What I Ate: December 27, 2009 (IKEA, Chen's Noodle House)

Breakfast: We drove up to IKEA to take advantage of their one day sale on POÄNG chairs ($50 each instead of $90). As part of their holiday deals, we also got free breakfast - some scrambled eggs like substance, potatoes, and two strips of bacon. We split a Greek salad as well.

Lunch: After church, we went over to Chen's Noodle House (8650 Spicewood Springs Rd, Austin, TX‎ - (512) 336-8888‎).

Extremely crispy and flaky cong you bing (scallion pancakes). When I bit into it, I immediately tasted something in the oil that I usually associate with sweet pastries, but I couldn't quite place it. It wasn't sweet - it was savory and had a decent amount of scallions, so I wasn't sure what it was. I remember last time tasting the same flavor (a flavor that I don't normally associate with Chinese food) in their cong you bing, but I didn't find out what it was that time. We asked this time and it turns out they add a tiny bit of butter (which is why it doesn't taste like Chinese food).


I had the won ton soup which was light and simple. The wontons were decent (but nothing special). That's actually fairly rare I think - wontons are usually quite bad whenever I have them in restaurants. Usually the wrapper is just too doughy or tough. These were very light, soft, and thin. The filling was simple pork and herbs. These are the kind of wontons that I'd expect to find made at home with good quality store bought skins. Nothing fancy, but good, decent wontons.

Tina and I also shared lamb skewers (seasoned with cumin and chile flakes).

Dinner: I grilled sockeye salmon fillets and served them with crispy salmon skin on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes with a side of broccoli. I made a sauce of butter, shallots, garlic, red wine, balsamic vinegar, and tomatoes to serve them with. This dinner didn't quite work as well as I had hoped - the sauce was too full-flavored for the fish and the sweet potatoes were too sweet.