Japanese Eats and Drinks: Yuzu

My weak sauce Shochu and Calpico mix

Shrimp salad with sesame dressing

Grilled Yamaimo with nori

Grilled beef with mushroom and bean sprouts

Karaage Chicken

Grilled beef tongue

Grilled kurobuta pork

Lately, Kirk and I have been exploring the Japanese eats and drinks in the Torrance area. Luckily, Kirk's friend and now our new drinking buddy, Shin, is not only knowledgeable of Japanese cuisine, he is an expert Japanese alcohol drinker! He's great to eat with because he knows his Japanese alcohol, food, and speaks in Japanese! On our second drinking evening (first was at Torihei, but forgot to blog), we went to Yuzu in Old Town Torrance. It has a very modern feel inside, but the food is pretty traditional. I think a great date night place.
We started off with some Shochu which kind of reminds me of Vodka without the heavy alcohol taste and less of a hangover effect. I like the lighter tasting ones and I love adding Calpico drink to kill the alcohol taste. I got my own bottle because Shin and Kirk wanted to more manly, stronger tasting one. We ended up ordering a bunch of food. We started off with some grilled shrimp salad with mixed greens and vegetables. They serve some really large pieces of shrimp with some tasty sesame dressing. Next, we had grilled yamaimo....yum. It was lightly dipped in shoyu or teriyaki sauce and grilled, then sliced. For those of you who don't know, yamaimo is a root vegetable that has a sort of crunchy, slithery texture. I also love it grated and eaten with soba. We also had some other typical grilled items like beef, beef tongue, kurobuta pork, which was grilled just right and so easy to bit into. We finished the meal off with some cold soba, hot udon, and grilled rice balls. Of course, I was pretty toasted at this point, so there are no pictures of the food towards the end of the night :)
Japanese eating and drinking is such an art of pacing. You eat a little, drink a little (or in Shin and Kirk's case, drink a lot). We were there for over 2 hours enjoying the food, Shochu, and conversation...albeit the conversation was pretty geared towards the video game Call of Duty. I'm quite excited to keep exploring the restaurants out here in the South Bay. If anyone wants to join us for some good eats and drinks, let me know!

Gyushintei: All You Can Eat Shabu Shabu

I myself have always been a big fan of Shabu Shabu ever since I was a kid. Although I must admit, I liked Sukiyaki better because it was more flavorful. I also must admit, that I really haven't been to too many Shabu places because my mom would always make it for us. The first time I went, Kirk took me to this in West LA and after dinner, and a big check, I was starving. I felt jipped. More recently, Kirk and I went out on a date night with our friends Joni and Dean, sans Evan :( They took us to their favorite place in Torrance called Gyushintei. After my second time eating there, I am a fan. You get your own cooking pot, which I think is great since I don't like sharing my food while I'm cooking :) We went with the all you can eat, which was also great because there was no chance of me leaving there starving. It comes with all these choices of meat, vegetables, and noodles. It's definitely fun eating there with other people. We can't wait till our next date night with the Kishiyamas...hopefully Evan can join :)

PS. This is my first post as a Torrance resident!

My First Home!!!

So I finally have my very first home. I have to definitely thank a bunch of people who I could not have done this without.
1. My parents and sisters: Their unbelievable generosity made it possible for me to buy in such a wonderful neighborhood. They have also supported me and basically made my dream come true. Even after all these years of supporting me through college, grad school, buying me a car, they basically put my entire down payment. I love you guys....a million thanks!
2. My lender: Dean is not only my lender but my dear dear friend from Whitney. He made everything go so smoothly along with his team at BofA.
3. My realtor: Carol Gilles who I would recommend to anyone looking for a home in Torrance. Also, I would like to thank Lauren Sullivan who was my realtor in West LA. Although I didn't get a house with Lauren, I would definitely recommend her to anyone buying in the Westside.
4. Kirkland Costco: For driving around the Southbay and pointing out his favorite areas and for the countless hours spent at Sears and other appliance stores. Also, major props for putting up with me being stressed out and always knowing how to calm me down.
5. Other folks: Ann for all those tips about Torrance and home buying while at work. Doris, for setting up my move for super dirt cheap. Anyone who had to listen to me talk about buying a house. And everyone for supporting me in the next big step in my life.

Hopefully, I can hurry up and get settled in so I can have a housewarming sometime next year!

5 Course Tasting Dinner at Kirkland's Restaurant

Kirkland decided to make a lovely 5 course dinner for his family. I was his sous chef/runner/cleaner. It was amazing to see all the courses come together and finally eat them. It was quite a bit of work to make that many dishes...and there were so many dishes to wash! But I thought it was really worth it. Kirk is such an amazing chef and baker. It was such a treat to cook alongside him. Every dish was so well thought out and tweaked with special Kirk touches. He even made vanilla french macaroons with raspberry filling. We made those the night before (so much work!), but because they are so difficult to make, we kinda messed up over half the batch. It was sad....we only salvaged 12 really good, serve-able ones. We are going to have to make that one again sometime. Kirk also had purchased a Nespresso machine from Williams Sonoma. Heehee...I made the mistake of drinking a regular espresso at night. I was bouncing off the walls. But lucky (or unluckily) for Kirk, not only did I keep bugging him, I washed all the dishes from the dinner and cleaned up the table. I don't think it will be happening anytime soon, but I can't wait until Kirk's next fancy dinner.

The table setting for Kirk's 5 course meal

Amuse bouche: vegetable soup

Sashimi with red and green tobiko and gobo root

Warm baby beets and spinach salad with di parma prosciutto wrapped scallop

Buta kakuni with eggplant and Matsutake gohan

Braised leg of lamb and roasted red potatoes

Chocolate ganache and raspberry tartlet with ice cream

Trader Joe's Burrata and Beets

I
After eating some really good beets and burrata, I was inspired and craving the yummy pair. I heard about Trader Joe's selling Burrata. They also sell beets already steamed and peeled. I thought a nice beets and burrata salad would be tasty for dinner. The beets were excellent and sure beat trying to boil the messy beets yourself. The burrata wasn't that great. It was kind of mushy and although the taste was sort of there, it just wasn't the same as the burrata I've had at Angelini or Mozza. But I guess for Trader Joe's it was ok? Maybe cheese fans know of better places to buy burrata (hmm....maybe Surfas' cheese bar?) I definitely would make the beet salad again with the beets and greens from Traders. Add a balsamic vinagrette for dressing to top it off. Also, my new favorite apple is the breed called Honeycrisp. They sell it at Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. It is super crisp, light, and watery if that makes any sense.

On a beautiful Sunday after a fun time shopping at Surfas cooking and supply store, Kirk and I stopped off at Honey Kettle Chicken in the arts district of Culver City to eat some yummy fried chicken. I'm not the biggest fan of fried chicken (gasp, I know), but this was freakin good friend chicken. I'm not the expert on fried chicken, but this was the best fried chicken I've ever laid mouth on. It was crispy on the outside, tender meat on the inside with a great flavor. The fries that came with it were ok, but the biscuit was so light and perfectly crisp on the outside. Almost tasted flash fried. If you like fried chicken and haven't been here, please go and check it out...definitely worth the drive out to Culver City.
Honey Kettle Chicken
www.honeyskettle.com
9537 Culver Blvd, Culver City -

(310) 202-5453

Place Yuu....Not Me

So I know that was a corny title...but upon valeting the car at the Sawtelle strip mall, I told the valet that I was going to Place Yuu (pronounced You). And he said place me. It took me a nanosecond to get that joke. Anyways, Kirk has been talking about Place Yuu for awhile so we decided to go there for dinner before D&B's. It is your standard small plates with sushi bar. Casual with a great friendly feel. More traditional than places like Bar Hayama or Orris. I personally like Bar Hayama more but I think that's because I like the fusion style Japanese small plates. If you don't want to venture out with the small plates, the sushi was very standard and very reliable. Kirk ordered a sushi dish called Battera which was a press sushi with I think a Saba type fish. I ordered some spicy scallop and salmon which was delicious. We also ordered Yaki Nasu (grilled eggplant), Yaki Ika (grilled squid) and Buta Kakuni (slow cooked pork). All in all it was a good meal...another restaurant to check off my list of Sawtelle street places.

Place Yuu
2101 Sawtelle Blvd
Los Angeles, CA
90025-6200
(310) 478-7450

The Cat is Out of the Bag - Kirkland and Mo Go to Dave and Buster's

The Big Winner!

We won 2500 tickets that night and bought a bunch of candy (giant gummy bear....see blog)

I've been wanting to just go relax and burn off some steam. What better place than a place like Dave and Buster's. I really wanted to play skee ball, basketball, House of Dead, and that fun game where you try to push off coins from a ledge. Kirk and I (who have started just dating), trekked over to Santa Anita mall to the nearest Dave and Buster's. We ran around like little kids playing for hours. Kirk basically kicked my butt in most of the games. I would say the only game I was better at was that stupid push the coins off the ledge game. Kirk was awesome at all the games. He even played that game where you push the button to stop the light on tickets and he won the jackpot of 1000 tickets!!! I was in total disbelief....like winning the jackpot at a casino. Well, not exactly the same, but I was still jumping up and down and he was beaming, like it was no big deal on his first try. He also won me this cute turtle from the crane game...also a first try win. He's my hero!

Myth or Fact: Giant Gummy Bear

Just wanna bite his ear off!

Joni performing gummy bear surgery

My friends Joni and Dean introduced me to this candy blog the other day and I've been hooked on her recommendations (www.candyblog.net). She talked about some candies I've heard of and some I haven't heard of. I started getting hooked on the Japanese candy Hi-Chew which this lady loves. Dean and Joni are hooked on an expensive habit called Gummy Choco. We were all intrigued by this one blog about a giant gummy bear. I love gummy bears, but a giant one? I had dreams of just grabbing that bear and biting his nose off. Low and behold, I found it at Dave and Buster's of all places. For a mere 475 tickets, you could own a giant gummy bear, about the size of a coffee mug. I had to get it for Joni. You know what, it was really good! I got the green apple flavor (which you gummy bears fan know that it not an original true gummy bear flavor). The texture was a bit softer than a gummy bear but it was good. I think it was just weird to eat such a large piece since usually you eat a small bear one at a time. Should you come across a giant gummy bear, say "hello", chat it up a bit, then go for the kill with your knife...it won't hurt him at all.

Macaroon Ice Cream Sandwich....Need I Say More?

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG

I had my first macaroon ice cream sandwich the other day. It was heaven on earth. Delicious, creamy, sweet, chewy...magnificent. My foodie friend mentioned this place to me and I thought it was a myth....a made up story. But it was true...they actually had macaroons filled with homemade ice cream. The macaroon was ginormous (about 3 inches in diameter), the ice cream inside was very fresh tasting and super creamy. They had a few flavors: grasshopper, vanilla bean, coffee/toffee. In addition to the wonderful frozen treats, there was an array of sweets in a beautiful display case. Tres leches cake, chocolate pudding, red velvet cupcakes, blue velvet cake, and on and on and on. It was pure heaven. I will be going back over and over again!!!! If you have a sweet tooth, this is a must try place.

Milk
www.themilkshop.com
7290 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2545
(323) 939-6455

Finally...Dinner at Angelini Osteria

Some complimentary Prosecco...always nice to dine with someone who has some connections (Masaki!)

Braised baby beets

Beets, burrata, and field greens

Gino (not Angelini), debones the Branzino tableside

My green Lasagna with flash fried spinach

Chocolate Crostata and Panna Cotta

I finally got to eat at Angelini Osteria in celebration of Angie's birthday (from last month). The usual family suspects (me, Yuki, Masaki, and Jeni-koro) met up at this restaurant on Beverly Blvd. My cousin Masaki/Bryan has been raving about this place for the longest time. I've heard lots of great things about the chef/owner Gino Angelini. It was delicious....lots of great flavors, simple, but always dependable. The green lasagna was extra creamy with what tasted like, very high quality ricotta and some other fancy cheese (not just your store bought ricotta and mozzarella). My favorite dish was the beets and burrata. So creamy and just goes so wonderfully with the sweet fresh beets. Can't wait to go back and try more of the items on the menu. Be aware, we were there wed night and it was super packed. Reservations are a must! Apparently La Terza is good, but I have yet to try it.

Angelini Osteria
www.angeliniosteria.com
Phone: 323-297-0070
Fax: 323-297-0072
7313 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90036
4 BLOCKS WEST OF LA BREA
ON THE NORTH SIDE
(CROSSTREET: POINSETTIA)

Angie and Jessica's Birthday Celebration: Golf Themed Pub Crawl

Angie and Jessica's birthday this year was definitely celebrated in style....golf style. I don't think anyone of us actually plays golf, but we brought out the argyle outfits and crawled around the Santa Monica area from bar to bar. We started off at the "clubhouse" which was Jessica and Mark's home. They did a lovely job decorating with golf themed plates, napkins, and coasters. They made some yummy pigs in a blanket, shrimp cocktail, sangria, and Jessica's mom made a homemade lemon bundt cake. Daniella made her always popular cheese balls. Angie and I made Chibi Cheesy Cakes, spicy tuna crudite, and Mac and Cheese. After drinking and eating we took our crew to the SM promenade. I made some golf score cards to help people keep track of their drinking. Each "hole" had a par, or amount of drinks you aimed to drink. Now opposite of golf, you actually want a higher score. There were a bunch of people who were getting their double bogeys. After the tee off at the clubhouse, we continued to Cabo Cantina where we picked up a few more for our team. It was funny, because I would see someone in argyle and think they were part of our party. Next we moved to Brittania where Angie and Jessica love to drink and sing karaoke. The last stop on our crawl (you can really only get to so many places before it turns 2am) was Makai where we got out dance on. It was so much fun hanging out and you know me...I love a good themed party!

The Original Pancake House: Perhaps My New Neck of the Woods???

I've been searching lately for a place....a home to call my own. I started out in the Westside area because I just love the neighborhood and I work around here. I put a bid on a place in Santa Monica but got outbid. So I kept looking, going to open houses and doing my research. My parents suggested looking for a single family home out of the area. That seed was placed in my head awhile back when I was dating Kirk who always said the closest good city to West LA where you could even fathom buying a home would be Torrance. But I thought, I really want to stay in West LA so I looked for condos. I guess the more I looked, the more I was starting to think $600,000 for a two bedroom condo? I wanted to keep my options open and not be so rigid, so I went to a open house in Torrance. The house was so cute, 3 bed, 2 baths with a perfect backyard for entertaining. It was a bit small, but it had a garage and beautifully remodeled kitchen. The great part was it was in my price range! Of course it got snatched up that day and I didn't even have a chance to blink, let alone put an offer in. But it did give me some hope that maybe I can afford a home. I'm still looking in the westside, but I'm looking in the Southbay as well. I started checking around the neighborhood, doing some drive-bys, and scoping the surrounding areas of the Torrance. Before doing that, we stopped off to try the Original Pancake House. I have always wanted to try it but if you don't get there before 9, it is impossible to get a table without waiting for a long time. We got seated right away and my eyes popped open with a huge assortment of pancakes. I was boring and tried to plain buttermilk ones. Wow, you could taste the buttermilk in that pancakes. It was so delicious. My date had the potato pancakes which were basically like hashbrowns. So good....I can't wait to go here again, possibly as a Torrance resident.

Wilshire Restaurant - Dine LA Week

My favorite week of the year aside from all the holiday and vacation weeks I have, is Dine LA week. For a few weeks out of the year, a ton of restaurants in the LA County area have specialty 3 course menus that highlight their restaurants. You can try these places for dinner and some for lunch for a reasonable price for a nice tasting menu including a appetizer, entree, and dessert. This year, I toned it down to one place. Lately I've been trying to limit the amount of "luxury" eating due to trying to lose weight, eating healthier, and saving money. Luckily my best friend Jennifer sent me a nice giftcard to Wilshire as a thank you awhile back. What better time to use the giftcard, so thank you Jennifer!

The restaurant was uber trendy and I thought used the spaces quite uniquely. We started off at the bar for drinks. One of the bars was located outside and sort of intertwined with the trees (the bar was basically built around the tree). My friends Adrienne and Alex tried Wilshire and had a bad experience with the food and service, so I was a little biased. However, I think they redeemed themselves and I thought the food was great and the service excellent.

I decided to have the Dine LA menu which included a variety of choices for the appetizer, entree, and dessert. For the appetizer I had the choice of Kabocha gnocchi, grilled octopus salad, or something I can't remember...hehe. I chose the octopus salad which was grilled nicely and served with some frisee and a puree of some sort, I think a red pepper one. My date decided to go off menu and started off with a large crabcake singaporean style. It was spicy with large chunks of crab. For the entree, the choices were duck leg cassoulet, pot pie for two, and diver scallops. The pot pie sounded delish, but it was for two. The duck leg was unique and I've always wanted to try a cassoulet which is a French dish that is slow cooked with white beans. The meat on the leg fell of the bone with just a touch of my fork. It was so tender and perfectly flavored with 5 spice giving it a sort of Chinese taste to it. My date opted for lamb which was tender and served with an interesting array of Indian spiced quinoa, a soy flavor Japanese eggplant, and Raita. I guess they were going for a Indian, Asian, American fusion? For dessert, it was a no brainer choice....doughnuts! Three red garnet yam doughnuts served with praline ice cream. It must of just been fried because it was hot and crispy.

Wilshire has a great happy hour menu and some specials on certain days. It is a great place for some good cocktails and asian-french-american fusion food.

Angie's Sushi Themed Birthday Party

Ok, so I know I've been a little M.I.A. lately, but in my defense I've been a little busy at work. During my off times, I've been training for a little half marathon which I did last week, so now I can breathe a little.

For Yuki's (Angie) birthday celebration, my mom so graciously hosted a make your own sushi party and invited all of Angie's close friends. Of course, my dad and Chibi were there. Chibi made his appearance as co-sushi chef in his sushi man outfit. My mom cut up all sorts of goodies: salmon, tuna, yellowtail, uni, unagi, tamago, sweet shrimp, spicy tuna, spicy scallop, avocado, krab, cucumber, etc. For those of you who haven't had make your own sushi, it is basically like temaki (the hand roll) you get at the sushi bars. You take a piece of nori (seaweed), put some sushi rice on it, then pick and choose what you want on top. My favorite is spicy tuna and kaiware. For desserts, Jessica's mom (Linda C) made two cakes!!! My favorite red velvet cake and she is famous for at her dessert parties that I've previously blogged about and a german chocolate cake. They were to die for. I was in charge of decorations. I decided to buy everyone a pair of chopsticks. I also rolled up washcloths to look like onigiri (rice balls) with a red pom pom to act as the umeboshi. It was a great way to celebrate and everyone had fun making their own sushi concoctions.