covering all sorts of cravings

Most times whenever I make something, I get greedy and want to be able to cover all sorts of cravings all at once.

Like making this garlic cheese boule, I also wanted to try "Korean garlic bread"

According to what I've seen online since I’d never tried it before, "korean garlic bread" has a sweet cream cheese filling in it.

So, I bought a boule, sliced it to make it a "pull apart", stuffed it with 2 cloves minced garlic, some butter (couple of dabs), some olive oil (1 tablespoon) and shredded cheese (about 50 grams).

My bread knife sucks, so it was hard to cut this boule without smooshing it.

I baked it in a 350F (180C) oven for 30 minutes covered, then took the foil off and toasted it for 5 minutes.

Online I also saw how someone blended cottage cheese with some sugar and lemon to make a "sweetened cream cheese".

I thought this was interesting plus you can apparently get more protein from this concoction than actual cream cheese...

So I blended cottage cheese (200 grams) with 2 tablespoons sugar, zest of 1/2 a lemon and the juice.

It was my first time buying cottage cheese in Japan. 

I had envisioned the cottage cheese to be more liquidy when I opened it, but it wasn't, so when I tried to blend it, it took a while and didn't get smooth like cream cheese.

I think I need to add a little milk next time.

Instead of putting the sweet cream cheese into the garlic bread, we just used it as a spread while eating the garlic bread.

Overall though, Satoshi loved this, it was definitely worth trying.

I'll make this again adding a little more shredded cheese next time.

onolicious hawai’i’s garlic shrimp

Kathy of Onolicious Hawai'i posted a garlic shrimp recipe and I finally got around to trying it.

It was simple and tasty.

• Hawaiian Garlic Shrimp from Onolicious Hawai'i
• 12 ounces shrimp (deveined, shell-on)
• 2 tablespoons mochiko
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 head garlic, minced
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• lemon

Devein the shrimp with the shell on and dry with paper towel (I used the toothpick method to devein)

Melt butter and add minced garlic and cook for about 3 minutes.

Take out of pan and set aside.

Dust the shrimp with mochiko, paprika, cayenne & salt.

Heat olive oil and place shrimp in pan in one layer and cook for 2 minutes on each side.

Add the garlic butter back to the pan and cook for another minute.

Squeeze lemon over and enjoy!

NOTES: the only hard part for me was deveining the shrimp with the shells on. The recipe comes together quickly. I would definitely make this again.

foodiepalooza

Satoshi's whirlwind vacation sadly came to an end today...he's heading back as I write this.

He had so many things he wanted to do and people to see, but just not enough time.

When he arrived his request for lunch was at The Alley...for their garlic shrimp.

We tried the Button Up Cafe in Pearl City.

Where he had their housemade corned beef hash benedicts.

Their food was delicious! and I still can't believe there is a brunch place where Diego's used to be...

He had garlic shrimp at Romy's.

Man, I didn't realize the wait for an order takes almost 40 minutes!

Views at Sunset Beach. (click on the photo to see the video)

His first snow puffy from Paalaa Kai Bakery.

A visit to the newly renovated International Marketplace.

A beautiful space, I hope this place can make a go of things.

We bought some pineapple cakes from Kula & Kō, for his friends...I wish the packaging for these were easier to pack in small suitcases (they are long rectangular boxes).

He visited the Shirokiya Japan Village Walk for the first time and was kinda shocked at how expensive gyoza was...close to $7 (plus tax) (in Osaka we pay half that price...)

We tried Kulu Kulu's Hello Kitty Waffles, which remind me of the baby castellas that we get in Japan, except that these were a little too sweet for us.

His first butter roll at Liliha Bakery...man this was buttery goodness!

Breakfast with Ryan and S...so much fun, though he thought that Rocky's loco moco was on the teeny side...

Furikake Seared Ahi at Fresh Catch...delicious.

Our first time trying Dorito Salad...Oh em gee...so easy to make and sinfully good.

Dinners with family.

Just reconnecting...talking story, laughing and eating...good times.

He also got to play catch with my cousin's son and "maybe" work off some of the food he's been eating...

He also got to see his favorite view. (click to see the video)

He was shocked to see all the changes going on because of the rail system coming up.

And I am pretty sure we will both need to go on a diet after this...

I hope he had a nice and relaxing time, even if we were on the go for most of the time he was here.

Have a safe trip back and see you soon!

Button Up Cafe
719 Kamehameha Highway
Pearl City, Hawaii
Phone: 808.454.5454
Closed Mondays
Hours: Tuesdays-Saturdays 7:00-14:00, Sundays 7:00-13:00

Kula & Kō
International Marketplace, 2nd floor
Waikiki, Hawaii
Phone: 808.692.6788
Hours: 10:00-22:00

Kulu Kulu
Shirokiya Japan Village Walk
Ala Moana Shopping Center
Phone: 808.931.0503
Hours: Daily 10:00-22:00

mitsu-ken

Mom and I recently checked out Mitsu-ken's new location...yup, they moved from that teeny shop and into another teeny shop, BUT now with lots of parking.

Mom went with their fried saimin bento...$6.25 + tax...not much "stuff" in their fried saimin, so she wasn't too impressed with that, but their garlic chicken pieces were huge.

I went with their mini bento...$4.50 + tax

Big improvement with their parking, their lines are still quite long and their food is still delicious...we'll be back.

Mitsu-ken
2300 N. King Street
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808.848.5573
Open Tuesdays-Saturdays 5:00-13:00

finally!

Did you know it took us 3 tries to get a chance to try Mitsu-ken's?

The first time...we went on the day they were closed...no wonder we found parking on the street...ha!

The second time...we went on the day that they having construction done on the street in front and weren't gonna have any water, so they were closed...boo!

The third time...we went after trying to order take out at another place, only to find out they didn't have what we wanted.

So we stood in Mitsu-ken's l-o-n-g line. The line is long because there really is no "shop" to go into, just a cart with hot foods pushed in front of the doorway "creating" an order window.

We ordered their Mitsu-ken bento...US$6.25 + tax.

3 generous pieces of their garlic chicken, teri beef, a shoyu weiner and shoyu spam, lots of rice and an egg omlet (that's how it is spelled).

A ton of food but their garlic chicken is delicious. Very crispy. Driving home, the garlic smell was strong, but not so overpowering while eating it.

Their teri beef was gristly, a bit on the tough side but well soaked.

There is no parking unless you find some on the street, but I'm glad we got to try this place.

We'll be back.

Mitsu-ken (UPDATE: as of 2013, they have moved to a new location)
1223 North School Street
Kalihi, Hawaii
Phone: 808.848.5573
Open Tuesdays-Saturdays 5:00-13:00

roasted pumpkin, garlic & cauliflower soup

The weather has been overcast, one day it rained. Kinda gloomy.

I'm getting over my cold while Satoshi seems to have caught one.

Soup weather.

The recipe comes from here, but instead of onion, I subbed cauliflower.

I also increased the amount of water and consomme cube to twice the amount.

After roasting some pumpkin and cauliflower, I measured 3 cups of water and used some to whiz the veggies as smooth as my teeny food processor can handle. (I'm still working on getting an immersion blender.)

Then I whizzed some roasted garlic I had in the freezer.

I added two consomme cubes and the leftover of the pre-measured 3 cups water.

Heated it and added some salt and pepper.

Dinner.

Served with some rosemary toasts, this was simple, delicious and hit the spot.

I'm also sending this to Deb, for her Souper Sundays, to see an array of soups (sandwiches and salads too), check out her blog on Sundays for the round-up.

Here are some of my previous entries:
Veggie Miso Soup
Kim Chee Chige
Gazpacho
Chinese Chicken Salad
Chili Soup
Beef and Dark Beer Chili
Tomato Miso Soup
Beef Barley

miso dip

When we went to Kobe last Wednesday, I popped into Fine, a shop by Cerfeuil to see their jams and to see what was new.

I noticed some savory types and checked my cookbook written by them.

Inside the book they had a recipe for a miso dip with sesame seeds and garlic.

The recipe calls for you to fry the garlic, but since I was afraid I would burn the garlic thus getting bitter garlic, I instead roasted it. (425°F/220°C for 40 minutes with some olive oil)

It came out really good and reminded us of houba miso, which we've had in Takayama (pre-blog) and abura miso, which we've had in Okinawa.

A little sweet, a little salty, a little kick from the roasted garlic and nuttiness from the sesame seeds.

We had this with steak but I think it would also be nice with veggie sticks.

Great with beer.

Here is my adaptation of the recipe...makes about 1/2 a cup

40 grams awase miso*
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon sake (rice wine)
1/2 teaspoon mirin (sweet rice wine)
10 grams garlic, roasted (about a clove and a half), then minced
2.5 grams black sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame oil
green onions, chopped (amount to your liking)

*Awase miso is a mixture of miso made with beans and miso made from rice. Different makers combine the two in various ratios. I made my own in a 1:1 ratio. If you can't get the two types just use what you have on hand. Depending on how sweet your miso is, you may have to adjust the amount of sugar. Or if you don't want the dip to be too sweet and more on the salty side, you can cut back the sugar.

Mix everything well. Let chill.

Enjoy!

NOTES: The recipe didn't include this but I also added some chopped green onions for a spicy crunch.

The cookbook says that it would be nice mixed with some vinegar as a sauce for yakiniku (grilled meat), but we think it may not match.

It also said it would be nice in a musubi...so that is what I did and you know what? It was.

I had some leftover steak, so I cut it up into smaller pieces and heated it up with some green onions and a half teaspoon of the miso dip.

Put it into the musubi and lunch was served.

The book only talks about the dip matching with beef but I'm pretty sure this would work with pork and chicken too.

In fact, I sauteed some thinly sliced pork with onions in some sesame seed oil then added the miso (about a teaspoon), a scrambled egg and green onions.

Poured over rice, it was a great buta don (pork bowl).

We love it and I'm making this dip again.

roasted garlic and red pepper dip

I had some cloves of garlic sitting out and wanted to use them up, so I roasted them with a red bell pepper and made a simple dip out of them.

3 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1 red bell pepper, washed
1/2 tablespoon EVOO

72 grams of cream cheese (about 2.5 ounces)
grinds of pepper (to your liking)
handful of Italian parsley, chopped, leaves only

Heat oven to 220C (425F)
Drizzle oil over garlic
Roast red bell pepper and garlic for 40 minutes.

Peel skin off of red bell pepper and take out seeds.
Peel garlic

Throw both into a food processor, whiz until a paste
Add in cream cheese, pepper & parsley

Whiz until you get the consistency that you want.

Eat with pretzels or bread.

Enjoy!

NOTES: too bad I had a dentist appointment Monday morning, this would have been perfect to munch on while watching the Super Bowl.

I want to try these two ingredients with garbanzos for a roasted red pepper hummus, I think it will taste like a pre-made hummus I used to buy in Hawaii...

p.s. today is Kenkoku Kinen no Hi (National Foundation Day), the day when the first Emperor, Jimmu, ascended the throne. It is a national holiday, hopefully the weather will be cooperative so we can get out and about, it has been raining here for the past couple of days.

the past couple of days

Thank you for your Christmas wishes. Satoshi was able to take the day off so we spent the day together. (Christmas is not a national holiday here, so if it falls on a weekday, most times Satoshi has to work--I think this was the first time in 7 years of living here that he was able to take the day off.) To our family and friends, we appreciate all of your cards and gifts.

This Christmas was rainy and cold. I was hoping to see some flurries but there were none to be seen.

We had our annual Christmas party on the 23rd with two other families. I brought two cream cheese dips. One with smoked salmon and one with roasted garlic and served them with Ritz crackers. It was a nice gathering and nice to see our friend's children who are getting bigger each year.

Our Christmas dinner last night was a pupu (appetizer) party. I made a version of Deb's ahi, avocado, crab towers. For some reason, the market didn't have maguro today, so I subbed salmon cut for sushi. I did it a bit chunky but it was still delicious.

We also had slices of apple with smoked cheddar.

There was also some chips and a glass of Two Oceans pinotage, a South African wine.

Dessert was chocolate dipped strawberries.
Recently, I bought a fondue pot by Vanilla Patisserie, which I found out is a shop in England. DHC, which I have written about before, was selling these pots in dark 70%, milk with hazelnut and white at an introductory price of 800 yen (about US$8). Of course, I bought the 70%. Just warm up the pot in some hot water for about 10-15 minutes and you are good to go.

Despite the rain, it was a great day. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and were able to enjoy it with family and friends.

foodie kind of weekend

On Saturday, we got together with my host family, their children and their children's children. I've written about my host-mom and a little about my host family here. With everyone's busy schedules, we were finally able to get together. Boy was it loud! 4 kids running around, mostly laughing and sometimes crying. My host-mom, who loves to cook, cooked up a storm! We had lots of good food and though it was hard for the adults to sit and chat because of all the running around, we still had a nice time.

Here's a little peek at the goodies we received from my host-brother, host-sister & host-mom.

From my host-brother--A moist cake called kuromame king made by Morinaka. Inside is a whole chestnut and the top are plump sweetened black beans. The cake is similar to a moist pound cake. This cake won the Monde selection for 2007. Monde selection is a Belgian award given to foods and beverages with International quality around the world. The Japanese really line up for stuff like this.

From my host-sister--Assorted cookies from Alsace. These cookies were very crisp and delicious.

From my host-mom--an assortment of sweets from Konigs Krone. These cakes were very moist and not too sweet.

Sunday was spent watching a recently released movie and just hanging out. I also picked some of our strawberries they are a little bit bigger than the first time and still very sweet.

For part of our dinner, I roasted 2 cloves of garlic then whizzed them in the food processor, added about 200g of cream cheese, some parsley and pepper. It tasted really good on Ritz crackers and toasted French bread.

This cup was so cute, it was the utensil and napkin holder at a little cafe we had breakfast at before the movie. When you turned it around it had "Bon Jour, cava?" written on it which I think meant "Good day, how are you?"

Hope you have a nice week.

pumpkin "pie"

Saturday's dinner was inspired from this book. In it, I found a recipe for Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Garlic.

I ended up not following the recipe and did my own thing.

Roasted Pumpkin, Onion and Garlic Soup inspired by "Little Book of Soup"

1/4 pumpkin, seeded with skin on
3 tablepoons olive oil
1 onion, halved
salt
1 clove garlic, leave skin on
1 cube consomme
300 ml water
pepper

Put foil onto pan and lay pumpkin, onion and garlic. Drizzle olive oil over the veggies. Sprinkle some salt.
Put into 200C (400F) oven and roast for 30-40 minutes.
In a pot, put together the consomme with the water, heat.
Use a spoon to scrape out the pumpkin after roasting and throw all veggies into a food processor.
Add some of the consomme to the food processor to help liquidize the veggies.
Add some salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with a 1/2 teaspoon of cream.

As the veggies roasted the aroma that filled the room was delicious. This soup wasn't thick, but it sure hit the spot.

In Japan, they call puff pastry sheets, pie sheets. I made some "pies" for us, using cubes of Monbana 70% chocolate with nibs and a squeeze of chestnut paste....delicious gooey-ness!

waiting for the typhoon to pass

Well, the typhoon is now over Kyushu and part of Shikoku, it is estimated to pass over Osaka either tonight or tomorrow. In the meantime, we have been having rain off and on during the day. (Can you believe that Satoshi had to go to work?)

Anyway, I saw the recipe for this pupu (appetizer in Hawaiian) in Gourmet Magazine's January issue. I also saw it being served here. (I think it may be a trendy thing in Hawaii now)...stir fried soybeans with garlic and chile.

Another easy dish to make and really good with BEER!

Stir Fried Soybeans with Garlic & Chile
from Gourmet January 2007--adapted from Pineapple Room

1 lb. soybean (frozen in shell)
2 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
2 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 teaspoon minced, peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoon minced garlic

Cook soybeans in 5-6 quart pot of unsalted water for 5 minutes then drain in colander.

Stir together soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil and red pepper flakes in a bowl.

Heat wok over high heat until a drop of water evaporates immediately.

Add vegetable oil, swirling to coat wok. Add ginger & garlic and stir fry until fragrant (about 15 seconds). Add soybeans, stir fry until lightly charred (about 2-3 minutes).

Add soy sauce mixture and stir fry until soybeans are coated and most of liquid has evaporated (about 1 minute).

Enjoy!

I had this appetizer for dinner along with shogayaki donburi (pork ginger bowls) topped with okra and green onions and of course...BEER!

NOTES: I used fresh soybeans for this recipe. The flavor of the sauce is very addicting and leaves a little sting on your lips after you have eaten a few.

zaney's

I first read about Zaney's on Ono Kine Grindz' blog a while back and made note of it as a "place to try".

Today my friend, BFF and I went to check it out.

It is located just on the outskirts of Chinatown on Nuuanu Avenue. There is a pay-parking lot right across the street from the restaurant and also some on-street metered parking.

Their signature dish is the garlic fried chicken. The chicken is deep fried then tossed in a garlicky-shoyu (soy sauce) sauce. They also have other entrees too-- some change daily. The plates come in mini, regular, 2-choice and 3-choice (for the really hungry).

We tried the salad with garlic fried chicken plate for US$5.50. A bed of romaine lettuce drizzled with a creamy oriental dressing then topped with the sweet, salty and juicy garlic fried chicken....OMG...so ono!

The portion is just right and the chicken stays crispy until the very end. If you go to Chinatown, be sure to check this place out.

Zaney's
1170 Nuuanu Avenue Suite 102
Honolulu, Hawaii
Phone: 808-523-3380

UPDATE: 7/21/09: looks like this place closed down or moved.

leftovers

Today is Friday, which means, time to clean out the refrig...as much as possible anyway.

Tonight's dinner, leftover garlic mochiko chicken--donburi(bowl) style.

All I did was slice up some cabbage and carrots, heat it up in a frying pan, add the chicken (cut up into smaller pieces), add a scrambled egg and topped with green onions.

Fast, simple...delicious!

Enjoy the weekend!

garlic mochiko chicken

Last night's dinner was using a new recipe that I got from Nate of HwnPakeOkinawa called garlic mochiko chicken. It is very simple to make.

In Hawaii, you can often find mochiko chicken, a fried chicken with a sweet/salty outside, at drive-inns, diners, bento-ya (places which make Japanese-style boxed lunches) and lunch wagons.

This recipe adds garlic to a sauce which you dredge the fried chicken into. It is great for working moms and dads, as you can marinate the chicken overnight, or before you go to work and fry it up when you get home.

I served this with steamed carrots and zucchini and my rice mixture.

NOTES: gotta work on my deep frying, was a bit soggy...still, it was delicious! and reminded me of the plate lunches back home.

A plate lunch is usually a plate filled with two scoops of rice, a scoop of macaroni salad and the entree, they are sold from lunchwagons alongside the road--near industrial areas or near the beach. Nowadays, they also have mini versions of plate lunches with one scoop of rice,one scoop of macaroni salad and the entree.

UPDATE: Since Nate's blog is no longer public, I'm posting the recipe here:
2 pounds chicken
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup mochiko
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup shoyu
3 eggs

1. Mix ingredients and marinate for 3 hours
2. Deep fry until brown
3. While hot, dip in dipping sauce

Dipping sauce:
1 cup shoyu
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 tablespoons sugar
4 drops sesame oil
1 teaspoon chili flakes
2 stalks green onion, minced