A few weeks ago I was in downtown Danville and noticed that a new Japanese restaurant was setting up.  I find it slightly amusing since they are literally across the street from two other Japanese restaurants.  Danville isn’t exactly big, but does it ever have a TON of Japanese food.  Win for me.  Jumping up to July 9th, I was walking by and noticed this new place, now labeled as Akira Bistro, had opened.  Fast forward a week and a half later to July 20th, I finally got to try it.

Normally any restaurant with the name “bistro” turns me off because they like to do this “fusion” crap and generally muck about with food I actually like eating.  So far, this isn’t the case with Akira Bistro.  Their menu is fairly standard for Japanese food, and that is just fine with me.  They actually have a few items that aren’t as common, such as Chicken Yakitori.  It isn’t complicated, it is chicken on a stick, and for some reason most places don’t carry it.

Anyways, my dinner was Chicken Teriyaki (that’s my review meal, always).  It came with miso soup, salad and rice, so about par for the course.  The chicken was different, but it wasn’t bad.  I’m not sure if they were using all natural chicken breast or something, but it just seemed unusual.  My only real complaint was the rice (odd, I know).  They had used too much water during cooking, so instead of being light and sticky, it was a bit mushier.  On the bright side, my one item dinner was only $13.  For the area, that is a nice price.

Because I was trying out a new Japanese place, I had to order some sort of sushi.  Akira Bistro has quite a list of rolls.  I was pleased by what I saw because they weren’t “out there”.  A number of new Japanese places are trying to spice things up by making some crazy rolls – most of which I really don’t like (Editor’s Note: Jon usually leaves the trying of new sushi rolls to me, fearing that they might contain a secret ingredient of poison or something).  What I tried was the 49er Roll (I think).  It was crab, avocado and tempura shrimp inside with salmon on the outside.  The roll was one of the most expensive ones on the menu (that I remember seeing) at $13.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but this particular roll was massive.   Unfortunately the picture doesn’t convey the size well, but I was not upset at the price after seeing the size of the roll.  As for the quality, well the salmon was quite delicious (which makes me all warm and fuzzy inside) along with the roll in general.  I demolished the entire thing.

Overall I thought the experience was quite nice.  We sat out on the patio, we enjoyed our dinner (and sushi), and paid a reasonable amount.  Sure, I’ve had cheaper Japanese dinners, but from what I could see, Akira’s ingredients were all quality and the service was good. For the fact that they had only been open a week and a half when I went there, they are doing just fine.  Generally the minor issues (like rice) tend to work themselves out within the first month or so.  I’ll be going back and trying more of the sushi next time, maybe during lunch.

The first one I had was the Strawberry Crunch, because by default I always go for strawberry. They were good. The bar reminded me vaguely of a grain style cereal bar, but actually tasty. One bar is 240 Calories, 10g of protein and 20g of sugar, which is why they are actually tasty. It might be a little high on the sugar amount for some – but there are much worse options when it comes to snack bars. There are also much less appetizing options in the “healthy” department. I guess the best recommendation I can give for these bars is the fact that I went on Amazon and bought an entire box of them. The amount of protein isn’t extremely high compared to something like the PowerBar Protein Plus Bars (which are sort of tasty, but not nearly as appetizing), but enough to keep you “full” for a while.

I’ve eaten that entire box worth and on my re-order got more of the Strawberry Crunch along with a box of the Double Chocolate Crisp.  Despite the fact that the chocolate crisps only have 1 more gram of sugar (21g versus 20g), they are surprisingly chocolaty.  Something like a chocolate breakfast cereal.  I may not re-order these simply because they are tasty enough for me to treat them as a dessert.  That is dangerous.

In short: If you are looking for a semi-healthy snack bar option (that could handle being a meal replacement for those times when you’ve got to eat on the go) and still TASTES GOOD (screw that Kashi stuff), give these a try.  They come in a bunch of flavors and are certainly the least “PowerBar” PowerBar I’ve ever run across.

Let’s start off by covering “What is Mochi?” for the uncultured 3 of you that managed to happen by this blog and don’t already know what it is.

Mochi (Japanese: 餅) is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time

What the Wikipedia definition lacks is this key bit: Mochi is delicious and wonderful and good. There are many different kinds of mochi, and frankly, I don’t care, they are all wonderful. Many people who have had mochi at a Japanese restaurant or seen it at Trader Joes, may think that mochi always involved ice cream, but that actually is not the case. Don’t get me wrong, those are delicious, and possibly my favorite type of mochi (Ice cream + Anything = Always Good). But that being said, there is an entire treasure trove of delicious little mochi-based treats.

Mochiko flour – In basically every grocery store.

The first “step” of mochi-joy is realizing that you can easily get it and make your own. Almost every grocery store of any size (especially the major chains) carries “Mochiko” which is just rice flour. There is instructions right on the box for how to make chocolate mochi (if memory serves). You could also check out wikiHow’s “How To Make Mochi” (Coconut version) or the even more tasty looking “How to Make Strawberry Mochi (Daifuku)“.

Daifuku filled with red bean paste.

This segues nicely into my next mochi-joy topic, Daifuku. The difference is that “mochi” is just that sticky bit (say on the outside of the ice cream), where as daifuku is mochi stuffed with something tasty. I’ve tried a ton of different versions, and my favorite is strawberry mochi with chocolate filling. There is just something so delicious about that. If you were to go to a Japanese market of any kind and buy “mochi” off the shelf, it would probably be in the form of daifuku. Occasionally you can buy just blocks of mochi (at fairs, for example), but most of the time they are stuffed with other types of joy, making them daifuku.

Mmmm. Tasty mochi ice cream.

Lastly is, of course, Mochi ice cream. Since it is mochi (outside) filled with ice cream, it falls under the umbrella of daifuku. Though it is so wide spread that it’s its “own deal” these days. You can get this type of mochi at many types of grocery stores (but not all). Though you can generally find them on the menu of every Japanese restaurant (at least that I’ve ever been to). They are delicious little bites of heaven that everyone should try. Even if you’re not sure about all the crazy Japanese stuff, especially filled with “eww” red bean paste (actually quite tasty in Taiyaki), try the ice cream variant. It’s flipping ice cream wrapped up for easy hand powered consumption, what could be better than that? Over time, I’ve evolved my own strange and unusual way of eating them but each to their own. The only warning I’ll leave you with on the mochi ice cream: beware of the flour/starch. They put the powder on in excess (to prevent sticking) and it generally goes everywhere. You’ve been warned…

Dango and green tea, a combo made in… Japan?

Of course there are dozens of other uses for mochi, like dango and soup, to name two. It is as versatile as it is delicious. I make a point to buy some (daifuku generally) every time I go into Japantown simply because it is that awesome, plus the store there rotates flavors every so often. Sure, I’ve had some bad flavors, but all in all even the “funny” flavors end up tasting fairly good. I never though I’d say that I like a flavor called “cherry blossom”, but I do. The Japanese have some crazy flavor combos, some fantastic (orange tends to be very flavorful), some not so much. Go out there and try yourself some mochi!

Recently I found myself up on the north side of Pleasant Hill. After running my errands I remembered seeing something about a possible Asian market and some sushi in the area. As luck would have it, it was dinner time, so investigation ensued. What I found was Damo Sushi. Pleasant Hill on the whole is a decent and somewhat upscale suburb, compared to say Concord. That being said, Damo is on the north end right at the border with Pacheco which makes it a little less “upscale”. This actually is not a bad thing. The place was nice enough, not fancy, but not a run into the ground hole in the wall.

My dinner. Terriyaki chicken, gyoza & a Tekka roll

I order a dinner bento box with chicken terriyaki and gyoza. I also ordered a side Tekka (tuna) roll so I could get a try at their sushi. I know a lot of people are thinking “chicken terriyaki, how pedestrian”, which may be true, but I like to have a basis for comparison with the simple things. Really, if they screw up something simple… do you want to get involved with the more complex dishes? In Damo’s case the food was overall fairly tasty. It wasn’t the best Japanese food I’d ever had but it certainly wasn’t bad. I thought their gyoza was quite good actually.

The bill was tiny!

What really caught my attention about this place was the price. It is cheap! My total bill (pictured left) after tax was $14.15 . Most Japanese places in the area will charge on the average of about $16-18 for a dinner bento of two items. Then sushi rolls typically start at about $5 and go up to $15. Tekka rolls are simple, but still. I got out with a dinner bento and a sushi roll (which was more than enough food for me, since soup and salad was also included) for less than I do for lunch at some places.

Advertising some of their other rolls and specials (oooo, Toro!)

The one caveat that might bother some is that their liquor license is currently suspended (you can see part of the sign in the first picture). Personally, I don’t drink much, so I don’t find this a problem. Besides, all booze in restaurants is overpriced. I’ll definitely be going back to Damo Sushi and enjoying their fantastic prices. Sure, I can get some of the best quality sushi elsewhere in the area, but I’d have to pay for that. Give me some of the basics (like tonkatsu or chicken terriyaki) and I’m perfectly content. Oh, and they only have one small TV, so I’m not assaulted by that while I’m try to eat (which I absolutely hate).

• Pie Shell

• 1.5 Quarts Dreyer’s Fat Free Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
• 4 Kit Kat candy bars (16 individual bars – you can use the Fun/Snack size Kit Kats as well, but will need 16 packs of those since they are roughly equivalent to one bar each)
• Kahlua

Directions:

1. Bake Pie Crust in your standard 9″ pie dish

2. If the crust puffs up, pierce the bubble and allow steam to escape, after a few minutes gently press it back down
3. Allow the frozen yogurt to defrost a little bit and then put about half of it into your blender
4. Finely chop up 2 of the candy bars and toss them on top of the frozen yogurt
5. Add some Kahlua (personal preference, at least a shot or three)
6. Blend it until well mixed, then add the rest of the frozen yogurt
7. By hand, crush one more candy bar and add it to the mix
8. Blend until completely mixed (adding more Kahlua as necessary), then pour into prepared (well-cooled) pie shell. Use a spoon to smooth over any lumps.
9. Break the remaining candy bar into 4 individual sticks and press into the pie (One of my bars was broken so I substituted 2 of the miniature kit kats for the last spoke)
10. Place the pie into the freezer and allow to harden.
11. Remove from freezer and allow to defrost for 15 minutes before serving.

As a side note, I had enough mixture left over for a mini-blizzard, which was quite tasty with a nice smooth Kahlua taste.

Kit Kat Pie

How it turned out:
I was really excited about this pie and it did not disappoint. The Kahlua was the perfect accent for this pie. Everyone was very pleased with how this turned out.

Transport was a bit tricky (as most pies are), however, I was able to place the pie dish inside a cookie container and surrounded it with ice packs (and placed all that in a cooler); it kept it cold enough to make the transit without defrosting.

This pie was inspired by (and made for) my friend, Brett, who once professed a love of Kit Kats.

I have yet to see a Lime based/flavored Liqueur, something that has always disappointed me. So, when someone poured me a glass of homemade Limoncello/Lemoncello I realized I would have to make my own (a moral imperative, if you will).

Full list of ingredients and directions after the fold.

Mon Oct 26 – Day 1
I peeled 16 Limes into a sun tea jar. Then poured a 750 mL container of 151 Proof Everclear (Nevada being one of the states that doesn’t allow anything higher than 151), along with about 3/4 of a 750 mL container of cheap 80 Proof Rum (less flavor than other rums). I used the rum to increase the sugar content, Limoncello recipes call for Vodka or Everclear only.

I ended up storing it under my sink for the next 16 days, shaking it up a little bit each day to unsettle the peels, making sure none got only partially absorbed.

Thu Nov 12 – Day 17
Strained the liqueur into a large stock pot; make simple syrup, let it cool, then added it to large stock pot, mixed the results, then busted out the funnel to try and bottle the stuff. Here I ran into problems.

Stock pots are unwieldy, thus attempting to pour one into a funnel to get liqueur into bottles did not work. Lost a little bit of alcohol attempting that
Thankfully, I had a soup ladle available and using that worked MUCH better. One bottle went into the freezer, the other 2 went into my pantry.

Fri Nov 27 – Day 32
Time to try my tasty beverage! I poured some into a shot glass and sipped. Very fragrant, mellow green in color, and quite strong. Jon would not approve of the alcohol taste in the beverage, but it was not bad. Next up was pouring a tasty beverage. For this I took a large glass, ice, water, Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka, and added my Lime Liqueur.

Very, very nice. Reminded me of having Sweet Tea with Limes like I had growing up, only with alcohol. After one glass I had a very pleasant buzz.Ingredients:

1. 16 Small to Medium sized Limes – I would have gotten bigger ones if they were available.
2. 750 mL container of 151 Proof Everclear
3. 750 mL container of 80 Proof cheap Rum
4. 5 cups Water
5. 4 cups Granulated Sugar

Required Devices:

1. Sun Tea Jar
2. Peeler
3. Sauce Pan
4. Large Stock Pot
5. Measuring Cup for water and sugar
6. Wire Mesh Strainer
7. 3 750 mL Empty Bottles
8. Funnel that will work with your bottles
9. Ladle

Directions:

1. Peel the Limes avoiding the rind (the white part) as much as possible and place the peels inside the Sun Tea Jar
2. Add the bottle of Everclear, and as much of the Rum as you can fit (I only got about 3/4 of the bottle in) – save the bottles if you wish to use them to store your tasty beverage afterward.
3. Seal the jar and place in a cool dark place (under the sink works great).
4. Let sit 10-40 days. It is completely up to you on how long you wish to wait. If you opt for a shorter duration, then I’d recommend shaking the jar gently once a day to ensure that all the peels are thoroughly soaked.
5. Place the strainer over the stock pot and pour the contents of the jar into it. You may want to shake the strainer to get the last few drops off the peels. CAUTION: The jar will be VERY fragrant and may cause light headedness (it is basically pure alcohol, what’d you expect?).
6. In the Sauce Pan, bring the water to a gentle boil then add the sugar. Cook until thickened (about 5-15 minutes).
7. Let the simple syrup cool and then add it to the large stock pot, stirring gently.
8. Ladle your liqueur into the funnel to fill the bottles.
9. Allow the liqueur to age another 10-40 days. I placed one bottle in the freezer and the others in my pantry.
10. Enjoy chilled for best results.

Having enjoyed these at Disneyland, I decided to go for the pack, which included Strawberry Banana and Fuji Apple.

Thus far, I think the Strawberry Banana pack is my favorite. It has a different texture than the Apple and Pear crisps, which are very melt in your mouth. Additionally, nutritionally the Strawberry Banana pack offer the most value (41% of your daily dose of Vitamin C).

All three are very tasty and very low in calories (Strawberry Banana being the highest at 45), and actually quite filling, though I have yet to try to use them as a substitute for a meal (nor do I plan to do so). I do however keep a bag in my desk drawer to snack on while I’m at work.

Lastly, Amazon has quite a selection beyond what I have tried.

Recommendation: Buy a pack! These are great healthy, and more importantly, tasty snacks.

Lately, I’ve been working on being more healthy with my eating habits. Having a Whole Foods Market fairly close by certainly makes this easier, as it has a much larger selection of organic and vegetarian foods.
NOTE: I am not in any way a vegetarian, however, vegetarian food is generally higher in certain nutritious qualities (such as Protein) and lower in the less useful qualities (i.e. Saturated Fat).

Recently, while I was at Whole Foods Market, I saw the following item:
gardein meat-free bbq pulled shreds.

I was quite curious about this as I am a big fan of BBQ (being from Texas and all), so I tossed it in my bag.

Preparation is quite easy. Poke a hole or seven in the bag and then nuke it for 2.5 minutes. I didn’t have any buns, so I sliced a cheese bagel and toasted it. Initially, I thought that the bag really wouldn’t contain 2 servings and tried to fit it all on a bagel, but it ended up spilling out, so I tossed it into a bag for another evening.

Consistency was just like a pulled pork sandwich, however it tasted more like chicken.

Final Verdict: Tasty and would buy again. Very quick and easy meal.

The bottle recommended that I pour a glass of half spring water, half vodka, with a lemon twist. I took this into consideration and started with a tall glass with about a quarter vodka, tap water, ice, and no lemon twist (I prefer limes personally); this had a nice taste of sweet tea to it, but not quite enough, so I poured in a bit more and tasted perfection. It tasted just like the sweet teas I grew up with; as Dolly Parton pointed out in Steel Magnolias, Sweet Tea is the House Wine of the South.

I have imbibed said concoction a few more times, and what little is left of the bottle is currently sitting in my freezer. I will definitely be buying more. If you grew up in the South or have ever enjoyed a nice cool glass of sweet tea, I would highly recommend this. A quick google reveals that I’m not the only one.

Now, whenever I make an alcoholic beverage that I talk with Jon about, I give a special consideration to the “bite”, that is the taste of the alcohol in the beverage, something Jon (and most people) dislike. This is one beverage I can easily make for Jon, though as he didn’t grow up down south and is more of a hot tea kind of person, I doubt this would be his cup of tea (look, sometimes a pun is like T-Ball: the only way to lose is to not swing).

Lastly, a quick word about the company. They use twitter and have a decently designed company website (warning: flash content); their store however does not (no link because it goes to an IP address).

Today’s food review is of the Sushi Boat in Temecula, CA (SoCal, ewwww).
Address: 40820 Winchester Rd, Temecula, CA
Phone: (951) 719-2991
Price: Cheap! My 3 item dinner bento was something like $11. Between Far and I we had 1 large roll, 1 small roll, my 3 item dinner, and a large carafe of sake. The total was just about $40.
Sushi Quality: Good. I had a salmon roll, and it was tasty.
Food Quality: Good. I had chicken teriyaki, tonkatsu, and gyoza and all of them were tasty and properly done.
Food Quantity: Excellent, especially for the price. I expected my dinner combo to be not very much food, but it was. The chicken teriyaki was about about one breast piece worth, same with the tonkatsu, additionally there was 4 smallish gyoza. Of course the dinner also came with soup and salad.

As my companion for the evening pointed out, it had a fairly nice ambiance, for being in a mall. The place had some nice Japanese knickknacks about that looked of fairly decent quality. As an odd contrast along the top of the walls were a bunch of anime drawings, I believe they were fairly high quality doujinshi prints. Lastly, they had at least one TV (and a projector) setup and playing sports. I am not a fan of having TV’s in my eye line when I go out to eat (because inevitably my eye is drawn to watch them), but it is fairly common these days.

Overall, I thought this place place was very nice; the food was good (maybe not the best food I’ve ever had, but still tasty). Most importantly it was damn cheap. I would definitely go back there again. Fortunately, I found out that Sushi Boat actually started in the Bay Area and they have locations in Santa Clara, San Jose @ West Gate and San Jose @ Oak Ridge. Oh, and one final note, while I can’t speak about the Bay Area locations, Sushi Boat Temecula had, in fact, no sushi on boats.