I haven’t had sushi for a long time now because I really rather not eat any sushi if they were good.  Why waste  my calories on bad food right.  But sometimes, beggars cannot be choosers – so today I decided to get some pre-packed ones from Sobeys but of course, even though it looked so good, the rice was still so-so.

I really couldn’t taste the freshness in the sushi at all because they are really frozen.

But for $9.99 – one cannot expect too much eh.  Ginger not included – I bought them myself.

We wanted Japanese of course during our trip up to Halifax and sushi nami we went – thinking that food would be quick but they were quite packed that night after the Christmas Parade and we weren’t expecting that.

Chloe and her favorite aunt playing with the iphone while waiting for our orders to be taken.

Some miso soup to start off the meal and green tea of course.

Agedashi tofu for me and Chloe’s aunt.

Sweet potato tempura for PB – but no more teriyaki chicken – they changed the menu.  Poor PB – those were the only 2 dishes he eats at any Japanese place.

The fusion sushi – the Royal Nami roll.

Chloe wasn’t going to eat any.

She ordered some udon with tempura chicken but they came so late – poor chloe she was starved and after taking a few bites – she didn’t want them because the udon was hard.  But the manager explained that udon were supposed to be this way – because they were “fresh”  but the waitress had already told us that they came pre-packed and pre-cooked – *sigh* and I’ve never tasted hard udon before.  Chloe didn’t eat it and neither did we.  I wasn’t happy with the explanation – but that’s alright – we won’t order any noodles for Chloe no more.

The tempura chicken was good but Chloe wasn’t eating it – so PB and I ate most of it.

We ordered some margaro sushi and sashimi  (forgotten to take pictures of the sashimi) because we were too engrossed with the manager on the discussion on the noodles.  But both the sushi and sashimi were good.

Chloe trying to be gung-ho with her noodles but she just couldn’t stomach it – I don’t blamed her – I tried the noodles myself – I wouldn’t eat it too.  Some $90 later – the kid didn’t get her meal – we had to go to macdonald’s to get her some french fries and mcbites.  This wasn’t a good trip for Chloe.

After a long drive from Digby on our way to Moncton for the wedding last month, we stopped by for food at Sushi Nami.  And no, we didn’t eat only at Sushi Nami for our mini vacation, we ate at 2 different places besides Sushi Nami for we wanted to try something different.  But first back to this meal – Chloe had water straight away after our long drive.

I had some Japanese tea as usual.

And miso soup.

Agedashi tofu  – wished they had chawanmushi.

PB’s usual sweet potato tempura.

Some chicken yakitori.

Udon for chloe with deep fried chicken that were a wee bit spicy.

Udon wasn’t the greatest – we’ve had better.

Some Maguro sushi

Ebi sushi and some roe sushi.

And mango ice cream.   Food looks little but we were quite full after eating it.  The bill was a little more expensive than usual because I ordered single servings of sushi instead of their signature dishes. Our meal was great – but could have been better.

Finally, some decent looking sushi in town – may not be the freshest but definitely more decent looking and better pricing than the ones I get from the Farmer’s market.  I haven’t tried it yet – going to do it tonite – and I will let you know what I think of it.

Dragon rolls anyone?

Gyoza found in our local Sobeys!

We just got home from our vacation – we were up in New Brunswick but we also spent a few days in Halifax eating.  We met up with a few friends and they had trailer hitches for cars  to haul back some camping stuff they had bought from the city.  We decided on Wasabi House because it was already late when we arrived in Halifax the last day of our vacation – and Wasabi House had an after hours special  menu that offers quite a few good dishes at a discount.  Now if you pay cash – you get another 10% discount – ain’t that awesome now!

Wasabi House is pretty small – and the few of us – took up half the restaurant space – it was quite warm where I was sitting – because I was under the air-con – so the next time I’m going to remember to sit away from the air-con.  The service was good and so was the food but that would be another story for another day.  But we ate so much that night – I couldn’t eat breakfast the next day.  So if you are anywhere in the city – check out the new Japanese restaurant down on Quinpool.

Wasabi Phil has a store at the Farmer’s Market and I’m pleased to let you all know that sushi was much better this week – I think I can really enjoy his sushi from now on – if he continues this standard.  But it would be nice if Wasabi Phil had some ginger and sushi soya sauce with his sushi – coz I had to use my own.  So folks – want some sushi – try Wasabi Phil at the Farmer’s market tomorrow and Saturday.  You won’t regret it – it’s the closest taste to real sushi besides Halifax.

I’m crazy about sushi – and I had bought this at the Farmer’s market the other day for $12  – it’s not a bad price if it was authentic sushi with a real sushi chef – but amateur sushi cannot charge so much lah!  It wasn’t bad – the sushi – but not worth $12 – so I’m going to learn to make my own sushi.   I’m sure I can do a better plate of sushi than this – right?  so yes! wish me good luck !  Those who have tried making their own sushi – should give me a tip or two how to prepare them.  I’ve watched a lot of video on youtube – so I think I can do it.

I love to go shopping with my girlfriends from Canada – but eating with those from home – now that is pretty awesome too – especially when they bring you presents like personal picture frames from the states and eat sashimi with you.  Speaking of which – I’ll have to remember to collect my California rolls from the Farmer’s market tomorrow – I ordered them last week.  Anyhow, I had friends from home who’ve migrated to United States who came to visit this week – so I was extra busy with showing them around and eating with them.

We went to the Farmer’s market and bought some bread pudding.

And we checked out the Halloween decorations at our local grocery stores.

And we drove them to the airport – to send them off and had some good Japanese food.

And yummy, yummy sashimi!

And yummy grilled and raw squids. It was but a short visit – but we had a great time and it was like only last week that we had left each other – and we just picked right up where we left.  Some friends are just passing thru’ while others stay around for a long time.  Thank you for visiting me even though your schedules were so tight.   Now I can’t wait for Fiona and Karen (my other long time friends from work) to come visit me next year.

I’ve actually bought this a long time ago – but when I first brought this home – the ginger wasn’t so ripe yet – I don’t like young ginger. So I let it sit for a while – like a few months – and today I opened it to eat them with my baked salmon. It was pretty good ! I love ginger – pickled ones like this – this bottle of ginger is actually meant for sushi – but you can eat it with anything you want. Ginger is said to be good for your body – especially if you feel bloated always – or if the food is too “cooling” for the stomach – the Chinese believed.  I put ginger in my Chinese soup and even dessert – if i cooked chinese chicken rice – I will also have ginger in my rice.   When I was pregnant with Chloe – I took some too – because I always feel nausea – with a little bit of ginger – it keep me feeling alright for a few hours.  Anyhow – I love ginger!

Last week we found some food treasure at our local Farmer’s market !  can you imagine how i looked seeing sushi at the local Farmer’s market?  I had to buy them and try them of course!  But @ $10 a box – I told myself – it had to be good right? hahahah!!!   The box of sushi was $10 and the ginger was $0.50 cents and so was the soya sauce  - a wee bit ex if you asked me.  But never mind lah ! i told myself – just as long as they were good – no problemo!  the chopsticks were mine – hahah!

Smoked salmon sushi !!  so how was it?  well – it was kept at the right temperature that’s for sure  and it was rolled out well – the presentation was good – the touch of black sesame seed was awesome too and the avocado was another nice touch.  The smoked salmon was a tat bit dry though and the soya sauce was the wrong type.  The soya sauce used for Japanese sushi is different from the ones you used for your regular cooking.  The ginger was very little for $0.50 cents – but it was the right ginger used.   I do liked it – but a wee bit of improvement from vendor would be awesomeness and would bring Japanese sushi to a better taste and make it more authentic.   If i do see the vendor again – i would definitely let them know.  I don’t mind paying for good food – even if they were to charge a bit more – I really don’t mind – just as long as I can get that authentic taste.  But having said that – it’s not easy making sushi – so I have to give them credit for it.

This is a back-dated post – for when we were up in Halifax a few weeks ago.  We arrived in Halifax – and after checking into the hotel – we headed to Halifax Shopping Center and we had Gyoza for a snack as it was late afternoon.  Chloe had an OJ from Orange Julius aka OJ.

I bought the Gyoza from this store and although I would loved to have that soya and vinegar + ginger sauce they have back home – they don’t have it in this store – Darn!

The Gyoza costing about $5 – and it was pretty good – but nothing to shout about.

But the best part of this trip was – chloe tried some of everything – big difference alright!

A month or so ago – we had gone to the city and loaded up on some Chinese food that we can find.  And guess what I found!  not LAKSA lah!  hahahha!! it was a packet of hot pot assortment – something like yong tau fu and you know what – I should have bought more – because they were so yummy! So i had some kind of a yong tau fu laksa about a week ago.

The next time I go up the city – I will get loads of this to bring home and that’s for sure.  When you are in a foreign country – you really have to make do with whatever you can get your hands on. I haven’t had yong tau fu for so long -  I tell yer!  that’s the main reason why I never lose my weight – or find it hard – because I eat a lot of vegies and yong tau fu back home.  I so missed the dry yong tau foo with the red sauce.

I have taken to eating soba instead of udon or any chinese noodles – just because soba is a healthier choice and it has got less calories.  So whenever I can – I would cook soba instead of Chinese noodles in a packet or udon.  Did you know that soba is half the calories of a packet of instant noodles?

I also put some seaweed dried ones and tofu into my noodles and some baked salmon for dinner.  Yums! healthy – guiltless and definitely easy peasy.

The week just flew past – too quickly!  too quickly! and it’s that time of the week – for our usual fix for Japanese food.  See how a huge tuna fish is been cut, that itself need skills.  It’s a blue fin tuna I think – and not many of us have eaten one nor seen one this closed.  Enjoy! everyone – i did!  Everyone have a great weekend now! and enjoy our Japanese cuisine.

So another week is gone – and another show for you all about Japanese Cuisine – so far I’m liking it a lot – what about you?  when I was much younger – i thought I might just married a Japanese – because of my love for Japanese food and anything Japanese.   Well, have a good weekend and enjoy the show as much as I did.

A Sneak Peek Of Episode One