MoBowl

It seems like gourmet food trucks are popping up everywhere.  I've tried a few (will post about them in the future).  The most recent one I visited is MoBowl.  Basically, it's a donburi truck.  It comes by a couple of office parks near our home at least once a week.  One day, I decided to give them a try.

I 

I got the Peanut Pesto and the Yin Yang.  I really liked the Peanut Pesto, but Rick was just okay with the Yin Yang.  We both agreed that they needed to add more meat, otherwise, it was a pretty satisfying lunch. 

Tokyo 7-7

When we went to visit Rick's brother, Ted, and his family in LA, they took us to a little diner called Tokyo 7-7. It was in an tiny alley, squished next to a parking garage and a couple of dumpsters. You wouldn't be able to find it unless someone took you there. The interior was a little drab, but there were a bunch of autographed photos from celebreties on the walls. Three smiling Japanese ladies greeted us and fussed about to seat us because we had 2 little kids.


I ordered ginger beef and it was yummy. Rick had curry rice that was okay.

Ted and Yumiko had burgers, and Vince had udon.

Little Mi-chan had pancakes and bacon.

Everybody seemed to really enjoy their lunches, except for Emi-chan because she slept the whole time we were there.

It was a very nice, sweet place covered in wood paneling. As people came in, they were greeted by name by the ladies working there. The food was pretty filling and came fast. On top of that, it was CHEAP! Rick paid and it was just over $35 (without tip) for the 6 lunches. You can't beat that.

Homemade Cheese

So, a while ago I came across a kit for making cheese. Urban Chesecraft started the venture when they realized that people "way back when" didn't make cheese with all the complicated steps and equipment that are often required today. So, they set about figuring out how to make cheese the old-fashioned way. And, lo and behold, they figured it out! And now they're making boat loads of money off of their cheese-making kits (okay, so they're probably not making boat loads of money, but they were able to birth a business out of it). And as such, I got suckered in to buying a kit and giving it a try.

Wow. Was I surprised at how easy it was (or, at least, how easy it can be)! I bought the kit for making ricotta and/or mozzarella cheese. The kit yields about 10 batches of any combination of the two.

I started out making ricotta, since it seemed to be the easier of the two. And it was very easy. In the end, it tasted good, very fresh. But I didn't think it was all that special. But, then again, I'm not really a ricotta cheese snob, so somebody else may have a different opinion. We opted to use the ricotta in lasagne, which turned out pretty good.

Regardless of the cheese you make, they both start out looking like this.

Eventually, they start to look like this. The chunky stuff is the curds, the liquid is the whey. (Sorry, forgot to take a picture of the finished product!)

The Urban Cheesecraft people instill a lot of confidence in you by telling you that as long as the cheese is edible, it was a success. You basically can't mess it up. Phew! This means that even if you started out making mozzarella, you may not end up with it. But as long as you can eat it, it's still cheese, so don't worry. That was helpful in starting.

So, with that in mind, I also tried making the mozzarella. This was easier than I anticipated and took about an hour to finish. I followed the instructions and came out with a ball of very, very soft mozzarella. I took half of it and it worked well as a cheese spread on crackers. I took the other half of it and kept working it in the microwave until it turned into something more closely resembling mozzarella. It was fairly easy to manipulate/knead and it turned out pretty good. I also added some fresh basil leaves to this half which gave it some good flavor. Next time I would add the basil earlier to see if the flavors blend more. I might also consider adding some liquid smoke to give it a smoky mozzarella taste.

This is the curds from the mozarella (and, it is basically also what the ricotta looks like).

Once the whey is drained from the curds, you can start stretching it. This is also when I added the fresh basil.

Stretching some more eventually got me to some pretty decent mozzarella!

All in all, it was a pretty fun experiment. It'd be interesting to try it again and see how the cheese turns out. I also learned a lot about Little Miss Muffet (I had no idea what "curds and whey" were or why she would want to sit on a tuffet eating it). I still have some of the ingredients to make more, so I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.

Ocean Sushi Deli

Is this a new place in San Francisco? San Jose J-town? San Mateo? Nope. It's a little deli/restaurant in Monterey.

A friend took us to Ocean Sushi Deli after a very nice afternoon at the aquarium. Usually, I don't equate homey, authentic Japanese food with Monterey (actually I wouldn't equate a lot of places even in San Francisco and San Mateo with authentic Japanese food either, but that's another story) but this place was pretty darn close.


It's a tiny place with long menus posted around the cashier. The menus were pretty extensive and impressive. They make a different kinds of Japanese food, from traditional home made dinners that mom would make (if your mom was from Japan and was an awesome cook) to more modern, fun food. There were items on the menu you wouldn't see even in Japanese restaurants in the City, like takoyaki (octopus balls) and HOMEMADE gyoza (potstickers)!!! Many places use frozen gyoza (or they taste like the frozen stuff). This place make them by hand.


I was very happy to see these. They're purin, Japanese-style flan. The one on the left is matcha (green tea) flavor, and the one on the right is...flan flavored. They were made from scratch and both were heavenly. I would go back just for the purin.

Boiled Egg

This is something really silly, but I'm so proud of myself, that I had to post this. I finally boiled an egg without the weird green tinge around the yolk!

Actually, this is the second time I succeeded, but then the yolk was so rubbery, it would have bounced if I threw it against the wall.

Godfather's Burger Lounge

Sorry the picture's a little wonky. I took it while driving.

(Rick was driving and I was taking the photo.)

My Bro' Jeff wanted a burger. Not just any burger. But a gourmet burger. He was tired of McD's and BK. He wanted some quality. At first we talked about going to Jack's Prime Burgers, but didn't make it. I had seen a new burger joint in Belmont, so I said, "What about Godfather's?" He said, "Okay."
It was on an odd corner on the El Camino. It looked crooked. And dark. But we were curious, and more importantly, hungry, so Rick and I headed out there to pick up our food.

A couple of things that struck me when we entered is 1) how dark and small the place is and 2) it's a lounge. It had dark drapes, dark walls, dark wood and a big ol' bar. And loud music. Think of it as a lounge that serves burgers.Yet, people were coming in with little kids. I don't think Emi-chan would have done okay there. She would have freaked out. We got our burgers and went back to Jeff's place. Jeff got a Godfather's Cheeseburger:

Rick and I split a Crispy BLT Wedge Salad and a Director's Cut Mushroom Burger:

The salad confused Rick. "They gave us 1/4 of a head of lettuce...did they forget to cut it up and put stuff on it? Is it a lazy person's salad?" I laughed at him, and cut up the lettuce and made a tossed salad. The burgers were very good. Well cooked and flavored. I really liked my burger. Jeff devoured his and the onion rings. BUT I didn't like the fries. Neither did Rick. We couldn't figure out why until much later. They tasted old and microwaved. Like they were cooked ahead of time and then warmed up right before we picked up the burgers. It was too bad because the burgers were great.

P.S. Sorry the font is all weird. I was playing around with different fonts, and when I wanted to go back to the original, it wouldn't completely go back.

Yay for Yelp!

Yay for Yelp! Xang and I are celebrating his birthday in Hood River this weekend. We took our time heading over here, and moseyed our way through the town. There’s not a lot to do when you have a toddler, but it’s a nice, relaxing place that’s not too far to drive for an overnight. I decided to consult Yelp for dinner recommendations and came across Hood River Taqueria. The reviews were mostly favorable, so we decided to give it a try.

It’s your pretty basic hole in the wall joint. But I figured it was a good sign that most of the menu was in Spanish first, then translated into English. After looking at the standard burritos, enchiladas, etc., I opted for the Shrimp with Garlic sauce (that was actually in Spanish, but I can’t remember what it was). And wow oh wow.



The plate arrived and I have to confess that I don’t really think that Mexican food rates all that high when it comes to presentation. But I also readily admit that looks can be deceiving. And - in this case – they can be very, very deceiving. I was pleasantly surprised to see about a dozen medium-sized shrimp floating around in the garlic sauce with some onions (I say pleasantly surprised because often times when I order shrimp plates like these, they arrive with 5-6 shrimp and lots of other filler stuff.). Refried beans and Mexican rice finished off the plate.

Anxious to taste how garlicky the garlic sauce was, I took a taste. I’m not kidding when I say that stuff *exploded* on my taste buds. San Francisco’s The Stinking Rose immediately came to mind. I sighed in delight, then promptly apologized in advance to my family for smelling up the car on the ride home. This was *seriously*good* garlic sauce. And we all know that means it will be emitting from your pores for a couple days. This is not garlic sauce for the weak.

(And as a side note, I was super happy to see my shrimp-loving Sydney eat a couple sauce-covered shrimp. That’s my garlic girl!)

I’m not sure what Mexican dining etiquette calls for, but I used my tortillas to sop up as much garlic sauce as I could. I.could.not.let.any.of.it.go.to.waste. Xang even took the onions I wasn’t eating and mixed them up with some leftover shredded beef from Sydney’s flautas and was super happy.

A great dining experience recommended by Yelp. I said it once and I’ll say it again – yay for Yelp!

Amy's Cheese Pizza

How to eat an Amy's Cheese Pizza:

First, eat all the cheese off your slice...



Then, eat the crust.


This is one nice pizza. It's Emi-chan's, and mine, favorite frozen pizza. It doesn't tast frozen at all. The crust bakes up nice and crisp, but the inside is nice and chewy. They don't pour on overly sweet sauce on the crust. Too bad the company only makes vegetarian and vegan products. I guess you can pile on pepperoni and stuff on your own.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

On Sunday we went to the Oregon Coast. Seaside is a cute little resort town with lots of boutiques and shops near the beach. Like a lot of coastal towns, there are more flavors of salt water taffy than you knew existed and fun candy stores with vintage goodies to reminisce. One particular store also had some "adventurous" items to check out, too. Deep fried Oreos, Deep fried Twinkies, and chocolate covered bacon. Yes, that's right. Chocolate covered bacon. In the mindset of a Food Tourist, I actually tried one. It was...interesting, to say the least. The saltiness of the bacon balanced out the sweetness of the chocolate. But after the chocolate was gone, you were left with some chewy bacon. I'm not sure that I'd try it again, but am glad that I did. My curiosity was definitely satisfied! Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the bacon =(

There’s not much more of a Portland original than Voo Doo Doughnuts. The mural across the street said it all: Keep Portland Weird. I stood in line for a half hour with every walk of Portland life: teens texting on their cell phones, Leave it to Beaver-type families talking about the Doughnut Nazi, and a couple of homeless people trying to earn money by selling their cardboard sign (well, they weren’t actually in line for doughnuts, but they were hanging out in the doorway of the night club next door) waiting for my turn to try a Bacon Maple Bar, Voo Doo’s famous doughnut.



When I finally made it inside the door, I was surprised at how small the counter and waiting area was. Walking into the bakery, the huge doughnut with pink frosting and sprinkles worthy of Homer Simpson nearly overwhelms the voo doo decorations. Luckily (?) there is a wall of obituaries of famous people to take your mind off the number of carbs that are probably in said doughnut. It wasn’t clear if the people died from eating so many doughnuts though…

Chalk-written signs above the counter list the donuts Voo Doo is famous for: Grape Ape, Mango Tango, Dirt Doughnut, doughnuts made with Devil’s Food Cake with various frostings (like Neopolitan, Butterfinger, and Dirty Snowball), and a few others not appropriate for this family-friendly blog. Another sign lists their Vegan Doughnuts, right next to the display of Voo Doo Doughnuts Underwear you can buy.

When I reached the counter, I was told the glass case displayed the doughnuts they actually had available. I was pretty bummed to learn they were out of the Bacon Maple Bars – the doughnut that made them famous. But I quickly got over it and had the girl behind the counter start a box for me. I had strict instructions from hubby to order a lot. After all, I was waiting all this time, right? With the pressure of the 30 some-odd people in line behind me and my growling stomach, I started pointing my finger and ordering doughnuts like a drug addict at a free tasting party: that one with the Fruit Loops on top, that one with the Butterfinger on top, what’s that one that looks like a foot with red sprinkles? I’ll take it, and that one over there with the chocolate and peanut butter and Rice Krispies on top. What else should I not miss? The Blueberry Muffin one? ‘k. And I’ll take the one with the Oreo Cookies and peanut butter on top. Phew! In the end, I’m not even sure how many I brought home, but it was definitely enough to satisfy everyone’s curiosity, and then some.





And the verdict? Wow. While I don’t think I could say these are the best quality doughnuts I’ve ever had (although, I’m not sure that I am such a doughnut connoisseur that I would know what that was?), I can say they didn’t leave the top of my mouth with that tell-tale greasy feeling (which I despise). And I can say those were some of the most unique combinations I’ve ever had. I was surprised at how much I liked the Tangfantastic – plain cake doughnut with Tang-flavored frosting (yup, the stuff the astronauts drank) and the Blueberry Muffin Doughnut (recommended by the girl behind the counter) did not disappoint.


A few of the doughnuts we brought home. What you see really is what it is: Oreo cookies, peanut butter, Rice Krispies, and marshmallows.

Was it worth the half hour wait? Yes, I would say so. It was fun to try all the different flavors and my curiosity has been piqued to try the others I didn’t get to try, especially the Bacon Maple Bar. I do think Voo Doo Doughnuts is a taste of Portland that is truly unique (no pun intended) and an interesting place to bring friends and family. Because really, where else can you find a Marshall Mathews doughnut? Good thing they’re open 24 hours so I can go find out what it is.

Sweet Breams

I don't know how, but I forgot to post about my little trip to Sweet Breams in San Mateo right before Christmas. It's a cute little shop that makes and serves chibi (mini) taiyaki (fish-shaped pancake). Although I think it's a little over priced, it's one of my favorite shops. The taiyaki are so tiny and cute. The store is tiny and cute. The boxes they pack the chibi tai are tiny and cute.

Cute little box with a warning

A single taiyaki

A school of taiyaki

What makes the taiyaki special, not only because they are tiny and cute, they're filled with different flavors. They have the standard azuki (red bean), plus nutella, vanilla, and chocolate custard, plus flavors of the week. When I went, the special was cranberry oatmeal. It was okay. I'm a traditionalist, so I really enjoyed the azuki. The chocolate and vanilla were really good, too. Unfortunately, the chibi taiyaki were soggy by the time I got home.

What is this world coming to!?

Saw this at the grocery store the other day. I know that by contributing to this blog, it implies that the writers have an adventurous spirit in relation to food, but, really. Seriously?



For those having a hard time figuring out what this is, it's a chocolate and strawberry tofu-like soy product. I didn't have the guts to buy/try it, so I'll leave the rest to your imagination. I know that we're supposed to be eating healthy and all, but...seriously?