Are you going to eat that?

Other title choices for this post were: "I'm no Andrew Zimmern, but...," "How fresh is your fish?" and "Why is my dinner staring at me?"

I've never considered myself a very adventurous eater. In fact, I've been pretty picky throughout my life, turning down pasta if it was slightly overcooked, or the wrong macaroni shape (I know, I know. I've finally moved past that one). But recently, I've decided to step outside my comfort level and try new foods. There are limits to this of course, but I'm slowly getting there.

On a trip to Hilo a few weeks ago, we stopped at The Seaside Restaurant, known for its fresh fish. And how right the reputation was - the fish was caught no more than five feet from where we sat at our table. How could I turn down the opportunity to have the freshest fish I'd ever have in my life? I couldn't. And I didn't. :)

When the whole fish arrived, I found myself actually excited - unlike a fish meal I had a few years ago... Well, I didn't exactly have it. I ordered it and couldn't bring myself to eat it because it was staring at me. (they didn't tell me that was going to happen when I read the menu)

But my how things have changed. When my meal of pan-fried crispy Aholehole served with daikon-suri arrived at the table, I couldn't wait to dig in.
It was fantastic. The small round dish was filled daikon-suri and per the waiter's suggestion, I added soy sauce and dipped portions of the fish into it. Amazing!

I tried to be polite, as it was a nice restaurant, and use a fork and knife, but after a few minutes it was clear that the easiest way was just to eat with my hands. No one around seemed to mind and at the end of the night, only bones were left on my plate. I give the whole experience an A+.

Yep, I've come a long way from the Pokemon shaped macaroni I refused to eat ten years ago :)

Introducing the puppy cake!

When I made the horse cake two weeks ago, my 12 year old neighbor asked for a cake of her dog for her party this past weekend.

Making the horse had been good practice and I felt pretty confident about making the dog, a Shepard with one blue eye, one brown. In fact, I was pretty excited to try the shape again as I had learned a lot when making the horse.

The beginning went great. I baked the cake in loaf pans, stacked them together and used chocolate frosting as a middle layer and as a glue to keep the pieces together. Then I shaped the cake, carefully cutting with a bread knife to get the desired shape, pictured below.
Using a star tip and vanilla and chocolate buttercream, I began decorating. Then the humidity set in, making the buttercream too soft. October is usually a great month where I live, with cool temps and rain. But the tradewinds decided to stop this week and we were left with high levels of humidity and heat. I began my routine of putting the cake in the fridge for 10 minutes at a time. This worked for a while until I opened the fridge and saw that the entire muzzle of the dog had fallen off and was now lying on the bottom of the fridge - with a white frosting trail on every shelf.

I originally had the nose resting on the feet with a gap below - a major flaw in the plan. The frosting made the cake too heavy and it collapsed and fell forward.

Looking back, it was pretty funny and I should have paused to take a picture of the fridge and the nose at the bottom with the body at the top, but I was so concerned about the time that I immediately focused on fixing the problem.

Fortunately I had cake left over from the shaping so I cut off a large square piece and placed it on the cake board in place of the nose. It made his head look bigger, but also made him look like he was resting his head between his paws and not on them.

I quickly decorated it with the buttercream and the nose turned out great! I know now to be wary of design flaws for the next time.
The eyes and nose were made out of fondant and decorated with my food coloring pens.
My neighbor was thrilled and the cake was a big hit at the party. I think I'm getting the hang of these shaped cakes! I have blog requests for a tortoise and a camel. Stay tuned. :)

It's no cup of noodles...

Growing up, ramen meant the packet of dried noodles that I dumped in hot water or poured water into a cup and waited. What a world I was missing out on. Fresh ramen is amazing.

On our recent trip to Oahu, we stopped at Goma Tei Ramen. We'd discovered this restaurant on a previous trip through the suggetions of Yelp and knew we would be back. When you have a meal this good, you can't help but go again.

I ordered the Chicken Tan Tan Ramen. This picture may be slightly deceiving as the bowl looks tiny but believe me, that spoon is huge as is the bowl. This is not a light meal that will make you hungry an hour later - this a full fledged ramen meal that will fill you up.
Beneath the sliced chicken is a copious amount of perfectly cooked noodles and vegetables - this restaurant doesn't skimp on anything. The broth bursts with a variety of flavors that I can't quite describe but take what you know of the instant ramen and multiply the flavor by ten. It also has a nice texture, letting you know that this is not some watered down meal. This is the real thing.

The waiters offer to fill your bowl with more broth as you eat in case you need more to go along with your remaining noodles and chicken. Wait, a restaurant that actually offers you a "refill" and doesn't charge? Oh yes. This place is that good. And the best part? When you leave, you are full, happy and only minus around $8 from your wallet.