52 Week Project : Week 24
Bottled Flower
Canon 5D MkII / 50mm f/1.4
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52 Week Project : Week 22
Clouds on the Horizon
Canon 5D MkII / 50mm f/1.4
Cancun, Mexico
25 shots photomerge
52 Week Project : Week 21
Inside of Infinity
Canon 5D MkII / 50mm f/1.4
*Wading into the pool to take this shot is probably one of the riskiest thing I’ve done with my camera.
Ikko
I want to start off by saying, “make reservations”, but if you don’t, fear n the wait for the sushi bar is still worth it. The entire restaurant is tiny. However, their smallness really help project an intimate environment, while their chef to patron ratio made it feel like we had his undivided attention. Furthermore, one of the refreshing things about Ikko is that when we ask the chef for omakase, he asked us how much we wanted to spend. I really liked this because we could enjoy our meal without having to worry about getting carried away and having our bill to balloon on us.
Now, when the chef brought out our first dish, crab meat soup and a potato chip topped wasabi mousse, I knew right away that this would be an interesting and fun night. The chef kept churning out one elegant dish after another. He took every measure to make sure each dish look as amazing as it tasted. After the third dish, it started to feel like I was a judge on the Iron Chef show. Another pleasant highlight of the night was the large cup of cool, smooth saké served in a wooden box.
Every dish was simply amazing. For the most part, every dish was an original new dish I never had before. We went to Ikko expecting just nigiri sushi, but ended up with a lot more. It would be impossible to name my favorite dish of the night, but some of the top plates were the Pork Chashu Arugula Salad, Baby Lobster, Beef Tongue with Foie gras, and seared Toro. I seriously think our chef could be a contender on the Iron Chef. So even though Ikko is a little bit pricier than we were use to, it was definitely worth every penny.
I am definitely looking forward to revisiting them soon.
Tuna Casserole
It’s been awhile since I stepped into my kitchen for anymore than to use the microwave. I figured I should try to make something new before I get rusty.
Tuna Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 (12 ounce) package egg noodles
- 1/4 cup chopped onion
- 2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 2 (6 ounce) cans tuna, drained
- 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1/2 (4.5 ounce) can sliced mushrooms
- 1 cup crushed potato chips
Directions
- Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente; drain.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- In a large bowl, thoroughly mix noodles, onion, 1 cup cheese, peas, tuna, soup and mushrooms. Transfer to a 9×13 inch baking dish, and top with potato chip crumbs and remaining 1 cup cheese.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheese is bubbly.
Uyen Thy Bistro
Uyen Thy is a small quaint French Vietnamese bistro in Westminster. I first came across Uyen Thy when my friend took me there a few years back for their chicken with fried sticky rice. Ever since then, it’s been one of my favorite spots to dine at, especially for Sunday brunch. Their beef stew was pretty good, but I wished they would have cooked it a bit longer. The beef was tender, but it wasn’t exactly melt in your mouth tender. However, their loaves of bread were hot and straight from the oven fresh, which gave the dish some extra bonus points.
Now the main reason I keep coming back is for their chicken with fried sticky rice. I honestly rarely order anything else beside that. The chicken has a nice crispy and crunchy shell which goes really well with the garlic soy sauce. But it’s not until you follow it up with a bite of the fried sticky rice does the flavors really meld together. It’s a really simple dish, but I haven’t found served anywhere else. I strongly recommend this dish if it’s your first time at Uyen Thy.
52 Week Project : Week 18
Mother’s Day Sky
Canon 5D MkII / 50mm f/1.4
Kitayama – Sushi
The last time I was at Kitayama, I didn’t get to dine at the sushi bar, so I was really looking forward to my next visit there. Prior to returning there, I have heard a lot about their sushi chef Yama-san, short of Yamazuki, and on more than one count was referred as one of the best in California. Therefore, I wasn’t a bit least surprises to find out that it would be a 30 minute wait to sit with him at the sushi bar. However, with a fully stock bar and a knowledgeable bartender, those 30 minutes went by quick and soon enough, I was sitting down with Yama-san.
Yama-san style is best described as creative without straying far from the fundamentals. A lot of the dishes that he brought out look really familiar to us, but they all had a unique yet subtle twist to them. The best example of this would be the seared toro draped with seared uni. Another memorable dish was the toro hand roll, which was savory to the very last bite. The wrap up our dinner, the sushi chef present us with a completely new and original dish which appeared to be minced uni wrapped in seaweed and lightly deep fried. The individual pieces look like black wantons, but the taste and texture is simply indescribable. Without a doubt, it was amazing and completed made our wait worth it. And of course, we ended our night with the black sesame crème brûlée again.
Sagami-Tei
I had teppan a few times before. One of the most memorable experiences was when we ate at Kobe Japanese Steak House in Hawaii. So it was only natural that I was cravings teppan after I had nogastic feelings of Hawaii. I’ve driven by Sagami-Tei several times before, but never ventured inside before. However, since I was reminiscing about teppan, I figured I should give Sagami-Tei a try and see if it would satisfy my cravings.
Well, I regretted that decision the moment I walked in. I know they say, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, but it was almost unbearable. Their only décor was a string of cheap paper lanterns in assorted colors and two TVs tuned to ESPN. The lighting was uneven throughout the restaurant, but no matter how dimly lighted it was, you still could see yourself surrounded by grease and grime.
Since ambience was out the door, I was really hoping the food and chef would be spectacular since at this point it was going to require something short of a miracle for us to ever come back. Sadly, it wasn’t a surprise that Sagami-Tei left me feeling disappointed in both categories. Not only was the food subpar, the chef was extremely obnoxious, killing what little appetite I had left. His rude and crude jokes made us and the rest of the guest at the counter feeling awkward and speechless. We heard bad and inappropriate jokes before, but the chef was just relentless.
This place was one of the worst experiences we had to this day. We left feeling like we should have stayed home and ate cup noodles instead.
Dr. Import
I use to take my BMW to the dealership every time I need something to be done. Unfortunately, it always felt like they were trying to squeeze early penny out me so I usually dreaded the thought of even going. I knew when I bought my car that maintenance and repairs wouldn’t be cheap, but whenever I took my car into the dealership for something simple, I would end up leaving with a ton of extra stuff to pay for.
However, that was not the case at Dr. Import. Jack was able to explain everything they needed to do when I brought in the car and called me when they found something extra. He broke down all the critical items that needed to be address immediately from the items that could wait. His estimates for every item were right on the dot, so there weren’t any surprise when I was time to flip the bill. Jack at Dr. Import really made my experience pain free.
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