Salt and Camembert Cookies

My brother Gary gave me 2 pieces of these cookies. He bought them in Japan and told me they were very good and very expensive. I opened one right there and then and had a bite. It took 3 seconds from my first bite of the crunchy cookie to suddenly realize I was in heaven. The creamy Camembert cheese inside had the beautiful flavor of what you would expect from the cheese.

When I got home, I immediately googled the brand name to see where I can purchase these wonderful cookies. The company that makes it is Tokyo Milk Cheese Factory. You can purchase them in Japan. Since I have no plans to go to Japan in the near future, I surfed the Internet and found out you can order them at Amazon. They sold it for $26.57 for only 10 pieces plus shipping. That's a bit too expensive so I looked some more till I found a store named Snakoo which sold them for $15.99 for 10 pieces plus shipping. This was still expensive but considering it was a lot less than $26.57, it was a great deal.

Meantime, I will check the local Japanese stores in my area to see if they are selling these cookies. If I find them locally in the Los Angeles area, I will let everyone know.

Umenoya Ramen

Two weeks ago on a cold night, Sandi and I craved for something that would warm us fast. Coming from the 5 p.m. mass, we thought of Ramen. We have never been to Umenoya which was right around the corner from her house.  This place gets a zero when it comes to ambiance. It's tiny and is located is a small strip mall with very limited parking space. At 6 p.m. we had to only wait a couple of minutes.

We checked out the menu. There was Gyoza, Russian Roulette; which meant one of them would be super spicy. We didn't feel that adventurous; besides we didn't know if their Gyoza was any good so we just ordered the 4 pieces. They were super delicious, a bit crunchy outside and soft inside. I think we could have eaten 4 each easily.

The ramen we got was the Shoyu Ramen which had flavored egg, bamboo shoot, onion and dried seaweed. The pork was very tender and had some good fat in it. If you are a health nut who cringes every time you see or hear fat, then this is not for you. The broth was wonderful. So far this is the best Ramen we both have had, and we have had a few.

We can't wait to go back and discover the many different items on their menu. The quality and taste of the food made up for the lack of ambiance at Umenoya. Their address is 24222 Crenshaw Blvd. In Torrance. They are closed on Sundays and open Monday to Friday from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm. On Saturdays, they open at noon.

New Years Day Party 2017

What better way to celebrate the new year than inviting my friends. Dinner would have been to complicated so I just had appetizers and dessert of course!

What's a celebration without champagne. Napoleon Bonaparte supposedly once said:" Champagne; in victory one deserves it, in defeat one needs it". New Year's Day is victory, we all conquered 2016!

We had numerous appetizers. I ordered the wonderful chicken wings from Wing Stop. I have to mention that the 2 best flavors are the Louisiana Rub and the Lemon Pepper. You also have to order it well done to make it extra crispy. Mertz brought her famous crostinis; one with the bacon and one with pears. Both were delicious. Potato macaroni with veggies were from Paradise Hut. Sandi made her famous meatballs and I opened my last jar of Salsa Funghi & Tartufi from Rome. There was the usual cheese, prosciutto and crackers as well as salsa with cheese. I fried some Weisswurst and served it with a nice mustard.

Dessert was a beautiful chocolate cake from Vie de France. I had some Alfajores from B.K. Bakery which is always a hit. Cindy bought Jill's (sister-in-law) famous cookies. I also had the Belgian Truffles from Sam's which are the best but only sell them during the holidays.

I don't know about everyone else but most were too full to have any dinner. We all started the year very happy. CHEERS!

Pajama Party; Day After Christmas

I had enough left overs from Christmas dinner so I decided to invite some friends. I wanted it to be a relaxing evening and since I was serving left overs, it seemed appropriate for the guests to come in their pajamas. Luckily my friends are always game and equally as crazy as I am.

The menu was Pork Tenderloin and Spinach Prosciutto Lasagna. We had some hors d' oeuvres to start. Since there was not much work in the preparation of dinner other than to just heat the left overs, I thought it would be nice to show a little effort so I made a salad. For dessert, I bought individual Apple Tarts from Misto and served them with French Vanilla Ice Cream.

At the end of the evening, everyone left and went straight to bed.

Christmas Dinner 2016

Though we did not have snow outside on Christmas Day, we could see snow on the top of the San Bernardino mountains. It was cold outside, though not nearly as cold as the East Coast. It was a beautiful day!

I had forgotten how much work is involved in cooking for the holidays even if I tried to make a simple dinner. Pork Tenderloin with a black currant and vermouth sauce and a Spinach-Prosciutto Artichoke Lasagna was the menu. I didn't even bother with salad. 

For dessert, I had ordered an Ivory Gold Gateau (chocolate cake with white chocolate icing) from Neiman Marcus. The cake should have arrived Friday, the 23rd. The cake never made it. I started calling the afternoon of the 23rd and even the 24th only to be told they could not get hold of the vendor. Needless to say, I was very upset! Sandi had an apple strudel in her freezer from Mishi's Bakery so I ended up baking that for our dessert. There were no disasters aside from the original dessert MIA (missing in action).  

Picture time was repetitive. Everyone was not happy with themselves. We had to take several pictures. We could not remember the word you have to say to take a good picture. I recently read about the the best word to say but couldn't remember so Gary had to google which word; they had several...we tried them all but it was just hopeless. This was the end result.

Christmas Eve Dinner at Gary's

It was an evening of fun with people I don't see often.. I haven't seen my cousin Mike Guingona in a zillion years though he thinks it's just been a million. He and his wife Jackie and sister in law Niña and husband Steve brought  a big platter of delicious Paella which Niña made. My only complaint was I had to peel the shrimps.

I arrived at Gary's house early as usual. Only Ramon was there cooking the prime rib while everyone else was at the 5:30 p.m. vigil mass. I brought some chicken wings from Wing Stop which everyone loved. Aside from the usual cheese and crackers, Milena, bless her heart....brought a jar of the Black Truffle Pate which we all bought when we were in Paris. Her supply was long gone so she had purchased more in Hong Kong. There was Poke served in individual dishes, noodles, Salmon which Liz made, Mussels, and numerous desserts. The food is ALWAYS very good. Filipinos really take pride in their food and enjoy eating more than the average species.

I was first to leave the party at 11 p.m. as I had to drive home by myself. The party went on till 3 a.m. Christmas Eve at Gary's seem to come sooner and faster.  They say the older you get, the faster time flies and it sure is flying by on to the next year!

Island Princess Cruise Line

It was my first Princess Cruise ever. We were invited to travel through the Panama Canal with our friends who are elite members. Sandi and I thought it was a great deal for 19 days. It was a fun and very relaxing trip traveling and getting off sea ports in Huatulco, and Puerto Chiapas, Mexico, Puerto Questal in Guatemala, Puntarenas in Costa Rica where we actually fed Capucin monkeys and did a river cruise and saw the biggest crocodile ever which ate a whole calf. We also went to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and Manzanillo, Mexico on the way back. We did not get off the Panama Canal; we merely had the scenic cruising.

There is no doubt that the Island Princess is a nice ship. It has an indoor pool with a big skylight so it almost feels you're outside but protected from the sun and wind. The couple traveling with us made the trip a lot of fun as we played numerous card games. Watching a movie a night under the stars was magical especially as we munched on popcorn. The nightly shows were entertaining. The dancing was not so good as there were no men to dance with so Sandi and I danced together; neither of us are good leaders so we just did our own thing. I was not aware that the Princess Cruise Line was home to the "Love Boat", the famous television show in the 70's. Naturally, they had 1 episode a day all day playing in our state room. We had 3 formal night where the 4 of us had to get spiffy and that was fun.

The places we visited were interesting and pretty (not all but most). The excursions were very expensive so we ended up getting our own when we landed in the ports. There were lots of excursions which you are able to make deals and most of the time they were better than the ones arranged by the cruise lines.

The food was mediocre at best. There were a few nights when the food was actually very good. I must say they cooked lobster tails and shrimps perfectly. The steaks were a different story; often they were not tender. Most of the food lacked flavor. I don't know if this is because they cater to an older crowd who are probably on meds for high blood pressure, therefore on a low salt diet. The desserts were all very beautiful but tasteless. In the Provence dining room where we often dined for dinner, a server named Anna was outstanding. She was professional, speedy and had the biggest smile all the time. She was the main reason we dined there.  Her boss the manager, Idalecio Silva was a riot. He made us laugh constantly. We all thought he should have been the cruise director as he was always interacting with the passengers.

The couple traveling with us don't drink alcohol so when they got an invitation to a wine tasting event, they happily accompanied us to the room and they explained that since they don't drink, they wanted us to go on their behalf. Believe it or not, they declined their request. The four of us were appalled. That would not have cost them anymore. It would have made everyone happy including the 2 new passengers who were potential repeat passengers. Another time, as we dined in the main "cafeteria buffet", one of the managers approached us and told us they just received word that Princess won some award and because of this, they were celebrating and they invited us. He further told us they would be serving Dom Perignon champagne. I said: "That's very nice,,," I later found out that the invitation included a fee. I am sure that we probably would have just gotten a "sip" of the good champagne and the rest of it not so good. In fact, they had some reception for free one afternoon in which they served champagne. Sandi and I had a glass and we both looked at each other as the champagne was horrible, almost undrinkable.

Our friends who have been on multiple cruises with Princess agreed that the food on the "Island Princess" was not up to par. They have had better food. As for me and Sandi, I think this was our first and last cruise with any Princess. We are looking forward to a cruise with Oceania Cruise Line where Jacques Pépin has a restaurant. Some people may not understand that the biggest part of traveling is the food. Without good food, you might as well stay home!