Zinc Saucier

I have some really fabulous photos to share from my amazing hike in the Aiea Loop Trail. But first, let me tell you about my crazy desire to be Zinc Saucier. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "Zinc Saucier", it is from the Futurama episode where Bender (a super cool robot) learns to be a great chef. He challenged Elzar to a cook-off in Iron Cook, and the secret ingredient was Soylent Green (LOL!) Bender won the iron cook challenge but he denied the title of Iron Cook and instead, took the title of "Zinc Saucier". He learned that the secret to perfect cooking is confidence. You gotta watch it, such a silly episode. Ok, totally off topic. One night, I cooked a three-course meal! We had Kubota squash and corn soup simmered for three hours. For main dish, I made garlic fried baby bak choi (Bryan's favorite), and stir-fry ground turkey with bell peppers topped with small pieces of Kubota squash separately fried in soy sauce and sugar. I got the Kubota squash from my work trip to Maui. The taro farmers were so nice to give me one and taught me how to cook it.

Another night, I made stuffed portabella mushrooms. We bought the portabella in Costco. I had previously made stuffed button mushrooms and they were so tasty. Then I thought, why not stuff a large mushroom! Then we would get three times the yummy-ness. I am a total genius :)

Zinc Saucier Choo. Thank you thank you [bow]~

Valentine's Day

We had a fabulous Valentine's Day this year! Thanks to my sweet HappyOblivion for making it such a beautiful and wonderful day, full of love and deliciousness. What? Eating again? You should know by now that when I say wonderful, food is always involved, either it be home-cooked or dining out. HappyOblivion took me to my favorite restaurant, Kincaid's, for an early-bird dinner to beat the crowd. By early-bird I mean 4:30PM. It was great because by the time we left, people were lining up outside the restaurant.

Their garlic bread is to die for! Soft toasted bread with melted garlic butter. As I was eating it, the butter dripped on my fingers. Ah, so ono!

For appetizer, we had the Italian Tomato and Mozzarella Caprese. I actually forgot what it was called so I googled "some tomato and mozzarella dish thingy" and the caprese popped up. We intended to place one order of the caprese but two orders came. We didn't refuse the extra dish but we were a little uneasy about the extra costs. When the bill came, we found out all appetizers were half-off during early-bird so we were like, "Yay! let's eat more!" The mozzarella was spongy, drizzled with a tangy sauce that complimented the soft taste of the cheese.

HappyOblivion tried the Lemon Herb Crusted Mahimahi. As you can see, the food came just when the sun shined through the window. It was perfect lighting so I had to take a shot with my fabulous camera. Two pieces of perfectly cooked mahimahi with lightly grilled veggies and mashed potatoes at the bottom. You think this is great food, great photo...wait until you see the photo of my entree.

I had the Misoyaki Butterfish. All I can say is, the fish melted in my mouth. It was sooooo good I could it all day. But this photo...it captures the moment, the taste, and everything that comes with a perfect dinner and a memorable date. Thank you sweetie pie!

Thanksgiving Feast

Whew! I just did all my Christmas shopping yesterday at Waikele. As always, I kept finding things for myself. However, I did manage to maintain focus and bought gifts for my family ... except in Sports Authority where I bought only one thing for me-self, hee :) Oh shush! I only bought a swimsuit. I decided to try the Speedo ENDURANCE line that my mom had told me about two weeks ago. She found them in Hong Kong and had wanted to buy me some. Good thing I asked her not to because when I tried them on, they were a size too big. The ENDURANCE line is 100% chlorine resistant with the 4-way stretch fabric. The material feels thicker, stronger and warmer too. Even though it was quite pricey, I decided to give it a try, hoping that their slogan "lasts 20x longer" would be at least 25% true. So, I wear out a swimsuit every 9 months. Based on my assumption, the ENDURANCE suit will have to last 15 months for me to save. Let's hope it does!

Thankgiving dinner, it was onolicious! Mahalo HappyOblivion for cooking such a delicious meal. Yes, he cooked everything himself. I only contributed the roots - yam, mashed potatoes (the real kine), and caramelized carrots. He prepared the stuffing, cranberry-orange sauce, and most important, the turkey. This year's turkey was better than last year's. Even the white meat was juicy! I dunno how Happyoblivion did it but maybe the great chef can give us hungry readers some advice for next year??

I prepared the table spread with my new "Homemade in Portugal" dishes.

Dun dun dun, the famous turkey by happyOblivion. It was a 17-pounder. The seasoning was perfect!

We invited some friends over who brought yummy pumpkin crunch cake. We were all in food coma an hour later.

My wii pig turned orange!

So much has happened since I last blogged. I feel like I haven't been on the internet for a month, but it's only been a week and a half. Let's back track a little. For the past three days, I was on Maui doing field work. I am so glad we returned to Oahu before the storm hit. Outside the window, I see trees doing the mambo jambo and cars creeping on the shiny wet road. Hmm ... hot soup is perfect for stormy weather. The week before, I began making christmas presents for my family and friends. More on this inspirational project in my Artsy Blog.

When I am behind on blogging, I usually look through my photos to determine where I should begin. During Thanksgiving week, HappyOblivion went back home for his friend's wedding. That Saturday, I busted out the Wii Fit and exercised for an hour. When I finished, the piggy bank (time keeper) jumped up and down, then it changed from silver color to gold! I was so surprised. I got a gold piggy bank for breaking 10 hours on the Wii Fit.


Next day, HappyOblivion came back from LA. To celebrate, I served Cheese Ravioli (from Costco) on the fancy green "Handmade in Portugal" plates I bought from Ross. The food look more delicious and appealing on these nice plates, don't you think? 


More on food...  A while ago, I bought baby bak choi from a shop in Chinatown. They come in a puffed up clear plastic bag, very fresh. They taste ono simply fried in garlic and salt. Since then, I haven't been able to find them because ... well, to be honest, I don't know my way around Chinatown. Yes yes, I am Chinese and I do work only a few blocks from Chinatown. So embarrassing. Anywho, my friend from work recently took me to a shop that sells these baby bak choi. I was very happy because Happyoblivion had been wanting them for quite sometime. I fried these baby up with chicken and oh, so ono!

A Kincaid's Thanksgiving

Kincaid's is my favorite restaurant for dinner in Hawaii. As for lunch, I love Alan Wong's Pineapple Room. We recently received a $20 gift card in the mail. Yeah, we randomly get these gift cards in the mail addressed to "Current Resident". Is that great or what? Since it's Thanksgiving, we thought we should treat ourselves to a nice romantic dinner.

One of the reasons I love Kincaid's is their garlic bread. They come out warm, soft, garlicy, and buttery. I wish I could just eat these and drink a wine without ordering anything from the menu. That would be kinda' rude...

Instead of ordering crab cakes appetizer like all the other times, we decided to try something different. We ordered the scallop lollipops. They are grilled scallops wrapped in salmon. Very juicy and tasty.

For main dish, I ordered the seared ahi. The fish was cooked to perfection. The meat came out by slices. The fresh and lightly cooked vegetables compliment the salty taste of the fish.

HappyOblivion ordered the crusted opah. I never had opah before so I didn't know what fish it was. The dish was a surprise to me because it tasted very different from what I had imagined. The fish was delicious and crunchy. Not oily at all.

We had a nice time eating and not talking during dinner. Who needs to talk and converse about relationship when you have such good food sitting in front of you. Just eat and be merry :) Talking is overrated.

Sweet Home Cafe

Yipeee! Last night, we went to Sweet Home Cafe for dinner. We saw this restaurant last time we ordered take out from Keawe Grill. HappyOblivion read a good review of it on a food blog so we decided to try it out last night. The restaurant is owned by a chinese couple whom greeted us with a friendly "hallo" spoken with a homey-chineseee accent. Every table is set up with a hot pot (shabu shabu) that cooks by induction (surface remains cool while cooking). The owner introduced us to some of the popular soup bases. We chose the "healthy herb" soup base because it was a traditional chinese soup simmered for 5-hours with dates and other dried ingredients. We also ordered the raw beef and a Lichi tapioca drink. When the soup and the rice came, we hurried off to the refrigerator where we got a couple of our favorite shabu shabu items: aburage, mushrooms, shrimp balls, wontons, and squash. The first bite reminded me of home. The soup was delicious and the rice was soft. Everything smelled so good I thought I was at home eating with my family. The lichi tapioca drink was refreshing. During the course of our meal, the owner came over a couple times to talk story. I think this was one of the best "eat-out" dinners I have ever had. I would definitely love to go again :)

After many days of staring at the cute pig on the "No Pudge" brownie mix that HappyOblivion got from Trader Joe, we finally decided to bake it. We couldn't believe how easy it was to make the brownie. All we added was plain yogurt and vanilla extract...no oil, or other fattening ingredients! Mixing it was a bit of physical work but the fudge was so fudgy (see right). We were suppose to let the brownie cool down before eating but knowing us, we couldn't wait. Awwww, it was so soft and moist. I love a guilt-free fudgy brownie.

On a last note, I updated my "Garden" blog with some new pictures. I also bought a native Hawaiian plant, Ihi, at Home Depot. I am not too big a supporter of Home Depot but it is the only place that sells native Hawaiian plants, other than the nursery out in Kaneohe. I will post of picture of it soon.

Last of the January Creations

These are the last of our January home-cooked dinners before Chinese New Year. HappyOblivion was the proud chef of both dishes and all I did was to capture the deliciousness of the food with these photos. The first was enjoyed on the 25th. The salmon was pan fried in miso paste topped with mushrooms and onions. Even though we forgot to use our lovely Japanese ceramic plates, the food still looked undoubtly presentable. The second dish was enjoyed on the 31st. You may wonder why we have so much salmon. Simple answer, Costco made us do it. This salmon had a citrus taste which may or may not appeal to everyone's appetite but it sure pleased my taste buds.

Venetian Shrimp and Scallops

I don't know what is happening to us but we continue to cook good every night. Even though I am not too fond of Rachael Ray and her "Little R&R Every Morning" or whatever the show is, this recipe is truly easy to make. In addition, the recipe is so flexible that you can substitute whatever ingredient you like and it will still taste good. For instance, I don't have white wine so I added red wine which gave the sauce a rich strong taste. And yeah, the recipe calls for LARGE scallops...I was like, "I ain't from Nob Hill". I used frozen small size scallops instead and the food still tasted good. As I always say, all you have to do to correct a cooking mistake is to add butter. BUTTER!

Salmon with Broccoli

HappyOblivion cooked this. Itsn't he amazing? After playing 2 hours of basketball, he dropped by Foodland to buy fish and poke. Then he came back, took a shower, and whipped up this great looking and tasty dinner in less than 30 minutes. Well of course we ate the whole thing in 15 minutes as always. It tasted really yummy, especially the white sauce (can't reveal his recipe, sorry).

BBQ Chicken with Broccoli

Once in awhile, I make pretty amazing dinners. The oriental Japanese ceramic plate makes the food look tastier than ever. This was last night's dinner - special tomato sauce fried rice and BBQ chicken with broccoli. I learned to make the fried rice from a Japanese recipe for Omahayashi. Instead of topping the rice with a semi-cooked tamago, I fried the egg with the rice so the chicken remained the center of attention.