"Connoisseur" Cat...the Aspiring Epicure

wacky photo booth

2011-12-05T20:36:00.001-08:00

the theme for this year's weddings seemed to be photobooth!! We sure had a lot of fun w/ the booths =) Here's a few from the weddings this year
(courtesy of tiffany-lo.com)

(courtesy of hanachung)

(courtesy of unknown...sorry!)

Happy December!!

2011-12-01T08:05:00.001-08:00

Wow, can you believe it? We're at the end of the year already!! This year has certainly flown by.Another year of blessings =) More to come!

Revival of the blog?

2011-02-11T09:21:00.001-08:00

I think it is due time for me to begin posting again...

DELICIOUSNESS yumyum

2009-09-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

Came back on Saturday from a 2week vacation to China. Here's a tiny glimpse into the wonderful variety of foods we had. Tried many new things that I've never had before. The carb-filled diet (with all sorts of bing and fun) of the saanxi people was satisfying and made this carbie's tummy smile =) We traveled from the south to the north to central china to the north east sampling the local delicacies and specialties.

Brought some photos to share...(now the names of these are unfortunately not quite authentic)

Peanut filled sesame ball (Shanghai)

sweet taro balls (Suzhou)

Sweet Glazed fried fish from the local waters (Suzhou)

Savory Flaky Pastry (Suzhou)

Step-by-Step: GoBuLi baozi freshmade/tableside (Tianjin)

Pumpkin-filled Pastry (Xi'an)

Potato-noodles (Xi'an)

Freshly made bin stuffed with pork (Xi'an)

Fresh hand-rolled and hand-cut noodles (Xi'an)

Fresh table-side handtossed noodles (Xi'an)

Spicy Tripe (Xi'an)

Fresh fruits (Passionfruit, Dragonfruit, Oranges - yes they look like limes) (Taipei)

Fresh Mochi (Taipei)

The 'N' Wedding.

2009-08-17T21:53:00.000-07:00

Congrats to our friends A & R!! We couldn't wait for this one to come...tucked away in a cute ranch in SLO..here are a few shots of the food...

appetizers creamcheese layered w/ diff't fillings (prosciutto/figs and pesto/sundried tomato). so yum!

Banana Nut cake from Madonna Inn..w/ the cute caketoppers. my fave of the three. can't believe i never had this one before..

Black Forest cake from Madonna Inn, this is the famous one we've always gotten..

Raspberry Delight from Madonna Inn...this is supposed to be a popular one, but this was my first time having it.

more details of this amazing wedding to come on my other blog

House of Prime Rib

2009-04-12T17:45:00.000-07:00

1906 Van Ness Ave * San Francisco, CA

For our anniversary, mr. Lee decided to chow down on some prime rib. this was his first time and my multiple time. We arrived a few minutes early for our reservations and were promptly seated in a cozy booth in the back by the fireplace.

We perused the menu, which is fairly simple with 4 different cuts/sizes of prime rib. There are a few other items, but why would you go to the HOUSE of prime rib to eat anything but that.

We both ordered prime rib. I had the English cut and he had the House of Prime Rib Cut. The meal includes a salad, potatoes (mashed or baked), creamed veggie (spinach or corn), and yorkshire pudding.

The hunk of warm sourdough arrived at our table just as we were being seated

Sourdought Loaf crunchy crust and a soft springy inside

House Salad Lettuce, beets, eggs, and tomatoes with a delicious creamy thousand island-like dressing

I've always loved their salad. Maybe its because they toss it table-side making for a dramatic approach to salad. More probable is the fact that its super saturated with dressing.

Left: HOPR cut Right: English cut we both got ours with mashed potatoes and creamed corn (the yorkshire pudding is not pictured here)

The prime rib was carved tableside to our liking. We both ordered it medium, although looking back, I should have ordered mine Medium Rare since it was cut thin and placed on a super hot plate. Nonetheless the meat melted and was flavored really nicely. the creamed corn was a newer item on the menu, it was nice, could be a tad more flavorful.

Overall, it was a delicious meal with great service. We had a great time. I recommend it for special occasions or if you want to get a prime rib fix.

Paws: 4

(apologies for the fuzzy pictures, it was quite dark in there and did not want to flash the other diners)

state of the economy...

2009-03-28T12:16:00.001-07:00

has made it quite difficult for me to continue eating out..however, it has given me the opportunity to eat in more and try new recipes...and old ones too...

therefore..i have not had much to blog about..hopefully soon..

Valentine's Dinner

2009-02-23T16:41:00.000-08:00

Made by mr. edmund lee :D

what's for dinner?

Entree: GoatCheese-SunDriedTomato Stuffed Chicken

Prepped, Cooked and Plated!

Salad nice and simple

Dessert: Croissant BreadPudding

i didn't wash.cook.clean! how nice it was :)

Christmas Eve Dinner...

2008-12-25T21:53:00.000-08:00

(disclaimer: there was much more food than what i photographed, but i was too busy eating to take a photograph)

I celebrated Christmas with my parents for the first time in 4 years...we decided to do alittle potluck on Christmas Eve with a few family friends.

I decided to tackle my first prime rib :) With the help of my dear chef friend mLee, i obtained a recipe and an idea of what i wanted to do...get a bone-in prime rib roast, make a good rub of garlic, rosemary, and olive oil...I tried to capture the process i took in making it, but as you will see below, i did not do a great job in getting my camera out.

The 8 lb standing rib roast

The spices used for the rub

Fresh out of the oven, with a bulb of roasted garlic on the side

moose cookies that my friend made...they're like rockyroad ice cream put into a cookie. quite delicious (i'm eating one as we speak)

The gingerbread house (from a kit) that a few of the girls made.

The yule log cake that we had for dessert...unfortunately looked better than it tasted..

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

2008-12-01T22:14:00.000-08:00

My sis made some delicious pumpkin pie (as reference on cathalinaK). she made the crust from scratch..and then mixed the pumpkin mixture. it turned out pretty well.

here are some photos of the process.

pouring the batter into the pie crust...

after the filling was poured into the crust...

after coming out from the oven..notice the crater...anyone know why?

first slice of yumminess.

Our Food System...

2008-11-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

I came across this video...an interview with Michael Pollan..who is a writer..and has a very unique view on our food policy as a nation..

I'm currently reading through his book "Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals" (thanks to Peter)...

Take a look at the interview here. You can read the transcript here.

He talks about how our food policy affects our health care crisis...how the food system affects our energy independence...moving school lunch to department of education...

one of my favorite parts:
"Cook. Simply by starting to cook again, you declare your independence from the culture of fast food. As soon as you cook, you start thinking about ingredients. You start thinking about plants and animals, and not the microwave. And you will find that your diet, just by that one simple act, that is greatly improved. You will find that you are supporting local agriculture, because you'll care about the quality of ingredients. And you know, whether you're cooking or not is one of the best predictors for a healthy diet. It's more important than the class predictor. People with more money generally have healthier diets, but affluent people who don't cook are not as healthy in their eating as poor people who still cook. So, very, very important. If you don't have pots and pans, get them."

E'Tutto Qua

2008-10-21T21:50:00.000-07:00

270 Columbus Ave * San Francisco, CA

This past Friday went out with a group of friends for a night out on the town...decided to give E'Tutto Qua a try before hitting up Bubble Lounge (sorry! no pictures, no post) Our reservations were for 7:30, but at 7:15 our friends called to say that they were stuck in traffic by SFO. So i called the restaurant and asked if we could push our reservations back and the maitreD was very nice about it. good thing we pushed back our reservations, it took us a good half hour to find parking :( no fun...

The food was delicious here with homemade noodles, lotsa italian accents all around, and a great atmosphere!

(debuting my new logo!)

elbow pasta with Italian Sausage & Mushrooms in cream sauce

Spaghetti Neri Squid Ink pasta with Seafood

Swordfish Pasta Special

tonnarelli di mare Homemade Spaghetti noodles with seafood

Scallop Pasta Special

Shells from our delicious meals

There were too many dishes to write a lil blurb about each. I didn't get to try all of them, but the reaction from the rest of my party indicated that the dishes were all good.

Paws: 4.5

Bouchon

2008-10-21T20:51:00.000-07:00

at the Venetian
3355 Las Vegas Blvd S * Las Vegas, NV

Was in Vegas a few weeks ago with Ed and took him to Bouchon to celebrate his birthday. Now, if you don't know what Bouchon is...it's Thomas Keller's (French Laundry) Las Vegas bistro. I was expecting to be wow'd, which i can't say i was completely wow'd. The food was executed very well, however, I was not a big fan of all the flavors.

They brought us some delicious bread and butter, i love this kind of fresh, fragrant butter. Along with the bread they brought out some pistachios, i've never seen this before, but it was greatly welcomed!

To start off we had some appetizers...

Rillettes aux Deux Saumons
fresh & smoked salmon rillettes served with toasted croutons

This was a good appetizer, recommended by our waiter; Ed was a bit skeptical b/c there are minced shallots in it, but it came out pretty good, no strong onion-y taste. The salmon is preserved in a little jar with a later of solidified butter on top (see below). The croutons were a perfect accompaniment to the salty salmon. They were nice enough to give us extra croutons.

See that layer of fat that he's scooping out??

Soupe du Jour: Butternut Squash Bisque
Butternut squash bisque with a drizzle of oil and some currant compote

I really enjoyed this soup, it was nice and creamy, and the currant gave it a nice kick to freshen it up. The bread was a great dipper for this soup.

To the main entree

Bay Scallops Special
Scallops on a bed of brussel sprout leaves and chicken of the woods mushroom with a balsalmic/shallots reduction sauce

The scallops were cooked really well, to the perfect temperature and texture. I wasn't a big fan of the mushrooms, but they were something new and interesting. The sauce was good, but alittle too tart for me.
This dish also comes with a roasted shallot, but due to someone's dislike of all things onion, they kindly didn't plate it.

Poulet Roti
roasted chicken with puff pastry tartelette, ratatouille, garlic chips & chicken jus

The chicken was again executed very well, moist throughout. The puff pastry surprising held up under the mass of wet sauciness. I found that I am not a fan of the flavors in ratatouille. I was quite full after eating this.

Overall, i think this was a good place to go to for getting my feet wet into Keller's cuisine, definately a lot easier on my wallet than French Laundry. The food was fresh and well executed, and i think my taste palette is just not developed enough for French food.

Paws: 4 (bc my expectations were too high)

New post on the way....

2008-10-14T11:41:00.000-07:00

with reviews of my Vegas trip eats...

Sticky Rice...

2008-09-22T22:39:00.000-07:00

for our International Potluck

I made this for a potluck at work. I adapted ChezChristine's recipe

What's inside?

After mixing in the mixture to the rice...

all done!

If you tasted it..let me know what you think

Katy's Travel Adventures

2008-09-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Back in August, we had a little get together for our dear friend KTD, whose getting married in alil over a week!! Her family/bridesmaids put together this amazzing spread of international foods, for our world traveller. I took a few pictures of what was offered. They did sucha good job

Tri-Tip Salad (San Luis Obispo, CA)

Paninis (Florence, Italy)

Lamb Shawarma (New York City, NY)

Haupia (Honolulu, HI)

Assortment of Drinks

Pomegranate Green Tea (CA)

Green Tea (Japan)

White Wine Sangria (Spain)

Sporq

2008-08-08T12:15:00.001-07:00

Found myself another new site.

Sporq

It is a site that has menus of restaurants from around the area. This is helpful especially when you're ordering out or deciding if you would like to try a particular restaurant.

It's nice for me, because I like to have an idea of what I want to eat before I go. b/c otherwise I take forEVERR to order.

Blowfish Sushi to Die For

2008-08-04T00:52:00.000-07:00

2170 Byrant St * San Francisco, CA

Ed took me here for a celebratory dinner to congratulate me on passing my exam. We got here early, which was good, because apparently our reservations was not found in their system. It's an unassuming place in a not-so-great neighborhood. (I've come to the conclusion that all the good restaurants are in not-so-great neighborhoods) The atmosphere was definitely different for a japanese restaurant.

It was a fairly quick meal, I think we were done in under half hour? Overall, the food was at par. A little pricey for the amount of food. quality was good. However, I still have my preferred sushi places.

Seabass Broiled sea bass in a sweet vinegrette soy sauce with zuchinni-squash medley, mashed yams, and string beans

The photo was not that great, but the food was pretty good. though the portions were not great. the fish was cooked to a good temperature. i enjoyed the sauce that they used to glaze the sea bass. The zuchinni squash "cake" (see photo below) was pretty well done, interestingly it had some cheese to bind it together. The other sides were nothing special

Sashimi Baby Hamachi and Tuna
Isn't it interesting how when you take the photo from this again it doesn't look as appealing. It rubs me the wrong way when I look at a picture taken from this angle. The fish was fresh, portions were small. I don't mind thin and small cut fish, but a few more slices wouldn't have been a bad thing...

Miso Soup with LOTS and LOTS of green onions

Overall, this place was interesting with good food. Unfortunately, it did not meet my high expectations.

Paws: 3

EastCoast WestCoast Family BBQ

2008-08-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, my cousin Felicia invited us all over to her apartment for an EastCoast WestCoast family bbq. We had family in town from both sides of the States, hence the name.

She marinated some meat, fired up the grill and we started chowing down.

Food on the Grill
Here's just a snipbit of the food that we had that day. Some drumsticks, hot dogs, carne asada..

Seasonings
Some grill side seasonings

ChauMian yes, i put chauMian instead of ChowMien bc i'm mandarin speaking.
The noodles were made for my grandma who isn't so keen on the bbq meats

Grandma!
Speaking of grandma, she was so happy and proud of my cousin. no one had ever had my cousin's "cooking" up until this day :)

Strawberries
Some fresh strawberries that one of the aunties brought

Alchie
And of course, no meal with my family is complete without some alcohol involved..We had our assortment of wines. there was one can of beer, that no one touched.

It was a fun time. great sunny afternoon. got to meet some new extended family members. Also got to see this little one again.

Ella's Restaurant

2008-07-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

500 Presidio Ave * San Francisco, CA

We had been eyeing this breakfast joint for a while. decided that we would go on a breakfast date. Unfortunately, they only serve brunch on weekends, so the menu was not quite what we were hoping for. The food was pretty good. The restaurant was packed with people. We were able to get an upfront view of the chefs preparing all the food that went into our dishes and other dishes as well.

Chicken Hash
Shredded chicken mixed with potatoes and spices. two eggs. toast

We both ordered the Chicken Hash, only difference was how we had the eggs cooked. I found that the hash needed something extra to kind of give it alittle life. for me that was tabasco and some ketchup. The hash had some good size strips of rotesserie chicken with nice chunks of seasoned boiled potatoes. The jam that they had at the table was quite delicious and went perfectly with the toast.

We both had leftovers of the hash, it doesn't look that big but the potato fills you up. It was quite tasty when we reheated it.

paws: 3.5

SFO Marriott

2008-07-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

1800 Old Bayshore Highway * Burlingame, CA

So, after a week of training and meetings at the SFO Marriott, i decided to talk about the food per a suggestion from my co-worker. The photos are not going to be great b/c they were taken on by phone, but they'll have to do.

I only captured two meals, but overall, the food was pretty good for hotel catered to 150+ people. the only exception would be the sandwiches, they could have been a bit more interesting. each day was a diff't theme buffet for lunch; breakfast was consistently your typical continental; the one night we had dinner was a pretty good variety...

Italian-Themed Lunch
On the second day, there was an Italian themed lunch with tomato/mozerrela salad, pasta, roasted veggies...

papa al pomodoro soup
creamy tomato based soup with a wheat ciabatta roll

This was a highlight of the week. well seasoned. good consistency. a friend of mine said "I'd totally pay $41 for another bowl of soup."

cappuccino bandecake
Cappuccino mousse on chocolate cake

This was interesting...from the picture it doesn't look very appetizing. even as we were trying this it didn't look appetizing. but it was surprisingly decent. the mousse was a pretty strong espresso taste. i liked the consistency of the cake.

Asian-Themed Lunch

Paul's Gourmet Chinese Plate
Chicken Potstickers, Veggie Eggroll, beef with peppers in a black bean sauce, Jasmine Rice, Lychee from Asian Fruit Salad

As the meals were all setup buffet style, Paul's plate was able to showcase almost all of the items served that day for lunch. The potstickers tasted like linglings from costco to me, the skin was alittle bit too hard| eggrolls were pretty good. however based on talking to others, it seems like they may have been inconsistent. some found it to be too salty, while others did not | black bean beef was also alittle inconsistent in terms of the degree of cooked-ness of the meat. however, i thought for a catered event and the amount of food in each tray, there was a consistent flavor and the bell peppers were good | Jasmine rice is rice, nothing special |the asian fruit salad was interesting, it had lychee, pineapple, melon, strawberry in a mint marinade.

Overall, I thought the food was better than some of the other hotel-banquet/catered events I had been to...though still not the best food I've ever had...

(if you were there, i would love to hear your feedback..on the food)

paws: 3

Good & Bad News

2008-07-08T21:00:00.000-07:00

see updates in posts below

Bad news first...
I'm still waiting on photos to complete my review of the restaurants in limbo...

GOOD news!
i received a suggestion on putting ratings to the reviews. so I will now be tagging a rating of 1-5 paws to each review. 3 paws will equal meeting my expectations.
Ratings can be seen at: Restaurants Reviewed

Slow Food Nation

2008-06-29T18:45:00.000-07:00

I won't be around for all of this but if you are, I would definatley go check this out

slow food nation

It spans from Thurs - Sunday of Labor Day weekend. It's goal is to teach people about eating locally, eating fresh, eating seasonal. it tries to change to way we eat to save our bodies and change the world. hopefully it'll get people back in the kitchen.

There are various events from restaurants, to speakers, to exhibits. sounds exciting. I will try to attend something on Friday.

an article in the Chronicle

Carol's Cupcake

2008-05-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is a tribute to carol's o-so-delicious cupcakes, which she made for a birthday celebration we had.

chocolate mocha cake...

with orange, kiwi, and rasberry on top

Hard Knox Cafe

2008-05-16T13:44:00.000-07:00

2448 Clement St. * San Francisco, CA

We went there one evening after work. it was a hot hot day. the restaurant was not very a/c-ed, but cool enough. we went while they were still in a soft-opening stage. they still had some work to do on the restaurant. Hard Knox is a southern soul food restaurant, very casual, very relaxing.

Below are a few images of the food we got.

Catfish Po'Boy
Fried strips of catfish with special sauce on bed of lettuce and tomato in a white roll. plus a side of corn

The catfish was cooked perfectly, juicy and tender. the sauce was really good! the corn was the perfect compliment. the sandwich doesn't look too big, but it filled me up to a good degree.

Fried Chicken
Three pieces of fried chicken. with a side of redbeans&rice and mashed potatoes

Fried chicken was good. nice and crispy. the pieces weren't huge. however with the sides, you get filled up.

Ribs
BBQ ribs with mac'nCheese and fries as sides
The ribs were pretty juicy and tender. the french fries weren't anything special. the mac and cheese was decent, could be a little thicker and stronger in flavor.

Us Chowing Down

Koi Garden

2008-05-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

4288 Dublin Blvd * Dublin, CA

For Mother's Day we went to Koi in Dublin. We've frequented this place a few times now, but i have yet to get pictures until this time. Because it was Mother's Day, in order to get reservations we had to pre-order our menu from a selection of banquet meals. My mom picked (cheaper) one for the "kids" table and another (classy) one for the adults. I will be focusing on the kid's tabble as I did not see what the elders had.

Whole Steamed Shrimp
Whole steamed shrimp with a soy sauce dipper

My family orders this all the time. when the shrimp are fresh, this is the best way to enjoy this scrumptious dish. to taste the sweetness of the shrimp, forego the sauce. this is a dish that must be eaten hot or warm, not cold. eating this cold, you'll taste the fishy/seafoody-ness of the shrimp.

Cold Plate Appetizer
a mixture of 6 different appetizers: jellyfish, bbq pork, clam, seaweed, chicken, bean curd

This is another one of those dishes that most Chinese Seafood restaurants will serve up. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Scallop & Water Chestnut Stir-Fry
Scallop, water chestnut, chinese broccoli, carrots

This dish is pretty unique to Koi. I've had a few variations of the scallop stir-fry. The portion size of this is pretty large, we had a lot leftover. A little bit on the oily side, but still a well executed dish.

Deep Fried Egglant & Shrimp
Eggplant stuff with shrimp paste, topped with sweet mayo and shredded dried pork

This was a first for me. The eggplant was cooked to a good tenderness, a good amount of batter, and the topping was perfect for balancing the flavors.

Steamed Lotus Bun
sweet lotus paste stuffed inside a steamed bun

This is another standard dessert item on a banquet menu. The bun is supposed to be in the shape of a chinese peach. this is almost always eaten during birthday celebrations, there is some significance in the chinese culture to eat this.

- - - - - - - - -

Overall, this was a good meal. There was way more food than i photographed (sorry, recurring theme). I would recommend koi to someone who knows what they are ordering, as the menu may be a little bit hard to navigate, even with all the pictures. However, if you don't know the style and cooking techniques, you could be thrown for a loop. There are also many off-menu items.

Another Useful Website

2008-05-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

Found this one as i was browsing through to find a parking lot.

Parkopedia

Useful for those who travel alot and need to find parking lots.

Ray's Sushi

2008-05-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

888 A St. * Hayward, CA

I really enjoy the food from this place. it may not be SUPER authentic, but it is fresh, good quality, and yummy. I must apologize that i did not take as many photos as i had wished. we just had too much good food.

We went here as a group of 16. a family friend was treating everyone out to dinner. we frequent this place a lot, in small and large groups.

The owner, Ray, put together a set meal for the 11 adults. ($50/person). the kids ordered off the menu, as they don't eat much.

Sushi Boat.
A variety of raw fish and seafood: salmon.tuna.hamachi.uni.fish roe.lobster.squid.hirame.saba.and the list goes on...

There was so much sashimi on that boat, I didn't even know where to start. Everything was fresh. I am not a huge fan of the uni (sea urchin). the lobster i like. the hamachi is good. Ray's tends to cut their sashimi pieces a little thicker than elsewhere, which is a no-no in Japanese cooking. however, many like it bc they feel they are gettin more for their $$.

closer look at the contents of the boat.

Uni, Sea Urchin

Broiled Lobster

They are very resourceful with their food. this was the shell/head of the lobster that was served in the sashimi. they add some seasonings and mayo and placed it in the broiler. I didn't actually try this, but on previous ocassions it has been good.

Stone-cooked Filet Mignon

The stone was heated to a high temperature then brought out with the steak on a separate plate. the waiteress/waiter then proceeded to cook the meat at our table. this is the remanants.

Cut Sushi Rolls
a variety of rolls

Sorry, by the time i remembered to take photos, this was pretty much gobbled up. what is shown in the picture is about 1/4(?) of the sushi that was on the plate. we had a soft shell crab roll, two baked rolls, and the two "veggie" rolls. Their rolls are good, no skimping on the fillings.

These were all the photos that I remembered to take that night. we also had a broiled hamachi head, fish cake soup, scallops, and of course green tea&red bean ice cream.

If you are looking for a Japanese restaurant and are in the area, i would definately check out Rays. Come prepared for a line. You may think that Hayward would not offer good sushi, but don't judge a book by its covers.

Response Appreciated!

2008-05-03T11:01:00.001-07:00

As i narrow down my categories, I would like to find get feedback as to what the readers want...so reply w/ a comment!

here are some ideas i've come up with
- Overall
- Food quality
- Price
- Value (quality to the cost)
- Ambience
- Good for: groups? date? kids?
- etc.....

thanks for your input!

EveryBlock.SF

2008-05-02T16:31:00.000-07:00

I found this website today as I was perusing the internet. It provides all sorts of information about 3 cities (SF, NYC, Chicago) in one location. It draws upon many government databases and allows users to access the information "easily."

http://sf.everyblock.com/

I will try to pull restaurant inspection scores from the SF restaurants I review going forward. (hope it doesn't scare people away)

_________________________________________________________________________

Also, I've been given a suggestion to come up with a rating system for the restaurants/food I consume. I am going to work something out. It will probably be broken into categories

(www.cleanscores.com)

Ming's Coffee Shop

2008-05-02T16:11:00.000-07:00

54 2nd St. * San Francisco, CA

"hey guys, what's for lunch today?" I ask. "MING'S!" (of course, they always want to go to Ming's). My co-workers have this infatuation with Ming's and I don't quite get it. Ming's is a fast food, steam tray, Chinese restaurant. Today was my 2nd time there and I thought I'd give it a review.

"two items" String Bean Tofu + Pepper Pork + 1/2 steamed rice 1/2 chow mein
This was my order. The tofu was alittle bland, I'm also not a huge fan of the starch-ed sauces (think it has to do w/ my upbringing). Not the tender-est string beans eitehr. The Pepper Pork was decent, what you would expect out of a steam tray. My one little gripe is that the chow mein is overly peppered. it was better this time.

"two items" String Bean Tofu + Orange Chicken + steamed rice
This was my co-worker's order. The string bean tofu was the same so i will not re-discuss it (see above). the orange chicken is alittle diff't than panda's orange chicken. the ming's OC has less batter and more meat, hence the smaller pieces. the sauce is also not as sweet. i think i like the ming's OC alil better, but i could go for either depending on my mood.
______________________________________________________

Overall, Ming's is good for a quick bite, but don't expect cleaniness or great service. Be ready to order or the lil ladies behind the counter will shoot you dirty looks.

(apologies. photos taken off of bbphone. so not too clear.)

Archipelago

2008-04-29T22:08:00.000-07:00

(1107 Howard Ave*Burlingame, CA)
For AL's birthday we heaced to Archipelago for dinner. (now that we're getting older, our celebrations are increasing in $$) Archipelago is a fusion restaurant mixing Filipino foods with french and other european influences. The head chef, chef Alain, is a cordon bleu professor who previously worked at French Laundry as a chef and head cheese selector.

There were 15 of us. a relatively large group for a restaurant their size. This was my 2nd time at the restaurant. a relatively good experience.

Quartet of Hot/Cold Oysters.
2 hot & 2 cold oysters. one with lemongrass vinaigrette. one panko fried with banana sauce. one with rhubarb reduction. one with chinese mustard.

This came recommended on Yelp and by the waitress. we ordered a few to share around the table. I thought this was a pretty interesting dish. The temperature was alittle weird and I wasn't sure which one was cooked vs raw. I am a fan of these little oysters though. esp, lil raw oysters (yum!).

Lamb Rack
roasted lamb. roasted veggies. layered "scalloped" potato.

EL ordered this lamb. i'm not a big lamb fan, but it looked like it was done fairly well. looked juicy. not much for me to say..

Grilled Kurobuta Pork Chop
Grilled pork chop. black rice. caramelized endives with other veggies.

I ordered the pork chop as it was recommended by the waitress. it was pretty good. good portion size. juicy. the black rice was a nice touch, as I've been eating primarily this 10 grain rice at home. it was a little bit too greasy for me though.

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I don't have pictures, but DK ordered a grilled whole bonzini (Mediterranean fish) which was very juicy and perfectly cooked. The grilled chicken was a little disappointing, not much food on the plate.

The cocktails were pretty good. I had the pineapple basil. (i LOVE basil cocktails).

Dessert was yum. their caramel apples are ingenius. lil melon-balled apples coated with warm caramel and 3 diff't toppings to dip into (peanuts, marshmallows, and dark chocolate bits) SOOOOO GOOD! The creme brulee duo is good as well with a hazelnut one and a vietnamese coffee one.

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and I leave you with a random photo. that i thought was pretty cool. taken by DK

(hmm...whose girly lychee-tini is that?)

Food Foundation

2008-04-24T21:55:00.000-07:00

I thought it was appropriate for my first official post to give a glimpse into the food I grew up with. This is my kind of comfort-homestyle cookin' - mama's food.

One of my mom's signature dishes "luu nieo ro", sauced beef shank, and "luu nieo jing", sauced beef tendon. She has this sauce recipe which she's perfected over the years. This sauce can be used to simmer and injects intense flavor to a variety of foods (bean curd, beef, tofu, egg, etc).

Dinner will usually include at least one stir-fried vegetable. Recently we have been eating alot more veggies, which may not seem evident in this post. I'm not sure what exactly this veggie is, it is some Chinese vegetable bought at the Chinese market.

This is catfish steamed with soy sauce, garlic, green onions, and a touch of oil. Catfish is a good "boneless" fish and when steamed right has a good semi-oily texture. I am not a big fan of the skin, however some find it tasty with an interesting texture.

Sea Cucumber. Probably one of the more interesting foods out there. They come in diff't types of textures and degree of crunchiness. This one was more on the soft side. Simmered in a sauce made with garlic, green onions, stock, and soy sauce. The sauce is great over rice or in a bowl of noodles.

The claypot holds some delicious braised pork ribs. That is one of my favorite foods. The meat is braised for an hour or so..and the meat just falls right off the bone. The green stuff in the front of the picture is preserved pickled lettuce stir-fried with some garlic; it adds alot of kick with just a tiny amount.

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These next few pictures are kind of random ones from this past weekend...
Went to Japantown in SF for their annual Cherry Blossom Festival. There was a booth there called "Flying Pigs". They had these adorable wood pig hanging decals.

This is the bottom of the particular hanging pig

This is the top of the hanging pig

Go A's!! :D

Welcome..

2008-04-24T19:24:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my new blog. Here I will share with you the foods I have been eating and cooking; along with drinks that i am consuming.

Come back soon and check this out!

ps. it is very hard to come up with a good blog address these days..back in the day, everything was available..

Restaurants Reviewed

2008-04-23T19:56:00.000-07:00

A list of the restaurants reviewed in this blog: (Alpha order_

Archipelago Rating: 3.5 paws
Blowfish Sushi to Die For Rating: 3.5 paws
Bouchon Bistro Rating: 4 paws
Ella's Restaurant Rating: 3 paws
E'Tutto Qua Rating: 4 paws
Hard Knox Cafe Rating: 3.5 paws
House of Prime Rib Rating: 4 paws
Koi Garden Rating: 4 paws
Marriott SFO Rating: 3 paws
Ming's Coffee Shop Rating: 3 paws
Ray's Sushi Rating: 4 paws

Ratings are based off my expectations for a restaurant of the caliber and its reputation. Ratings are for specific to the visit in review. Scale of 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest)