Chocolate Cake

People need a drink to relieve stress, I need chocolate. It was that kind of week and baking a chocolate cake was my therapy.

Beef with String Beans

According to an Asian legend, string beans are believed to make your hair grow and I'm anxious to get my long hair back.
I don't cook with much salt and I'm used to eating bland foods and when the recipe called for salt to be boiled with the string beans and in the sauce, I thought, "This is excessive." Sauce was tasty but too salty and was inedible. I HATE wasting food.

Almond Biscotti

I love Italian cookies and this biscotti transports me back to Italian bakeries in North Beach, San Francisco and Philadelphia. Not only were they delicious-crunchy and full of almond taste but they made my kitchen smell divine.

BBQ Chicken

I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist but when a dish doesn't turn out well, I often wonder what I did wrong and what can I do to improve. I'm sure you all remember the bbq chicken fiasco and Carl commenting about missing something. Well, I found the something and it was a list of exotic spices like coriander and cumin. It was less southern bbq but more of a Moroccan twist and it was all good.

Aiea Bowl

Who would have thought a bowling alley could serve good food? You won't find the nasty nachos nor bland hot dogs but an assortment of local favorites-mochiko chicken and furikake ahi. What a great place to celebrate Kamalu's 10th birthday-good food, good entertainment, and good fun!

Sarento's

A 4 hour wait for menu should have been an indication that it was going to be a long night at Sarento's. It was just the beginning of a circus-1 1/2 hour wait for our food, getting your own beer from the bar, and no refills on beverages. It was just plain awful service. Food was mediocre but view was awesome and that was the only thing I want to remember. I just wished that we had given Mom and Pops a proper send off before their cruise.