Australia & New Zealand Trip

Big trip #2 for us this year was to Australia and New Zealand! We went for a little short of 2 weeks to Sydney and Auckland. The highlights for me are depicted below for food and things we did, but mostly it was great to see some friends I hadn't seen in a while!

Sydney highlights in no particular order:
Manly Beach- Fish & Chips, Harr's Cafe meat pie with mashed potatoes and peas, bacon roll from the farmer's market, and pub grub from the Shakespeare pub...
I also tried Vegemite at Elissa's place but that was a lowlight haha but glad I tried it!











Now for highlights of activities:
Featherdale Wildlife Park where we were among the kangaroos, koalas, emus, and all sorts of other animals... Bondi Beach with Elissa and Luke (our wonderful hosts)... Blue Mountains to be out in nature... and we found Nesbitt Street in Sydney!


















Now on to Auckland and the food and activity highlights (which are significantly shorter due to less days): We actually loved the kebabs they had so had that twice... went over to the seaport town of Devonport where we hiked up to the top of a volcanic cone to Fort/Mt Victoria to overlook the bay (it was quite rainy whilewe were there)... we went on a ferry to the volcanic island of Rangitoto... and we had dinner our last night at the top of the Sky Tower- great trip!

Replicating the German Apple Pancake from The Original Pancake House

It's the weekend which means I have time to experiment with food! This week, I'm determined to truly hold to my previous goal of cleaning out our fridge and/or freezer before going to go buy more things at the store. Currently in our fridge we have... eggs! My dilemma is trying to be healthy (especially after the coconut water cleanse) and it seems the most eggs are used with desserts or for main dishes, I would need to go get more ingredients from the store.

All that said, I was inspired to make pancakes, but not just any pancake... German Apple Pancakes like at the Original Pancake House in San Diego! I found a recipe online that tried to replicate the apple pancake from OPH, so I said, we have apples, we have eggs, we have buttermilk that I had frozen, let's give it a try! I was a bit hesitant since it was buttermilk when the recipe called for half cream and half whole milk and I also didn't know how the defrosted butermilk would turn out, but I figured it is worth a shot. The apples smelled fantastic as they were sauteing in the pan... I could have just eaten that but I was patient :)

I then let it cool for about an hour like the recipe said (I'm not sure what exactly that does for the pancake, but I took my husband's advice to "just follow the recipe" since it was the first time. When I was was ready, I prepared the batter, which actually seemed to be very little compared to the pan. I was hoping that it would puff up, but I wasn't sure so I added some baking powder (outside the recipe I know) hoping it would help and into the oven it went... and out it came wonderfully! It looked beautiful when flipped onto the plate but I will admit that I was a little sad that the batter was still on the thin side and it wasn't the thick pancake I was hoping to see.

When we tasted it though, it was delicious! I think next time I will decrease the amount of sugar and butter for the apples, since it was a bit overly sweet for me (not for Jeremy of course). I would also double the batter for the amount of pancakes, but other than that, I loved it and would definitely make it again! Gosh I love food :)

Sen Dai Sushi and Yogurtland, Milpitas

Tonight Jeremy and I had an impromptu Friday night date night... okay maybe it was more like I was craving sushi and my husband loves me. Either way, we decided to try a new place that was rated well on Yelp- Sen Dai Sushi in Milpitas. It is a tiny place so we waited about 25 minutes and were seated at the sushi bar. We had looked at the menu while we were waiting so we knew what we were getting but of course I oogled all the food that was created and passed out... I always have food envy... it's so bad sometimes!

We ended up getting the nigiri special- 9 pieces of the chef's choosing. I asked for no ebi and no tobiko which appeared on the picture. I ended up getting salmon, smoked salmon, hamachi, maguro, tai, hirame, shiro maguro, ika, and disappointingly kanikama aka imitaion crab. I'm guessing that they add a 9th item that is cheap like tobiko or kanikama or egg or something but it was nonetheless a bit disappointing. For the nigiris the fish was fresh and there were some large pieces, but they weren't the most flavorful. I also thought it was interesting for a place to serve smoked salmon as a nigiri. I usually end up loving salmon, but this time the hamachi was my favorite of the nigiris.

For rolls, Jeremy humored me and got the Las Vegas roll (inside is tuna, hamachi, salmon, and avocado) as well as Spider roll (soft shell crab with avocado and a few other items) per my request. He also added the Milpitas roll which I think had spicy crab, smoked salmon, and avocado all topped with some tempura crisps. His favorite was the Las Vegas roll, and I think the spider roll would have been better if the soft shell crab weren't fried for so long. Jeremy thought it was fine but I thought it was a bit on the burnt side. The other issue we had was that each roll was way too big- about 3 bites worth. Jeremy said "I have a big mouth but those were too big even for me" haha. We both think they should make them thinner and longer as opposed to 4 ginormous hunks that fall apart with the first bite.

Overall, nothing too bad to say about it- the sushi was good but nothing special. I wouldn't necessarily make it my top sushi destination despite the good ratings on yelp by everyone else. I still prefer Yuki Sushi (which I need to visit again), Sushi Maru, and Satsuma Sushi over this one!

For dessert we headed over to Yogurtland which has a prime location right on Calaveras. It is fairly new and I think it is very cute inside, although we noticed that there is very little visibility from an employee perspective of what is going on in the rest of the store the way that it is structured. Regardless, the yogurt (nonfat mind you) was delicious with many different options to choose from- we got double cookies and cream, vanilla wafer cookies and cream, matcha green teta, and plain tart. Jeremy and I both picked 2 flavors- if you know both of us guess who picked which ones! I also topped my side with a few mochi balls and voila dessert for 30 cents an ounce, totaling a mere $3.44! I love the places where you can put your own choices in and just weigh the whole thing- LOVE LOVE it :) Now that place I could go back to... good thing it's not right by our place or I might become obese!

Coconut Water Cleanse

I know it sounds crazy but I survived a coconut water cleanse! I followed the same process that a coworker of mine did- a 3 day cleanse by primarily only drinking coconut water. The first day is only coconut water (about 3L a day), the second and third day is coconut water with almonds. I had 20 almonds the second day and 25 the third day in addition to coconut water.

For anybody that knows me, they know I love my food and I love eating but I was amazed at how fine I felt. I started it this week because I had wanted to do it for a while but I was finally motivated by how gross I felt after consuming way too much on our Tahoe camping trip. The time I tried to start the cleanse before I was sitting at home while my husband baked bread as a means to fix himself food and I couldn't fight the desire to eat fresh baked bread that smelled fantastic... so this time I started it during a busy time at work which helped tremendously. I didn't even really think about it too much and I didn't have to leave to go get lunch or think about what to take for lunch haha. I had a lot more energy than I thought I would and surprisingly I didn't feel deprived this time. The power of will and mind! I even made dinner for Jeremy one night and didn't have the urge to eat the food I made- amazing!

Anyhow, I felt good through it- I didn't wake up with discomfort in my stomach, didn't have the sick, full feeling from eating too mcuh, and just truly felt fine. On the flip side, I didn't feel great or like I was cleansed throughly in my body or any other dramatic changes, so was it really a big difference maker? Mmm... probably not but at least I tried it! Of course I'm putting toxins back into my body after it, but who knows? Maybe it'll be an annual thing!

SF Jazz Festival and Foodie Tour #1

For the Fourth of July, we decided to head up to the city for some Fillmore Jazz Festival and foodie eats. There were 5 or us that went and after some time of walking up and down the streets of the festival as well as listening to some of the acts, we figured it was time to head over to Delfina Pizzeria for real dinner. My husband and I snacked on a funnel cake in the mid-afternoon, but we were plenty ready for thin crust pizza!

We started with a cured meat platter which had salami, and many other cuts of fatty and salty cured meat that were good, but not things I would eat on a regular basis. I'm actually not sure that I'd order that appetizer platter again. We also got a side of grilled fennel which was actually quite tasty, and was a nice intro as we waited for our pizza. It was a bit on the greasy side, but very flavorful.

Now for pizza we ordered the margherita, salsiccia, and the special of the day with a cured meat and a cream type sauce. I thought I was going to like the simple margherita the best, but it turns out I liked the other two even better. The salsiccia came with sausage, tomato, onion, bell peppers, and cheese. The sausage had plenty of flavor but without overpowering the other ingredients so it wasn't too much meat. The third pizza, which I can't remember the name of, was quite different and unique. It was a cream based pizza with cured meat, onions, and big chunks of cracked black pepper that gave it quite a kick that startled me at first but grew on me. This was the most unexpected pizza but I was very pleased by our choice. If I were ordering a whole pizza for myself, I wouldn't get the cream pizza, and the margherita would probably be my choice. Overall the dough was good and the toppings were good- the only thing was the burnt dough bubbles on the edges that were numerous and very burnt... We picked them off but I could do without that.

After finishing our pizza, we headed over to the Mission for some Bi-Rite Creamery Ice Cream and Tartine Bakery goodies for the next morning. At Bi-Rite, Jeremy and I shared a triple cup of 3 flavors: salted caramel, coffee toffee, and Ricanelas. Our order of favorites is Ricanelas, which is a cinnamon ice cream with Snickerdoodle pieces, salted caramel, and coffee toffee. The cinnamon was surprisingly good- thanks Quartons for the recommendations- and won hands down. The salted caramel actually didn't taste that different from regular caramel to me... I didn't really taste a saltiness to it that brought out more flavor, but maybe my pallet isn't refined enough... and usually I love coffee ice cream, but this one was a bit too coffee bean-y from me and the tiny toffee pieces didn't really bring anything special out. They were all good, but Ricanelas, which wasn't our automatic choice, was hands down the winner. By the way, Jeremy also got a chocolate and salted caramel soft serve at the window which was actually quite delicious also!

Now on to Tartine bakery where I got the morning bun, croissant, and country loaf. The morning bun was not as good as I expected- tasted pretty much like one of those twisty, flaky pie type snacks... although we only tried the outstide of it, so maybe the inner core is fantastic who know- I'll update tomorrow. The croissant was deliciuos- buttery, flaky, soft and pure goodness... the country loaf was a bit hard to tear off, but there was good flavor and chewiness. We were still pretty full so I'll update on this tomorrow too when I have some for breakfast :)

I also baked my own multi grain bread the night before so we have a lot of bread in our house! It might be freezing time!

Hand Pulled Noodles Lesson

Last night I was invited by my friend Jimmy to attend a personal cooking lesson to learn how to make Chinese hand pulled noodles. He had arranged for Chef Tomm to come teach us a lesson on how to make noodles and then make 2 dishes with the noodles we made- noodles with flavored chicken stock and stir fried noodles (spicy garlic sauce). For details, you can see the link below which is exactly what we did: http://www.cheftomm.com/chinese-hand-pulled-noodles/

It was a lot of fun (and work) since we were pulling noodles for about 2 hours if not more. That's also why there are no pictures- we were too busy and hands dirty! I brought my kitchen aid since the dough can be made by beating it in the kitchen aid mixer for 12 minutes. It was a bit crazy how hard the mixer was working to beat this dough, but it was also amazing to see the result of a very elastic dough. I found that it was all about getting the dough to the right consistency to come out with dry noodles ready to cook and to try to get the strands even. I must say that I think my noodle pulling skills diminished throughout the night somehow or maybe the first batch of dough came out the best... who knows.

The dough was simple to make but it is also very important to measure precisely and feel for the right consistency. The dough can easily be adjusted, you just have to know what you're looking for, so hopefully I'll be motivated to play around with this some more :) The other key is that you have to cook the noodles right after you stretch them, so you have to have a pot of boiling water to cook them in. As soon as they float they're good to go! I actually enjoyed the different sized noodles- skinny somen sized noodles, and fat, doughy, udon sized noodles... variety! I definitely enjoyed my first at home, personal cooking lesson so thanks Jimmy and Chef Tomm!

Yuki Sushi after Tuesday Golf

I am playing in a ladies' league on tuesdays thanks to a few co-workers who invited me, and after one round we all planned to go to Yuki Sushi in Santa Clara. I had heard so many great things about it, that I was excited to try it! By the way, the league is super fun and the ladies are fabulous!

They started us all off with little complementary soba noodle appetizers which was a very nice touch. I then got the nigiri sushi dinner combo which included 7 nigiri and a tekka maki. I must say that their fish was fresh, delicious, and everything else there looked fantastic also. My special favorites were the hamachi, salmon, and maguro. One of the girls let me have a california roll and that was good too although I guess you can't go too wrong there :) Also to note, their edamame pods were huge, served warm with a bit of salt, and not over cooked to mush- great to keep us waiting for the rest of the food. Everything that came out of the kitchen looked fantastic and I can not wait to go back and try more!

Dining Club is Back!! Sumiya!

For this month I had the ambition to bring the dining club back! I missed my lovely old roomies and I love going to new food places so this was a good excuse. Plus, maybe now I'll update my blog AT LEAST once a month! This time I chose to go to Sumiya in Sumiya, which is known for its yakitori style japanese food... they even give you a big bowl of cabbage with ponzu sauce to start off so you can eat veggies with the rest of your meal!

We ordered a number of things- the second set menu with tori soup (translated bird or chicken soup) which had chicken meatballs, kalbi don, 2 tsukune (chicken meatball) skewers, 2 negima (green onion and chicken) skewers, and 2 butabara (pork belly) skewers. We also ordered a gyutan (beef tongue) skewer, a tri-seaweed salad with yuzu miso dressing, a yakitori don, and a peach and oolong tea panna cotta to round out our meal.

I liked the soup, which I loved that we were all comfortable sharing a few sips out of the bowl haha, since it had depth of flavor and the meatballs were melt in your mouth delicious. I also liked the negima skewers which were simple but the meat was nice and tender. The pork belly was a bit on the fatty and salty side, but still good for a small piece. The seaweed salad and the dressing was delicious- perfect to offset some of the fatty items! *Sorry about the lack of pictures- I was eager to eat and they turned out blurry... maybe I need to upgrade to an iPhone 4 :P

Unfortunately, I thought I was going to love the kalbi don and gyutan, but both were a bit disappointing. The kalbi was nothing like what korean kalbi is... it actually tasted more like liver that was marinated which was quite odd. The gyutan was not the thin, chewy, grilled deliciousness I've had elsewhere, but small ball- like pieces that were chewier and not as flavorful as others I've had. I thought the donburis (rice bowls) were a bit disappointing due to being on the bland side. They looked great with the half cooked egg to mix, but there just wasn't that much taste... maybe the yakitori sauce on there didn't have that much flavor... and finally the panna cotta- that to be honest was something I would recommend highly against. It was too rich to be a panna cotta with overpowering tea taste that did not mesh well. It was not light and gelatine-y but much more like a heavy custard or cream dish that was not very sweet or well flavored. It was a disappointing end to the meal, but I did get frozen yogurt at Yumi Yogurt right close by to make up for it!

Wow it's been a while

I knew that I had put off blogging even though I took food pictures everywhere... but I just now figured out it's been 2 months! I need to get back on the ball!
I'm thinking about starting another food project, maybe a bento project to see if that's something that I could do someday... I'll have to give it some thought but it's always nice to have a goal or project to keep me motivated and steering me in a direction I want to head in!

On a different tangent, I am aiming to start up the dining club again so that the girls and I can check out a new place at least once a month and spend time together! Those I will force myself to blog about!

What happened in the last 2 months...
-Tonight we went to eat at Premier Pizza, at which I got a HUGE slice of creamy chicken pizza (recommended by the guy who looked like the store manager) and small salad. Jeremy got a pepperoni pizza slice and a BBQ chicken. The creamy chicken was actually too creamy since I don't care that much for cream sauces- I prefer a lighter tomato, so I had a bit of mine and I had a bit of the BBQ chicken (quite good). The pizza is good- I'd go back!
- At the beginnning to mid May we went on a cruise to Alaska with some friends on the Norwegian Pearl. Overall my opinion is that the food quality was better than Carnival, but variety day to day in the buffet was subpar. Also, no 24 hour pizza (their pizza was mehhhh) or soft serve??
-Right after the cruise, I went to Austin for work. We had some good margaritas and queso at Guero's, good ribs and bread at County Line, and some good Salt Lick brisket at the airport. I will say though that I was quite meat, tex mex, and BBQed out when I got back!

I think those are the highlights from the last month... I promise to be better about this! It's like following my life since my life revolves around food!

Cupcake Battle: Sprinkles vs Kara's

The perfect opportunity arose to have a Cupcake Showdown between Sprinkles cupcakes and Kara's Cupcakes! They were the double chocolate with sprinkle cupcakes from each place, so we had a side by side taste test after dinner. The picture may not do it justice, but the Kara's cupcake on the left was quite a bt smaller than the Sprinkles one- not sure what the price difference was.

My opinion to be honest is that they were pretty similar as far as cake portion, but as an overall experience, I preferred Sprinkles. The cake portion as I said was fairly similar, but I think I preferred the Kara's one a TINY bit more- there was a lasting flavor that I enjoyed after I had swallowed my bite. The frosting however, I liked the Sprinkles one better. It was a little denser and creamier compared to the light fluffy one on Kara's. I think Kara's cupcake has a very large layer of frosting because it's so light (as you can see from the cut cupcake picture). I'm not a huge frosting person to begin with, so I liked that the Sprinkles cupcake had a much higher cake to frosting ratio in one bite. Both cupcakes were moist, quite tasty, and not too sweet- bottom line I'd eat both :)

I made Jeremy do the taste test too and he actually was the exact opposite of me. He liked the Sprinkles cake and Kara's frosting- he didn't really hesitate on it either! Again, to each their own! Of course, he doesn't discriminate when it comes to eating chocolate or chocolate cake :)

Also, our work bake off round 2 is coming up next week... I haven't decided what to make for it or if I'll submit something, so I'll have to think about it. The categories are: pies, cakes, cookies, and bars. If anybody has ideas or suggestions, feel free to let me know!

April Foods

There have been a number of food adventures already in April (Coconuts Carribbean food may have been end of March...) that I thought I'd share!

1) Coconuts Carribbean Restaurant in Palo Alto- We went to celebrate our friend Robbie's new job, which has been his dream as long as he can remember! Several of our friends had been there before and had rave reviews and for cheaper than Mantra Restaurant, at which we were there for Happy Hour drinks prior to dinner. We ordered the plantain/chickpea cakes with guacamole appetizer that our friend was raving about. They were in essence mashed and fried plantains and chickpeas that were battered and fried served with guacamole. I didn't think it was all that great enough to order again, but to each their own!

The main dish that I ordered on the other hand was delicious. I went for the traditional dish of jerk chicken, since that's what they're known for! It was deliciously cooked- moist and very flavorful but not overpoweringly spicy. It was served with delicious fried plantains that were sweet as could be, rice cooked with red beans that were fantastically flavorful, and assorted vegetables that were good but slightly oily for me. I was very glad to see vegetables though :)

Jeremy got the jerk salmon so of course I tried some of that as well. Again, very flavorful but it didn't completely take over the salmon, and it was cooked to perfection. I could have done without the tartar sauce type sauce on top since I'm not a mayo fan, but others seemed to like it. Their mashed potatoes were mighty delicious, but you can tell they had a lot of butter to make it that good. Finally the green beans that came with the salmon was good too- thankfully not too mushy! Overall, I would definitely come again for the main meal!

2) Kung Fu Taco Truck- Some people at work arranged for the Kung Fu Taco Truck to come down from San Francisco so I decided to give it a try. It is a fusion of mexican and chinese food, which a lot of people were skeptical about, but since the Korean/Mexican fusion taco truck is so popular in LA, this seemed pretty normal to me. There were 5 choices: chicken with asian marinade, steak with asian marinade, mushu veggies, roast duck, and char shiu. After much debate, I decided to go for the steak, duck, and veggie tacos. My favorite was the roast duck because the flavors were pretty much like peking duck, just with a tortilla not a bun or thin wrap. The mango salsa went fantastically with the duck that was a little fattier but oh so flavorful. They were all different so it's hard to pick a second place since the other two were both good as well. The steak wasn't too different from a normal taco, just a little sweeter because of the marinade. It also had a carrot salsa type dollop on top which was a bit different. The only bad thing about it was that I had a very chewy and fatty piece of meat that I had to spit out. The mushu veggies taco was very flavorful and tasted just like mushu which I love. The only bad thing about this one was that it was quite juicy from the vegetables and sauce that it was really messy to eat. I would definitely eat at this taco truck again and I want to try all of the other kinds too!

3) I decided to make homemade honey nut granola since I had thought about it for a while and have started cutting out processed foods. Plus, it's a lot cheaper when you make it at home and you can control what and how much sweetness goes into the product. I don't think I had enough liquid because it didn't come out as cluster-y as I wanted, but the flavor was good. I may have added a little too much healthy stuff like flax seed which takes away a bit of the sweetness. With that said, I feel like it's healthier, because I put in thick rolled oats, sliced almonds, flax seed, and sesame seed mixed together with just vegetable oil, honey, and vanilla. It was very easy and I would definitely make it again, although it's dangerous since I keep munching on it at work! Maybe next time I'll make granola bars- thanks All Recipes!

4) Bibimbap- We went to Cupertino Village for korean food since several of us were in the mood for some dolsot bibimbap. I had been to the restaurant in Cupertino Village before, but I had only had the tofu soup before so I ventured out for the bibimbap. As usual, I thought the side dishes were great, even though there were a few items that were a little strange to our non-Asian friends. Now for the main course... when it first came out, I was a bit surprised because it is definitely smaller in size than other restaurants in the area, but it was good. It was awesomely crispy on the bottom already so you could start mixing pretty quickly. It wasn't too greasy either which I appreciated, but I thought the vegetables could have used a little more flavor and I could have used a little more meat since the pieces were very small and just floating on top in a thin layer. With that said, I still took part of it home, since I didn't need to eat the whole bowl plus the side dishes just for lunch!

Diane's bday cake and homemade cinnamon rolls

Wednesday was our beloved pastor's wife's birthday and so I volunteered to make a homemade chocolate cake for her. I hardly make homemade cakes since box mixes are so easy and so tasty, but I decided to go all out for this woman that is ever so faithful in making us meals and delicious goodies each week! I found a recipe online titled "BEST MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE"- who can see that and not try it? So I made it with Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder and it was soooooo delicious. Everybody absolutely loved it and it was so easy! Why would I keep buying boxed cakes with preservatives and junk like high fructose corn syrup if this is just a tad more effort? I think I am committing to buy much fewer, if any, boxed mixes that contain junk. Trader Joe's or Whole Foods may be an exception if the ingredient list is acceptable :)

Then today, we had our friends the Ls over for brunch. We hadn't seen them in a while so I wanted to make something different. I finally attempted homemade cinnamon rolls (along with buttermilk pancakes). First off, I love our bread machine! It just makes so many things easier and fills our hearts with love (and tummies with carbs). I found a recipe on AllRecipes for a "Cinnabon Clone" which it wasn't quite, but that may have been my fault. I think I left them in the oven for a bit too long while I was cooking other stuff so they were a bit crispier than desired on the inside- but the inside was soft and gooey! I'm sure Cinnabon puts a LOT more butter and sugar in their innards though! I think I thinned out the icing a bit too much also. Otherwise, the flavor was good and our guests enjoyed them as well! By the way, I tried the floss cutting method and it really works great- just use some dental floss and slice up that rolled up log in no time without squishing the whole roll!

Five Finger Shoes!

This has absolutely nothing to do with food, but I thought I'd share my new acquired possession- five finger shoes! They're a little weird at first- think toe sock shoes... the concept is that you can run, hike, walk, etc as if you're barefoot but with the protection you need from sharp or dangerous objects. It takes a bit of getting used to, and putting them on isn't as quick as normal shoes, but they seem nice.

I went for a run in them and going on gravel for a train run was a big mistake since I could feel every pebble under my feet- on the pavement was fine though. My calves were sore the next day, I guess I do run differently even though I'm not purposely changing my form!

My co-worker went hiking in hers, as well as paddle boating, and absolutely loved them. She still needs to go running in them to provide that verdict.

Ramen ALMOST 2 days in a row

So I almost had ramen 2 days in a row (not a horrible thing if it had happened by any means) at new places- Orenchi Ramen and Dohatsuten.

I went to Orenchi ramen yesterday for lunch with a few coworkers of mine that I hadn't seen in a while- thanks Lucy for introducing us to the place and for organizing! The ramen was really good. I got the house "Orenchi" ramen which is a tonkotsu ramen. What made it unique was the thicker, chewier noodles which I really liked and thought was delicious. I don't like soft, soggy noodles at all, so it was fresh and "al dente" if you can use the same terminology for asian noodles as well. The broth was tasty and had depth in flavor, but was a bit salty... not that it stopped me from sipping almost all of it! I'm also not a big egg person, but this egg was perfectly soft boiled and looked gorgeous when it was bitten into. I still didn't eat all of it, but it was quite delicious. They offer tonkotsu, shio, and shoyu ramen (along with a few appetizers) I believe but that's it- they again prove my point that it takes being good at a few things and doing them well, as opposed to offering a lot of things but being mediocre in them.

Then tonight for dinner, my old roomie Christina and I had an impromptu shopping and dinner outing. We decided to go to Dohatsuten in Palo Alto. They are a izakaya type restaurant which means small plates that usually go well with sake or other types of alcohol. They also offer ramen and clay pots, so Christina got the Dohatsuten ramen with a small shiro maguro don, and I got the chashu and kimchee clay pot. I will definitely have to go back to try the ramen, but my thought was to try the clay pot since I could take it home if I didn't eat it all since I wasn't that hungry... but of course I ate it all! I'm still holding/rubbing my tummy regretting how much I ate, but it was tasty. The soy saucy flavor was a bit too strong, but you have got to love the crispy rice bits which they have a lot of! I also didn't like that there was soy sauce on the rice under the shiro maguro- the customer should be able to adjust the flavor themselves instead of having already soy sauced rice. Other than that, I'm excited to go back and try the ramen!

March adventures thus far

I need to get better at updating on a regular basis... with that said here are my March food adventures so far :)

1) Pho Linh- it is a new pho place in Cupertino that I went to for lunch with a few of my co-workers. I must say that it was quite delicious and hit the spot on a cold, drizzly day. I ordered the rare steak and brisket pho, while a few friends ordered a chicken pho. I've never tried chicken pho, but apparently they're fans. My only complaint is that they only gave us one dish of vegetables to put in our pho, when there were 4 people! Sure they provided us more when we asked, but one dish sure isn't enough... especially when you have someone like me that loves bean sprouts, basil, and lime!

2) Shan- I went out for lunch again with some co-workers to an Indian restaurant called Shan. From the people that had eaten there before, they recommended the Chicken Tikka Masala, so I gave it a shot. It was definitely different from the other creamier tikka masalas that I've had and liked, but this was good also. The chicken was a bit on the drier side, which semed obvious from everyone leaving some chicken even though the sauce was soaked up. Their naan was delicious- slightly crispy on the outside, but oh so soft on the inside, and delightfully warm. Some people ordered the garlic naan or curry potato stuffed naan, but I liked the plain naan- simple and traditional! It wasn't my favorite tikka ever and my fingers definitely smelled for a long time, but I would go back and try other things again!

3) Blue Rock BBQ catered to work- we had BBQ to celebrate a co-worker's gain of American citizenship with what else but American BBQ? I personally ordered the ribs with hush puppies and baked beans. The ribs fell off the bone and were tasty- drenched in sauce but good and not too fatty. The baked beans were thick and a little sweet, but delicious otherwise and very flavorful. The hush puppies (my first experience) were a bit of a downer because they were a bit too dense and not too flavorful. Maybe those needed to have some sauce on it also! Everyone else agreed also though so it wasn't just me. I also sampled other items- the pulled pork was a bit dry but again drenched in yummy sauce made it good, chicken was moist and tender (made for good BBQ chicken rolls. As for the sides, mac and cheese was like a lasagna with cheese sauce, cole slaw was a bit bland- they were nothing special... the baked beans and ribs were the winners!

4) Jeffrey's burgers- We went with friends to Jeffrey's in Menlo Park. I didn't have high expectations going into it, but I must admit it was quite tasty. I got the plain hamburger, but with the addition of lettuce, tomatoes, and a tad of ketchup from the very fresh looking condiment bar, it was perfect. Even more delightful was the combination of the burger with their delicious french fries and chocolate/vanilla milkshake. The french fries were quite a bit thicker, and you can see the potato skin on it which I always love. Crispy on the outside but nice and soft on the inside I'm usually a greasy, soft fry lover, not the crispy so this was a good combo! As for the shake, yummm.. this was my splurge since I ran the Angel Island 12K yesterday (no food pic but here's my victory pose after the race) :)

Now for some home cooked items
5) Mabo tofu with Lucy- I needed something quick and easy for a week day, so I made mabo tofu with brown rice (attempted and loved in my Japanese food project). No surprise, still loved it, and this time I used ground turkey in an attempt to be a bit more healthy :) Lucy said it hit the spot for her too- soft tofu, rice, a little soupiness... yumm...

6) Stuffed Cabbage- This has been something my Mom made time to time in between Japanese dinners, and I definitely liked them. There is something soothing about cabbage stuffed with ground meat (turkey in this case), carrots, onions, and a little brown rice, all cooked and braised in a tomato sauce concoction... the thing is, it doesn't have to be perfect- the first ones were much more pliable, but as I got deeper into the cabbage layers, they weren't as soft, so the top layer of my pot had some "rolled" pieces with the stuffing sticking out of it. Hey, it still tastes good and now it's soup!

7) "Beef" and barley soup- I put beef in quotes because I used ground turkey instead. I seem to have a lot of turkey according to what I'm posting, but I promise it's because I'm rolling them into one blog entry and only talking about the more unique dishes I've cooked lately! My friend Jamie had brought beef and barley soup to a girl's group and it was delicious so she emailed us all the recipe. Now I made it with turkey and it was delicious- Jeremy ate several bowls of it even though it was a little more tomato than he cared for. I liked it and we're both taking some for lunch too :)

Still to come since I stocked our fridge and cabinet this weekend... corned beef for St Patrick's Day, quinoa with salmon, and more! I'm also going to a new ramen place in Santa Clara so that review to come soon~

February Food Adventures

I hadn't made something new in a while, so here is a log of what I attempted recently:

1) The first was Chicken Cacciatore in the slow cooker for our friends who just had twins! It's always nice to be able to use the slow cooker since it is a weekday and I don't have too much time after getting home to make a nice dinner for friends. I actually did it over a course of a few days since the flavors meld and get better over a few days. Plus I had to debone the chicken, skim some of the fat, and adjust the flavor as necessary. I added multi grain pasta to it and everybody seemed to like it- success! The recipe I used was the one below (I'm becoming a bigger and bigger fan of the simply recipes website), but in true Amy style I adjusted a few things:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chicken_cacciatore_hunter_style_chicken/

2) The second was Shephard's Pie, which I like but in all honesty, I made it because we need to use up some potatoes. I blended a few different recipes with what my Mom used to make, and it actually came out great! I used ground turkey to make it a bit healthier, and flavored it with some Mrs. Dash for a low salt flavoring option, plus chicken stock, tomato sauce, and a few other adds to add flavor complexity. Topped it with mashed potatoes, and a lot of cheese on Jeremy's side, and voila! I really liked it, and Jeremy really liked it since he ate about half of the 9 x 13 finished product... it may have been because we went for a run and I didn't feed him until after 1pm! I'm starving my husband apparently, oops!

3) The third was Okowa or Japanese sticky brown rice (pictured next to the lemon bars below). I cooked it like any "takikomi gohan" or mixed rice, with chicken stock instead of dashi, mirin, soy sauce for flavoring, and for vegetables I included shiitake mushrooms, carrots, gobo (burdock) root, and konnyaku noodles. It didn't come out as sticky as I thought it would, so I'm not sure if I didn't add enough liquid, or too much, or if it was a different issue... it still tasted good though! Jeremy didn't like the flavor but oh well can't win them all...

4) Finally, I made Lemon Orange Bars courtesy of Rachael Ray's recipe to take tomorrow night for our girl gathering :) I halved the amount of crust since I don't like too much crust on my lemon bars, hopefully others share that preference! I used a 9 x 13 pan like it called for but it came out pretty thin, so I may have overcooked it, but the edges that I tasted (as I scraped the pan) tasted good so hopefully everyone else likes them too.
http://www.rachaelraymag.com/Recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-index/dessert-recipes/Golden-Lemon-Orange-Bars

It felt good to try new things in the kitchen again... I'm considering doing another experimental project to get myself trying new things again, and maybe inviting more people over this time to test these dishes out!! If you read this, suggestions are welcome for the next Amy cooking/baking project!

Anniversary- Rok Bistro

Happy 1 year wedding anniversary to us! We made it :)

After a rough week of migraines for me, a weekend flight down to SD for a wedding, and the super bowl, somehow planning something for our wedding anniversary had slipped our minds. We knew we wanted to go out for dinner to celebrate so I was put in charge of finding a place and making a reservation... it was kind of a random choice, but Rok Bistro in Sunnyvale was the chosen one.

We weren't really sure what to expect, but we ended up selecting the 4 course meal similar to a fondue place, except with a grilled entree on a super hot "rok" so you can cook your meat to exactly how you want it. Apparently they heat it to 700 degrees, and it will maintain heat for about 45 minutes so you can cook the meat the whole time you eat. We went with all the recommended choices for each course: a half salad, cheese fondue, entree meat, and a chocolate fondue. The half salad we chose was the "citrus salad" which was spinach with strawberries, tangerines, and candied pecans with a sweet vinaigrette dressing. It was really good, but if I got picky, I wish they had left the dressing on the side as I had asked...

For the cheese fondue, we went with the recommended "California Dreamin" which had a blend of 3 different cheeses with herbs. They provided bread, crisp veggies, and apples to dip, but Jeremy and I both agreed that the bread was the best. The fondue was okay but definitely my least favorite of the courses. Of course I would choose a dessert fondue over a cheese fondue any day so maybe I'm not the best evaluator...

For the entree, I chose the NY Steak and Jeremy got the buffalo. We both chose a side of garlic mashed potatoes to go along with the maple glazed veggies, which were both delicious, even though I know both are not healthy at all... The hot rock for our entree was quite interesting and although you have to work for your food, it's nice to be able to cook each bite to your liking! I liked both meats- the buffalo was very tender and juicy, and the NY steak was flavorful but not as tender as I would have liked- and the chimichurri sauce they served with it was a nice change to lightly dip it in.

For dessert was the Snickers fondue- dark chocolate, crunchy peanut butter, and caramel sauce mixed with a little cream. We were pretty darn full by then, but I was out of control on that chocolate! It was ooey gooey chocolatey goodness! They served bananas, strawberries, apples, pretzels, Rice Krispies Treats, pound cake, and cocoa dusted marshmallows with the fondue. Although in the end I took the "find you lost item" spoon and turned it into a "try to finish the fondue" spoon! You know we're really full when neither one of us can finish a chocolate fondue!

To finish it off, they brought us vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on a cold rock slab with a candle to celebrate our wedding anniversary. They sang their usual birthday celebration song for us with "anniversary" switched for "birthday" which was quite cute for trying. Overall, we had a good time, good food, and even though we had to be rolled out from being stuffed, thankful that we are blessed to be able to splurge every now and then for restaurant outings!