New member in the kitchen

My roommates and I had longed for a toaster for a while. With it, we can toast bread or bake something little without having to move all the dishes and kitchenware we store in the oven, or feeling guilty about using a disproportionate amount of gas for a tiny dish. The only problem with the new toaster was that its code was too short to reach the only output in the kitchen. But, the Van Loon rangers aka Mameco, Cocoya and Akk taped an extension code all over the kitchen wall and fixed the problem a couple of days later:D. The toasted bagels in the picture were crispy and delicious!!!! But, even better was the baked mochi! Japanese people normally eat mochi to celebrate New Years but we decided to celebrate the new addition to our tiny kitchen with mochi!! Actually, mochi was the first food that came to my mind when I saw Akk setting up the toaster. I am totally in love with its chewy texture on the inside. Back in the day, we didn't have cheese in Japan but I bet the chewiness of mochi was good enough. I'm going to make pizza made of mochi with this toaster soon. Keep tuned, lol!

Surprisingly tasty looking.

Last night I decided on Chinese food, but I didn't want to drive very far. There is a place nearby to my work that I'd never tried before, because it seemed like it would be very Americanized Chinese food. I can't say for sure that I've ever had anything that would be considered 'authentic' but I try to avoid the places like this in general. So I ordered honey shrimp for my main meal, and after talking to a friend about chinese food and remembering how much I love the meats on a stick, I ordered an appetizer of the skewered chicken.

When I actually got to the restaurant I was surprised! I'm not sure I've ever seen a place like that so packed on a Sunday night. When I left there was still a line halfway from the counter to the door. A work friend told me that it is because they have some sort of student special, although I don't know what it is. It's not really in a place easily accessible from campus either unless you have a car. Once I had my food and was in the parking lot, I decided to sneak a piece of chicken for the ride home. When I ordered, I assumed it would be the standard chicken on a stick, put in the type of bags that usually egg rolls end up in. Instead I see what is in the picture! Not only is there the chicken, but an entire salad under them! For an appetizer, it is almost bigger than my meal!

I couldn't eat any then. I had to wait to come back and take a photo! Needless to say they tasted as good as they looked. While not the star of this post, the honey shrimp was also delicious! Maybe next time Mameco comes to visit, I will drag her to this place.

French cuisine, crepe

In Japan, crepe is a popular dessert. You can find a lot of crepe vendors on streets of Harajuku and many other cities. It is originally from France but Japanese people like to adjust anything to our taste. The other day, I was lucky enough to taste a French crepe.

The name of the restaurant was Creep Tree or something... hmmm somehow it doesn't sound right. Anyhow, my friends and I found this place when we were walking around St. Marks. Since many of us had a late lunch, we were looking for a place that served small dishes. The restaurant had cool dark brown wooden furniture with dim lights. In the small space, many small tables and chairs were piled. Somehow it was kinda cool. In the long mirror placed by the wall and ceiling, I could observe the kitchen space where they cooked crepes on top of the round crepe hot plate.

My crepe that had goat cheese and avogado... I think, lol. It was filling. The cheese was very rich so I liked it but some people might find it too cheesy. The white sangaria was DELICIOUS. It was sweet and refreshing. I like a red wine version of it too but the white sangaria sure went well with my cheese. I want to go back there and try their sweet crepes next time.

I just want soup and rice!

I love soup and rice but I'm too tired or lazy to cook something new and creative. That's when I cook vegetables in a soup and add rice to it. It's simple and delicious. The soup flavor can vary but normally I got with soy sauce, rice wine, and dashi.

Cafe Habana

Cocoya took me and Muffin to Cafe Habana. It is a small Cuban restaurant whose interial design only makes us feel like we are in a carribbean island. According to Cocoya, people love its grilled corn. It was around 4 dollars and came with two cubs of corn. The sauce was I guess Cuban and was sour cream, paprica sprincled on top. As an option, you can squeeze a slice of lime to add a flavor. It was satisfying. I actually forgot what my main dish was exactly, lol. I remember I had some meat, fried red beans with corn tortilla and rice?. It was good at first but I got tired of eating it... I think the flavor was rather plain. Although the wait was crazy like an hour, it was an interesting adventure.

Reunion @ Applebee's

Some buckeye friends including Kris and I went to Applebee's for lunch while I was back in Ohio. I don't know why but Applebee's always has some special deals. I picked this "2 for 20" deal and ordered two entrees and one appetizer for $20 to share. As usual, I got mozzarella sticks. Cheese in a deep-fried bread crumbs... what can you ask more? The steak was so-so... It was too firm overall. According to Kris, Applebee's steaks are normally like that, lol. Oh, I also got raspberry iced tea. Raspberry is my life.

Thanksgiving Hot Pot

About a month before thanksgiving, Dr. J and I talked about cooking together for thanksgiving on the phone. This year, I wasn't planning to tag along with anyone's thanksgiving so if I wanted to eat turkey with gravy I knew I had to get it somewhere... I knew how big the turkey was and how nasty it can get to clean the turkey... Dr. J told me she was going to hang out with Hiroko for thanksgiving so I couldn't really plan for thanksgiving with her any more. There was no way for me to prepare everything by myself (even with Ian's assistance, lol). On the day of thanksgiving, I was still not sure if I wanted to cook turkey or not. That was when Ian told me that his parents had bought all the ingredients for Chinese hot pot. I had no objections, hehe. I don't have to cook! What is better, I get to enjoy delicious Chinese food and warm up with the soup, mmm. They had tons of shitake as you can see as brown spots in the pot. I also enjoyed king oyster mushroom, cleaned intestines, shrimps, radish, Chinese cabbage, fish and beef balls, beef as far as I can remember. Cantonese soup is normally very light. It was perfect for a hot pot. I loved how the mushrooms were making mushroomy juice as I took a bite. The radish sucked all the goodness from the soup. Beef balls were very flavorful but not greasy at all. They had tendons with the meat. Cooked shrimps were mildly sweet. I did not need any sauce for them.