The SoCal ✨Friendship✨ Edition
In which we invent the drink of the summer (the Soju-Chico), eat Taiwanese breakfast, and more.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things I Ate! This week, we (were) on vacation, baby! Check out past posts here, and please follow my Instagram @fivethingsiate.
White Turnip Cake with Egg / 蘿蔔糕煎蛋 at Yung Ho Dou Jiang
1124 W Valley Blvd, Alhambra, CA 91803
I only eat breakfast when I’m in California, because the 3-hour time difference means I’m able to be awake and out of the house before 9AM. It’s a magical thing to eat a full, hot Taiwanese breakfast, complete with a huge bowl of fresh soy milk, giant you tiao, fan tuan, and fried delicious things at eight in the morning at a hole-in-the-wall with two-and-a-half stars on Yelp in Pasadena. The only other people around are a family of four and a mother and son on a breakfast date, and not a single word of English is spoken the entire time. The you tiao was massive, I could have taken a bath in the bowl of fresh soymilk, and for a huge feast for two, we spent $25, with plenty of leftovers. My favorite find was the white turnip cake with egg, essentially dim sum daikon cakes topped with pan-fried egg, to make it extra breakfast-y.
Yuzu affogato at Honeymee Japanese Village Plaza Mall
120 Japanese Village Plaza Mall, Los Angeles, CA 90012
My friend tipped me off to Honeymee – a delightful honey-themed soft-serve SoCal mini-chain. “You have to go!!” she exclaimed (online-ly). As a notorious ice cream fiend who also loves honey (I’m still mourning the loss of Follow the Honey in Harvard Square), I didn’t need much convincing to drag my entire friend group to Japantown a whole hour before the ice cream shop opened. I’m glad we got there early – because just a few minutes after opening, the line stretched out the door. I got the yuzu affogato, soft serve topped with honey, yuzu peel, yuzu pulp, and corn flakes. Everyone agreed my choice was the best one – the plain Honeymee topped with honeycomb wasn’t nearly as exciting. I’m not sure why it’s called an affogato without coffee – but the yuzu flavor was supreme. The only thing missing was a chunk of honeycomb— but for that you’d have to pay extra.
Injeolmi mochi latte at Cafe de Mama
1102 S Western Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90006
One of my favorite things about visiting Koreatown is the collision between LA iced coffee culture and Korean bakery culture. You end up with delightful concoctions like black sesame iced lattes and this injeolmi mochi latte at Cafe de Mama. Injeolmi is the mochi that’s covered in roasted soybean powder (afaik it’s the same as Japanese kinako mochi – or very similar but please correct me if you know the difference!), which is the GOAT mochi. I didn’t know what to expect of this drink, and I was really pleasantly surprised by it. It was topped with an adorable skewer of fresh mochi and I was instructed to dip that into the latte as I ate it. I’ve never had a beverage of this texture before – it reminded me of a misugaru latte, thick and nutty. It was almost like a whipped marshmallow that was Not Too Sweet. I asked for almond milk and skipped the espresso shot as it was 5 in the evening when I drank this. Usually beverages made with almond milk are a bit watery, but the whole thing was so rich and creamy I could barely even taste it. I don’t know what magic Cafe de Mama uses to make a beverage that has the mouthfeel of mochi, but I’m here for it.
Soju-Chico at my friend’s house
The drink of the summer.
My friend, an accidental genius, invented the drink of the summer on a whim. We call it the Soju-Chico and it’s just that: A rocks glass filled with ice, a shot (or two) of peach yogurt soju (Soon Hari brand, ofc), and Topo Chico (aka that Good Mexican Water). Do not scoff on this humble cocktail; the resulting beverage is far greater than the sum of its parts. It honestly tastes like a very expensive hard seltzer, maybe even better than Lunar (gasp!). It also solves the primary issue I have against soju – I feel like it’s the liquor with the greatest alcohol-to-hangover ratio I’ve ever encountered (except maybe the Black Death). I could be wrong but I feel like the soju also changes the composition of the bubbles to make it even finer and more palatable (scientists– verify??).
Panzanella with Prosciutto, Tomatoes, Nectarines, and Pickled Mustard Seeds at my friends’ house
Recipe adapted from “To the Last Bite” by Alexis deBoschnek
To me, the ultimate measure of wealth in life is friendship. And when my good friends make me a delicious meal, I feel like the richest person in the world. And when that delicious meal includes a bread and prosciutto salad? Jeff Bezos got nothing on me, aside from limitless access to healthcare, I suppose. Anyways, this might be one of the best dishes I’ve eaten all year – no exaggeration. Panzanella (usually made with stale bread, tomatoes, and onion) is always a treat but the addition of prosciutto, sweet nectarines, and a sprinkling of pickled mustard seeds knocks this out of the park. The bread – torn into chunks and shallow fried – was the absolute best part. Every salad should be composed of fried bread, IMO.
Stay cool and tell your friends you love them,
Soph
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