The Day the Hot Dog Betrayed Me…

May7

Oh you read that right. During my trip to Korea, in a crowded Edae Shopping Street…I met my match. A nice old Korean man was selling corn dogs covered with crinkle fries out of a cart. Let me repeat that, CRINKLE FRY ENCRUSTED CORN DOG. I had to get it. I did. You know what else I got? For those who have a faint heart, avert your eyes now. Diarrhea. This dang corn dog was not cooked enough. As I ate it, I thought it had melted cheese in the middle with the hot dog. Oh. That was raw batter. I suffered! Then I had to look up diarrhea medicine in Korean to show to a pharmacy. And yes, it’s just like the Korean dramas! You walk into the pharmacy store and get whatever medicine you need! I thought that was pretty cool. 🙂 The pharmacist who helped me was very nice.

Scene of the crime

Doesn’t that look good? 🙁 Why did you have to hurt me so corn dog?

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Nippon Bento and Catering – Delivery!

May6

Happy boys day! It’s Children’s Day now yeah? I don’t know why it got changed, how come girls get a day? Anyhow, it’s been hot yeah?? Sunday was crazy hot and today was hot too. It’s the vog and the sun just beating down on us. Too hot to handle! Hot weather makes me very lazy. Luckily we have AC at work even though it was broken this morning…other than that – not too bad of a Monday. Hope you are all doing well!

My fried rice post stemmed from the event I am sharing today! Once you see the amount of rice we had, you will understand why fried rice had to be made. Nippon Bento and Catering has become our go-to catering option. They have a pretty good menu, good prices and do free delivery as long as you meet their minimum bento order. When you order catering, you have the option to hire their staff to keep watch on the food and refill as necessary. Let me share with you what we had.

Tossed Garden Salad with Oriental Dressing – the salad looked great on the day of the event. The next day? It was completely brown. Was really such a shame that it went bad so fast.

Lots of Rice! And lots was left over after the event too…

Long Rice – felt like this was almost the easy way out to make long rice. Carrots and some onions thrown in – the sauce is very sweet and strong in sesame oil taste.

Tofu & Eggplant with Oyster Suace

Mochiko Chicken – an okay dish. I honestly find that it’s a real hit or miss with them. They also serve their mochiko chicken with this vinegary sauce which I find unnecessary. (By the way, it was a miss this day)

Vegetable Stir-fry – Pretty good! I enjoy baby corn.

Garlic Ahi – Star of the Show! Okay, this was definitely my favorite dish but the thing is – there was no way this was ahi. I’m okay that it wasn’t ahi because it tasted great. Not sure why they call it ahi – I still loved it. Very meaty and tender, I’m also a sucker for tartar sauce.

All in all? Good stuff! I had to eat the fish – it was too good to pass up. Wish I knew what kind of fish it was though. Sole? Tilapia? Wish I could say…

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Two Kinds of Fried Rice

May3

Happy Saturday everyone! Isn’t it great? It’s been a busy week so I totally passed out at like 8:30 last night. No joke. Anyway, major cleaning going on today. I guess it’s good to get spring cleaning done early. Anyway, I just wanted to share a quick update. We had a big event the other week and had a LOT of rice leftover. I decided to make two types of fried rice for the office. Why two types? It’s because one of them had harm ha in it. For those who don’t know, harm ha is fermented shrimp paste and it is PUNGENT. I thank my coworkers for bearing with me and the smell of the harm ha. Although to be honest, it became the more popular choice! Mmm…just thinking about harm ha now…

There’s the spread of ingredients

Popping the garlic, ready for the harm ha

It gets a bit crazy when you’re making fried rice so I didn’t get anymore prep shots in. Here is my homestyle Chinese fried rice. It includes harm ha and choy sum. Absolutely delish! Not sure how many people would be interested in this recipe. Once again, if you are – let me know and I’d be more than happy to share!

I didn’t even get an after shot of the kimchee fried rice! And I got super lazy with this recipe, I didn’t even chop up the kimchee. I used the Chongga Kimchi I bought from Costco. It was all right but not good enough for my kimchee fried rice…gotta get Queen’s Supermarket Kimchee for the best kimchee fried rice!

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Recipe: Cantonese Tomato Soup

May2

Hi folks! Sorry for the lag in entries this week, it’s been pretty hectic! I thought things would slow down at work by now but it’s still busy. 🙁 There were a few requests for the tomato soup I shared in my other post so I decided to share out the recipe today. Not sure how authentic or common this dish is, it’s just something I grew up eating. Call me crazy but in this preparation, although it’s meatless – I feel like the soup has a real savory flavor to it…I just love it. I’ll share the same pictures to show you what it looks like.

Finished product on a bed of rice with a cameo from my teri tofu burger

Brown Sugar Blocks

Cantonese Tomato Soup

6 medium sized tomatoes, sliced (it can half moon slices, they will cook down – picture of them above was prepared for the soup)
1.5 brown sugar blocks
1 – 2 eggs, depending on your taste
3 – 4 cups of water, depending on your desired soup watery versus thick level

Pinch of salt
1.5 T of cooking oil

In a soup pot, heat up the oil over medium high heat. Throw in the brown sugar blocks and melt them down to an almost caramel sauce (this step can be dangerous as the sugar reacts with the oil – be careful!). Generally, the pan goes so nuts that I just let it pop for about 30 seconds before I just dump in all the tomatoes. Stir the mixture, cover and let it come to a boil. Add your desired amount of water, the water really depends on you. The tomatoes will definitely let out some liquid so I usually put in about 3 cups of water.

Let the mixture come to a boil and simmer it on medium for about 10-15 minutes (there’s really no overcooking this dish guys). Crack your eggs in right at the end and stir, make sure you break the yolk (we’re looking for the egg drop soup look). Right before you take it off the heat, taste the soup and add seasoning to your liking (i.e. more sugar if you like it sweeter). This sounds weird but I like to also add a pinch of salt to balance the sweetness but generally I keep this soup more sweet than salty. Serve it over rice and enjoy!

Notes:
– I definitely like to have it over rice but with side dishes like any traditional Chinese meal.
– If you’re not a big fan of the tomato peel, feel free to slash a shallow X on all the tomatoes and throw them into boiling water for a few seconds, drain and ice them to help speed up the peeling process before slicing and putting them into this dish. The tomatoes definitely cook down in the soup and the skin kind of curls up and stays in the soup. I don’t mind either eating them or just taking them out. That’s how it was growing up. 🙂

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Izakaya Torae Torae – Moilili, Hawaii

Apr28

I have been so excited to try Izakaya Torae Torae since they opened up about two months ago! They are located in Moilili on McCully Street – it’s right next door to The Sushi Company and I believe they replaced a pizza place (correct me if I’m wrong). They do have parking stalls in front but it is extremely limited. Our meal was so good last night that I just had to post it up already! And how’s this for fate? A spot opened up as I was pulling in…smack dab right in front of the restaurant. It was meant to be. A warning to everyone, lots of pictures and…I definitely splurged for this meal. I have never tried Otoro before and decided to do so at this meal. No regrets!

Snow Crab and Corn Cream Croquette – $7.50

Lots of pictures of this dish on social media – how was it? I thought it was good, not great. It’s not like I could taste the crab in it so for me, it was just a cream croquette.

Pork Belly Kakuni – $8.95
Oh man, this was a great dish. Includes two good sized pieces of pork belly, daikon and a soft boiled egg. The broth tasted great – favorite meat dish of the night for sure. They have a pork belly kakuni don option – the broth on the rice would be amazing.

Ribeye Steak with Garlic Onion Sauce – $16.50

The garlic onion sauce being poured on…a bit pricey for this dish. I thought it was all right but nothing too special. The meat was tender and cooked to our specifications! I also enjoyed the bean sprouts/cabbage on the bottom, so a good dish all in all.

From left to right: Lanai Sweet Shrimp ($5.95), Hamachi ($2.95) and King Salmon Nigiri ($2.50)
This was Kristian’s selection so I will let him share his comments if he so wishes. 🙂

Shrimp Head! This is the head from the Lanai Sweet Shrimp nigiri, they offer it to you fried up with a slice of lemon. So crispy you can eat the entire head, shell and all!

From left to right: King Salmon ($2.50), Otoro (Market Price, lol), Uni Nigiri ($4.25)

I hadn’t had real salmon until I’ve had it this high quality. The freshness of the salmon, the buttery taste, you just can’t beat it. It was the cheaper option of the nigiri I had so I ordered one more. I think if I return, I would just order like 4 for myself..hahaha

Okay, I know I swore off uni pasta but I certainly didn’t swear off uni nigiri! It was very good – perfectly made. But if I had to choose between this or the salmon, I’ll get the salmon.

Star of the show! Otoro! This is the first time I have ever had this. Words cannot explain the experience. This will probably be one of the few times I have it in my life so I will forever savor it. Hehe…I was afraid to take the leap but am so glad I did. It literally melts in your mouth. I think I’m going to dream of it tonight.

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Recipe: Teri Tofu Burgers

Apr27

About a year ago, we had a pot-luck at work and my coworker made some amazing burgers. She told us they were called teri tofu burgers and I was amazed that they were tofu – okay, I was wrong. It’s actually meat mixed with tofu – but I guess it is healthier since you’re using less meat! Back me up here. 🙂 Anyhow, I finally got to make it the other week and they came out great! I love these burgers because they are so flavorful and moist, you can’t tell there is tofu in here. I’ll include the recipe and some tips after the pictures.

Ahh…wish I had some to eat right now!

Didn’t have too much preparation pictures. The recipe called for firm tofu, I used soft tofu and it worked great for me.

Here is the mixture right before forming and cooking. I think if you use soft tofu like me, you have to chill it before forming the patties. I cooked the patties about 4 at a time so I was able to chill, form and cook in intervals.

The tomatoes are not part of this recipe. Hehe, I made a traditional tomato soup to go with my rice and burger patties.

You folks ever use these? I don’t even know the English name of it, it’s like brown sugar blocks my family has always used to make this tomato soup.

Finished product. Rice, Chinese tomato soup (if anyone wants the recipe, feel free to comment and I will post it!) and the awesome tofu teri burger.

Teri Tofu Burgers

1 lb hamburger
1 blk tofu, drained well (I used soft tofu – firm tofu might make it less soft, depends on your taste)

1/4 C onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 piece ginger grated (1-2 tsp.)
1/4 C shoyu
2 T sugar
1T sesame seed (optional) – I didn’t use this
Dash of sesame oil

Cooking Oil

Heat up your frying pan and add about 1 T of oil each time you fry up some patties. The patties get pretty good color to them because of the shoyu and ground beef – I fry them up on medium high heat for about 2 minutes each side. Serve them up over rice, onolicious!

Notes:
– If using soft tofu – you may want to chill the mixture before forming patties. The soft tofu and ground beef makes for a very soft mixture and it’s hard to form patties if they are not cold.
– I used a weight on the tofu to try to drain as much water as I could from the tofu for a few hours in the fridge.

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Taste of Manoa – Manoa, HI

Apr26

Every semester, UH Manoa holds a Taste of Manoa festival. It’s great because they offer up $1 plates and the plates are very generous! They held one about two weeks ago in conjunction with the opening of the new recreation center. It was super crowded but I loved seeing the new recreation center, it took a while but I think everything looks great now!

The dishes they had were pretty good, but I ended up doubling up on a few because I didn’t like the soup or dessert. I’ll share two highlights! I forgot to take a picture of the chili cheese dog – that was good too! Full size!

Mahi Puttanesca Bruschetta with Island Greens and Citrus Vinaigrette
Pretty good and the fish was cooked perfectly!

Deep Fried Garlic Pork Ribs with Asian Slaw
Look at that! Only $1! Seriously, a great deal. And surprisingly, I enjoyed the cole slaw again. Am I starting to like cole slaw in general? Uh oh…

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Alicia’s Market – Kalihi, HI

Apr25

Yes! Another visit to Alicia’s Market and there was no disappointment here. I had to run an errand during my lunch break so I grabbed lunch from here. It was fate because as I pulled up, a parking spot opened up in their lot. I mean, come on! Awesome right? If you would like to see my first post, click here. Here are the pictures from our recent trip!

Spicy Ahi Poke “Bowl”

Look at those big pieces of ahi – no white stringy stuff here. Only the good stuff!

Abalone Salad. My friend got this and let me try it for the first time! It was delicious, so fresh and crunchy.

Two Choice – Regular Plate
It comes with Chinese roast pork, ahi poke of your choice, mac salad, kimchee, and rice!

The mac/potato salad is quite sweet.

Poke!!!

The roast pork this time was winners. Great pieces of pork, I think last time I was disappointed because I got hard and dry pieces.

My friend got to try this place for the first time and she was very happy! She tried different things and thought everything was high quality for good prices. Always happy to share good food places with others. I think I should start a food tour company. 🙂 Happy Friday everyone!

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Healthy Bibimbap – Seoul, Korea

Apr23

Can I start this blog off with a rant? Sorry guys, you can skip this paragraph if you want to go straight to the happy (I wouldn’t blame you!). Anyway, I finished work today and did my usual walk to my car and guess what I see? Someone had scratched my car. My new car. 🙁 The car I saved so hard for…has a big scratch on it. It looks like the person had opened his/her car door and let it fling open onto my door. There was white paint all over, luckily I got side body molding installed on my car so it’s the molding that got the grunt of the hit. Still hurts though and makes me sick since my car is only 2 months old. Sigh, wish the person left a note. Even if it was just a note that said sorry. I understand things like this can happen and it’s an accident. I think I sat on the curb in the parking lot for about 20 minutes because I was so mad/sad…lol. I feel a bit better now, not great but nothing I can do now right? No can change what’s done.

Oh! I forgot to wish everyone a Happy Easter! I hope you folks had a good one. I had a nice and restful one…had some cleaning too. Today’s entry will be sharing a nice meal we had before we hiked up to Namsan Tower. I don’t remember the name of this place but I am pretty sure it was a restaurant for tourists. They had a menu with…interesting English. We were able to order okay! I liked the food. I didn’t take much pictures because the waitress was a bit rude…

I’ve said this once and I’ll say it again, banchan is EVERYTHING. The banchan here was amazing. Not sure what the top right dish is…but it was my favorite! Does anyone know?

Sometimes a nice bowl of tofu soup can be the cure all…

I usually don’t love the earthiness of this type of veggies – but these were great! Tasted great.

Until we meet again – so delicious…

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Trip to Seoul Korea – Apartment Tour

Apr21

I took a trip to Korea last year and it was awesome. I enjoyed my trip so much – the food and shopping was great and affordable! I long to be back on the streets of Seoul sometime soon! I haven’t been able to share my trip so I will try to post everything that happened! Today, I am showing you the apartment we stayed in. We decided to take a big leap and sublet an apartment through Airbnb – it was a great decision. The apartment was about the same price for a single hotel room. This apartment came with three rooms, one bath, full kitchen, living room and washer and dryer – tell me that isn’t a better deal! We stayed in Yeiouido which is a city located away from the hustle and bustle of the tourist areas, it’s also home to all the major television networks and the Han River. I loved taking the subway back home after a long day and unwinding in a nice and quiet neighborhood. This apartment was also right next to an Emart which made for super easy omiyage shopping..hehe. Okay time to share some pics!

TV and Toaster…:) This apartment also had free wifi – we watched a bunch of shows we couldn’t understand. Loved the shopping networks.

Isn’t this living room so cute? I loved it. This apartment had a real cute and homey style that I loved.

Cute dining nook and bookcase full of books we couldn’t read.

Full kitchen with washer and dryer! The washer doubled as both the washer and dryer. Why don’t we have that here?? Or do we? Anyhow, the hosts were so gracious. They even had some food in the kitchen for us to eat, that was very nice. They greeted us when we got in and came to say goodbye to us as we left. A great experience renting this apartment.

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maybeitsjenny

Hawaii based food blog with foodie travels!