Grilled Salmon and Couscous

Happy Memorial Day weekend!  I'm spending my three days off....in my house.  Yup, I'm not in the mood to battle tourists and crazy traffic.  I did all my food shopping yesterday.  I'm well stocked and ready to spend three glorious days doing nothing but eating, watching movies, and playing my new favorite game, Diablo III.  Yeah, I'm a bum.  :D

I was looking through my Flickr photostream and found a backlog of photos that I never blogged about.  I think this weekend I'll be playing a little catch up.

This is my pan grilled lemon, basil salmon on top of a zucchini and feta cheese couscous salad.  Healthy and tasty!  Perfect for summer. 

Tako Cheena by Pom Pom

Today the hubs and I had lunch at a little restaurant called Tako Cheena.  This place is awesome.  It's an Asian and Latin fusion joint with a small menu filled with tasty specialty "takos", burritos, Asian hot dogs, and empanadas.

I ordered the Korean Beef, Asian braised beef, and Chinese BBQ Char Siu Pork Belly takos.  Each taco comes topped with mixed cabbage, fresh cilantro, and special sauces. 

My favorite was the Chinese BBQ pork belly tako.  Delicious!!!!  I washed everything down with an icy cold Coke straight from the bottle.

This place is a hidden treasure trove.  I'm so happy I found it.  Next time I'm ordering the Indian Butter Chicken burrito with a side of empanadas.  :D

Sushi Pyramid

Layers of fish, 2 types of roe, avocado, and rice on top of ponzu sauce

How cool is this sushi pyramid?!   I love it!

Snack Time!

Suntory barley tea and red bean cakes.

Japanese Candies

My friend @LovelyLanvin came back with a bunch of yummy chocolate and fruity snacks from Japan for me. ♡

My newest addiction….Korean Dramas!!!  This is City Hunter starring Lee Min Ho, based off the Japanese manga of the same name.

Taiyaki

Kanon: Ayu Tsukimiya’s favorite snack.

The first time I heard of taiyaki was in the anime, Kanon.   I had my first taste at a tiny taiyaki shop in JapanTown while on vacation in San Francisco, CA.  It's a light and crispy waffle like cake shaped like a fish with fillings such as sweet red bean paste, chocolate, or custard.  For my birthday this year, I bought myself a taiyaki pan from Amazon.com.  Pretty snazzy, eh?!?!

This is my stab at homemade taiyaki.  I cheated and used a shake and pour waffle mix and store bought sweet red bean paste.  A little too crispy on the edges but still tasted really good.  I have electric burners so it was a bit tricky.  I need more practice.  Happily, this is enough to tie me over until I can make another trip to San Francisco or go on my dream vacation to Japan.