Monday, October 1, 2012

Favorite Banana Bread Recipe

2-3 bananas
1 cup sour cream
4 Tb butter or margarine
1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
2-3 Tb flaxseed meal

Optional: chopped nuts or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Smash bananas in a bowl.  Melt butter and set aside.  Mix all dry ingredients and then add butter, sour cream and eggs.  Mix well. 

Bake in a loaf pan in the oven for 50-55 minutes. 

This is my favorite recipe.  I used a recipe from Allrecipes and modified it to make it a little bit healthier.  I tried to make the banana bread with all whole wheat flour, but it just didn't taste right, and so I gradually lowered the amount of whole wheat flour until it wasn't as noticeable.   It's moist and is so yummy.  Enjoy!

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Bonchon

572 E. El Camino Real
Sunnyvale, CA
(408) 720-8689
http://www.bonchonbayarea.com/

Vitals:
Sunday/Monday: 11:30 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Tuesday - CLOSED
Wednesday/Thursday - 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday/Saturday - 11:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m.
Visa/Mastercard accepted
Not really kid-friendly for the very young

This is my favorite fried chicken place.  I fell in love with Korean-style fried chicken wings while I was in New York and discovered this place recently, which definitely satisfies any cravings.  You can have a choice of either a soy-garlic sauce or spicy.  I prefer the soy-garlic sauce, but the spicy sauce is pretty good.  I think they make the wings when you order because it can take a while to get your order.  There is a choice to get just wings, a combination of wings and drumsticks or you can get boneless white meat.

The chicken is great - the skin is really crispy and the meat is flavorful and juicy.   When you order a set, you get a choice of sides.  Sides can be coleslaw, kimchi coleslaw, rice or biscuits.  Most of the sides are good, but the kimchi coleslaw, disappointingly, was not made with kimchi.  It looked like regular coleslaw with a bit of spicy sauce (and not that spicy to boot).  Some preserved diakon came with our order.  I generally don't touch this.  It wasn't very good, but it's an acquired taste.

I've only tried a few other things on the menu and they are good (potstickers and tofu/ginger salad).  Go here for the chicken and maybe balance it out with a few other healthier items, like a salad.

Pho Tri Vietnamese Restaurant


Pho Tri Vietnamese Restaurant
1307 Kalakaua Ave
Honolulu, HI 96826
(808) 953-2279


Good basic pho in a no frills place.  They are a bit skimpy on the bean sprouts and other herbs, which is not surprising considering how these things are not accessible (these items probably have to be imported).