Consume Mass Quantities

Brunch/lunch buffet this morning at Hee Hing Restaurant (449 Kapahulu Avenue, Honolulu, Hawaii).

A sampling of our consumption of mass quantities.

The Cat’s Plate I

The Cat’s Plate II

High points for The Cat were Szechuan style eggplant (which was not spicy at all), and the tofu salad. It was the first time The Cat experienced tofu salad with canned salmon (one of the original recipes).

The Mouse’s Plate I

The Mouse’s Plate II

High points for The Mouse were the roast pork (with crispy skin) and char siu (was there any doubt?). Notice my first plate was mostly vegetables so I wouldn’t feel  guilty about the second plate? Hee hee!

The kitchen also made a little Hawaiian food. The bowl of pork luau on at the 3 o’clock position in the second picture (taro leaves cooked with a small amount of pork and coconut milk). Not bad, just okay. The raw leaves have a chemical irritant that is nullified by cooking long and slow. Think Hawaiian-style collared/mustard greens.

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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Talking Story with Our Mentor

Caught up with one of our mentors this past Sunday. He helped to bring Sesame Street to China amongst other things. Couldn’t decide where to go as his “club” is closed on Sunday.

Ended up at Five Star International Buffet (2301 Kalakaua Avenue, Honolulu, Hawai`i). We were here over a year ago. Then they raised their prices and we felt it wasn’t worth the price increase. We recently noticed that they dropped their price to an affordable level.

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The food is pretty decent too, considering it’s a buffet.

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I was trying to limit my carb intake. As you can see I was not entirely successful, but a vast improvement from before.

Mini Loco Moco

My Achilles’ heel. Although, it was a mini, and I left a little bit of rice behind. So a partial win.

The Cat’s Plate

Chawanmushi

Or Japanese-style savory custard. The Cat wanted to show you she’s trying to eat healthy too.

The meeting  went well, mostly brainstorming and narrowing our focus.

Enjoy. Eat well.

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Christmas Brunch

Christmas brunch, The Beach House at the Moana Surfrider Hotel. Very strange. Messed up our reservations (time). Couldn’t get the number of our party correct.

Management sends over a bottle of bubbly to “make-up” for their mistakes.

Turns out, the chef de cuisine is a former “student” of Chefs P and p. He sends over another two bottles of “bubbly”. Some people at the table were very “merry” (there were eight of us).

The Cat said I have to gain weight (kind of drastically dropped after I got the nasal and throat infection).

Mouse Plate I

Sashimi? Check. Smoked Salmon? Check. Salad? Check. Salumi? Check. A happy Mouse, and indirectly, a happy Cat.

Mouse Plate II

The Mouse’s hot selections. An omelet (half portion), some turkey, stuffing, vegetables, and more sashimi.

In walking through the buffet line, their were components from different dishes I had to put together, steamed buns, Chinese style, plum sauce, duck confit (more like kalua duck), and a sliced of seared duck breast.

Duck Slider, Mouse Style

My only regret was I saw the components late, otherwise I would have made more of these sliders.

Desserts were alright, maybe they were not as tempting since we’re still on the mend.

One of the interesting dessert features was a make your own s’mores station.

S’mores Station

I guess to bring out the kid in us.

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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Win Some, Lose Some

Can’t win. The Cat said I’m getting too skinny. She has forbidden me to lose anymore weight. Sigh.

Anyways, I was headed to Target today. A good excuse to try Yakiniku Camellia Buffet (4510 Salt Lake Boulevard, Salt Lake, Hawaii).

The Cat doesn’t care for yakiniku restaurants, the smoke and oils tend to build up on the walls, seating, and everywhere as time goes on. I figured since the restaurant is newly opened, should be okay.

Seating Area

Notice the large vents above the tables. Being new, the place is really clean.

On to the food.

My Ready-to-Eat Plate

A Thing of Beauty

Some Kalbi, some bulgogi, some spicy pork, zucchini, bell pepper, and onions (lots of onions). Mostly non-The Cat food. Very yummy. Haven’t had this for years (mostly due to The Cat’s aversion to these types of restaurants).

Also on the line was shi’ke.

Shi’ke

It’s a sweet rice malt drink. Made from malt flour, rice, and sugar. The Chinese have something similar that The Cat really likes. In the Chinese version a culture is introduced to wet rice which is allowed to ferment (Mandarin: Jiuniang 酒酿). The drink has a slight winey quality to it. The drink today was not fermented, just refreshing and sweet.

Malted Rice

Also eating were friends from Chyler’s Hawaiian Beef Chips, for whatever reason, they picked up my tab. Thanks Autumn and Cal!

Let’s see what the scale reads tomorrow. Heh heh.

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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Food Porn, The Thanksgiving Edition

Last night, two of our mentors invited us out for Thanksgiving dinner at the private club they belong to. All you can eat.

Just a sampling of the buffet spread.

Salads galore.

Quinoa Salad

Caprese Salad

Bay Shrimp and Pea Salad

Kabocha Ginger Soup

And because we’re where we are …

Sushi!

Carving stations.

Turkey

The breast sections were behind the chef.

Corned Beef

Dunno why it was corned beef and not ham.

Roast Beef

So, to start.

The Mouse’s Salad Plate

All of the selections were very well made. High point was the large shrimp. I used the soy sauce mustard to dip instead of the traditional cocktail sauce. Keeping it local. Heh heh.

My entrée plate.

The Mouse’s Entrée Plate

Turkey (both white and dark meat), roast beef (with some of the crusty bits), swordfish (with a creamy caper sauce), and stuffing. Happy Mouse. I tried to limit the carbs but it’s Thanksgiving (gotta have stuffing).

Lastly, we were encouraged by our host to indulge in desserts (plural, not singular).

Desserts

I happily obliged.

The Mouse’s Desserts

Pumpkin pie, apple pie, Stollen, and liliko’i cake. “Eat till you sleep.” Hee hee.

Xie xie to our generous hosts V&A.

As a bonus, one of the guests made mac nut shortbread cookies as favors.

Cookies!

Mac-Nut Shortbread Cookies

Very yum!

As expected, I gained a little bit of weight the next morning. Not going to stress over it. But it’s back to salads and ku ding cha. ‘Tis the season.

As a bonus, RabbitCanCook named me for a “Very Inspiring Blog Award” and Susartandfood’s Blog named me for a “Blogger of the Year 2012 Award”. Much mahalo! I’m humbled.

Enjoy. Eat well.

The Mouse

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