Seattle 2012

We recently returned from Seattle, our first trip post-baby! H2 did great! We were so blessed to have the nicest people next to us on the plane rides, so understanding of H2's fussy periods.

Here are some of our best food moments of the trip:

1. Paseo - a friend's recommendation for cuban sandwiches and bowls of chicken/pork with rice and chips, but this place is definitely not a secret! A small place with a few tables, we were lucky enough to find one--the place was busy!

  

2. Skillet Diner - thanks to yelp for this find. Even on Monday mid morning, we waited for 15 minutes or so. We had the yummy chicken and waffles (so good!) and tasty deconstructed corned beef hash. The hash portion was pretty tiny; Han was still pretty hungry after his meal. Hey Pretty Thing has some great pics of the food!

3. East India grill - in Federal Way, at a nondescript strip mall. Amazing, affordable lunch buffet with great variety. Samosas, naan, tandoori chicken, tikka masala, lamb curry, cauliflower with carrots & peas, curried rice, to name a few. We met a woman there who said she eats there everyday; she also said H2 would be interested in music :) Han's parents thought this place had the best Indian food they've had in the states!

4. I Love Sushi - I really enjoyed this udon. The broth had a strong chicken-y flavor, but it was just what I needed at the time. Yummy and noodles with good texture. 

5. Cafe Besalu croissants - Cafe Besalu won our Seattle croissant battle a few years ago, over Bakery Nouveau and others. On this trip, we tried Honore's and Besalu still wins on balance between flakiness and depth of flavor. We were able to have some with Besalu's homemade nectarine jam, but were unable to get the amazing almond croissants which they only have on Sundays. Thanks to Hawbone's Flickr for the photo below:

6. Bulgogi Salad - a great idea! Tasty bulgogi stirfried with onions, atop greens and a light ranch-like dressing. So good!! We got this from a korean street food stand at Pike's Market.

TO COME: Han are now really into Acai bowls. We've been making our own bowls, for friends and family, as well as trying out bowls we find around town. That'll be our next post!

Back to the Future, 2012

It's June 2012. I've read through my blogs from three years ago and I can't even believe it's been so long since I've blogged! It was nice to go back in time and remember our foodie adventures. Han has been urging me to get back to blogging for well... three years!

A little update... We never stopped trying new foodie joints, cooking and enjoying life here in Hawaii. I have alot of thoughts and tidbits to share :) Also, Han is even more "not solo" in that we've had a baby boy 8 months ago (aka H2). He's the absolute love of my life, so I've now gotta post some mommy related things too.

Here's what was going on in our kitchen today:

French Toast with Kanemitsu Bakery Bread

Brunch: French toast with Molokai's Kanemitsu Bakery french bread with some Purity portugese sausage. Sorry, I didn't take pics of this.  Just something I threw together for Han since my dad brought back some of this amazing bread. I also grew up going to Molokai to camp and fish, so I had to honor this loaf :) We tried two different "recipes" to compare using evaporated milk versus condensed milk. We only used about 4 big slices of bread (day old plus air dried a bit) so we made small batches of batter:

• One egg
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/4 cup of evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• dash of cinnamon

Condensed milk version used 1/8 cup of condensed milk and 1/8 cup of skim milk, no sugar or cinnamon. Liked both, but I preferred the evaporated milk version because it was not very sweet and allowed me to enjoy the toast with maple syrup.

Kabocha squash baby food

Our first kabocha squash baby food

Thanks to Champuru's blog for helping me make this for our little one (H2). I was only able to find organic kabocha at Nijiya Market, though. H2 had this for dinner with organic peas, baby bok choy (from dad's garden) and oatmeal cereal. I love making my own baby food, although we use Earth's Best cereals for the iron baby needs now.

For dinner: Stir-fried Turkey with Basil

Over the years, I've collected a few super easy, healthy and tasty recipes that go into my rotation... I'm picky in this area. It can't be much of a fuss and it has to still be amazing (A future blog topic!). Here's something I've recently adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's cookbook, Step by Step Cooking: Over 150 Dishes from India and the Far East, Including Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Malaysia. It's also a great use of the ground turkey that I pick up from Costco. So flavorful that a little goes a long way! Here's my version:

• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 inch ginger, minced
• 2 green or red chilies thinly sliced (seeds and membranes removed if you like it mild)
• 1.25 lbs ground turkey
• 1-2 cups thai basil, some chopped, some whole
• 5-6 t. fish sauce
• 2 t. brown sugar

Fry aromatics together, then ginger and chilies, brown turkey, add chopped basil, fish sauce and sugar. Then right before serving, throw in whole basil leaves until wilted. Ono with hot rice!