Kat's 9 Lives

After Ms. Lin brought back a bento back to the apt awhile back, I've been craving the bento combo that Marina Food offers. They actually have a decent food court/prepared food and cheap! =9 If you shop in the supermarket and spend a certain amount, they will give you these money vouchers that you can spend in the food court. So if you need to do some shopping then here is the perfect place. You can collect a bunch of these vouchers and save them to use another night for yourself or your family. O=)
The service here is your typical Asian place. I didn't like the lady that helped me. There was no one around and she sounded super pissed. The worst part is she skimped on my bento! I got a 3-item combo for $5.99. My choices were Lemon Chicken, Chicken Wings, Salt & Pepper Shrimp, and Huo Phen. She actually gave me 5 shrimps and only 3 tiny wings! =*( I was mainly there for the yummy wings! *sobs* The lemon chicken didn't taste like lemon chicken, it was bright red, and it was cold. It almost felt like sweet & sour chicken. They also give you a cup of soup and I chose the Hot & Sour soup. The truth is everything is just aiight but it's a great deal! ^_^
My main purpose coming here was for the wings. I debated and debated as I sat their eating... darn it! I want me some wings! lol I decided to ask how much it was to buy just wings. The lady said $4.99-$6.99 depending on the box size. I decided to go with the biggest size, 32 oz., and to my surprise she packed a lot of wings inside. My eyes were wide open like a kid in the candy shop. =) (well it was $7) Then I went to checkout, the cashier charged me $11.99! I was in shock and told her the other lady said it would be $6.99. Eventually they gave me the promised price. If it was $11.99, I wouldn't have bought it! For $7, I was satisfied about the amount of wings. This made up for my sad 3 piece wings in the box! lol I ate the wings on the plane and again the next day. O=9

We drove all the way down to San Jose so that we could get some Columbian food at Tu Rinconcito Colombiano, only to find that this place was closed!!! We braved through traffic just for food, but we were sorely disappointed. So then came the dilemma of finding somewhere else to go. We debated and debated, so while we were arguing I saw Dippin' Dots and headed on over. They sell ice cream that is flash frozen into tiny little balls. This is the first time I have seen a store versus a kiosk in the mall. This place smelled like bleach and cleaning fluid when I entered. They had a nice selection of flavors and the girl working there was more than willing to let people sample.
Even though it was freezing outside, I wanted to get something here so I looked around at what the best deal was. At first I was going to get a cup of Dippin' Dots, but Ms. Lin suggested that it would be better to order a shake. It's a much better value to get a shake because they have to use a ton of the Dippin' Dots to fill an order of shake. You can mix a bunch of flavors and they will blend it in a cup with milk. The taste was only okay. I think it is more fun if you actually eat the mini-frozen ice creams versus a shake.

I used one of my rare lunches in SJ for Ocean Blue Sushi Club again! Why would I do that? Of course there must be a good reason for it to overtake the chance for me to try some place new. It's because I wanted to have their Chirashi again! This place has been open for a while but they do not seem to be busy for lunch at all. I don't know how long they will last. The location isn't the best but the decor inside is very clean and nice. I still love looking at the nice kimonos hung up behind a glass case. Hopefully one day when I make it out to Japan I will be able to have one custom made for myself. ^_^
We told them that we were in a hurry and they actually brought out everything pretty fast. They started with the traditional Miso Soup. It had a strong fishy flavor that I wasn't too fond of but Ms. Lin enjoyed. The Salad was fresh with a Sweet Peanut Dressing.
Onto the main attraction, the Chirashi! It has 3 Maguros, 2 Salmons, 2 Yellowtails, 2 Scallops, 1 Mussel, 2 different types of Roe, 1 Surf Clam, 1 Shrimp, 2 White Fish, and more. Just looking at the photo makes me drool. The yellowtail was super fresh and perfectly marbleized. I always enjoy the scallop too. They don't skimp on the portions for the chirashi.
Yes, it's still $19 for lunch but you do get a lot of food and pretty good quality too. If there was a place like this near my home in OC, I'd go there very often to satisfy my sushi cravings!

I remember when I first came to Zeni Ethiopian. It was a very long time ago with Ms. Lin and my Mom. In my memories I remember this place was located in a dumpy strip mall but the Ethiopian food was tasty and this place was not busy at all. I always remind Ms. Lin to make reservations everywhere we go just in case because I'd rather be on the safe side than have to wait. Her normal response is that the place won't be that busy so don't worry. Of course when we arrived here this place was PACKED! Wow, how times have changed. Everyone is worried about the economy and recession, but you really can't tell at this place or eating out in the Bay Area. Most restaurants are packed with people I must say. This restaurant really hasn't changed much since our last visit, which might have been over 5 years ago. We sat there and waited for a table to open up so that we can get a seat. It was not a good sign when we saw that most of the people here still had their menus. As always, Ethiopian restaurants take a really long time to serve. Eventually we got a seat in the more traditional area, sitting in the authentic Ethiopian chairs and using a straw woven table. We both love the cute table top. The only thing is I am recovering from extreme back pains and the day I was leaving it was starting to act up again... so let's just say this way of eating was not the best thing for my back. =*(We were going to order 3 dishes, but we decided to wait on making sure it's the dish we really like. I told Ms. Lin that it wouldn't be a good idea because the wait must be very long but she argued that we wouldn't want a dish that we might not like so I reluctantly agreed. As it turns out we should have ordered it all at once because it would take ANOTHER 40 mins for the dish to come out. I know this place is busy but BOY do they take their time! Some of the dishes are not even cooked and they take that long! We got the Ye-Beg Tibs. It's chunks of Lamb sauteed with Onions, Tomato, Green Pepper, and Purified Butter. The dish comes out on a sizzling platter and the server will scoop everything onto the big injera with the other dishes. I usually like this dish a lot because it's always full of meat with a firm seared texture. This dish was not as good as I remembered and it needed more flavor. Still, meat is meat and the texture was decent enough that I could tolerate this dish. It ended up that I mainly ate this because everything else was not that great.Generally we order a combo plate to share. We ordered their Meat Combination, which is a great deal. It contains Alitcha Fitfit, Doro Wot, Beef Kitfo, and Home-made Cheese. In the center of the large Injera is their salad that I always enjoy. The salad and cheese always lightens the spice and enhances the taste. The fitfit was Lamb with Bones cooked in Mild Green Pepper Sauce, and mixed with pieces of Injera before it's served. I thought this dish was extremely disappointing. There was no flavor or taste at all. It's one of the worst fitfit I have had. Normally I love the taste and the sauce that the injera absorbs in. Beef Kitfo is like an Ethiopian Steak Tartar. It's Lean Round Steak seasoned with Purified & Herbed Butter, and Hot-Spiced Chili Powder (mitmita). I can only eat so much of this dish before I get sick of it. Their version was not too spicy or maybe I am able to take spicier foods. The best way to eat this dish is to compliment it with the salad and some home-made cheese that will bring out the taste of the kitfo. Doro Wot was a Drumstick cooked in a Hot & Thick Red Pepper, Onions, Garlic, Ginger, and Purified Butter Sauce. It's quite hard to eat the drumstick with the injera without any help since the meat doesn't easily fall off. The flavor was so-so, but not worth the effort for me. We had to work together to pull of the meat with the injera. All in all the food was a little disappointing. The prices were very reasonable for the amount of food you get. Maybe I was expecting too much? Maybe time has not been kind on them and they have fallen backwards in food quality & taste? Maybe things are never as good as you remember? I had to start the debate about this with Ms. Lin because it is NOT true. How can I say this? Well aren't there places that you still love or frequent often? I named one good example that I am sure even Ms. BumbleBee would agree with me. Sushi Sam's! ^_^ It's not fair to say that it's never as good as you remembered because there are places that you keep going and love. I think the phrase is a scape goat or a lie that we tell ourselves so that we will keep going back to these restaurants that aren't worth the trip. Zeni Ethiopian Restaurant

I need my Q-Pop Chicken from Q-Cup! It's usually the first place I visit after I land or Ms. Lin will bring an order for me. After my last trip I have developed a great liking for the Strawberry Milk Tea to go along with my wonderful and savory Q-Pop Chicken! ^_^ Luckily I bought the drink or else Ms. Lin and I would die of thirst on the way back up to SF. To fully enjoy this you must have some sort of drink that will help compliment the flavor. This time I captured the wondrous photo of the Spices/Seasonings used to enhance the delicious fried chicken. I am so glad I will be going back again this Thursday! I just can't stay away! ^_- For more info and photos about this place, click the links that lead to the previous post.

This is a back post from my trip in SF. One day I went down to work with her in SJ so we can try some different places. Ms. Lin went to the Ocean Blue Sushi Club with Ms. BumbleBee and their other friend, which I have not decided a cute name for. Before I left, Ms. Lin wanted to take me here to try their Chirashi at lunch time. From the outside you would not think that this would be a nice restaurant. The name threw me off too, but as you walk in it looks very nice. This place must be owned by Korean people because it only recently opened and the flowers/gifts sent were all written in Korean.
There wasn't a lot of people there when we went. They have very nice Kimonos displayed on the walls and it was very well air-conditioned. Following Ms. Lin's recommendation, we both ordered the Chirashi. Their menu was generally very expensive. They have a wide variety of rolls/maki to choose from, but at a hefty price. Ms. Lin said to stick to the Chirashi because it's the best value there. Keep in mind that it's still about $20 for the lunch Chirashi.
They brought out the Miso Soup and the Wasabi Paste in the shape of a leaf. I didn't even notice until Ms. Lin pointed it out. At first I was very skeptical about the food since the name's kind of weird and the prices were so high. The service was friendly, but sometimes hard to find since there wasn't a lot of people there and they were at the other side of the restaurant.
Our Chirashi bowl was presented beautifully and filled to the brim with fresh fish and tons of different fish eggs. I've never had so many types of roe in one sitting. ^_^ Generally I don't like all types of fish eggs but the ones they served were fresh, unique, and varied in texture. There were a lot of sashimi that I do not generally eat inside, but they presented a huge variety. I liked that they had Hamachi inside. There was even Spanish Mackerel, Scallop, and more. It was a very colorful and delicate presentation. I thought it was tasty and I agree it was the best deal there considering the pricing. It's definitely the most bang for your buck.
All in all the food was good, but a little pricey. I have to give them props for the decor and the funny fact that there's a Bidet in the bathroom. It was getting late that day and they were closing down so I didn't get a chance to test out the toilet. I know this might sound weird, but they had this high-tech toilet that has a variety of functions and heated seats. If you do try this place out, be sure to get the Chirashi at Lunch time and not night time because it's probably more expensive. Don't be fooled by the name or it's strip mall surrounding. It's actually pretty descent sushi. If only it was at a decent price. I wonder how long this place will last in that location because it doesn't seem to be located in an area where people would spend so much on sushi. Still, I hope it will still be there when I come back again. ^_^

Last Tuesday was an all day eating fest since I was leaving SF and the last part I didn't write about was the lunch we had. Ms. Lin had to work in San Jose and my flight was down there as well. For lunch we went somewhere really close by to her work. She talked about Pinoy Express where they offer an all you can eat lunch for $8.99 or you can get plates and choose either 1 or 2 items. This of course excludes the all wonderful turrón.
Reasonably, the turrón costs $1 a piece. It's your typical Filipino dessert. I love it when it's good and I wish you could find them easier. So when I saw it here, I had to try them out. I played it smart by getting one to try out before ordering a ton. Typically it's similar to a plantain lumpia and filled with a slice of jackfruit. The one they served here were decent size but it only had tons of banana mush inside. I liked the crispy shell but not the stuffing. If the center was a little firmer and had a more complex flavor like jackfruit then I would have bought a ton to bring home.
They had a wide selection to choose from. Sorry but I don't know any of the names of what we tried. Ms. Lin said that they change their selections daily so you might not get the same choices each time. One thing I liked was that they used tons of nicely fried pork. If you do not like fatty meat, be sure to ask for what they recommend. Most of the dishes used the marbleized pork with a fatty outer layer. One thing they had was the fried fatty pieces of the pork. I thought they would taste really good, but the fat was too overpowering for me and I like fatty meats. The meat was fried way too much. There were other dishes that have the fatty meat and aren't fried too much that was stir fried were much better tasting.
All in all the food was good and I liked the owners. You can get the sense of feeling that they really want you to enjoy their cooking and they care. I think it was good that we chose the all you can eat option because I could try all the different dishes and pinpoint which ones were my favorite. If there was a place like this in MV, I'd go there often to check out the goodies. Of course nothing is as good as Little Bel cooking Panset for me ^_-!!!

For dinner Ms. Lin wanted to go to Fatima in SJ near Marina Foods. It's Islamic Chinese cuisine. They have their own parking lot behind the restaurant. Their interior decor was like most Chinese restaurants and they immediately spoke Mandarin to us as we walked in. The service was friendly and my water glass never hit the bottom. It's one of my pet peeves on how long it takes for them to refill the glass water. Surprisingly, they were really on top of it.
We opted out of getting the traditional Sesame Bread with Green Onion. Instead we ordered more items. For the appetizer we ordered the Chicken and Ground Green Beans Sheets. The flavor was intense and Ms. Lin didn't do a great job of mixing. Some pieces had a ton of mustard so it was spicier than most. The dish was garlicky and flavorful, but quite messy. While mixing the dish, our whole table was covered with splatter.
Ms. Lin also ordered her favorite Lamb with Pickled Cabbage Soup. It was a very light and flavorful soup. I personally don't like sourness of the pickled vegetables and the soup that absorbed the flavor. If you like pickled vegetable then you would love this dish. I just ate the lamb on top that was very tender. There are glass noodles inside the soup that adds to the texture. The soup was like a meal in itself.
For our main course we got the Beef with Green Onions. Usually this dish goes great the sesame bread because it brings out the flavor. The beef was tender but the pieces were cut a little too small. It was tasty, but nothing out of the ordinary. For the carb dish we ordered the Lamb Dough Slice Chow Mein. They were different from your typical noodles, they were homemade soft noodles. At first I was not a big fan of these homemade noodles but as we keep ordering it at different restaurants I've grown to like it more. The noodles were soft yet chewy and the texture varies from piece to piece. One thing I didn't like the eggs in the dish, but the flavor was still good.All in all the food was flavorful and very Chinese. The prices were not too bad, the whole meal was about $32 with tax. Ms. Lin sure had a lot of yummy left overs for the next few days! No fair! >_<# I am fasting today and now I am so hungry after talking about all that food. I would definitely go back to this place one day if I am craving Chinese food. If Ms. Lin still lived in SJ then I would probably go back more often. It's definitely one of the better Chinese food I have had down there with reasonable prices. =P

So sad that I am no longer up in SF, but good for my wallet I guess. On the day I left, we packed a ton of yummy food in so that I won't have withdrawal symptoms. =P We stopped by Hello Desserts! in San Jose. Ms. Lin wanted to take me there the day we went to the concert, but we got back too late. So better late than never! ^_^ They have a policy of no pictures inside, but I got'em! *click click* The interior was very clean and they were not busy at all that Friday afternoon.
Ms. Lin ordered the Island Paradise Fruity Delight, which was their second most popular dessert. The pictures were very nice and it was very refreshing. It comes with fresh fruits and sago in one bowl and a blended Mango Moo in a separate bowl. You can eat them together or separately. I couldn't decide what to get so Ms. Lin recommended the Mango Moo drink. It's a freshly blended mango smoothie with mango jellies on the bottom and mango bits on top. I didn't care for the jellies because I find chewing them while drinking a little annoying, but that's personal preference. The drink was delicious and refreshing.
If they had a place down in OC, I'd be there quite often for the Mango Moo. Lucky San Jose people!!

I love Egg Cakes and I have been looking for a great place to have them. Ms. Lin suggested Break Time in Cupertino near Q-Cup. We strolled over to pick up the Egg cakes as they were closing down for their afternoon break. They take a while to make so we stood there looking around. This place offers a variety of desserts. They had some different flavors of souffles but they were around $9, which is an outrageous amount for a snack place. Overall the egg cakes were decent, but I wished they were separated individually. The flavor was a little too cakey for my taste. It almost tastes just like my Morinaga pancake mix. This was not as good as the place in Fremont we went to, but better than this other place we tried on Geary Blvd.

After a very filling lunch of Korean BBQ, we were debating on whether we should grab dinner. A big discussion of trying new places while full would not be fair because food generally doesn't taste as good when you are stuffed. So the dilemma of finding a restaurant that's good but nothing that will be missed if I go there full. We finally decided on going to Yakko Sushi since Japanese food would be on the lighter side and it's better to go when full so we don't spend as much. O=PMs. Lin loves the Asari Miso Soup there. It's miso soup with a very generous amount of clams. The soups flavor was a little light, nonetheless tasty. There wasn't a lot of unique choices on the menu so I had an extremely difficult time finding something I'd like. I just defaulted and ordered the Hamachi Sashimi. To spice up the dish, I asked for jalapeños and lemons. Even though they don't have any special dishes, good fresh fish is all that's needed. I added my own flavor and dressed it up to make it delicious. The fish was fresh and the cuts were not bad, so I liked it a lot after mixing up the flavors.We shared the Hot Night. It's jalapeño stuffed with spicy fish and then deep-fried. I am always up for anything fried and I am starting to like jalapeños more. The fish inside was cooked and lightly spiced. I think they didn't clean out the jalapeño well because when I ate the jalapeno part there was a fire in my mouth. After that my tongue was getting very sensitive to the heat so I avoided the jalapeno and just ate the batter and spicy fish inside. This dish was decent but nothing special. If you like spicy and fried then this would be the dish for you.Spicy dishes are Ms. Lin's favorites. One of her favorite rolls here is the Arizona Roll. It's spicy yellow tail with cucumber inside rice topped with yellow tail. This dish was pretty spicy, I only had a few pieces since I had my own yellow tail to eat. I really liked the light flavor added to the yellow tail on top of the roll. Ms. Lin had to end her meal with her favorite sushi, Uni. Of course we took many funny photos of her love for Uni. All in all the food was decent and a reasonable price. The service was friendly and they were dressed in traditional Japanese clothing. I doubt any of the people working there were really Japanese though. Ms. Lin said that their Chirashi was very generous, but sadly the items they listed in it were mostly fish I don't eat. The decor was very nice and I loved the seating. They had the seats where you had to take off your shoes to sit in the wooden area. I thought that added to the dining experience. Since we were both stuffed and just looking for a normal meal, this really fit our criteria. I think they have pretty decent food, limited selection, and generous portions.

One of the very few all you can eat Korean BBQ places I know in the Bay Area. I have been to Palace BBQ Buffet a long time ago for dinner and took some friends there before too. This time we decided to go for lunch because of the dramatic price difference from dinner. Of course that means not as many choices and lower quality meat. One main meat you miss out if you go for lunch would be the high-end Kal-bi, but you do get the regular kind for lunch.The place was very clean and well ventilated. We were there really early so I got to take a lot of nice pictures, although I bet people who were there thought I was weird. If you go there for lunch or dinner, be sure to go early because they become packed rather quickly. Their lunch price was $12.99, which is a drastic difference from their dinner price.This place has changed from the last time I came, which was a while ago. There were no lettuce, bean paste, garlic, jalapeño for you to grab so Ms. Lin inquired about them. It turned out that you have to purchase those, luckily it was only a dollar extra each person. I am not sure if you had to pay extra for the condiments or just for the lettuce. If it was only for the lettuce then I am extremely upset because I blame Ms. Lin for wanting it to wrap the meats. More money for items that are NOT vegetables would be much more acceptable in my mind. Can you tell I am "allergic" to all forms of vegetables? O=9There was a decent amount of meat to choose from. At first we grabbed a bit of everything from the hot bar and the raw bar. The egg rolls were not too bad, they reminded me of Vietnamese egg rolls but not nearly as tasty. They had cold noodle, which was decent but nothing special. Also I think we didn't have much stomach room to finish off the cold noodle after all the meat consumption. The JapChae was decent, although it said "vegetarian" when I saw minced beef in it. I am a meat eater so I don't mind, but I think they should correctly label it so that a confusion can be avoided. Then again, if you are at a Korean BBQ you BETTER be eating meat! =POf the meats, I think I still like unflavored meat on the grill and flavor it myself to my own liking. They didn't have that many unflavored meats, except the pork belly. I was not a huge fan of their Bulgogi. The flavors just a little off for me, I don't know if it's because I am used to the taste of Korean food from the OC and LA. It's kind of odd that it was a big enough difference for me to not like it that much. The meat at Brothers in SF doesn't taste any different in flavor than what you get in SoCal. As you can see, I did not like their Bulgogi. The Kal-bi was fine and I actually enjoyed the Spicy Pork.After the first plate of meat that I grabbed, I immediately avoided the Bulgogi and concentrated on the Kal-bi and Pork Belly. The service was decent and I liked that they actually came to change the grill once during the meal. A lot of places get lazy or refuse to change the grills often when it's lunch time.All in all this place was decent. It makes me really miss the yummy Korean BBQs down in SoCal! There's usually more options down there and for a better price. Don't get me wrong, I am still grateful that we can get all you can eat in the Bay Area. Ms. Lin has been wanting Korean food but I have been refusing to go back to Brothers because I'd rather get more bang for the buck. Like I have said before, there are a few things that I am willing to sacrifice quality for quantity because the difference is usually never that great. It's funny how people can change, because not too long before I used to always go to Brothers when I am in the Bay Area. (I have pics from last time that I promise to post later on.) Now you have to drag me kicking and screaming to go back. Well maybe not that dramatic, but it won't be easy.