Day: September 7, 2014

The Missus has a style all Her own. She keeps me on my toes; I never know what Her latest obsession will be. Recently, She's become a bit of a coffee nerd, pour over coffee to be precise. One morning She sent me a text telling me She's ordered V60 "stuff"…..my response was "what do you need a missile launcher for?". I came to find out that She wasn't planning on taking out any tanks, but rather, was ordering the gear she needed to make pour over coffee at home. Of course, what's coffee without beans, right? Which is how we started visiting places like Dark Horse and Portola, with me having stuff like Kyoto Drip Coffee. Anyway, Her favorite current source of beans and a nice cup of coffee is Bird Rock and on this morning She was thrilled…..they had something called Panama Geisha, supposedly the best Panama has to offer. It was ten bucks for V50 pour-over, yikes! Still, I believe it was important for Her to try it….once….since She's really enjoying Her coffee. The guy working here was really nice and told the Missus, "it's perfect……I want to make sure you enjoy every last drop!" Which She did….It's really smooth and fruity….a bit too smooth for me…it is quite lovely, but I like a bit of acid and bite in coffee. I am glad She got a chance to try it. She also bought some Kenyan to grind (by hand) at home….She's started to keep the labels of the various beans She buys to remember what She enjoys. My goodness, I'm married to a coffee nerd in training.

Bird Rock Coffee Roasters
5627 La Jolla Blvd
San Diego, CA 92037

Then it's off to Pho Lucky:

So it's like in the 80's at 8 in the morning. What does the Missus want to have? Well, pho of course…. wha???

We actually ordered the same items as on this visit. Today the broth wasn't too salty and loaded with MSG, there was a nice clove-5 spice backbone to the broth. Lot's of tendon which the Missus gave to me…..along with all those perfectly cooked noodles….She stayed with the broth and meat. I'm still not a fan of the Missus dumping all those jalapenos into Her broth, but hey, it's Her soup, right?

I ordered the combination broken rice; most of which (except for the Bi, which the Missus inhaled) came home for a light lunch. I was too full after eating all those noodles.

Things were divided up as follows, pork chop and rice for me, shrimp stuffs for Her. She also had the "cha" which seemed like it had been sitting around for a while, it was too dry for my tastes, but the Missus enjoyed it. Such is how couples who have been together forever eat I guess…..

Pho Lucky
9326 Mira Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92126

Gyokai Natto Don from Izakaya Sakura:

I was on my own for dinner. All this hot and sticky weather has me craving certain "comfort" food…..specifically natto. I hadn't been here in a while, and not for dinner in ages.

In fact, I hadn't been here since they cleaned up their menu….it's much more easy to read now…it made it so easy to find the Nankotsu Karaage – fried chicken cartilage. I love the crunch of well prepared chicken cartilage and this was fried perfectly.

The coating was nice, light, and crisp, though I think I'll need some togarashi next time as it needed a bit of umph…..

The combination of raw fish and ika (squid) combined with the sticky stringy natto was just what the doctor ordered. Soy sauce and wasabi just brought everything together for me. The agedashi tofu that comes with this wasn't cooked properly, the coating was gummy and didn't hold up…. otherwise, this was the perfect meal for today.

Izakaya Sakura
3904 Convoy St #121
San Diego, CA 92111

So. You see what we've been eating during this hot and sticky weather….what have you been eating?