P. F. Chang's China Bistro and Cookiez

I made another trip to Phoenix this spring break (my first spring break vacation!!) to visit John. It is funny to feel that a trip to Phoenix comes so naturally when after my last trip, I wondered if I would go back there again.

So what did we do at Phoenix this trip? Lots!!! We also ate a lot!! As I had expected, we made another trip to P. F. Chang's. They have really yummy food there that we both tried new stuff and was very satisfied with it. We took a nice walk to P. F. Chang's, which was only about 15 minutes walk from John's. The weather in Phoenix was a lot warmer than Michigan's weather a week ago (it was about 15 C all week this week here in Michigan!) and I get to wear a skirt!! It was warm enough that we got a table outside. In fact, both times that I have been there, we get to sit outside! This is allowable in Michigan only for like 2 months. Hehe.

Alright, what did we get this time? We started out with the 'must-try' of P. F. Chang's - Chicken Lettuce Wrap appetizer. For our main course, I got a white fish that is lightly breaded, just enough to make it crispy on the outside, and stir-fried with carrots and snow peas. It is a spicy dish as they stir-fried it with Szechuan sauce and it is simply called "Hot Fish". For my level of spiciness, it was not spicy at all but I like it just the way it is because it is very refreshing. Really spicy fish should be left to the works of an authentic Szechuan cuisine. In addition to the Szechuan sauce, there is also a hint of fermented black beans that is commonly used in Chinese cuisine. I am not too fond of fermented black beans by itself but the addition into this dish makes it unique. Fish also goes really well with brown rice that P. F. Chang's offer for no extra charges.
John got another fish dish - Mahi-mahi. Nope, mahi-mahi is not a dolphin, which it is commonly mistaken for. It is known as the 'dolphin fish' but it is not a member of the Delphinidae family, which is the family of the dolphins. Hehe, unlike its cute name, it actually has a fierce look! The mahi-mahi was grilled with lemongrass garlic sauce. The mild grilling definitely does justice to the freshness of the mahi-mahi because the fish is still juicy. The intensity of the garlic was also just right, not over-powering the lemongrass and the sweetness of the mahi-mahi. The fish was served with cilantro rice, another good rice combination with fish. I often make it myself when I get the canned roasted eel from the local Asian market - Oriental Mart.
Me love fish dishes! It is lighter on the digestion system and does not makes me sooo full that I just want to curl up and go to bed. Hehe. Even that, their dishes are pretty huge that I only finish half of my hot fish. But, we did go out for dessert after dinner. I still would like to try P. F. Chang's Flourless Chocolate Dome one day. To get that, we would have to just order one dish and share it so that we can still indulge in the chocolate dome without feeling too full.

For dessert, we walked a few blocks down on Mill Avenue, which is the main street of Downtown Tempe, to a small, locally owned ice-cream store called Cookiez on Mill. It is a very tiny shop with only one small table. Its specially is ice-cream sandwiches (and Italian Ice according to the review), where we can make our own combination from a list of cookies and ice-cream flavors. We shared an oatmeal cookie with Rocky road ice-cream sandwich. After getting our dessert, we walked down a few more blocks to my favorite spot in Downtown Tempe to enjoy our ice-cream sandwich - Tempe Beach Park, which is at the beginning of south Mill Avenue. I got to take another shot of the bridge for the Phoenix Metro Light Rail, this time with my macro lens! I also caught a shot of the train rushing through the bridge!
The picture of the ice-cream sandwich above is from the second time we got it. This time we got the white chocolate almond cookie with chocolate mint ice-cream. It is a superb combination!! The mint blends so well with the cookie. We love it so much we got it again just before I had to leave on Tuesday. Hehe. Yup, it is really good!

很開心John也很喜歡嚐試各種飲食. 真好玩! 我們可以一起聊些美食的話題, 我也不用擔心他念我吃太多, 或者吃到胖. Gives me a chance to learn how to take photos of food too!