My Perfect Sunday Part 2!!!

I'm such a lucky girl....two sundays in a row have been just ideal for me. Today, I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to take on the day. I drove home to Cerritos and visited the Target nearby my house. Now you think....how is that so great? Well, when you live in West LA, Target is about a good 5-10 miles away and with LA driving time could take 30 minutes just to get there. So it is a convenience to live near a Target, which most likely means you live in the burbs. I had a chance to get some new workout clothes and some bikinis for my upcoming Atlanta/NYC trip (a itsy bitsy teeny weeny, black polka dot bikini....lol). Then I went home to my parents house and spent some time with my parents, Chibi, and Angie who was also visiting. It was just relaxing talking to my parents about buying a place, petting little Chibi and chasing him around the house, and having El Pollo Loco with Angie for lunch. After taking a little nap, I drove over to the Kishiyamas. I just love hanging out with them and they always make me feel so welcome and like part of their family. Joni made a delicious hamburger dinner with some really tasty asparagus and chopped boiled egg salad. Then after dinner she so expertly took some photos of me. She must be an expert because she somehow got me to look good! Then we all went to the park to play. They treated me to some Frostbites Italian Ice and Cream dessert. That was amazing and something I've never had before. Although the experience was very different from last weekend, it was equally special and just as perfect.

My Perfect Sunday: Dinner and Drinks at Riva

My idea of a perfect Sunday is waking up, reading the paper, walking to the Farmer's Market, cooking my dinner for the week in one pot, walking to the Bally's for a light workout, and having a lovely dinner and cocktail with good company. An extra special Sunday if I get to go somewhere like Bed Bath and Beyond to use my coupon to buy something for my place. And an extra extra special day if I can go to a place like Sur la Table or Williams Sonoma to check out high quality culinary tools you can't find anywhere else. In a perfect world I would get to share this experience every Sunday with someone special.

This Sunday, I was lucky to have a second chance not only to spend some quality time with a important person in my life, but also a second chance to visit a restaurant that I had enjoyed once in the past. Riva is the second restaurant of talented chef Jason Travi of Fraiche. When I last visited Riva in February (see past blog), they were solely known for their pizzas. They changed their menu to include Italian small plates....something pretty unique to the restaurant world. I'm all into the small plates these days so you could try a bunch of different things. They still serve their pizzas sun-tues so we lucked out. We started off with some cocktails. I hadn't had a drink for awhile so it was really nice to enjoy my vodka and pink grapefruit drink with my dinner. We moved on to a few small plates including an asparagus salad with meyer lemon and pecorino cheese along with some tasty greens that we both couldn't figure out what it was. Perhaps pea shoots...or at least it looked like pea shoots. Next, we shared an Octopus Fra Diavola crostini which was spicy but nicely mellowed out with the long crostini pieces. Our last small plate consisted of a braised veal cheek oddly placed on a somewhat sweet tart filled with creamy filling, golden raisins, and apples slices. I have been a fan of the veal cheek every since my taste buds laid taste on them at Sona Restaurant during a wonderful tasting. Of course it was no Sona veal cheek, but it was nonetheless fatty and melted in my mouth. For our pizza, we had the Tradizionale pizza which had spinach, prosciutto, and tomato. Very tasty but if you do go here, make sure you have the Molto Maile....the meatball it to die for.

For dessert we shared an off menu dessert specially prepared by an up and coming baker/chef. It was a flaky tart filled with a luscious Scharffenberger chocolate ganache with golden raspberries and a hint of mint. It was expertly molded into a 4 inch tart pan. Upon first bite, the bittersweet chocolate melted in my mouth and then a few seconds later the raspberry hit my palate, then came the mint. It was seriously orgasmic and I could have eaten another. I can still close my eyes and imagine it. It was truly the perfect way to end my perfect Sunday.

Michelle's Pancakes (not what you think)

I have been subscribing to the LA Times newspaper in an effort to further my education about the news and current events. Of course I love the food section and have found some new places to check out. Michelle's Pancake was one of those restaurant finds. I am a big fan of trying new and interesting places and I love Chinese food. The restaurant is located in a strip mall and is a small place but the turnover is pretty fast. We tried a few things that everyone looked to be enjoying. We had the plain green onion cake which was cooked perfectly and not too oily. It could be dipped in this extremely garlicky concoction on the table. We also had some steamed dumplings with pork and leeks which was light and healthier tasting. My favorite was the special beef and leek cake. Beef, leeks and some tasty juices were wrapped in a onion cake like layer and pan fried. Looked like a manju to me. When you bite into it, it sort of explodes. Very tasty. If you are interested, read the article....if you are anything like me, it will definitely tempt you to go.



LA Times article:
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-find15-2009jul15,0,1798170.story

Michelle's Pancake
706 W Las Tunas Dr
San Gabriel, CA 91776-1161
(626) 293-8098

Japanese Desserts at Patisserie Chantilly

I heard much hype about Patisserie Chantilly in Lomita and me being the dessert lover had to go check it out. I love Bonjour Bakery which has the similar Japanese style desserts. Patisserie Chantilly sells Macarons which Bonjour does not. I was very curious about the macarons since I'm always looking for a good macaron. I was honestly a little disappointed with this place. I bought 4 pastries to try : Cafe Au lait, Kir Royale, Othello, and Alsace (starting from the left bottom going clockwise in the photo). They were all actually just ok....nothing spectacularly good...just good. I'm not sure why....perhaps they were all a bit too light and spongy. There was no real density or flavor to them. The macarons were decently made, but I would much rather have Paulette macarons by far. As for eating Japanese style desserts I would much rather go to Bonjour.

Patisserie Chantilly
www.patisseriechantilly.com
2383 Lomita Blvd
Lomita, CA 90717-1446
(310) 257-9454

Japanese Style Pasta at Il Chianti

Ceasar Salad

Squid and Nori Pasta

For my friend Rina's birthday I wanted to take her somewhere new and in the area she lives (South Bay). My sister Angie has been talking about this place she tried in Lomita that serves Japanese style pasta. Me, being a fan of Spoonhouse (see blog history) definitely wanted to see how it stacked up. Their menu and the restaurant itself is much larger and therefore you have a better chance of getting in. Actually you can make reservations...making this a nice date place :) The inside of the restaurant had a few nooks where you could dine peacefully with dim lighting. The pasta was very fresh and cooked al dente. I opted to have a salad before dinner. The Ceasar was excellent and it appeared that the dressing was possibly made from scratch. For dinner, I had the Squid and Seaweed Pasta. It was lightly flavored with garlic and butter, but the nori was the main flavoring. Rina had the Carbonara (which I really wanted but tried to order something healthier). I stole a little bite and it was to die for....rich and creamy. I definitely recommend trying this restaurant for all you pasta lovers in the South Bay....this place is worth the drive.

Il Chianti
www.il-chianti.com
24503 Narbonne Ave
Lomita, CA 90717-1136
(310) 325-5000

"A Faithful Friend is the Medicine of Life"

My friend Joni inspired me to write a blog about my friendships and how grateful I am to have the ones that I do. You really find out who your true friends are during times of happiness but especially during times of hardship. For me it all comes down to one thing: effort. I mean, everyone is busy in their lives with work, family, etc., but I think that if you think past that, outside of your own self, you will put that extra effort for friendship. My friend Joni epitomizes the word friend. She has not only been there for me when things were great, she has been supportive no matter what without judgement. She has made me a get well basket when I had surgery, tupperwares full of food when I didn’t feel like cooking, this awesome recipe book, not to mention to countless letters and cards with her thoughtful words. The list goes on and on. She inspires me to be a stronger person, a better friend, and a better person. And Joni is not the only one….I truly am lucky to have an extensive list of people who somehow always make me feel good no matter what. For that I am grateful…..lucky….honored…..and loved.

A Friend……

-supports you no matter what happens, even if they don’t agree necessarily

-drives to your place even if you do live an hour away or a whole coast away

-calls you without an agenda

-tells you everything will be ok and you believe them

-brings strength into your life

-doesn’t constantly talk about themselves in a conversation

-doesn’t constantly dump negative things going on in their life

-gives advice to you based on their own personal experiences

-reads your blog every once in awhile to find out the goings of your life J (no this is not a ploy to get more readers!)

-doesn’t ever turn their back on you when you need them

-calls/txts immediately to make sure you are ok after news of a difficult event

-sometimes puts you before themselves

-knows what you like and will bring it over to surprise you

-will email you every now and then to see how you are doing

-takes you out to see a ridiculous movie just to cheer you up (in this case Bruno, although I was somewhat disturbed afterward)

-takes care of you when you get sick

-makes sure you’re well fed

-doesn’t just contact you at when it is convenient for them

-makes you feel like everything will be fine in this crazy world

-knows what makes you happy and brings the happiness out in you whenever you’re together

Southeast Gakuen Obon Carnival

Obon traditionally is the celebration of one's departed ancestors and is considered a Buddhist tradition. Here in America, a lot of small Japanese schools and Buddhist churches carry on that tradition. I used to attend a Japanese school in Norwalk called Southeast Japanese Community Center. My parents are very involved still and my dad is on the board of directors. Every year I try to make it out there. I have been going for the last 20 some years of my life now and it has changed drastically. I remember as a kid wearing my yukata and dancing the bon-odori around the lantern lit stage in a circle. I loved going to the obon to eat food and run around playing the games. Now days, things have changed a bit. Due to the americanization of Japanese Americans, the obon is a lot more americanized/hawaiaanized. They still serve sushi, chirashi, and udon...but now also serve asian short ribs, sweet and sour pork, and kalua pork. They still have the games like string pull, goldfish toss, and tic tac toe.....no more jingleboard though. I had a blast this year spending time with my parents and also with my surrogate family the Kishiyamas (Dean, Joni, Evan) and my surrogate parents (Chiyo and John Miyahara). I hold them near and dear to my heart and am so lucky that they let me be part of their family events. I started off eating some hawaiian dinner with my parents. They the Kishiyamas/Miyaharas came for dinner. After dinner, I had a blast watching Evan and Joni and her sister Jil and her son Tanner dance the bon-odori. As a lucky auntie, I got to take Evan around to the games and watch him play and win prizes. I can't wait until next year to spend another fun filled tradition of Obon festival!

The Spareribs with fried rice

Sweet and Sour Pork

My favorite date: always a gentleman and always fun

My beautiful SW

Dean and I

Cole's French Dip Sandwich

Saturday I went out to hangout at Downtown LA. Now, I know downtown is the up and coming place to be, but I still have a hard time going there to hang out where one street is all trendy and the next street a guy is peeing on the sidewalk. I was curious to try out a restaurant down there called Cole’s. The consulting chef is Neal Fraser (who owns Grace) so I thought it would be awesome. But it was just eh. I had the French dip sandwich with pastrami. I think I am somewhat ruined since I’ve had the pastrami at Katz’s Deli in NYC. Now, everytime I eat pastrami, it just doesn’t compare. I mean the sandwich was ok….but the ambiance was great. It was an old saloon style place with a beautiful mahogany wood bar with an extensive bar list. A great date place due to the ambiance but you won’t be impressing your date with the food, but I would go back for the bar and for the vibe. Also, next door (literally next door) is a lounge type bar called The Association. Great place to head over to for more drinks….it is chill and not pretentious.

Cole’s French Dip

www.colesfrenchdip.com

118 East Sixth Street (and Main)

Los Angeles, CA 90014

Manpuku Tokyo BBQ

Yesterday, I went to go try Manpuku BBQ on Sawtelle. I can now cross that off my list of places I have eaten at on Sawtelle. You pick out meats, seafood, and vegetables and grill them on a charcoal grill at your table. We shared prime beef short rib and a salted black pork, along with an assortment of vegetables. I had the bibim men which is a kimchi spiced noodle with bibim bop vegetables on top. I really liked the cuts of beef short rib and pork. With the pork they gave you vegetables and spices to include with a sanchu lettuce wrap. For about $6-$9 per plate, you get about 8 pieces of meat. It is not super cheap, but the quality of meat was good and it was sort of fun cooking the meat yourself. I definitely would go back for some beef short rib….mmmm

Manpuku

www.manpuku.us

2125 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90025
(310) 473-0580

June Eats

There were a few places that I had the chance to try for the first time but didn’t blog about it last month. Definitely worthy of a try as they were both unique and the kind of dining experience I particularly enjoy.

One place is called Ramen California featured in the LA Times food section as well as the Rameniac blog (which apparently is the go-to place for ramen information). The chef at Ramen California, Shigetoshi Nakamura aspired to mix the Japanese ramen noodle with the ever so popular shift to using seasonal farmer’s market fresh vegetables. He incorporates vegetables such as purple cauliflower, celery root, baby yellow squash, baby corn, potatoes….there were about 20 different kinds of vegetables, making the ramen extremely colorful and tasty. I’m sure most people haven’t even had some of those veggies in there. I tried the Reggiano Cheese Tofu Ramen. Inside a soup ladle lied a soft silken piece of tofu infused with cheese. It was an interesting texture to say the least. Mixed with the ramen and veggies, it worked. If you love ramen, you have to try this place. Just be warned, you mouth will be shocked by the completely unique ingredients you never knew ramen could go with.

Ramen California

24231 Crenshaw Blvd., Unit C,

Torrance; (310) 530-2749

The second place I thought was worthy of a nice blog was the Five Guys Burgers and Fries joint now located in Cerritos (yay Cerritos!). It reminded me of In and Out burger. Very tasty and flavorful meat. The upside is you can pick and choose from a huge list of ingredients that you want on your burger. For some reason I just like cheese, meat, lettuce, onion, mayo and ketchup and I liked that I could order it how I like it without feeling like I am hassling them. If you like burgers, definitely try this place. Very cheap and a great value for your money.

www.fiveguys.com

11411 South St,

Cerritos, CA 90703

(562) 809-0055

The third place I had the experience of trying was Malibu Seafood. A quaint but bustling eatery off PCH, it is a great place to stop if you are taking a drive along the coast. Just be aware that the long line (although it really doesn’t take all that long to get the food) and that you may have to park and walk along the treacherous roadway that is PCH. All in all, they have lots of fresh choices. I tried the fried fish which was basically a whole fish fillet battered and fried. Very tender and very meaty. I also at the squid steak sandwich which was also very tasty and probably a healthier food choice since it wasn’t fried. I would definitely recommend this place if you want to get out of the city life and take a nice drive…..it can be romantic too for all you couples out there.

Malibu Seafood

www.malibuseafood.com

25653 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90265-4550
(310) 456-3430

A Shrimplicious Father's Day

Today was father's day which is always a special day for me and my family. For those of you who don't know this about my dad....he had a brain tumor about 19 years ago. He had brain surgery to get it removed and went through rehab and recuperation for about a year. Prior to that he had suffered through a lot of pain and not knowing what the problem was. It is a miracle that he is still alive and was able to get back to living a normal lifestyle. So today I am always reminded about how lucky we are to have him around. The day started off not so great however due to my brief visit to the ER. I had the worst stomach problems and had to go to the ER to get it checked out. Everything is alright now, but I missed the breakfast. My sister made Hello Kitty Waffles and a breakfast casserole. Then she went outside to help my dad trim the bushes with Chibi. We treated my mom and dad to massages and then took out food from the Boiling Crab. They ate (I couldn't due to my stomach ailment) shrimp, corn, sausage, and crab legs. It looked so delicious. I think my dad was happy.

Baked Goods: A Humble Thank You

Baked Goods Sampler

Cupcake Bites: Red Velvet Cake covered in Chocolate

As a thank you to the staff I work with, I like to make some sort edible thank you gift. Last year I made my cherry chocolate toffee cookies and scones. This year, I decided to make this new treat I found on a internet blog called cupcake bites. This woman does some amazing things with desserts. Her blog is called Bakerella and it is pretty unique and creative. I took the recipe and idea off her website. Basically she takes some cake and some frosting and mixes it up all good, make little balls, fills a candy mold with chocolate, puts the cake inside the mold, and voila...out pops a cupcake bite. Well, first you have to add some more chocolate then decorate. I thought it was quite cute. It was a little sweet because of the chocolate. I also made a few other baked goodies including Mexican Wedding Cookies, Butterscotch Blondies, and Meyer Lemon Bars. My favorite still has to be the Meyer Lemon Bars. I luckily found some Meyer Lemons at the farmer's market. The mexican wedding cookies are also a good standard. The blondie bar recipe was found at Williams Sonoma's website. It was ok, but I guess I am not a fan of the blondie. I only made one batch of all the recipes which took me roughly 8 hours to prep, bake, and package. I forgot to take a picture of the packaging, but it was cute with a white cake box, brown ribbon, and blue/white label. Incidentally, I needed to take a prescription strength ibuprofen due to the back pain from standing on my feet all day. Though it was worth it to show the school staff how important they are to me!

Wilton Fondant and Gum Paste Cake Decorating Class

Long time ago in between college and grad school, I was on this kick to take a bunch of home-ec type classes. I took ceramics, sewing, and cake decorating. I took the level 1 and level 2 Wilton courses at the Tall Mouse in Cerritos. 9 years later (yowza I am old), I decided that I wanted to learn how to use fondant to decorate cakes since I am not the biggest fan of the buttercream and icing tips. Fondant and gum paste are more pliable materials and you use your hands to mold and roll out creations...kind of like playing with playdoh (which is my job expertise :). So far the Wilton course is informative...but it is just not quite modern. The decorations we are learning include carnations, daisies, fantasy flowers, draping, and other pretty outdated looks in my opinion. But I think with the techniques I have learned, I can produce something more my style. That being said, here is my first cake that I made with fondant and gum paste. I think it looks like a hat.

Chocolate Crafting

Lately, I have been very much into making edible gifts for people. I was first introduced to chocolate crafting when I was probably 8 years old or so. My parents were having a garage sale and my mom made some Easter chocolate lollipops of these bunny rabbits. I remember our neighbor bought the whole bunch of them. Every since then, I have occasionally been making chocolate lollipops or chocolate molds as gifts. They have really come a long way with new molds as well as the way the mold is presented. They even have chocolate molds where you can add a cookie to it (I just bought one that I will make and eventually blog).
Here are a list of places that you can find chocolate and the molds:

1. www.candymoldcentral.com (an online place that I have bought from before)
2. Calico Cake Shop (located in Buena Park. I love this place. They have the most molds I've seen in a store) - www.calicocakeshop.com
3. Gloria's Cake Shop (12453 Washington Blvd, LA, Ca 90066, www.gloriascakecandysuplys.com) - this is on the westside, pretty good supply of cake and candy items
4. Michaels or Joann's (they always have chocolate and basic items. They only carry Wilton items for the most part so it is pretty limited)

The Originator of the Kogi Taco - Alibi Room

I recently tried the famous Kogi Taco Truck one day after running at UCLA where it was camped out. I learned that the chef that created the tacos was working out of the Alibi Room, a bar located very close to the school that I work at. I went to try out the place with my foodie cousin and my sister. We got there around 7pm and it was pretty packed. The Alibi Room is a fully stocked bar as well so you can get your drink on in addition to your taco. We started off with some Korean spiced fries served with a sriracha and mayo sauce. They were so perfectly fried....I could have eated another basket. Then some lady that was sitting near us said that the Vegan Tacos were the unsung hero of the menu, so we tried those. It was just eh for me. But I guess if you are Vegan, you would probably love them. We had the Kogi Tacos of course. I think the pork is the best choice out of the Beef, Chicken, and Tofu. And we ended with some Kimchi Quesadillas which tasted quite interesting. But since I love cheese and I love kimchi...I loved it. This place is a definite must try on my list. Very interesting food and a chill place to hang out and have a drink after work. PS: get there before 8 or there is no place to stand or eat.
www.alibiroomla.com
12236 Washington Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90066
monday-saturday 6pm-12am