What I'm Eating - Truffle Oil

Here's my latest indulgence... truffle oil. I was reading an article and it just sounded so good so I went out and bought some... Went to R. Fields in Kailua and picked this up.



Of course, I researched it first... I found an entry on the Wikipedia and read other articles & recipes on the internet. Seems there's this controversy where a lot of truffle oils are actually artificially created using molecules that make up that great flavor of truffles. Here's a good article from the NY Times. Makes you kind of wary. Anyway, this is supposed to be a good brand. I've been using it all week as we had grilled a huge amount of steak and vegetables earlier and ate leftovers for a couple of days...it was great on those. The taste is very earthy and the aroma is very very strong(my wife & daughter said that it was stinky, lol)...to me, it's kind of like mushrooms on steroids...but don't get me wrong...in the right amount, it really enhances the dish. You can't overdo, just a little drizzle is enough. Next, I'm looking for truffle salt...it's supposed to be awesome on popcorn (drool) :)

Lunch @ Bravo Restaurant

Last week was the last time I had to take my home to rehab...after this she's supposed to continue her exercises at home. When lunchtime came, we decided that we had had enough of Big City Diner and went through our choices. We finally decided on Bravo Restaurant, right below Anna Millers at Pearl Ridge. It's always hard to find a place that is "acceptable" to my mom... You know she'll say, "any place you want to go" but inside she's secretly saying, "not that place"... Luckily, italian is one cuisine that my mom will eat. Bravo Restaurant has long been a local favorite for casual italian dining and often appears on local "best" or "favorite" lists. Parking is always at a premium there when it approaches the peak dining hours so we headed right over. Luckily it was early enough where there was ample parking available. We headed down the stairs as it is located below Anna Millers...



There was a menu posted outside...



The restaurant had only been open for about 20 minutes so it wasn't crowded.



Of course, everyone comes for the garlic rolls...They're freshly made and brought to your table right away, so they're hot! They're so good that the best strategy is to have everyone at your table eat them right away and have the server bring another basket so you can eat that with your meal...



On this visit, oddly the garlic on the rolls seemed to be somewhat on the raw side...they had a lot of bite, if you know what I mean...The mints they gave at the end really came in handy...

We weren't that hungry so we decided to order the specials off the lunch menu...a lot of the specials are half portions of pasta with salad (choice of garden or caesar). Normally, I like to order the regular portion of angel hair pasta with fresh tomato pomodoro sauce. For some reason, I really like this sauce as it's very simple with fresh crushed tomatoes in it...yummy...and, sometime in the past, I got hooked on it. However, I really wanted a salad too. But I didn't want the fusili with meat sauce that came with the pasta with salad special. Luckily, the waitress informed me that I could substitute the angel hair pasta w/the pomodoro sauce for the fusili (for .75 more)...Yay!

My mom ordered the pizza of the day w/salad..it was barbecue chicken pizza (we told her that she could have gone to CPK). I thought that the slices were on the small side...



My daughter didn't know what to order so I suggested the spinach & ricotta cheese ravioli in alfredo sauce...she liked it but I thought it looked kind of soupy...



My wife ordered linguine with clams...



And here's mine...the angel hair pasta with the fresh tomato pomodoro sauce... I was a little disappointed as the pasta was definitely a little overcooked, not al dente...wish they gave more fresh basil... Nice salad, fresh romaine with carrots, radish slice, an olive, tomato slice, garbanzos & lots of parmesan over it...



It was an OK lunch. I really liked Bravo in the past but when I've gone in recent times, I've felt that the quality has declined a bit and the portions are smaller (blame it on the economy). But, the taste is good and the service and atmosphere is great! It's a good place to have a casual meal with friends or family...

Bravo Restaurant @ Pearlridge
98-115 Kaonohi Street
http://www.bravorestaurant.com/

KCC Farmers Market

Last weekend, before going to Ala Moana, we got up early and went to the KCC Farmers Market. We usually end up going a couple of times during the year. We like to browse through the various produce vendors and checking out the prepared foods.

As usual, it was pretty busy...


Lots of traffic in front of the booths...


This was pretty popular...a tomato mozarella pizza (North Shore Farms)...with, not sure, might be pesto? under the tomato/mozarella...they were cooking it on a grill...saw a lot of people walking around eating this...will definitely try this next time...


Lots of tomatoes from North Shore Farms...




Taro Delights...features a variety of taro based products including spreads and wraps, salmon and taro lau lau...tried a couple of the dips...very different but pretty yummy...


Xotic Eats...features tofushi (sushi made from tofu) and bentos...the owner was pretty nice...she jokingly told me she charged for pictures...






The Ba-Le Bakery tent was pretty busy...they had great samples...


The North Shore Cattle Company feature hormone free beef...cuts of beef and cooked hamburgers, sausage, etc.


My wife had the andouille sausage...


Don't remember who this is...some farm from Kahuku...they were featuring samples of different colored grape tomatoes in front...


Besides buying some produce, we ended up purchasing -
...some taro poke...chunks of taro w/poke style seasoning...kind of like making poke but without the fish and substituting taro. Green onion, sesame oil, red pepper, salt, limu/ogo (seaweed)... Tastes pretty good and it's supposed to be healthy because of the taro. We couldn't figure if it should be eaten by itself like poke or was it to be eaten with chips/crackers? as the booth had given chips to scoop samples on...


Also, got some dressing from Nalo Farms. This is the Creamy Honey Herb...I was shocked to find out that it had very low sodium (50 mg/serving) and very low cholesterol. I've been trying to eat salads on a daily basis so this goes great with the spring greens I got from the wholesale club...


Last of all, my wife thought that I should have a healthy snack so she bought me a package of Nori Brown Rice Crackers from Ba-Le.



I plan on going back and trying the other things that I couldn't get to...stay tuned... :)

Mmmm...Mochi Cream!

Went to Ala Moana over the weekend and did some back to school shopping. Also remembered my camera so I able to take pictures. When we got there, it was so early that most of the stores weren't open yet. I took a few pics of the display while walking past La Palme D'or...





Eventually (after everything opened) we worked our way over to Shirokiya. Here's some pics of the usual offerings...












This weekend, Shirokiya was featuring Mochi Cream. Now we all know what Mochi Ice Cream is, but what the heck is Mochi Cream? I knew that they had featured it before but I hadn't been able to go and see. I guess we were early, no lines... The price is pretty steep...6 pieces for $8.99. You get to pick what you want...



There's a lot of different flavors...


Nicely arranged in the display cases...








Some flavors were sold out...


...and they had truffle flavors too...most unfortunately, sold out...


this was the display box of the truffle flavors...


Ok, we selected our 6...they were: green tea, cafe au lait, mont blanc, passion orange, cream apple & peach cream. Here's our box...




Here's a closeup on one...


Here's our 6 laid out on a plate...




And now, the moment of truth...what exactly are inside these???






I have this bad habit of trying to analyze food and dishes and trying to figure out how they are made. The mochi creams have three layers. The core is some kind of cream, not sure what kind, but it tastes good. The next layer is definitely made out of lima bean paste which has been flavored. It's been pureed really fine and you can really taste the flavor that was blended in. I noticed one flavor had specks of azuki beans inside. The final layer is mochi that has been flavored...guess you get a double dose of the selected flavor that way. The green tea one was also dusted with matcha powder on the outside. And the taste? It was great! Different from a regular mochi with azuki inside...very sweet...and the selected flavor comes through from the two outer layers. The cream in the center also adds to the taste experience. These are also very soft and kind of on the gushy side. I think they picked those type of flavors because they are very strong flavors. I really liked the cafe au lait but they all probably tasted good. Didn't get to taste all 6 as we kind of shared it around. Wish I could have gotten some of those sold out flavors. The only con is the price. Wonder if I could make these? Hmmm...