Back bay bike ride

Whew! So a friend and I kayak this back bay area of Newport Beach. We realized there was a bicycle trail and wanted to check it out. We went this morning and rode the whole bay - 10 miles. Bicycling on a stationary bike is way different than a real bike... I forgot about climbing hills. I've been riding on flat land and on the stationary bike which are really easy. This trail went all around the bay - it was really scenic since it goes around the bird sanctuary - we saw several cranes and little birds.

Took a few pics of the place. There are several trails that branch off - one goes from Newport Beach all the way close to where I live and it is an 80 mile ride. Getting alittle ambitious on that part. I think this 10 mile trail kinda kicked my butt - there were a couple of challenging hills, one I actually got off the bike and walked it up the hill.

The trail was easy to follow since we just had to look for the path markers.

This is the bay area - this is actually the hill area that was a tough climb.

Fat Bob

Anyway, after getting home from sushi I started all my baking projects. It didn't take as long as I thought I got to bed early - 5AM... just in time for a quick nap before I had to wake up at 7 for the Harley demo rides. This has been something I've really been looking forward to. Actually, it's something I look forward to every year, when given the opportunity to attend. Harley-Davidson comes out with the new year's motorcycle - this year - 2008, is the new Dyna Fat Bob. Whew! What a nice looking bike. At these demo rides, you get to test ride any bike you want - just sign up and fill out the waiver. You can spend all day riding each bike. It's a fantastic treat.

So being here without my bike, I've been missing out on all the rides that I could be going on. A friend of mine is thinking about getting the Fat Bob, so we went to the demo to ride. We were the first ones to sign up. She rode the Fat Bob with mid-controls (controls built in the middle of the bike) and I rode the Fat Bob with forward controls (controls that are built closer to the front of the bike). Kinda funny since she's mega tall and I'm really short - we should have rode opposite bikes... short legs, mid controls/ tall legs, forward controls... anyway, the forward controls was cool. I really need to grow about 2 more inches to touch the controls. I had to sit on the tank to reach the pedals - brakes and gears even with my heels on! This bike is a 1584cc engine... the largest engine in the whole Harley fleet, with the exception of the Screamin Eagle brand which is 1808cc. My bike is only a 1450cc... mine is fast but this one is way faster - just a little flick of the wrist and I was flying down the road at 70mph! I didn't even realize I was going that fast until I looked at the spedometer. Just imagine... with a 1450 engine, you can top out at 120mph... I wonder what you can top out at with a 1584cc? Wow.

It's such an awesome bike. Even I was tempted to take it home with me! With the drag bars - it just makes you want to take sharp turns and race... the pipes are cool, the color (I rode a blue one) is great and get this! You don't need a key (I'm always worried my key will fall out of the ignition and I'll be stranded). The newer bikes you turn the bike ignition on with the key then store it - and the bike still works! Also on all the 2008 models is a 6th gear. I wonder if that means you can go faster.

2008 Dyna Fat Bob with forward controls

Fat Bob with forward controls - demo ride

holiday lights, boat show and good eats

Whew! What a busy day. Started out with a nice kayak trip around the Newport Beach back bay bird santuary then lunch in Little Tokyo (downtown LA) at a kaiten (conveyor sushi bar).

Our plans had originally been for sushi bar hopping for dinner. We found 4 restaurants we wanted to check out since we had heard good reviews. By the time we got back to town from LA, it was dinner time (and rush hour traffic). We had reservations for the 2nd sushi bar... we had to skip the first sushi bar in order to keep the reservation. Next up, we went to a boat show in Newport Beach - the locals all decorate their boats with various lights and decorations for Christmas and drive around the bay. We went for this in addition to seeing the winning houses light displays along the promenade on Balboa Island. When we finished the looking at the lights, we went on to the 3rd sushi bar. And after this place - it was already midnight and we called it a night, forgoing the 4th place for a later date.

Wow, what a day... eating sushi for 9 hours. A few weeks ago, my friends had asked if I would make desserts for their Christmas party for 60 people. Jumping at the practice, I said yes... but with what time? Anyway, after getting home from sushi I started all my baking projects. It didn't take as long as I thought. I'm typing this up as the last of the projects are baking. I decided on 5 desserts - a struesel, white chocolate pound cake, red velvet cupcakes, rum cake and a sponge petit four.

coast guard update

So I went back to the Coast Guard with my birth certificate in hand - the state copy and hospital copy. I spoke to the same guy as the first time (I think he's the only one that works in that office)... and he STILL could not believe I have two middle names. If anyone can send abit of patience this way, it'd be highly appreciated. He even recommeded that I get my name changed legally in order to make things less complicated for government officials. Ok, whatever - at least my mom would be proud that I held my tongue. While that mess gets sorted out, all my other paper work is complete. I should find out more about the job next month since all training has been stopped for the remainder of the year.

another '07 goal

This has been a fairly good year. I made 3 goals for this year and all of them have been accomplished... well, kind of. One of my goals was to move to Austin, which did happen. I just didn't stay there as long as anticipated. The other two was the cross country bike ride and sushi school.

With those down, and still having a few more weeks of 2007, I thought to create a new goal. Ah yes, swimming lessons. Ok... with this cruiseline job, I figure I should learn how to swim. You know, just in case the boat sinks or I just want to jump ship. I think I might know how to swim - I do play in the pool alot but its really not being able to swim but the fear of what's in the water with me and not being able to touch the bottom. Mind games, I know... too many Jaws movies as a kid or an over abundance of watching Lake Placid or any other freaky water movie. I would like a refresher course of the basics just in case. At least, when I get more confident in the water I'll be able to do more water stuff that I've been wanting to try out but have been wary of. I hear Hawaii's got alot of stuff to offer and of course, all the water stuff I'd like to do.

So far, the lessons are going alright. I swallow and inhale quite a bit of chlorinated water. Cooties, I know! I'm not quite coordinated yet in keeping my head above water when breathing. Hopefully though with more practice the less water will be taken in. And the deep end... whew, I try to keep my mind pre-occupied since thinking about touching the bottom and can't is when I tend to get real nervous.

sushi school testimony

Sensei asked if I would write a testimony for the school. It's on the school website.

http://www.sushischool.net/testimonial.php

MMD

I'm trying to get an MMD card through the Coast Guard. It's a mandatory thing if I want to work on a boat. So I went to the office this morning and took all the requested paperwork with me as well as my drivers license, social security card and passport.

I'm having a little difficulty getting this card. Apparently, I am a suspect of identity theft. I don't get it. Do you ever wonder what some people are thinking? First off, I was wondering why this guy (I'm really trying to be polite here but I do have all sorts of other names for him) thinks I've stolen another person's identity... and secondly, it makes me wonder what my parents were thinking when they decided to name me. I am kinda lucky that I don't have some funky name but I wonder what they were thinking when they decided upon two middle names. Perhaps, they knew two middle names would confuse this one particular person.

So I have two middle names and it's the first time I've been hassled about having two. One is American and one is Japanese. Yes, I've had them since I was born. No, I'm not making it up. I really have two middle names. Granted, alot of forms only have one spot for one middle initial hence the reason why I have to choose which one I want to go by. Which means sometimes, I do not get a choice like on my driver's license. They put down the initial of my first middle name. My other documents have the other initial so not all my identification matches. My passport has the other middle name on it.

But I would think once you are verified by a government agency, you should be good to go. When I enlisted in the military I had to show all these documents to verify who I was, etc and they wrote down both middle names. When I got out of the military, I was given a veterans card which has both middle names.

So when I gave the coast guard guy my identification, he's not only doubting me but other government agencies. Apparently, he doesn't believe someone can have two middle names and wants to see my birth certificate with his own eyes. How would I be able to get a passport, a driver's license or even a valid social security number if my birth certificate is fake? So this adds a couple more weeks onto the wait time, which all I'm waiting for is the okay from the coast guard - the approval will result in the MMD card.

sushi for dinner

Been wanting to try out some sushi restaurants in the area. Went out to dinner with a friend of mine to a little hole in the wall place we found off of http://www.yelp.com/ It had some good reviews so in we went. I kinda liked the place... kinda traditional Japanese with a bit of Americanization in it. Good twist of things... we sat at the sushi bar and ordered off the specials. I think so far, this is the best sush restaurant I've been to in southern CA.

















Recommeded monkfish liver (ankimo) to my friend who had never tried it before and was willing to try anything. It's compared to foie gras - rich creamy yet light flavor topped with ponzu sauce (citrus sauce), momiji oroshi (horseradish red pepper) and green onions. It's often called foie gras of the ocean and getting popular in the States. She really liked the shiso leaf too... I think the translation is perilla leaf but although incorrect can kinda be called Japanese basil.
















When I saw this, I had to try it. It just caught my eye and I really like quail eggs - alot. It's called a shrimp boat...butterfly shrimp stuffed with kanikama (crab), topped with masago (smelt eggs), quail egg and green onion. Dipped in soy sauce - this was the bomb! It was my fav dish tonight.















Then we ordered a sashimi plate - only to check out the plate. It's a flower shaped ice mold. Thought it was really cool. Although the concept is correct, the cutting and plating was not so good. That ice mold though, yeah that's what sold me. This was tuna, red snapper and octopus on a bed of shredded daikon, shiso leaf and lemon. They had another ice mold of a boat for a larger order of sashimi. That would have been way cool to see but too much food. Perhaps next time.

We ordered some other stuff too but these were the ones that impressed tonight.

long beach sights

Thought I'd spend the day sight seeing since I haven't really done so since moving to California. I went to Long Beach and hung out at the aquarium and took a short walk around the village shopping area. The Aquarium of the Pacific is kinda nice. I had been here before several years ago when it first opened. Back then there were alot of jelly fish but this time there were only 3 cases, which was a little disappointing. They did have sea horses though as with the weedy and leafy sea dragons. I thought those were pretty cool looking.






leafy sea dragon - found off the Western coast of Australia. It's a relative of the sea horse family.











weedy sea dragon - also a sea horse relative. These are also found only off the coast of Australia.











sea horses












movie of a male sea horse giving birth - click on the play button





lion fish














porcupine fish













jelly fish












queen mary in the distance















that's me...

scratch tofu

Wow, I'm amazed that making tofu from scratch is so easy. Time consuming but very simple to make. Took me about 1 1/2 hrs to make a loaf. I'm sure though the time would have been the same, had I made more. But this was just an experiment. Last week I made tofu from a kit... the only difference is that this time I actually got soybeans and food processed them into liquid form then cooked and strained it. Other than that everything else was the same - yeah, even the flavor. Unbelieveable.

tofu

I've been wanting to learn how to make tofu from scratch for awhile. After seeing various kits, I decided to start my first scratch batch from a tofu kit - just to see how difficult the process is.
With this tofu kit - all the ingredients are in the box. I didn't have the correct tofu container but I thought any plastic container would do. Turned out great... I'm amazed at the flavor. Kinda reminds me of grits - flavor, not texture. It's really good and tastes so different from store bought tofu.

In the meantime, there's another tofu recipe. This is actually for real scratch - where you get the soy beans, macerate them into mush and all the rest of the stuff. That will be interesting to make.

oh oh - aimed a little low

This is so weird. I interviewed for the wrong job. I ended up taking a job with one of those original 6 interviews. All I wanted was a sushi maker job - to be alittle peon in the grand scheme of things. Roll sushi, make sashimi, nigiri, etc - gain speed, get more practice, something temporary - what better way than fast food sushi. I'd be easily replaceable when the cruiseline gives me to go ahead for training.

I was over-qualified as a sushi roller... so I had interviewed for a supervisor position - a floor manager to be in charge of a shift of the sushi roller people. Today was the first day of work. The guy I interviewed with is actually going to be my boss and I met his boss today - the Regional General Manager as well as the company trainer. Now, I was thinking this place is kinda nice - the Regional manager took time out of his busy schedule to welcome me into the company and I'll be trained by a guy thats only job is to train people for their position. Quite impressive. I figured they really want some good sushi people producing some really nice rolls. I mean, fast food sushi - who would have thought? Never heard of the company until the interview but hey, sushi is popular.

Uh, come to find out that position I interviewed for was not floor manager. The Regional general manager wouldn't have greeted me that way... and I wouldn't have a company trainer to train me had it only been for that shift leader position. The job interview was for store manager. Wow. They want to give me my own store! It's being built right now and will be ready to open come February. Man, those crazy Japanese accents! Floor manager, store manager - it's definately not the same thing. Can you say I aimed alittle low? The store is in Long Beach - a place that's got a really way cool aquarium. Well, if I had to live in Southern California, Long Beach is the place I'd want to live. This might be a toss up - cruise or Long Beach, I mean store manager. Pros and cons, the cruise is still in the lead. How do I back pedal out of this mess?

And I got another job offer - just for fun, like a side job. A friend of a friend of a friend has been looking for a sushi chef for their catering company. They make some really nice wedding cakes - the pictures are awesome. I wonder if they taste good... hmmm. Anyway, they want to expand in the sushi world - that might be alittle entertainment. We'll see. Options - there are getting to be several.

By the way, starting my medical tests for the cruise today... doing good so far.

couch potato - in the car

I have some good news. First off, that 7th interview - the one with the job I really wanted... they called me back for a 2nd interview. Got the job too. But being bummed out this past week about that job has made me realize, I could move on knowing that I didn't get it... and had begun making other plans.

Now that I got the job, I don't want it. Part of my decision in not taking the job is the commute. Been there 3 times already and feel like I'm wasting time driving back and forth. It's only 35 miles to Beverly Hills but it takes 2 hours to get there and 3 hours to get back home - in normal traffic. 5 hours in the car is abit much 5-6 days a week. That would almost be like a part-time job.

The other plan consists of a compromise. Whew! To say that, well... to those that know me, know I'm not very good at compromising and it is rare than I do. Maybe it's a sign of old age? (Oh oh, it's downhill from here on out.) I kinda miss the seasonal trail. I miss the change, adventure, meeting new people, checking out new places, etc. With the seasonal trail, I change companies every 4-5 months and had realized I needed to settle down with one company to show stability, think of the future, perhaps even job benefits like health insurance, medical and everything else I haven't had to worry about. Hence, the reason I decided to stop the seasonal trail and grow some roots. But I'm already bored and to think of staying in one area for years and years indefinately is a like a ball and chain - kinda makes me want to run.

So my goal was to settle down in order to focus on my sushi career. I'd be willing to do that for a few years but I haven't really found anything that has caught my eye - something to tie me here to LA. Then as part of my job hunt I saw a cruiseline job fair. I had planned on going then talked myself out of it. (I knew what would happen if offered a job.) But my roommate persuaded me in going - "look but don't sign ANYTHING," she said as I walked out the door.

So the compromise is... I'm returning to the seasonal trail on that cruise line. I was offered a job on the spot and it's a guaranteed sushi position (so I can be in the sushi world), travel and if I like it, remain within the same company for stability but still have all the change. It'll take about about 2 months to complete all the testing and medical stuff if all goes well. So it's kinda like a win-win situation. Let's hope so.

In the meantime, I've decided to take one of the job offers out of those original 6 to tide me over so to speak. I've been on more interviews since but knowing the job will be temporary, I'm not being as selective as I normally would.

On the cruise, I'll be returning to the 80-90 hour work week. This time though it'll be 7 days straight for 5 months. Never really done that before... I've worked many hours but I've always had a day off, a 6 day work week. We'll see how it goes. It's real tight quarters - 4 people per room. A small room with a gym locker to hold all our possessions (so I'll have to pack abit lighter!)

To the future! Changing as always...

interviews

I've been interviewing for sushi jobs since I finished school last week. I made sure to get a few interviews to practice on before I got an interview for the job I really want. 7 interviews... 6 of them practise since I get really nervous when I want something - and I got job offers from them all. That 7th one is the job I really wanted and haven't heard from. That kinda bums me out. Even with those 6 practise interviews, I still got super nervous and it didn't go so well. Strange thing though, since I knew I didn't want those 6 other jobs I wasn't nervous at all, which is probably why I got them.

Back to the real world. I kinda get tunnel vision when it comes to jobs so since I didn't get the one I wanted it really doesn't matter where I work. Maybe I'll pick from one that I got... Or go on more interviews. We'll see.

japanese cuisine and culture

Went to a Japanese cuisine and culture festival this afternoon. It was sponsored by the Japanese Restaurant Association and the California rice commission. Lots of food - noodles (somen, udon), nigiri, sashimi, sukiyaki, tempura, crepes, yakitori, even beer and sake tastings. It was kinda cool since I'd been wanting to eat sashimi the past couple of days.

One of the demonstrations was a bigeye tuna - it was 150lbs and it was cut up and served as sashimi. The guy was quick! It probably took him 15 minutes or less. Then he had his helpers cut it down into serving sizes.

I also saw sushi machines. You put the rice in the machine and one makes rolls and the other makes nigiri - and even puts it in plastic. I figure maybe for airplane food?







150# bigeye tuna

huge bowl of ikura (salmon roe) plated in rice bowls with shredded nori - like in scattered sushi.

sushi roll machine



















nigiri machine













nigiri finished product - packaged in plastic from the machine

finals

Today was finals. Along with the written we made 3 dishes each... a signature roll, appetizer and a combination plate of nigiri and tuna roll.



Signature roll - cheddar cheese, avocado, tomato concasse, crab, sesame leaf - tempura battered with plum and honey siracha sauce.












appetizer - mackeral bird nest croquette. In the croquette is mashed potato with shredded mackeral with panko crust, deep fried with a persimmon ginger dipping sauce.

I was so consume with ensuring my ingredients were fresh and all in season, I didn't realize my error until I started my testing - both dishes are fried.






combo plate - tekka roll (tuna roll) with halibut nigiri












Class: L-R
Cheuk, Jason, Jake, Sensei Andy (in black), Danny, Dai, Nick (asst chef instructor), Lorraine and I










Now graduated - with certificate

That was a quick 2 month course. I'm thinking I'll be staying in the LA area but still job hunting and open for options.

veggie nigiri

Today was vegetable nigiri day... after disecting the worms from the beltfish. Thankfully! I think everyone ate their veggie nigiri although some of the guys pan fried their beltfish and had that for lunch instead of raw.

L-R: kaiware (sprouts), eggplant with plum sauce, avocado, carrots, cucumber and soy beans, green onion with miso, roasted red pepper, asparagus.

it waved at me

Ok, so I grossed my classmates out again. It was unintentional - really. Today's assignment was a belt fish also known as a scabbard fish. We were cutting it down into filets, one classmate cut away one side and I cut the other filet but once I got the portion off, I noticed some dark looking round things in the meat and asked Sensei what they were. Uh, worms... oh yum... why is it I get the wormy fish? So I had to pick the worms out of the meat and prepare it for sushi. Most times, this fish is a cooked item but if tried as sushi, it has a distinctive flavor that some people (Sensei) likes. Me? Uh, I tried it last week and gave it away - the good thing is all the leftover sushi that we don't want, we give to Ouchi, the school office manager, who usually takes it home to his family. Oh... and if it's cooked more than likely you've eaten a worm. Good protein source, eh?

Last Friday we had an assignment on pompano nigiri. Pompano is this cute little fish - I think posted a pic of this fish skeleton... we deep fry the skeleton and eat it like chips. Anyway, everyone's assignment was complete and we were ready for lunch. (We all sit down together and eat like a family meal). As I looked down at my soon to be lunch, I saw this worm... it was standing up on end and waving at me. Literally, I'm not kidding. (Although it was a bit funny so see the color drain from my classmates faces). I guess I didn't do a very good job killing off all the worms - it's kind of a wormy fish. Sensei just told me to kill off the worm and eat the sushi anyway... needless to say, no one ate lunch that day - we all lost our appetites.

A few weeks ago, as we were doing our class assignment I had a worm crawling around on my plate. That time though, we all carved up the fish and put it in a big tray so I don't know who cleaned that fish but I ended up with it. It was a little baby worm - but the guys didn't eat their lunch that day either.

So far, there's been 3 worms found and yeah, guess who's been lucky to find all of them? It makes me wonder... if I am the only one to find worms in the fish, perhaps my classmates have eaten the worms unknowingly? I can't be the only one! Could I?

Out of my own evilness - I've posted Friday's lunch for you. By the time I got my camera the worm crawled down from the nigiri on the right and is in the middle of the two nigiri.

My friend... the worm.

jackfruit versus durian

I think jackfruits and durians are in the same family. They kinda look alike. Jackfruits are big pine coney things with tons of pokeys... and durians are little pine coney looking things with tons of pokeys.

Some of my classmates said in Vietnam, people put fences around the fruit trees. I thought maybe perhaps they were claiming the wild tree but they said no... the fence is suppose to protect people from dying. Ugh! Dying? When these fruits are ripe, they fall off the tree. Getting hit on the head by a pokey thing can surely cause brain damage, if not instant death. Ouch - that's gotta hurt a little! So when harvesting, people wear hardhats just to be sure they are protected.

I ate a jackfruit and thought it was delicious. People either love it or hate it. There's no in between. It stinks and in order to tell it's ripe, it stinks real bad. Real bad - like rotting onions. But if you like mango, peaches and bananas - that's what it tastes like (to me) if you ate all three fruits at the same time. Real yum, I think. Kinda like eating a ripe peach - texture wise.

Durians on the other hand. Well, I went to the Asian market and bought one thinking it was a jackfruit since it was huge. I usually see little durians... never big ones. So I got it, brought it home and read the tag... claiming it was a durian. Never had it before but had heard you either love it or hate it. These too stink REAL bad, when ripe. So I cut it open and ate it. This is like creamy egg custard like texture which is good. But the taste... yuck! To me, it was like eating a nice sweet banana and garlic - at the same time. Maybe it wasn't quite ripe yet? It was stinking up the kitchen... In some places in Southern Asia, durian is prohibited in public places because of the stink - to some people love it and other's, it totally offends the olfactory sense.

sushi - nigiri and box

It's been a few days since uploading pics of sushi. We've learned a couple types of fish and have been practising on cutting a whole fish down into usable pieces for sushi.







sushi - red snapper, sea bream, abalone, imitation crab



bottom row - box sushi with tuna, avocado and tobiko; egg nigiri (tamago)








box sushi - we make this kind of sushi in a box then cut it into squares. This one is tuna with wasabi mayonaise, kaiware (sprouts), tobiko, honey siracha sauce and siracha mayonaise.








sushi -

top row nigiri - tuna, albacore, salmon, scallop

bottom row - spicy tuna temaki (handroll), spicy tuna roll and scallop








oysters - one in a 1/2 shell with ponzu, chili radish and green onion; the other is a shooter with quail egg, siracha, green onion and lemon wedge










appetizer special - toro tartare. Toro is the best part of the bluefin tuna - it is the belly part of the fish. Tartare originates in Russia (Baltic states) and is a coursely ground, high quality beef mixed with salt, pepper and herbs, topped with an egg. In this case, the dish is fusion - substituting toro for the beef, garnished with green onions and topped with a quail egg and ponzu sauce.




nigiri - saba (mackeral), mussels, ama ebi (sweet shrimp) and aji (spanish mackeral)

a few days ago, i had a picture of an overgrown scallop liver. these two are normal sizes although different colors - one red, one brown. (See September 25, 2007 blog titled "nigiri").

Time is flying by! Graduation is next week - 8 more days of practice then the real world. I'm still unsure of future plans except to say I'll be in the sushi world. While prcrastinating on the job front, I do have a few ideas. I guess we'll both be finding out where the next home will be at approximately the same time... or stay in Southern California and become a beach bum. Hmmm, options.