King's Hawaiian Restaurant and Bakery

To make up for the healthy food we ate in the morning, we went to King's Hawaiian Restaurant and Bakery in the evening to celebrate food, I mean Mi-chan's birthday. It was a carb, protein, and sugar feast! It was great!

Rick got the beef stew. The wonderfully yummy, filling, tender beef stew. Yumm. I kept picking at his stew.

Are you gonna eat that?

I got the Macadamia Chicken Bowl. It was wonderful. The chicken was tender and sweet and lightly spicy. Underneath that was perfectly stir-fried veggies and warm white rice. I should have gotten the medium instead of the full size. I was full just half-way through dinner. And there was still Rick's stew to eat :) I also got POG (passion-orange-guava juice).


After dinner, we had guava cake. It was nice and light. Perfect after a carb and protein heavy dinner. Before we left, I picked up some pastries for breakfast. Wow. I wish we had a place like this up north.

Clockwise from the top, I got an ensemada, chocolate muffin, chocolate croissant, and cinnamon roll with apples.

We had a good time eating and talking.

M Cafe

Outside

Inside

On our recent trip to LA for Baby Mi-chan's birthday and dedication, the girls (Yumiko, Lisa, Selena, Julie, and I) went out to an interesting cafe for brunch. It's called M Cafe de Chaya. On the outside, it looks like your average, trendy little eatery. What makes it different from the other trendy little places is that it serves only macrobiotic food. Until now, when I heard of macrobiotic, I had images of algae scum and vitamin pills. In other words, I had no idea what macrobiotic meant. Simply, it's eating only what is in season, and only vegetables, no meat, some fish. Truthfully, I was a little scared to try at first, but I was happily enlightened to this way of eating.

The manager (at least I think he was the manager) came out to explain the philosophy behind their food and pointed out their specials for the day and gave us tips on how and what order to eat their food. I ignored the advice and got their breakfast burrito and iced barley tea (mugicha). I was starving! We all took turns trying each others food. Surprisingly, it was all good.

Lisa and Yumiko with their sandwiches, soups, and coffee drinks

The soups were creamy and the sandwiches filling. Selena ordered some spicy sushi made with brown rice, and although it was a little on the mild side, it was still yummy.

Selena with her soup, sandwich, sushi,
and scarlet lemonade

Julie with soba, sandwich, and scarlet lemonade

My burrito was on the interesting side. Instead of scrambled eggs, it was filled with diced tofu colored and flavored to look and taste like scrambled eggs. Also, the bacon was substituted with tempeh. The texture was really weird. The experience eating tempeh was weird. It tasted and looked like bacon, but kind of spongy and grainy at the same time. Other than that, my burrito was really tasty and filling.

I don't think I can adhere to this type of eating and lifestyle, although I probably should, but it wasn't scary trying something really out of my comfort zone.

Who knew macrobiotic could be so decadent?