Katsu & Cavemen

I finally got to check out the new Gentle Brooke Restaurant at the Marianas Business Plaza.

So, do you want the good or the bad first?
The good you say...ok.

The service was great, really friendly wait staff. Of course we were one of only about 3 other tables of people so it was not very busy. Chito (who use to be with Oceanside aka Joe's Bar and Grill) is now at GB. He was awesome! He greeted us, made sure our ice tea's were kept full and made us feel very welcome. The decor of the place is very...ummmm..random. There is a country feel in some areas, a modern feel in some and even Japanese decor in one corner..kinda strange. I didn't feel like the decor "flowed".

Now the bad...I really was not impressed with my food. I ordered the Pork Katsu. It was basically a pork cutlet on a HUGE and I'm not kidding when I say HUGE, pile of shredded cabbage. There was also a ball of mash potatoes with things in it..I think I saw a slice of a cucumber and maybe a carrot..it was kinda strange. They did not serve any salad dressing with the cabbage so I wasn't sure if it was decoration or if I was suppose to eat it??? Nothing I ordered was very appetizing..the pork cutlet was ok, but it was very boring and kinda dry. I had to drowned it in the sauce it came with. Now, on the other hand..Ulu and Mirika ordered the fresh garlic steak and they both said it was very tasty. The steak was not very thick, but it was a good size steak and the vegetables that came with it looked way more appetizing than my shredded cabbage. The steak was about $20 which wasn't too bad. Savali had the fried shrimp and it didn't look to impressive to me either although he said it tasted good. He offered me a bite but there were only about 4-5 pieces so I didn't want to eat his food and leave him still hungry. Our dinner cost us about $85. Ice tea was $2.50 with refills.

Overall it was ok. I will probably go back again and try something else...mostly because
Chito is a great host.

After dinner we headed to Wallace Theatre and caught 10,000 BC. All I can say is

GO SEE IT! I loved the movie!!! I could have swore I saw lil_hammerhead in there as one of the extra's..tee hee!

Here are some screen shots that I snapped to wet your appetite..

Friday Food Fest VIII

I'm in a rush today, so I'm going to post a quickie. My father LOVED to eat stuffed cabbage and my mom would make it regularly for him when we were little (and they were still married..) I LOVED it too and still do. I don't make it that often nowadays, but on occasion I do...

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Recipe Ingredients

large head cabbage
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion, grated
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1 large can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
3 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes
3 to 4 teaspoons lemon juice (1 large lemon)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper



Recipe Method

Remove about 15 large leaves from the cabbage;
cut off very thick part of each leaf.
Pour boiling water over the cabbage to wilt the leaves.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine ground beef with the rice, grated onion, eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Place a mound of meat mixture in cupped part of each softened cabbage leaf.
Fold over sides of cabbage leaf; roll up.
In bottom of Dutch oven, place a few of the remaining leaves. Arrange layers of cabbage rolls, seam side down, and sliced onions in a Dutch oven or large casserole.
Pour on tomato sauce, tomatoes, lemon juice, and 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Bring to a boil on stove top.
Bake, covered, for 1 hour.
Uncover and bake 2 hours longer.

Not as nearly as good as my mom makes (hint, hint) but pretty good!

Bon Apetit!

The funniest cartoon ever!

You crack me up mom!

Thursday Thoughts VIII

An easy one..


Favorite place to hang out on a Saturday in Saipan and why?


(I need some new ideas of things to do or places to go with the kids and for those alone weekends when the kids are at their dads)

Random Babbling

The "seashell" store in San Antonio closed down before I had a chance to visit it. Does anyone know of any place on Saipan that sells reasonably (as in "not tourist") priced sea shells. I'm looking for some big ones for a display case.


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YCO now carries card making and scrap booking supplies. Maybe this is old news, but I usually only visit YCO at or around Christmas time, but I happened to stop in to look for something the other day and found some really cool scrap booking supplies. I actually ended up buying a scrapbook kit (my first one) and made a pretty cool scrap book for my Grandfather. I hope he likes it

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I enjoyed making the scrapbook so much that I ordered two scrap booking sets from Wallmart. There were less than $20.00 each. I can't wait till they get here. By the way, if your looking to order on line from companies that ship to the CNMI, go to http://www.livingonarock.com/ . It's a web site my younger brother put together that has a lot of great companies you can order on line from and have absolutely no trouble with shipping to Saipan.

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I heard the new restaurant on the first floor of the old Naru Building is open for dinner now. It looks really nice on the outside. I have yet to try it out. I was surprised they even allowed another Restaurant to open in the same building since 360 is upstairs...hmmm. Anyway, I'm looking forward to checking it out. Has anyone been there yet??

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Did everyone who read Dr. K's latest blog titled "Saipan : What I like about you" love it or what!!!?! He writes so well and expressed himself so perfectly in that piece. I wish I could write like that!

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Another wish of mine... an Ice Cream truck on Saipan. I'm so craving a Dreamsicle right now and don't want to have to drive a block or two to get one only to find the store has run out : ~( .

Bev wrote a blog about race and had a cool link to a contest to see if you could determine who was Japanese, Chinese or Korean. Having been here most of my life and dealing with all different races, I thought I would be able to ace that test. I didn't do well at all..ha ha..I think I got 10 right. I thought it was pretty funny though how many people (myself included sometimes) think they can tell what race a person is by just looking at them...so I have come up with my own contest..below of the photo's of 5 people (hopefully most of you won't personally know any of them), see if you can correctly guess what race they are and answer in my comment section....I wonder how many people will get this correct ...good luck!

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

Ok, too hard..need a clue???? If you don't want one, don't read this section...if you do, keep reading..Here are answers scrambled up, just match them to the right person :

(Nepalese, Carolinian, Samoan, Filipina, Palauan)

and for bonus points

6)

and..........

For even more bonus points


tee he he he he he he!

Rain = Blockbuster

Due to the weather, I decided to rent some movies and stay in for the weekend.
I still haven't been able to catch "Across the Universe" at the video store :(
I was however, able to watch the following this weekend :

Beowulf - I had no idea this was a cartoon type movie, but I enjoyed it.

Awake - It was too far off for me to imagine Jessica Alba being evil...she's just way too cute. I was disappointed with the whole movie in general.

Daddy Day Camp - I fell asleep 15 minutes into the movie..guess it wasn't that great.

Highlander-The Source- I watched it on and off while surfing the net...It was pretty boring...By mid-film I didn't really care about "The Source" or who "The one" was, so I left Ulu to watch the movie and went to make some home made chili....Which turned out pretty delicious by the way :)