Rain drops on roses, gelato in mochi

These are a few of my favorite things!  Hazlenut.  Chocolate.  Gelato.  Mochi.

Hazlenut gelato in chocolate mochi.  What isn't there to love about this combo?

http://www.mikawayausa.com/

Better than Senor Frogs: Senor Fish!

Ok, there's a lot I love about LA.  First, it reminds me of Miami.  Palm trees.  Awesome weather.  Great shopping.  Custo Barcelona.  Ahem.  Custo Barcelona.  ahem.  Custo Barcelona.  Nordstrom Rack.  BCBG outlet.  BCBG OUTLET!!!!  Heat lamps outdoors.  Alcohol that can be consumed outdoors.  Except, LA might just be better than Miami, in that Asian people might actually exist, so people aren't constantly staring or harassing.  Even better, it means one might get Cuban food, El Savadorian food, Mexican food, AND also have plenty of options for getting real Japanese food or other Asian food.  Best of all, might be the totally awesome range of fish taco options.  Senor Fish might be one of my favorites.  How can you not love a colorful sign, the name, and the Japanese accompanying the sign, to reflect that the place is right next to Tokyo town?

Now, it drove me a little crazy that salsa was served from atop of a piano (wince), but they were all super good.  The array is displayed below...along with an order of fish in coconut lime sauce, as well as fish tacos.  I wouldn't get the special fish with coconut number again, but the fish tacos--my goodness were they absolutely ridiculously amazing.  Kind of hating people in LA who have access to such goodness all the time...

Fish tacos!

Fisherman's Market and Grill

Fish tacos here were definitely worth getting.  Also worth getting--the fries.  They're not your traditional fish tacos--options include swordfish and cajun seasoning... we went with mahi mahi and the swordfish.  They were both delicious.

http://www.fishermans.com/

Monterey Park Beijing Pie House

Beijing Hand Pies.  The advertisement looked good.  The establishment was rated in one of the LA magazines focused on Chinese food.  They weren't as amazing as I had remembered eating them as an 8 or 9 year old, but given that they have vegetarian options, I will take what I can get! The meat ones have soup in them, just like I remembered...probably worth checking out if you eat meat.

More from Sabrina's the next morning http://sabrinascafe.com/ ...farmacia wasn't open on Fridays and my visitors were here only briefly...

More Philly Discoveries

Some new favorites

JG Domestic
Food was too fantastic to take pictures of.  I was in horrible pain from fracturing my toe right beforehand.  But I do think it was the food that was so amazing, I succesfully forget about my pain for two hours...  and then I stood up again.  Still, completely worth putting off going to the doctors for the sake of the food.
http://www.jgdomestic.com/

Farmicia
http://www.farmiciarestaurant.com/

Sabrina's

Mammoth stuffed french toast

Pumpkin pancakes with strawberry streusel

Salmon burger

Some new loves in the city of love

Recent hits:


Mix and match Trader Joe's:  Bag of their fettuccine alfredo + frozen broccoli florets + truffle oil = delicious insta-meal 


85-Cent Vegetarian Samosas from International Foods and Spices (4203 Walnut Street).  Spicy and delicious.  Better than the dollar samasos being served at Desi Village for Baltimore Stroll.  Best thing since sliced bread...  In fact, I've also stocked up on my month's supply of parathas, naan, and coriander chutney from here...  Discovery courtesy of okcupid#2...


Wednesday Happy Hour at City Tap http://www.citytaphouse.com/beer20.php.  So long as they don't have packs of orienting freshman, their half-off happy hour is amazing.  Interesting brews and very relaxing outdoor seating... Discovery courtesy of Coworker and OKCupid...


Monk's.  http://www.monkscafe.com/body.cfm?&nav=nav&data=dirs Multiple permutations of mussels with omg-omg-sooo-good fries.  More beers than I ever knew existed.  Vegan cheese steak.  Something for everyone.  Who can complain?  Discovery courtesy of the roommies.

Capogiro.  http://capogirogelato.com/flavors.php?c=n  yah yah yah, I was skeptical about the rave reviews.  I mean, Miami had great gelato.  Boston was a shocking disappointment (yes, I did try multiple places in the North End).  Verdict on Capogiro is it is NOT over-rated.  Discovered it on my own!
Flaves:
Cioccolato Scuro: serious business.  LOVE the dark chocolate.
Nocciola Piemontese: my first choice at most gelato places.  again, amazing.
They had a sorbetto with pineapple and sage the other night, which was out of this world.
I could do without the chocolate/kahlua flavor.


Guapos taco truck.   http://twitter.com/#!/guapostacos
I've been hearing about the Jose Garces restaurant group since moving to Philly.http://grg-mgmt.com/
Sadly, I'm fairly convinced that everyone in my 16-floor building is obsessed with the truck so it took longer than I expected...not sure I could swing it on a day without adequate lunch time ...but I will be back for sure.  Discovery courtesy of my supervisor.  Jose Garces first mentioned by Okcupid recs.


Tria.  http://www.triacafe.com/
Delightful wine bar with scrumptious cheese and tapas...good happy hour deals too, on particular nights :)    Another OkCupid recs.  But exploration was done with my college friend's friend.  Yay for new friends!

Stir.  Lesbian-owned but a mostly gay boy bar.  My perfect helping-the-girls-out but love-the-cliente-more combo.  Looked totally sketch from outside (i.e., requires walking down an alley) but was fantastic inside.  http://www.stirphilly.com/



Some places to keep in the pocket but not necessarily first choice returns:


Varga http://vargabar.com/
The Miss August drink was amaaazing (gin, elderflower, cucumber).  Truffle crab lump fries sounded a bit better than they were in reality.  It's a cute joint.  Wouldn't complain about returning.  Wouldn't be in a rush either.  Discovery courtesy of match...


Desi Village.  Haven't been to the actual restaurant but had their samasos during the Baltimore Dollar Stroll.  The Samasos weren't as good as the ones up the street so...  I'd rather pay less and stop by International Foods which has amazing ones.  The mango lassi on the other hand, was out of this world. Baltimore Dollar Stroll... mentioned first by okcupid1.  Explored with roommates.  Ran into coworkers and okcupid2.  No, Philly is not becoming small at all.


Brown Betty.  http://www.brownbettydesserts.com/  I know, I know.  Everyone keeps talking about them.  I've tried on numerous occasions to go but I swear they're always closed.  I finally made it...and the cupcake was decent, but not as phenomenal as I was hoping.  What am I missing??  I'd go back, but I'm not sure I'd put as much effort in returning as I did in exploring.  If this is the best Philly has to offer in the way of cupcakes, it might be time for me to invest in a kitchenaid, finally.  Similarly, I tried Metropolitan Bakery http://www.metropolitanbakery.com/index.php and found it to be lackluster.  Philly can we do better?  Discovery courtesy of longtime college friend.


Mad Mex.  GREAT happy hour http://www.madmex.com/choose.html... but it's really only a viable option in early August, pre-student-rush... or, if you have a huge amount of patience for the young ones. As we know, I think it's more interesting to study the young ones than have to share after-work space with them. Discovery courtesy of roommates.


Natural Shoe Store.  220 South 40th St.  Some majorly frumpy shoes.  Some straight-from Asia shoes (literally).  Some high end but frumpy shoes (naot, birks, etc.).  I bought totally tacky $4.99 hot pink shoes.  I am a happy girl but know I can't bank on this being a regular supply store...


Verdict Still Out:


Greenline Cafe http://greenlinecafe.com/ and Saxby's http://www.saxbyscoffee.com/.  




Bitter disappointment:
There have been a few but I'll spare those establishments...


And...  back to exploring...
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/eat_cheap_but_well1/page1
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/cheap_eats_food_trucks/

Boston eats...

There have been many 30 y.o. birthday celebrations...  a few food and drink highlights from my birthday and others'!

Oishii!
http://oishiiboston.com/menu-wine.html
By far the best sushi I've ever tasted in my life.  Also, by far the best drinks I have ever had.  I had the following the blueberry lavender w/ gin substituted for the vodka (fresh blueberry puree, lavender simple syrup, lime, and gin).  I also had the world's most delicious rhubarb drink.  I never knew such bliss.

Chirashi

Chirashi: up close and personal

Cutest chocolate truffles I have ever seen.  Brought via cooler from Philly!

http://www.johnandkiras.com/

Interview circuit

It's been a sad sad state of affairs in the cooking world. But. All that is changing! I had a dream about cooking a few nights ago and am convinced it is a sign that I start reconnecting to the kitchen again. (More realistically, I probably had the cooking dream because I'd been watching Iron Chef and sadly had to stop watching before finding out the winner).



My goal this week is to try making cupcakes. Mini, delicious morsels of sweet delight. I have never been able to make a cake. Sooner or later, I should learn... now, why I didn't take advantage of learning how to do so while I'd been dating a former professional pastry chef is beyond me... I never was very bright!



In other news, as exhausting as the interview circuit was, and how tired I was of eating granolas and hummus wraps, there were also multiple stops involving good food.



Boston--well, we all know that I am obsessed with food in Boston. Delicious. Affordable. 'nuf said. Thai, sushi, Schezuan, Cantonese, Northern Chinese, Bertuccis, Indian... life was good. very good.



Philly--We went to the Good Dog, which unlike its name would suggest, had nothing to do with hot dogs. Thankfully! They had one of the yummiest fried goat cheese and beet salad. Philly also involved delicious Indian food, Greek food, Jones (monkey bread! mac and cheese!) delights, and of course, the delight of seeing N and N!



New Haven--I had a HOME COOKED meal when I stayed with A&V. It was sooo nice after traveling for so much time!



Toronto--I have to admit it. The Indian food in the cafeteria of SickKids was GOOD. I had chana masala and it made me one happy camper...especially since I'd left NYC at 4am and was finally eating a breakfast/lunch/dinner combo at 4pm post-interview! Gotta love mechanical failures of planes.



Providence--Brown had the most yummiest salad bar I saw. I'm not kidding.



Long Beach--N&M took me to an amazing Italian place for dinner! It was sooo good!



And now...I will finally stop procrastinating and do what I have to do...

Millet Yam Cakes, Quinoa Cakes, and Chicago

I was looking for a healthy snack at Whole Foods the other day and ended up getting these yummy little gems. Like any good snoop, I took note of the ingredients list and will be trying to replicate the gems in the home kitchen some time soon. If anyone has real recipes for making these treats, please pass along :)

Ingredients:

millet yam cakes:
millet, sweet potatoes, onions, leeks, tamari, oil

quinoia cakes:
quinoa, spinach, carrots, zucchini, "vegetable base--onions tomatoes potatoes carrots celery) salt yeast extract corn starch, onion powder, sugar,lemon juice, garlic, oil pepper

In other news, Chicago was very very cold, but enjoyable. The concept of snow in March now eludes me and you'd never know I was from Boston. We had a lot of good food in Chicago and a lot of it was quite reasonably priced. It's amazing what you get used to paying in Miami!

Heaven on 7 for lunch/brunch--R got the oyster po boy [sandwich with fried oysters and lettuce and other stuff in it] and I got cheese grits and cajun shrimp. It was a fun place with bottles of hot sauce lining the walls. I'm not quite accustomed to the way things are packed in Chicago and therefore, how common it is for things to happen above the ground floor. The restaurant was on the seventh floor. Passing by the building, you'd never really suspect that there'd be a full blown restaurant upstairs. It felt like I constantly had to look upwards in the streets to see what other stores and businesses I was missing--shoe repair places, clothing stores, hair salons all on upper levels. It reminded me a bit of Shanghai in the way you could find restaurants on the 35th floor of some otherwise normal tall building.


Lou Malnati's for deep dish pizza--I'm realizing that I might not like real deep dish pizza, having been trained on Uno's and Pizza Hut... I'm so accustomed to equating deep dish with grease fest that it was a bit disappointing that the pizza here wasn't greasy. Everyone else liked it and I assume I just have very unsophisticated tastes in deep dish... I guess it's the quivalent of people liking crab rangoons at Americanized Chinese restaurants.

Cafe Ba-Ba-Reeba for tapas--we went here a few years ago for ABCT but I loved it so much, I wanted to come again. We sat at the bar since the place was packed... We got shrimp in garlic sauce, manchego and spinach stuffed mushrooms, a cheese plate, and seared scallops with couscous. After 10, tapas were $3 and we ordered a grilled calamari and potatos bravas... After reading some NYTimes article, I've started ordering potato bravas at every tapas restaurant I go to... True to the article, everyone does seem to make it differently. The Ba Ba Reeba version was delicious. It was such a super yummy restaurant. There's no question that I'd go...again.

Corner Bakery Cafe--The desserts are quite yummy. There really aren't enough bakeries in Miami!

Vong's Thai Kitchen--this place was delicious in that fushiony Thai kind of way. They operated as a fancier restaurant in terms of service and deco etc. but they were normally priced. Well, at least normally priced compared to Miami Thai food :). They didn't have space for us until 9pm but it was well worth the wait. Instead of bread, they started us off with a shredded daikon salad which tastes a lot like the ones my grandmother makes. Then we had the tuna sashimi roll--it was alright. I'd be curious to try a different appetizer in the future. I had the penang curry shrimp noodles--a dish with slightly fried and crispy fat rice noodles. The combination of flavors was amazing. R got the red curry pad thai--the flavor was wonderful as well. In both dishes, the ingredients came together perfectly. Each bite was a trip to happy town. Unfortunately, I was so full, that I missed out on the dessert that I had been looking forward to...next trip, I start with dessert! :p

Bistro 110--brunch. This was near the Waterworks and I'd definitely go back in a heartbeat. They start you off with a plate with a huge roasted garlic and fresh bread. I'm a sucker for roasted garlic on bread so I was smitten before I even ordered. I had the Louisiana Eggs which were very good. R's cousin-in-law had the croissant French Toast which also looked heavenly. I'd debated heavily between the two choices. Next trip, I'll try to toast! :) Unless it's fall, in which case his cousin in law says they serve pumpkin soup served in mini pumpkins. Now who wouldn't go for that?

duds:
Billy Goat Tavern. Granted, we first tried going to one under a street bridge late at night so it was completely empty. And then we walked to Timbuktu, well, technically, just another one which turned out to be closed.

Hancock Tower. We went to the 96th Floor to get a drink. After twenty minutes of waiting in line, getting shoved around by the hostess and host, treated rudely by then, and having others seated before us, and dealing with their general bitchiness and sneering, we decided to leave the damn line. Which was probably their goal but honestly, I can pay $12 for a drink in Miami with better service.