Author Archives: Administrator

Burke Williams Spa and Jody Maroni’s

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I spent a relaxing morning at the Burke Williams Spa. For Christmas, Ron presented me a package of pregnancy massages and this was my first visit. I’ve had one previous massage while pregnant at La Biang Thai where they have you lie on your side. At Burke Williams, they have a special pillow that has a cut-out in the center for your chest and belly and you are supported by your shoulders and thighs. It was so comfortable! I miss being able to sleep on my stomach… I wish I could get one of those pillows for home!

Included with the pregnancy massage is a complimentary milk bath. It’s a private bath with or without jacuzzi jets and they supply you with cucumbers for your eyes, an ice cold towel, ice cold water to drink, and a platter of fresh cut fruits. It was lovely, I almost fell alseep. The tub is the perfect size for me too so that I’m not in danger of drowning if I slip down too far. I’m looking forward to my next few sessions before baby makes his appearance.

Ron met me for lunch so we just went downstairs to the food court of Westfield. We ended up at Jody Maroni’s which is a sausage sandwich place. It’s in the corner on the Bloomingdale’s side.

I ordered the Kobe Beef Hot Dog… just thought it sounded interesting. It is served on an onion roll. I missed bread… I didn’t allow myself to eat the whole thing though. I couldn’t really tell it was Kobe Beef, just tasted like regular beef so I don’t think I’d pay the extra cost the next time around.

Ron ordered the chicken pomegranate sausage with garlic fries. The sausage is served with grilled onions and peppers. A bit sweet and spicy.

After my morning massage I had a lot more energy, I did four loads of laundry, cleaned up the house, baked, and did some sewing. It was a nice way to end the long weekend.

Green Tea and Chocolate Madeleines

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I attempted to make healthy madeleines for our NYE dinner dessert but they didn’t quite turn out as I would’ve liked. But thought I’d share my experiment.

I purchased the green tea (matcha) powder from Lupicia, which is around $15 for 100 grams, so that I could try this green tea madeleine recipe found here. I won’t post what I did (unless someone really wants to know) until I tweak it a bit to make it more acceptable. The cookies turned out a bit dry and not quite enough green tea flavor.

I originally was going to make lavender madeleines but then changed them to chocolate using dark chocolate cocoa powder. These also turned out a bit dry, perhaps due to overbaking. Using agave nectar, you’re supposed to bake a bit longer but I think I may have overdone it and dried out the cake.

In these recipes I tried using whole wheat flour and agave sweetener to make them healthier but I will continue to experiment and hopefully come out with a better tasting madeleine.

Capital Restaurant & Yogurt Circle

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Ron and I had lunch in Chinatown today at Capital Restaurant. He said they are famous for their salt & pepper chicken wings so we ordered that plus a bowl of BBQ pork wonton noodles.

The chicken wings were nice and crispy and very salty and peppery (a bit too much for me). The meat was very juicy and tender.

The noodles were a bit overcooked for me, I like them al dente but the broth was good and the wontons decent. The BBQ pork was a bit fatty but then Ron said he might have eaten all the non-fatty pieces.

Overall it was an okay lunch but I’m just not that big a fan of salt & pepper chicken wings. The restaurant seemed clean and overall the service was efficient.

Finding ourselves in Daly City, we had a snack at Yogurt Circle at Westlake Shopping Center. Now that I’ve discovered that frozen yogurt has less carbohydrates than I originally thought, I’ve been sort of craving for it since I can’t really eat too much ice cream (too much lactose and sugar). It’s 39 cents per ounce self serve so I chose mango tart and strawberry-banana yogurt topped with mochi and slivered almonds, this bowl was about $2.50.

They also have a stamp card for buy 6, get the 7th bowl free. I might be back…

Capital Restaurant
839 Clay Street

Yogurt Circle
500 Westlake Shopping Center
Daly City, CA

Ringing in the New Year

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We rang in the new year at our friends’ condo in SOMA. On their rooftop we could see a bit of the fireworks (although there was a taller condo in front that partially obstructed our view). Just a few pictures to share.

With the ladies in our friends’ kitchen just finishing up our new year’s eve meal (before they get to playing poker).

View of the city before the fireworks.

Happy New Year!

I love the smiley face ones.

Enjoying a bubbly drink.

Happy 2010! What are your new year’s resolutions?

New Year’s Eve Lunch at Hukilau

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http://www.dahukilau.com/

I worked a half-day today and Ron came to pick me up from work to have lunch. We ended up at Hukilau which is a few blocks from where I work and also a few blocks from where we used to live. Even though we used to live close by, we’ve never eaten here although I have tried their catered food at a few parties.

Since it was sort of a holiday, they were kind of closed by 2:30pm but they opened the door for us to let us have lunch. Very nice of them.

I ordered the chicken katsu with a green salad (with papaya seed dressing) and macaroni salad. ($9.50) The chicken katsu was so crispy and delicious and their katsu sauce nice and tangy. I just love macaroni salad and I think this was better than when we were in Hawaii, a lot of the plate lunches you get in Hawaii always seem to be a bit oily.

Ron ordered the teriyaki short ribs with rice and macaroni salad. ($12.00) The ribs had a nice char and were sweet and sticky. The short ribs had quite a bit of fat on them, it tasted good but probably not good for your cholesterol.

These were big plate lunches so we couldn’t finish the whole thing. We had one rib left over with some rice and I had most of a piece of the chicken katsu remaining for leftovers. When you first enter the restaurant, there is a bit of an antiseptic smell (but at least that means it’s clean) but after you sit down and start listening to the music, you feel almost transported to mini vacation in Hawaii.

Next time we go (I’m sure we’ll be back), they have great weekday drink specials and we’re going to try their SPAM musubi. We saw the daughter of one of the workers carrying a delicious looking SPAM musbui in her hand so asked the father if they serve it, his reply was “what kind of Hawaiian restaurant would we be if we didn’t serve SPAM?” What an appropo answer!

Hukilau
5 Masonic Ave