さすがだね...  XD (as expected...)

This entry is dedicated to my second third fourth pretty up there love, food. 

Sister's Birthday Dinner

zomg, this was SO GOOD.  The shrimp and scallops were so juicy and tender and perfectly cooked, and the shiitake was full of umami goodness.  I dunno what was in that sauce (pineapple? something tropical) but it was YUMMEH.

[Course two:  sansai (mountain vegetable), snowpea greens, and salmon pate with miso sauce]

Uh...this picture got cut off a little bit.  I love me the sansai, it tasted kiiind of like menma (pickled bamboo shoots) but not the same crunchy.  The salmon pate was tasty but the texture was weird.  It was like 'Yay it's salmon but whyyy??? is it not flakey like it usually is?' or something.  The snowpea shoots were yummy.  I think there was some mustard in there.

[Course three: sashimi]

Maguro, hirame, and uni, also known as tuna, flounder, and sea urchin.  I don't really like uni that much, but this one was crazy fresh and not bad.  It tastes like the sea.  How cliche.
 
We decided to upgrade one of these to toro, aka fatty tuna, aka ONO KINE GRINDZ.  This is the kind of thing where you chew and chew and don't want to swallow since it is so good.  MmmmmmMMMMmmm.

Also, that is fresh, REAL wasabi.  I hate hate hate the fake stuff since it burnses my nose, but the real stuff is sweet with a bite afterwards and no burning.  And also mad expensive.

[Course four:  soft shell crab tenpura with cabbage and spring vegetables in a yuzu sauce]

This one was very very good.  The softshell crab was so tender and crunchy from the coating, and paired really well with the tart yuzu (citron) sauce.

[Course five:  Pork stuffed cabbage roll with blueberry sauce and broccoli rabe]

It kind of tasted like something my mom used to make.  I dunno if you were supposed to drink the broth or not, but...ehehehe :slurp:  

[Course six:  clam with garlic sauce, and clam in radish cone, with pink pickled raddish]

This one was quite yummy too.

[Course seven:  Sushi.  Maguro, hirame, and maybe aji?  Tuna, flounder, and mackerel]

Fact:  High end sushi places will not provide you with wasabi to mix into your shoyu (soy sauce).  The reason being, a skilled itamae (chef) should dab the correct amount of wasabi in each piece for you to experience optimum sushi dining experience.  You just lightly dip the top part in shoyu and enjoy.  The gari (pickled ginger) was also nice and not too sharp.

[Course eight:  Broiled yellowtail]

Oh man, this was good.  The fish was deliiiciously fatty and the skin was crispy.

[Course nine:  soba]

This is the nattou soba that my sister got.  I got the mountain vegetable one since nattou isn't really my thing.  Nice and light.

[Course ten:  red grape sorbet with merlot]

Very refreshing and a great way to end the meal.


Some notes:

It must suck to be the dish washer there since it was seriously the most. plates. evar.

I think the only thing I wasn't super excited about was the salmon pate because of the texture.  And I guess the pork stuffed cabbage, but mostly because it was just aight and not uber delicous like the rest of the dinner.  But their menu changes daily so if you go, who knows what you'll get.

Lots of small plates of small portions of food = full, without being gut bustingly full at the end.

Big pimpin? ...or at least spendin G's.  For realz man.  Dude this places was the most expensive meal I've ever had in my life.  But it was totally delicious and I think worth it.

Now that I think about it, we didn't take a single picture of ourselves.  Just the food.  You can see where our priorities are.  

Yay Malaysian food!

I got to try Malaysian food for the first time twice! this past week.  MmmmMMMmmm Malaysia Kopitiam is gooood.  I love nasi lemak and Hainanese chicken rice.

Hahaha, I think I scared Pauline and Michelle with my enthusiam for wanting to try it, and being so happy I got to try it.  And I think I scared Selma and probably Linda when I told them how much I liked it.  -___-a;;;

An Ode to Durian:

Oh Durian.
So called king of fruits.
I wanted to like you so much.
I tried to like you.  I really did.
I mean I really did.
I said nothing while Hae-Rin's apartment and haWOde went crazy trying to get away from your smell as Hae-Rin microwaved you in your frozen state.  I thought you tasted kind of eh but I promised myself I would try you again.
I almost bought you in Hilo when you were sitting in that crate at the farmers market, begging me to buy you, and you didn't even smell that much at the time.  But I was afraid that you'd smell up our rental place and that wouldn't be cool, and I ended up buying a guanabana instead because that was smaller and cheaper and I wanted to try that also.
I contemplated buying you in bubble tea form many times, but there was so many other flavors to try.
So I bought you as bubble tea today.  And even before the lady was done I could smell you.
That musky, gasoline-ish?, sulfur-y smell.  I do not like that smell.
Whoever said the smell was only in the rind was so so so so wrong.
But I tried you anyway.  And you were nasty.
Nasty nasty nasty.
You taste like you smell.  That is not a compliment.
And you keep smelling despite being in a frozen drink.  You're like a delicous milkshake with something weird in it.
And when I burped all I can taste is durian.
And when I poured you down the sink, ALL I COULD SMELL WAS YOU STINKY DURIAN.
omg, what the heck dude.  You make my house smell.  Good thing we have vinegar and baking soda to vanquish your stinky smell.
No wonder you are banned in hotels throughout Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
I think I will stick to my other, non-nasty smelling tropical fruits thank you very much.
But I still lament that I cannot like you.
I think we need some time apart.
Perhaps we can try again sometime in the future.  But...I kind of doubt it.

Okay, later dudes!

Strawberry picking!!!

I went strawberry picking when I was really little and thought it was mad fun (although that may just be because it involved me eating strawberries...), so I was thinking wouldn't it be cool to try it again?  And the added advantage of being in touch with where the food you eat comes from, seeing a small glimpse of how the family used to live back in the day (well, growing/picking sugar cane or rice or something in stead of strawberries), supporting local farmers, etc. etc.

It seemed like no one could go though and I was kind of bummed, but last minute someone can go! and off to go strawberry picking.  It was probably a really bad weekend to go traffic-wise since they made the Wilson bridge one lane for 395-N heading to the farm, but it wasn't that bad.

The weather was AMAZING.  What a nice weekend to be outside.  And the strawberries were even amazinger.


Small farm, but the field was pretty big.  And it was empty.



where's the strawberries?




I don't think you can see it from the pictures, but on the really ripe strawberries there is no white part at the top.  it's pinkish red instead.  well, maybe that depends on what kind of strawberries they are.


Michelle's haul


my haul.  I was probably a little OCD on getting the best ones I could find, but eh.  they were yummy.


I know it's probably nasty that I am eating these without washing them first, but DENG they were so good.

when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  when life gives you strawberries, you make...

.
.
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HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE V  hahahahaha

I wish you could have joined me in the strawberry picking festivities.  Mad fun and cheap thrills.

so according to some of the farm websites:

strawberries are late May to early-June (next week might be the last week, or maybe too late already or something)
blueberries are late June
blackberries are July to August
raspberries are August to October
peaches are July to August
nashi (Asian pears) are August to September

who wants to play farmer for an afternoon and pick some fruit?    let me know because I will definitely go again.  hahahaha XD

and now for some randomness

"The grass is never greener here or on the other side.  It's greener where YOU WATER IT (aka where you invest the time)."
    ~Pastor Rod.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgXk5kNpFpQ
even though they already broke up so some of them could go to college, if ZONE became any awesomer, they'd be...even more really awesome.