The Ishii Manor & More

Tri-Tip

Since I had the misfortune of having to start my new job at Sony the week after I quit EA, I decided it was necessary to make the most of the separating weekend. I had been wanting to go on a road trip anyways, so when Ishii suggested we have a date is Fresno, I was so totally down.

As soon as Carlos & I arrived at casa de Ishii, we were greeted by a (just woken) hungry Michael J. He is always good for food suggestions, and we decided to try "tri-tip" at the Meat Market, a local favorite. This place was a food stand in a parking lot with some seating. It smelled delicious outside as they were cooking the meat BBQ style on the grill outside. I had never had tri-tip before, but I really really liked it. It was kind of like what Arby's is supposed to be, a delicious, thick, meat-filled sandwich.

mmm manju booty- so many flavors!

Next, we picked up Tiffany and headed to "downtown" Fresno to go to my favorite sweet shop in the world: Kogetsu-DO. That may sound like a bold claim, but I seriously think the fruit filled manju mochi is like my favorite thing ever. I have not been able to find it anywhere else I've traveled (even Tokyo) despite much searching. This place is in a super ratty part of town and had been open for over 100 years. They make the sweetest, most tender mochi and fill it with every type of fruit and bean paste you can imagine. They are also the home of the giant mochi ice cream! Best part is, it's in Fresno meaning it's super cheap! $1.25 per item. Yummmmm

mmm Chunky Bread

Since we had nothing to do, we ended up driving and driving and deciding to hit up Shaver Lake (a nice body of water about an hour out of town). This turned out to be an even bigger adventure as apparently there are some serious climate changes as you drive up the mountain. It went from sunny and blue to snowy blizzard within like 5 mins!!! We stopped at a local shop because Tiffany had heard of their famous "chunky bread."

Fresh Chunky Bread :O

OH MY GOSH SO GOOD!!!!! Chunky bread is this weird, pieced out baked good that is like a cinnabon on crack. Each section is oh-so-cinnamon gooey delicioso! We were all floored by how amazing it tasted, and got conned in to waiting 10 mins for more to come out of the oven. We almost died in the icy conditions coming back, but it was totally worth it to try this local treasure.

Hmm... then we went to a Japanese tea garden, saw peacocks, and drove home. We hit a Del Taco on the way <3 but I don't think that's blog worthy despite my obsession with Del Inferno. 

Mainly just some mass win with the manju & chunky bread <3 Fresno forever!