Still in Vietnam....

There are so many things to talk about that it is hard for me to put into words which to speak of first. sometimes while i'm eating new things i forget my camera and thus have to hope i'll be remembering what it was called to buy it again. anyhow, for the most part of my trip i have been staying in the island of Long Son which is where my mother is from. and i have had so much seafood i might find it very hard to consume seafood when i get back to the states, unless its sushi, but of course thats another thing. . .

so anyhow in Long Son there's a little area that you take this boat to, its basically a restaurant on the water. they have hammocks and its private and its peaceful.

we ordered just a few things since it was only two people eating. we had some local clams which was super yummy. dipped in the salt/pepper/lime

next we had crab with tamarind, sooo yummy. if you ever have this you will never go back to regular crab and butter sauce. this is my favorite way of eating crab.

then we have some grilled oysters with some butter... it was yummy since it was fairly fresh. i really enjoyed my time eating all the seafood.

so thats that for now.. more food postings while i can. trying not to get sick of the food while i'm here..

eat extraordinary everyday!

do you like rice???

Broken rice dishes are the best.... in america there are tons of restaurants that serve only these dishes. the key to the best of these dishes are the rice, the meat and the sauces. sometimes the sauces are to fishey as they are consisted of fish sauces. but sometimes when you have things just right it is a happy meal. well vietnamese happy meal that is. i thoroughly enjoyed every rice dish i've had since ive been back in vietnam.

oh yes.. i'm currently in vietnam. my motherland. eating tons of amazing exotic fruits, and dishes i have only heard of. hopefully i'll keep a good record of everything with pictures and stories for my blog.

usually you get a plate of broken rice, some pork chop or strips of beef in it depending on what you order. but when its all seasoned correctly you get a good bite and heaven is in your mouth. seriously. and i like the egg on top too, the fresh veggies on the plate are a nice change in temperature and texture when you're eating.

I'm a big fan of eating quick and delicious. today was just rice for you.. lots of noodles and more yummy good stuff. i've been taking pictures everyday so sit tight for more foodie pix i'm considering a nice blog of just pictures.

Kabuki Sake Tasting

So last night I attended this sake tasting event at Kabuki restaurant, in the Old Town Pasadena location. I went for research but it turned out to be a private lesson from the Master Sake Sommelier Yuji Mastumono, who is a dear friend of mine. 

anyhow here is the low down on this, currently working on a sake project and I've been learning a lot about sake so more details to that to come. but for the most part I'll cover what happened last night. i like sake, its one of the only things that i can drink provided that there is enough food involved. its very clean and refreshing, and i like to taste those types of drinks. 

there were three types of sake that were offered to taste all different in body type. 

1) Kikusui which is a Junmai Ginjo. (light body)

2) Mizbasho which was a Ginjo. (medium body)

3) Nanbubijin which was a Tokubetsu Junmai  (full body)

and my personal favorite was the last one (Nanbubijin) which was a full body sake, at first i did not like the Mizbasho at first but in the end it was a very good sake to go with food. 

with the three sake came small samples of the rolls, sushi and the grilled ribs. Yuji had me smell and taste all three sakes prior to the food coming. so based on that first impression i liked the full body and more earthy flavored sake. and did not like the way the Mizbasho cut in with bitterness at the end, but i changed my mind shortly after the food came. 

so first sake up with food was the Kikusui, i sipped a little then had the salmon sushi. after sipping some more the salmon flavors came out more and had a nice smokey savory flavor that came out even more. i really enjoyed that. and then yuji suggested that i tried the ribs and see how that went with a light body sake. and boy o boy was it different. the ribs did not go well with the ribs as the sake was able to cut the rich flavors of the beef. so light with light. 

second up was the Mizbasho, which was not my favorite at first as it had a sharp finish on my tongue. but with the albacore sushi, it was really really nice. the sweetness of the fish came out and really help the finish on the tongue after food was with it. next food with the sake was the Triple A roll (avocado/asparagus/albacore) wow! the avocado and rich buttery flavors came out with a sip of the sake, i ended up trying the Yellow Tail sushi with this sake as well and it help bring out the buttery notes of the yellow tail. i was thoroughly impressed with how much the sake complimented the food and was surprised that i liked it after giving it a chance with food. 

lastly the sake i liked without food, i had this with the ribs and it was a perfect match. yuji was right, i like meat and this sake was perfect with the beef. it help bring out the grilled beef flavors of the meat and the sake was full enough to stand up to such a strong flavor, uber savory and smokey yet a smooth sweet finish. 

overall the experience was very good. i also got to try to nigori sake which is unfiltered sake, much sweeter and cloudy. i could only imagine some cool recipes with that to come... 

i had a great time with my friend at kabuki and i hope that everyone goes out and tries more sake. and remember its all about if you like it going down your mouth or not. have fun and drink it cold unless directed otherwise... its good for you, promise! i'll have some medical backing soon... till then

eat extraordinary everyday!

June....

Hi everyone... 

Well i'm very sorry for having not posted anything up in a long time. I have been slacking very much I'd admit but for all good reason... 1) i've been doing tons of research and writing for a book. so it is why i haven't been posting anything up. Yes this is a very informal post. sorry again. please keep reading or follow me on twitter. 

since i've been a bad blogger i'm just going to throw a list of things ive come across..

@ angels stadium, the hot dogs are a bit salty. i didn't finish mine. 

@ machi Fusion, you can get home style and bar style Taiwanese food. it gets pricey but it is very delicious. Think Tapas but Asian. if you haven't heard yet Taiwan is a hot foodie destination. stinky tofu and all, check on it. make travel plans, make it happen. 

@ fix coffee in echo park. they make a proper cup of coffee. i adore places that take the time to warm up my cup before filling it with any hot liquid. trust me it makes all the difference in the world. 

@ Sunday bistro in Alhambra; why is it that most of the Chinese restaurants have the worst service? i'm just throwing it out there, some days when i get excellent service at an asian spot i am in awe and look around for the manager and say thanks. 

@ coffee spots with free wifi. thank you so much and thanks even more when you make good coffee and have good music playing... mom and pop places. xoxo. 

@ yogurtland, omg, i'm still in love with this place. despite the fact that i wont try new flavors. 

i still love brunch...

steak vs mushrooms. 

my best and i went for brunch this morning. she said that little dom's had this crazy french toast souffle that i had to check out... and that she was craving. so we went. and i must say i was happy. she also said we HAD to have the rice balls... they had cheese in them.. i was sold when she said cheese and fried. so the low down. the place kinda reminds me of new york city, total hipster place but with good food. service was a bit slow today but it happens, i over heard they were short staffed. 

we have the rice balls... sooo good.. they were rice balls with mozzarella cheese with some Parmesan on the outside batter. very good. its a must try for everyone. perfectly seasoned which is wonderful. 

she gets the french toast souffle and o.m.g. sooo good. i love souffles especially when they are sweet kinds... but of course savory ones are great as well. it wasnt as souffley as i hoped but it was delicious none the less so if you like french toast give this a go! I had a hard time deciding what to have, the hollandaise was the key to my selection. i wanted to check the poached egg selection so it was steak and eggs vs. mushroom and eggs. and i went with steak. 7 oz of steak with two soft poached eggs over grilled bread and topped with hollandaise that had fennel in it. AMAZING. very good and i was happy i made that selection.. also the cappuccino was very good. sadly my friend's mimosa didn't come fast enough we had to ax the order... but overall I'll be coming back.. they have Italian wedding soup on the lunch menu and i have a sick feeling that its going to be good..

enjoying brunch with my best friend is a nice way to really feel at home in california. 

hunting down some books..

i decided that once i am on the westcoast and settled in. i shall begin my search of the five major classical reads that all of the great chefs currently in america regard as the reasons why they cook. i'm hoping to buy one each month and read it before the fall. and hopefully i'll be very well read in my history of food prior to the planning of the french laundry trip. 

Stick to what you know..

okay today's blog is dedicated to FAST FOOD. 

**photo by grubgrade

lately in anticipation of my graduation I've been severely stressed out and filled with anxiety, during which I've consumed more fast food in one week than i would in a normal year. and that means more than 2 times in a week! eek! but here's the problem with fast food joints, you get there and you decide you cannot decide what you want, at least that's my personal problem and then to solve it i end up consuming about $10 worth of food, and for fast food you know that's A LOT of food. and just for the record, i have a tendency to go online and find out the caloric count as well as sodium amount in everything in hopes that i will have more of a resistance in ordering 1000+ calories in food. . . but usually i fail. sad i know, but during times of anxiety/stress anything goes as therapy even if it's slowly killing me. Ill swim it off once i move towards warmer weather. 

**photo by yummyinthetummyblog

so today i went to both McDonald's and Wendy's. i decided i would try these crispy chicken sandwiches that have been advised. I'm not going to go into detail exactly what else was consumed with this but it was not a good thing in terms of calories/fat/sodium. *i did eat broccoli for dinner.  but back to the subject at hand, value menu chicken sandwiches.. well both were of good size, i mean for $1 its not a bad sandwich. if you ordered your meal from the value menu you would get an actual normal caloric meal for under 4 dollars. but most people opt for the bigger 900 calorie lunch instead. but anyhow.. the mc chicken wasn't as good as their other stuff. it was a bit on the 'getting soggy any minute' texture group. and the Wendy's crispy chicken sandwich held up to the name very well, the protein was still crispy and the flavor in

the breading was actually pretty good. i was happy with that much more than of the McChicken. so overall, if you want a nice dollar menu chicken sandwich, go with Wendy's. 

**photo by Eating in Translation

and to another fast food joint we go.. well theoretically, as i will not be consuming PR chicken. KFC launched its Grilled Chicken recently. this would NEVER happen if Sanders was still alive, why? because he spent his LIFE perfecting the million secret spice combination recipe for his FRIED Chicken. I'm serious. it bothers me that they decided to branch out to get more sales, and go against the company name.. FRIED. I guess there is a side of me that believes that if you're good at something stick to it. Historically, the development of restaurants were actual stands in the market place where one person would make a mean dish, so good that it was all they made and people would buy it until they were gone. the name escapes me right now, but in ancient Chinese history, one emperor heard of a lady's soup that he summoned her to cook for him and all she sold was one thing, every day for 365 days a year. and it made her famous, its when you get greedy about the money you make other things that start to take your standards and passions down. but then it could be just the marketing issues i have with these fast food joints. here are two examples of fast food using a good strategy to introduce more stuff to make you buy... 

Taco Bell: Fresco, yes Taco bell has a healthy fresh menu. a way to introduce the same things but slightly healthier and less calories to get some people in. packaged in a green and clean manner, it makes you think you're eating great at a fast food place. not bad, almost made me want taco bell. 

McDonald's: McCafe, to compete with Starbucks, they added Iced Coffee with syrup options. and from what my sister says, it was crappy. i bought it for her and she told me to never do it again. so i guess the coffee done cold isn't as good as Starbucks blended concoctions. but the marketing decided to make it a whole theme of a new element of the McDonald's world, making people think they should get coffee here too, instead of a place that only sells coffee drinks.. 

so with that i hope I've given some insight into the world of fast food through my perspective. enjoy it in moderation, fast food that is. 

eat extraordinary everyday. 

** the images were taken from Flickr, these photos were credited as they are not mine. If you find them interesting please search the photostreams listed under the photos.