December 2007 – mmm-yoso

The Very Last Day of 2007-and a preview of 2008! Behind the scenes at the Tournament of Roses! Oh, food, too.

December 31, 2007 Cathy Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food..and what some of us do to get to eat said food. Cathy is having her annual adventure North of San Diego and you get to vicariously enjoy!

Hi. It is the 31st of December and here we are. We made it through 2007, relatively unscathed and 2008 is right there staring at us. We have to learn a little different way to type or write the date; new calendars are out on the walls and on the desk, filled with so many blank pages, papers can be filed and gotten ready to start inputting into the new Tax Program on your computer, or in a folder to hand to your Tax Guy or Tax Gal…and still, there is time to relax, because the the first day of the year is a holiday! A lot of people have breakfast at home with family or friends and watch the Rose Parade on television. A spectacular event, planned almost a year in advance, yet assembled only a few weeks before it actually can happen, because every visible portion of each float must be covered with something that is, or was alive…thousands of volunteers have been working on the float decorations, sleeping overnight in Pasadena, waking to sticky, glue covered hands and clothing and going at it the next day…and yet, nobody will see these lovely pieces of art and architecture until tomorrow on television…except for you, dear readers!

Oh yes, The Mister and have this on our agenda every year…We just are skipping the sticky glue covered hands part this year. Yes. we merely woke up about 4 a.m. today and drove north to Pasadena, to have breakfast with the Pasadena Host Lions Club at the Historic Castle Green Hotel and then take a VIP tour of the final float preparations.

The Hotel is now mostly an apartment building and the eating area is still used for parties and such. We got some food from the buffet: Kind of standard stuff; scrambled eggs, potatoes, fruit, muffins, danish, ham and sausage. One trip only…coffee, cranberry and orange juice too. We didn’t care- we were here to take the VIP tour of the final decoration of the 2008 Rose Parade Floats! I am trying to give you views you will not see on television. This 25,000 pound Indian (Native American) float will be one you see on television, mid parade.

Remember, every square inch of every float has to be covered with something that is or was alive. The smells up close are wondrous…and also glue-like.

This is the back of the Lions Club International Float.. and this is what it looks like from the front. As I said, every square inch on every float must be filled in, and judging was about to happen in less than three hours. If you look close, you can see glue on the back of these Marguerite flower heads and the blank space they were being placed onto the float just behind. Other flowers had been cut and placed in water vials and were also ready to be used for ‘spot fills’. OK, here are some other floats…for a sneak peek! AND SO ANYHOW…It was lunch time and we were hungry, but the streets of Pasadena were starting to line up with people claiming a spot along the parade route and we wanted to stay away from those crowds, so jumped on the freeway, started heading East, and decided the"Covina" exit at Citrus Avenue sounded nice…and we saw this sign in a non-descript mall…and stopped The menu was simple- So. we ordered…The pastrami sandwich ($5.25).

Very large, lots of meat, juicy, nicely spicy(not too much pepper), good fresh bread. No jus to dip in, however, there was enough juice on the bread to make it wonderful as a last bite. I wanted the gyros sandwich special ($6.99) included fries and a medium drink…the gyros was wonderful, meat cut in thick slices from a spit and perfectly juicy and flavorful, topped with a tangy tzatziki sauce, chopped onions and chopped tomatoes. In my quest for wonderful onion rings and knowing they are pretty much always perfect from these Mediterranean places that have gyros, I ordered the SMALL size ($2.59). I was not disappointed in the size, nor the quality and spice of the breading and crispiness; I was merely disappointed in myself that I could not finish it all…

P&G Superburgers 1030 N. Citrus Avenue, Covina open 7 am-11 pm, seven days

We wish everyone out there a Very Happy 2008! (or "2000 ate" as ed so succinctly put it) Have a safe day!

Holiday Bowl 2007-a great tailgate, with 4 hours and 17 minutes of game interrupting it

December 30, 2007 Cathy Festivals & Events, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is just a little blog about food and things related to food. Today, Cathy is sharing a small adventure.

Hi, again, everyone! Hope you are having a nice time during this time of many holidays and parties and anticipating the New Year. The Mister and I have one annual event we *must* attend – the Holiday Bowl- one of 31 college football Bowl Games which are played by chosen ranked teams almost daily starting on December 20 and culminating in #1 versus #2 in the nation playing each other for the title of "National Champion" on January 7, 2008.

Truth be told, we don’t really care about the game much; we go to attend a tailgate in the parking lot, with about 100 of our closest friends from around the world (retired and active military as well as Lions, Rotarians and Optimists) not many of whom remember our names; they just know we bring the Garlic Beef.

About 18 pounds this year. It is small end rib roast, which was on sale at Albertsons, coated with a paste made of chopped garlic (about 5 pounds), oregano and paprika, held together with olive oil, salt and pepper and flashed for about 20 minutes in a 500° oven, then turned down to 325° for about 20 minutes a pound. We made 6 pounds of rolls to go with, and served with several horseradishes and mustards. (This "Atomic" horseradish is more pickled, or Kim Chee-ish in flavor and low in heat. One of the ingredients is parsnips)

So, anyhow, this year, 120 people brought some sort of food-and drink- to share, and we caught up on the past year when we really did not see each other much.

This table had mostly desserts. That bowl was filled with chopped fresh fruit and sangria. The yellow sheet pan in front was the most wonderful Italian ricotta based cheesecake which had rum soaked raisins in it (I have the recipe)…there were a few "regifted" items also, like Kirkland (Costco) brand Belgian chocolate cups, which were wonderful, and many homemade cookies and fudges.

There were sandwiches and pizza from Filippi’s, turkey wraps from Costco.

As you can see, a variety of items to share… there were three different "seven layer dips" and chips also, as well as barbecued and fried chicken…shrimp, sweet potato casserole, pasta salad, cole slaw…raw veggies and dip…you know FOOD!

This year, Mr. T could "only" find a 24 pound turkey to smoke starting at 3 a.m. the night before (it was still steaming hot when he cut into it).

Mr. T’s turkey is always stuffed with his famous rice stuffing, which I crave on this annual basis.

I am so sorry; I cannot rotate this photo on my iBook or on the PC, so turn your head.

All in all, there were eight tables packed solid with food from our group,

Along with three portable grills…

So, at about 4 p.m., we had to pack up everything and go inside the stadium, looking back and the full parking lot then finding our seats and watching the opening ceremonies (the unfurling of the U.S. flag across the entire length of the playing field, by the U.S. Marines, the flyover of the four F/A-18 Hornets from the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar) Then the coin toss, the start of the game (when it was 53° inside the stadium…up until-finally- the end of the first quarter, when it was 40° inside the stadium) (there were a tremendous amount of game delays due to reviews by the officials), to sideline events (the photo of the awarding of the Weinerschnitzel Weiner National Championship Winner is one of those up there) to -finally- half time and the Marching bands, during which the Texas Band did a very nice routine in a traditional manner and the Arizona State Band did some unusual musical tributes, including Guns N Roses "Sweet Child of Mine" and Lynard Skynard "Freebird" done with marching band instrumentation..and finally the High School marching bands joining together in a tribute to the 70’s in a disco themed performance and ending in fireworks.

Usually the football game is close all the way, but this time, the University of Texas had the highest scoring (21 points) first quarter in 27 (of 30) Holiday Bowl games. So, anyhow, the game went *really* long (4 hours, 17 minutes) and a bunch of our group (as well as most of the stadium crowd) left before the game was over, but not all of us!

Yep; back out to the parking lot for leftovers…but since so many people had left, we "only" had three tables of leftover food to share.

and gallons of hot apple cider. Unfortunately, the people who usually bring the turkey chili could not make it this year, and the people who bring the hot water for the instant coffee (and Irish Whiskey additive), forgot the hot water thermoses at home.

We enjoyed our leftovers and hot beverages as we waited for the parking lot to empty.

I hope all of you have enjoyed your holidays also. One more to go!

Another Year

December 29, 2007 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Is almost in the books. Looking back it’s been a pretty good one for new eats in San Diego. Here’s my fearsome foursome of new restaurants that opened this past year:

Early in the year Tsuruhashi opened up, and brought us some good yakiniku.

Tsuruhashi Japanese BBQ
3904 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

In April Latin Chef opened up, serving up tasty Peruvian from a tiny shop in Pacific Beach:

The tasty Cebiches and Tiradito provided a delish segue for our trip to Peru. It was nice to see that Latin Chef’s Owner, Freddy, has now acquired the shop next door, doubling the restaurant’s floor space.

Latin Chef
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

During the summer, San Diego’s first Vietnamese Crawfish restaurant, Crab Hut opened.

I’m guessing business must be good, since a few months back a second Crawfish boil opened close by.

Crab Hut
4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

And in early September, Mongolian Hot Pot finally made it’s way South, and Little Sheep opened up.

Little Sheep Mongolian Hot Pot & Grill
4718 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92117

Sounds like a pretty good year to me! So tell us, what were your favorite new restaurants that opened this past year?

"All of my dreams are fading fast…."

"Another year."

"Each time I think it’s gonna last……"

"It disappears."

Another Year – Ian Gomm

Can you guess what this is?

December 27, 2007 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

*** And the answer is….. Duck Tongue!

Congrats to those with correct guesses as of 5pm today:

Kaire Rasu
Ed (not from Yuma)
Kim
Kimmy
Kelly

I can’t believe that many of the guesses came from the, "ahem" wrong end of the animal!

So where was this from? That’ll be coming up shortly!

Thanks for playing everyone!

I haven’t done one of these in a while. So let’s have at it, can you guess what is lying on the plate below?

Just as with previous "guess it" contests, first 5 Emails I receive that guess the correct item, I’ll send you a cup of Peet’s on me!

Make sure you email me your guess, at mmm-yoso@hotmail.com, and make sure your email address is a valid one.

As usual 1 winner per IP address. This one is easy, don’t give away the answer!

I’ll reveal the answer tomorrow.

Two Dishes at Shanghai City

December 26, 2007 ed fromyuma Chinese Restaurants, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

mmm-yoso!!! is Kirk's wonderful food blog, mostly centered on San Diego eating, but sometimes Kirk goes out of town. And sometimes he lets one of his friends contribute. Today it's ed from Yuma posting about a recent meal at Shanghai City in San Diego.

Soon after moving to Yuma in 2000, I began to develop cravings for seafood and for a variety of Asian cuisine that was simply not available in the southwest corner of Arizona. Having lived in San Diego previously, I knew that I could satisfy those cravings in America's finest city. Of course, this was in the days before Kirk's wonderful blog got started, so I was mostly on my own at trying to locate great food.

On one trip, I got real lucky. I wandered into Shanghai City, heard the friendly waitperson describe a fish fillet special and asked her to pair that with some sort of the vegetable oriented appetizer. While I have long forgotten the exact specifics of the meal, I remember it being a very positive experience. On a couple of subsequent visits to this restaurant over the years, I have always been pleased with the friendly and accommodating service, so unlike the rather brusque indifference that one sometimes encounters in other Chinese restaurants.

However, it has been a long time since my last visit because it seems like I always have new and exciting destinations and/or old reliables that I just have to eat at. But on my most recent visit, I was determined to go back to Shanghai City for some fish and something else interesting.

As before, I was very impressed by the friendly service. The young woman who took my order was smiling, personable, and kind of leaning up against the wall as we talked about my choices. I finally decided on dried tofu with wild malantou herb (whatever the heck that is) and also chose braised fish tail, a dish that had intrigued me on the menu at the Green Valley restaurant in San Gabriel.

The friendly young woman made sure that I knew that fish tails have bones in them, and I assured her that I had encountered fish bones before.

Soon the appetizer arrived. When I looked at it, the plate triggered a memory flashback: this was the same vegetarian appetizer that I had had six or seven years ago. It looks like this (please do not click to enlarge):

As I began to taste the dish in front of me, I realized why it was such a positive memory. Instantly, the aroma and taste of aromatic sesame oil filled my mouth. Even more impressive was the complex mouth feel of the dish. As you can see from this close-up, the appetizer contains finely diced dried tofu, and a chopped green herb, both leaves and stems: The diced tofu is wonderfully chewy in a good way. The crunchy green stems add a contrastive textual note to the dish. The flavor of the herb itself is pronounced, if not overwhelming. I would say that it resembled a strong parsley flavor, but I'm sure there is someone out there with a more skilled palate than mine who is thinking to her/himself, "no, it doesn't taste at all like parsley."

Then the main course swam over to my table and landed in front of me. So, I thought, this is what braised fish tail looks like, four large conjoined and elongated chunks with no actual finny tail:
I have to admit that I approached the dish with a certain degree of trepidation. I was afraid that all that dark sauce was there to mask some unpleasant flavor and would overpower the fish. However, as soon as my serving spoon encountered the flesh of that fish tail, all my reservations were gone: Obviously, I am no expert on braised fish tail, but after beginning to devour this dish, I wanted to become an expert. The flesh was meltingly tender and flaky. It had a clean and mild flavor. The smooth skin with a thin subcutaneous layer of fat was rich and succulent. The thick sauce, which looked so heavy, never overwhelmed the fish, the sauce tasting mostly of ginger, bits of which would crunch occasionally in my mouth, with a light sweet soy sauce flavor in the background.

All through my meal, various members of the waitstaff would come over and ask me if everything was okay and if I needed anything. I tried to discover what kind of fish it was, but all I learned was the name was too hard to say in English and that it was a large freshwater fish something like a carp, but not a carp.

As you can see by the remains of my meal, I liked it:

At the end of the meal, I received my final satisfaction, as one of the friendly waitpeople came over and asked again how I liked my dinner. I said I loved it. She said, "not too many Americans like that dish." (She meant, I think, that not too many Americans try the dish – I can't imagine anyone not liking it.) This allowed me to use one of my favorite lines. While moving my hand in front of my face, I said, "American face," and then moving my hand over my happy belly, I finished, "Chinese stomach."

Shanghai City, 3860 Convoy St, San Diego,CA 92111
619-278-5883

Yuan Style Pan Fried Duck Breasts & Other “Stuff”

December 24, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

Due to some terrible scheduling, I’m going to have to work on Christmas Day…..bummer. So the Missus and I decided to have our Christmas lunch/dinner (lunner?? dinch??) today. One of the items I made was a real easy pan-glazed duck breast dish, Kamo no Yuan-yaki. Yuan-yaki, is normally a grilling technique used for chicken or fish briefly marinated in a soy sauce-mirin-sake-citrus(Yuzu) marinade. Why Yuan? From what I could gather "Yuan" was a Tea Ceremony Master from the Edo period, and this dish is named after him. This preparation is a bit different; I didn’t marinade the duck, opting for crisp duck skin, with a nice glaze.

Kamo no Yuan-Yaki

2 Boneless Duck Breasts with Skin
4 Tb Mirin
3 Tb Soy Sauce
2 Tb Sake
2-3 slices lemon rind(or even better Yuzu!)

1 – Place the duck breasts skin side up on a cutting board and score. This allows for excess fat to cook off during cooking process, and the sauce to be absorbed.
2 – Mix together the rest of the ingredients
3 – Heat a frying pan on medium high heat, and place duck breasts skin side down and fry for 4-8 minutes until the skin is crisp. Lower heat, turn duck breasts, and cook for another2-4 minutes.

4 – Pour sauce over duck, bring sauce to a boil, turning duck over several times to coat completely. Let sauce reduce, remove duck.
5 – Cut duck, and place over mizuna, watercress, arugula, or a similar greens. You may pour remaining glaze over the duck if desired.

Super easy!

We also had some Sukiyaki.

Like my meat presentation? I know you’re not supposed to play with your food, but….

I used that nice chunk of fat to help "oil" the sukiyaki nabe. I couldn’t find my trusty old cast iron Sukiyaki Nabe(sukiyaki pot), and had to buy a new one…..I couldn’t find an old-fashioned cast iron version, only the lightweight aluminum, alloy version. When I inquired about the availability of a cast iron nabe, the lady smiled and said, using her most refined Grandmotherly tone, "this is the 21st century…..people don’t want cast iron any more. And, all of us are getting old, cast iron is too heavy!" I couldn’t help but laugh.

And I thought all the lines were at the mall:

We were driving past Honey Baked Hams, and couldn’t believe the lines. The Missus snapped a photo:

Sheesh…..

Merry Christmas everyone, I hope all the craziness didn’t drive up a pole….like it did to Santa!

Happy Holidays!

Latkes????

December 23, 2007 mmm-yoso Cooking, Recipes

The Missus has developed a habit of leafing through some of my magazines lately…..which is kind of strange since She really hasn’t shown much interest in the stuff I subscribe to. So why the change? Here’s a typical scenario…..

Me: "What are you looking at in Saveur?"

She, pointing to a photo: "This is what I want for dinner."

Me, looking at the photo: "You want Latkes? I’ve never made Latkes, I don’t even know if I’m genetically predisposed to making Latkes."

She, coming up with the pat response: "Don’t worry, you can cook, it’s easy……" Pointing to photo: "See, it’s just a pancake. YOU CAN MAKE A PANCAKE, CAN’T YOU?"

Me, suddenly realizing that I’ve been both complimented and called out at the same time: "humph…."

She: "Hey, you can do a post on it…."

Me: "I’m not sure, you realize that many family’s treasure their recipes for Latkes, and I don’t want to insult anyone…."

By this time, She had lost interest and left the room…..probably moved on to bigger and better things. It’s a good thing that I’ve down sized my magazine subscriptions, and only receive a few publications, though I shudder to think what She may come up with in Sports Illustrated! Come to think of it, I think I’d better put my cookbooks under lock and key.

As noted, this has been modified from the recipe in the December 2007 issue of Saveur. One key change was the substitution of green onions(scallions) for chives, which looked positively terrible at the market.

Latkes

2-2/12 lbs Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 Medium onion
2 Bunches Green Onions sliced
3 Tb Matzo Meal
2 Eggs lightly beaten
Fresh Ground Pepper & Kosher Salt ot taste
Canola Oil

1 – Over a bowl, using the large-hole side of a box grater, alternate grating onion and potatoes.
2 – Sprinkle salt over potato-onion mixture, and transfer to a colander set over a bowl. Let drain for 10 minutes.
3 – Squeeze out as much moisture as possible from mixture, allowing the liquid to drain into the bowl. Set liquid side to let the starch in the liquid settle.
4 – Place mixture into another bowl, cover, and set aside.
5 – After 5 minutes, pour off the liquid, leaving settled starch behind.
6 – Mix starch into the onion-potato mixture, along with green onions, matzo meal, eggs, salt, and pepper.
7 – Heat canola oil in a pan to the height of about 1/4" over medium heat.
8 – Form mixture into balls, using about 1/4-1/3 cup of the mixture for each ball. Place ball into oil, and flatten with a spatula.
9 – Fry until cooked, turning once, for about 5-8 minutes.
10 – Latkes are traditionally served with sour cream or apple sauce….but the Missus uses, gasp…..ketchup!

Oh yes, one more item:

11 – Display your grated knuckles as a badge of courage!

Postscript: Great minds must think alike (he-he-he), here’s the one and only WanderingChopsticks, with her hunger inducing version.

A bunch of revisits… A Chau, Latin Chef, and Kayaba

December 21, 2007 mmm-yoso Banh Mi, Japanese Restaurants, Peruvian Restaurants, Sandwiches, Vietnamese Restaurants

I'm pretty sure many are(ahem, yours truly included) feeling the "Christmas Crunch" right about now. Of course there are those you, the uber-organized, who have this Christmas shopping thing down pat…..you know who you are, smug and relaxed during the Holidays, your Christmas blitz starts on December 28th….no never the 26th or 27th, on those days, the mall is crawling with unhappy campers returning unwanted gifts. But on the 28th, when all us shoppers are lying in exhaustion…tongues lolling from our gasping, foaming mouths, you're ready to gear up for NEXT CHRISTMAS! And you're usually done by the end of February, except for a few items, cherry-picked during the year. I salute you, super-shopper, well, it's a double salute of sorts, my right hand held flat and brought to my brow in respect, the other hand is raised…well, better to not go there.

Because of the time crunch, I find myself revisiting a bunch of places this time of year…here are a few:

A Chau

I haven't been to A Chau in a bit, and though I'm fully aware of the spiraling price increases of Banh Mi, it was still a shock when I paid $3 for my sandwich. I had ordered a simple BBQ Pork Banh Mi, but got this:

It was a meatball (Xiu Mai) Banh Mi, which would have been fine, except this was the type that uses a weak tomato sauce, that when combined with pickled vegetables, and fish sauce, is not a flavor that I'm fond of. The bread at A Chau remains the same as always, more on the doughy-chewy side, than the crusty baguette.

Still, I was, and am always pleased with the Cha Gio at A Chau. Made with rice paper, always crisp, and quite filling. The egg rolls are still 3 for a buck.

A Chau
4644 El Cajon Blvd Ste 111
San Diego, CA 92115

Latin Chef

Ed from Yuma rolled into town for a few days this week, and we managed to grab a few meals, one of which was at Latin Chef. It was nice to see Freddy, the Owner of Latin Chef, it was also nice to see that business has been good, and Latin Chef has been able to expand into the space next door. Still, even though the restaurant has doubled in size, it is still quite small.

Ed had the Cebiche, and I started with the Tiradito.

I found todays version to be really, really good, mildy tart and creamy, with some nice heat provided by the Aji Amarillo peppers. Freddy told me the spice was supplemented and raised with the help of ginger.

We also shared some Anticuchos:

And though this is a bit different from the grilled versions we got from street vendors in Cusco, it is still very good, with the flavor of cumin coming on strong. In fact, if you didn't know what it was……..you'd be hard pressed to guess.

Latin Chef
1142 Garnet Ave
San Diego, CA 92109

Kayaba

**** Kayaba has closed

During one of my shopping "blitzes", I was able to rest my weary butt at Kayaba. Desiring rice and something fried, I decided to order the Tonkatsu($7.50). In fact, I decided to retry the "Rosu" (pork loin) that I found to be very tough and dry on one of my previous visits.

And to my surprise it was nice and tender, if a bit on the dry side. And combined with a nice dose of tonaktsu sauce, the nice oniony potato salad, and rice, made for a rather nice meal.

Too bad the miso soup here is still terrible.

Kayaba
4240 Kearny Mesa Rd Ste 119
San Diego, CA 92111

Okay…back to shopping!!!!

Las Vegas Road Trip…Green Valley Ranch Resort breakfasts and National Finals Rodeo

December 19, 2007 Cathy Breakfast/Brunch, Las Vegas, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the blog about food…and stuff. I get to follow the soon to be infamous delightfully titled (and photographed) post by ed from Yuma. Here is more of a "stuff" post, with some food thrown in.

Hello, again. So…last weekend, Ms. T and I drove to Las Vegas and (again) stayed at Green Valley Ranch in Henderson, just Southeast of the Strip. It is my annual "Two days away from home when I get to take a bath and watch rodeo cowboy athletes"-seriously. That tub is wonderfully huge and the room is luxurious. The bed has high thread count sheets and a down duvet
topped and bottomed with sheets, creating a wonderfully warm thermal effect…and the room is solid, safe and silent, and, this time, had a view of not only the "beach" and pool areas, but also the sunrise against the hills to the West of town. (Click onto the smaller photo, look at top left- the edge of the pool is a gradual entrance of sand)

Since Ms. T drove the whole way there, she was very tired the first night and stayed in her room to wind down and I was on my own, so just walked over to "The District" next to the Hotel and looked at the Christmas decorations, window shopped and then went back to the casino and gambled a bit .
When I went to my room, I was hungry, having only eaten breakfast with The Mister before we left and then the snacks I had packed for the drive over…but it would be time for breakfast soon enough and Ms. T. and I had no plans to meet until 9 a.m., so I ordered Room Service to be delivered at 6 a.m.
"The European Breakfast, for one"…The top left napkin had a wonderful fresh, light, buttery, crispy croissant inside of it…There were assorted dried meats (roast beef, salami and Prosciutto) two large chunks of Brie, Greek olives, assorted fresh fruits (melon, grapefruit, blueberries, strawberries) the pot of coffee (that ended up being four cups) with real cream, fresh grapefruit juice, the butter pats in the bottom left corner and grape jam and strawberry preserves. It was wonderful and with a room service charge and non-optional 20% gratuity, set me back $33. There was a lot of food I saved for my later afternoon snack…a lot. This was a tray for one. It was way more than enough.
So, Ms. T and I went shopping at the Cowboy Christmas and then to lunch and then back to the hotel and met later to drive to the Rodeo.
The opening ceremonies, where all the participants, line up and ‘salute’ the audience with a tip of their hats is always a good memory. The National Finals Rodeo is a ten day event, and the participants are the top 15 of each competition from the past year. The competitions (Bareback riding, cattle roping, saddle broncs, team roping, women’s barrel racing and bull riding) are held between those top 15 people daily and on the tenth day, after the cumulative scores are counted, then "Best of the Best" are awarded the National Championship (and a corresponding large belt buckle).

All in all, a very nice Day 5 of the NFR .

The next morning, we heard it was raining in San Diego and did not want to drive too early, to avoid any possible "black ice" on the road in the Cajon Pass, so we went to the Breakfast Buffet at "Feast" inside the Green Valley Ranch Resort Casino Hotel.
Ms. T. got an assortment of the exotic offerings- a breakfast burrito and quesedilla, eggs, chorizo and stew.

And I was still in that "European" mode and chose an onion bagel, cream cheese, smoked fish, smoked salmon, onions, tomatoes, some assorted cheese slices, pickles…oh, and that pear.
Then I went back for more "traditional" stuff- scrambled eggs (with my selection of toppings from the salad and salsa bar), bacon, sausage, ham, and a biscuit with sausage gravy.
Ms. T. went back and tried a blintz, a crepe and a slice of cheesecake.
All of the food here is excellent and fresh. The all you can eat breakfast is $7 and includes beverage.

Then we started our drive back to San Diego, stopping in Baker…
But, not here…
I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

Oh, I did eat when we were at the Rodeo, just a snack of chicken fingers(nice and crispy and slightly spicy crust not needing the dip, but the hot sauce was nice after a while) and garlic fries ($6) (Fried potato-not quite crispy enough- with a dollop of fresh garlic and parsley on top….needed to be dipped in the ranch dressing)and this horrible $6 glass of Budweiser…

Sushi Porn: Pics from Sakura

December 18, 2007 ed fromyuma Japanese Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi, What Ed Eats -You too can be like Ed!

Hello readers. This is Kirk’s incredible mmm-yoso blog, but sometimes he shares the fun (?) of blogging with a few of his friends. For the last three months, I (ed from Yuma) have been enjoying the posts by Kirk and Cathy and others. Today, I finally get to do another one.

Several weeks ago, Cathy’s wonderful posting on lunch at Sakura reminded me that I had some decent pictures from a couple of recent (well sometime in the last two years) visits that I could share with everyone who reads mmm-yoso!!!

I usually let Kazu serve me what he wants to serve me, although I will occasionally provide guidelines or suggest something that I just have to eat that evening. Most often he starts me off with an exotic sashimi platter. This one is both typical and beautiful:

In fact, I thought it was so pretty I took another picture of it from a different angle:

I remember the ama ebi (sweet shrimp) as being especially succulent and rich in flavor. This also has to be one of the largest sweet shrimp that I have ever been served. The aji, always a specialty at Sakura, was outstanding. The maguro was good although nothing special, but the rich salmon made up for the rather ordinary tuna. Soon after I had gobbled up all of this wonderful fresh raw seafood, the shrimp head (which I’d torn into two pieces) and the aji bones were brought back to me deep-fried and tasty:

On another visit, the sashimi featured fresh local uni perched next to crunchy chunks of abalone (awabi). The abalone was almost too crunchy for my taste, but the uni was excellent as always:

I love this picture of fatty salmon belly and rich and succulent hamachi. Both tasted as good as they look. Both were extremely unctuous (in a very good way):

The Toro that evening was similarly superb and beautiful, so pretty in fact that this pic has become my avatar at Chowhound. Not that I see myself as a tuna belly (tunas are sleek and muscular, after all), but from their bellies to mine is sortof my sushi mantra:

After serving me a long chewy piece of squid (ika) wrapped around cucumber matched with a crunchy slice of giant clam neck (mirugai), Kazu presented me with saba (mackerel), something I don’t recall having eaten there before. With one taste, I realized that this was not the standard, pre-marinated mackerel with that standard sour fishy flavor, but instead these 5 slices were a real treat, Kazu’s own marinated saba, the best I have ever eaten. If one could taste the essence of the Pacific Ocean, I am convinced it would taste just like the saba that evening:
On another occasion, I was served spicy toro roll, the light spiciness perhaps covering up some shortcoming in the tuna belly. In any case, the smooth richness of the toro came through perfectly:

Since I don’t often order items, I am often unsure of the name of things I am served. I believe this fish salad is albacore tataki. In any case, it contained lightly seared moist and tender albacore slices: :

Tako wasabi is one of my favorite dishes, so it deserves a picture here too: Over the years, Kazu has served me many stew like dishes. At first this seemed strange as it didn’t fit my rather simple ideas about what Japanese food was. Now Sakura’s various izakaya specialties seem normal to me. In fact, many folks believe that the kitchen at Sakura turns out even better food than the sushi bar. This particular beef stew with perfectly cooked, but still firm potatoes and crunchy pea pods was both simple and flavorful. The chunks of beef had achieved a perfect balance of meaty flavor and a rich and tender mouthfeel. For dessert, my favorite thing (unless it has already been served to me) is always uni. What a way to finish: That looks so fresh and tasty that I’m salivating just sitting here at my computer looking at it. In any case, I hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures as much as I have enjoyed re-experiencing some tasty treats from my favorite San Diego restaurant.