Kumo

Why do I do this to myself?

We went to Kumo Japanese (loosely) Seafood Buffet in Parma, a large beautiful Chinese buffet that serves sushi and udon.

My eyes are always bigger than my stomach! As a result, Bug and I end up sharing some of my booty like the sushi.

When we come here, I am drawn to the surimi salad, pickled daikon and carrots, and the seaweed salad.  I'm generally not tempted by the hot case -- 2-1/2 hot cases of food one would normally find at a Chinese buffet -- or the made to order stir fry.

Day 082/365

My favorite dish here is the udon. It is very simple, not high quality, but made to order so the noodles are never overdone. A bowl of laver and shichimi togarashi to add to your bowl at your belly's desire is a nice touch. I always add too much shichimi togarashi.

The availability of shrimp tempura would greatly augment the udon. Oddly, they do not serve any type of tempura here. Too bad.

Adjacent to the udon station sits a large crepe maker where plain, chocolate, and fruit crepes are made to order.

Occasionally, there is a dish that makes you step back and do a double take.  I noticed a heaping platter of shiny brown and white elastic strips.  I peered at the sign above it and it read "Pig Ear."

Day 082/365

I've never had pig ear before so I was intrigued and snagged a couple of strips -- one each for Bug and me. When I told him what it was and explained the rubbery yet crunchy texture that tasted like char siu (slightly sweetened five spice powder), he politely declined.  I'm not a fan of char siu myself, but I ate both not wanting to be rude. Whose feelings am I hurting? 

I don't feel the need to eat pig ears again, but I won't turn it away if someone's mother made it.

My favorite dessert items are their fruit salad with basil seeds and haupia. The fuzzy basil seed pods are so cute and make them look alien. Also served is a smooth, gelatinous coconut dessert similar to haupia -- a Hawaiian coconut dessert.

We always walk out feeling bad that we succumbed yet again. In several weeks, we'll be back again, and I'll look forward to eating another bowl of udon and more basil seeds with my haupia.

- Cassaendra

Kumo Japanese Seafood Buffet
1975 Snow Rd
Parma, OH 44134
Tel: (216) 741-3038

And Dim Sum

After spending too much on my large linen Chococat backpack, we walked across the hall in to Li Wah at 1:30 p.m. As we opened the door from the quiet hallway, we entered a large, bustling room with several carts being pushed down rows of the nearly full restaurant...I remembered my last trip to this restaurant nearly 15 years ago, I ordered take out and vowed never to return because of the lousy service I received. A conversation with a co-worker piqued my curiosity.

From 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. each day, Li Wah serves dim sum. This was the first time I've ever had dim sum in Cleveland. The last time I had dim sum was in Kaimuki with my father 8 or so years ago.

The dishes are priced by size - small ($2.25), medium ($2.75), and large ($3.25), if I recall correctly.

We picked out har gau (shrimp pocket dumplings), pork and shrimp shumai (cylindrical dumplings), char siu baau (barbecue pork in a sweet brown bread), steamed meatball with fried tofu, spring roll, and another dumpling with shrimp and water chestnuts. I am not fond at all of water chestnuts, but this dumpling was good; especially with the chili paste and shoyu. It gave the dumpling a woodsy (yes, I know that's an overused description along the lines of earthy) flavor, similar to bamboo shoots. Maybe they really were bamboo shoots...

Condiments are placed at each table: shoyu, chili pepper paste in oil, salt, and pepper.

Bug wanted to check out their regular fare so he ordered a platter of Hunan beef. He was disappointed with the soft texture of the beef and the slight tang. I enjoyed the BURN of the chili peppers! WOW!

We finished our meal with custard tarts and soft tofu in sweetened water. The custard tarts were meh, but the texture of the soft tofu was so silky, it was at the brink of cohesion. Amazing! The flavor of the sugar water reminded me of potato starch simmered in water and a little sugar, a dish my mother would make for me when I wasn't able to chew.

We passed on the congee, various chow fun, phoenix (chicken) feet, sesame balls, pig stomach, choy sum, and mussels. The mussels came 15-20 in a large glass soup bowl, all for $3.25. What a temptation, but we had already picked out 5 items at that point and I was waiting for the hot case with the buns to roll by.

My favorites were har gau, shu mai, and the mega-silken tofu. While this may not be the same quality as one would get in Honolulu, San Francisco, etc., I really enjoyed this meal. Bug hated the meal. He didn't like the chewy texture of the dumplings and the mega-tender, gummy beef.

How unfortunate, at least for me, as I enjoyed listening and watching the animated voices and expressions of the crowd. One could feel the warmth of the gathering for yum cha.

- Cassaendra

Li Wah
2999 Payne Ave 102
Cleveland, OH 44114-4436
Tel: (216) 696-6556

Day in the Life

Today started out like any other weekend day. The air was cooler than I had expected which was a pleasant surprise. I took Akemi out for a walk at 07:30 and noticed a budding flower in the yard. I wish I knew what kind of flower this is.

Flower in the yard at 07:30

The diseased looking furball was excited to be going out on a walk. As any dog, she loves the sights, sounds, smells, and most of all, trotting by fenced in dogs teasing them to bark at her, which they always do.

Akemi's hindquarter

The "disease" is just a shiba blowing her winter coat; evidenced by this tuft, one of 100s since she started a few weeks ago. If I saved them all, I am positive I could have made a nifty looking sweater.

Tuft of fur

We sniffed some beautiful purple flowers that looked like blooming fireworks at Akemi's park, a triangular tract of grass between three streets that she adores.

On the way back, I noticed that an art gallery closed. It was open just a few days ago!

Closed art gallery on Professor

After putting Akemi back into her cage, I noticed that my keyboard wasn't working. The num lock-caps lock-scroll lock buttons were serially flashing like Christmas tree lights on crack. Ugh! How I detest shopping for stuff like this. This keyboard has served me loyally for nearly 5 years.

Old keyboard - click on the picture at your own risk!

Bug hated my old keyboard since he's a manly stares-at-the-keyboard-and-gets-killed (in game) hunt-n-stab typist who needs all of the letters to be visible on the keyboard. I can't believe how dusty and furry the keyboard is! Yuck! That's typing in the dark for you...having a shedding cat and dog, and eating chips at the desk doesn't help matters either.

I let the hound loose at 08:30. The she-beast ran onto the bed, peeled off on Bug's head, and raced back into her cage awaiting the wrath of the sleeping giant. The giant roared and was now awake, ready to start off the day. I love Akemi. :)

We drove across town to MicroCenter to find a replacement keyboard. I really wanted the better Microsoft Natural keyboard because I like the ergonomic split and raised keyboards more, but opted for a lesser MS keyboard that cost half as much ($14.95). While it would have been nice to have the raised and split keyboard, I didn't need all of the other bells and whistles that came with it.

Ooo, new keyboard. !@#@$ with a strand of dog fur on it already!

Next, we headed for the 18th Annual Great American Rib Cook-Off & Music Festival aka the Ribfest. Free admission was advertised from 12:00 - 15:00. I wouldn't have gone if we had to pay to get in.

As we drove down the hill into the Tower City parking lot, we saw the sign - $10 Special Event. Bleah. It was more than we expected. I was tempted to tell Bug to turn around, but decided against it. It could be our last chance to go to the Ribfest in Cleveland.

Tower City mall level

Since we were early, we decided to share something small to eat. We knew the Ribfest was going to be a $$fest. We meandered over to the food court within Tower City. It's Greek to You was closed. Ugh! So we went to Cajun Grill, which is a Chinese food stall. Duh!

I fell in love with their bourbon chicken almost 15 years ago (time flies!). Something about that sweet shoyu-based sauce and grilled chicken is heavenly! Really, what is not to like about juicy, grilled meat? I don't know if bourbon is actually used. The bourbon chicken platter with white rice and noodles cost $5.00.

Lovely bourbon chicken

With more time to kill after we finished our platter, we checked out the Tower City Cinema listing -- $6.50/person plus free parking for 4 hours! Wee! A win-win situation all around. Our stay at the Ribfest was planned around our targeted showtime.

We were planning on going to see Terminator Salvation in Westlake some time this weekend. The prospect of paying $8.50 for a matinee showing wasn't very attractive, but it was a lot better than paying $10.00/person for showings after 18:00.

Since we didn't want to seem too eager to take advantage of the free admission like the 200 others who were crowded around the Time Warner amphitheater entrance below us as we walked down the stairwell, we got there at 12:10 and walked right in without a wait.

We were immediately approached by the energetic Viva folks giving out free napkins in boxes. These napkins were really plush and rib-cook off mess absorbent.

Ribfest montage - clickie on the pic to see a larger image

One of the radio stations was giving away free "ice cold" cherry Dr. Pepper, so Bug scurried into their tent, nodded at the guy, quickly grabbed two cans, and scooted off. Someone shouted, "It's warm, not ice cold!"

Stall to stall, it was a tough choice deciding which menu item to try. We sure as hell were not going to try each one. On average, a half slab of ribs cost around 11-16 tickets and a full slab was around 22 tickets. Each ticket cost $1.25 each.

I was excited to try the fried mushrooms from the Jack [Daniels] group. A half order cost 5 tickets. Bug wanted to try their ribs and the Carolina ones. Because it was rather warm, the Waffleman truck was also rather enticing.

Waffleman

For the person who is not a ribs fan but was dragged to this event by a significant other, there were other options as well.

Not a ribs stand! Tower City megastructure in the background.

While we were walking back to the ticket booth, we opined on the steep prices. So we continued walking past the ticket booth, past the radio station with the free "warm" (amended by announcer) cherry Dr. Pepper being given away in 3 oz plastic cups, past the family of six sharing their cup of Dr. Pepper, past the Viva towel guys, past the turnstyle, past the parking lot, back into air-conditioned Tower City.

Terminator Salvation was an engaging movie that was paced well. The opening scene was action-packed. Sam Worthington (played Marcus Wright) somewhat overshadowed Christian Bale (John Connor). I do not understand all the negative reviews. The movie was fairly well written and had great nods to the previous movies. I would love to get it on BluRay if it is decently priced, has a commentary by someone cool, and packed with extras...and by extras, I do not mean 10 versions of theatrical trailers.

Those Viva napkins came in handy because we forgot to grab napkins at the concession stand to wipe our grubby fingers of the butteriest popcorn I've ever had. 5 fingers up on doing a great job.

When we got into the car, the clock read 15:40. We had been at Tower City for 4 hours and 10 minutes. Oh-oh. Fortunately, we were let through without having to pay for the extra 10 minutes. Yay!

On the drive home, the stack caught my eye. I love red brick and industrial buildings.

WB & Co stack in the Flats

The bridges look a lot cooler in person. Some of the bridges lift up horizontally to let seafaring ships through, while other bridges pivot at one end, and others draw up from the middle on both ends.

Bridges down in the Flats

We made a pit stop to feed the rugrats and then headed out to a bookstore. Bug has been meaning to get Neil Zurcher's One Tank Trips, while I've been meaning to get the updated copy of Cleveland Ethnic Eats by Laura Taxel. We spent 45 minutes in the bookstore leafing through stuff and then headed home.

Akemi was itching for a walk. What's new?

Akemi awaits

Down the street, someone was stripping the paint off their house, piquing her interest. The loud scraping and crunching intrigued her for several minutes. Holding her interest for more than a minute is pretty much unheard of. She wasn't dying to run across the street to check this out, but she wasn't running away either.

Staring at the neighbors making strange loud noises

As usual, we ran into people who thought she was a chihuahua. It's as if she understands what they are insinuating because she ignores people who accuse her of being something she is not. She is a people lover attention queen extraordinaire - I am certain she gets a bad vibe from them.

Waiting on the porch for the door to get unlocked

The budding flower bloomed.

Flower at 16:30

[Bug woke up and informed me this flower is an iris.]

- Cassaendra

Cajun & Grill
Tower City Food Court
Cleveland, OH 44113

More Hunan than Hunan

Prior to ~6 months before moving from Hawaii, I did not like Chinese food. I don't like goopy sauces, plum sauces, or anything overly sweet and/or sour.

While I still dislike chow mein, lemon/orange chicken, General Tso/whoever's chicken, chilled ginger chicken, fried rice, moo shuu, egg foo yong, Peking duck, that dark plum sauce, etc., these dishes had given me an aversion to all Chinese food until my father took me out to lunch on Fridays and introduced me to other Chinese dishes that I now truly enjoy, but cannot get in Cleveland, like duck noodle soup and choi sum with brown sauce. Of course, I have always loved steamed rice cakes (bok tong go) and dried, candied coconut, winter melon, carrots, and lotus root.

Just as my father opened my eyes to the plethora of Chinese dishes and restaurants Downtown, I left the islands and traveled cross country for 3 months.

I was introduced to Hunan Coventry on my first pass through Cleveland. I loved it! They were not stingy with their meat and shrimp, unlike other places where it's loaded with cabbage and onions.

The staff are dressed in white long-sleeved shirts, black vests and pants. The tables are always covered with white tablecloth and folded, standing cloth napkins. The water service is always excellent. Leftovers are always packed before you like a show. The server automatically splits the leftovers up evenly if the table is made up of separate couples.

I discovered hot and sour soup here. After trying the soup at numerous restaurants, Hunan Coventry still makes it the best; perhaps they shaped my tongue for the soup. Another discovery that has gone unmatched as well is their flower-shaped crab rangoon. The filling is rich and creamy, with chunks of imitation crab and green onions. I realize this isn't an authentic Chinese dish.

The other appetizers that we've tried over the years are all right. The barbecue ribs, which I am not a fan of to begin with, were large, meaty, and seasoned well. The egg rolls were huge, filled with shredded cabbage that must have been previously simmered in some kind of broth and pepper. I prefer Vietnamese summer rolls, as far as rolls go. The sauce was pretty awesome though, made with chunks of orange rind. Beef skewers were tender and tasty, marinated in shoyu, garlic, and ginger. The shrimp with bacon was made of ground shrimp and a slice of bacon, then deep fried. It had bacon, so Bug loved it. The won ton soup was yummy with fat, meaty dumplings. The broth wasn't salty, so it gets 2 thumbs up from me.

On a recent trip, we ordered:
- House special lo mein ($9.95) -- generous portions of beef, pork, chicken, and jumbo shrimp fried in a light sauce with thick lo mein and green onions. It's my favorite dish so I always order this. The noodles and meats are perfectly cooked, nothing is overcooked or chewy, and the sauce is light enough that it imparts flavor to the dish but doesn't require me to eat rice as a salt neutralizer nor is it chock full of garlic that most places need to use to cover up the lack of skill or bad quality ingredients.
- Orange chicken ($12.95) -- 5 battered, deep-fried large whole chicken breasts sliced, with an orange reduction (gastrique). The sauce also comprised of orange rind, garlic, and whole dried Sichuan chili peppers. I was skeptical at first, but I liked the sauce as it was not sweet. Breasts aren't my thing at all, so I ate one slice and left the rest for Bug to enjoy since he loves breasts. I'm a leg person.
- Kung pao beef ($11.95) -- diced water chestnuts, copious amounts of peanuts, whole Sichuan chili peppers, and chopped green onions in sauce.

This easily serves 5-6 adults, so it obviously fed us for 3 meals. And those chili peppers are NO JOKE! WOW!

A few years ago, we had a lo mein dish that was fantastic that I hope to be able to try again some day, as it is no longer on the menu. The dish consisted of an extremely thick, chopped peanut "sauce" that was folded into the noodles. The sauce was more like a thick, extremely chunky peanut spread, not the usual peanut dip that one encounters in Thai and Vietnamese cooking.

Hunan Coventry is my favorite Chinese restaurant because I always walk away feeling extremely satisfied with the flavor, great service, and quality. The large portions don't hurt either.

- Cassaendra

Hunan Coventry Chinese Restaurant
1800 Coventry Rd
Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118
Tel: (216) 371-0777

Happy New Year!

The year started with hearing the ring of my father's voice a few minutes past midnight. What a wonderful way to start the New Year!

For our New Year's feast, we ate a few dishes that Bug and I made the past few days and things we picked up along the way shopping at our regular 3 Asian grocery stores on New Year's Day.

Gumbo. Phenomenal. It was extra spicy this time with the addition of spicier than normal andouille sausage. Miles Market was selling it for pretty cheap - four large sausages for just over $4. Oh, he also added habanero Tabasco sauce. The shrimp was decently priced at the West Side Market - $7/lb for 21 ct raw shrimp. I am also glad that we found a recipe for roux that doesn't require oil! (Blasphemy!) No, I can't tell the difference in flavor or color.

Rogan josh. Very tasty and spicy! It was Bug's first time making this from scratch. My tongue got fuzzy-numb when I ate this. I wonder if it's from the cardamom. I blame everything wrong with a recipe on the cardamom since our pho disaster. I wonder how different this dish would have tasted had we used ghee (clarified butter) instead of vegetable oil.

Namul. It took me an hour to pick the roots off of each sprout, but it was worth it. I also strayed from the recipe by adding chili pepper flakes. I tapped the bag of flakes and 1/3 cup spilled out over about a pound of the bean sprouts. It looks pretty...yeah.

Sardines. We received 2 cans of Mega sardines Afritada style as a gift while shopping at Good Harvest. We love this place, even though their parking lot SUCKS, because they give out treats to customers. In the summer, we often get those cool tubs of lychee cups! I am not really familiar with what Afritada style is, but whatever it is, it tastes great! This tiny can, the size of one of those tiny cans of tomato paste, had around 5-7 sardines, potatoes, peas, and tomatoes. The nutritional fact box said this was 3 servings though. It made me feel like such a glutton since I ate the whole can by myself.

Fukujinzuke. This tasted great with the rogan josh. The crunchy texture and the slight sweetness balanced the brown herbal flavor of the rogan josh. I suppose that's why it goes so well with Japanese curry.

Kim chee. We cheated and bought a jar instead of making it, since I wanted kim chee jjigae this week instead of waiting a few weeks for the homemade kim chee to cook.

Bok tong go (steamed rice cake). You never know how much you miss something [fresh] until you can't have it anymore. The Star Bulletin has a great article on this treat. It's hard to get this out-of-the-steamer fresh here. At best, we get it a day later. I've bought them where it's so dry, it feels like I am eating dried up Elmer's glue. It's $1.25 for two slices, each piece is about 2" x 3" x 1" (short, yeah?).

Pork buns. I was never really fond of these while growing up. I still am not totally sold on it. The slightly sweetened bread is what I LOVE. As a child, I would eat the bread edges off the manapua, like one would eat an apple or pear, and leave the middle part with the meat for my mother. I wanted to do it this time, but Bug wasn't fond of it and I didn't want to waste my 59 cents.

Mixed bag of treats. I love the bags of mixed Japanese pastries. I picked up one that had dorayaki and monaka. Mmm were they good. I was tempted to instead buy some mochi to heat up and roll in kinako powder, but I didn't. I'll save that for a later date. I miss eating fresh kinako mochi at the buffet at Tsukiji Fish Market.

Full belly! *collapse*

- Cassaendra