I started reading Jalna’s blog a few months ago and just love all her stories and photographs. She also finds some great deals at the Flea Market, lots to learn from her! One day, she did a drawing for two beautiful bracelets and a cell phone lariat. I loved it and put in my name even though I never win anything! Well guess what?? I was lucky enough to be drawn first! I was so happy to win these three, thank you so much Jalna! Check her blog!
Just wanted to share some pictures of the Bean from Chicago aka Cloud Gate. Can you guess why it’s called Cloud Gate? It was a really hot day so I didn’t stick around to take too many pictures. I’m also including a picture of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), we were going to go up but were told it was a 2 hour wait to get up there! I’ve been up once before so I am good…lol.
I don’t think I take out enough time in the day to be silly. I watch kids who have no worries and inhibitions and wish I were the same. I really need to lighten up some days, I wish I could control that. Wait, doesn’t that defeat what I’m trying to do? Trying to control being too controlled? 🙂 Anyhow, just wanted to share a quick shot of my youngest brother. Yes, for those who don’t know me well – I have VERY young brothers. I love them with all my heart.
Isn’t he the cutest?
While I frequent Kuru Kuru Sushi – I have never ordered one of their dons until my last visit. I used to watch as other tables got these mountains of spicy ahi/poke and just sit in envy. I don’t know why I never ordered it, perhaps because if I were to ever eat that I would not be able to eat anything else? Well, this time I had a partner in crime so I ordered it. The taste was great, the photo opp even better. Isn’t it glorious?
Have you ever had Jjajjangmyun? Well if you ever watch Korean dramas, you will inevitably see them order delivery noodles. Then you watch as they stuff their faces with shiny glossy black noodles into their mouth. I’m a huge fan of noodles so it really piqued my interest. I learned that it was considered a Northern Chinese dish and there was this whole Chinese cuisine in Korea! Well I didn’t know where to get these noodles in a restaurant so I found a recipe online and made it myself at home before and I thought it was delicious. They have instant cup noodles of it now and I also learned there are Korean restaurants in Hawaii that are Korean Chinese restaurants and serve these dishes. Is that confusing? I’ll bet it is. Anyhow, one place I go to get this is Eastern Paradise Restaurant. As far as I can tell, this is a Chinese restaurant owned by Chinese people that serves Korean style Northern Chinese food. I’m probably blabbing nothing but wrong information so here’s a picture of what I ate…lol.
Jjajjangmyun – just pour the thick black gravy over the noodles…mix and eat! Delish!
I am alive, indeed! I’ve been back from Chicago for about a week now and it’s taken me about that long to get back to Hawaii time. I spent last week waking up at 4 am almost everyday. I had a very nice trip to Chicago. It was incredibly hot the first two days but cooled down a bit for the rest of the trip. The trip was definitely spent moving my cousin into her apartment for school. It’s quite all right because we definitely got in some good eats and some sight seeing! I wasn’t holding my camera too much this trip but did get some pictures through my phone that I will be sure to upload.
I’ve gotta admit, I’ve been in a bit of a slump for the past few weeks. I don’t know what it has been and I don’t know how to get out of it. I also think the word slump is underselling what I’m feeling but what can I say? It’s on me to get through this. I hope everyone is doing well. I leave you with my first meal of Chicago. A Chicago dog from Portillos…along with cheese fries that I did not capture!
I’m not a fan of the hot peppers but everything else is winners.
My last uni pasta order will probably be my last order for a while. I’m not saying uni pasta is not good, but well…okay it’s not great. I used to love it but I wonder if it was under the allure of eating uni. The actual taste of uni pasta just tastes like a really rich cream sauce. I think the uni taste gets washed out by all the cream in the sauce. The uni pasta dish is also usually one of the most expensive entrees! So if you ever dine with me in the future and I seem to be wandering over to the uni pasta dish, stop me. Please.
I’ve been incredibly negligent on this blog and I apologize. It has been quite crazy the past week or so. Once I booked my trip, I just spent a lot of time at work super busy. I even brought home my laptop this weekend to get some work done. Did I do work? No. Of course not. And guess what? My trip to Chicago is tomorrow! Am I packed? Also no. I used to freak out about trips and I used to pack super early. The last two trips, I have been packing like the day before the trip. Bad bad bad. But I do have a very concise packing list so maybe that’s why I am not worried. Okay I lied, it is now 6 pm and I have to pack and do some work for tomorrow. I like to work under pressure but this is a bit too crazy even for me.
I hope the weather in Chicago will be on my side. Although, I think the weather will be very similar to Hawaii. A lot has happened this week alone. Yesterday was my birthday and what a wonderful day it was. I got to spend time with good friends and family. I have an awesome dinner and received incredibly thoughtful gifts. It was truly a blessed birthday and I want to thank everyone who made it wonderful, I really appreciate it.
Also, my iPad 2 broke this past week! I don’t know how many of you have a tablet out there but I realized just how dependent I am on it this week. I couldn’t stand it! I took it into a place for an estimate on repair and it was quoted for $200. That was a bit too steep for my pockets, especially for a tablet that will be outdated in the soon future.
Well, let’s cap this post off with a picture of food. Although this picture might sick some of you guys out. 🙂
Natto Pizza!
Ingredients: Mini naan, mayonnaise and wasabi base, prepared natto, cheese and nori. I used a pizza white cheese (if I had provolone, I would have used that). I toast it in the toaster oven for a few minutes until it’s warmed through and the cheese melts. Then I hit it with some shredded teriyaki nori and bon appetit! I really like it and this is coming from someone who used to hate natto.
I have been doing very late preparations for my last few trips. I’m not sure why – maybe I enjoy the pressure?? But I finally booked my Chicago trip along with the hotel stay. Chicago definitely is not cheap and I didn’t leave enough time to do research for places to stay. My cousin already has my next visit planned out, well dates anyway. I’m going to become a total Chicago pro soon. Well pro at Chicago tourist areas. I hope everyone had a good week. At first my week felt so slow but then yesterday, it just went by too fast! I was able to get a lot of things done after the end of day so I feel good. Got a lot to do next week, especially before my trip!
Anyhow, let me leave you with two pictures of something so cute!
Can you tell what this is? (besides being a flower bouquet!)
It’s a Hello Kitty flower! University Flowers is famous for this flower. Isn’t it so cute? The price for each flower though is $25 so I think this is definitely a luxury item. But if you know anyone who loves Hello Kitty, this would be an absolute delight for them!
Not much to update on this post. I did want to share a small pet peeve of mine and it involves driving. There are times when you reach a stop light and there are two lanes, one that goes straight or turns left and the right lane turns right. Well the general rule is, if the car in front of you is wanting to turn left – you can usually go around that car into the right lane to go straight ahead. Actually now that I think about it, I don’t know if that’s exactly a rule but people do it. Now, if the car in front of you is for sure turning with his/her signal on – I say go ahead and go right around him/her. Today, I was the second car at the stop light and we both were going straight. I see the truck behind me pull up into the right lane and just sits there. That ticks me off. I must warn you though, I do get road rage. Anyhow, I didn’t do much of anything. The car in front of me and myself, we went straight right when the light turned green. And no, I did not let that truck cut in front of me. Why should I? Pretty sure he was pissed about it but I didn’t care. Honestly, we all have places to go so just follow the rules buddy.
Okay, I will end this post with two pictures of my dim sum favorites. I also love baked custard buns but I don’t have a picture to share of it right now.
Delicious Siu Mai. I don’t know how pork hash has become so different when it is served in a Chinese restaurant versus any place else. My favorite comes from a legit Chinese restaurant.
Custard Tarts. Another specialty that is very different from the American counterpart. I much prefer the Chinese version as well.