Japan!

Well, it is official now. I am somehow returning to Japan for the third fall in a row, for about two weeks from October 21st to November 8th. And no, while naturally this has been something I've wanted to do since I left Japan, I have not been hiding my actual travel plans from readers/Facebook friends/family. In true Nina last minute travel planning fashion, I literally booked the flight two days ago and bothered the wonderful Megan Elfman who is there studying abroad two days before that. In celebration, anticipation, and impatience for Japanese food, we had shabu shabu tonight. It consisted appropriately cut beef from the local Mitsuwa, carrots, enoki (they're a type of delicious mushroom for those who are aren't familiar with them) onions, tofu, and of course, shabu shabu ponzu sauce (citrus soy sauce). It was delicious.


The very generous portions of beef I just cooked all at once as I lack an electric skillet for the table and my boyfriend was very hungry and did not want to wait to eat. I need one of those skillets. Maybe in the near future...

In-N-Out Burger, an Ode

Oh In-N-Out Burger
Your delicious beef patties
And the freshest of cheese
On a succulent bun of perfect bread
And on-site prepared fries
Makes me forgot that
99.9% of the time I hate fast food
At least in the US.
And why you limit yourself to the west,
I will never know
But if it is to retain quality
Than it must stay so.
Such a delicious place.

I figured some bad poetry would serve as a better summary of how I feel about the west-coast based fast food chain (not franchise though) In-N-Out Burger than some boring long winded explanation about why I'm even including a fast food chain in my blog. Basically, they are proof that if you use the right ingredients (ie, what people use in their home kitchen instead of flavorless processed stuff) even quickly prepared burgers and fries can taste absolutely delicious.

Yum.

But after not one, but two fast food digressions in one week (even if they were delicious and reasonably portioned - the key!), it is back to healthy stir-fried vegetables and sandwiches for me.

Housewarming Party

A week ago was the housewarming party I alluded to in the previous post. I apologize for taking so long to write about after the actual event, but as I also mentioned in that post, neither my boyfriend nor I have been feeling very well recently. Amazingly, I somehow made a complete recovery before the party after taking a nap, however, not even half an hour before the party was planned to start, Matt's health suddenly took a turn for the worse. His stomach was a mess, and he developed a high fever and severe exhaustion. As the timing for this was so last minute, and I had already finished preparing everything anyway, we decided to have the housewarming party anyway. Somehow I pulled it off, keeping Matt's friends fed and entertained even with Matt spending the majority of it semi-delirious in bed. I enjoyed the time overall, I just would still prefer that the next party progresses a little more normally. Whether he had gastroenteritis or Influenza Type A (my mom the RN did not think he had H1N1) we'll never know since he didn't go to the doctor, but he since spent most of this past week recovering from it I haven't really been cooking anything wonderfully exotic to blog about. Just the standard bland cold foods adopted a little for my standards and needs because I was eating most of them too. As I don't care for Campbell's chicken and rice soup (way too much sodium), I made my own using organic chicken broth, canned white meat chicken and enriched long grain rice. As for applesauce, I bought unsweetened (apples have enough sugar in them naturally!) and the toast was made from nice crusty sourdough bread. Only the bananas were normal simply because the organic ones at the grocery store didn't smell right for some reason. I think they were overripe.

By contrast, the food provided at the party was all very rich and not nearly as healthy.

While not the best photo, this arrangement from front to back consists of pepperoni with cream cheese, baguette slices with melted mozzarella and tomato pieces, and fried calamari rings (from Japan! via Whole Foods).

A diseased Matt standing by the food (maybe that was a bad idea) and seasonally decorated table with some of the party guests.

A still diseased Matt now over on the couch but still near the food he cannot eat. Keith over on the left was trying to avoid photos but I got him anyway! Ha! Also in this picture are a bowl of nice thick tortilla chips, delicious guacamole (store bought, but the succulent Wholly Guacamole, the only kind that's any good if you're not eating homemade. I know from experience aka helping Valeria that making guacamole is a lot of work and shriveled lime soaked fingers) and another bowl containing pico de gallo.

Not pictured from the party are the large lasagna from Costco, dutch apple pie, and some delicious ice cream that Keith brought as well as some more chips from Ryan and Eileen. I also seemed to have missed some of the party guests on camera...just wait until next time!

Fortunately Matt is now fully recovered and as my stomach is just fine I hope to have more culinary adventures this week since last week was seriously barren of much cooking or even eating out at special places. As good as Papa Murphy's pizza is, it is still pretty standard pizza. However, this week already does look to be off to a better start by today's random gem of a dinner:
For those who do not know what this wonderful place is, this is a gyuudon, or beef bowl, restaurant, essentially a Japanese fast food place that I ate at ALL the time because it was so cheap and filling. I missed it so much and while I'd heard rumors of them existing somewhere in the US, I didn't realize one would be so close by. But...would they have the same food?


Well, clearly there have to be some differences, the plastic-ware, the styrofoam, and those vegetables in Matt's bowl look a little suspect for example, but otherwise the flavor was the one I have been craving. Even if I prefer Matsuya to Yoshinoya - it was closer to where I lived in Japan so I ate there a lot more.

So random and unexpected for me anyway (I'm not from this area) but absolutely delicious. I think we will be going there again soon.

Great...

I am not going to rant here; that is not the purpose of this blog, but just like I said with the unsuccessful day of cooking, some things are bound to happen eventually. Such as the irony that is today. Today is going to be our big housewarming party (4pm) and today both Matt and I have stomach bugs. Good food is one of the critical elements of parties (especially for me) so I have been planning elaborate appetizers to prepare but now I can't really eat anything beyond toast and chicken noodle soup. Matt doesn't even feel like eating anything. Hopefully this is one of those stomach bugs that goes away fast. I don't feel like myself when I'm not craving delicious things to eat!

Finally! But first, a transformation!

All right, I'm tired from being productive with job stuff, making a mess of the kitchen, and going to the gym so I will try to keep this blog post fairly short.

Today (Monday) was all around a delicious day as I figured out what I wanted to eat for lunch and dinner. I didn't feel like cooking anything elaborate for lunch,but I was bored with our usual easily microwavable meals, so I stuck my head in the fridge to see what was in there. As a result,

these rather boring leftovers (somewhat tough tri tip steak, hash browns, steamed green beans) from last Friday night

became this delicious sandwich! I actually liked the reheated-steak sandwich with Swiss cheese, sourdough bread and tomatoes a lot more than the freshly cooked steak by itself - as my friend Valeria said in a comment on my last post, never underestimate the power of sandwiches! I think it was actually my dad who taught me this trick - if life gives you leftovers (or weird canned foods or a lack of hot dog buns) make sandwiches! Previously unappetizing food can be saved this way.

What the "Finally!" in my title refers to is what I made for dinner: a recipe I have been wanting to attempt for around two weeks now - Japanese karaage (fried chicken)!




I have missed it so much. Since a number of you reading this probably already know how to make it or have a pretty good idea, I am not going to post the full recipe I used, but for those who aren't familiar with it, I soaked the chicken (boneless, skinless, thigh pieces with excess fat cut out) in a marinade that consisted of soy sauce, ginger, sugar, sake, and garlic. I then coated the chicken in cornstarch and then fried it in some very hot canola oil. Very hot. The chicken was never burned but some other kitchen implements were...hence the mess mentioned at the beginning. While it was a pretty simple recipe, I was very happy that my karaage tasted almost exactly like some of the ones I had eaten at restaurants in Japan. I served it over broccoli and steamed white rice.

Drink - Nigori (unfiltered) sake. I forget which brand right now but it was from Kobe and in a small pink bottle.

And in other food-related news of interest, on Sunday we went with Matt's family (including an aunt) to a good Mexican-American style restaurant in the small mission town of San Juan Batista.

It was called Los Jardines (the gardens) which should seem fairly appropriate with this picture here as most of the restaurant was outside in areas like these (look towards the back). Sunday had been a very hot day (easily over 100) but by evening it had cooled off so of course we ate outside. Los Jardines was also actually a fairly decent sized restaurant for such a small town.

But how was the food?


Carne Asada (roast meat, in this case beef), with rice and beans. Such a big portion but I was very hungry by this point (we had just gone to a Catholic mass in a very hot church) so that's ok! This food was delicious. Unfortunately not pictured, but one of the best parts of this meal were the flour tortillas that were also provided. I am so used to store-bought, chemically preserved flour tortillas that having freshly made tortillas was amazing. I need to make it a point to eat fresh flour or corn tortillas more often because the ones I have in the fridge just aren't the same. My taste buds and mouth can so easily tell the difference in both flavor and texture.

Okay, enough for tonight, I am getting hungry! More food to come...stay tuned...

Eating Out

These past couple of days it seems we have been eating out a lot, whether it be for a social reason or simply one of convenience. I really do enjoy cooking, but sometimes, especially after that frustrating time from my last post, sometimes it is nice to take a break and enjoy a different meal or snack that, unlike a planned homemade meal, may be a completely spontaneous choice.

The first meal from this series was simple, but satisfying. Matt's mother Carol took me to walk around downtown Los Gatos late morning Friday, September 25. We found that most of the restaurants in the area she wanted to visit, Old Town, were too expensive, especially for lunch, so we wound up eating at a "Le Boulanger". It is just a sandwich place, nothing really fancy, but they don't seem to have any locations outside of the Bay Area (I checked) so it was different for me anyway.

Besides, I really really liked this sandwich. It consisted of chicken with hoisin sauce (a Chinese sauce), cucumbers, monterey jack cheese, and cilantro on sourdough bread. It was delicious and unique enough that I think I may try and recreate it at home. My usual sandwiches are pretty bland because I won't eat most normal sandwich condiments (mayonnaise, pickles, mustard, etc).

Anyway, despite having a normal simple dinner at home, we both decided to go out to eat again later with some of Matt's friends. As we were still pretty full by that time, Matt and I just snacked on the bread and had one drink each. As some at our side of the table had predicted would happen, appearing here are some pictures from Friday night at "Romano's Macaroni Grill Italian Restaurant".


Matt enjoying his "White Peach Sangria Martini" (at least, that's what I think it was, and it is in a martini glass). I had a "Leaning Bellini" in a silly glass that didn't photograph very well.



Ryan and Eileen with their delicious looking "Seafood Linguine" which I will definitely be ordering next time I go to this place and am actually hungry.

Finally, to conclude this post, here are some photos from Ikea which we went to on Saturday to look for a nightstand solve the crisis of Matt's alarm clock either being on my side of the bed (really disliked that) or on the floor on his side (also not a good idea). On the way out we decided since we have now gone to Ikea at least 3 times in the past month, it was high time to buy their dessert (we'd already had lunch there on another trip).

Matt had frozen yogurt.

I had their cinnamon roll. Delicious.

Okay, that's a long enough post from me tonight. Until I find or make more food to photograph or some more good food photos to reminisce about, I think I'd better get some sleep so I can continue to try make safe, fully concious decisions in the kitchen. As much as a kitchen catastrophe might be interesting to blog about, I usually prefer my food to not be completely scorched.

Disastrous (well, cooking-wise at least) Day

Well, it happens. Sometimes as enticing and straightforward as the recipe appears, the result doesn't taste quite right in the end. Today the San Jose Mercury News ran some great looking Spanish tapas recipes. Tapas can be a lot of work, but I have made some successfully before (even if they were Argentinian and not Spain Spanish) and I already had a lot of the ingredients for one so I decided to give it a try. The recipe was for fried cod fritters, and I had my boyfriend fry some sausage since I figured the amount for the fritters alone wouldn't be enough for both of us for a meal. Despite my best efforts at following the recipe, the fritters tasted more like soft potato pancakes and kind of looked like a soggy mess with some bits of tasteless fish. The sausage turned out to be more turkey flavored than beef and even good olive oil couldn't save it. Oh well. We tried.

As I clearly have no desire to post any photos of my less than satisfying creation, I will instead reminisce on some past summer days of more delicious food. This is dedicated to my wonderful friend Liz who has won my heart over my NCC friends and even my boyfriend for showing me that someone besides just me is actually reading this blog.


A photo flash to the past of a delicious tempura appetizer from a sushi place on August 01, 2008 in Cincinnati, OH. I don't seem to remember the name of the place but it was pretty good.


I remember the name of this place though. This is "Buckhead", a restaurant located on the other side of the Ohio River so it is actually in Kentucky.

Liz and her niece (not her child!). I ate there with her and some of her family while visiting her at the University of Cincinnati on August 02, 2008.

I somehow don't seem to have any pictures of the food I ate there (too hungry from the long wait maybe?), but I seem to remember that the cheese boulders were absolutely delicious.


Instead here is a shot of the Ohio River and some of Cincinnati. Not my best photo of it, but Cincinnati is definitely one of Ohio's prettier cities, at least skyline wise. Dayton's is too small and Columbus's is just dull.

Ah...those were the days...even if they were only about a year ago, haha. Thank you for the great memories Liz!