Holiday Puff

The holiday season is here! A time for thanks, a time for family and friends and most of all a time for good grinds! =)

All the lovely vendors and clients have delivered an aray of goodies to our office - ranging from cookies to waffers to chocolates to cakes to pretzels and mixed salty snacks - ohh the sweet and savory how I love thee; of course I love them separately. I dislike when a meal or dish is both sweet and savory at the same time - that throws off my taste buds!

At any rate, I have been snacking all day, non stop! Let the holiday puff (that is my expanding belly) begin~

=) Merry Christmas to all!!!!

Just my luck, triple whammy!

Planned a nice lunch with some great coworkers... 

Whammy #1: get to our lunch destination and the hostess asks if we want to sit inside or outside.  As it was a bit muggy today, I said "inside!"... the hostess then says, "oops, nevermind there are no seats inside."  boo!!!  Big whammy - so we sit in the muggy heat, outside.

Whammy #2: after stuffing my face with a whole bowlful of loco moco (with scrambled egg), the malasada looked very appealing and only $0.90!  what a deal... so I stuff my face some more and then when I get back to the office... what gets delivered... a boxful of malasadas!!!!  how do I resist... but believe it or not, power to me because I did not take one!  once in a while, I have will power and mostly that is because I knew I had dinner in about 3 hours!

Whammy #3: just got to my dinner destination to exchange gifts with my two highschool friends and the food is delicious!  just as we are finishing our meal... *power goes out*  poof!  my first thought is ... free dinner!?!?!?  but just my luck, their PO system has a 30 minute back up!  *sigh*  at least I walked out of there with a full tummy and satisfied smile due to the great service!  

Even though I encountered the triple whammy threat today, I have two good points that made my night!

1. received an email from my mom who said dinner at grandma and grandpa o's is ON!  this was a surprise and literally brought tears to my eyes.  my grandparents have not been well and we didn't gather last year, so this is a good sign..

2. my friend who is traveling around the world just came a knocking on my door!!!  *knock knock* back for a few months.. let the fun begin~

smiles all around  =)

pop pop popcorn

popcorn would be the perfect snack: light, semi healthy, low calories.... IF ONLY it didn't get stuck in my teeth all the time! Visualize this... I'm at my desk.. picking at it, finger in the mouth, trying to remove it from my teeth with no luck, grumbling and close to drooling! ... not very classy haha.

popcorn would also be the perfect snack IF ONLY I could make it without burning it! .. I guess my listening skills are not very good because I cannot pinpoint that exact moment to press the "done" button on the microwave. So, I wait and wait a bit longer.. all of a sudden there is silence and of course, out comes a black puff of smoke! burnt popcorn = fail. This is a skill I am working on! ;)

none-the-less, I still love popcorn - regular kind (butter and salt) rather than kettle corn (sweet and salty)... mmmm now I shall enjoy my leftover festive Halloween popcorn (orange and black coloring)

=)

Why oh Why Tendon?!

Why oh why tendon...

1. why do I always order tendon at Japanese restaurants?
That is a good question because I do not like the sweet sauce that is poured all over the rice. Nor do I eat all my shrimp, which normally there are only 2 or 3. That is the most expensive part of the meal.

2. why do I always get sick after ordering tendon!?
I have a pretty tough stomach, which I like to claim is made of steel. Rarely do I ever get sick or have stomach aches from food. The first time ever was a year or two ago when I ate at this Korean/Japanese restaurant, which everyone says is so worth it! I ordered tendon and that very night, my stomach cramped up so bad; I wanted to die! I thought it must have been the restaurants fault.. however, last night again, after eating tendon... my stomach got ubber sore and unfortunately, I had the runny doots. =( Gross... I know!

Conclusion... tendon is bad for me and I really shouldn't order it anymore! Why oh why do I continue to do so.. beats the heck out of me.. but I am on board now to say "NO tendon!"

=)

btw, my stomach is finally feeling better after about 18 hours!

oh and btw, if you do not know what ten don is ... basically it is vegetable and shrimp tempura over a bed of rice, drizzled with a slightly sweet sauce.

Boycott

I am the master of boycotts at restaurants. I expect good food and good service... well, last nights service sucked majorly. First, we had a party of 6 and they said to please wait 6-10 minutes. We waited longer than that and when they finally sat us, there were many open tables to seat a party of 6. What took so long?!?!

Secondly, our waiter took forever to even take our order; they didn't refill our glass of water, and he wallked by 3 times before bringing us our bread and appetizer. Keep in mind, it is not busy.

Last thing that pissed off my friends was that he couldn't split up the check due to the rule of a fixed gratuity on parties of 6 or more. I can understand that but what I did not get was why we can't pay in both cash and credit card from one check. All you have to do is plug in the cash amount and the remaining balance goes on credit card. What is so hard to understand? Apparently their registers cannot do such a thing. Insane!

While I will not argue that the food was good... due to the horribly bad service... this restaurant in Kaneohe (also a location in Kailua), gets my boycott!

Boring Sandwich

Sandwiches are boring! I don't think I could eat one everyday of the week, unless it was a grilled cheese sandwich. I just ate a turkey and cheese sandwich with a side banana and string cheese. It is just not a hearty meal. I like *hearty* Maybe I should try to cook...

Speaking of which, I just got a 7 quart crock pot that I am ready to tackle once I find a good recipe! I would like to make a chili, soup, stew, jambalaya and I suppose a pot roast or some meaty thing for the boyfriend, even though I'm not a big meat eater... I could be nice once in a while...

I tend to stick with eating things I know I like.. so I always order the same dish at certain restaurants (e.g. Saigon Noodle House = Veggie Pho, Kim Chee = Mandoo Kook Soo, etc). But yesterday at my dad's birthday linner (late lunch, early dinner)... I went out of my bubble and tried the chop chae. I thought it would be like how its served at fast food Korean places, but instead it was in a soup! I barely ate any of the chicken! But all that wonbok was delicious! =) Overall, I didn't hate it, but I probably will stick with my Mandoo Kook Soo from now on!

Snail or Slug

Which is slower... a snail or a slug?! Whichever it is, that's what I am because I am so full from all that veggie fried rice at lunch! All I want to do is take a 2 hour long nap! *YAWN*

I actually brought home lunch today, chicken tamale and rice, BUT how can I pass up Lau Yee Chai's $5 dollar fried rice?!?! Oh so ono! This week was a rare happening.. I ate out 4 out of 5 days in the week! Next week I am bringing home lunch every day! That is my vow.... we shall see if it happens...

By the way, last night at Makitti, I tried "Shoronpo" for the first time. Supposedly it is supposed to have beef and soup like filling in the dumpling form, but this one was rather dry with no soup! It sort of tasted like a pork hash to me. I think I just like saying "shoronpo!" Oh and there was hardly anything "hello kitty" about the restaurant, so I was not bombarded with over cutesy-ness, thank goodness!

=)

Hakata Style

Received an email early this morning about the "today only" special at Gyu-Kaku. FREE kalbi when you say the secret word "kalbi". Very tempting... however, I decided to stick with my original plan, which was Menchanko-Tei!

Funny thing is I ate lunch at Menchanko-Tei with 2 friends, one of which is the regional director of Gyu-Kaku!!!! =) Muahahahahaha. I swayed him from his own restaurant! Such power I have.. not really.. but still... as always, the hakata ramen and chicken rice was delicious and only $6.50. What a deal! 

Tonight I shall attend the soft opening at Makitti, the hello kitty of Makino Chaya... I am afraid of the ubber cuteness of the restaurant, but am excited to see my friends and check out what they have to offer... beware though, because there are some coworkers (including the president) from my office who will be there... I must duck and hide!

=)

Maui Tacos BEBE!

B drizz ordered the chicken chingaling, which is basically a taquito but using flour tortilla instead of corn tortillas~ Here is my jingle for her based off a famous song, "give a ring when you want some chingaling!..." HAHAHA! Do you know what song that comes from?!?!?!?

As for me, I ordered the vegetarian bowl-filled with rice, black beans, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes and 4 tortilla chips! Quite refreshing... mmmm. I have also tried their cheese quesadilla and burrito with wet sauce (aka enchilada sauce)! The very first time I tried Maui Tacos, I was not that impressed, but giving it another try, I have since changed my mind... I would like to try their banana lumpia next!

And just to add to the story, Maui Tacos is where I secretly set up a coworker on a date with the new printer dude! MUAHAHAHAHA ... evil =

My other friend, Tuna, ended up going to Panda Express. Just FYI - the kids meal at Panda was about the same price as my vegetarian bowl ($6.50). Why is the Royal Hawaiian Center's food court so expensive?!

=)

Ponzu Hamburger!

Today's lunch was Hamburger Steak with Ponzu, a citrus based sauce, slightly tart. Normally I do not care for ponzu sauce (nor teriyaki sauce), but at Okonomiyaki Chibo it is delicious! Somehow I find the crisp outer edged hamburger dipped in ponzu sauce to be irresistible. Served with rice, grilled veggies, salad, miso soup and tsukemono.. it is a full meal, making me very sleepy with still half a days left of work!

Trekking through the day, I thought I would recap on last Friday's ume musubi... The doctor said to stay away from nori (seaweed, iodine, etc) because normally within 2 to 5 days acne flares up. This theory could be correct, as everytime I eat sushi, I get many pimples. It is unfortunate because I love ume musubi and cannot stop eating it... nor shall I...

Tomorrow's lunch will be with my chocoland girlies... Stay tuned for what is to come of this tum tum

=)

Nauseated...

Oddly, I feel slightly nauseated today, which is rare (unless aunt flow is visiting). It ain't that time yet.. so why do I feel sick?

This prohibits me from eating MCD French Fries, which I was so looking forward to. The monopoly game is in full effect right now and I want to play it!

This also makes me queasy about eating my enchiladas... cheese, dairy, when your tummy is uneasy is not a good idea...

Thus, I opted for 2 ume musubis - plain and simple. (BTW, total cost $3.50 for rice and ume!?). Anyways, coupled with some tea and I feel slightly better! What other foods are there that you would recommend to eat when not feeling well.... please enlighten me!

=)

Gelato Awareness!

@ Panya, Ala Moana:

"gelato 1 scoop $3.50, 2 scoop $4.50, additional scoop $1"

Of course we order 2 single scoops for $7.00.. at that price, we could've had 4 scoops gelato!! either that or just had 2 scoops, which is what we had, for only $4.50.

Note: the chocolate gelato has a slight nutty taste, similar to nutella!
ENJOY~

Carb OD

Yuumm... scalloped potatoes and rice for lunch.
Can we say, carb overload?!?!?
Ohhhh sooo delicious though!

I did have 2 apple bananas, if that makes it any healthier!
=) smiles