MUST LIKE RICE!

September 17, 2015

Yes, this is actually something I listed as a requirement on my online dating profiles. Don't underestimate the importance of culinary compatibility!

See, dating in my lifetime was mostly a product of environment. I grew up in an area of San Diego called Mira Mesa, which was jokingly called "Manila Mesa" because of the large Filipino population. So naturally the guys I dated in highschool and college were mostly Filipino, with a couple of Vietnamese guys thrown in there too. After college, after I had perfected my Japanese language skills, I started to hang out with a lot of Japanese people, which lead to dating Japanese guys (and even a brief engagement to a Japanese guy when I was 20.) Filipinos were cool because the culture was similar enough to the warm Hawaiian culture I grew up with, but things never really got serious. It was fun dating Japanese guys too and this helped me really learn about the culture and improve my speaking, but unfortunately most of those guys eventually went back to Japan after their temporary assignments in US branch offices or certain study programs they were here for.

By the time I hit my 30s, I knew I had to make a change and be more open to meeting different types of people. I tried E-Harmony & Match, and even a Persian dating site. What I found is if a guy was a picky eater, I was super turned off! I think it was a British guy I dated once that was the last straw. All the guy ever wanted to eat was bread. He had a bread maker at home and was always making bread. So when we had plans to watch movies, I brought over a Japanese-style cream stew that would go perfect with bread. He sniffed it and refused to even try it. I was horrified. I went home and added "MUST LIKE RICE!!!" to my profile that very night.

There is just something so comforting about rice. Hawaiians gave up poi as their main starch staple years ago when the flux of Chinese and Japanese immigrants came to the islands and brought rice. We would always have some in our kitchen, and often times, rice left over from the previous night's dinner would be fried up with eggs, salt, & pepper for breakfast the next day. Our family's favorite outing would usually be to go out to eat Chinese food, and I certainly was exposed to all different types of food through the different friends I had growing up. The Japanese friends and men I dated were also wonderful about this; I don't think I've met bigger foodies than my Japanese friends. They are so adventurous and always down to try new things.

So when I met my fiance Stephen, it was a foodie match made in heaven. He is half Japanese & half Irish, but not the way you would typically think - in his case, he has a Japanese father. He was born here in San Diego by the beach, and his parents are two of the most liberal and open minded people I know. They definitely did their part to expose him to different cultures and food, because he is as open as I am to trying new things. Fortunately for me, he is an excellent cook too and constantly experiments with new tastes in the kitchen. Unfortunately for me maybe is that he loves my Persian cooking so much he refuses to ever eat out at any Persian restaurants!

Needless to say, we are constantly going out and trying new places and new dishes. Quite often we have found items we like so much we find recipes for them on Pinterest and try to duplicate them at home. Lately, a favorite staple of ours has been a Szechuan restaurant called Spicy King that we try to have once every 1-2 weeks. So in the midst of packing up Stephen's condo this morning I thought, what better place to have lunch since the past couple weekends we had different plans and had to forego our usual spice lust?

The portions are huge and the food is actually really authentic; not your typical Americanized Chinese sweet & sour or kung pao. Here are some of the dishes we enjoy, and no we did not eat all of these today for lunch! Please check them out if you are in search of a good Chinese restaurant outside of the Convoy area or in the North County.

Spicy King

1233 E Vista Way
Vista, CA 92084

spicyking.com