Teas Not Tease

Been drinking a little more tea than usual. Maybe because of the cooler weather and we’ve been eating more “festive foods”.

Chinese Green Tea

I think there’s a picture of this tea somewhere on this blog. ??? From Fujian province.

Dragon Well Tea

There’s probably a picture of this tea too on the blog.

Oolong Tea

From a tea bag. From New Chin’s Seafood Restaurant. Nothing special, restaurant tea.

Package

From The Pacific Club.

Tea Bag

Jasmine Tea

Again, nothing special, the packaging lead me to believe otherwise. That’s okay, any tea helps to neutralize rich foods. Too bad they didn’t serve it in a Asian tea cup.

Bitter Needle Tea

I know I posted about this tea. With all the holiday eating, I need all the help I can get.

"Bitter Needles"

Just in case you’re new to reading this blog, this is what the “bitter needle” tea leaves look like.

Oolong Tea

From Kin Wah Chop Suey. More restaurant tea.

Jasmine Tea

From the Pineapple Room by Alan Wong. From a tea bag. More restaurant tea.

Had to add these in. Iced tea from Padovani’s Chocolates. The Cat thinks these are the bomb!

Peach and Lilikoi Iced Tea

Pineapple and Almond Iced Tea

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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The Mouse’s Combo

If you browse around the web for local food habits, you may notice that we have a combination of saimin and either a hamburger or a cheeseburger. I dunno how that started. Seems a bit strange even for me. Believe me, it works.

However, I think I’ve tapped into a different combo that’s even better (in my opinion).

Wor Won Ton

That’s won ton soup with extra veggies and pork (usually there’s a few slices of char siu too). Sorry the won ton were shy that day. 🙂

And

Manapua

I like my combo better because, I don’t have to deal with noodles (I know, but noodles are not really a favorite of mine). And there’s pork, Chinese-style pork to be exact.

The saimin, hamburger/cheeseburger combo may be more “fusion”, but I’m pake after all. 🙂

So while I was having my epiphany, The Cat had one of her usuals.

Roast Duck Look Funn Soup

Where’s the duck you may ask?

Roast Duck

Here. She takes all of the duck out otherwise it gets soggy. 😦

Enjoy!

The Mouse

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It Was About Sea Asparagus

The founder and owner of the sea asparagus farm here invited us out for dinner. The only criteria was that the restaurant needed to serve sea asparagus. We ended up at The Pineapple Room by Alan Wong (they use a good amount of sea asparagus). We tried to order as many dishes that used sea asparagus.

Poke & Sashimi

Local Style with Chili and Sesame Oil, Kahuku Sea Asparagus, Shiso and Wasabi Sauce.

This was ordered as appetizer for the table and as part of my dinner. Sashimi and poke, can’t get any better.

Kampachi Topped with Sea Asparagus and Shiitake Mushrooms, Mustard Green Sauce

I was really impressed with the mustard green sauce. It tastes like the restaurant pureed mustard greens  for the sauce. Very flavorful.

The kitchen knows our host very well. Not only does he supply them with sea asparagus, he also frequents the restaurant regularly. The kitchen sent out two complimentary starters.

Ho Farms & Hamakua Springs Tomato Salad

With fresh local watermelon, beets, and ume dressing. This was an interesting mix, the tomatoes, beets, and dressing was a good combination, the watermelon provided nice color. Flavor-wise, the watermelon seemed out-of-place, in my opinion.

"Bruschetta Platter"

Kiawe-grilled bread with Hamakua Springs tomato jam, basil pesto, olive tapenade, Hawaii island goat dairy fresh chèvre.

Steak

This was our host’s order. I’m not sure if it was the Kiawe-Grilled Spiced Rub Maui Cattle Company Beef Ribeye or the Grilled Midwest One Pound Rib Steak. I did not want to intrude and ask him what he ordered. If you’re interested, the description for the beef ribeye and one pound rib steak are the same: “Braised Maui Onion, Garlic Mushroom, Balsamic Glazed, Hamakua Springs Tomato, Herb Butter”. See my confusion? 😀

Since the eating season is just beginning, I thought it best to order a lighter meal.

Besides my sashimi & poke combo starter which I used as an entrée, I ordered two soups.

Chicken Soup, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Watercress

Not bad for a cold evening.

Chilled Hamakua Springs Tomato Soup with Avocado and Chilled Blue Prawn

When the chilled soup came, I started thinking about Ray Harryhausen and the Kraken for some reason. 🙂

Thanks WH.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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What Was I Thinking??!!

Yesterday, we ended at Liu’s Chop Suey for lunch. I wasn’t expecting my socks to come off, just a decent, inexpensive lunch. The daily special was turkey on rice or noodles for $4.75. I thought it would be something like turkey ala king, Chinese-style. I don’t know what prompted me to order it, but I did. I got this:

Turkey on Rice, $4.75

Call it kismet. This was one of the best turkey meals I have ever had … ever. The turkey was moist, tender, and flavorful. And a very generous portion. Even The Cat, who is not a turkey person, said it was “not bad” (she got the wing portion). Tasted like roast chicken, Chinese-style. I should have thought of it sooner (it was too late by the time I did think of it), but I should have asked for a side of ginger onion sauce (the sauce for cold ginger chicken). That would have been perfect. Yes, the socks came off.

The Cat went with the more traditional stuffed eggplant.

Stuffed Eggplant

My theory is holding true, leftover turkey is better.

Sometimes, you have to go for it (even though one part of the brain is screaming “What are you thinking???!!!) 😀

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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Thanksgiving Dinner

Here’s the Thanksgiving dinner as mentioned in the prior post. Our friends and mentors invited us for Thanksgiving dinner.

Sign

They wish to remain anonymous, anonymous they will remain. It’s an old and prestigious club. For Thanksgiving, it was tents, and buffet tables.

The Buffet Area

An impressive spread. Didn’t want to offend anyone by taking pictures of  the buffet lines, we were guests after all. So, pictures of food on my plates, and even then I was a little wary.

Mouse's Buffet Plate

Ginger Kabocha Soup

There was turkey (of course), prime rib, ham, oysters, fish, and salads galore, oh my.

Raw Oyster

Since the first pass was with our hosts, they made sure that we got traditional pieces of turkey, ham and prime rib. On the second trip, I was on my own. I politely asked the carvers for the bits and pieces (I think that’s where all the flavor is).

Prime Rib "Bits"

Turkey "Bits"

Parts of the crispy skin and “crusts” that fall off during slicing, yum.

Dessert was also pretty amazing.

Dessert Plate

The bottom left is a apple pie, I scraped from the plate the remnants from other guests (to make the buffet line neater, goes down  the same way).

Hope your Thanksgiving was full of thanksgiving and food.

Enjoy.

The Mouse

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