Food Trucks! (swear it's like a series!)

I apologize for the lack of updating. Things got extremely busy during the graduation period. Anyways, now that I'm done with college orientation and high school, I now have time to update this little blog. C:

As per usual, I spent my lunch time at Larkspur. The weather recently has been excruciatingly hot were I live, so the nice breeze at the Larkspur center in Marin was certainly welcome. It was interesting because while I was at Santa Barbara for orientation the weather was amazing. (Sorry for the tangent)

Apparently the center has some sort of Folkish festival. It's really nice. There are a couple of people who perform in the small area. Because it was Sunday, there was a bunch of different food trucks again. I really love food trucks and I will miss them when I go to school in Santa Barbara, so for now I will make sure to take advantage of the many food trucks in the Bay Area.

Thank god for the tents! It was hot! Hot! Hot!

                       

Today, I ate a small sandwich like thing from KoJa Kitchen food truck. It had kalbi and some greens (lettuce?) in a small bun like thing made of crispy cooked rice. At first glance I thought the rice patties were actually bread, but boy was I wrong.

It's about hamburger size and it was very filling. I was surprised at the amount of meat in the sandwich! There was a lot! I also couldn't help myself from buying a blood orange San Pellegrino. Since it was really hot I purchased another drink. It was an agua fresca from a food stand under the big tent thing. I wish I could remember the name of the little stand, but I was in a rush to finish! I really wanted to be in a nice air conditioned place regardless of whether or not the wind had a nice crisp breeze. My brother got a strawberry pineapple flavored one and I got the mango one.

It was so refreshing!

I promise to do a post about French macarons next. I have seriously been putting it off. =( Sorrrryyyy!

Orientation for UCSB was really fun! The beach is really beautiful there.

Can't wait to study here! 

Crustacean SF

Happy Belated Mother's day!

So for Mother's day this year my family decided to head out to San Francisco to eat at Crustacean. It is between California and Pine Street. I had to walk up quite a bit of stairs to get to the restaurant because I couldn't find an elevator! (Boy am I lazy!)

Anyways, we didn't want to wait for a table because it would have taken an hour and a half to get one. The restaurant was very busy that evening. SO, my family and I got seats at the bar. The people attending to us at the bar were very nice. I was wearing my UC Santa Barbara sweater and the bartender noticed. We had a chat about the UC system. He graduated from UC Davis a while back.

I wasn't to hungry that day because I had a stomach bug, but I managed to try a couple of different foods. My parents ordered the roasted crab, beef skewers, crab puffs, garlic noodles and Asian bouillabaisse. Sadly, I didn't get many pictures because of the bar seats. I was just too far away from some of the food. PLUS, my younger brother was quick to eat all the smaller plates of food!

The bouillabaisse was a lot different than I anticipated. I initially thought that I would get a Tom Yum kind of flavor, but instead I got a more sweet and sour flavor. It kind of reminded me of a Jewish cabbage soup with  a bass flavor to it. I didn't really taste much of the lemongrass or pineapple either. I think the sourness of the soup with the dill and bass overpowered a lot of the other flavors I wanted to taste. It wasn't bad though.

I enjoyed the garlic noodles quite a bit. I have only ever had it at one other restaurant though. I'm not too into  having garlic breathe after eating noodles, or anything for that matter, so I was very happy that the garlic wasn't obnoxious. It was a pretty light dish and it tasted nice and light. I wasn't really expecting a pasta like noodle though, but that's okay with me. It was good regardless.

I'm kind of sad I didn't get a picture of the appetizers. The skewers had a very nice flavor. I really liked the hint of lemongrass. The crab puffs were also really good. They kind of reminded me of fried wontons. The only thing I didn't really enjoy about them was that when you dipped one into the sauce, the sauce masked the crab.

The roasted crab was definitely a highlight. It didn't have all sorts of different flavors. It was just a nice well roasted crab. It was delicious and light. I don't often find myself dirtying my hands to eat food, but it was worth it.

After most of my meals I have cup of tea. I really liked the green tea they had. It reminded me of the sencha I brought home from Japan. The tea kettle was really nice too. It was a heavy cast iron kettle that kept the tea warm for the fifteen minutes it took for my mom and I to finish the pot.

Besides mother's day I had a super busy weekend in San Francisco. My school had their junior/senior prom on Friday. I didn't have such a great time, but it's okay because I got to spend some time with my good friend Rachael. I hope to post again sometime next week, probably after Saturday because I have a badminton competition to go to. Until then! Keep on dancing! C:

Larkspur Adventure Part II

Today I ventured back to Larkspur! I seriously love that place. It was a good day for the farmer's market because the weather was nice and hot. There were quite a few people there today.

Anyways, today I ate at Namu Street Food stand. It's a Korean food stand that is at the Larkspur landing every Saturday during the farmer's market. They have a varying menu with different specials.  My favorites from the stand are the okonomiyaki (I think it would be a Korean take on it, seeing that it has kimchi in it) and the kimchi fried rice.

I always get the extra egg on top of the rice. I like how they cook the egg a lot. It's slightly crispy on the bottom and the yolk is still The rice isn't that spicy even though there is kimchi and the bacon and sausage add a nice flavor to the koshikari rice. 

The okonomiyaki was pretty good too. I had okonomiyaki while I was in Japan, but it was a different style. I always have problems remembering the difference between Kyoto and Hiroshima style okonomiyaki. This Korean version that I ate from Namu was the starchier one without the noodles. I like both versions though, so it wasn't a problem at all. I liked the flavor of the kimchi, the kewpi mayo, and the bonito flakes together.

Beside going to Namu's street stand I went to Miette (also located in the Larkspur landing) to pick up some French macarons. I absolutely love macarons and I look forward to trying Miette's. I usually like Bouchon's macarons from Yountville, but Yountville is kind of far. If Miette's macaron are good then maybe I don't have to take the long drive to Yountville every time I craving macarons. I picked up grapefruit, rose, and strawberry macarons from the shop today.

Next blog will probably have a review of the macarons. C:

Hello there!

I'm not exactly sure what I'm supposed to say on this blog thing, so I apologize in advance for being slightly awkward. I thought about starting a blog about food and other stuff I enjoy in life a while back, but I never really had the chance to do so. FINALLY, after the long period of deliberating I decided to start one. More than likely this blog will have reviews on the various different places I decide to eat at. My family and I enjoy food a lot and tend to visit different places every weekend to try new interesting food.

Now that I got over the first awkward paragraph, I will start off this blog with Larkspur's awesome food truck vendors. I have wanted to go for a while and today I convinced my parents to go eat there for lunch. Today, I tried Chairman Bao's braised pork bao. (I have conveniently posted a picture of it below.) It was really tasty. I haven't really had food truck food before, so it was a pleasant surprise. I have had cupcakes from a foodtruck, but I won't count that experience. Anyways, I really enjoyed the bao, it had a nice rich meaty pork flavor that was balanced with the freshness of the cabbage with mustard seeds. I didn't try the steamed bun, so I got the baked one. I will probably try the steamed bun next time.

My dad went to the Peruvian food vendor, Sanguchón. He got a beef sandwich along with some very cute and delicious cookies. They are kind of like very crumbly sugar cookies with Dulce de Leche inside. It was two heavenly cookies with a wonderful filling that generally made my day. It's kind of weird to know that cookies made my day better...Errr I digress. COOKIES BELOW. haha

 I wish they had more cookies in the packet. They are kind of pricey, but it was worth it!

The Larkspur Landing also has a farmer's market on Saturdays. I quite love their farmer's market. They have many vendors and the food is delicious and fresh. I also visit the frozen yogurt place (I think it's called Berry Bliss) their quite often. The only thing I don't like about their frozen yogurt is that it isn't self-served. Their toppings also don't include my favorite condiment, popping boba! I feel that no froyo is complete without popping boba. It was still tasty regardless.

I always putt mochi and fruit on my frozen yogurt. Especially at this place. They put a lot of yogurt so it kind of makes up for the less diverse condiment section.

I really enjoyed Larkspur landing and I will certainly be back soon. CIAO! C: