Icho Izakaya
Yesterday was my mom’s birthday! So my mom, my brother and I went to eat at Icho Izakaya, a Japanese restaurant, in San Gabriel. I was very excited since I haven’t eaten Japanese food in a long time. I also paid the bill with the money I have earned ($50) from note-taking this past semester at school, so it made me feel even more happy because it’s not like she paid for her own birthday dinner. Haha. We ordered a lot, a lot of food. This sushi plate had seven pieces of sashimi, a dragon roll (California roll with cooked eel on top), and uni (sea urchin). Both my brother and I poked the uni for the longest time. I took a small bit of it, and it tasted like the ocean! Yuck! My mom said it’s like liver but more ocean-y, and it just made my brother not want to try even more. Haha. The rest of the plate was delicious, though.
Isn’t this adorable? Haha. They gave us a little palate where you can add more salt or other sauce to what you’re tasting. I didn’t find myself wanting to add anything, though. It’s really up to your preference.
Each one of us ordered a sushi roll. Left to right: scallop, spicy tuna, shrimp with asparagus. I ordered the scallop one; my brother ordered the spicy tuna, and my mom ordered the shrimp with asparagus. I loved mine so much that I wanted more, but there was so much more food after.
» Icho Izakaya
708 E. Las Tunas Dr. #D
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 292-7999
Tea Station
Avo’s craving for boba last weekend got me craving for some as well. I am actually not too fond of the milk tea as much as I do with Taiwanese green tea, but Tea Station can make it with both milk tea and green tea together, and that is what I ordered. Ee, it was so good! It is now my new favorite drink. Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of places make it like this.
I had beef noodle soup the last time I came to Tea Station, so I decided to order rice this time. I saw that they had braised pork with bamboo shoots. It sounded good, so I ordered some. The flavors were delicious, but I think it was a little bit too oily for my own tastes. It was kind of expected to be oily because of the part of the pork they used, and bamboos tend to be more oily as well.
You get rice and three random side dishes, depending on the day of the week, which I think it’s pretty nice. I don’t think they’ll tell you what they have unless you ask them or your food gets onto the table, though.
» Tea Station
158 W. Valley Blvd.
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 288-3785
Bad Photos At The Noodle Island
Remember the digital camera that I found on the floor a few months ago at school? Well, I’ll admit: I never returned it to the housing office. Why? I was too busy, and I never really bothered walking a little bit further to the office to return it. I mentioned this to you because I used it last night when I went out to eat with my mom and aunt again. I didn’t feel like bringing my usual cameras, and I can’t fully express how weird it is to use a tiny point and shoot camera again.
Since I got paid recently, my mom told me that I will be the one treating both her and my aunt to dinner. (I think it’s like an Asian culture thing where parents take care of children when they are really truly kids–ages below 18–and then when children grew up to be adults, they owe them back for what they have done. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong or right to it. It’s just how it is.) We went to a restaurant called The Noodle Island in San Gabriel. They are known for their chicken and noodles. We went because my brother went there and had a pretty good meal. We ordered chicken and noodles (HA!) and some salmon head thing. One of them is the “drunken chicken” (“醉雞” for the Chinese name). It was delicious, even though I don’t think I can eat a lot of it because of its alcohol flavor. I still enjoyed eating it, though.
And this is where the digital camera comes in. I used that digital camera that I found to take photos of the food. Why? I didn’t feel like bringing any of my Nikons, and I wanted to see how the thin point and shoot camera works with me after not using it for so long. Oh, did it turn out bad or what? I’m not happy about it at all. You can see the rest of them while viewing more to this entry. Otherwise, you guys just get the one I thought it was the best. Even then, I still think the quality was bad. I’m not even sure what kind of digital this was. All I see on it is Casio Exilim (that’s probably what it is anyway), and Casio is surely not a camera maker. In fact, the first thing I think about Casio is calculators…
I’m not saying point and shoot cameras are bad. In fact, I’ve used my Kodak EASYSHARE v550 for about two years, and I enjoyed it. I just don’t think the Casio one is the one for me.
» The Noodle Island
800 W Las Tunas Dr. Ste 300
San Gabriel, CA 91776
(626) 293-8839