Trader Joe’s Haul – Las Vegas, Nevada

A trip to the mainland and mean one thing and one thing only. Okay, one of two things. A must is always Trader Joe’s. Just gotta. Gotta get your own snacks and of course omiyage to bring home. On our second shopping trip, the cashier knew we were from Hawaii without even asking. Haha! Their mini cooler bags also came out while we were in Vegas but there was no way we were going to get one. The cashier told me they were sold out within minutes of opening – that’s crazy. I don’t need a mini cooler bag.

Anyway, since our hotel had a kitchenette, we bought some frozen foods to try! Yay, I finally get to try their ready made foods!

Butter Chicken with Basmati Rice | $4.49

Love me a good butter chicken and love basmati rice! Chan’s friend told us this one was good so we tried it! I am happy to report that it was good!

Steamed Pork & Ginger Soup Dumplings | $3.49

Ehhh, wouldn’t get this again. This was exactly like the ones they sell here in Costco. Is it the bibigo brand? Exactly the same only this one doesn’t even come with the sauce on the side. Boo. Tastes fine but nothing special.

Kimbap | $3.99

Biggest bummer of the haul. I mean I knew it wouldn’t be good as fresh, how could it be right? Well, I followed instructions on how to heat it up and it was just awful. The rice was super hard and the taste wasn’t even good. What a bummer. No buy this. Just go to the Korean market and get the fresh ones! The one I got from Longs here was better.

Longs had this Japchae frozen kimbap on sale the other week for like $5.99 I think, it was pretty good to me! And heated up nicely so the roll was nice and soft. Still, I would just go to the Korean market to get fresh rolls. Glad to have tried, wouldn’t get it again.

Mott 32 – Las Vegas, Nevada

Mott 32 was one of the most highly anticipated meals for Vegas. Chan knows my love for Roast Duck so we made a reservation here. It’s quite pricey and if you order the duck, you have to put in the order in advance. The restaurant is very fancy – almost felt weird eating Chinese food in such a fancy place (lol).

Fancy accompaniments for the Roast Duck. They swirl the sauce at the table, it’s pretty cool! I believe that’s sesame paste and hoisin sauce, hoisin sauce and then brown sugar at the bottom.

Stonecutters (Mocktail) | $12.00
passion fruit / miso honey / lemon verbena / plum

Ehh, this drink was just alright. Sounds better than it tasted.

Traditional Iberico Pork Shanghainese Soup Dumplings | $14.00

A nice starter! Can’t go wrong with XLB…

Signature Crispy Sugar-Coated Charcoal Pork Buns | $16.00

Look at how fancy these are. And the name of the dish – wowowow. But can I say something? It was worth the hype, these were so good. The sugar crust on top balanced the pork filling so well. I really enjoyed this dish!

Look at the red filling, reminds me of home!

Barbecue Iberico Pork, Yellow Mountain Honey | $68.00
Each cut of pork comes from top-grade Iberian pigs that are raised on a diet of acorns, grass and herbs, giving the meat a soft and succulent quality that is further emphasised by the traditional roasting methods employed by our barbecue chefs. A light glaze of Yellow Mountain Honey is brushed over the pork to finish, adding a final sweet and rich touch.

Okay, no look at the price. Yes, it’s basically char siu. Was it good? How can it not be? It was delicious! This is a limited daily dish so you have to pre-order it. Super good but was it worth $68? Hmm…

Apple Wood Roasted Peking Duck “Mott 32 Cut” | $128.00
Mott 32 has carefully sourced and selected the best ducks to create the most flavorful and perfectly crispy duck. Our Signature 42 day Apple Wood Roasted Peking Duck is carved using a unique technique developed by our Culinary Team that locks in all the juices making it a true feast fit for royalty as it was intended. It is served tableside with freshly steamed pancakes, thinly sliced cucumber, scallions, raw cane sugar, and house-made special hoisin sauce; the juicy cucumber will allow a refreshing lift as you bite into the crispy, moist, and smoky duck skin.

I had to paste their own description of the duck so you folks can look past the price tag lol. It’s a beautiful duck. They carve it for you table side and you get all the nice crackly skin and the tender meat morsels.

Freshly Steamed Pancakes

Duck Skin sprinked with Brown Sugar

No worries, it was much more than this plate. They just sliced off the best of the skin for us to make our peking buns with.

Minced Duck Fried Rice | $28.00

You also have the option for them to create a second course with the rest of the duck meat. Either a peking style spicy crispy duck rack or fried rice. We went with the fried rice. I’m not sure what the first style would be. The carcass deep fried? I don’t know. But this was good because it served as the carb for our meal.

Wok-fried Snow Pea Tips | $32.00
with minced garlic

Whew everything is expensive here. But snow pea tips are hard to find which also explains the price tag. Needed some greens to balance our all the meat! Was good!

Mott 32 was a good experience. Our waitress was a bit pushy, the guys still had their alcohol glasses half full and she kept trying to push for another drink. That soured the experience for us a little bit. Mott 32 is an international brand so I’m excited to try this place in Asia! I find that restaurant in Asia tend to be better. Yummy! For now, I am content with getting my roast duck and char siu fix from Chinatown.

Shang Artisan Noodle – Las Vegas, Nevada

Wanna hear a funny story? Well it’s kind of funny. I came to Vegas back in 2022 and went to a little Thai restaurant in this strip mall. It was right next to Shang Artisan Noodle but we ate at the Thai restaurant instead. Shang has since expanded into the Thai restaurant’s lot. It was funny because as we pulled into this lot, I kept saying how familiar this place looked. Crazy stuff huh? Chan said they have the best beef noodle soup so of course we had to come. And of course, I end up ordering something else. My noodles were good too but when I tasted Chan’s bowl, I knew I would have to get the beef noodle soup from here on out. They make their own noodles and the broth is so deep with flavor. No worries, we ended up going to Shang’s new location at the new Durango Casino and Resort at the end of our trip so I got my beef noodle soup!!!

Spicy Wonton | $8.97
pork wontons with spicy soy sauce, green onion

These spicy wontons were good! Look at them, they’re swimming in chili oil. It’s spicy! Take their word for it!!

Spicy Beef Dumpling | $9.25
minced beef, white onion, green onion, spicy soy sauce

Look at the fancy lace around the dumplings. Actually the lace for me is not needed. I do like my dumplings pan fried though. Sorry to folks who enjoy deep fried mandoo, it’s not my thing. These were good!

Shang Beef Noodle (Spicy) | $14.97
beef & chicken broth (brown), braised beef brisket, veggies, green onion

That is comfort in a bowl. And they make their noodles in house, I believe Chan gets this dish with their hand pulled noodles. Yum! As an FYI, the original location has three noodle options: hand pulled noodles, knife-shaved noodles and plain noodles. The Durango location only has two options – no plain noodles.

Dan Dan Noodle | $13.97
minced pork, preserved veggie, spicy soy sauce, green onion

Look at how I take care of you folks. I even did a noodle pull! I guess in the 100-something degree weather, I wasn’t really feeling like a big bowl of hot soup and noodles you know? So I opted for the cold noodle option – I got my dish with knife-cut noodles. Been on a knife-cut noodles kick. It was good! But once again, I would order the beef noodle soup the next time around. Actually what am I doing? Here’s what we got on our final visit lol…

My beef noodle bowl! Yum yum! Tasted great and the same at both locations!

Wonton Soup | $12.97
Add noodles | $3.00

pork & chicken broth (white), house-made wonton, egg, seaweed, green onion

Chan’s wonton noodle soup! He likes to eat a bit lighter on days of travel so this is his dish. He enjoyed it! I’m sure if we weren’t flying out that day, he would have gotten the beef noodle soup again!

Recipe: Dry Hot Pot

Is this really a recipe? I can’t say it is, I really just followed a TikTok video and threw choke things into a pot. What is a dry hot pot? It’s basically all the things you would eat in a hot pot but without the hot soup. The way I ended up making it, it had plenty liquid so really you are just eating hot pot in my mind. Well, Chan and my brothers all seemed to really enjoy it so it was a hit! I’ll just show pictures of the ingredients I threw in. If you really want a recipe, let me know lol.

I got the thinly sliced beef from H-Mart. This was the most expensive thing in the dish – I went for the leaner cuts.

I bought the unseasoned aburage from Don Quijote – I sliced it up and threw it in. I love adding this to dishes that are saucy because the tofu just soaks up all the flavor! Yum.

Enoki mushrooms and boy choy

King oyster mushrooms. Yeah, this was an expensive dish to make. All these mushrooms were expensive!

Chinese cabbage and the stems of the boy choy, I saved the bok choy leaves to the end because they cook the quickest!

My favorite fish balls hands down. Fish balls with roe! I had to buy these in the frozen section of Don Quijote too.

Dried beancurd sheets. I was about to buy the beancurd sticks because I am used to those in Chinese cooking but I really don’t like how hard and chewy those can be so I decided to go with the sheets.

I heated up some water and then threw the sheets in and let them rehydrate. I am happy with my decision to buy sheets and will do so in the future as well!

I’ve been looking for these noodles a long time. If you wanted to search for it, it’s usually called knife cut noodles or in this case, sliced noodle.

Just a fun-ner noodle to eat. I love it! I found these at H-mart.

This is the main seasoning of the dish. I used both packs in this, it gives the dish the mala hot pot flavor. Must be used! I also got this from H-mart.

Sorry, this is just me showing you that I literally just threw everything into the pot. Yup, the whole block of meat right on top. The final product is up top. It was very time consuming to prep this dish and it was pretty pricey, I don’t know how often I will make this dish. Maybe once in a while since Chan and the brothers enjoyed.

Mixed Plate Friday

My brother Jensen got me this super cute Lego Cherry Blossom kit just cause. Aren’t those gifts the best? Just thoughtful and a surprise? I built it up the other day and am proudly displaying it in my office! I love it!!

Have you tried ELEVEN at Foodland Farms Ala Moana? It is more of a small plates and drinks bar but they specialize in a brunch buffet on the weekends! It is $35 for the buffet and includes Prime Rib. I think it’s worth the while to try the different foods and hey you can grind down on unlimited prime rib. One missing element? No poke! I think that would really make the buffet and hello, they make so much poke already in the store!

We checked this place out from watching it on a YouTube video, you can check it out here. There is no free mimosa though – sorry!

First plate! I forget what get already. Broccolini, ulu hash browns, pulehu chicken, portuguese sausage, eggs, salad with fresh beets (!).

Second plate is for all the good stuff. More ulu hash brown, eggs, yummy chicken, fried jasmine rice, prime rib and the pork belly. Oh the pork belly!!! Nice smoky flavor, so good and also bad for you lol.

Smoked Meat and Clam Chowder

We were all excited for the clam chowder. Who can resist a good clam chowder? It was good! We were one of the first diners of the morning and the soup was a bit cold. I’m thinking maybe it didn’t have enough time on the heater yet? Maybe they count on the heater to heat it up? If it was hotter, would be mo’ betta! This would be a good place to host any friends who are visiting Hawaii! Here is the menu.

Recipe: Shrimp and Asparagus

I’ve been following the ChineseHealthyCook YouTube channel for years now and I always love trying out her recipes when I can because she makes really good home style Chinese dishes. When I saw this dish, I knew I just had to give it a try. I mean take a look at the picture, that’s the one I made! Doesn’t it look great? And I add so much garlic…I just mix it with some hot white rice and I’m in heaven. This is one of the few dishes I made for the whole week of meals and never got tired of it. Forreal! I followed her instructions to a T and it came out perfectly – perfectly cooked!!

Shrimp and Asparagus Stir-fry

Ingredients:

  • 12 oz asparagus (remove ends, cut into slices)
  • 7 oz shrimp (season with salt and white pepper powder)
  • 8 cloves garlic (use 1/3 for the sauce)
  • 2 tsp seasoned soy sauce for seafood or light soy sauce (I bought and useed soy sauce for seafood)
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/3 cup water
  • vegetable oil (I use avocado oil)
  • salt
  • white pepper powder or black pepper powder

To make garlic sauce:
Combine 2/3 of the chopped garlic, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1/3 cup of water. Mix well.

1. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add 1/2 tsp salt and drops of oil.
2. Blanch asparagus for about 30 seconds. Take out into ice water.
3. Blanch shrimp for about 1 minute. Take out into ice water.
4. Heat up pan to medium high heat, add oil. Sauté 1/3 of the chopped garlic for about 5 seconds.
5. Add shrimp and asparagus. Stir fry about 30 seconds.
6. Add 1/2 of the sauce and stir. Add remaining sauce and finish with a bit of salt to taste. Serve. 

Recipe Credit: ChineseHealthyCook

Mixed Plate Friday

Loco Moco | $11.00

Yum, loco moco. I can’t resist! We have Holoholo Bistro on campus and they have become a great staple. I love that they make such a variety of dishes and their super cute decorating style. A little pricey but to me this was the perfect portion. They also take Apple Pay which I now use too much because it is so dang easy to use. If you want to check them out, they also opened their own brick and mortar spot in Kailihi where Meg’s used to be!

Homemade Tanghulu

I couldn’t resist. I wanted to make it and TikTok had a microwave version. Came out pretty good! Well 2 things, don’t do the microwave version. The sugar liquid basically needs to be boiling hot to work so it’s better to be on the stove top. 2nd, these do not store well in the fridge. You gotta make it and eat it right away, if not, you’re just looking at a melted sugar syrup mess.

Look at my new water bottle! I hung this cute and cheap chain I got from Amazon. I’ve used it for a week and the chain broke already (lol). Ah it’s okay, it was cute while it lasted! I love this water bottle because it deceptively looks like it doesn’t have the sipping straw but it does! You can chug or sip! I love it! And if you hold it at the right angle, you look like a koala drinking it. I heard Costco might start carrying a two-pack soon – that would be a great deal!!!

King Restaurant & Bar – Honolulu, HI

Tried King Restaurant & Bar a few times now and it’s been good each time. For some reason, this past visit was especially good. Perhaps we ordered all the good food? They always have packed tables when I drive by during dinner time, we try to order take-out during off-peak hours. Always ready pretty quick and never get the order wrong yet!

Salted Fish & Chicken Fried Rice | $16.95

Why don’t I order this dish more often? I wanted the nostalgic taste of chinese salted fish so we got this! This was Chan’s first time trying this dish and he liked it! Probably not more than me lol. I loved it, perfectly seasoned – definitely would order again!

Beef Chow Fun (Dried) | $16.95

We watched a YouTube video which got Chan hankering for some good ole Beef Chow Fun. Yum. I especially like it when they have the good “wok hei” on this dish. It was good! A little pricey but I guess we’re paying Ala Moana prices for all these dishes huh?

Twist Cruller | $3.50

It looks like they started serving dim sum too – how interesting! We ordered our food in the late afternoon and this was still available to order. I am curious to try the other dim sum dishes! I didn’t try this dish, this is more Chan’s style. 🙂

Spicy Salt & Pepper Pork Chop | $18.95

Yum, great main entree! Nice tender pieces of pork deep fried – can you go wrong?? It was good!

Ong Choy w/Preserved Beancurd | $15.95

Have I ever shared that ong choy is one of my favorite vegetables of all time? I remember when my mom used to stir fry it with sliced garlic and fermented shrimp paste (harm ha), smells so good to me (probably not so good to others). This is a great way to make it too – I loved it. Couldn’t get enough. Can’t wait to order or eat here again!

Mixed Plate Friday

Meatballs | $21.00

Yup, we went back to ‘ILI‘ILI CASH & CARRY. This time, I wanted to try their meatballs and almost went with the hoagie meatball which is $18.00. Well I changed my mind and said, why not just cook up some pasta and buy the side of meatballs? It was a great idea. The meatballs are great and the sauce is good too! We were able to enjoy a couple meals out of this! Yum!

Plate Lunch (2 starch | 2 entrees) | $14.00

Chun Wah Kam will always be known for their ginger chicken fried rice and the hu-MAN-gous serving sizes. How can you beat all this for $14? No can! I like the ginger chicken fried rice and the hong kong chow mein as the starches. I went with the chicken with zucchini and mushroom and stir fried mixed vegetables. Enjoyed this plate very much!!!

Just a funny story I had to share. I had to go to Safelite to replace my windshield the other week and did a quick peek at their waiting room reading choices. What the heck! Why are all the magazines for women or for old folks?? What they trying for say! Hahaha, okay I’m a woman and I was there. I’m just glad the replacement went well! Have a great weekend everyone!

Mixed Plate Friday

Remember this from last week? Well I didn’t want to shell out almost $20 for the same hot pot set and watercress (Don Quijote had it for $6.99 a bunch versus the $3.99 I paid at Marukai – what???) so I went to Sam’s Club and bought a pack of baby spinach and their baby bella mushrooms. I prefer the baby bella mushrooms over the white mushrooms – I feel like there is a nuttier taste. I made it the same way and I think it tastes great too! So I guess I have other options now!

Pepsi Zero Lemon

Saw this at Nijiya and couldn’t resist. I love Pepsi Zero and also love when lemon is added to cola! It’s a win win – this is obviously an import from Japan. How was it? It was good. I barely got a taste of lemon though, so you’re better off just drinking Pepsi Zero.

Beef Chow Fun | $11.95

Fun Station has daily specials and Beef Chow Fun was on special for $11.95 (on Fridays) – very appealing compared to their usual $15.75 price. Just felt like a mixed noodle for lunch that day so I am glad I got it! Was very good! I drench it in sriracha but that’s besides the point. 🙂