Sweet Butter Toast

Hmm…food, travel, books, and just random stuff that I like.

Ikko July 31, 2011

Filed under: Dinner,Japanese,Restaurant — RenRen @ 4:57 am
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Last night I had dinner at Ikko in Costa Mesa with Peian and Branden. My advice to all that decide to have dinner at Ikko, call ahead to make reservations. The restaurant is small and I noticed that people take their sweet time eating and chatting, including my friends and I. We heard the proportions were small so we ordered a bunch of dishes to share.

Edamame Mousse Stuffed Fried Potato Tube

Stuffed Chicken & Brown Rice With Ginger

Stir Fried Black Pork Sausages & Japanese Peppers

Asparagus Wrapped Jumbo Shrimp Tempura

Our Sushi Platter

I like how they add a thin slice of radish on top of the some of the sushi.

Red Snapper? I'm not a fan.

Panko Fried Calamari With Mango Jalapeno Salsa

One of my favorite dishes, which I couldn’t figure out how to take a nice picture of, was the steamed egg custard with crab meat. It was very smooth or “滑” and it reminded me of a time when my grandma used to make her steamed egg dish plain. Unlike now, grandma decided that she needs to add vermicelli or anchovies. I disagree with the new additions, but what can a granddaughter do? Tell her 92 year old grandma “no”. Well I did tell her “no” and she ignored me. *sigh* I thought the dishes were quite interesting so I think I’ll be coming back again. I just wished Ikko wasn’t so far away from where I live.

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Quadrupel Brasserie July 29, 2011

Filed under: Dinner,French,Restaurant — RenRen @ 3:25 am
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My friend Emily and I had dinner at Quadrupel Brasserie, a French/Belgian restaurant in Pasadena. The menu included a long list of beers that neither of us took advantage of. Emily was being responsible for work and I was just being my usual light weight self. We did order an abundance of food to make up for the lack of alcohol consumption though. We probably should have split the an entree and a dessert since the proportions were so generous, but we didn’t. We ordered two appetizers, two entrees, and two desserts. I had enough leftovers for lunch the next day.

Steamed Black Mussels w/ Mediterranean Sauce

Pomme Frites

Steak Frites

Duck, Duck, Goose - Right Side

Duck, Duck, Goose - Left Side

Croissant Bread Pudding

Orange Creme Brulee

I had made reservations in advanced because I thought there would be a lot of people. After all they did have some really good reviews on Yelp, but this was not the case last night. Maybe because it was Wednesday? From the moment I walked in to when we left, there were two tables including ours. The food was decent, the left side of Emily’s Duck, Duck, Goose was delicious, my steak was tender, and the service was great. Maybe it has to do with the location. Union Street is a little quiet on the weekdays.

 

California Gift Show & Urth Caffe July 24, 2011

Filed under: Cafe,Lunch,Shopping Events — RenRen @ 4:45 am
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I had the opportunity to do some serious shopping at the California Gift Show at the LA Convention Center today. I don’t always buy jewelry, but when I do, I buy in bulk. I bought four rings, a pair of earrings, a bracelet and two charms. My favorite booth was the one selling vintage repurposed jewelry. I found the coolest recycled steampunk spinning ring there.

recycled steampunk spinning ring

After shopping around for almost 4 hours, we decided to have an afternoon snack (my lunch) at Urth Caffe. Yes. This was my first time there and I think I kinda liked it.

My panini caprese was good, but they can ease off on the pesto just a bit.

Eloise's tuna sandwich

Jen's salad

Jen's soup. Looks like pumpkin, but apparently it wasn't. I'm not really sure what type of soup this is.

 

Stuffed Peppers July 22, 2011

Filed under: Home Cooking — RenRen @ 3:24 am
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I was inspired by my coworker’s stuffed pepper lunch today, so I decided to make my own for dinner. I used a simple recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com, but substituted the beef with turkey instead.

Preheat oven to 350 F

An hour later. Should have left it in the oven for another 10 minutes.

Taste pretty good with a bit of tabasco sauce. I think next time I am going to cook the rice filling with chicken broth.

 

Thai Noodle Salad July 20, 2011

Filed under: Home Cooking,Thai — RenRen @ 2:56 am
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Yesterday I printed a recipe from the Epicurious website for Thai Noodle Salad, but due to some unexpected circumstances (spider) I was unable to make it until today. I tweaked the measurements for each ingredient listed to accommodate what I had already had at home.

13.5 ounces of thin spaghetti (wheat)

4 tbsps of sesame oil

6 green onions, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp of minced ginger, peeled first

1/4 cup of honey

1/3 cup of crunchy peanut butter

1/3 cup of soy sauce

3 tbsps of seasoned rice vinegar

2 1/2 tbsp of chili-garlic sauce (I like spicy)

2 cups of mung bean sprouts

1 cup of shredded carrots (the shredding not so successful on my part)

I added a little more of almost everything that had to do with making the sauce, which turned out to be just the right amount. However, next time I think I’m going to add a bit of toasted sesame seeds and get rid of the bean sprouts and carrots altogether. I really don’t care for either vegetable.

Thai Noodle Salad

 

 
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