The Ramen King Lives in NYC

I never understood why people liked ramen, even after a few bowls at Santa in San Mateo. Then Ippudo NY happened and I was convinced. The hour and half long wait was well worth it and was the perfect excuse to try their amazing sake infused drinks and appetizers. I would recommend it to both believers and non-believers. Ippudo, 65 Fourth Avenue, NY.

Rice has a New Best Friend

Seto Fumi Furikake. Shaved bonito, sesame seed, seaweed, potato starch, sugar, salt, soy sauce, dried yolk powder. A harmonious balance of textured sweet and salty. Rice will never be the same.

Cheap Eats: Spam Musubi Bowl

Today was one of those days I didn't want to fuss over dinner.

Ingredients
- Rice Vinegar
- Soy Sauce
- Granulated Sugar
- Single Serve Spam Lite
- Shredded toasted nori
- Edamame beans*
- Avocado*

1. Marinate Spam in sugar, soy sauce and vinegar for five minutes
2. Fry Spam until each side is golden brown
3. Cut up Spam in small pieces and serve over a bowl of brown rice seasoned with rice vinegar
4. Add edamame beans or avocado and nori


*optional

Nori Bowls

Nori bowls are so easy to make and so satisfying to eat. With so many possible combinations, nori bowls will be in constant rotation.

6 oz salmon*
1 cup brown rice
1 nori sheet, torn
1 roma tomato, diced
Marukan Rice Vinegar, to taste
Soy Sauce, to taste

*I soaked the salmon overnight in a tablespoon of olive oil, juice from half a lemon, and 1 tspn of soy sauce. Then I bake it for 325 for about 20 minutes. It comes out flaky and NEVER overcooked.. YUMMMM!

Enjoy!

Poke 1-2-3

There is nothing like fresh poke at home. No need to worry about the dish being too salty/unsalty, shady on the tuna, not enough of this or too much of that. It's poke your way.

4 oz sashimi grade Maguro, diced
3 oz Chuka (seaweed) salad
1/2 avocado, diced
1/2 cup brown Rice
2 sheets of nori Seaweed, torn
Marukan Rice Vinegar to taste
Soy Sauce to taste
Serves 2

1. In a serving bowl add maguro, avocado and seaweed salad. Stir gently to mix ingredients
2. Serve over rice seasoned with vinegar
3. Add torn nori sheet and soy sauce
Enjoy!

*Some people like sesame seed oil and wasabi, but I left those out since my fish was so fresh.. YUMM!

Delica rf-1

A Japanese Delicatessen

Roast Beef Sushi ($2) - An original sushi dish with Meyer Ranch natural, hormone-free beef, topped with micro red shiso and minced shallots, wrapped together with Nori seaweed. Wasabi included.

Sweet & Spicy Chicken ($1.25) - Marinated chicken, lightly fried, served with sweet and spicy sauce. (Hardly authentic, but definitely our favorite of the three!)

Chicken Dumpling with Sweet Chili Sauce ($1.75) - Ground chicken, organic tofu, water chestnuts and Shitake mushrooms in a sweet chili sauce.

Sashimi for Less

It's 6 pm and the last thing you ate was breakfast and that was around 11 am. You're in the mood for healthy Japanese (sushi rolls or sashimi). In effort to save money, time, but not the quality of your dinner, why not swing by the store to pick up some seaweed salad, hamachi, maguro, and salmon? Pop in some rice into the rice cooker and head out to the nearest supermarket that carries blocks of fresh fish cut specifically for sashimi. In our case, we stopped at Ranch 99 and picked up a bag of pork and vegetable dumplings, seaweed salad, maguro and (farm raised) salmon for less than $18.

Nine dumplings were cooked with spicy ginger teriyaki sauce and green onions. The fish blocks were cut into sashimi pieces (about 30 pieces) and served on a platter with seaweed salad and avocado slices. We also had rice and seaweed wraps - all more than enough to feed two people. Kiki's on 9th and Irvine was always the best bang for your buck, but if you're just chowing down on sashimi, try it for less.

Syun Izakaya

209 Ne Lincoln St
Hillsboro, OR 97124
www.syunizakaya.com

This place has got to be the best Japanese Restaurant I've ever been to! Syun Izakaya is casual and inconspicuous from the outside. Their menu is all inclusive and aims to please with noodles, hot plates, sushi, rolls, etc. (It's approximately seven pages long and doesn't include their extensive selection of sake, that's a separate menu). The food is AMAAAAZING and authentic - not to mention super affordable. Just make sure someone in your party orders the Gyuniku Ninniku (beef with garlic buds) - freakin YUMMM! Syun Izakaya also has about 20-30 different sakes on stock. If you order a bottle the restaurant will offer to store it for up to 100 days! With food this good, I'd expect people to eat here a few times a month. I miss it already. My only regret is that I didn't take pictures for the rest of the world to see. Check out their Yelp reviews -http://www.yelp.com/biz/syun-japanese-restaurant-hillsboro#hrid:0r5FW7FAiuYw7j5YeItnxA

Random fact of the day:
In California, it isn't uncommon for a customer to share alcohol beverages with their bartender/server. In Oregon however, servers are prohibited from partaking in such activities. BOOOO!! Sorry Daniel.

It is also illegal to pump your own gas in OR.