Lunch at Rooster

The day Josh was coming back to St. Louis, Daniel, Sean, and I went downtown for br/lunch!  I looked up some restaurants on Yelp, and Daniel finally narrowed it down to Rooster.  It's described as a cafe, crepe, and sandwich place!  Downtown is always so confuzzling with its one-way streets, but Daniel somehow expertly navigated around to a parking lot near Rooster.  I forgot to bring my change pouch, so we couldn't park on the street sides and instead had to resort to parking in a $5 lot.  There was this medieval parking payment device, where you stuff $5 into a slot with the number of your parking spot.  It's kind of on the honor system, since they check for money randomly, so theoretically if you parked without paying and left before they came to check, you could park for free.  But they can lock down your car or tow it away, so it's better just to be a good kid and pay ^^b

It's like a giant piggy bank

The moment the three of us got out of the car, the sun unleashed its battalion of merciless heatwaves upon us.  Rooster was right across the street and we headed towards the big windows and people eating outside.

When we stepped inside, we were led to a table within minutes.  The inside walls were painted orange, and the sun really lit up the place with the help of the large, panel-less windows.  The main room had a large rooster painted onto the walls, and the furniture was wooden.  Rooster has a very home-y, back-to-Earth feel, and they support that through their natural and organic foods (the menu had an information bit about how their food is organic and stuff :P)!  Very peaceful and happy feeling~

We came on a Sunday afternoon, and the main room as well as outside tables were all filled.  There was a hallway that connected to another room, but I think that one was empty.  I'm guessing that you don't have to wait very long to be seated!

Oh look, the woman is patting Daniel's head *pat pat*!

Haha, once we ordered (which was difficult!  Sean and I both had two choices we were deciding between, so I picked Sean's and he picked mine.  Well, I picked his, but it turned out that Daniel wanted that one too, so Sean picked the other one, haha!), I took pictures of the boys, and the first one turned out to look as if the woman in the back was touching Daniel's hair!  Hehe, so here's a *slightly* better one (although it kind of looks like both of them have human tumors on their heads =_=''):

Sean took this one!

I just realized that Asian boys like to do the ^_^v peace sign too.. I had thought it was a girl thing!  Anyways, we admired the large windows for a bit, and the waitress came back with all of our food.  It was so quick that we had barely waited at all!  The boys say it's because it's a breakfast/lunch place, so the food isn't that hard / slow to prepare, but I still think it's pretty dang fast, because at other places like Half & Half, the food still took a while to come out~  :O  Anyways, let's move on to the food, yayy!  :D

My beautiful plate of Caramelized Bananas and Nut French Toast

When I read "nut" on the menu, I was thinking a few walnuts (and no idea what caramelized bananas meant).  When I poked my fork around the gigantic mass in front of me, there were walnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, cashews, and almond pieces!  The toast by itself was sweet and slightly eggy, and it went well with a bite of banana and nuts.  But when I added the maple syrup that was available at each table, the flavors really unified and made my day.  Delicious!!  ^__^  I also like that it made it moister.  The french toast wasn't dry to begin with, but moister is a plus for me :3  

Now that I'm typing up this post, I realized that the french toast consists of 3 big slices of bread.  The boys each took a triangle to try, but I still felt like I ate so much after finishing the rest!  It's quite filling and very satisfying :)  Okie dokie, onto the boys' food~

Yet another "peace" sign :O

Scramble #6 (bacon, mushroom, emmenthaler, arugula)

Looks delicious, right?!  What's emmenthaler?  It's a type of cheese from Switzerland.  Actually, it's a fancy name for Swiss cheese.  (That's actually really interesting-- I didn't know that! :P)  Sean said the dish was really good.  The omelet thing is laid over a bed of greens and pan-fried potatoes.  Looks yummy!

Oh my, Daniel's eyes are so big! O_O

The Slinger

This is the Rooster Slinger!  On Yelp, I think this dish had its picture taken approximately 2839283 times.  :P  It's a thick piece of toast covered with sausage, pan-fried potatoes, topped with an egg, and smothered in gravy.  I was surprised at the chunky texture of the gravy.  I wonder what's in it?  Daniel couldn't finish it, so Sean and I ate some, and the potatoes and gravy are very flavorful and peppery :)

We finished lunch very satisfied and happy!  My only complaint was that no one came to refill my water glass :'(  Haha!~  It's nice to go and explore downtown-- I think it's fun!  Daniel and I were still full from Rooster around 8pm!!  The french toast doesn't look that filling, does it?  Hehe, but if you are in downtown St. Louis for breakfast or lunch, this place is definitely worth checking out ^_^  Nice view of the Victorian style architecture from the large, clean windows, cheery waiters/esses, and delicious and beautiful food! :D

Rooster
1104 Locust Street
St. Louis, MO 63102

First food adventures of the summer

St. Louis...  known for the BBQ, soul food, Cardinals, bipolar weather, and... now food trucks!  :D  There is an official food magazine called "Sauce," and I often see it gracing the front doors of the nice restaurants I visit. Anyways, their website just reminded me that there will be two Food Truck Fridays while I'm in St. Louis for the summer, one on June 8th and July 13th at Tower Grove Park, 5-8pm.  Hope I'll be there (and how about you? :D)!

Anyways, I visited my second food truck in St. Louis, Guerrilla Street Food.  They sell Filipino-inspired food on a menu that changes regularly.  I'm happy, because they serve rice dishes! ^^v  I walked to the intersection on the lookout for lunch, and my nose and eyes spotted two food trucks the moment I exited the building.  Yes!

The rugged Guerrilla Street Food

The sleek Sausage Syndicate

Guerrilla Street Food and the Sausage Syndicate.  People were walking past me with sausages on a bun and potato salad or chips on the side, and it was a happy sight.  However, I'm not a die-hard hotdog/sausage fan, and Guerrilla was serving RICE.  NOM NOM NOM :3  I joined the line, running through the menu in my head and trying to see what sounded the best for a first-time experience.  I ultimately chose the Flying Pig!

*very tempted to jump around in excitement while in line*

Although I like a little spicy, sriracha sauce makes me feel like I have a volcano in my mouth, a very unhappy volcano at that.  I saw a few patrons walk out with a box full, and I mean FULL-- they filled it all the way to the brim, of rice and shredded pork drizzled with sriracha and hoisin sauce.  Looked beautiful!~ @_@  I also saw people order their lumpias, or spring roll things 潤餅.  Will definitely try that in the future.

The current menu (always changing!)

Three out of the four people in front of me ordered the Flying Pig, which ended up being the box of rice and shredded pork.  They also had something called a "1 hour egg" on top.  :)  Egg!! <3  I asked for mine without sriracha, so I put a dollar tip in their tip jar for the extra effort (yes, yes, it's *less* effort to *not* put sriracha sauce on it, but it's customization off the menu!).  The Flying Pig was $7, so my lunch was $8.  Simon passed by and told me that food truck food is too expensive.  Yeah, I guess it *is* relatively expensive, but you're paying for the experience and atmosphere too, I think ^^''  They accept both cash and credit cards, which I thought was totally cool, because they had this little card reader sticking out of an.. iPad? / tablet thing and people were signing their names on the screen!

Anyways, I told Simon I'd be eating in the cafe area, so he went back to his lab to grab food that he brought from home.  While I was waiting for my order, I saw Brian.  He had a huge sausage bun thingie from Sausage Syndicate, and it turned out Simon was meeting with him for lunch, so we went ahead to the cafe place and sat down.  I whipped out the camera and started gushing about how excited I was about trying out Guerrilla Street Food and forced him to attempt a smile with his mouth full of Sausage Syndicate.  Haha!

Simon sat down at the table a short while later.  The Flying Pig was a huge portion, and both Simon and Brian agree that it's probably more worth the money than Sausage Syndicate.  Presentation was nice too (pretty!)~  :D  Anyhow, the pork was really tender and moist!  If you usually eat light, then the meat itself would suffice, but the hoisin sauce definitely added lots of flavor.  I bet the sriracha would have brought it up a whole 'nother notch!  *tempted to try it with sriracha in the future* ... *face falls off from over-spiciness*  Oh yeah, and I think the black sesame seeds add a nice visual effect even if I couldn't taste it ^^

The Flying Pig (sans sriracha sauce)

"1 hour egg" :)

The 1 hour egg turned out to be something like a poached egg.  The white outside was cooked, as was the yolk, but it was molten.  Mmm, a little more cooked than molten, more like creamy?  Anyhow, it was great! :)  I bet I ate 2 servings of rice by eating the dish, but it was soooo good.  ^__^  I'm excited to try their Adobe Chicken and lumpias.  I'll be in line next Thursday (hope this is a weekly spot, anyways!), Guerrilla Street Food!  They definitely set the bar for future food truck adventures :3  *nod nod*

Guerrilla Street Food
http://www.facebook.com/guerrillastreetfood

~*~

Since I've already talked about Seoul Garden twice now, I'll briefly run through dinner (I went to Seoul Garden XD)!  Jeremy invited me to eat with a bunch of people (yay, love meeting new people!), so I definitely didn't want to miss out~  There were three students I never seen before and met: Julie, Nolan, and Joyce.  It was funny, because when I first introduced myself, Julie was like... "You were in that video.  Se7en!"  And my jaw just dropped and I went Durrrr.... :P  I sat next to Julie and Nolan who were both self-proclaimed hermits, and I also joined the self-proclaimed hermit club, explaining that's probably the reason we've never seen one another before.  He he he~

Big group!

I didn't get the all-you-can-eat (thank God!) and ordered naengmyeon instead.  First time in my life :D  Caution:  This dish is extremely un-photogenic, thanks to the mirrored bowl it was served in...  but here's to give you a glance.  ^^''

Naengmyeon!

Korean Cold Noodles.  Yes, so cold in fact, that I saw ice sheets in my bowl!  Julie said she got it before with broth, but the server recommended the spicy version, so that's what I got.  When it came to the table, they cut up the noodles with scissors because they said they were too long.  I didn't quite understand what they meant until I took a big bite of noodles.  Oh myyy, soooo chewy that I had a jaw workout, and I was sure I was going to swallow the noodles whole or choke.  XD

The buckwheat noodles were topped with a huge slathering of gochujang, a few slices of beef, sprinkle of shredded chicken, a slice of Asian pear, pickled cucumber, and a hard-boiled egg.  Pretty yum :)  They also gave me a squeeze bottle of this clear liquid, warning me to use only a little.  I tried some on my spoon, and it tasted like vinegar.  I'll have to try the dish with the broth in the future.  Wonder if this is authentic?

Julie's actually a vegetarian, but she decided to take a break from her 2 year vegetarianism for one day at Seoul Garden to eat pork belly!  Hehe, so funny ^^

Taking a break from being a vegetarian... for one meal!

I demolished the side dishes and pork stew (no one was eating anything except the meat D:)...  When we went up to pay, Jeremy and Eric were still at the table noshing!  Haha, what a funny sight, I had to take a picture, and a few kiddos came in to join when I clicked the button.  Sorry for the blurriness >_<''

Get out of here!  ;)

... Okay that wasn't short at all, but I tried ;)

~*~

And to wrap up the week with something sweet, I bought lunch from a food truck called "Holy Crepe!" on Friday.  It's kind of silly, because after I ate at the Creperie in Clayton for the first time last year, I suggested to my friend that if they ever had a food truck, I would love it if they sold crepes.  And here my wish came true: a school bus mobile cooking up fresh crepes, both sweet and savory!  ^_^

It's kind of unique, because instead of the usual truck with the huge open space on the side, this was an old school bus.  They opened the windows to take orders and hand out their food.  I like the usual open space better, because it looks more comfortable and utilitarian :P  I'm going to be mean and say that I think Holy Crepe!'s truck looks kind of dinky, but they sell fresh crepes, so I can't complain!~~  <3

There were *3* food trucks at BJC today, Holy Crepe!, Hot Aztec, and Pi.  Since I've eaten at Pi's restaurant several times before, and I just came back from the land of TexMex, I decided on crepes.  I couldn't spy on people's food from Hot Aztec since their food came in styrofoam carryout boxes with lids, but their menu listed tacos, tortas, and bacon-wrapped hotdogs.  Pi sells only deep-dish pizza, but knowing Pi, I bet it's good.  I'll probably eventually try Hot Aztec and Pi, but it'll be difficult if Holy Crepe's hanging out with them on the same day ;)

Sweet or savory??  Ahhh so hard to decide, but sweet for this time, since last night I killed myself with savory Korean food and plopped into a food coma after I took a shower.  @_@  The menu had two sweet crepes, banana & nutella and strawberries & creme.  I wonder what their cream is made of?  They also offer fruit-infused lemonades (such as blackberry mint lemonade), which a lot of people ordered and looked refreshing ^^  I had been craving bananas for a week, so my lunch only cost $5!~ Should have brought my change pouch to tip them... Next time!  ... And there *will* be a next time >:O  *slams fist on non-existent table*

Patrons get to see their crepes made fresh, and it was fun watching the ingredients go into the crepe in the same order as the menu.  Someone got the "BLT," which had bacon, spinach, tomato, and spicy mayo, and the lady literally added them in that order :)  Then I saw her tear open a banana and use the whole banana (!) and squeeze nutella onto the crepe.  *drool*

They sprinkled powdered sugar on it and called out my name.  I love how food trucks to that.  The three food trucks I've bought from (Seoul Taco, Guerrilla Street Food, and Holy Crepe!) all ask for my name when I order and call me when the order's ready).  I guess it's to avoid confusion over who orders what, so I wonder what happens if I was the only one who ordered, with no one in front or behind me in line...

Anyways, I almost skipped with joy back into the building :P  The crepe was large and lumpy with its banana pieces, and it looked like a vulnerable pile of deliciousness dusted with powdered sugar <3  I grabbed a fork but no knife or napkin from the truck, so I was un-gracefully wiggling the fork through the crepe skin in effort to cut it and licking my lips ostentatiously like a lion / using my fist to wipe my mouth every 5 seconds.  Very lady-like ;D

The crepe was so good!  The skin was soft and tender, and it soaked up the nutella nicely, so each bite was like.. *bam! Nutella!*  :D  The banana was really yummy with the chocolate too.  Since it just came off the crepe stone thingie, the sauce was hot, and the bananas were softened and warm.  Yay!^^  The only thing stopping me from licking the Nutella off the paper plate after the crepe was in my tummy was the fact that I didn't have a napkin with me ;)

If you're looking for freshly made crepes for lunch or dessert, stop by Holy Crepe!~  You satisfy your sweet tooth and midday hunger with $5 , and their most expensive item is only $7.  There were quite a few people ordering the savory crepes, so I'm sure those are a hit.  I really like crepes, and I'm sure after you try Holy Crepe!'s creations, you will too!  :)

Holy Crepe!
https://twitter.com/#!/holycrepestl

Date with the housemates

This summer, I have new apartment-mates!  The girls are subleasing with Debra and Elaine, so they share a room right next to mine.  The day I came back, I asked them if they wanted to go eat dinner together the next night, so that I could show them a little bit of the Clayton area ^^  *actually has very little knowledge of the Clayton area*  haha!

I came back from swimming and took a furiously fast shower before jumping into their room and declaring that I was ready to go eat.  Haha~  :P  We went to Clayton and walked down a few streets with the restaurants, and I got to see so many new ones!  They're not actually new, but if I happen to pass by these streets during the school year, it's always by car, so I never get to take a good look at them.  This time, we walked to each restaurant and looked at their menu.  Using a group effort, we decided on John P. Field's!  What an interesting name for a restaurant, right?

Dining right outside!

The weather was nice, so we asked for a table outside.  You have to call the servers from the bar to help you out though, I think if we continued standing at the door, we would have waited until the restaurant closed ._.''  The waiters/esses are really nice!

Liz is excited for some nice food

And Hannah's enjoying the weather

Liz and I were both craving some fish and chips, so that's what we ordered.  We actually had identical orders, because you get to choose a side and if you wanted potato chips or fries, and we ordered fries and vegetables.  Because if you get fish and chips, you want fish and chips!  (Chips is "french fry" in Britain!)  :D 

Hannah ordered a burger from their menu.  The burgers all look really tasty, and most of them are 1/2 lbs!  :)  I'm curious / want to try a sandwich with au jus dipping sauce.  Does that really make it taste better?  They also had cool appetizers like fried pickles!

John P. Field's also has a seating area in the back with space heaters when needed.  It's fenced off and private with three or so tables and a cozy space with porch chairs and couches.  There was a couple drinking casually in the back and I didn't want to be creepy and take a picture of them, so you get a picture of the couches! ;)

There are also booths and tables inside, but almost everyone indoors was seated at the bar.  Haha, it seemed very typical, men at the bar watching sports after work.  The bartender seemed really friendly, and they were all smiling and chatting away :D  Liz suggested we come back and sit at the bar to watch the 2012 Olympics at London this summer!  Haha!  I can't even imagine the three of us... eating fries or something at the bar with the men there XD

Liz said that the service was slow, but our food came out all at the same time.  Hannah's burger was really cute, and the cheese melted perfectly on the patty.  Neither runny or plastic-looking!  Mm, looks really good ^^

Liz and I got the same fish and chips, and I took a bad picture, because the two pieces of fish are actually a lot bigger than they look!  It's just that the portion of fries was so generous that it overwhelms everything on the plate ^^''  (I finished them D:)  The fish was excellent; even after sitting there for a while, the second piece was still crispy.  Inside, the fish was tender and steam would escape when you first bit into it.  The beer-battered fish was golden brown and nicely seasoned.  I could taste the pepper and salt :)  And I love, love, LOOOOVE tartar sauce!  I was dipping both the fish and the fries into it.  Liz said that their tartar sauce was definitely above average, since she usually doesn't like it but she liked John P. Field's!

Ooh, and the fries were nicely seasoned too!  I guess that's why there's no ketchup.  Perhaps there are bottles on the tables inside~  Hannah said they were really salty, but I just thought they were delish :D  The dish came with coleslaw, which was good, but I can't really say much more (not hard-core coleslaw fan).  I think there might have been too much mayo (kind of liquidy?), but the veggies were crisp and flavorful.

Fish and Chips!

We talked about some random stuff like dorms and cameras just to get to know one another a bit more :)  Turns out Hannah's undecided but likely to follow the biochemistry track like me.  And Liz and I are both foodies at heart and food picture-takers!  Since I'm taking digital photography in the fall and she's looking to replace her old camera, we'll be browsing the web for what cameras to look for ^^

Yep, yep, so if you're in the Clayton area and want some comforting grub in either a pub setting or casual atmosphere, try John P. Field's!  Hannah and Liz actually favored the restaurant more, since the prices were "more normal" (not as expensive as all the other Clayton restaurants!)~  :D  Try the fried pickles and tell me how they are ;)

JP Field's Pub & Restaurant

26 North Central Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63105

I'm glad we made it a date in Clayton for dinner!  Not only did we get to chat, but I got to walk around the restaurant area too ^w^

~*~

Totally off topic, but I *just* realized where Volkswagon got its logo from.  Did anyone else realize that the logo comprises of a V sitting atop a W?? @_______@  *mind blown*  I thought it was just some random, geometric design!  Got this picture via Google images:

Spending the last of break with family

Getting tired of family dinner pictures?  No?  me neither, because the food is always so, so good ^^b  ... And I'm back in St. Louis and missing eating at home already!  This time it’s eggplant, blanched Chinese broccoli, tofu, and tea eggs.  The tea eggs were from the charity fair, and my parents cooked up the others.  I love soft eggplant and tofu! <3  Yayyy, so happy~

Tofu tofu tofu <3

Hrmmm?  What's this?  (The culprit is somewhere in this picture!)

After stuffing myself for dinner, I combed Balto with his special “fur-minator” brush.  It’s really good at getting his coat nice and shiny!  :D  I felt like I took 5 pounds of fur off his body, and I wonder if he feels relieved.   I combed him in the backyard, so when I was done it looked like a pillow had exploded.  Then Bacardi came to inspect the scene and the two ran around the backyard for a bit.  I’m glad that we have both Balto and Bacardi.  Before Bacardi joined the family, I bet Balto was lonely.  Seeing them play together makes me happy.  :)

Two doggies zip by!

And Balto stops to inspect his handiwork ;)

Stomping around in glee

Bacardi joins the scene

Evil snickering and laughing

"I am 10 lbs lighter and feel so freeeeee!  Wahahahaaa!"

And that's how I would think they're acting ;)  The two of them actually rolled around in the fur for a bit, which isn't as bad as my friend's dog (Brownie), who rolls on dead squirrels, tee hee~  @_@

I met up with Michael at the park to walk our dogs.  We haven’t seen each other in around two years!  I decided to take Balto, since Bacardi would have probably barked the jibbies out of Brownie (Michael’s toy poodle).  On the way there, I felt really embarrassed, because Balto was super excited and literally pulling me everywhere! >_<  I had to lean my body the other way to keep from being dragged around, and after he took a dump, it was like a battle while I was attempting to pick up his doo doo with a bag and he was running towards the other direction!

My workout for the day was the ten minutes we tug-of-war-ed to our meeting spot at the park.  Then Balto got tired and we sat on the grassy field together.  It was nice.  He’s taller than me when we sit down together, and I felt like he was my boyfriend. Hehehe!  What a handsome stud <3  .. but the drooling all over me is really a turn off ;)

I talked to Balto for a while, and he took in the scene of the playground, pool, and woody areas.  A few bunnies bounded away into the safety of the bushes when Brownie appeared.  Then I saw Michael following close behind.  Haha, such a silly sight—he’s so tall and Brownie’s this itty bitty little white fluffball.  :P

We tried introducing Balto and Brownie, and Balto was so excited that I had to sit on him to keep him from pouncing on her!  Brownie was set off the leash and she retreated a few feet before just sitting there and staring at Balto.  He was whining and I felt bad :(  But eventually, we set off on a walk with Balto and me walking in front and Michael and Brownie following cautiously behind. 

By the time we got to the big park, Balto was tired and I could walk him without flexing my biceps :P  That’s when I love walking Balto—when he’s tired and easy to walk!  The park had a water fountain with a spout for humans and a spout below for doggies, sooo cute!  Balto literally took 5 minutes to drink, and Michael was like, “Brownie, want some water?  *Balto goes back to the fountain when Brownie approaches*  Uhm.. maybe not….”  Hehe, sorry Brownie!  ^_^’’  We sat together on a small hill, and Michael let Brownie loose to chase squirrels for a bit.  She’s so cute :3  Like a bounding rabbit frolicking in the meadows. 

When it got dark, we walked back to our neighborhood and said bye-bye.  I'll definitely be calling him up for another dog walk :)  Balto gets to meet his new girlfriend friend! ^^  Hehe, don't tell Bacardi ;)  I ran back to our house with Balto beside me and it felt wonderful.  Night was upon us, so it was dark and I could barely see what was down the street, but with Balto by my side, I wasn't afraid at all.  Balto and I were exhaling with each step together, while the cars passed by and graced us with their headlights.  Maybe it was the fact that I hadn't run in so long and that Balto was jogging beside me, but I love that feeling :D

"Ahh, but really, thanks Wendy for combing me <3"

~*~

What break at home would be complete without a family meal?  Like... *whole* family, including my sister! Connie loves, loves, loves sushi, and I didn't really know what restaurant to pick, so I chose one that would please my whole family!  Connie loves sushi, Daddy loves restaurants where you pay at the counter instead of afterwards, Mommy loves red bean soup and trying things she doesn't usually eat, and I like... food.  YAY!  So Hokkaido Sushi it is!  (Actually, the restaurant's name is technically Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant, but their sign says otherwise!)

Hokkaido Sushi is a Japanese restaurant literally tucked into one of the corners of the Diho plaza in Chinatown.  The red Chinese letters on the right mean "Hokkaido!" :D  Inside, the restaurant is very simple and clean, and they have a self-serve area where patrons grab utensils, water or tea, and free miso soup while waiting for the food to come out and red bean soup as dessert.  I like self-serve water!  Usually I'd feel bad for waiters coming every 5 minutes to refill my cup or be annoyed when my cup has been empty for a while, but with self-serve, I can get water whenever I want (and walk around a bit :P)!  Hehe~

There's a TV, but no one really watches it.  I think its for people who come alone, which is likely quite common, as this part of Chinatown is right next door to two high schools :3  

My parents said business was slow that day, because the few times they had come before, the room was bustling with people.  They also commented that all of Chinatown was pretty empty.  Hmm, wonder why?  :O  *US economy explodes*

Interior

The miso soup is delicious-- not too salty or bland, with a generous amount of tofu and seaweed

Octopus salad

Eep!  Don't freak out!  That's octopus.  I think they blanched it before tossing with a pickled cucumber salad.  The octopus is really chewy. It was kind of funny, because I'm a slow eater (my excuse is that I was busy taking pictures and getting utensils for the table!!), and by the time I finished chewing my first piece of octopus and looked at the salad, my family had finished it all!  XD  And my jaw muscle got a big workout *sore*  But the taste is good...  Is octopus supposed to be this chewy?  I liked the cucumbers, it had a bit of sesame oil and vinegar, slightly crunchy :)

Seaweed salad

I managed to nab two chopstick-fulls of this!  Hokkaido's seaweed salad isn't overtly sweet, which is definitely a plus compared to the sugared seaweed salad I have at school (the liquid at the bottom of the containers are radioactive green and looks suspiciously like corn syrup!).  This is one of my sister's and my favorite Japanese foods ^^

Agedashi tofu

Deep fried silken tofu in tentsuyu broth and sprinkled with bonito flakes!  I like eating this right when it hits the table, because if you wait any longer, the broth makes the crispy/crunchy skin soggy.  It's the combination of crispy outer shell and hot, soft tofu inside that makes this dish delightful!  I wonder why they don't just serve the tofu and have the sauce on the side.. :o  The bonito (fish) flakes add a lot to the flavor as well as presentation.  They dance with the air currents / steam coming off of the freshly fried tofu!  Here's a clip where you can hear my sister talking, hehe:

Two types of fish!  Both grilled to juicy perfection :)

Okay, I'm going to confess that I never get my Japanese fish straight, so I don't know the Japanese names for them.  Soba something??  I know the bottom one is beltfish, and I think the above is mackerel.  They are grilled so that the outside skin is dry and crispy, while the interior is still juicy.  Love it!  There are parts of the beltfish that are naturally bitter, so I like the mackerel more.  Yummyyyy <3

4 Sushi rolls

My sister's the sushi expert, so she ordered a four rolls.  I recall a "Shaggy dog," but that's as far as my memory goes >_<  Three of them had either fried soft shell crab or tempura shrimp, which I'll eat, but secretly don't think belongs beside fresh fish :P  And CREAM CHEESE?  Why is that even inside sushi?!  But one piece with the cream cheese is good, after that, I'm poking it out onto my plate and giving my shrimp tempura pieces to my mom ;)

These rolls were so boldly flavored that I didn't even use soy sauce or wasabi while I ate.  I think I'm starting to acquire a taste for sashimi (although I could never go full out and order sashimi by itself!) :D  There was a lot of sauce and rice seasoning on top of the rolls that added to the flavor.  I was excited when there was avocado, eel, or shrimp laid out on top! ^^

Afterwards, we all got a bowl of red bean soup.  Mmm, nom nom~  I like the sweetness of the soup by itself, and the beans aren't too smushy or still uncooked... just right!  I think they probably add in a can (or homemade!) of red bean paste to give the soup a delightful texture.

Hokkaido sushi is definitely a place to go if you want to enjoy Japanese food for cheap!  They offer other dishes like lunch box bentos and tonkatsu, but sushi is pretty cheap :)  With the four appetizers and four sushi rolls (ANNNND the complimentary miso soup and red bean soup), our family of four paid $55, which includes the tax.  The outside of the restaurant may look small and insignificant, but the sushi and food here is bold, flavorful, and delicious!  <3

Hokkaido Japanese Restaurant

9108 Bellaire Blvd, Suite B

Houston, TX 77036

Before heading back home, Mommy and I visited Twinkle again for some drinks and sweets.  We had a card stamp for a free drink, so my mom paid for a mango flavored ice treat while I got my mung bean slush for free :D  It's still quite expensive though!  The ice was $4.50 including tax!

Mango ice!  The ice itself is already frozen with mango puree, so they just shave it...

... resulting in a sticky, creamy texture!

My mung bean slush was wayyyy too milky this time.  It was like drinking milk with bits of mung bean floating around :(  No slushie/icy texture.  This is one of Twinkle's downfalls-- no quality control.  My last drink was fantastic, but this time's was way different.  I guess that's what I get for a free drink ._.''  But still, milk is good, I'll just remember to fill half my cup with mung bean before they fill it up with the drink!  For those that don't know, Twinkle lets you add unlimited / whatever toppings available at their toppings bar to your drink before they add in the liquid.  There's a max limit recommended, otherwise you wouldn't be able to add in the actual drink.  I usually don't add anything... er, okay, well I add in one fruit-flavored boba just to try it or something, but I don't think that counts ^^

Haha, I just realized that whenever we get a drink for the ride home, it's like I'm a little kid.  They buy me a drink to keep me busy and quiet XD  I guess not totally true, since I finish the drink before we even hit the highway, but afterwards I just plop over and fall asleep on the seat!

Mmm, milk with mung bean bits green bean/ mung bean slushie <3

And there went my break at home!  I'm back in St. Louis (hot, hot St. Louis D:), but I plan to be exploring the area while I can... that means more restaurant adventures!  ;)