Nanciful’s Blog

I was invited by the infamous Sinosoul for a foodie dinner at Jitlada last week. I’ve read several blogs where tongues turned black and stomachs churned for days after eating at this Thai restaurant due to the spiciness of the food. Although I was excited to go to my very first food blogger meet up, I was a little dubious of my stomach’s ability to stomach all the spices so I downed a couple tubs of yogurt before heading out to dinner.

I had the pleasure of meeting sinosoul, nakedsushi, resforthree and wanderingchopsticks that night. It was such an amazing thing to have a whole bunch of people get together and just talk nonstop about food food and more food.

I have had my share of Thai food in LA, in Asia and in Germany.Everywhere I go, the taste is consistently the same. However, Jitlada changed my perception of Thai food. I didn’t realize that Thai food can be so dimensional. There were 13 of us total and I brought Hubs, Sis and Bro to dinner too! Yeah I like to travel with an entourage. Between the introductions, pleasant exchanges about favorite foods and comparisons of the nastiest food ever touched our tongues, we somehow got our order in. Amidst of the mini madness, I tried to take pictures of the food but I was too concerned with eating it then shooting it. However, nakedsushi has already blogged about her side of the experience along with some incredible pictures. So go check it out!

I’ll try and recap some of the food we had.

Some sort of salad:

Oxtail soup (which I didn’t have because it was beef):

Yellow curry with clams.the BEST Thai curry I’ve ever tasted.

Another curry with balls made from fish paste. This one is off menu and another great dish. If I recall correctly, there were thin rice noodles in the curry as well. This was my favorite dish of the night. This curry and the previous yellow curry tasted completely different. This had a little more body to it.

Brown sugar chicken. I actually remembered the name of this dish because many of us made a hoopla about ordering this since we were all too curious. In my mind, I was envisioning something similar to Kyochon fried chicken but with not so much batter. Instead we got this. It was a little disappointing because it just tasted like something from Panda Express would have..bland and not even sweet at all.

This was some sort of stinky bamboo and salted fish curry. Although I could smell the stench across the table, I had to give it a try. I had something similar when I visited Ningbo China  and yeap, it was the same, extremely salty and taste like the smell of a squat toilet.

Lamb hot pot. Very lamby, very good.

Surprisingly and fortunately, I could handle the spicy factor on all the dishes. Some folks who have frequented Jitlada in the past said that it was definitely less heat in the dishes. I’m okay with that since I like actually being able to taste my food instead of trying to put out the fire in my mouth.

We finished off the meal with some Morning Glory peanut brittle and caramel that resforthree generously brought for everyone. I LOVE PEANUT BRITTLE. Hubs and I almost missed a flight because I NEEDED to get some brittle from the See’s candy cart at the Burbank airport. Morning Glory brittle is not overly sweet and has the perfect crunch to it. I was coveting the entire bag of brittle and I volunteered to bring the remaining brittle and caramel home. You can get your own Morning Glory brittle here!

Jitlada and meeting fellow food lovers was such a treat. Thank you everyone for an enjoyable night. Looking forward to the next get together.

Tel:(323) 663-3104

When the Hubs and I were dating, I lived in the 909 and he in the 626. For you non Angelenos, there is a 20 mile distance between these area codes. Due to our busy schedules,  we would only see each other only once or twice a week. Oftentimes, we would meet in the middle for brunch, dinner, coffee etc. Le Roy’s in Monrovia was one of the places where we would meet for nice and satisfying Sunday brunch.

Le Roy’s is a diner that serves damn good classic American fare and great prices. The service is impeccable as well. The ladies exude southern hospitality and calls you sweetie and honey. I loves it.

Hubs almost always order a omelet with tater tots. If you are not a fan of tater tots (I don’t know why because they are the best breakfast tuber evers!), Le Roy’s offers 3 other choices of  home fries, breakfast potatos, and hash browns. But let me reiterate again, the TATER TOTS are best. Brings me right back to 4th grade. They are made crunchy on the outside and steamy goodness on the inside.

I am a carb whore and usually order some sort of pancakes or waffle but that day, I ordered the Portuguese sausage, eggs and fresh fruit. I love that Le Roy’s fruit salad consists of “real” fruit such as pineapple, kiwi, strawberries and just peeled bananas. I hate it when restaurants give you the “fake” fruit like grapes and mushy, overly ripen cantaloupe mixed with canned peaches. Blegh!  If I remember correctly, Le Roy’s also offers breakfast links and sausage patties as well. I LOVE these options!

Another reason for me to come back to Le Roy’s for more is their homemade salsa. We had to ask for it but the waitresses are more than happy to bring it for you. In fact, they insist on it. I pour this salsa over everything. It’s that good.

Le Roy’s is only opened until 3 pm. There is counter seating, indoor seating and also a small patio in the back. Don’t be deterred by the line outside the restaurant as It usually goes by pretty fast. Definitely give Le Roy’s a try if you are ever in the area. If you are not a breakfast/brunch person, they also offer lunch items such as sandwiches and salads.

We just recently had dinner at Palate Wine Bar with our dear friend Azat of 90 Plus Wine. Hopefully, I’ll get a review of Palate up in this lifetime. Being the superfly wine connoisseur that he is, he picked out a 2006 Clos Saint Jean Chateauneauf du Pape Vieilles Vignes. (It’s a really good Cabernet for us lay people.) The wine smelled so good I wonder why they don’t bottle it and sell it as perfume. It was fruity and complex but refreshing at the same time. Please visit 90 Plus Wine to check out Azat’s review.  You can also find extraordinary recipes and even more wine reviews on the site.

We are proud owners of a new 55mm 1.4 lens for our Canon SLR. It makes pictures look so much more appetizing. We were invited to a sushi dinner at a friend’s house so we brought our new toy over for a test drive. Boy oh boy how I love the way the lens handles.

With only 3 hours of sleep last night and belly full of white wine, I am a little drunkz. So this calls for a photo laden post.

My friend C is one of the best cooks I know. Not only is her food delish, the presentation is unbelievable. When she invited us over for a nice sushi dinner, I knew I was in a treat but I wasn’t expecting a FEAST. Check it!

Shrimp cemetery!

Fish cemetery! Okay, I’ll stop. Isn’t it a beauty?

Tuna albacore tataki, just like how it’s served in the restaurants but much fresher!

Smelt fish

Chawamushi

The dinner also included miso with seaweed,shrimp heads and Japanese mushroom and spicy tuna hand rolls and of course, lots of sake. Check out the impressive HOMEMADE spread!

For dessert, C knows that Hubs does not like cake (Blasphemy I know!) so she prepared creme brulee, prepared tableside by C’s MR.

Some strawberries and fresh mint from the garden, powdered goodness and we’re done.

When we were about to cry UNCLE from fullness, C brings out..you guessed it..CAKE! YAYAYAYAY!!!! It’s her famous homemade chocolate cake roll with espresso cream filling. The cake was perfection, not too sweet,not too bitter, not too spongy and not too dense with just the right amount of fluffiness. I thought I could snag Hubs’ portion but before I knew it, he had polished it in a few bites. So there is hope.he can be converted.

Here is our lovely chef C at work. I’ve asked her several times to marry me but she’s already taken.

Thanks so much guys for such a fabulous dinner and wonderful night of pictionary! Should I post up pictures of our drawings? Skydiving? Macaroni?<———- ??? 

I always say Guangzhou brings out the worst in people. The air quality, the humid climate in the warmer months, the pick pockets,  the traffic, the craziness of the city just gets to  me every time I’m there. Even the most civilized person will feel compelled to push and shove their way through crowds and not wait in line. Even the most divine being will uncontrollably utter or even scream obscenities while pushing and shoving their way through said crowds. On the bright side, there is an abundance of good and cheap eats in this godforsaken city.

My traveling companions and I decided to venture beyond our hotel and walked into one of the city’s many city centers. After looking at a few suspicious rice and noodle shops, we found a nice sit down restaurant on top of a McDonalds. The restaurant had a special priced menu that offered fares that ranged from US$1 to US$ 3. The lotus root cakes where one of the items that were on this special priced menu and for some reason I thought it would be sweet. However, the dish was savory and delicious. It was made with chunks of lotus root and ground pork and looked like thin slices of pork chops. This dish was RMB 8 which is around US$ 1.17.

Another dish off the cheapo menu was the steamed pumpkin with lotus flower petals. Again, I thought this would be a sweet dish but the pumpkin was steamed in a soy sauce base, kind of like the sauce off of the roast duck at Sam Woo’s. The sweetness of the pumpkin was a nice contrast to the oily and salty flavor of the sauce. This cost a whopping RMB 12 (US$ 1.75).

Next up, THE ROASTED GOOSE, which came highly recommended by our waitress as it is their house specialty.I can never tell the difference between duck and goose when they are roasted because the consistency is the same, a little gamey a little fatty. Eithery way, it was one of the best goose/duck meat I’ve had in my life. It was meaty in all the right places.

However, what I loved most about the goose was that it was hiding a pile of Schzewan style pickled turnips and carrots underneath. The tangy and sour crunch of the turnips was a nice refreshing surprise after digging through all the salty goodness of the goose meat.  This dish was the most expensive of the entire meal,  a whopping RMB 26 (US$ 3.85)!!!

I had to order something that I knew would be SWEET for sure so I decided on some sort of a green tea roll with crushed peanuts. It was crushed peanuts and crystallized sugar wrapped inside green tea (or green food coloring) infused rice cake.  This dessert definitely hit the chewy,  sweet and crispy spot that I was looking for to end a nice meal.

After this cheap and delicious meal, Guangzhou almost redeems itself to me, almost.