Mitsuwa Umaimono Gourmet Fair - Costa Mesa, CA : Anchindo Makidora

Mitsuwa is having one of their food fairs right now! We went there before 11:00am today so that we could easily find parking and a seat at the food court to eat. Last time we went about 11:30-12:00 and it was already ridiculous. This time we got there at about 10:30am and easily found parking. We walked around the store with all the cute things in it (J-Style) and the Sanseido Bookstore. The stands outside the market already had food available. You just had to wait for the ones in the food court to open at 11:00am. The Meat-eater was waiting for their ramen shops to open. =)

Andhin-do Maki Dora Stand

Outside the food court, right when you walk in the front door, the stands were already cooking away. We were drawn by this stand making makidora or roll dorayaki. As you can see the chef is making the little pancakes in front. I like to call them little pancakes because that's what it reminds me of.

Making Makidora

Behind the chef making the little pancakes is another chef putting the stuffing into the cakes and rolling them up. As you can see, the trays are empty...they are churning them out pretty fast.

3 Flavors of Maki Dora

We chose 3 flavors. I chose the Azuki (also spelled adzuki or aduki) or red bean and Green Tea. The Meat-eater chose Custard Cream. I like the simple wrapping of the product.

Azuki Makidora

First up was the azuki flavor. This was the first one I opened up to try. Being Asian...I do like red bean treats. =) The outer pancake/cake like batter was soft, airy, and fluffy. So good...not doughy at all...but there's plenty of dough there as you can see in the picture. The red beans were also good...but a tad sweet for my taste. Strange huh? I usually like red bean but it indeed was a teeny bit too sweet for me. But overall really good!

Green Tea Makidora

We ate this one when we got home. Can you see that the edges of the pancake/cake has flattened more with time? I think most things are better when eaten as fresh as possible. But the taste was still good. The edges were just a bit smooshed, but the pancake/cake itself was still light and fluffy. This was a good combination, not too sweet in my opinion...good green tea flavor...just the right amount.

Custard Cream Makidora

Last but not least is the custard cream flavor.  As you can see the cake is still fluffy along the edges...so this was actually the second one that was eaten. I put the flavors in the order of least to most liked. Don't get me wrong, they were all good! But yes, even though I didn't choose custard cream, it ended up being my most favored flavor of the three. You see, I am not a big fan of custard creamy things. There are certain things where they have been good, like in a fresh Beard Papa's cream puff in Japan...not the frozen kind...and egg tarts. But this was good...not too sweet...but still pretty sweet...fluffy cake with creamy but not heavy custard. This was done right. Mmm....we bought a few of just the custard ones and took them home. They're all gone now. =) Hey, might as well eat them while they're still fresh.

There were two other flavors we didn't try...the sesame and green bean. So if you're in the area and want to try it out, tomorrow will be their last day there 10/30.

Mitsuwa Marketplace
http://www.mitsuwa.com/english/index.html
Costa Mesa Store
665 Paularino Ave
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 557-6699

Hiro Sushi - Scottsdale, AZ : The Usual Veggie Items

Although this post is about a place in Scottsdale, AZ, I am not there right now. One of my many posts that will be from pics taken eons ago. When I was out in the Phoenix area, I would frequent Hiro Sushi as my go to sushi place. No offense, but there really isn't a whole lot of good sushi out in AZ...according to The Meat-eater. Maybe because it's not next to the ocean and is a freakin' desert. I just eat the same things, egg, inari, veggie roll....so long as the rice is good and ingredients fresh, I am ok! Some sushi places we visited didn't have Japanese chefs. We like the authentic Japanese chefs here. =) Their sashimi is pretty good according to The Meat-eater...which is what he looks for in a good sushi place. There was only one time we went where the rice was dried out. That was kind of a freak of nature. We went back a while later and all was good again. Wonder what happened that night?

Tamago (Egg) in front

At sushi places, I get my usual vegetarian items. Up front is the egg or tamago. Quite good.

Inari Sushi

In the middle of the plate is Inari Sushi...basically sushi rice in a seasoned tofu pocket.

Vegetable Roll

And last but not least is the veggie roll. This is usually available at all sushi places now. I know they have cucumber rolls and avocado rolls, but I like the vegetable roll because I can eat all kinds of veggies instead of just the one kind. Besides carrots, lettuce, cucumbers, and avocado...there's oshinko. Oshinko is pickled daikon, which is the yellow part in the roll.

Green Tea Ice-Cream

For dessert, I love green tea ice-cream! They also have red bean. Your choice. All very good to me. Yum yum.

Hiro Sushi
http://www.hirosushiaz.com/
9393 N 90th St.. Ranch Center #116
Scottsdale, AZ 85258
(480) 314-4215

Corner Bakery : Baked French Toast

French toast can be very tasty, but kind of a mess to make...so I wanted to try the one at Corner Bakery (so I didn't have to cook...heh heh).

Baked French Toast with Scrambled Eggs

This meal comes with french toast, eggs, and bacon. I obviously didn't eat the bacon, but asked for it on the side so that The Meat-eater could have it. =) Win win!

So when I think of french toast, I think of sliced bread in a custard wash that has been cooked. This looked more like a cake to me, but I was willing to give it a try. Well...this particular type was not to my liking...it was rather doughy...and I do not like doughy. Hence why I like thin crust pizza. The eggs were fine...I don't think you can really mess up plain scrambled eggs...can you? That's all I have to say about this...doughy and not to my liking. So maybe if you like thick crust pizza and like the dough in things...you'll like this type of french toast?

Corner Bakery
http://www.cornerbakerycafe.com/home.aspx

Ikea Soft Serve : Not too bad and only for $1

I love ice-cream, and whenever I stop by Ikea, I grab a $1 soft serve cone. Yup, just $1...no tax no nothing extra. It's been that way for years now...and most recently (like last week) I stopped by Ikea and sure enough it's still $1 and it still tastes the same.

Ikea Soft Serve

Vanilla. Ok, so there are no choices in flavor and there is but only vanilla. Still...it's quite tasty. And where else can you get decent tasting soft serve for $1 these days? Not since the ice-cream trucks that drove around when I was a kid. I'd only picked up an ice-cream bar from one of those trucks about 5 years ago...and they were incredibly expensive! So the Ikea soft serve ice-cream...ever dependable....and not too shabby either. =)

Native Foods Cafe - OC Raw Chopper

Whenever I feel sluggish from eating too much...not so healthy food...I like to grab an OC Raw Chopper from Native Foods. It is my usual go-to super healthy meal when eating out.

OC Raw Chopper

The OC Raw Chopper consists of chopped mixed veggies such as broccoli, carrots, squash, cucumber, and tomatoes (from what I can tell from the picture), seasonal mixed greens, chopped tomato/onion...kind of tastes like pico de gallo (so sometimes there's a bite of spiciness), avocado, almonds, angel hair beets, and sprouts. It is served with lemon garlic oil dressing on the side. So if you don't like sour foods, then you won't like the dressing at all. You can add red or black beans for $1 more. There is plenty of food here so I have not added beans and don't know what that tastes like. This salad is very refreshing. I guess some may say bland, but I like that it's light and healthy. I always feel good after I eat this salad! It's like a good cleanser for your body...and it makes your body happy! =)

Native Foods Cafe

http://nativefoods.com/

Homemade Blueberry Spelt Muffins

So I wasn't sure if I should post these because these are not exactly delicious unless you're used to eating healthy. They're not bad but not great either. Anyway, I thought why not...everything is a learning experience and even though some people on Whole Foods love it (it got 4 stars after 23 ratings)...there are some that don't really love it...like myself.

Blueberry Spelt Muffins

I pretty much followed the recipe except I used the canola oil suggestion instead of butter, agave instead of sugar (I don't have white sugar at home...it is banned!!), and left out the orange zest. Apparently there's also whole wheat spelt flour and regular spelt flour...I used regular but this recipe is supposed to use whole wheat spelt. In any case...the flavor is fine...not too sweet...but the consistency is not light and fluffy like regular muffins. These indeed are a healthier version. They're kind of...drier...stiffer...opposite of light and fluffy. Although I am trying to eat healthier and have changed my taste buds into liking healthier food...this is not one of the things I like a whole lot. The picture makes it look pretty good though!

Blueberry Spelt Muffins from Whole Foods Recipes
http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/1464
Makes 1 dozen

Ingredients

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) softened butter or canola oil, plus more for greasing the pan 
2/3 cup sugar 
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce 
2 eggs 
1/2 cup orange juice 
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
2 cups spelt flour 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1 teaspoon grated orange zest 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 cups fresh blueberries

Method

Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 12-cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin liners. In a large bowl, cream together butter or oil and sugar. Stir in applesauce, eggs, orange juice and vanilla. 

In a second large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, zest and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter-egg mixture until just combined. Gently stir in blueberries. Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 30 minutes.

Nutrition

Per serving (1 muffin/about 3oz/87g-wt.): 180 calories (50 from fat), 5g total fat, 2.5g saturated fat, 4g protein, 30g total carbohydrate (4g dietary fiber, 14g sugar), 45mg cholesterol, 140mg sodium