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Mixed Plate Friday

Sep3

This post is forreal mixed plate, not even all food.

Fruit Chichi Dango | $3.99
strawberry, mochi flour, sugar, milk, red bean, custard

Been seeing this all over social media and just had to get it. This is from Kansai Yamato located in Moanalua 99 (former Ranch 99). I figured I should go to the source to get it.

Struggled to get a side view for you. First of all, you should keep this refrigerated. I didn’t realize it was custard on top at first so I kept it out for a bit and boy oh boy did it get melty and messy. Good news is that I did throw the second one in the fridge…ate it the next day and the mochi was still melt the mouth soft. This was a delicious treat! I would definitely get it again!

Clockwise from top left: Baked Char Siu Manapua, Taro Cake, Shrimp Dumpling (Har Gow), Siu Mai, Half Moon

Sing Cheong Yuan Bakery has been around forevers and they always have a long line in Chinatown. Now that we’re heading towards Moon Festival time (September), might be either best to avoid this place or place a phone order in because they are going to be super busy with moon cake orders. If you can believe it, I haven’t tried their dim sum before. I don’t know what it is, I guess if I’m going to be in Chinatown, I’m just going to eat at a Chinese restaurant you know?

So how does it compare? If you’re local to Hawaii and I say local style pork hash, I bet you know what I’m talking about right? The kind you can get from the manapua man….very different from the kind you get from a dim sum restaurant. Now while Sing Cheong’s siu mai looks more “local” style, I actually want to give it more credit and say it’s a balance between the manapua man siu mai and dim sum siu mai.

Baked Char Siu Manapua – Very good, I think Royal Kitchen is a near competitor but I will give this one to Sing Cheong.
Taro Cake – Hmm, no thank you. I’m used to homestyle taro cake which is very thin. I don’t know why taro cakes are so huge in these shops…to me it’s like eating a big lump of dough.
Har Gow – These are winners. They really do stuff it full of shrimp, nice skin too.
Siu Mai – Better than local style, still not as good as dim sum siu mai.
Half Moon – Good but not memorable. Nothing special.

A silly project I had a month ago. Shucks, wish I remembered to take a side picture of this. It’s actually Pikachu on the side. Such a cute vending machine, the bottom draw opens but the machine doesn’t actually do anything. It’s just super cute and it was super annoying to build…hahaha. This was over 2000 pieces and they were like super small pieces. I was obsessed to finish and am super happy with it. I have it proudly displayed at work. Apparently there is like a whole bunch of Asian building block sets that oh so gently copies Lego sets…for less money of course. Have a great weekend folks!

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Mixed Plate Friday

Aug27

Hey folks! A shorter post this Friday…just wanted to share small kine stuff.

Izumi Oden Konbuiri (Don Quijote Kaheka) | $6.49

For the folks who want to see the nutritional facts!

Here is the oden placed in a bowl and heat…get one egg too!

I don’t know if it was on my blog before but I once bought one of those Korean Ginseng Chickens from Don Q’s frozen section. It was not a good decision and I got a bad stomachache afterwards. Well you would think I would have learned my lesson but I didn’t, I really wanted to try this. This is not sold frozen, it’s sold in the refrigerated section (yikes?). I can trust the fish cake and such but I thought the egg would be iffy. Well the egg was just fine! No stomachache and the whole dish tasted great. And look closely, no more even gray ring around the yolk. How do they do it?? No complaints here.

One of my favorite cakes is the Berry Chantilly Cake from Whole Foods. The first time I tried it, I was in love. Fresh berries are on top of the cake and also throughout the inner layers of the cake. The frosting? Oh let me tell you about the frosting, it’s a wonderful almond mascarpone frosting. So light and delicious with a wonderful hint of almond (think almond float kine almond taste). I loved it…and since I don’t like plain whipped cream – the almond frosting really made it for me. Well, hate to be the messenger of bad news…things have changed! I got this cake about a week ago and the almond taste is like FAINT now. My friend shared that she got late last year and could hardly taste the almond too so I don’t think my experience was a fluke. So disappointing. 🙁 But I guess the silver lining is that I won’t be buying an entire cake to eat anymore…hahaha ugh! And yes, we wrote on the cake ourselves…and no, our handwriting is not that much better non-frosting style.

Jalna and Dd, I can’t express enough how much we love this Chipotle Tri Tip Roast recipe. This is now the most highly requested recipe I make. It’s so easy, so flavorful and just so satisfying. I’ve adjusted the recipe to feed an army…it’s just winners. Thank you again for sharing such a great recipe!!!

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Little Sheep Hot Pot at Home

Aug13

One of my favorite restaurants is Little Sheep Hot Pot but this was pre-pandemic because they unfortunately did not survive. Sigh, where am I supposed to go for AYCE hot pot now? I loved their sauce bar and flavorful soups…and man could you get a bang for your buck with their buffet. Before they completely closed down, they became Happy Lamb Hot Pot so their Yelp page contains reviews from both their time as little sheep and happy lamb (lol).

Anyway, I was craving their soup base and while you can find it at H-Mart…it is way cheaper on Amazon if you want to purchase multiple. Okay it depends, gotta keep your eye on the prices because it fluctuates a lot. I paid $16 bucks for a 5-pack and have seen it even lower priced than that…it’s pricey right now. But here’s the link to the spicy base and the plain base. The soup bases are great, just gotta add water, boil it up and it’s ready for all your hot pot ingredients. Check it out.

Got a bunch of veggies ready to go and of course the mushrooms! Love the crunchy texture of enoki mushrooms…

The spicy soup base boiling up…

H-Mart get plenty of the pre-sliced meat for sale (and get all kind cuts too, this one is kind of lean but they have ones that are fattier too). A bit pricey…

I have never prepared tripe at home before and I never want to again. It smells so stink when you boil it. Luckily the ones they sell at the store are pretty “clean” but…ugh! The pot boiled over too and it was just a stinky mess. I mean it’s fine after you finish boiling it up as prep but it wasn’t worth the effort for me!

Okay, I gotta be honest. This whole hot pot craving was brought on from a YouTube video I watched. Yes, I watch mukbang videos sometimes but only Korean ones. I don’t know why. Anyway, she made a mala hot pot with lamb chops and it just looked so good. I couldn’t find lamb chops but found lamb loins which served it’s purpose! Satiated that craving real nice…

Added some wide cellophane noodles too…and we ate it with rice. I mean, we were real piggies that night. So good though…

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Mixed Plate Friday

Jul30

The next two pictures are going to look like an advertisement but I promise they are not. I know I am not getting any money for this post (or any of my other posts). I saw this on TikTok and was super curious since I am trying to remain on a caloric deficit. A whole pouch for 6 or 7 calories? Worth a try right!

I found it on Amazon and if anyone wants the link, let me know. I’ve tried peach, grape and apple so far. I actually really enjoy it, it’s a nice cold treat that helps satiate your sweet tooth. I like that the sweetness doesn’t taste too much like that weird artificial sweetener taste. Kind of pricey though, I think a little over $2 for each pouch. I went to Seafood City the other week and they had some in stock for a bit cheaper price but only had two flavors and I feel like they were just trying to sell out their stock.

Was trying to put together a little snack pack for a friend but couldn’t give it to her so I ended up eating it myself. I know, what a shame right? Well, this is a post just to tell you about Honolulu Crack Seed. Cute little sisters-owned crack seed store. Well, I tried their wet li hing mui lemon peel sour patch kids and there is no going back now. Best tasting wet li hing lemon peels I’ve had ever. They also sell prune mui (anyone who has a good recipe for this, please do share, it’s my favorite). Check them out if you are near Kaheka!

I also spotted these chips at Seafood City. Anyone who is in the know about Indomie knows what is up with these chips. I had to give them a try. Do they taste like the indomie noodles? Ehh…yes and no. Yes in the sense that it tastes like straight up MSG, lol. No in that they don’t taste like the noodles exactly but are still tasty and easy to eat.

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Mixed Plate Friday

Jul16

It’s your favorite day of the week! And it’s your favorite day of the week because of my blog posts right? Of course it is (not at all delusional). Here we go besties!

One of the easiest and go-to pasta dishes, it is made with a sauce packet. No shame. I like to add fresh baby kale to the mix to feign healthiness. Let me live.

Here’s the sauce packet I use. If I make a whole box of pasta, I need 2 packages of this (not to be confusing – each packet comes with two seasoning packs…so I essentially am using all 4, is that clear?). I do know aglio olio e peperoncino is quite an easy dish to make from scratch but I’m going to need the preservative taste of this…it has a nice concentrated anchovy/garlic flavor. Love it.

Another dish I made for the past holiday weekend. Nothing special, just a nice baked spaghetti but to make it even lazier, this is just spaghetti with Zippy’s chili (no beans) smothered in cheese. So good. It tastes exactly as it sounds. Why pay Zippy’s for one plate when you can just buy the frozen and make your own. Sam’s Club has the chili for a good price!

The next two pictures are the snacks I partook in when I watched Black Widow at Ward Theatre. By the way, the movie was great. I didn’t go into it expecting much and she’s not one of my fave characters but I was definitely pleasantly surprised.

Loaded Baked Potato Fries | $9.50
“sidewinder” fries loaded with cheese sauce, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, sour cream & fresh scallions

I usually just get a hot dog but these fries are pretty dang good. I like the sidewinder style, nice and crispy on the outside but very soft and “meaty (lol)” on the inside. Salty, a bit too salty. I can only eat a few bites before giving it away.

Banh Mi Style Dog | $8.00
quarter pound beef hot dog, cilantro-lemon aioli, fresh jalapenos, pickled vegetables & slaw

Ah yes, this has been my go-to since they started serving up fancy kine food at the snack bar. I love this hot dog, in fact, I wish more places would sell hot dogs like this. Love the fresh jalapenos, the cilantro-lemon sauce is great…the pickled vegetables and cole slaw is good. The cole slaw isn’t too tangy or wet like American cole slaw so it works great in this. Highly recommend!

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Update!

Jul3

Hey folks, sorry for the sudden disappearance (oh my, almost a month ago!). Been embarking on a new dental journey and well that’s on top of my health journey. Hahaha, life is full of fun stuff right? Well anyway, I got through the first (and hardest step for me) of the dental journey and have been healing nicely…both physically and mentally. I haven’t been eating out as much lately too…been trying to cook a lot more at home. Have any of you used Noom? Maybe you’ve seen ads on it…it’s like a phone app that helps guide you in losing weight. I enjoy it because it’s more of a lifestyle change versus like fad dieting you know? It does cost money but so far has helped me to start losing the stubborn pounds…let’s see how this goes! Will keep you folks posted.

I also have a check-up coming this next week, had to get my bloodwork last week so I had to prepare for that of course. Thankfully the labs release the results the same day as the draw so I was able to see my results before my impending visit, thankfully the numbers have improved since last visit so I’m hoping for a good visit. Wish me luck!

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Mixed Plate Friday

Jun4

How’s these loaded tots I made? I think I made this back during the super bowl weekend even though none of us watch the super bowl and this was really just an excuse to make junk food. I think I just baked the tater tots as instructed on the package and then add the toppings and threw it back in the oven for maybe 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Top tray is thinly sliced beef cooked in Halm’s Hawaiian Bar-B-Que Sauce topped with some some shredded cheese. Second tray is topped with pulled pork I got from Sam’s Club, nacho cheese sauce and sliced fresh jalapenos. The first tray was the heavy favorite, can we be any more Asian? I guess kids aren’t huge fans of pulled pork, was eaten but slowly. Sigh…

Got these noodles at H-Mart a while back. Yes, I saw a video about it on TikTok and got super curious. I love a sauced noodle and these were wonderful. A bit pricey (think I paid $14) but so good. Love the texture of the noodles and the sauce. It is spicy (hello sichuan pepper) but I like the spice. I think since it is popular, H-Mart hiked the price up to almost $17. No thanks, I can wait for the price to go down again. This brand has other flavors too which taste good too so give it a try!

Just a funny follow-up post to my Gulick visits. Upon V’s recommendation, I just made these damn rolls myself. No need pay like almost $3 for HALF A ROLL. ANNND I gave myself two takuan sticks instead of one. Oh and added furikake. It was a very enjoyable week of lunches. I think this is one of the few dishes I can eat a lot of and never tire of. Weird right?

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Mixed Plate Friday

May21

You folks ever been to Superb Sushi? Little take-out sushi joint on North King Street. Love their poke bowls and sushi offerings, they’ve adjusted to the pandemic and basically offer a take-out window where their door used to be so you don’t have to go inside…which is good because inside is basically their kitchen (lol). Here’s what we got on a recent trip.

Poke Shell (6 pcs) | $10.00

I think if you saw this on the menu, you would wonder what the heck is that? Thank god for Yelp – it’s spicy tuna cone sushi. Love the tempura crispies and fresh green onions on top. It’s a great dish, go for em!

Futomaki Unagi (8 pcs) | $7.00

Sorry, I ate a piece before I took the picture cause I was just HANGRY. I love their futomaki, it’s a dollar less if you get the oshinko (verus unagi). I felt like being high class so I went for the unagi, get so much things in the roll that it’s not like the unagi is super notice-able. No regrets and tasted great.

What do we have next? A visit to Gulick Delicatessen again. Nothing like going up to the front counter ready to order a single plate for lunch…and going a little too crazy that the lady has to bust out another box to fit all the food. Great job Jenny. Don’t order while hungry. No worries, I didn’t eat this all for one meal (but did all in one day, sue me).

I know, I know. That’s a lot of food. I’m so dumb.

From top left: Garlic Chicken ($3.60), Konbu Maki ($3.05), Egg ($2.65), Chow Mein ($2.95)

The garlic chicken is better than I expected, I never ordered before! Good! Konbu maki is good but expensive. The egg is good! I liked that it was savory and not sweet and people might not like this but I liked that the egg was small kine runny still so it was not at all dry, chow mein also better than I expected!

Tuna Musubi ($2.75) and Spam Musubi ($1.99)

I get these two all the time so it’s good. Why don’t I just make my own yeah? Ehh…I guess we can say that about a lot of things.

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Recipe: Instant Ramen Hacks

May7

Do I even have to preface these posts anymore? Yes, both hacks I am sharing are from TikTok. Both came out fine but nothing I would keep in my arsenal for future use, you know what I’m saying? Let’s goooo!

Hack #1

One Egg, Kewpie Mayo, Minced Garlic

Add the soup seasoning packet

Mix, mix, mix

In the meantime, cook and drain your ramen noodles. Add the hot boiling water to the mixture you just made…mix it as you add water. Add the noodles back in and voila, fake tonkatsu broth? Hahaha, okay so if you needed a way to make your instant ramen more fattening, here it is. Was it worth the extra calories? Edible but nothing special.

Hack #2

This time, you throw away the original seasoning packet (or save for something else), cook the noodles, drain and leave to the side. Then in a saucepan, you heat up butter, brown sugar, shoyu, minced garlic, red pepper flakes…

Add your noodles and mix…

Add an egg. I made three servings so here are three eggs. MIX.

Voila. Done. You can top with some fresh green onions and Everything but the Bagel Seasoning (which I left at work so I couldn’t do this). Well first, I added too much red pepper flakes (thought it said T, not t…so yeah). Was it good? Sure it was good. But I think if I’m going to eat a mixed noodle like this, I rather eat Indomie Mi Goreng (which is one of the best instant noodles ever made).

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Mixed Plate Friday

Apr30

Time for another edition of Mixed Plate Friday with your host Jenny (maybe?). Just some random thoughts and pictures.

Yeah another TikTok thing. I hate cooking bacon on the stove top and I’ve seen recipes telling you to bake the bacon. Cool. Well this TikTok trend told you to twist the bacon up and bake, it achieves the perfect balance between crispy and chewy and you still get to like lose the fat as it seeps out through cooking.

Here’s the after photo, I’ll let you judge for yourself if you wanna do this or not. There were good comments on this one.

Along with that meal, I made eggs and rice. And of course the eggs were cooked in bacon grease, come on. But my all time favorite? Longanisa sausage. Oh so good. Pretty easy to cook too! I pick up a pack from Don Quijote every now and then if I want a treat.

Okazuya Pac | $13.25
Zippy’s rendition of popular Okazuya Plate. Fried Noodles, Hot Dog, Corned Beef Hash, Hoki and Fried Chicken.

Jumping off of the okazuya post I did the other week, I got all excited when Zippy’s started offering an Okazuya Pac this month. Oops, I think today will be the last day you can get this.

Let me save you the trouble, I don’t think it’s worth it. I don’t know if you can tell but this pack is actually in one of their like mini plate containers, this is not a full plate. The chicken was dry as all heck and it’s just not worth $13.25 to me. I think I was also salty cause I ordered an Apple Napple and got Ube Napple and didn’t know until I got home. Ugh.

A little experiment I made last week. Bought cone sushi wrappers, boiled up some somen noodles that I dressed with Gyotaku Wafu Dressing. I then topped it with tuna mayo (kewpie mayo), chopped up ocean salad and chopped up taegu to throw on top. I really enjoyed this dish. I wanted to use a more savory dressing (wafu dressing versus oriental dressing) for the somen noodles cause there’s already sweetness in the cone sushi wrapper and ocean salad. One feedback I received was that the noodles could use more dressing…I actually liked it this way and it passed the kids taste test with flying colors. Would make again!

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