raspberry Archives - Curiously Carmen

Nero Belgian Waffle Bar

May 31, 2015

Hi everyone!

After a satisfying brunch a few months ago, Naomi from Constant Cravings and I decided to go grab dessert at Nero! No, we weren’t hungry still… but I told her that Nero has been on my dining list for probably 2 years now, and I still haven’t gotten the opportunity. Since Forage was a mere few blocks away, we decided to walk there after and share a waffle.

Naomi had already been here before, so she led the way. To be honest, I was a bit surprised when we got there as I was not expecting their design and branding to look like this! Judging from the pictures I saw, the place looked a lot brighter and less rustic/wooden than it actually was. Not that I minded though, but that was just my first opinion=)

It’s smart that they have their menu on a chalkboard outside. Naomi told me that it lines up pretty quickly here during the summer, so this is an efficient way to speed up the wait!

Yep, I was still surprised at how wooden and cozy it was inside Nero. I honestly thought it would look like a bubble tea or Asian dessert cafe, LOL!

Nonetheless, I did like the interior and here is a picture of a bicycle on their wall. The seating area is quite small and there is no way that all their customers are able to get a seat right away. Which is unfortunate, because their specialty waffles aren’t something that can be easily packed and taken to go.

Since I was the newbie, I let Naomi decide for the both of us. We shared the liege au chocolat waffle, which came with a dark chocolate drizzle, fresh raspberries, and a big ol’ scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The waffle was nice and light, with a sweetness to it and served warm. The dark chocolate and tart raspberries counterbalanced the sweetness of the waffle and vanilla ice cream.

I would love to come back and try more of their different flavours, but I especially hate standing and waiting in lines for restaurants.. that’s a big pet peeve for me and probably one of the biggest reasons I haven’t tried a couple of well known, yummy establishments. I should also mention Nero was empty when we came in around 2pm on a Saturday, but as we got ready to leave, we saw a line that was already out the door!

I saw another customer with a huge fruit assortment on her waffle, I am definitely trying that one next time I come back!

Is Nero worth the hype? For me personally, yes!

-Carmen

The Cheesecake Factory, Downtown Seattle

October 6, 2014

Since these two weeks haven’t been exactly the best, I always find myself thinking about my weekend getaway as that was the highlight of my month. So, let us flashback to my weekend in Seattle 🙂

After spending a long day walking around downtown, we were pretty hungry and tired by the time dinner rolled around. Walking around burned all the energy from our lunch at PF Changs. We also witnessed a ridiculous man who was going absolutely crazy, swearing and yelling at workers because their computer broke and had to close the store early. I’ve never seen someone so upset over gelato before!

After that incident, we were walking to the Cheesecake Factory and out of nowhere, this minivan starts honking for two minutes straight, because the car in front of her was dropping off an older man at the sidewalk when the traffic light was red and there wasn’t anything saying they couldn’t stop. WTF?! This is not including the creepy man on drugs who yelled at me at See’s Chocolate hours before but I don’t want to get sidetracked anymore LOL. People are scary sometimes. Anyways, we got to the main Cheesecake Factory location in downtown and waited about twenty minutes in line which was expected for a gorgeous, warm Saturday night.

Maki and Nigiri ordered the seared tuna tataki to start ($17.95 USD). Since it was $18 for a thinly sliced portion, I felt bad having some so I don’t have an opinion on this dish 🙂 But any dish with avocado and seared tuna is good in my books.

For the entree, Maki and Nigiri shared a pasta dish, which I can not remember the name of. Sorry 🙁 The portion was huge though, you can’t really tell from the picture but it is definitely an entree meant for more than one person!
The boyfriend ordered the classic burger ($11.95 USD) which came with a big piece of grilled onion, lettuce, tomato, and a side of fries. I was quite surprised he ordered a plain hamburger, but he didn’t want to over indulge since we were planning on getting cheesecake! To his surprise, he really enjoyed the hamburger and said it was delicious even without the cheese. To this day, he still brings up this burger and wants to have it again, haha!
I ordered the fried shrimp platter ($16.95 USD). I love my seafood, especially shrimp, and this one was no different. The shrimp were absolutely massive, I’ve never had shrimp that big before!

They were very crispy and flavourful. The fries underneath were pretty standard, and I didn’t try the cole slaw because I’m not a big fan of it. None of us enjoyed the special shrimp dipping sauce (the red one in the back), it had a very off putting flavour and was a bit watery and light. I ended up only eating half my entree because I was getting pretty full from the huge shrimp pieces, and plus I wanted to save room for cheesecake (duh).
Finally, the best and most famous part came! Maki and Nigiri decided to split the mango key lime cheesecake (all their cheesecakes have a set price, from $6.95-$7.95 USD). Yummmm!!
The reason why the boyfriend decided to skip out on the cheese for his burger earlier was for this slice of rich, heavenly indulgence, the Godiva cheesecake. One bite was more than satisfying for me, we all found this cheesecake to be very, very heavy and filling even though he asked for no whip creme.

I can’t believe I’m saying this but we felt that there was almost too much of a chocolate taste (I know, impossible right?!). We didn’t really taste the actual cheesecake flavour, just lots and lots of chocolate. I think this would be a good dessert to split among four people, but definitely way too much for one person. Needless to say, he ended up packing half of it back to our hotel because it was impossible to finish.
For myself, I ordered the white chocolate raspberry truffle cheesecake (Oh man, I felt myself gaining a few pounds just typing that out LOL). I had asked for no whip, but they forgot about it so I ended up scooping it off. At first, we were wondering why my cheesecake crust was dark, and thought that maybe it got burnt since the other two looked fine? T

Turns out, my cheesecake came with a chocolate crust. I prefer the original crust cause I didn’t taste the chocolate at all, and it tasted a burnt to me. As for the cheesecake, it was pretty good and rich, but I was hoping that there would be more raspberry to it. Nonetheless, I did enjoy my slice and ended up bringing half of it back to the hotel as well. Of course, we didn’t end up eating both of them and had to throw them out since they melted in the car after outlet shopping. =.=”

All in all, I had a lovely experience as usual at the Cheesecake Factory and am already looking forward to the next visit! There was also some sort of homecoming prom thing for high schoolers that day, and it was very cute to see nervous preteens all dressed up and going on dates with each other 🙂

Andddd, here is a bonus picture of a gorgeous view in Seattle 🙂 Thanks for the great visit, see you next time Seattle ♥

-Carmen

Island Girl Hawaii Lip Gloss Review

February 20, 2014

Hello readers!

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a makeup review. These days, I haven’t really been wearing much makeup except for eyeliner, and I kinda wanted to take a picture of the product I’m reviewing.

The product I am reviewing today is the Island Girl Hawaii Lip Gloss, which is infused with real flowers. Hands down, this is my favourite lip gloss of all time! It just sucks because I’m pretty sure you can only purchase it in Hawaii. My cousins went back this Summer and bought me the whole set, which made me so happy!

Non sticky: Most lip glosses are often really sticky, which bugs me to no end. My hair is also pretty long, so whenever my lip gloss sticks, my hair clings onto it, and smudges it off or ends up on my hair strands (Ugh, so annoying). This lip gloss, even though it’s super glossy, does not stick at all! I think it’s because the ingredients are water-based, but I’m not too sure, it just really works.

Long lasting: This lip gloss is also really long lasting. I love that I don’t have to constantly apply this over and over again. You also apply the lip gloss via a roller ball. The roller ball also prevents you from over applying so that your lips don’t look oily, and also for the scent to be stronger. I usually dab the lip gloss in three spots on my bottom lip, then purse my lips. I find that this way makes the gloss last longer, as opposed to you putting it all over your lips.

Gloss: As I mentioned before, this lip gloss is really glossy which I love. I usually put this on top of my lipstick if I feel like I want a shine to my lips. It’s also deeply hydrating and moisturizing. Usually, I apply lip balm before my lipstick, but when I’m wearing this product, lip balm isn’t necessary.

Scent/taste: Scent usually isn’t that important to me, but this is just the cherry on top of the perfect lip gloss. Their scents are amazing. My favourite one is the raspberry. The set also comes with pineapple, cherry, coconut, and tropical fruit which smell really nice as well. They also have real flowers infused inside, which adds to the wonderful scent too. Apart from the wonderful scent, it has a wonderful taste as well, though I don’t recommend eating this straight from the tube (although it’s tempting). My favourite scent as I mentioned above was their raspberry one. The others also have a good taste as well. Most lip glosses I use have this really artificial or bitter taste to it, so I appreciate that this one tastes and smells good.

Packaging: The quality of the packaging is great as well. The tubes itself are made out of glass, while the lid is plastic. Since the glass is clear, you can see the real flowers inside which is aesthetically pleasing. On top of the lid, there is a sticker which contains the scent and taste. Each flavour also has it’s own flower colour- for example, the pineapple flavour comes with green, yellow, and white flowers. The coconut flavour comes with magenta, purple, and white flowers. So pretty!

Weaknesses: Over time, I found that the flowers start to wilt inside and not look as fresh as they did before (which shows that they’re fresh I guess?). Also, when it’s about to run out, it takes a bit of time for the product to reach the rollerball. Since I always apply lipstick before I wear this, the rollerball also became stained with my red lipstick but that’s just my own fault.

Next time you’re in Hawaii, give these products a try! The box set I have was around $15 USD. They are sold at the ABC store. Don’t be alarmed though, the quality of this product is really good even if they’re sold at the convenience store! I can’t wait until I go to Hawaii to buy more of these as gifts. They’re definitely a must buy, since I’m pretty sure you can’t buy them elsewhere.