So my dear ol' (in)significant other and I have a list of things that we want to do together which is constantly being added onto. One of the activities was to visit a farmers' market and then cook the remaining meals of the day with what we purchased there. Funny how something that is the everyday life activity of some areas now and for years in the past has become a leisurely activity. "Oh hey, let's go to the farmers' market to buy locally!" Anyhow, let's skip the negativity and get onto the fun!


The first place we hit up was the honey stand, mainly because it was the closest. I got to try four different types of honey, all of which had their own subtle differences that made my mind whir with possibilities of desserts/sauces/glazes/etc. We couldn't resist and ended up snagging a 16 oz. jar (overkill much?) of their spring wildflower honey. So simply sweet and light - I wanted to use them on cookies right away!


Next actually was not a food booth but a neat craft booth of miniature flowers which the woman made from clay. They were so beautiful, and she let me take pictures after I asked her if I could. I felt like Duc wanted one more than I did but had no manly way of justifying it so he said it was for me. Hah. I mean, he insisted so I chose a pretty little blue one in a wooden crate-like stand to keep at my desk at work; I bought another one for my mom. They're so neat and definitely a mark of some meticulous skill.


The next two places were snack-oriented for us. I grabbed kettle corn and cheddar kettle corn bags for my younger brother. We tried all the different flavors but alas, nothing beats the original. Then there was the dip & salsa booth. No need to tell me to keep eating because dips & chips are addictive. After trying everything there was, we settled on the smoked cheddar & bacon dip, chipotle black bean dip, and chipotle mayonnaise. I think the black bean was the best of the three; I'll have to try remaking it sometime.



So then we decided it was time to get serious and buy some "real" food (squash, spinach, lettuce, & carrots). Vegetables later, we went to his place to cook. No butchers at this quaint, humbled farmers' market so we resorted to some pork loins in his freezer. We cooked that up with some garlic spice rub I had brought back from Texas and had garlicky spinach & honey-glazed squash on the side, using the spinach, honey, and squash from earlier. Hoorah! Next one to hit up will be the San Francisco farmers' market on Market St!

1621 W Sunflower Ave, Santa Ana, CA 92704
Pricing - $$$/$$$$ | Dining -  Dressy | Cuisine - Indian
www.royalkhyber.com

I had remembered seeing this as one of the restaurants during OC Restaurant Week but never got a chance to make it over here. However, a recent acquiring of a $25 for $50 deal led to an expedition here for a nice dinner out. When I was looking at the menu online, I realized just how pricey the entrees were, especially from the typically priced Indian food I see. After getting lost for a long time leading to being almost half an hour late for the reservation, we finally got there and walked in feeling a little underdressed (a nice top + jeans weren't exactly the norm). Oh well.


The very, very low lighting made it difficult to take quality pictures but I managed to snag a few. We were started with this starter I've seen before in another sit-down Indian restaurant but still don't know the name of (researching time!). It was nice and not as salty as the one I had had prior. It had some dipping sauces too. As for drinks, we ordered the mango lassi but man was it salty here! Weird! We only drank it to quell the heat from the spices in our entrees later - otherwise, it was pretty bad.


I ordered the Khyber's Nectar since I have a penchant for ordering items w/the restaurant's name in the title; I mean why would they slap a name on there unless they were proud of it? It was a lamb shank in their special Khyber sauce (14 hour-long process) served with naan and rice pilaf. It was crazy how soft the meat was as it fell off the bone at a touch. To be honest, loved the sauce but could hardly taste it in the shank. It was good but not memorable. He ordered the Methi Chicken Punjabi, our favored of the two; it was chicken breast in a sauce of green chili, yogurt, and fenugreek gravy served with naan and rice pilaf. So delicious! The chicken had a nice taste of the oven to it too.

We also ordered their onion basil naan which is probably the best naan I've ever had. We also got a side of the saag paneer which isn't a dish he has liked in the past but he liked this one. I enjoyed it too but after a while, began to question whether it had begun to curdle or not as it got sourer as I kept eating. It was a generally good meal but for the price? I wouldn't come back.

9252 Garden Grove Blvd, Ste 10, Garden Grove, CA 92842
Pricing - $$/$$$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine -  Korean, Barbecue

This restaurant has more to offer than their all-you-can-eat barbecue but who wants to go to Cham Sut Gol to have anything other than the brisket? For $16.99 (as of this post), you can get as much as you want of the beef brisket, pork belly, spicy pork bbq, beef, bbq, and chicken bbq with unlimited side dishes and a choice of three different starters. Awesome. My friends and I came here after craving some Korean bbq since it had been quite a while. We were seated immediately to our pleasure.


The choice of starters is egg pot, tofu soup, or bean paste soup, the tastes of which are respectively ordered from best to worst. There is also a nice big bowl of salad for the whole table. 


So the first to come out is the brisket which is nicely thinly sliced. There's a central grill plate to cook all the meats and tons of awesome side dishes. I particularly like the rice paper and almost cannot eat the meat without it! I also tremendously enjoy the seasoned glass noodles, sesame oil soybean sprouts, and the radish kimchi. 


Of all the meats, we ate the most of the brisket. The chicken generally takes too long to cook and ravenous eaters don't like waiting! The beef bbq is really good too though but I didn't know if others at the table wanted me to order more. The spicy pork bbq is okay and so is the pork belly. The brisket was definitely the star and mmm was it delicious!

I like that you get to cook your own meats at your own pace here when you come. The ice cream at the end is pretty neat too; unfortunately, my green tea ice cream tasted like lime. Weird. I do know that every time I come here though, I will smell like Korean bbq for a while because the odor and the oils get into everyone's clothes (and for girls, their long hair). At least it's a pleasant smell. As always, good job to the restaurant for meaty deliciousness.

1430 Union St, San Diego, CA 92101 
Pricing - $$/$$$ | Dining - Casual, To-Go | Cuisine - Desserts, Teas 
http://www.extraordinarydesserts.com

[You can read the first review here.] It has become a San Diego tradition for me to hit up Extraordinary Desserts. I was down in SD for 5 days working the auto show at Camp Jeep so after training the first day, I dropped by this place to get some chocolate (it was National Chocolate Day!) dessert to share with Duc with wine. He was sweet enough to drive to SD to spend a day-ish with me on his day off. Anyhow, one of the things that I don't like about big cities is the whole parking situation! Though I had meant to stop in for grabbing desserts to go, I ended up staying for a drink and some bruschetta because I wanted to make full usage of the $1.25 I paid for an hour's time of parking. Thus, I sat at the bar in a forever-alone type of way by eating and drinking.


So, I went ahead and ordered their buffalo mozzarella bruschetta and funghi misti bruschetta ($6 during happy hour). I also saw that they had Oaked Arrogant Bastard for only $3 at that time so I ordered it. The waitress told me they were out but she'd give me any beer for the same price. What a nice offer. I chose the Allagash Tripel Ale instead because I was curious about the passionfruit it toted having (I like Kona's Wahlua for that tart tang). The breads were delicious! I really enjoyed the flavors atop them but I'm not sure that the price was all too good for just two pieces. As for the beer, the passionfruit was quite understated but it was still a very pleasant fruity beer that masked the 9% ABV it had. For desserts, I snagged a Viking cake and Lemon Bar on the way out - the Viking is oh so decadent and chocolately indulgent while the lemon bar really kicks you in the face with tartness. Delish!

7152 Orangethorpe Ave, Buena Park, CA 90621
Pricing - $ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - Korean

Duc and I had planned on having a dinner date out one night before I left for San Diego for nearly a week, so he made plans to go somewhere if I got out of work at a certain time. Of course, I got held back since there was so much to do at work; my boss was leaving the country and had to get details squared away so I wouldn't be hopelessly lost while she was gone. I updated that I'd be late so he went to Plan B. I ended up being quite late so when I got to his place, we went with Plan C; unfortunately the restaurant happened to be closed JUST on that night. Fun. So Plan D was to use Yelp, and that's how we found (and sort of fell in love with) Han Yang.

It's a small place but seems very family-oriented in the homey sense. I mean that the foods seemed like ones that are part of a homecooked meal gathering. I think we were the only non-Koreans there. When ordering the food, we didn't know anything on there but went with Yelp suggestions. As we looked around and saw people get all their awesome dishes, we wondered if there was a "secret menu" because none of the English descriptions sounded like what we saw! I later figured out that the English descriptions are a bit poor since both our soups sounded similar but were definitely different. I'll have to try other plates next time!


I got the sul-long-tang which was a creamy-looking beef broth with vermicelli and a choice of meat (I chose brisket). When it was brought out, the waitress also added in heaps of green onion (yay!) and what looked like salt but I am guessing was MSG. The add-ons sit at the table so you can add more if you'd like; I did because the soup initially came off as bland. However, it was still oh-so-delicious, especially on a winter night. I loved it so much that I kept trying to have more though I was bloated. Great stuff.


Duc got the gal-bi-tang which was highly recommended by all the Yelpers. Uh, we figured out why. MIND-BLOWING! It was a beef broth with bone-in pieces of meat that just heightened the overall flavor of the soup. I mean, I could taste all the flavor absorbed into the meat and could tell that the soup definitely had been cooked for a long time (only gets better!). Great find, especially on a whim - Yelp saved the date (again!).

1500 Adams Ave, Ste 100A, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Pricing - $/$$ | Dining - Casual | Cuisine - Indian
www.tandoorifreshonline.com

My friends and I had some bad cravings for Indian food so after a week or so of looking at various schedules, we finally made our way here one Thursday night. I felt like parking was a tad easy to miss because you don't expect the restaurant to be right on the edge of a sketchy street. My GPS led me the wrong way anyhow. When I finally made it and we walked in, I noticed that it just looked like a casual takeout or sit down (but eat quickly) kind of place. The menu had just a few selections but they have a $9.99 deal with an entree, a side of veggies, a soft drink, rice, and naan - pretty slick.


I ordered the chicken tikka masala with saag paneer (I never change, do I?). Instead of getting a soda, I asked for mango lassi, and I'm glad I did. The food was spicier than I was accustomed to. In fact, I was tearing up for most of the meal but trying to seem a bit stronger by not letting any tears fall. The mango lassi helped with cooling my tongue down. It was interesting that the place made all of the food to order and served it in small bowls reminiscent of handis (the Indian bowls). Unfortunately that did mean that our food took a while but at least we weren't in any rush. I really liked the saag paneer because the cheese was just delectable. There was a nice fresh, cilantro-y taste to the saag, and the tikka masala was not overly sweet. The chicken in it had been slightly blackened, giving the whole dish a nice edge on its taste.


I would knock off half a star merely because their naan makes it pretty low on my list of good naan. It was very bready and thick. There was a tad too much dough for the whole thing. Was it really naan? Anyhow, the service was nice though, especially since it was just one guy the whole time. Great food overall - I'd definitely come again if I were in town. Costa Mesa is a bit far...

2626 W La Palma Ave, Anaheim, CA 92801
Pricing - $$ | Dining - Casual, To-Go | Cuisine - Kenyan
http://www.kenyancafeandcuisine.com/

So I actually came upon this restaurant not because I was searching for Kenyan food but because I was looking for a way to take advantage of the free $10 I got from Groupon for my first Groupon Now! purchase. Kenyan Cafe and Cuisine was the only place nearby that had a deal worth $10+, so I decided to give it a shot. I had had Kenyan food before and thought it was pretty good. This place was located in a dinky area where I wouldn't normally go. In pretty much an alleyway, it was the only one of the stores open except for the liquor mart at the end. Talk about sketchy. I had called ahead to place my order so I walked in and out pretty quickly. It's quite a modest looking place.


The first dish I got was the Mbuzi Choma (barbecued goat) with Wali which is Basmati rice. There was also a side of collard greens with it. I thought that it was pretty good albeit chewy. I wondered where they got the goat meat and how long they've had it; the texture was harder than other goat I've had. The seasoning on the goat was good though, and the rice was delicious. I'm still not a fan of collard greens however.


The second dish was the Mbuzi Karanga (goat stew) with Chapati which was a sweet naan/tortilla-like bread. I was not a fan of this one actually. The stew wasn't very flavorful, and though the meat was soft because it had been stewed, it was still incredibly chewy. There was also a lot of fattiness left on the meat and too many shards of bones. Not a fan at all of the stew but the chapati was delicious. I don't have a comparison point but I liked it a lot. Would I go back to the restaurant? Probably not because it would've been expensive had I not had the Groupon Now! certificate.

Merry Christmas to you! Happy birthday to me (the blog)! Has it reaaaaally been a year since I started this blog? How crazy is that? I mean, I guess it seems like it's been so long ago because there have been daily posts. So sorry that in my first year, I have managed to get behind at some points (the longest time period of which was about a month's worth of posts) but I am trying to be more proactive by posting some things ahead of time. I'm also going to try and get more recipe posts up here on the blog because not all of you are interested in reading about food news (though I do try my best to find things that would be good to read). Some cool changes since the beginning of the blog include bigger pictures on the posts (thanks to suggestions by both Conan and Duc, you photogs!), making an excuse to buy a better camera so I can have better pictures on the blog (heh..heh), a rating system for restaurants, adding ads to the site, and posting up on Twitter (this included giving in and getting a Twitter account).

So what's in store for the second year of this bloggity blog? I'd like to take a bit of time (when I get some) to fiddle around with the layout. I think I will keep up with the daily posts but am going to try to incorporate more recipe posts. Someone suggested to me that I ought to get a Facebook fan page but I'm a little iffy on that one - I'll leave that up as a question to you readers. I want to have more guests posts on here since I do know that some of you readers COOK! Gimme gimme your knowledge so I can share it with the world! I'm also going to try and learn how to take better food pictures, so y'all can justifiably drool. If you've got any suggestions for me, lend me your comments! I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, happy 1st birthday blog! I might celebrate by indulging in some cookware from my wish list...

Are you ready to be mindblown? I sure was when I read all of this. Are you also ready to accept that a part of your life is a corporately-created lie? Okay well it really isn't too big of a deal but the traditional Santa Claus that you know and love (big guy in a red suit with a ruddy face lined with a full white beard) was not always the image of Santa that everyone conjured when they thought of Christmas. In fact, it was Coca-Cola which created this "traditional" Santa!

This year marks the 80th year since the inception of Coca-Cola's Santa as drawn by artist Haddon Sundblom. Before that, Santa's look was undetermined; he was represented in a large variety of ways from "big to small and fat to tall. Santa even appeared as an elf and looked a bit spooky." The differences in appearance had been because of the various countries which celebrate the holiday. He has appeared in a bishop's robe but also animal fur. From 1862-1892, Santa was elfish and supported the Union (drawn by Thomas Nast); his coat went from tan to red and remained red from then on.

To boost winter season sales, Coca-Cola decided that they needed to promote their drink more aggressively. Many consumers thought that it was only for summertime as it was refreshing when ice cold. Santa began appearing in the 1920s but in a fashion similar to Nast's Santa, harsh and gaunt. Their 1922 slogan was "Thirst Knows No Season" and tried connecting Santa with winter and Coke. It wasn't until 1931 that they commissioned Haddon Sundblom to create a wholesome, realistic Santa who was a portrayed as man and not just a man dressed as a symbol.

"For inspiration, Sundblom turned to Clement Clark Moore's 1822 poem "A Visit From St. Nicholas" (commonly called "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"). Moore's description of St. Nick led to an image of Santa that was warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human."

The ads for the next 30+ years gave us the iconic images of Santa delivering and playing with toys, reading letters, playing with children who stayed up late, and raiding fridges. They shaped how Santa is perceived today and were so important to customers that slight discrepancies would lead to mass letters scrutinizing the changes. What's neat is that the images used in the ads were based off of people in Sundblom's life - Santa's model really was a person. For more information about the history of the Coca-Cola Santa, you can check out the source here. How mindblown are you right now...or did you already know this and I'm super behind in common knowledge?

So Christmas is soon, and all I see are Facebook status updates about how crazy shopping is. Well of course it's crazy - Christmas is in two days! Why do y'all decide to go out and buy things so last minute? Sounds like you'll just be grabbing whatever you can find instead of putting a huge amount of thought into gifts. You should just spend that time making desserts or something. Everyone loves desserts! Here's a recipe adapted from here for peppermint bars that are quite the mintily-refreshing treat. They also look so festive. Yum!

Step 1: Ingredients (yields 12-16 bars)

• 1/4 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup chocolate chips/chunks
• 1 egg
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 peppermint candy canes, coarsely chopped
• 8 peppermint candy canes, finely crushed
• 8 drops red food coloring

      Notes:

• Candy canes - this actually was the most time-intensive part of the process because I didn't have any equipment to properly crush the candy canes. I had my brother figure it out, and he basically stuck the end of a glass jar in a bowl to crush the canes. It took a while so make sure you plan accordingly.

Step 2: Making the dough
Preheat oven to 350°F. Cream your butter and sugar together. Beat in the egg, peppermint extract, and food coloring. I ended up having to use 8 drops though the original recipe called for 5. Add your flour and salt until everything is blended together well. Then add in the crushed candy cane.


Step 3: Baking the dough
Grease a 9 x 13 pan. Press the dough evenly into the pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until firm. You can chop your other candy canes at this time. I actually just smashed them with the end of a heavy butcher knife.



Step 4: Creating the topping
Remove the pan from the oven when done and immediately put on the chocolate chips or chunks (I used chunks). Cover the entire thing with a cookie sheet for a few minutes until the chocolate has melted. Then spread the chocolate evenly on top.



Step 5: Finishing
If you didn't manage to spread the chocolate super evenly, the candy cane chunks will help hide your mistakes like I did with mine! Sprinkle these on as evenly as possible until you've got a delicious dessert in front of you. Cut when cool and enjoy!