Laura

I was going to post about Blog Day or my $40 Day #2 Lunch, but I just couldn't get my mind to focus. One of my best friends - my college roommate - is somewhere in New Orleans. I heard from her on Monday evening and she said that there was no flooding in her area and that she was doing well. I let out a sigh in relief. Then things got worse. And worse. And worse.

Media reports do nothing but fuel worry and all I can do is sit anxiously and hope. Laura is the toughest girl I know - no, she is one the toughest people I know, and she will fight for her life no matter what comes her way. But news of looting, chaos, disease, and damage leave me deeply concerned. I found myself flipping through news sources and webpages today in the hopes of running into a picture of Laura holding her head up with her strong steady gaze.

Laura, please be safe.

$40 in Oahu #2 - Breakfast

I got so into the Cheap Eats during my Hawaiian vacation that I stored up enough material for TWO full $40 days. Although I only got around to sharing one day the Sam's follow-up post, I figured I'd report the second day anyway. Since I'm not posting as a part of Sam's meme, I'm splitting this into Breakfast&Snack, Lunch&Snack, and Dinner posts! And yes, as you might have noticed, there's a snack associated with both Breakfast and Lunch for us hungry tourists!

Although not a traditional breakfast item in the Western culture (or in Japan, actually), steamed buns are my FAAAAAVORITE breakfast items. I love the ones with meatballs in them rather than the sweet pork (char siu), because the salty pork meat balls highlight the contrast between the sweet bun and the meat, providing a wonderful harmony of flavors - the sweet pork in sweet buns can seem a little too much sweetness for a not-so-sweet girl like me.


Known in Hawaii as manapua, the buns at Chun Wah Kam Noodle Factory are luscious and plump. Two handfuls. They are the Tara Reids of the bun world, except unlike Tara, these are stuffed full with the real thing.


Being the unprepared gal that I am, I ordered the 'original' manapua, which came stuffed with sweet pork. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, although in retrospect, it seems obvious that the original would contain none other than the traditional sweet pork... The pork, however, wasn't overly sweet or wet with sauce like the buns I've had around here, and the sweetness of the buns was also toned down. This cutting of the obtrusive sugary flavor allowed the natural sweetness of the dough to come out as well as the complex spices in the pork. With each bite, the flavors seemed to enhance as my saliva broke down the food into natural sugar molecules.


The sweet potato manapua was my favorite. It seemed unusual for me to like a sweet treat over a savory treat, but this sweet potato manapua was so full of sweet potato goodness that it wasn't really all that sweet. It had a wonderful sweet potato scent to it that reminded me of those autumn yaki-imo moments. Since the dough was only slightly sweet and very much neutral in flavor, the sweet potato could really come through unobstructed.

And if we have Tara Reid manapuas, we need to follow them up with something more manly...

We headed over to the Kapiolani Community College Farmer's Market after breakfast to check out the local food offerings. I am a big fan of Farmer's Markets and make it a habit to find them and visit them where-ever I am. This one was a relatively small Farmer's Market for Bay Area standards, and I could tell that some of the vendors had that Ferry Bldg Farmer's Market feel of selling goods that "travel well", like salts, jams, and other preserves. Regardless, it was fun to see that the organic movement has definitely set its firm foot on Hawaii as well, and many local, organic farmers had their Asian vegetables and other offerings. Unfortunately, my kitchenette at my hotel was so puny, there was no way I could make anything besides scrambled eggs and pancakes, so we couldn't indulge on the many vegetable offerings.


Instead, we feasted on a hot dog made with the local, grass-fed Kamela Pride beef. This was one tasty hot dog with all the juiciness and firm deliciousness that I can ask for in a hot dog. Each bite was full of meatiness with the outer layer holding on tight until the very last moment when it finally gave out to release its savory juices. With just the right amount of texture and saltiness, this was one hell of a hot dog. Although the bun was lackluster and the trimmings limited to mediocre relish, ketchup, and tepid mustard, the hot dog was full of life and satisfaction that I couldn't ask for a better snack.

Delicious morning. Really.

Hawaiian Fruit Part II: White Dragon Fruit

Now, I'm not sure if this fruit really qualifies as a 'Hawaiian Fruit', but the topic of my post today is a fruit grown in Hawaii that I ate in Hawaii.

We picked up the white dragon fruit on our trip to the Kokua Market because of its striking pink color. This is exactly the kind of fruit that comes to my mind when I think of 'tropical fruits'. Pink.


The dragon fruit is a little less than the size of half a pineapple. The outer skin is about 0.5 inches, and since this is a white dragon fruit, the innards were white.


In case you are wondering, the extra-pink edge between the skin and the meat really is extra-pink... It's not a digital artifact...

To tell you the truth, I am not much of a fruit lover and I was attracted to these Hawaiian fruits just for the novelty. Much like the lilikoi, I wasn't overwhelmed by the dragon fruit, although the Papa Bear, with his tropical blood, was very much impressed with both the lilikoi and the dragon fruit. The meat reminded me of a cactus, a kiwi (probably because of the seeds), and a unripe melon all at the same time. I liked how the seeds popped with every bite (without squirting some tart stuff like the lilikoi did to me), but it wasn't particularly juicy or sweet. Since this one fruit cost us $5, it's very unlikely that I will ever get it again. I'd rather spend my $5 on SEVEN malasadas!

PS:
It never ceases to amaze me how much information I can find by a simple Google search.

Oahu Yakiniku Battle

Although we kept the day-time meals on a budget, we splurged a couple nights on dinner. Since we had several very active days - climbing Diamond Head, exploring the "World's largest walk-in maze" at the Dole Plantation, and ocean swimming every day - we usually craved a pretty big dinner. We took advantage of our hungry appetites by indulging on tasty meals we wouldn't be able to find in the Bay Area... really good Yakiniku!

Yakiniku is Japanified-Korean BBQ, and although we have the Juban chain in the Bay Area, it pales in comparison to the yakiniku houses I loved and miss dearly in Japan. When my Japanese guidebook recommended several yakiniku houses in Honolulu, my heart sprang with joy, knowing that I can expect Japan-quality food there! So two nights out of the four nights we were in Hawaii, we feasted and stuffed ourselves with some tasty grilled meats. I can't think of a better way to cap a day of fun in the sun!


Yakiniku Hiroshi and Gyu-kaku are kiddy corner to each other, and boy, both of these places do a booming business! Both restaurants were full with a long wait-list! I guess there is enough interest and customer-base for two yakiniku houses to peacefully co-exist in Waikiki - I sincerely wish they could spare one of them to fill the niche in the Bay Area!


Unlike the original Korean style BBQ, yakiniku meats often aren't marinated before cooking. Although a splash of sauce come sprinkled on the meat, the main seasoning comes from dipping the grilled meat in different sauces to suit our preferences. Both Yakiniku Hiroshi and Gyu-kaku offered different sauces, but I have Hiroshi's sauces a slight edge on taste. While Gyu-kaku's sauces felt a little bit 'processed', Hiroshi's sauces tasted like they were really made from fresh fruit and made in-house.


All of us gave Hiroshi's meat a higher score than Gyu-kaku with better marbling, tenderness, and sweetness. Although Gyu-kaku would hands-down beat Juban here in the Bay Area, Gyu-kaku would have a hard time competing with Hiroshi for flavor and quality... except that Gyu-kaku has a significant price advantage. I suppose one gets what you pay for, but Hiroshi is about 50% more expensive than Gyu-kaku, making Gyu-kaku better in terms of price performance. Gyu-kaku is definitely yummy - just not as yummy as Hiroshi. Hiroshi is yummier, but pricier. Makes sense to me how the two can co-exist happily in the small Waikiki corner!

These pictures today are from Hiroshi, since frankly, Hiroshi's food was amazing. I'd say my yakiniku experience at Hiroshi would rival any yakiniku house in Japan. I used to think I could only get that quality of yakiniku in Japan, but now I know I only need to go half the distance and get my butt over to Waikiki!!

A little side note

Today's post is not about food at all, but more about... life in general. I've been closely following the developing love and relationship between two Japanese bloggers, and tomorrow, I am meeting them for dim sum. Their story is quite intriguing and reminds me that life is precious - that living life to the fullest requires courage, heart, and resolve.

The two lovebirds met via links from mutual blogger friends and started leaving comments on each others' blogs. Shuko-san from Japan and Ted from the Bay Area continued to develop their inter-Pacific online friendship through blog posts, comments, and emails. When Shuko-san had time for a vacation, she headed over to the Bay Area to meet some of her Bay Area blogger friends, and Ted was included in the group. They spent a lovely week in Santa Cruz, and when she realized that in Ted, she saw the man she really wanted to be with, she picked up her belongings and moved to the Bay Area. Just like that. She didn't look back, she didn't hesitate, she didn't question. Unafraid of failure or of getting hurt, she hurtled herself into the situation.

I don't have that kind of strength to believe in myself - or to trust my judgment of those around me, I suppose. Her strength to follow her heart and her ability to pursue her desires are truly inspirational. I wish I could. I really do. But instead I find myself wishing that things were different in my life. What's stopping me from making it better? What's stopping me from following my heart? Only myself. Only myself.

Hawaiian Fruit Part I: Lilikoi

One of my favorite things to do when I travel is to check out grocery stores. Grocery stores are full of exciting tidbits and products, as well as local specialties and flavors. Along with Farmer's Markets, grocery stores gives travelers a peak into the kitchens in the neighborhood.

I was very lucky to find Kokua Market, a small grocery store with local and/or organic foods. Since we had a kitchenette, we picked up various breakfast offerings and several interesting fruits that caught our eye(s). Crammed in a small produce corner were vibrantly colored exotic fruits alongside familiar offerings like pineapples and bananas.

I picked out the Lilikoi, because it had such a pretty name. Lilikoi. Doesn't it sound like a Hawaiian princess' name? I had no idea what to expect, really. I didn't even know how we were supposed to eat it! A nice gentleman was passing by as I was commenting on how I had no clue what to do with it, and he offered some of his Lilikoi knowledge to us. He told us that they were sour and best served squeezed on top of fried bananas and such. So, I was actually expecting the Lilikoi to be more like a citrus than anything.

Imagine my surprise when we got home and I saw this:


I knew this was no ordinary citrus when I tried to cut it open with our insanely dull kitchenette knife that didn't even make a small puncture on the skin. The skin was tougher than any citrus I've ever encountered!

Surely, this was no citrus. It tasted more like a lemon-soaked tart mango with a strong tropical fruit smell. This 'tropical fruit smell' is not something I've quite learned to appreciate yet - that smell that is consistent between mangos, papayas, and that dreaded 'King of Fruits' Durian. It sort of smells like decomposing fruit to me, which is really not a very nice thing to say... And this Lilikoi was even more potent because the seeds were TAAAAAART. I sense saliva collecting on my tongue as I recall the flavors. The seeds crunched easily and the combination of the silky pulp and the crunchy seeds had a nice texture, but boy, the flavors were all too much for me.

Despite its very cute name, the Lilikoi was too advanced for me to really enjoy. Between that pungent tropical fruit smell and the extreme tartness that exploded when I bit into the seeds, I declared myself defeated. Alice vs the Lilikoi - winner: Lilikoi.



PS: I just found out that the Lilikoi is also known as a yellow passion fruit. And then, it occurred to me - besides passion fruit-flavored smoothies, I've never had passion fruits before! I suppose I now know that I will likely not enjoy the fruit itself just yet, which is funny because I really like passion fruit smoothies!

$40 in Honolulu? No problem!

I had all sorts of ideas for Sam's $40 day meme, but since I was so busy, I didn't get to hit all the wonderful Cheap Eats places I know in the Bay Area. Instead, I did it in Honolulu!

Thanks to the helpful tidbits I've found on the very comprehensive and detailed Hawaii-based food blog, 'Ono Kine Grindz, and the Japanese resource, Chikyuu no Arukikata (Globe Trotter), we ate so well on a $40 budget, I actually have material for TWO FULL $40 Days!

You see, we Japanese are so passionate about food that we dedicate over 75% of our travel guide book space to food. And a significant portion of those pages list great Cheap Eat finds, known as B-Kyuu (B-Rank) Gourmet. Although Vietnamese sandwiches and beef noodles soups were ranked high in the B-Rank Gourment listings, we skipped those, since we have plenty of opportunities for both dishes in the Bay Area.

What we feasted on instead was uniquely Hawaiian (I think) and surely deliciously satisfying! Here's Day One...


Breakfast: Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery are the perfect way to kick-start a day of fun in the sun. Leonard's claims to be the first ones to serve these fried dough treats. They were steamy hot and covered with melting sugar granules. The dough had unexpected texture - more like bread dough than donut dough. The combination of the sweetness from the oil and from the sugar made this a perfect breakfast pastry, but there is no way I should eat more than one of these. The calorie count must be horrifying. Unfortunately, they had regular malasadas and cream-stuffed malasadas. Of course I had to try them both. And even more unfortunately, they had four different kinds of stuffed malasadas. And of course I had to try them all. Luckily, there were four of us, so we all split different malasadas. Besides the chocolate cream-stuffed ones, they were not very memorable. There was a light-pink cream, a off-white cream, and a translucent white cream, but they all seemed to be sugar-flavored and I couldn't tell what the flavors were really supposed to be. Realistically, for one person, one regular malasada and one stuffed malasada ought to be more than plenty for breakfast. (Regular: $0.69 and Stuffed: $0.89, DAY TOTAL = $1.58)


Lunch: One of the unique things about Hawaii is how various cultures have contributed different dishes to make for a unique Hawaiian rendition of a dish from a far away place. Oxtail soup is supposed to be Okinawan in origin, but the ones in Hawaii definitely seem to have deviated away from the Okinawan version. My JPN guidebook tells me that oxtail soup is now a famous B-Rank Gourment dish to be enjoyed when visiting Hawaii. The recommended spot was Kapiolani Coffee Shop, which is located INSIDE of a bowling place. I have to say, the place was a little bit too loud with bowling commotion for my taste, but this place apparently serves 400 - 500 bowls of oxtail soup a day! The oxtail was cooked to a fall-off-the-bone tenderness and the deep nourishment of the soup was a perfect way to recover from the flight from SFO. With tons of cilantro, the soup was suprisingly light. I added the accompanying rice into the bowl of soup to make a at-the-table porridge, which is considered to be very bad manners in Japan, but oh-so-tasty. If you think it kind of looks like the Vietnamese beef noodle soup, you're on track. It felt almost like the Vietnamese beef noodle soup without the noodles... (Oxtail soup with enough rice to feed an ox: $7.95, DAY TOTAL = $9.53)


Snack: How can one eat in Hawaii and not eat shaved ice? Waiola Shaved Ice is one of the most popular shaved ice joints. Personally, I am not a fan of their super-duper fine ice, preferring the Japanese-style crunchy shaved ice, but my travel companions were big fans of Waiola. Waiola's ice melts without resistance, disappearing in your mouth on contact with your body heat.


What I like about Waiola Shaved Ice is their custard pudding. They cover a Japanese-style custard pudding/flan with shaved ice and pour tons of syrup (any flavor of your choice) on it for a cool treat.


I usually dig through the ice just to get to the cutard pudding and then eat all of the custard. I then tackle the ice to wash down any custardy richness. Although I was intrigued by the many Hawaiian flavors (like lilikoi and other unknown flavors), I stuck to green tea... (Custard pudding with enough syrup to drown in: $3.50, DAY TOTAL = $13.53)

Dinner: Now, dinner was a real treat. I almost don't want to share my secret find. We went to Sunrise, a Japanese restaurant owned by an Okinawan native, who serves Okinawan dishes alongside sushi so fresh, I'd be paying ten-times more in the Bay Area. I am not kidding. His fish was so good, I've literally paid ten-times more for the same quality fish.


I devoured the house-special 'poke', which is a Hawaiian marinated fish salad. Strips of super fresh, firm, sweet fish - mostly tuna and yellowtail - were marinated in a soy-based dressing with onions and cucumber.


Then, I followed this with a Okinawa soba-sushi combination plate. The Okinawa soba noodles had this wonderful texture without being overly chewy or too firm. These flat noodles were wheat based (not buckwheat based like traditional Japanese soba) with a faint sweetness to them. The translucent soup joined forces with the noodles by providing subtle saltiness without overshadowing the sweetness of the noodles. Topped with a bone-in pork piece, this could've been enough for me if I were eating by myself.


The sushi plate that followed was impressive in cost performance - six pieces of nigiri and six pieces of rolls. I didn't care too much for the egg, but everything else was wonderful. I can't emphasize enough how impressed I was with the quality of the fish here.

Interestingly, this place is a BYOB restaurant, and since I didn't know about it, I ordered beer with my meal. Instead of simply telling me they didn't have any, the Chef gave me two bottles of his own beer, which he pulled out of a cooler under the cash register (where customers can keep their beer cold). He looked genuinely apologetic about the fact that his establishment didn't serve beer and told me I should take the two bottles because his customers had left it behind the night before. What wonderful kindness!!

I think Sunrise was one of the greatest finds during my Hawaii trip! (Poke: $13 and Okinawa soba and sushi combination: $13 - which is almost too much food for one person, DAY TOTAL = $39.03)

Besides the restuarant fun I had in Hawaii, I also discovered two new fruits - a dragon fruit and the very advanced lilikoi. And I've got a whole 'nother day worth of $40 eating, so check back often this week for the rest of my Hawaiian Epicurean Debauchery!

Meat is sweet

Oh, boy, it's been a busy few days!!! I got back from my Hawaii trip late last night, and I was back to work in full force today. I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed to say the least! I'm organizing my photos from my trip for Sam's $40 day meme, but in the mean time, today's post is about the best steak ever. And I mean it. I've had a lot of steaks, but this one is the best steak ever.

The Mogurin cooked up a super-duper steak last week when I was in NC. He is the Master of the Iron Skillet, and his steaks are consistently the best I have ever had. He got the method from Alton Brown, but he's taken it to a new level by perfecting it and customizing it. I tried to reproduce it many times here in CA, but I have yet to find that sixth sense that he has.


Carefully and artfully, he fine tunes the timing and the temperature to sear and cook the steak to that perfect point of slightly warm juiciness with the utmost tenderness inside and flavorful grilled exterior. This is exactly what makes the Mogurin's steak so amazing - that dichotomy of the meaty cooked layer on the outside balanced perfectly with the inside, which remains only slightly heated to transform the fat into juicy goodness. The outer layer provides the appetizing aroma of grilled meat while the tender inside layer oozes with melting fat and gives in softly to the bite. Both the primordial urge to sink my teeth into raw meat and the social, human conditioning to appreciate grilled meat are both satisfied with each bite.

There's more to the magic, though. The Mogurin always uses the best quality steak he can find - organic and free of hormones, antibiotics, and all the stress a cow experiences in massive, dark feed lots. He picks the perfect marbling he needs to ensure the perfect balance of fat and flavor. A little bit of salt and pepper are added to enhance the sweetness of the beef. And the skillet is always seasoned with bacon a few days before the steak. Goodness, I've never found a steak like his anywhere in any of the fine restaurants I've eaten at - his steak needs no sauce, no accompaniment. It's perfect as it is.

I learned how sweet beef can taste from him. With every bite, the sweetness comes through even more, and with every chew, juices trickle out into my mouth. The experience is blissful. The cow's sacrifice is given the highest respect when treated with such care to be as delicious as this piece of steak.

And thank you, Mogurin.

More than Bubble Tea

OK, OK, I posed a question, but then I didn't post an answer... Sorry! I was traveling, AGAIN. It's been a little bit crazy lately... I'm off to Hawaii this time - I haven't been to Hawaii in 10 yrs, so it'll be interesting to check out how things are... I've been such a jet-setting traveler lately...

Anyway, back to my question from last time...

I'm SOOOOO impressed that Fatemeh and Kei were very, very close! They got all but the red straw right!! The red in the picture is nothing edible - it's just a giant bubble tea straw!

It's an aloe-powered mango smoothie from a Chinese dessert place. Bubble teas - hot and cold tea/coffee or smoothies with chewy, giant (~0.5 in diameter) black tapioca balls - have been a staple of my dessert repertoire for a a while now. The satisfying texture of firm, chewy tapioca balls and the sensory pleasures of being bombarded by the tapioca balls coming through the adorable straw with a gigantic diameter that accommodate the pearls are irresistible! And as bubble tea spread in popularity outside of the Asian community, a bunch of dessert places, like the Hong-Kong based franchise Creations (mentioned by Fatemeh yesterday) and other smaller mom-and-pop scale operations in the Asian strip malls in the South Bay (which is where I was at to take this picture) that go beyond bubble tea have sprung up lately. And let me tell you - there is so much more to Chinese desserts than bubble tea!!

The variety of Chinese 'medicinal' desserts that is available in the Bay Area is amazing. From frog ovaries to swallow's nests, you can get all sorts of things added to smoothies and fruit juices! The Chinese principle of combining the pleasures of dining with the benefits of medicinal herbs is the backbone behind these multitude of desserts. Some are a bit too advanced for me - I admit I'm not the most adventurous when it comes to super sweet, syrup-soaked goodies, but they sure intrigue me!!

I'll be posting about the best steak ever next, so stay tuned!

Guess what this is?

If any of you can guess what the heck this is from this small clip, I will be SOOOOO impressed. In fact, I'd be so impressed that I will send you a box of my homemade cookies - your favorite cookies, I'll bake 'em and make sure you get 'em. (Excluded from offer: Arik, Jan, and the Papa, since they were with me when I took this picture...)



Seriously, if anyone gets this one right, I'd be super, super impressed...

Inspire me, Marzipan

I've had a whole slew of uninspired, tepid pictures on my blog lately, and I am about sick of it! I'm changing the course of it and doing something more than snapping boring pictures of unappetizing food!!!!

So here it is...


My attempt at being artistic with marzipan that my German friend, Jutta, brought back for me from Germany.

...I know, it's not much for artistic content.

I seem to have lost my touch with the camera.

Sigh.

As promised, truly Southern Fried Chicken

I'm over my oversaturation now, although I still won't be craving fried food for a good long while...

You guys won't believe this. My flight was canceled AGAIN! Jeez. My luck. The Mogurin and I got up at the before the crack of dawn this morning at 4 AM to get our sorry butts to the ariport, only to find out that my 6 AM flight was canceled due to bad weather in Atlanta THE NIGHT BEFORE. The worse part is that if my flight had been scheduled to take off at 7 AM, I would have totally had a normal flight. Luckily, from my last episode with canceled flights, I knew about those landline 'courtesy' phones - the ones that you're supposed to get on to get your flight rebooked (instead of getting in the line longer than the Nile River to get the ticketing agent's attention - but they don't tell you this until you get to the front of the line). I got myself on that phone as fast as I could to secure some seats on any flight getting into SFO, SJC, or OAK. It's a good thing I have three airport choices, since the man on the phone next to mine gave up flying out today after being on the phone for 2 hrs trying to get rescheduled to San Diego.

Traveling. Sometimes I wonder why I do it.

Anyway, back to the food blog part. While my fellow Bay Area bloggers were debaucherizing at Dr. Biggles' Palace of Fine Meats, I was doing a bit of debaucherizing myself. And let me tell you. It was slippery, oily, messy debauchery over at one of the most well-known eateries in North Carolina... An institution. A tradition. A cultural experience.

One of the things I miss the most about NC is my breakfast at Mama Dips' Country Kitchen. Seriously, the Mogurin and I frequented this place at least once a week - sometimes for breakfast, other times for lunch or a weekend brunch. There is nothing like a few pieces of Mama Dips' fine fried chick'n to wake me up! Yes, I really ate fried chicken first thing in the morning, and actually, so did a whole lot of other people. She's got a plate full of crispy chickeny goodness alongside a few eggs cooked on the grill, and boy, that's a plate to kick start your day!

Unfortunately, the timing this time around worked out so that we had dinner there, and it ended up being a bittersweet dinner. My dear friend, Seth, who sweated many a drops of sweat on/with me (even in my mouth - eeeeeeeeeeeewwwwe!!!!) during my years of judo training in NC is finally picking up and leaving the Tar Heel state for England. Mama Dip's Southern Fried Chicken is going to be the last meal Seth and I share in the familiar Chapel Hill scenerey.

I am feeling sentimental and bittersweet about all this. I've watched my friends scatter all over the place and leave the place I always thought I could come back to find them together. Chapel Hill, with its unchanging landscape, accustomed streets, routine paces - it's all slowly disappearing. They are all establishing themselves in new worlds, new surroundings, new friends, new families, new routines - without me. Sometimes, I just feel like I haven't found another place to really call 'home'.

Oversaturated...

I'm totally and completely oversaturated.

I was going to post about my dinners at the beach or about my dinner tonight at the Mecca of Southern Fried Chicken, but boy, I am so full and greased out that I can't get myself to look at pictures of food tonight.

I am seriously overloaded! I don't think I can get myself to eat anything fried for a good long while. But was it worth it? Oh, so very much. So very much.

I'm flying back tomorrow morning, so I should have plenty of time to format and write about my Fried Chicken feast for a post tomorrow evening.

Coming soon - some finger lickin' goodness!

Traveling again...

I'm traveling again!!!

This time, it's for fun, but boy, all this traveling is getting a little out of hand. I feel like I need a get-away from my get-aways!!!

I'm off to the beaches in NC for the weekend!


Nothing like a croissant and cup of coffee to kick off a day of traveling! ...except I don't have a croissant like this anywhere around my neighborhood. This one is from the Japanese bakery chain, Anderson Bakery, in the SF Japantown. It sure was no Ja'pain', but vastly better than the mushy, oily croissant look-alikes that roam around my neighborhood!

Have a nice weekend and see y'all Sunday!

Kushiyaki is not yucky either

Apparently, I'm still stuck on this yucky yaki thing from last night...

I really have a weakness for grilled food． Grilling brings out the best from almost any ingredient with flavors and scents maximized beyond anything my poor excuse of a electric range can produce. I like the smoky flavor imparted on the meat, although I recently read that for the best grilling experience, it's best to heat the meat at an angle from the heat source, thereby allowing the heat to penetrate the meat without the smoky coating.

One of my favorite things to eat when I was a kid in Japan was flame-grilled Amago. Amago, not to be confused with anago the eel, is a fresh water fish that lives in the rivers near the hot spring town of Gero. And yes, for those of you who speak Japanese, the town really is called Gero - which interestingly is a homonym for Puke. The fish were skewered with the skewer running parallel to its backbone and the skewers were staked by a pile of glowing hot coal. We would sit around the fire pit, anxiously waiting for the fish to sizzle and gobble them up piping hot. Lightly salted, the sweetness of the flesh and the distinctive fresh water bitterness of the innards were pure joy.

Ever since those childhood days, I've always had a weakness for skewered savory treats. My current favorite is this:


Yup, my anonymous commenter from last night guessed it right on! That's bacon wrapped shrimp! I get Niman Ranch's bacon, which is pretty decent, although I bet this bacon-wrapped shrimp skewer would be phenomenal with my dear friend, Leigh's bacon. Leigh introduced me to the world of hormone and antibiotic meats during my 4 yrs in NC, and I never went back to the grocery store to buy any kind of meat again. Both in terms of health, taste, and environmental concerns, I couldn't justify mass produced meats anymore. And boy, Leigh's bacon was the first time I ever thought bacon was good. Since I only knew grocery-store bacon (yup, those strangely colored, stringy looking things) before Leigh's bacon, I didn't know that bacon could be so good!

The world has not been the same for me since I discovered the beauty of bacon.

I'm heading out to NC this weekend, but unfortunately, I'll be at the beach in the East. But maybe - just maybe - I'll get lucky and be able to bring home the bacon, literally!

Yakitori is not yucky

Some Japanese words just don't sound so good in English. A whole slew of my favorite foods fall into this category, since I love grilled food and most grilled food in Japanese start with 'yaki', unfortunately pronounced almost like 'yucky'. Yakitori (grilled chicken), yakiniku (grilled meat, usually in the form of beef), yakisoba, yaki-this, yaki-that.

Yaki items are not yucky.

I've had such long and hard days, my mind is wandering...


I had a lovely kushiyaki (skewered grilled) dinner with Anne and the Papa Bear last weekend. I marinated the chicken for a couple of hours in homemade teriyaki sauce, popped it on the grill, and sprinkled dried sansho herbs. I love the bittersweet scent and flavor of sansho, which I haven't been able to find here. I got myself several sealed packages in Kyoto a while back. It's bitter, sweet, refreshing, energizing, appetizing, and a little bit spicy. The flavors are very strong, and sansho is usually added to rich dishes to keep the taste interesting and prevent epicurean boredom during the onslaught of oil and/or grease. My dark meat chicken definitely stayed extra interesting with the sansho sprinkles!

The skewer you see in the background? That's a sneak preview for tomorrow's post! One of the best culinary matches I've ever made! It was so simple, and yet so lusciously delicious that we had it again last night...

Noodling on a hot summer night

The Papa Bear jumped the gun on this one last night, but no summer Kalbi session is complete without a bowl of mul naeng myun in my world.

I've mentioned naeng myun or neng myun (does anyone know what the correct spelling is?) before already, but I chose to not go into detail. I was waiting for the right moment to report about my obsessive love for these bowls of chilled Korean noodles... Reimen, as it is called in Japan, directly translates to 'cold noodles', and it is a definite staple at any respectable Korean restaurant in Japan. I grew up slurping these cold buckwheat noodles every time I had kalbi in Japan, which was quite frankly, almost every weekend...


Being the lucky girl that I am, I have a Korean collaborator/friend at work now, and she recommended a Korean grocery store in Santa Clara last week as the place she goes for her Korean groceries. She also set me on the right track by suggesting a noodle company I should check out whose products are sold there. With tasty, chewy noodles on my mind, I dragged my lazy butt down to the South Bay last Sunday.

And let me tell you - the experience was totally worth the 45 min+ drive!

Amazingly, as I walked into the grocery store, I was greeted by a sample station for mul naeng myun! What coincidence! I sampled a bite and was genuinely impressed by the chewy, flavorful noodles. The lady at the sample station told me all about how to best prepare the noodles, which she claimed she had made herself. The packaging looked homemade enough that I am inclined to believe her. I picked up a few of her noodles along with a couple packages of the noodles recommended by my friend. And boy, the kimchee bar - that was nothing short of amazing. So many varieties of kimchee, all available deli-style. That experience is totally worth a whole 'nother post one of these days.

What's amazing about these fresh naeng myun packages is the ease with which they can be prepared. Literally, 20 seconds in boiling water is all it takes. The soup packages are only OK, but with a whole heap of kimchee and other pickled vegetables, the weakness of the soup is totally hidden by the power and explosion of kimchilicious flavors.

And best of all, I had restaurant-quality naeng myun in half the time it takes for me to drive to Sam Won BBQ!!!

PS: Do you think pickled vegetables count as fresh produce? It's not really fresh, so I try to not think about it as a deviation from my NoCal LoCal challenge...

PS II: Some of my mul naeng myun packages claim to be arrowroot noodles while others are translated as buckwheat noodles. Interestingly, the ones that are arrowroot noodles also have buckwheat in them but have arrowroot juices as an additional ingredient. I'm planning a taste comparison soon, but if anyone has any insight on whether one or the other is the more proper 'mul naeng myun', please let me know!!

Paper Chef: Kalbi-Gone-Local

It's been SOOOO long since I actually had the time and mental stability to tackle something in the kitchen, and this month's Paper Chef event had the perfect theme to go along my NoCal LoCal challenge (OK, was that a really lame, dorky title that shouldn't have been repeated?!)! Thanks for going local, Owen!

The challenge was to use (dried) chili peppers, peaches, edible flowers, and another local ingredient to concoct something tasty. I thought and thought and thought about this one, so much that I actually came up with a total of four dishes I could've made. Since it's been 100F+ around where I live, I briefly considered doing something like a hot and sweet peach sauce to go over ice cream. I quickly decided that I just wasn't hungry for anything sweet right now. I then played around with the idea of a peach salsa, but then I remembered that I didn't really like fruity salsa that much... I was just about to start making a turkey-peach meat ball (like chicken-apple sausage) to go inside dumplings, when I came up with a better idea. What better way to combat the heat than having some tasty, local-powered, home-grilled KALBI?!


I'm proud to say that all the produce I used tonight came either from the local farmers or from our very own (planter box) garden!!

The following produce were purchased from my favorite organic and/or all-natural (uncertified organic) farms at the Pleasanton Farmer's Market:

- garlic (my chosen local ingredient #1)
- lettuce (my chosen local ingredient #2)
- white peaches
- basil with flowers (ours is recovering from a recent harvest)

From our very own planter boxes came:

- mint (my chosen local ingredient #3)
- chili peppers (ours is so hot, it's made many grown men cry.)

The short ribs came from the meat department at Whole Foods, who serves a wide variety of cuts, all hormone- and antibiotic-free (the only kind of meat I really feel good about eating). Unfortunately, although my soy sauce is organic and my sake is junmai (pure-rice, none of that industrial alcohol in my sake!), both of them were purchased at one of the big Asian grocery stores...


I made the marinade with crushed garlic and peaches, sake, soy sauce, roasted sesame seeds, and our very own chili peppers from our planter boxes (I substituted fresh peppers for dried ones). I saved some of the marinade to use as dipping sauce later, then dumped the meat in the marinade. Periodically, I massaged and kneaded the beef in the marinade to make sure the marinade soaked into the meat well. A couple hours later, on the hot grill they went (thanks, Papa Bear!), and a short while later, voila! My Paper Chef entry was done!


Although I had some kimchee to go with it, for the first bite of my Kalbi-Gone-Local, I wrapped the meat in lettuce along with my home-grown mints (home-grown from seeds for the first time!!!) and the basil flower, the only edible flower that could be found in the Pleasanton Farmer's Market. The marinade had that natural sweetness of juicy peaches with the kick of our extra-hot peppers, and the refreshing herbal notes of the mint and the basil cut the oil of the short ribs. I don't think I would've ever thought to make a Kalbi marinade with white peaches if it weren't for the Paper Chef theme, so this was a very worthwhile and fun culinary adventure for me!

Thanks for the inspiration and the wonderful ingredient list, Owen!

PS:
I'd leave you with a better recipe, except everything was eye balled. Here's a very approximate list for the marinade...

1 cup sake
1/2 ~ 3/4 cup soy sauce (to taste, should be salty-sweet)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large white peach, cored and crushed
3 tbs toasted sesame seeds

Mix, use as dipping sauce or meat marinade. Enjoy!

Looking for a good time?

I try to eat at the local restaurants at least twice before I post about it on MED, since I like places with consistency. Because I'm really just a recreational food blogger (not that there are professionals, I don't think...), my focus isn't so much on finding and covering as many Bay Area restaurants as it is on my food pictures and my ramblings on food as my favorite art and cultural accomplishment.

Since I am one of those boring people who can eat at the same restaurant over and over and over again, I don't get around . Actually, if anything my eating habits revolve around one or two restaurants and/or dishes at a time. I went though a serious case of ramen addiction and shabu shabu dependency, where I was driving 45+min (and crossing one bridge) several times a week...

These days, I've been so busy at work that I don't have the energy to cross any bridges or to drive particularly too long for a dependable, good meal. So, the Papa and I have been scouting the local food boards in both English and Japanese in search of my 'next phase' restaurant.

I'm happy to report that we've found one!!!

Sushi Yoshi in Newark is a charming, lovely Japanese restaurant. As the name suggests, the house special is sushi, although there is a respectful array of 'izakaya' type cooked dishes as well. Everything I have had here has been carefully prepared in a very warm way. Many of the dishes have the same nourishing touch that reminds me of the dishes my grandfather made for me.



The fish is fresh and treated with care. Saba is house-marinated, tamago is cooked in-house, and the specials change daily to reflect what is good at the market. That means the Chefs, Yoshi-san and Tani-san, will not always be able to provide uni or toro consistently, but when they do offer it, it will be good.



This (real) crab gunkan-maki (battle ship roll) is a dish from my childhood. I LOVED crab all throughout my childhood, but because I didn't have the most developed of coordination or patience, I often stumbled while getting the meat out, frequently giving up mid-process. The crab gunkan-maki was my way of avoiding all the hassle of crab consumption. The crab here was plentiful (as you can see!), sweet, juicy, and deliciously satisfying.



"Dependable" and "bold" are the words that come to mind when I think of the sushi at Sushi Yoshi. This place is definitely not hipster or flashy. It doesn't claim to be the sushi joint to try to newest and trendiest. It is where one can get very down-to-earth sushi that is like those served and enjoyed by families in Japan.

The Chef is very skilled and extremely attentive, but not in the least bit arrogant or overbearing. He may be the most generous sushi chef I've ever met, including all the Chefs in Japan with whom I've shared a glass of sake. It seems like his goal is to provide a comfortable space for tired workers to come convene at the end of the day and share a good meal and drinks to rejuvenate and relax. Both Chefs are most accommodating, pulling out surprises that only chefs with skill can accomplish, like the thin-sliced hirame treat my neighbor at the counter enjoyed. The Chef is known to be generous with sake, as many other online posts report, and at the counter, he will treat his customers to the very best with generous over-the-top pours without hesitation. The general atmosphere really is that of warm welcome - that he and his team want to reward everyone that comes through their door for the hard work they've put in during the day.



Prices are surprisingly moderate here for the quality of food and service. There are many places in Pleasanton with less quality that charge more. Being around for ten years, they seem to have the timing and stock just the right amount of food to go through, since everything tastes and looks fresh and pristine. They have the standard sushi stand-bys, along with the more advanced Japanese items, like mentaiko (spicy fish roe) and tori-gai (a yummy shellfish). I highly recommend sitting at the bar and engaging the Chefs on what's good on that day and letting them know how 'advanced' you want to be. You won't be disappointed.



Sushi Yoshi is a restaurant I don't have to 'gear up' to go. It's somewhere I can drop in after work and know that they will take good care of me.

Meet my lovely porker!

Is that for me?


Munch, munch. Yum, yum. Aren't my little hands so cute?


My mouth is a tad-bit full, but I'd really like to find some more yummy organic, local lettuce!


I probably shouldn't... but I'll take some more of that so I can keep lettuce ready in my house to eat later!

My Coming Out

I'm spilling my little secret today. I'm coming clean, out of the closet.

Last night, I got drunk.

Yes, I got drunk.

I've ended my 6-month hiatus from alcohol, and although I was planning on doing it slowly, I ended up over-doing it last night - again. (almost brings that familiar Britney tune to my mind). I did show a lot more restrain that before, learning a few things from my 6-month hiatus. I didn't finish everything in my cup at the end, and I definitely didn't get sloppy. But I did wake up totally dehydrated, and my morning run felt like torture. I think my sweat smelled like sake...

That's why there's no pictures today. I didn't have time to format anything last night.

If you are wondering why I decided to take up drinking again after successfully staying dry for over 6 months, you are not alone. Sometimes I ask myself why I didn't want to stay dry anymore. It's not that I want to get rip-roaring drunk to release tension like I used to before. It's not that I feel like I need that glass (or bottle) of wine at the end of the day anymore. So then, why drink?

I've come to realize that those are all the wrong reasons to drink. Alcohol is just as much an epicurean art form - uniquely human in nature - and drinking alcohol can very much be appreciation of culture and human achievement. We are the only species to take the time and effort, passing on traditions, year after year to create drinks. And to have a drink is to celebrate those accomplishments.

Of course on days like today, I am kicking myself for over-celebrating...

NoCal LoCal Eating

I know, I know. The title today is unbearably cheesy... And no, that is not No Calories, it is Northern California...

And this is going to be a short post, because I am insanely tired and very, very sleepy... This week is my first week with a 15 mile/week run, so I've got that going against me too. I ran a very solid 4 miles today, and I am just about ready to go nighty-night.

I'm joining Jen and Locavores, along with a whole bunch of bloggers including Sam (who keeps me up-to-date on various blogging events), and eating locally as much as I can for the month of August. Well, maybe that's not exactly accurate. I eat locally pretty much year around as much as I can, so I'm really just piggy-backing on another fun community event!

What I will do is relatively simple and actually a very integrated way of my life as it is. I will promise to eat exclusively local fruits and vegetables this month, purchasing fresh produce only at farmer's markets and boycotting all grocery stores. I, however, will not be able promise my meat sources to be local, although I will try (as I always do) to buy local meats. It's simply not realistic for me, living in the Tri-Valley (Hickville) section of the Bay Area...

So, to kick off my first day in August and my participation in the local foods event, I made dinner that was entirely based on produce from my patio (pot-)garden (no, no, not that kind of pot! Planter boxes, silly!). My tomatoes are doing really well, as are my basil plants.


I simmered my tomatoes in sake with a dash of dashi (not local - Japanese bonito, sake, and soy sauce) and added some canned crab and frozen shrimp (where I deviate from my 'local' promise again). I cooked some spaghetti (again, not local! It would be so hard if I wanted to go 100% local!) and mixed in fresh basil (from my garden - phew) and tomato-crab-shrimp sauce to the spaghetti.


It was satisfyingly tangy enough to trigger my appetite after a long, hot day, while being filling enough to provide me with enough energy to recover from my 4-mile run.

My conclusion from my first day of eating locally: it's much easier for produce and near impossible for Japanese essentials - I can't imagine finding local bonito flakes, though I'd be happy to find someone prove me wrong!