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Hi guys, I've have been having a big issue with spammers on this site so I have to add the static phrase element to all comments. With the commenting system on this system, you may need to click on the "Post Comment" button, rather than pressing enter on the keyboard. I hope this doesn't hinder the comments, I appreciate them all! Thank you!
**WELCOME**
Hi, thanks for visiting my blog! Now that I have webspace and a handy camera, I hope to update this quite a bit with tasty morsels of food. This blog will include commentary and pictures of restaurants I eat at plus recipes and pictures of foods I make! I will try to make the posts as detailed as possible so I hope you all will enjoy it.
E-mail me at info [at] starrydream [dot] com
-Jenny
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I only learned not too long ago that Sake meant Salmon. I wonder why they have two different meanings for the same word...maybe it's a lot of like the Chinese language. The Chinese language is quite difficult which I guess would show its similarities to the Japanese language. Okay, I'm not sure where the tangent came from but let's get to the lunch I wanted to post!
I posted a recipe for Lilikoi Chiffon Squares about a month ago and promised to post a similar recipe for people who do not have access to Lilikoi. Noreen was nice enough to share her recipe with me for Mango Cream Cheese Squares and seeing that mangos are in season (I hope they still are!), this is a perfect recipe to try as summer winds down. I have special memories of these squares...I have fond memories as a child of eating them once...but never finding them in stores again! But imagine my surprise when I received this recipe and it tasted almost exactly the same...
Anyway, enough of the talking...on to the pictures and recipe!
When I first got my membership at Marukai Wholesale Mart, my first visit consisted of oohs and aahs and an in-store demonstration! She made these great instant noodles that tasted great which I took full advantage of it. I purchased a pack of my own and here is the result:
Kat's Sushi is a tucked away Sushi joint that offers affordable and good quality sushi! You can either go for ala carte style (expensive!) or the all you can eat ($20.00 USD)...now how can you pass up that offer? All you can eat sushi? Not the puny lesser quality stuff that Todai offers, the good stuff. Allyna and I both took advantage of this deal. The only thing is...you have to continually order the sushi as you finish up. It's hard to go crazy when you have to constantly face someone to go crazy to. This particular night, there was only one other pair present...this restaurant is actually pretty small so...if it's not busy...the sushi chef and waitress pretty much watches you as you chow down.
One rainy and humid night before a comedy show, Kristian and I decided to check out Little Village. I had passed by the restaurant a few times before and admired the cute sign they have hanging outside. As I walked in for the first time, the first thing I noticed was how packed it was! The customer base seemed to be mainly locals/non-Chinese which usually is a bad sign for a Chinese restaurant. The unspoken rule about Chinese restaurants is...if there are a lot of Chinese people dining in, you know that not only is it a good deal but the food is good as well. There are however exceptions to every rule, and this counts as one of them! (And if this helps at all, there were some Chinese people there...including myself! Not too many pictures in this post...here's the short review...
Gyotaku has always been a favorite restaurant of mine, but I may be a biased. I used to work for the restaurant when they were named Kyotaru...but only as part of their bento shops in downtown. So before I worked here, I had never even been to the restaurant! When the restaurant was sold, my job was gone (no hard feelings here!) but I have enjoyed my visits here (they have their ups and downs) but let's get to the post shall we?
I first tried this cake about three years ago and fell in love instantly. I was very surprised that it contained alcohol because what it really tasted like was just a really moist and delicious chocolate cake. I asked for the recipe...which was graciously given to me...and I have been making the recipe ever since. It never beats the first time I tasted it, but comes pretty close. The last time I made this, I have to admit I didn't quite care for it. But that was because I ran out of vodka...but if you follow the recipe to the T...you should yield fool proof results!!
Every once in a while, I get a chance to run over to Palama Supermarket to indulge my Korean craving. Here is a sample of it! For one of my lunches, I packed some leftover Korean noodles and Korean sushi. Take a look!
I actually checked out NOBU, a couple of months ago. I should have posted it then so people could see how the food looked! This review isn't exactly glowing, but I will ask that consideration be placed because I did try it out when they were still pretty young. I hope that by now it has improved, but I don't think I will be returning for a long while.
As I was thinking up this post, I was going to name it home-made udon...but then I would technically be lying. It's not as if I made the udon noodles myself, but oh boy! Would I love to make noodles on my own...fresh noodles...wouldn't that be great? Although, I'm sure the actually ingredients involved in making noodles are easy...the actual process is what scares me away. Anyhow, here is a big bowl of udon I made one weekend. I threw in some leftover steak from the night before and voila, Steak Udon.
I have always wanted to try tarako spaghetti, I love the combination of spaghetti and fish eggs so I decided to give it a try. I will be showing you two types of recipes I tried. The first is the real thing, Tarako Spaghetti. The second, was a mistake I made...that became a hit with the office...which pushed me to post it anyway. So here we go!
Could you ever go wrong with a restaurant called Sushi Land? I think not. I have read pieces on this restaurant and was impressed by the rave reviews. Great prices for big fresh pieces of fish? That's definitely something I would go for. So how did it go?
My love for noodles is always unwaivering, which is why I must praise this restaurant to the world! Goma Tei Ramen Restaurant is my absolute favorite ramen shop in Hawaii. So much so that this has become a monthly restaurant I must always check out with my friend, Kristian. It's always pretty much the same, he gets the shoyu ramen while I go for the tan tan ramen. Let's start up the review shall we?
Looking for a fast and delicious place to get breakfast? Don't want to sit through the wait at Anna Miller's? I can't blame ya! Well, my friend suggested we check out Koa Pancake House. So we did, how do you suppose it went?
I've been on a Japanese food kick lately if you haven't noticed, and that has transferred into my own cooking as well. I haven't made a lot of recipe posts myself, but I do enjoy cooking! I got myself a Marukai membership card this past month and ordered a BUNCH of Japanese recipe books from Amazon. Once I become less lazy, I will try to make my own vegetable sides for some great bentos! Otherwise, I have been getting great inspiration from Biggie over at Lunch in a Box. She does great posts, and this bento I'm sharing with you today definitely came from her ideas!
Everytime I go to Gyotaku, I look across the way and see Minato's sign and always tell myself to try that place out! Well it took me a while, but I finally got to check it out! I've been on a Japanese food kick lately, so expect a lot of those posts.
Yamagen Restaurant is definitely a hole in the wall shop. It's located in a blink and you'll miss spot on the ever popular South King Street (so much so that I had to drive around at least 2 times, seriously!) Connie brought up a great point the other day, she said that anytime I point out a restaurant...I always have to say "it's supposed to be good, it's a mom and pop's shop." Well you know what? It's true! There are reasons why mom and pop's shops last so long, they are good. It's quite a pity to see so many close down though. Well, let's get right to it shall we?
I've heard nothing but good things about Sushi King from friends and blogs. The prices and quality of the food is great, so what can I lose right? Well apparantely a lot. I have visited Sushi King on three occasions, and all three occasions, I've had to deal with the horrible hostess. She is this older Japanese woman who runs around, I'm going to assume that she is the owner. I really hope she is the owner, because if she isn't, they have employed the worst hostess in the world. Yesterday definitely hit a chord with me, but besides her negativity, the restaurant itself is great. The wait staff are the most efficient and friendly! Let's get to the food shall we?
Being Chinese, I have tried a lot of different varieties of fried rice before. Being born and raised in Hawaii, you also taste very different variations. But in all of my 24 years of existence, I must say, my favorite style has got to be yang chow fried rice. My most favorite is made by Mini Garden Express at the former 99 Ranch Supermarket location. I am very grateful that although 99 Ranch Supermarket is now closed, the food court remains open! I know we have two other mini garden locations on the island, but they do not follow the same recipe! The only one I like is of course the one I will be sharing:
