Wasabi Japanese Restaurant @ Buffalo, NY

I think Wasabi’s my brother’s favorite Japanese restaurant in Buffalo, NY. We went there after his graduation to celebrate and to also meet up with our friend (my classmate from high school) Sherene, her hubby Pete and her sister Sharon.

Upon arriving there, we were seated immediately as Sherene had called ahead for availability and to our surprise, they were able to accommodate us (party of 8) during this busy graduation weekend! We arrived there just in time before more patrons started arriving!

The interior was nicely decorated and had a nice ambiance. Service was surprisingly slow and I believe Pete mentioned that they’ve never been that SLOW.  Here’re some of the stuff that we ordered. Most of them pretty good, except the Chilean Sea Bass ordered as appetizer…disappointing!

The Spicy Chilean Sea Bass @ $8.95 looked like a joke to me. I guess this is what I get for paying $9 for it. It was so mediocre, it wasn’t funny. I did not bother to take pictures of it. I recall 4-5 thinly sliced pieces of fish being served on a piece of banana leave. The fish was probably deep fried or something as it was super oily. I prefer my Sea Bass in a large juicy chunk! The only consolation, the spicy mayo sauce, wasn’t that bad. This was the worst Chilean Sea Bass I’ve ever had!! =(. By all means, skip this appetizer!

And because I was raving on how YUMMY Chilean Sea Bass is, I had mom ordered the Grilled Chilean Sea Bass @ $15.95. You can choose from 3 different sauces that they offer with the fish; Teriyaki, Spicy Mayo or Spicy Black Bean. Mom picked the black bean sauce. Again, the fish was sort of thinly sliced, came with sautéed vegetables and a bowl of rice. The fish was either microwaved steamed or lightly pan fried then just topped with the black bean sauce. Mom & dad thought it was ok. I again wasn’t too thrilled about it….. Again, the price of the entree (cheap, as Chilean Sea Bass is always $20 and up) should have given me the tell tale signs of what to expect! Now, I just hoped that they did indeed serve Chilean Sea Bass… and not Tilapia =P

Dad, hubby, bro and I ordered a variety of sushi to share. I was VERY IMPRESSED with their sushi! =) Dad ordered Alligator Roll (Spicy tuna & avocado roll topped with whole broiled eel & tobiko)@$11.95. I skipped the grilled eel topping (I have issues with eating eel.. hehe) and ate the sushi part. It was pretty good! Not too bad for $11.95. The presentation was quite decent too!Brother ordered Christmas Roll (spicy tuna and tempura flakes roll topped with avocado and red tobiko) @ $9.50. It surely looked X’massy with all the red from the tobiko and the green from the avocado. It was another yummy sushi! =)) . I think there was another thing that brother ordered…but we were so busy munching on the sushi we probably forgot to take pictures of it. Hubby and I ordered one of our favorite sushi; Spider Roll (Fried soft shell crab, avocado, lettuce, cucumber and tobiko topped with mayo and sweet eel sauce) @ $9.50. This was another yummy dish. Soft shell crab was quite generous and crunchy! Yums!! We also ordered Wasabi Lobster (lobster, tobiko, tempura, avocado and mango roll wrapped in soy bean wrapper) @ $11.95. Another delicious sushi! I forgot if I tasted lobster… I’m sure there were small chunks of it… But this sushi was so tasty and different, sweet and salty and the same time. The soy bean wrapper was a refreshing change from the regular seaweed wrapper. Somehow, I really thought we ordered more sushi… I guess I must either be wrong, or we really forgot to take pictures of them! I did not take pictures of what my friends ordered.

I remember Sherene ordered Grilled Teriyaki Salmon @$ 12.95 which looked quite yummy. I think she couldn’t finish her entree and my brother happily helped her out! =p. Pete ordered Super Dynamite (Tempura Fried Roll with Eel, White Tuna, Crabstick, Asparagus & Cream Cheese)@ $9.50. I recalled having a bite, and enjoyed the warm crunchy outside of the fried sushi. I will probably not order this as I’m not a big fan of cream cheese in my sushi and also eel! Sharon ordered Unagi Don (broiled eel over rice) @ $15.95 which also looked very delicious, of which I will happily pass because of issues I have with eel.

We ordered some desserts to share; Mochi Ice Cream (2 @ $2.50) which was nothing to shout about. I suspect it’s maybe store bought. I’ve eaten similar store bought Mochi Ice Cream that came in a pack of 6 @ $4.00, I think! The Tempura Ice Cream @ $4.25 was not bad with green tea ice cream in the inside, lightly deep fried in a tempura batter.

Overall, I will definitely be back for their finger licking good sushi! No doubt passing on their Chilean Sea Bass! =) Thumbs up for their sushi! Service needs improvement…. as they were a little slow with coming up with our food…. Maybe it was tough for them to prepare variety of food for party of 8? Of maybe they were swamped with the other graduation crowd…..

If you’re in the Buffalo, NY area, check out this restaurant and their menu HERE.

Look What Came!

We’ve finally got ourselves our very own NFL jerseys! One for each of us…hubby, myself and even Brady! Come the NFL season, we’ll be sporting our “Brady” jerseys! The best part, technically we did not even spend a penny on these jerseys! =)When we got our Samsung LCD back in January, in addition to the discounts we also had a chance to receive a $200 gift certificate from NFL, a promotional offer with the purchase of a Samsung TV. We mailed in the receipts and did the paper work and waited..and waited…. And it finally came in the mail….$200 gift cert to shop at NFL.com =)

I shopped over the Memorial weekend as soon as I found out that had an additional 15% off during that weekend. Within minutes, we hurriedly picked 3 NFL New England Patriots jerseys for the family. These jerseys are quite pricey as I spent over $190 on them!!!! I don’t think I’ll pay for them out of my own pocket! Hehe! We can now be known as the “Crazy Brady Bunch” when we’re sporting our Tom Brady jerseys! I highly doubt hubby will agree to all 3 of us wearing the Brady jerseys taking a walk in the city or the park!

 

Now that Brady has his own jersey, I just had to dress him up. This is the only outfit hubby allow me to get and dress Brady in! Brady wasn’t too happy, was probably confused and did not move. Not even his favorite treat will get him walk towards me. I had to carry him! =)

Lets just hope Tom Brady (# 12) will continue to play for the New England Patriots for a couple more seasons! I do want to parade around with my new football jersey! =) Somebody please throw me some tickets to the games!!!

Naked Fish & Cuban Cocktails @ Billerica, MA

Naked Fish (Latin/Cuban Fusion Restaurant?) is where I usually go for my seafood fix. Anyway, hubby and I stumbled upon this little chain restaurants in Boston (this location unfortunately closed down) a few years back and we have been going back to Naked Fish Restaurant branches since.

To celebrate yours truly turning 28, we of course chose Naked Fish to dine at. I was so looking forward to their Chilean Sea Bass (my all time favorite fish, though a little pricey!). The menu on the website unfortunately was different from the one in the restaurant…. No Chilean Sea Bass… Boo!

Lets start from the beginning……… it didn’t take too long for us to get a table since hubby made a reservation in advance. They did at first put us at this table, at the center of one of their party rooms. There were other patrons there, but all of us felt odd sitting there. Ambience in that party room was also missing, and it felt like dining in a cafe instead of a nice Cuban Fusion style restaurant. We asked for a change and requested to squeeze at a nice curved booth table. The ambience is much better, though a little more dimly lit, with decorative curtains and art….and it just felt more cozy!

We started the evening with some cocktails. I ordered a Caipirinha (left; a Brazilian national cocktail) @ $7.95. I’ve ordered this cocktail once elsewhere, but this time, I did not enjoy it as much. I found this aftertaste of the sugarcane liquor (perhaps?) odd. Hubby ordered a Mojito (right; a Cuban cocktail) @$7.95 which was yumillicious. We ended up swaping our drinks, as hubby liked my stronger cocktail. =)

       

Seyda & Chris ordered Strawberry/Mango Mojito @$8.95, which I tried and found it not bad too….but I think I prefer the original Mojito a tad better. Rob ordered a Mango Mai Tai @ $8.25, which was equally yummy! Stir before you drink, as they top of the Mai Tai with lotsa Rum on the top.

For starters, we ordered their Brazilian Fried Calamari @ $8.95 which surprisingly came in quite a large portion. The fried calamari was seasoned in black pepper i think, then deep fried and lightly tossed with assorted roasted peppers for some kick. Hubby and I thought that if the calamari rings were a bit bigger, it would be just perfect! Never the less, this is still good and we will definitely order this again!

Since they did not have my favorite Chilean Sea Bass on the menu, I ordered the next best thing they have. Peppercorn Tuna (pan seared and flamed with Cuban rum in light cream sauce) @ $21.95. I ordered my tuna rare, with plantains (YUMS) and asparagus. I always order seared tuna RARE! I think the only way and best ways to eat tuna is sashimi style or seared rare. It would be nice if they could slice the tuna for me in advance…just the way Bob Chinn’s (my favorite seafood restaurant in Chicagoland area) does it. And I could use a little more sauce for the tuna! Hubby ordered the same dish, with plantains and green beans. He however ordered the tuna to be cooked medium rare, against my suggestion of having it rare. Our tunas came (mine on the left and his on the right), hubby said his tasted not bad, but agreed that mine was better! TOLD YOU SO, DARLING! =P

 

Seyda oenjoyed a Seared Scallop Risotto (seared scallops with wilted spinach and lemon risotto) @ $18.95. Scallops were delish…cooked and seared perfectly. The lemon risotto, although looked a little “blah” and a little unappetizing was surprisingly delicious. I guess, the wilted spinach mixed into the risotto helped give it a little more color. =)  Rob ordered Baked Haddock (over baked potatoes and onions and served with a light bread crumb topping) @ $18.95. The side dishes that came with the fish was placed on a separate dish. I forgot to ask Rob how it tasted, though I did try a tiny bit…I think I got more breadcrumbs than the fish!

Chris ordered a Crabmeat Stuffed Lobster (basted with citrus butter sauce) @ Market Price of $35.95. I tried a piece of the lobster tail which was topped with some bread crumbs… hehe….. It tasted pretty good. I wished I knew that the crabmeat was stuffed in the lobster’s “head”…. We thought the price were very reasonable for a stuffed lobster. This is something we might order in future. Hubby and I will never again order a plain steamed lobster at a restaurant. Why pay $20 for a 1-1/4 lb lobster, when you can get your local grocer to steam it for you for as low as $3.99 per lb? Last winter, hubby and I bought about 4 lbs of lobsters and paid less than $20 for them =)It’s nice to have friends who are willing to let you sample their dishes and drinks.. Hehe!I think all of us enjoyed the food there, albeit the slightly slow service. Warm bread rolls and butter were great fillers between waiting for our waitress and food to come! Hubby was surprised on how reasonable the total bill was. =) Coffee which all of us had was free; I guess our waitress forgot to put those on there! Check out your nearest Naked Fish locations HERE and salivate over their menu HERE.

Another Gemini! Another Birthday!

Hubby and I just came back from a birthday surprise for a fellow Gemini; Seyda. We wanted to surprise her at her house, which did not happen as she got hungry and wanted to go eat… In the end, we showed up at a new Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant with gifts and Mylar Balloons… =) Hehe!

Rob bought us dinner this time at Pasha, a new Turkish Restaurant in Arlington, MA. Thanks, Rob! Food was yummy, staff was friendly and I totally enjoyed the food!. Best of all….FREE DESSERT for the party, coz it’s Seyda’s birthday!!! If only they could sing her a birthday song..in Turkish!! =P

Besides 3 Birthday Mylar balloons and gifts, I also made her a birthday cake. A Birthday Cupcake Bouquet to be exact…. After some Googling, and getting ideas on how to, I’m glad the cake turned out very well. In fact, I thought it turned out way better than I had anticipate. It was my first time dealing with butter cream (I usually use whipped cream) and also this “kind” of cupcake creation…. Thank goodness everything went smoothly as planned, except Brady almost stepped/sat on the cake when he jumped into the car!

The cupcakes were based on a simple white cake recipe(which I found online & have used numerous times), to which I added some lemon juice, lemon zest and some chopped candied cherries for some interest. As for frosting, it was a simple butter cream recipe which I also found online and to which I colored about half of it pastel purple and left the other half white. Filled my pastry bag with both frosting colors and piped away. I am not too thrilled about the “roses” I piped on the cupcakes. I think I may need a bigger star piping tip to get the job done; better. Sprinkled the piped cupcakes with some purple sugar crystal and refrigerate it to harden the frosting.

  

I brought the cupcakes unassembled to the birthday’s girl place for easy transport. Once there, I assembled my “potted” cupcake bouquet which gave me room for 12 cupcakes. The other decorative stuff/ fillers were already made at home, and all I needed to do was to fill the gaps up and make it look as pretty as possible! 

           

I think Seyda likes the cake! =) That leaves me a happy baker! Note to self, reduce sugar in cake batter if butter cream frosting is used!

It’s June!!

OMG!!! It’s June already!!! Am looking forward to fruit picking from mid of June onwards!!! Mmmmm… own picked strawberries…blueberries…peaches……………… great for summer sorbets!