My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 44

Today was just another one of those days where I was called to come to Hollywood Hills to pick up my niece and nephew to babysit. Since tomorrow is the celebration of my grandma's life and the remembrance of her passing. There was a party to prepare for one day in advance and so I dropped them off at my cousin's house where preparations were taken place. Of course there werent anything that I could eat other than going to Mix Bowl, a Thai restaurant in the area. I ordered the tofu Pad Thai which was not good at all, the fried tofu were over proportionate and spongy which I hate. I also got the papaya salad and took out the shrimp so it's a vegetarian dish, it's was a lot better than the pad Thai.

Just a few more days I'll be driving up to Seattle where I will be calling it home due to my new job I got.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 43

Another one of those days that I did not eat until past mid day. I was over at my cousin's house to have several of my jeans hemmed. I decided to stop by Pho Ha again after going there yesterday for lunch. I ordered the same plate which was the egg and tofu fried rice with two extra sunny side up eggs. I've also got the shaken tofu with vermicelli which was saved later for dinner. I'm somewhat of a stubborn guy. If i find something I like, I will try to stick with it for a few days or until I get sick of it.

I must say that even with the ova-lact vegetarian diet, I'm having difficulties trying to eat and get away from eggs and tofu once in awhile.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 42

ipomoea aquatica (rau muong)

Credits to Theo Eva for the photo

"In Vietnam, ipomoea aquatica (known as rau muống) once served as a staple vegetable of the poor. In the south, the stems are julienned into thin strips and eaten with many kinds of noodles. It is used as a garnish as well. Ipomoea aquatica has become a common ingredient of Vietnamese cuisine." - Wiki

By far this is my favorite vegetable. I grew up eating this and I have honed the skill to prepare it just like how my mother. The thing that I love about rau muong is that it can be prepared and served in many different ways. You can stir fry it with meat, tofu or just by itself with some garlic or it can be used to make a variety of different soups and salads.

Tonight I took my mom over to one of her best friend's house to visit while waiting to pick another one of her best friends at LAX. Of course, my mom is still on the vegetarian diet for several more days. So her friend whipped up some vegetarian dishes. One of those were stir fry rau muong with garlic and tofu. I didn't bring my camera with me so I couldn't get you all a picture. I have been craving for rau muong ever since I started this challenge and finally today I was able to have it. With my normal diet, I would dip rau muong in fish sauce but instead she had out chili bean curds with soy sauce, mash them all together to dip in. It couldn't get any more traditional than that.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 41

Tofu is not good, it's REALLY good!

Anyhow, has it been 41 days already? It seems like yesterday was the first day of this challenge. Looking at how the days have gone by so fast, I think I should not have any difficulties finishing this challenge. I'm enjoying the food I'm eating for the most part. Tofu has become my best friend. So this morning I went out with my mom and two aunts to Pho Ha, a Vietnamese pho restaurant that my entire Pham family has been dining there for the last 20 years. People here know us including the owner. So every time when I come here with my relatives, we get acknowledged. It was fun that all of us were eating vegetarian food. I had the egg fried rice while my mom and aunts had tofu dishes. The best dish was the shaken tofu (replacement of shaken beef). The distinct taste was butter with a special sauce that they add which makes the tofu bursts with an aromatic flavor in your mouth. This place has the reputation and loyalty from its customers. For dinner, I came over to one of my aunt's house where my mom is staying at to eat. It was simple, fried tofu cubes with stir fry edamame with spicy soy sauce. Thanks to my mom for plating the edamame because I was having trouble trying to work it.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 40

Almost half way

Woke up this morning early and went to a local public library here in Ontario, Ca to reserve a study room for my Gallup phone interview. I was able to squeeze in a couple of hours prior to go over my notes and my answers to about 30 suspected questions that I wrote down. The phone interview was about an hour long and I felt that I did ok, the interviewer backed that up as well. All I'm waiting for is the person from Gallup forward my results and assessment to the company that I'm interviewing for.

With lack of energy in my system, I got home to my mom and aunt making a vegetarian vermicelli dish which I had made a month ago. I think the key to make this dish taste good is the soy sauce. High quality soy sauce is preferable, I believed my aunt used the Kikkoman sashimi & sushi soy sauce with a squeeze of lime and some red chili paste. Maggi on the other hand is a really high quality soy sauce brand as well, speaking from the one that is directly from France that sells around $22 for 1 pint. If you're looking to have soy sauce in your vegetarian dish, make sure to read the label for the ingredients on the back. Some of them use beef bones in powder form to make the sauce. In my case I have checked all of them and they seem to be free of animal product.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 39

Woke up early to today and drove to the airport to pick up my mom. She's down here visiting the relatives and some friends. Turns out she's eating vegetarian food today so I stopped by one of her sister's in-law's house. My aunt had prepared some vegetarian dishes for her arrival. I had this sautéed vegetables that was really good. This mix included bitter melon, carrots, string beans, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots. I love anything stir fry or sautéed vegetables. Big day tomorrow I'm going to end this short.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 38

Today is my lucky day!

After hours of spending at Starbucks sipping on my usual grande ice caramel macchiato studying for my Gallup interview. I decided to head over to Lee's Sandwiches in Chino, Ca to grab a vegetarian baguette for dinner. I took my place in line, ordered my baguette along with a side of flan. As soon I paid the cashier I heard this loud chime from the register. Looked confused, the cashier said "ooh look you're a winner!" You must be joking me right? I have never won anything by luck or chance. I looked at the customer right behind me and apologized to her for taking her place in line. I got my $5.29 back and on my receipt I kid you not, it says "winner ticket". I guess after all these months of visiting this Lee's Sandwiches in Chino, Ca and spent quite a few bucks on snacks. It's only fair that I became a winner and get appreciated. Imagine if I were to buy $30-40 worth of snacks here tonight. Would the cash register still pick me as a winner?

Their vegetarian baguette is really good. It is hard for me to describe what they put in there besides the usual vegetables fixing (cilantro, jalapeños, carrots, daikons, cucumbers). What seems to be an imitation of shredded pork had me give two thumbs up.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 37

Eggs are not considered as a dairy product? What!!!

I was craving for some eggplants so I went to Ranch 99 Market to get some. The place has become my to-go-to spot for a quick vegetarian meal. I bought 1 pint of these stir fry eggplants with soy sauce for $2.99, pretty good price for the amount that they give you. Craving for eggs so I heat up the skillet, threw on two eggs and fried them. I would say that eggs are the only thing that is closest to meat that I can eat because the ova-lacto vegetarian diet allows me to do so. Eggs are not considered to a dairy product rather than an animal byproduct. All this time I thought eggs are considered as a dairy product. I guess I was wrong until just a few minutes ago when I googled "are eggs considered dairy?". However, I am not going to feel guilty about eating eggs because it is an animal byproduct or try to reason myself why I should/shouldn't eat eggs. The more things I find out about vegetarianism, the clearer I see why people choose a particular vegetarian diet based on religion, ethical beliefs, health benefits, and other personal reasons. Here is where I found a good but brief explanation of all this.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 36

Credits to Life's Ambrosia for the photo.

My day started very early, 4am to be specific. I'm had to meet a rep at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, Ca for a ride along as part of my interview process for a company I'm in the hiring process for. I made a quick detour at McDonald's for some breakfast that consists of two egg & cheese McMuffin sandwiches, a hash brown and some orange juice. Luckily I checked the sandwiches before biting into it because the girl gave me two egg sausage McMuffin sandwiches when I asked for no meat.

After spending 6 hours at two hospitals going through ORs after ORs we stopped by Boston Bar and Grill restaurant down at the Long Beach Seaport. Lunch was really good but had some difficulties locating some vegetarian dishes which by the way wasn't on the menu. I ended up ordering the lunch special create-your-own pasta deal. In started out with a ceasar salad which wasn't good at all, little less on the ceasar dressing made it less enjoyable as I am a fan of extra design when it comes to salads. I should've asked for extra dressing but I didn't, I know and I'm complaining right now. The pasta I created was a simple fettucine with alfreado sauce with a roll of breadstick that was mediocre. However, I need to mention that the fried mozzarella squares with marinara sauce were really good. So far so good as days are going by really fast. Everyday is a day closer to reaching day 90, and how I am so in love with tofu and eggs!

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 35

Back in Southern California

Waking up at 5am in the morning to get ready to catch a flight at 7am is no fun. I did not catch sleep until 2am which left me 3 hours before the alarm goes off. Landed around 9:15am and by that time my stomach was growling for food. A complimentary cup of orange juice they gave me during the flight held me well during the duration of a 2 hour flight.. Once I got home I had some rice and seared tofu that my aunt had made earlier in the morning.

Later in the evening when there were guests over at the house, everyone ate up the feast my aunt made. One of my cousins brought out some gim (dried paper-like sheets of seaweed) to eat with his salmon sashimi that he made. So I figured I'll wrap them over white rice and drizzle a bit of soy sauce on it. By far it was the most addicting little snack I've had in awhile. This gave me another idea for my soon to be next recipe I will make to incorporate gim, rice and tofu to make a really good vegetarian concoction. Thanks to Suzy Chung where I found a great photo of this rice wrapped in gim.

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 34

Simply Thai

It's my last night here in Seattle before I get on a plane and fly back to Southern California early tomorrow morning. Rather than taking my family out to dinner, although I was planning to take them out to Wild Ginger, I felt it would just be wholesome if I brought food home. I drove to South Center to a Thai restaurant we're very familiar with, Simply Thai. When it opened up many years ago, this was the Thai restaurant to eat at in the surrounding areas. Food is fairly priced and the interior decor is very nice.

For the family I ordered a shrimp Phad Thai, chicken phad see ew, and shrimp tom yum soup. For myself I had to alter these meat dishes to make it a vegetarian plate. I asked the waiter for an order of tofu Phad Thai with eggs and tofu tom khah which is a soup much like tom yum but it has coconut milk. The phad see ew was very good simply made but I wish they would add a variety of vegetables rather than just broccoli. The tom kha however, was good I can taste the coconut but it wasn't bland. I had to add extra salt just to give it some taste. Not to say their tom kha is bad but I believed that the base of the broth was water rather than fish or chicken which to me makes sense why it tasted bland.

I'm still hanging in there on my 34th day of 90 days. I am starting to appreciate vegetarian food more now and have tried foods that I would've never thought about eating before because they don't have meat in them. As long as I can still taste the flavor of my food I would be satisfied even though meat is absent. As I'm progressing to day 90, I have become more attentive to what I eat.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 33

Wild Ginger 08.09.11

Ok, so I apologize for not blogging yesterday because I totally forgot about it when I was invited out late with a couple of buddies to have drinks. It looks like that I'm going to have two posts up under one day due to this. So please consider this as my apology.

I made dinner plans with my friend Kimiko yesterday evening. I spent a couple of days on the internet searching for a great restaurant that would offer a good vegetarian menu just for me. Although there are plenty of vegetarian restaurants I have come across, I had to keep Kimiko in mind that she's not a vegetarian and she wanted to have choices in picking what she wants to eat. After careful consideration, I have decided to check out Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle, an Asian restaurant with a western influence. Much like a PF Chang's but the good news is that the food here at Wild Ginger look and taste way better than PF Chang's.

It does seem more difficult to choose a nice restaurant to dine at if you're a vegetarian dining at a non-vegetarian restaurant. Most if not all menus are catered to meat-eaters and for vegetarians, the menu is very limited. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of nice vegetarian restaurants out there that would better suit you and your group if everyone is a vegetarian or is planning to eat vegetarian for that particular sitting.

We with a couple of appetizers, I had the Vietnamese vegetarian spring rolls with pineapple dipping sauce and Kimiko had the satay dish with skewered vegetables with orange-teriyaki dipping sauce. Both were awesome, flavors were there working well with each other without one over powering the other. Few moments later as we were waiting for our entrees to come out (the wait was a little longer than expected), we ordered two portions of the steamed buns which was very good and fluffy paired with a sweet & sour tamarind dipping sauce.

Moving onto our entrees, we bother ordered the Phad Thai but her's came with chicken and mine just had eggs and a lot of tofu. The portions were big more than I expected from an upscale westernized Asian restaurant. The base that makes Phad Thai what is it was just perfect unlike other Thai restaurants where it's too chalky with a strong taste to it. Here at Wild Ginger it's just right on. I've also went with a second entree which i ordered the seven flavor tofu which was really good. The tofu were extra firm and stir fried with lemon grass, peanuts, hoisin, chilies, basil, garlic and ginger served on a bed of bean sprouts and basil paired with my choice of rice which I went with brown. We were blown away with all the food we had ordered and our table was crying for extra space. I was so caught up in their vegetarian menu that I ordered more than I could eat. Instead of just picking an American restaurant like Daniel's Broiler which did not have much of a vegetarian menu I figured I would enjoy more flavors and choices by picking an Asian restaurant like Wild Ginger. I'm glad that I did and boy did we enjoyed our coconut gelato and a rich chocolate torte.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 32

What's the chili yo!

Last night's dinner was ok but tasted a lot better this morning when all the flavors got to know each other better. Pretty much it's what I had for breakfast and lunch. Tonight, I looked in my inventory of vegetarian food to see what I can come up with and then I saw a can of Hormel vegetarian chili and I thought up something unique since I have a bag of meatless meatballs. I love chili especially the one I make ( I think mine tastes a lot better than at most places I have had chili). I usually make it with ground turkey but this time I'm using meatless meatballs. Instead of crushing them up but rather kept it in it's form and have fun at this recipe.

Here I laid out most of the ingredients I used. All the vegetables are homegrown by my mom which she harvested from her backyard for me except for the chopped tomatoes. Nothing beats homegrown vegetables especially when you can just walk outside to the garden and pick whatever you want. I want the flavor to be bold so i used celery sticks, chopped garlic, dried red chili, green onions, white onions, cilantro, and chopped tomatoes.

My method of cooking is pretty simple.

1). A few dashes of olive oil in a sauce pan, add the chopped garlic, then the white onions followed by chopped celery sticks on high heat.

2). Allow 3-5 minutes for them to be cooked down, add in the chopped tomatoes and about 1 tbsp of sugar and 2 tsp of salt. In a separate cup, add approximately 1/2 cup of water and 1 tablespoon of mushroom powder (replace chicken broth) mix well then add it to the pot. Let it simmer for another 2 minutes before adding in the can of chili. Reduce to medium heat and allow for simmering to take place for about 25 minutes with lid on. To make your chili a little thicker to your liking, please allow about 2-3 tsp of corn starch to be mixed well in warm water. Then add to the sauce pan, stir well occasionally every 5 minutes or so.

3). Add salt and/or sugar to taste, serve hot with your choice of shredded cheese and top with a pinch of green onions. I used the mexican style shredded cheese. Enjoy!

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 31

Ovo-Lacto Vegetarian

Entering my first day of phase 2, it's ovo-lacto vegetarian here on out for the next 60 days to complete my challenge. Today was Seafair Sunday which means the city of Seattle puts up this event where they have air shows, hydro plane races, and other festivities going on at Lake Washington. I happen to meet up with several of my friends from middle school and high school at a buddy's house where he and his family were throwing a BBQ by the lake. Food was plentiful and a lot of people came. There were BBQ chicken, hamburger meat patties, all types of sausage links, and countless of different side dishes. As always I was tempted to just give up my challenge right then and there and have me a sausage link or a juicy cheeseburger. I ended up just having macaroni salad and egg potato salad. Yes, people thought I was crazy but they did support what I'm doing. It was fun, enjoyed the people, the air show and the conversations.

For dinner I decided to use the lemon basil pasta I bought yesterday at Pike Place Market along with other vegetarian things from the grocery store. I wanted to make an Italian dish involving these ingredients. I used the Tofurky links and chopped tomatoes to incorporate them with the pasta. This turns out to be the Italian sausage pasta. I've also added a side that I called stuffed tofu tomato, which was easy to make. Overall both were pretty good, I liked the pasta better. The only thing that killed my appetite was that my taste buds and my stomach are not used to the Tofurky sausage links. It did not go down well or processed well. I guess I would have to get used to it because from here on out, no meat, no fish, no seafood. Nothing but tofu!

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 30

The last day of a pescetarian diet

I met up with a friend back from high school and we both went down to Seattle's Pike Place Market to linger around. Her and I we strolled through a packed house of locals and tourists who come to this market to check out what it has to offer. It has been awhile ( about 15 years) since I have been to this market during business hours. It was nice to see all the different shops and people packed this market. I did stopped by one of the vendors who were selling pastas and this type looked so interesting that I had to buy 0.5 lb of it for $5.00 to try it out. The company Pappardelle's Pasta makes a variety of different pastas in many flavors and the one that stood out is this lemon basil pasta. I will try to figure out my own recipe with this for tomorrow's dinner.

We also visited a unique landmark there which is called the Gum Wall. This is the nastiest site I have ever seen but it's pretty cool once you get over it. The wall is plastered with gum from people all over the world and locals who have come here to make their mark. If you wiki Gum Wall you will find out that this is ranked in the top 5 (ranked #2) germiest tourist attraction in the world in 2009. One cool factor is that Jennifer Aniston shot a scene here at the Gum Wall in her movie Love Happens in 2009.

When it came to lunch she had made reservation at Cutter's Bayhouse there on Pike Place Market. According to her, they have really good seafood and that she wanted to take me out to have awesome seafood since it is my last day of phase 1 of my pescetarian diet before moving into an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet on Sunday. We started out with a artichoke and dungeness crab dip for an appetizer that came with some really good bread with perfect consistency. I then ordered the seafood fettuccine as my entree and I fell in love with it from the first bite. As I was eating it, I felt my life for the next 60 days would suck so bad because I won't be able to consume any fish or seafood. The jumbo prawns were crunch and not chalky like most seafood places and the tenderness of the scallops were off the hook. I liked the place as it comes with an awesome view of the Seattle Via-Duct overlooking Puget Sound and pretty classy. Although I did not take any photos of my entree, I did take my leftovers to go because my appetite has decreased. Later for dinner, I reinvented what it looked like at the restaurant and post up this awesome dish for your viewing pleasure.

P.S. - Now that phase 1 is over, I'm looking forward to starting phase 2 tomorrow and hopefully for the next 60 days I can hang in there as an ovo-lacto vegetarian.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 29

My love for cooking

Woke up this morning and saw that my mom had braised some fish for me. I decided that I would eat my cereals first before anything. My choice of cereals is always Multi-Grain Cheerios because it offers a lot of vitamins and other important fibers your body needs. For me it was iron which one serving offers 100% of iron, if you're curious just take a look on the side of the box the next time you find yourself grocery shopping. After I had about 2 servings with Silk coconut milk, I was craving for some of the fish my mom made. About 45 minutes later I had to get it in and by that time my hunger was satisfied.

After walking my dog Charlie- Brown at Alki beach, I stopped by Spuds Fish and Chips. This place is good, rather small dining area inside but the fish, fries and tartar sauce are to die for. I bought the 2 piece fish with chips meal and then a clam chowder. As soon as I ordered my food, I realized that the clam chowder may have bacon in it. I was hesitant to cancel the chowder but felt that it was too late so I didn't bother. When I received my food I opened up the chowder and hunt for pieces of bacon, which I happen to find and without any further hesitation or giving it a little taste just to see that I'm not mistaken it for pieces of clams. I decided to close it up and bring it home for my sister.

Around 12 am I decided to cook some tofu because I felt hungry and wanted to have a small snack. This is a totally certified vegan dish. Ingredients used were water, tomatoes, tofu, salt, pepper, sugar, chopped garlic, fried onions, light soy sauce and mushroom powder. Rather frying the tofu before braising with the tomatoes which I usually would do when come to making this dish. I felt it was a little unhealthy to fry my tofu, save the calories for a later day. So tomorrow is my last day of my pescetarian diet and I'm going to enjoy as much fish and seafood as possible. Sunday is the real challenge when I will be on the ovo-lacto vegetarian diet.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 28

Top Pot Doughnuts!

This place is just amazing! My morning started really really early, 4:30am to be specific. I had an interview at 7am at the Marriot on Lake Union for a position with a Fortune 500 company, very prestigious in its playing field. After my interview, I had to head over to Top Pot and celebrate myself to a coffee and a donut because the stress over this interview was done and gone. It was really busy matter of fact, much busier than yesterday when I was there. The difference could've been 8:15am rather than 12 noon the day before. I believed this unique donut shop has created a huge fan base. Although I ate a little rice with some of the leftover seaweed bean curds from last night, I was eager to have a Police officer style of a breakfast, donuts and coffee. This time I ordered the glazed donut with a mocha. Price is very reasonable and the donut came big, they all come like that here at Top Pot.

For lunch, my long time childhood friend Kevin called me because I was still in the downtown area and asked me to go have dim sum at House of Hongs. This Chinese restaurant has been a staple for us from back in the day for dim sum. I devoured a lot of these shrimp hakaos and Chinese broccoli. Dinner after my work out was just something simple as walking over to the mall and grabbed a teriyaki salmon with mixed veggies and rice.

Just two more days and I'll be 1/3 done with this challenge. It also means that I'll move from a pescetarian diet into an ovo-lacto vegetarian diet. I'm looking forward to day 30 as I'll be having lunch with a friend of mine Kimiko in downtown and it would be fish I'll be eating for my last lunch that will include fish before changing my diet the very next day.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 27

Nothing but a V "thang"

Waking up in the morning earlier than expected. came down stairs and looked in the fridge for some breakfast. Saw that my mom had made banana strawberry smoothie, one of my favorites. Anything that has bananas and strawberries together is good. I chucked the entire glass and felt refreshed and get my morning ready to head down to Downtown Seattle. Although before I left I ate a small portion of my mom's stir fry rice noodle with cabbage and tofu. Just incase I get stuck in traffic or lost in downtown going to the place I wanted to go.

Even with my iPhone in hand with navigation on because my mom's Mercedes doesn't have one, I found myself driving in circles trying to locate this unique donut shop. I tell you persistent never fails because I had to visit this place. The place has a unique story behind it and it receives top notch press. Also, how do you top the fact that President Obama had visit this donut shop several months ago. If you haven't heard or try this place out, it is called Top Pot Doughnuts and all their donuts are hand-forged rather than mass produced by a robot. Google it and read the story behind it, I did and it made me appreciate the place even more and attracts my business more than the big conglomorate Krispy Kreme. Here I ordered a traditional maple bar and Little Moo to wash down all the carbs and sweetness. The place and food is a definite winner! Apologize for the bad quality of the photo, it was taken with my iPhone 4.

When I got home later in the day and time to have my dinner. My mom made some braised soy bean curds wrapped around with seaweed so it tastes like fish and it sure did. I couldn't believe it that the texture and the smell of these seaweed wrapped bean curbs were like fish. I love my mom for understanding my vegetarian challenge diet and she's hooking me up while I'm visiting. Oh yeah, and the pennyworth drink!

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge Day 26

Home sweet home!

It is good to be back in my hometown of Seattle, Wa. It was an unexpected trip for me to fly out on such short notice (I booked my flight 2 hrs before the departure time). I was speaking with a recruiter on the phone for a medical device sales position in Seattle and they are doing interviews this week. On my own dime, I decided to fly out to take this opportunity with a Fortune 500 company, thousands of people out there want to work for this company and would die to have the opportunity that was given to me. I took me about 5 minutes to pack my clothes for this one week trip. I literally just got done doing my laundry and took what was in the dryer and stuffed it in my duffel bag. Hopped on my iMac and booked my trip, crazy isn't it?

Once I landed and came home to my parents, they were surprised to see me because I did not tell them that I was flying up. When my mom asks me if I wanted to eat dinner, I said "I'm eating vegetarian food now". She laughed along with my dad (thanks for the support you two!). She showed me what she had in the refrigerator and I was happy that she had some tofu and this Thai vegetable salad. Like I usually do when eating tofu, I plated a small bowl with soy sauce, a squeeze of lime and some red chili paste. Threw in the tofu along with the Thai vegetable salad, next thing I know dinner is served with guess what? white rice! To wash it down, my mom had made fresh pennyworth. My absolute favorite grassy drink.

P.S - I got my brackets for my upper and lower molars this morning. It's really hard to chew anything.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 25

Today was a good day

My cousin came and visit with her family at her mom's house and cooked up a feast of bun bo Hue. A Vietnamese traditional beef noodle soup from central Vietnam. Everyone was eating this awesome dish my cousin makes from time to time. It is my favorite dish from her, I used to eat at least two bowls because it's so good. This time I have to pass up on it and aside from what everybody was eating, I went to 99 Ranch Market and bought stir fry baby bok choy along with stir fry tofu with vegetables. Having to answer many of repetitive questions people were asking me why I am eating that and not bun bo Hue. Of course I told them why and continue to enjoy my dinner as people were enjoying theirs. It was funny earlier in the day as my cousin didn't believe me that I was going to pass up on her dish thinking that I would give in as soon as it is ready. At the end of the night, all she could do was looked at me and smile with that "I can't believe you look".

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 24

Oyster shooters

What a night of partying with my relatives. It is very common to find my relatives having parties almost every weekend. We love food and quality time together to its full capacity. My cousin Linh was making seafood hot pot which was very appealing to me but soon to find out she used pork bones in her soup base (smh). However, there were plenty of oysters to go around so I decided to load up on them until I have had enough, it took about 10 oysters to to get there. These were cooked oyster shooters rather then raw because these gigantic oysters are not safe to eat raw. The ones you could eat raw are the smaller more rounded oysters found at seafood restaurants. These are simple to make, just add some lime juice with ground black pepper, sriracha sauce, and sautéed green onions with oil. They come together pretty nicely especially with a little sprinkle of chopped peanuts.

I then dove right into the main course. I utilized the squid, fish filets, tofu, mushrooms, shrimp along with a variety of vegetables to have it go with the vermicelli noodle. Separate from the seafood I boiled the vegetables in water with a teaspoon of vegetarian broth seasoning. In an aluminum pan I added all the seafood with the tofu and set it on the charcoal grill for about 10 minutes. Served it with soy sauce and lime juice, man talking about a great alternative to seafood hotpot. Wish my cousin had made the broth with fish rather than pork bones.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 23

I love sushi

For the last couple of weeks I have this high rush of sushi craving in my system. Just a couple of days ago I was at Shima Japanese Restaurant for dinner. A great Japanese restaurant with a Zen like ambience, but rather pricey for the sushi that they serve. The food presentation isn't as great as most modern sushi restaurants I have eaten prior, (i.e Ki Sushi in La Jolla). The portions are smaller but as I read in an article recently, in the Japanese culture people would only eat to 80% to their stomach's full capacity. The term for this diet is Hara hachi bu which means “Eat until 80% full (literally, stomach 80%)". This is one of the reasons why Japanese are the one of the healthiest human beings in the world. Photo below was retrieved fro http://www.presentationzen.com.

The only meal I had today was dinner. Ask why? Well I skipped breakfast and lunch due to working with a client in Hollywood and then had to make my way to Brea to consult another. That left me no time for a quick meal and I wasn't in the mood for a quick fixing at the drive-thru. I find myself at Ichiban sushi restaurant in Brea, Ca, the sign outside says celebrating 23yrs in business. So I thought this place must be known for something great. I ordered the shrimp crunchy roll as my appetizer and then I had to custom order an entree that they did not have on the menu which was fish katsu. This was the same dish I ordered at KI Sushi in La Jolla a couple of weeks ago. My first impression of this restaurant was it has a charming personality for being opened for 23 years. As I was eating my edamame, my crunchy roll came out and let me tell you, the food presentation was not what I would expected at a sushi restaurant. This goes the same to my salad, rice, and the fish katsu. The sushi chef had to take my fish katsu from the waitress and set the plate himself or else my waitress would've just given me the 3 pieces of fish in a basket.

As I am sitting there enjoying my dinner trying to stay positive about the place since the food did not look overwhelmingly attractive. It dawned on me that the 23 years of this establishment being in business. It may have contributed to why their food is served in a simple less fancy way. That is when I started to appreciate the place and as customers were walking in, sushi chefs at the sushi bar were very inviting and greeting them by their names. The history of this restaurant may have kept its vintage charm by keeping its personality since the first day it opened. While exiting the restaurant, I looked at one of the walls and it had signed photographs of what seems to be celebrities, sports athletes and public figures. After all this place does have a history, charm and good o'l sushi food.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 22

Pineapple braised fish with kimchi and rice

Life is really about enjoying what you eat whether you are a meat eater, vegetarian or vegan. Technically speaking for people who love and appreciate the art of food. I'm blessed to be around people who are really good cooks (mom, cousins and aunties). I myself is getting there... one day I suppose. For now it's just observe, eat and learn.

The pineapple braised fish I had tonight was satisfying and went well with a side of kimchi. Pineapple makes almost everything thing taste so good. It adds a little kick of sweetness to the sauce and gives off that nice pineapple flavor. I usually braise catfish than any other fish because it is my favorite to eat in an Asian dish due to the fatty skin on them. At this point I'm pretty tired of fish, forgot about meat and craving tofu so bad. One of the reasons why I haven't been eating as much of tofu lately is because I don't want to play it out. It is going to be a big part of phase 2 as I'm 8 days away from.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 21

Banh tet (Vietnamese rice cake)

It is only fair to let everyone know what I had for lunch and show you what banh tet looks like from the inside. For lunch I had my aunt's banh tet that she gave me as mentioned from my previous post. It was a little strange to have these for lunch because it tasted more like a dessert because of the banana filling which makes it very sweet. I savored every bite of it and I'm only down to half a roll left and I am not in any hurry to devour the rest of it any time soon. I've had banh tet in a variety of different fillings before, mung beans with pork, mung beans by itself and these with bananas. I really don't like the one that just has only mung beans because it tastes dry but I love these with bananas as they are very tender in the center. Go out and get yourself one during Lunar New Year which is somewhere at the end of January because only during this time it is when banh tet is consumed the most.

-Timothy Pham

My 90-Day Vegetarian Challenge DAY 20

Vegetarian Pho

I went over to one of my aunt's house for dinner tonight. Seems like something I find myself doing ever so often. On the way there I decided to stop by Pho Island restaurant which is nearby and they serve a great bowl of vegetarian pho, says one of my aunts. I figured it would be polite to bring my aunt and her family a dish from the restaurant to share around the dinner table. I picked up a deep fried tarp that came with a seasoned savory sauce along with my veggie pho.

My vegetarian pho came with a lot of vegetables, carrots, napa cabbage, celery, mushrooms, green onions, bean sprouts and Thai basil (single most important vegetable for any pho). I love the tofu put in, it wasn't too soft, breakable or chewy but rather a firm texture and to the point of goodness. The broth was wonderful made from 100% vegetable broth and although the aroma and flavor were not up to the standard of a regular bowl of pho, it got the job done.

So my aunt was preparing dinner and I had to snap a couple of photos of what she was making that could possibly be another type of vegetable I could utilize in my vegetarian diet. These are called water spinach or Chinese spinach which ever you prefer. It's my #1 favorite Asian vegetable, I have worked with them before and they're pretty easy to dish out an awesome side dish. Here it was being prepared for a soup she was making that included some shrimp. I could've had it but decided to pass it up because my vegetarian pho was a handful.

To start off my dinner I had what you call it banh tet in Vietnamese or rice cakes for the lack of a better term. Usually the filling is made up of mung beans and pork meat rolled up in glutinous rice, I checked with my aunty before diving in and she said these were filled with bananas that turn a purplish-red color after hours of steaming. They were delicious, I had two slices before dinner and best of all my aunt personally made it today. She actually gave me one roll to take home. Thanks aunty!

-Timothy Pham