Thanks for stopping to read mmm-yoso!!!, this blog about food. Cathy is writing today because she has a post about food (and some other things) while Kirk is busy with work.
This past Saturday had us waking at 4, leaving at 5 and getting to Irwindale at 7; the start of what we thought would be an efficient morning.
2024 Rose Parade Float Road Test #1
A few floats were being tested for mechanics and maneuverability.
The Oddfellows and Rebekahs float, "All You Need is Love", passed with flying colors! I can't wait to see which natural materials are used to decorate the unicorns.
The Kiwanis 2024 float, "Serving in Harmony" passed its third road test, with people (weight) on board and will be ready too decorate with 'dry' materials and glue on the first Saturday in December. You can volunteer to decorate by signing up HERE.
The Lions Clubs International float, "Changing the World Through Music" has a great rendering of the Parade theme (Celebrating A World of Music; The Universal Language) and float title.
The Royal Court float was also tested; seven members will be seated here as part of their year long reign of community service.
Stored inside the float barn, the Elks Clubs float with headless and handless Fife and Drum Corps is painted in (usually human 'skin' decorating, done with various spices, is separately worked on and I suspect that is why the heads and hands are not attached).
The Petal Pushers and Lutheran Hour Ministries entry, "Make a Joyful Noise Unto the Lord" has been further painted in.
The Rotary International entry, "Clean Water, the Music of Life" with the ducks and umbrellas looks to be a winner. It's cute and conveys the message of the Parade and of Rotary.
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Being efficient, we were on the road South and got to Portos before 8 a.m..
Plenty of parking, no lines, a quick pick up of the seasonal peach tart, a blueberry croissant, cranberry orange scone, cheese roll, walnut raisin bread and a Cuban quesadilla (pretty much another form of cheesecake).
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We started on the 10 West, toward El Monte, took an exit and I made a quick stop upon seeing this signage.
The menu was outside, inside and at the counter. 
We ordered #1, #3 and #7 (Shrimp Har Gow, Shrimp Shiu Mai and bean curd wrapped meat) ($18 total) and put the bag in the car. It would be a late lunch.
Very good, fresh, quite large pieces. Glad we stopped.
Hong Kong Dim Sum House, 9505 Garvey Ave, South El Monte 91733 (626) 350-7099 Open Wed-Mon 7-3, Closed Tues
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Since it was early, and we wanted Dim Sum, we we decided to try Ocean Bo again
The menu is the same, prices slightly higher by 30¢ ($4.59) than in October.
The drill was the same; check off your order on the menu and everything is brought out at once. We knew what was in the car so ordered different things here. 
Steamed Fun Gor, Ham Sui Gok, Shrimp and Chive dumpling, Seafood Gow and baked egg tart (each $4.59). Hot tea was $1.80 each and the pot was constantly kept refilled.
Cross sections; different skins on each item, everything very fresh and very efficient service. A great place.
Ocean Bo 3944 Peck Road El Monte (626) 452-1818 Open daily 8 am-9 pm website
Even though we were done at 9:29 a.m. and thought we would get home quickly, that didn't happen. We drove over to the 15 and ended up getting in at 12:45. Crazy traffic! Still a nice day.
And just wandered around. I ended up buying more Tarbais beans in the shop/deli above….yep, 35€ a kilo and I bought another half kilo.
The red brick building with the black awning, next to LLL Reptile on East Grand between North Kalmia and North Juniper. It's pretty easy to spot. 
There is plenty of indoor seating as well as quite a few outdoor tables.
Step inside and the menu is on the wall. There are paper menus also. Order, pay and your food will be brought to your table.
The first item that caught our eyes, top left-Original Poutine ($8.99). Fresh cut fries, brown gravy, cheese curds. We had to. The fries were skin on, definitely made here. Not too crisp, but hot and thoroughly cooked, covered with the not-salty brown gravy and cheese curds, which melted in the heat of the fries. The cheese was plentiful and stretchy and a really great part of each bite. There were leftovers which reheated quite well in the fry pan at home. 
Pretty much the center of the menu board, the Cuban Torta ($16.99) wa our agreed choice. A toasted Torta roll slathered with mayonnaise, filled with adobada, pulled pork, ham, provolone, a fried egg, pineapple, and pickled jalapeño.`
You can see it all here. Each meat (plenty of meat in this sandwich) was fresh and offered a discernible variety of flavors. Then there were textures-the egg was runny, adding a richness and the sweet slice of lightly crisp pineapple was very complimentary to all of the porky goodness. Even the light crunch, slight saltiness and light heat of the pickled jalapeño helped bring it all together with each bite. We each had leftovers of our respective halves.
Looking over to the bottom right of the menu-Beignets ($7.99). Oh yes, this would be a dessert day. We were asked if we wanted the deep fried dough to come out with our meal or would we like to wait, since everything is made to order here. We said we were not in a hurry and later were asked if they should start on the dessert. 
Calling this a "bowl" is a definite misnomer as it's pretty hefty. There's the standard green salad with a sesame dressing plus some fairly standard and kinda mushy and pretty salty japchae. The rice was nicely done and the portion size seemed a bit larger than before.
The pig tongue was as expected, fairly chewy and very porky. Quite typical.
We quickly noticed that on this visit, the dumpling wrappers were very soft, lacking in the slight "pull" that we enjoy in jiaozi wrappers. The filling of the shrimp, pork, and leek was very moist and actually had a good amount of "soup" in them…very nicely flavored, though a bit short in the shrimp department.
But man, that filling was so gamy, moist, juice just poured out of it when I took a bite.
We did notice that the dish has changed since our last visit. The shrimp shells and the shrimp seems to have some coating; like the tofu skin, the portion size is smaller. The shrimp is not quite as delicate as it used to be. But the flavor is still there and the shells and tail are a pleasure to eat.
Soon enough the large plate of bun, herbs, and veggies. And of course the Missus enjoys the Banh Trang Me dipping it into the mam nem. As for the Mam Nem, we noticed that it's not quite as potent as it used to be.
Arriving home, I quickly unpacked things and immediately went for the item I 
As you can see, the Missus was all about the tamago on this day. This bowl had a lot of "stuffs"; scallion, spinach, bean sprouts, cabbage. The best item in the entire bowl was the menma which had a wonderful texture and the earthy-soy sauce tones were on point. The two slices of "chashu", I use the quotation marks because the two thin slices were not pork belly, it was lean and tough. 
Ramen was the first to arrive. The broth is indeed lighter, though there were some nice globules of fat in it. I thought it was on the overly salty side and pretty one-dimensional in flavor, though that might be written off to the sodium overload. The chashu; which had a nice "fat cap", was thinly sliced, with a wonderful soy-porkiness to it and very tender. The tamago was also nicely cooked and marinated but was ice cold, a pet peeve of mine.
This version came with a small "pile" of veggies – mostly bean sprouts, some carrots and spinach, etc…..for what seems to be a two dollar upcharge that's not really worth the price. The shio broth seemed even lighter than the shoyu version, less rich, but not as salty. For some reason, there was a pungency like that of white pepper that resonated with me. I preferred this broth to the shoyu version.
Apparently some noodles were stuck together during the cooking process and melded into a hard, inedible ball of gluten madness. Oh man, what a bummer. I showed this to the young man working who was speechless and told me "sorry" and then walked away. Soon someone else brought me my check! So, perhaps I was in an alternate universe at that moment having lunch at Kita-"