Sushi Gen, Los Angeles

When it comes to LA, all I need is a recommendation from 2 distinct parties.  Sushi Gen was the winner this time round.  We had decided to stay in downtown Los Angeles this time round to be close to Lingon's conference, and wanted to eat sushi, and when 2 people recommended this place and we realized it was so close by, we were delighted!  I called the day-of, and was thrilled when we scored a same-day reservation at opening time (5.30pm), which suited us just fine.  We got there a little early, and there was already a line of about, I don't know, 5-10 people there, who did not have reservations.  My heart was singing inside.

We got seated at a table, but decided we wanted to do the omakase, then got moved to the counter which is usually my preferred experience.  We were served 2 pieces each of otoro, amberjack, Japanese red snapper (forgot to take a picture!!), Spanish mackerel, uni, albacore, hamachi, scallop/giant clam and unagi for $78.50 (before tax and gratuity).  Lingon is usually greedier than I am, so he was happy about the quantity, but I really just wanted 1 piece of each and I felt like I overate after that meal.  We ordered tamago at the end, a la carte.  However, for the price, the quantity and quality were great!  It was not the best sushi I ever had, but a higher quality value for money proposition.  I would definitely go back.  Make reservations though, otherwise forget about it.

Plaj, SF

We took my FIL to Plaj to celebrate his Swedish heritage for his 65th birthday.  I had resisted going here, just coz the menu looked rather unexciting and I had heard mixed reviews about this place.  But it seemed fitting for a Swedish man to celebrate his 65th at a Swedish restaurant, so here we went.

We ordered the herring, smoked salmon and meat platter for starters.  They were all good, but I felt these were things we could obtain on our own.  The presentation was great though and definitely something I would not to to replicate.  Then we ordered a full portion of meatballs and the gnocchi with mushrooms.  Again, the meatballs were good, but I felt I could get them really cheaply at the Nordic store.  The gnocchi was my favourite dish, perfectly rolled and cooked potato dumplings and crispy on the outside.  I adored the hen of the wood mushrooms, but one one else seemed to like them much though (good for me, I had extra!).

For dessert we had the princess cake and "Northern Lights: chocolate terrine, lingonberry sorbet, italian meringue".  Princess cake is one of my favourite cakes (practically ever cake is one of my favourite cakes, but let us roll with this one), but their take on it was quite unique.  The had the cake with the layers of cream and jam in a jar, and a marzipan layer covered the top of the jar, tied by twine.  It was a good cake.  The Northern Lights was a chocolate and lingonberry layer covered by meringue, more like marshmellows actually.  Not bad, but objectively not my favourite thing in the world.

I think the portions for the savoury food were small for the prices.  The food was good, not spectacular.  Presentation was wonderful and innovative.  I would pass on this for a second visit.  I had low expectations, but was extremely pleasantly surprised, and I think it actually was a good restaurant and meal.

Hog and Rocks, SF

I had my last foie gras in San Francisco before the ban with Tutu.  Here I was having the first foie gras in San Francisco after the ban got lifted with Tutu.  We decided to go to Hog and Rocks after seeing an SFGate article on the foie gras burger.

We ordered their signature deviled eggs to start, which was served with "country ham and fried oyster".  It was like oyster po boy on a deviled egg, an I loved it.  However it is simple enough that I think maybe some day I will have the courage to make it at home.

Then we got the foie gras torchon, which was a pate served on a slice of toast with sea salt and I have no idea what this dark looking spread on the bread was.  It was on their specials menu and was pretty good.  We also got the foie gras burger, which was a decent burger.  However the foie gras piece was not huge, and I decided to split the burger and the foie gras and eat them separately, and that worked out better for me.

I'm sure there are better places to get foie gras, but the power of suggestion brought me here.  I'm sure I've had enough foie to last me for the next few months and I'm happy.  :-)

Khong River House, Miami

I have been a tad obsessed with the Travel & Leisure Thai food list.  So when we decided on our Caribbean trip and that we were going to connect through the Miami airport, I knew we had to go to Khong River House.

The restaurant was one of the nicest Thai restaurants I have been into.  They had a Beauty and the Beast library-style bar, with floor to ceiling alcoholic beverages, complete with a ladder, greeting us as we entered.  The furnishing was very Asian, a lot of medium-toned woods.

For starters, we got the Burmese style wraps and papaya salad.  I thought the wraps themselves were OK, but they used a "sweet soy sauce" which I absolutely loved, and later found out was the thick sweet soy sauce with  sriracha.  The papaya salad, which was described by the article as "peppery green", was more green and less peppery, and though it was a nice dish, it was not at all special, and lacked the oomf in spiciness.  For the large plates, we were excited about the crispy duck that the article discussed, but found out it was no longer on the menu.  So, we got the seared duck breast with roasted eggplant, squash purée and massaman sauce, and I found that to be quite a lovely dish.  The squash purée was so perfect.  We also got the banana leaf wrapped trout which was succulent and smoky.  As an afterthought, we decided to get a pad thai, which did the job but was was relatively unremarkable.

Well, we were not wowed by the experience, but that was one off the list, so I'm happy about that.

Cerveceria Catalana, Barcelona

This post is way overdue, from when we were in Barcelona back in late November.  So, Cerveceria Catalana, #194 on TripAdvisor today I think every tourist goes there (obviously an exaggeration), and from what I read the locals go there too.  We went there twice the previous time we were in Barcelona, and back again this time, because it is THAT good.

We ordered the salad sampler and tapas sampler plates.  I thought ALL of the salads were amazing, and loved most things on the tapas sampler plate, except the clams which were just meh.  Lingon wanted the boquerones so we got that too.  And just for the heck of it, we got a chocolate cake.

US$42 for all that food and 2 wines.  Very good deal for SUCH good food.  Go!

Harris Ranch, Coalinga aka In the Middle of Nowhere with Many Cows

First of all a big shout out for making dreams come true.  Lingon seems to be very good at this lately.  We were driving back from LA and he actually agreed to stop at Harris Ranch to have steak with me!!  Whopee doo!!  This has been on my list forever, especially since the image of the cows packed tightly together in a row and the stench of cow poo had left such a striking impression on me.  So, we did it!

Our meal was simple.  The table bread was delicious with nice whipped salted butter.  We ordered the 14oz rib eye to share.  It came with a choice of salad and soup - I let Lingon choose, since I chose the beef cut, and he chose the soup which was chicken soup.  They split the soup for us.  We ordered the beef medium rare, and it came a little more cooked than I expected, but was still sooo delicious.  We normally order steak rare but Lingon switched it up.  Thankfully still amazing.  It came with sides of broccoli, spaghetti squash and acorn squash.  Most of the vegetables were meh.  The rice pilaf was decent, probably cooked in salted butter, but trying to keep fairly low carb so did not finish it.

I wanted to go to the bakery after dinner, but LO AND BEHOLD, it had closed.  I was fairly displeased, but I suppose we gotta leave something for the next time, right?

What an experience!  I want to go in the day time next time and have a look around the farm.

Curaçao

I want to say we spent a weekend on Curaçao, but really it was the weekday equivalent of a weekend, 3D/2N of bliss in amazing weather with family.

We stayed at the Renaissance hotel, one of the newer hotels in Willemstad.  The rooms were new-ish, modern-ish and comfortable.  We never got a chance to eat there, so we cannot comment on F&B.  The gym was small and since I do not like using the gym, the only times I went there was to fill my water bottle.

The reason for the trip was a wedding.  Lingon's lovely cousin was getting married.  There was lots of family time, and we really had a fabulous experience with all the love that we were surrounded in.  There was a civil wedding that took place in a government building, followed by a dinner at the Restaurant & Café De Gouverneur, which served good Dutch and Antillean food.  The restaurant has a beautiful view of the canal and pretty colourful buildings that Curacao is well-known for.  Yup, that was my view, could not be any better.

There were a few beach areas.  The one we went to was called Mambo.  It was well built out, with restaurants, bars, shops, etc.  Here are some funny signs we saw around.

Hmmm now if only I knew what trouwringen was, I might custom make one.

Here is the door of the synagogue that Lingon tells me his family founded (or something).  Pretty cool!

One of the restaurants we visited was called Sjalotte Restaurant in the Floris Hotel.  We needed to drive there from Willemstad.  I was very impressed by the presentation and quality of the food.  It was a most memorable meal, dining outdoors in the perfect night time weather.  The dessert plates came decorated with chocolate flowers.  At first we thought the plates were designed as such, but realized that they were actually each individually hand designed.

Good family, good friends, good times!