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autumn in my heart

omg the way eun suh talks is just so soft and sweet and innocent. she makes me cry so bad.

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eyebrows and hands

eyebrows and hands...

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fated to love you taiwanese drama review

fated to love you is one of my top 10 all time favorite feel good dramas. It's the story of a sticky-note girl who falls in love, experiences heartbreak like 3/4/5 times, and gains confidence along the way.

The very first time I watched this I was a sucker for chen xinyi's revenge on her trash ex-boyfriend. I delighted in seeing him kneel and beg for forgiveness after cheating on chen xinyi with some rando he found on the cruise. SCUMBAG. BIG RED FLAG. But now that I'm rewatching it for the 10th time, I find myself deeply resonating with chen xinyi's character or more so scared that I'll become someone like her...kinda deep ngl(but it's empowering cus she's able to transform herself in 2 years. we'll get there). I wonder what part will stick out to me in my 2nd rewatch a couple years or months later.

This show has managed to make me cry almost every time xinyi cries and almost every time that sad ass dramatic ass song plays. I love the soundtracks so much though. the theme song is infinitely happy; the dramatic song is just perfect for every tense, heartbreaking moment...so perfect. I love taiwanese dramas abundant use of soundtracks cus it makes everything that much more emotional. It's also comedic, like I died laughing when Ji cun xi went blind and had those goofy puppy dog like expressions.

my favorite parts of the story is when chen xin yi loses her kid(sounds bad I KNOW) but then radically transforms herself with dylan's help in shanghai. for some reason i experienced second lead syndrome this time around, even though I try my best not to let it get to me cus i know how this story ends. dylan's eyes are just so expressive and intense. I also felt bad for anna this time around. she was selfish always ditching her boyfriend for her career and letting him hang around as a back up, but damn ji cun xi was cheating on her like the whole time!! we don't have to speak morals in a drama like this, but you have to pity anna a little. she was very shitty for SPOILER (giving chen xinyi abortion papers like wtf).

joe chen always seems to be in some sort of romantic relationship where the guy is actively cheating. man what is this!

this drama did so good in fleshing out those side arcs and random events and life lessons and romantic gestures. I genuinely felt the chemistry between Ethan and Joe. They make me gush like no other drama(except for just you). Ji cun xi learning how to make ginger buns, him at the masquerade party with Elaine, him buying Ji nian pin, and him saying 'jia you chen xin yi' were all super memorable!

overall 10/10 story. not surprised it's the highest rated/watched taiwanese idol drama to date(?)

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ming dao

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the first time: Jollibee

fried chicken is something I enjoy with family. I usually have 2 pieces of spicy fried chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy and a biscuit(don't understand the dislike people have for POPEYES BUTTERY BISCUITS CMON), and cajun fries. All of this dipped in blackened ranch is chef's kiss. Popeyes is the pinnacle of fried chicken fast food, in my very very limited experience. During spring break, I've expanded my narrow fried chicken palate...by eating Jollibee! I've been meaning to try Jollibee mainly for their spaghetti and pineapple juice, but that didn't happen. I had a 3 pcs spicy chickenjoy with a mashed potato side, gravy, and a biscuit for around 13 bucks.

THE CHICKEN

wow, the spice was really kickin in. Popeyes spicy chicken is much more mild compared to Jollibee, which had me thirsting for a carbonated drink. The skin wasn't super crispy, but the inside was unfathomably wet, in the best way possible. It was super juicy and tender to eat. 10/10 experience.

THE BISCUIT

mmmm, the jollibee biscuit has a much more buttery aroma and flavor. It was sweeter than a popeyes biscuit, which leans more savory. I think I prefer the popeyes biscuit for this reason. Both are nice and dry like the sahara desert.

THE MASHED POTATOES & GRAVY

sadly, the mashed potatoes had an instant, lunchroom cafeteria, boxed mashed potato flavor. The gravy did help mask some of the flavor. PS. the mashed potatoes are to be eaten with the biscuit keke

overall, a good experience. Don't worry y'all I had a soda so I wasn't dying of thirst while eating this. I still wanna try the jollibee spaghetti but there are so many mixed reviews, with some saying it's their go to meal at jollibee and some other saying it's mid asf. Perhaps that will be next time's adventure.

have fun eating!

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kong sihk tong review

here's my 2 cents on KST in chinatown, manhattan. I've been here 3 times and not once have I chosen a good dish. I can't guarantee there being a 4th time, but I do wanna try the golden lava toast and the tomato garlic chicken wings before I disown it from my list of places to eat at. It's such a shame because their portions are humongous and the prices are cheap!

1st time: curry and rice

a very simple dish. didn't like it though. was lacking depth in the flavor? I like my mom's curry more :(((

2nd time: creamy instant noodles with ham and egg

the egg was good! the noodles though? unappetizing. The curly instant ramen just isn't a good pairing with cream and it felt bland, unseasoned. The ham is your typical ham. no complaints!

3rd time: grapefruit chicken wings + carbonara spaghetti

the grapefruit chicken wings were unique! I've never had anything like it but it was sweet and savory at the same time. The grapefruit sauce was kind of bitter, but once you get past that thick layer the chicken wing and the thinner layer of sauce(on the skin of the chicken) is just delicious. I see why people rave about it!!! That stimulated my appetite for sure, but the spaghetti KILLED IT. IT WAS KILLED. the spaghetti had a fragrant aroma, for sure. It smelled like the turkey bacon from preschool, but I mean, I love turkey bacon. I imagine they might've used the whole box of spaghetti for one serving cus it was built like a hilltop. The waiter was right when he chuckled at the 3 orders of carbonara spaghetti we got. We likely could've shared 2 cus by the end we could've put all the leftovers together to make a new plate. The spaghetti itself was unseasoned. I doused it with salt and garlic powder to make it more bearable cus it legit tastes like the alfredo spaghetti I made at home. That's not good because I'm the most novice of novice chefs and I either under season or over season. Overall, it's a pass for me.

Y'all, I hate to be a food hater cus I like to enjoy my food, but KST is a mistake every time. I think my next visit will be appetizers and breakfast items only. Thanks for reading! I promise i'm not a hater nor a food critic. I appreciate a lot of foods but this one just wasn't hitting.

aight thanks for reading.

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the prince who turns into a frog updates + review

hii! I put in 2 days of work(during spring break cus where else would I get this time) to binge 'the prince who turns into a frog' and needless to say, i'm so whipped for ming dao(him in 2005)! YES. He's like the taiwanese leonardo dicaprio with his dashing good looks omg. how can someone be built this fine though. What I love most is his thick dark eyebrows, intense stare, his smile...and everything else.

wow.

breathtaking.

REVIEW

anyway. onto my review for prince who turns into the frog... i might be slightly biased against this because I watched this after one of my all time favorite taiwanese romcoms 'Fated to Love you'.

STORY

there are hella archetypes and cliches here. Think amnesia, double amnesia, rich boy and poor girl, evil baddy villain, cold dude becomes warm and fuzzy after meeting an energetic, spunky girl. I ate it up though cus I LOVEEE lighthearted dramas. I admit I wasn't super into the whole corporation/senwell/hotel fiasco especially since I wasn't aware of how important guan mei hotel was gonna be to the story after the first episode. My favorite arc has to be when shan jun hao loses his memory the first time and becomes dang o. dang o was just indescribably warm and homelike. I loved the focus on the relationships, the guan mei village, and the dreaminess of the story.

ACTING

the acting was all around pretty good. my only measure of good and bad acting is whether the acting takes me out of the story and into 'cringe mode'. since this didn't, i give it a pass!! Joe chen is a pretty good actress; i always appreciate her realistic and appropriate portrayals of crying. Ming dao was also superb in depicting shan jun hao and dang o. they could literally be described as two different people. domineering but also a softie at the same time. wow. The rest of the cast did their job!

NITPICKS

ye tian yu started off super feisty and girl crush like, but overtime her crying scenes increased exponentially and she seemed kind of meek. I also didn't feel that crazy chemistry between ye tian yu and shan jun hao...and I didn't cry as much as I thought I would. Perhaps I watched it too fast

OVERALL

what an eye candy cast. love them all. story was pleasant and the plot can be very gratifying if you pay 1000% attention(didn't do that always). ming dao yesssss. not a show that made me go 'yes! I wanna rewatch that because it was so juicy, entertaining, and fun' but I could see why viewers might rewatch for the nostalgia. It honestly pains me that there's no one else out there that looks like Ming dao.