While picking up some groceries at H Mart, I decided to be extra lazy and pick up some takout from Pho & Cafe Anh Hong. It hasn’t been around for too long and I’ve been meaning to try it. If it means a pho place within 10 minutes of me, then I’m extremely happy with this new addition already. I was also happy to find out that they have various banh mi and also bubble tea. They also have other takeaway treats, including this mysterious green goop. What is this exactly? Someone, please tell me! Since I was picking up food to-go, I got a vermicelli bowl with grilled pork and spring rolls.

This was great! The pork was flavored well and grilled so it was slightly crunchy. The veggies were fresh and plentiful. But it was the fried spring roll I really liked. The skin was different from ones I’ve had before. It was more like what you’d find being the crepe of a vietnamese crepe. It wasn’t a crunchy flaky rice paper outside, it was more chewy and thick. It seemed to be made from rice flour like the crepes are. And I really enjoyed it! Man alive, knowing that there’s a good and cheap vietnamese joint so close to my house is like music to my ears. Next visit, I’ll try the pho! I can’t wait!

I met some great local bloggers at an event hosted by Casey from TasteStopping. Held at HomeCooked, it was to learn about Picnik, which is a free online photo editing tool. We had a couple samplings of some of the dishes that HomeCooked offers, including the pretzel-crusted chicken tenders with honey mustard and some kind of delicious buffalo dip. Both of these were quite delicious, so if this is any indication of the taste and quality of the food that you can pick up at HomeCooked or prepare yourself, then they definitely get a thumbs up from me!

Casey also brought some of these spinach pinwheels that she makes. These were not only tasty but also incredibly beautiful! They were almost too adorable to eat. But don’t worry, I ate them up!

Casey also runs Kitchen Witch, so she baked up some of her amazing cookies. The oatmeal cookies are at the top and they don’t have raisins. They’re are chewy and delicious! In the middle are the peanut butter cup cookies, which is a peanut butter cookie with peanut butter cups and semi-sweet chocolate. Man, these were beyond decadent! Lastly are the ultimate cookies. They are chocolate chip cookies with semi-sweet and milk chocolate, homemade toffee, and crunchy pecans. Well really, these are fairly decadent too! It was a fun afternoon of eating and learning with ladies who love to do the same!

Well it’s that time again… my mom’s birthday. And you know what happens when it’s my mom’s birthday.  Yep, sushi. She always tries to make me pick, but I do not condone that behavior. So she picked Mikado, where we went last year. I’m not sure why she doesn’t fancier, but I don’t mind. Mikado is very convenient for me. Mikado and Thai Pepper are connected sister restaurants, hence the buddha on the menu, and the mix of japanese and thai in the menu.
The green salad… this was great. It’s big too, and it better be, because it’s a bit pricey as far as japanese style salads are concerned. But I really enjoyed this and it had a nice dressings. The cherry tomatoes were a nice surprise.
My mom got her typical Sushi Regular dish. It looked good, and she said it tasted good too.
Me, I got the tempura udon. I was going to be having sushi later in the week, so I stuck with my other japanese favorite. This tasted great. Those big white slices of mystery in the soup? You think they might be fish cake or something, but they’re mushrooms. But I don’t know what kind because they’re certainly not mushroom shaped. But as far as mushrooms go, they did not offend me all that much. I even ate some of them. Also, the spinach came in a little ball, so I could really easily fish it out and give it to my mom. I dislike cooked spinach, so if it had been dispersed throughout, it would have been more of a pain for me to get rid of them. Service was fine. And prices are in line with the rest of the main line.