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• Torihei

  Sunday, Oct 4, 2009 3:39PM / Standard Entry / Food

  Last night, I went with a bunch of friends to Torrance to have dinner at Torihei. I have noticed Torihei from my previous visits to its neighbor Musha but never thought to try the food there. Well I'm glad that one of my friends thought to have a little dinner gathering there, otherwise, I would have been missing out on some great Japanese food. Although my taste buds were quite delighted at most of the dishes, there were a few that just wasn't my cup of milk tea. For example, there was the pickle cucumber and radish (or turnip?) dish. Fully pickled they were not. It is just wrong to do the whole half @$$ pickled thing (不酸不淡，都不知道這道菜應該是什麽味道）. I've never been a fan of the Japanese fish cake. Never. I don't know why, I can't explain it. It just doesn't appeal to me. Therefore I can't really rave about how great the fish cake in oden soup was like the other people. I liked the soup though. The chicken cartilage, fried and not fried, was also kinda bleh. Bland. In my not so humble opinion, the fried cartilage not only needed to be fried an itsy bit longer, it also need more seasoning. The fried turnip cake in oden soup was also kinda bleh. Maybe it's the Cantonese pride in me talking but I really do believe that we make the best turnip cake. I've had turnip cake made in many different ways and well I still prefer the Cantonese style better. I really just think that dunking small chunks of turnip cake in soup is a bad idea, it just ends up tasting a little mushy.

  

  

  
  

  Now on to the good stuff. Yakitori...OMG...so good. I think Torihei has taken over Shin-sen gumi as my favorite yakitori place. The prices are cheaper but the proportions are bigger. The gizzards that we ordered were twice the size of the ones served at Shin-sen gumi. The grilled at avocado with the salty vinegar sauce, grilled cherry tomatoes, chicken thigh, torihei meatballs, bacon wrapped okra and asparagus...yummy. I'm still thinking about it right now. Probably because I had nothing good to eat today. I also really liked the oden soup dishes, well except the turnip cake, mochi, and fish cake. Those I can live without. I did enjoy was the big tomato with mozarella cheese, the broth came out tasting like tomato bisque, at least that was how my friend described it. Oh and the semi-boiled egg filled with smelt roe. The semi-hard boiled egg was sliced in half and the yolk was mixed with smelt roe. OMG! It was amazing. I have to show you guys the pics. :) Dinner was awesome.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  
  

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• My 奶黃包 aka Steamed Custard Buns

  Sunday, Sep 27, 2009 2:34PM / Standard Entry

  This morning was my first attempt at making my own steamed custard buns. I consulted my dad awhile ago on the process but had long forgotten what he said. So I had to look up the recipe on the internet (thanks Google). I looked at a few websites and most said that it is the same process as steaming 曼頭 (man tou) plus the custard.

  The Custard Part: 

  Since I didn't feel like converting kg to the regular tsp,tbsp,cup measurements that I am used to, I decided to create my own custard recipe.

  1. Mix 2 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk to 3 tbsp of vanilla pudding

  2. On medium heat, stir 1 1/2 cups of whole milk (none of that 1/2 & 1/2 of skim milk business) until warm. On low heat, stir in 1/2 cup of sugar and melt in 1/2 stick of butter.

  3. After everything in #2 is melted, turn the heat back to medium, and stir in #1.

  4. When it starts to bubble, turn off the heat and let sit for about 45 minutes. It needs to be cooled down before you fill in the buns.

  
  

  The Bun Part:

  1. Add 1/4 cup of warm water to one packet of yeast. Stir and let sit for about 5 minutes.

  2. Add the yeast to 2 1/2 cups of sifted all purpose flour.

  3. Then slowly add about 1 1/4 cup of warm water and mix well.

  4. Put saran wrap over the bowl and wait for the dough to rise to about double the size.

  5. After the dough rises, take it out of the bowl and start to knead the dough to push all the air pockets out. 

  
  

  Now depending on how big you want your custard buns to be, rip a medium size chunk of dough and knead it flat into a 4 inch diameter circle. Place however much custard you want inside and then fold the sides of the dough to the center. If you can't fold the sides together without the custard staying inside than you either scoop in too much custard or your dough was not big enough in diameter. If you can keep the custard inside than proceed to make your next 3,4, 5...10...whatever. Place the almost custard bun into the steamer for about 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and take the cover off of the steamer. Then you have your very own steamed custard bun.

  For my first attempt at this, I think I did pretty well. The bun tasted fine and the custard was surprisingly good. It didn't exactly look the way I had pictured it to look, but it was good.

   

  

  

  My 奶黃包 will look better next time.

  
  

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• Personal Training Session - Day One

  Saturday, Sep 26, 2009 8:03AM / Standard Entry / Weight Loss

  Last Friday at the gym, a personal trainer approached me while I was working out. After a few awkward exchanges of Q & A I let him talk me into signing up for my free personal training session, which was scheduled for today. 

  OMG! Can I just tell you how sore I'm feeling right now? My session was probably for about 30 minutes and I feel like I worked out for hours. My legs, abs, and arms are all burning, but it feels so good. As a result, I let my personal trainer and the training manager talk me into enrolling in the personal training program. It's a little expensive, but honestly, if the trainer was not there I wouldn't push myself as hard. Also, there is something quite satisfying about being able to complete the work out regiments that the trainer sets. I truly feel like I accomplished something today.

  Now I need to work on controlling the types of food I intake. I guess it won't kill me to cut my bread consumption in half. Well actually it might.

  Current Body Fat: 22.3%

  Body Fat Goal: 18.3%

  
  

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• Old Folks Chasing the Bus

  Friday, Sep 25, 2009 11:09AM / Standard Entry / Random Thoughts

  After work today I drove through downtown LA on my way to my grandma's house. While I was waiting at a red light I noticed an old grandma carrying a bag and an umbrella. She looked really anxious and she was waiving frantically at something across the street. I followed her eyes and see a bus across the street. The old woman was waiving for the bus driver to wait for her. I thought the bus driver would wait for her, but he didn't. I'm guessing he didn't see her because she was quite tiny or he just decided to leave her. If it was the latter, he'll probably burn in hell. Seriously, I think it's the saddest thing in the world watching old people try to catch a bus and missing it at the end. Especially when it is 100 degrees outside like today. I see it happen all the time. Although I do get pissed off occasionally when an old grandma of grandpa runs out of nowhere and decides to run a red light on foot right in front of my car almost causing me to have a heart attack. Sometimes I want to get out of my car and scream "are you trying to get yourself killed?" But I feel so bad for them when they risk their lives running that red light only to miss the damn bus by like half a second. I worry that my grandma does the same thing so I constantly remind her not to do such a thing. It freaks the hell out of me to think that she could be running a red light in front of a driver that doesn't quite have the same quick reflexes as me.

  
  

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• Random Blog Entry

  Tuesday, Sep 22, 2009 10:58AM / Standard Entry

  Did anyone watch the Mayweather v. Marquez fight Saturday night? Mayweather is such an arrogant @$$. I wished Marquez had knocked that perfect set of teeth off.
  
  Has anyone played Monopoly Deal? You can pick it up at Target. It's so much fun, but I have to warn you guys that the game can lead to broken relationships. Sly deals and stealing do not lead to happy relationships.
  
  The ghetto shaved ice place that I used to go to all the time opened up again. The place is not so ghetto anymore and there is a new owner, but they kept the shaved ice machine. That was a smart move. I think the shaved ice (and maybe the drinks) is the only thing that is going to keep the business going.
  
  My Japanese class is moving along quickly now that the annoying dude with the Japanese wife is not there to complain through the whole entire class.
  
  I'm almost done putting together my Halloween costume. It's going to be pretty and cute. Halloween is not on the top of my list of favorite holidays, but I can't wait to dress up this year.
  
  I finally gave in and signed up for a personal training session at my gym. I hope they can help me lose 15lbs and tone up my arms and abs.
  
  Work is boring.
  
  Good night!
  
  
  
  
  

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