Creme Brulee

Several months ago, back in May, I had a sudden craving for the French dessert, crème brulee. Yes, the scrumptious custard with torched sugar coating the top. What brought on this obsession? Maybe because I saw it on the menu at a summer lodge I stayed at with a friend. On the last night we were there, I noticed the crème brulee combo on the dessert list, but to my horror, the restaurant had just run out. My sudden hunger for this tasty treat choose to come back and haunt me.

I decided to have an adventure and go out to all the bakeries and restaurants in town to taste their version of the dessert. To start off, I thought about creating my own. I was lazy and bought the mix packet from a local grocery store. It came out alright, it wasn’t great or anything. I found a very simple, foolproof recipe online that I tried and to my surprise it tasted quite good, especially for something I created. I rarely enjoy anything I cook.

My next step was to go to local bakeries, my first stop was Wagner’s. I was not happy. The taste was slightly bland and there wasn’t even the caramelized sugar on top. I dragged my friend along to Budd Bay Café after dinner one night to order just that one dessert. It came in an oval ramekin, I wasn’t expecting that. Texture: a little runny, it didn’t hold it’s structure very well. Taste: creamy, but not rich enough. Golden crust: yes. So it wasn’t the best yet, but it certainly beats the one at the bakery.

A few nights later, I found myself at another restaurant. I saw the circular ramekin come on a little white doily. Judging it by its appearance, though simple, it looked delicious. I tapped the surface. Crack. The creamy custard was the right consistency and rich in taste. My friend nodded in agreement. She probably thought I was crazy. Overlooking Capitol Lake, I sat there savoring every last bite of the best crème brulee I had found. That satisfied my sweet tooth for the time being, but of course the adventure continues.

Creme brulee picture uploaded from Google.com

Korean Barbeque

A couple weeks ago, we had a family dinner at a Korean barbeque restaurant. It was a surprise. A very good surprise. We started out with grilling bulgogi and galbi. Yummy. I have loved bulgogi since the first time I tasted it, many many years ago. But galbi was a new discovery, except the bone was the large majority of it so not much meat.

A chicken dish came next with banchans including kimchi as always. There were also small dishes of mu-chae, white radish, miyeok, a type of seaweed and an assortment of others that I can't remember. Possibly due to the excitement of all the food.



The last dish to arrive was bibimbap. It was very festive and included pretty much everything. A colorful and tasty assortment of vegetables, meat, eggs and rice. Hot sauce is added afterwards before mixing everything together.


For dessert, I had tempura ice cream, which is basically fried ice cream. I was not satisfied. The ice cream had at least a one inch thick layer of just basically, dough.


Luckily, my cousin had ordered green tea mochi. So maybe it's a Japanese treat rather than a Korean one, but that's ok. Not only was it's appearance more appealing, it was sweet and light. A little delight to end the meal happily.


Bibimbap picture uploaded from Wikipedia.com

Bento Box

Japanese food have always been a favorite of mine. Just the other day I ordered a bento box, the first I've had in many years. What I love about this little box is that instead of scanning the entire menu for something you want, the bento has it all. Rice, veggies and meat, all elaborately packaged in an appealing lunch box. Each type of food, presented in it's very own section of the container. My lunch consisted of aburaage, sushi rolls, a salad and of course, miso soup.

This brings me back to a week ago when I was at another Japanese restaurant. We had ordered a plate of sashimi combo which consisted of meat from five different seafood. The thought of eating raw meat was never very appealing to me, but then I figured, why not, it's food anyways. My first piece was sake, or salmon, I decided to start with a safe approach, knowing that it's on my list of top favorite fishes. With a little soy sauce and wasabi, it was the perfect bite. A smooth texture with a pleasant taste. How tasty, why don't I try another. I picked up a piece of hamachi, or yellowtail and into the soy sauce and wasabi it goes. Though different from the salmon, it was another yummy bite. I was excited and proceded to try saba, or mackerel. This one just tasted fishy. Too fishy.


I followed it by eating a couple California rolls and finishing my unagi don, marinated in a sweet barbeque sauce, and miso soup. What's a Japanese meal without miso soup?



Bento box and miso soup pictures uploaded from Google.com