It seems that the majority of the topics featured on my blog these days are of the edible variety. Today’s is no exception.

Hubby is a big proponent of 7-11 sushi and musubi. He claims that the best spam musubi can be obtained at your local 7-11 store. Today, he came home with something quite unusual: tuna, avocado, kim chee roll. Yes, three great tastes all rolled into one.

He assured me that it wasn’t as weird as it sounded, so with just a tinge of skepticism, I tried it. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised and I’m sure I’ll be craving this in the future.

I didn’t take a picture of it, mainly because it’s not a very photogenic food. After all, it is convenience store sushi. Despite that, it’s pretty yummy. A great grab-and-go snack!

I will be the first to admit that I am guilty of believing the misconception that you must drive into town to enjoy a nice dinner. In fact, I will often say to Hubby, “come on, let’s go out-out… you know, like out of the neighborhood?” When I received a very generous $100 gift certificate to Assaggio, I asked Hubby if he had ever been to the Assaggio at Ala Moana, to which he responded in a very typical Hubby-like fashion, “No. Why would I need to go to Ala Moana when we have an Assaggio right in our backyard?” Touche. I made the reservation at the Assaggio in Mililani.

The Assaggio in Mililani has a more casual dining atmosphere than the one in Ala Moana Shopping Center. You would be hard pressed to find someone donning t-shirts and shorts at the Ala Moana location, but I observed quite a few patrons in very casual attire at the Mililani restaurant. I suppose most people think that since it’s in Mililani, dressing up is not required — and besides, we’re going to Long’s after this anyway!

Filet Mignon Carpaccio

We started out with the Filet Mignon Carpaccio appetizer which was quite good. I love capers and the dipping sauce was tasty. The thought of raw beef gives me a slight pause, but not enough to make me decide not to order it. I suppose I still have some faith in the FDA and the American food industry. Despite my affinity for steaks prepared medium-rare, I have managed to avoid contracting E. Coli and other undesirables. I am happy to report that I also survived the carpaccio.

Imported Italian Beer

Hubby usually likes to indulge in one imported beer over dinner. Tonight it was only appropriate to have the imported Italian beer, La Rossa. I, on the other hand, had an iced tea sweetened with Equal.

The Caesar Salad at Assaggio is prepared tableside if you have two or more orders. I recall when we had the tableside salad preparation a few years ago, our server was obviously a rookie. When cracking the egg, she dropped a few eggshells into the wood bowl that was already slathered in olive oil, parmesan cheese, and other goodies. With perfectly manicured nails, she picked out the eggshells. For a germophobe like me, that’s borderline horrific. I pretended not to notice and managed to convince myself that I was just hallucinating. Luckily, our server this time was a Caesar Salad preparation veteran. No eggshells, no visions of manicured nails in my dressing. The salad was a little heavy on the anchovies, but extremely tasty and tossed to perfection. I love Caesar salads in which every last piece of romaine is saturated.

Chicken Vegetable Linguine

Hubby ordered the Chicken Vegetable Linguine with Garlic Sauce. I sampled a few mouthfuls and really enjoyed that the noodles were delicately seasoned and how the natural flavor of the vegetables were given precedence. The chicken was tender and seasoned primarily with coarsely ground pepper. Overall, a nice dish if you’re in the mood for lighter (and probably healthier) fare.

Baked Eggplant Ziti

I rarely stray from my favorites, but tonight I decided to try something different. The Baked Ziti with Eggplant was covered in a rich marinara sauce and melted cheese. Although many dishes come in two sizes (small and regular portions), this one was one size fits all. The portion was very generous and I found that I was unable to finish more than one-third of the dish. The rest came home in a take-out box and will very likely be tomorrow’s lunch for Hubby.

Hubby took a breather before finishing the rest of his dish. He was waiting for his second wind for dessert.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Hubby is the chocoholic of the family. And you thought I was bad? If given a choice, he will always choose a dessert containing chocolate than any other. Tonight was no exception.

Of course, I had to sample a bite so that I would be able to give my opinion for this entry. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!) For the record, it was very good, delightfully more rich than you would expect a mousse to be.

Custard Flan

Feeling stuffed from the heavy entree, I opted for a lighter dessert and went with the Flan. It was smooth and creamy, a nice way to top off dinner.

I guess Hubby is right: Good food can be found right in your backyard!

Periodically, Hubby goes fishing with his dad on a Friday night. This presents the perfect opportunity for Joyce and I to have our own little pau hana party. This week, we decided on Hiroshi Eurasian Tapas, located in Restaurant Row in Honolulu.

I love the concept of tapas: enjoying a variety of small plates, rather than ordering a single large entree. My palate tends to tire quickly and, admittedly, I may opt not to finish a dish, not because I’m full but because I’ve grown bored of the taste. Tapas and izakaya-style eating is an excellent remedy to that problem.

Spinach Salad

Hiroshi’s Rice Cakes

In lieu of bread, you receive a plate of Hiroshi’s rice cakes with a slightly spicy dipping aioli.

Portuguese Sausage Potstickers

Sauce is presented in a foam — offering an interesting presentation as well as functional value.

One thing we noticed is the prevalence of the word “foam” on the menu. The server explained that preparing the sauce in a foam-like consistency makes it easier for you to control the amount of sauce that goes on your food. Sauces with a thin consistency run all over the place and usually leaves your food saturated.

Tonight’s Special: Crab Something-or-Other

Unfortunately, I didn’t write down the name of this dish and since it was a “special,” it wasn’t listed on their online menu.

Steamed Onaga

Bananas Foster Ice Cream Puff

This ‘Ilima Award winning resturant is definitely worth a taste. Highly recommended!

Lately, I’ve been feeling the need to reward myself for surviving the work week. As a result, weekends are for celebrating and dining out. Tonight, I decided to take Hubby to Shokudo Japanese since he has never been.

For starters…

Yukari Fries

Spinach Salad

I can be persnickety about quite a few things. Food is one of them. It’s one of the few things that I’ve grown to be somewhat snobbish about over the years, but I truly believe that eating bad food is simply a waste of time — and calories. Especially since I’m watching my weight (go up), every calorie counts. My thought is that food better be one of two things: really healthy or really tasty. Both would be good, but honestly, I rarely find that combination outside of home cooking. When dining out, I at least expect the latter.

Diced Beef Steak

In Hubby’s ever-present quest for protein, we ordered the Diced Beef Steak, medium-rare. It arrived slightly undercooked, I suspect since they expected the steak to cook while sitting on the hot plate — but since the hot plate was only warm, it ended up leaning more rare than medium. I popped a piece into my mouth and immediately discovered that I got a morsel of fat and muscle. One of my culinary peeves is muscular meat. (I like muscles on my man, but not in my steak.) Since childhood, I’ve had a secret phobia about choking to death on my food. As a result, I cut my food into bite-sized pieces. Muscles in meat have always been particularly problematic for me because of the difficulty in breaking it down in a reasonable amount of time before swallowing.

“Hmm… muscle,” Hubby said in between chews.

I furrowed my brow, gnawed a bit, and decided that choking to death in the middle of Shokudo would pretty much ruin the evening so, as discreetly as possible, spit it into my napkin.

Hubby was tasked with finishing the remainder of the dish, which was basically all of it, sans the half-chewed piece in my napkin. Luckily, Hubby isn’t as picky as I am and will eat darn near anything; except that half-chewed piece in my napkin, that is.

I make mental notes of dishes that work and those that don’t. I’m all about falling back to the “known good” and steering away from the “known not-so-good.” The Diced Beef Steak has made the not-so-good shortlist:

* Mochi Cheese Gratin at Shokudo – Pretty tasty, but the mochi turns rubbery when it cools and becomes a choking hazard. I told you I had a phobia.

* Maguro Oroshi Ponzu at Shokudo (not on current menu) – Too fishy. I commented on that on a past entry on my old site.

* Gyuu Tan (beef tongue) at Okonomi Kai Cuisine – Sliced too thick, as a result, not as tender as I would prefer it. (Imanas-Tei prepares it the way I like it. Tender and thinly sliced.)

* Diced Beef Steak at Shokudo – Too much muscle.

Smallfish and Seaweed Rice

Now, on to something that is definitely on the long list of “known goods”: Smallfish and Seaweed Rice (also, “Hijiki Ishiyaki”). A word of advice: Don’t rush to eat this as soon as it arrives at your table. After your server mixes it, let it cook in the stone bowl for a few minutes. The crispy rice is one of life’s simple pleasures.

Since I shared my shortlist, let me give you my long list of “known goods”:

* Bacon & Mochi Cheese Okonomiyaki at Okonomiyaki Chibo Restaurant

* Hamburger Steak with Wafu Sauce lunch special at Okonomiyaki Chibo Restaurant

* Seafood Dynamite at Imanas-Tei

* Smallfish and Seaweed Rice at Shokudo

* Renkon Cheese Yaki at Okonomi Kai Cuisine

* Bi Bim Bap at Yakiniku Million

* Kal-Bi and Fried Rice at Alan Wong’s Pineapple Room

* Waldo’s Choice Salad at Waldo’s Pizza in Mililani

* Eggplant Parmesan at Romano’s Macaroni Grill

* Artichoke, Spinach and Garlic Pizza at Auntie Pasto’s

* Gorgonzola Bread at Auntie Pasto’s (only available at the downtown location)

* Roast Pork Loco at Blane’s Drive-Inn in Hilo

* Garlic Balls at Bravo

Every story needs a happy ending: Dessert.

Green Tea Cheesecake

Cinnamon Honey Toast

Hungry yet? See more food photos on my Flickr “Ono Kine Grinds” photo set.

I’m still recovering from the kanak attack. Have a great weekend!