Stop Requested (Taken with instagram)
The Flatirons (Taken with instagram)
Winter Tree (w/ Sutro filter) (Taken with instagram)
“Winter Tree” — Leafless tree lit up by the morning sun. Shot for @dailyshoot #ds432 for assignment. (Photo via my Flickr)
“Tree Reflection” — Created using Diptic with this photo of a tree and this photo of a reflection.
(Photo via my Flickr)
“Puddle” — Reflection of Norlin Library on a puddle in front of Ketchum Hall. Shot for @dailyshoot #ds422 for liquid as a subject.
(Photo via my Flickr)
It’s incredibly hard to take good photos with a camera phone (even with an iPhone 4) in a restaurant at night. This was the best I could do, even with some tweaking in Aperture.
Bottom line: Five Spice is our new favorite Asian restaurant in Boulder. (This is very much in contrast to my last restaurant review.)
We’ve been hearing about Five Spice for a while, but due to its less-than-convenient location, we hadn’t checked it out. The food was great, the service was great, and, belying its shopping-center-and-next-to-Super-Cuts location, the ambience inside was nice.
We ordered mostly off the “secret” Chinese menu (which is also in English). We started off with some traditional American-Chinese fare—hot and sour soup and steamed dumplings. The dumplings were not hot, but the soup was great. For main entrées, I got mapo tofu, pictured here, and Susanne got basil eggplant. We ordered Xander a tropical fried rice, which was definitely one of the more interesting and flavorful fried rice dishes I’ve had.
We’re certainly going back—regularly! And they deliver! Five Spice is located on the north side of the shopping center that contains Safeway at the corner of 28th and Iris.
(Photo via my Flickr)
Elephant Hut Review
We had been hearing about Elephant Hut—the Thai restaurant on 30th Street—for a while. We were in the mood for Thai food tonight and decided to try Elephant Hut, instead of our Thai food go-to place, Khow Thai.
The punchline: We’re not going back.
The positives: Pad see ew was decent. Nothing impressive but on par with most Thai restaurants around Boulder. And chives pancakes were good. Tom yum soup was good as well.
The negatives: Fishcake appetizer, while flavorful, was a bit dry and too salty. Most importantly, the red curry dish was not what it should have been. As Susanne said, ”This is the worst red curry I’ve ever had!” She followed that up with “Do you want to try?”, an offer I declined promptly. She’s been a connoisseur of Thai food for nearly twenty years, so I trust her judgment. “This is the only good part about this dinner,” she mumbled while taking bites out of the orange garnish that was on our plates.
The service: It was okay. All our food—the two appetizers, the soup, and the two main dishes all came out together. I’m not sure whether the kitchen or the waiter was responsible for that.
Minor nitpicking: Silky/satiny napkins don’t work. They look fancy, but they are highly non-absorbent, which makes them terrible napkins. Symmetrical knives don’t work. When laid flat on the table, the dinner knife was perfectly symmetric (which is not the case for 99% of other dinner knives I’ve seen in my life). That is, the blade side and the backside looked and felt identical (other than of course the small serration on the blade side). But picking up the knife I could not tell and had to look for the blade side every single time.
“Piece, Love & Chocolate” — It’s a new chocolate shop opening at 850 Pearl Street (where Bayleaf used to be). I love the name and am looking forward to the shop opening. It’s a great location. Shot for Daily Shoot #ds405 for peace and harmony. (photo via my Flickr)
“Graffiti” — Inside the tunnel under Canyon Boulevard connecting Eben G. Fine Park and Settler’s Park. Shot for Daily Shoot #ds389 for graffiti. (photo via my Flickr)
“Sundial” — At the 29th Street Mall. @dailyshoot #ds384 for a diagonal line. (photo via my Flickr)
“The Flat Irons” — Shot from the southside of CU’s new Visual Arts Complex, looking southwest. @dailyshoot #ds378 for a vista. (photo via my Flickr)
“Tree Ring Time Line” — A very large and old tree at the southwest corner of 7th Street and Pearl Street had to be cut down a few years ago. Recently, the stump has been turned into a artwork, with beautiful wood carving/engraving. On top of the stump is this historical time line with markers for major events, presumably located at the correct tree ring! Shot for @dailyshoot #ds341 for time. (photo via my Flickr)
“Fallen Leaves” — Leaves on the playground of Eben G. Fine park. Shot for @dailyshoot #ds357 for out of focus. (photo via my Flickr)
“Haerling Sculpture Park” — Through one of the sculptures, looking northwest toward Canyon Boulevard. Shot for @dailyshoot #ds353 for natural framing. (photo via my Flickr)
