Royal Riviera Pear - The Sweetest Pear I've Ever Had

Feel like I haven't write about fruits for ages,
Well, lately I've been eating the same fruits over and over again,
Bananas, cherries, and grapes.

Why is that?
When you have to work with computers the whole time,
These fruits became my top three choices since they can be stored outside the fridge, no pre-cutting required, and create least mess at my desk.
*Imagine me trying to cut a kiwi and eat it at work,
I'm 100% sure that you'll see drops of green liquid on my keyboard.

But I do get tired of the same thing once a long while.
I can't eat bananas, cherries, or grapes every single day!
And I guess that's how this sweet little thing seduced me to grab it, and put into my grocery bag-

It even comes with its own plastic protection,

No wonder the name is called "Royal" Riviera.
Too bad the plastic cover doesn't work for me,
Because I just ripped it apart and cut the pear into pieces!

Muahahhahaha-

I'm not kidding, it tastes almost like honey,

I believe if I leave it at the counter, uncovered,

Millions of ants will sense its sweetness and race toward the delicate pear,

(I just got a chill thinking about the scene).

Unlike most of the Asian pears,

Royal Riviera is very soft, and the skin is a little bit rough,

I would love to copy and paste the description on the retailer's website,

But I don't feel like doing any advertisement for them,

I'm only writing this blog because the pear was so sweet!

Google it well ya?

Spamble Eggs

Ahhhh internet,

I am so glad to have you back into my life.

You have no idea how much I suffered for the past few days,

I was living in a life of no TV and especially no internet.

How am I suppose to update my blog?

How am I suppose to chat with my friends?

(Yes I know there's something called "phone." The thing you can simply pick up, punch some numbers, and talk directly to your dear ones. But that's a no no for me. I do not like to talk on the phone.)

I do admit that I've been checking my emails and other "miscellaneous stuff" at work,

Come on,

Don't tell me you never done that before.

So here I am,

Squadding next to the coffee table, updating my blog,

I see a white line for the internet on my left, and a black line for the battery on the right.

These two strings are tightly stretched in order to meet my laptop in the middle

I guess it's time to set up the wireless tonight..

So before my legs get numb, here's a quick post of my very first spam dish,

-----Spamble Eggs------

Ingredients?

6 eggs

1 can of Spam

1/2 onion (chopped)

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt

Ketchup

Dried seaweed flakes

How?

This recipe is more like a memoir of my first Spam-cooking experience.

I have never touched any of those bizarre looking canned meat in the supermarket,

Thanks to my friend,

One day they took me to this Hawaiian joint cz my tummy was making noises again,

And that's how I first met Spam,

Right after my first bite, I'm in love with this mysterious pinkish meat.

"Slap! Slap!"

Wake up here, it's time to write about the recipe, not about how me and Spam met.

So let's do the preparation work first,

Beat up 6 eggs and set aside.

Take the Spam out and cut it into small cubes.

Don't forget to chop the onion.

After that, drizzle some olive oil in the pan, toss in chopped onion, and sprinkle a tiny bit of salt.

Cooked till the onion turned translucent.

Add the Spam cubes and cooked till the edge turned slightly brown.

Pour the eggs in, wait for few seconds for the bottom to set,

Add some dried seaweed flakes, and it's time to "scramble" it,

No need to add more salt since the Spam is salty enough,

Plus we need to pour over some ketchup over the top.

This dish is done, how simple is that?

Ok, I guess I have to say goodbye now,

My legs have been numbed for the past five minutes,

Time to leave my sweet laptop,

I'll see you guys again when my wireless is ready to go!

Cindy's Rating: 6

Miso Baked Sea Bass

Damn you Santa Ana Wind!

It feels like thousands of tiny needles poking my skin every time the wind blows,

And I don't know how to get rid of that burning sensation from my eyes,

Humidifier and eye drops are not really doing their jobs.

I can't focus here,

The dryness makes my skin started to peel off,

I tried to put on layers of lotion,

But it feels greasy rather than moisturized.

Plus you know what?

It was 90 Degrees Fahrenheit (32 Degrees Celsius) yesterday,

Are we in the middle of January? Hello? Hello? What's going on here?

Despite all the obstacles,

I still managed a way to stand in the kitchen and cooked something for dinner,

You've got to feed that empty tummy right?

Miso baked sea bass-

Ingredients?

1 medium to large sized sea bass (or cod) fillet

2 tablespoons of white miso paste

1 tablespoon of mirin

1 tablespoon of sake (Japanese cooking wine)

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of soy sauce

How?

Mix all the ingredients together (except the fish) until the sugar dissolves,

Another way to do this is by heating them up in a saucepan,

But make sure nothing gets burned please,

Low heat works just fine.

Now let's grab a paper towel and pat dry the excess liquid from the fish fillet.

(Maybe the fish fillet is sweating here too)

Spread the marinade on both sides of the fish,

Sealed the container and let it sit in the fridge for at least 6 hours,

And of course you can leave it overnight.

One more step before serving.

Turn the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit,

Take the fillet out and wipe off the marinade,

Transfer to a baking dish, into the oven for 10 to 12 minutes or till the top turns slightly brown.

How simple is that?

I did feel like my skin started to crack when I opened that oven door,

(Especially under this extremely dry weather),

But,

It's all for my stomach's sake,

Let's just pop up more humidifier and --- dig in!

Cindy's Rating: 7

Raku Japanese Charcoal Grill

People say Christmas dinner is over-rated in the case of dining out.
This statement is so true, especially in Las Vegas.

My boyfriend and I were gonna have our Christmas dinner at a fancy restaurant on the strip,
Good thing that we have a special connection in the city.

"It's a rip off to eat anywhere on the strip on Christmas eve!"
"It's double the regular price and so many places are booked till late hours!"
"The set menu that usually costs about $125 per person went sky high for $250 per person."
Our chef friend strongly made his point across before we make a reservation at the hotel.
"Go to this place instead, you'll love it! it's DA BOMB!"

DA BOMB huh?
Well, if the expert said so, we'd better follow,
So here we were at Raku, a cozy Japanese restaurant located near China Town in Vegas-


The place is pretty small compared to most of the fancy joints in Vegas,
But somehow it gives you a cozy, warm feeling,
Or maybe just because our waitress had this red Xmas hat on.
Doesn't matter, she was super friendly.
Service points = 100.

Because all the tables were occupied, we settled for a bar seat.
And this little guy was right in front of our face-


Very cute, I've always wanted one for myself,
But too bad I don't drink that much warm sake at home,
Maybe I should just get one for my friends, wait, I did not say my friends are alcoholics!
(There's hot water inside the box. The chef will warm up the sake by dipping the bottle in the water. The raccoon looks like he is enjoying a hot sauna/bath in the middle.)

Our oden selection (with daikon, homemade fish cake, and homemade tofu)-


First I took a bite of the daikon (radish),
It's been cooked through so I can just squash it with my tongue, yum!

And the fish cake, my god, I've never had a fish cake so smooth before,
At first I thought it'll probably look like those store-bought ones,
Thinly sliced with pink food coloring on the edge,
No! It was thick and fluffy,
Oh yeah, fluffy is the perfect word to describe the texture, highly recommended.

Grilled Kobe beef liver-


Raku also serves a wide variety of grilled dishes,
I wish I took a picture for the menu,
But I was too excited and definitely too hungry at the time..I forgot to take more pictures...
That might be one of the biggest weakness for food bloggers,
It's so hard to wait and take food pictures....especially when the food is inviting you for a bite and your stomach is growling.

Grilled pork belly-


Look at that shiny fat!

Grilled pork ear-


We actually ordered a whole bunch stuff already,
But fear that it might be a long time before we get to dine at Raku again,
We asked our waitress and see if we've missed any goodies.
This is the one she recommended, and she particularly emphasized that we should dip the ear with the spicy oil-


It's the clear-colored bottle on the left.
They have a big jar of this oil in the corner,
Where you can see chilies soaking on the bottom.

Grilled foie gras-


They even have grilled foie gra, and it's only $12,
I've never been so happy before!

Agedashi tofu-


Homemade tofu of course,
They put some ikura (salmon roe) on the top that pumps up the flavor even more.

Fried asparagus-


This is the ok dish,
It's good, but not extraordinary good.

I was very pleased with this dinner,
Raku is now on my have-to-visit list when I'm in Vegas.

For the same price I spent in Raku on Christmas eve,
(Besides the dishes I posted up here, we also had sake, beer, chatsuke, and more grilled items)
I probably can only get an entree, dessert, and a drink for one person in any restaurants on the strip.

This place really is DA BOMB!

Overall Rating: 9!!

Raku
5030 Spring Mountain Road #2
Las Vegas, NV 89146
(702) 367-3511