Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Garden "Flesh"

Garden Fresh is a small Chinese vegan restaurant in a strip Mall anchored by a Baskin Robbins. They specialize in faux meat dishes (chicken, ham, steak) in sauces, large portions, and a friendly staff. I've eaten here dozens, if not hundreds of times over the last 10-12+ years. The staff has remained almost the same over time and remembers your likes and dislikes.

I have a love/hate relationship with the place. I like supporting vegetarian establishments. I love most of the "meat" taste and texture in their dishes, but can find the sauces a bit too sweet. When they say "spicy," they mean mild. Then again, I like my food very spicy.

Four of us went for lunch on Monday. They now have 2 menus - one printed, one on a whiteboard of (never changing) specials. We wanted to try new dishes. We'd ordered almost everything off the printed menu in the past. We debated about ordering the "Basil with Vegetarian Kidney" off the printed menu. but realized we weren't manly enough to try faux kidney. We ordered 2 dishes from the printed menu - Orange Vegetarian Steak and Green Boat. We'd had both dishes dozens of times before. Both are very good, but a bit sweet.

All entrees come with 2 scoops of brown rice and a cup of corn and tofu chowder. The chowder is bland for my taste, so I dump a lot of chilis in it.

Pix of the Orange Veg Steak:



We also ordered two dishes of whiteboard menu - Braised Green Beans and Pork Chops. Green Beans pix:



The Green Beans were good, the Pork Chops were, well, tough and had a gristly consistency (just like 'real' pork!). We ate everything.

I'd order all the dishes again, minus the Pork Chops. We noticed a sign that they were under new ownership as of October, 2006. I hope the staff got together and bought the restaurant. I'll ask them next time I am there.

Garden Fresh
1245 W. El Camino Real
Mountain View, CA 94040

(650) 254-1688

simple entertainment


I'm lame. I didn't watch this show when it was on TV (is it still?). For those of you living under a rock, it is the story of two wealthy LA girls, never working a day in their lives, being sent to live with a family small town AK. They are given chores and jobs outside the house, they fail miserably at both. Their clothes, manners and work habits are the talk of the town. The family tries to instill a work ethic and understanding of small town politics in the girls. Good luck!

I found myself smirking and laughing out loud at the stupid situations the girls got themselves into. I would have done the same thing to the ref="http://www.sonicdrivein.com/index.jsp">Sonic sign!

I haven't laughed that much since watching Jackass 2 a few weeks back.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

On the good ship sushi boat

Visited San Jose's Mitsuwa store for the first time. Stocked up on toxins for the kid's lunchbox such as Pocky and Yan Yan.

The Utsuwa No Yakata store inside the market was a find. "Normal people" would be excited by the beautiful and inexpensive plates, bowls, sake and tea sets, chopstick holders, etc. that are available. I was, but had to resist and remember that I do ceramics ~40 hours/week, and could make what I could buy. Believe me, it is cheaper to buy!

Found a lovely laminated sushi boat for $10. The kid can use it to eat out of at home. I'm excited, we have a real sushi boat in the house!

Afterwards we went to Real Ice Cream for the first time. I felt like a bad blogger, no camera, no chaat and ice cream photos. We split Papdi Chaat and Pav Bhaji. I preferred the Papdi Chaat. It is a balance between puffed items with a crunch, sweetness and tangyness. Yum! The Pav Bhaji wasn't bad, but its flavor didn't do it for me. I finished with a helping of Pistachio Kulfi ice cream, the kid with Mocha Chip ice cream.

Mitsuwa
675 Saratoga Ave.
San Jose, CA 95129
(408)255-6699

Utsuwa No Yakata
675 Saratoga Ave.
San Jose, CA 95129
(408) 253-8185

Real Ice Cream
3077 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95051
(408) 984-6601

Everyone Loves Ramen


If you ever lived near or below the poverty line, you may have chowed down on plenty of instant noodles we Americans often refer to as 'ramen.' Stores will sell a box of MSG-laden instant noodles packets for next to nothing, making them a favorite of poor college students everywhere. At least that was me. I ate real ramen during my last semester in college in LA's Little Tokyo. An eye opening experience, fresh noodles, yummy broth!

I'd love to see Morgan Spurlock eat nothing but Top Ramen for 30 days.

I drink soup almost every day. Usually I make my own large batch of soup broth and enjoy many quick meals by adding a protein and some fresh veggies. Sometimes I am lazy and use pre-packaged stuff. Picked up a couple of Kyoto ramen packages at Rainbow Foods a few weeks back. Last night made a batch and added tofu, shitake mushrooms, tomatoes, corn and broccoli. There was enough food for last night's dinner and today's lunch.

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Screwed and Bitter



I loved it. He's crass, bitter, remembers those who helped him foldly, bitter, been in important places at the right (and wrong) times, bitter, greased the wheel (so to speak) for modern day porn, and most importantly, stood up for his rights.

The stories of John Holmes, the "friends" and family who diserted him, the law always after him alone are worth the read. He's not a sympathetic character, but sympathy is not what he's looking for.

First Post

Obligatory first post