Helen Keller said: “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” We experienced this lesson first-hand tonight, when we planned to order out from our local Korean restaurant- and discovered (to our dismay) [...]
This past Saturday, we met up with my brother at the Ferry Building farmers market in San Francisco. The new parking meters in the city allow you to park for a maximum of one hour. Why they would create a parking meter that takes credit cards, only to limit people to one hour of parking, is beyond me. [...]
Continuing on with a recap of our latest culinary adventures during my most recent trip to Hawaii. We picked up lunch from Fukuya, one of the oldest okazuyas (Japanese delicatessan) in Honolulu. Fukuya covers all of the basics … shrimp tempura, several different kinds of fried chicken, corned beef hash, fish cake hash, butterfish, stir-fried vegetables like kinpira gobo, [...]
I’ve been back in the bay area for a few days now and, after battling with a bout of food poisoning (the suspected culprit: crab enchiladas at Azteca restaurant on Waialae Avenue), plus a common cold, I felt ready this morning to sort through my photos from Hawaii. These are from Alan Wong’s, which has [...]
We had a tasty, if somewhat chaotic, lunch today at Sorabol Restaurant in Honolulu. Allow me to explain. It’s been a while since I’ve been to an authentic Korean restaurant, where you cook your own food over hot charcoals or a gas stove. Most of our Korean meals nowadays consist of the Bi Bim Bap at Shik [...]
I spent the morning with my Grandma B today, learning how to make fried tofu the way my Babachan (great-grandmother) used to make them. I used to eat these up like cookies, and loved how the tofu developed that thin, crispy and salty outer crust, while the inside stayed soft and smooth. Like several of my favorite [...]
I’m back in Hawaii this week for some much-needed catching up with friends and family. After running errands, my grandparents and I had lunch at Golden Duck Chinese Restaurant today.Golden Duck’s daily special today was a mouth-watering roast duck with noodles. But after weeks of rich holiday foods, as well as some chilly island weather, the three of [...]
Last month, my husband and I couldn’t decide whether we wanted to try the Claremont’s Meritage for dinner or Sunday brunch. Dinner beat out the brunch that time. But we still had that prime rib Sunday brunch on our mind, so we went back. Like most well-planned Sunday brunches, the Meritage set up various stations [...]
The other week, when I made a batch of kinpira gobo, I said that I used a sukiyaki sauce to season the shredded gobo and carrots. While sukiyaki traditionally refers to a Japanese one-pot meal of slow-simmered meat and vegetables in a flavorful broth of the same name, the sukiyaki sauce itself can season several other dishes as well – [...]
Our recent jaunt to Carmel reminded me of another pleasant wintry vacation we took, in 2009 before this blog was even a twinkle in my eye. I had been in the greater Phoenix for a few weeks, and my husband drove out with the dogs to stay with me for the latter part of the trip. [...]
About
I like Zip mins, spam musubi, and the butterfish misoyaki at The Cal. I've never been a fan of the loco moco but, now that I'm 3000 miles from my hometown of Honolulu, Hawaii, nearly everything from the islands makes me salivate. I currently live (and cook) in the San Francisco bay area, and have inevitably fallen in with "buying local" and organically-grown foods. I enjoy recreating the foods I grew up with - recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation in my family. And, as a working home cook, I try to prepare a lot of fast and healthful meals. Part recipe book, part cultural memoire, and travel journal, here is where I document all of my gastronomical experiences. I think of my kitchen as a blend of past and present, and I believe that where we call home is what we serve on our plates. Questions or comments about anything here? Feel free to post your comments directly, or email me at sherry@50thplate.com.
