On hiatus for a little. But wanted to share with you new things!!!

Okay! I've been away from here for a little, not because I wasn't hungry or eating, I have busy being a mommy. Anyhow, my super lovely daughter who has bundles of energy, enough to pass around to every single person in this world, is now on a gluten free diet. A choice made by me and now we see her miracles happening in her. So in the coming months you will be hearing a lot about the gluten free diet. So all you gluten-free people out there, I am here for you, and I will be sharing some great things with you, I hope I do....:-)

While looking for something sweet, there is a great company out there that makes gluten free, dairy free, vegan treats for everyone. It is quite delicious, try the walnut macaroon that I almost died eating. Read more about it at their site: http://www.smarttreat.com/

Why Not a Macaroni Egg Salad for Breakfast?

It delicious. It's easy to make in relatively no time. Move over Rachel Ray and her 30 minute meals. I'm usually one of those types of people who will eat spaghetti or a steak for breakfast, so nothing is unusual for me. I started a pot with water. I let it boil for about 10 min then I added my four eggs. About 5 min after I added my macaroni to the same pot. I know unconventional, I like to do things my way. I waited for the noodles to be perfect, then I dumped both out to drain. I put some chopped onions and mayo into a bowl, with a splash of lemon juice. I chopped the eggs into little pieces, and then I added the macaroni and eggs into the bowl. I mixed all the ingredients together with some salt and freshly grounded pepper, and there came out my Macaroni Egg Salad.

Try it out!

Ingredients

Macaroni

Eggs

Mayo

White Onion

Lemon Juice

Salt

Pepper

I ate dinner @ Yoshinoya!

So after going to go see"Kung Fu Panda" with the family and visiting my mother at the hospital, we were driving down Santa Monica and my husband said, "What are we going to eat?" Now, in our language that is translated to, "I don't feel like going home and cooking, so let's find something to eat here." We were driving down on Santa Monica and there was nothing that really struck a cord. We passed a McDonalds, then a Carl's Jr, followed by El Pollo Loco, and finally we saw a Yoshinoya, and my husband's like, "let's just go there." We pretty much ordered the same thing. I ordered the Beef Bowl combo and my husband ordered the Beef/Chicken Combo. The foods okay, the beef is tender and they give you lots of rice. I didn't know that they had miso soup until today and so I got it as my side. Big mistake, tasted like it came out of a box, very instant and cardboard-like taste. I think I like to go here to people watch, as in "interesting people". It never fails, I always see the craziest people when I'm there. I think Yoshinoya is a place to go when you feel lazy and want to be amuzed by the people you see there. :-)

I am a 1/2 and 1/2 eat on this one!

My Yummy Yummy Macaroni

Hey doesn't that rhyme? Speaking of my title, it was sooooo good. This is what I came up with for dinner tonight. For those of you that know me and have tried my food, you know, I like to throw things together, I will try anything. I don't follow recipes, I've tried and failed at that, and I like to make my own stuff, which I must say 9 times out of 10, comes out quite fantastico. Today I was in a pasta mood, but I didn't want spaghetti. I looked in the pantry and guess what I saw, macaroni!! I was like hmm, let me start the pot. I took out 8 cloves of garlic, a half of a large white onion, and one large carrot. I diced all of them. I put olive oil in the pan, let it heat, then I tossed it all in under medium heat. Once I saw that they were sweating, I put some SAKE in, and yes SAKE. Then I put some sweet frozen corn and let those all mix in and rest. I then put in my macaroni in the aggresively boiling water. I usually just look at the size double, and then I call it "al dente." I drained the noodles and let it sit. I went back to my pan and put a can of diced tomatos, cayenne pepper, a pinch of salt and some freshly grounded pepper. I took the macaroni and mixed it in, and there came out my yummy yummy macaroni. It's magical I must say! ;-)

Ingredients:

macaroni

garlic

onion

carrot

sweet corn

can of diced tomatos

olive oil

salt

pepper

sake

cayenne pepper

Have fun with your food and improvise, make it your own, that's what makes it special!!

This is a YES YES EAT!!!

I went to California Pizza Kitchen

For most of you reading, this will be unenthusiastic. It's another chain restaurant with a non-changing menu. The reason I want to write about this restaurant is that there so many great qualities to it. I have gone to this establishment numerous times, I mean over 30 or so times. And the reason I keep going back is that the food is actually fresh, innovative, and tastes good. I can't speak for every CPK, but the one I go to in Westwood, which is always very busy with lines out the door, is top notch.

Today I went with my friend Lilian. I ordered what I always order which is the miso salad with shrimp and blue crap (pictured above). It has the perfect crunch to it, with avocado, wonton strips, edamame, crisp cabbage, blue crab with shrimp, and the miso sauce. It's really good and the portion is huge. This is the one place I actually order a salad as a meal. Other places, I order it to accompany my big entree. It looks pretty and you know how we like pretty things. Lilian ordered the vegetarian with japanese eggplant pizza (picture to the right). (From the website, it contains:Mozzarella cheese, baby broccoli, grilled Japanese eggplant, roasted corn, sliced red onions, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes and our tomato sauce. Recommended on Honeywheat Dough.) She has eaten this before and loves it. I looked at it, and the cheese was perfectly melted and the vegetables were very juicy. Another recommendation is the Kung Pao Spaghetti, it never fails me, it's perfectly spicy with an innovative twist.

CPK is definitely a YES EAT!

When you just want to go somewhere to eat and don't want to dress up or go to the nearby Denny's, this is definitely the place to go.

BTW:They did not pay me to say this! I wish they did!;-)

Gonpachi Anniversary Party Review!

My friend Talia and I went to the anniversary party I posted about yesterday. By the time we got there which was around 7:47pm the valet parking line was literally down the street with lots of cars just waiting, we opted to park the car at a meter. When you approach Gonpachi, it's a feeling of going to Japan, with its traditional Japanese architecture. We walked in and there were loads of people. Who are we kidding? We are in LA and with free food + free booze, we might as well have seen all of LA tonight. As we walked in, our nice hostess lets us know that there is a food station on the main level, two stations on the top level, as well as a sushi station. Since we could hardly get around, we decided to go to the top level. Of course by the time we got there, it was pretty much leftovers, but enough to make a plate (the pic above). The rolls which I believe, were tempura soft shell crabs were "bland" according to Talia, and it was pretty much just plain for me. The salad was a salad, nothing special, but nothing horrible either. The best thing on that plate was the Salmon and Tuna Sashimi which were meaty and fresh. I also tried the edamame, which had a fishy taste to it, but it was different and good.

After we were done with that, we headed out and got a nice Sake Sangria, it was sweet, and I noticed some oranges and apples. The poor girl who obviously needed more help pouring the neverending demands of the drinks into the ice sculpture said it was soaked for 4 days, it may have been 4 hours, I could hardly hear anything with everyone talking. Then we headed for the main level food station. We got a plate full of stuff (picture to the right). First, I tried the Soba noodles, something I grew up on because my mother is a Soba Connoisseur, and I felt it missed the mark on taste. It was again on the bland side. I tried the tuna steak skewer, and it was okay, almost had the aftertaste of a defrosted frozen tuna. The seafood salad was mediocre. The tomato bacon wrapped skewer was smokey and juicy. The crabcake felt like it came out premade, then defrosted, and then fried. It had a freezer burn aftertaste. The best thing on the plate was the seaweed salad, that was fresh, clean, and refreshing. Sorry to say, but most of everything had pretty much one or two bites and were placed back on the plate. After that we headed to the sushi station. We picked up an array as you see on the left. We also got some cones stuffed with tuna and salmon. Also, some dessert which consisted of coconut cookie, green tea cookie, and a regular butter sugar cookie. Let me keep this short. The sushi was probably the best thing we ate tonight, but I wouldn't say its the best sushi you will find in LA. Talia loved the cones, and when I say cones, only cones. She had to take out the insides. I tasted the cone and the tuna together, and the sweet and salty just went off the mark, it almost felt like an afterthought. And the cookies, those were the best, even beat the sushi. Sorry about the pictures, it was so dark, shadows were bound to be cast in all directions. I tried to make best of the situation. All in all, unfortunately, I don't know if I would go back and pay money to eat there. The ambiance is great, and I'm sure when there are not 300+ people cluttered in the restaurant, I would probably take in the architecture more. But also, I got to give it to them. They were trying to mass produce menu items that are usually portion controlled. If this was a wedding buffet or some mass event, such as this one, the food would be considered good but not great. Talia and I said we would like to come back to take in the ambiance and really try out the menu individually. I'm sure it would make a difference. Lucky us, on our way out we both got $25 certificates for our next time there, so another meal on them. All in all, I will go back to use my certificate ;-)

Gonpachi is having their ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

If you have ever been down to Beverly Hills Restaurant Row, then you probably have come across Gonpachi. I saw it when it was nothing but dirt, but its now having its ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY! And no they did not pay me to put this up, I just thought I would share this with you all, so that you could experience a new restaurant, and it's on them. Free! So if you are free, take advantage of this! I will be talking about my experience tomorrow.

RSVP to Events@wagnerjunker.com

Date: June 5th, 2008

Time:7-10pm

Complimentary Valet Parking

Yesterday's Dinner for Hubby

This was my husband's dinner last night. I made a hodge podge of everything. It's kind of like a stew, a Korean one, where you pretty much put everything in a pot, cook it together and eat it with rice. It's called "Boo Deh JJigue." I am assuming the name came from "Boo Deh" which means Army Base and "JJigue" which means soup. It actually came out really delicious! I am not just saying that. I put in SPAM, Vienna Sausages, Kim Chee, Cabbage, Tofu, Tuna, Potstickers, and udon noodles. It was spicy and really delicious, quite salivating. I also had of course, a bowl of rice with it. We have been eating brown rice these days, since my husband is on the road to building his six pack, but still delicious. (A tip: Brown rice sometimes comes out hard. We eat Brown Sweet Rice, which is sticky, and we actually cook it twice in the rice cooker. once for 40 min and once for 15 min, the rice comes out ever so perfect. My friends have told me its the best brown rice they've ever eaten. Kudos to me! ) When you have a lazy day, like me, cook this. You can improvise with whatever you have. You can opt to put in bean sprouts, pork belly, shrimp, whatever your heart desires. The stuff I put in happen to be in the fridge or my pantry, actually the vienna sausages and spam, I had to buy. We usually don't eat it, we try to live on the healthier side, but occasionally we like to go the other way, as in not healthy.

The not so specific recipe:

1/2 pot water in the pot.

two chopsticks full of kim chee

one spoonful of Go choo Chang, its a hot bean paste

one can of SPAM

one can of Vienna Sausages

one can of Tuna

one block of firm tofu

two cabbage leafs chopped

one whole green onions chopped

8 potsickers

2 bags of Udon noodles

Boil the pot of water. Put in Kim Chee then one spoonful of hot bean paste. After boiling, put in the chopped cabbage leafs. Put in SPAM, Vienna sausages, Tuna, and tofu. Let it boil for about 20 min then put in the potstickers and udon noodles. Finish it off with chopped green onions.

And Wallah there you have it!!!

This is definitely a YES EAT!!!

An Intro 2 ***Yes EAT No EAT***

Hi everyone!

I decided to create this blog to share with my thoughts on restaurants, my own recipes, as well as food I eat with family, friends, and whoever I meet along the way. This is not a blog about giving reviews solely to restaurants or establishments, but a review on foods that I have created, or my husband's inventions (he's a chef, a professional chef), my mom's dishes, my friend's dishes. etc... So you will see a whole array of stuff coming your way. Hopefully, I will keep you interested, and that you will also enjoy the foods that I talk about. I will try to put up recipes and pics. I will give honest reviews, whether the food tastes good or if its just plain boring, or to the point of no return, as in bad! So Enjoy!

All Foodies come my way!

Susan