Grilled Fish at Robataya, East Village.

It was Friday, and Noom had a day-off, so we decided to eat out. Our fist choice was the famous Ippudo that we never get to be seated, still, because our patients for the waiting time were so short, and this time we thought we would try again since it was already late afternoon, and Bam!!..."45 min - 1 hr. waiting time" Okay, we pass!!, again.

We changed the direction to ninth street to another Japanese's called Robataya


It was Noom's friend, who is Japanese, recommended this restaurant to him, saying that the taste of the foods here is traditional Japanese. So we tried.

They open for lunch with a lunch menu which is pretty much covers the general Japanese foods.



It turned out we love what we had. Noom had grilled fish, today they offered grilled Hokke fish. It's simply delicious - not too salty, not too blend with the right portion, only that a bit much of fine bones, well, that's the purpose of eating fish, isn't it - be conscious with what you are doing it in front of you.

I had fried chicken marinated in soy sauce, yeahhhh...it sounds boring, and I usually have it most of the time, but I didn't want to order the same dish with Noom when we first come to the new restaurant, we want to try different dishes, then yes, with this menu, the fried chicken seamed to call for my appetite.


Yes, we love the taste of the foods, and how they care for the foods compares to some Japanese restaurants we've tried before. Also the garden is nice and comfy to sit and lunch. We went there late afternoon, so we didn't really know if it was crowded by noon, by the time we were there, there were only a few table with customers.

So it was very calm and quite garden with the sound of small water fountain at the center of the garden.



With all the light, the decorations and the wall painting, they did a really good job on trying to create the garden that feels like you are sitting in the real open garden.

There is also a front section which is closed during the lunch time, and will be opened for dinner time, we later know, after checking out their website, that they have an open kitchen where people sit around them and watch all the foods are made, and we've agreed that we should go back for dinner later.

Strawberry Ice Pop

The real summer is here - muggy and sticky all together out side. But hey, there is no complain about it when my freezer is already stuffed with yummy homemade fruity ice pop.


It is totally appropriate time to grab a bunch of berries and make all delicious foods, drinks and desserts out of them since Summer will be gone before we know it, and all the berries are very cheap during this time of year.




This is the recipe from the same recipe of my Lime Shake but I left out the alcohol this time. It's quick and easy ice pop and when I ran out of the mold, it is turned to be a sorbet in a pretty bowl!

- A pack of very ripe strawberries with strong sweet smell.
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/4 simple syrup
- a pinch of salt

Put everything in a blender, and blend it until smooth, taste it, adjust the taste, put in a mold, and freeze them. How's that easy!!

Blueberry Pie

It's time for all berries. They are at reasonable price right now - strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherries, etc., and I love it. Yesterday, I got two pints of blueberry for $3, which is a good deal for me when normally I have to pay $4-$5 a pint...Ouch!!

So when I get a good deal of blueberries, I make pie.



This time I used the recipe from Baking with Julia cookbook, and I love it already. The pie crust is flaky crisp, the blueberry filling is delicious with a perfect balance of tang and sweet. It is one of my favorite recipe for now.




The problem is, again, this 9 inches pie is too much for two of us, so I think I have to share it with our neighbor as always.

Egg Wrap

Kai Yud Sai

Another comfort dish to eat with steamed rice. You'll get all of everything in this one yummy pouch. I just think it's a great idea to make almost-tasteless-egg into a sheet and use it as a wrap to wrap a very tasteful stuffing, and make it a very well balance taste in one bite.




It might look complicated - with the egg sheet......well, believe me it isn't- a good swirl to a pan will do the job.

- 2 eggs, beaten with 1 tsp. soy sauce, set aside.
- 1/3 cup ground pork
- 2 tbsp. diced carrot
- 2 tbsp. diced tomatoes
- 2 tbsp. diced onions
- 2 tbsp. small chopped string beans
- 2 tbsp. chopped green onion

- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. sugar
-1 tsp. ground pepper
- 2 tbsp. saute oil

Make stuffing

1. Small saute pan on hot oil, add ground pork, onion, saute until fragrant.
2. In goes, carrot, tomatoes, string beans (leave the green onion for the last) saute for 2 min.
3. Start seasoning with oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar. Saute to incorporate together for a minute.
4. Add green onion, sprinkle in ground pepper, give a quick stir then turn off the heat.
Set aside.

Next, the egg sheet.

1. A new frying pan on medium heat, add 1 tbsp. oil. Swirl the pan making sure the oil coat the surface including the up rim of the pan.


2. Add the beaten egg to the pan, and quickly swirl the pan, spreading the egg into a thin sheet. The trick is to keep swirling for the egg to gradually spread until there is no liquid egg left. Turn the heat to low heat, and let the egg cook until the rim of the egg start to pull back from the pan. Turn the heat off.

Wrapping
Wrapping the egg sheet when it's still warm is more easier.


Spoon the stuffing on the egg sheet, and fold it close all four sides. Place a serving plate on top of the egg sheet, and flip the pan, so that the folding seams are hided.



Done!....with this egg wrapping technique, you can adapt into other wrapping as well, such as, instead of this stuffing, make fried-rice(without egg) and wrap it with egg sheet. It delicious too.

Stir-fried Shrimps with Broccoli

Another quick and easy dish to make. Nothing much for the prep. - cut broccoli, cleaned shrimps, crushed garlic, and it takes only five minutes on the heat.

It's a light dish that I love to make to accompany with some heavy dishes like spicy curry or some meaty dishes, and eat with steamed rice.


Fresh and Fresh
- One small head of fresh broccoli, cut.
- Fresh shrimps, cleaned and deveined.
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed.
- Ground black pepper.

- 2 tbsp.olive oil
- 1 tbsp. fish sauce
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. white vinegar

1. A wok on high heat, add olive oil and crushed garlic, saute until fragrant.
2. Add shrimps, give a quick stir just for the shrimps about to turn opaque, add broccoli. Stir.
3. Start seasoning with fish sauce, sugar, white vinegar. If it's too dry, add 1 tbsp. water.
4. Give a quick stir until the shrimps cook through, 1-2 minutes, sprinkle with black pepper.
5. Taste, and adjust the taste. Turn off the heat. Serve.


I got orangey sauce because of all heads of shrimp that I keep them intact. They always make tasty sauce.

Spicy Thai Ground Pork Salad

Larbb Moo

Just to mention this dish is enough to make my mouth salivary. Led by tangy, a touch of salty, sweetness of ground pork, and then complements with fresh herbs.

Eat with warm sticky rice and a bunch of fresh green leaves, this dish makes my lunch simply delicious.


- 1 1/2 cup of ground pork
- 1/3 cup of pork liver, cut to small bite and boil for 2 minutes, fetch them out.

- 6 small heads of shallot, chopped.
- 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro.
- 2 tbsp. chopped green onion.
- hand full of mint leaves.
- 1 tbsp. toasted finely ground rice. (toast raw rice in a hot pan until fragrant, grind with coffee grinder)
- bunch of fresh green leaves for eating raw such as Romaine lettuce, Boston lettuce, green bean or string bean.

- 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
- 1 1/2 tbsp, fish sauce
- 1 tsp, sugar (optional)
- 1 tsp. chili powder.


Five minutes cooking time.

1. Marinate ground pork with lime juice for 10 minutes.
2. In a small sauce pan on high heat, stir ground pork with boiled pork lever until the pink is almost gone. (keep stirring to separate the pork so they don't stick together.)
3. Start seasoning with fish sauce, chili powder and sugar(optional).
4. Give a quick stir until the pork cook through, taste and adjust the taste. If you feel it's a bit dry, add 1 tbsp. of water. Turn off the heat.
5. Add cilantro, mint leaves, shallots, green onion and toasted finely ground rice. Stir to incorporate. Serve.


Serve with green leaves - break the leaf into small bite sized, and wrap the pork salad with it.

When I wanted to have a full version of Thai Eastern food, this Lardd Moo will be serving along Papaya salad, salty fried chicken or grilled chicken, or BBQ pork, sticky rice and a big bunch of fresh raw vegetable.


They make a great finger food party.

Shrimp Pad Thai

Pad Thai Goong Sod (Goong=shrimps, Sod=fresh)

For those who are already big fans of Pad Thai, and wanted to try making this delicious stir-fried noodle, following my post here, you'll get the taste of Pad Thai that we normally eat in Thailand - with all ingredients that Pad Thai should have and should taste like, only one thing missing here is beansprout....


In Thailand there are only Pad Thai and Pad Thai Goong Sod (shrimp Pad Thai) or, in some places, seafood available - there are no chicken, beef or vegetable Pad Thai like you see in most Thai restaurants here in the US.

The original Pad Thai has small dried shrimps instead of big fresh shrimps, which later added to the menu as a new choice.


Working with dried noodle is a bit tricky. They need a lot of liquid and proper times to soften them up.

Serving two hungry people.
- Hand full of dried rice noodle, soaking in warm water for 15 minutes. Save the water for later use.
- Fresh shrimps, clean and deveined
- Hand full of garlic chive leaves, cut 1" long and leave some to eat fresh with the noodle.
- Hand full of beansprout (I don't have it this time)
- 5 small heads shallot, chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup preserved reddish
- 2 pieces hard tofu, diced
- 2 eggs
- ground peanut
- wedge of lime
- chili powder (optional)

- 2 tbsp. tamarind water
- 2 tbsp. fish sauce
- 1 1/2 tbsp. sugar
- 1 cup water
- 6 tbsp. olive oil



1. In small bowl, mix tamarind water, fish sauce and sugar together.
2. Add 2 tbsp. olive oil in a hot pan, in goes shallot and garlic, saute until fragrant.
3. Add soaked soft noodle, stir-fry to incorporate with shallot and garlic, add water (used for soaking noodle), start with mall amount. Keep stirring, don't let the noodle stick together.
4. Add in mixing sauce (in no. 1). Keep stirring until the noodle get soft. If you feel that the pan get too dry and the noodle start to stick to the pan, add more water. Pick up some noodle to taste if they are soft then transfer the noodle to a resting plate.



5. In the same pan, add 2 tbsp. olive oil, hard tofu, preserved reddish and shrimps. Stir-fry until the shrimp get almost opaque.
6. Put shrimps to the side of the pan, making room for two eggs.
7. Add 2 more tbsp. of olive oil, crack in the eggs and scramble them.
8. Incorporate the shrimps and scrambled eggs.

9. In goes, the preparing noodle, stir to incorporate everything together.
10. Add chive leaves, beansprout. Stir.
11. Taste the noodle, make sure they are soft, turn off the heat. You can also adjust the taste later in your plate.
12. Serve with ground peanut, fresh beansprout, fresh chive, a wedge of lime, chili powder (if you like spicy)


Enjoy your Pad Thai with lots of shrimps as you like.