Delicious and Classy

Last week I had the opportunity to eat at a restaurant that not only had amazing food, it also had class - and I haven't stopped thinking about it since.

The restaurant was Star Noodle and it's brand new to Maui.
Pictured above are the Steamed Pork Buns and the Singapore Noodles.

I''ll be honest- it's been nearly a week and I can't stop thinking about the Singapore Noodles. They were amazing. A-maz-ing. Vermicelli, chicken, shrimp and vegetables all covered in a curry-type sauce with delicately balanced flavors and a beautiful presentation to boot.

I've craved them since last week but I also can't stop thinking about the restaurant for another reason. I was there for a meeting that consisted of about 20 people. When we all sat down, the owner of Star Noodle introduced himself, his manager and his chef and then shared that he was going to donate all profits from the dinner to the Maui Food Bank. He then made his way around the table and shook hands with each of us individually.

I was bowled over. Delicious food and class? Too good to be true? Can they come in one package? Absolutely. Star Noodle is beautifully delicious and I have more respect for the restaurant than I can even write.

Even if the food hadn't been delicious, I would have returned purely to support such a wonderful restaurant. Fortunately the food was amazing so I'll definitely be back sooner than later.

Anyone had any good meals recently that they can't stop thinking about? Or how about an experience where a chef or restaurant donated food to a good cause?

Food Games

While in Japan, we encountered a little bit of a language barrier and although my husband had learned some basic Japanese, it was still difficult. Fortunately nearly every restaurant we went to had pictures of the food on the menus. Yay! So easy to point to what you want as you order, right?

Unless you don't really know what you are ordering.

At one restaurant in particular, we ordered our food and when it arrived, we enjoyed a game of 'Guess That Fried Food.'
The plate (pictured above) was definitely a puzzle. What exactly were we going to eat? I'll admit, I hesitantly tried two of them, but gladly left the other three up to my hubby to sample and inform me. I'm an adventurous eater only up to a point.

The stick containing eggs was the easiest to recognize. The fish and the two chicken weren't hard either. But the pork was a little tougher to detect. Funny how fried food starts to lose its identity.

Once the enigmas had been identified, we dove in. Fried food on a stick served with dipping sauce. Yum :)

It was a fun game and we had a good time and several laughs, but if I had a choice in future, I'd love to know what the food is beforehand. :)
We followed it up with some sashimi. From fried food to the delicate raw fish. Quite a contradiction but a nice balance actually.

AM/PM for dessert?

Gourmet dessert at an AM/PM? You've got to be kidding. But actually, I'm not.

These petite cups of tiramisu were so divine, that we went back frequently on our travels and bought more. Dessert from AM/PM? Really? Absolutely.
Both my husband and I loved them. I'm a huge dessert fan but if it's not worth the calories, I'm done. I'm not one of those people that has to eat every bite - I've left many desserts on my plate, even at gourmet places - but if it's good, it's gone. And these little delectable cups were licked clean every time.

Unfortunately I didn't write down the brand name (and we don't have AM/PMs here) but if you happen to be walking near an AM/PM, it's worth it to go take a look. You might be surprised at what you find.

Japanese Ice Cream Sundae

I love ice cream. I'm not shy about it. I'm a huge fan and if you give me a choice between a candy bar or the cold delicious ice cream, I would choose ice cream without blinking an eye.

However, I do like to combine the two and I love to put candy on my ice cream - m&ms, sprinkles, caramel sauce, fudge, etc. And yes, there is a reason I run five days a week :)

While in Kyoto, we came across a cafe serving ice cream. Although the photos of the ice cream looked a little unique, I knew we had to try it. The cost was a little more than I wanted to pay for a bowl of ice cream but with my husband's encouragement, we grabbed a table.

I've mentioned before that I love green tea and so does my husband so of course we chose the green tea ice cream sundae.
I've had a lot of ice cream in my life but never have I had something quite like this. The scoops of green tea ice cream were accompanied by balls of mochi (pounded sweet rice), blocks of a sweet green substance, and azuki beans. I immediately nicknamed the sweet green substance as "green goo" but it was delicious green goo and I have a new love for azuki beans. (I've loved mochi since discovering it when we moved to Hawaii)
This sundae was void of the items I usually have on sundaes - fudge, candy, caramel sauce, etc - but this was the best sundae I have ever had. Maybe it was because it was so unique, maybe it was because we had just walked alongside a beautiful river next to cherry blossom trees, or maybe it was because it was just that good. Whatever the reason, it tops my list as sundae #1.

Anyone else had some interesting ice cream experiences?

Cakes for book club

I belong to a local book club and I'm pretty much known for two things: 1) Never reading the book 2) Always showing up with cake.

And it's not that I'm not a reader. I read all the time - at least a book a week, sometimes more. But sometimes the book they've chosen doesn't appeal to me or other times I already have a stack of books on my TBR (to be read) pile that the book club book doesn't make it to the top of the list by the time the club date rolls around.

I should mention that there have been a few times where I actually read the book, but more times than not, I haven't which always cracks up my friend Melanie.

But, back to #2, I always show up with cake.

If the book is something I can easily replicate, I do the cake in the theme of the book. If it's not, I show up with a delicious treat anyways.

Last night's book was The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Yes, I had every intention of reading this book. Seriously. I really wanted to but I've been swamped the last few weeks and the only books I've had time for have been audio books so I could manage reading while doing the dishes, etc.

But true to form, I showed up with cake.
I hadn't done a carrot cake in a while so I made one but cream cheese frosting does not decorate well. It doesn't smooth out like the buttercream but it tastes soooo good! So although her back wasn't smooth, it worked out.

For the dragon, I rolled out fondant and decorated it with my food coloring pens and then cut around it. At first I was going to pipe it all onto the cake but as time ran short, I chose the fondant route and I was quite pleased!

Okay, the next book club isn't until August and I'm really going to try and read the book this time. But I can't make any promises...

Love in a Cup

Just looking at this picture of hot chocolate I enjoyed in Japan makes me smile.

We don't eat out a lot when we are back home, and rarely, if ever, go out for coffee so this was the first time I'd seen a heart in my cup.
It makes me happy just to think about it. Sometimes it's the little things in life. :)

The server probably creates dozens of these a day, but I wonder if she knows it's going to make someone's day. I hope so.

Tea in Nara

I've found that with many good meals, it's not always about the food. Sometimes it's about the entire experience.

When my husband and I were in Nara, Japan, we stopped by a small cafe just outside the deer park. The cafe was in a traditional Japanese house and we were directed to a small table where we removed our shoes and sat on the floor.

Our host spoke good English which was refreshing after our travels. We had been in Japan for over a week and only found a handful of people who spoke limited English at best.

We dined on green tea, homemade green tea cake, and little azuki bean treats.
My husband and I are both green tea fans and the tea was the perfect amount of bitter and sweet. The cake had a delightfully overwhelming taste of green tea. I'm the type of person that likes a cake to taste what it's supposed to taste like. If I'm told it's a green tea cake, I want to taste the green tea. This cake was divine - moist, a strong green tea flavor, and a sweetness that complimented it perfectly. It was devoured within minutes.

While we enjoyed our tea, our host brought out an old phonograph that he cranked by hand.
The first record he played was Bing Crosby, followed soon by Glenn Miller, and even Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.
When we finished our tea and the music continued to play, our host brought out photo albums of guests in his café, special art shows he had on display in the café, as well photos of the seasons outside in the garden.

He encouraged my husband to try on his antique robe for rice wine makers and took numerous pictures of us.

We took in every minute of the experience. The music, the hospitality and the overall feeling was intoxicating and I've never experienced such a comforted encounter in a cafe before and I'm not sure if I ever will again. As we sat there, my husband and I both knew this was a rare occurrence.

When we had stayed for over an hour, we decided we should get on our way. We stood up and grabbed our coats.

"Oh, do you really have to go?" our host said as his face turned sad.

We informed him that we had to get on with our travels and thanked him profusely. He thanked us for coming and said he hoped we would return. Being that the cafe was about 4,000 miles from our house, it wasn't likely but if there was a chance, we would be back.

When we reached the street, my husband and I turned to each other. "Best part of the trip, hands down."