When one of the teenagers declares, "High Tea at the Empress Hotel was the best thing about our vacation." you know it has to be something amazing. 

Why? Well, after all, it's the Empress Hotel and they've been doing this fabulously well since 1908. The tea room is a huge European-style salon and you are served on Royal Doulton china and silverware. It is Old-School Fancy.

Our server kindly explained that it's perfectly fine to use one's fingers and that one eats from the bottom to top. It goes from savory to sweet.

The bottom layer held a cucumber finger sandwich, egg salad in a mini croissant, smoked salmon in a dark rye roll and a pork pate on a crostini. The first three were delicious, and it was quite surprising that these small sandwiches could be so filling.


Then we all stared down at the pork pate, the gatekeeper to the upper layers of goodness. My son said, "YOLO," teen-speak for "You Only Live Once" and took a bite. "Tastes like Spam, but better." That's all we needed to hear. Bottom layer was a clean plate.

The scones on plate two are the highlight. My husband makes good scones but I had to tell him that these were were better. Buttery, flaky, warm and just enough sweetness. Definitely one of the best things I've ever eaten. The top layers were a shortbread cookie, a marzipan petit fours, a lemon meringue tart, and a mini cheesecake. At the end, we were pleasantly full and none of us could finish everything.

I cannot emphasize enough how kind and genuine the staff is. They have impeccable manners and treat you like a treasured friend. Our server was more than happy to photograph us. He even offered  additional scones ("You have growing kids!") and made sure that we took home any leftovers, including the unopened mini-jam jars. As part of the service, we all received 4 boxes of tea to take home as well. We were never rushed, and despite the fact that we were definitely on the 'casual' side of casual elegant dress, we just felt very welcome.

Afternoon Tea at the Empress is pricey. It was the most expensive meal we had. However, on this trip we opted not to buy "stuff" and tried to create memories--teenager charmed by afternoon tea? Priceless.

Eat Well. Be Well.

After two weeks of dine-out lunches and meandering about the San Francisco Bay area, Mom returned home to Hawaii. We sent her home with a suitcase full of Trader Joe's omiyage and a list of Korean tofu houses in Honolulu. 

Now, it's back on my own. Mom's not one for spicy food, so we're adding a little more pep. Here's what I am cooking this week. 

Monday
Orange Salsa Pork Chops, Okinawan Sweet Potatoes, rice, and curry-roasted cauliflower.

Tuesday
Shoyu Fish sandwiches and Spicy Asian Coleslaw. I bought purple cabbage because it was on sale. Pretty and lots of kick!

Wednesday
Lemon Arugula Pasta. With a nod to my stylish friend SZ, this is vegetarian but definitely not vegan.

Thursday
Spinach salad and Simply Ono Roasted Potatoes. Some recipes can be easily converted to vegetarian. Spinach salad is not one of them. Bacon is a requirement.

Because Mom has been continuing her tour of Bay Area eateries, including a second tofu house, there have been a lot of leftovers for dinner. This week's selection included dim sum, Korean tofu house #2, and Japanese curry.

I actually missed making dinner. So here's what cooking for the rest of the week.

Thursday
Braised kabocha, made by Mom
My Mom's Chicken Katsu, made by me
Easy Roasted Asparagus, requested by Mom
Rice

Friday
Spaghetti with Simple Tomato Sauce and Meatballs, requested by Mom.

Eat Well. Be Well.

Nanaimo Bars 
from anywhere, but we got ours from Be 'wiched Cafe in Surrey

Pronounced nuh-NYE-moe, this is a regional dessert/snack named after the city where it was invented. It's a crispy coconutty, graham cracker crust, a smooth custard in the middle, and topped with a thick layer bittersweet chocolate/fudge. It looks like it should be a ridiculously dense ride, but somehow it's rich, full flavor without being too heavy. Except that you can't eat too much of it at once, and Lord knows I wanted to. Need a recipe!

With apologies to my Canadian ohana, we didn't even make it to Tim Hortons. This seems like reason enough to go back again soon.

Eat Well. Be Well.

Oryza @ Valley Fair
Last, but definitely not least. Mom and I just had lunch at Oryza in Valley Fair. It's called "Bistro Asiana" and for our lunch it was good, mostly Thai Food. At about $8-10 each, the lunch specials are a great alternative to the Cheesecake Factory or CPK if you need to fuel up when shopping.

However, the service here is AWESOME. They gave us a wheelchair-friendly table. They were attentive and just plain kind. Mom wanted to try a curry with kabocha but wasn't sure she could tolerate a spicy curry. Without being asked, the server brought out a small sample of the pumpkin curry to her to try. It's delicious. However, she decided the pumpkin curry was too spicy, and settled on a mild yellow curry. When the chef heard this, he added kabocha to the yellow curry. Mom was thrilled and thoroughly enjoyed the entire lunch. Yellow curry (plus pumpkin) and a shared green papaya salad. I would happily go there again, simply because they were so kind.

And what do Ladies who Lunch have for dinner? Leftovers, so look for a delayed weekly menu.

Eat Well. Be Well.

My mother is visiting. She is on vacation, so this means she gets taken where she wants and eats as she pleases. This week's proposed menu did not please her, so changes were in order. Here is what's really cooking for the next couple of days.

Tuesday
Misoyaki salmon and inari sushi. With all the other fish in Hawaii, Mom doesn't eat salmon much. Luckily salmon season started a couple of weeks ago and we have fresh salmon!

She also brought some ready-made sushi mix because "she" wanted to "make" inari sushi for us. She just needed "only a little bit" of help. All I had to do was make rice, finely slice and boil 19 green beans (to Mom's exacting standards), go to two Safeways in an unsuccessful attempt to get kamaboko, make some scrambled eggs to make up for the non-kamaboko, and mix the rice. Then Mom put the kids to work to stuff them. Subliminal delegation at its finest. However, to my sisters, I say, "Whoo-hoo! Mom made us sushi!"

Wednesday
Mediterranean Lamb Stir-fry. Mom wanted to eat lamb because this is not a staple of an Asian/Hawaiian food. For example, I challenge anyone to find lamb plate lunch options. You can have teriyaki beef, chicken, fish or pork, but who has eaten teriyaki lamb? While Parker Ranch is still an active cattle farm, I don't know of any sheep farming in Hawaii. After all, who needs wool sweater in Hawaii?! Tonight Mom was pleased. Life is good.

Bonus Sightseeing--San Jose Rose Garden
Mom loves flowers, so we took a field trip to the San Jose Rose Garden. It's well worth the trip. Right now. While the roses are in full first bloom. Staffed completely by volunteers, the Rose Garden uses no chemical pesticides and treats the soil with only organic materials. And it has the greatest number of varieties of roses of any public garden in the US. It is simply beautiful.

Tuesday
Banish the Bottle Teriyaki Chicken, musubi, Ponzu parmesan yaki corn, and kai choy sauteed in the teriyaki sauce. Kai choy is in season and the hot weather will either wilt it or turn it to seed, so we'll be eating a lot of it this week.

Wednesday
Nakayoshi Gakko Somen Salad. Both my kids have after-school sports on Wednesdays now, so it has to be something that can be made well in advance. Another great hot weather meal salad.

Thursday
Amped Up Macaroni and Cheese and the other half of double batch of From Scratch Pork Loin that I made a couple of weeks ago and froze.

Friday
Fish and rice. Omi's Shoyu Fish, rice and more kai choy.

Snacks and lunch food
Decidedly vegetable based for my voracious teenagers. Fresh black-, blue- and straw-berries. Fluffy Wheat Bread, Steve's Hummus, roasted cauliflower with curry (as suggested from Facebook), Baba Ghanouj and more Roasted Tomatoes.

Fresh vegetables, in-season berries and warmer weather. Finally on our way to summer.

Eat Well. Be Well.

Lunch highlights included the fruit, cheese nut plate (above left), a Trader Joe's Pizza Olympia and a green salad (above right), leftover DishDash Sambusak.

However, "going vegetarian" does not necessarily equate to healthy eating. For example, here is a list of completely and perfectly vegetarian foodstuffs that definitely do not constitute a healthy lunch. 

1) Potato chips: Many are marketed as gluten-free to boot.
2) Chocorooms (left): Addictive little Japanese biscuits with chocolate in the shape of mushrooms. Like real mushrooms, they are cholesterol-free. 
3) Communion wafers: these have obvious spiritual benefit.
4) Soft drinks, specifically diet Cherry Coke. Absolutely no nutritional value, but on a Thursday afternoon that included a carpool, a broken car radiator and a funeral, emotionally, it ranked up there with the communion wafer.
5) See's Candy Molasses Chips and Dark Chocolate Frango Mints

So while I won't give up four legs, feathers or gills completely, I can envision 2 or perhaps even 3 vegetarian dinners per week. A friend of mine has the great suggestion of roasting vegetables over the weekend, storing them in baggies and then using them throughought the week.

So I can definitely see vegetarian lunches exclusively. As long as it's not Chocorooms, potato chips and Diet Coke. At least not very often.

Eat Well. Be Well.

This is a no-brainer. Eat at Japadog and be happy.

Banish those images of Oscar Meyer and Der Wiener. Japadog's kennel includes kurobuta, arabiki, Kobe beef, and edamame-packed sausages, plus traditional turkey and beef. We had the signature Teri-mayo, kurobuta teri-mayo, negi miso turkey and okonomi.  All of them were inhaled, and if I could sample more of them, I would have tried kurobuta kim chi and oroshi. Click here for the complete menu, and note that not all varieties are available at all locations.

We made a meal of it by sampling the 4 different kinds of flavored french fries: butter-shoyu, shichimi garlic, aonori and curry. The family favorites were butter-shoyu and shichimi garlic. Pass on the curry flavor. It is a little pricey, at nearly $10 per person for a hot dog, fries and a can of pop. However, at the end of the meal, we were all very full and happy. It's a fabulous every-so-often indulgence.

There are 3 stands and 2 storesfronts sprinkled through downtown Vancouver. There is also a store in New York. 
Japadog started as a hot dog stand on the streets of Vancouver and is run by a husband/wife team that immigrated to Canada from Japan in 2005. Grueling hard work, ono, funky and unexpected hot dog combinations, a big native Asian population and the 2010 Olympics are what made this "outrageously quirky" hot dog business. 

I wish there was a store in the Bay Area. To make do, we are already thinking of how we can have a Japadog-esque bbq this summer at home. The fixins' are easy enough, but finding Kobe beef and kurobuta hot dogs may be more difficult to source.

But we'll always have Vancouver.

Monday
Simplest Spaghetti, Asiago cheese bread (from Safeway) and a a green salad.

Tuesday
Grilled Tofu Steaks (see above), salad and rice. My daughter also informs me that this is a vegan meal.

Wednesday
Panini with roasted tomatoes, arugula-which-is-now-growing-like-a-weed-in-the-garden, zucchini, onions and either mozzarella or provolone.

Thursday
Mom's Miso soup with somen, green onion, nori and an egg swirled in. A photo I found on Pinterest, reminded me that this is a lovely combination to eat.