Bike Ride - Orange Circle

RA Sushi

http://www.rasushi.com/
http://twitter.com/RASushi
http://www.orangecountyrestaurantweek.com/RA_sushi.html


I'm way too lazy to blog right now, but I'll post a few pictures. Let me tell you, this place has a modern feel to the atmosphere. Playing the latest mainstream hiphop, it felt like a nightclub in vegas. Ultra low lighting with red lanterns to light the dining area. So I was about to take a picture of the bamboo lighting, when this chick approached me and said, "what are you doing?" Getting a little nervous, I replied, "nothing?" I thought to myself aw man, they don't let me take pictures here either!?!?!?(referring to the stupid chick at 85 degrees that said no pictures aloud). I think that's such a stupid rule. Like people are gonna steal your baking ideas or something? Whats the point of putting it on display and selling it??? Oh you can't eat that either, you might steal the taste...Anyways, I should blog about that in the 85 degrees blog. Sorry RA Sushi. So back to my story. The girl was like, "Can you do me a favor and go over there to my friend and pretend that you work for RA Sushi and that you want to take her picture over here because she's getting hit on by a total douche?" I thought it was funny, so I went over there to cock block. "Hi madame, my name is Manning, and I work with RA Sushi. Can I have a moment of your time to take a picture of you and your girlfriend waiting over there for our website?" The guy was a little confused but clearly baffled with the amount of alcohol running through his bloodstream. She scurried along her way very thankful and her friend slipped me a $5. Poor guy. Yay me. lol

So back to the food. This place was ok, If you were on a date, and she loves sushi, this would be the place to go. But if your like me, and need your sushi fix. I would prefer Sagami Tai's in Fountain Valley. It's more fancy, but after the meal, I was still a little hungry. Another roll might've hit the spot, but I'm the type that orders by the (2pc). Plus I like to finish off with a few orders of Uni(sea urchin), but at $14 dollars a pop. Ehhhhh I'll wait for Sagami's. I did however love their sashimi. Very mouthwatering if you can handle raw tuna served with a heavenly cream sauce. YUMMM...I had the Ultimate shrimp tempura roll, which was like a rainbow roll with tempura shrimp on the inside. I also had the dynamite shrimp roll, which was good, but again. Kogi's(Dynamite Andy) or that place on Michelson and Jamboree is a lot better. Service was excellent. He didn't mind spliiting our checks into couples. Again lighting was dim and I didnt want to use flash to blind everyone in the room so the pictures are all red. lol Overall, it was a good experience. Good times. So much for not blogging...

VIVA LAS VEGAS ROLL
kani kama & cream cheese rolled in rice & seaweed, lightly tempura battered & topped with spicy tuna, crab mix & sliced lotus root, finished with sweet eel sauce & spinach tempura flakes

NO IDEA WHAT THIS IS LOL

ULTIMATE SHRIMP TEMPURA
CRAB MIX, CUCUMBER AND SHRIMP TEMPURA ROLLED AND TOPPED WITH SEARED TUNA AND AVOCADO

CRUNCHY SHRIMP TEMPURA ROLL
shrimp tempura, crab mix & cucumber rolled & topped with red beet tempura flakes & drizzled with a
sweet eel sauce

CRISPY SOFT SHELL CRAB
TWO LARGE SOFT SHELL CRABS DREDGED IN SEASONED PANKO SERVED WITH PONZU GARLIC SAUCE

SASHIMI & AVOCADO?

CRAZY MONKEY ROLL
SMOKED SALMON, MANGO, AND CREAM CHEESE TOPPED WITH AVOCADO, RED TEMPURA BITS, CASHEW NUTS AND DRIZZLED WITH MANGO SAUCE

SCALLOP DYNAMITE ROLL
KANI KAMA AND CREAM CHEESE ROLLED IN RICE AND SEAWEED, LIGHTLY TEMPURA BATTERED, TOPPED WITH SCALLOP DYNAMITE AND FINISHED WITH EEL SAUCE, RED BEET AND SPINACH TEMPURA FLAKES

BLACK PEPPER FILET MEDALLIONS
FOUR FILLET MEDALLIONS SERVED ATOP WASABI MASHED POTATOES & SHITAKE MUSHROOMS, FINISHED WITH GRILLED ASPARAGUS & BLACK PEPPER BUTTER

The District

Right on Jamboree, emerges a new era of shopping areas. On the borderline of Irvine, Tustin, and Costa mesa, The District has an array of retail shopping lines, famous chain restaurants, and fine entertainment. If you ever run out of places to eat, this may be your best bet. And if you still can't make up your mind. There are a vast amount of dining areas & markets stretching from the 5fwy(Tustin marketplace) all the way down til past the 405fwy(Michelson), all conveniently placed on Jamboree. The mood setting for The District is very dim and romantic setting, so it makes a good place to bring a date for dinner and a movie. Another thing I like about this place, is that they place couches and chairs everywhere, so you don't have to stand around waiting for your reservations. Yes, this place is fat people friendly haha. Shooting pictures maybe be harder for the inexperienced, but if you bring a good lens, you may be able to catch the mood in your photos. I wasn't very prepared for it so, after shooting all day at Downtown Disney and the HB Dog beach. My camera was dying down to it's last photos. Missed the sunset and now this....Sad day =(....thanks Vi for cheering me up with Dinner!

Huntington Beach Sunset

So today I saw an amazing red sunset from a far distance so I decided to chase it down to see if i could get a clear picture before we headed out for dinner with the rest of the gang. Total failure, by the time i got home to get my camera and went down warner, the sun had long gone =( I did manage to take a snapshot of the sky with the last few rays of the magnificent red sunset. I'm still pleased at how it turned out. It looked postcard quality! Then I took a random snapshot of my car. It's getting late so I'll blog about RA sushi tomorrow morning. 99 ppl!

Love Letter

Steve and I were talking about this one fried chicken spot that elmo monster had done on his blog called Pizza & Chicken Love Letter. So yesterday evening, me and Vi set out for something to eat, but couldn't think of anything we were in the mood for so I mentioned this spot & at the same time we could visit 85 degrees while we were there. Note to self, don't drive southbound towards Irvine at 6pm. I think everybody was there to see us on the freeway. lol

Anyways, once we got there, it was a little bit difficult to find the store. Once you go into that plaza on jamboree, locate H Mart and once your inside make a right and it'll be your last store on your left in the dining area. Vi ordered the Half order of Fried chicken(8pcs), and I ordered the Bulgogi Supreme Pizza. It took a while for them to cook the food too but that gave me time to wander around and take pictures of the rest of the market which I'll blog about later. Vi liked the store next door that served your food in a super hot stone bowl and a wooden crate, but it reminded me of tofu house in garden grove with anh took me too and got me sick(i hate tofu). When our food came out, both of us were starving & couldn't wait to dig in. The wings came with a side of salad topped with onions corn and thousand island sauce. A side of pickled radish also came with the meal. My pizza came in a to-go pizza box. The wings were delicious! Super fine layer of crisp joy that crunched inside your mouth over a juicy tender wing of chicken meat that just fell off the bone n melted in your mouth! The pickled radish went so well with the chicken too. My pizza tasted like any supreme pizza would with a slight oriental touch. haha this was totally expected, but I had to try it out anyways. Always fun to try out new foods! Until next time! =)

Bowling Part 3

Now I know I haven't blogging & taking pictures that much, but these videos are so fun to make. Plus Vimeo's free account only limits me to 1 HD video per week or 500mb, so I decided to try youtube's HD, however, there was a slight difficulty with WMG copyright laws....what a pain in the butt so now I'm trying to dispute that. Who knows when my audio will be back if anything I have to wait til Sunday for Vimeo.... lol No worries though, I have a food blog coming up that should make your stomachs growl. And now for our feature presentation....

Bowling Part 2

Here's my second attempt at making a video. It's pretty funny! Enjoy!

Bowling 101 Part 2 from Manning Pham on Vimeo.

Kodak Moments

Taste Of Newport

Here is what they quote:

"The Taste of Newport is held on Newport Center Drive at Fashion Island in picturesque Newport Beach. A portion of Newport Center Drive will be closed down to accommodate the thousands of hungry Taste-goers over the weekend."
http://www.tasteofnewport.com


This was a great turnout! Admission was set at $25, however we were able to find tickets on craigslist for $20. I even saw tickets this morning for $10. Anyway, Taste of Newport is a collection of over 30 restaurants and 15 wineries that have come to put together a food festival extravaganza! The Taste of Newport features culinary masterpieces of the Newport Beach area's finest dining establishments. If you have never gone to this annual event, you are defiantly missing out on what newport beach has to offer. Did I mention the local girls from Newport beach are gorgeous and have expensive taste! lol

With that being said. todays collection of photos was taken with a Canon 5D and a 180mm macro lens which was a pain in the butt because everytime i wanted to take a picture, I had to walk a mile away. haha Time to save up for my 24-70mm. =( I have to admit, this weekend passed by wayyyy too quick. Good times!

McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant - Crispy "Crab Bellies" - Sweet Crab & Cream Cheese Filled Wontons

Ho Sum Bistro - Ho Sum Dumplings - Chicken & Vegetable Filled Dumplings
Covered with a Zesty Garlic-Cilantro Sauce

Couscous with Lamb Kabobs

Geese

Agora Churrascaria - Filé com Bacon - Mouth-watering steak wrapped in bacon and served with Brazilian Cheese Bread and Fried Banana

McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant - Dungeness Crab & Bay Shrimp Cake

Ruby's Diner - Vanilla Shake

Sutra Lounge -

Sutra Lounge

The Yard House - Ahi Sashimi Sliders

Soprano's - Meatball Parmesian Sliders (2) - Our Famous Homemade Meatballs

Soprano's

Sabatino's Lido Shipyard Sausage Co. - World Famous Italian Sausage Sandwich with Peppers, Onions and Marinara Sauce

Low Carb Sausage Boat - Sausage with Peppers, Onions and Marinara Sauce *No Bread*

Some Others that we tried:

Picture - Unavailable

The Beachcomber Cafe - Frozen Bananas - Fresh Bannanas on a stick dipped in Milk Chocolate
and rolled in Crushed Peanuts and flash frozen.

Picture - Unavailable

Canaletto Ristorante Veneto - Cavatelli Vodka - Cavatelli Pasta with Vodka Sauce

Bowling 101

Heres a test I did with the video option on my Canon 5D, however I used a cheap 28-80mm 1:3.5-5.6 lens so it didn't turn out very clear. I recorded us bowling last sunday (9-13-09) at westminster lanes. And everytime i turned on the camera ppl got shy so nobody was hitting their strikes and I didnt't get that much footage. Oh well, it's still fun playing around with the ifilm program on my macbook. Hopefully the next video will turn out better. Enjoy!

Bowling 101 from Manning Pham on Vimeo.

Dragonflies

Ok so for my photography class we're suppose to keep a journal everyday so I'll probably end up using this blog as a journal. On the the way from home i saw a dragonfly in my front yard so i decided to give it a try. I ended up using my Canon EF 180mm f/3.5 L USM Macro Lens with the Canon 5D Mark II. It's a little tricky shooting these guys. They move around all the time so it was hard to keep my hands steady. Also I couldn't really use my tripod because it couldnt give me the angle i wanted with the correct lighting at that time of day. Oh well, good practice though. My auto-focus couldn't focus on the little guy either so it was just manual the whole time.

Plumerias

Heres a random picture i captured in front of Vi's house of their Plumeria tree.

Inka Grill

So last night for dinner, we tried out this Peruvian spot called Inka Grill. The location was down Bristol far from the usual areas we eat at. It was very dim inside and the service was hospitable. To start us off, they provided bread with this creamy green sauce that was quite spicy but just enough so that I could eat it with my cup of water lol. The portions were generous so we decided to split 3 entrees between the 4 of us. Pictures came out blurry, because i was testing out my cheapy 28-80mm 1:3.5-6.6 lens. It's an ok spot to eat once in a while, or just to experience. I would give it a 6.5 out of 10.