February 6, 2016 – mmm-yoso

Thank you for stopping to read mmm-yoso!!!, a blog with almost daily posts about food. For over ten years, Kirk along with some help from Ed (from Yuma) and Cathy (and a couple of others) have been sharing cooked and purchased meals and incidental stories to go along with the consumption of said meals. Today, Cathy is writing.

On January 2 of this year, The Mister and I drove to Pasadena to see the 2016 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade floats lined up end to end, at the Showcase of Floats. The 42+ floats were viewable at 2 p.m. on January 1, but we were watching a football game and didn't want to drive up. I've been keeping you up to date with the float road tests as well as a day when we helped decorate floats for this parade, themed "Find Your Adventure", which was co-sponsored by the National Park Service (which is celebrating its 100th year as a government agency). This gathering is all the floats at the end of the parade route, on display following almost a year of work.The City of Los Angeles float "Discover Los Angeles" is the float that Dennis, The Mister and I worked on and it is quite beautiful with all the organic materials.

Singpoli Group's float "Marco Polo- East Meets West" and the detail of one of the dragon paws gives you an idea of the work that goes into each of the floats in the parade.

The Lions Club "Camps for All Abilities" float was a magnificent display of use of live and dry materials.The South Dakota Department of Tourism sponsored this float, "The Great Faces and Great Places of South Dakota", which was overwhelming in detail. Notice the multiple colors/materials used to depict the carved rock and shading of Mount Rushmore. This was my favorite.Rotary International float, "Working Together for Peace" was filled with great details, like this grasshopper on a watering can.
Trader Joe's "Fearless Flyer" in full decoration (he's even wearing a Hawaiian shirt) was magnificent.The details of The Sierra Madre "Rollin on the River" are just beautiful.The 'bees' stuck on the beehive on the Miracle-Gro "Life Starts Here" float are really peanuts!The American Heart Association teamed up with Union Bank to celebrate its 30th anniversary in "A Union of Hearts". So Cute! People were posing along the side of the surreally large "Every Second is an Adventure"float sponsored by the Los Angeles Lakers.Northwestern Mutual sponsored this float, "Dancing Into Adventure". The City of South Pasadena constructed and decorated "Fishing Follies".

"Adventures in Real Food" sponsored by Real California Milk was displayed next to several booths which were handing out samples of yogurt and cheese, along with coupons and t-shirts.Just to give you an idea of how crowded the Showcase can get, this is a view from the East end at about 10 a.m.. That's the Royal Court float a bit to the left; they were posing for photos.

All in all, a great parade. The theme for the 2017 Parade has been announced: "Echoes of Success" and the planning has begun.

Of course, there was food involved in this day. Since the Showcase opens to the general public at 9 (although Seniors and Handicapped can go to view the floats as early as 7 a.m.) we drove up at a leisurely pace and took the 101 from the 5.Philippe The Original opens at 6 a.m. daily. Kirk has posted about a meal here and so have I. It's the same system, just not as busy in the morning. Walk up, order and the nice lady orders from the kitchen, which prepares most of the meal while she is preparing your tray. You pay her (they take credit cards now!), grab the tray and find a table. The whole meal was $15.04. I am fascinated with this self serve water dispenser; it reminds me of elementary school.The ham and cheese omelet is $6.60- it comes with the potatoes, biscuit (or toast) and coffee (or tea or juice). Quite large and good.The egg & cheese sandwich with sausage ($5.60) because I always order breakfast sandwiches. I like this version. A slice of still warm fresh made coffee cake ($1.60) rounded out this meal.

Philippe the Original 1001 N. Alameda Street Los Angeles 90012 (213)628-1731 open seven days 6 a.m.-10 p.m. Website

When we drive to the Showcase, there are three entrances. You can park for free and take a bus directly to an entrance gate for $3, pay for parking closer, or park a bit farther on a neighborhood street for free and walk. We park on Washington Street, nearest the North entrance. We've stopped at House of Cookies, run by a very nice husband and wife only a few times over the years, I posted about it once. The wife (who is usually working) remembers us. This year she asked why we don't stop in more often…and we told her that we live in San Diego. She was surprised that we stop at her place, and we were surprised she remembered us. It was nice.
The store is a tiny tiny place. Everything is fresh and tasty.
We bought the potato cheese filled puffy pastry and the Napoleon and the tiramisu all for less than $4.