The Pork Porn Pages

Snapper? I didn't even know her!

2012-01-29T13:36:00.000-08:00

Whole Snapper. What a wonderful thing it is. Oh yes.

So, a while ago, we went to this great Italian market - Laurenzo's. Well, it's an Italian run market with international foodstuffs. I just wanted to use the word foodstuffs. Anyway, I mentioned the place in the last blog. So, we were looking for something for dinner. We found the seafood counter.

Now, I've looked at a lot of seafood counters and passed them over, wanting to hold my nose. But no need to be dramatic like that. Have you ever been to Seafood City in National City? They have a massive selection of whole fish and other seafood and stuff. But the fish never looked fresh when I went there. Maybe it was the wrong day or wrong time of the day, or it was just a Filipino place, and we don't like to waste stuff. If it doesn't look as fresh, Filipinos will just cook it longer. Even then, some will still leave it out on the kitchen table all day.

Another bigtime offender of non fresh fish was the Albertson's on University in North Park in San Diego. I smelled the ammonia before I ever even saw the seafood counter. Me with my impaired sense of smell. The people behind the fish counter must have no sense of smell whatsoever.

Anywoo, getting back to the seafood counter at Laurenzo's. It did not smell. All the fish were neatly lined up. It looked clean. And the fish's eyes were clear, the skin and scales did not look slimy. So, we got a snapper.

And the FP was supposed to cook it. He had this whole meal planned. Then something happened. I'm not sure if he was drunk, disinterested, bored, recording music or what. But somehow I ended up cooking the meal.

So, I think the FP had wanted to make an Indian curry. Since I was cooking, I did it my way. I made red Thai curried tomato and okra stew. We had some snow peas in the fridge, so I threw those in too.

Then I seasoned the fish, and I coated the inside with some curry paste. I seared it on one side, flipped it, then put it in the oven. Don't ask how long. it was a while. I took it out once, and it wasn't done, so I left it in for several more minutes. then it was perfect.

I know. The photos are getting shittier and shittier. I really need a new camera. Or I need a smartphone which has a way better camera than my camera.

Anyway, here's the finished fish dish. Yum. Snapper.

So, yesterday, was the FP's birthday. So, he had been feeling under the weather the day before, so he wanted to take it "easy". So, we went to this bar and restaurant on the intracoastal waterway that we had been talking about going to since we first saw it.

Okay. I have to interrupt my blog to vent my annoyance at this TV show. Extreme Couponing. So this woman is 28, she has lots of cool tattoos that look like they all probably came from children's books or something. And her family is vegan. So, she coupons, but she says that she only buys healthy vegan food. So, what did her stockpile show. Canned beans. I use canned food kind of a lot. But they have preservatives and also have parabens - so the healthiness is questionable. Jars of Ragu or Prego. Not so healthy. Ok, I don't know which kind of sauce she got, but some Ragu seems to have cheese cultures - I assume she doesn't get that one. But both Ragu and Prego have sugar in them. Tomato sauce does not need sugar, and regular refined sugar is not technically vegan because it is processed with animal bone char. I guess some people don't mind it. Also, she got some kind of Mahatma rice that looked like one of the seasoned ones. I felt like picking at the vegan, because I was hoping she would show how one could really use extreme couponing to really support a truly healthy vegan lifestyle. I guess I expected too much. It's my bad, not hers. She's just trying to coupon for her family so she can still afford tattoos. Who am I to persecute her. And being a vegan, I'm sure she reads labels, right?

Getting back to yesterday. So we went to Joe's Tiki Bar & Sushi. That's what it was called. Big tiki hut, which like a dumbass I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the hut. Here's the pictures I did take of the place.

So, we had a little lunch. The FP got the conch chowder. Surprise, surprise. It was pretty good. Kind of standard with the big chunks of stewed veggies in a tomato base.

He also ordered the medium crab claw appetizer. Yummy as usual, but the arm meat is really better than the claw meat, and there's more claw meat. It came with the typical mustard sauce.

The menu had a lot of stuff I wouldn't want, so the clear choice to me was the.... whole snapper! The bonus was, that they threw it in the fryer (not literally, I suppose, that could be dangerous) to cook it. It was so crispy on the outside, tender, moist, yet flaky and flavorful on the inside. The collar meat was the best, of course. But we pretty much killed the whole fish, except for a little end of the tail. The tostones were really good, big crunchy seasoned yumminess. The black beans, while still somewhat seasoned, were the worst black beans I've had here in South Florida. On saying that, they were way better than loads of black beans I've had at other restaurants through the years. I basically ate the tostones and didn't eat much of the beans and rice. We were so busy picking at the snapper anyway...

So, after lunch, we decided to move from the waterfront table to the bar. A musician was playing the standard tiki bar music - Jimmy Buffet, Neil Young, Neil Diamond, Cat Stevens. But instead of being cheesy and uninspired, this guy was really good. Great voice, his guitar sounded great, he played really well. We really enjoyed listening to him. Especially with our after lunch margarita:

In all fairness, I asked for the "rocking rita" which was made with Carlos Santana organic tequila (I didn't know he made tequila) and Salerno liqueur - which I didn't know what kind of orange liqueur it was, and it turns out it was blood orange, which I would have liked to try. Instead, the bartender made the "tiki rita" which was with 1800 silver and as you can tell blue curacao. It looked like it was going to be... too much... tart and sweet. But actually it was delicious, even though it wasn't the drink I had wanted. Anyway, the FP liked it so much, he had two!

During the break in the set, the musician came by and told us we were too young to know all those songs. As audiences can loose interest, the crowd clapped loudly for the first song, and then after that, they kind of only clapped for songs they really liked. So we clapped for every song, but more enthusiastically for songs we really liked. Anyway, when the guy said the thing about us being too young, it was a perfect opportunity for the FP to tell him that actually it was his 40th birthday. That caused a ruckus. All the staff came and joined in the conversation to say they didn't believe him. So he pulled out his ID to prove it.

So, when the musician went back up for another set, he sang Happy Birthday to the FP, and then the bartender gave him a birthday cake shot complete with whipped cream, sprinkles and a candle. It was sweet, and it made the FP feel good, as everyone was not blowing smoke up his ass, but really thought he looked younger.

So, the moral of Joe's is that you can't always judge a tiki bar by it's tiki hut. This place looked like a total tourist trap place. And while a lot of the menu was standard tourist trap food, there were some great stuff on the menu, and they offered great cocktails with more than just premix shit (at quite a price, of course).

Laurenzo's Italian Center
16385 W Dixie Hwy
N Miami Beach, FL 33160

Joe's Tiki Bar Grill & Sushi
1318 N Ocean Dr.
Hollywood, FL 33019

Lookie Lookie I Love Cookies!

2012-01-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

So, it has been 15 days since the last PPP post. Thank fuck I don't have to apologize anymore, or make excuses about why I didn't post sooner. It's so...so...hm. Now, I have to come up with other stuff to write about here where I would be normally spinning an elaborate apology and telling a colorful tale of my exciting busy life that prevented me from writing. Okay, maybe not. So, let's just get on with the blog.

It's about cookies. I love cookies. I love sweets. I have all sweet teeth, and well, it shows. Well, it's like I stopped maturing mentally, physically and emotionally in my teens. I like sweets. I like junk food in general. I like bright colors. When shopping for home furnishings, I often find myself looking at all the kids' and teens' stuff, because they always have better colors, and more soft fuzzy furry stuff.

You know what though, I'm not really embarrassed. It's just part of who I am. I mean, look at Papi. Papi (Le Batard) is Dan Le Batard's dad, and they have a show on ESPN called "Dan Le Batard is Highly Questionable". It's a great low budget way to make sports news fun. Anyway, Papi is the star of the show, funny old cuban guy. He loves cookies too. So there.

Getting on with the cookies. So, I've been sick. And I suspect I have a systematic invasion of the candida yeast. Now, I'm only going on my internet research, but it kind of makes sense. Systemic candida infection goes along with not enough probiotics in one's system, because the candida hogs up all the space in one's digestive system.

Anyway, getting back to my deal with sweets. One of the symptoms of candida infection is craving for all things bad, especially sugars and starches - which yeast loves. I love love love sugars and starches. I crave this stuff. When I worked (LOL) I used to need a sugar fix every day sometime during the day. It was like, I didn't feel right on days I didn't have something sweet. I've cut down a lot, which some people would say is still too much. But you know, sometimes, I just have the urge and for whatever reason, I let myself be suckered into it by my candida and by my emotional need for sweets as well.

So, during Christmas, when we went to Whole Foods, I felt like I should get some kind of dessert type thing. I looked at all the cakes and pies and stuff, and the in house baked cookies. And things were either too expensive or not that great looking and too expensive. So then I saw these packaged florentines that looked really good:

The pictures don't do them justice. These are crispy gooey lace cookie sandwiches with milk chocolate filling and toasty caramely macadamia nuts. Oh man, they were so good. On Christmas night, everyone else had one, I had two. Later on, I believe over the course of a week, I finished the rest of them. So, so effing good!

So, then, a week or so ago, we went to this great Italian market in North Miami Beach. Laurenzo's. Well, it's an Italian market, but it has all kinds of products from the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia too. So, it's kind of perfect for us. And of course they had a great bakery. There were stacks and stacks of cookies and pastries and cakes. I was getting visual sugar overload, so I could not leave there without getting something! So I got a small box of cookies.

So, I got wedding cookies, and chocolate and vanilla florentines. They were all delicious.

Wedding cookies have always been a special treat for me. When I was a kid, every once in a while we would get Stella D'oro wedding cookies, and I always had to resist the urge to polish them all off. Of course, these were fresh made right in the bakery. And they were perfect size so that I didn't have to feel quite as guilty for eating several cookies at a time!

Between the two florentines, I can't choose one I liked better than the others. I just can't. The best, really was to eat one of each cookie. I ate 3/4s of the box. Over the course of maybe a week though. Even though every time I ate them, I could picture my systematic yeast monster gorging on the cookies and multiplying and enlarging all inside me.

So, I had been cookie free for a few days. Oh wait, I lie. We had gone to this other Italian market a while ago, and I had gotten pizzelles there. They were packaged, and not nearly as good as the ones my mom's patient would give us every Christmas, so I didn't really eat them.

Until I had polished off the bakery cookies and I was craving more cookies late at night. Sad. Yes, I am. Apparently there is a new category of eating disorder though, called Night Eating Syndrome, or midnight hunger. Yes, that's what I have! Well, okay, the thing is that I definitely get more lonely, sad, feelings of despair when it's late at night and I'm the only one awake. And a midnight snack always helps me feel better. It really does, even if I feel guilty for eating unhealthy shit.

So, I was ready to shed this cookie addiction. Really. I was. until we went to Publix today, and what evil people were out front? You guessed it! GIRL SCOUTS! dun dun dun!!!! So, how the fuck was I supposed to walk in, make groceries, and walk out past them and not support the cause? That would just be wrong, right? So, I did restrain myself though. I only bought one box.

Oh, I could eat any and all of the Girl Scout brand cookies. The FP doesn't like the tagalongs, but other than those, I could buy any of them. But I just got the one. When I was a kid, I hated things with shredded coconut in them. Because usually, the shredded coconut was tasteless and it was like chewing grass. I think I was spoiled by the times my dad would crack open a fresh coconut and we would either just eat it in chunks, or he would shred it for my mom's suman. Yum. More sweets on my mind! Anyway, I got Samoas. And I'm probably going to break the first sleeve open tonight!

Christmas Weekend

2012-01-07T20:31:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know, Christmas is old news. All you fancy on your toes bloggers who posted on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, good for you. I like to take my time and do a proposal, then an outline, then a rough draft, then another rough draft, then a final for final revision, then I enter it into the computer and edit it again, and then I publish! Naaaht!

Anyway, going forward concerning the future of this blog, my resolution is to absolutely never apologize anymore for not blogging enough and to never say that I will try better. Because I'm probably not going to especially when I impose these rules on myself without another higher authority. Not like God would bother to read this little old blog!

So, Christmas Eve, my sis and my bro in law drove down to visit. In a red convertible mustang. Gotta love Florida! Okay, they drove with the top up, but, it gets chilly and windy on the interstate.

We weren't sure what the deal was with Christmas Eve around here, so we just thought we would go to the little strip in "downtown" Hollywood and park and see what was open. Actually, it was a little early, but it looked like it was going to be busy. Well, busy compared to when we have been there previously.

So, we looked at almost every restaurant on the strip, then we looped back to Cafe Italia, which was right by where we parked. We had been there before and had good food, so, at least we knew it wouldn't be shit. Funnily enough, I looked to try to find the menu online, and on yelp, all I found was 2 horrible horrible reviews of the place! Well, either they read the reviews or we went on "on" nights.

So, I got the pasta alla siciliana. It's like a puttanesca. Garlicky.

My sister got the eggplant parm. Look at that pool of sauce.

The Food Pimp got the clams alla siciliana. Like mine, but with clams.

The bro-in-law got the prosciutto ravioli with cream sauce. My gut just begins to bloat looking at that picture. I can't imagine the payback my digestive system would try to bring on me if I ate that whole plate!

So, everyone enjoyed their meal, and we went home and had a few beers by the pool. A quiet, peaceful Christmas Eve.

So, the next day, we took our top down, of the Mustang, that is, and we drove down to South Beach and then drove back up to Hollywood on A1A. What a drive. I gotta say, sitting in the back of a convertible, it's way less clausterphobic passing between those high rise condos. In the Element, it really bothers me. So, we drove all the way up to Hollywood by the "broadwalk". We were looking for a place to park, so we could walk around and find a place, when my sister spotted Billy's Stone Crab. It was open, so we pulled into the parking lot.

Finally, the place we had so wanted to go to on Thanksgiving was open for Christmas. Although, we weren't going to be having the all you can eat... it's a little.... $$$$$$. So, we sat in this like swinglike patio chair on the dock. I am sorry that I didn't take a picture of it. It was like a surrey, you know, with a canvas awning deal, and the whole seating thing rocked if someone moved. And it was right on the dock. Like, we had to wonder if anyone had had to fish their kid out of the intracoastal waterway...

So, the FP had the conch chowder, of course. If it's on the menu, there's a good chance he's gonna get it. It had big fat chunks of vegetables that were love you long time, good stuff.

I got the conch fritters. If they're on the menu, there's a 50% chance I'm gonna end up getting them. These were, just okay. I've been chasing the conch fritter ever since that delicious appetizer we had so long ago in Palm Beach Gardens, also on the intracoastal....

The FP and I decided to also get the regular stone crab appetizer. They weren't the jumbos, but they still were tasty little claws! These came with mustard, which was good, but I kinda missed the mayo that we had last time....

My sis got the ... snapper? I think they had snapper, grouper, flounder, salmon, or some 4 fish like that. I think.... when asked how it was, she replied, "not bad!" So, I think it was good!

Bro-in-low (it rhymes...) got the gator bits and chips. Although I don't think that's what it was called on the menu. The gator was chewy. I have only tasted chewy fried gator, so I don't know if it can not be chewy. When we all went out to eat the day after the FP and my wedding, my brother in law had gotten blackened gator tail that he said was delicious and tender. So, this wasn't quite the same... chasing the gator tail....

So, afterward, we went on the beach for a bit. It was kinda cold to go in the water, so we walked. And we looked at all the jellyfish lined up on the shore. There were a lot. Tiny man o wars and big huge moon jellyfish, and some in between. The FP thought it was funny to almost step on them and then not. So every time, it would be like, watch out! And he would avoid it. And then he stepped on one. And then another, and then one he stepped on right in the middle. Luckily for him, they were the moon jellyfish, which are not really supposed to be toxic, and they were right side up anyway.

After that, we went back, cleaned the pool, and stuck our legs in. Again, the water was too cold to go all the way in. But it was nice an peaceful.

So, I needed to go to the apartment to get some stuff, so in the meantime, the FP prepped everything as my little sous chef. He asked how big I wanted to pork diced, and I said, not too big, not too small. And he got it right.

So, I decided to try to make pork adobo more like my mom used to make it. So, I browned the garlic and the peppercorns. I forgot to get bay leaves, but it was ok. Then I browned the pork. Then I took it out of the pan. Then I sauteed onions, and I added mushrooms, which, while not in my mom's recipe, is pretty standard in mine. Then I added several cups of vinegar, about a cup of soy, and little less than a cup of brown sugar. And I put the pork back in and let it stew. After what seemed like way too short, maybe 2 hours, the pork looked tender. So, I took the pork out. I took most of the sauce out, except for the fat, and I heated it up, and then I attempted to fry the pork in it. The pork was already so soft, that it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted, so I put the sauce back in and let it reduce a bit, and then it was done. Voila! And it tasted pretty similar to my mom's, except for there was way more sauce.

The FP also roasted some green beans and artichokes, yum.

We never got a chance to get rice at the asian market, so we got jasmine rice at the grocery store.

So, here was the finished product. I think it was a pretty damn good meal, if I do say so myself!

Great Christmas, Christmas of 2011!

Cafe Italia
2025 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, FL 33020
(954) 925-8815

Billy Stone Crabs
400 N Ocean Dr Hollywood, FL 33019
(954) 923-2300

Senor Cafe

2012-01-02T14:33:00.000-08:00

So, have you ever driven by a place and thought it wasn't worth your time because of where it was or how it looked? That's what I thought of Senor Cafe. But then when I looked it up on the internets it had really good reviews. Oh, and a good price point.

So, we went there. It was kind of late, so we seemed to have avoided the lunch rush. Which was a good thing, because service was very slow, as is expected in ethnic restaurants. I swear, yelpers go into McDonald's and expect the same service they would get at the French Laundry or something.

So, I had originally wanted a Cuban sandwich. That's what they say is good there, but, once I looked at the menu... I just couldn't have a cuban sandwich. There was so much more yummy looking stuff on the menu!

Like fried pork chunks. Yum! And to anyone who thinks that sounds fatty and unhealthy and appalling, why are you even reading this blog then? It's called The Pork Porn Pages.

Anyway, I got congri and tostones with my fried pork chunks. The congri was yummy, well seasoned. The tostones were HUGE, but they were perfectly smashed and fried. Just really some of the best tostones I have ever had. And the pork with the onions... well, do I really have to say anything more about it? Fuckin fatty delicious, fried pork. Crispy outside, tender juicy inside. Some chunks were pure fat!!! That's a good thing, btw, no, it's a great thing! So, effing good! And with a squeeze of the lime, that would be my last meal on death row, maybe.

Oh yeah, here's the warm buttery bread that we got while we were waiting for our food. We don't generally eat the waiting for food bread, but I'm a sucker for nicely warmed sliced baguette, or rather, cuban bread, right, since it's in a cuban restaurant?

This was the FP's light lunch. Whaaat? Oxtail for like $10.99? For realsies. For true. No jokes bro, no jokes. Really really nicely cooked. Tender, delish, and look at all that sauce! You could have a facial with it!

And here's his beans and rice. Also good. We still haven't had bad beans and rice here.

So, a couple days later, we were still so high on Senor Cafe that we went again. The FP got the same oxtail dish. It was salty. Like really salty. You had to eat it with rice to make it edible. Which was a shame. Such a waste of good primo oxtail. Don't get me wrong, the FP didn't return it or complain, he ate a lot of it. We figured, whoever reheated it put salt in it without tasting, so it was double salted. It was Monday. Sadly, Monday is often the B team shift...

Here's another picture of beans and rice. I guess I didn't feel the need to take a picture of the oxtail again.

So, this time, I decided to get a cuban sandwich. I wanted a "lighter" lunch. LOL. Anyway, it was okay. It wasn't quite as pressed as I sometimes like them, but that's not a complaint, more of an observation. There were only 3 measly pickle slices for the whole sandwich, so that was a bummer. I like pickle in every bite. That's me though. I like to overdo everything. Really we wonder if the super pressing of cuban sandwiches is an americanized thing. Probably. who knows.

So, there's a latino supermarket next to Senor Cafe. So we went in to check it out. I have been on the lookout for a grocery store halfway as cheap and plentiful as Pancho Villas, but haven't found it. We did pick up a couple things though and Presidente Supermarket, though.

So they had this FOUR milk, quatros leches, cake. They had the option of three or four, but who would pick three? Anyway, this one had dulce de leche.

Here's the blurry picture of it. Anyway, it was sweet. Way sweet. Super sweet. I can maybe see why one might opt for the tres leches instead. Don't get me wrong. The FP had one or two bites. I ate half of it one night, and I finished it the second night. On the third night, the FP asked if there was any left, and I just laughed at him. As if.

Super jumbo can of Bustelo. It's like 3 times the size of the regular can. It was just a little cheaper per ounce, but the comfort of knowing we wouldn't have to buy coffee every week is nice. Love Bustelo. We still haven't ventured to Little Havana for a cuban coffee though. I'm not sure why.

Senor Cafe
1520 Federal Hwy
Hollywood, FL 33020
954-929-6218

Presidente Supermarket
1510 Federal Hwy
Hollywood, FL 33020
954-929-0131

Countdown?

2011-12-30T17:15:00.000-08:00

So, should I do a countdown top meals of 2011? Or should I just show you some food we've eaten. 2011 has been a random weird blur, so how about some random food shots?

Black beans from Laura's. Good stuff, good for your heart. The more you eat em, the more fiber you get.

So, here is a heart of palm "salad." Hm... I guess I should have known better? I was asked what dressing I wanted. I said, what do you have? He said everything. I said, what dressing goes best with it. He said, they all go good with it. So, he told me the greek was good with it. I didn't want greek, but I just wanted some plain viniagrette. It didn't matter what vinaigrette because it was not a very exciting, um... "salad."

Here's the cuban sandwich. It took a long ass time, but it was delicious!

The green yellow farmers market. So, it's not so much farmers as much as it might be flea, but we like it.

Here's the FP posing with the farmers market cow.

Look at all the olive buckets! I thought I took a picture of the olive oil room, but I didn't. There are all these cool stainless steel vats with different infused olive oils. There are empty glass bottles, and you can pick which oils you want. Not the best olive oil, but the presentation is a great sales tactic.

Here's a guy playing sax at the farmers market, with a burger hanging from above.

Here's a....a... hot dog slathering himself with mustard and ketchup. Kind of weird and perverted if you ask me. Although anything can be convoluted into something pervy.

Here's some pizza from the pizza joint on the downtown Hollywood strip. I can't remember the name of the place, but the storefront sign above just says "Pizza". Good, old fashioned greasy pizza. It was pretty good. The place is a teeny disorganized joint.

I don't know why it's out of order, but I'm just going to go with it. Here's some cajun creole food from the farmers market. Gumbo and etouffee. Both were very good.

Peruvian ceviche at the farmers market. This was pretty good. It was made with a real meaty fish.

Here's the salsa bar at the Surf Road Taco shop. So it's Cali - Baja "style". The salsas were good.

I got carnitas and shrimp tacos with rice and black beans with cotija cheese on it. It reminded me of some San Diego eateries. It was bland.

Here's the FP's monster burrito. Look at all that sour cream. The FP does not like sour cream.

So, here's the spring rolls at our first vietnamese restaurant in the area. Little Saigon. Of course, on the reviews, there were some people who complained it was dirty, especially the bathroom, and the service was slow. So, we had some high hopes. The spring rolls, were, okay. They were kind of bland.

The FP's pho. It was not bad. He got only one sliver of tendon, but it was really really thin and tender.

Here's his garnishes. Cilantro instead of basil.

I got the bun bo(?) vermicelli with lemongrass beef. This beef was delicious and tender! Sometimes it's a little chewy. This was the shit. And the carmelized onions, oh man!

Well, if I don't blog again before 2012, see you on the other side! Happy New Year!

Laura's Cuban Restaurant
2723 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, Fl 33020

Green Yellow Farmers Market
1940 30th Rd.
Hollywood, FL 33020

Surf Road Taco
101 Northeast 3rd St.
Hallandale, Fl 33009

Little Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant
16752 N Miami Ave
North Miami Beach, FL 33162

Whole Lotta Smoke

2011-12-24T11:55:00.000-08:00

So, there are a lot of BBQ joints around here. A whole lot. That's a whole lotta smoke. One place that we found was all because of the smoke. They put the smoker out on the corner of the parking lot close to the street, so you can't miss it. Maybe if it weren't for the smoker, one who is not obsessed with BBQ would easily miss the restaurant. Not so with the smoker in place.

So, we had driven by this place a couple of times, so one day we decided to stop and eat there. The FP pulled into the parking lot across from the smoker. Before he pulled into a space, I started to say that maybe we should park on the other side of the building so the car won't completely reek of smoke. As soon as I started to say that, the FP said, I knew you would say that. So, we parked on the other side by the huge wood pile.

Got Wood? hehehe wood.

Here's Vanna White, I mean the FP in his lovely green SD t shirt showing us the facade of the establishment so gracefully. Notice the matching green hoodie. I wish he had also whipped out his iphone with the green cover, that would have been a swell picture. He likes green.

Anyway, it's really hard to write with him looking over my shoulder. Hopefully, I won't lose my train of thought. I apologize if I do.

So, there was a sign saying this is a family owned establishment and all that jazz. That's nice. I can't imagine running a restaurant with my entire family. Sounds like a nightmare - no offense to those of you who wouldn't bother me. Anyway, it's easier to yell at non related employees than at relatives...

So, I had the brisket sandwich.

I was debating between that and the pork, but there was probably some dumb reasoning for picking the brisket. It was good, but it was pulled brisket, not nice thin slices dredged in sauce. The greens were so fucking delicious. Collards. Cooked long enough that the stems were tender, but not cooked down to a mush. Now there's some good southern cookin, boy! The baked beans were good... they tasted like baked beans. The BBQ sauce was delicious. It was tangy vinegary and smoky and not ultra sweet. Good shit, good shit bro.

The FP got the ribs, of course. Look at that plate! Nothing like nice fatty pork ribs slathered in lots of good housemade barbeque sauce! And these ribs were cooked so beautifully. They weren't what some people call overcooked (I like it when the meat is falling off the bone) but they weren't undercooked either (when you feel like you are a wild animal gnawing on the leavings of a fresh kill, trying to get every last scrap of meat from that bone). They were goldilocks approved, just right.

The cornbread sucked. Sorry. It was hard and heavy and dense and undersalted and not the least bit sweet. Weird. Usually, bad cornbread will be too sweet.

Anyway, that was some good shit. The only problem was, we smelled like smoke for 24 hours. I wonder what it would have been like if we had parked near the smoker?

BBQ Jack's
500 E Oakland Park Blvd
Oakland Park, FL 33334

Oh, and Merry Christmas y'all from down south!

In the Whole History Of This Blog I Have Always Been Behind...

2011-12-15T18:32:00.000-08:00

No excuses. You don't want to hear it. Just bring on the food. These pics seem so long ago that I will have to research the names of places if I can find them!

Miami Subs. We used to love this place in college. I think the menu was more... subby back then. It is after all called... "Miami Subs". Now it's Miami Subs, Pizza & Grill (some are Plus). It also has Arthur Treachers Fish & Chips, Kenny Rogers Roasters and Breyers Ice Cream. How's that for irrelevant antiquated food franchises all packed in one.

So there are 4 subs on the menu. Italian, Meatball, Turkey and Tuna salad. That's it. And there's the gyro plate, which I ate a lot of when I lived in good ole Tallahassee. The FP got it on this occasion.

The gyro meat was dried out. That always sucks. I ate most of his seasoned fries. I have always gorged on these fries, and I did that night too!

Here is my lovely italian sub. I'm not a big mayo fan, but whoever made it, that sub artist, put just enough on it. The italian dressing is one of the reasons I like this sandwich. And it also had tomato, lettuce, jalapenos and banana peppers. I know it's just a sandwich at a weird chain restaurant, but I really gobbled this sucker up! Unfortunately, ever since, I have been chasing the sub... no one else has made it nearly as good since - too much mayo, not enough italian dressing, and no hot peppers!

So, here is my dilemma. Never mind. I found my receipt. Limon Y Sabor. Peruvian. We took our first drive around Miami that day. It was weird, because the FP had a corneal ulcer (yum), basically a scratch, so I drove. I am so horrible at driving around unfamiliar territory. But I did, and we didn't die. I drove all the way down Miami Beach. It's so weird. The areas where it's skyscraper condos on either side is very claustrophobic to me. I hate being surrounded by skyscrapers. But the other areas are beautiful. I don't mind if there are tall condos on one side of the street, but not both.

Anyway, we got hungry, so we stopped at the first place that looked good. Peruvian always looks good.

So I got the tamales de cerdo. This was a really good tamale. It was very soft. Not as pillowy as El Salvadoreno, but still, nice and creamy. Mexican tamales seem to be so much firmer, and need lots of sauce. This was really good with the little vinegary vegetables. Soooo good.

The FP wanted a house salad. That's what he got. Salad.

I got the yucca frita a la huincaina. So, it's this weird cold cold cheese sauce. Weird. Cold cheese. I'm still not sure what I think of it!

Ceviche de pescado. Really good, a mix of juices and spices. I love the fresh lightly cured ceviche like this. Nice peruvian corn on the cobb! There was something with peruvian corn, that I thought about getting, and I had wished I did.

The place was big and empty, but I didn't see any reason for it to be empty!

So, there are a wealth of restaurants right in our neighborhood. So many. But even we don't have the time to try them all, and we certainly don't have the money to - especially now. But, it's difficult to really cook in this apartment, so we have been spending more than we should on eating out. There is this Cuban restaurant that is about a mile from the apartment, called A Touch of Cuba. It should be called a Full On Grab of Cuba. I mean, it's this little cafe, and it seems sooooo Cuban. This guy who appeared to be the owner was sitting chatting with some cuban police officers. The server seemed weeded, even though there was not really anyone there. The sandwich board for the specials was still on top of the counter taking up all the space. We ordered, and it took forever. Some other people started coming in, and she was swamped! Finally our food came.

We both got cuban sandwiches. So, they tasted good, but they weren't really pressed. They were good, but more like a french baguette sandwich.

We also got an order of congri. It was really good. The FP said it was the best he's ever had. It was nicely seasoned, and the beans were cooked in with the rice at some point, rather than just mixed together at the end. Yum.

So, another cuban restaurant. This one is a local chain that is everywhere. The menu cover informed me that the family came from Cuba and decided to open a restaurant, with no experience. So, the patriarch learned to cook, the matriarch ran the front and the kids helped. Years later it's a multi outlet chain! It's called Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine. So, they gave us garlicky garlic bread to start. I was hungry, so I ate it.

I got the churrasco. Skirt steak with a really wonderful chimichurri sauce. And nice sweet plantains, rice and great black beans. I think the FP said they were the best black beans he had ever had!

Here's his green hoodie with his ropa vieja and rice, beans and plantains. It was so tender and had soaked up a lot of sauce. Although the sauce was a little on the thin side, the shredded beef was excellent.

It's refreshing to go to a chain restaurant that actually has delicious food! So there you have it. Some of the contents that have taken a wild flume ride through our digestive systems here in South Florida!

Miami Subs
there's one in every square mile around here

Limon Y Sabor
3045 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33137
786-431-5739

Las Vegas Cuban Cuisine
there's one every 10 square miles around here

Thanksgiving Dinner - LMAO

2011-12-11T17:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, I am only now posting what we ate for Thanksgiving! So, we didn't make plans ahead of time. We weren't going to cook at home because this apartment is a piece of shit falling apart place. So, we were thinking we wanted to go eat some stone crab claws. There are some places here that have all you can eat for the market price of 2lbs. So we were contemplating some of these places. We went to Whole Foods and used their wifi and looked up places. No place answered, so we figured it was too early. So, we waited until after 12 to call back. One place - no answer. Second place - no answer. Third place - no answer. That was it for the seafood places that were supposed to be good.

So, then I started calling steakhouses. Houston's - no answer. I waited a while and called back. No answer. I broke down and called Morton's - no answer. I called Ruth's Chris. Open - but not one reservation available. So, I researched some more. I found a steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale that had a special menu and they were serving the regular menu as well. It was called Rare. The biggest complaint from reviewers was that the steaks were undercooked. Not a problem for us, then. So I called. Someone answered. They indeed had openings - any time. So, I booked it.

So, 2 hours later, we were seated in a very empty restaurant. Most everyone was sitting outside. It was so windy though, so we sat inside. There was one other table inside. It was a modernish type of place, with a very big bar area. Not our normal style for steak, but, the name of the place was "Rare." How could we go wrong with steak?

So, on looking at the menu, it was fairly simple. It was totally Ruth's Chris influenced. So, that was a good sign. Although, it had kind of boring sides, just like Ruth's Chris. I got the feeling the restaurant was trying to appeal to the young trendy crowd with an old school type steakhouse menu. Interesting concept. I wonder if it works on regular nights.

So, we just ordered and shared stuff, of course. First up was beef carpaccio. Very very thin slices. It was very chilled though, so you had to really scrape the meat to get it off the plate in some spots. Which, you want to get a nice, whole thin sliver of meat, if possible. Aioli, capers, parmesan, arugula. I haven't had beef carpaccio in so long. This was so good!

We did get to get crab claws after all! To our surprise, they were jumbo, the largest stone crab claw I had ever had. So, they came with lemon wedges and... mayo. Mayonnaise. So, you know, we tried it with both. It was so fucking good! No sarcasm. Really good shit! So luxurious. Now, I know why all the fuss about these suckers!

House salad. For $5. This was split for us, even though we didn't ask. Romaine, ripe tomato, blue cheese and crispy bacon. When I think house salad, I think spring mix, unripe tomato, big cucumber chunks and some boring dressing. This was one of the best house salads I had ever had. Really. Well, definitely in the top 20 of "house" salads.

So, we were each going to get a steak, like a New York strip or something. But when you look on the menu, you see that only the Large steaks are prime. So, the FP in his infinite wisdom, suggested we just get a large steak and split it. So of course, we got the bone in Rib Steak! We ordered it medium rare, so of course it came out rare. Which is exactly what the FP was calculating for. So, they really char the outside crispy as hell, and then the inside was pretty rare. It was so good. Crispy earthy on the outside, carnal fatty melty in your mouth on the inside. So, so good. We finished most of it, but there was a little chunk to take home for later!

So, it was a great Thanksgiving dinner! So, we went home and had a few drinks. Then later on, we needed to go somewhere to watch FOOTBALL! The FP had been scouting out this place down the street called The Upper Deck. He said it might be a little fancy, but it was close and we knew it was open. We pulled into the parking lot, and in the front there were mercedes and Hummers and Audis and Jags. But then we pulled in the back and there were a lot of regular cars. Probably just valet or VIP parking to show off like they do at hotels and casinos.

So we walked in. Not fancy at all. I mean, it was fine. Big bar, a ton of TVs and beer. So we had a Yuengling on draft. It was horrible. Dirty lines. For whatever reason, the FP just drank it and got something else. I couldn't drink mine. I don't know why I didn't complain. Well, the bartender did not want to seem to be there, and I didn't want to rock the boat. I didn't really feel like having any more alcohol anyway, so it was good to sit there with a full drink, so I wouldn't be asked several times if I needed another. I was just happy to have unhampered wifi access for 3+ hours! And the FP was happy to be out of the awful apartment watching football.

Everyone in there just seemed to be enjoying being out on Thanksgiving. Except the one hipster douchbag in the douchehat. These two guys were just talking quietly at the corner of the bar, then all of a sudden douchehat yells across the bar to the bartender, "Can I get a drink? I need a drink!!!!" Really disturbing. At least it looked like his friend was embarrassed. But he got his drink, and then they resumed their quiet conversation. It was weird, like he had Turrets or something.

So, of course, after a while, we were both thinking of having a little som'n som'n - even though we had had a large meal, but that was several hours before. So, of course, the FP had wings. They sure looked like they needed more sauce, but he was just happy to have wings. He was thankful for his buffalo wings and blue cheese sauce.

A little while later, I developed a sweet tooth. So I got a key lime pie. Which was presented more like a cheesecake. Part of pie that I love about pie is the crust. In this presentation, the crust is minimal. It was really tart and key limey. A little too tart, but with the whipped cream it tasted good. Of course, I ran out of whipped cream, but I didn't ask for more.

Later on, the bartender admitted how she didn't want to be there, but she had traded working Thanksgiving to be with her son on Christmas instead. Understandable. I gave her a good enough tip. But I wondered if she was using the son excuse to get better tips. I shouldn't think that way, but I do.

Rare Las Olas
401 East Las Olas Blvd
Ft Lauderdale, FL
PHONE: 954.527.3365

The Upper Deck
906 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd.
Hallandale Beach, FL 33009
954-454-8878 | 954-454-6896

More Fancy Tomato

2011-12-05T16:29:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I know. Call the BPS (Blog Protective Services). Neglect. Downright abuse of a blog. Well, let's ketchup, shall we?

Maam's Jamaican Restaurant

Oxtail plate. This was the medium size. It was like 4 pounds! Good stuff. Good rice and beans, good slaw and very nice oxtail.

Jerk chicken. OMG, the skin had soaked up all the jerk spices. This was so good. So, effing good!

Meat pattie. It was good as well. Nothing wrong with it, not too much Christmas spice as some of them can have! They also had fried chicken that looked really good. I almost wanted to get that, but I'm glad I tried the jerk - that's one of the staples at a Jamaican restaurant, after all!

Whisky Tango

Okay, we went to this place the first week we were here because we wanted to go somewhere and use the wifi and have a beer and eat dinner. So, I was going to get the mini corn dogs, but then something ridiculous caught my eye. A spaghetti sandwich. So, the description said it was the chef's childhood favorite. So, I wanted to try it.

It sucked. So, the bread was like a thick chewy boule like thing. Which was too much. I would have liked a softer thinner roll, but I'm sure they get soggy too fast, so this hearty bread is more practical. Fine. Then put more sauce. It was like the spaghetti was lightly tossed with a little sauce. Barely any. And I think there was some mozzarella in it too. And there was a chicken filet too. Parmesan on top. I think if there was a side of marinara to dip in, it would have been much better. Sure, I could have asked for some, but being kinda slow, I didn't think of it until I was almost finished eating. It would have almost remedied the main problem though.

The FP got a salad and a ribeye. The salad was a salad. The ribeye and green beans (adolescent haricot verts) were good. He barely ate the cold mashed potatoes.

Georgia Pig

We were in this kinda... rednecky area doing house drivebys. Not like shooting, looking at houses for sale, silly. We used the iphone map to see what restaurants were around for lunch. We found Georgia Pig. It was really busy. And they only took cash. So we hopped back in the car and went to an atm and then went back. It was a little less busy.

Pulled pork sandwich. It was so so fucking tender and flavorful and really good. The slaw was a little mayonnaisey, a little sweet, a little vinegary. Not horrible, but not great. I ate some for the roughage. Fries were pretty good, but the pulled pork was so good!

The FP's ribs. The ribs were kinda on the undercooked side. I mean, even if you like it where you have to gnaw it off the bone a little, you would say these were undercooked. The BBQ sauce wasn't bad. It was made in house, thinner, sweet with a little vinegar, just a little kick.

Potato salad. Basically potatoes and the same dressing as the coleslaw. It tasted better on the potato salad.

Great signs though! And the T shirts were great too!

So, there's a couple places... I will catch up eventually.

Maam's Jamaican Restaurant

1518 Ives Dairy Rd
Miami, FL 33179

(305) 249-8718

Whisky Tango

1903 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, FL 33020-4508

(954) 925-2555

Georgia Pig

1285 S State Rd 7
Davie, FL 33317

No phone number listed, but this place is so busy, they probably wouldn't answer if you tried to call!

Heinz, Hunts or McDonald's Fancy...

2011-12-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

catch up.

My poor neglected first born - Pork Porn Pages. You're stronger than the others, so you don't need as much attention, right?

So, I still have pictures from our cross country trip... Waffle house. Capped, hacked, pricked. I don't know the terms actually. Smothered, diced and capped. Onions, tomatoes and mushrooms. Not as good as Waffle House can be when driving long distance. Not awful, just, like why are the toppings on the bottom. They're bottomings.

The Food Pimp got all kinds of mess on his. At first they brought it with no chili because they didn't have the chili heated up or something, so they took it back and fixed it. Peppered and topped is my guess. Chili and jalapenos.

Deep fried peanuts. I don't recall where we got these. Alabama maybe? Anyway, they were really salty on the shell. Not bad, but not boiled peanuts. I could eat a large popcorn tub of boiled peanuts! These fried jobbers, I think we ate a third of the bag.

Yeah. We had Long John Silver's on the road. Such a bad move. It makes me incredibly sleepy an hour after eating it. But it was really good. Nice and freshly fried, not hanging around for hours.

That's the fried clams.

That's the coleslaw. Funny I only took a picture of the closed containers!

Do you know what that is? Did you ever go on dates to restaurants in high school? Or did you treat yourself to a restaurant meal every once in a while in college? So then you might have had the Chili's cobb salad. Funny, a day or two before, I mentioned how I wanted a chunky type salad, like a wedge or cobb. And it was exactly what I wanted. And the avocado ranch dressing tastes like something I would make. Maybe my calling in life is to work at Chili's. I'll see if they're hiring.

The FP's steak fajitas. People didn't stare at it when it came out the way they used to back in the day. People would stare that it was almost embarrassing to get the fajitas.

Chili's frozen margarita. I was tired and it was muggy in Ocala, and this was refreshing! And we were there for happy hour, so we got our 2 for the price of 1!

Our first night in Hallandale, we went a few miles down the street to downtown Hollywood. Hollywood Boulevard is much smaller than the Hollywood Boulevard in LA. But it's nice and has bars and restaurants. So we picked the Peruvian restaurant on the quieter end of the street, of course. It was all fairly quiet though - as it was the Sunday before Thanksgiving, probably.

Cancha and Cusquena. Peruvian toasted corn snack and peruvian malted barley. Nice pairing!

Ceviche de pescado. Yum yum yum. Very similar to Latin Chef! Nice sweet potato and peruvian corn to go with it too.

Lomo saltado. Had to get it. It was really good and tender. Not crisp fried like other lomo saltado I've had, but still really tasty in it's own way.

Parihuela. Seafood soup. Fish, squid, shrimp, mussels, maybe clams too. I can't remember. Sorry. It was really good though.

The hot chili sauce. The FP ate a lot of it. Of course.

Well, that's the end of our journey food and the beginning of our new life food. I have to write Unnecessary Supplement now... my favored child.

That Place That Really Had A Big Influence On Our Lives

2011-11-27T15:11:00.000-08:00

So, why so cryptic. Sometimes, I don't like to name names. Seinfeld reference, if you're old enough. Anyway, I'm just going to write about this place that we went to for dinner when we were in Nola. Both the Food Pimp and I worked there. I worked there for 4 years from pantry chef (lol) to saute and grill to sous chef. The FP worked the grill and saute station the first time. The second time he became chef. I don't want to directly name the place because I know people do google searches on restaurants. I don't like to call attention to my true identity to people who don't already know I write this blog. I don't want anyone I know to necessarily find it by chance, you know?

So, honestly, I wasn't too excited to go there. I mean, we only had so much time in New Orleans. I would have liked to go to an old favorite or to an exciting new place. But, when we go to New Orleans, it's really all about the FP. I'm not being sarcastic. For me, I just love being there. I'm such a bad friend (and family member) I don't really keep in touch with people outside of facebook. So, when we go to Nola, the FP makes the plans. I might try to make plans to see my one good friend, Ms Snowbliz, and maybe one or two other people, but the FP makes all the calls and texts.

Anyway, we were going to meet our buddy, Mr. Don't Worry It's Early, and his boyfriend. This is the friend who offered their second bedroom for us to crash in. Until the FP reminded him that we would have our cats. So then Mr. DWIE said, "Oh, probably Sassy won't like that then. She's a cranky old bitch." So we didn't stay with them. LOL.

So, we ordered some wine, we had some tapas.

Okay, so this first thing was sent out to us. Blood sausage pate. In a tube that you would dispense toothpaste or bengay from. Blood sausage. It looks like a tube of poop! Funnily enough, it was pretty damn tasty. Just not a tasty presentation!

Foie gras pate. Very nice. I liked the pate a lot. Something was wrong with the pickles, though. They were a little too sour - not enough salt. But, that's just my little old opinion.

Grilled artichokes with this feta relish. So fuckin good! The char on the (canned) artichokes made them that much more yummy. Yes, they were canned. We know because we were told so by the chef. But they were really good, nevertheless.

Classic dish - coriander tuna with avocado relish. Okay, so the vinaigrette makes the dish. This was the small portion, but I felt they could have not been so tight with the relish. And the relish seemed to be all avocado, no tomato or green onion. Now, don't get me wrong, I love love love avocado, but I like to have a lot of sauce and a lot of relish with things. Some might say I drown my main ingredient with my accompaniments, but I like things with lots of ... stuff.

Sauteed sweetbreads with serrano, criminis, sherry beurre blanc. Classic dish. Pretty much the same. The FP pointed out how they didn't really press the sweetbreads though, the way they used to. That way, the little pieces crisp up evenly on the outside, creamy on the inside. They were still really good though.

gambas al pil pil - shrimp with smoked paprika and garlic oil. Shrimp were cooked nice enough. I just thought it was okay. What's the point of all that sauce though. I don't know if we had any bread at that point - Mr. DWIE was eating all the bread. Sure we could have asked for more. But I always loved the original shrimp dish - sauteed shrimp with garlic, capers, basil and white wine butter sauce. So fucking good.

Here's a photo from my spot at the bar. I am a little pissed, because on the roof of the facade, the owner got these amazing Gaudiesque lights installed up there. They are amazing. I didn't take a picture of them. After dinner, the staff was just hanging out, and everyone was so busy getting drunk and shooting the shit that I forgot to ask him about them. That was a long night. A loooooooooooong night. I was pretty tired, and the smoke in the bar that we went to after was bothering me. I can't handle smokey bars anymore! We left the bar about 2 hours after I was ready to go back to the hotel room. Not that it wasn't nice seeing everyone, but I was pretty sober at that point, and everyone else was just getting sloppy stinkin drunk. It's not fun or amusing anymore for me to be around that. Unless it's someone who is amusing when drunk. Most people aren't amusing to me anymore when they're fall on their face drunk. God, I'm such a fuddy duddy!

Anyway, our meal was overall, very delicious. I can overlook the aspercreme tube only because the stuff inside was so good. Obviously, if you want to know the name of the restaurant, it's on the tube!

Nola pass by Friday

2011-11-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

So, we slept in. The most sleep we had in a week or so. Nice comfy bed, central ac. For those of you who have the luxury of central ac, you probably don't understand how nice it is to have it. Anyway, we walked around the quarter, got coffee at CC's, and then we pretty much went to Coop's Place. The place we had been dreaming about. The one place that we absolutely MUST go to every time we are in New Orleans.

It's a dive. It's dingy. It's dirty. It's not the most appetizing place to go to, especially during the day. They prep food out in the courtyard out back. But it's delicious.

So, we knew what we wanted. Well, we discussed everything, and we came to an agreement.

House salad with green goddess dressing:

This is the shiznit. The dressing, that is. It's green goddess dressing. Doesn't sound exciting, right? It is though, it really is! There are any number of things I could eat with this - french fries, boiled potatoes, boiled shrimp, cucumbers, crackers, potato chips, okay, mostly potatoes... but it's delish!

Fried crawfish with a side of remoulade sauce:

I had been craving fried crawfish ever since I saw some on a Popeye's commercial a week or two prior. That's how my mind works. I get some food fixated in my head, and I can't stop thinking about it until I have it!

Gumbo:

Okay, well, this sucked. It was thin and bland. Basically, it seemed like it wasn't ready but they served it anyway, and they dumped a bunch of file and other stuff in it to try to compensate.

JAMBALAYA:

As the FP says, it's not made in the proper tradition from a culinary point of view. The rice is too mushy and overcooked. But the flavor. It's so fucking good. It's really just some of the best jambalaya around. I don't care what kind of culinary background whoever came up with this shit had, he or she is a genius. And it tastes pretty much the same every time!

I LOVE COOP'S PLACE

So, later, we went to see our friend and her new baby boy in Oschner, the hospital by the riverbend. So, of course, on the way back, we needed to stop by Cooter Brown's for ersters (oysters). Vince, the guy who has been shucking oysters there for I don't know how long, was still there, shucking away. We got two dozen of the most perfectly shucked, plump, delicious, sweet, just briny enough gulf oysters. Just wonderful.

We also got a link of boudin. OMG. Boudin. Rich and flavorful and just delicious.

New Orleans. If you've never been, you should go.

Coop's Place
1109 Decatur Street
New Orleans, LA 70116-2605
(504) 525-9053

Cooter Brown's
509 South Carrollton Avenue
New Orleans, LA 70118-1005
(504) 866-9104

Traveling Food

2011-11-24T18:56:00.000-08:00

(So, I started this post on last Thursday. Sorry I have been absent from the Pork Porn Pages with all the stuff going on and the lack of internets. We should be getting our service hooked up tomorrow, though!)

So, we've been on the road since Tuesday. Here's what we've eaten:

Snacks packed for the trip: Trail Mix with fruit, nuts, chocolate and yogurt covered peanuts
Archer Farms strawberry and pomegranate granola bars
2 packs Jack Links Beef Jerky
1 case cans Diet Coke
3 assorted vitamin waters
bottled water

Lunch Tuesday : Blimpie attached to a gas station - I got 6 inch turkey on wheat, FP got 6 inch beef on white - white bread was a little raw

Dinner Tuesday: McDonald's - FP got a Big Mac combo with fries and blue powerade, I got 20 mcnuggets and fries - nuggets were very old, and too many were fried at once, some had the soggy spots from overcrowding

Wednesday morning: breakfast at the hotel - FP- yogurt, coffee, OJ, orange Me - coffee, yogurt with half a stale muffin crumbled into it, and a hard boiled egg

Wednesday lunch: Wendy's at a gas station - FP - chili and crispy chicken caesar salad, Me - Monterey Ranch Chicken Sandwich (bun, lettuce, ranch sauce, cheese, chicken patty - needed more stuff) and a cheeseburger

Wednesday dinner: Taqueria Jimador - FP - shrimp and beef fajitas

Me - barbacoa gordita and el pastor gordita

Thursday lunch: McDonald's - FP - burger, me - Fries

Thursday snack: Andouille sausage from the crock pot at a Chevron - this was like the best thing the whole trip!!!! I mean, the casing was tough and leathery and wrinkly, but the filling was tender and so juicy and so delicious.

Thursday night: Jackson's on Magazine. So, it Sugar Magnolia when we lived in New Orleans, but it is now called Jackson's. We wanted to go to Coop's, but our friend who never had eaten at Coop's didn't want to go. I understand that it's a nasty dive bar, but the food there is delicious! Anyway, Jackson's was a nicer atmosphere. The food...not so nice....

Okay, the mussels and fries were tasty. The mussels came with a nice tasso wine sauce. The mussels were not really served conveniently for sharing. It came in a big bowl and we got little side plates - like square b&bs, no spoons to get the sauce out though. So our friend offered to deshell all the mussels. I thought it was strange...but they seemed to want to eat it that way. So we watched her remove the shells and put them on a plate and leave the mussel meat in the bowl.

The FP's chicken and sausage gumbo, with what you can see was a very dark roux. The waiter explained that is was a dark roux. The flavor was okay, it was kind of separated.

The waiter, by the way, was the most interesting thing about the dinner. He had a rather...intriguing...accent? We were trying to figure out if it was his real voice or if he was just doing it for shits and giggles. Our friend guessed that it sounded like the teacher on South Park. You could also say he sounded like a Seth McFarlane character... like a banker type or something. Anyway, it was very very distracting.

Here is my washed out picture of my shrimp and grits. Cheddar grits were great. Shrimp was grilled, mostly mealy, some were a little soft...like maybe a tad bit under. The sauce. I'm sorry, the sauce was horrendous. It was like a tangy nightmare. So, as the FP pointed out, it was like the chef was trying to make something similar to Emeril's BBQ shrimp sauce, but it was way too reduced or too much worcestershire. Ugh. I tried to eat what shrimp were palatable, and I ate the grits.

Here is the washed out picture of the FP's shrimp romesco. You can't really tell, but it's a similar appetizer sized version of the shrimp and grits. Shrimp and grits and shrimp romesco ain't the same thing ya'll!!!!!!! Okay, well, they were slightly different. So, it had balsamic drizzle all over it, like a chain linked fence. instead of the tangy nightmare sauce I had, it was a different tangy mess. And the cheddar grits, which as I said were good. The FP's shrimp were the same mealy crustaceans. And then the "romesco". It was a yellow bell pepper sauce that seemed to be a chunky pepper puree without a trace of nut flavor in it. As everyone knows, romesco is a pepper, garlic, olive oil type sauce. It needs the nuttiness to make it yummy.

Anyway, let's not dwell on the nasty part of the dinner. We had a nice bottle of wine, good mussels, great company, and interesting service. Our friend's sister did get this amazing looking jerk half chicken that she said was really good. So, if you go there, maybe get the jerk chicken.

Home On The Range

2011-11-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

So, I sat down to write this, but I was lured into the kitchen by the siren call of the Nutella.

I knew I should not have bought this, but I kept seeing it in the store. So, I pretty much have to eat a slice or two of bread with nutella on it every day, usually in the afternoon. I can't help it. And I usually want more than one slice, but I literally have to hold myself back.

Anyway, getting back to the topic. Last Wednesday was the FP's last show with his band at the Ruby Room. He has such a big influence on the band, that they have most likely disbanded. Okay, it wasn't all because of him, it just seemed like a logical time for the band to split up. Anyhoo, we got there early because some dumb person who obviously knows nothing about running live shows told them they had to load in at 6:30 pm. So we got there around 7pm. So, the FP, the band leader and I went to the Range, which is the restaurant at the front of the strip.

So, this seemed to be one of those doomed to fail locations. I mean, it is large, with a loft or mezzanine level and very visible. The first restaurant was a middle eastern place. I think we ate there once. I don't remember anything wrong with the food, but the place was always empty. And they would never let anyone park in the parking lot in the spaces in front unless they were going to eat there.

So, then, the Ruby Room bought the space and opened up the Ruby Kitchen. I guess it was supposed to be a more classy upscale loungey place with comfort food. The hot dogs were bad. I don't remember exactly what was wrong with them, but not good. That's all I ever had from there. But the place was even slower, if possible. And I think the hours were weird. Like they opened late, and at first tried to stay open late. But then no one ever went in there, so the staff was cut, and the hours were cut. I did read on the internet that the meatloaf cupcakes were good. I guess not good enough to keep the place open.

The next thing I knew, there was some sports bar in the place. Another total decor change. Very sports barred up with the beer and sports signs and TVs. But I don't even know how long that place existed.

Cut to last week. Total image change again with the new restaurant, The Range. So, as you can probably guess, the place has craft beer and an organic, all natural type menu. The place looked great. Different colored wood panels and barbed wire and chicken wire and stuff.

So, anyway, since the FP was playing a gig, he didn't want to fill up. So we split a burger.
Mushroom swiss burger with housemade bread and butter pickles and sweet potato fries.

So, the fries were limp and sad. But they tasted like sweet potatoes and I was hungry, so I ate them all. Guess I should have gotten the handcut potato chips that Bandleader got, they were way better.

The mushrooms were a melange of yummy cultivated varieties - it looked like there were oyster lobster shrooms in the mix. It was really good. Way more exciting than the usual button mushrooms, and they were cooked very nicely.

The pickles were the really big hit though. Interestingly enough, they tasted a lot like my pickles I used to make - the same proportions of sugar, vinegar and salt, and that pickling mix.

The burger was seasoned and a good quality meat, but it was overcooked. :( We asked for medium, and it was medium well, closer to well. It still tasted good though.

So, we had a few beers too, they had Green Flash Hop Head Red, and I had something else... Stone Pale Ale, I think. Just standards. Although, soon, these will not be my local beers! :(

So this place looks like it has something good going. Hopefully it will be able to break the curse!

The Range Kitchen & Cocktails
1263 University Ave
SD, CA 92103

I Just Don't Get It!

2011-11-08T16:23:00.000-08:00

So, my palate must just be way off. So, we went to South Beach Bar & Grill last week, to catch the sunset on the beach, and to enjoy beer and food while looking at the Pacific. So, we went to South Beach in OB. I have heard people say that they had the best tacos, and I guess the place has won awards. And it was tuesday, so $2.50 taco Tuesday.

So, the upstairs area was full, and it didn't look like the upstairs patio was open. So, we got a table downstairs where we could still see the ocean. It didn't really matter though. The sky was so overcast that we didn't really get to see the sunset. And we had hurried to get to the beach on time. :(

So, we got some beers and we ordered some food.

So, here was the fried baby octopus. So, the first most obvious thing is that it was deep fried with no dredging or batter. So, we were open. The first one was too chewy. The second I had was smaller and more tender. The sauce it came with was just cocktail sauce. We ate kind of a lot because we were probably just hungry, but the cooler they got the more inedible. So, last time I had the octopus cocktail which was not good. So they just seem to not do octopus well.

So this, while it was a huge portion, was too big. It was ceviche cocktail. So, it was mushy, and it was sweet from the tomato juice or ketchup. So, once again, we ate it, but it got grosser the more we ate.

Chips and salsa and guacamole. Salsa was like weird. It was made with canned tomatoes. It definitely wasn't the worst thing on the table, but not great, to be sure. The guacamole was like the best thing. It was made with one or two avocadoes, plenty. So, we used it to make the other food taste better. The guacamole was the first thing to go.

So here are the famous award winning fish tacos, no cheese. I got the fried ones, because I remembered something about the grilled fish being underseasoned or something. Then I remembered. They use a whole fish fillet for the tacos. So the big piece of grilled fish was kind of bland. I had to make sure not to get the cheese on it, because it was just like cheddar and monterey jack or something, which I do not think goes on a fish taco. The condiments on the fish taco are good, and the fried fish was good, but it's just too big. The tortilla fell apart after a while. Sure, for $2.50 each, it's a good deal, but I can't help but think that the price for the portion colors the opinions of those who say it's the best fish taco in San Diego. It's good. It's better than a lot of fish tacos I have had.

But I wouldn't call it the best. It was the best compared to the fried octopus and the ceviche cocktail. Luckily, the server was cool and gave us the happy hour prices, even though I think happy hour was technically over before our order was put in. So, at least we didn't spend a shit load on food we didn't like. But I think there was nothing wrong in the execution of the food. I think they made everything as they intended. I just personally did not like the ceviche and the octopus and the salsa. I just don't get it. Maybe that's part of why I need to leave San Diego. Maybe if I did open a restaurant here no one would like my food.

A picture is worth.... $11.50?

2011-11-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

Not much to write today. Home cooking:

Arroz con pollo. Man, I love this stuff. I could say I love it as a very very very close second to paella! I love paella. But when the Food Pimp makes arroz con pollo, it's really almost as good as his paella, and cheaper too!

So, I have been roasting chicken so often, because it's easy and it's cheap. This was a hispanic type of roast chicken with coriander and new mexico chili powder. About 30 minutes before I pulled the chicken out of the oven, I threw in sliced onions and garlic. Ten minutes before pulling it out (feel free to insert a dirty joke here), I put in chick peas and (frozen) green beans. They just bathed in the chicken juices. Yum. Chicken juice bath. All the dogs in the neighborhood would be chasing me if I did that!
Black beans were simple. Onion, garlic, coriander, tomato sauce, salt and pepper. Then, I took the leftover polenta from the Newman's Own demo #2, and I diced it and fried it up like home fries. I gotta say, it was a pretty good dinner. Toot Toot! (my own horn)

Crispy Pork Gang

2011-11-03T19:04:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago, we were in LA. It's like we go there all the time! Well, short trips. Anyhoo, the FP's band had a gig up there, so we stayed overnight. So, I was starved by the time we left the venue. We were looking for a place to eat on the way back to the hotel, and we found Tommy's. So we stopped there and got like 6 pounds of food to go so we could eat it in the hotel.

So here is the chili dog.

Here are 2 shots of my chili cheeseburger, which was actually better that the chili dog. That is a surprise, because I love hot dogs, but the burger tasted better than the hot dog.

Here are the, you guessed it, chili cheese fries mess. They were a mess.

We were starving, but we didn't eat all of it. That's a lot of chili. You would never want to eat this stuff sober, that's for sure!

So, the next day, we wanted to eat Thai food, since we had never been to Thai Town in LA. So we drove around a bit randomly looking for a place, when we finally just parked on Hollywood Blvd and picked a place at random. We didn't even know what the name of it was until we were leaving. If we had known the name, we would have definitely went there.

So, we ordered. And we waited. We waited a while. But we weren't gonna get pissed because it was taking long. Maybe that was a good sign. And we noticed that the credit card machine was not working, so we would have to get cash out.

Here's part of the menu:

So, it was a warm day. So I got a mango bubble tea. Yum, bubble tea.

We got panang curry. That is our favorite thai curry. I think we ordered it 5 spicy, so I think it wasn't as curried and strong as it could have been. I think we should have ordered it 7 and it would have been better. Still a good flavor though.

Holy shit! Holy crap! Holy Mary mother of Crispy pork!!!!!!!!! Pork with mint leaves!!!!! OMG, this blew away any pork with mint leaves that we have gotten at Sab E Lee in the past year. It's gone down at Sab E Lee, which made this shit taste even more amazing probably. The pork was like chicharone crispy. It had the mint and the chilis and the green onion and the sauce. Deefuckinglishus. I mean, one of the best pork dishes I have ever had. Ever. Perfect really.

BEST - PAPAYA - SALAD - EVER. Sab E Lee was always way better than anything I've ever had anywhere else, but this was better than Sab E Lee. This was like the last thing that showed up at our table because they were making it to order. I had seen someone in the kitchen grating the papaya. It tasted so fresh, but the flavor of the sauce was clinging to the papaya. This shit is so good. I wish we could go there and get this one last time. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good!

Here's the decor in the place.

So, here's the facade of the restaurant

"CRISPY PORK GANG & GRILL"
Of course we would have eaten there!

Tommy's

Crispy Pork Gang
5253 Hollywood Blvd.
at N Hobart Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 465-9796

Newman's Own Recipe #2

2011-10-26T10:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the first recipe was crazy simple. Older kids could make this themselves if like me when I was young, they have to fend for themselves for an after school snack.

So, this recipe is inspired by the jars of Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Sauce that I received as part of the foodbuzz tastemakers program. Not only that, Newman's Own also gave me a free Flip Video camera to record my recipes with! Oh man, Newman, you people don't know what you're getting into by giving me, TFH, a video camera!!!!!

This recipe has more steps, and while it isn't the quickest recipe, it is a fun and delicious dish, that would actually be great for getting the kids to help.

Tomatoey Chicken Stew with Polenta
serves 4

2 - 3lb chicken thighs (of course if you want you can use white meat, but I recommend bone in chicken for flavor and texture)
1 medium onion medium dice
3 cloves garlic chopped
8 oz mushrooms slice
1 c white wine
1 jar Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Sauce
1/2 c extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 c polenta
5 c water, chicken or veggie stock
1/2 c parmesan cheese
4 leaves basil

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a hot pan on medium high heat. Season chicken, then place skin side down in hot pan. Let it brown for several minutes, then flip and cook 3 more minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Saute onion and garlic, 3 minutes. Add mushrooms and let cook for another 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Deglaze with wine. Add chicken back to pan. Empty whole jar of tomato sauce into pan and stir. Lower heat to medium low, and let cook for about 45 minutes.

Bring salted water to a boil in high sided saucepan. Whisk in polenta. Continue to whisk for about 10 minutes, until polenta is starting to thicken. Lower heat to medium low. Season with salt and pepper. Drizzle in the rest of the olive oil. If you love olive oil like I do, you can add twice as much. Switch to a wooden spoon and keep stirring constantly for 20 - 30 more minutes, until it's not grainy anymore - it will be smooth and fluffy, and it will stick to the sides of the pan. This is the part where it would be really helpful to have a little helper in the kitchen to keep stirring the polenta! Taste it and reseason as needed.

To plate, spoon polenta onto plate or in bowl, place chicken on top with lots of sauce. garnish with torn fresh basil, grated parmesan and cracked black pepper.

You can save any extra polenta for polenta cakes. Spread leftover polenta evenly in a sheet pan. Cover and weigh it down with another sheet pan and let it firm up in the fridge. To reheat, cut polenta into squares, or triangles. Dredge with flour. Heat oil in a hot pan and place polenta cakes in pan. Let it brown on medium high heat for a few minutes, then flip it. Turn heat lower and let cook for 5 more minutes. You can serve it with the leftover chicken stew, or with almost any sauce - pesto in particular goes really well with this!

Newman's Own Recipe

2011-10-25T15:10:00.000-07:00

So, I'm breaking out the new toy for this one. I all of a sudden felt kind of rundown yesterday, but I had planned to do the cooking demo, so I soldiered on anyway.

So, what happened, was, as part of the foodbuzz tastemakers program, I received some Newman's Own tomato & basil sauce and a Flip Video camera as well to record some recipes!

Not only is it pretty tasty sauce, but the company gives the profits to charity. So, while stuff our faces with their products, we can feel good about ourselves!

This first one is so easy it's ridiculous, but it's really yummy.

Newman's Own Tomato & Basil Sauce with Goat Cheese and Roasted Garlic Croutons
serves 1 - 6 as an appetizer

2 bulbs garlic, peeled
1 oz extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
cracked black pepper
1 jar Newman's Own Tomato Sauce
1/2 log goat cheese
4 leaves basil
1 baguette sliced

Toss the garlic with salt, pepper & extra virgin olive oil. Put in foil and seal. Bake in oven at 350 for about 30 minutes, or until the garlic is soft.

Heat about half the jar of tomato sauce in a pan on the stove. Wait until it starts to simmer. Put sauce in an ovenproof bowl. Sprinkle with small pieces of goat cheese. Bake in oven at 350 for about 20 minutes, until cheese is melty and sauce is bubbly.

Smear some roasted garlic on croutons, and serve on the side with the tomato and goat cheese sauce. If you know they're going to want more, then put the second bowl in the oven before you serve the first!

(And BTW, it's perfectly acceptable to eat the whole bowl by yourself!)

So, here's the video. I had to have a little fun with it, otherwise, I wouldn't be The Food Ho!

Gotta Love Food Buzz!

2011-10-19T20:09:00.000-07:00

So, I am a Food Buzz featured publisher. What does that mean? Well, Food Buzz is like a culinary facebook. I do admit I am rather neglectful of my Food Buzz page, but I do keep up with their emails, because they give me lots of cool opportunities to try new products!

So, I opted in for the Newman's Own products offer... and a free Flip Video Camera. I was hoping to get this one. And what do you know, a little while later I got an email saying that I had been chosen to receive "these products as part of a Tastemaker program with Newman's Own."

So, here's the sauce. I think I was supposed to get two different sauces, but I'm not going to complain!

Here is the camera, which I have yet to open, because I needed to get this blog posting out. The deadline for the blog was tomorrow, but I don't know if I'm going to have time to make a blog about how I cook this stuff by sometime tomorrow night! I think I was supposed to get this sooner?

And here's the letter, and a coupon for a free Newman's Own Pizza.

So, we'll see what exciting recipe I can make with this sauce!

Lunch Date with Celebrity Blogger Canine Cologne

2011-10-18T16:19:00.000-07:00

So, a couple weeks ago, I went to lunch with Canine Cologne, of the blog Pink Candles at Ridgemont High. So, if you've never seen her sight you should take a gander. She blogs about food, and other general stuff; pop culture and fashion. And she loves Tokidoki.

We had gone to Sab E Lee way back when, and then a year or so later we went to Ba Ren with Kirk K of Mmm yoso. If you haven't read this blog, you definitely should as well if you are serious about ethnic food. He's like a food almanac. I think I told him that he should teach a gastronomy class at a university.

So, anyway, CC asked me where I wanted to eat. I'm so damn indecisive, so I was like, "I don't know...." So she gave me a few choices, and I was like, these two sound intriguing. The other two were soul food places, which while I love this kind of food, I figured the other two choices were places I might be less likely to go to with the FP.

So, we decided (really CC did) on Wa Dining Okan. Here is CC's post of the lunch, Wa Dining Okan.
Here's my pictures:

This is my "basic set." Basic set doesn't sound like food to me. It sound like...maybe makeup or kitchenware or maybe your wardrobe. Anyway, it was miso soup, rice - I chose brown rice just for something different, pickled cucumber and carrot, japanese potato, rice noodles, and a seaweed salad.

Here were our protein choices, I guess you would call it. CC got the chicken, and I got the mackerel. They were both really good. The chicken pieces were little crispy nuggets of goodness fried in tempura. I love tempura. I don't eat it much, but man, it is a great way of frying anything! When I worked at the Windsor Court way back when, we once had this dessert that was wedges of peaches fried in tempura. Were those good!

The mackerel was so good. It was in "original sauce" which seemed to just be some type of soy and vinegar type sauce. But you don't need much for mackerel. It was kinda funny though, because the piece that I gave CC had like 5 or 6 bones in it, and of the rest of the mackerel that I ate, I only got 2 or 3.

Here's is CC's basic set. She got the rice with added salmon roe. Too much roe though, as you can see. All of her rice was permeated with the fish egg flavor. Seems not cost effective to give that much roe anyway. So, I would like to come back here for dinner. CC said the dinner menu is more izakaya style for dinner - lots of skewers and other snacky dishes. But, she also said if you go on the weekend you definitely want a reservation. Hmm... sounds like an early evening weekday dinner for us. That's what we prefer anyway. The sucky thing about that, is that when we move to South Florida we will be jostling for tables with all the blue hairs for the early bird specials.

So, after lunch, which CC so graciously treated, we went up Convoy Street. It was lunchtime, so parking was shitty, surprise surprise. So we parked on the street. We walked over to The Fruit Shop. CC took lots of pictures here in her blog entry, The Fruit Shop. There were cool asian fruit. Some of the same weird stuff you will find at 99 ranch, but without the hassle of going to 99 ranch market. This woman kept trying to give us samples to try. She gave me a longan. CC passed, as she didn't like those. It was... okay. Not much flavor. I don't know if I've ever had one, so I don't know if it was peak taste or not. I was expecting it to be more flavorful like a lychee.

She gave us tastes of jackfruit. Once again, it lacked a little flavor, although it looked like it was going to be really good. The thing about a lot of this exotic fruit is that it's expensive. Some of the stuff was sold packed in plastic containers or bags, so it was kind of expensive. I guess that's why they try to force you to taste everything, because hopefully, you will taste something you like and be okay with spending the cash. CC got a kiwi. It was one of those paler larger golden kiwis.

So, then we walked over to Pangea, which CC posted about here: Pangea.

So, it was a cool Taiwanese bakery with lots of different buns, including those hot dog buns, which I have yet to try. It was all interesting, but since we had just eaten lunch, nothing really grabbed me. If I had been starving, I probably would have picked out 3 rather quickly.

So, it was weird because we heard piano music. There was a piano in the corner. We thought it was like a piano player thingy. Then CC pointed out that there was a man playing piano. We hadn't seen him when he walked in. He was playing popular hits from like the 80s and musicals and stuff. Of course, CC could tell what every single song was a few notes in.

So, CC suggested we look at the 2 for 1 buns. She got a chocolate bun, and she suggested I try that dried pork one that her friend likes.

Why the hell not? I like pork buns, and for the sake of research, I definitely thought I should try it. The chocolate one was only topped with chocolate, and the custard was not chocolate. So, this was somewhat disappointing, but it was still good. The pork had a good taste, but I'm not sure what I expected. It was crumbly, like pork dust. I guess I thought it would be more stringy like pork jerky or something.

Then we also got mochas. I never drink mocha. It was a special treat. I just drink iced Bustelo and soy milk in the morning, but this was a special occasion. My last lunch with CC.

Wa Dining Okan
3860 Convoy Street
92111
858-279-0941

The Fruit Shop
4619 Convoy Street
92111

Pangea Bakery
4689 Convoy Street
92111
858-560-0688

Don Felix

2011-10-11T17:52:00.000-07:00

So, we went to LA over a week ago to see our friend's band play at the Echo. We decided to get a room and stay overnight. So we headed up on a Sunday morning. We stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast. Yes. McDonald's. I had a hash brown, a bacon egg and cheese biscuit and orange juice. The juice was too big. The FP had a sausage mcmuffin and a teeny yogurt and fruit parfait. They are only 99 cents, so what do you expect.

Anyhoo, we were on our way to a dive bar to watch the Steelers game. It was Gabe's on Sepulveda. The place barely looked like it was open from the front. But when we walked in there were already plenty of people there. There were only Steelers fans in the bar, but they all were friendly. They were just ready to get drinking and watch some football. So, we sat at the bar. The bartender liked to high five. So, when the Steelers had a good play, the bartender would go down the bar and high five everyone. You know I'm not a big high fiver. But, of course, I had to oblige him.

After the game, we went and checked into our hotel. It was a remodeled Quality Inn on Silver Lake Blvd. So, we put our stuff in our room and then we went around down the street to find a restaurant. We had gone one block to the stoplight, when we saw a peruvian restaurant across the street called Don Felix. That was a no brainer. We walked in, and we were sold. It was fairly busy with all latino customers. The coolest thing was that our waiter was chinese. And he seemed to not know much english, or engrish if you want to stereotype. So, he would stand by the counter with his notepad and his hands behind his back, waiting until he thought a table was ready. We were ready for a bit, but I couldn't make eye contact with him. We just each ordered entrees.

I got the pescado saltado. Something different to try.

So the fish was marinated then fried crispy with the onion, tomato garlic saute. I always love this, but I'm a saucy girl. I would like it more if the sauteed stuff were saucier, like even if they just added a little water. Anyway, it was really good. I also love that it's acceptable to eat fries and rice together! So, if you can see in the back right corner, there's the ramekin of pale green sauce. This was like a chile salsa, pesto like as it had nuts in it. It was hot as fuck, which was funny because it looked innocuous enough. It was really good though. The FP ate a lot of it.

So this is what he got. Okay, I'm not exactly sure which dish this is, so I'm going to venture a guess - picante especial de mariscos. So it's mussels, squid, shrimp, octopus and fish in a peanut hot sauce. It was like the hot sauce on the table mixed in. It was really good and creamy and hot. We were thoroughly satisfied with our late lunch, early dinner - dinnunch or lupper or lunner.

So, then we hung out at the hotel until time to go to the show. Or so we thought. We were on San Diego time, not LA time. The doors opened at 10 and the show started a little after 11. The band we went to see was by far the best. They are called Kindest Lines. You should check them out if you like synth music a la Depeche Mode, New Order, The Cure, etc. Really good show.

So, the next morning we were starving. And we both knew where we were going. Young Dong in Koreatown, of course. I didn't take pictures I guess because I have blogged about Young Dong before here although it's weird that there were not pictures of the soup. Anyway, you get a bowl of meat and noodles in weak beef broth. The FP got the beef cheek, and I got the brisket and flank. Then you season your soup with sea salt, green onions, a dry red spice, vinegar and soy sauce. They also bring a jalapeno vinegar sauce and kimchee. We put the kimchee in the soup too. It's so simple but delicious. Anyway, that was our quick trip to LA. Short and tasty.

Don Felix Restaurant
4435 Fountain Ave, Los Angeles 90029

Young Dong
3828 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles 90010

Kindest Lines

P.S. I am dumb. I found the pictures of Young Dong that I thought I did not take!

Pork Porn!!! Finally

2011-10-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

So, I feel like I haven't delivered the promise of the blog title. Here you go.

Yummy roast pork butt (hehe, I said butt) with mushrooms, onions and garlic. Yum. I love roasting meat and throwing onions and mushrooms in the jus the last 30 minutes of cooking. I don't know if there is anything as beautiful in the world of cooking! It just soaks up all the flava! So, I made calrose rice and cabbage slaw. It was a lot of pork. Especially since the FP has been on a, (whispered) diet. He's been gearing up for a marathon, so, he's been eating 30 - 50% less. So, I've been cooking too much. We've been eating the same meal 3 or 4 times in a row. So, I did make a cuban like pressed sandwich a couple of times. That was good. Sourdough, swiss, horseradish mustard, lots of pickles, thin sliced pork and hot sauce. So good. But then, we still had a lot of pork left over, and it was about to graduate preschool, so I did what I always do. I made soup. LEFTOVER PORK BUTT SOUP. I had to write it in all caps because the blog entry with that title is like the most viewed one.

Anyhoo, I just threw together a Philippine tasting soup. I sauteed onion, ginger and garlic. Then I threw in mushrooms and let them cook a minute or two. Then I added soy sauce, Rufina patis (Philippine fish sauce), rice vinegar, and some spice mix I had made for BBQ. I let it come to a simmer, then put some water in and let it roll a bit. Then I added some potatoes. When they were almost tender, I added chick peas and sliced pork and let it go ten more minutes. Heat some left over rice and throw it in, delicious pilipino taste! So, we ended eating the entire pork butt. I love not wasting cooked food!

Food, duh

2011-10-03T20:55:00.000-07:00

So, I feel like I need to play cats up! So, here goes:

El Indio

I don't have any good reason why we've never been here. I guess it's just not in an area we frequent, so it's off the radar.

Chips and salsas. Fresh fried chips are always nice, especially when seasoned. Irregular cut is nice and homey!

Rolled tacos with guacamole. When we move, can I still call it guac, or is that strictly a Cali term? These were good. Seasoned beef filling is important, people!

The FP's enchiladas. He declared that this seemed like a good place to get them. It was. Very tasty. He didn't finish one of the enchiladas and I ate it later that night!

soft fish taco with tartar sauce, cabbage, cilantro & tomatoes. Nice work.

Carnitas taco with guac and ranchero salsa. Double yum!

Okay, so one night the FP came home, and there was no meal prepared! Bad housewife, shame on me! But, there was some leftover meat sauce. So I made him some pizza toast! So collegiate!

Well, he appreciated it! Not bad for using leftovers...

Resulting soup from a trip to Mitsuwa. Love that store! Miso paste soup, udon noodles, bunshimeji mushrooms, pickled cucumbers, pickled lotus root and pickled seaweed salad. We love pickles!

Spicy City

Cold dish from Spicy City. Not as good as Ba Ren....

Stewed duck in chili sauce. The waiter kept warning against this. He said it had lots of bones. So of course, we had to get it then. It did have lots of bone chard on the account of being hacked into tiny bite sized pieces, but the meat had good flavor. It was pretty hot. I'm such a pussy when it comes to spicy heat now, on account of my digestive, err, issues I'm always having.

Roasted chicken, coconut rice and pigeon peas, sauteed mushroom, tomatoes and pea shoots. Yum yum yum and good price point too!

Resulting chicken, corn and potato "gruel" as the FP termed it, from the leftover chicken. Looked weird and chunky texture, but I thought it was good!

Whelp, that's all folks!

Coast to Coast part 4

2011-09-28T16:27:00.000-07:00

So, the last meal in West Palm Beach was Jamaican. We couldn't leave without eating at one caribbean restaurant! So, of course the couple of places we thought of going to were closed. Unfortunately, caribbean and Jamaican restaurants are a tough mom and pop business, and some of the best of them can close down. Personally, I think the generous portions probably do not help the bottom line at all. We always marvel at the portion of oxtail that is sold for a $12 plate in these joints.

Thanks to the slow iphone, we finally found an open restaurant. I currently can't remember the name of it. I have a text message out to the FP and my sis to see if they will remember the name.

Anyhoo, we got a meat pattie. Flaky crust, like pie crust. Look at the flakes. You know, as long as the meat is seasoned, it always tastes good in a pastry. This one was really good.

Then we got a veggie pattie. Different crust. It had greens, carrots and corn. Love corn.

The FP got oxtail, of course. He always gets oxtail, unless it's not available.

So, it was really good. Nice and tender. Rice was nice. And veggies were good. As the seasoning rule goes for meat patties, so too for the veggies at these restaurants. Simply cooked but still good. And oxtail. As long as it is seasoned and cooked long enough, it's gonna be good. And the rice, well, ideally it's cooked properly, and it has to be seasoned.

My sis and I got the jerk chicken.

I like the dark marinade. It was a half a chicken. That was a lot. It was very tasty. It was spicy, but not too spicy, but it was rich and delicious as well. I had told my sister that she should take the leftovers, but we really didn't have much leftovers worth taking! We killed most of it.

So, after that, we went to Barnes & Nobles. The FP got a book, and we got frappucinos, and we sat on the benches out front and watched the rain. For like an hour. We watched this Mercedes in a handicapped space get rained into the open window for a while. The guy came out though, when I was contemplating telling the cashier inside. Someone else commented on how long we had been sitting there, as we were there when he walked in, and there after he left. Rain. So nice. I know I won't be saying that in a few months when I'm over the rain. But for now, I miss rain. So, we said our goodbyes, knowing we would be seeing my sis soon enough. I've now seen her in the past year and a half more than I've seen her probably in the several years prior.

So, then later, after all that good food, we had to eat shitty airport food for dinner.

The FP had the distinction of having the worst caesar salad of the whole trip. We didn't plan to eat a lot of caesar salads, we just did. But this sucked. The lettuce was wilty, and the dressing wasn't very good.

I got this hotdog with mustard, green onions and fried onions. The hotdog wasn't that good, the green onions were big slices, and the fried onions were stale. Boo!

Oh well, we were going to need to cut down on the food intake after this weekend!

Coast to Coast part 3

2011-09-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

So, the next day was Sunday, so we had to watch football. We never go to Steelers bars to watch games unless we are travelling. I guess part of it is to ensure that we are going to see the Steeler game, and it's always entertaining to see Steelers fans. They can be pretty weird. Like the one guy who had to take up a whole big banquette, for himself and his friend who showed up an hour and a half later. The guy who insisted on the big table was wearing Steelers logo PJs.

Anyway, the bar we went to was Rooney's. We got there an hour early to make sure we got a good table. We were asked if we wanted a high table or a booth. So we opted for booth. And then we noticed that the light fixtures kind of obscured the view. But we assumed that there would be plenty of TVs playing the Steelers game, right? Well, at first it was only on a fraction of all the TVs, but later on we were told that they were having an issue with the Direct TV receivers, so after a while the Steelers game was on almost half the TVs.

So, we had lunch there. First up was pierogis. Of course. So, we got them,

and they were fried?! That seemed wrong. The sauce was fine, and the filling was fine, but it just wasn't the same. It was like a limp empanada.

My sis got the shrimp and strawberry salad. The shrimp looked nice and big, and it looked like a nice fresh salad.

I got the turkey cobb sandwich. It was fine. Nothing wrong with it, nothing special.

I also got a small caesar salad. That was pretty good. Good dressing.

The FP got the french dip and a salad. Way too much food, of course. He was there to drink beer and watch football, not to eat!!!

So, the game sucked. The Ravens ...um... won.

So, we needed to do something fun after that. I was determined to get into the Atlantic Ocean. I mean, I wasn't going to fly out without even walking on the beach! So, I suggested we drive to Delray and go to the beach. The actual beach. And we could explore the strip where the bars and restaurants were.

So, we parked right on the beach, and we had to walk through the trees to get to the beach, but then, there it was! So, we walked right to the water's edge. My sis and I were taking off our shorts and dress, and next thing I turn around, the FP is waist deep in the water! This was quite a surprise, because he rarely goes in the water, here in the Pacific. He will stick his toe in it and say there's no way he's going in. The water was so warm, but not too warm. It was perfect. It was wonderful. And it was kind of soft on my skin. So, we were just swimming in the waves, and we kept getting pushed back to knee deep water. Then we started talking about jellyfish and how I hadn't seen one in years, since they weren't very common in San Diego. And just then, what did my finger brush up against? The top of a jellyfish about 7 inches in diameter. We got the fuck out of the water fast. So, then we decided to walk along the beach. And then we started seeing more jellyfish. There were a lot! One was even stranded on the beach, and we watched this mother and daughter get a plastic flipper fin and push it back into the water. We tried to go in the water again where it was pretty clear, and again, a jellyfish was near us. Even bigger. It turns out, they were moon jellyfish, which are slightly venomous and only really hurt if one is extremely sensitive. Anyway, it was better not to test that out.

So, we decided to go to this cool looking english pub we saw on the way in. We sat outside for a few hours on the benches. Then we needed to start thinking about dinner. We wanted a crab shack, but it was not yet stone crab season, and it was around 8 pm on a Sunday, so a lot of restaurants were closed already. The bartender recommended a place down the street, but it was closed. So we drove down the street. We didn't see anything eyecatching, so finally, we just parked and looked at every menu. We agreed on the last place, a latino restaurant.

We got cocktails - white sangria (too sweet), red sangria (good), and mojito (delicious).

We got morcilla. It was like blood pudding sausage. It was rich and creamy. Really rich and creamy.

Then we also got ceviche mixto.

Yuca frita, of course. Love yuca!!!

The waiter kept recommending the Mariscadas, so we got it.

Good fucking recommendation! It was really delicious!

So, of course, we also had to get Paella... which was so so good.

They had their own hot sauce, which is always a plus. Habanero, of course.

So, it was a wonderful dinner. And we closed the place down. And this is when the FP agreed to move to Florida, if I was okay to move to the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood area. The FP figured, it was pretty close to Miami, and he could live with that. Of course, now that it's getting closer, he's really pushing the Miami thing. I don't think I really want to move into Miami without knowing the area, and not having jobs. Plus, we could get a better place for cheaper in Fort Lauderdale, and the traffic won't be as bad. But, you know, the FP can be very close minded when he has his mind set on something. If we don't move into Miami, he will feel like we are in the middle of nowhere, which will not be the case. But. we'll see what happens........

Rooney's All In
6901 Okeechobee Blvd # B1
West Palm Beach, FL 33411-2512(561) 833-7802

Cabana El Rey
105 East Atlantic Avenue
Delray Beach, FL 33444(561) 274-9090

Coast to Coast part 2

2011-09-18T17:59:00.000-07:00

So, we were in West Palm Beach last weekend. Wow, it seems like longer than that. The second night there, we went to a goth club and stayed until 1 or 1:30. So we went to sleep late. My sister drove down Saturday morning from Kissimmee, and she got to the hotel at 9:18 am. She called and left a voicemail. About 10 minutes later, we woke to a loud knock on the door. It was the maid. If she hadn't of knocked on the door I think we would have slept until 10:30.

So, we got up, and we started driving. We drove down the coast. On Ocean Blvd. If you've never been there, I can't describe it to you. It's miles and miles of mansions and compounds and condos and townhouses on the beautiful Atlantic coast. There's no t shirt shops or restaurants or surf shops or anything except for residential zoning. Sometimes the road is covered by foliage leaning in on both sides. This is an area of my childhood state that I've never seen before. Weird.

Anyhoo, we drove and drove, although we only went 30 miles down the coast it felt farther. Especially when the speed limit is 25. So, we got to Boca Raton, and then began the dreaded search for a lunch place. The iphone was very slow, so it wasn't too helpful. Finally, we found a sign that had the word "wings" in it. That was the keyword for the FP and for my sis, who's alias on this blog happens to be Buffalo Rib. The place was called Hurricane Grill & Wings.

So, we sat on the patio. I felt like even though we were at a wing joint, I still wanted seafood. It was hot and humid, and I couldn't imagine scarfing down some hot wings. The FP could go to India and eat hot wings. So, I got grilled shrimp skewers. This is totally not what I would usually get, but we were in Florida. I was going to eat as much seafood as I could stuff into my big fatty mouth.

So, the shrimp were kind of small. But they were not overcooked and they were seasoned. So I was happy with that. The yellow rice was pretty good, and the broccoli was surprisingly good. The FP and my sis made fun of me because I mentioned it a few times. I guess it was just surprising that it wasn't insipid mushy old broccoli. It was cooked with garlic and a little parmesan.

So, we also got fried pickles. My sis loves spice, vinegar and meaty things. My mom used to love to tell the story how she would catch my sis as a little kid taking big slugs out of the gallon apple cider vinegar jug. My mom also liked to attribute the fact that my sis barely ever got sick to the vinegar diet.
Anyway, here's the pickles.

So it was slices, which I prefer to spears and it came with that thousand island type of dipping sauce. These were really good. Nice and crispy!

So, BR and the FP split an order of Hot (category 3) wings. I think the FP only ordered this level because he probably was thinking my sis wouldn't want any hotter. She would have eaten the category 5 wings if he ordered them, I'm sure. She's what you call a man's lady.

So, the wings were pretty good, but not enough sauce. The fries, I think they were like too salty or something. The slaw, was... slaw. Not a bad lunch.

So, we drove around some more. We wanted to really see as much of the place as we could. So, I looked up places that served craft beer. I found a German restaurant in Lake Worth that was reported to serve some. So we drove there. We were pleasantly surprised with the area. The strip that led to the intercoastal waterway was more modest. There were restaurants and bars and stores that had more of a neighborhood feel. And all the houses had that cute little old beach cottage feel. The neighborhood was mixed. One street would seem to be well kept, middle class. Then the next street down would look rundown and scary.

So we went to the restaurant, Little Munich. It was one of those charming german pubs with German owners. I love those. I love German food, and I love German restaurants. And the bathroom had galvanized tin buckets as sink basins.

So, I didn't see any craft beer. Maybe they had some in bottles or something, but I didn't look to hard. But, it was a German restaurant, so I had a German beer. It was fine. We sat outside until it started raining and I feared for my Mac. So then we moved to the bar. We weren't too hungry, but after 3 hours there, we decided to order some food to taste. We couldn't possibly leave and not try any food!

This blurry picture is spaetzle and sauerkraut. This was just a side of spaetzle. I mean, it's like gluten carb overload. Anyway, you could order gravy on anything, and I forgot to order gravy on the spaetzle, so the bartender brought us a gravy boat! The spaetzle was good (and plenty), but the sauerkraut was great. It tasted...authentic. It didn't taste like canned or jarred sauerkraut, which is perfectly respectable.

Bratwursts and German potato salad. Yummmmeeeeee! I mean, nicely cooked wursts, look at the sear. And the potato salad. Yum. Yum yum. Vinegar and bacon do wonders for potatoes. That mayonnaisey eggy stuff without any tang - I'm sorry, I hate that kind of potato salad. Oh, and mustard too please. They brought us out the condiment container of brown mustard. I love that stuff. If I had mustard and ketchup hanging off a cliff and I could only save one... sorry Heinz....

So, we left Little Munich 4 hours later and we drove. And drove. And drove. We ended up in Tequesta at Tequesta Brewing Company. We ordered what turned out to be below average beers. Well, I shouldn't say that. San Diego has such great brewers, even though the beers can be very...strong. But, this Tequesta place was kinda cool, nonetheless. I guess I had a bathroom sink fetish that day, because I found this sink basin here:

It's a beer tap! How cool! What was not cool, was that the place closed at 11 pm on a Saturday night. Well, Tequesta seemed to be a sleepy rich beach town, so I assume they have lots of rules there or something. So, we called it a day and went back to our nice Days Inn to get some rest.

Hurricane Grill & Wings

Phone: 561-395-3306

22191 Powerline Road

Boca Raton, FL 33433

Little Munich

561-932-0050

806 Lake Ave

Lake Worth, FL 33460

Coast to Coast

2011-09-16T17:30:00.000-07:00

So, last weekend, we went to South Florida. We were checking out the area. To move there. While San Diego is America's Finest City, it's not quite working for us. So, if we move to South Florida, we can still enjoy the beach for a better price point. And there are still lots of rich people for the FP to work for....me, I really have no idea what the fuck I'm going to do. As long as I can get some job making money to begin with, that's good enough for me.

So, we flew in Thursday night. Opening night of NFL. Saints Vs. Packers. So, we had to find a sports bar near the hotel. We found Palm Beach Ale House & Raw Bar. Ale and Raw were the two key words. So that's where we went. There was a large patio area with tables and chairs and a large bar and several tables.

So, we had beer. Yuengling, of course. It's like our official beer when we are in Florida. And we had 2 dozen oysters.

My own plate of oysters. 14 oysters. Not sure why. Either someone can't count or they counted a couple small ones as one oyster. Anyway, I have to say... they were disappointing. They were not very flavorful. They may have been the pasteurized ones that just taste like water. But, we pretty much ate them all anyway.

Sorry for the shitty pictures. My camera is not doing too well. Anyway, that was a shrimp caesar salad. Weird choice? Well, that just happened to be what we both ordered. We needed some greenage. It was actually a very good salad. Good dressing, good shrimp, no complaints at all. The game, on the other hand, was very disappointing. We left around the start of the 4th quarter.

The next morning, we were looking around West Palm Beach. We went to eat lunch on PGA Blvd at the Waterway Cafe. It was on the Intercoastal Waterway. So, we ate outdoors, right on the water. It was pretty damn nice. We got to watch the fancy boats go through the drawbridge. And we had seafood.

This is smoked fish dip with carrots and pickled jalapenos. As we would find out, this is a regional standard on all menus. So, it's like a mix of local smoked fish like mahi mahi. Although, they like to call it dolphin down there. Not dolphin fish, but dolphin. I had always wondered when I started cooking in restaurants why people thought we were serving dolphin the mammal. For whatever reason, they like to call it just dolphin. Weird. I mean, if that were the case, then Ric O'Barry would be showing up at every restaurant in South Florida making a big stink. Anyway, the fish dip was de-fucking-li-shus. It was just the right balance of fish and smoke and... cream cheese, yum! And I grew up on Captain's wafers. I would eat packets and packets of them in one sitting. So, I enjoyed spooning a big heap of fish dip on one of those and going to town.

Conch fritters. I fucking looooooooovvvvvvvvvvve conch. It's good shit. And who doesn't love fritters. So, the batter was good. Nice and seasoned. And then when I got a bite of chewy conch, that was wonderful. And the key lime mustard sauce was the perfect complement. Man I love conch!

So, we got the conch chowder as well. Also delicious. It was vegetably, conchy, tomatoey, and just a really good soup!

We also got the greek tuna salad. We didn't ask for a split, but they just did it without us asking. That was a nice touch. Although we asked for the tuna rare, and it came to us medium well. Oh well, the salad still was nice. Roasted red peppers, feta (this seafood cheese combo is acceptable to me), romaine, pepperoncini. It was a very nice salad. And the view was amazing!

So, for dinner, we figured we would go to the happenin area, Clematis Street. We got there around 8:30 on a Friday night, and there was no problem whatsoever parking. We walked down the street, looking for an appealing restaurant. We decided on a fairly quiet cuban restaurant - Don Ramon. We hoped that it was not busy because it was still early, not because it wasn't that good. After all we were in south Florida! So, we got mojitos. They were good. We got an empanada.

It was good. It was an empanada.

The FP got the fish and shrimp with creole sauce. The sauce was really good and homey. The shrimp were nice, the fish, which I presume was tilapia, was okay. The plantains were delicious. Nicely fried on the outside, soft and sweet innards.

I got the pork chops with mojo sauce. The meat was kind of dry, but I just wanted something cooked in mojo sauce, and that's what I got. The fat was the best part. The onions on it were tasty, as was the yellow rice, the black beans, and my plantains. It wasn't the best cuban food we've had by far. But it was decent. And we were in a new place on a new adventure!

Palm Beach Ale House

Waterway Cafe

Don Ramon Restaurant

Red Condiment

2011-09-13T19:37:00.000-07:00

So, I got a lot of red condiment (ketchup) to do. Here goes.

This is chicken parmesan. This is a strange thing that I really don't know if I've ever made. It was good though. I had to double coat the chicken breasts with flour/egg/bread crumb/parm coating because one pass through wasn't enough. I tried to bake it in the oven, but I didn't have the oven cranked up high enough, so it wasn't browning. So, I browned the breasts (tee hee hee) in a pan with oil. It was kind of backwards cooking. I used pre-made tomato sauce cause I'm lazy! It was still delicious though.

This is fluffy, soft, cheesy, not enough saucey, Pizza Port pizza. We had never been to Pizza Port, so we went to the one in OB. It was nice to go to the beach area and hang out and have an okay beer. And we were hungry so we ate the pizza. But it just really wasn't anything to write home about. Especially because I don't call where I grew up home, and also because my dad wouldn't know what the hell I was talking about anyway.

Labor Day shrimp and crab berl, cajun style. I don't think this need explantation. Garlic, mushrooms, sausage, stone crab, shrimp, kern and potatoes. This kind of meal tugs at my heartstrings!

Okay, so I had to get a Haagen Dazs chocolate almond ice cream bar to compare to the magnum. The magnum was way better. Well, the chocolate on the magnum was better. The almonds on the Haagen Dazs were smaller bits and crunchier. I'm not sure about the ice cream - I think it was about equal. But I think the thicker richer coating on the Magnum gave it the edge over Haagen Dazs.

Monkeying Around

2011-09-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

So, the Food Pimp has been working a lot ever since I ..... stopped working. So, that combined with me not really bringing in income, means we haven't been going out so much. Last Thursday though, the FP finally had a day off. A good day, to go to the bar. So, our go to bar is the Bluefoot, but we've been eyeing the new bar down the street as it's been remodelled. It had opened the week before, so we were excited to go there.

Previously, it was the Jewel Box. We went there once. We really liked the joint, but for whatever reason we never went back. But, now it's another one of Scot Blair's bars. We like Small Bar. Hamilton's, there's something about the place that never endeared us to that place. And we've never been to Eleven. Anyway, the chalkboards give away the fact that it's a Blair bar. Each bar has the big chalkboard with very similar beer lists and very artistic chalk skills. And they also have other boards with very elaborate illustrations in chalk.

So, if you like cheap light beers, you might not like the selection, which is all craft and belgian beers. The alcohol content of most beers is higher than the typical domestic, so this can be good and bad.

Anyhoo, this place has a liquor license too, so we decided to have some cocktails. The moscow mule was up first.

I don't know why, but I love drinking cocktails in mugs. It's...homey, like I'm not drinking something alcoholic at all. The guy who was bartending was from Hamilton's, and he wasn't used to making the cocktails yet, but he did a good job. Very drinkable.

Then, next up for the FP, of course, he got a rum punch drink. The name eludes me and I forgot to snap a picture of it. But it had juices and dark rum and stuff. This one came in a pint glass, which the FP liked.

After that, we both got the small bar silver surfer.

This one had rum and ginger beer and something cherry. This one was good, but the first taste was really strong. Once it settled a little it was pretty damn good, but the moscow mule was better.

So, after a couple hours there (the FP had just wanted a couple drinks before going home to record some music) our friend who we had not seen in several months showed up unexpectedly. So, the FP switched to Anchor Steam and we stayed a couple more hours.

I started to get hungry, so I ordered the piggyback fries.

This was cheese fries with housemade waffle fries and pulled pork. The menu said it came with cheddar, but I asked for blue cheese instead. I just haven't had blue cheese in forever, and it sounded really good. So, I felt a little annoying, but I asked anyway. And the girl who was cooking was fine with that. She brought it out, and it looked delicious. And it was so good. The pork was nicely seasoned and cooked, and the blue cheese was good, and the waffle fries were nice and crisp so that they didn't get too sogged out with the toppings. So, we devoured these fries. We wolfed them down. And then the fat started to digest and it was time to go home. But, we would be back to try the cheesesteak and the wings.

So, we went back for lunch yesterday - Labor Day. I was off the drink, so I just had a water and a diet coke. The FP kinda made fun of me for it, of course. He feels uncomfortable to be with someone at a bar who isn't drinking alcohol at all. He had beers.

I ordered the chicago style cheesesteak. I don't have a picture though. :(
So, that means giardiniera, cheese and meat. And it came with waffle fries. I don't like that word giardiniera, because it sounds a little too much like giardia, which causes beaver fever! Ewww. Anyway, it was packed with meat. I mean it was heavy. And it had some of the jus dripping from it, but the FP felt that it could have been jusier. It did need some seasoning also. But my big gripe with it was the giardiniera. We had just watched that show that pits two restaurants against each other, I can't think of the name of it. But the challenge was the chicago italian beef sandwich. Beef, giardiniera, bun and jus. So these sandwiches on TV had a lot of the giardiniera and they were jusy. This one was not so jusy, and not too much veggies. And it was made with like precut vegetables or something. Those wavy cut carrot slices and really big pieces of cauliflower. And then it wasn't as spicy and tangy as I would have liked. But, actually, the FP liked it way more than I did. If I had never seen that food show with the Italian beef sandwiches on it, I would have liked this more. See how cooking shows can ruin a perfectly fine dining experience? That's why you have to take yelp reviews with a huge pile of salt, sea salt of course, hawaiian if available. The waffle fries were delicious. They were crispy and seasoned with a lot of salt and cracked black pepper.

The FP got the buffalo wings of course. They were good. They were good. They could have been fried a little longer, but they were fine. And the sauce was good. Very typical buffalo sauce. It was a very good showing. But those piggyback fries are probably the best thing on the menu!

Monkey Paw
805 16th St. 92101
619-358-9901
open every day at 12

Los Arcos

2011-09-05T12:08:00.000-07:00

So, once we discover a new restaurant or a new area of restaurants, we get excited and go there a lot, and then we overexpose ourselves to the place and don't go back for a while. This seems to be what we are on track to do with Bonita Road, Canine Cologne's hood.

We went to TJ Oyster Bar. Then the FP told his cooking class about it. Fortunately, some mexican ladies were in the class, and they gave him the names or directions of other mexican restaurants to try, and one thai place. Interestingly enough, they had been to Sab E Lee, but they told him of another Thai place that they liked better. They didn't list the name, so I have no idea what this place is.

Anyhoo, what we were more interested in was the mexican places. So, one day for lunch we went to Los Arcos on the other side of the 805 on Bonita Road.

We knew it was a Mexican chain, but not much else about it. When we walked in, we were surprised to see it was a brightly decorated with colorful caribbean resort colors - torquoise, orange, yellow, green, and that it was a sit down service restaurant. For whatever reason, I expected it to be more of a fast food joint. I guess because it is a chain.

So, the FP ordered straight off the scrap of note paper.

First came the chips and salsa. The salsa was kind of chunky puree, with canned tomatoes, but it was good. It looked like that Herdez salsa. No picture, cause I'm dumb.

The FP got a margarita. No picture again. Two thumbs up!

Los Arcos Special Ceviche. It was like this shrimp ceviche that was delicately marinated. The shrimp was tender and tasty, and the juices were fresh and not too sour or sweet, with a nice amount of orange juice, as the FP pointed out. It was like $15, but the portion was a good size for the price. This was the best ceviche I've had in a while, although I haven't had ceviche in a very long time. I did try it with the mayo, and I kinda liked it.

We got guacamole too. This came after our empty chip basket had left the table. Once again, no picture! It was a small plate of guacamole spread on it with three chips sticking out of it. We thought it was a little sucky that they didn't bring us more chips with it, but it's not like we asked for more. We did still have our ceviche and tostadas, so we ate the guacamole with that. Once some more salt was added to it, it was perfect.

I wasn't sure what to get. I tend to look at prices to help me determine my order. The FP can look blindly past the price tag, this is a true testament to our both very diverse upbringings. I was still coming off of my horrible acid reflux episode, so I didn't want to eat a big meal or anything that I thought might bother my pussy digestive system. Most of the menu was plates, not much a la carte, so I got a shrimp taco... I can't remember what it was called! It's not on the website, and I don't know where that precious scrap of paper is. Wow, this is once again one of those uninformative blogs where I can't give specifics or photos. I guess this is one of many reasons why I'll never be a real food writer!

Anyway, I forgot that I was supposed to get it fried. It was...okay. It had cheese melting on it. If you know how I am about cheese on stuff like this, I'm not a big fan. There wasn't a whole lot, so it was okay, but I can see how it would be better with fried shrimp. The shrimp were nicely cooked, though. The tortilla was nicely grilled.

I also got the smoked tuna taco. I had really felt like I missed out at TJ Oyster Bar, so I ordered one at Los Arcos. This was not recommended by the Mexican ladies, and I knew why when I took a bite. I'm sorry, but it was...gross It was just smoked tuna shredded and packed into the tortilla. It was warm, definitely not grilled or anything because it was just pink. There was a little whatnot on it, but not much to it but the strong smoked tuna. You know how it seems that there can never be too much filling in a taco? There was too much. I ate less than half of it, and I only ate that much out of hunger, and not wanting to be wasteful. This was a poor choice on my part since it wasn't on the list!

Mongol Octopus (It was not under this name on the menu, so we found it by the description)
This shit was so fucking delicious!!!!!! I can't tell you how amazing it was. It was the most tender sliced octopus, cooked with some shrimp and smoked tuna for flavoring. OMG! You need to go to Los Arcos and get this dish ASAP! So, so, so fucking fuck your giant stuffed giraffe (Wilfred reference) delicious!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The FP also had to get a side of beans and rice. Yeah, beans and rice. The fried noodle antennas crack me up! I'm not sure what the deal with this garnish is, but it's amusing to me, and I've seen it more than once.

So, this was quite an expensive tab. It was more than if we had gone to Bully's East the night before for special prime rib. But it was so worth it! We will be back again, but we will have to be loaded with a ton of cash!

Los Arcos
89 Bonita Rd
Chula Vista, 91910
619-934-3517

TJ's Es Muy Bonita!

2011-08-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

So, I've been wanting to go to the beach, but the FP seems to be over it. I guess summer is almost over, so you can't go to the beach after Labor Day anyway, right? Naaaaaaaht.

Anyhoo, the other day we were trying to figure out where to eat. I felt in the mood for seafood, which is unusual. I have been having acid reflux issues, so I didn't feel like eating anything too fatty or overly spicy. So, ideally I would have wanted to go to the beach and eat, but it might have been busy and the FP didn't seem into it. So I just googled seafood san diego. Of course yelp was one of the first sites, but I looked at it like I often do. Just because I think it can be bullshit doesn't mean I don't use it! So, anyhoo, this place called TJ's Oyster Bar caught my eye, and it wasn't in TJ. It was in Bonita, which I used to think was so far away, but now I realize it is actually really close.

So, the FP was game. He liked the name TJ. So we were driving to Bonita, and he said, I thought you were going to pick somewhere by the beach! Whatever. It was a lovely drive to Bonita. So we exited, and we were rubbernecking bigtime, and there were all these places, a caribbean place, lots of mexican (surprise, surprise), a place that looked spanish tapas, and some other places that all piqued our interest. According to the iphone, we missed TJ's, so we turned around. We didn't see it, so we had to drive all slow and touristy. We found it in the corner of a shopping center. It was very small, so it was easy to miss.

So, it was like a TJ oyster bar. It was this teeny place with mostly counter seating, a couple tables and a counter against the window. Except it was clean. You order at the cash register and then sit and wait for your food. So, we ordered, the cashier repeated my order twice, which was good, because she said "8 tacos", and I thought I had heard "a taco". And she said, that's why I repeated it twice. I mean, we've been known to eat a lot, but not quite that much. And actually, I wasn't ready to gorge on a big meal because of my digestive issues.

So we sat at the counter so we could watch them cook. The one guy did all the cooking, and the other guy finished the plates. It was like watching the cooks at Waffle House, all organized and methodical. As we were waiting, people started piling in. In a few minutes, there was a line out the door. Okay, the place was small, so that wouldn't take much, but all the seats were spoken for and there were also people waiting outside as well. So, we definitely knew this was going to be good.

So, I got three tacos. Whoopee, huh? That's really what I wanted though.

So, here are my shrimp and garlic taco and my grilled fish taco. Really simple street tacos with a little red onion (thankfully), cilantro and white sauce. They were a little small, but really good. The shrimp and fish was seasoned nicely.

And here is my fried fish taco. This one had some tomato and cabbage and white sauce. Yeah, I shouldn't eat tomato either, but it wasn't that much. I liked this one better because of the batter. Can you say that sentence fast three times? Probably. Anyway, the batter was seasoned properly and it had stuff in it, herbs and spices. So, yeah, I usually like the deep fried fish taco better.

This is not the best picture, but this is the FP's oyster cocktail. It was so good. The clam juice and stuff was so fresh and yummy and refreshing. I loved it. And yes, there was more tomato and raw onion. But I barely ate much of it, just a taste, really. The oysters tasted fresh too. The FP wanted to get the pulpo cocktail, but since the place had oyster in the name, he felt like he should get something with oysters in it.

This was the FP's 7 mares. You know, that's been his thing lately. So, I asked how it compared to the San Clemente place and Ranchos. He said, it didn't even compare. It was way better. Like we were in TJ, with hopefully no food poisoning. But this place was so clean. It was nice. Like going to TJ without the hassle of crossing the border and eating at a dirty place and having people hound me to buy shit. Anyway, it was very flavorful, with like that clamato mix with extra clam juice and shrimp stock or something. It was really clean tasting. We were very happy. Although, as I watched, I saw what looked like smoked marlin on the grill. I didn't see it on the menu. I did see smoked tuna, though. So either that was off the menu smoked marlin or smoked tuna. Either way, it looked good. If the place hadn't been so damn packed and people waiting for our seats, I would have gotten one. But there's always next time! Because you better believe, we are definitely going back to Bonita!

TJ Oyster Bar
4246 Bonita Rd.
Bonita, CA.
(619) 267-4577

HOURS OF OPERATION

Monday - Saturday
10am - 8pm
Sunday
10am-6pm

To The Max

2011-08-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

So, one day for lunch, we found ourselves on Convoy Street, with the age old question, what to eat?

It was a little before 11, so we drove around a bit, and then I suggested China Max. We had never been there, but I remember seeing the name a lot through the years. So, we pulled into the parking lot, and they were open, so that's where we went.

It was a little fancy, so I was hoping it wasn't a little too expensive.
We sat down, and were surprised to see dim sum menus. So, that was fine. It wasn't cheap, but not any higher prices than other places for lunch. The dinner menu, on the other hand was pretty pricey. We just ordered a couple of things off the dim sum menu and one dish.

So, they brought us the egg drop soup, and it was a nice surprise to find corn in it. I love corn going in and out! It was very tasty.

Beef rice noodle. I haven't had this in a while. Nicely flavored ground beef and lots of sauce.

Rice in lotus leaf. I forgot to take a picture of the insides. It was all gooey with meat gelatin and some of the egg. Sounds gross, but it really flavored the rice.

Pork rib with black bean sauce. One of my favorites.

Rock cod with black bean sauce. The cod was good, as was the little sauce at the bottom. The big chunks of basically raw bell pepper and onion are really a loathsome ingredient to me. I can only assume, without doing research that this is a thing that developed in the USA because people felt like they weren't getting enough bang for their buck because there were not enough vegetables in their dishes, or they couldn't see the vegetables. So, to spite them, asian restaurants started putting gigantic dice vegetables into dishes and adding them at the last minute so they wouldn't shrink at all. Anyway, the sauce was good to drizzle onto my rice. I enjoyed the fish.

It was good. I would go back, but I would probably read up on the internets to see what one is supposed to get when eating there.

I wonder if one day, assuming the world doesn't end next year, our descendants will see our old blogs and posts and stuff, and say, wow, back then it looks like it was mandatory to take a picture of your food before you ate it! What a weird custom!

China Max
4698 Convoy Street C101
San Diego, CA 92111

Phocking Pho

2011-08-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

So, I bought a chicken from Pancho Villa Market for $6. So, I did what all classic cooks do. I simmered it to make a flavorful chicken broth. Well, I probably would have roasted it, but I decided to simmer it to make Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. No one was sick, I just wanted to cook without doing much work and have enough for more than one meal. This is one of those kinds of things that you think foodies cook all the time, right? I'm not a foodie, though.

Well, I don't know, maybe I am, but I don't like that term. I see foodies as people who would not eat fast food or junk food or profess their love for these foodstuffs. And they know much more than me about cuisine and different ethnic styles and classical techniques, and stuff. I used to be fairly knowledgeable about food, but my mind is becoming a ball of mush. Really. I've been losing IQ points since I was...22ish. I love Popeyes, I am infatuated with Inn and Out Burger, Del Taco is a booty call, Jack in the Box is a desperate void filler, hot dogs and pizza are long term casual affairs. Long John Silver is an old lover, but we still are on speaking terms, and I don't hold any jealousy for his live in relationship with KFC and Taco Bell - oh and Taco Bell was an adolescent love affair. I guess rather than a foodie, I'm more of a..... food ho.

Blah, blah, blah. So, I'm not going to explain in painstaking detail the steps for making chicken soup. Because if you need that, then either you are an inexperienced cook, or maybe you should let someone else cook it for you. I can't write out the recipe and put my loyal readers to sleep - who by the way all can cook, probably better than me, and share intersecting food tastes with me, unless they just read this for my pulitzer prize winning writing style. Okay, I'm really just too lazy to write it. But, you just simmer the chicken until it's nice and cooked, and then you pull the chicken, put other stuff in the soup, season it and put the chicken back in.

Anyhoo, I put sliced onions, mushrooms, and bok choy in it. And I garnished with bean sprouts, lime and some chili and fish sauce on the side. Unfortunately, I didn't have basil, and it defintely could have used some.

The next day, I took some of the chicken that I didn't put in the soup, and I mixed it into a seaweed salad that I made. I love seaweed salad. And it's also good for staving off that nuclear fallout from the Japanese nuclear power plant meltdown that we now hear zero news about because it's completely fixed and cleaned up and no problems there, right? Anyway, I had 3 types of dried seaweed. I'm not a marine biologist or a sea horticulturist, so, I'm not going to go into the kind of seaweed. Today is and anti-informational blog. It's like, if you were reading this for culinary education, you should have stopped at the title. If you're reading this on the shitter, that's probably more appropriate.

Anyway, I mixed all the seaweed together to hydrate, which was a rookie move. This one seaweed clearly was thicker, like kelp strips. Of course, it was a little chewy, while the other seaweed was feathery tenderness. I just made a simple dressing of sesame oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar and a little fish sauce, and sesame seeds.

I'm not very prolific when it comes to the asian condiments. Whenever I get crazy and buy a bunch of other stuff, it goes bad, falls out of the fridge door and spills everywhere, or it gets infested with moths or other pests. So, yeah. I liked it. It was delish. In fact, I didn't even eat any chicken soup for lunch, just a few big bowls of seaweed and chicken salad. And it didn't cost $10 for a teeny pile served on a fancy sushi dish by some trendy white person wearing a trendy all black long sleeve uniform complete with long black bistro apron and shiny Danskos in a trendy sushi restaurant owned by a trendy mexican with mexicans working the sushi bar. Not that there's anything wrong with that.....

Chinesish

2011-08-23T14:40:00.001-07:00

So, I've been cooking what would be termed pan-asian, which is just a euphemism for the f word - FUSION. It's a hated word. I would hate for people to term my food fusion, but there you have it.
I had some groceries I needed to use, so I went to the the mexican market and bought some thin cut pork chop. I had some chow mein noodle that I would just stir fry with stuff. I guess it was a bastard kung pao.

Pan Asian Fusion Bastard Kung Pao Pork Chop Chow Mein

2 inches ginger peeled and minced
4 cloves garlic minced
2 oz peanuts
3 T sesame oil
1 lb pork chops bone in sliced
2 bunches green onion sliced into 3 inch pieces
6 heads baby bok choy leaves separated and washed
small handful sezchuan peppers (I had to get these "japanese peppers" from Panchos because I forgot to get sezchuan peppers when I was at the asian market. They were longer and thicker than szechuan peppers, so not as good)
1/2 lb bean sprouts
4 oz soy sauce
3 oz fish sauce (I prefer Rufina Philippine brand, of course)
2 oz rice vinegar
1 oz honey
1 c water
1 pack fresh chow mein noodles blanched

Heat a wok or saute pan until it's hot. Add 2 tablespoons sesame oil, and swirl it around bottom of the pan. Add ginger, garlic, peanuts and peppers. Stir fry quickly, so contents don't burn. Let it cook until everything is nicely toasted. Remove and set aside. Add 1 tablespoon sesame oil. When it's hot, add green onions and cook for one minute. Sprinkle pork chops with a little salt, then add to pan. Let it cook for one minute on high, flip cook another minute. Add soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and water. Let it come up to a boil, then add bok choy. Reduce heat to medium high, and let cook for 3 minutes. Add ginger, garlic, pepper and peanut mix, sprouts and chow mein noodles. Toss to mix everything. Let it cook another several minutes until noodles are cooked to desired doneness and sauce has reduced some.

I also bought one of those vacuum packs of bamboo shoots. I actually made this first so it would marinate a little.

Yummy Bamboo Shoot Salad
2 T sesame oil
2 szechuan peppers
I pack bamboo shoots cut into thin strips
2 oz fish sauce
1 oz soy sauce
1 oz rice vinegar
juice of 2 key limes

Heat a saute pan or wok. Add sesame oil, swirl around bottom of pan, and let it get hot. Add szechuan peppers and fry until evenly toasted. Turn off heat. Toss in bamboo shoots, fish sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar and lime juice. Take off heat. Serve warm or cold.

And then, of course, I sliced some fresh chilis and put it in fish sauce with a splash of vinegar for the FP. He can never have enough salt or heat......

Squarshed Baby Tomato

2011-08-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

So, I'm just going to post some of the more interesting food we've been eating over the past month.

This is the large oxtail plate at Caribbean Taste on Imperial Avenue. It's very good. I find myself liking it more than Island Spice. The oxtail at Island Spice is so cooked down and thick and rich that it's a little too much. At Caribbean Taste it's "lighter". If you want patties though, get them at Island Spice. All three - veggie, chicken and beef - are really good. I love the pastry, it's nice and flaky.

You know what these are! So, one morning, we woke up and decided we wanted Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I had been craving these for a couple months, so I was excited to go. The Hot Doughnuts sign was not lit, but we went in anyway. I mean, it was Sunday morning, so they had to be fresh, right? Well, the glazerfall was operating, but they were cranking out mini doughnuts. So you can't buy those except for in a box of 20. Boo :( But, the guy at the counter assured me the regular sized doughnuts were done no more than 5 - 10 minutes ago. So, I got two. The Food Pimp got one glazed and one lemon custard filled. We got iced coffee, which sucked. But, I just needed it to drink while I scarfed down my doughnuts. Actually, I consciously took my time to eat them. They were like sweet clouds of sugar and fat, heavenly! We watched all the families trickle in and stare into the windows and enjoying their doughnuts and the company of their families. We thought it was nice, because it's a memory in both of our childhoods that we do not share.

Now, it's not like my childhood was all bad, but when I see a girl climb onto her daddy's lap and give him kisses, that is weird to me.

Anyway, after the Krispy Kreme outing, we had to go do some errands for a bit, and then the FP was already ready for lunch. So, we were driving around Clairemont Mesa when we spotted a place called Village Indian Cuisine. I wasn't really hungry, so it was all the FP's decision, so that's where we went.

We walked in, and it looked like they had just opened. There was a buffet, which looked, okay. But the FP decided to order off the menu. I guess I forgot to take a picture of his food. It was lamb vindaloo. He said it was decent, but there was no need to come running back to the place.

I had ordered what I thought was going to be a little appetizer.

Chana Samosa. The way I read the description, I thought the samosa would be filled with garbanzo beans, not smothered with them! So it was a vegetable samosa with potatoes and peas, and then the stewed garbanzos with yogurt and cilantro on top. The garbanzos were a little al dente. So, kudos to them for actually cooking the beans, but less than kudos for not cooking them quite long enough. The dish itself tasted good, but part of the goodness of samosas for me is that the pastry is crispy fried goodness. So being smothered with the chick peas, the samosas were not crispy anymore. And so much for a little sumpin sumpin....

We went a couple weeks ago up to Anaheim to see our friend's band play a show. So on the way up we stopped in San Clemente for lunch. We were both wanting Mexican, so that was an easy call since the first shopping center we passed had a Mexican joint. The FP got seafood stew,

and I got carnitas tacos.

It was very good. The FP loved his stew. My tacos were good, but the beans were too pureed. I like pinto beans to be a little more... beany. It doesn't have to be whole beans, although I like it that way, but I like to have some texture so it's not so baby foody.

I kinda was on this taco kick, so I made chicken tacos one time at home.

I just kinda cooked the chicken meat with onion, garlic, salsa and canned pinto beans. I think I threw a little butter in at the end.

Then, I was still on a taco kick, but I wanted fish tacos. This is weird because I've never been a huge fan of fish tacos, but I've come to appreciate them. The FP wanted seafood stew because the one he had in San Clemente was good. So we went to Ranchos in North Park. It was strange because it was a Saturday or Sunday around lunchtime, and we hadn't eaten out in North Park, especially on a Saturday or Sunday in ages.

So, the place has been redone since we last went which was probably a couple years ago. I had been relieved that the front patio with all the plants had been removed. While I love foliage especially on patios, there was too much there. I felt the creepy sense that rats probably loved that patio. Anyhoo, the FP got his stew.

Which he really liked, although he preferred the stew in San Clemente.

I got my fish tacos.

So, the obvious criticism I'm going to make is the cheese. We both got cheese on our beans, me on my black beans, the FP on his pintos. We were eating seafood. While I'm not so stringent about the no seafood with cheese rule, I didn't think it was fitting to have cheese with our beans and seafood stew and fish tacos in this case. I probably might have been okay with a little sprinkling of queso cotija, just a little. But not that mozzarella or whatever it was. Anyway, moving past that, the rice was overcooked, which was fine because that's kind of the deal with this preparation of rice - it's more authentic seeming if it's overcooked. The tacos were good. I got one grilled and one fried. I actually liked the crispy fried fish better. The grilled fish was a little more on the dry side, being grilled instead of fried, but I liked both and I gobbled them up.

This is the BEST BACON MAC AND CHEESE THE FP HAS EVER MADE!

I like so many fellow Americans love mac and cheese. Not so much the box shit anymore. I like it with a proper cheese sauce. The cheese doesn't have to be fancy though. So, the FP is not a big mac and cheese fan. He's not a fan at all. But, he can appreciate a good mac and cheese. So, he never really made mac and cheese before he started teaching cooking classes. So, he's learned the technique - slowly cooking the bechamel. Anyhoo, he had a kids' cooking class one Saturday afternoon. The property that the class was at had not promoted the class at all. So no one showed up. So, he had the fixins for a huge pan of the stuff. So that's what we had for several meals. It was so fucking delicious, all baked up in the pan and topped with bacon! So good. We ate almost all of it. It was a shame that a bit of it went to waste.

Conchings:

Sinigang. Yum Yum Yum

Sisig. Yum, but Tita's is way better.

Coconut curry crawfish.

Yuck. I mean, the sauce was good to put on the rice, but the crawfish were gross. They tasted like they were those frozen imported crawfish from China or Thailand. They were just dirty tasting. Yuck.

Coconut Chicken Curry

Yum Yum Yum Yum So good!

We also go pancit to eat with the leftovers (not the crawfish though). The pancit was also yum yum yum!

Several days later I made a sinigang. It wasn't as good as Tita's or Conching's, but the FP said it was good if we just didn't think of it as a sinigang. I made it with pork neck, beef shank, ginger, garlic, tamarind, mushrooms and these chinese mustard greens, bau-sin. I cooked rice too, of course. So, it was pretty good, but the chinese mustard greens gave both of us very very bad bloating, which of course was accompanied with very very foul gas. I don't generally have much of a problem with greens while the FP does. But, these greens were stewed for hours in the soup, so I was surprised that they were still very gas inducing!

FYI TMI LOL LMAO

2011-08-15T13:22:00.000-07:00

So, FYI ya'll, I have two other blogs you can read if you so choose. I just have all this time on my hands and I need to occupy myself. One is just general bullshit - Unnecessary Supplement and the other is heavy and depressing about my dad and my childhood, My Personal Story. Don't fret about the Pork Porn Pages, though, I will be as neglectful as ever about this blog. Actually, I should be getting something exciting in the mail soon as fodder for this blog!!!!

5 Guys and an Overly Sweet Peach

2011-08-10T18:07:00.000-07:00

So, this totally sucks, because I was almost done and was about to publish this, when I erased the whole blog entry.

So here we go again.

5 Guys burger - pretty good
5 Guys cajun fries - too salty and too many
5 Guys grilled cheese - really good
Bruster's ice cream - too sweet

THE END

Okay, fine. I'll write more.

So, I was in Lakeland, Florida. My hometown. Yup. So, with all the culinary offerings that Lakeland, Florida has to offer, we thought we would go to Five Guys for lunch one day. My oldest sis, Openheart, and I have never been to a Five Guys. So, we cruised on over.

My middle sis, Buffalo Rib, had been to Five Guys before. She ordered a little burger. In disbelief I asked, that's it? I on the other hand am always ravenous when I go to Lakeland. I think the nerves and stress and anxiety cause me to have a huge appetite. So, because I didn't know when the next meal would be, I decided to get a double cheeseburger, regular patties. I wanted fries and Openheart said she'd have some too. So when I was ordering, I think Buffalo Rib was trying to tell me to get the medium fries because they would be plenty. The guy taking my order told me to get the large of course. And, I was listening to my greedy gut, so I got the large.

So, the food came out, and it was a lot. My massive double cheeseburger was like 140% bigger than an Inn N Out double cheeseburger. And the patties were handformed and kind of falling apart, and they were making my bread soggy. Okay, I have no problem with hand made patties, I prefer them of course, but I don't want them breaking up and juicing up my buns! Anyway, the flavor of the burger itself was good.

The fries, were too much. I wish I would have heard/listened to my sis. Especially because she paid for lunch, and she wasn't even eating the fries. So, there was a large cup of fries, and there were also a ton in the paper bag as well. They were cajun fries. There was too much spice on them, making them extra salty. But, of course, being the Food Ho that I am, I kept shovelling them into my piehole.

So, my sisses were done with their burgers. My nephew was still eating, as once he's clamped onto a breast he doesn't let go until a couple birthdays have gone by. I'm joking. He's only 3 months old. He does love his milk though and sucks it down every chance he can get. I was forcing myself to finish as much of my burger as I could so I wouldn't be hungry before dinner, whenever that was going to be, when I remembered that I had been wanting to try the Five Guys grilled cheese. When I mentioned it to my sisses, they decided to order one to share.

So, the deal with the grilled cheese, is they turn the bun inside out and slap mayo on the outside to cook with instead of butter. Sound gross? That's what I thought, but my friend who used to work at Five Guys in San Diego had told me it was delicious. Since, I would never grace the Five Guys of San Diego with my presence, I was glad I got to try it. And it was delicious. So why will I never go to Five Guys here? Said friend who told me about the grilled cheese got the axe basically because he and his boss didn't get along. So, his boss found some lame excuse to fire him.

Later on, we were hot. If you've never had the fortune to visit good old Lakeland, Florida, then let me tell you - it's hot and it's humid. So, we wanted ice cream. We went to this place in the Highlands called Bruster's real ice cream. Sounds good, right, "real" ice cream? Homemade, good quality ingredients, time tested family recipe or something? They had some whimsical flavors, as ice cream shops should, like Jamaican Me Crazy and Purple Dinosaur.

So, Openheart asked what those flavors were. Jamaican Me Crazy was coconut ice cream with almonds and fudge. I don't usually associate almonds and chocolate with Jamaica, but I guess we're to assume that the chocolate and almonds in this ice cream are from there? Anyway, the Purple Dinosaur was just vanilla ice cream with purple dye. So, Openheart got the Jamaican Me Crazy. Which is funny and fitting when you think about it, because she has dreads.

Buffalo Rib got the Turtle ice cream, which is always a classic, but in the heat of the sun, wouldn't be my choice. Chocolate makes me even thirstier when it's hot. Since the turtle ice cream was the meltiest, she got the smallest portion, which was probably good on account that she had to eat it fast.

I already drink an average of 90 oz of water a day, so I got peach. It sounded so refreshing. Mine didn't have any chunks in it, just bits of peach in it, so I got an enormous portion. I thought it was going to break the coveted sugar cone. I guess when I'm in Lakeland I always get large portions of food. I think the stress and anxiety make me voracious, as large quantities of food have always been a comfort. I guess the theme that day was "biting off more than I could chew." It was sweet. Too sweet. Sickly sweet. Oh, but I ate it. It was cold and refreshing. After over half of it, I was over it, though. I just wanted to sugar cone, and I didn't want to get through the last of the ice cream to get to it. Luckily, Openheart said she would eat it. She sucked it clean off my cone, and hurrah! my cone was accessible!

So, it turns out the Bruster's is a chain. So, lucky you, those of you who like supersweet ice cream, you can find a store near you!
Bruster's real ice cream

No Place Like Other People's Homes

2011-08-09T17:36:00.000-07:00

So, it's funny how I am a cook. And I'm unemployed. And I dread cooking at home most of the time. I guess, it's funny when you put all three of those sentences together, not so much each of them alone. Or maybe it's sad and pathetic. But, alas, I do not have a dream kitchen that one might think two cooks or chefs might own. The main problem is that the kitchen is all free reign for the Food Pimp to use for his job. So, you know, things get lost or broken or taken to a cooking class while I'm at home. I much prefer cooking in a professional kitchen where everything is supposed to go back in it's place because the people who are in the kitchen are paid to put things back and clean. At home, I have to be a self-motivated self starter. I mean, look at this blog. I only write it when the inspiration strikes. But, put some monetary incentive behind it (I mean more than the $1 a month I receive from advertising hits) and I could be inspired every day for several hours a day!

Anyhoo, getting back to the topic at hand, homecooking. Isn't this what everyone craves who doesn't get it all the time. And then people who never get to go out to eat and always have to eat homecooking (especially if it's not tasty homecooking or the company is displeasing) abhor the idea.

So, here's some stuff I've cooked in the past month.

This is some kind of mediterranean/middle eastern type of thing I did one night. It was a tomatoey chicken stew, with brown rice, greek yogurt, and a simple romaine salad with chick peas, cucumbers and lemon juice and olive oil dressing. Simple, yet delicious. As Martha Stewart would so famously say, "It's a good thing." Anyway, the FP came home from work to find a surprisingly wonderful healthful unusual home cooked meal.

Now here is a tortilla soup. It was made mostly with leftovers. Onion, garlic, salsa, rice, a can of chickpeas, old tortillas, and maybe some chicken, I really don't remember! When I told the FP there was tortilla soup for dinner, he was not thrilled. When he tasted his first spoonful though, he was pretty blown away. I don't recall him ever having "real" tortilla soup. The brothy stuff with some fried or baked tortilla strips tossed in at the end for garnish is just not quite the same. So, it wasn't anything fancy or even a family recipe handed down. It was using mostly things in the kitchen and added cheap things to make a heartwarming home cooked meal. Which given my aversion to being barefoot in the kitchen (even if the floor was just mopped) is something special since it's kind of an event.

Here is my home notcooked meal. Whenever the FP goes out of town, I eat irregular meals and I eat weird things or cereal. I usually consume a box of cereal when he's gone. So, this time, he had gone home to groundhogdayville in the heat of summer. On one particularly warm day there was no way I felt like turning on the burner and raising the temperature in the apartment another 15 degrees to cook for one. So, I went to Albertson's and gathered ingredients for a cold plate. I felt so very european, even though cheap cheddar is very uneuropean. Anyhoo, I had the sharp cheddar, the water crackers, pickles, some cheap salami, caperberries (which we had) and crystal hot sauce. I ate 2 cans of smoked oysters, 2/3 of the crackers, 1/3 pound of cheddar, and over half of the package of the salami. The caperberries sucked. They were big and the seeds were very large and crunchy. Such a shame.

So, two weeks ago, I went back to my hometown to meet my sisters and check in on my dad. The first night my oldest sister got in town, we had dinner at my mom's friend's house. Being momlike, she has a full stocked freezer. So, we "threw" together a meal composed almost entirely of frozen food and canned food. So, she defrosted "minute steaks" to make pepper steak. So, her idea of pepper steak is totally different than my idea of pepper steak. She dredged the steaks in flour, salt and pepper and cooked them in the pan. We realized that one pack of meat had actually been ground beef, so that meat we just formed into patties and cooked with the rest. She sauteed a little onion and pepper with it and then made a gravy.

She had frozen corn that someone had given her, which she heated on the stove with some evaporated milk for creamed corn.

Then she took stewed tomatoes from her sister, added some onion and bell pepper to it, and heated it on the stove as well.

Being a cook, I was enlisted to cook the rice and "do the zucchini" not in a sexual way of course, she's a nice elderly republican military widow who would never think like that, and you should feel ashamed for thinking like that! Anyway, the zucchini was no doubt from someone's garden, and it was borderline, so I sliced it up and we just cooked it with olive oil and butter, salt and pepper.

My sister had the task of making the bisquick cheese biscuits.

So, it's all very Betty Crockerish sounding. In fact, when I was talking to the FP on the phone at one point in the trip and told him this was the best meal I had so far, he was disappointed and disbelieving. But he wasn't there to eat it. This is the man who was not thrilled about tortilla soup and then raved on and on about it for 24 hours after.

This shit was the bomb. All of it. Well, the zucchini was not exciting by itself, but combined with the rest of the meal, it was the best fucking meal I had eaten in a long ass time. I love corn, but sweet Florida corn lovingly grown in someone's backyard, then shaved fresh and frozen, then thawed and cooked on the stove with evaporated milk, that is some corn, boy! She kept saying how she usually uses half and half, but all she had was evaporated milk. I wouldn't have changed anything about the corn. Except maybe I would have eaten a second helping of corn before I held my baby nephew and smeared poop leaking from his diaper on to my hand and all over his onesie. After that, I was pretty much full.

Two nights later, my mom's other friend cooked for us. Her sister had just arrived from LA, so we all sat down to a nice Pilipino dinner. Pancit, sauteed veggies with beef, sticky rice, black beans and vegetable AND shanghai lumpia.

It was blissful. It was reminiscent of the home cooked meals that my mom will never ever cook for me again. The sauteed veggies and beef suspiciously tasted like my mom's. The flavoring, the doneness to which the sugar snaps were cooked - all just like my mom's. This woman had been one of my mom's dear friends though, in the last several years of my mom's life. They both had stayed with abusive husbands because of Catholicism. Although, my mom's friend had gained the strength and resolve to leave her husband and not subject herself and her children to the hostile environment. My mom got away from my dad, but maybe not in the way she had hoped for. It's nice, though, to understand what a good home cooked meal means to other people. I hope I can keep that in mind, along with my mom's welcoming spirit when I once again get to cook for a living, hopefully in my own restaurant.

I need a new camera!!!

2011-08-06T12:23:00.000-07:00

So, a couple weeks ago, this crew of San Diego food bloggers went on a BBQ tour. Sadly, I could not make it. But, of course, because of the mention of BBQ, the Food Pimp was craving BBQ. So, we decided to go to Abbey's Real BBQ. For some reason, possibly brain damage, aging or too many drugs and alcohol in the latter part of my youth, I always call this place The Abbey. The Abbey was this shady bar in New Orleans in the French Quarter which we used to frequent when we first moved there, and randomly on and off through the years. When I say shady, I mean people who were kinda shady would hesitate to go there - unless they were going to transact business, if you know what I mean. You know, buy and sell stocks, complete a short sale, merge corporations, expand operations to a global level, land that new advertising account, deliver an important powerpoint presentation.....

Anyhoo, getting back to Abbey's. We drove down Clairemont Mesa Blvd looking for this place. We had been there twice before, and we couldn't remember where it was. So, we picked up the trusty iphone, and it turns out we were looking for ABBEY'S, not the ABBEY!!! And it was a couple blocks from where we were.

So, it turns out that 2/3 of the very large parking lot was being resurfaced. So, we drove around the congested parking lot a bit, then we decided we could just park on the street, very far away. As we walked through, we were speculating as to whether the restaurant was even open. Luckily, it was. So, we ordered our grub.

We both ordered ribs, because we didn't feel like messin around!

This is where I decided that I need a new camera. Look at the two photos of the same food. I'm not sure what's happening with my camera, maybe it's just kinda cheap, but the picture quality seems to be going downhill. It has held out for the past couple of years and served me well, anyway.

The difference was, the FP got the slaw

and I got the potato salad. The potato salad sucked. It was just potatoes in mayo, yuck. The beans, slaw and ribs were delicious though. Very yummy. The ribs are nice and smokey, Texas style, and they pulled off the bone just right. We usually don't go all anal about that kind of thing, but you had to appreciate it. (Two sexual innuendos, but I'm not even gonna address that, what am I 13?)

Anyhoo, it was delish. And this time, I'm not even going to apologize for my absence the past couple of weeks. I'm sick of apologizing. I realize I had opportunities to write and I didn't. I've been noticing that I can justify not doing things even when I'm not working - it's called laziness, and I suffer from this condition. Is there a medication for this - a legal one, that is? Now I'm all backed up on blogs to write, which is better than not having material to write about because I haven't cooked or eaten anything interesting in a while, right?

Anyway, if you haven't been to Abbey's Real Texas BBQ, you should go.
Abbey's Real BBQ
9353 Clairemont Mesa Blvd. 92123
858-279-7427

Leftover Makeover

2011-07-17T15:49:00.000-07:00

So, I've been trying to be the efficient housewife during this time of low income and unemployment. I've been trying to shop smarter and not waste any food. This calls for planning, which I never really used to do. We've been in the habit of shopping meal to meal, instead of stocking up like normal people might do. Part of the reason for this, is when we buy lots of perishables, some of them end up unused and spoiled. So, I realized, if I buy a few items that can be a base for a meal, then I can later go to the store to fill in the gaps.

So, on 4th of July, I went shopping. I had no clue what I was going to buy. We had been talking about a shrimp boil, but it's difficult to find good head on shrimp. I looked at the meat and seafood at Henry's, Vons and Pancho's. So I got some shrimp at Pancho's. They didn't look offensive. I also got a big pack of chicken breasts. And then I saw that Hebrew National hot dogs were on sale bogo, so I got two packs of hot dogs, even though I forgot to get buns.

So, I berled the shrimp, and they sucked! Really. We were drinking margaritas, so we were using up all the ice in the freezer. So, the shrimp were not very good, and along with me not icing them enough after cooking, they were mealy and soft and hard to peel. We ate all the potatoes, corn, garlic, mushrooms and hot dogs that were in the boil, though. Yes, I put hot dogs in. Usually, we use sausage, but I didn't buy any. Since I had all those hot dogs, I figured I would throw two in the pot. They were good, don't knock it.

So, the next day, I made a greek chicken salad, a la the restaurant that the Food Pimp and I used to work at in New Orleans.

It had romaine, bell pepper, cucumber, feta, chicken and a mustard, greek yogurt and lemon vinaigrette. It was pretty delicious. It's the kind of salad that makes boneless skinless chicken breast appetizing. It was way better than the attempted shrimp boil.

So, I had three pounds of shrimp. I couldn't just chuck em. The FP said, make bisque. I think he was kidding.

But, he left for work, and I walked down to the Jaycees Market and bought celery and heavy cream. I came home and I peeled all those shrimp. Usually, with bisque, you want to use the shells. But these shrimp were just sketchy, and there were so many that I had enough to sacrifice the shells and heads. So I peeled and peeled. And I made the bisque. My forte is taking what others perceive as garbage and making something delicious - I'm kind of like a found food artist. My cooks used to tease me about this.

Leftover Shrimp and Corn Bisque

3# nasty leftover boiled shrimp
2 oz unsalted butter
4 stalks celery diced
1 onion diced
5 cloves garlic smashed
1 ripe tomato, diced
1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 ear corn, cut
1 c heavy cream
salt and pepper
parsley
croutons
feta cheese (optional)

Sweat the onion, celery and garlic in the butter in a soup pot, ten to twenty minutes on low until transparent. Add diced tomato and a third of the shrimp, and cook another 5 minutes. Add the rest of the shrimp, and both cans of tomatoes. Let it come up to a boil, then blend with a hand blender or in a blender. Put it back on the heat and add the corn. Bring it up to a boil for a minute, then reduce to a simmer and let cook 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. You can let it cook on low for as long as you wish. Five minutes before serving, stir in the cream. Taste again for seasoning, and serve with chopped parsley, croutons, and a little feta if you wish. (Feta and shrimp are one of those cheese and seafood combos that actually work. I don't abide by the no seafood with cheese rule, but I don't gloop cheese on any seafood either.)

So, the FP came home and asked, what's for dinner. I said, bisque, like you said. He did not seem enthused at all. I thought it was good - I had already eaten the equivalent of one good sized bowl. So, I served him, as a good housewife does. I didn't put feta in his, I didn't want to push my luck. The FP has this kidlike quality in that if he's got an aversion to the idea of eating something, he is going to be judging it before it goes into his mouth. But, I waited, and I watched. He thought it was outstanding. I believe I heard the words "the best shrimp bisque I ever had". Although, the FP tends to get caught up in the moment and use hyperbole. That's part of what makes the FP the FP. Enthusiasm. Anyway, I got him to eat the nasty leftover shrimp and enjoy it! Score!!

I got crabs

2011-07-10T11:28:00.000-07:00

So, I am a sucker for advertising. I tend to see something I want, and I get fixated on it until I get it. Like crabs. I've been watching that new Cooking Channel show Hook, Line & Dinner. So, there was an episode with blue crabs. I love blue crabs. I didn't realize how much I loved them until I moved away from the eastern seaboard. People don't always appreciated something that they grew up with that was always around.

Anyhoo, I got crab on the brain. So one day I dropped the Food Pimp off to band practice and I went to 99 Ranch Market. It was a weekend, and it was packed as to be expected, but I wasn't in a hurry so I didn't really care. I made some groceries - baby bok choy and chinese broccoli, ginger and stuff. But my main reason for being there was for seafood. So, I bypassed all the madness of the meat counter and headed for the back corner of the store. Where it was actually relatively calm compared to the rest of the store.

So, I looked at the two boxes of blue crabs. They were pathetic (pa-tet-ik is how my mom would pronounce it) They were overall pretty small, some were dead, others were not lively at all, and most of them had claws missing. But in the tank above, there were stone crabs, $3.99/lb - good price point. So, I picked out 3 fatties. Then I waited in the checkout line to spend my hard earned cash (no laughing please - I spent many years working hard to receive my measly unemployment checks).

Anyhoo, I was thinking of this lobster dish at this chinese restaurant in Metairie, LA, and it influenced me in my preparation of the stone crabs. So, this dish was like lobster in the shell stir fried in ginger and other stuff. It was really delicious.

So, I wanted to stir fry the crab. I left them in the sink in the plastic bag while I was doing stuff.

So they started to move around a little. My cats were laying on the futon, having a snooze.

When the crabs started moving, their ears perked up, but I guess they were too lazy to investigate, which was good - I didn't want to deal with any pinched cat noses or anything.

So, I steamed the crabs for a few minutes. They were mostly cooked. Then, I broke them up into easy to pick pieces and threw them in the fridge. Then I picked up the FP. So, to finish the dinner, I chopped up lots of baby ginger and garlic. I sauteed that in vegetable and a little sesame oil. I added some chopped thai chilis. Then I brought the heat up pretty high and added the crab, some soy sauce, rice vinegar and a little patis (fish sauce). Then I tossed in chiffonade of mint to garnish.

I sauteed some chinese broccoli and king trumpet mushrooms in the same pan.

I also made some dipping sauce, which was more of the same - soy, rice vinegar, sesame oil, patis, and chilis.

Of course, I steamed some rice to go with it.

I have to say, it was pretty fucking good.

Greek Rush

2011-07-06T17:36:00.000-07:00

So, it appears that every city has a Greek Festival. Okay, I don't know that, but I do know that New Orleans has one and San Diego has one too. Both at these rather large greek orthodox churches. So, I had been to the one in New Orleans a couple times, and it was amazing. So, festive, lambs on spits, dancing and drinking.

So, we had been to the San Diego Greek Festival the first year in San Diego. It was a good day, so, this year, we were excited to be able to go back again. Also, I had just read a blog from Kirk from Mmm Yoso about the lamb plate. So, we went in, and I noticed all the grills were shut down. It was the evening of the last day of the festival, so maybe they had already cooked it all and it was waiting in steam tables. So we headed straight for the lamb tent. We ordered a lamb plate, and the woman told me that they were out. Out?! What? Out??!!??!!! That's why we came!! Wait, did she mean out for now? So I asked her. No, out for good. No lamb. :(

So, we had paid our cover, and we weren't going to just walk right out. There must have been other food to eat. We walked around, and we saw the pastries and saganaki and other stuff. I looked at the map, and I saw the cafeteria had a buffet line. So, we walked in there. It was like a church luncheon with more older people sitting together communal style. We looked at the serving line, and the food looked...old. I'm sure it was better when it was fresh, but it was probably a few hours old at this point. So we skipped the cafeteria.

We finally decided on a gyro. $9 for a gyro.

A little pricey, but, I figured this must be a hell of a party to put on, and the profits go back into the church, right? There was a bit of a line, but it moved fast since they already had them wrapped and ready to go.

What can I say? It was good gyro meat. There wasn't much to it. Meat, onions, tomatoes and yogurt sauce. I wasn't blow your socks off, but it wan't dogmeat either (no offense to you guys who actually eat dogmeat from dog that is "humanely treated" I guess. I have no idea what dogmeat tastes like).

So, then we got this sausage.

I don't remember the name of it. (bad food blogger, bad). Loukaniko. I felt bad so I took the 3 seconds to look it up. Anyway,it came with bread and greek feta type cheese. The sausage was nicely grilled. It had the char on the outside, but it was still moist inside and not all shriveled up as amateur grillers sometimes tend to kill their meat on the grill with the poking and prodding. So, the bread was like that Sysco type frozen sesame roll. Not good. The sausage and cheese. Oh - Ma - Gawd. Flavor! Having dull tastebuds, I like food with bold flavor. Like this sausage. It was so fucking good. I thought about getting another.

But, we wanted to taste more. I wasn't too excited, but I thought I'd go back to the lamb plate tent and get whatever they had left. So, I got a spanakopita and 2 grape leaves.

The grape leaves were smothered in this yellowish sauce that actually looked unappetizing. But, boy, looks do deceive. This was the best grape leaf I have ever had. Ever. The sauce was a creamy tangy lemon sauce. I mean, this was the best grape leaf ever and ever and I will probably never have one as good again! The grape leaf was nicely cooked - tender - not chewy at all. Sometimes you have to kind of tear at the grape leaf with your teeth to bite through, not this one. And the lamb and rice filling was nicely seasoned, but that lemon sauce was the icing on the cake!!!! I get hungry thinking of this! The spanakopita was good too. It was nicely cooked and seasoned, but it was spanakopita, and it just paled in comparison to the grape leaves.

So, the FP went back and got four more grape leaves, and we gobbled them up and talked about getting a few more. But, we didn't. We just sat in the beer garden and enjoyed our greek beer, the weather, the general festival chatter, and the music and dancing. It was a beautiful day and a wonderful festival.

But, I was not done. I was ready for dessert. Loukoumathes. (Yes, I did have to google the name to spell it right.) So, these are like greek doughnuts. I saw them as we were walking in. And there was always a line for them. And I remember wanting them the last time we came to the Greek Festival but not getting them for whatever reason. So, this time, I was on a mission. I stood in line by myself while the FP held down our table in the beer garden. I was so excited that I got anxious. They weren't going to run out were they, like with the lamb? But when I moved further along in the line, I could see the fryer. They were just continuously pumping out the little balls of fry heaven. They would pop them in the fryer with a portioning batter thingamajiggy and then turning each one by hand when the time was right. Then, they would drain them and coat with honey syrup, garnish with powdered sugar and cinnamon and pistachio nuts. So, the deal was by the four. Some people were getting like 4 dozen. And seeing them get such big batches, I wanted a big batch. But I had to be reasonable. These were fairly perishable - I'm sure they would get soggy fast. And the FP isn't a big dessert guy unless it's an unbelievable dessert. So, I could probably eat four. I figured the FP might eat one or two, so that meant I had between four and seven for myself. That had to be enough. So, I got eight. It was difficult walking the few hundred feet back to the table and not digging in. But I had to follow protocol. Picture first.

HOLY FUCKING SMACK MY MOTHER'S MOTHER AND HER MOTHER'S GRANDMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot explain to you how fucking perfect these little fried ball of goodness were!!!!!!!!!
The honey syrup coating had hardened on the outside, but the dough was soft and sweet and warm on the inside. And the extra powdered sugar, cinnamon and crushed nuts (crushed nuts and fried balls? Sounds a bit redundant!) were not at all overkill, but a welcome garnish to a perfectly fried ball!!!!!!!!!! Sadly enough, for me, the FP ate all his balls. But, I knew that was a good stopping point for me. Because if there were ten more balls in front of me, I would have made a go at polishing them off. Yum Yum Yum. I cannot wait to go to the Greek Festival next year!

Greek Festival at St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church
it happens around the first weekend in June
Go there!!!!!!!

Yakitori Yakyudori

2011-07-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

So, I'm very much one of those "judge a book by it's cover" kind of people. I mean, if you know who Francesca Lia Block is, her book covers look appealing to me, and I love her writing. Same with Irvine Welsh.

Anyway, Yakitori Yakyudori is on the corner of Convoy Street (oh how I love that street) and Clairemont Mesa Blvd. It is next to a Starbucks. The signage for the restaurant is kind of minimalist, black and white. I never recalled hearing about the place, so I never thought much of it, as there are still some places on Convoy Street that I have heard of and not tried yet.

So, one night, I was looking up late night restaurants, and I found this place listed. So, it was on the radar. One day, we were on Convoy, and for whatever reason, the place we were going to wasn't open or too busy or something, so I suggested Yakitori Yakyudori. So, we parked, and that corner of the parking lot was packed. We walked in, and everyone kind of stopped and looked at us for a split second. It's a small place. So we were seated next to the other non-natives who seemed to be on their lunch break. Our first impression was that it was like one of those great little restaurants in Little Tokyo in LA. It was much warmer and homey looking than what the sign indicated to me.

So, the lunch menu doesn't have a huge variety of choices, but we were getting ramen. The Food Pimp, of course got the spicy ramen.

So, it had a plethora of components, most notably, corn! Corn. I love corn, but I don't expect to see it in a ramen bowl. But the FP said, that is actually made the dish. It "infused" the soup with that sweetness of the corn. (I hate that word infused now because lately it connotes an uppity attempt to be fancy and on the cutting edge, usually in dishes that are just generic and overdone) Anyway, it was a good bowl of ramen. It had all kinds of scraps of meat too.

I got the soy ramen.

Soy. Soy sauce. It's like addicting. There was one time in my cooking when I pretty much put it in almost everything I made, sometimes things like chili. Anyway, this was the bomb, the shit, the shiz - just homey goodness. I didn't get the corn. But, the strips of pork were so tender and fatty melt in your mouth and porky goodness. My broth had a more simple flavor, but it still had depth of flavor at the same time. I know, I'm not the most prolific when it comes to describing food. But that's probably just one of the reasons that no respectable online or printed media genre would pay me to be a food writer.

Anyway, we also got the octopus balls. We thought we should get something else, so we got octopus balls. When they came to the table, they did a little table dance for us!

At first I thought I was having a major flashback, but then I realized that this was indeed really happening! There were bonita flakes on all the balls that were reacting to the heat from the freshly fried octopus balls, so it appeared that they were alive. They were amazing. They just kept dancing, so finally we just started eating them as they danced. There was like a sweet teriyaki soy sauce on them, so I drizzled a little vinegar on them. This was amazing. One of the most exciting balls I have put in my mouth for ages! I mean I really enjoyed the exclusive VIP all access party that was being thrown in my oral cavity! There was ginger and bonita flake and octopus, and a very light and seasoned batter holding it all together. I was just wonderful! It was like fireworks on the 4th of July, like ice cream and marshmallow and fudge sauce and caramel and colored jimmies, like unicorns and pegasus and rainbows and jelly bellies...like fostering a whole litter of golden retriever, samoyed, St. Bernard and beagle puppies!!!! I don't have any prior experience with these specific octopus balls, but I have never had a better seafood fritter, period. End of story. I don't think there's anything more to say!

And a week or two later, we went back about an hour before closing. We walked in, and they were all happy and friendly, and the place was still hopping, and they didn't seem annoyed at all at us being there. We ordered the exact same things. This time, my ramen had corn in it! That sweet perfumed broth was wonderful. And when we got the octopus balls, they were just as delicious and lively and interactive as the previous balls. Just great! I can't wait to go back again! Normally, I shouldn't give a premature chopstick review, but based on these 3 dishes, I'm going to do it anyway. \/\/\/\/ 8 chopsticks. 8. isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima, anim, pito, walo. That's 1 - 8 in tagalog for those of you who couldn't figure it out. My friend's birthday was the other night, and the same night her boyfriend was in a hip hop battle show at the Kava Lounge. So we went to see them, even though that is not our thing at all. But the 2 times we've seen him, he was by far the best. Anyhoo, the 2 guys that went after him were Pilipino, at least one of them was. Sometime in one of their, songs, pieces, poems, raps, whatever you call it, they counted to three in tagalog. I could appreciate that. I used to be able to count quite well in tagalog when I was like six. Anyway, I've digressed. I like Yakitori Yakyudori, and they stay open a little later that most places.

Yakitori Yakyudori
4898 Convoy Street
San Diego, CA 92111

Lefty's

2011-06-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

So, one afternoon, the Food Pimp and I decided to go to the Bluefoot and have a couple of drinks - like the old times. So much like the old times, that I can't remember having the drinks, or if we met someone or not. But I do remember what we did after. We didn't have any food at home, as usual, and of course we didn't feel like cooking. So, we figured we would go to Lefty's for pizza, and also get to see our friend, Marin, who we had not seen in quite some time.

Lefty's is a Chicago style pizza joint. It's got Chicago decor all over and a couple TVs of course. It's small, it has a couple small tables inside, and a ledge against the window where you can sit on barstools, and it has most of the seating on the small patio. They have pizza for slices in the nonrefrigerated display, one of those old menu signs with the plastic letters that probably hasn't been altered in years.

So, we got there, and she was there along with her buddy Twin Star. Also, Marin's boyfriend works in the kitchen. So when we walked in, they all greeted us, which all the more felt like one of those Chicago style pizza places - not that I ever recall going to any of those the few times I've been to Chicage. So, we ordered pizza - pepperoni and mushroom. While we waited, Marin poured us some beers. But then, I thought, I was pretty hungry, so I made an executive decision and ordered a chicago dog too. I figured, we could eat it while we waited for the pizza, and I could put something in my stomach before the short but treacherous drive through the park, not that I was intoxicated or anything!

So, we were drinking our beer, and callou calay oh beautiful day, our Chicago dog appeared!

It looked delish. Here's my little spiel about hotdogs, Chicago, New York, whatever. So, let's address the casing. That characteristic "snap" that people talk about in a positive way - uh-uhn. No. Nope. Not my thing. I believe Nathan's hot dogs are the king of the snap. I don't like Nathan's. I remember going to Nathan's in the mall when I was in college and maybe later on in life. Each time I thought, maybe I'll like them now. Nope. Never. I could never participate in the annual 4th of July Hot Dog eating contest. I would puke after the first one. Hebrew Nationals are great. Love em. Ball Park are good, but they kind of bring a sadness to me. We call them stroke dogs because my parents had discovered them at Sam's the year prior to my mom's death. 7-11 quarter pound big bites are good. I'm not a foodie in that sense of the word that it has come to be known. I'm not very knowledgeable on a textbook level - definitely not like I used to be. But, I knows what I likes and I likes what I knows. And yeah, I go to 7-11 late at night and partake of a hot dog, and I thoroughly enjoy it if it's properly cooked on that hot dog roller grill . If you read this blog regularly, you know this about me. Anyway, 7-11 uses Oscar Meyer, which is a brand I haven't bought in the store since I was in college.

Back to the Chicago dog at hand. It was dragged through the garden - tomatoes, flourescent relish, chopped onions, pickle spear, sport peppers, mustard and celery salt. And it came with fries. When you get it to go, they bundle the dog and the fries all up in the deli paper together. It's so perfect like that. But we got it in a basket, and as you see, someone squirted ketchup, mustard and surely hot sauce too all over the fries. In this one context, the tomatoes are acceptable. Not usually though. On first bite, the FP mentioned the celery salt. It's such a distinct taste.

I have a dull palate. Between my first 10 inch Henkels chef knife I got at culinary school and my tastebuds, I'm not sure which would win at a sharpness contest. Neither.

Anyway, this is some dog. Quite a dog. We gobbled the shit out of it. I didn't finish my beer, but I don't feel like I have to!

So, we left and went home and had us some pizza. Not that deep dish shit. Although, I have had a few of Lefty's deep dish pizzas, and it's been good. Nothing like that horrible Uno restaurant. God, how I loathe that pizza. I mean, I used to eat it - we would go to Uno because it was everywhere in the Northeast, but whenever confronted with the deep dish pizza, I did not enjoy it. This Lefty's pizza, I did enjoy.

Thin crust. I love thin crust. And I love the square cut thin crust. Partially because it reminds me of the pizza place by our house growing up - J Burns.

We would walk or bike down to J Burns and order a pizza and play the tabletop Pac Man game. Or was it Ms Pac Man. Or wait, was it Space Invaders. Or did they have all three? Oh, the fond memories. I remember it like it was yesterday. No, really, I would have just as much trouble recalling yesterday's details. Life is just one big continuous landslide sometimes. It just keeps coming and coming at you, and you don't know when it's going to stop.

Lefty's Chicago Pizzeria
3448 30th St.
North Park, 92104
closed Monday

The happiest day of the year!

2011-06-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

So, this post is a month late. Big surprise, huh? I have all the time in the world to do everything else except work or write my blog. Well, now I have time. So, anyhoo, last month was the annual LSU crawfish berl. So, it's been the Sunday before Memorial Day for the past few years. It's held on the old Chargers practice field at Qualcomm. Interestingly enough, that weekend is also a big Mormon thing in the actual stadium. Weird combination, for sure.

Anyway, this day starts at 11 am, which is great, because that means more fun time! Our friend Mr. Interested In You, so graciously drove over to pick us up, again. He lives near the stadium with Valley Girl, his wife. So we parked and walked over. So this year, BG and Sun Taco - the Food Pimp's bandmates - joined us for their first time. Also our friends, Mr. Male Nurse and Mrs. Sexual Innuendo, who are actually LSU Alumni, joined us. Last year, she was in labor the day of the crawfish boil, this year, they got a babysitter.

So, what goes down is that from 11am to 2pm it's all you can drink beer. But usually it includes Kona, but this year they were tightening the budget and charging more. The Bud was the aycd beer, and Kona was $2 each. So, I drank rice beer this one time, Bud. Several of them. But unfortunately, there seemed to be less volunteers, and there was always a line until after 2pm. Somehow, we managed to get drunk.

We just shot the shit and drank and soaked up the Mission Valley fun and sun. And the FP waited in line with BG for the crawfish. And I waited in line for one last beer with Valley Girl and Mr. IIY.

And when we got back to our table, everyone was already digging in. 50#s of crawfish, potatoes, and corn. We tried to rush to catch up, but it was slow going. Mr. Male Nurse had a very impressive pile going - as he had missed the past 2 years. But we pretty much cleaned out our pile, except for a few stray little ones. So, if you've never had them, you are so missing out. They are like a cross between shrimp and crabs. They are just sweet and fatty and boiled in cajun spices and really addicting. So, it's like eating peel and eat shrimp. You twist off the head and suck the juices out. Then, you take the first ring of shell off the tail, and squeeze the rest of the shell and pull the tail out. If the crawfish has big old claws, then you can eat those too. But if you haven't tried them before, you must before you die!

Then we had some more $2 beers, and we went to the business of catching a cab. So, we walked through the organized chaos of the Mormons leaving. There were a lot of them. Like a stadium's worth of them. And they were all dressed up in their Sunday best. And their Saturday best. There were lots of stiletto heels. I mean a lot. I didn't know that Mormons dressed so risque for church!

So, we finally got two cabs to True North, as is tradition. We hung out on the back patio and drank Moscow Mules and Cherry Bitches. Both good, but the Cherry Bitches were better.

They were made with earl grey tea and gin. I'm not a big gin drinker, but it was very smooth and not so junipery with the other ingredients.

So then, we were a little peckish. We got some loaded tater tots.

And then another round. And then another Cherry Bitch. Then it was time to go home. And drink some more. And we were up til around 2am.

Going to Disney without going to Disney, but going to Nola

2011-06-15T18:35:00.001-07:00

So, the Sunday after my sis visited, we went up to Anaheim with our friend BG (Bass Guitar, or Bass Guy or Big Genius) . He had bought tickets to see Echo & the Bunnymen at the House of Blues. So we got rooms at the Super 8. The Food Pimp got a variety 12 pack of Kona beer. So we kicked back in the rooms and drank a few beers "pregame". So the beers were the regular, Pale Ale, Longboard Lager, another pilsner or something, and this horrible wheat beer. It was wheat with passion fruit! It tasted like a passion fruit soda, not beery at all! I guess if we were teenagers we would have loved it!

So, we got ready and we walked to the Downtown Disney area. We weren't quite sure how to get there, because we were told we would have to take the tram. But as we walked along the pathway, we saw that we were in the right area, just on the backside of the village. Luckily, there was an "employee entrance" that was open, so we could sneak in. So, we were going to eat at House of Blues, but the wait was 45 minutes to an hour. So we voted to go look for somewhere else. We went to Brennan's Jazz Kitchen. The wait was about 30 minutes to 45, but we decided we could wait at the bar there. So when we went to the bar, it was pretty empty, so we decided to eat there instead without a wait! The beers here were of course like $10 or something. But with my intolerance for alcohol, I only had one I think. There were a duo of New Orleans musicians playing, and the bar started to fill up. It felt pretty New Orleansy, actually. It was nice. We got the boudin stuffed mushrooms with a tomato vermouth beurre blanc. The stuffing was a little cold, but this was delicious!

We also got the fried calamari with creole mustard aioli.

This was also spot on. Perfectly fried. Not chewy and overcooked, but not pale and undercooked. Just right. And the aioli brought back memories of New Orleans.

BG got the jambalaya. Which looked great. It also tasted great too.

FP got the gumbo chicken and andouille sausage gumbo. The bowl, which was ridiculously big.

It was so good though. Deep and dark and rich and nola-esque.

I got the bacon braised turnip greens.

Which were like candy. Ridiculous. Leave it to the Brennan's to make greens as unhealthily yummy as possible!

I also got the creole onion soup. This is not your momma's french onion soup. It's not the old steakhouse's beef bouillon broth onion soup either. This was the shit. I mean, rich, sweet oniony, and rich, and worcestershirey and damn good.

Loved it! Of course, it was a really expensive meal... with all those drinks the FP and BG were having. Then we went into the House of Blues to buy more expensive drinks. Of course I didn't have too many more.

So, this was Echo & the Bunnymen's last night in the USA, so it should be a great show, right? Especially because it was sold out. Well, the only thing was that they played in LA the night before, so Ian was sure to be hungover and cranky....which he was. And maybe his back hurt? So the first set was the entire album "Crocodiles". I haven't listened to Echo & the Bunnymen in ages, so I don't really know the songs anymore. But BG kept pointing out how Ian would not sing all the lyrics, like leave a verse or two off. It was a pretty disappointing performance. Then there was an intermission that was really long. Really really long. So finally they went back on to play "Heaven Up Here" in its entirety also. But they didn't. They played a couple songs, and then Ian muttered something and ran off stage holding his back. And then the rest of the band followed him. And they were gone for 20 - 30 minutes. Will, the guitarist, went back out to the mic and mumbled something about them coming back out in a while and asked the sound guy to turn on the house music. The sound guy probably didn't understand him because he didn't put the music on. Later on, a roadie went back out and asked for the house music. At which point it came on. Finally, they got back on stage, they played Killing Moon and Lips Like Sugar and that was it. Sucky show, but great food!

Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen
1590 South Disneyland Drive
Downtown Disney
Anaheim, 92802

Update Almond Flavored Magnums - with texture!

2011-06-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

So, in the interest of research, I felt compelled to get the Almond variety of Magnums. The funny part, was that I had that coupon for a free box in my purse. I used a coupon on Garnier Fructis Conditioner and one on All - but I totally forgot that I had the Magnum coupon! Once again, I must clarify that I mean ice cream bars, not rubbers. Although I am sure there are almond flavored condoms out there -gross - one nut flavor juxtaposed next to another....

I need lots of screen distance from that thought to get back on topic. Ice cream bars. Nothing dirty about them. So, Almond Magnum ice cream bars.

Here's what I'll say about these. Loved it. More than the double caramel. The Double Caramel Magnum Ice Cream Bar had overkill of chocolate coating for me. The single layer chocolate and almond coating on the Almond Magnum Ice Cream Bar was perfect symmetry of coating and ice cream. And I appreciated the almond slivers. Loved it. Can't wait to try the White Chocolate Magnum Ice Cream Bars - I hear these are smaller - tee hee hee! Not that I'm a size queen when it comes to Magnums.

weekend in review 3

2011-06-10T15:59:00.000-07:00

So, Friday was the anniversary of my mom's passing away. So, my BFF was flying in around 12, so we picked her up at the airport and headed out to Costa Brava, one of our fav restaurants. It's a Spanish tapas restaurant in Pacific Beach.

First order of business was one pitcher of sangria. We ordered it, and some water. Guess what the waiter didn't bring....water. Once again, I'm made to suffer because of my body's lack of ability to properly keep hydrated. I pretty much always need a water at hand. Always. I feel like at night I should be hooking up an IV because I don't wake up to drink water until I am so parched that my throat is all tight and it's hard to drink.

So, one of the things about Costa Brava, is that all the waiters are like native Spaniards. They're like all models. And they are charming. But on this particular day, this guy was american! And he was kinda pissy, like we were an annoyance and everything we asked for was a hassle. I don't know why. There were just a few tables.

Anyway, the sangria wasn't as good as usual. It was like drinking punch. So, my BFF decided on a whisky instead. It took about 15 minutes to get it of course, and I think we had to order it twice. So, then the food started coming out. My BFF is vegetarian, so we had to get some vegetarian things.

So, we got the cheese plate. By the way, everything is red because we were sitting on the patio under a red awning, so it cast a red hue over everything.

So, it was like an aged manchego and a medium manchego, some other maybe cow or goat cheeses with similar texture, and some cabrales and olives. Nothing really exciting.

Boquerones.

Now these were delicious. Sardine fillets marinated in vinegar. I could eat these suckers every day. It sucks that they aren't more readily available here. I love these! With some bread, and a little aioli!

Tortilla espanola.

OMG. This was awful. It was so thin, and mostly egg and overcooked. Such a disappointment. For some reason, they don't seem to do potato dishes that great here all the time. I don't know why. It was so bad. It makes me want to make one right now to prove that it can be delicious.

Morcilla.

This is good. Blood sausage. With sauteed onions. If you've never had any kind of blood sausage, don't pooh-pooh it. It's so good. This stuff, and the morcilla at Tropical Star are both really good. The blood makes it sweet and firm. Now, one thing, you want to make sure it's cooked all the way, and you want it seared crispy on the outside. If it's raw in the middle, I wouldn't eat it.

Octopus.

Yes. This was perfectly cooked. Oh man, such a better dish than the octopus cocktail. So yummy. So spanish tasting. So tender and toothsome. Yum. I love octopus when properly done! With onion, tomato and olives. It was some good shit.

Garlic sauteed mushrooms.

Just like it sounded. Unfortunately, we didn't really get much food for my BFF to eat, but she doesn't really eat that much when she drinks though. At least the aioli was delicious....

I gotta say, this was the most disappointing visit to Costa Brava yet. The cheese plate could have had more variety, the sangria wasn't the best - although we ended up having 3 pitchers, and pitcher #2 and #3 got better. I mean, the 3 items were really amazing. It's just, we are used to almost everything being wonderful here! Oh well....

Afterwards, I dropped my sis and the FP off to Small Bar to meet our friend, while my BFF and I went to get tattoos at Avalon 2. This was an adventure in itself. Our artist was a smartass Italian guy. He tried to make our tattoos too pretty, and we had to explain to him what we wanted. Mine was much easier because I just wanted my mom's name on my arm - although it took about 7 times for him to place it properly.

And the BFF wanted an anchor. (I don't have a final picture of it) He wanted to make it pretty with daisies. She didn't want flowers, but she would settle for roses. He had drawn a rope around the anchor and she wanted a chain. He said that was not possible because it wouldn't look right or something. So they did kind of settle on something, but there was this banter the whole time. The whole 4 hours. He took a while to do the drawings, that was a lot of the time. And he took a while to prepare, but that was okay. I prefer someone taking their time to ink my body than to rush through it, right?

So, after, we went to our friend's apartment to deposit my BFF there. Our friend was graduating the next day - valedictorian - from law school, and BFF was going to the graduation and then flying out right after. It was a short but eventful visit!

Costa Brava
1653 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109
858-273-1218
open daily 11am - 12 am