Nozomi

My son discovered this little gem in Torrance and it's been 2 years since I was there last.  My only friend that likes sashimi is Yvonne. I told her about Nozomi and how good it was, but we never found time to go until a few days ago. We sat at the bar for convenience since we had planned to have the Omakase- the Chef's choice. Yvonne talked me into having a beer. She claimed that was the only thing good that goes well with sashimi and sushi. I am not a beer drinker but I was game. We split a large bottle of Asahi. She was right. They started us with a Miso Soup and their House Salad; both delicious, and a dual gateway to the coming feast.

This time, instead of serving us the sashimi one at a time, they had them all laid out on a plate. Yvonne and I had one each which was overwhelming when you get to see them all together. I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture of the plate. I ended up calling that afternoon and speaking to our server, Jenny and asking her if she would be so kind as to take a photo of the Omakase plate and send it to me. Her manager Shoko did a wonderful job of fulfilling my wish. Each and every piece of sashimi was mouth watering especially my favorite, the uni. It was my lucky day because it turned out that uni is the only item that Yvonne does not like, so I got to eat hers. It's almost as if I heard a chorus of angels singing "Hallelujah" as she dumped hers on my plate.

Everything was perfect; but if I were to critique something, it would be the fact that they served all the pieces in one plate instead of one at a time. The reason being, we would have more time to savor everything as opposed to stuffing each one after another in our mouths, leading us to miss the anticipation of guessing what was to come next. Although the Sushi Chef told us the names of the fish as he presented the plates to us, we immediately forgot which was what. I must mention that their fish comes directly from Tukiji and Fukuoka, Japan.

Nozomi is located at 1757 W. Carson St. #L in Torrance, California.

Golden Peach Honey Mascarpone Cronut

Last month's cronut flavor from Dominique Ansel (father of the original cronuts) was Guava Passion Fruit. It was truly out of this world. I knew that July's flavor was going to be peach honey mascarpone so I  made plans to get a few of the cronuts. I had friends put in their orders from me. The only problem is that there is a limit on how many of these babies you can buy. If you recall from my last blog, they didn't want to sell me 8 cronuts but I begged and pleaded since I drove all the way from Palos Verdes. I was told that you could place an order on the website which I looked into right away. The next problem is you could order 6. I had my friend Sujata order the 6 ( which were really for me and my friends that placed orders), and I ordered 6 as well.

My plan was to have lunch at Dominique Ansel and after lunch, we were going to buy however many cronuts they can sell us and only after that would we give our receipts to pick up our prepaid cronuts. There were no lines when we finished our lunch which was a good sign. They would hopefully sell us more than the allowed 2 per person. I asked for 4 and it was not a problem. Sujata ordered 4 as well. The cronuts were beautiful and I couldn't wait to try one but I had to restrain myself and wait till I got home.

The cronut was very good, still better than all the cronuts I have had in the past but I must say that it did not surpass the Guava Passion Fruit Cronut; last months' flavor. If you haven't had the guava passion fruit, you will still like this one. Though the peach jam was delicious, it lacked the tang that the guava had.

Let me give you an idea of what is involved in buying a few of the cronuts: I pack a couple of coolers in the trunk of my car and put some of the prepacked frozen ice. I strategize the timing. We have an early lunch so we can get the cronuts and leave the Grove ASAP.   As soon as I get home I very carefully wrap each cronut in parchment paper and then put them in Ziploc freezer bags. I then make my calls to people that may want to pick up their loot. I had 3 people come and they had planned to eat theirs for dessert after dinner. I talked them into having it at my home while still fresh. It was nice seeing their reaction. My labor was well worth it.

Dominique Ansel Bakery is located at the Grove on Fairfax by the Farmer's Market.

Trader Joe's Cold Brew Coffee Chocolate Bar

I bought this chocolate bar a week ago but just tried it yesterday. If you hate coffee or anything coffee flavor then this will be your worst nightmare so stop reading and carry on to whatever important thing you were doing. However, if you love coffee then I suggest you head on to your nearest Trader Joe's and get several bars.

The coffee bar with cold brew coffee and caramel filling is really the best. You can just have one square as a dessert, ( I had two) and it will or should satisfy your sweet cravings.  It isn't sweet but rather bold, like drinking a strong cup of coffee. The ingredients list unsweetened chocolate, cold brew coffee concentrated blend, espresso powder, and even ground coffee beans.  It's enough to grow hair on your chest!

One-third of a bar is one serving.  A serving has 150 calories. It even has 4% Vitamin D, 14% Iron, 2% Potassium, 7% Fiber, 0 Sodium and yes some fat, 13%.  They say dark chocolate is good for you and so is coffee, just don't eat a lot of it especially late at night or you may not be able to fall asleep.

Saturday Night at Bettolino Kitchen

I made a reservation for two last Saturday at Bettolino in Redondo Beach. Berenice who was visiting from San Diego has never been there so I thought that would be a good place for her to try. I was happy to see Sonia, my favorite server greet us. She introduced us to Jared who was to be our server. I was disappointed she wasn't going to be our server but the good news is she is now a manager which I was very happy to hear.

We started with warm bread served with olive oil and herbs which always taste better with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Berenice loved the bread and could not stop eating it. I warned her that she wouldn't be able to eat her entrée if she kept eating the warm bread. We split a Caesar Salad and ended up having the Polipo alla Griglia, the grilled octopus. I always get excited when I'm with someone who doesn't cringe at the sight of tentacles. Berenice commented on the fact that she was getting full and that was just before Jared asked us if we wanted more bread. She was about to say yes but I said "no" and had him take the last bread away! You should have seen Berenice's face. It was like taking candy from a baby.

For our entrée, we agreed to split 2 kinds of pasta. We ordered the Pansotti; lump crab stuffed pasta with pink vodka sauce and the Tortelloni Al Limone; spinach & ricotta stuffed pasta with lemon, cream sauce, and fresh herbs. Jared had to warn us about the Tortelloni: "You have to like lemon since it has a strong lemon flavor". I wouldn't have it any other way! Both pasta dishes were very good. I especially liked the Tortelloni. If you like lemon, you will absolutely love this dish. I can't wait to go back and have it again....that's how good it was.

It is customary to have dessert but we were really too full since we finished everything. We were total pigs because of the fact that we had a big lunch at Lunasia, the dim sum restaurant in Pasadena earlier. Berenice who isn't easily impressed since she once owned the restaurant Cafe Cego's with her husband in Rolling Hills, loved the restaurant.

Bettolino Kitchen is located at the Riviera Village in Redondo Beach, California.

Lunasia Dim Sum House

Berenice and I were invited to Lunasia Dim Sum House in Pasadena yesterday.  Her old friends, Gloria and her husband Tony picked the restaurant. Though they live in the valley, they do get around when it comes to the best Chinese food. I have never been to this restaurant before and I was informed that the original one is located on Main St. in the city of Alhambra.

It was very busy at 11:15 a.m. We were seated upstairs. Tony insisted we pick out what we wanted from the extensive menu. Both Berenice and I unanimously decided to have Tony and Gloria do the picking since they were the experts. Tony wanted to order everything. We practically had to hypnotize him to listen to us to just order a few.

One of their specialties is the Jumbo Pork Siu-Mai and the Jumbo Shrimp Har-Gow. We, of course, had to have that. The only thing I wanted for sure was some Yang-Chow Fried Rice to go with everything. They ordered the Lunasia Spare Ribs, Deep Fried Tofu, and some Chicken Lettuce Wrap. Everything was truly delicious. Gloria and Tony are truly experts in Chinese food!

We did our best to eat everything but we failed. The service was o.k. It seems the men were better than the women. We asked one of the lady servers if she could take our picture and she pretended not to know how to work a camera and was just plain rude. When we asked one of the men to do it, he was nice enough to indulge but he had a pitcher of water on the other hand which he tried to hand to one of the lady servers and she flat out refused and gave him a dirty look!

We really did not have room for dessert but Tony insisted we have something. He ordered the Mango Pudding and some Sesame Balls. Both were again delicious.

Our host and hostess insisted we take the leftovers. They even wanted to order more food for us to take home! Thank you, Gloria and Tony, for a wonderful feast!

Three Ingredient Spaghetti Sauce

I came across this recipe on the Internet. It was too good to be true that only 3 ingredients were needed to make this spaghetti sauce. Canned whole peeled tomatoes, 1 medium sweet yellow onion, butter and salt of course (4 counting the salt).

I made this sauce about a month ago but I cheated. I added some mushrooms which were already sautéed in butter and Mirin sauce. I also added some red wine and added more butter than what was called for.  The result was quite good; in fact, better than expected. Yesterday, I decided to follow the recipe which I did except for the butter. I did use a stick or maybe a bit more of the butter. In my eyes, you can never overdose on butter.

Cora was to be my guinea pig. I did warn her that this was an experiment and she was still game. I served a green salad with the spaghetti and some French bread. Cora thought it was very good. I thought it was good considering how simple it was to make with only 3 ingredients. The question is will I make it again? Yes, but I would definitely add more ingredients and would probably not discard the onions but dice them and incorporate them with the sauce.

If you are interested in the original recipe, see below. Try it, you might like it.

Fresh Cream Bread

My friend Cindy gave me a loaf of Fresh Cream Bread. What is it? It's bread with, yes you guessed it, heavy cream in it. So how can this not be good?

The other day, I toasted 2 pieces and put some butter and added slices of Danish Butter Cheese. The cheese which I purchased at Alpine Village in Torrance is wonderful. It's creamy and yes it tastes buttery. I cooked the sandwich in the toaster oven and boy was it very good. The only thing that could have made it better was perhaps adding some Gruyere cheese to make it salty.

For breakfast this morning I decided to make scrambled eggs with truffle salt. I had a toasted slice of Cream Bread with butter and Kir Royale Brunch Jam which was almost the perfect breakfast. I say almost because it would have been better with some bacon which I did not have.

Fresh Cream Bread can be purchased at Paris Baguette located at 403 N. Pacific Coast Hwy. #104 in Redondo Beach, California.