Rice, Rice, Baby...

The Japanese have always been innovative—even with their fast food! Check it out: burger buns made of rice. My family's favorite fast-food joint.

Mos Burger
Jen Ai Road, Sec.4

P.S. MOS is an acronym for Mountain, Ocean, and Sea :)

Dinner At My Place

When I don't go out, I enjoy food cooked by my parents' housekeeper, Xiao Hui. Check out the spread on my first evening home! The "Lion Heads" (Chinese meatballs pictured in the center) were particularly delicious.

Food Court

Sbarro, Hot Dog on a Stick, and Panda Express have nothing on this shredded-chicken topped rice which I enjoyed at Taipei 101's Food Court last week for less than two buckaroos. Yum, yummy, yum.

Made in Taiwan

Lunch at Lai Lai Sheraton's "Ching Ke Lo" with my family (mom, dad, and younger brother). Featured: traditional "small eats" go new-age.
From top to bottom:
"Pi Dan" or "Thousand Year Egg" (preserved egg). An oldie-but-goodie appetizer finds itseld renewed by the presence of new "clothes", or spicy seaweed, wrapped around each egg wedge. Well-flavored. My family's favorite dish.
"Ciao Ciao Hua" or "Pig-Ear wrapped around Duck Tongue". A cheeky dish playing on words. In Mandarin, to conduct "ciao ciao hua" is to conduct a "secret talk." As disgusting as the ingredients may sound, this dish was quite tasty. Slices of the dish were incredibly thin--a good thin as I did not find myself making strange faces while consuming the ear cartilage. Not as well flavored as the egg dish, but still tasty.
"Su Er" or "Vegetarian Goose". Bean curd wrapped around a splendidly seasoned, finely shredded, vegetable mix. My mom mom really enjoyed this course.
"Seafood Lettuce Cups" or... hmm. I seem to have forgotten the Chinese name of this dish. A refreshing dish.
"Short Ribs and Glutinous Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf" or in Chinese... again, I am at a loss. Two words? Food Coma. This dish was good, but I've had better. The textures were perfect, but the ribs lacked seasoning.
"Soup Dumplings" or "Tang Bao". Yum, yummy, yum.
I'll be back.

Feeling Beachy

Pictured: Redondo Beach steamed dungeness crabs and a Mrs. Field's ice-cream sandwich.

Reviews to come.

100 W. Torrance Blvd.
Redondo Beach, CA

Underwhelmed

Review to come.

Hirozen
8385 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90048

Chicken Noodle No Soup

Lunch for myself and the cougar cub.

Still The Best

Tutimelon has nothing on the iconic Pinkberry. Fro-yo with Josh at Century City Mall.

Carb-Fest

Following a morning of bike shopping, Josh and I decided to celebrate the last day of summer by indulging in a carb-filled meal at a neighborhood pizza joint. Truth be told, we had originally ventured out in hopes to try out Clementine, a cafe nextdoor to Johnny's but our first choice dining establishment was closed. This was not the first time we'd tried to get into Clementine. The reason we dropped into Johnny's the first time was due to a failed attempt to eat at Clementine's as well. Anyhow, back to focusing on Johnny's. We'd enjoyed their yummy thin crust pizzathe last time we'd dropped in, so this time we decided to venture into the non-pizza sections of Johnny's menu. Josh dug into their chicken parmagiana sandwich, while I forked mouthfuls of their colorfrul vegetarian chopped salad. The meal might have been "healthy" had I not gotten into the basket of complimentary to-die-for garlic knots (coupled with marinara dip)! Josh and I had the waiter refill our basket once. If it weren't for my conscience, I would have had the waiter refill it a second time. Yum.

Johnny's New York Pizzeria
10251 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90024

Homecoming Meal

Josh came back to LA last night, so I whipped up a lil' something for him.
The evening's menu consisted of Japanese Coleslaw, Sauteed Mushrooms and Baby Bok-choy, French "Succulent" Chicken, and finally, Magnolia's Banana Cream Pudding.

Josh's review to come!

Emily's Azuki Red Bean Soup

If you're like me and are into Chinese desserts (they're not too sweet and have a "taste of home" -- at least for me), you'd probably really enjoy Emily's azuki red bean soup. (Sorry, you're going to have to know her personally to enjoy this dish. Suck up, suck up, suck up!) She delivered a tupperware-full of the soup yesterday afternoon (along with Beans' crazy-fabulous birthday cake), and somehow I did not get around to tasting her dessert until late-evening. It was amazing! Perfectly flavored and sweetened. Em's take on the recipe is very different from any red bean soup I've had in the past. The soup's texture was suprisingly thick (more beans!)--not watered-down enough to be liquid, yet not thick enough to be a paste. But you know what, that's what made it so tasty! I've had anything like it. So-so-good.

Potsticker Prince

Last night, after a meeting with Flaring Nostril's webdesign team, Pam and I drove down from San Francisco to Cupertino to indulge ourselves in a carb-heavy meal at the much-talked about Potsticker King. The reviews had been mixed, and well, Pam and I felt it was our duty as gluttons, to resolve the discrepancy in reports.

The strip mall in which the restaurant is located is *gasp* not Cupertino Village. It's actually located in a plaza nearby on Steven's Creek near a funny-sounding restaurant called "Merlion." Pam was digging the ginormous neon sign spelling out the restaurant's name. See photo above.

We weren't sure what to think when we saw a lot of non-Chinese in the dining establishment (Will the food be authentic?!), but was comforted when the food arrived (incredibly quickly). Pam and I ordered two combo sets ($8.50 each) and a tray of pork potstickers. Needless to say, we were incredibly hungry.

The flavorful vermicelli fried tofu noodle soup was accompanied by super oily green onion pancakes. The soup base for the noodles was a little too salty upon initial taste, but after three bites, the flavor grew on us. We downed the bowl. As for the super-oily green onion pancakes, they were so-so-so delicious. Rich. Crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I wouldn't be surprised if the restaurant's green onion recipe calls for lard, for each triangle of green onion pancake I consumed tasted like "buttah." A compliment in my book :)

Our bowl of "ru ro fan," braised pork over rice entree (I don't recall the exact name of this dish, but the words "house" and "rice" were the entree title), came accompanied by a bowl of hot & sour soup. This is a must-have. Pam and I could not stop shoveling the delicious rice into our fat faces even long-after we'd finished all the meat! Criticism? The entree could have been improved by the inclusion of more vegetables.

Finally, the potstickers. The King only offers two kinds--pork and veggie. A small variety, as limited options allow the establishment to focus on perfecting the options offered. Since "real girls eat meat," we ordered the pork ones. Oink. I really enjoyed them (odd because I usually don't enjoy dumplings), and I think I did because of the thinner dumpling skins used.

Large portions, strong flavors, reasonable prices. The only reason not to dine at Potsticker King is if you're trying to lose weight and are avoiding carbs. I left a happy camper with a Potsticker Prince forming in my belly.

Potsticker King
19634 Stevens Creek Blvd
Cupertino, CA 95014
(408) 255-1600




I gave birth to a Potsticker Prince!