Over rice. Again.

On a less controversial note…. really I hadn’t realized my last post would be a bit of a touch-and-go for a few people… it really was basically saying; dude writer… write, listen, grow but write. And yeah, there’s gonna be a lot of noise. Listen to some. Don’t get bogged down. Go forward. *nods*

BUT on a better and tastier note, we went to a new Thai place… new for us. Damn it was good.

Thai Iced Coffee and Thai Iced Tea

Tom Kahr Soup

Curry Dumplings

Roasted Duck Pad See Ew Noodles

Spicy Drunken Noodles

One of the best parts of living in SoCal? I can get bento lunches. And iced milk coffee. And um… ready made bulgogi. *grins*

Today’s lunch. Well mine and my sister’s. But this is what I picked up at the market. Mitsuwa. Life is good.

Um… a mixture of sushi. my chicken and salmon teriyaki bento and an assortment of inari (tofu rolls) and unagi (eel) rolls.

Did I mention life is good?

Zoom enabled 😀

I stole The Angry Rat from her college apartment/dorm today for fooding and coffee. And some photoshop discussions. She choose Chinese. We went to Golden City. Ate. Much. Then took her to bakery so she could stock up on goodies. Day was great. Sooooo nice.

Susu (Anthony) was working and we made semi-plans for lunch some time. Our skeds never match up. We both work too many jobs. *laughs* We basically see each other when he’s covering for his aunt’s restaurant and we go eat. 😀

Food today is Crispy Noodle, Chicken with Black Bean Sauce, Orange Beef, Spicy Green Beans

Now, here’s a bit of disclosure about Golden City if I haven’t told you all this before. We are friends with the owners’ and their family. The nephew, Anthony, is a very dear friend of mine. I’ve known him since he was barely legal and ah, now he’s a mechanical engineer but still works at the restaurant at night because you know… family.

So we headed to lunch there today. And now I am so fricking full I’m going to go into a coma.

Now, what everyone calls Singapore Noodles isn’t really from Singapore but oh…. sooooo good. Curried rice noodles.

This is Spicy Salt Shrimp. Yes, there are eyes and legs but my “adopted” sister can deal. But oh, this is sooooooo good. Heh.

Ah, this is what I had for lunch. It’s a steamed kinda sweet-savoury steamed pork belly with preserved veggies. One of my favourite foods. And a very traditional dish which was apparently a shock to the older couple sitting next to us with their daughter-in-law. The grandfather was astonished and glad to see me eating it. *laughs* It is his brother’s favourite dish too and he often has to fight with his brother to get some. It is a hint of clove and anise with a sweet char siu taste to it. LOVE it.

Did I mention the food coma? That is happening in about ten to fifteen minutes.

Today’s lunch is old school plantation style bento food. Chopped up vienna sausage and eggs, bread and butter and kimchi.

So I’m in Santa Monica for the weekend. The word “in” is relative because really I’ve spent more time driving around in Los Angeles than actually in the bungalow but that’s pretty much Los Angeles for you.

Ren, my darling younger sister by another set of parents, has been longing to find people to eat xiao long bao for her. She’s a vegetarian and well, xiao long bao is an incredible dish and she knew a place where it apparently is sublime.

Xiao long bao is a type of dim sum with a pocket of broth inside of it along with meat, usually meat. It’s a delicate dish to balance and well there are some horrible versions of it out there. So it was a quest. I LOVE xiao long bao and hadn’t had it in a while. So off to Arcadia we went.

This is what the inside should look like. (zoom enabled for all pix)

Continue reading “On the Hunt for Xiao Long Bao” →

Stopped at H-Mart for grocery stuff I can’t get at Vons… namely you know… Asian food things. They have a lunch counter there and well…. I was craving Jjajangmyeon for days so… there you have it. That’s for lunch.

Jjajangmyeon is a black-bean sauced noodle. It’s in the bowl. This one has veggies and pork in it. Everyone makes it differently. The ddeokbokki is fish cake, rice cake dumplings, egg and veggies. There’s some pickled daikon shreds to the side too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jajangmyeon and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tteokbokki

 

The fish comes with a chile lime tortilla crust but I like adding a bit more spices to it. The pasta is simple: angel hair with butter, italian seasonings and garlic. The beets were roasted for an hour then salted, peppered and garliced then mingled in with queso fresca. Sure it looks odd but hey, it’s good. *grins*