mmm-yoso!!!

Yomie's Rice X Yogurt

It's funny how doing a bit of travelling will expand your life and even add new items into your routine. Take for instance, Yomie's Rice x Yogurt which opened off Convoy  back in May of last year. Honestly, I'm not much of a Boba drinks kinda guy and I just put Yomie's into that "bucket". Plus, ever since our return from Taiwan, the Missus has gotten some major sticker shock regarding the prices in tea shops, with one notable exception. More on that in a future post.

Before heading back to Oahu we stayed in Sydney for four days. Instead of staying right in the middle of CBD (not, it's not what you think, CBD = "Central Business District" here), we stayed right on the Southern edge of the district in the area known as Chippendale (and no, it has nothing to do with what just came to your mind either). It was close to transportation and I thought we might enjoy the area. Which we did immensely. We spend a good part; or even most of each day just wandering and exploring, and there seems to be a boba/tea/frozen yogurt shop on every corner; which totally reminded us of Taiwan.

Anyway, on one of our "walks" we passed this place.

Look familiar? Anyway, the Missus was fascinated, it was a warm day, and so we went in and ordered two Jujube Yogurts, one with the purple rice, the other without. We both enjoyed it; though that Purple Rice is quite filling....well, it was quite filling period as we could only do half of each cup. It looked somewhat pricey at $6,7 AUD....BUT, with the exchange rate it was like $4.40 US! Anyway we returned a couple of days later and split the Haw version. Sadly, as we enjoyed our treats while walking, I never took photos. I actually never thought I'd post on the place as we were quite "busy".

Upon returning, I found out that this location was the original as Yomie's was started in Sydney!

I mentioned to the Missus that Yomie's had a shop in San Diego; in Plaza del Sol off Convoy and She seemed quite interested! We also went to check out the location in Ala Moana Center and the prices looked good; being in the mid $6 range. Unfortunately, they didn't have Jujube or Haw which is what the Missus was craving.

To my surprise, after lunch one day, the Missus instructed me to drop by Yomie's Convoy. The place opens at 11 and I was thinking the parking lot might be crowded, but with China Max and other businesses having not reopened yet, we easily found parking.

The place was quite empty....in fact, we've been the only customers in the place on all our visits....yes, we've been back like four times already!

The menu looked similar to that in Sydney, which made the Missus happy. Though, we got major sticker shock at the prices. 

Most everything is over eights bucks? Yikes! More expensive than Ala Moana Center, how can that be? At that moment, we decided on the "Yomie's rule". Since the yogurt smoothies are pretty filling; we get one and share.

Here are our current favorites.

We always go with the "less sugar" option. Our current favorite is the Matcha Red Bean Yogurt ($8.50).

The matcha adds a nice earthy-chlorophyllic flavor and is a good foil for the sweet-nutty red bean. We usually get this without the signature purple (forbidden rice). It's quite refreshing.

Other than that; we will usually get the Red Bean; sometimes with the purple rice ($8.50), sometimes without ($8.25).

The Missus also enjoys the Jujube versions as well. We haven't tried any of the fresh fruit versions; perhaps during the summer?

Yomie's touts the health benefits of both the yogurt (the probiotics) and the purple rice (antioxidants) and claims everything is made fresh inhouse.

Well, it is the current favorite of the Missus and we've developed the "Yomie's rule" to deal with the price. And even though I don't have much of a "sweet tooth" I do enjoy the refreshing "less sugar" option. And heck, we've even been to the original location!

Yomie’s Rice X Yogurt
4688 Convoy St. Suite 109
San Diego, CA 92111

Where is the world are we - part 2

It was quite obvious from my previous post that we were in Australia.

We're headed home today from HNL, but I thought I'd do a quick post.

We spent our last couple of days "Down Under" in Sydney. For a change of pace we stayed in the Chippendale area. Which was quite bustling, but the main reason for staying in the area was....

Yes, Chinatown. When doing some research, it became obvious that there was not only Chinese cuisine here, but Thai Town and Korea Town abut the area. It is so culturally diverse!

The area also houses several Universities and the population near Chippendale really skewed to the younger crowd.

We did two wonderful activities during our three days.

The first being a morning kayak journey in Sydney Harbor. 

The Missus and I were the only two people on this tour, so we had the guide, "Sam" all to ourselves. It was so much fun!

Like Sam said, "this is like paddling in a postcard!"

The second was an all-day adventure. This was a private tour, with a local and it was amazing! It was customized to our desires and we got to see wonderful views.....

Where tour groups don't venture.

We got to learn about the plants in the region.

We stopped at an area with Aboriginal drawings. It's kind of hidden off the side of the road. We were the only folks there. And I guess the site is not visited by many non-Aboriginal folks because a ranger came over to check. And it was great listening to him.

We stopped at seaside village where it's mostly locals since transit doesn't go here.

But the highlite was a stop at a Wildlife Sanctuary/Rehab where we got to meet the wonderful inhabitants of Australia up close.

And we got to spend some "Koala-ty" time with this fella!

His name is Arnold!

One of the great benefits about staying in the Asian district was enjoying the diversity of food! Sydney has such a great variety....and some of the items were delici-yoso!

We spent our free time wandering down streets and alleys.

That's not to say that the Missus didn't get Her share of Barramundi....

Anyway, we're leaving for our flight in a few minutes.

Hopefully, my next post will be done from San Diego!

Thanks for stopping by!

Where in the world are we?

Well, sorry about the lack of posts. Things have been quite busy, activities and exploration every day! Plus, I'd been having issues with WiFi in some areas and was unable to download photos from my phone until yesterday.

Anyway, after leaving Oahu, where the heck did we go?

Well, this photo will just give it all away!

You know where right?

We arrived rather late in the evening and after catching the train, which was fast, efficient, and inexpensive, then taking a short walk to our hotel. We settled in with just one full day.

In order to familiarize ourselves with the area....arriving when dark can be somewhat disorienting; I booked a private walking tour for the morning which did a great job of getting us oriented with this city of over 5 million!

The friendliness of the people, the cleanliness of this large city was wonderful.

And the range of wildlife, all protected, was something to see. Imagine walking down the street to see a wild turkey scrounging around? And most creatures seemed quite colorful!

Strangely, our dinner in the city was our only rather disappointing meal to date. Though the service was wonderful.

Soon, we were off to see something that has been on our "bucket list" for ages. Located in an area appropriately called the "Outback" resides a massive monolith! 

It has always provided an air of mystery to the Missus and I. We flew in and stayed at the nearby town and did both a sunset program and a sunrise visit. We came to learn much about the native people of this area, though we just scratched the surface. We gained so much respect for their beliefs and the efforts being made to preserve both the area and those beliefs.

We got a taste of some of the indigenous flavors.

Though after our third meal of kangaroo; the Missus had eaten enough!

Which was fine because our next stop was a fantastically laid-back beachfront city. We had things going on every day.

On the first evening we decided to make a visit to the aquarium on the spur of the moment. Upon arriving, we made the decision to purchase tickets for the small group after hours tour, which ended up being one of our favorite things we've done so far. The small group was led by a Behavioral Biologist and she was wonderful. More on that later.

In short, she knew all the creatures by name!

One of our favorites was this curious puffer fish.

Who is appropriately named "ET"!

We also booked the Skyrail, the cable car that took to and above the oldest rainforest in the world!

We enjoyed our time exploring the village at the top and taking a nice walk thru the rainforest.

And the views from the train that returned to the city was quite good.

We also did two boat trips, which included three snorkeling adventures in the largest coral reef in the world.

Our favorite was a boat trip to a nearby island.

And a snorkel with a Marine Biologist.

Where we learned so much about the reef systems and the animals that inhabit the area!

Of course, this is a food blog, right?

Well, let me tell you right off that we were so pleasantly surprised at the food in this city! Especially the seafood!

And whether it was fusiony type dishes or straight up Chinese, all the seafood was fabulous!

Yes, we had a flamin' good time!

We're now back where we started. We'll be heading "home", then back to San Diego soon after!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'm hoping to resume regular posting soon!