Written by Les on July 11th, 2010
Saturday & Sunday – July 10 & 11, 2010 • This weekend, today! Odori Dancing to still happen tonight, Sunday @ 6pm in SJ Japantown.
The Obon Festival in Japantown, San Jose is run by about four thousand volunteers from the community and the San Jose Buddhist Temple. The Obon festival is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the departed (deceased) spirits of one’s ancestors. The volunteers work for days preparing the food such as:
- Beef Teriyaki ($1.50 per kabob)
- Chicken Teriyaki (Large Pieces of Chicken $4)
- Nigiri Sushi ($5-6)
- Vegetable Tempura ($5)
- Bubble Tea ($4)
- Imagawa Yaki (dessert) ($2.50 for 2)
- Manju (dessert)
- Also try: Corn on the Cob, Strawberry Shortcake, Chicken Salad w/ Ramen & Cabbage & Sake or Beer (These have become other festival favorites at Obon SJ.)
What I liked about this festival was that the food was affordable and in-tune with the culture. We walked around sampling many different tasty bites. I saw lots of folks stopping by and buying large quantities of chicken teriyaki and beef teriyaki to take home for their families. The take-out told me that the food is known for being good and that people have made it a tradition to stop by and pick it up each year. After the lunchtime rush, the lines got shorter and there were plenty of places to sit and enjoy your food both inside and outside. Out in the sun we saw Taiko drummers perform and we could have even taped down our blanket to save a spot for the Bon Odori dancing that started later in the evening.
Get there early and get a parking spot. Some lots were $2 for all day. Otherwise you will drive around for an extended period to find a decent place to park.
More information from past: Yelpers
More San Jose Obon Festival Photographs: Flickr
Posted in Eating Out, South Bay - Silicon Valley | No Comments »
Tags: Food Festival, Japantown, Obon, Odori, San Jose, San Jose Obon Festival, sushi, Tempura, Teriyaki
Written by Les on July 10th, 2010
While staying in Los Feliz at a friends for the 4th of July weekend, we hopped about eating famous chicken and waffles, sipping on gourmet coffee, and nibbling on specialty cheeses. A real hit was Gaam Restaurant & Lounge in Koreatown, LA.
To Read more about each place ->
Click to continue »
Posted in Around California, Eating Out, Out of Town | No Comments »
Tags: Eating Out, Gaam, Intelligentisa Coffeebar, Koreatown, LA, Little Dom's, Los Angeles, Los Feliz, Out of Town, Pann's, Rose Cafe, Silver Lake, The Cheese Store of Silver Lake
Written by Les on July 9th, 2010
What you will need for your Cast Iron Dessert Crisp with any fruit combination:
- Cast Iron Skillet
- Any Fruit (Strawberries)
- Other pantry items: brown sugar, sugar, flour, butter, almonds (optional), lemon or orange zest (optional)
Various Seasonal Fruit Combinations:
- Strawberry-Rhubarb
- Blueberry-Nectarine
- Apple-Quince
- Plum & Peach
- Triple Berry
- Cranberry-Apple
- Blueberry-Peach
- Cranberry-Apple-Pear
Blueberry-Nectarine Crisp Recipe
Recipe from Vegetarian Fresh Food Fast Cookbook
Click to continue »
Posted in Fruits, Home Cookin' | No Comments »
Tags: Any Fruite Dessert, Cast Iron Dessert, Crips, dessert, Fresh Fruit, Home Cookin', recipe
Written by Les on July 7th, 2010
Over the 4th we were at a party in Malibu and I was offered a Margarita. I noticed there was a half of a grapefruit sitting beside the blender. I asked the woman who created it about the grapefruit and she said she was a mixologist and had came up with this Grapefruit Margarita recipe. It was really refreshing and not too sweet, thanks to the grapefruit. You could drink many of them and never taste the alcohol or the overly sweet flavors … dangerous!
Grapefruit Margarita Recipe
- Ice (enough to fill up the blender 3/4’s)
- 3/4 parts Tequila
- 1/4 parts Jose Cuervo Margarita Mix
- 1/2 of a fresh grapefruit
Put it all in the blender and go to town!
Posted in Drinks | No Comments »
Tags: Drinks, grapefruit, grapefruit margarita, margaritas, summer
Written by Les on July 3rd, 2010
We get greens every single week. So this week, it was time to find another creative way to ingest more greens. I googled, “Creative Kale Recipe” and an interesting one came up from a blog that tried to recreate a dish from M Cafe in Beverly Hills. Folks started commenting on the blog post that they love this signature dish from M Cafe. So I then looked for the actual recipe and found a video online about how to make it as well as the restaurant recipe from M Cafe. This is a very interesting, delicious, and unique greens recipe!
CSA Food Box Ingredient: Red Russian Kale or just Kale
Kale with Spicy Peanut Dressing Recipe from M Cafe Click to continue »
Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Greens, Home Cookin' | 3 Comments »
Tags: CSA, Greens, Home Cookin', Kale, Peanut Sauce, Recipes, Side Dish, Vegetarian
Written by Les on July 1st, 2010
The Big Sur Bakery makes the greatest salads. We finally were able to eat at the BSB for dinner last week. It was wonderful. I will write more later about that. This dressing can dress up any salad ingredients, grilled veggies, or pasta salads to add California touch to your meal.
Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette Recipe from the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook
- 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
- 2 tablespoons golden (or white) balsamic vinegar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice
- Grated zest of 1 Meyer lemon
- 3/4 cup rice bran oil or canola oil
Pour the orange juice into a small saucepan and reduce it over medium-high heat until syrupy, 5 to 7 minutes – you should be left with about 1 tablespoon. Put the reduced orange juice, vinegar, mustard, salt, lemon juice, and lemon zest into a blender. With the blender running, add the oil in a slow, steady stream, blending until the dressing is thick and emulsified. Transfer the dressing to a plastic container or glass jar and refrigerate until ready to use.
Makes 1 cup
* I didn’t have an orange so I grabbed some frozen orange concentrate out of the freezer and used a few tablespoons of that to create the orange juice reduction.
Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Fruits, Home Cookin', Salad | No Comments »
Tags: CSA, Meyer Lemon, Salad Dressing, Vegetarian, Vinaigrette
Written by Les on June 30th, 2010
I am getting better and better at creatively throwing together the ingredients that I randomly have in my refrigerator with the last of my CSA food box veggies. Sometimes the concoctions are somewhat edible and sometimes there is a tasty recipe that comes out of googling various ingredients in order to compile a worthwhile creation to share! And yes, I am behind on the CSA food box weeks but I am still keeping the week numbers in sequence to make myself feel better. This is a great summer salad and I actually made a Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette Recipe from the Big Sur Bakery Cookbook instead of the dressing with this Serious Eats Recipe below. I will list the Meyer Lemon Dressing recipe in the next post. It is a total California recipe and it adds additional uniqueness locally grown goods to this salad.
CSA Food Box Ingredients:
Beet, Avocado, and Goat Cheese Salad Recipe Click to continue »
Posted in CSA Food Box Recipes, Salad | No Comments »
Tags: Arugula, Avocado, Beets, CSA, Goat Cheese, Home Cookin', recipe, Salad, Vegetarian
Written by Les on June 29th, 2010
I am bummed that I missed out on the Purple Onion for at least the last two years in Los Gatos. Why did I avoid the Purple Onion Cafe in Los Gatos? I think it was the unassuming exterior and the lack of a somewhat large and inviting sign out front (just writing on writing on the windows). One time we even went to eat breakfast at Southern Kitchen across the street and there was such a huge line that we possibly, maybe thought about trying out the Purple Onion but then just decided to wait at Southern Kitchen. That was stupid! The Purple Onion reminds me of a spot you would find up in Yountville in Wine Country. They serve some specialty products such as Lavender soda, nice quiches with mixed greens and flower petals, fresh squeezed orange juice, and crumb coffee cake.
Click to continue »
Posted in Eating Out, South Bay - Silicon Valley | No Comments »
Tags: Breakfast, Cafe, Eating Out, Los Gatos, Lunch, Purple Onion
