Orthogonal Thought | Random musings from the creator of Cooking For Engineers and Lead Architect of Fanpop

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Make Natural Soap At Home - FAQs

Posted 9 August, 2012 at 8:45pm by Tina Jiang
(Filed under: Soap Making) No comments

Since I wrote the first blog post about making natural soaps at home four years ago, I've been getting a lot of questions. I noticed some recurring themes and picked out the most common questions. I tried to answer them to the best of my knowledge… hope this is helpful for everyone.
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Make Natural Soap At Home - FAQs

What I Ate: Ms. P's Electric Cock (August 2, 2012)

Posted 8 August, 2012 at 7:24pm by Tina Jiang
(Filed under: Dining, What I Ate) 2 comments

Fried chicken is one of Michael's favorite foods, so when we saw a coupon for Ms P's Electric Cock Fried Chicken (1101 South Congress Avenue, Austin, TX (512) 912-7778) on Livingsocial.com, we bought it. Finally tried it last Thursday… and unfortunately it was no good.

It's a food trailer on South Congress, and here's a picture of their menu:
Menu

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What I Ate: Ms. P's Electric Cock (August 2, 2012)

What I Ate: Michi Ramen (5/18/2012 & 6/8/2012)

Posted 13 June, 2012 at 2:50am by Tina Jiang
(Filed under: Dining, What I Ate) 1 comment

Finally, authetic ramen in Austin! Ramen is one of our favorite foods, and, when we lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, we ate it regularly. Since we moved to Austin, it's been a major challenge finding good ramen. We've tried a few places in town - Kome Sushi Kitchen, Musashino Sushi, Bonsai - and have been disappointed. When we visited Houston in January, we tried six different ramens and still didn't find what we were looking for - some were simply no good, others were not authetic (more fusion style with Vietnamese or Thai flavors in the broths). The soy sauce based ramen at Kata Robata was decent, but it didn't quite satisfy our cravings for Tonkotsu ramen which has a rich and hearty broth. Our prayers are finally answered! Michi Ramen (1012 W. Anderson Ln., Austin, TX 78757), a food truck, opened about a month ago, and now we have authetic ramen in Austin!

Here's what we ordered:
Miso Ramen
Sweet soybean tare, chashu slices, butter, corn and woodear mushrooms
(we added extra chashu and a marinated soft-boiled egg)
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What I Ate: Michi Ramen (5/18/2012 & 6/8/2012)

What I Ate: December 31, 2011 (Taste of Ethiopia)

Posted 4 January, 2012 at 1:03am by Tina Jiang

We met up with some friends at Taste of Ethiopia (1100 Grand Avenue Pkwy Pflugerville TX, 78613 512-251-4053) for lunch. This was our first time dining here, and it won't be the last. The food was great, the owner (her name is Woinee Mariam) and staff were so nice, and there's something so special about sharing a meal with friends where everyone ate out of the same plate. The detailed descriptions below are from the restaurant's website http://tasteofethiopiaaustin.com.

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What I Ate: December 31, 2011 (Taste of Ethiopia)

What I Ate: December 30th, 2011 (Austin Cake Ball)

Posted 4 January, 2012 at 12:32am by Tina Jiang

We discovered Austin Cake Ball (3401 Esperanza Crossing, Suite #104 Austin, TX 78758 512-215-3633) about two years ago. We hadn't had cake balls before that and had only read about them (and it didn't sound very tasty). Well, when we had these cake balls, we knew we had stumbled upon something great! Recently we tried cake balls from another local bakery and it only validated our high opinions of Austin Cake Ball. They can be purchased locally or online at www.austincakeball.com. We bought half a dozen which came in a convenient tin (larger size tins are also available).

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What I Ate: December 30th, 2011 (Austin Cake Ball)

What I Ate: December 30th, 2011 (Urban an American grill)

Posted 4 January, 2012 at 12:06am by Tina Jiang

We went to Urban an American grill (11301 Domain Drive, Austin, Texas 78758 512-490-1511) for some comfort food and our favorite tres leches in town.

Loaded Mac and Cheese $6
Cheesy with bits of bacon - what more can I say.
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What I Ate: December 30th, 2011 (Urban an American grill)

What I Ate: December 9th, 2011 (Afin Modern Japanese Tapas)

Posted 18 December, 2011 at 4:32am by Tina Jiang
(Filed under: Dining, What I Ate) No comments

We tried out a new restaurant - Afin Modern Japanese Tapas (6519 N Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 512-614-4974).

Garlic edamame $7 Stir fried, garlic, soy sauce, olive oil
Salty and garlicky. I liked it.
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What I Ate: December 9th, 2011 (Afin Modern Japanese Tapas)

What I Ate: November 1th, 2011 (Evangeline Cafe)

Posted 18 December, 2011 at 3:25am by Tina Jiang
(Filed under: Dining, What I Ate) No comments

We ate at this Cajun style restaurant once before and liked the food and atmosphere, but we forgot to bring the camera. We went back to try some more dishes. Evangeline Cafe (8106 Brodie Ln #110, Austin, TX 512-282-2586).

Special - red fish $13
I thought this dish was rather bland. The red fish and the cream sauce both needed more salt or seasoning.
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What I Ate: November 1th, 2011 (Evangeline Cafe)

What I Ate: September 21th, 2011 (Justine's Brasserie)

Posted 18 December, 2011 at 3:10am by Tina Jiang
(Filed under: Dining, What I Ate) No comments

We went to Justine's Brasserie (4710 East 5th Street, Austin, TX 512-385-2900) for dinner a while back (apparently I had forgotten to post the entry). As usual, the dishes were delicious.

Summer Salad $12
A variety of homegrown tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, fresh anchovies, and croutons with a lemon garlic dressing.
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What I Ate: September 21th, 2011 (Justine's Brasserie)

What I Ate: October 23th, 2011 (Tandoori Bistro)

Posted 27 October, 2011 at 2:59am by Tina Jiang
(Filed under: Dining, What I Ate) 1 comment

We felt like Indian food a couple of nights ago, so we went to Tandoori Bistro (1605 E. Oltorf, Austin, TX 512-383-8210) for dinner. We had been there for lunch and dinner once. This time we ordered a bunch of dishes that we hadn't tried before.

Lamb Samosas $4.50
The lamb filling wasn't very flavorful… we liked the vegetable version better.
Lamb samosas

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What I Ate: October 23th, 2011 (Tandoori Bistro)

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