Visit to the Islands- Part III

Kuru Kuru time!!! For those of you that have not heard about this place, it is a boat sushi place out in Aiea and is always packed! I had heard about how great the sushi was there, but never tried it until this trip home.  We arrived at around 10:30 am and no, the place was not open at the time, but diners need to come early just to put in their name on a list for the 11 am opening.  The line and crowd was getting a bit large at 10:45, but my friend and I had gotten our name down for two seats at the belt.

Prices ranged from $2.40-$5.75 depending what plate color you chose and options for donburi are also available for $7.95.  The prices are a little higher then Genki Sushi, but the fish quality and selection are much better here.

Cute menu

The first round!

Somen salad

Mmmmmm!

I love sushi!

We ate till we were stuffed! Can I just say that I am a sushi lover, especially for good sushi!! There is currently only one Kuru Kuru on the island in Aiea, but one will soon open out by Kahala Mall so for all you east siders, you can now enjoy good sushi on that side.  The place gets packed and they are open both for lunch and dinner.  For good quality fish at a reasonable price, come here!

Kuru Kuru
98-199 Kamehameha Highway
Aiea, HI 96701-4821
(808) 484-4596

Visit to the Islands- Part II

Here are some things I ate here and there.......

Boots and Kimo in Kailua for some huge breakfast!

Pancakes with Mac Nut Sauce

Corn beef hash omelette

I love fresh cold mangos from home the best out of anywhere! The best feeling is having that juice roll off the side of your mouth as you bite into the juicy, orange, middle of that mango mmmmmmmmmm!

Scoop, slurp, mmmmm!

Late night plate lunch at .... (I don't remember the name). Literally a hole in the wall place that only opens at night for the night owls. Their menu consists of only several items.  It's so simple, cheap, and onolicious!

Shoyu chicken with beef curry combo

Whats being at the beach without a little bit of bbqing! We had kalbi, sausages, and shrimp kabobs all marinated in a special sauce by a friend. 

Kalbi, shrimp kabobs, sausage

Of course also need to hit up Zippy's for a late night ice cream fix! It never fails to amaze me that there are so many people at all times of the hour at this local joint.

Banana Split!

Ok, enough of food for now.  I enjoyed many other things including friends, family, the beach, and sunsets! So many things you take for granted until you do not have them right there. I am thankful for all that God has blessed me with.

Surfing into the sunset

Aloha 'Oe... until next time

Visit to the Islands - Part I

I just got back from a lovely 2 week vacation home to the island of Oahu! I apologize for the lack of posts while I was there, but to make it up I will be posting several blogs on my visit back.  It was bliss to just lounge, surf, and of course eat my little heart out.

The very first night I was lucky enough to be taken to one of my all time favorite restaurants, Roy's, out at Ko Olina.  I've only ever been to the Roy's located in Hawaii Kai which is fantastic, but the same great standard of service and food was here as well.  This night was special as I got proposed to! Yes, it was a very eventful vacation. So, now engaged I will happily begin to describe my eating adventures.  I didn't get the name of the dishes and the pictures didn't quite turn out as good as I would like, but then again everything that evening all went by in a blur of happiness.

The door awaits...

Upon arrival we were seated promptly as we had reservations and our waiter proceeded to lay our napkins across our laps and hand a menu to each of us while explaining the specials for the evening.  As we were deciding on our dinner, we were given a complimentary appetizer of edamame beans flavored ever so slightly with a spicy sauce.  It is one of the best edameme's I've ever had I must say. We took some time looking at the menu, but finally decided on two dishes.  I tried their classic four dish that included mahi mahi, seared ahi, opakapaka, and their signature miso butterfish.  It was delicious! I can not even describe how great each of the flavors of each fish tasted.  They all were unique and distinct and it's a shame, but I don't remember how they were prepared and it is not listed on their online menu.  All I can say is that if you make it out to Roy's, it is a must try dish! The other dish we ordered was a trio of large grilled prawns, pulehu ribs, and salmon. Delicious again! The ribs were cooked to perfection and were falling off the bone and the shrimp was flavorful and succulent.  We were full and completely satisfied with our dinner.  

Classic Four

Prawns, pulehu ribs, salmon

It was a perfect evening to a first day back in the islands! This was the first of many meals in Hawaii.  I ate and ate and ate.... what a life! More to come!

Roy's

92-1220 Aliinui Rd
Kapolei, HI 96707

(808) 676-7697

Weekend Portland visit!

Last weekend some girlfriends and I drove down to Portland,Oregon for an overnight staycation.  We headed out bright and early Saturday morning from Seattle and drove 3 hours into Portland where we then proceeded to do a whirlwind of activities that mostly involved eating and walking.  It was a long day, but a good time exploring Portland!

Saturday market

Famous Voodoo donuts!

Popular Mother's Bistro 

(over an hour wait for brunch)

Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken

 

Eggs Benedict

Salmon Frittata

Triple Berry Cobbler

Redonkadonk 

(Egg, ham, spam, bacon, American cheese between two 
texas-toast grilled cheese sandwich "buns")

Roses!

Pretty!

Gorgeous!

Coffee break!

Time to get some more food!

Ribs!

Lots of people

Koi fusion tacos

(Spicy pork and bulgogi, YUM)

Marionberry shortcake and turnover

Best place ever!

Farm fresh (Mushroom, spinach, roasted pepper, tomato and marinated chevre)

  3 B's (Pepper bacon, Brie, fresh basil and house-made peach jam)

Berry Bliss (Delicious fresh berries served with whipped cream and berry coulis)

Overall a very satisfying trip! If you can imagine 6 girls all together at once, you'll understand that it was a lot of loudness and talking.  We walked a lot to try and digest the huge amount of food we ate throughout the day, but everything we ate in Portland was pretty darn good.  We did our research and yelped the foodcarts and restaurants in the area which was handy.  My favorite place by far was the Waffle Window which was our last stop before heading back to Seattle.  What can go wrong with $4 waffles made with great and fresh ingredients?? Oregon being so close to Seattle makes it a good staycation visit for the weekend, so what are you waiting for, go!

Mother's Bistro and Bar

212 SW Stark St.
Portland, OR 97204

Brunch Box

SW 5th Ave & Stark
Portland, OR 97204

Moonstruck

526 Northwest 23rd Avenue, 

Portland, OR 97210

The Waffle Window

SE 36th Ave and Hawthorne Blvd
Portland, OR 97214

 

Afternoon in West Seattle!

Last Friday I had the day off from work as did my girlfriend and we decided to spend the afternoon out in West Seattle for some lunch and walking along Alki Beach.  We had both heard about a good Thai restaurant in West Seattle called Buddha Ruksa and wanted to try it out.  It was a little confusing getting there, but we found it finally after one wrong turn on the corner of Genesse street.  It was a cute restaurant both from the outside and inside.

Yum!

Walking in during the latter part of the lunch hour, there were quite a few other customers there as well, but the service was great and we were able to get a table for two by the window.  Our orders were taken soon after we arrived.  The lunch came with a complimentary soup which we didn't know the name of but tasted like the typical hot and sour soup, however with lots of vegetables like bamboo shoots in it which we enjoyed.

Menu and complimentary soup

For our main lunch, we decided to order the green curry with chicken,eggplant, bell pepper and sweet basil as well as the phad kee maw which had stir- fried fresh wide rice noodles plus beef, egg, onion, broccoli, bell pepper, tomato and sweet basil with special chili sauce.  The spiciness level ranged from 1-4 with 4 being the spiciest so we went with 3 because we are daring and like spicy.  The dishes also came with a bowl of rice. I must say that the food here is delicious! We enjoyed the noodles and the curry and could not stop eating.  The heat, flavor, and intensity of the spices were great.  I appreciated that there was a lot of vegetables in both the noodle dish and the curry and eaten with the rice, there was the right amount of balance to everything.  The only thing that could have been better was that the meats in both dishes, both chicken and beef were a bit tough and tasted like they were not fresh, but frozen and defrosted.  Other than that the dishes were fantastic! The ambiance of the restaurant was also very nice with a dark wood theme to the place and plenty of large windows.  Prices were reasonable as well.  I would definitely recommend coming here if you happen to be in the West Seattle area and need something to whet your appetite.

 Green Curry

(Green curry cooked with coconut milk, eggplant, bell pepper and
sweet basil. Your choice of chicken, pork, beef or tofu.)

Phad Kee Mao
(Stir- fried fresh wide rice noodles plus egg, onion, broccoli, bell
pepper, tomato, beef and sweet basil with special chili sauce)

After lunch we drove down to Alki Beach and walked off the huge meal we ate.  No sooner had we started walking, maybe about 5 or 8 minutes, we saw a big blue truck..... it was the Molly Moon truck!!! I had heard that the local ice cream shop had an ice cream truck but I never saw it until this past Friday! What an exciting sight! We went over, perused the menu, sampled a few, and then of course I needed to get one.  How can you be at the beach on a sunny day and not want an ice cream cone from Molly Moon?? Everything is made local and fresh and their flavors are pretty unique.  I decided to go with the balsamic strawberry, yum!

I spy a blue truck!

I love ice cream!

It was the perfect afternoon, peaceful and satisfying. Ahhh those summer days!

View of Seattle from Alki

Buddha Ruksa
3520 Southwest Genesee Street
Seattle, WA 98126-2633
(206) 937-7676