Leftover Big Ramen from Big City Diner makeover for breakfast. #NextCheapDinnerTweetup

Recently, I have been "tweeting up" or meeting other Twitter friends over some meals. These friends happen to be @ParkRat, @Mel808, @FunHiGuy and @AlohaGadgetGal. a href="twitter.com/Mel808">@Mel808 started a Twitter hashtag called #NextCheapDinnerTweetup. At this time, you can only see @LinhChic's and my Tweets in the search because @Mel808 has a private account so her tweets don't appear in the search results. Anyway, what is #NextCheapDinnerTweetup all about? It just happened to start because we all have these coupon books that were purchased during the Christmas Season from Taco Bell / Pizza Hut for $5. These coupon books have $20 worth of coupons in them that are all for a certain menu item. It's not a coupon like $1 off or "buy one get one free", these are straight forward like, "1 crunch taco" or "1 single topping personal pan pizza" so they are good coupons, but you can only use one per customer per visit. That is what makes them slightly difficult to use up. Due to that requirement, we all still have a bunch of coupons that need to be used by the end of March.

 

Last night, @Mel808 intended to use one of her $30 credits at Spaghetti Factory because it was going to expire soon. @ParkRat, @Mel808, @MarkTRC, @KelliNakama and I (@RickNakama) met at Spaghetti Factory, but the 1 hour wait was too long. We ended up relocating the dinner to Asahi Grill, but this left us still wanting more.

@ParkRat has been talking about this Big City Diner (@BigCityDiner) "Big Ramen" for several months and I have been curious to try it. The catch is the "Big Ramen" is only available during lunch or after 10pm on Friday and Saturday nights. I don't really get to Big City Diner for lunch and I'm usually sleeping before 10pm so I have never seen this "Big Ramen" in real life... That is until last night.

@ParkRat, @Mel808, @RSuenaga, @KelliNakama and I met at Big City Diner after leaving Asahi Grill for "post dinner". At first, I wasn't intending on ordering the "Big Ramen", but I felt I should since I was there specifically to check it out. I knew I wouldn't be able to eat the whole thing because @KelliNakama and I wanted a "Big Oreo Sundae" for dessert! I ate about a quarter of the ramen and asked for a bowl so I could take the leftovers home. This surpised @ParkRat, @Mel808 and @RSuenaga. They all thought having this ramen as leftovers for breakfast was not an appetizing thought. I insisted that it would be ok. To further escalate their disgust, the ramen was packed in one bowl with the noodles soaking in the soup. Since they were all against the idea of me having this ramen as a leftover breakfast, I said I would show them a photo of my leftover breakfast dish made from the "Big Ramen".

And here are the photos...

The "Big Ramen" as originally served.

The "Big Oreo Sundae".

Added more vegetables just to add to @ParkRat's disgust.

Draining the ramen from its soup.

Stir-frying the vegetables with some sesame seeds, seasonings, vegetables and the leftover ramen.

The Final Product - "Big Ramen" as breakfast leftovers!

I think it tasted just fine as a leftovers breakfast.

We have just a few more days to use up all those coupons that expire on March 31, 2011! Where and when will the #NextCheapDinnerTweetup be? We can have a potluck at @Parkrat's Table again. See you there! :)

Posted via email from Posterous by Rick Nakama

Lunch at Inaba Restaurant

I met up with @WeHeartHawaii, @Yumi1001 and @NaniGurl for a lunch at Inaba (or I-naba) Restaurant.  It is located in the spot that the original Dai-ryu used to be.  Prior to this lunch, I have only been to Inaba once, several years back, just after they opened.  In fact, they didn't even have a sign displayed at that time.  Since I haven't been there since then and @WeHeartHawaii invited me to join the lunch, I did.

I had the Ume Gonomi Soba.  It is a cold soba noodle dish in a refreshing and light broth garnished with ume (Japanese pickled plum) and finely chopped shiso (perilla leaf).  It enjoyed it and would love to have it again.  

They also these little information cards about soba.  It explained what soba was made with and how it was healthy for you.  On the opposite side of this card was even more information about the health benefits that soba provides. 

It was great having lunch with @WeHeartHawaii and nice to meet his friends @Yumi1001 and @NaniGurl in real life.

http://RickNakama.com

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Yajima-ya Lunch Truck (@YajimayaHawaii)

I got an email from @WorldWideEd yesterday asking if he was able to use at photo I took at @YajimayaHawaii several weeks ago.  The photo he wanted to use can be found here, in my blog post about Yajima-ya last month.  As you can see, it's not the greatest photo in the world or even in my blog for that matter.  Anyway, Ed used it and it is on his latest write up about Yajima-ya.  Read his full write up here at AroundHawaii.com.

It was just timely early last night we stopped at Sam's Club to buy some groceries.  On the way back to S. King Street, we got tied up in some merging traffic on Sheridan Street.  We were stuck right in front of the driveway that leads to the Yajima-ya Truck!  After about a minute of waiting in the traffic trying to decide if we would use our Taco Bell coupons or Jack in the Box coupons, we made the call on the fly and turned into Yajima-ya!

I figured, "Hey, maybe I can get Ed a better photo for his write up!??".  Hmmm, well obviously, I am too late for that!  No way to stop the presses, this guy was too fast!  

Last night I had the special, Pork Curry Plate for $7.50.  It is seriously just stewed pork in a curry sauce that is typical of a slightly sweet, Japanese curry sauce.  No visible vegetables other than the spinach salad it is served with.  The rice had some furikake on it too.  I would've enjoyed some Japanese pickles to go along with this or some shouga (ginger), but that's ok.  It tasted good and the pork was so tender!

It was Kelli's first time at Yajima-ya and she wanted to know what I recommended.  Since the only thing I have experience eating there is the Buta Shougayaki Don (gingered pork bowl), that is all I was able to recommend.  Of course she enjoyed it.  I also think this photo is much better than the one I took at my first visit there.

If you're ever in the area (around Keeaumoku Wal Mart/Sam's Club), stop by Yajima-ya and enjoy their covered seating.  I just found out while sitting in that line of merging cars that they are open until 730pm!  Perfect for dinner because it's much cooler at sundown.  :)  They are right across the Cosmo Gas Station driveway on Sheridan Street and can accommodate about 3 cars in the driveway and seat quite a bit of people.

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