i like to eat.

My second to last day of this week long dinner challenge! Yay!

For Thursday night, I made spicy orange-glazed drumsticks with green beans.

The recipe called for corn bread muffins. I thought I had a box of Jiffy in my pantry. Whoops, nope. A quick replacement was some left over rice from Tuesday night.

I usually hate eating off the bone (too much work), but these drumsticks were tender and the meat easily fell off. I didn't taste too much of the orange flavor and I think it's because the chili sauce I used was pretty spicy. Next time, I'll use less hot sauce to bring out the orange flavor more.

And the perfect cold drink to compliment this meal?

Tripel Karmeliet, my favorite Belgium beer.

   

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Weeknight_Dinner_Part_4_tag_fo.zip (470 KB)

When I was young and underage, I'd go to a Korean restaurant in Oakland nicknamed "Porno." The place got its nickname because the interior walls were decorated with x-rated movie posters. I'd frequent this restaurant with Jason and his friends in high school to enjoy pitchers of watered down Miller and Kimchi Fried Rice.

After many numerous visits, Porno became old and we stopped going there. I don't remember exactly when we stopped, but all of a sudden, we didn't go there anymore.

It's been years since I've last gone, but the boys decided to reminisce and go after Eat Real's Ice Cream Friday event (see previous post).

The place looked the same, except there weren't as many x-rated posters. They were replaced with American and Korean movie posters. What's surprising is seeing the place almost empty. It was once a popular spot for kids and now it is dead on a late Friday night.

Jeff ordered an array of dishes for all of us that included kim chi fried rice, gizzards, fried chicken and spicy "everything (noodles, dumpling, vegetables, etc)." We also got a special on-the-house fruit platter because the boss remembered Jason (wow, 8+ years and she still remembers!).

The food was mediocre, nothing special and not as good as I remembered. I happily enjoyed a pitcher of soju cocktail. Don't worry, it wasn't completely by myself. Although, I wouldn't mind since it's so good. haha.

It felt lame hanging out there and just not the same as how it was years ago, so we left soon after we finished eating.

I doubt I would go back anytime soon. I'd like to tuck this restaurant with all my other high school memories and keep it there.

By the way, I finally found out the name of the restaurant that night - Dan Sung Sa. But, it'd always be Porno in my heart.

                 

Click here to download:

082809_porno.zip (2494 KB)

The whole reason we went to LA was to celebrate my birthday and Jason's (we're one week apart). For our first night, we wanted to celebrate at an affordable place (no bottle service at a fancy lounge), since there were so many of us.

The LA experts in our group geared us towards Koreatown, a non-pretentious place where drinks are cheap. We first headed to Bliss, which had the look of a night club, but was very mellow. It was too mellow for a late Friday night, so we went down the street to Blink. Blink was packed, but luckily there was a table to seat all 15 of us. Blink was less of a nightclub and more of a restaurant where you can drink a lot. haha.

What's cool about Blink is they offer drink and food combinations. If you order a bottle of liquor, it comes with your choice of appetizers. Within minutes, our large table was filled with various apps - dried squid, beef jerky, nuts, fried chicken, grilled beef, kabobs and fruit.

I stayed off the Glenlivet and stuck with soju cocktails and Korean beer, Hite. Soju cocktails are actually one of my favorite mixed drinks. Soju is rice wine, but it tastes like vodka, so I rarely drink it straight. At most Korean restaurants, you can order soju mixed with yogurt drink (something like Yakult). The yogurt drink is sweet and often masks the hard taste of liquor.

Remember I mentioned affordability? Blink only cost us $15 each!! Wow, I was shocked to hear how cheap it was. You can never get that good of a deal in SF!

           

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BDay_Celebrations_tag_bliss_bl.zip (1259 KB)

Gap had an employee appreciation day at the AT&T Park a couple of Wednesdays ago. Giants vs Dodgers. Go Giants! Woo hoo. I love baseball games.

The seats were nosebleed, way up high, about 10 rows before the very top, but luckily, any seat at AT&T is still great.

Unless you have the extreme sun beating down on you.

Within two minutes of sitting in our seats, my colleagues and I moved to the very last row to be under the shade. It was way too hot to sit in our original seats. I'm glad we moved or I would have literally melted in the heat.

A baseball game is not a true baseball game, without a beer and hot dog. Although beer is $8 and a hot dog is $6 (thank you Gap!), it is part of the tradition of going to a game. And honestly, the only reason why I go to games. It's not as though the hot dog is amazingly out of this world, but just the act of watching a game with the noisy crowd, eating a hot dog and washing it all down with cold beer is fun...and so American.

Love going to games. Can't wait to go to another one.

Thank you Gap!

           

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Every_Wednesday_Should_Be_Like.zip (1326 KB)

For Genki's birthday, we all went to Suppenküche in the Hayes Valley. I've always wanted to check this place out, so it's great we went there.

The place is small and not that great for large groups. We had about 15 people and were jam packed like sardines at a table. We didn't have any personal space at all. For a few minutes, one of our friends didn't even have a chair because they said they didn't have anymore. He was left standing there until a chair freed up! THAT packed!

There were a ton of German beers on tap and my friends bought the birthday boy a huge "boot." It was enormous! I tasted a variety of beers on tap (sorry, don't remember the names) and they were good that complimented the salty food.

We started with potato pancakes with homemade apple sauce. I love potato pancakes and Suppenküche does it well. The pancakes was cooked extra crispy and had a gorgeous golden color.

For dinner, I ordered one of their specials, suckling pig, that came with sauerkraut and a large matzo ball. The roasted young pork was drenched in gravy and was a little too salty, but I accepted it since we you need salty foods to compliment beer. The sauerkraut was good, not sure if it was homemade. And the matzo ball? Hmm, a little much. I barely ate it.

To finish our meal, I brought a mango mousse cake that was pretty good. I was afraid it wasn't going to be too good since I've never had it before. But it had just the right amount of sweetness.

Overall, Suppenküche is a fun, themed place, but I don't think I'd go back.

Happy birthday Genki!

         

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German_Beer_Food_tag_german_fo.zip (994 KB)

I really need to start going somewhere else besides Triple Rock, seems like I've been going there too often.

My friends and I headed to Triple Rock for some Monkey Head and dinner. I already ate a little so I didn't feel like eating a big burger. I ordered an ale dog, a hot dog that's steamed in beer and served with relish, tomatoes and tortilla chips. It was nothing special, just a hot dog. I didn't taste the beer, but it was enough food to complement my Monkey Head.

Check out my other Triple Rock posts.

       

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Triple_Rock_tag_food_american_.zip (928 KB)

My friends and I went over to Triple Rock Brewery for some nice, juicy burgers. I ordered the rock climber that came with Swiss cheese and sauteed mushrooms - quite satisfying.

I should start a new series titled, "Things not to Try" after taking a sip of Chelada.

The words to describe Chelada through my boyfriend and friend was "Clamato (tomato and clam juice) and beer." Once I heard that, I instantly asked, "Why?! Why would anyone want to drink that?" I was, needless to say, turned off. They tried the beer and thought it was disgusting, but I was still intrigued.

We bought a 24 ounce can (I've only seen it this size) and I had to take a shot. At first, it tasted like tomato juice, but once someone yelled out "Doesn't it taste like yak?" It quickly did taste like throw up and I wanted to stop drinking it. I couldn't even handle a shot, so who in the world would down a 24 ounce?

A little digging led me to realize Chelada was inspired by a popular Latin-American drink called Michelada. The authentic version of Michelada contains beer, tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, lime and hot sauce. It's similar to a bloody Mary - instead of vodka, there's beer.

I've never had a bloody Mary or Michelada before, but I assume it tastes much better than Budweiser's Chelada. If you ever see Chelada at a store, please continue looking for another beverage, you'll be thankful I saved you from a nasty beer.

Yup, that's right. 22 pints of beer for only $22. Plus, enough food to feed 7 people for only $25 more dollars!

As mentioned previously, Pyramid Brewery was launching a new brew, "Curveball," and I was there to reap the benefits. To celebrate the new brew, Pyramid was serving Curveball pints for only $1 and to top it off, it was college night, so all appetizers were buy one, get one half off.

We ordered an array of appetizers - spinach and artichoke dip, fried calamari, coconut shrimp skewers, cheese and spinach quesadilla, onion strings and sweet potato fries. The appetizers weren't all that great, but it was good to munch on some fried food while drinking beer.

Speaking of beer, Curveball was actually pretty good. It's a golden light ale, very easy to drink.

I can't wait until Pyramid produces another new brew. I'll be there to drink more $1 pints.

       

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22_Pints_for_22_tag_beer_food_.zip (984 KB)

After the festival, we headed to Pyramid Brewery in Berkeley. It's huge! The building is amazing with its industrial beams and warehouse-style. I think the Berkeley location is its headquarters, why else would it be so massive?

We started off with the Cajun crab dip with crostini. It was super creamy with a lot of crab, but a tad too spicy for me.

I felt like I was eating a lot of bad food, so I ordered a chopped salad. I know, I know. A salad with beer? I should be getting burger and fries! Meh. I was hoping the salad would be similar to the one I had in Vegas two years ago (see post). Sadly, it was no where close to Wolfgang Puck's and this one was over dressed (even though I said light on the dressing!) and bland.

For beer, I got the Hef - light, refreshing with a little wheat flavor. Delicious.

Pyramid Breweries also has tours in all their locations. I've never been on a beer tour and I'm hoping to check it out one day.

As we were leaving, we noticed Pyramid was launching a new brew called "Curveball" on Thursday. As a promotion, they'll be serving Curveball pints for only $1!! How can I past an opportunity to have $1 beer? I'll definitely be back on Thursday. :)

     

Click here to download:

041809_pyramid.zip (825 KB)