Category Archives: Breakfast

Mini San Luis Obispo Getaway Part 4 of 5

Posted on May 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

We got to breakfast a bit later than planned.

Breakfast, here we come.

But it was all good.

The toddler really enjoyed the homestyle potatoes.

In the zone.

The usual oatmeal breakfast for wifey.

The usual.

A made-to-order omelette for yours truly.

Omelette.

We were now ready to roam around downtown San Luis Obispo.

Walk.

A certain shop is about to catch the toddler’s eye.

Walking some more.

It’s Powell’s Sweet Shoppe. Again.

Checking out the goods.

The toddler agreed to eat some candy only after lunch.

Speaking of lunch, we had worked up an appetite from all the walking around. So we headed to Firestone Grill, which a friendly person back at the hotel had highly recommended to us. “After 16 years, Firestone Grill finally has a website,” their Facebook page had announced earlier today.

Firestone Grill.

Hello.

Firestone salad – leaf lettuce, red onion, red bell pepper, tomato, feta cheese, and pine nuts.

Salad.

Kid burger.

Cheeseburger.

Tri-tip steak sandwich – sliced tri-tip and BBQ sauce on a french roll.

Tri-tip sandwich.

Basket of fries.

Fries.

We understood why Firestone Grill is so popular. We’ll certainly be back.

After lunch, we went looking for a winery. And found one quite easily.

Edna Valley Vineyard.

Hello.

Hi.

Hi again.

Hi. Hello.

Hello again again.

The tasting room.

Tasting room.

Pinot gris.

Ready to taste.

Great views.

And taste some more.

Pinot noir.

And some more still.

Wine notes.

Notes 1.

Notes 2.

Notes 3.

I enjoyed the wine tasting at Edna Valley Vineyard. Wifey and the toddler enjoyed roaming around and checking out various shop items.

Ready to leave.

There was time for one more winery visit.

Winery directions.

Just like how we happened upon Edna Valley Vineyard, we arrived at Tolosa Winery by simple good fortune.

Tolosa sign.

Heading inside.

Wet.

Pinot noir.

Ready to taste.

And taste some more.

Wine notes.

Notes 1.

Notes 2.

Cheers!

Cheers.

One of the tasting room staff offered to take our picture – very nice of her. Cheers!

Cheers!

I love looking at this stuff.

Cool view.

As do the toddler and wifey, apparently.

Where wine is made.

Quite an elegant tasting room.

Hi.

But for the toddler, it was all about being right outside the tasting room.

Fountain.

Even though it was wet outside, the toddler enjoyed running around quite a bit. He also checked out the water feature.

Checking out the fountain more closely.

Very intently.

Checking out the fountain extremely closely.

We all enjoyed Tolosa Winery a whole bunch!

As we made our way back to the hotel, it was bittersweet to think that there was only one day left before going home.

Always Grateful,

~Andy

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Posted in Breakfast, Dining Out, Drinks, Lunch-Dinner

Tagged Wine

Kimchi Fried Rice

Posted on March 16, 2011 | 2 Comments

Wifey recently declared, “I want kimchi bokkum bap.” I said, “That sounds great!” and thought, “God, I love this person!”

Ingredients:

Olive oil (we used a Misto spray bottle to lightly coat the pan)
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup kimchi with liquid
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

Heat a wok or pan and then lightly coat it with olive oil.
Add the rice and fry it for about 2-3 minutes.
Add kimchi with liquid and cook for about 5-8 minutes.
Add soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, and sesame seeds.

Note: We kept our meal extremely simple, but basically anything can be added to this dish, such as chopped garlic, onions, green onions, mushrooms, a protein source like chicken, gochujang sauce, etc.

On to some pics:

Preparing to plate.

Mouth watering.

Fried up brown rice and kimchi. Half a cup of kimchi might be fine, but we’ll likely go with the full cup again as we really like kimchi.

Getting close.

Topped with basil.

Getting closer.

And an egg.

Finally ready.

How’s it taste?

Oh yeah.

We already knew the answer.

Signal of approval.

Wifey and I prepared this dish together, and cooking together was enjoyable and so much fun. From now on, whenever possible, I’ll cook with wifey. I know I’ll be learning so much.

Always Grateful,

~Andy

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Posted in Breakfast, Lunch-Dinner, Recipes

Tagged Korean

2011 New Year’s Day and New Year’s Day Eats

Posted on February 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

I just skimmed the Wikipedia entries for Lunar New Year and Korean New Year (“seol nal”), and on a scale of 1 to 10, my knowledge on this topic has now increased from about a 1 to about an 8.

Growing up in California with a relatively large number of cousins and family members, we never really celebrated seol nal. Instead we had big celebrations every January 1st.

So this post is definitely one of those better-late-than-never posts since the following pics are from January 1. Yeah, I should be embarrassed with the lateness.

The toddler was excited to dress up in his hanbok, just like he was last year. The hanbok certainly fit better this year versus last year. It was time to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s home to pay our respects and eat dduk guk.

Making some final adjustments.

Alas, there are no sae bae pics, as we took a bunch of video this year. But we did take food pics.

The always necessary, and always delicious, dduk guk.

Some “rice ovals” (as our toddler refers to the ones on the left side in the below pic) and rice in seaweed, all specially made for our toddler.

Galbi jjim with roasted garlic – an early favorite of wifey’s when we first met.

Banchan: seasoned acorn jelly (aka muk muchim).

More banchan: boiled sweet potato shoots, julienned white radish, sliced cucumbers, bean sprouts (aka kong namul).

And some more banchan.

Last of the banchan: sliced and boiled lotus roots – wifey’s current favorite banchan.

So, uh, Happy New Year!

Always Grateful,

~Andy

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Posted in Breakfast, Traditions

Over Easy Eggs on Rice

Posted on February 1, 2011 | 1 Comment

Since first introducing wifey to fried up eggs on rice, she’s practically always been the one making it. I needed to get off my butt and make it. And I did just that this past weekend.

Ingredients:

Butter (optional)
Ketchup
Sesame oil
Red pepper paste
Soy sauce
Vinegar
Roasted sesame seeds
Bowl of rice
Eggs
Cilantro
Green onions

There are no exact measurements here because everything is to taste.

On to the proof:

Gathered up the ingredients to be mixed in with a bowl of rice.

Green onions and cilantro to be chopped up and topped onto the rice. Eggs to be prepared over easy and put on top.

A couple of banchan items: seasoned shredded squid and pickled radish.

Wifey prefers not having any butter in her rice, so we compromised with this tiny amount.

Pour just a bit of the sesame oil – a lot comes out quickly.

I’m sure wifey would have enjoyed a bigger dollop of red pepper paste. She can really handle spicy well, but I think I’m slowly but surely catching up to her level.

Gotta have some soy sauce.

And we love rice vinegar.

Seems like we can never put in enough of these toasted sesame seeds.

Fold, pack down, fold, pack down, fold, pack down, and so forth.

We could probably just eat this rice.

But cilantro and green onions definitely enhance the meal.

Now, this we could definitely just eat.

But really need to put those over easy eggs on the rice.

And then get those eggs runny.

Going in for the first bite.

The fact that wifey really enjoyed this meal made the whole weekend for me.

Always Grateful,

~Andy

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Posted in Breakfast, Lunch-Dinner, Recipes

XMas 2010

Posted on December 29, 2010 | Leave a comment

This Christmas was the most Christmassy yet, with tons of fun, delicious food, great presents (the toddler did particularly well), and good company.

Cute, little tree.

We threw a last-minute holiday get together for some relatives and friends.

The prosecco was the clear favorite among the drinks that included red wine, white wine, mineral and regular waters, beers, and juice boxes for the kids

Wifey put together these combinations of crackers, brie, walnut, and honey.

I’m conducting quality control. <ahem>

Switching gears, let’s fast forward to our Christmas Eve dinner. It was just the family.

Some presents to be opened after dinner.

Opening gifts on Christmas Eve is a tradition in German culture.

We also opened up some presents first thing Christmas morning.

And had Christmas breakfast at the toddler’s grandparents’ house.

What the adults ate: Korean rice cake soup (dduk guk). It’s tradition to serve this soup on New Year’s Day, which means that I’ll have this soon again. Score!