mmm-yoso!!!

COMC - Mad For Cheesecake Revisited, NYE Dinner at Et Voila, Dinner with Friends, and an Update on Zion Market's Move!

Just doing some cleaning of my photo folders here...so it's time to C(lear) O(ut the) M(emory) C(ard). Just short posts...

NYE Dinner at Et Voila:

The Missus wanted to something special for JJ's first New Year, so we decided on going to Et Voila for the NYE dinner. We had NYE dinner there before Covid and they have an small outdoor area with heaters. The one thing being, you can't make reservations online for that. So, we took JJ and dropped by to make reservations in person. Not wanting to be out on the road too late during the eve, we made reservations for the first seating at 430pm.

We ordered every item available, one of each when there were a choice of two courses.

We didn't think much of the amuse and the first course and were quite disappointed that they didn't serve the typical baguette either!

That "faux" foie gras was very disappointing as it was mushy, metallic-too livery in flavor.

But things turned around with the second course; the Bay Scallop Gratinee.

And the mains were quite good.

Especially the Veal Loin; you can see JJ peeking at it in the background.

We took the desserts home as we were quite full.

And I think JJ enjoyed his first New Year Eve.

Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116

Dinner with Friends:

I've been blessed with having some great friends like Candice, "Yummy Yummy", and "Xiāng Jiāo". I've even posted on some great meals I've had with friends over the years! They are such wonderful folks, thoughtful, kind, generous....

JeffP who I've mentioned in several posts and who even shared in doing the One Chip Challenge with me one year is such a person, as is his wonderful bride "LL". I've been honored to get to know them! They are both so kind, fun, and generous. And it was in true display when they invited me out to dinner! At their "special place". As it's a small, intimate, setting that's already pretty darn full, I'm not going to give it away. But since I do use our little blog as a food-travel-personal diary of sorts, I thought I'd just post the photos here.

That LL and JeffP, who both have busy schedules, their careers going full blast, thought of having dinner really touched me!

Friends enrich our lives, broaden our horizons, bring joy, and laughter to us, and create wonderful memories.

Thanks so much LL and JeffP for a wonderful, memorable, and fun evening!

And Mad For Cheesecake is still the Missus's favorite in San Diego:

So, we've been doing the Japanese cheesecake rounds again, revisiting several places again.

And in the end, the Missus's favorite was still.....

Yep, it's still Mad for Cheesecake.

We even got one for our neighbor, who is also from Honolulu, and she agrees with the Missus, that this is the best she has had in San Diego.

Mad For Cheesecake
1420 E Plaza Blvd Suite B-5
National City, CA 91950

One last note - news on Zion Market's Move from Candice:

I'm not sure folks know this yet, but our good friend Candice is now on Instagram. And just announced that Zion Market is opening in their new location on Thursday, January 23! Well, finally!

8330 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111

Hope everyone has a fabulous week!

Saturday Stuffs - Phuong Nga Opening a Second Location, Inka'fe Replacing Humble Bean, and by Request, More JJ Photos

Just couple of things for this Saturday.

Phuong Nga Opening a Second Location: 

In the comments section of my latest post on Mien Trung, "FOY" Elle, who always has the "scoops" on City Heights and Mira Mesa mentioned Phuong Nga was possibly opening another location near World Foods where Tan Ky Mi Gia used to be. It just so happens that a couple of days later, the Missus was craving the Bun Rieu from Phuong Nga (you can read that post here).

So, I decided to head into the parking lot at 5237 El Cajon Boulevard and wouldn't you know it.....the sign reads:

So, when I had a moment when picking up my noodle soup from Phuong Nga I asked the young lady working. She confirmed that this will be a second location because "business has been very good". So they are not moving. There was a line forming so I didn't ask any other questions. Good to see that their business is doing well!

5237 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115

Thanks as always for the info Elle!

Inka'fe Replacing Humble Bean:

I took JJ for his first grooming appointment. We decided to try a place fairly close by. Since this was his maiden voyage, I decided to get a bite to eat and also take a walk. I was surprise to see that the Humble Bean, which I've bean been to is being replaced by something named Inka'fe?

With a name like that I'm assuming it'll be Peruvian Coffee? It's interesting because the drive thru Gold Soul Coffee is nearby and right down the street is the now crazy busy Superbloom.

2615 Denver St.
San Diego, CA 92110

I did note that Google said the place was open, but it definitely wasn't on this day.

As for JJ, what do you think about his haircut?

Which leads me to....

By Request:

In the comments section of my post on Bica, "FOY" Junichi requested some photos of JJ, so here you go....

Been taking JJ exploring a bit, you might recognize these places.

JJ would like to thank his "Uncle Junichi" for the attention!

Happy New Year!

Ah yes, another year passes and we turn the page to 2025!

Just like I've been doing every NYE morning since way back in 2005, I went to check out what was going on at the various Japanese markets. These days, it's mainly Nijiya that does Osechi.

It seems that Mitsuwa does preorders and I'm not sure about Tokyo Central, which didn't have anything out when we visited.

I got some stuffs from Nijiya as well as Kinpira Renkon, Konasu Karashi, and Karashi Mentai Takana from Niitakaya, the Tsukemono stand in in Mitsuwa. It made for a nice lunch.

Instead of having this as basic okazu, the Missus wanted a salad. So, I put one together.

This was a nice lighter lunch. We would be having NYE dinner at Et Voila, taking JJ along. I'll get that post done in a bit.

While walking on Adams, we noticed a wedding taking place at the Adams Avenue Theatre. On New Years Eve???

Well, the groom ain't got no excuse for not remembering their anniversary date, right?

Anyway, as we upend the calendar for 2024, and turn the page to 2025, we'd like to wish everyone a wonderful, safe, and delici-yoso New Year!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

Yes, it's yet another Christmas in the books.

This one has been kinda busy! Well, I've had some technical issues as I noted in my previous post. But there's one other....well, wonderful reason!

But first, here are some photos from our usual evening to check out the Christmas lights. As I noted back in my 2020 Christmas post, during the heights of Covid, this was something we'd do every year with Sammy and Frankie.

And even though Frankie left us in 2021 and Sammy in 2017, it's something we still try to do every year.

Though this year was special. You see, we did it with this little guy.....

Meet JJ. After Frankie's passing, folks were asking us about adopting another little one. But we just couldn't do it. We just couldn't conceive of replacing family, you know? We just could not think of doing that.

Then, the Missus's coworker sent Her a photo of the little guy above, barely two months old. And he just seemed like "the one"..... So, we cancelled all our upcoming trips and on Halloween night, he joined the mmm-yoso family.

So, say hello to JJ.

He is quite the character, a little ball of energy, full on puppy mode, very smart, loves to eat (like daddy!), so FOMO, and seems to have an opinion on everything.

He also looks like a grumpy old man....so the Missus says we now have "two of them" in the household.

He is growing fast and has doubled his weight and grown so much since he arrived.

We last had a puppy in the house back in 2003........man, I don't know how we did it back then!

JJ is quite the character and really likes people and car rides, so you may be seeing an influx of posts on dog friendly places. Things have changed a lot since we had Sammy and Frankie.

And so, this year it's JJ, the Missus, and I who would like to wish you and yours the most wonderful and safe Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Odds and Ends

Just a bunch of "little stuffs" for a pretty chilly Friday! Yes, I know, it's San Diego......

It's the Sukiyaki time of the year:

Yes, the Missus has been requesting Sukiyaki again. These days I use two grades of meat.

I use a basic sukiyaki grade - from Nijiya for cooking with the veggies and stuffs. It adds the requisite beefiness to the dish. And then I get about a quarter pound of prime or wagyu (when it's "Meat Day") for dipping.

I have a feeling I'll be making this again this weekend.....

Salad in December?:

Yep, the Missus said She wanted a salad.... But, of course it wasn't just a simple salad. After all the requested ingredients it looked like this.

Everything from roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes, boiled eggs, etc.....

And then I had to come up with an "appropriate" dressing. I settled on making a Bacon Vinaigrette.

So, the Missus has been wanting a version of this salad like four days in a row.......

Meat Jun?:

In my post on making Okra Kurogomae, I mentioned serving it with some Meat Jun I made. "FOY" Kimo emailed me asking me for a recipe. Well, I'm not it's ready for prime time. The biggest issue is finding the precise cut of meat I want. Both Zion and H Mart cuts their rib eye quite thin. Though I've made due with marinating the meat a specific way. As for the recipe; it's a cross between an old recipe from Wanda A. Adams wonderful cookbook, the Island Plate and of course, the Kathy has a version on Onolicioushawaii as well. With a couple of adjustments and personal touches as well.

It ain't the prettiest thing.

But our neighbor, who is originally from Manoa liked it as did the Missus, who specifically requested that I make this after having it twice during our last trip "back home". Strange thing, this stuff keeps ok and actually heats up well in the Air Fryer? Anyway, maybe I need to make this a couple more times, right?

Yep, so that's what's been cookin' here.

Hope everyone is keeping warm during our cold spell!

Happy Thanksgiving - We're enjoying the Smoked Chicken from Juewei!

Just wanted to wish everyone a wonderful and delici-yoso Thanksgiving!

We are so thankful for your visits and wonderful comments! 

And of course since this is a food blog....

I'm sure you know by now; our 19th Thanksgiving doing the blog, that we aren't big turkey kinda folks. So, what are we having this year?

Well, it's kinda interesting, we were getting our weekly Yomie's fix and decided to pop by Juwei and get some duck intestines, yuba, and quail eggs, when we saw this on the counter.

The Missus asked the woman working what it was. Turns out it's "smoked chicken". She informed us that this is something new and this batch had just come out of the kitchen. It smelled really good. So we bought 2 at $18.99 each.

Turns out that we have a new favorite item. The chicken was moist, good savory-smoky-saltiness. I do like to crisp up the skin a bit in the Air Fryer. It had been nicely marinated and seasoned.

While we still enjoy the chewy duck intestines; we have a new favorite from Juewei.

I hope they keep making that chicken!

Juewei Food
4690 Convoy St. #103
San Diego, CA 92111
Current Hours:
Sun - Thurs 11am - 11pm
Fri - Sat        11am - Midnight

Wishing you all a warm and wonderful holiday, filled with delicious food!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Why the Missus can't eat Chicken Katsu at Restaurants

In the comments section of a recent post, "FOY" DerekR asked me what I've been cooking recently. I know that during Covid, I used to do many more cooking type posts. And to be honest, much of what I make these days are tried and true recipes that I've posted over the years. And to be perfectly honest, lot of what I cook just use techniques that I've picked up over the years.

For instance, these days you'll be hard pressed getting the Missus to order chicken katsu when dining out. It's got to be highly recommended for Her to try it. And the reason is totally my fault. You see, a few years ago, I mentioned having worked in a Drive In back home. We made chicken katsu a certain way....which wasn't super good. But, we also knew how to make it for us. And when we did, we never needed to use salt; the breading never peeled off, and the chicken breast was very tender.

And it was simply done by doing a quick brine and rinse on the chicken before breading. We also tenderized the chicken breast. I also added seasonings to the egg wash (shoyu) and ground black pepper to the panko.

It used come out very evenly fried. Though my version may not be as pretty since I pan fry it, sorta like schnitzel, not wanting to waste oil...I use Avocado Oil so it ain't cheap.

The combination of the brine, I also add a bit of granulated garlic, the shoyu in the egg wash, and the ground black pepper in the panko just adds layers of flavors.

You can see the shoyu in the egg wash above and the freshly ground black pepper in the panko below.

Now because of how I make this; I only usually make two breasts at a time; it ain't cheap since I have to make the brine everytime I make katsu, but the Missus said it's worth it.

The Brine:

4 cups cold water
1/4 cup Kosher Salt
1/4 tsp Granulated Garlic (optional)

Combine ingredients, whisk until salt is dissolved
Brine tenderized breasts for 8-15 minutes (I usually brine while getting flour-panko-egg wash ready)
Rinse chicken and dry well with paper towels; remember food safety is paramount - avoid cross contamination, I use disposable gloves, make sure to clean up well.

Make sure chicken is dry before doing the flour-egg wash-panko

For the egg wash; I usually use 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon Kikkoman Shoyu.

It's funny how some simple steps I learned so long ago have reappeared!

So, there you go......

If you do try brining your chicken before making katsu; let me know how it turns out.

Have a fun...and safe Halloween

Something we've noticed over the last couple of years. Not sure if you've noticed it too?

It seems like decorating has really grown in size and scope! Man, some of the yards in our neighborhood! 

Of course, we were out of the country last Halloween, but I think it's been really expanding ever since the times of Covid. I've noticed the same with Christmas as well.

Even the one house that really used to go all out, now has the entire corner going and even the roof!

And they've got this "show" going on at night?

Though perhaps this represents a change in demographics and gentrification?

Perhaps you've noticed the same thing where you live?

Regardless, we here at mmm-yoso want to wish you a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Thanks for hanging around.....

And I know everyone is kinda busy. And when you gotta go.....well, you gotta go!

Happy Halloween!

London - Checking out Fortnum and Mason

Man, time is flying by isn't it? We've been doing so much traveling since Covid subsided. I think with getting older comes more a sense of urgency. The desire to get those "bucket list" items is higher. What do you think? Anyway, hopefully better late than never.

We had flown thru Heathrow so many times. Mostly as a layover to Paris. This time, we decided to stick around and explore London a bit. After consultation with the Missus, I booked our stay in the Piccadilly area. Yes, it's tourist central, but heck, we are tourists after all, right? We stayed at the Dilly a historic hotel.

As we usually did we flew on British Airways, Business Class. And as I mentioned in a previous post, it seems that the food has returned to pre-Covid levels.

That celeriac gratin was pretty good.

I did make the mistake of ordering the "Full Breakfast", which lived up to its name....I was quite full after this.

The Heathrow Express made getting from the airport to Piccadilly a snap and our hotel was centrally located. We had slept well on this flight and the Missus arrived just rarin' to go. I had made dinner reservations at a place I'd wanting to visit since I bought their cookbook in 2016. But first, the Missus wanted to explore a bit. Thre is of course, so much to see here!

So we headed on out from the hotel.

This seemed to be a rather "high-rent" district. It was fun to see a K Minamoto here....we always stop by the Ala Moana store when "back home".

There was one place in particular we wanted to check out. When at Heathrow, we always stop by Fortnum & Mason, just to have a look around. In fact, we once bought one of their pre-packed "hampers" for a pretty penny to snack on while waiting for our flight. 

The Piccadilly location was located a block away from our hotel.

F&M touts itself as an "upmarket" department store....well, no kidding!

One of things that surprised us was how popular Halloween seemed in London.

And even though it was early October, the store was all decked out for Christmas!

We enjoyed checking out the various floors and the decor.

So fancy! 

Much like those Japanese Department stores, the lower level features a "food hall"; though it's obviously not your run-of-the-mill food floor.

We spent a good amount of time here and would end up getting some lunch to-go a couple of days later.

It was a nice place to see all those things that you can't afford!

Fortnum & Mason
181 Piccadilly
London, United Kingdom

We took a walk a bit further afield, even checking out a rather upscale shopping arcade on the way back to the hotel.

Back in our room, there was a knock on the door. One of the hotel's staff dropped off some "welcome gifts" for us!

This was a nice touch!

We were really enjoying things!

Thanks for stopping by!

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!