Kaisen!

I went to Kaisen again, for the fourth time, and for the second time with Iris. These photos remind me of how good the sushi is there. I must find some place closer!

99 cent seaweed salad


Amaebi-always sweet and crunchy


Salmon sushi is always excellent and fresh


Tuna sushi-I never really eat this, but it looked fresh so we thought we'd give it a try. It was fine. I prefer a spicy tuna roll!


Softshell crab hand roll. Surprisingly good. I'd get this again.


Spicy scallop hand roll. I must say that this wasn't so good. The scallop were void of any taste. I've had it before and the scallop were sweet.


Oysters were alright. Nice briny flavor. Not bad at $2.75 for 2.


Hamachi was good.


Salmon sashimi (can't get enough!), ika sashimi (yum!), and a blob of uni (yum again!). I got Iris hooked on uni!!!


Green tea ice cream for dessert. It was good, and only $1.25!


Now I can't wait to go to Ojiya in Chino Hills for our next sushi outing, plus Eclipse!

Food

I like to eat and I like to take pictures of food.

*clockwise from upper left* Cupcakes from Dots, homemade red velvet cupcakes, homemade brownie cupcakes


Filling for my California roll, uni nigiri, finished California rolls


Homemade cranberry orange, maple apple, and pumpkin muffins

Acupuncture

I've been experiencing shoulder, neck, and arm pain for the past two years or so, but I always attributed it to the car accident I had back in April 2002. The pain had been getting worse and more chronic, and I felt I needed to seek out some form of treatment. I looked into acupuncture, and boy has it done wonders for me! I'm no longer in constant pain, although my shoulder will ache when I see too many patients at work.

I realized that the pain was coming from my work, specifically the posture that I was adapting when doing refractions (which is clearer, one or two?). Besides acupuncture treatments, standing up while doing refractions has also helped a lot.

Who knew of the dangers of being an optometrist?!

Anniversary^4

Since we had just returned from our vacation in the Big Island, Elmer and I had a low key dinner at Kaisen Kaiten sushi bar in Costa Mesa. Although it's a revolving sushi bar, the quality of their ingredients is excellent and it's very affordable. Two pieces of salmon sushi or sashimi is only $1.75! What I really like is that you can order anything you want at any time by placing a check mark next to items that you want on this little paper menu, then you send the menu down the conveyor belt and the sushi chefs make your order!

The salmon, amaebi, and ika are amazing! The seaweed salad is also really good, and only 99 cents! I've gone here three times in the past month and will be going soon again! Hopefully I'll get more pictures of the food. I've been gobbling up all the food before I could take any photos!

John Mayer

Brian and I went to see John Mayer at the Staples Center for his Battle Studies tour. It was a great night!



Here he is playing "Gravity."


I wanted this super cute shirt, but I couldn't justify the $40 cost.


We will be seeing him, again, this summer at the Hollywood Bowl!

The Big Island

Elmer and I visited the Big Island of Hawaii to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. We both absolutely love Hawaii and were looking forward to a relaxing vacation. The last time we were in Hawaii (Lanai and Maui) was for our honeymoon!

One of our first stops (besides Costco!) was for shave ice. This little kiosk was so good that we came here three times over the week that we were on vacation.


Place of Refuge


South Point, the southernmost point of the United States. It was super windy!


Sea turtle at Punalu'u black sand beach


Kilauea Caldera at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park


Thurston lava tube


Devastation Trail, where a lava flow came through and destroyed all the vegetation.


This land is just a bit younger than we are!


Sea arch





Interesting lava formation


Glowing magma inside the caldera.


Rainbow Falls




Akaka Falls



Waipio Valley Lookout



Elmer was able to play a round of golf at Hapuna


The view from our "partial ocean view" room at Hapuna


The color of the ocean was beautiful. The pictures can't do it justice.


We were able to see many whales breaching off the coast from the beach and from our room balcony. This photo isn't great, but you can kind of make out the whale!


We are wearing heavy duty parkas, but we're still in Hawaii! We went on an excursion with Mauna Kea Summit Adventures. The stargazing was absolutely amazing. We've never seen so many stars in the sky before! We were even able to see the Milky Way belt.


At the summit for sunset. You can see some of the high-powered telescopes in the background. It was freezing. I got a little bit of altitude sickness, but recovered within minutes. Elmer didn't do too well, but he felt much better when we descended back down a bit for the stargazing.


We tried to take a picture of the night sky. Not a great photo, but you can see Orion's belt and Mars (the red dot), I think.


Sunset from our room

Madeleine

Welcome to the world, our little niece, Maddy!