Ranch Hand

This post is dedicated to finding food around the glorious Chinese supermarket, known to the public as "99 Ranch Market," but affectionately called "Ranch 99," by those who truly appreciate it. If you are from Southern California, then Ranch 99 runs through your veins, for you know that Ranch 99 sustains life on the earth. It sells a huge variety of seafood, Asian spices, frozen goods, ready-made foods, and other ingredients necessary for an Asian cook. Back in the old days, they used to mail you a 10% off coupon for your birthday and have a loyalty/frequent shopper card similar to those card programs with Safeway/Vons/Dominic's and Ralph's/Cala/Bell. I still have my Ranch 99 loyalty card, even though they discontinued the card program years ago. Only a crazed Ranch 99 fan would know these facts.

If you are a Ranch 99 fanatic, you often will know about reasonable eateries near any Ranch 99. Here is the scoop on a recent discovery of mine near the Ranch 99 in Daly City, when I was particularly hungry.

After a rigorous hour of shopping with the beau at Ranch 99 a few weeks ago in Daly City, our famished bodies could proceed no further. We therefore poked our hungry heads inside Majikku Ramen (a ramen restaurant located in the same indoor strip mall as Ranch 99) and decided to sit down to enjoy a bowl or two full of steaming, crinkled ramen noodles.

Since we were especially hungry, we started with a deep-fried appetizer of karaage chicken. These fritters (that are a Japanese version of America's chicken nuggets) never cease to provide me with oily gratification. The chicken chunks were battered and deep-fried until crisp and golden brown and served with a chilled and vinegary slaw. Majikku's version of karaage chicken was quite respectable, for the oil was neither stale nor foul, and the tender chicken was steaming hot.


Next, the beau and I shared a large bowl of their house-special tonkatsu ramen, which was rich, milky, and infused with the creamy flavor of pork bone marrow. The ramen was topped with thin slices of pork meat, bamboo, a garnish of small dried nori rectangles, half a boiled chicken egg, red pepper slivers, and minced scallions.


We also shared a creamy beef curry, with two types of root vegetable: carrots and potatoes. The beef fell apart into tendrils like chipped beef or pot roast. The curry seemed like a standard version of Golden Curry from the package, but was satisfying nonetheless. The soft, crimped ramen noodles were a luscious accompaniment to the curry gravy.


After our impromptu meal, I rushed home to check out Majikku Ramen online. I was surprised to see so many negative reviews on Yelp, since I thought that it was decent. Though a little on the pricier end of the spectrum for the quality of ramen, Majikku can deliver a satisfying meal for a hungry person who had been furiously shopping at Ranch 99.

Before I close out this post, I want to thank Phyllis from Me Hungry and Heavenly Housewife from Donuts to Delirium for presenting me with a "Sisterhood" award and April from the Life of an Everyday BBW for generously giving me the "I Love Your Blog" award. I wanted to pass the awards onto the following bloggers:

These ladies (and one gentleman, in the Duo Dishes) are true sisters (and a brother, again, I am referring to Duo Dishes), because of their encouraging comments, incredibly inspiring recipes and posts, and eye-popping photographs. They are beyond mere blog friends, but they are my blog family! Therefore, I wanted to pass along the Sisterhood Award to them, and thank them for their amazing blog content, unique perspective, and wonderful friendship. If you received this award, pass it along to 10 other bloggers!

• Deglaze Me
• The Duo Dishes
• The Food Gal
• The Life of an Everyday BBW
• Lisa Is Cooking
• Nook and Pantry
• Oishii Eats
• Pink Nest
• Rosa's Yummy Yums
• Sara's Kitchen
  

As for the "I Love Your Blog" award, since I received it a while back, I wanted to recognize five of my older blog friends who have been with me from the very beginning of my blog. I also want to recognize a couple of new friends too. These bloggers may not all be food bloggers, but they have always left kind comments for me and kept me blogging, even when I vowed that I would give up. As for the two new bloggers, I love their style of blogging and their charismatic flair. These are great bloggers, and best of all, great people. If you received this award, pass it along to 7 other bloggers.

• Christine-O
• Donuts to Delirium
• The Jesuit Gourmet
• A Movable Feast
• Me Hungry
• Rachel's Planet
• Small-Handed Adventures
  

Keep up the good work, blogging (or reading)!