Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Orenchi Ramen at Orenchi Ramen



Our random meal of the day brings us an order of Orenchi Ramen from Orenchi Ramen. After spending a couple of hours at the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Jose, what better way to quench your hunger than with some "Ninja Ninja" food. Funny thing was when we arrived at the restaurant at precisely 5:29PM, one minute before opening, I was ecstatic that there was only one couple waiting outside the restaurant. Well, the only reason that there was one couple waiting outside was because the foyer area inside the restaurant was jammed packed full of folks waiting and there was no room for them to wait inside. Ahhhhhh, we were still lucky to get the first wave seating. Our delicious ramen is a Tonkotsu base and is topped with "soft boiled seasoned egg, pork, green onion, bamboo shoot, mushroom, sesame, nori seaweed". This bowl of ramen hit the spot with its flavorful broth. When we left, the foyer was still jammed packed to capacity.

Found at Orenchi Ramen in San Jose, California.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f2.8, 1/60, iso 1600, +0.33ev

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Guava Mousse Cake at Bijan Bakery & Cafe



We have a Guava Mousse Cake for our random meal of the day dessert treat. This was a silk smooth confection. Yum!

Found at Bijan Bakery & Cafe in San Jose, California.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f1.2, 1/1000, iso 100, +0.33ev

Thursday, February 16, 2012

California Benedict at Bill's Cafe



Our random meal of the day brings us a California Benedict. This version of eggs benedict has a different twist. You start with two pieces of "American" bacon, instead of Canadian bacon and add sliced avocado and tomatoes. Two poached eggs are covered with Hollandaise sauce and everything is placed on top of an English Muffin. A side of seasoned country potatoes complete this wonderful random meal.

Found at Bill's Cafe in San Jose, California.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f2.8, 1/320, iso 100, +0.67ev

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Cinnamon Caramel Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich at C.R.E.A.M.



Our random meal of the day treat brings us a Cinnamon Carmel Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich. This ice cream sandwich just hit the spot. You get to choose the type of cookie that you want and then the type of ice cream filling. Yum!

Found at C.R.E.A.M. in Berkeley, California.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f2.0, 1/125, iso 100, +0.67ev

Friday, February 10, 2012

Buttermilk Fried Chicken at Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen



Our random meal of the day brings us some Buttermilk Fried Chicken. This order starts with several pieces of buttermilk batter boneless fried chicken breast that are placed on a bed of a flavorful ginger-vanilla sweet potato mash. A perfect side serving of tasso ham cream gravy enhances the moist buttermilk fried chicken. For the healthy touch to the random meal, we finsh with Blue Lake green beans.

Found at Angeline's Louisiana Kitchen in Berkeley, California.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f2.8, 1/80, iso 3200, +0.33ev

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Hamburger at In-N-Out Burger



We have a Hamburger for our random meal of the day. I am wondering if this breaks my new years resolution of not buying any camera bodies for 2012 if the camera is part of a phone? I am always on the lookout for an awesome point and shoot camera and I think that I finally found it in a phone. The best camera is the one you have with you and since I should have my phone with me, it becomes the best camera.

The funny thing was that I actually had my DSLR with me. We were traveling up to the Bay Area to San Jose and decided to stop for lunch. Since I've already shot In-N-Out Burger before, I decided to just take a quick snap of the burger to see what it looks like with my new iPhone 4S. I actually use the iPhone as part of my work flow to take pictures of menus so that I can remember what I ate. The way I document my random meals is to use my iPhone Yelp app to check in so that I have a history of what I ate. Then take a picture of the menu with my iPhone so that I can look at it when I write my blog post. I use to take the menu shots with the camera that I shoot food with but I found that it so much nicer to have all the menu shots in one location, that I can view whenever I finally decide to post a particular shot.

To complete my work flow, I normally quickly go though the shots that I've have taken on my many random cameras and then put the winning shot into my dropbox folder. Dropbox is great as I like the ability to access the files wherever I am. That is a referral link below. I will not get any money but will get more free space if you sign up ;)
www.dropbox.com
With the file in my dropbox folder, I can actually browse the photos with my iPhone Dropbox app and sometimes choose what to post later that day.

The final step is to post on random meal of the day with some html editing to make to photos larger on the screen. All this for Zero Dollars and Zero Cents as this is just my hobby, but I do have lots of fun...

Found at In-N-Out Burger in Kettleman City, California.

Apple iPhone 4S in white

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Banana Cream Tart at Tartine Bakery



Today we finish our three part random meal of the day feature of Tartine Bakery. It was a magical visit. We ended the visit with a Banana Cream Tart for dessert. The four inch tart is a "flaky pastry coated in dark chocolate with caramel, pastry cream, and lightly sweetened cream". This was such a smooth dessert and was such a sublime treat.

Found at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, California.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f2.0, 1/250, iso 200, +0.67ev

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Jambon Royale & Gruyere Sandwich at Tartine Bakery



Today we continue with our three part random meal of the day feature of Tartine Bakery. It was a magical visit. We have the Jambon Royale & Gruyere Sandwich for lunch. The magic in this sandwich is in the bread. Tartine lets their bread rise for eight hours prior to baking and this really changes the complexion of the bread. The hot pressed sandwich starts with of course the fantastic country bread. We then add a layer of Niman Ranch cured and smoked ham. A layer of Gruyere cheese perfectly complements the ham. I choose to have the Dijon on the side before the sandwich was pressed. A spicy pickled baby carrot accompanies the random meal. I was sad that they only sold the actually loaf of bread after 5PM or I think I could have ate a whole loaf of this wonderful country bread.

Found at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, California.

Canon 5D Mark II, 50mm, f2.8, 1/250, iso 200, +1.67ev