Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother

There was a huge brouhaha following the publication of Amy Chua's memoir -- Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. And of course, I just had to read it myself, and see if Amy was a real Chinese tiger mom. Ok, here is the verdict. Yeah, she is a bit neurotic... but dammit, her daughters are lucky to have her as their mom.

I've likened parents to the soil that their children grow on. Their job is to instill skills and values in their children so that they'd be equipped once they leave the tiger den and into the wilderness...

Royal Wedding

Hello y'all... am getting ready for the royal wedding this Friday. Actually my secret plan is, while queenie and the rest of them are at the wedding, I am gonna usurp the throne. Yep I can see Britain being ruled by Her Royal Meowness, Princess Cat. See ya!

Ikko

Ikko in Costa Mesa is quickly becoming one of my favorite places for Omakase... Taro with crab meat and corn custard in a waffle shell.

Salad with noodles, achovies and flowers...

Egg custard with like a cup full of fresh crab meat, yum!

Beef and asparagus and crabmeat tempura, yeah, they probably caught a huge crab.

This was sooo good! Baby lobster tails, fresh, succulent. It's easy to overcook or undercook lobsters but these were perfect!

Sushi! The one on the far left is Kobe beef sushi, that was a first for me.

Night in Hollywood

Cube cafe... where we had agretti, very interesting vegetable...

Harvard and Stone...

Home, sweet home...

Sorry about the lack of posts lately, but I may just become a homeowner soon!  Yaaayyyyy!

Chicken Pho

Chicken pho, blood and innards and all, at Pho Nguyen Hue... nice meal to wrap up the weekend :)

Where is Cat?

Ahh, technology. I still remember the days when we printed on matrix paper... eeek, I am dating myself. Meow.

Diamond Jamboree

I love this place! It has all my favorite Asian food places... lalala... here is 85 degrees...

...and here is the ridiculous line, and it only grew longer! WTF. I went to Bon Epi instead. There were no lines and the proprietors are pretty nice :)

Your kitty cat striking a pose next to the pink Hi-Chew candy van. Yep, Diamond Jamboree Plaza is a little piece of Asian food heaven!

Tuna Mania

Tuna, tuna, how do I cook thee, let me count the ways...

Poached...

Tuna two ways, regular and toro...

Tuna with flippy tail and another kind of toro...

Hamachi? Ok, this is not tuna.

Oh I think this is the Hamachi. Hm. Not sure. Will the real Hamachi please stand up?

Marinated tuna. Chef told us not to dip in soy sauce. I said ok, then promptly dipped it in soy sauce. Eh, whatevers. This is a free country!

I love this dish. The chef really showed off his cutlery skills. It made eating this dungeness crab so easy and enjoyable. Nice presentation too.

Poached skatefish wing... the cartilage was edible. Good source of calcium.

giant clam and mushrooms.

Dessert! It was surprisingly delicious. The ice cream had an unsual vanilla taste, couldn't quite place it.

Strolled around a bit afterwards... merry go round.

Charming Dragor

Dragor is a seaside town near Copenhagen airport.

I love these roofs... look very Hobbit-ish.

This is the neighborhood restaurant.

It's warm and cosy inside.

Grilled scallops and cauliflower puree.

Lamb dish...

Cheeses. I am not a fan of cheese. But somehow I love cheese in Denmark.
I love how they put a crust of caramelized sugar on top of the brie cheese.

Creme Broulee! The brie cheese reminded me of creme broulee, so I had to have it for dinner and it was delicious.

When dinner was done... it was dark outside.