Random ramblings from the road (our SoCal trip)
These are shots of the green tea tiramisu and cherry cheese popovers from the bakery at Mitsuwa Market in Costa Mesa...
It's around 9:30 in the evening and I'm enjoying the view of the early fireworks show from our room at the Hotel New Otani in L.A. We arrived Thursday morning to meet with friends who live here and one who just returned from two and half months in Japan. My first meal was omurice from Blue Marlin in Santa Monica. It was steeped in a pool of demiglace sauce and decorated with a squiggle of ketchup. Honestly I think they used five eggs to make the dish. It was that huge!
The first three nights were spent in Costa Mesa where we took a short visit over to Mission Viejo for a MannaDay barbeque. So far this trip has been full of business and product updates as well as an overload of food. SoCal has an abundance of great places to eat, especially Japanese restaurants! I'll include some photos on my jeanette.hada.us page.
Most of the people we've seen in Southern California are thinner and more fit than in the Bay Area; however, I see a lot of smokers and sun-lovers here and it's reflected in their skin. The traffic here is overwhelming. I cannot imagine having to deal with the daily commute on a regular or part-time basis.
Ok, back to talking about the food, which is the my favorite part of traveling...
In Costa Mesa/Newport Beach, the Mitsuwa Japanese Market has a better selection of restaurants and prepared foods. The baked goods are exceptional, particularly the cakes and savory pastries. The green tea tiramisu was prepared with sweet fresh cream and the slight bitter flavor of the matcha accented it perfectly. We brought this to the Manna gathering on Friday. It was a hit with the adults. The younger ones preferred the fruity popsicles over the cake though.
Downtown Los Angeles has a convenient asian supermarket call Marukai situated in the same building of the New Otani Hotel, which is where we're staying. Speciality items such as novelty gadgets used for slimming, smoothing, and massage populated a few of the aisles. I spent most of my time lingering in the snack and lunchbox area.
Tomorrow, I will try to squeeze time in to visit the Fashion/Garment District that is about a mile or so away from here. Hopefully I'll be able to find comfortable (non-flat) shoes to walk around in. Unlike the Bay Area, it's definitely consistently warmer and the boots I brought aren't suitable for walking about in during the day.
