La Bastide Bistro

Yesterday, two friends of mine treated me to lunch at the groovy french restaurant in return for my baby-sit. Although I surely played a role while they were attending at the parents night of their kid's school, what I did was just staying with kids in a same room, talking to them, looking at them playing with their favorite toys, and sometimes reading my favorite magazine myself. No sweat! I will be delighted to accept their baby-sit again :)

And now about the restaurant.. As most Japanese women prefer, I've been longing for the small portion of a dish, and ah~ there it is!! I selected the caramelized onion tart. It came along with some salad with bland dressing and it's just as I expected. I cannot find any suitable words than luscious for this dish.

La Bastide Bistro
10006 Scripps Ranch Blvd. #104
San Diego, CA 92131

Tel: (858) 577-0033

NOT OVER THE HILL YET

This is the banana & strawberry shortcake I baked on my partner's birthday for the last bd in his 30's. --- Don't imagine my age from his. I am far younger than him ;)
I wish him smooth sailing in his life☆

Btw, it's been getting more frequent for us to dine out nowadays, so I was going to prepare a big feast today; however, again we ate out on his say so. He picked out Bu-ga which was a casual Korean BBQ restaurant where you cook yourself on a small grill installed in each table. It may sound too mediocre for a birthday dinner, but we love Korean food and it was a really good choice! We simply ordered each dish of pork/beef Kalbi and lettuce, but what we saw on our table a while later was this... full of small dishes. Every dish surprised me with its relish.

Buga Korean B.B.Q. Restaurant
5580 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.,
San Diego, CA 92117
Tel：(858)560-1010
Fax：(858)560-0320

Mideastern Night

Muslims around the world are now observing Ramadan. It began on Saturday, Sep 23 this year and lasts for one month. They fast from sunrise to sunset, and neither drink nor eat food.
In the community ESL class that I attend, the teacher and two other students (i.e. everyone except me) are Muslims.
Since we got excited talking about our food, we decided to have a potluck party two days before beginning Ramadan. The dish I prepared was rolled cabbage which was made of beef, Shiitake (a kind of Mushroom) and onion wrapped in cabbage leaves. I also made green-tea cookies. Other dishes were all from their countries, Kurdish, Palestinian and Syrian. They seemed to be familiar with each other's traditional food and only myself looked like an alien. But my teacher loved my food which was similar to what she had made, Dolma.

Tan Tan Noodle

I am a big fan of Tan Tan Noodle. Today I tried it finally at Mandarin Garden Restaurant in Mira Mesa. It was slightly different from the one that I often ate in Japan, but it was exquisite as I was told by some friends of mine. The soup was extraordinarily rich with hot spices and peanuts which really turns me on!!

Mandarin Garden Restaurant
Mira Mesa Mall, 8224 Mira Mesa Blvd., San Diego, CA 92126
619-566-4720

Do I have a green thumb?

While in Japan, I grew some herbs and flowers in my little garden; however, when it comes to citrous fruits, I am wet behind the ears.

This is a lemon tree I took over from the previous tenant of this house who is now a good friend of mine.

I don't know if it's because of either my dedicated watering or San Diego's perfect weather for the plants, but these lemons are growing up easily ^^

Kimchi

Kimchi is one of my favorite Korean food. I always keep it in my refrigerator and add some whenever I run out of it.

Today a friend of mine I've seen a lot these days gave me a strong-smelling surprise, aka Kimchi★ What a delightful gift!! She is Korean and it was her first hand-made Kimchi. My partner, who is deeply attached to the spicy food, commented this was truly tasty and I should ask her the recipe. I know that making Kimchi is no picnic with its smell giving off, but it surely pays off. Yes, I will ask her the recipe in a heart beat!!

Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks

Last weekend was a long holiday because the first Monday of September (i.e. Sep 4, this year) is Labor day in the US. My partner and I visited Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks. In the park, we saw the biggest tree of the world named "General Sherman Three" and many more big trees as we were supposed to do. The most exciting and interesting thing for me was the scent of the ceder woods rather than the size of the sequoia trees. I was smelling a scent coming from some trees and was curious to know which tree was giving out the scent. But it was difficult to distinguish. The scent was too good to be natural. Therefore, my partner said that the park ranger must have scattered around the aromatic oil. He was just pulling my leg, but people might believe it if they didn't know the existence of the scent from ceder woods. It's a shame that I cannot give you the fresh scent through the internet :(

I am starting my blog!

This is the memorable first post of my blog. I cannot commit myself to make it out everyday. It might be once a week, or once two weeks...who knows? But anyway, I will start where I am ;)