Son of a Gun - West Hollywood

One lazy Sunday afternoon the hubs was browsing the homepage of a certain search engine and saw an article on the best seafood restaurants in the nation. He flipped through it and saw they named Son of a Gun in Los Angeles as one of them. My interest got piqued and I looked through the article and Yelped the restaurant. The pictures of the food looked so enticing. I told hubs he should make reservations for our anniversary dinner there. Fast forward 2 weeks later, we were there waiting excitedly for our dinner.

We got to WeHo around 5+pm on a Saturday afternoon and was lucky to find a street parking spot. Fret not if you can't find streetside parking, Son of a Gun offers valet parking for $5.

We knew what we wanted to order. Lobster roll, shrimp toast and linguine with clams. I would have added the fried chicken sandwich to the mix had we not have awesome Korean fried chicken the day before. The lobster roll and shrimp toast were items almost every diner ordered so of course we have to try it. Linguine with clams was hubs' choice as he had a disappointing experience several weeks ago at another restaurant and wanted to try a winner. We decided to add shishito peppers to our orders so we'd get some greens. Heh. For drinks I ordered a house fermented shandy and hubs got Hitashi Pale Ale.

Our drinks came first and I was wowed by mine. It has apple cider, lemon juice and spiced apple. It tasted like the holidays, so comforting. Next came the fried shishito peppers and shrimp toast. The shrimp toast was beautifully fried to a golden brown. It was small, about 4 sq inch for $11. It was scrumptious. It had shrimp paste some veg and sriracha mayo. The crustacean taste was inviting but not overwhelming. Meal was off to a great start! The shishito peppers were fried with sesame seeds and bonito shreds sprinkled over it. It was served with a lemon garlic aioli $9. While this dish was good, it didn't leave me wanting for more. Serving size was ample though.

Linguine with clams came next. It was such a small serving, probably less than half a regular serving at a regular Italian restaurant for $19. Unfortunately for hubs this dish was not a winner. It was too salty and even if it wasn't, the taste or portion did not justify the price.

Next came the highly anticipated lobster roll. I read reviews saying it can be polished up in 2 bites and figured maybe these people take big bites. But when I saw the size, I understood what they meant. The lobster roll was about 2 inches long. I have to say it was delicious, they were not stingy with the lobster and the bread was pan fried very well and the texture was good. Well worth the $7. Should have ordered 1 each.

We weren't feeling full by the time we finished the 3 dishes so we added another. We decided to go with the country ham with hush puppies $15. The ham was thinly sliced and tasted like prosciutto. The hush puppies were very well seasoned and complimented the ham. The honey butter on the side did nothing for us but then again we are not a huge butter fan.

The meal cost us around $100 including tax and tips. While it was a good experience, we probably will not be making our way here again.

Son of a Gun

8370 West 3rd St

Los Angeles, CA 90048

(323) 782 9033

Cocohodo

Monster Munching, my guide to good food in OC reviewed Cocohodo a couple of weeks back. I didn't realize there was a Korean food/snack place I haven't heard of in OC and was dying to try this especially since the red bean pancake man outside Hmart stopped appearing many months ago.

I bought a mini box which was $5 for 12 pieces. In my haste to order I overlooked the prices for the paper bag packaging. For the same price, I could get 15 pieces in a paper bag. Since I was gonna be the one stuffing my face with it, there was probably no need to get them in a box, but oh well. They have many other sizes too and I'm pretty sure the next time I'm here I will upsize.

I realized I've rambled on for 2 paragraphs without telling you what Cocohodo sells. They sell hodo kwaja which is a batter-like pastry encasing a piece of walnut and sweetened red bean paste. The pastry is in a walnut shell shape and each pastry is individually wrapped in a thin tissue. The batter to filling ratio is low, the red bean paste is not too sweet and the walnut in it just makes me think this is healthy! So, hurry over there and get your little bundles of joy!

Cocohodo
5327 Beach Blvd
Buena Park, CA 90621
(714) 994 5965

Steamed Chicken with various Chinese Goodies

So someone came home with a less than satisfactory blood test results which meant I had to tweak our diet to improve it. Black fungus has been touted to be able to reduce high cholesterol so I was looking for recipes to use this particular ingredient. 

I didn't expect to like this dish so much, but I do. It was easy to fault to prepare and so delicious. It reminded me of those braised chicken wings my mother would make. This is definitely going to be one of the dishes I will keep coming back to when I want a fail proof comfort meal and I hope you will like it as much. Don't let the long list of ingredients scare you off. I just figured since I needed to rehydrated the black fungus I might as well throw in some other stuff as well. You can feel free to opt out any of the dried ingredients. I would recommend including the mushrooms as it soaks up the amazing gravy and is just a joy to bite into.

Steamed Chicken with various Chinese Goodies

- 1 whole free range chicken chopped into pieces
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing rice wine
- 2 tbsp premium oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp soysauce
- 4 pieces dried shitaki mushroom
- 4-5 pieces black fungus
- 1 tbsp dried wolfberries
- few strands of dried lily buds
- 1 tbsp ginger thinly sliced

Wash and pat dry the chicken pieces. Put them into a bowl and add the rice wine, soysauce and oyster sauce to it. Massage the marinade into the chicken and leave it in the fridge for an hour. In another bowl, place the dried products and fill it with warm water. Set it aside for about 20 minutes. After 20 mins, wash all the ingredients. Slice the mushroom (sans mushroom stems as they are too tough to be eaten) and black fungus. Place the rehydrated ingredients into the bowl with the chicken. Steam chicken dish for 30mins. You then have a healthy and delicious dish which will have you go mmmmm....

Beach Live Seafood

After sitting for a grueling exam some time ago, I decided to pamper myself a little, so we headed to Buena Park for some Korean sashimi. I've never tried it before and so my love for Korean food compels me to try it at least once. Korean sashimi, hwe, differs from Japanese sashimi in the fact that the fish is still alive right up till you order it. I think fluke is the default fish, but I may be wrong.

When the waitress handed us the menu, I was uncertain which sashimi platter to order as there were 2 types to choose from and the English description was unfortunately not very useful. So, I whipped out my phone and showed the waitress the picture I saw on Yelp and she understood what I wanted and pointed to the second set of sashimi which was $60 for a small set. She added, in halting English, that the set includes rice and soup.

Within moments, she came back with a tray full of banchan (refillable side dishes you usually get at Korean restaurants). We were pleasantly surprised by the variety. There was miso soup, a small bowl of porridge with egg shreds, saba in a sesame citrusy dressing which tasted awesome, sea snails, sliced abalone and edamame. Whoa, I could fill up on these things alone! 

While we were happily filling our bellies with the banchan, our sashimi arrived. The serving was huge! Thin slices of fish sat on shredded radish. I took a slice, placed it on the lettuce they provided and added some dwenjang paste mix which included Korean soybean paste, scallions, garlic and some sesame oil. Mmmm, so good. The texture of the fish is different from Japanese sashimi. It was more toothsome but was just as delicious. Given the gigantic serving, I was barely able to eat my share of the fish and had to concede defeat, leaving hubs to clear the plate.

We were getting ready to pay when the waitress brought out 2 bowls of nurongji, charred bits of rice mixed with tea, a boiling pot of spicy stew and a beautifully broiled mackerel pike. Hubs and I looked at each other, wondering how we're gonna finish these. I took a sip of the spicy soup, despite protests from my bursting belly and widened my eyes, gesturing to hubs to try it too. They gave us a pot of muentang, spicy fish stew. It was so good I couldn't stop. The broiled pike was also good, but not spectacular. While we were unable to finish this last "course" we were definitely happily filled to the brim. For $60 (before tax) this was definitely a worthy meal.

Beach Live Fish Restaurant

5440 Beach Blvd

Buena Park, CA 90621

(714) 521-5555

Mon - Sun 10am - 11pm

Chong Qing Szechuan Mei Wei Restaurant

The temperature reader registered 100 degrees in my car, the sun was scorching hot, yet I was craving something spicy. It was a choice between our trusty Korean tofu pot place or this Szechuan restaurant I've been wanting to try. Decided to go for the latter.

It was around 530pm on a Friday evening, the restaurant was relatively quiet, but people kept coming in for their takeaway orders. We settled for the famed water boiled fish and the wanton in spicy sauce.

The food came out pretty fast and we happily doused the white rice with the spicy sauces. The wantons were huge and there were about 12 of them in one serving for $6.99. The sauce was spicy, sourish and hit the right spots. Our fave wanton with spicy sauce is from A&J restaurant across the street and we've not been able to find a strong competitor until now. While this sauce was not as tasty as A&J's, it was still v good and the value for money should not be overlooked. You get 12 big wantons whereas A&J's are on the smaller side and you probably get about 6 per serving.

The water boiled fish was a great choice as well. While the sauce looks pretty intimidating, it was not as spicy as I expected, though definitely not for those not accustomed to such fiery dishes. The sauce was made with hot bean paste, spicy oil, dried chillies and many other aromatic ingredients. I couldn't stop ladling the sauce over the rice. I would be contented eating just those 2 things :). The fish is most likely catfish. It was smooth and tender and complemented the sauce very well. The napa cabbage which soaked in the sauce's goodness helped eased the guilt of gulping down such a delicious albeit sinful dish. For $10.99 this was a huge portion and we had enough leftover for lunch the next day.

All in all, so happy to have found this place. It will definitely be on our list the next time we crave for spicy comfort food.

Chong Qing Mei Wei Szechuan Restaurant

5406 Walnut Ave
Irvine, CA 92604

(949) 651-8886

Mon - Sun 11am - 9:30pm

Amazing Pasta at Cucina Alessa

Hubs and I found Cucina Alessa about 2 years back when we were looking for an Italian restaurant to spend our Christmas eve.  I'm a carbaholic, so I'm naturally drawn to pasta dishes.  Also, I was hooked on Giada's cooking shows many moons ago and she made pasta look so delectable.  

I remember having a very satisfying meal that Christmas Eve even though we were seating in the cramp patio area with not much decor to speak of. I don't know why it took us so long to go back, but hopefully it won't be 2 years until our next visit.

Cucina Alessa has 2 locations, 1 in Newport Beach and the other in Huntington Beach.  We opted for the Newport one since there were more post dinner activities nearby.  Do note that if you go to the Newport location, you have to go about 20 minutes ahead of your reservations time to ensure you have sufficient time to find parking.  Cucina Alessa has only a few parking spots outside the restaurant and chances that they get filled up when you are there are very high.  It being a beach city also means you're competing with many other people for the scarce roadside parking.

Dinner at Cucina Alessa started with warm bread and a flavorful pesto.  I like that they serve pesto instead of the olive oil + balsamic vinegar combination you usually get at other Italian joints.  Don't get me wrong, I love olive oil + balsamic vinegar, but the fact that Cucina Alessa went the extra mile to churn out the pesto just made it extra special.  The bread was warm and pillowy with a hint of herbs (I'm guessing it is thyme). 

I was pretty bent on getting burrata as a starter as it was something we don't get to eat very often.  I had wanted to get burrata and prosciutto, but when our waitress was telling us about the specials for that night, both hubs and I decided that the fried burrata in marinara sauce was the way to go.  I mean, how can you go wrong with fried cheese?  This appetizer definitely did not disappoint.  The fried burrata had a thin coating of breadcrumbs on the outside.  Cutting into it yielded a soft stringy burrata that oozed out slightly.  And the sauce, oh, the sauce.  I was afraid it might be tart like most marinara sauces are, but this one was sweet and after we finished the burrata, I was sopping it up with the bread.  So so good.

For our main dish, hubs and I both ordered pasta and I must say we made very good choices although I think it may be hard not to at Cucina Alessa.  I chose the Pappardelle Bolognese which had homemade pasta with traditional bolognese sauce.  Hubs went for the Livornese which consisted of fresh fish, shrimp and scallop with white wine oregano tomato sauce and linguini pasta.  I apologize for the bad pictures, we were sitting outside where lighting was bad and I didn't want to keep taking pictures with flash and annoy other customers.  My pappardelle bolognese was a simple dish but hit the right spot. The pasta was rolled out thin and held the bolognese sauce well.  The livornese was chock-full of seafood.  The scallop was huge, with radius of around 2 inches.  The fish was very fresh as were the shrimps.  The sauce had a hint of spiciness to complement the freshness.  I wish I had a better picture for this!  The portions were pretty big, or perhaps we ate too much of the bread, so we doggy bagged around a pretty substantial amount for lunch the next day.

We enjoyed our meal thoroughly and I'm glad we are near this unpretentious Italian restaurant that serves such delicious food.

Cucina Alessa (Newport Beach)

6700 W. Coast Highway

Newport Beach, CA 92663

(949) 645 2148

Napa Cabbage with Goji Berries

Yet another super simple dish. Adding goji berries to vegetables is a great way to increase your intake of antioxidants and to impart some sweetness to an otherwise savory dish.

Napa Cabbage with Goji Berries
Serves 2

- 6 leaves of napa cabbage
- 1 tbsp of goji berries

Wash and chop the napa cabbage into 1-2 inch pieces. Wash and soak 1 tbsp of goji berries in water. Heat 1 tbsp of oil and throw in the cabbage. Stir fry till the cabbage softens and the green turns into a livelier shade. Sprinkle some salt, add in goji berry with some water. Mix everything and serve.

Bitter Melon with Black Bean Sauce

See the title of this post? Those are the 2 ingredients you would need to make this dish. The most labor intensive part of this recipe is the prepping of the bitter melon. You would need to scrap out the spongy filling and the seeds with a spoon and slice the melon into thin slices.

Bitter Melon with Black Bean Sauce

- 1 large bitter melon sliced
- 1 and a half tbsp of black bean sauce

Heat up about 2 tbsp of oil in a wok. Throw in bitter melon and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add in black bean sauce and mix it into the melon. Add half a cup of water and braise mixture for about 5 minutes. Bitter melon should be tender but not completely limp.

If you want to make this into a one dish meal, you can add some ground pork into this dish.  I would cook the ground pork 1st before adding the bitter melon and adding some chilli sauce would kick things up a notch!

5 ingredients or less

I don't have the luxury of time to put dinner on the table at the end of a workday. I think it is important to eat well and healthily, but I don't want to spend too long in the kitchen on weekdays. I like to have time to relax and spend quality time with my family before I sleep and start the madness again the next day.

I dislike making complex dishes that require many many ingredients, shopping for them stresses me out already! Imagine glancing at the recipe every 5 seconds to see what you need to do next. Hence, I aspire to come up with recipes that require 5 ingredients or less, real food that you can cook and enjoy fast. I would probably leave things like salt, pepper and oil out of the count since these are staples that should be in most dishes.

Stay tuned!

L'oreal Youth Code Day Lotion SPF 30 Review

ASOS kindly included the L'oreal Youth Code Day Lotion SPF 30 as a free gift with my recent purchase and I was happy to get it since it is something I   would be able use. I'm currently a happy recurring user of Eucerin Daily Protection Moisturizing Face Lotion SPF 30 but am always on a lookout for similar products that I can try since I simply love trying out new skincare products.

I've seen the Youth Code commercials but never really paid any attention to it. From its name, I gathered it has some anti-aging effects as well. After trying it on for several days, here's a breakdown of the pros and cons based on my experience. I should note here that I have very oily skin.

Pros

Sleek packaging with user friendly lock pump. The pump bottle has a turn and click lock that I find very convenient, no need to be afraid of product oozing out should you leave it in your bag.

Combines moisturizer and sun protection and anti-aging technology in 1 product. I wake up at 5am in the morning. I will not give up sleep to preen myself, so I am thankful for products that are multi purpose.

Lightly floral scented, easy on the nose

Cons

Makes my skin oily 4 hours after application. It creates a slick feeling I hate and even after blotting, the stickiness remains. Major flaw in my opinion as an oily face makes me uncomfortable the rest of the day.

Price point is rather high. At $19.99 (Target's price) for a 1.7oz bottle, I don't see the value since my 4oz Eucerin costs less than $10.

In conclusion, I regret to inform I would not be a buyer of this product. Perhaps it is more geared towards consumers with normal to dry skin.

Food has to be smelly to taste good

Huh??!!

I realize many of the things I find delicious smells putrid to others. Despite that, I'm unapologetic about the pungent fragrance food from my culture emits. Durians, one of my biggest loves apparently tastes like feet to many. On the other hand, I think stinky tofu is one of the most vile food I've tried, while hubs thinks it's such a delicacy.

For dinner yesterday, I made a fishy smelling vegetable dish that made me wanna eat more rice than I should. Here's my version of spicy long beans with dried shrimps and garlic. This is similar to 干煸四季豆 but with a more southeast Asian twist.

Spicy Long Beans
- 1 bunch of long beans cut into 2 inches sections
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons of dried shrimps cut into smaller pieces and soaked for about 15 minutes
- 3 teaspoons of your fave chilli sauce
- salt to taste

Heat up about 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok. Throw in the garlic and dried shrimps and fried them for 1-2 minutes till fragrant. Stir them constantly so that the garlic doesn't burn. Add in chilli sauce, you can adjust the amount to suit your tastebuds. After coating the garlic and shrimps with the chilli sauce, throw in the long beans. If you find it too dry, feel free to add more oil. Fry for about 5 minutes until long beans are cooked through. You can sprinkle in a few teaspoons of water to create steaming effect to help soften the beans. Before serving, sprinkle some salt to taste. This is optional, my chilli sauce wasn't very salty so I had to add some for taste. If yours is salty enough, feel free to skip this step.

Here are some recommendations for chilli sauce.  I think they are mostly available in Chinese grocery stores.

Amped up brown fried rice with kale

Gotta give it to Gywneth Paltrow for giving fried rice such a good rep. I love fried rice, but it isn't exactly a dish that is known to be healthy. When you go to chinese restaurants and order fried rice, you are expecting a plate of rice and other ingredients coated with oil emitting a wok smokiness. But of course, fried rice is like a blank canvas, you are free to put in any ingredients you like and Ms. Paltrow has chosen kale, scallions, garlic and soy sauce.

My love for kale started when I found out it has the highest nutritious value. I was excited to try out this dish since we already eat brown rice almost everyday and I'm always on the lookout for easy and healthy recipes. However, I made some tweaks to it to up the wow factor. Instead of using regular oil, I used a mixture of roasted sesame seed oil and grapeseed oil. The latter has no taste but just to even the taste out. Instead of using soy sauce, I used soy sauce paste. Soy sauce paste has a sweetness to it that I thinks adds another dimension to fried rice. It is important to buy good tasting soy sauce and soy sauce paste as you don't want to end up with a flat tasting sauce that is simply salty. I use the Kimlan soy sauce paste, it should be available in Chinese supermarkets.

(Amped Up) Brown Fried Rice with Kale

adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow's recipe

- 2 and 1/2 cups uncooked brown rice, cooked

- 1/2 bunch of black kale or 1 bunch of regular kale, cut into thin strips

- 1 tablespoon of grape seed oil and 1/2 tablespoon of roasted sesame oil

- 3 large green onions sliced diagonally

- 4 cloves garlic (I love garlic so I used more)

- 1 and 1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce paste

- dash of white pepper

Heat up the oil in a wok and put in garlic and spring onions. This allows the wok to take in the smell and taste of these ingredients. Next throw in the kale and fry it till slightly wilted. Put in the cooked brown rice and try to separate the chunks of rice so that each grain of rice can be coated with the oil and the ingredients can be mixed in well. Drizzle the soy sauce paste and sprinkle some white pepper over the rice and stir and stir some more and you're done!

This dish is really delicious, thank you Gwyneth!

Fire up the grill!

I guess Memorial Day weekend marks the official start of the BBQ season. Encouraged by the good weather, we bought some grill worthy ingredients to celebrate the long weekend.

I chanced upon the Food Network TV app the other day and saw a grilled corn salad recipe that I liked. That went into the menu, along with Korean spicy BBQ pork and salmon for some antioxidants.

While browsing the Friday farmers market at my office building, I saw some beautiful bell peppers selling at 3 for $2. I decided to work that into my grilled corn salad although the regular recipe included tomatoes instead. I also decided to add some avocado since it has such awesome health benefits. Here is my version of the grilled corn salad.

Grilled Corn Roasted Pepper Avocado Salad

- 1 ear of corn, grilled
- 1 bell pepper, roasted
- 1/2 of a avocado
- juice from half a lime
- salt to taste
- coriander

To roast the bell pepper, throw it onto the grill or on your gas stove. Char the outer skin, wrap it up with aluminum foil to steam it so that the skin can be peeled away easily. Dice the pepper and avocado, remove corn kernels from the cob, chop up a handful of coriander, juice half a lime, add some salt to taste, and you have yourself a great and healthy salad to accompany your grilled meats!

Sam Woo BBQ

We watched a HK movie on Friday night and of course one of the scenes (insignificant one, but of course the one I remembered best) shows this old man buying egg tarts for this old lady.  I've never been one to be crazy about egg tarts, but that all changed a few years back when I travelled to HK and had THE MOST AMAZING egg tart that still has me salivating till today.  That scene set me ablaze on my Yelp app, searching for Cantonese style egg tarts.  Many dim sum restaurants came up, which included Sam Woo BBQ.  Despite having lived in OC for several years, I've only been to Sam Woo less than 5 times.  Somehow I've always associated it with a perpetually crowded and expensive place (I hate waiting for food when I'm hungry).  However, the pictures of Wanton Mee were too good to pass, so we decided to head there for dinner the next day.

Being the greedy peeps we are, and perhaps also because we only had a "just nice enough" portion for brunch, we were hungry at 5pm.  I figured this was a good time to go since we'll probably beat the dinner crowd, people who get hungry at regular times.  When you get to this Sam Woo location, you will notice it splits into 2, the "Seafood" section and the "BBQ" section.  The Seafood section will serve more banquet style food while the BBQ section has their signature Cantonese BBQ dishes and more homestyle cooking. True enough, we were able to get seats immediately.  It didn't take us long to decide what we wanted - Beef Hor Fun and Roast Duck + Wanton Noodle Soup.

Our food came pretty quickly, I slurped the wanton soup happily. While it was delicious, I can't help but think with much certainty there's MSG in it.  I added the pickled green chili to the noodles and ate happily.  For $7.95, you get a big bowl of noodles, 4 succulent wanton with whole shrimp and some ground pork and about 4 generous slices of roast duck.  This dish was definitely a winner.  We later discovered you can tell them to omit MSG for your dishes, will keep that in mind for the next time.

Next was the beef hor fun.  When the server brought it to our table, I was immediately captivated by the wok hei.  Wok hei is the trademark smokiness of good Chinese dishes brought upon by cooking dishes over a great heat.  I had high expectations of this dish which probably contributed to the disappointment even more.  While the sliced beef was tender, it severely lacked ANY taste.  The noodles were also just ok.  Don't know how you can get this dish wrong when the only seasoning you would need would be soy sauce and perhaps some white pepper.  At $7.95, this was a dud. 

Despite having a hit and a miss, I'm certain we'll revisit this place soon, I'm already planning my next order, which will include Chinese ham fried rice...mmm..can't wait!

Sam Woo Irvine

15333 Culver Drive Ste 720

Irvine, CA 92604

(949) 262 - 0888 (BBQ)

(949) 262 - 0688 (Seafood)

Yakisoba Bun

This is not a nutritious meal and it violates carb-on-carb rule, but hubs had it once and liked it so who am I to argue with his taste buds. It makes for an easy to prepare weekday lunch as well. This isn't so much a recipe since it is pretty much putting things together.

Buy a packet of yakisoba noodles from an Asian grocery store which comes with yakisoba seasoning which is a mixture of sweet, salty and tangy, kinda like an Asian BBQ sauce. Prep ingredients of choice to go into noodles. I used napa cabbage and green onions as these are what I had on hand, you can use carrots and other vegs you like.

The noodles will usually be packed into small packets and to make cooking them easier, put them in a bowl with some water and microwave for about 90 seconds. This helps to loosen the noodles which will make your life much easier when you are stir frying them.

Heat some oil in a wok/pan and cook the vegetables first. When they are 90% done, add in the noodles. Mix the noodles and vegetables well and sprinkle the seasoning on top and mix them all together.

Put some yakisoba into a hotdog bun. Add some Japanese mayo and furikake for extra taste. Enjoy!

Tips on costs cutting

With the tax season behind us, I thought I would share some of the things I do on an almost daily basis to spend less.

Draw up a budget

This first step is rather necessary as it highlights to you what you are spending on and how much you think you can allocate to the category. I'm not asking you to stick to it religiously though it would be great if you can. The idea of the budget is to create awareness for yourself.

Minimize eating out

When I was doing an annual budget for us, I was shocked to realize that apart from mortgage, food is the highest expense. When I thought about it, it made sense. Food is something we spend on 3 times (or more) a day, so naturally it chalks up to a rather significant amount even if you are not eating things like steak and caviar everyday. To save on this category, I've decided that we would brown bag lunch on weekdays and limit eating out to 2 meals a week unless there's a special occasion of some sort. If you spend $6 on average for lunch and dinner, and that is a very conservative estimate, you wind up spending about $100 a week per pax. This adds up to $5200 a year! So why not spend a little more time preparing your own meals? Doing so you can potentially cut your costs in half and better still, you get to control the ingredients you use and this may help you lead a healthier lifestyle. I admit this is a relatively easy for me to do because I enjoy cooking most of the time but sometimes when I come home after a long day of work I just want to veg out and get take out. I love eating out as well, sampling food that I don't know how to make or do not have the luxury of time to prepare. However, I truly think this is one way to cut costs significantly and it comes with positive externalities as well. If you simply hate cooking, I would suggest perhaps getting those meal plans that delivers healthy food to you. There are many options out there, so choose one that is appealing to you within your budget.

Patience in shopping pays off

I have a weakness for clothes and it probably doesn't help that fashion blogs I read are always touting new threads. To satisfy my desire to have new clothing on a frequent basis, I opt to buy from wallet friendly brands like H&M. Their fast fashion retail concept + low prices are huge draws. Aside from that, sign up for the mailing list at your fave stores. I realized that many brands offer coupons and sale on a constant basis. I learned quickly not to buy things at certain stores at full price. Be patient and some sort of discount will come your way. If by the time the discount is here and the item you are eyeing on is no longer available, dont dwell on it. You will NOT suffer internal injuries just coz you didn't get that dress you want.

Shop online

I would also advocate shopping online as opposed to shopping in brick and mortar stores. Many retailers offer free shipping outright or if you meet a minimum order. The added advantage to shipping online is that you can get cash back rebates from Ebates (link opens to a referral by me). This is a neat way to save some money on the things you were gonna buy anyway. For online shopping, check out retailmenot.com for various coupons if you do not wish to have your inbox flooded with promotional emails.

Use your credit card

Now, I realize this may not come off as a sound advice. I do not believe in having credit card debts as these suckers have the highest interest rates among all kinds of loans. However, using it wisely can help you save money. It is hard to find a credit card out there that will not give you reward points of any sort. I personally likes those that gives you cash back. Just like the idea on Ebates above, cash back is savings on things you are going to spend on anyway. This includes bills, groceries, gas, etc.

To illustrate the above 3 points, here's what I did for a dress that I love but cost a lot.  By now, many people would have seen the dreamy DVF Zarita Lace  Dress.  The original price was $325 and I wasn't able to justify the cost despite liking it very much as I know it wouldn't get much wear.  When I was out shopping that weekend, the sales associate at Bloomingdales told me they were having their Friends and Family preview sale and many items were 20% off.  The dress was not on sale at that time but I decided to wait since I know the official F&F sale will begin in about a week.  I was right!  Given I've not signed up with Bloomingdale's, I quickly did so and received a 10% coupon for my 1st purchase.  I also bought the dress via Ebates and got another 3% back.  So, this $325 dress quickly whittled down to around $230!

DVF Zarita Lace Dress - Picture from Bloomingdales

Roasted Cauliflower Bleu Cheese Soup

Inspired by Some Like it Haute's immense liking of Soup Spoon's roasted cauliflower bleu cheese soup, I decided to make my own rendition.

Today might have been a bad day to be drinking hot soup but it turned out pretty apt since we didn't have much of an appetite on a warm day. Always finding an excuse to chomp on some yummy and cheap baguette, was also a deciding factor in making the soup. Another plus point is the health benefits as cauliflower belongs to the superfood family of cruciferous vegetables. If you do not like bleu cheese, feel free to leave it out, roasted cauliflower soup is still pretty tasty on it's own.

Roasted Cauliflower Bleu Cheese Soup

- A head of cauliflower (maybe about 1.5 to 2 lbs)
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons of bleu cheese (adjust to your taste)

Chop the cauliflower into small florets and let them flat on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle some salt and pepper. Roast at 380 degrees for about 30 mins

Slice the onions and mince the garlic. Sauté the onions and garlic till soft and fragrant. Add the roasted cauliflower and enough chicken stock to cover. Stir in about 2 tablespoons of bleu cheese. Bring soup to a boil. Add soup to blender in batches and blend till smooth. If you wish to make it slightly richer, add some cream to it.

I'm sure this is not as good as Soup Spoon's but good enough for now!

Thai Basil Chili Pork

I know this dish is typically made with ground chicken, but since I have ground pork leftover from making Yong Tau Foo I decided to use pork instead.

This dish tantalizes the taste buds with the saltiness of the soy sauce, tangy-ness from the fish sauce, spiciness from the red chili and hint of sweetness from sugar. The smell is also wonderful when cooking it, the aromatics fill the house and envelops you in comfortness.

Thai Basil Chili Pork

1 lb of ground pork (I used those with 20% fat)
2 red chili
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/4 cup of fresh thai basil leaves
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tablespoon light soysauce

Breakfast at Cafe Cup in Huntington Beach

Craving pancakes a few days earlier I searched for a nice breakfast place for the weekend. Cafe Cup seemed like a good choice with a good balance of savory items and big fluffy pancakes. Most of the reviews recommended either the enchiladas or chicken chilie verde so we decided to go with one of that and an order of blueberry pancake to get a dose of antioxidant.

The restaurant was packed on this overcast Sunday. The seating capacity was probably under 40 and people were constantly waiting outside. The wait for us was short as it was only the 2 of us plus we went at a slightly better time.

Food took quite long but with the great conversation we were having time passed fast.

I wasn't expecting the pancakes to be this big ($7 for 3) and worried about finishing them all as the chicken chile verde omelette came with potatoes and 2 slices of toast as well ($7.95, we switched to egg whites and added $1).

The pancakes were warm moist and fluffy, worth the weekday wait. The chicken chile verde was full of flavor and the chili verde was a tad too spicy but didn't deter us. We drenched the dish with salsa they provided in small canisters on the table. The potatoes which we ordered well done was crispy on the outside, kinda like it had some batter, but soft n mashed potatoey on the inside.

Great breakfast place but would recommend you come with a party of 4 or less and try to be there before 9am. Parking can be tricky too as there's a 24 hr fitness in the same plaza and apparently many people like to workout on weekends *shrugs*.

Cafe Cup

5930 Warner Ave

Huntington Beach, CA

(714) 840-8991

Mon-Fri 7am - 2pm, Sat & Sun 7am - 3pm

My ultimate fave place to eat in Chicago

While searching for a hot dog joint on yelp, I stumbled upon some lovely pictures of well fried fries. Fried carbs are my achilles heels so of course I had to check the place out. I browsed through the pictures, saw some awesome po boys and truffle fries! I happily scheduled Big and Little into our meal plan.

When we stepped into the restaurant, we were greeted by wonderful smells. We ordered a soft shell crab poor boy truffle fries and a grilled fish taco. I had very much wanted to order the fish and chips but didn't want too much grease in the meal so opted for a healthier fish taco.

We sat on the bench and the table next to us was feasting on several orders of fish and chips. I was green with envy. The 2 pieces of fish were humongous and the batter looked so crisp and thin. I immediately regretted my decision.

The soft shell crab was phenomenal! The crab was so fresh and the batter so light crisp and flavorful. Major YUM! The grilled fish taco was also very good. The portion was good the fish was well seasoned and fresh an topped with shredded cabbage with a slightly spicy sauce. Truffle fries oh truffle fries..they were sooo delectable. Fried well done and drizzled with truffle oil. Gotta say all 3 choices were hits! However, I know I will hate myself if I didn't come back and try the fish and chips especially after this great meal.

So, back to BnL we went the next day. We were the first customers and ordered just the fish and chips since we knew what a huge portion it was. Naturally we swapped the fries for truffle fries.

Before you think I'm crazy for loving this place so much, read this blog entry. It give you insight into the owners, background and best part, e went back 3 times during his stay.

My fave place to eat in Chicago is neither famed for hot dogs nor deep dish pizza. They serve up wickedly good seafood and fries and much much more. I know I will miss them dearly when I'm back in Socal.

Hot Doug!

Chicago is well known for their hot dogs and deep dish pizza, so these 2 were on our must try list. Yelping hot dogs for Chicago gave us Portilla Hot Dogs as the most reviewed with an overall 4 stars rating. Thing is we have one in Buena Park and it seems silly to go Chicago to have something we can eat here. So I turned to my trusted google and found Hot Doug. It is located beyond the city center but nothing too far that the awesome public transportation in Chicago cannot take you to. An approx 45 minutes and 2 bus rides later we arrived slightly before 11am and there was a short queue and the seats were mostly taken.

We decided to choose the specialties since other regular hotdogs can probably be gotten in other places. I ordered the pork with sundried tomatoes and basil while he ordered chicken sausage with cheese and bleu cheese on top. An order of fries is a must and I'm glad we came on a weekday when duck fat fries were not available otherwise I would have a very hard time resisting them in the name of health.

Our order came shortly and we dug into it happily. I was careful with my first bite, not wanting to squirt out oil. To my surprise the hot dog was not oily at all. The basil and tomatoes added a refreshing twist to the sausage, the whole combination worked well and i couldn't get over the fact that it wasn't greasy! His hot dog was oozing with cheese from within and the bleu cheese added a much welcomed tang. The fries were well fried and the small portion was more than sufficient for us.

Dim Sum Brunch @ Ming Hin Chicago

Took a vacation in Chicago and came back recharged and filled to the brim with yummy food. The trip did not get off to a great start as we were bumped off our flight and the flight we were put on was delayed 3 hours. So we spent a good 8 hours or so stuck in the airport. At least we got some useful travel credit out of this ordeal.

On Sunday we went for dim sum brunch in Chinatown. I did some research and Ming Hin with it's good website drew me to it as they had zha leong on the menu and their website allowed for online booking. We were there around 10am and the place was already close to being full. The decor was nice and modern, far cry from the Chinese restaurants in Socal. They gave us a menu with lovely pictures of the food and we ordered by checking the boxes next to it.

First up was the quintessential har gow. It is the usual suspects that will indicate what kinda dim sum restaurant it is. MH's har gow passed with the not too thick skin, flavorful and succulent shrimp.

We also ordered char siew so which is Chinese BBQ pork enclosed in golden puff pastry. This was goood. I have not had this for quite a while and MH did not disappoint. The pastry was flaky and not oily and a hint of sweetness from I guess brushing syrup on top. The char siew to pastry ratio was also just right. The filling had no fatty pieces of meat which suited me well!

Next was something that captivated both of us. I've had very good salted egg yolk custard pau in Singapore so my expectations were high. I ordered the polo bun version instead. The polo bun was tasty with the right amount of sweetness. The salted egg yolk custard while good did not have the molten lava texture I was expecting. To think I even warned the boy that the insides might flowing out. Nonetheless we both enjoyed this very much. He's never had this before so he was really pleasantly surprised by it.

Then my zha leong came. I first had zha leong several years back in Hong Kong and my cousin brought me to Sweet Dynasty. The zha leong was so good my friend and I visited the restaurant again just to savor it before we left. Unfortunately this is one dim
sum item that is not widely available. It baffles me because chinese fried crullers are so readily available and most restaurants offer it, so why not stuff it inside some cheong fun? Alas, the zha leong at MH wasn't good. The cruller was stale which ruined the whole dish.

Another standard dim sum dish for me would be the lo bak go (pan fried radish cake). This one had a smooth texture but I felt it wasn't fragrant enough.

The boy wanted the glutinous fried rice and that was the last item for our brunch. The rice was ok but I didn't think it was worth $7 for such a small portion.