Korean Food on a Cold Night

How far we've come from those cold December nights. Korean food is great on nights like those.

Mark and I had a sudden craving for Korean BBQ on one Friday evening. It was the end of a long week in December, cold outside, and we had no desire to cook dinner. Korean BBQ seemed like the way to go. We decided to try Dai Jang Kum on Bridgeport Road in Richmond. The food was just OK. We actually prefer the Korean restaurant on Alexandra Road (AKA Wai Sek Gai). Now, I can't remember the name of the dishes we ordered as they all have Korean names, so my descriptions will be very vague.

They first brought out all the sides (bean sprouts, kim chee, seaweed, potato, tofu, daikon, and salad) and the miso soup:

Beef/veggie/rice in a sizzling hot stone bowl:

The Korean BBQ beef loaded with big slices of portabello mushrooms and enoki mushrooms:

We got two rice bowls with our meal:

Then came the thread noodles: the best dish of the night. It had veggies and beef slices.

Would we go there again? Probably since there are few Korean restaurants in this town. However, we would most likely go to the Korean restaurant on Alexandra Road the next time we have a craving.

Peking Duck and More at Kirin

Here's an older review of Kirin.


My parents treated my brother and me and our families to a birthday dinner at Kirin Richmond. This place is usually excellent with consistent quality. However, I think they had an off-night, as the food was just not the same. It was still good, but not of the excellence this place is usually known for.

We started with a soup. This brothy soup had all the bones and veggies. I didn't enjoy this soup. Too old-style for me.

Let's go straight to the peking duck with crepes. Our girls really love this dish and only get it for special occasions -- way too decadent to have it all the time!

Next up was the dish with the rest of the duck. It was lettuce wraps with duck filling. Again, the girls love this dish.

Then came the most disappointing dish of the evening: the honey garlic beef. This is usually excellent, but the chef that night just didn't prepare it correctly. It was more honey than savoury. Usually, it's a perfect mix of sweetness and savoury.

The veggies came next. This is our family's usual order of stir fry gai lan.

Then came one of my and my younger daughter's favourites of the evening: the fried tofu with broccoli and straw mushrooms. I think she and I could have finished the whole thing, but we restrained ourselves and let others have a go at this dish.

Then came the best dish of the evening: the honey garlic pork ribs. Amazing!

Then the stir fry white fish with vegetables. Also very well made as the fish was so tender and not overcooked.

The last dish to arrive was the seasoned chicken with the green onion dip.

Dinner ended with the red bean soup. Something I like, but a dessert my husband is not in the least fond of. Oh well, more for me :-)

Spring Break

Thinking back to March 2011. Spring break. California trip to Anaheim (Disneyland), San Diego, and Huntington Beach. So much fun. Closed down Disneyland Park 2 out of 3 nights.

Here are some random pics...

Huntington Beach. Miles and miles of wide beach. Too cold in March to boogie board, but made for a nice walk along the boardwalk to the pier.

Grizzly River Rapids ride at California Adventure. Marissa and Kiki are on the ride with Hallie and Justin.

After the fireworks at Disneyland, we went to the Plaza Inn for dessert. This is the apple pie with caramel that Mark and I shared.

This is one of the girls' red velvet cupcake. So pretty.

The next few pics are of lunch at Whitewater Snacks at Disney's Grand California Hotel, when we met up with our old friends, the Reilly-Woods. This is the Beef Tacos.

These are the Chicken Tacos.

Hamburger & Fries.



Cookie Monster

I found this picture on my iPhone and decided to post it, since it looks so pretty. I received the gingerbread cookie back in December from my friend Heidi, of Heidi's Cookie Creations. She is such an artist, ever so creative. Sometimes I think they're just too pretty to eat. But then I get over it and make like the cookie monster.

Yum...

Going Back in Time (Vegas, Part 5)...

Now you may be thinking by now, what didn't we eat. I can reassure you - LOTS. Here's one thing I documented that we skipped, as tempting as it was.

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I passed by and couldn't resist taking pictures of the gelato and sorbet here at Cocolini in St. Mark's Square at the Venetian.

The gelato:


The sorbet:

Going Back in Time (Vegas, Part 4)...

Here's our experience at the Wynn buffet during our January 2010 trip. I'm on the fence whether to do this one again in July. Mark and our tweenie daughter love it, so it may have to be on the agenda. Though I have heard that the new Comopolitan Hotel's Wicked Spoon is on par with this one.

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We spent our afternoon walking around and built up an appetite. We decided to end the day at the Wynn, by treating ourselves to their buffet and gambling in their casino. We've eaten at the buffet here before, so we knew what to expect. What we didn't expect was their "New Year's holiday pricing" (since it was Jan. 2). After our cheap lunch, we had to pay a shocking $52 pp for dinner. Yikes! Well, you only live once, so in we went and tried not to think about it. But, let me tell you, it was soooooo worth it.

Started with the lobster bisque.

I'm not even going to try to explain too much. Let the pictures do the talking.

These were our cold plates with different kinds of salads. On the second plate, that is grilled sea bass (the one with the grill marks).

Our entree plates with prime rib (husband's preference) and rack of lamb (my preference).

Alaskan King crab legs, shrimp, and edamame.

Dessert time. Chocolate mousse, creme brulee, mango-lychee tapioca pudding, pineapple slices, bread pudding with a whiskey sauce.

On this dessert plate: Pineapple sliver, mango-lychee tapioca pudding, bread pudding with the whiskey sauce, profiterole, blueberry crepe.

 

The standouts of the night were the rack of lamb with mint sauce, lobster bisque, the profiterole, and the mango-lychee tapioca pudding. Most disappointing was the grilled sea bass. I love fish, especially sea bass, and it was sadly overcooked.

Going Back in Time (Vegas, Part 3)...

This is a review of our brunch at the Aria. I'm not too sure we'll be doing this one in July. The entrees were OK to mediocre. But the desserts were AMAZING and are produced by the famous patisserie at the Bellagio, which makes me rethink maybe we should go afterall. Hmmm...

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On our second day, we woke up and decided to walk to the central strip area (Caesars Palace, Bellagio, and the new City Centre). This was a good 45-minute walk from our hotel in the northern strip. By the time we got to City Centre, we were hungry and weak. We entered the new hotel, Aria (opened just in mid-December), and decided we should try their buffet. For brunch, we paid $25 pp.

This was Mark's first plate.

I got a bowl of congee.

And a plate of Chinese food. I don't know why I went straight for the Chinese food.

Wonton noodle in soup with Shanghai bok choy. The noodles were mushy and should not have been soaked in the soup.

Alaskan king crab again. This was better than the one at the Wynn.

Time for dessert! This is what the Aria buffet does best! The desserts are made by Jean-Phillipe Patisserie at the Bellagio. There is now another Jean-Phillipe Patisserie at the City Centre.

The profiterole.

The carrot cake.

The bananas foster.

The strawberry shortcake.

Here are some additional pictures of the desserts. There's creme caramel, chocolate mousse, strawberry shortcake, profiteroles, cookies, dessert bars, pastries, and gelato.

Here are some pictures of the seafood: the Alaskan king crab legs, shrimp, raw oysters, and sushi.

The fresh fruit:

Overall, a so-so buffet. The ambience was nice and bright, which makes it really pleasant to dine here. But the food was just OK, with the exception of the desserts. Definitely not as good as the Wynn.