Kabuto Sushi, SF

This post is almost 6 months ago, wow.  We decided to go to Kabuto Sushi in the Richmond one February weekend, and lo and behold they had their Valentine's Day menu.  OK, it really was not that surprising, since it was the weekend after Valentine's Day, but still, big yay!  I had been here eons ago, and had always wanted to come back, but Lingon and I are so lazy that we rarely get out of our immediate neighbourhood to get some good grub.  The dishes were not served in the same order as the menu, so I reorganized the photos and made them match the menu, but I thought that was really weird.  I thought the food was very innovative and delish.  I would DEFINITELY go back, but if only it was not so far away...  I want to say this cost about $80ish/person before tax (just the food, we didn't get anything to drink except maybe tea), really good price for so much food.  So innovative, and the ingredients were pretty amazing!

Boston, MA

A perfect few days in May in Boston.  Food, history, exercise.

We stayed at the Liberty Hotel, which is part of the Starwood Luxury Collection.  The building used to be the old jail, and in the lobby they had photos of the extensive renovations and modifications they had undertaken when trying to change this building from a defunct jail to a modern luxurious hotel.  The lobby hotel was like an interior "courtyard" with hallways/balconies on the higher floors overlooking the central courtyard.  All along the hallways/balconies were doors to event and conference spaces and a bar.  Really cool use of space, kept the lobby very open, especially with the cupola up top letting light in.  The hotel had a couple of restaurants, with a jail theme, cool touch to remember what it used to be, but not at all creepy like what a jail would have been like.  Our room was nothing to cry home about, but we did get a really nice view of Boston from the hotel room.  We chose the free continental breakfast at one of the restaurants, Clink, as our Platinum amenity, which was very nice, and had a value of $25 attached to it.  Coffee/tea, juice, and a choice of two of fresh fruit, steel cut oats, dry cereal, 2 eggs, toast, yoghurt, bacon, sausage or a pastry.  I tried a number of the items, all fairly standard, but with healthy enough options, and they were pretty good.  I think I really like the texture of steel cut oats, but just seems like a pain to cook at home.

We had dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, Scampo, which apparently is very well known and highly regarded in Boston, as a number of people had said we had to eat there.  The bread came with some green dipping sauce (sorry, this was really so long ago that I don't remember much), and then we ordered calamari, foie gras, ravioli and maybe a halibut?  I remember thinking everything was kind of nice, but not particularly fantabulous.

One night we tried to go to Neptune's Oyster, but we were too late and they were not seating anymore people (run out of seafood I guess, sad face), so we went to Rabia's, just a few doors down, in the North End, which is Boston's oldest residential district.  We got the lobster roll and lobster risotto, which were both decent, considering probably all the drop outs from Neptune's Oyster go here.

The last dinner place we tried was o ya in Boston for sushi/Japanese.  Again, the food was not bad, but kind of expensive.  We were thinking of doing the omakase, but I decided it was too expensive, so we got a la carte instead.  The fish was all pretty good in quality and taste, but I thought the quantity was measly.  The menu was extensive, so we made some notes on our menu on what to order.

I have always loved walking around European towns, and parts of Boston certainly felt like that.  One day I decided to take the Freedom Trail, "a 2.5-mile, red-lined route that leads you to 16 historically significant sites — each one an authentic treasure".  A lot of the path is or looks like red brick, which is kind of cool, but I learnt that it may have been mostly just brick facade as opposed to a real brick slab.  I had done this before, but it's always fun doing history stuff in Boston.  I sort of started at Quincy Market because I have an affinity for markets and wanted to eat there.  Nothing particularly special or Bostonian called to me, so I decided to have some clam chowder - as Bostonian as I would get, I suppose.  Onto the trail, which you can read about here, I remember trying to get into the Paul Revere House, but they took cash only and I had $0 on me.  A few other tourists were turned away too.  Sad times.  They really should take credit card.  Think of the loss of customers!!  I also climbed the Bunker Hill Monument, lots of great views up there, and would have been better if not for the dirty glass or metal grates.  Loved the parks too - Boston Common, which is part of the trail, and Boston Public Garden, which isn't, but also very pretty.  Parks really add an element of beauty to a city.

Saw a funny truck on my walk around Boston.

And ice cream from JP Licks.

For anyone who loves history and old European looking towns, Boston is a great place for that.  Walking without a purpose, observing the old architecture, checking out cool shops, relaxing in the park.  Summer only, though.  ;-)  Enjoy your 9 months of cold, Boston, and I'll see you next when the weather is good!  xoxo

Los Angeles, CA

Well, it turns out I am at least 6 months delinquent in my posts.  I'm just going to combine 2 LA posts into one.

This LA trip was back in January.  I think I posted a bit from that trip, maybe restaurants, but here are a few random ones.

I can't remember where I first saw this place, I think someone I knew posted it on Facebook.  Bottega Louie.  Prettiest little cafe in crappy little downtown.  Big windows, lots of light, pretty pastries, and they had these Argo teas that we loved to get back in Chicago - green tea ginger twist, mmmm mmmmm.  I never ate anything here, since I stopped by during a run, but they also do sandwiches and stuff, great place to meet a friend if you have the afternoon off in downtown LA.

I ran past Grand Central Market, also in downtown.  This market was a mix of food stalls and artisan foods, very cool vibe, with a very old school feel.  Also did not get to eat there, but I just might the next time I am in the neighbourhood.

I feel like most people think downtown is pretty dumpy, and for the most part it is, but it has these little treasures here and there.  Maybe some day downtown LA will be cool.

Our second trip to LA happened in June.  On our way down, we stopped at an old place I used to go to, Yaki's in Burbank, which is famous for its bulldogs.  They are really quite disgusting.  Sausage wrapped in cheese and deep fried to a crisp.  The cheese is all melty and gooey, and they give you a side of teriyaki sauce to dip it in, and it's oh so heaven.  But after that you feel like you shouldn't eat for months.

This time we stayed at the SLS, which we have stayed in before.  We got a regular room, which was nothing special, but the problem is our room smelled like weed and cigarettes.  On day 2, even after they came in and had fans blowing in the room for hours, the weed and cigarette smell did not go away.  So, I called and complained, and we got upgraded to a room that was one tier below the presidential suite.  WOW!  The room was enormous, and had a large sitting area and a long dining table for... the 20 friends I was planning to host.  Haha.  It was great.  Quite honestly, not needed, but super cool being able to live in style.  ;-)

The first night we were there, we went to Night + Market.  This was the other Thai place on the Travel and Leisure list.  Things we got:
1)  Nam khao tod (crispy rice salad) - really really good, the sour and spicy blended really well
2)  Pork toro (grilled fatty pig neck) - also really yummy, with the spicy sauce giving it a nice kick
3)  Special pad thai - no idea what so special about it, it really was the worst dish by far
4)  Basil pork (I think) - good
5)  Ice cream sandwich with home-made coconut ice cream atop coconut rice in a sweet bun - reminded me of Asia and really nice cooling end to the meal
Lingon met some Thai folks who said this place was for tourists.  He got some "authentic" recommendations but I think at this point had drank too much to remember.  Oh well.  We had a good experience here, and I would come back for sure!

With Lingon's Starwood Platinum status, we get free continental breakfast.  The SLS provided a buffet at the lobby.  Everyone raves about the yoghurt, which is really good, but I'm not certain is like super duper special.  Goes back to the point that I'm not that discerning in food, but I would definitely eat it again and again!  Anyway, every morning, here is where we would eat.  Berries, pastries, meats, granola, I had to be careful not to eat too many of those raisin rolls.  I love having breakfast here.  One can be as healthy or unhealthy as one wants, and I think this time I was decently healthy (I did not eat all the pastries in these pictures!).

We had one dinner at Bazaar, the restaurant at the SLS.  I've been wanting to eat here for a while, since this is probably the third or fourth time we have stayed at this hotel.  We had been to an event before so we were not that hungry, and Lingon really just went along with me so I did not have to eat alone.  Honestly I had done poor research on this trip, so a few hours before I just did some Yelp reviews and ordered the popular items.  We got:
1)  Philly cheese steak sandwich - so this thing looked like a roll with some steak bits on top.  When you bite into it, cheese oozes out.
2)  Uni buns - now I love uni, and this was very very high quality uni.
3)  Olives - there were the innovative olives, which looked like real olives but were really gooey olives with a concentrate of olive tasting liquid inside, so once one bites into it the kind of burst in your mouth with an intense flavour.  Then there were the traditional olives.
4)  Foie gras cotton candy - foie gras on a stick with cotton candy around.
So, I feel like two of these 4 dishes, the Philly cheese steak sandwich and the olives, really reminded me of Tickets in Barcelona.  Exactly the same.  Which are genius, really.  I just feel like, they are copied.  And that's all I will say about it.  The food was great, and the restaurant has a very hip, cool vibe, and I would probably recommend it if someone asked me about it.

In other news, I learned about the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM machine.  Intrigued, I decided to take a run to the cupcake ATM to get a cupcake!  When I arrived, the damned machine was being reloaded and the screen said it would be 30 mins.  Since I ran all of 1 or 2 miles to get here, I decided to stay put.  I just HAD to have my cupcake from the machine!  So I waited.  And while I waited, other people showed up trying to buy cupcakes and I had to tell them they had to wait and I was in line.  30 mins passed, and nothing happened, so I went in to check and the folks in the store said the machine was being reloaded.  I was sad.  I kept waiting in the store.  Store lady feels sorry for me and gives me free cinnamon cupcake.  I was happy.  Thank you, Sprinkles!  Then the machine got working again, and I bought my cupcake, and my excursion was complete.  YUM!  Woohoo!

I also decided to go back to my old stomping ground, the Westside.  In the morning, I went for a run by Santa Monica/Brentwood/Malibu.  Did not really know exactly where.  It was cloudy but kind of muggy and not too cold, and I made it from wherever I parked with all the hot mums doing boot camp down to the beach.  I saw some really weird house with trailers in it, like a playhouse, and I thought it was so cool.  How does one get a trailer in the house, even if it was a small one?!

I had been meaning to try 800 Degrees Pizza, because so many people have recommended it to me.  The concept is simple, yet genius.  It's like a Chipotle pizza, where you build your own pizza.  I chose the white pizza with mozzarella and garlic and added sausage to it, and DAMN was it good.  I think it was less than $8 too.  Crazy.  At 800 degrees, the pizza is supposed to cook in about a minute.  They did not have normal chili pepper but some kind of chili sauce.  I highly recommend it.  They had a thousand toppings and the sky's the limit!

Then I went to Diddy Riese for the standard UCLA fare - ice cream sandwich!!  I used to get strawberry shortcake ice cream, but for some reason this was not available.  I got a white chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookie.  So, back when I was at UCLA, I used to get the ice cream in a cup, and the cookies separate, and the price was the same.  The guy making my sandwich said if I wanted to do that, it was 50 cents extra,  WTF?  So of course I just say gimme the sandwich and a cup, and then I scooped the ice cream from the cookie myself.  Lol.  Back then, which was a very long time ago, this thing cost $1.  I remember when they raised the price by a quarter.  This time, June 2015, it was $2.  Ohhh inflation haha.  It was still super yummy though.

I guess this kind of sums it for my 2 LA trips.  Man I love LA, but everytime I go back I feel like I want to kill all the mean testosterone-filled drivers there who refuse to let you change lane when you signal.  Seems like a certain Singapore.  And everyone looks so fake.  And traffic sucks.  OK maybe I don't love LA that much, but I do have huge nostalgic lovey dovey feelings when I think about it.

Portland, OR Eats - Pok Pok and Blue Star Donuts

On our recent road trip to Seattle, Lingon and I stopped by the famed Pok Pok Thai restaurant.  After hearing SO MUCH about this restaurant, both from friends and in the T&L Best Thai Food article.  There was a crap load of traffic getting into Portland, and we did not make it until about 1.30pm or so, and were told there was a 45 min wait.  We said OK, and took a little walk, and discovered Tidbit Food Farm and Garden, which was a park with trailers into shops and restaurants.  There was a cute area on the interior were one could sit down and enjoy the chow.  Since we were saving ourselves for Pok Pok, we did not try this.  But they had shops like Hapa Ramen and Namu, SF names but we don't think are from SF, a bakery, really a whole lot of different cuisines, and was super cool.  Gotta save something for our next trip to Portland!  My photo from the outside sucked, but it's all I've got.

We finally got the callback to Pok Pok and excitedly headed back.  In my mind, I already knew I wanted the famed chicken wings and the shrimp and pork belly glass noodle.  Both were REALLY REALLY good.  In addition to that, we got the papaya salad, which was the most disappointing dish.  The papaya was neither tart nor sweet, just kind of bland, and did not really have a kick to it either.  For all that was recommended about it, I have to give it a zero for lack of taste, and being overhyped due to its Pok Pok-ness.  We got a Chiang Mai sausage that was pretty good, but we recently had better sausage so were not all that impressed.  I got a Thai iced tea and Lingon got a gin and tonic with kefir lime in it.  So, we had a couple of great dishes, a pretty good one, a bad one, and some beverages.  Not a bad meal, really, but more than the food itself, the atmosphere of the restaurant was unparallel.  A whole bunch of outdoor seating, 90 degree Portland weather (supposedly unheard of), gave the feel of being by the beach in a hut type restaurant in Phuket or something.  It was just cool to hang out at, and the atmosphere really made the place.  Another one off the Travel and Leisure list.

After lunch, we went to the also-famed Blue Star Donuts.  The shop had very unique flavours, such as vegan pistachio cake with raspberry hibiscus and cointreau creme brulee.  We chose the chocolate ganache and maple bacon donuts.  They were both good, though were not blown away.  Disclaimer: I don't think we are the best judges of donuts since neither of us is in love with donuts.

That was round one.

On the way back, we stopped again at Pok Pok, opting to try totally things.  Round two.  We got the boar collar, which was spicy and totally delish, the catfish over vermicelli rice, which was super meh (the catfish was perfectly fried, great texture, but rather tasteless, and the noodles were just oily and just as tasteless), and the pork belly and shoulder curry, so good!  Since we only got 3 dishes this time, we got a side of sticky rice, which came in this cute basket that seems to be all the trend, and that was not super flavourful but worked well with the food.  Lingon got a Thai coffee, super sweet, which I liked.  In short, I would say we enjoyed Pok Pok, some of the dishes really blew me away, and I liked that their menu was not the generic pad thai, or pad see ew, etc. (though I do love those dishes), and the super chill beach side hut atmosphere really attracted me.

The first time I went to Portland was with Lingon maybe in 2008 or 2009.  We stayed in downtown, it was February, Valentine's Day weekend, rainy and miserable.  I thought I hated it.  But this time round, it seemed we were in Southeast Portland (not super familiar with the neighbourhoods since I did not do any research beyond Pok Pok), and the vibe was really cool.  I think I will give Portland another chance, and come back for its other culinary delights.  There will be a round three, Portland.

Port Angeles, WA

We decided to take a road trip up to Washington state for the 4th of July weekend.  I think I just really enjoy driving, or so I thought.  The drive just took a lot longer than I expected, and I think I drove maybe 1500 miles or more this weekend, which was really crazy.  I still had a lot of fun, but I think if I ever want a car up in Washington State, I will either fly to Portland or Seattle.  Ha.  Part of the reason was I wanted to stop in Portland for some eats, which I will blog about shortly, and a one way car rental seemed very expensive, and I don't know why I did not think to fly to Portland, rent a car, and then drive back to Portland after Washington.  Anyway, I'm rambling now.

We stayed at a B&B called Eden by the Sea.  (I am really into B&Bs, and would choose one any day over a hotel.  Wish they had a rewards program, ha!)  There were 4 rooms in this comfortably sized B&B.  We learned that no matter how big your property, you were only allowed to have 6 rooms, including that of the proprietor.  Not sure if this was in Port Angeles, or what, but that's what we learned!  Dave and Evelyn made us feel welcome from the moment we stepped into the B&B.  We had the Garden Room on the second floor which had a private balcony.  Spacious with a large bathroom, the room overlooked the water and the Washington Inn lavender fields with some unbelievable views, especially at sunset.  The grounds had a garden that took you out to a bluff overlooking the water.  Breakfast was a 3-course affair, with an appetizer of some kind (over 3 days we had fruit, strawberry smoothie, stuffed mushrooms), a main (sherry poached eggs + toast + potatoes + sausage, shrimp avocado cocktail + crustless quiche + golden raisin muffin, French toast + bacon + baked apple), and a sorbet which I never had.  Everything I ate was sublime.  Dave was great with recommendations of things to do, and with driving directions.  They both were very accommodating with our requests, and also very responsive by email, answering questions before we arrived.  Since we were celebrating our anniversary, they gave us some bubbly and chocolate in the room, which was a lovely touch.  Wifi was not great in our bedroom, which was the only downside of the place.  We had such a great time in Port Angeles, and if we were to go back I know where I will be staying.

We arrived super late, so the first evening we just ate leftover Thai food.  We walked around the property, and went to the neighbouring Washington Lavender Farm, which also had a B&B.  It was closed since it was so late, but we got some nice pictures, and watched the sunset.

Our first day, after our sumptuous breakfast, we decided to go to Cape Flattery, the northwesternmost point of the contiguous United States.  I feel so clever saying that, but I just really copied and pasted it from Wiki.  It was beautiful out there.  You drive out as far as you possibly can, and then there's a short half mile hike/walk on a step-y path, and then you see the water, and it's blue and gorgeous.  There were some beaches out there too but I have no idea how one gets there.

Then we went all the way back to Sequim (pronounced "Squim"), to visit another lavender farm called Purple Haze.  You can purchase pick your own lavender there.  I opted for lavender ice cream - got the white chocolate lavender and lemon lavender sorbet, double scoop FTW!  I think that was about $6.  I also purchased a bag of 8 lavender shortbread cookies, which cost $6.75, from the store.  On hindsight, I should have purchased just one cookie from the ice cream place, since that was $0.75, so cheaper unit price, plus I wouldn't have to eat 8 cookies all by myself (although they were absolutely delish!).  There was also a herb garden, a petting zoo, and really cute purple seating all around.  Super cute farm.  Dave, our B&B host, did not seem to like lavender, but he also said he was colour blind.  Pity.  I like it.  I had been inspired by pictures of the lavender farms in France, and I don't think these quite had the scale, but they worked, for now.

Then, we went to dinner at Dockside Grill, at the Sequim marina.  Dave said it was the best restaurant in the area.  I got dungeness crab fritters, since they are from the area, and they were really good!  Lingon got a 3 course $30 meal (such a deal, since my appetizer was around $17 or so).  His entree was scallop ceviche with blood orange EVOO.  We both thought the orange taste way overwhelmed the delicacy of the scallops, though the scallops were extremely fresh.  Then he had a goat cheese beet green salad, which was really good, but I forgot to take a photo of that.  Then, he got a salmon with rice which was cooked well and delicious.  Nothing particularly blew us away, but we enjoyed the experience.  The location at the marina was great too, as we stared out into the water, and watched boats come in.  We saw a dad teach his daughter how to... kill crabs?  He did it like a champ too, whipped out his knife, stabbed the crab, chopped it into half, threw the bad part back into the water, and then she tried to follow suit, though she looked nowhere as pro as he did.

The next day, July 4th, we decided to go hiking.  Funny, since my purpose was to visit Olympic National Park, but we never once drove into the park boundary.  We did the Lake Angeles hike, starting out right outside the Hurricane Ridge park entrance at the Heart O' The Hills Trailhead, starting with the Heather Park trail, across the Klahane Ridge, and looping around to the Lake Angeles trail.  We went around 12 miles total.  I fell flat on my face twice, got a bunch of scrapes which 5 days later are still hurting, and a sore ass and legs.  We were ill prepared, as it was super hot and we did not have enough water, and we did not bring our hiking shoes or hiking poles, all which came back to bite us in the ass when we met with super loose sand and also a fairly rocky downhill.  The hike was a great physical workout, but we did think it was going to be a lot prettier and were disappointed for the amount of work we had to do.  We did encounter a goat (high on the hills with a lonely goat, literally) and deer, and I'm always excited when I see wild animals, so I was happy.  From some points in the hike, we got to see Port Angeles, the Dungeness Recreation Area spit, and Lake Angeles, and those views were pretty.  Wildflowers were in bloom and also gorgeous.

I had thought about dinner the night before and how places would be closed for the holiday, so I made a reservation at one of the few places in Port Angeles that took reservations, Bella Italia.  Part of the reason I chose it was because it took reservations, but the other part, and I'm partly ashamed to say, was that it was the restaurant featured in Twilight, where Bella and Edward had their first date.  I never watched the movie, but I enjoy doing silly things like that.  I even got Bella's mushroom ravioli, and it was yummy!  The food was good, big portions, and I'm glad we went.  Lingon got an item on the specials menu, a crab lasagne I believe, and that was pretty good too!

The restaurant also had a great view of the July 4th Parade.  God bless America!  Took some farm tractor pictures for my father-in-law.

That night, we drove to town to see the fireworks.  And sadly that was the end of our little adventure.  Time passes so quickly.  What a beautiful area and I hope to be back soon.