30Aug / 2015

So it begins…

Remember how I said I would procrastinate by blogging to not study? Yes, it started. I’m not even halfway into the first chapter and I already decided to do a post on here. Yay. I want to say I’ve been too busy over the summer to post but the truth is I’ve been very tired and not as inspired as I have been in the past. Just trying to get to a good space again to post. It has been so DANG hot that I barely want to step foot into a kitchen. I bought some okra on Friday and I’m looking forward to making something with it. I enjoy the slimy-ness, I guess that’s why I enjoy natto. Here’s a few random pictures for you to enjoy!

I made kimchee gyoza the other week

I love when they start steaming because then you see the red kimchee through the translucent skin…

I’m not posting up a recipe yet…it’s really just a mixture of ground pork and chopped up kimchee. The kimchee has such great flavor that I don’t need to add any additional seasoning. My only complaint about this is that it’s dry. I think I’m going to try to add some long rice to the filling – that will add some moisture! I will let you folks know how it goes.

I had a bibimbap day once because that’s my favorite Korean dish. The twist? I used a fake ground beef to make the beef topping. It was good! Here are the side veggies I made. Ugh it took so much effort…haha. The green strips are zucchini, the others are shiitake mushroom, carrots, bean sprouts and the green mound is spinach. Isn’t it crazy to see how much spinach cooks down? It’s crazy! I love veggies like this, I should make it again.

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22Aug / 2015

Potpourri

How did potpourri come about? And why did the t become silent? Just a random thought for the day. This weekend is going to be full of rest mixed with cleaning mixed with horror. Horror? The fall semester starts on Monday for UH. Yes. Enjoy the terrible traffic again. Punahou does make it terrible but UH makes it worse. This semester as a warning is going to be insane already. I have three big events I’m helping to plan that will all take place before October 6th. I wouldn’t be surprised if I disappeared off the face of the earth during this time. I am also planning to take two classes. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle it. I’ll have to go to class this week and see how the assignment schedules are. Then again, my need to procrastinate on all my assignments may lead me to blog more often. Who knows? The only reason why I wouldn’t want to drop any of my courses is because I bought my textbooks already and boy were they expensive this semester!

No complaints of course. Still happy to take courses for free. Yay. I hope everyone is doing well. I’ve been pretty busy lately because I’ve had to work on my kitchen. It’s coming together! Almost surreal. Hope to have pictures to share on it soon. 🙂 Here are some random pictures to share…

Lamb Shanks from Costco. Doesn’t it look good on this package? I love lamb….

So like, this is how it looks after baking in the oven. Okay it doesn’t look anywhere close to the package but the taste is great! Tasted good. Don’t waste those bones, get some good marrow in there to suck out. A bit pricey but tasty.

Have you ever had pig’s feet? I’m sure I have in the Chinese style. This is pig’s feet, Korean style. It kinda looks like how it tastes. Very gelatinous and umm that’s about it. Not a big fan. I can say I tried it though!

Bossam! I created this plate, doesn’t it look pretty? I bought one of those ready to eat packs from Palama Supermarket and added kimchee to serve up. Was delicious. Nowhere near Jong Ga but we can’t go there anymore so I have to learn how to make this myself!

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08Aug / 2015

Amina Pizzeria – Waikiki, HI

Amina Pizzeria is a hole in the wall Italian Eatery between Don Quijote and Waikiki on Kalakaua. If you’ve been to Pho Bistro 2, they share the same parking lot with Amina. I’ve seen nothing but great ratings for this place so I had to bring the boys to try them out. Kids love pasta and pizza, how could you go wrong? When we got there, there was no parking but I decided to take a spin around the neighborhood. Luckily for me, a spot opened up right when I came back! It was fate. The restaurant is super small, it’s definitely suited for take-out more so than dining in. They have 3 tables that seat 4 and one table that seats 2.

I can’t say you are coming here to get authentic Italian food. The restaurant is run by two very nice Vietnamese ladies, the food was good! It’s definitely more of a comfort food kind of place so I would definitely recommend it for that factor. I made a big mistake, I didn’t tip during this trip. I wasn’t sure how to do it at a place like. It’s a take-out place but she brought out our food and gave us water, it wasn’t exactly waiter service but it kind of was. Gosh, I feel so bad. It got really busy as we finished, I didn’t have any small bills and she had a long line so I just left. But do you folks know what the tip guidelines are for people who dine in at a take out place? Please do let me know. So far someone told me it’s 10%.

Chicken Alfredo with Spaghetti

Not bad, not great. The chicken is chicken breast but tasted like the pre-sliced/pre-cooked ones you get at Costco or something. It was edible but nothing I wouldn’t get it again.

Lasagna with Meatballs – my brother loved it! Gobbled it up.

Personal 9″ Pepperoni Pizza – a hit with the kids again! Gotta try them again!

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06Aug / 2015

Fresh Ahi Off the Boat – Keeaumoku, HI

Fresh Ahi Off the Boat is a brand new restaurant on the Keeaumoku strip. If you remember it, they replaced a shave ice shop called Cooland. I parked in the Keeaumoku main parking lot for all the shops. It’s a Japanese restaurant but it’s owned by a Korean family which is totally cool. I overheard the owner talking to customers and discussing how important the quality of fish he serves is. That was comforting to hear. This is more of a take-out joint but they do have some seating for you to eat there if you want to. I like that they have so many different rices to choose from! White, Brown, Sushi Rice and Black Rice. I love black rice so I definitely got that. Black rice is really just white/sticky rice mixed with mixed grain rice which turns all the rice purple. I love it.

Ahi Tsunami Bowl – $9.75

Hurricane Bowl – $10.25

This was my bowl, it was DELICIOUS. The bowls come with a miso soup which was nice. The soup had a nice mild flavor. The hurricane bowl comes with both salmon and ahi and a whole bunch of veggies on top of the rice of your choice. The veggies really add a refreshing crunch to the bowl. It’s like a raw fish bibimbap and as you can see there is a red pepper sauce (kochujjang) drizzled on top. I like their kochujjang sauce, it’s not too concentrated or spicy and has a bit of sweetness to it. I would definitely get this again.

B1 Bento (Spicy Ahi, 2pc., Spicy Salmon, 2pc., Ahi Nigiri, 2pc., Salmon Nigiri, 2pc.) – $11.50

Our eyes were bigger than our stomach so we had to try the sushi too. Their spicy sauce is okay, not great. I’m used to a bit more sesame oil so I felt like the spicy sauce here was a bit bland. It lacks something for sure. The nigiri was great, don’t the pieces of fish look great? They’re a bit pricey but I think you’re paying for the quality and their rent…lol. Give them a try!

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04Aug / 2015

Japan 2015 Day 8 – Food!

Remember Fushimi Inari Shrine? There are so many gift shops and food stands – it’s an attraction within itself! I cheated a bit, my coworker came here a few days before me and sent me pictures of this special taiyaki she got. I had to get it myself!

There was a young guy working this food stand and he was all alone! He had a pretty genius way of collecting the money for it and each taiyaki he made looked great! This one is mine! It’s filled with custard, topped with cream and drizzled with chocolate. You can choose your fruit topping, I went to strawberry. It was delicious! We also bought a whole bunch of furoshiki from a gift shop here.

Nishiki Market! A must visit if you come to Kyoto. It’s a great foodie spot.

The inside of Nishiki market, it’s full of tourists and locals. There’s something about the ceiling lights that I like…I remember them from my last trip so it was comforting to see them again.

Plenty of shops were selling these mini octopus, didn’t realize there were so many sizes of this little thing. They were charging for small, medium and large. I think I went for the medium, it’s cooked in a sweet shoyu sauce and the head is stuffed with a quail egg! Morbid but delicious.

The best thing I had last time that I had to get again this time. Dashimaki Tamago. It’s not like the ones in Hawaii, the ones in Hawaii are super sweet. This one tastes more like dashi stock and it is absolutely wonderful. They are so good at making this, the seasoning and how perfectly cooked the egg is…I wish I could buy a whole block of this to enjoy. I should have.

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03Aug / 2015

Japan 2015 Day 8: Kyoto

Day trip to Kyoto! We had to make good use of our JR passes so we planned a day trip to Kyoto. We originally were planning to go to Osaka to check out Universal Studios but I was a bit theme parked out so now I have a good excuse to visit Osaka during my next visit. The JR pass allows you to purchase passes on the Hikari. Our train was at 7:15 am so we had to be up pretty early since we also had to take the train to the Shinagawa station to take the Kyoto train as well.

Bright and early in our neighborhood…heading to the station. Crows still cawing away.

View from my train seat. Lots of business men on the train headed for work, I felt a bit bad for them having to commute for hours each day to and from work.

I’m still going to do a separate food post for Kyoto but the bento pictures should go with the train rides! I went with a Chinese bento (of course I did) and it was delicious! It would have been better warmed up but I didn’t have that option. I’m kind of surprised they sell it cold.

Check this shot out! I’m so lucky. I was watching the other side in envy because they had the window closest to Mount Fuji. Then suddenly, I saw that I had my chance and took the picture. Magnificent…

Fushimi Inari Shrine – this is a shrine that’s famous for it’s path lined with hundreds of traditional gates. It’s so beautiful. We didn’t make it to the top. Can you tell by this last picture how many people there were? It was madness. There were also a lot of selfie sticks which I really didn’t appreciate, they would just stop suddenly in the middle of the path, swing out that stick and start taking pictures. The path is crowded enough! And gosh, there were so MANY Chinese tourists! Their loud yelling kind of took away from the quiet environment.

Before you enter the shrine, there is a long street filled with different gift shops and food stands. That was fun and neat to check out. Here’s a picture between the street shops, it was pretty neat.

We headed to Nishiki Market after we finished at the Shrine. I’m sharing more of that tomorrow since it’s mainly food…lol. I didn’t take as much pictures as I wanted. I believe this is the Kyoto Tower. I got a shot of it as we walked back to Kyoto Station.

I wish I took pictures of the mochi I bought! I love Kyoto mochi. It looks like a won ton pi mochi folded over the filling. The mochi is kind of thin so you can see the filling. It’s delicious. I love the black sesame flavor. Check out this blog, she took a picture of the mochi I’m talking about!

Dinner Bentos for the train ride back to Tokyo. Tasted good! Kind of funny that both our full meals were train station bentos. Hmm…food post coming soon!

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01Aug / 2015

Recipe: Beef Ddukgalbi

Happy August! Things are moving slowly but surely along…my kitchen has finally progressed and I just purchased a fridge from Lowe’s. Oh gosh, things were stagnant for so long that I almost no can believe I’m going to have a kitchen soon. Life has been busy busy busy and I’m too old to bounce back like I used to. I had to work an extra day last week for a training and I swear, I spent all week recovering. I woke up today at 7:14 am and felt ecstatic because that for me is sleeping in. It’s going to be a good day!

Anyhow, today I am sharing an awesome recipe with you folks. I got it from Foodland but I’ll post my slightly tweaked recipe. The bosc pears add a great crunch, moistness and sweetness to the beef patties. I’ve made it both in the meat jun style and the non-meat jun style and I must recommend the meat jun style. It just tastes so much better that way!

Here they are after cooking. Sorry some parts look a bit black, it’s not burnt but I made a huge batch and didn’t realize how black the oil gets and so quick!

Meat jun style is so easy! Quick flip in the flour and then…

Throw it into some beaten eggs (do not add water to the eggs) and off to the pan!

Hard to hold the camera and the beef patty straight…but look at this thing! Delicious! And no need dipping sauce.

Had to include a picture of the patties on top of my famous kimchee fried rice. Who says it’s famous? Only me.

Mini Beef Ddukgalbi
Recipe Source: Foodland

Ingredients
1 Pound Ground Beef, 80/20 mix
2 Tablespoon shoyu
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon garlic, minced
1⁄2 each Asian or bosc pear, minced (I don’t mince it too small because I like the small chunks when I bite in)
1⁄2 each small onion, minced
1 1⁄2 Teaspoon sesame oil
1 stalk green onion, sliced
1⁄4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 1⁄2 Teaspoon Korean rice wine or sake
1 1⁄2 Teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Meat Jun Style:
1⁄4 Cup flour
2 each eggs, whisked

Canola oil as needed

Instructions:

In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients except the oil, flour and eggs. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavor to develop (overnight okay).

For the mixture into little 1 inch patties – recipe yields about 24 mini patties.

Heat a grill or a skillet to medium high heat. Add in a thin layer of oil and fry until done. Be careful to watch them as the sugar will make them prone to burning.

Meat Jun Variation: Take the patties and lightly dredge in flour and then dip into the whisked egg. Fry in a pan to make a meat jun version.

Serve with rice and assorted panchan (Korean sides like kimchee, pickled garlic, and cucumber.)

Note: This recipe is different from the Foodland one I linked above…use whichever one you want! 🙂

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maybeitsjenny

Monthly Archives: August 2015

So it begins…

Potpourri

Amina Pizzeria – Waikiki, HI

Fresh Ahi Off the Boat – Keeaumoku, HI

Japan 2015 Day 8 – Food!

Japan 2015 Day 8: Kyoto

Recipe: Beef Ddukgalbi