Puteri’s Musings 2

When we were in Los Angeles about two weeks ago, we stayed at a hotel along Olympic Bouvelard. Olympic is the main street where Korean businesses are located. I felt like I was in Korea. All the business signs were in Korean. It really reminded me of my visit to South Korea in the mid 90s.

The first evening we were there we decided to walk down the street in search of a Korean restaurant. There was one next to the hotel but we thought we should see a little of Korea Town and look for a restaurant a little further down the road.

We found a family-run restaurant, and the owner was very welcoming. We did not know how to order from the menu because none of us had any experience eating at a Korean restaurant. All we could do was ask what the people at the next table were eating, and told the waiter we wanted what they were having!

I love the side dishes that came with the meal. And as for the bar-be-cue, it was superb! The next evening we tried the restaurant next to the hotel. This time we ordered 3 items from the menu. We ordered chicken as well as the beef. The meal was the perfect way to end a perfect day!

Korean bar-be-cue at Seoul Garden Hotel, Los Angeles.

I love teas though they do tend to upset my stomach a little. I especially love the green tea with the roasted rice whenever I eat at a Japanese restaurant.

I was at an Asian supermarket last weekend and saw the green tea with the roasted rice. Naturally I bought a box.

“Another box of tea?” asked my husband. He’s been complaining about the amount of tea boxes in the pantry! I also bought a box of guava leaf tea. Guava leaves are said to have sugar lowering properties, and the best thing about it is it is naturally caffeine free. That means I can drink it even late at night and not have to worry about the caffeine keeping me awake!

One thing about drinking tea is that it does tend to stain the teeth. We can prevent the staining by not drinking the tea throughout the day, but to try to finish it in one sitting and then brush our teeth after that.

If the stains do not go away after a while, then it is time to visit your dentist for a professional teeth cleaning and whitening!

This is how my brown rice risotto with lamb turned out. Not bad for a first time if I do say so myself! The recipe for the dish calls for hot style vegetable juice. For days I wondered what it was. Doug was the one who thought what it could be. Spicy vegetable juice like V8! Indeed it was! The recipe for this risotto can be found on my food blog.

I received a small container of sambal (chilli paste cooked with spices) from Beachlover. I stir fried some shrimp and added the sambal to it. It was certainly very tasty and spicy! I had brown rice, stir fried bean sprouts and sambal shrimp for dinner that night. My blood reading was only 100 mg/dL after that meal. Excellent indeed!

I have not exactly started on the menu for the Thanksgiving dinner. My in-laws will be spending Thanksgiving with us this year, as they did two years ago. Last year, the kids and I were in Miri with my parents, and therefore missed the Thanksgiving celebration altogether.

Two years ago, I roasted a Turkey using Jamie Oliver’s recipe. I really liked the way it turned out that I am thinking that I should use the exact same recipe this year. The stuffing was excellent too even though I forgot to serve it during the Thanksgiving meal!

Actually I am not that crazy about turkey. That is why I will do a roast beef as well this year. I was at the supermarket this morning and looked over the meat section. Yes, a small chunk of beef costs the same as a medium sized turkey.

I think I will also do the Irish potato casserole that I did on St. Patrick’s day this year. It turned out really well, and everyone enjoyed it. I think I’ll skip the green beans dish this year. Instead I’ll probably have some steamed vegetables, or put them at the bottom of the baking dish with the turkey.

I’ve got a new table cloth, napkins and place mats for the occasion. So I’m all set to go!

This evening we went out to a nursery not far from here.  Doug had some questions about grass seeding for our yard, and there was someone at the nursery who could give him the answers to his questions.

Anyway, after the visit to the nursery, we stopped at Big Lots and as usual, I cannot resist getting things at a discount.  I spent more than I needed but hey, I thought I needed some place mats, wine glasses, cereal, salad bowl, Christmas gift boxes, and the like! 

All that shopping can really worked up your appetite!  So we looked around for a restaurant near Big Lots but I didn’t fancy any of them.  We decided to drive a little bit further north, and decided on a Hawaiian Bar-be-cue place.  The food is delicious and economical.  It was raining, had been raining since we left home, but we had to eat right?

After we parked our car we walked towards the Hawaiian Bar-be-cue place but before we got there we passed a sushi restaurant.  There was a big sign that said “50% off on all rolls”.  Wow, I immediately opened the door to the restaurant!

I was in the midst of eating my Crazy Crazy roll when I suddenly remembered that I could order another roll, and the total price would add up to the full price of one roll,!  So I ordered another roll called Rainbow!  I ate more than I should tonight, but hey, I could have paid more if the rolls were full priced!

Half the normal price of a sushi roll is a great deal! 

I have been doing a little bit of simple baking lately. Simple because I did not have to take out my mixing bowl, flour or sugar. I made some sardine puffs using cut up ready made pie crust as the shell for the sardine puffs. That was easy and the pie crust was nice and flaky for the sardine puffs.

This morning I used the ready made crescent dough to make pig in the blanket. Cat did a good job with hers that I just had to try it. I used Vienna sausages on two and the usual sized hot dog for the other four. Duncan ate almost all of his, but Denice took a bite and said she didn’t like it.

Actually I am not particularly fond of the Pillsbury Crescent dough. It has this strong baking soda flavor to it. I have found some good recipes for flaky pie crust and I might want to try making pig in the blanket using a pie crust recipe. I also think the pie crust recipe would be ideal for making baked curry puffs.

I was at the supermarket this morning and I found a rib of lamb on clearance. Wow, what a deal, I thought! I’ll roast it for lunch today!

When I got home, unwrapped the lamb, what I found was a really fatty rib of lamb. Oh well, we’ll see how it turns out after it is roasted. I seasoned it with salt and sprinkled it with Lawry’s Steak and Chop seasoning mix. Put it in the oven and let it roast at 400 F for an hour.

The fat that came out of the ribs! When I had it for lunch I had to trim the fat before I could eat anything. But it was delicious, though!