Yay! Grill Time!!

We have all these cookbooks, but I couldn't make half the stuff in them because we didn't have a grill. Well, we have those indoor, stovetop grill, but have learned to hate it. It is hard to clean and grilling just stinks up an apartment for a week! So we finally got the little grill and FINALLY got it set up and working. We were waiting for the warm weather, right, Hubby? Hee hee. The first thing my husband made was steak. He just rubbed the Montreal grill seasoning on it, and then pounded it with his fist. It came out really good.

Balcony Plants

Aren't these Jumpers so pretty?! They're so cute! Last year I tried to grow them from seeds, but I didn't bother this year since I've been so busy. I just went to Home Depot and went plant crazy. I took so long trying to figure out which container had the most variety of colors. The only thing that was growing was my husband's scrawny maple plant from Ikea. Well, actually I thought that it had just died from being overwatered or not watered enough, but lo and behold, it was alive!!! It has started growing its new red leaves. So, anyways, I also bought a pink flower, don't remember the name, and a purple bacopa... I think that's what it's called. They're both in a little hanging basket from Ikea. I also got a Maidenhair Fern to replace my Pachira plant. The Pachira died. It was my fault. I left it out in the balcony when it was way too cold for it. Well, I say it was payback for its lack of financial fortune it was supposed to give me.

Little Sweet Things

Hubby brought home these cute little candies from work. And I just had to go check the store out. The traditional candies are from Fiona's Sweetshoppe in San Francisco. They're imported from the UK and Europe. It was neat because you get to taste them before you buy them. I tried something called a UFO and it was odd. It was shaped like a flying saucer and came in variety of pastel colors. When you put it in your mouth, it felt like a thin, stale wafer that's in a Kit Kat. It collapses as it gets soggy in your mouth and then weird, tart crumbly candy is in the center. Don't care to have it again but would give it someone to watch their expression on their face.

We also went to Schoggi. It's a Swiss chocolate store. It's right next to Beard Papa's and my husband has been waiting for it to check it out. We got two chocolates each. I got a coffee flavored one and a matcha flavored one. Hee hee.
And yesterday, for Easter, we got a little chocolate bunny from good ol' See's to smash and eat. Well, my plan was to get those big chocolate bunny with the blue candy eyes to smash and eat up, but I got cheap and didn't do that. Went for the little bunny. And didn't smash it. We just bit into it. I remember never ever finishing those chocolate bunnies when we were kids. I think my siblings and I would just eat the ears, and end up saving the rest of the fridge. And one day we realize that it's no longer there. Mom probably chucked it.

Zentini

Hubby and I have been wanting to try Zen. A green tea liqueur. We first saw it at BevMo and having been checking to see if they have a small version of it instead to try it. When we go to bars, we've been asking if they have it so that we can try it. But when we met up with a friend when we were in SoCal, she had it for us. It was so funny. So we tried it. We tried it straight. Very sweet and tastes of matcha ice cream. We made the zentini that was on the bottle. It was very strong, as all martinis are. It was still sweet and yummy to drink, but I didn't really taste the tea flavor. I think I'm going to get the matcha powder and rim the glass with it so that it would be extra pretty and accentuate the tea flavor when you drink it. Beautiful green color. :) I think I'll put it in my cocktail recipes book since it was pretty good. Here's my cocktail recipe book. I scrapbooked it. Hee hee. I did this when I was not working. So, I just need to find the time to do it with this recipe.

Yummy Saturday

I made Mochiko Chicken Wings yesterday. I got the recipe from a mochi cookbook from Hawaii. The flavor is so similar to the Sesame Chicken my mom makes. Only, sorry to say, this mochi chicken recipe is better. So here's the blurry photo of it.
Then, during the evening, we went to the city to have dinner at Schnitzelhaus for a friend's 30th birthday dinner. It was such a loud fun place. It was decorated with tons of antlers. I never had German food. I really wanted a sausage but ended up getting a schnitzel instead. Never had a schnitzel so I thought I should try it at an authentic place. It was so good. It was breaded so well. And I loved the lemon sauce it came with. Sounds like other guests who had the schnitzel wished they had gotten one with some kind of sauce. So, I'm glad I did. I was so happy that I had leftovers just so that I can have it home again. And I did. Still good!! Hubby had a pork leg. It was big. He said that he wouldn't get it again. Oh, and the restaurant has super large boot glasses for beer. I think a live human can wear it!

Vegas

We went to Vegas this week. We took the Zagat guide for Vegas my hubby got from work. It was so wrong in recommendations. So our first day of eating sucked. We went to Cravings for buffet food. I was so disappointed that almost all the cakes were sugarless. Sugarless cake?! Fortunately, I found a chocolate mousse cake that was so yummy. We went to Isla Mexican Restaurant and Tequila Bar and had a really good meal on the second day. We were served with chips and salsa. Ohhh!!! It came with salsa fresca, chipotle salsa, and tomatillo salsa. Yum!! We ordered Mexican Cucumber cocktails. It was strong but had the sweet, refreshing taste of cucumber. It was garnished with a dried chili pepper. So the last sip of the drink was spicy. We had a steak pyramid and a BBQed shortrib. The steak was good but just needed some salt. The shortrib was a bit too sweet for my taste. We ended the meal with flan. The most perfect flan ever!!

On our last day in Vegas, we went to Carnegie Deli. Hubby had the humongo pastrami and I had the chicken noodle soup and the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich ever. It was crispy on the outside and oozed with gooey, salty American cheese.

Leno and Izakaya

Oooh! I've tried several new places this month. We had Japanese food again with our friends in SF. This time, we had izakaya food. Oh, but on our way to meet up with our friends, we came across a crowd at Union Square. When we looked into the crowd, I saw a large chin and white hair. Yup. Jay Leno. There was a film camera and a mic involved. Maybe Jaywalking?? Anyways... The izakaya is called Sozai and it's run by a husband and wife team. The wife is Japanese and is the chef. The husband is the head waiter who helps pick out the sake to go with the dishes. All the sake are from True Sake in the Hayes Valley neighborhood. So, I guess he's the sake sommelier. The food was really good. They had a maguro tartar for only $3!! And they have edamame hummus that's so yummy. The "Sake Sommelier" said that one of the Whole Foods is carrying it now. At the end, we made sure to get the four desserts sampler. It came with lychee ice cream with matcha sauce, green tea tiramisu, green tea panna cotta, and a ginger chocolate cake. Mari, the chef, wasn't happy with the tiramisu, so she gave us full portions of everything else. I would probably go back there again. It was weird though because no one was there in the restaurant. But once we got seated several more guests trickled in. Must be a late night place.

Another Japanese place we checked out is a sushi place my sister found in Monterey Park on Garvey. It's called Sorafune. Another hubby and wife team. This time the wife is the waitress and the hubby is the chef. The place isn't even an year old but getting business. Very fresh there, and the wife is quite proud that the green tea is from Japan.