Tag: food and drink

lunch at bamboo garden Originally uploaded by jadepearli.

at least I think it’s called Bamboo Garden. The only signs on the outside are in Japanese, so I’m really not 100% certain. At any rate, this little place is on Cravens Avenue in Downtown Torrance, and it has the best soba noodles around. Made fresh from scratch, their noodles are soft with a little bit of pushback, not too doughy, and not slimy in the least bit. The kake broth is flavorful but not overpowering, and the smoky fish essence lingers just a little bit in every sip of soup.
I normally shy away from discussing authenticity, because every cuisine is so bastardized that there’s not really an ‘authentic’ anything, but i do think there’s something to be said for eating where the locals eat. I’m almost always the only non-Japanese-speaking person there, and although they do have an English menu, I think there’s only one copy of it in existence. This isn’t a huge point, because the place only seats about 20 people total and you place your order at the counter. There are, however, three copies of the Japanese menu, so eat that! Interior decor is natural and tasteful — no heavy laquers, no cheesy ‘modern Asian’ metallics, just clean, functional, organic-feeling. The place is always overflowing at lunchtime, with Japanese businessmen sitting on the plastic lawn furniture outside, ties thrown over their shoulders, slurping away at their noodles.
Pictured here is a variation on my usual order, the hot kake noodles with a bowl of brine shrimp tempura. i normally get the inari sushi as a side instead, but they ran out that day. I also apologize that this picture doesn’t really do the meal justice because i forgot to snap a picture until about halfway through the meal. (darn.)
Definitely worth trying at least once. Thank you, Masa, for sharing this terrific place with me!

so it’s kind of nice that jer is not around for a little while — I’d forgotten how nice silence is, and how nice it is to leave the TV off while you’re at home. I like that there aren’t larger-than-life faces peering at me from out of a giant slate-colored box, shouting at me and singing to me why i should watch Jessica Simpson’s new show. I like that i’m not overstimulated to the point where I can’t concentrate on anything.

mm potstickers Originally uploaded by jadepearli.

like, for instance, cooking. here is my best plate of potstickers yet, tender and brown, the moisture cooking into the dumpling instead of floating into the air, taking with it a sticky film of grease that clings to every surface in the kitchen.
sleepy. mm sleep…

jer and i eat out way too much. so this weekend i had loads of fun rediscovering my kitchen! call me domestic, but it feels very good to be eating home cookin!

dinner tonight:
broccoli beef
pickled kimchee radish and cucumber from mitsuwa
miso soup with seaweed and tofu (that i made!! not just from a package!!)
rice (mm… rice…)
strawberry mochi ice cream for dessert

I really wanted to make taro tapioca pudding but i didn’t make it out to 99 Ranch today to pick up the necessary ingredients, so maybe next week. Strawberry Mochi ice cream from Trader Joe’s isn’t a bad substitute, though. [wink]

I also really want to try preparing a seabass with miso/ginger sauce, but i’m still looking for a good recipe. i found a few promising ones on Google, so I’ll pick one of them to tackle later this week or next. Hopefully this week.

ooh other things I want to try making:
oyako don (chicken and egg on rice)
gyudon (beef bowl)
korean marinated spinach
korean bean sprout salad
stir fried scallops with snow peas, celery, water chestnuts and cloud ear

I’m going to make more of an effort to prepare things from scratch. No more letting myself be lazy just cuz jer doesn’t mind. I want to eat well, darn it~!!!

[ happy belly here i come~!! ]

http://www.laweekly.com/ink/03/13/winter-gold.php

it was a rare day today in that i went to taco smell today for lunch, and oh boy, i was reminded why that rarity remains so. their chicken soft tacos are fairly generous, but the meat is bone dry. i had drench my tacos in 5 packets of sauce just to get them to go down without sticking too much. man, DEL TACO is SO FAR SUPERIOR to taco smell! *sniffle.* if only we had one closer to campus. -snaps fingers-

i love planters cheez curls. they’re the most wonderful things ever. but they’re not exactly good for you, to put it lightly. =\ here’s the dietary info on them:
total fat: 12g 18%
saturated fat: 2.5g 12%
polyunsaturated fat: 1 g
monounsaturated fat: 1g
sodium: 16%
As one can imagine, these are really really tasty. they’re even better than cheetos!! it’s awful, cuz i consume so much of this stuff when gaming, it’s very very bad. my fingers come out all cheesy and I’m slower on the trigger than I need to be. :(

okay, this is somewhat limited to those who can read chinese, but don’t be intimidated if you can’t! it’s a list of places in and around LA where you can get some good chinese/japanese late night grub. :)
ChineseYpage.com: Late Night Snack

I’m putting off writing my paper for my history of american pop music class, so I’m going to rant about UCLA parking for a little while.

Parking at UCLA is HORRIBLE. I parked at a failed meter because I was late to class, and I came back to find out that the meter had been fixed and I’d been given a $36 ticket for parking at an expired meter. bullcrap! I’m contesting it, but I’ll bet you I’ll still have to pay. =( it was a really insidious ticket as well cuz not only was the checkbox for “expired meter” checked, the “other” box had been checked as well and a notation of $36 on the line next to it. it looks like two citations!! in reality, it was just a raised fine for the expired meter violation. but dude.. if someone’s not careful, they could end up paying $68 bucks. awful! awful awful awful!!

Le Prive is a club in Koreatown that I kept hearing about. I finally had a chance to go there Saturday night. My impressions:
– it’s expensive. our table for 6 cost $200, not including tip.
– the drinking is expensive (you only get a bottle of crown)
– you do get a nice fruit plate.
– the guys try very hard to be “hard.” the girls all seem to try hard to be “sexy.” in short, it’s a very image conscious sort of thing
– music is decent… except when they play slow songs. then it gets to high school dance lameness.
– the place is hopping and quite fun from 11pm-2am. 3 hours of fun. earlier is kinda “Eh.” the club closes at 2am.
– a fight broke out right behind our table. apparently some taiwanese guy had lost his phone and was quite upset about it. large security guys swarmed in after a loud crash of glasses and took some people down. scary? yes. exciting? i guess. funny? quite.
– since it’s a bar in K-Town, people smoke like crazy. I still reek!
More details will be filled in. whee~.