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."

For The Love Of Bento Boxes

Oh how I wish we had bento boxes where I live. Sure, we have food in to-go containers but nothing seems as gourmet and classy as bento boxes.
There's nothing to unwrap, no paper to fumble with, no paper bag, etc. Just a simple cover between me and food arranged in a elegant presentation.

A bento box had been on our Tokyo list but we never thought we'd have so many options. It seemed that every restaurant in the vicinity of our hotel put stands outside during lunchtime with ready-to-go bento boxes so we definitely had our pick but every one seemed just as fabulous as the last one and it was tough to decide. When we finally chose a stand, we paid the equivalent of $7 each for a bento box which also came a cup of hot miso soup.
My bento box was divine and an absolute steal for only $7. My box contained pieces of fried chicken, a piece of cooked fish, rice, a small bean sprout salad, a few pickled vegetables and some sliced nori. I loved everything - something slightly unusual for me - and when I was finished, nothing was left in the box.

Gourmet and on-the-go. Fast food just took on a whole new meaning.

Vending Machine?

When I first came across these types of eating establishments in Japan, I have to admit, I thought they were weird. Part vending machine/part short order cook. In the photo below, you can see the vending machine to the right. You select the food you want and pay and the machine prints out a ticket. Then you hand it to the chef behind the counter and he cooks it for you.
But then I thought -- genius. The chef never has to handle money (yay for cleanliness!) and there's never any language confusion about what is ordered, as he has the ticket in front of him. The process is so simple.

Unfortunately, we still had a slight language problem when we had trouble deciphering which photo above corresponded to the order button on the machine. The picture below is what I wanted to order.
And this is what I got.
Fortunately, I LOVED what I got. A hot soup full of udon noodles, greens, and tempura flakes. It was amazing! If I had to order again, I would have ordered the exact same dish. And it only cost about four dollars.

A vending machine item never tasted so good :-)

That's Quite a Welcome

On our first full day in Tokyo, we set out to find sushi for lunch. I love sushi and wanted to eat it as much as I could during my trip.

My husband and I noticed a rotating sushi place in Ueno that was crowded at 11am. There were restaurants all around the area, but this was the only one that was crowded. As a restaurant fan, I know that if a place is crowded with locals, it has to be good.

"There," I said. "I want to go there." We peered through the glass but there wasn't a seat available. I glanced around at the other restaurants in the area and then back at this one. I really wanted to eat there. We were about to step away when I noticed two people getting up from the counter.

"Come on." I grabbed my husband's hand and we entered the restaurant.

The entire staff shouted the welcome of "irasshaimase" as we sat down at the counter. A female staff member demonstrated how to make our green tea with the cups, hot water spigot, and container of powered green tea that was within reach at all times. And then the fun began. We pulled plates of tuna sashimi and spicy tuna with avocado off the rotating belt. The tuna melted in our mouths and we knew we had struck gold.
My husband and I are very quiet people so we talked in low tones as we ate, mainly focusing on the atmosphere around us. The sushi chef was only a few feet away from us and he talked in Japanese to other clients as he prepared dishes.

We were getting ready to leave when the chef placed this in front of me.
"Welcome," he said. "On the house gift."

After hours of traveling (18 to be exact) and suffering from jet lag, this kindness almost made me cry. I thanked him as I picked up my chopsticks.

He said, "Enjoy. But has wasabi, very hot."

I smiled and nodded. I was a pro at wasabi. I ate it all the time back at home.

I dipped the first piece in some shoyu (soy sauce) and put it in my mouth. It was delicious at first but then the wasabi fumes reached the back of my throat. I started to cough but quickly washed it down with some green tea.

My first lesson: Japanese wasabi is not the same as the wasabi we have in America.

I picked up another piece and put it in my mouth, determined not to let the same thing happen. I managed to swallow but my eyes had started to water.

The chef was watching me. "Good?"

I blinked back a few tears. "Good. But hot."

He handed me a tissue.

My husband and I laughed as I dabbed my eyes.

My husband and I shared the plate, each having four pieces. He ate all four quickly and although he agreed the wasabi was very hot, he had swallowed quickly to avoid the effects and was now sipping green tea and watching what I was going to do.

I stared at the two remaining pieces. I would not leave a piece on the plate after the chef had been so kind. The welcome plate had to be finished.

And so I continued, picking up the third piece and after swallowing, drinking lots of green tea and dabbing my eyes with the tissue.

Three down, one to go.

I took a sip of green tea and picked up the fourth piece. The wasabi flared into my nose and tears filled my eyes but I chewed and swallowed.

When I put my chopsticks down, the chef beamed and handed me two lollipops that were shaped like sushi.

I thanked him and the rest of the staff and we paid and were on our way.

Outside, I turned to my husband. "Well," I said as I put my hand on my stomach which was warming from the inside. "That was quite a welcome."

Japan, how I love thee...

I just got back from my trip to Japan and all I can say is WOW. What an amazing place!

I took lots of pictures of food, but unfortunately 95% of the time I had no idea what I was eating. The places had pictures of food on the menus, but most descriptions were in Japanese. It was more of a guessing game, but a very delicious one.

However, there is one dish that I can talk about with ease. Sushi.

I LOVE sushi. I could eat it all the time. Unfortunately I feel that Japan has now spoiled me. I was warned that once I had sushi in Japan, it would never taste the same anywhere else.

The warnings were right. The sushi in Japan melts in your mouth. Seriously.
The picture above was taken at a sushi bar just outside the Tsukiji fish market. The two to the left are tuna, the middle is albacore, and the far right is minced tuna.

To say that the fish is so soft that you don't have to chew would be an understatement. I love tuna but albacore has always been my favorite. At the restaurant that morning, I announced to my husband that I can never eat albacore again (unless I am in Japan). The pieces of albacore I ate - and yes, I ordered much more than was pictured above - were absolute perfection. Sigh...

I guess I'll just have to go to Japan again! :)

One thing I found interesting was that there wasn't the large decorative rolls that I see in the US. Not sure why - perhaps Alisha can provide some insight? The hubby's thought was that since the fish is so amazing in Japan, you want to enjoy just the fish.

More fun pictures to come!

Not Quite a Manapua, But Still Delicious

My husband loves Manapuas, the steamed buns filled with pork. While eating one the other day, he noticed on the packet that the company also sells them filled with chicken and mushroom or a sweet potato variety. We thought those varieties sounded delicious but we'd never seen them where we lived. A quick call to the company confirmed what often happens in our area - they don't sell them here.

We couldn't get the thought of bread filled with chicken and mushroom out of our minds, so we decided to make a version of them. I made a batch of french bread dough and rolled out small circles.

Combining mushroom soup, cooked chicken, and veggies in a bowl, we used a cookie dough scooper to put small amounts into the circles of dough.
We carefully folded the balls up, making sure the filling was securely inside and left them to rise for thirty minutes. The recipe made about 25 balls of dough, but I only took a photo of one tray.
After twenty minutes in the oven at 400 degrees, they came out looking and smelling delicious.
And voila, chicken and veggies in mushroom sauce, inside a ball of french bread.
It was a nice meal for the hubby and I to make together as we usually don't cook at the same time. The only downside to this creation was that the bread rolls were too good. So good that we kept eating and only when we realized we had eaten nearly a whole batch of french bread that usually lasts us several days, we were already beyond stuffed.

Japanese Food

I'm headed to Japan next month *insert squee!* and I'm very excited for several reasons, one of them being the food. It's no surprise that I love Japanese food and I am so grateful to my friend Alisha for pointing out places to see in Tokyo and great delicacies to try.

This will be my first trip to Japan and I've purposely budgeted on hotels so that we could spend money on food. I often choose Japanese food over any other type of food and on our trip to Hilo last year, I was delighted with our find of Miyos - a fantastic Japanese restaurant overlooking the water.

I chose the dinner special of Shrimp and Veggie Tempura, Sesame Chicken, Agedashi Tofu, and Sashimi
And the hubby had the Chicken Terriaki Don Buri.
Both dishes were excellent!

Just thinking of the meal makes me excited for my trip to Japan. I already know there will be lots of pictures and lots of stories. The only thing I hesitate about trying is blowfish (Fugu). I really want to try it, but if it's not prepared right, it can cause death. A little scary but supposedly it's really delicious. Rather a tough decision. Hmm... I guess I'll let you guys know in March if I actually tried it!

Lime Curd Crepe with Raspberry

The picture above captures the perfect finale to an awesome evening. Three friends from college, tons of sushi and wine, and a lot of laughter, topped off by a trip to the local creperie, Cafe Des Amis. We thought the evening couldn't get any better, but there on the little white chalkboard was the daily special - crepes filled with lime curd and raspberry. *falls over*

I don't think I have ever tasted such a delectable treat. A soft crepe filled with tangy yet sweet lime curd and topped with a thick raspberry sauce. The flavor combination was absolutely divine and even now my mouth is watering as I type this.

Although we were full from dinner, together we finished off four crepes, leaving not even the slightest remnant at the end. Wait, there were only three girls and you ordered four crepes? My friends and I love to eat and we can truly appreciate a great dessert, especially one as amazing as this. :)

Christmas Dinner - Island Style

I was raised in an English family and Christmas Day dinner was a big event - turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, etc. It was like a Thanksgiving part deux and my mum would spend several hours on Christmas day preparing and cooking the amazing meal.

But this year the hubby and I had three large turkey meals around Thanksgiving over the course of two weeks and well, by Christmas, we were pretty turkeyed out.

Since we live in the islands, we decided to change it up and make it a seafood Christmas dinner. I was a little worried in case the meal didn't feel like Christmas, but I have to admit, it was a blast.
We dined on a macadamia nut crusted Mahi Mahi, stuffed with Alaskan crab and served with grilled shrimp and a lemon coconut sauce.
The recipe for the Mahi Mahi was a loose interpretation/combination of three recipes I found on the web and the lemon coconut sauce was my own creation.

Personally the best part was that it was only an hour from prep to table. I didn't have to spend the whole day preparing the feast. Instead I was able to enjoy Christmas day, only spend an hour in the kitchen, and we still had a wonderful Christmas dinner.

I let the hubby relax while I prepared most of the meal but I did ask him for help on two parts: crushing the macadamia nuts and removing the crab from the hard shell of the legs.

Because the meal was such a success, I have a feeling those large turkey dinners might be a Thanksgiving-only meal in the future.

Mixed Berry & Apple Pie

This pie is amazing. And I'm not just saying that cause I made it. The combination of the mixed berries and the apple is divine - especially hot from the oven!

The recipe is originally from Martha Stewart but I feel she often makes things a little more complicated than they need to be. So I adjusted it and also added my mom's pie crust recipe. :)

PASTRY (makes enough for a pie base and top cover)
2 cups flour - sift into bowl
2 tsp baking powder (omit if you are using self-rising flour)
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup solid Crisco (not the oil in the bottle)
1/3 cup butter
4-5 Tablespoons ice cold water

Sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into bowl.
Add the Crisco and butter (or 2/3 cup butter or 2/3 cup Crisco if you are out of one of them) and rub into the flour with your fingers until all blended.
Add the ice water.

You can also do this in the food processor. Put the dry ingredients in and add the Crisco/butter. Pulse till they are blended, then add the ice water through the funnel while you pulse.

Split into two balls - one for pie base and one for the cover. Make sure to have lots of flour on the board and rolling pin when rolling.

PIE
1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large granny smith apple, peeled and sliced into very thin slices
3 cups of mixed berries (I used a bag of frozen berries, defrosted)
1 ounce (2 Tablespoons) cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 375.
Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Add apple slices and berries and toss to coat. Pour filling into piecrust. Dot the filling with the cut up butter. Place top of pie crust over the mixture. (I like to do strips cause it looks pretty). Sprinkle a little more sugar over the top.
Bake for 35-40 minutes until brown.

Enjoy!

A Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving

This week we stocked up on all the items we would need for our Thanksgiving. I know what you're thinking - we must be super efficient or super excited. Well, possibly a little of both but mainly it was because we live on an island, and once an item is gone, it's gone. We didn't want to risk having our turkey without cranberry sauce or that green bean casserole without french fried onions.

We had to go to a few different stores to get everything and while at our final stop, there was a deal for a $4 turkey if you spent over $20. Glancing at our cart, we had over $20 worth of ingredients so we picked up another turkey. We'd already bought one earlier that day, but we couldn't pass up the deal. Two turkeys... and a week to go till Thanksgiving. What would you do?

We had a pre-Thanksgiving meal. Yep, we cooked a full turkey dinner complete with stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, candied yams, Molokai sweet potatoes and apple pie. I don't think of this as detracting from next Thursday - I consider it more an extension of the holiday. :)

My favorite part - the apple pie. I love making desserts but this was my first time making a pie. It came out great!
And even though it was my first time making a pie, I decided to be adventurous and do a fancy top. Next time I know to space the strips out a bit more so they are all even. I'm kinda missing one on the end there but not bad for a first run.

The pastry recipe was from my mom and the apple pie was courtesy of the hubby's grandmother. I was a little concerned when I called her for the recipe as she just said it was a bit of this and a bit of that. She does it all by eye and doesn't measure anything anymore. But I must have done pretty good cause the pie was delicious. I just have to remember what I did for next time!

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.