As a big fan of all types of Asian cuisine, I was saddened when I learned fast-casual Japanese-Korean fusion restaurant Koja Kitchen had closed earlier this year. However, the blow was greatly softened when I learned one of my favorite fast-casual Japanese restaurants, Kikku Japanese Food, would expand into its former location making it easy to enjoy my favorite Spicy Crispy Chicken near home as well as for lunch Downtown. 

Kikku has been serving up fast and tasty fare on Tulare and M streets in Downtown Fresno for the last 17 years. The Downtown restaurant is open from 10:30am – 6:30pm on weekdays. Their new location, Kikku Kitchen, in the Park Place Shopping Center on Palm and Nees (just doors down from the FresYes office – woot!) offers expanded hours, 11am – 8pm every day except Sundays, and a new menu format.  

My husband and I had the opportunity to check out the North Fresno location this week. The former Koja Kitchen layout and décor has been updated, and the arrangement of the tables feels more open and spacious than before. New light fixtures help to make the ambiance warm and inviting. 

The Kikku Kitchen menu offers guests the opportunity to build their own combination plate starting with either white or brown rice, then choosing vegetables or salad and finally a protein of preference. Longtime Kikku customer favorites include my personal favorite, the Spicy Crispy Chicken, which is made with chicken breast that is lightly breaded, served piping hot and crisp with a side of the chef’s special spicy brown sauce with is made in-house from scratch. Other favorites are the Teriyaki Chicken which is marinated and made from tender, grilled chicken; and the Ginger Beef with is made from thinly sliced tri-tip.

One major difference in menu options between the Downtown location and the new, North Fresno location is the addition of Poke Bowls. While the Downtown restaurant offers sushi rolls, the new Kikku Kitchen is offering patrons one of California’s current favorite menu offerings – Poke. Both salmon and tuna poke are available, or guests can order a combination of both. 

When it comes to getting lunch, especially during the busy workweek, convenience and speed is often of the utmost importance – so another newer addition for Kikku is the availability of an app that will allow customers to order and pay for their food in advance, and pick up their order quickly in-store. The app is available for both Android and iPhones, and on-app orders require just twenty minutes advance notice.

Whether you visit the original Kikku location Downtown, or the newer North Fresno Kikku Kitchen, you’re sure to enjoy tasty food, prepared fresh and great customer service. I’ve personally never been to Kikku and not been personally helped by co-owner Silvia Wahyudi. She and her husband Andri started the restaurant together and put a strong emphasis on customer care. Silvia recognizes all of her regular customers, and despite the restaurant often being very busy, she always manages to greet them and ask them about their family, work or children. 

If you’ve never been to Kikku at either location, I highly recommend remedying that soon! And if you’re a Downtown regular but also find yourself in North Fresno, I know the Wahyudis would love to see you in their new digs!

With Thanksgiving taking place so late in the month of November this year, the Christmas season is creeping up on us all very quickly! Fresno and nearby surrounding cities offer an awesome array of ways to ring in the holiday, but you’ve got to calendar them quick because they are almost upon us!

Here are 7 awesome ways to stoke your Christmas spirit with family and friends in the coming weeks.

Special Events

Santa’s Fly-In – November 29th @ 9 am 

Santa will be arriving in the Riverpark Shopping Center on Blackstone and Nees on Black Friday at 9 am! He will be available for photos in front of the Edwards Movie Theater beginning at 10 am. If you’re out shopping, be sure to take the kids to see Santa arrive in Riverpark in a helicopter right at 9, it’s an experience sure to delight!

Santa Claus Lane Opening – November 29th @ 6pm

Santa Claus Lane is a musically synced, beautifully lit neighborhood experience located at 3116 Indianapolis in Clovis (off of Gettysburg and Locan). The Lane will celebrate the start of its 5th year of operation this year with an opening night celebration and food trucks from 6-10pm on November 29th. 

Christmas Tree Lane Walk Nights – December 3^rd and December 11^th, 6-10pm

Fresno’s Famous Christmas Tree Lane is a 97-year old tradition the features beautifully lit homes amongst a canopy of decorated evergreens lining Van Ness Avenue between Shields and Shaw Avenues. Traffic is one-way, and though the lane is lit throughout December, it is closed to traffic on just two nights, which this year are the 3rd and 11th. Grab some cocoa, your gloves, and walking shoes and prepare for a great night in the brisk air with fellow seasonal revelers. For more details, click here.

Parades

Reedley Electric Farm Equipment Parade – December 5th, 3:30pm-8:30pm

This long-running parade features farm equipment of all types and sizes decorated and lit for the holidays! Little ones who love trucks and vehicles will especially enjoy this experience. Bundle up tight, go early for food that will be available for purchase and to claim a good seat. The parade goes through downtown Reedley, but the main location is listed as 1101 G Street. This parade usually begins once its dark, but festivities begin as early as 3:30pm that afternoon. Reedley is located to the southeast of Fresno, and is an easy 45 minute drive away.

Fresno Christmas Parade – December 7th, 2pm

This parade is celebrating its 90^th year by caravanning down Fulton Avenue in Downtown Fresno and holiday-themed floats celebrating each decade of the parade’s existence! This daytime parade is one of the areas oldest, and allows you to double up and see two great parades in the same day, since it takes place at 2pm and the Clovis Parade begins in the evening on the same date.

Clovis Children’s Electric Christmas Parade – December 7th, 6:30pm

This parade features lights, marching bands, cheer squads, horses, cars and more and is attended by thousands each year! Be sure to arrive early to get a good spot for viewing. 

Pageantry of Lights Christmas Night Parade – December 14th, 6pm

This Kerman-based parade which begins at C street on Madera Avenue and proceeds to G street ushers Santa into the town of Kerman. This is a fun evening of festive lights and small-town charm sure to delight the young and old alike. Bring your own chairs and blankets and get cozy with your favorite people to enjoy this event. 

Though it may seem a bit early to begin your holiday shopping (or for those of you that are early birds, maybe even late?) there’s one local gift that you’ll definitely want to snag later this week if you’re looking to pamper a loved one – a gift certificate for a trip to Muses.

Muses is a Day Spa located on the northwest corner of Cedar and Teague in northeast Fresno. Whether you’re someone whose lifestyle allows for frequent visits to a Day Spa, or one who reserves such an experience for very special occasions, I’m certain Muses will be worth it, any time you can go.  I’m a “special occasion” spa-goer who mainly gets to visit when I receive a gift certificate or if my husband and I decide to go for a couple’s massage as an anniversary gift to one another. We’ve both visited other local spas for special occasions, but the experience doesn’t compare to the relaxing atmosphere and high level of service offered at Muses. 

Muses offers massages, facials, spa manicures and pedicures, microdermabrasion and facial peels, airbrush tanning, makeup artistry, anti-aging treatments and more. There are services designed specifically for men, including their Just for Men package which includes a 60-minute massage, a neck, and scalp massage and a men’s pedicure for $155. So, if you’re a man reading this, you can absolutely enjoy a trip to Muses and I’ve seen plenty of men arriving and leaving from appointments there on my visits. 

Making an appointment for a spa service at Muses is easy, as they provide a straightforward menu of their services and easy online booking on their website. I was very grateful to receive a gift certificate to Muses for my birthday this year, so I recently was able to enjoy a wonderful massage there. During my visit, I snapped a few photos, because I knew I would want to share this gem of a place with you as the holidays approached.

When booking, I recommend allowing time to arrive early for your appointment, as Muses has an incredibly cozy and well-appointed relaxation room that you get to enjoy before and after your service. You’ll be given a fluffy robe to change into (if you like, no pressure) offered a glass of champagne, a mimosa, spa water or coffee and given a quick tour of the changing room and relaxation room. You can relax on a chaise lounge next to the softly glowing fireplace, enjoy their steam room or warm up in the sauna. When it’s time for your service to begin, you will be escorted to a dimly lit and luxuriously appointed treatment room. No detail is spared from the décor to the quality of the linens on the massage tables. Getting back to my original suggestion, if you would like to give the gift of relaxation to someone special this holiday season, you’re going to want to mark your calendar for this Thursday, November 7^th between 4 and 7 pm, as its Muses annual Appreciation Day! On Appreciation Day, Muses offers special discounts on spa services, 20% off of retail products, and raffles with services offered at up to $1,000 in value. Everyone who stops by will be treated to appetizers and champagne – so stop by after work and score special pricing on a gift that’s definitely one that will be enjoyed.

Do you love surprising people with special gift delivery? What about freshly baked bread – are you a fan? And beautiful flowers? I bet you know people who like those, too. If you answered yes to the questions above, you are going to absolutely love the local business I’m about to introduce you to.

FresYes fans, meet Alina and her business, Fresh Bread and Flowers.

Is this bread not the most stunning bread you’ve ever seen?

I was absolutely stunned to receive this loaf of handmade rustic sourdough bread laced with fragrant rosemary, along with a bouquet of some of the most beautiful flowers I’d ever seen as a surprise gift from a dear friend on my birthday this past weekend.

Fresh Bread and Flowers is a local business that offers beautiful, naturally leavened and organic freshly baked bread and gorgeous floral bouquets made of blooms grown right here in town, by the company’s owner, Alina.

Alina moved to the Central Valley from Ukraine a little over a decade ago, but found it difficult to find wonderful breads like the kind she was used to enjoying in Ukraine. “Ukrainians eat a lot of bread. It is an essential part of every meal, and for some, including myself, it is also the best dessert (with some unsalted sweet cream and honey). When we moved to the U.S., it was quite challenging for me to find bread I liked. The choices seemed to be very limited compared to those in Europe, and I couldn’t find the taste and texture I liked.”

In order to solve her own dilemma, Alina decided to roll up her sleeves and get to baking her own bread until she could get the recipes just right. “During the past several years, we have baked many, many loaves striving to improve our skills as well as develop recipes we liked, and now we are ready to share our bread with you!”

Fresh Bread & Flowers currently offers five types of bread:

• Whole Wheat Levian
• Mini Miche
• French Sourdough
• Fig and Walnut Levain
• Rosemary Sourdough

Each bread is naturally leavened, meaning, no commercial yeast is used, which Alina says yields better flavor, a more healthful bread and allows the loaves to keep longer.

Bread can be purchased as a weekly subscription (4 weeks at a time, with delivery on Fridays) or as a one-time purchase.

As for the flowers, Alina says her mother is to blame. “For as long as I can remember, she has always been growing something in her beautiful garden. I will never forget the taste of the strawberries and tomatoes she grew!” Alina’s family had to leave Ukraine due to war, and though it’s wonderful for her parents to live nearby (and be there to watch Alina’s four children grow up) she knows her mother misses the beautiful roses, peonies and lilies she once grew in her home country. “To cheer her up, I turned our backyard into a flower farmette. Fresno climate is very difficult for flower farming. These blooms are a labor of love and hard work along with many tears and fears, but I love how flowers always, always make people smile!”

Alina makes stunning seasonal bouquets in one dozen and two dozen stem arrangements. These arrangements can be purchased as a weekly subscription, for business décor or as special occasion bouquets for delivery.

All of Alina’s Breads and Flowers are delivered Monday through Saturday, and someone needs to be present to accept deliveries, as it is not good for fresh bread or flowers to sit out in the elements on a porch for any length of time.

Alina’s prices are very reasonable, and the quality of her bread and bouquets are out-of-this-world phenomenal.

The next time you’re looking for a special way to brighten someone’s day, your home, or your office I highly recommend calling Alina of Fresh Bread and Flowers. You can enjoy gorgeous photos of her blooms and bread on Instagram here, learn more about ordering on her website here, or contact her to place an order here.