Yama’s Fish Market – Moilili, HI

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I had a hankering for Hawaiian food one day and wanted to grab and go from somewhere quick. I haven’t been to Yama’s Fish Market in years and years so we decided to give it a go! Kind of realized why it has been years since I been there…(sorry!)…

Sweet Sour Spareribs | $11.85

This was not my dish. Feedback shared? Was just alright, nothing special.

Baked Seafood Salmon Belly | $11.85

Feedback shared, overcooked and smallish portion!

Mushroom Chicken | $11 (around there, I forget, sorry)

Okay, this was my dish. This was a daily special and in my head – I imagined a nice creamy mushroom chicken dish. They run out of Campbell’s soup or something? Haha nah, just joke. It tasted alright but I really expected it to be the creamy mushroom gravy so it wasn’t enjoyed as much. The gravy was a bit more soupy too so I didn’t feel like it stuck onto the chicken as much as it should have. I wouldn’t get this again.

Squid Luau (16 oz.) | $9.65

I used to love getting their squid luau. The only way I can eat squid luau is with choke choke choke sriracha. I don’t know why, why do I even eat this dish if I drown it in hot sauce? But somehow the combination just works so well for me. The taste is still the same and still tastes good, maybe my own tastes have changed. Anyway, I splurged a bit for this – this side cost as much as my plate!

The plus side was that we got there and the lot was basically empty…when the lot is full, you know it’s crazy to get in and out of. Does anyone know what that empty lot next to Yama’s is? It’s like a huge parking lot but I don’t know what for? It’s just locked up.

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Amorette’s Patisserie | Disney Springs

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Okay, there were two things I had to eat while I was at Disney for this trip. First was the apple crumble tart which I got to try at Epcot (and loved), the second was the 50th celebration petit cake at Amorette’s. The first night we arrived in Florida, we came to this mall but the cake was all gone. It was such a bummer. The last night of our trip, we made one final trip to the mall and guess what? THEY HAD IT. So here is a post dedicated JUST TO THIS CAKE.

50th Celebration Petit Cake | $22.00
Vanilla Chiffon Cake with Celebration Blue Mousse, Blueberry Jam, and Lemon Curd

Do you folks watch the Great British Baking Show? I love that show so much. And when they talk about cakes, they are always talking about chiffon, mousse and LEMON CURD. Look, every part of this cake was my jam. I knew I had to get it. It’s 22 freaking dollars…it’s a petit cake. Maybe a 3 inch cake? But do you see all the beauty? Yes, there are gold flakes on it…alongside with the pretty rock candy (I don’t eat rock candy). The inside of the cake was delicious. I don’t care much for fondant so I mainly ate the inside and it was all worth it. I was sad that it was on our last night so I couldn’t even enjoy the whole cake. Why don’t we have these kind cakes here in Hawaii??

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Universal Studios Florida

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Only one day at Universal but that’s all I really needed, just wanted to check out Harry Potter there. Walt Disney required masking indoors but Universal didn’t require masks ANYWHERE. Yeah. I kept my mask on the whole time yet again. Better be safe than sorry!

Louie’s Italian Restaurant Jumbo Supreme Slice | $13.49
mozzarella, italian sausage, pepperoni, tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomato sauce, herbs, house made dough

Surprisingly really good. And it had a bit of a kick to it too so even better. Yes, pricey for one slice of pizza but I love supreme pizza. Also, when is Costco gonna bring back their combo pizza?!

Louie’s Italian Restaurant Spaghetti & Meatballs | $9.99

This was good, not great but not bad. It just hit the spot and I love meatballs. Was satisfying enough.

Frozen Butterbeer | $7.99
a non-alcoholic sweet drink reminiscent of shortbread and butterscotch

Always gotta get this drink when you’re here. To me it’s like a frozen root beer, not really my thing. I tried the hot version in Japan when it was cold weather and that was nice to sip on.

The train ride from Diagon Alley to Hogsmeade is pretty cool! The windows are all covered by video scenes so you feel like you’re riding your way to Hogwarts, complete with dementors! Super cool.

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Be Our Guest | Magic Kingdom

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I didn’t realize it was so hard to make reservations for certain restaurants at Disney. This is definitely one of them so if you are planning a trip, make sure you make you reservations early! We happened to keep checking the day before for any last minute cancellations and was able to score one! A very cute restaurant with a Beauty and the Beast theme. There is the main ballroom (where we dined) and two other rooms – I am happy we got to dine in the main ballroom. All meals are three course meals at $62.00. A much better price than the dang steak we got at Tokyo Dining! Anyway, the Beast comes out to make his rounds but no Belle! Bah!

Captain Nemo Octopus | Appetizer
Seaweed Salad, Cucumber, Pickled Beets, Hearts of Palm, Tapioca Crackers, Beets Mousse, and Carrot-Ginger Silk

Assorted Meats and Artisanal Cheese Selection | Appetizer
Chicken Rillettes, Shaved Serrano Ham, Chorizo Sausage, Pleasant Ridge Cheddar, Truffle Tremor, and Stilton Blue with Seasonal Garnishes

My appetizer and ummm…I might have gotten sick from the cheeses. This is the second time I got sick. I felt really junk after this meal, I found myself a seat on a bench with a wall and like just sat there for hours. I didn’t mind haha…maybe I just reacted poorly with the food.

Center-cut Filet Mignon
Robuchon Yukon Potatoes, Seasonal Vegetables, and Cipollini-Garlic Purée with a Red Wine Purée

We both chose the same dish and it was delicious. Once again, much better than the Japanese steak dish. And they cooked the steak to our specifications perfectly. Lovely dish.

Lemon Jam Macaron
White Chocolate “Chip” Cup – with grey stuff and crisp pearls
Dark Chocolate Truffle – filled with dark chocolate grand manier ganache

You don’t have a choice for dessert – their menu lists these dishes all separately but you actually get this trio. I was already pretty full so I wasn’t really feeling dessert. I didn’t try the grey stuff but I heard the waiter having to tell every table to try the grey stuff it’s delicious, don’t believe him, ask the dishes. Poor guy. Hahaha

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Tokyo Dining | Epcot

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Another rainy day at Disney, definitely on and off rain. This time we had our rain ponchos ready! Yay! It was still awkward walking around with a wet poncho but I was looking forward to a nice Japanese dinner.

Green Tea | $7.00

Wagyu Set | $68.00 (I think – definitely 60 something!)

I mean, this was a splurge. Was it worth it? No. I think it was supposed to be A5 but it tasted no different from regular steak to be honest. It was not worth the price at all, I get that this is Disney but it was EXPENSIVE.

Salmon Ikura Don | $24.00
sushi-grade salmon ikura over rice

Yet another overpriced dish. It was good, not great.

Yuzu Mousse Cake | $18.00
yuzu mousse cake with kinako crumb adorned with gold flakes, matcha cream, chocolate rocks, and sparkling yuzu sauce

We had to get this for the picture, hahaha. isn’t it cute? It modeled after Epcot and the Japan section of Epcot! It’s not bad. we’re not big fans of yuzu so I don’t think we appreciated it as much as we could have.

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Walt Disney World

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Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing well. Yes, a month ago I headed to Florida for an impromptu trip. It was super needed, if you know me, I love traveling so this pandemic has been so hard. Walt Disney World is celebrating their 50th year anniversary and Epcot was holding their annual Food and Wine festival so it seems like all the stars were aligned.

The trip was good, I did encounter motion sickness a bit more than I liked. Actually, I think I got food poisoning twice, once was from home onto the plane to Florida and then once was at the park. Haha but I still think it was a good trip! And yes, I pre-scheduled a PCR covid test a few days after my return. I also used the home test kits days after the PCR results too…happy to report that they were all negative!

Anyway, I apologize ahead of time. I will post all week this week and it will be all from Disney or Universal. We spent three days at Disney (Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Magic Kingdom) and one day at Universal. You follow this blog mainly for food so that’s basically what I’m posting! Today’s post is going to be a bunch of random food pics…

Pork Egg Rolls (2) | $6.99

Chicken Fried Rice | $5.99

Yup, this Chinese girl went to Animal Kingdom and eat pork egg rolls and chicken fried rice. LOL. Actually, didn’t eat anything else at the Animal Kingdom. I think we skipped out on dinner here and ate out. Both dishes were pretty okay! Though I had to drown the fried rice in hot sauce.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee | $7.00
pumpkin custard with bruleed sugar, candied pecans, spiced whipped cream, and raspberry tuile

Okay, this is a Disney themed dessert but it’s from Amorette’s Patisserie which is located in the Disney Springs Mall. This wasn’t my dessert but it was enjoyed and isn’t it so pretty?!

Roasted Irish Sausage with Colcannon Potatoes and Onion Gravy | $4.25

This dish was part of the Epcot Food and Wine festival and boy was it SALTY. I couldn’t finish it because it was like eating a salt lick. Not good.

Apple Crumble Tart | $4.50

One of my favorite dishes of the trip. This was one I had earmarked pre-trip that I had to have. I’m a sucker for apple desserts and this met all my expectations. First off, we were rained out on this day so the Appleseed Orchard offered a warm oasis. Seating was a bit limited around the park due to covid so I was happy that we could sit here indoors to eat and they even had a warm apple scent running through the place. Oh this was great.

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Bon Voyage!

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Hey folks…still super busy at work but luckily slowing down. Slowing down enough for me to finally take a trip! My first trip since pre-covid. I’m excited to travel again and hope to share some great stuff when I come back! I won’t be able to post while I’m on my trip but please feel free to follow me on my instagram, I will probably post stories!

http://www.instagram.com/maybeitsjenny

See you folks later!

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Mixed Plate Friday

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Spicy Poke Inari | $5.99
Spam Musubi | $1.75

New Japanese Bento Shop called U Kitchen and oh no, I just saw the Yelp ratings so far and it doesn’t look great (though the picture the one star review shared says they got served raw chicken and the chicken doesn’t look raw to me). This shop is located in Dillingham – same strip mall as Hana Tea and Yohei Sushi Restaurant. It looks like it took over the Korean restaurant spot that V used to frequent?? Anyhow, I was actually here to pick up some subway sandwiches and U Kitchen was open so I popped in for my own dinner!

I got a spam musubi and their spicy ahi inari sushi. The spicy inari was pretty good, interesting they also have imitation crab salad in it. At first I was wondering if they were just trying to add stuffing to use less ahi but it was just a little bit and I thought it had enough ahi. The spam musubi? Oh boy. The rice was so dang mushy. What’s up you guys? What’s up Hawaii restaurants? I don’t think there is ever an excuse to make such mushy rice!! I couldn’t believe it.

I’m interested in trying them again because they sell delicious sounding Japanese plate lunches and they make all kind Japanese bentos but they close at 4pm? I was there past 5 on a Friday and maybe they were just trying to sell out what food they had? I think they should minimally try to stay open past the dinner crowd!

Sorry folks, a home cooked dish. A big heaping bowl of jook (congee) for the Mid-Autumn Festival. How do you folks like your jook? I like mine cooked with nice marinated pork bones, sliced up century eggs, choke green onion and cilantro and then even more choke white pepper. Hits the spot for me.

I had dinner in Waikiki and took advantage of the location to finally try Henry’s Place. You folks ever heard of this place? They make all kinds of sorbets and ice creams and store them all in styrofoam cups and all individually labeled. I decided to try the POG flavor and bugga was good. I had it fresh so it was still so soft, it reminded me a lot of the Asato Family Shop. There is definitely no parking for Henry’s so if you willing to walk down to Beachwalk while in Waikiki, give it a try! Guess what else I got from Henry…

LOL, they label all their sandwiches too. Now has anyone ever tested to see if sharpies seep through plastic wrap? I wonder if I ingested any sharpie ink. I saw some interesting pictures of their sandwiches and I had to try it for myself. Why are they interesting you ask?

Okay, I know what this looks like and I promise you that’s not mold! LOL. I opened up the sandwich to show you folks before I heated it up. Interesting yeah? It’s mixed with this green herby mixture but it’s definitely not pesto and it’s definitely not like ginger scallion sauce. Very peculiar. I can usually tell what things are but I couldn’t tell what this mixture was made of. Was good though. If you know what the green stuff is, let me know!

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Recipe: Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry Mochi)

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Sometimes I make recipes out of necessity and sometimes I like trying recipes that maybe home cooks normally wouldn’t. Sometimes, while recipes are do-able…it’s best to just leave it up to the professionals right? Would I put this recipe in that category? Yes and no. While I think I found a really good recipe and think I have done a pretty dang good job at making it…it is a bit tedious. To me it was worth it, the people I shared it with seemed to enjoy it very much and I finally found a great recipe that keeps the mochi super soft! Ahh…love it when science experiments…work!

I owe my success all to this recipe. I mean he does it better than me but still…!

First step, did you know you need to “dry” out your koshian? Empty your entire can of koshian into your pan over medium heat and just start moving it around. How did I know it was done? Honestly when it lost all its sheen and became very paste like. See the difference between the first shot and the second shot?

I let the koshian cool down and then place it in the fridge – I’ve kept it in overnight to set-up. It helps that the paste is as thick as possible especially when you are using it to wrap the strawberries. He goes a further step to measure out the koshian paste, I found that as long as I wrap each strawberry with the paste in the same way…it works fine.

One of the most tedious things about this recipe? Having to wash and thoroughly dry each strawberry. Also!!! How do mochi shops get the same sized strawberries for their mochi?? I had so many different sizes in my one carton…it was frustrating. That is why measuring out the koshian into balls made no difference for me so I just wrapped each strawberry with paste in the same way. I left the tip uncovered to help in the wrapping of the mochi and I think it also keeps it less sweet. This mochi is humbug in the way that you can’t make this ahead of time…you basically have to make it and eat it already. The strawberry can start getting very wet and well, everything needs to be dry to wrap a good mochi.

I don’t have pictures of me wrapping the mochi, I’m sorry. But when my hands are handling hot molten lava covered in corn starch (I didn’t have potato starch) trying to wrap the strawberries…I can’t take pictures. Here one batch of the recipe in the video. I bought this plate from Daiso, a great size. I’m not great with math and I think I can get 6 big daifuku out of this batch.

I followed the video to a T with the measurements. He uses shiratamako, I only had the Blue Star Mochiko so I used that. I also don’t have a 900W microwave oven so I used the handy time table on this page to figure out how long to microwave mine! It worked perfect!!!

I would type out the recipe but really, the credit all goes to this blogger, RECIPE.

My recipe notes:

  • I used mochiko instead of shiratamako
  • I wrapped the strawberries fairly quickly out of the microwave oven because that’s when they are softest. They did maintain the softness throughout the day! My friend even reported that it stayed soft with overnight refrigeration!
  • I followed his measurements in grams and ML. I find that recipes work the best when I follow those measurements

Good luck if you decide to try making this recipe! It was a great success for me and maybe I’ll make it again when it’s peak strawberry season again.

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Murphy’s Bar and Grill – Honolulu, HI

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I know I’ve written about Murphy’s before, oh here is the previous post. Just your friendly neighborhood Irish pub, a much needed escape when you need it. Well I don’t really drink so I just like to go and eat and boy do they deliver the comfort food.

Started up with a glass of Blue Moon, I think I need to stop drinking period. The past two times I felt junk after drinking and I didn’t even drink hard stuff. If I had to pick a beer to drink, this is it. Places usually serve it up with an orange wedge and I suddenly act like I have scurvy or like it’s so hard to find oranges or something. I really appreciate that little wedge of citrus, lol.

Fried Spicy Chicken Wings (full order) | $15.00
served with ranch dressing

How can you go wrong with deep fried chicken wings and beer? No can right. They do it right here. Probably a bit salty but that’s what bar food is for right?

Beef Stew (Thursdays and Fridays) | $10.00

My friend only got the bowl so no rice. You can get it with steamed rice for $3.00 extra, is that right? $3.00! I hope that is with veggies too or something?? Anyway, I was able to try…very tasty. How you eat beef stew without rice? Boggles my mind!

Fish N’ Chips | $15.75
cod fish and fries served with malt vinegar

Okay, I was totally craving fried food this day. I just really wanted some fish and chips. Boy was it good. I don’t eat it with the vinegar, sorry I never learned how to eat it that way. Also, karma caught up with me after this meal cause I got a big zonking zit overnight!

Pumpkin Pie (Weekly Special)

Sorry, I forget the price of this, I believe it’s $7.00 a slice. Doesn’t this picture just scream autumn? Loving the vibes…wasn’t my dessert but it was enjoyed!

Apple Crisp A La Mode | $8.00

Okay, I’ve gotten this before and I’ve tried their pies before but this one is the most winner-est dessert they have. I absolutely love it and abhor it but abhor it just because I know I must be inhaling calories enough for the day with this dish alone. Warmed up apple crisp (who doesn’t love crumbles!) and the vanilla ice cream topper? Gosh, I am salivating just thinking about this.

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