Sunday, January 17, 2016

San Francisco Trip Part 2 - Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market

This is #2 on the list from the website.

http://www.timeout.com/san-francisco/things-to-do/the-49-best-things-to-do-in-san-francisco

Forage for fresh produce at the Ferry Building

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays until 2pm, hordes of food-obsessed locals can be found combing the crowded aisles and produce stands of the Ferry Building Marketplace, where 75 regional farmers and artisan food purveyors offer a dizzying array of organic fruit and vegetables, and gourmet goodies from olive oils, meat, cheese and bread to chocolate, jams and flowers. In addition to the tri-weekly farmer's market, homegrown brands such as Acme Bread, Cowgirl Creamery, Hog Island Oyster Co. and Blue Bottle Coffee sell from permanent stalls.

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market

http://www.yelp.com/biz/ferry-plaza-farmers-market-san-francisco

We visited the Ferry Building Farmer's Market on a Saturday. Which opens at 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
The reviews all says to visit early because it's a popular tourist spot as well as a favorite for locals.
We feel in love with this place! Not only it has hundreds of fresh produce and vegetables, they are mostly organic and there are free tastings at each booth. You can just go around and sample at each booth! There are also tons of food booths if you want to grab lunch there.

Unfortunately it was getting really crowded since it was a long holiday weekend, so I wasn't able to try everything I wanted to there. Like Roli Roti (the best porchetta sandwich), Cowgirl Creamery (cheese), Blue Bottle Coffee, Omurice from Namu Street Food, and the fresh oysters from
Hog Island Oyster Company. But I was able to try some Samosa, Hummus, and some fresh baked pastry there that was delicious.

Las Vegas farmer's market is a joke compare to what San Francisco offers. I would totally move there just for the farmer's market! I can't wait to visit again to see what different items they have in different seasons!

This is another must-see for San Francisco, come hungry, come with cash (things can get pretty expensive here since you are tempted to buy everything!) and come with reusable bags to carry all the stuff you'll be buying here!)

small section of the farmer's market

fresh lavender

fresh varieties of citrus

look at all these fresh mushrooms!

organic free range farm raised meats

fresh oysters

San Francisco Trip Part 1 - Thai Temple Brunch

It's been a while since we had a vacation by ourselves. Luckily we found some cheap tickets for after Christmas and decided to visit my cousin and his wife in San Francisco. I was researching for places to visit, things to do there and came across this site: http://www.timeout.com/san-francisco/things-to-do/the-49-best-things-to-do-in-san-francisco

We picked out a few we wanted to do during our 5 day trip:
#1.Walk across the Golden Gate Bridge
#2. Forage for fresh produce at the Ferry Building
#11. Trade tokens for Thai brunch
#13. Explore the country’s largest Chinatown
#17. Discover the secrets of sourdough

This is #11. Trade tokens for Thai brunch.

This small Thai Buddhist temple is a Berkeley mainstay, not only for practicing Thai American Buddhists and curious UC students, but also for anyone with a few bucks and an appetite. Every Sunday, the temple hosts a communal-style Thai brunch, serving up dishes like pad thai, beef noodle soup, mango with sticky rice and coconut pancakes and pudding to anyone who makes a donation; dollars are traded for tokens, which can then be exchanged for food. The weekly meal brings all types of residents and visitors together. While it's definitely the temple's most well-known contribution to the community, it's certainly not the only one; the venue hosts regular cultural events and serves both as Berkeley's official Thai Cultural Center and a Thai school for Bay area youth.

Knowing me, I have to Yelp it first, and it has raving good reviews on Yelp, so we gotta check it out!
http://www.yelp.com/biz/wat-mongkolratanaram-berkeley

Wat Mongkolratanaram
4.0 star rating
673 reviews Details
Thai, Buddhist Temples

So it's a hosted at a Thai temple in quiet neighborhood in Berkeley every Sunday from 10 am - 1 pm.
It's a token system, first you exchange money for tokens, $1 = 1 token.

Token Booth

Dessert section

Seating area.

Main Dishes. There are two lines, one for meat and one for vegetarian.

Another dessert area. Mango Sticky Rice.

Waiting in line for my noodle soup.

Meat combo.

Papaya Salad

Vegetarian combo

Mango and pudding with sticky rice

Noodle Soup

Thai Coffee

The food was delicious! We couldn't try everything there this time, there were so many options!

I definitely recommend to visit here to try some delicious and cheap Thai food, and it's for a good cause!

We exchanged $40 between the two of us and had plenty leftovers so we bought some spring rolls, couple more desserts to bring home. And of course, you can donate the rest of it to the temple or save it for your next visit!

Thursday, March 19, 2015

ROTM: Tonkatsu Kiyoshi

Tonkatsu Kiyoshi

7780 S Jones Blvd
Ste 103
Las Vegas, NV 89139

(702) 837-7300

tonkatsukiyoshi.com

We wanted to look for a cheap, fast, easy dinner that's by us. We found this place with Yelp. This place serves nothing but Katsu - a breaded pork dish made famous in Japan. It is found in restaurant menus and in Japanese homes.

It was fried to perfection, not greasy at all and the meat was moist. The mixture of the sauce (with addition of hot mustard) really makes the dish. If you are a fan of fried food, I would definitely recommend this place. They do offer a variety of side orders as well, like Edamame, Beef Tatami, Crab & Cucumber Salad, Cold Tofu, Shshito Peppers, Japanese Style Potato Salad, and Panko Crusted Soft Shell Crab.

Oh, and Kaelan got a Melon Cream Soda Float, which was delicious, and I forgot to take a photo of that.

Firs thing on our table we see is this.

One is sesame seeds and one is katsu sauce.

We were told to grid the sesame seeds in the bowls and then mix in the sauce for dipping

special of the day, a Croquette with mashed potato corn with ground pork

Katsu Donburi Pork Loin Katsu-Don $11.00A rice bowl of Katsu with sautéed eggs and onions. And a side of Miso Soup.

Hire Katsu and Ebi Fry Katsu Dinner $16.00

Pork Tenderloin and Shrimp Katsu

Served with Bowl of Rice, Miso Soup, and Japanese Pickles

Thursday, February 19, 2015

ROTM: Ramen Tatsu

Ramen Tatsu

3400 S Jones Blvd
Ste 6
Las Vegas, NV 89146
Chinatown

Phone number (702) 629-7777

We stumbled across this place by accident. The restaurant we want to go originally for Chinese New Year celebration was closed that night. After looking around the plaza, which had three 4 star restaurants on Yelp, we decide to eat at this place.

We love Japanese ramen. Our regular spot are two of the best ones in town, Monta and Ramen Sora.
We decided to give this place a try and see if it's just as good.

We ordered two spicy ramen, and man was it spicy! Most Japanese places when they say spicy it is not to the spice level like you would encounter like Thai food. But this place uses habanero peppers to spice up their soup, not like chili oil in some places. Our mouths were on fire! But a good spice!
The both were really flavorful and the noodles were cooked perfectly.

We also ordered a side of tonkatsu, edemame, a soft boiled egg (for Zoey), fried rice and karrage.
What I love about this place beside the friendly fast service, is that they have a set of utensils, bowls and sippy cup for your kid! I don't always remember to pack these in my diaper bag when we go out with Zoey and not many restaurants use plasticware, and Zoey has broken a dish or two in the restaurants. I find it very considerate to provide cute utensils for your little ones!

This is place is definitely up in the level of Monta and Sora and mines the long lines!
If you are regular to those you will know there is ALWAYS a line to wait in those to places. I think this is definitely a place waiting to to be discovered! Since it is hidden away in this busy plaza!