Saturday Snacks: Camau Bakery, Cheeseballs Perhaps?, or for something a bit more savory……

Just some "snacks" for Saturday…..

Camau Bakery & Deli:

This place  had caught our interest a while back. We'd seen the prepackged Banh Beo, and other snacks with the "Camau Bakery" label on them. But the place always seemed closed. But on this morning, I noticed the shop was actually open! At least the open sign was out. So we stopped immediately, and found some parking. And walked on over to the door……

Camau01 

And it was locked!!! But the nice lady inside waved at us, opened the door and let us in. I kinda got the feeling that Camau really does catering, large orders, and wholesale orders. Nothing was out, and there were pans of covered snacks waiting for pick-up. But after passing by so many times, the Missus wasn't to be denied. She pointed at one of the containers, and said…"I want that!" The woman, who was a bit amused at the Missus's antics, told Her, "this is for an order, but since they're not going to be picked up until later this afternoon we can make more." Her name is Kieu…so thank you so much!

So what did the Missus get?

Camau02 

Well, a bunch of styrofoam containers of course…..

Just kidding. She got a large order of Che Xoi Nuoc.Camau03 It's a "sweet soup" of sorts, flavored with sugar and ginger. In the "soup" are large dumplings made of rice flour, and stuffed with mung bean paste, much like the Chinese Tāngyuán. These also had scallions in them, and was more savory than other versions we've had before. Still, after being chilled ice cold, and covered with the accompanying cocunut milk and sesame seeds, it was pretty good.

Camau04   

Camau05 I just wish they had regular hours…..

Camau Bakery & Deli
4857 El Cajon Boulevard
San Diego, CA 92115
(619) 583-2904

Some Cheese Balls Maybe???

One of my favorite lines from the movie, I Love You to Death. Recently, "MG" brought these to work. I had never seen them before.

CheeseBalls01   

Apparently, these were the "newest thing" at Valerio's. Buttery, sweet, and a bit salty….maybe a bit too oily for me….none the less, not too bad. If you like buttery…….

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And how's this for the kicker….it's filled with cream cheese….

CheeseBalls03 

Apparently, it was Valerio's in Mira Mesa who first started selling this…..and now it's being sold at other locations. This one was from the National City location.

Valerio's City Bakery
1631 E 8th St
National City, CA 91950
(619) 477-8588

And for something a bit more "savory"….

You can get this:

Bondegi01 

Need a closer look?

Bondegi02 

It was nice breaking bread (and other things) with two of my favorite people, Howie (please check out his recently redesigned Foodie View) and Candice. And this was one of the dishes we sampled.

If you're wondering about the main ingredient, I think the food labeling may be very accurate in this instance:

03232009 013    

Fishing Feed? = Bait???? It's all on the label!

Hope you're all having a grest weekend!

13 comments

  1. The breads and pastries at Valerios look great.
    Bread is my achille’s heel. Guess I’m gonna have to get their asap

  2. Mmmm…. chrysalis (beondaegi) was my favorite snack growing up. We didn’t really think of them as pupae, of course. They were just cheap salty and crunchy snack.

  3. Hi Stephen – If you like bread and rolls, you need to stop by Valerio’s…make sure to pick up some pan de sal.
    Hi Kat – Nah…..tasted like bug to me.
    Hi NG – I had deep fried silk worm in Laos…they are really good.
    Hi Melissa – Then you’ll love htese.
    Hi GF – Yep, that’s what bondegi is.

  4. You are brave eating “fish feed”. I’m Korean and I won’t touch that stuff. I wonder if my Mom would…
    Love your blog; it’s been quite useful in answering the question of “Where should we go eat?”
    I have to ask, how do you get such nice pictures? Do you carry around a small camera with you? If so what do you use?

  5. Hi Rosa – I think if the bondegi were live, then quickly fried you’ve love ’em….just like shoestring potatoes! These photos were taken with a Fuji Finepix F30. If you notice, I don’t use a flash…..I don’t like undue attention, and Fuji has a proprietary sensor that does a decent job. It’s also small enough to fit in my pocket, and it goes everywhere with me.

  6. those dumplings sound like and interesting combination of stuff and forgive my ignorance but is that a vietnamese dish? those cheeseballs sound like great fun, is that a filipino pastry then? and yes you are quite adventurous eating fish bait in your soup! Hey, I use an F20 (the cheaper less bells and whistles version), gotta love that fuji CCD.

  7. Love this round stuff that made from rice flour.I know how to cook bilu-bilo i suddenly craving some ginataan.
    -Ava

  8. Love this rice flour especially with coconut.This is one of my favorite filipino food.
    -Ava

  9. Can anyone get the recipe for the cheese balls? I love their cheese balls but no longer live close to get them.

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