Food Maker, Chef, and Traveling Diner
I like a great lunch. I think lunch can be overlooked and underwhelming a lot of the time because we don’t put much effort into it. I can understand that because I do it myself. My normal lunch is probably some leftover something that I …
In a very commercial shopping center in Burbank is this little burger joint: Hook Burger. I haven’t had a hamburger in a long time and something seemed to be calling me to have one at this particular time. Hook Burger, whether they like to admit …
I know I really shouldn’t spend money on lunch. I’m a yoga teacher (Kimberlyfujitakiyoga.com) for the most part and a personal chef here and there with odd jobs, caterings, and a million other ideas brewing away. If anyone is interested in my personal chef, private dining or personal grocery shopping please click on Unrivaledkitch Wellness for more info! It’s working out slowly, but surely because I’m living my dreams and it takes patience to make them happen, and it makes for me being on a pretty tight budget.
I don’t know about you, but the only thing I really spend money on is food. I was just talking to my sister about this. If my stomach wasn’t so curiously hungry, I would probably have more money in my pocket, but a less happy stomach, which makes for a less happy yogi, so I’ll keep eating. Let’s call it research and development and in this salad, it was just that because I have a feeling I’m going to be making this delicious lunch I had today at 17th Street Café in Santa Monica, sometime very soon.
It’s the simple things in life. On Thursdays, I teach a mini yogis™ baby and me yoga class at UCLA Family Commons in Santa Monica. It’s an amazing establishment that fosters good social skills for children and family support for all types of situations involving children. They have summer camps and winter camps, as well as yoga and martial arts for children of all ages. My Thursday classes are baby and me yoga sessions, which consists of children ages 0-3. We have tons of fun in class testing limits, singing songs and being present. I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to teach at UCLA Family Commons. After the baby and me yoga class, I have a couple of hours to kill before I teach a really awesome group of kids in a private home in Santa Monica.
Between classes I have some time to explore Santa Monica, which is nice because I’m not very familiar with the area, but it’s just buzzing with delicious cuisine and amazing shops to look at. I made a quick trip down Montana Avenue where there were so many little places trying to make themselves stand out amongst the others. I walked down the block just viewing all the ambitious eaters in the area looking at menus and pondering if I was honestly hungry or not. Eventually I settled on 17th Street Café. This charming little café is not very prominent amongst the other places, but I indecisively decided, after peeking in, that an afternoon salad wouldn’t hurt my next class and that I better hurry and eat so I could keep up with three, six and seven year-olds. I was seated right away, very warmly by a man standing at a bakery counter. I kept my eyes away from the pastries, though they did offer a second glance. My waitress was pleasant, but very busy and overall, the café was doing a high volume for its small dining room.
I ordered a passion fruit iced tea that was amply refilled. On the table came fresh hot bread that was delicious with some butter on it. After looking at their extensive menu, I found myself choosing the Oak Smoked Salmon Salad. I ordered a half portion because from the look of everyone else’s plates, the portions were quite abundant. The salad was lightly dressed with a sweet sesame vinaigrette, had chopped button mushrooms, radishes, daikon sprouts, feta cheese and oak smoked salmon. I really liked that the salmon was smashed up finely and mixed in with the feta. It made for a very salty, but refreshing flavor taking out some of the fishiness that is often associated with smoked salmon. I was rather impressed and completely satisfied with this simple and interesting salad, which made for a delicious beautiful lunch in the California sunshine. I’m grateful to 17th Street Café for replenishing my strength for the next adventure in kids’ yoga!
1610 Montana Ave. Santa Monica, Ca 90403
cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
This little fish shack is a Ventura staple of food. If you pass by at 12, you’ll see the parking lot full and maybe even some people waiting outside to order their food to go. We’d passed by quite a few times and I always …
One beautiful Ventura afternoon, Brandon and I were out and about and decided to go into Cafe Nouveau , which recently opened back up after suffering from a kitchen fire last year. The dining room and whole restaurant is very quaint and cute. It looks …
In a very commercial strip mall on the corner of Ventura Avenue and Main Street, just a bit away from downtown Ventura, is a very delicious find. Himalaya is an Indian restaurant with the perks of just being a couple miles away from Brandon’s house. We found ourselves there one afternoon for lunch when another place we were going to try was closed. As we walked in, we were greeted warmly by the waiter and promptly brought water and asked if we had any questions about the menu. As we looked over the menu, the lunch specials looked particularly delicious.
Since we hadn’t been there before, I opted for the more traditional Chicken Tikka Masala. The lunch special came with soup, mango chutney and rice. The chicken and sauce was appetizing and the service couldn’t have been nicer. We also had an order of potato and pea samosas, which were fried to perfection—the dough was crisp and delicious. They were accompanied by a sweeter sauce and one spicy herbaceous sauce, both of which had really amazing flavor. Brandon had the lamb curry, which was really spicy, even for just being the middle level of spiciness. All the food was really flavorful and they had other dishes from Tibet and Nepal as well. A very delicious and affordable lunch find for Ventura. I’m sure we’ll be back soon.
cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
One 100 degree afternoon, the three Fujitaki children decided that it’s been long overdue that we have lunch. I’m very lucky to be close to my brother and sister— I love them very much, even if we want to kill each other sometimes. We decided …
Mammoth has some quintessential eateries that frequent visitors are sure to know about, one being The Stove. The Stove is known for its country-style old ways and is almost always packed, no matter when or what time it is. They have homemade pies, large waffles, …
Wednesday afternoon, we decided to celebrate Mother’s Day a little early because of my brother’s work schedule. So all of us (me; my sister, Kristen; my niece, Maleeya; my brother, Kyle; my mom, Trudy; my dad, Mark; and my boyfriend, Brandon) decided to meet up and enjoy some delicious Thai food in Toluca Lake, where Kyle lives.
We chose a neighborhood favorite of Kyle’s, Summer Canteen; a lovely little Thai inspired modern eatery. Kyle and his wife, Viet-Linh, have been going here since it opened and we’ve frequented the place many times since then. For some reason or other, I guess it’s eluded my blog, but with such a large group and a variety of dishes, I thought this would be a nice sampling of what Summer Canteen has to offer–wonderfully fresh and well done Thai food at reasonable prices with a modern and chic atmosphere.
Kristen and Brandon ordered Curry Noodle: a delicious yellow curry broth with chicken and vegetables, along with both crunchy noodles and soft rice noodles, sitting in a large bowl. Curry Noodle is definitely a dish that is always on our table at Summer Canteen. It’s not like any other curry that just comes with rice; the combination of crunch and rice noodles with the spicy mouth-watering curry, makes for a delicious and filling meal.
My dad ordered Thai Sukiyaki. The noodles were small cellophane noodles with an array of vegetables in a spicy sirracha sauce. This dish is a very different interpretation of Japanese sukiyaki, but appetizing nonetheless.
My mom ordered Pad See U with tofu and shared a bit with Maleeya. This dish is made of delicious flat noodles sitting in soy sauce and egg with tofu and broccoli, a perfectly scrumptious dish for the less adventurous pallet to enjoy Thai food.
Kyle ordered Pad Thai, a classic dish that never seems to fail here. I love the peanut sauce and noodles that are always cooked to perfection.
I ordered the Panang Beef with extra sauce and brown rice. The brown rice that they use here is fantastic. It’s not your usual cardboard tasting brown rice and it’s a beautiful, almost purple shade of color. The deep spicy and sweet flavors of the Panang beef with fall-to-pieces tender large pieces of beef, topped with some steamed bok choy, was the perfect meal. It’s something that I’ll definitely order again. I was completely satisfied and had plenty left over, even as a lunch portion.
Our service was kind and attentive, without being overly intrusive, which gave us plenty of time to converse and talk about what’s been going on and what’s going to go on. I love my family very much and this was a wonderful experience to have with all of us together, which doesn’t happen as often as I would like, but when it does it is always a great time.
This is my sisters second Mother’s Day. It’s so different when your sibling becomes a parent, I’m truly amazed by the transformation and strength it takes to raise such a beautiful little life. I love my mom so much, shes always been such a great support of myself and my dreams. I love you both and a special thanks to all the amazing moms out there doing one of the hardest jobs on the planet.
How are you spending your Mother’s Day?
Cheers
-Unrivaledkitch
Joanna is my Asian sister from another mother. We have high adventures including copious amounts of flowing mimosas or wonderful bottles of wine, delicious food, lots of life chats, and plenty of shit talking. We’ve grown and changed along with one another and made it …