This is not today ... before the 7/2 Governor's new guidance on dine-in restaurants, we went to our favorite AYCE sushi place in Irvine, Makino Sushi. They changed their format due to the epidemic and there isn't a buffett any longer. Instead, you have 3 rounds of ordering - the quality was supreme and we were not disappointed :)

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Salads
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Sashimi & Sushi
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ōtoro (大とろ, pink fatty tuna)
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More sushi & sashimi
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Using the Hilton Aspire dining credit, made the experience more satisfying! :D

Regarding the lemon cake, how about vanilla ice cream instead of milk? That’s how I enjoy the chocolate Susiecake.

Gorgeous - glad you could enjoy it before the needed Sheltering. Our state is suffering.

I debated making my absolute favorite cake, but Basque cake requires making pastry cream ahead of time to bake into it, and I was too lazy Saturday to do that step ahead.

This was the Basque cake I made for my birthday a couple of months back. It's basically pound cake with a ton of pastry cream baked into the center, making it super moist and creamy.

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Yes please!!
I love pastry cream...must be heavenly in a pound cake. Beautiful work!

dinner:
15 bean soup with ham and andouille sausage
Kerrygold Dubliner aged Irish cheddar cheese
Fresh pear
Homemade white bread
New Belgium Voodoo Ranger hazy IPA

Freshly caught (4 hours earlier) sea bass with wilted kale, onions and pine nuts. Can't ask for better!

I don't eat a lot of cake, but this looks amazing! I'm probably never going to bake it, but I will be looking for it in the future :).

But can you name the 15 beans??? Actually, only kind of kidding. I was trying to think of 15 beans and had a tough time, so I Googled it.

That looks heavenly!

White beans lamb stew with eggs and a hunk of Panela cheese for breakfast!
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After cooking for over 2 hours, there are only 3 beans; red, brown and white. At least I’m pretty sure it doesn’t taste any different from a soup that consists of only 3 beans. Gimmicky, but good. And it gets a lot of it’s flavor from what you put in it. The sausage was the right addition.

Outside of this soup, I’d never heard of pink beans. Or cranberry beans either, I think.

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Santa Maria tri-tip just off the grill

Had me some Sonny’s BBQ tonight. Remember as a kid In the 70s going to nickel night at the original Sonny’s and blowing straw paper at other tables. It was 5 cent drinks, including beers, back then.

I got my first taste of Sonny’s about 35 years ago visiting friends in Gainesville. They don’t seem to do a very good job of site selection and I’ve had them close all around me in Al and Fl. Currently I have to drive about 25 minutes. Who knows whether they’ll survive. There’s one near PNS that was a lifesaver on more than one occasion when I couldn’t find anything else and had to feed my very fussy sister. I could go for some pulled pork. Their sauces are on the shelf at Publix if you weren’t aware of that.

Something I ate regularly when I lived in Tracy, Ca. On the east coast tri tip might show up in a grocery store once a year. It’s either a mistake or some west coast relocatee begs a store manager and then doesn’t buy the whole case. Tri tip by the side of the road was as common around Tracy as boiled peanuts are here in the Deep South.

Yes! Gainesville was the first one. It’s funny but I always get the sliced pork. I think that’s all they had back in the day. I didn’t know Publix carried the sauce. I’ll have to grab some. My favorite is the original, naturally.

I never heard of tri-tip before I saw it at Costco, where it is plentiful (at least in the midwest and AZ). I never bought it until I came across a recipe for Santa Maria tri-tip by accident. I was intrigued by the description of "black on the outside, pink on the inside." I know there are all kind of fancy rubs, but I just used equal parts salt, pepper and garlic powder and that crust is just amazing.

and here is my ciambellone (lemon tea cake) discussed by gfunkdave above:


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