Tamura's Fine Wine & Liquor {Honolulu, HI}

One thing I love about Hawaii is their abundance of fresh seafood - most particularly in the form of poke! It's like a more delicious version of sashimi, marinated in all this goodness and perfect when topped on top of steaming rice!

Above is the ahi poke in 'Tamura's sauce' which was my favorite: super flavorful and so, so fresh. It's weird to think that a place that specializes in liquors and wines makes some of the best poke on the island - but believe it, I sure do! Below is the ocean salad which is basically seaweed in a sesame dressing, which is to diiiie for. A bit salty, a bit toothy, wholly awesome.

We also got some kimchi tako/ octopus poke. This was tasty beyond belief, I mean kimchi marinated? Come on. It was a bit too salty though, even when mixed with rice. But I ignored the saltiness because it was so delicious. Below is the shoyu ahi poke which came with a soy dipping sauce, and it was perfect as well. Seriously, so fresh. You can't get any better than that!

Mmmm mmm mmmm.

Website

Yelp

Yama's Fish Market {Honolulu, HI}

My trip to Hawaii wouldn't have been complete without a full array of Hawaiian eats: poke up the wazoo, kalua pork, lomi lomi salmon, lau lau and more! After hearing many reviews on how great the traditional Hawaiian food is at Yama's - I had to try it!

Unfortunately, I think I have come to the conclusion that I don't really love Hawaiian food. The kalua pork and lau lau was fork tender, like literally, it just fell apart upon impact with the fork. I enjoyed the kalua but the lau lau was a bit too salty for me. Although, I must say though, I love poke!! I chose to try their Shoyu poke which was fresh, and perfectly velvety!

Website

Yelp

Slater's 50/50

Slater's 50/50 is a straightforward place, which I can appreciate. They explain their whole concept in their name: 50/50, meaning half ground beef, half ground bacon burgers. Yep, it's officially been done.

This place is probably a glorified temple to bacon. Bacon salt, bacon mayonnaise, bacon burger patty's. It's a man's idea of heaven! For appetizers, we decided on the sweet potato fries served with cinnamon marshmallow dip, fried artichokes and vampire garlic-cheese dip.

The sweet potatoes were satisfying but nothing too special, and unfortunately served a bit lukewarm and not piping hot like i like my french fries. The fried artichokes were awfully greasy and made me feel a bit sick upon first bite - not the best feeling. But the vampire dip, was exactly as you'd expect a dip called vampire dip to be. It was garlic heaven! It was super greasy as well though, but the deep garlic flavor made up for it. 

Look at that stretchy, garlicky goodness:

My sister and I opted for their 'Flaming Hot' burger which had a spicy beef burger and crispy onion strings. Right when the waiter plopped it in front of me, I could smell the spiciness. Have you ever smelled spiciness? I never had either, but this thing was so hot I could literally feel it burning my nose. I was definitely afraid to taste it... and when I did... I deeply regretted burning off what was left of my tongue. I love spicy food but I've never had something so fiery in my life! I couldn't even finish the burger...

If you do go to Slater's, I recommend their Thanksgiving Burger which has all the traditional trimmings: stuffing, cranberry sauce, etc. It was definitely the highlight of the night!

My friend made up her own custom burger. Let's just say anything with an egg on top is delicious, no matter what it is! She also opted for their famous 50/50 burger and it was deliciously moist, a bit salty, and a bit smoky - everything that you love about bacon!

Yelp

Website

Erick Schat's Bakery {Bishop, CA}

On the way home from Mammoth, we decided to visit the super famous Erick Schat's Bakery in Bishop. The place was packed to the brim, making it easily the best place to eat in town! I wanted to pick up some bread to bring home since they were famous for it, so I decided to bring home their signature 'Sheepherder's Bread.' 

Unfortunately, the bread was just alright in my opinion. It had a nice tight crumb and was soft but I expected something spectacular and it just wasn't. But maybe that's just because I had too high of expectations for it. On the upside, their gelato selection was FABULOUS! I tried both the grapefruit and  toasted almond and both were among the best I've tried - I highly recommend it.

Toasted almond above. Grapefruit and toasted almond below.

Louise's Trattoria {Los Angeles, CA}

Me & my friend were looking for a place to eat lunch one day and the only thing we knew in the world that we wanted was carbs. Carbs in the form of bread and in the form of pasta, that we could enjoy together! We saw Louise's and we stopped the car - carbs it is!

Gosh I just love free, warm, crusty bread. Louise's gives you an unlimited amount of carb-y goodness. Served alongside olive oil and balsamic vinegar - yum!

My friend got the pappardelle with sausage in a cream sauce. I am such a huge fan of pappardelle - it's such an awesome pasta shape! I love the large sheets and it really is gorgeous. This pasta was delicious, creamy and meaty. It was nothing mind blowing but it sure did cure our carb craving! 

Pasta PORN!

I got the raviolli with mushrooms, tomatoes and light cream sauce. It was simply delicious, and though it was carb-y goodness in a cream sauce, it still tasted light which I think, is a hard feat to accomplish.

Yelp

Website

Chicken Miso Ramen

Ramen is misunderstood by most. The mention of ramen brings about memories of dried, lifeless noodles  tucked into a styrofoam bowl, alongside its friends: spice packet and spice oil; not pretty. For example, when I asked my parents if they've had ramen before, they laughed mockingly under their breaths and continued to glue their eyes to the television... oy vey!

Well, this is the time when I tell you, all you styrofoam-fearing, stranger-to-true-ramen readers, that ramen is not what you think it is. Real ramen, real Japanese ramen is delicious, complex, and comforting.  I make sure to get my hands on it whenever I can, see here, here and here. This ramen is two of the above adjectives: delicious and comforting. I'd like to describe it as a poor man's ramen - that is, if poor men eat delicious things such as chicken miso ramen.

I had some white miso on hand and while searching for recipes to use it up, I came across this simple ramen recipe. The best part of this soup is all of the add-ins. I straight-up gobbled down the buttered corn and soft-boiled egg. Next time though, I need to find myself some really good ramen noodles from a Japanese market. Still, a comforting bowl indeed. 

Chicken Miso Ramen

Yields: 2 servings

Original recipe here.

4 cups chicken stock

2 tbsn. shiro/ white miso

1 1/2 cups shredded chicken

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1 cup corn kernels (I used canned, you can also use frozen)

1 tbsn. butter

2 cups spinach

2 eggs

2 servings of ramen noodles

optional garnishes: sliced green onion, cilantro, nori, sesame seeds

Heat up your chicken stock in a large sauce pot and gently stir in the miso until it is mixed in. Taste and add more miso if needed. Miso pastes vary in saltiness, so adjust accordingly. Bring a pot of water to a boil for the eggs. Gently lower the eggs into the boiling water and cook for 6 minutes. Remove from the water and run under cold tap water until they are cool to the touch. Peel and slice in half, facing them yolk side upwards so that they runny yolks don't spill out. Heat the butter over medium heat and add the corn. Stir to coat each kernel of corn in the butter, set aside. Blanch the spinach in salted boiling water until just wilted, remove from the water and set aside. Cook the ramen noodles according to the package, drain and place in the bottom of two large bowls. Top the ramen with the shredded chicken, thinly sliced onions, egg, corn, spinach and a sprinkling of garnish. Enjoy!

Mixtape

It's that time again! Here are my most recent, favorite, looped songs :)

Links are to where you can download the songs themselves.

Aloe Blacc [Femme Fatale]

Mumford & Sons [Winter Winds]

Deadmau5 ft. Neon Hitch [I Can't Behave Myself]

Adele [Rolling in the Deep - The XX Remix]

Calvin Harris [Flashback - Yvan Emerick Dream Mix]

Tennis [Marathon]

J. Cole [I'm Coming Home]

Paperfangs [Books]

Kid Cudi ft. St. Vincent [MANIAC]

Metronomy [A Thing For Me - Breakbot Remix]

Patrick Wolf [Time of my Life]

The Reborn Identity [American Days are Over - Florence & The Machine vs. Don McLean]

Sia [Clap Your Hands]

Wiz Khalifa [Real Estate]

Of Oceans [In Love, not Limbo]


All images were found through Google Images.

Bruxie {Orange, CA}

I'm a bit lazy to gush on about the joys of the newest addition to our lovely town, but if I wasn't lazy, I would tell you, many times over, just how lovely Bruxie is. Because it is, it's super lovely.

You can't really beat perfectly crisp, light waffles, stuffed with the most delicious and fresh ingredients known to man. If you're around Orange, take a stroll down the seasoned streets, feel the sunlight on your face and take a big bite of these waffles sandwiches, just for me!

Goat cheese, arugula, and mushroom waffle with balsamic reduction:

Egg, bacon and cheddar waffle:

It's lovely to call this town home!

Yelp

Website