What I am doing in Irvine

The best Thai massage & spa in Irvine: CHABA

2015-08-10T17:03:00.001-07:00

I believe this is the best one and the cheapest one for that high quality message and spa in/around Irvine. You have to pay only $50 + $10 tip for 1 hour of message. They key point I like it: they really DO MASSAGE for ONE HOUR, not like the other spas: make you sleep then they relax! All the staffs are very friendly and helpful in suggesting you which service you should choose.

To reserve room for 2, you should call and book a head of time.

Sakura flower tea

2015-08-10T16:41:00.001-07:00

This is the best non-cafein tea I've ever had: sakura flower tea. You can get it from Japanese super market, about $8 for a small bag like this:

Because there is a lot of salt used to preserve the flowers, I use a tea strainer to remove the salt first, then use water to clean it. I let water from tap run through the flowers for several seconds.

After lightly shaking the drainer, you can see how much salt was removed!

Then I use hot water (90 C degree) to brew it. Watching the flowers blooming inside a transparent cup is every relaxing!

Tokyo Central's sashimi selection

2015-01-16T19:13:00.002-08:00

This is the first time we visited Tokyo Central supermarket at 2975 Harbor BlvdCosta Mesa, CA 92626. It was remodeled from Marukai Market. The seafood selections remain amazing! The new market has its own food court, including a lot of sashimi boxes.

Pizza at Love Letter

2014-11-05T15:58:00.002-08:00

This is the best place for fried chicken and pizza in OC.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/love-letter-pizza-and-chicken-irvine

It locates inside H-mart supermarket at diamond jamboree plaza. The specially menu they have here is sweet potato pizza. I don't think this is a traditional pizza style, but their creativity works. It's pricey. A medium one is around $15.

Fried chicken is awesome. A half chicken costs $8.99.

They will cook right after you order and it takes around 20 minute. So if you want to eat their, call them first, then departure, otherwise you have to wait like forever, especially when you are hungry.

Dinner at J Zhou Oriental Cuisine

2014-11-05T15:40:00.001-08:00

Well, J Zhou Oriental Cuisine is now so famous for their dim sum. Let's try dinner today. I am too tired to cook, so this may be a good reason lol.

There are several dishes in the daily special menu they don't serve anymore, such as the last one. I didn't ask for reason. The photo of fried shrimp dish (12) in this menu is misleading. Actually it looks like in my photo (a little bit disappointed). However, the quality of shrimp is amazing! I'd rather to eat here instead of buy shrimp and cook at home (at this size, it should cost the same price in supermarket, e.g. whole food).

Here is the soup from crab meat and fish with bean leaves. It costs $17.8, pricey ha~~~ It can be enough for 3 people (2 bowls each). If you have only 2 people, don't order soup, it's HUGE!

Another $8.99 dish: roasted duck. All we can say about this one: AMAZING. If you buy a pack of duck legs from whole food, around $8.5, you still have to cook, and not sure the outcome is the same or not. I will come back for this one definitely!

The most impressive dish today is stir-fried sea cucumber with green onion. The seafood is fresh, not frozen, and imported from Mexico. I am afraid of frozen sea cucumber from China which you can find in 99ranch (That one is smelly and black orzzz) but I can't find the fresh one at market, so this restaurant is the best place to enjoin this seafood.

At the end of your meal, they will serve dessert: sweet soup of red bean and red date (Hong kong style).

Authentic Taiwanese cuisine at Chef Chen restaurant

2014-08-01T22:51:00.000-07:00

The restaurant locates at a big plaza. 5408-B Walnut AveIrvine, CA 92604. We come here very often for Taiwanese food. It is verified: the taste of food here is almost the same as in Taiwan! Here are what we tried.

Ma po tofu

Meat ball with sea cucumber

Pork intestine with pickle (no pig blood)

Fried fish with hot and sour sauce

Meat pie

Seafood soup (with tapioca)

Seafood and chicken over rice

Another kind of seafood soup but in clay pot

pork rib with boiled vege

Stir-fried rice noodle

Home baked Vietnamese cracker

2014-07-25T23:57:00.002-07:00

I just found that Farmer Direct - a supermarket near UCI sells a lot of Vietnamese crackers and rice papers. I got one today for myself: sesame cracker with baby shrimp (Banh trang me tom). Though the instruction is using microwave, but as I know, people in Vietname use charcoal to bake, so I decided to use my beloved Breville oven. Just set toast function for 4 slices, level 4, then here is the result:

Meet Fresh - Taiwanese-based dessert chain

2014-07-25T23:49:00.001-07:00

Last week, we came to Diamond plaza to try Meet Fresh - a Taiwanese-based dessert chain - the first store in the US.

TIP: don't come here in weekends or dinner time/ evening, you have to wait about 30 minutes on line to order, and about 15 minutes to get your food.

I think the quality of the desert is better then it was in Taiwan (as I know, they are closing a lot of stores in Taiwan), especially the taro ball.

Here is their signature dish

UCI Palo Verde garden

2014-07-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

Jaipur vegetables from trader joe's

2014-07-08T21:03:00.002-07:00

We didn't have time to go out for Indian food ( the closest Indian restaurant that we love is 30 mins driving), so here was our solution: a pack of instant curry from trader joe's.

Actually, the total cooking time was 15 mins, because I cooked some grounded chicken before add the curry. To make it have more flavor, I also added: 1 spoon of coconut powder, 1 tea spoon of cumin powder, 1 tea spoon of curry powder, 1 tea spoon of paprika powder when I stirred the meat at medium heat (of of these I bought from Trader Joe's). After five minutes, I added 1/2 cup of water and mushroom, closed lid for another 5 minutes. Finally, I added the curry, stir well and cook for another 5 minutes or until the mixture got boiled again.

If you have fresh cilantro, add some is great!

Happy Pho - shiitake mushroom

2014-07-08T20:45:00.000-07:00

I love Pho, a traditional breakfast in Vietnam, but I don't like to eat pho outside (it doesn't not taste good, usually). I also don't want to buy instant pho from asian market, because they use so much MSG and other chemical for soup base. So, It's really happy that we found this product at Wholefood market (around $3 for w servings per box). Unlike other instant noodle, this soup base powder does not include much salt, so I add a tea spoon of fish sauce. The most important thing: no MSG.

To make a bowl of pho has more flavor, some slices of onion and chopped green onion (it will be better if you add cilantro) are added.

As it advertised, the noodle is made from brown rice, so even I use a mixture of water and chicken broth to cook, the final product's color looks so so brown !!!!

In amazon website, they sell 6 box/pack, but it's still very expensive. I will buy more once I see it in wholefood market, much much cheaper.

A very good Vietnamese Restaurant in Campbell

2014-06-30T17:52:00.003-07:00

We went to Lequy restaurant because we search Vietnamese food in Yelp, and this one has the highest stars. This is the first time we see a Vietnamese restaurant declares that they don't use MSG and use free range chicken. So, let's try!

We arrived when there is only several customers in the restaurant because it was quite early for dinner time. It was so clean and beautiful. Here are some dishes we ordered:

Fried spring rolls with crab meat and shrimp: This one was expensive, around $8 for 3 big pieces. But when we ate, omg, this is the best spring roll we can find in California.

I ordered pho (beef) with the choice of well-done meat. The pho's soup is almost the same to what you can have in Vietnam. The owner told me that he cooked beef stock for 3 days. That sound amazing!

BBQ pork with shrimp: this dish was about $13 and it came with a bowl of soup: a must-try.

Fresh spring rolls with avocado. We ordered this dish because we observed all the herb and vegetable in other dishes were so clean, that's why we dare to try vege rolls like this. Though it's expensive ($6) compare with other store, but I think it's worth the price.

J. zhou oriental cuisine - Dim sum

2014-06-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

They just opened this restaurant at The District In Tustin, and it should be a must-try Chinese restaurant in Orange county. I'd rather come here instead of driving half hour to Roland Height for dim sum. The restaurant is clean, staffs are super friendly and helpful, and the food: FRESH (especially seafood) and TASTY!

Though the price is quite high (almost the most expensive dim sum in the area) but the quantity and quality of the materials they use is worth for that. I highly recommend you this restaurant, in case you want to invite someones for Chinese food. They have private room for group.

They open from 9.30 am, a good time for Hongkong style breakfast!!!

Steamed rice paper with pork

egg custard bun (you should try this one )

milk pudding and ginger sauce

Deep fried pork dumpling

lobster congee

Fried radish cake

And when you are waiting for the check, they give you newspaper

This coupon can be used multiple times

Lunch at sushi Koto

2014-06-16T16:38:00.000-07:00

This is the best lunch I have: fresh sushi, hand roll sushi, udon with mountain vegetable, and shrimp tempura. All for just $11.50. I will be back again for only this combination

18225 Brookhurst St., Suite #7

Fountain Valley, CA 92708

Meiji Seimen

2014-05-04T21:15:00.001-07:00

http://www.yelp.com/biz/meiji-seimen-costa-mesa-2

Potato salad

Tonkatsu

Curry udon

Udon with bean curd

Tempura

Marinated octopus

Seaweed

Soba with wild duck

Tempura with rice

Fried chicken rice

Red bean soup with mochi

Vietnam Airline

2014-04-29T15:45:00.001-07:00

We traveled with Vietnam airline between the South and North of this country. The business class was terrible. Though the seat was extremely roomy, but the quality of maintenance was just horrible (you can see though the photos). Additionally, the food made me disappointed. I expected when we were in business class, we could have a more traditional Vietnamese food than economy class, but it was not. I think they serve Chinese food instead Vietnamese food.

Cathay Pacific airline - economy class LA to HK

2014-04-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Though you buy an economy ticket, I think the seat is still bigger than the same level ticket from other airline. A plus plus point for Cathay: their food is awesome: fresh and tasty. They have a bar in the middle of the plane, where you can find water, cookies, apple, and also: instant noodles.

Cathay Pacific airline - Premier economy class

2014-04-29T15:37:00.002-07:00

It was a very nice trip with Cathay Pacific. The crews were very professional, helpful, and efficient. The space for each customer in premier economy class is roomy enough, even for a big guy. You also can get a small packages of all things you need for a flight, like socks, lotion, ear plugs. Everything is better than in economy class, even the earphone is noise-canceling.

it's not summer yet, why 100 degree?

2014-04-29T15:29:00.002-07:00

New limited edition coffee from Nespresso

2014-04-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

We bought not only the coffee but also a set of matched-pattern cup and saucer for this limited edition coffee: Santander and Cauca. They are amazingly good!

The cauca is lighter, sweeter, and a little bit sourer. I prefer using Santander for a cup of cappuccino.

Where to buy Morel mushrooms

2014-04-14T16:37:00.000-07:00

This kind of mushrooms ..... is crazily expensive! Wholefood viva

The most beautiful orchid I've bought from Trader Joe's, and it lasted for 2 months

2014-04-14T16:35:00.002-07:00

New pizza from Trader Joe's

2013-12-14T16:29:00.001-08:00

ps: I use Breville oven, and bake for 15 mins instead of there suggestion.

Easy homemade cheese

2013-12-06T21:11:00.001-08:00

I have 1/2 bottle of whole milk, and it will expire tomorrow, so I need to do sth instead of drinking it. Let's make cheese for the first time in my life!

- Boil the milk in a small pot, when it boils, turn off the heat

- Squeeze 1/2 lemon then add the juice to the boiling, stir well, you will see whey and curd separately, then leave it there for 10 minutes

- Prepare a filter like this

- Use your hand to squeeze the extra liquid, and here is CHEESE (add some salt will be better)

Stuffed shitake

2013-12-06T20:56:00.003-08:00

1. Ingredients (for 2 people)

- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 5 to 7 shitake mushroom: choose the big one, I often buy at farmer market

- 2 green onion, cilantro (optional)

- 1 tomato

- 1/4 onion

- salt, pepper

- 1 spoon of bread crumbs or flour

- 1/2 cup of water

2. Method:

- Clean the mushroom, remove the stem from the cap

- Chop the stem, 1 green onion, and onion

- Mix meat, bread drums, chopped vege, pepper, and salt

- Preheat oil in a pan, medium heat,

- Stuff the mushroom caps with the mixture and put into the pan each side 5 minutes

- Chopped tomato then add into the pan, if you have fish sauce, add 1 spoon, add 1/2 cup of water (here I change to another pot)

- After 5 to 10 minutes, add chopped green onion and cilantro