My Current Favorite Running Playlist

I've been trying to include more running into my exercise routine. I've been trying to compile a list of peppy songs to run to.  This is what I currently run to:

I Gotta Feeling~Black Eyed Peas
Hey, Soul Sister~Train
Suddenly I See~K.T. Tunstall
Beautiful Day~U2
Viva la Vida~Coldplay
Pressing On~Reliant K

Do you have any favorite songs to run and exercise to? 

Boston Highlights Part II~Union Oyster House, Parish Cafe

Mike wanted his seafood fix again, so we checked out America's oldest restaurant, the "Union Oyster House."

We arrived at 5:30pm and tried to get a table in the restaurant for dinner, but since we were there on Memorial Day weekend, we would have to wait for at least two hours for dinner. We then decided to eat in the bar for quicker service. 
Mike ordered a cold seafood platter ($13.95) that included shrimp, raw oysters, and raw cherrystone clams.  He loves all kinds of seafood, so enjoyed the whole plate of fresh seafood to himself. 

I, on the other hand, like my seafood cooked. I opted for a bowl of clam chowder. 

Union Oyster House
41 Union Street
Boston, MA 02108-2494
(617) 227-2750

We finished off one of our days with lunch at the Parish Cafe, which is known for sandwich creations from many chefs from popular restaurants in Boston. This restaurant was also recommended by my friend.

We were really full from all the eating that we had been doing, so we shared a sandwich. Mike let me order the sandwich and I chose the "The Schlesinger" ($12.50) which was created by Chris Schlesinger from the East Coast Grille in Cambridge, MA. On our flight over to Boston, the guy sitting next to us recommended the "East Coast Grille" for it's eclectic menu. Since we didn't have a chance to make it to the original restaurant, I settled for a sandwich created by the owner.

The Schlesinger was eclectic indeed! It was composed of monterey jack cheese and smoked ham on top of a warm banana nut bread and served with mango chutney and pickled ginger red cabbage. When I first took a bite of this sandwich, my mouth and tongue were a bit confused. There was the salty taste from the ham and cheese, the sweet and sour taste of the chutney, the acidic/pickled taste of the slaw, and then the sweetness of the banana. Tack on this sensory overload to the assortment of textures that accompanied this dish (viscous chutney, gooey cheese, crunchy slaw, crumbly slightly dense bread). The sandwich was quite quirky, but the funny thing was that all these tastes and textures actually combined to make a sandwich that worked. I thought it was pretty good, but did not like it enough to order it again. It was one of those sandwiches that you like after the first few bites, and then after a while you realize you cannot stomach down the whole thing.
Parish Cafe
361 Boylston Ave.
Boston, MA 02116
(614) 247-4777

Boston Highlights Part I~Angora Cafe, Mike's Pastry

Boston was the last major US city that Mike had on his  "places I want to visit" list.  Mike and I both like to travel, but since we did not start traveling together until 2005, the cities and countries we both want to see do not necessary overlap.  Mike's been to Japan, London, Mexico, and Seattle (and those are places that I really want to travel to).  While I've been to China, South Korea, Thailand, and New Orleans (Mike wants to go to these places).  So what's our plans for our next trip?...we are eyeing out Memphis, TN and hopefully in 2011 we'll head out to Spain.  If not Spain, we might do a Greece or London/Paris trip.

Whoops, I digressed. Before we traveled to Boston, I had contacted a friend of mine who attended Boston University for her undergraduate studies. She rattle off a list of places for us to check out.  On the top of her list was Angora Cafe, which is known for their frozen yogurt.  It's a cafe that serves up frozen yogurt to your liking (think Coldstone Creamery for Frozen Yogurt). 

During the Spring of 2002, I went to visit my friend in Boston (she was attending Boston University) and we had checked out this yogurt place.  I remember thinking, "Wow this is the best frozen yogurt ever!" I had mixed together, strawberries, cheesecake, and graham crackers and it had been delicious!
Here's a picture of the board with all the different candies, fruits, cookies, that you can have mixed into your yogurt. 

This time I mixed together oreo cookies and strawberries.  The gray mass doesn't look to appetizing, but it was tasty.  Mike ordered a mix of strawberries and raspberries. I didn't really care for his flavor combination because the base yogurt is not too sweet, and both berries were frozen without any added sugar.

Angora Cafe
1024-A Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
(617)232-1757

Another place that we checked out was Mike's Pastry. While we were touring the USS Constitution, I saw a bunch of people carrying around boxes that said, "Mike's Pastry."  I asked someone where to find this bakery, and so after we visited Bunker Hill and walked a bit more of the Freedom Trail, we trekked on to find Mike's Pastry.

We arrived there at about 4pm on a Sunday and the place was packed! When you're traveling and you see a bunch of people toting around boxes from the same bakery, it might behoove you to check out the place.  Mike and I stood in separate lines (well the lines were not well-defined in this packed bakery) lfor a good 10 minutes until Mike made it to the counter.  We ordered a chocolate dipped florentine, a chocolate creme filled cannoli (my choice), and a pistachio cannoli (mike's choice).  The cannolis were tasty and Mike and I switched cannolis because he liked the chocolate creme better because it reminded him of the taste of kulolo. I didn't care for the chocolate one because it did not have a strong chocolate flavor (hence, Mike thought it tasted like kulolo).

Chocolate dipped florentine.

Pistachio Cannoli

Mike's Pastry

300 Hanover Street
Boston, MA 02113-1835
(617) 742-3050

Boston~Lobster Recap 2

So Lauren tells me that I'm supposed to blog about our experiences in Boston, but she's already written about the lobster count.  I'm posting a second blog to explain myself and our weirdness.  Yes, I did have two lobster rolls.  Not much to talk about there, except that they were great. 

But the four lobsters....now here's where there is a tale to tell.  They say that marriage changes a person.  Well it's true :).  Two things I have picked up from Lauren are 1) an economical nature, and 2) her love of grocery stores (okay, I'm not a fanatic, but I tag along.....we looked around in a grocery store over 30 times when we visited Italy....seriously).  And this is where our story begins.

It all began on our first night in Boston as we were walking back from watching the Red Sox beat the KC Royals.  I was a little hungry and was hoping to pick up a late night snack on our way back.  Lauren vetoed a pizza place and a few other restaurants that I saw, but as we neared our hotel and I was almost out of hope, she happened to see a Shaw's Grocery Store.  Of course we had to go inside to look around so that I could find something to eat.....and as I followed Lauren around and quietly pouted, an amazing thing happened....Lauren turned to me and said "hey Mike, do you want a lobster?"  A smile washed across my face as I quickly did the mental math.....yes, it was a great deal!  Wait, but what about butter....wouldn't that throw it off....no, at $1.50 for a few sticks, it'd still be a steal.  It took a little finagling, but the seafood clerk agreed to steam a lobster even though it was almost 11 pm.  Around 20 minutes later we walking back to the hotel, lobster and supplies in hand, around $9 poorer but with a pronounced spring in my step.  One thing you should understand is that I really like lobster.  I repeated the lobster feast two more times, once for 2-1.25 lb lobsters($16), and once for a monster 2.75 lb lobster ($21) (which I ate in the AA Admirals club a the airport....yeah I got a lot of funny looks....but hey I was eating a lobster and they weren't). 

I know this sounds weird......I mean why would you go to Boston to eat lobsters from a grocery store....wouldn't it be better to get seafood from a famous restaurant?  Wouldn't that be a better experience?  But here are my thoughts, and you can decide for yourself what you think.   

1.  The lobsters in Boston grocery stores are the same as the lobsters in Boston restaurants.....at least I think they are.  If this isn't true, then my whole argument is shot.  Either way though, I couldn't tell....they were fresh and tasty to me. 
2.  Lobsters at a grocery store are way cheaper than lobsters in a restaurant.  We're in a recession for goodness sakes.  They were $5.99/lb for lobsters under 1.25 lbs, and $7.99 for lobsters over 1.25 lbs.  At a restaurant you'd end up paying $15 for a 1.25 lb lobster.  Essentially this means that you can have more lobsters.......and how can that be a bad thing? 
3.  Grocery stores will steam lobsters for you, and will even crack the claws and cut open the tail if you ask nicely and say please.  No joke, you really do have to ask nicely and say please. 
4.  Getting a lobster from a grocery store is faster than ordering one at a restaurant. 
5.  When people who live in Boston eat lobsters, they usually get them from grocery stores.  At least this is what they guy sitting next to us on the flight over told us.
6.  You don't have to tip at a grocery store.
7.  Our hotel was more of an apartment and had forks, plates, and even a stove in it.  I could see this as a major setback so we were lucky to be well equipped. 

Anyway, that's my story.  I hope you enjoyed it. 

Boston~Lobster Recap

Now we can finally move on to all the food posts from  last month's trip to Boston, MA.

For this blog post, we are going to play the, "How many?" game. 

How many lobsters did Michael eat in Boston? FOUR!!!
How many lobster rolls did Michael eat in Boston? two.
How many lobsters did Lauren eat in Boston? zero. 
How many days did we spend in Boston? three

Yeah, do the math.

The last of the Hawaii Posts~Paina Cafe and Wah Kung

One day while Mike and I were running errands in Honolulu, we decided to check out the Paina Cafe in Ward Warehouse.  We stopped by at around 2:30pm-ish and the person at the counter told us that we came at a good time because there had been a non-stop line for the past couple of hours! 

The Paina has an ordering system in which you first choose the size of bowl you want, then the type of rice (white or brown), sauce (mild or hot) size of the bowl, then the type of fish you want (spicy tuna, shoyu poke, hot shoyu poke, and limu poke). The last step is picking out the additional topping you want.  The extra toppings cost a little bit more ($0.50/each) and include items such as yamaimo, natto, taegu, and seaweed salad. The price of the bowl is based on the combination of all of your choices.  The Paina Cafe also serves plate lunches, salads and sandwiches.  

Well the Paina Cafe did not disappoint.  Mike and I shared a medium bowl topped with spicy tuna and the shoyu poke.  We both really enjoyed the bowl and cleaned it up within minutes.  The fish was fresh and the flavors were spot-on.  Mike's only complaint (it's not even a real complaint it's more of a preference) was that he would have preferredthe rice to be colder, not steaming hot.   But the empty bowl at the end of our binge speaks for itself. We enjoyed the bowl.  I told my mom that Mike and I had gone to the Paina Cafe and then she told me that we should have ordered the taegu topping because it's delicious.

Mike and I have been trying to find a restaurant in Texas with a good black bean chow fun but haven't been very successful.  Chow fun noodles on the mainland are thinner and are not as chewy in texture.  Growing up, my favorite chow fun was the black bean beef and bell pepper chow fun from Wah Kung. We picked up a plate of the chow fun and it tasted just like I remembered.   Yum-my. 


Paina Cafe
1200 Ala Moana Blvd #24
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808) 356-2829

Wah Kung
1151 Mapunapuna Street
Honolulu, HI 96819
(808) 833-0880

Hawaii Restaurants~Daiichi

On the last day of our trip to Hawaii, Mike and my parents all ate dinner together at Daiichi Ramen and Curry in Aiea.  My parents (especially my dad) really enjoy the chicken katsu curry here.  The portions are huge and my parents sometimes order take out here and share one chicken katsu curry plate. I'm sure my dad could eat the whole thing by himself, but my mom tries to make my dad eat healthy, which includes eating smaller portions. 

Curry with fried Oysters. 

Mike and I were not very hungry when we went to the restaurant because we had just gone to a Chinese buffet a few hours earlier. He ordered the curry with fried oysters just to try the oysters.

Chicken Katsu. My parents order the chicken katsu on the side instead of under the curry so that the chicken says crispy.

Ramen

Unagi

Gyoza.

The prices are reasonable at Daiichi and the food is pretty tasty there. It's a good place for a quick bite to eat. 

Daiichi Noodles Cafe 
Aiea Shopping Plaza
99-080 Kauhale Road, Bldg A
Aiea, HI 96701
(808) 486-7432

Hawaii Restaurants~Hifumi

Japanese home-cooked food.  Back when I was growing up, we would frequent Hifumi a lot for family dinners. The prices were reasonable and my grandmother enjoyed eating Japanese food.
When I first called my mom to tell her that Mike and I were coming home and wanted to go out for dinner on a Sunday night, I told her that we had wanted to go to Sansei.  She mentioned that the last time my family went there, the food was not as good as before.  I was a bit bummed out to change our restaurant plans, but in the end it was nice to have home-cooked style Japanese food on our first day back on Oahu. 

Chicken karaage and tempura teishhoku-Mike's selection

Unagi and tempura teishoku-Grandpa's selection

Chinese style fish-Mom's selection

Oyako Donburi-Rice topped with chicken, egg, and vegetables. This is the dish I ordered and shared with my mom.

 Tonkatsu (deep fried breaded pork) and tempura teishoku-Dad's selection

Hifumi Restaurant
100 North Beretania Street
Honolulu, HI 96817-4768
(808) 536-3035

Fun Post~non-food post.

I was looking through the backlog of pictures that I had taken this year and thought you might enjoy a few that brought back memories (and laughter).
Oh boy, by reading this post you are delving into my quirky sense of humor.  But to my defense, I read somewhere that women tend to like jokes that involve a play on words or a language.

We saw this sign at a Asian grocery store in Richardson, TX.  (click on the image for a larger view).  I'm not sure exactly what item they were actually selling, but $1.99 for men sounds kind of cheap.   

This is a blurry picture that I took while we were in a moving vehicle of the Massachusetts State House.  It says, "General Hooker Entrance."  So the general's surname was "Hooker" so the sign is not meant to be funny, but these signs were posted all around the building.  Too funny!

If you would like to see a clearer view of the image, I found this image on google.

Hawaii Restaurants~Kanpai Bar and Grill

I had read a lot about Kanpai Bar and Grill while perusing the local newspapers and blogs, so a bunch of my friends and I went there on a Friday night. I was a little disappointed with the taste of the food, but when you're amongst good company, the food is secondary.

 Fried Rice

French Fries

Karaage Chicken (I think it was karaage chicken)

Fried Noodles

Kanpai Bar and Grill was crowded and bustling with energy all night from about 6:30pm until when we left after 11pm.

Here's my summary of the place. 
-we had made reservations, but we never got our table (another party had started at 2:30pm and hadn't left by 7:00pm)
+the waiter(?) gave us a free round of drinks because we didn't have a table.

 -the waitress lost my credit card that she had collected to start a tab on

(my friend eventually found my card- it was clipped onto another bill and card)
-the wait staff keeps your credit card when you start a tab until you close it out

Still I'd recommend Kanpai Bar and Grill as a nice place to chillax with friends. I'd just be cautious about letting the waitstaff keep your credit card.  Just don't start a tab. 

Kanpai Bar and Grill
404 Ward Ave (where Dixie Grill used to be)
Honolulu, HI 96814
(808)593-9202

Kauai

*I talked to my mom the other day and she said, "Why do you want me to read your blog when you hardly update it? I keep seeing the same post every time I go to your page."  Gee thanks mom.  Nah, it's actually quite cute; my mom is now my PR person and wants to tell her friends about the blog.

Our trip to Kauai
Here's a recap, we arrived on Kauai 1.5 hours prior to the wedding and were only on the island for less than 24 hours. The original plan was that we would arrive on Kauai by 3:30pm the day before the wedding, but that didn't happen because of our many flight shenanigans.  It's an exhausting story to tell, so if you really want to hear it, I'll post the story later on.

As soon as we landed, we picked up the rental car and drove to the Hyatt Kauai for my friend's wedding...no luggage in hand because it was lost somewhere between Dallas, Seattle, Honolulu, and Kauai.  Luckily we were staying at the same hotel as the wedding, so we took a shower and got ready for the wedding. Did we end up wearing the icky grimmy clothes that we had been stuck wearing for the past 36 hours while in the airport and airplane?  No, for some strange reason (maybe it's because of my slight OCD), I had told Mike to pack our wedding clothes in my carry-on....even though the original plan would have allowed us to arrive on Kauai the day earlier.
Needless to say, the wedding was beautiful and my friend looked gorgeous!  

The next day we were able to pick up some omiyage at the Kauai Kookie Company Outlet.  We bought some Hawaiian Hula papaya seed dressings as well as different flavors of Kauai Kookies. Our favorite is the guava cookie, but we also purchased the banzai flavor (furikake and mochi crunch inside), the passion fruit cookies, and the haupia (coconut) flavored cookies.   The last three flavors can only be bought at the outlet store and are not sold at Long's and other local stores.

We then met up with Mike's cousins at Hamura's Saimin Stand for lunch and then purchased a bunch of Hamura's saimin to give to relatives on Oahu. 

We then hopped on a plane to Honolulu and that completed our whirlwind adventure on Kauai. 

Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa
1571 Poipu Road,
Koloa, Hawaii, USA 96756
(808) 742-1234

Kauai Kookie Company
1-3529 Kaumualii Hwy
Hanapepe, Kauai, HI

Hamura's Saimin
2956 Kress St.
Lihue, HI 96766
(808)245-3271

Hawaii~Misc. Food Pictures

We've been SUPER slow with the posting of our past trips.  I guess with all our traveling all we really like to do at night and on the weekend is veg out and watch television.  Okay, that's not really true.  In our spare time we took care of bills, got the tire changed (Mike gets the credit for this), cleaned the house, washed tons of clothes from our trips, and did a bunch of household chores.  I use the term "we" lightly because now that Mike has a break from work, he's doing most of the chores.  His favorite thing to do when I come home from work is to dance around the house singing, "Michael-rellie, Michael-rellie" (think,"Cinderellie, Cinderellie").  Yes, I have to endure his singing quite often. 

We also played frisbee, got back to our gym routines, went out to dinner with friends, played billiards and cards, saw "Getting to the Greek", went to a Happy Hour followed by Dave & Busters.  Being an "old married couple" means that Mike and I were tired after all these events.  :( I guess we're not as young and fun as our single younger friends. 

Before I become too behind on Hawaii posts, here's a brief recap of some of the "must have" foods that we ate while back home in Hawaii.

Liliha Bakery's Orange Chiffon Cake. This has been my favorite cake since I was a little girl. I would ask my mom for an orange chiffon cake for my birthday (yes, I was a weird kid who did not like frosting).

Liliha Bakery's Cocoa Puffs

Leonard's Malasadas

Zippy's Original Chili with toasted cornbread. Mike's order. He loves the toasted cornbread.

Zippy's vegetarian chili with brown rice. Four times out of five, I order vegetarian chili with brown rice at Zippy's. 

Kalua pork BLT sandwich from the Pineapple Room

In-N-Out opening in Texas!!!!!! Happy Birthday Lauren!

First off, Happy Birthday Lauren!  Today is Lauren's Birthday, and what a present she's getting!  Just a few minutes ago, Lauren told me that In-N-Out burger is opening a restaurant in Texas.   I guess that beats anything I could get for her.  I haven't had In-N-Out for a long time.....about 6 years or so, but I remember that they were great.  It'll be interesting to see how it stacks up in a head-to-head comparison with Five Guys.  Lauren and I will probably make a post about that in the future.  Anyway, we're both excited! 

Since I always tell students they have to sight sources, here's where we got the info from: 
http://www.slashfood.com/2010/06/02/in-n-out-burger-expands-to-the-lone-star-state/

Back from Hawaii and Boston

We're back from our trips to Kauai, Oahu, and Boston. We'll be posting about all of our trip highlights once we adjust back to "real" life (work, bills, regular sleep schedules). We're pooped! I think we'll be staying put in Texas for at least a few weeks. 

Lihue, Kauai

Fenway Park

Looking out from Harvard Bridge