odds & ends

It is the end of the month which means that I need to clear out some photos.

Taste Delight's Maple Leaf Cream Cookies. Maple syrup flavored cookies with cream centers. Pulling them apart reminded me of Oreos, I loved the maple syrup flavor. The cream center wasn't maple syrup flavored, if it were I think it would have been too much.

My Smoothie's Superfruit acai smoothie, a product from Sweden have these great design boxes, the box folds up after drinking.

According to the outside of the box, the smoothie has 19 acai berries, 1 apple, 1/2 banana, 14 raspberries, 52 blueberries and 9 blackberries all in this tiny box. I loved the taste but didn't like the pulp, almost made me gag, I'm such a wuss.

Sekai no Kitchen's Tiramisu Latte, was very almond extract-y (is that even grammatically correct?) and combines marscapone and espresso. I don't think I would drink this one again.

Lipton's extra shot Chai....this one was more on the clove side, not sure if I would get this one again.

Dean & Deluca's Bretagne Caramel Walnut Ice cream....delicious. Lots of walnuts in caramel ice cream.

Awhile back, I bought these hotate (scallops) which were grilled at Daiei, 150 yen (about US$1.50) a stick. I also picked up some tako (octopus) and then made a donburi (bowl) with rice, lettuce, the hotate and tako, a little kim chee and yuk-hoe sauce, a fast delicious dinner.

I was surprised at how small the filet-o-fish at McD's is...it was the size of my palm! This sandwich reminds me of my grandma.

When we were growing up we would catch The Bus with my grandparents to Ala Moana shopping center. We would eat lunch at McDonald's and my grandma would always eat the filet-o-fish.

I recently defrosted some homemade portuguese sausage and paired it with kim chee fried rice for a quick weekend lunch.The month flew by so fast!

yukke, yuk-hoe....don!

Lately, when we go to the kaitensushi (conveyor belt sushi), I've been hooked on wa-fu yukke sushi (Japanese style yukke sushi). Sushi rice topped with chopped up fish and a spicy, shoyu sauce, wrapped with a piece of nori (laver).

I've never tried Korean yukke, which I found out is actually spelt yuk-hoe, it is their version of steak tartare which uses raw eggs on top.

The sushi I've been hooked on doesn't use raw eggs, which is probably why I will eat it, plus the spicy sauce is quite addicting.

Wanting to re-create this sushi in the kitchen, I googled around and came upon a recipe for the yuk-hoe sauce. I bought some sashimi and chopped it up, sliced some chisha (bitter korean lettuce), put it over rice, drizzled the sauce, sprinkled some green onion and sesame seeds. I also sprinkled some thinly cut nori (laver)....here's my yuk-hoe donburi or yuk-hoe don.

Here is the recipe for the sauce, use your favorite raw fish.
Adapted from the internet
50cc mirin (sweet rice wine)
50cc shoyu (soy sauce)
50cc sesame seed oil
1 teaspoon kochujang (korean spicy miso paste)
1/2 teaspoon kim chee starter

Measure and mix everything well. Drizzle over your bowl of fish or even a salad!

NOTES: Loved this sauce, it is very close to the one I've had at the sushi places, though I think it could be a bit more spicy...next time I think I'll try it over vinegared sushi rice and maybe let the fish soak in the sauce for awhile.