because my mom said so

Thursday! So my mom had just finished cooking dinner. It was the first time I had been home to eat for over a week and I was excited to see what she had prepared. My mom is Japanese, so she spends way too much time making food look pretty and delicious. BUT she's American enough to spend just as much time making it taste amazing.


Not-beef stew, ocean salad + tomatoes, some kind of misozuke, and mugicha!
I told my mom at the beginning of the year that I was thinking about starting and maintaining a food blog. She said I should post all the meals she makes so she can get a fan base and sell a cooking book (jokingly, of course). But since that convo, she always asks me to take pictures of her meals. "What, it's not good enough for you blog?" So this post is for you, mom. Photos of meals you've made for me. Sorry there aren't as many as you thought there would be.

Tri-tip steak medium rare, grilled bell pepper and carrots, white miso soup with aburage and gobo, ahi poke, rice + this grain mix that my mom puts in it (i'll find out what it's called)



Hiyashi ramen with homemade chashu!



Tri-tip again! With stirfried gobo/mixed frozen greens, miso eggplant, and rice!

note to self: get a better camera.

internet + food = future shopping addiction

So lately I've been feeling a little depressed (probably because I've been stuffing myself with cakes from work) so I've been online shopping. My usual method is to add everything I want in the cart until I feel satisfied, then scroll up and down the list, deleting things until I come up with a reasonable sum. I did it on UO for about two hours and cut my $1K+ shopping total to some measly $380. I haven't bought it yet, but just illustrating... I'm kind of addicted to online shopping.

I guess I'm like most people. I absolutely hate the whole standing in lines, walking around searching through everything. It's like an awful scavenger hunt that I end up having to PAY for. Online shopping makes it easy because the computer knows exactly if the size exists or not! No searching! It's just there or it isn't!

If only grocery shopping were that easy.. but wait! IT IS!

Did you know if you type in "bacon" into Amazon's search bar this comes up?

I guess it's really no surprise that online food shopping is becoming more and more common. Google's top searches for 2009 includes a food list. Globally, the top searches are as follows:

1. acai berry
2. picnic
3. クックパッド
4. tesco direct
5. senseo
6. peanut butter recall
7. nespresso commande
8. habibs delivery
9. mocktail
10. masterchef australia

The ease and accessibility is making my life a nightmare. While hanging out with the boyfriend at home just after shopping for Japanese chocolates, I found an ebay user selling Coffeebeat. It's this candy made by Meiji and it's my absolute favorite candy of all time. I've been searching all over Hawaii for it and to my astonishment, the internet has a number of websites I can order it in bulk! The shipping is a bitch, but I think it'd be worth it.

Twenty of these for $23 + $9 S&H? I THINK IT'S WORTH IT. Try and convince me otherwise!

GARLIC BREAD FOREVER

Pretty much anyone who knows me probably knows that I don't really like bread. It's too chewy and I often find myself exhausted before I'm done with a bagel, piece of toast, cheese sticks, etc. My jaw is literally tired from all the chewing. I wish it came in an easy-swallow form (that's what she said).

Fortunately, easy swallowing is exactly what garlic bread is to me. It's this intensely flavorful yet soft bread that isn't hard to chew and goes with just about every meal imaginable (except Asian meals, but come on that was obvious).

I recently discovered how amazing the frozen food section is and Walmart always has crazy good deals. This is my favorite garlic bread but my brother loves it just as much as I do so it's never around long enough. The first slice I had of this was with a bowl of Manhattan Clam Chowder. The bread doesn't go so well with the creamy soups, just a FYI. Lately I've resorted to making a ghetto fab version using french bread. Here's the recepie.

Slices of french bread, 1/2 inch thick
Butter
Dash of salt and pepper (recommend garlic salt)
Parsley (fresh, if you can)
Diced garlic (you can always use minced garlic that they sell in bottles at the supermarket)
Parmesan cheese (fresh or powdered, purely up to you)

I like to heat the bread for a bit in my toaster oven before I spread everything on it, butter first then seasonings and garlic next with the cheese being last. I should probably add here that you totally don't want to add too much salt. It's highly likely that the cheese and butter are already a bit salted for preservation, so try to be a bit skimpy. If anything, you can always add more after it's done. I've experimented with mozzarella but it's not as flavorful as parmesan. Also, using the powdered pre-grated stuff tends to lack the moisture that keeps the bread soft and moist so I say do it legit if you can afford it.

I'm trying to figure out more inventive ways to make it. Maybe creating a butter-based garlic spread with cheese already inside? That way the flavors can mix and sit together before it's spread on the bread? Maybe a different kind of bread. Maybe instead of diced garlic cloves I could just cut them into chunks? Grate them? How about just making the bread with all this stuff in the dough from the get go? Oh, the possibilities! I'll keep you guys posted if I come up with something super awesome.

How the eff did I write a whole blog about garlic bread? Man, this is amazing even for me.

Sushi @ Hanamaru

So back in '06 I worked at this restaurant called Restaurant Suntory. It's in the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. Japanese dining, predominately washoku (western style Japanese cuisine) and teppanyaki. But there was also a sushi counter! And this is where I met Kishimoto. He's a really funny guy but kind of quirky. He also hits on my mom all the time. I probably should have taken a photo but alas! I did not.

ANYWAY. Kishimoto now works as a sushi chef at Hanamaru Restaurant! Located on South King, it's incredibly close to the University and other Japanese dining. It is also a washoku/sushi restaurant (think fancier version of Sushi King). The prices are incredibly reasonable. The first time I went was when they first opened and it sucked. But lately my mom and I have been going and the service has been much better! Not to mention the quality of food has definitely improved. Moili'ili is such a Japanese neighborhood, on the real.




Here's an awful photo of my umeshu! Plum wine is amazingly sweet and I feel pairs well with sashimi and other seafood. I ordered the kaki-fry set (oyster fry). It was six amazing pieces of deep fried oysters. It also comes with a tossed salad, miso soup, rice, and tsukemono (picked vegetables). I was elated!



My mom ordered a number of different sushi, which I did not photograph. But the portions are decent sized; they don't skimp out on you like some sushi bars do. We also ordered the special of the evening, white-fish sashimi. Here's a video of her trying to name all the fish on the sushi clock!

It was an assortment of white fish, I can't recall exactly which. But five pieces of three types of fish and it was $18. For dessert I had shiratama shiruko (mochi in azuki soup). It was chilled and not too sweet. I enjoyed it a lot!

Anyway that was my experience at Hanamaru. Tottemo oishikatta! :)