29Aug / 2014

First Taste Friday

Okay, I never tried these on a Friday but I was trying to be witty. Today was one bomb day. Bomb as in terrible, not good. But I am still in high spirits! Surprisingly. I have decided to take two graduate courses this semester while working full-time. I am insane, I know. A lot of people are worried that I cannot handle but I am confident that I can. I plan to dedicate myself to it. Today was the class I was scared about but it ended up being a great class. I was scared only because I didn’t know if the material would be over my head or not…but I think I should do okay. The instructor seems great too.

Anyway, just a fore warning of possibly lesser posts in the next 2-3 months because of my work and course-load. I hope not though. Anyway! I tried a few limited time flavors of snacks recently and wanted to share my opinion.

How can I explain this Wasabi Ginger flavor? MSG Strong? It really does taste like you’re eating the old school uncooked crushed ramen coated with the MSG packet with a hint of wasabi. It’s not my cup of tea but many people like it!

I’ve been waiting for these to make their way over to Hawaii for a long time! Or more like, I’ve been wanting to get it for forever. How is it? To me, it tastes very coffee-ish. It’s interesting but once again, not a fan. Give me the regular oreos.

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27Aug / 2014

Hong Kong Style Breakfast

Hey folks! Time to dig into my archives and share some travel photos. This is from my trip to Hong Kong a few years back. I wanted to share a few different breakfasts we had. It’s really interesting to see how global chains adjust their menus to suit the taste of their customers. Hong Kong is really cool because it’s such a good mix of both East and West food and cultures. I’ll share more pictures of Hong Kong soon!

Macaroni is a pretty big part of breakfast menus in Hong Kong. Macaroni in a broth/soup.

Sample of the Western influence – very English breakfast set-up.

This is breakfast from KFC. Yes, their KFC is open for breakfast. This is a combo that includes a roast chicken thigh, egg and hash brown. The container? You guessed it. Macaroni in chicken broth.

Coffee with KFC brand sugar…lol. I’m sorry I didn’t get to try their Flava Crava Meal.

Breakfast at McDonald’s is very similar to the restaurants in the U.S. I think they also have macaroni in soup but I was pretty tired of it by then. Their food tastes very similar to the American counterpart. KFC in China tastes way better than the U.S.

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26Aug / 2014

Salmon Ikura Bowl – Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

Just a quick post today. This is one of my favorites from Hokkaido Ramen Santouka! If I wasn’t such a glutton for noodles, I would get this by itself and just gobble it down. The rice is perfectly cooked, the salmon is freshly flaked and the ikura. How do I explain ikura? An explosion of flavor. Mmm…soo good…

Hokkaido Ramen Santouka Post 1
Hokkaido Ramen Santouka Post 2

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25Aug / 2014

The Cheesecake Factory – Waikiki, HI

I haven’t been to The Cheesecake Factory in forever. First, I don’t enjoy waiting nearly 1.5 hours to get a table. Second, the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center parking lot feels SO far from the restaurant. I mean the restaurant is literally at the other end and I for the life of me can’t stop getting lost within the shopping center getting back to the car. The parking validation doesn’t do much anymore – you still have to pay money. Still, it’s not a bad rate for parking as long as you don’t have to wait 2 hours to get a table. We did a take-out order and boy…it isn’t much better. You can only put in the order right when they open, no faxing and no online system. No curbside pick-up so I had to circle Waikiki until my co-worker ran back out with the food. Then, I still had to block up traffic to get her in the car! Oh and did I mention Cheesecake Factory is pricey? Yeah, it’s pricey. But you can’t beat the selection – there’s something for everyone! The cheesecake is expensive but tasty. Well, let’s take a look at the dishes we ordered!

Incredible Eggplant Sandwich with fries (not pictured) – $12.95

Lunch Portion Shepherd’s Pie – $12.95

Lunch Portion BBQ Ranch Chicken Salad – $11.95

Bistro Shrimp Pasta – $18.95
Ho the pricey! But delicious and huge portion!

Cuban Sandwich with Salad (not pictured) – $13.50

Chicken Bellagio – $15.95
I can’t comment too much on the other dishes because this is the one I got! Doesn’t it look so good? This is the first time I tried it and I am so glad I did! It includes crispy chicken breast over basil pasta and parmesan cream sauce topped with proscuitto and arugula salad. It all works very well together!

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24Aug / 2014

Updates

Work has been nuts. Like nuts. Like Planters got nothing on me. It’s nice being busy because the time just goes so fast but that’s also bad because I feel like I no can finish what I gotta do. Guess what I decided to do folks. I’m going to take another graduate course – these classes take up a lot of time but I think I can do it. It’s a benefit working from working there so I might as well take advantage. I hope that I can keep up with the blogging as I take class! I don’t know how much I’ll be eating out – definitely not as much so I hope you folks don’t mind other types of updates.

School is back in session on Monday! Who’s ready for the traffic? I sure am not. I can’t believe we’re heading into Fall again! But that means we’re getting closer to Christmas – my favorite season! Anyhow, I hope you folks are having a great weekend so far!

Beautiful succulent I received for my birthday! It’s in a handmade ceramic vase – isn’t it pretty? I will try my best to keep it alive…hahaha

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23Aug / 2014

Handmade Cards

Thank you so much Jalna for being so awesome and generous. I received handmade cards from her and they are absolutely beautiful! So beautiful that I don’t even want to give them away – so I won’t, hehe. People won’t appreciate the work that was put into it like me! I’m sure you folks already know her link but in case you don’t, here is her blog! Thanks for the awesome cards and for being an awesome person, truly!

What nice handwriting too. My chicken scratch got nothing on her.

Thanks a million!

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20Aug / 2014

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yay! Sorry, another post about me and my birthday…lol. But I just wanted to finish up the series! Did I share that one of my brothers shares the exact same day for our birthday. That was nice! Also it’s a bit of pressure that I have to treat him well too…I want to be the one to be spoiled! Haha…j/k. Anyway, I had a pretty good birthday. I spent the morning building a Lego set I bought for my brother…those sets can get complicated! One wrong placement and you’re screwed. Check it out.

Kaboom! Nice ah? It took a while because I had to rebuilt it from scratch. These dang toys even break apart pretty easily so I got even madder. Ha!

Anyway, got together with some family and had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Izakaya Torae Torae. I’ve been there a few times and posted about them before, I’ll link them at the end of the post. For now, let’s take a look at this visit! It was delicious, as always. We dropped our chopsticks about 3 times – so shame ah.

Hamachi Carpaccio – $13.95
Served on a bed of slivered onions with a truffle oil infused sauce. Delicious!

King Salmon ($3.95 per piece) and Sweet Shrimp Nigiri ($5.50 per piece)

Yes, I’m going to show another picture of the salmon nigiri. Delicious! Of course with the shrimp nigiri, you can get the shrimp head deep fried. Yay!

Tan Shio (Grilled Beef Tongue) – $8.95
This is alright, not great though. I wouldn’t order it again from here – you can get it better elsewhere.

Chirashi Don

Hamburger Cheese Steak – $14.95
This is good but in the end, you are paying $14.95 for a hamburger patty with cheese. I don’t think it’s worth it.

Jidori Chicken Karaage – $6.95
I didn’t get to try this but my family seemed to enjoy it!

King Salmon Sashimi – $13.95
Pricey, I know! It was a total splurge but I was very appreciative! Very delicious. It’s a better deal to get the sashimi over the nigiri.

Dashimaki Tamago – $9.00
I took a leap and asked for this! It’s off the menu and I don’t think they make it every time. Luckily we went pretty early so the restaurant wasn’t too busy yet…so they agreed to make it! You wait a bit longer but I was excited! It’s a nicely cooked tamago which is filled with chunks of unagi and cheese. The cheese threw me off a bit. This dish was good but having it once was enough for me. I like a simpler tamago – sans cheese.

Izakaya Torae Torae Post 1
Izakaya Torae Torae Post 2

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19Aug / 2014

Birthday Eve – 2014

My birthday was this past weekend and it was wonderful. I was lucky that it fell in the weekend and got to spend some great time with friends and family and of course grind on some great food. Today, I’m going to share some pictures from my birthday eve day. Please enjoy!

Road to Makapu’u

We made it to the top! What a gorgeous view.

After our hike at the Makapu’u Lighthouse Trail, I had dinner with my friend Kristian. He was generous enough to treat me to a dinner at Le Bistro. I’ve had a few experiences there before and it was all very nice. He made a reservation a week beforehand so we were all set. How did it go? Well…it started off incredibly rocky. We got seated right away, given menus and water cups filled. We spent a few minutes reviewing the menu and were ready to order pretty quick. Then came the waiting. I watched as waiters ran back and forth to several tables around the restaurant while we were being ignored. I knew what time we had arrived and guess what? They left us waiting for 30 damn minutes before a waiter came and greeted us. And what’s worse…he didn’t mention or apologize for the wait at all. I was livid. I mean he really showed up right at the moment I considered walking out with no regrets.

Well, right after we got greeted – service was much better. It took a while for me to uncross my arms and get the bitch look off my face…it must have loosened up 3/4 into his sharing of the daily specials. So anyway, we put our orders in and the food came out reasonably quick afterwards. Here are the pictures.

Mojito for me. It wasn’t great, I wouldn’t recommend it.

Bread with butter. The bread was mini baguettes sliced thin. The bread was okay, it wasn’t crispy and it was at room temperature.

Fricasse Of Shellfish – made up of mussels and clams. Delicious! The sauce was buttery goodness – we got a refill of bread that we quickly used to soak it up. The mussels tasted great, Genki Sushi got nothing on them…lol.

Quartet of Beef

Filet Mignon and Garlic Mashed Potatoes from the Quartet of Beef
Delicious! I got my meat dishes medium rare.

Burger with Foie Gras
Totally un-PC dish but delicious nonetheless.

Ribeye from the Quartet of Beef
Delicious! It comes with a cube of cooked daikon (a bit random) and a fingerling potato (mine was completely burnt)

Short Ribs from the Quartet of Beef
This dish was alright – nothing special. The beef was cooked for a long while but not enough where it was soft and tender…a bit tough.

Surf and Turf Special

Halibut with Lobster – drool….

Miyazaki Tenderloin from Japan
The waiter said it melts in your mouth – and it does! Also melts the money in your wallet…lol. It was so good though!

Spumoni Ice Cream Cake

Complimentary Creme Brulee for the birthday girl (me!)
To get this dessert, you better have no shame cause they gonna sing to you in front of the entire restaurant. I’m Chinese so no worries, free dessert! It was good! The strawberries were sour! My face is scrunching up just thinking about it.

So the service and food after the rocky start did make the meal enjoyable to a point. The lighting got super dark afterwards so I apologize for the bad quality pictures. I have had their lamb in the past and those are my absolute favorite. I wanted to try something new this time and whlie it was pretty good, I would go back to the lamb next time!

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13Aug / 2014

Miniature Japan

I have a total thing for miniatures. Not in a weird way, but I really enjoy realistic looking miniatures of stuff. Like miniature furniture, food, etc. I’m pretty picky about it too, it can’t be too cartoonish or anything. I don’t know where this came from and while I am not a big collector of them, I can definitely appreciate the work that goes into them! I love when there are handmade items but I guess the appreciation isn’t there from the public since miniatures can be mass produced. I’ve always wanted to try my hand at miniatures but it takes so much time, tools and skill. I guess I’ll just admire them from afar. So what does Japan have to do with this? Firstly, Japan makes some of the BEST miniatures! Secondly, I was browsing through some of my Japan pictures and found these! We were in the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and I started snapping pictures with the miniature filter on my camera and the pictures look so cool! Check them out. 🙂

Looks unreal yeah? I love it! Have a good one guys!

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12Aug / 2014

Shrimp and Stuff

Stuff. Lots of stuff has happened this past week. The hurricanes came and gone without much damage to Oahu, thankfully. We also got a day off from it which was great. I kind of spent the day sleeping. I got back to work today and just had a major stress out. So much work I had to catch up on! Then at lunch, I find out Robin Williams passed away. It was such a shock, it still hasn’t sunk in. He was too young to go, it’s all so sad. He’s definitely an actor I took for granted. He brought me so much laughter growing up and his serious roles were great too…it’s a big loss for Hollywood for sure.

Then I get to my car after work and it’s another scratch. Seriously guys. This is gonna sound real petty after talking about a passing, but I just no get how my car can get scratched 5 times in less than 6 months in the same parking lot. If I get to work early enough and park in my usual spot, I know my car will be good. Well, I can’t always get that spot and I can’t guarantee I don’t have to go to meetings during the day to save my spot. I just no get it. When I get in and out of my car, I am so damn careful about opening my door. I even put my hand on my door’s edge so I squish my hand rather than hit someone’s car. It seems like the people I park with just like flinging their car doors onto mine. Terrible. Anyway, the past few scratches have been on this replaceable molding on my car. Today…today was a scratch on my car’s body. Damn – I just give up already.

It’s times like this where I need to find my positive place. I need to have something that can make me appreciate the bigger things in life…the better things in life. Or be thankful for what I have. Shucks. Sorry for the rant guys. I hope you are all doing well.

Well, as the title promised, this post would be shrimp and stuff. The stuff is done so on to the shrimp! Just a quick post on a recent trip to Romy’s. We went during a weekend and the line was very very long. Of course. But what surprised me was how fast the food was cooked after ordering, usually it’s a long line to order and then a long wait. Yay! Big prawns are to die for. Sorry Darren (friend and reader).

Number 5 Prawns Plate – $19.95 (yikes!)
Oh boy, I never realize I paid 20 bucks for this. They really keep raising the price. Was it worth it? Heck yah. This is probably my favorite seafood. The head is the best part, absolutely. I get it with butter garlic sauce, so good yet so bad for you. Go big or go home!

Number 1 Shrimp Plate – $13.75
Much better price and they give you a good amount of shrimp too. You can get the number 1 with prawns too but it’s the small prawns – not the jumbo ones like number 5. They still have their stamp card! It’s just scary how much you have to spend to get that one free plate…

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← Older posts

maybeitsjenny

Monthly Archives: August 2014

First Taste Friday

Hong Kong Style Breakfast

Salmon Ikura Bowl – Hokkaido Ramen Santouka

The Cheesecake Factory – Waikiki, HI

Updates

Handmade Cards

Happy Birthday to Me!

Birthday Eve – 2014

Miniature Japan

Shrimp and Stuff