Pecan Tarts

We had a company potluck last week and I decided to make dessert.  Hubs picked up a great local dessert cookbook from Hawaii when he went back to visit last fall.  I found a recipe in there for pecan tarts.  My sister made pecan tassies using a different recipe a while back and I've always wanted to make them after I tasted how good they were.  I was excited that I could finally put my mini muffin pan to work!  The recipe was quite simple and did not call for a lot of ingredients.  The only time consuming part was having to press the dough into each individual cups.  The recipe yielded 4 dozen tartlets which was more than enough for everyone at work so I had extra to take home and bring over to share with my family.

Pecan Tarts
From Hawaii's Best Local Desserts

Ingredients:

1 package cream cheese (8 oz.), softened
1 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
2 cups flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven at 325 degrees.

Combine cream cheese and butter, mixing until well blended.  Add flour, mix well.  Divide dough into 4 parts; divide each part into 12 balls.  Press each ball onto bottom and sides of miniature muffin pans.

Combine eggs, brown sugar and vanilla; stir in pecans.  Spoon into pastry shells, filling each cup.  Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans.

That's it!  Enjoy!

Genki Sushi

A while ago, my sister told me that she had passed by Uwajimaya in the new Renton location and saw a sign that said Genki Sushi coming soon.  A few months later, Genki Sushi opened and I am happy it did.  Genki is a Japanese kaiten sushi chain with locations internationally as well as in Hawaii and has recently made its trek to Seattle.    

What I love and miss most about Genki Sushi is its spicy tuna (gunkan).  I tried it here but it was not as good as I had hoped for.  Don't get me wrong.  Overall, the food was good but it's just not the same as Genki's in Hawaii.  

Here, we tried the spicy bomb (inari sushi with spicy tuna).  The sweetness of the fried tofu overpowered the taste of the tuna.  I forgot to take a picture of my spicy tuna gunkan!

Spicy Bomb

One of their speciality rolls

  

Hub's favorite unagi sushi (eel)

Tonkatsu Ramen ($3.00)

I had to try the ramen.  This is the first time I've seen noodles on their menu.  For presentation, I topped off the ramen with a piece of shrimp tempura from the conveyor belt.  I liked the noodles but the soup had too much sesame oil in it.

Compared to their first location in Queen Anne, it seems like they have dropped their prices here with many plates ranging from $1.00 to $3.00.  The decor also more closely resembles the Hawaii franchises which is another plus.   Then after dinner, we walked over to Uwajimaya and picked up this for dessert! 

Steamed Cheese Cake

Aloha Ramen

Aloha Ramen has become my favorite ramen shop in Seattle since it opened last year.  It still doesn't beat the ones I've had in Hawaii, of course.  We recently went there for dinner and noticed that their menu has expanded.  I guess that some of their specials were popular so they decided to add it to their regular menu.  Aloha Ramen is a really small mom and pop shop (owned by a Japanese couple from Hawaii) so it means you have to go there early to grab a table or you'll end up on the waiting list.  They open only 5 days a week for dinner and if they run out of ramen, you're out of luck.

We were one of the first few customers in the door so we were seated immediately.  Hubs ordered the usual mini ramen + mini charsiu garlic rice combo.  Their portions are pretty big for a mini combo.  He had the tan tan ramen, a spicy sesame flavored soup with noodles, roast pork, bamboo shoots, green onions and yu choi.   The rice dish is pretty good and lucky me, we had enough leftovers for me to take to work the next day.  

My sister-in-law was in town which was the main reason we wanted to go to Aloha Ramen.  She ordered the mapo tofu ramen which was one of their specials that was converted over to their regular menu.  She really liked the ramen and told us that this was one of the best food she had in Seattle.  I need to try this next time.  

I had the Aloha Ramen special, a sesame flavored miso noodle soup with roast pork, corn, bamboo shoots, green onion and kamaboko (fish cake).  It was good but my favorite is still the tan tan men probably because I prefer the spiciness of the flavor which adds more depth.   

We also ordered the gyoza to start off with but it didn't get to us until we were halfway done with our bowl of noodles.  I didn't like the gyoza when we had it last time and my opinion this visit remained the same.  The pork filling is too soft and moist for my taste.  It almost tasted like it wasn't cooked through enough.  

Aloha Ramen is highly recommended.  The service is great and you get the bang for your buck.  I was initially attracted to this place because of its close ties with Hawaii and I still enjoy coming back here time and time again because their ramen is one of the best in the Seattle area.