It was nicely baked, but not the best I've had. 

Chocolate Fondant $4.95

I love matcha and I just had to try the matcha green tea pudding parfait (what a mouthful!). It came with a big scoop of ice-cream, sweetened red beans, and also my favourite mochi. So, basically it consisted of many things that I liked.

Matcha green tea parfait pudding $6.95

Even though this picture doesn't look very appetizing, but it shows the green tea pudding, which was very tasty as there were two different layers! I thought all the elements (ice-cream, pudding, mochi, and red beans) all went very well together. I would definitely choose this dessert over the chocolate fondant.

As it isn't in a busy location, this place wasn't busy when we were there. We got to stay as long as we wanted and it's a really nice cafe to meet up with friends to chat. However, we couldn't stand the temperature in the cafe - it was really cold! I don't know why, but they really should have cranked up some heat. I think the room temperature is just as important to guests because we couldn't enjoy the food or ourselves fully as the coldness was constantly in our minds. Also, I can't think of why they're a French x Japanese cafe other than the French name. Nevertheless, I'd definitely like to  come back to have some more Japanese-style spaghetti. 

P.S. I think this is a great first date location! Nice, cute, quiet, and affordable yummy food! Did I mention the tempting dessert too? :)

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Modern City Chinese Restaurant 新上海酒家: water, please!

Near the corner of 41st and West Boulevard, this is a popular location. Though the restaurant has changed numerous times until finally it's a Shanghai restaurant now. Of course, the star of a Shanghai restaurant has got to be the xiao long bao (小笼包) - dumplings with soup inside. I'm always afraid of burning my tongue because the soup inside stays hot for quite a while!

xiao long bao 小笼包 ($5.50 for 6)

I really enjoyed the xiao long baos at this restaurant as the skin was thin and the soup was warm.

烧卖

Siu mai (烧卖) are one of my favourite Chinese dim sums. The presentation of this dish, in my opinion, was horrible. Why did they put it in such a big bamboo basket? The dumplings are already small, but that just makes them look smaller, unappetizing, and not worth my money.

Rice cakes with meat and vegetables in soy sauce 上海炒年糕 ($9.98)

Those who know me knows I love chewy rice cakes. I love Shanghai style fried rice cakes so I just had to order this dish. I loved how the vegetables were entangled with the rice cakes and the pork was perfect. However, one thing really wrong - way too salty. I really wonder if they've forgotten and put salt in it twice! Water, please! 

Braised gluten with mushrooms $5.95

When I first saw "braised gluten" on the menu, I did not know what exactly gluten looks like as I thought it was just some kind of protein found in wheat. Well, that's what gluten looks like. As a food itself, it is better known as wheat gluten and you can get it by washing dough with water until all the starch is gone. Apparently, this is often used as a meat substitute due to its texture. It was somewhat chewy and juicy as it has absorbed the sauce. This dish is a popular in Shanghai restaurants and is served as a cold appetizer. 

steamed dumplings

I haven't gotten around to updating this post so it was a while since I've taken these pictures. Unfortunately, I've forgotten the name and what exactly this last dish was. Some sort of steamed dumplings, and from the picture, I'm guessing one was shrimp and the other veggie. 

Modern City Chinese Restaurant is a pencil menu, in which you just check off your orders from a piece of paper. Overall, they did not fail in the star of a Shanghai restaurant - the xiao long bao (pork dumplings with soup) were great. Other than that, their other dishes that we ordered weren't exactly impressive.

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Instagram: @kahhhlee

We're often waiting for the big moments to come - graduations, weddings, birthdays, etc. - but what about everything in between? Those special moments are often forgotten, but sometimes the journey is more important than the destination. 

Don't count the days, make the days count. 

Follow me on Instagram to see my littomoments and share yours with me!

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