Asian food. Yummy.

Last week Tuesday, I made hamachi kama (yellowtail collar) for dinner alongside some asparagus and enoki mushrooms.  Yum yum.  We used to grill them up on the bbq when we had one, but recently I've just been throwing them in oven and they turn out just fine.  I love hamachi kama with the ponzu sauce. mmmm...

Then Wednesday our soccer game was a later one, so I made a big pot of curry for the week.  I love Japanese curry, I think I could eat it once a week.  I like to add a lot of veggies to my curry- carrots, potatoes, mushrooms and spinach.  And the spicier the better.  Lately I have been adding more and more to my curry when I eat it- furikake (nori and sesame seeds), tabasco and cheese.  Yes, cheese!  The first time I had it was at Hawaii's Coco Curry House.  Alanna and I used to love eating here- scallops with spinach in our curry...but then I came home and recommended by  a coworker of mine (who's also from Hawaii) was the cheese on the curry.  I thought it sounded kind of weird too but decided to give it a try.  So glad I did!  They sprinkle shredded American or Cheddar on top and it just melts... you need to try it!!
I also have been loving to eat my curry with croquette.  Nijiya market has a good selection of them, the cream corn croquette being my favorite, followed by the cream crab one.  But lately they have been out of the corn!  

On Thursday I went to dinner and wine with the girls.  We went to Ugo which is a cute little wine bar and restaurant in Culver City.  I've organized my company party here the last two years and love it there.  As Sam said, "It's like a mini wine tasting".  The food is pretty good too.  I was trying to remember the really good pasta we had for the party, but couldn't figure it out so I got the Penne Arrabiatta with angel hair instead and with mushrooms.  Not bad!  But not that big of a portion for Italian- I finished the whole thing and was still a little hungry... But the catering manager Fusun was there, and she's such a nice lady.  She even gave our whole table desserts on the house!  I do have to say though, the desserts weren't that great.  My strawberry shortcake and Tara's creme brulee were just so so.
It was great to see the girls and it was Sam and Britt's first time to a wine bar!  I love new experiences or sharing them with others!

On Saturday it was Julien's birthday at the zoo.  I didn't get a great picture of it, but Jennifer and Aunty Jeannine made the cutest chocolate train cake for him!  I can't believe he's already 4...
That night we were rushing to get back for the Laker's game at Jennifer's house and after much debate stopped off at Marukai to pick up some sushi.  There was a very limited selection, so we grabbed everything they had-- like 5 packs of spicy tuna, a salmon avocado roll, 8 char siu bao's, 4 bento's with chicken katsu, somen and tempura and then this fresh fish cake that was BOMB!  It was a hodge podge of food (Joe picked up a bunch of buffalo wings too) but so good!  I was stuffed...

Sunday was Mother's Day and I wanted to take tutu and Aunty Jeannine to dim sum.  Kalani came with us too!  Unfortunately, tutu stole the bill and told us this year we're saving for the wedding but next year we were paying.  Haha.

After dim sum we went to the garment district again in search of a fabric.... while we were there Sean had to stop at a taco truck for a taco!

After that, we went to the Smiths and hung out for a bit, then were off to an early dinner.  We decided to treat them and Sean's mom picked Thai so we went to Thai Talay (or reversed, I can't remember) on Lincoln.  This is where we ate for Jenny's grad party last year.  I remember loving this "seafood ball" but couldn't recall what it was- we ordered it and it WAS the same one, just not as good as the first time.  Oh well.  The rest of the meal was delicious.  Our standard favorites- pad thai, panang curry (guess I forgot a picture of it) and prik king....then Sean's dad decided on the spicy eggplant and it was super good!