i like to eat.

The fro-yo craze has definitely spread to the north, but Santana Row in San Jose was the first place to house the original fro-yo establishment, Pinkberry.

The first time I had Pinkberry was last year at The Grove in Los Angeles, another outdoor shopping mall. The yogurt was so good, all worth its hype.

Jason's never had Pinkberry and I wanted him to try it. Plus, we were already in Santana Row, so why not.

I tried one of their seasonal flavors, coconut, topped with fresh strawberries. Jason ordered another seasonal flavor, passion fruit with mochi and fresh kiwi. The coconut was good, but I liked the passion fruit better. It was more intense in flavor and the coconut was too similar to their original flavor.

Trying Pinkberry is a definite must, but there are a ton of other knock-offs that are as good at a more reasonable price.

   

Click here to download:

Pinkberry_tag_desserts_pinkber.zip (480 KB)

Both Jason and I had the Friday before 4th of July off, so we headed to San Jose for some south bay fun.

I remember I posted about ramen (see post) and Patrick had mentioned this blog that rated ramen places. The list included a lot of restaurants in the south bay. Not a frequent visitor of the south bay, I wanted to take full advantage of this trip and eat some authentic ramen for lunch.

We decided to go to Kahoo Ramen and moments before we reached the restaurant, I looked at the clock. Two o'clock. Ugh, I immediately voiced my opinion about "Japanese time" and how the restaurant might be closed. Apparently, most Japanese restaurants close during the time between lunch and dinner (usually around 2-5). I hate this rule Japanese restaurateurs implemented since I eat at all hours and always end up going around that time!

Sure enough, Kahoo Ramen is closed.

Jason remembered another restaurant on the list, Ramen Halu, that was down the street. Fail again. Damn this Japanese time!! Someone please tell me why they close.

Luckily, we were near Santana Row, an outdoor shopping mall. I had always wanting to check it out, so maybe this was all a blessing in disguise.

We chose Village Bistro and ordered fried calamari and split a burger. At first, the fried calamari looked unpleasant with its pale color, but it was perfectly soft and crunchy. The burger was juicy and the fries were extra crispy. All this being enjoyed outside in the heat and sipping cold Chimay.

The food was alright but I loved Santana Row. It didn't matter which restaurant we were eating at. I just loved the fact that we were dining al fresco - one of my favorite past times. I will drop everything to dine outside on a nice day.

The whole ramen adventure was a complete failure, but we still had fun. We'll have to visit the south bay again and next time, we'll leave the house earlier. :)

         

Click here to download:

Outdoor_Dining_is_Truly_the_Be.zip (1265 KB)