Anniversary

Yesterday my boyfriend and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary and Valentine's Day. He got me an AWESOME gift, which I can utilize for my blog, and took me to King's Fish House in Downtown Long Beach. My boyfriend hates seafood so we always go to King's Fish House on my birthday and our anniversary. Then on his birthday we go to a steak house.

For apps, I ordered a crunchy lobster roll. It had asparagus, imitation crab, lobster, and cucumber in it. Then it was topped with panko and a sweet eel sauce. I devoured it which is why I have no pictures of it. 

I've written about my craving for lobster before, and I finally got one last night! I ordered a 1.25 lb. steamed Maine lobster with a baked potato and macaroni and cheese as my "sidekicks". The lobster was very yummy. I've found that Maine lobsters aren't going to be as good as if I'm actually eating it in Maine, but this lobster was delicious for California. I ripped that lobster apart like it was the last one in the world. Mmmmm. Lobster smothered in butter. I believe it is the perfect pairing. I gave my mac n cheese to my boyfriend but I did eat my baked potato. It was really soft, almost as if they cooked the potato outside of the skins and dumped it in. However, I still had to scrape the potato off the skin and it had that soft texture. How do you mess up a baked potato??

My boyfriend, the non-seafood eater, ordered a medium well top sirloin. He doused it in A1 sauce, which I dislike, but I did get a taste of a non-sauced piece. It melted in my mouth. It had the perfect char and was cooked to perfection. My boyfriend went into a state of euphoria. 

Gnomeo O Gnomeo

This past Saturday I made a baby shower cake for my boyfriend's friend. I made a 3-layer cake. The middle was yellow cake and the two outer layers were white cake dyed baby blue accompanied by strawberry frosting. 

After the baby shower my boyfriend and I went to Phoenix Food Boutique. I ordered my  FAVORITE dish...shrimp with walnuts. Soooooo yummy. Pretty much it's shrimp tossed in a tangy mayo sauce and topped with candied walnuts. You cannot go wrong with this dish. The shrimp is perfectly fried so that you get a crunch when you bite but the shrimp is still moist inside. Phoenix sells this single-person portion for $6.95 which is a fair price for the quality and quantity. Usually a full size portion sells for $11.95 at most Chinese cafes/restaurants. 

I had been yearning to see "Gnomeo and Juliet" for a month so we finally saw it on Saturday night after eating at Phoenix. Overall the movie was cute, as expected, and there were many Elton John inspired songs and references. However, I wish the movie was longer (84 mins.) and it wasn't as funny as Pixar's animations. I do love me some James McAvoy though! 

Chinese New Year - Year of the Wabbit

Ahhh Chinese New Year! A time for eating Chinese food, getting together with my family, and receiving red envelopes ("lai see"). I just love the sound of extra money rustling in my pocket, ready to be spent on clothes and essentials but more likely to be spent on "Call of Duty Black Ops: First Strike" for PS3. On a side note: I'm fuzzywuzzy1213 for the PS3. 

Anyways, last Thursday was Chinese New Year, but it didn't make sense to have a family dinner during the week so we had one this past Friday. 

These candied walnuts are usually paired with shrimp smothered in mayo sauce....which sadly, is one of my favorite dishes. However, the one from this restaurant wasn't so yummy. It tasted like boiled shrimp tossed in the mayo sauce when it should have been fried shrimp. There's a certain level of crunchiness that it should have reached.

This dish is referred to as the "bird's nest." That's scallops on top with mushroom and other not-so-appetizing food items.

This was pork with vegetables. 

This is the Chinese equivalent of corn bread, but sweeter. I can't stand it, but my dad loves it.

Getting my lai cees! Gung hay fat choy!

Dessert was a combination of jello and red bean soup. Not a fan of the jello but I'm definitely a fan of the red bean soup. Slightly sweet, warm, and creamy.

Beach Pit Additions - Tustin, CA

Okay, so I stole some pictures form my dad to give a better idea of what Beach Pit is all about. My boyfriend's been begging to go back and get some more BBQ. I don't mind buy one get one free sandwiches at all! 

Simple menu with day specials written on the chalkboard.

Bar at the front of the restaurant.

Backside and parking.

Front entrance.

Bean sprout Monday

Every time I go to a Korean BBQ joint for several straight hours of meat consumption, these little Korean side dishes are served. Most of them are spicy, so I can't eat them. However, there is ONE dish I love so much that I end up asking for 10 refills of it in one sitting. It's this bean sprout dish that has the perfect amount of saltiness and crunch.

I was mentioning this dish to a Korean classmate, thinking I could score a recipe, but she told me it was really easy to make and that the basic ingredients of most Korean dishes are salt and sesame oil. So I googled and obtained a simple recipe. I followed all the instructions and left out the garlic and toasted sesame seeds since I didn't have any.

The dish turned out perfect. The best thing is that I made it in one big batch and can munch on a small serving whenever I feel like it. I paired my bean sprouts with some fried pork dumplings courtesy of Trader Joe's frozen asian food section. They are surprisingly tasty. I bought some dumplings from my local 99 Ranch Market and they tasted like crap. Just tasted rotten and old!  I'm sticking with the Trader Joe's dumplings!!!

Here's the bean sprout recipe: 

http://mykoreankitchen.com/2007/01/10/seasoned-green-bean-sprouts-sukju-namul-muchim-in-korean/

Also, if you're looking for a good deal on KBBQ in Los Angeles, I recommend Sanya on Olympic Blvd. Note that I said good deal! For all you can eat (AYCE) KBBQ, it costs $9.99 per person. That is a steal! The service sucks and apparently they don't serve cold tea or normal tasting water, but for $9.99 per person this place is awesome.  They have huge tables to accommodate groups. There are also the standard Korean restaurant door bells on the tables.

Another place to try, if you're willing to fork out the cash, is O Dae San. For AYCE KBBQ it's $16.99 per person. This place is good for groups as well as germaphobes. The atmosphere is definitely geared towards non-Asians who take into account the cleanliness of a restaurant and the service. Some of the waitresses didn't speak very good English but they got the job done and I left with a full belly.