Station 22 | Bianca's La Petite French Bakery

In our quest to eat at every restaurant on or near Center Street in Provo, Sarah and I visited Station 22 and Bianca's two nights ago.

We ate dinner at Station 22, and I was quite impressed. The interior is pretty unusually decorated, but I liked the feel they were going for—like a unique craftsman, if that makes any sense. The food blew me away. For one thing, they have plenty of root beer/sarsaparilla options, which I absolutely loved (root beer is my favorite soft drink). I went with the house draft, and it didn't disappoint—sweet, mellow, with a bit of a zing, not too spiced. Sarah had a salted caramel root beer, which was tasty in its own right. I'll definitely try to go back and try their other options sometime.

We split three dishes—a poutine appetizer (which I always like; this one was particularly flavorful), a Memphis chicken sandwich (with purple slaw—sweeter than I expected), and a Golden State burger (mozzarella and garlic aioli pesto, two of my favorite additions to any dish). Plus we had salads with fun dressings. Overall it was a very satisfying meal, and if we get the chance, we'd like to go back.

Bianca's was for dessert on the way home. Sarah tried a macaron and some marzipan and enjoyed both (the marzipan was nice and creamy). We split a raspberry cronut, which I'd never had before. I liked it about as much as I like a raspberry doughnut (quite a bit), and it was a nice sugary end to a filling meal.

Overall, the trip was a success.

new food: an introduction

I made a New Year's Resolution to try new foods at least once a month this year. I figured I should start cataloguing them on the blog, so here's a catchup entry, and from now on I'll write a brief post with the appropriate label whenever I eat something new. (My goal is to eventually transfer my consciousness to the internet à la James Spader or Johnny Depp, and this obsessive and incessant tracking of everything I do is the first step. I'm kidding, of course. I just like writing about things I do.)

In January I ate a pomelo. It's one of the four primeval citrus fruits whence the rest spring, which is a pretty cool topic that I'll get into in a later post. It's delicious. Like a grapefruit, but better.

In February I ate lots of barley. I'd had barley before, of course, and particularly enjoy mugicha—but this was the first time I'd had it on its own or as a specific side dish. It's great, one of my favorite grains.

In March I had a blood orange (have since eaten them several times, because they're tasty), basil seed drink (which tasted, in a good way, like a liquified Laffy Taffy), and Medjool dates, which became a favorite snack.

In April I tried farofa (it's a grain and kind of dry, but I bet in a soup or stew it'd be delightful) and a tangelo (which I'd somehow never had before; it was good too).

I'm sure you're all thrilled by this update. More to come in my exciting new New Food series!

April 2016 Music Roundup

My favorite albums of April

Releases from 2016: Babymetal's Metal Resistance, Sunrise Skater Kids's Friendville, Avantasia's Ghostlights.

Older releases: I listened to everything 5 Seconds of Summer has done, and while they're not my favorite band, I still like what they're doing with pop-punk and they have some really fun songs. I finally got to listen to some Blackmore's Night live albums (they're hard to find), and they're just as great as I hoped; I'll have to pick up a tour DVD sometime, and I'd love to one day be able to attend one of their concerts. Phoenix is a band that I'd heard of for years but never listened to properly; thanks to Sarah for getting me into them—they're really good. I finally caught up on some missing albums from favorite bands/singers: Mest, Carly Rae Jepsen, Zella Day, The Graduate, Story of the Year, and Amber Pacific stand out as particular favorites. Oh, and I listened to a ton of K-pop this month. Just a ton. (28 LPs/EPs.) I've never listened to much before, but a song by Fiestar came up on YouTube after I watched something else, and then I fell out of control down the rabbit hole listening to a bunch of different groups. I've cooled off a bit for now, but I added a couple dozen bands to my to-listen list, and I'll continue to revisit this month's favorites in the coming months. No regrets.

Recommendations: Babymetal is lots of fun (J-pop/metal). Mest, 5 Seconds of Summer, and Amber Pacific have some really good pop-punk albums. I love Zella Day's voice. The Graduate is way overlooked (kind of a post-rock feel). I've loved everything Carly Rae Jepsen and MS MR have done. And if K-pop is your thing, Miss A's Hush, After School's Dress to Kill, and BoA's Only One are pretty great.

Full April list

bolded albums are ones that I purchased

++ means I loved it

+ means I liked/really liked it

* means I'm indifferent or that it had some good songs

– means I won't listen again

183. Ice Nine Kills – The Burning EP [2007] +
184. Ice Nine Kills – The Predator EP [2013] +
185. The Classic Crime – Phoenix [2012] ++
186. The Classic Crime – Seattle Sessions EP [2007] ++
187. Coheed & Cambria – The Color Before The Sun [2015] +
188. Colleen D'Agostino – Collide EP [2015] ++
189. Babymetal – Babymetal [2014] ++
190. Babymetal – Metal Resistance [2016] ++
191. 5 Seconds of Summer – 5 Seconds of Summer [2014] +
192. 5 Seconds of Summer – Sounds Good Feels Good [2015] +
193. 5 Seconds of Summer – LiveSOS [2014] +
194. 5 Seconds of Summer – Unplugged EP [2012] +
195. 5 Seconds of Summer – Somewhere New EP [2012] ++
196. 5 Seconds of Summer – She Looks So Perfect EP [2014] +
197. 5 Seconds of Summer – Don't Stop EP [2014] ++
198. 5 Seconds of Summer – Amnesia EP [2014] ++
199. 5 Seconds of Summer – Good Girls EP [2014] +
200. 5 Seconds of Summer – She's Kinda Hot EP [2015] +
201. Twin Forks – Twin Forks [2014] ++
202. Twin Forks – Twin Forks EP [2013] +
203. Blackmore's Night – Past Times With Good Company [2002] ++
204. Blackmore's Night – A Knight In York [2012] ++
205. Crown the Empire – The Fallout [2012] +
206. Crown the Empire – Limitless EP [2011] +
207. Phoenix – United [2000] +
208. Phoenix – Alphabetical [2004] +
209. Phoenix – It's Never Been Like That [2006] ++
210. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix [2009] ++
211. Phoenix – Bankrupt! [2013] ++
212. The Veronicas - The Veronicas [2014] +
213. Carly Rae Jepsen - Tug of War [2008] ++
214. Fiestar – Black Label EP [2015] +
215. Fiestar – A Delicate Sense EP [2016] +
216. Stellar – Marionette EP [2014] +
217. Stellar – Sting EP [2016] ++
218. Busted – Busted [2002] +
219. Busted – A Present For Everyone [2003] ++
220. Miss A – A Class [2011] ++
221. Miss A – Touch EP [2012] ++
222. Grayling – Everything That Burns EP [2016] +
223. Miss A – Independent Women Part III EP [2012] +
224. Miss A – Hush [2013] ++
225. Miss A – Colors EP [2015] ++
226. Molly's Revenge – Trio [2013] ++
227. Jarrod Alonge – Beating a Dead Horse (Deluxe) [2015] ++
228. After School – Virgin [2011] ++
229. After School – New Schoolgirl EP [2009] +
230. After School – Because of You EP [2009] +
231. After School – Bang! EP [2010] ++
232. After School – Happy Pledis EP [2010] +
233. After School – Red/Blue EP [2011] ++
234. After School – Flashback EP [2012] ++
235. After School – Playgirlz [2012] ++
236. After School – First Love EP [2013] ++
237. After School - Dress to Kill [2014] ++
238. After School – The Best of After School 2009–2012: Korea Version [2013] +
239. After School – BEST [2015] ++
240. Sunrise Skater Kids – Friendville [2016] ++
241. Orange Caramel – The First Mini Album [2010] ++
242. Orange Caramel – The Second Mini Album [2010] ++
243. Orange Caramel – Lipstick [2012] ++
244. Orange Caramel – Orange Caramel [2013] ++
245. Sleeping With Sirens – With Ears to See and Eyes to Hear [2010] ++
246. Sleeping With Sirens – Madness [2015] ++
247. Sleeping With Sirens – Live & Unplugged [2016] +
248. The Classic Crime – What Was Done, Vol. 1: A Decade Revisited [2014] ++
249. Carly Rae Jepsen – Curiosity EP [2012] ++
250. Mest – Not What You Expected [2013] ++
251. Mest – Broken Down [2014] ++
252. Avantasia – The Mystery of Time [2013] ++
253. Avantasia – Ghostlights [2016] ++
254. Zella Day – Kicker [2015] ++
255. Zella Day – Zella Day EP [2014] +
256. Zella Day – Cynics vs. Dreamers EP [2012] ++
257. Zella Day – Powered By Love [2009] ++
258. BoA – Kiss My Lips [2015] ++
259. BoA – Who's Back? [2014] ++
260. BoA – Only One [2012] ++
261. The Graduate – Only Every Time [2010] ++
262. MS MR – How Does It Feel? [2015] ++
263. PVRIS – Acoustic EP [2014] +
264. Story of the Year – Page Avenue: 10 Years and Counting [2013] ++
265. Broadway – Kingdoms [2009] ++
266. Amber Pacific – The Turn [2014] ++