Desserts – Page 18

Episode 7-Week One: Saturday musings and Mary’s

October 7, 2006 Cathy Cooking, Desserts, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso is on vacation. The part usually played by Kirk will be played by Cathy in the interim.

Ah, every day should be Saturday in the autumn. Today was a particularly good day, starting out with a simple breakfast:

Hmmm…..I wonder what Kirk and I have in common anyhow….

That is rye bread I got from Panera Bakery earlier in the week. Its really good and chewy, and still great a few days later, if toasted.

Anyhow, the Mister and I didn’t want to go in to Pacific Beach to watch the Saturday football game for a couple of reasons: 1. It started at about 1:30 p.m., and so we would have to get there early to get a good seat. 2. The particular game we were going to watch was going to be played on national TV….and 3. We also wanted to see how the baseball playoffs were going…can’t use that remote in a bar, even one with about 50 TV sets… So, we stayed at home and had lunch:

Home made pizza:

The crust is simple: 2 C bread flour, 1/2 C corn meal, 1 tsp dry yeast, 1 Tbs sugar, 1/2 tsp kosher salt, 2 Tbs olive oil, 1 C water. You know the drill: dissolve yeast, sugar in water, mix rest together..knead, let rise, let rise 2nd time. Makes about a 15 inch round. We put it on a pre-heated pizza stone and into the oven.

Toppings were fresh tomatoes (from the yard), fresh basil (from the yard), fresh mozzarella and shredded 4 cheese Mexican mix from Vons (Medium cheddar, Monterey Jack, Asadero and Queso Quesadilla). {Hey, I ate Spam for breakfast..I can put Mexican cheese on a pizza}. No olive oil or tomato sauce on the dough…baked in the oven until it was done. It was nice, crispy, chewy and filling.

Anyhow, we won the games and pretty soon it was time for dinner.

Beer can chicken!

Chicken, partial can of beer (take a big sip), fresh rosemary shoved into the beer can, place beer can/rosemary infusion into the chicken, and then set into the handy-dandy "Beer can chicken cooker" (sold at WalMart for $3.50, and at other places for $10) seasoned salt for the skin. Place on BBQ grill, using radiant heat (flames on one side, chicken on other side) The beer will eventually boil and steam inside the chicken and the result will be:

A beautifully roasted exterior and the interior will be very moist and flavorful.

You can use soda pop instead of beer, but be sure to used only sugared, not diet, soda pop….the chemical that makes diet stuff sweet tasting gets really weird when boiled.

Oh, as an aside, if anyone ever gives you one of those cute, 4 inch pots of rosemary shaped like a Christmas tree, and you decide to plant it in your back yard in San Diego…just know it *will* turn into a four foot by four foot bush/shrub that smells wonderful and will never die…

The chicken was served with rice pilaf, roasted squash (cut into quarters, innards scooped out, pat of butter on top, wrap in foil and put into the heat side of the grill). and beets. We needed some color on the plate; canned green beans or corn kernels would not make for a pretty picture.

Then it was 8 pm.

Mary’s is open 24/7. Tomorrow is Sunday. Mary’s has been in Santee forever. Look at the cool signage. It used to be called Zona’s Donuts, more than 20 years ago. Sometimes I still call it Zona’s, but it is Mary’s.

Mary’s sells *lots* of donuts on Sunday…so they make them the night before. Fresh, warm and lots of them..

I bought four.

This is what made it home. I *really* like fresh French Crullers.

Mary’s Donuts 9031 Mission Gorge Road, Santee 92071 (SE corner of the 125) (619) 448-4800 …always open…

Saturday Snack – Ono’s Cafe

May 6, 2006 mmm-yoso Bakery, Caffeine Fix, Desserts, Local Kine Stuffs in San Diego

*** Ono's has closed

A while back I heard of a small coffee/tea/dessert shop in the Bonita area called Ono's (love the name) that supposedly served Malasadas. Yep, Malasada's.

Now nothing can make an Ex-Pat Kama'aina as homesick as the thought of hot and fluffy Malasadas from Leonard's Bakery in Honolulu. For those who don't know what a Malasada is; think of it as a Donut without a hole, fried to a nice golden brown crisp on the outside, with a light and fluffy interior. Served piping hot, there is nothing that quite compares to it in my book. Though Portuguese in origin, Malasadas has long been an Island favorite. So naturally, this made Ono's a "must-try".

Ono's is tucked away behind a branch of Well Fargo on Bonita Road. Though hidden from the street, once in the parking lot, you can't miss the "statue".

The decor is a tasteful Asian-influenced tropical, with "New Age" Asian instrumental music piped in. On this day the Cafe was quite full, with people having tea or coffee, and various desserts like Kahlua Cheesecake.

I did find a sign for Malasadas, 9 for $3.50! Now that is very, very inexpensive. I placed my order, and was told that it would be an 8 to 10 minute wait. Soon enough, a small white package was delivered to me. I opened it as soon as I got to the car.

Though the donuts were golden brown, and smelled heavenly, these looked more like donut holes then Malasadas. I guess that explains the price. As I took a bite, I noticed that the interior of this small donut was cake-like and pretty dense. Overall these tasted pretty good, since they were served hot and fresh.

The texture was somewhere between a Malasada and Andagi, the dense Okinawan "donut". These really weren't Malasadas in my book.

Even though I was expecting Malasadas, and these didn't fit the bill, they still tasted good when "hot". Though I wouldn't go out of my way to visit Ono's in the future, I'd probably drop by for a cup of coffee or some dessert if I'm in the neighborhood.

Notes: Service was friendly and efficient. There are a number of desserts, smoothies, and other drinks available.

Ono's
4154 Bonita Rd
Bonita, CA 91902

Saturday Desserts and Other Silliness

December 3, 2005 mmm-yoso Desserts, Filipino Restaurants, Salvadoran Restaurants, yoso-silly

Lately, one of the Missus’s obsessions have been Filipino Desserts, like Bibingka(sweet rice cake), Biko(rice cake), Puto(steamed cakes), Leche Flan(egg custard), and other merienda (afternoon snack) type snacks. Let me just explain that one does not trivialize the cravings of the Missus. To do so could mean an "ugly death"! Also, unless you can do the "tricks" that Sammy does, don’t even try stealing a bite!

Since I don’t really have a sweet tooth, I thought I’d just share the locations, and a few pictures of the Missus’s Filipino Dessert places.

Bread Deluxe Bakery:

Located next to Seafood City in both National City and Mira Mesa; we’ll never leave here without a few snacks.

And many times, a good portion of what is purchased will not even make it to the car.

Bread Deluxe Bakery
1420 E Plaza Blvd Ste E
National City, CA 91950

Filipino Desserts Plus

With locations both in National City and Mira Mesa, they make the Missus’s favorite Biko. Good luck with finding parking in the National City location with Red Ribbon Bakery, ChowKing, and Popeye’s in the same mall.

Most desserts are prices between $1.50 to $4.00, and are a bargain. I’ll refer any questions on flavor and taste to the ~~Boss~~ Missus for comment. But this place is quite popular. There are times when the lines are out the door.

Filipino Desserts Plus
2220 E Plaza Blvd Ste Q
National City, CA 91950

There are many other locations where one can pick-up snacks in National City; Manila Sunset is known for their Bibinka, and Valerio’s is also very popular. But for the Missus, these are part of her rotation.

We were able to attend the annual "Jingle Ball" concert last night at the Sports Arena after a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, Ba Ren. We try to attend every year; and this year was a must see for us. The Missus’s favorite group, Train, was one of the performers:

This annual concert is a benefit for "Becky’s House" a transitional home for victims of domestic violence and their children in San Diego. This years line-up included Los Lonely Boys, Hootie and the Blowfish, Switchfoot, Alanis Morrisette, and The B-52’s. What a blast!

All the Missus needed was "something sweet to end the evening", looks like another dessert run is in order!

Villa Manila Restaurant & Jollibee

October 16, 2005 mmm-yoso Desserts, Filipino Restaurants

I received a phone call from the Missus the other day, informing me it was "Pata time". Which for us means a trip down to National City and Villa Manila:

Villa Manila occupies a space in a strip mall on 8th Street; many people will recognize this as the former site of Max Restaurant. The location is also right across the street from Zarlitos Restaurant. Villa Manila is a good sized Family style restaurant, featuring such favorites as Nilagang Baka (Beef Shank and Vegetable Soup) and Sinigang(Tamarind Based soup).

But the main reason we come to Villa Manila is this:

By Neptune’s Trident! That is a whole Crispy Pata($19.00). In case you are not quite sure what Crispy Pata is; it’s a Deep Fried Pork Leg (Pata). From what I understand, the Pata is first boiled, then dried, and finally fried. The result is a rich, decadent dish. You get the crispy skin, the rich subcutaneous fat, the soft gelatinous connective tissue, and the flavorful meat. Forget about this being the "other white meat", this is the real thing. You really can’t mistake for anything else; it’s 100% pig. You can order a Half Crispy Pata for $10.00, but the way we look at it is; if you’re going to have Pata, you might as well "go all they way"!

Like the saying goes; "pork fat rules"!

The dipping sauce is a simple sweet, soy- vinegar mix, which helps to cut the richness. I only have a few bites, mainly because the script goes like this:

The first bite, crunchy and gooey, is amazingly good!
The second bite is so decadent and rich, delici-yoso!!!
The third bite; is that some sweat on my brow? Guess my body is starting to work kind of hard…
By the fourth bite, man this is rich; think I’m getting a bit dizzy here!
By the fifth bite, I’ve called and made an appointment with my Cardiologist!
Luckily, the Missus has no such problems! And of course the Boyz get the bones!

We also ordered Lumpia Ubod ($7.00):

These two burrito sized "lumpia", feature Ubod (Hearts of palm), of course, as well as pork and shrimp. You can get them "Fresh"(unfried), or "Fried". We got the fried version which was fine, except the lumpia was not heated all the way through.

I ordered the Regular Half Fried Chicken combo($7.50), which comes with fries or rice; guess which one I got?

Unfortunately, I ordered this with Garlic Rice, but got the Fried Rice instead. The Chicken is pretty good, just simple seasoned fried chicken which I like to dip in vinegar. The white meat is on the dry side but the dark meat is very flavorful. There is something called "Jumbo" chicken that costs a bit more; but they’ve always been out of them when I’m here! Guess Jumbo Chicken is hard to come by!

Villa Manila may be a bit more expensive than the usual Filipino Restaurant, but the food is done well, and the service is always good.

Villa Manila Restaurant
500 East 8th Street
National City, CA 91950

Of course after this calorie dense and rich meal The Missus "needed something sweet to clear my palate". No problemo; just a quick trip to Jollibee:

For a Halo Halo Supreme ($3.99):

A picture speaks a thousand words, huh?

Jollibee
1401 East Plaza Blvd
National City, CA 91950

Jin Patisserie

September 24, 2005 mmm-yoso Chocolate, Desserts

On Friday afternoon I received a call:

"Hello"
"Oh my God"
"Hello"
"Oh my God"
"Whats wrong?"
"It’s so beautiful!"

It turned out the Missus had gotten this in the mail:

A pretty silk box. So what was in it?

I had heard of Jin Patisserie from Kristy’s wonderful blog Best of LA, and in this case she’s right! I had ordered the 15 pieces of Chocolate in a Silk Box, but received 20, and I’m not complaining!

My photo’s really don’t do these chocolates justice, they really are works of art:

The flavors included in this box are: Lemon Grass, Sea Salt Caramel, Jasmine, Black Roasted Sesame, Lychee, Earl Grey Feuilletine, Mango Kalamansi, Passionfruit, The des Concubine, Red Caramel Clove, Mango Basil, Cinnamon, The du Hammum, Lavender, and Ginger.

The price? $42, not cheap, but oh, so beautiful to look at!

I think I’d better let the Missus eat her candy now. It’ll take a while, she’s just a nibbler with these types of candies, and really knows how to appreciate them.

So if you want your own little 1×1 piece of heavenly rich and subtly flavored chocolate; you can order from the Jin Patisserie website, or visit them at:

Jin Patisserie
1202 Abbot Kinney Blvd.
Venice, Ca. 90291

Ain’t it amazing what we learn from Blogs?

Thanks Kristy!

Road Trip: Shopping and Snackin’ in LA – Hong Kong Plaza Squared

August 27, 2005 mmm-yoso Desserts, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip

We had an appointment in Los Angeles this afternoon, so of course there would be some eating involved. And knowing our luck it would also just so happen to be the hottest day of the year. Geez! We left at a quarter after nine, and made great time getting to our first destination at about ten till eleven, too early for lunch (restaurant not open till eleven). So we decided to take a walk around, even though it was stifling hot.

Our destination – Hong Kong Plaza in West Covina. This huge mall didn’t even exist when we moved from LA 4 years ago. So it was quite a shock to see this huge mall here. This outpost of Hong Kong Supermarket was also a shock. We lived down the street from Hong Kong Market in Rowland Heights, and it was basically a Chinese Market. This branch was different and looked to be directed at the Southeast Asian population. It was fun walking down the isles and finding items like the frozen Mangosteen:

One isle was totally dedicated to various packaged seasonings and mixes, many of which I’ve never heard of:

After picking up some nice looking lychee (99 cents/lb – a great price), rejecting the jujubes (dry and looking old), and picking up some packaged snacks I went to the check out, paid and headed for our lunch destination. All the time counting my blessings – I got out spending under twenty bucks.

Hong Kong Supermarket
987 S Glendora Ave
West Covina, CA 91790

After lunch and our appointment, we headed to the "other" Hong Kong Plaza, and our "stinky tofu" destination; Shau Mei Restaurant. While waiting for our tofu, the Missus ordered a Taiwanese Shaved Ice with 3 "items" ($2.50):

Basically 3 items – in this case Lychee, sweet rice balls, and Mango Mousse, covered with a pile of shaved ice with some syrup. You can also order this with condensed milk or juice for an additional cost. In about 5 minutes it looked like this:

The mango mousse was terrible BTW. Standing in the suffocating heat, with a large bag (3 orders) of stinky tofu in my hand was a bit much for me, so I returned to the car to store the tofu while the Missus browsed through a pile of CDs and DVDs. I returned and considered myself lucky; she only bought 3 Andy Lau CDs for $3. She had spotted this sign though:

99 cent Boba – Bargain City! How can you resist a 99 cent Boba? So after a sharp right turn we headed into the snack shop and got a Taro Shake with Boba (Boba in a shake 25 cents). I’m not a Boba drinker, but took a sip. It tasted like a Taro Shake. The Missus said it was a bit sweet, but the Boba was good. So this was obviously worth $1.24.

So done with our short reprieve from the heat, we headed out into the parking lot, and suddenly realized why we like San Diego so much. We miss all of the options available to you in Los Angeles, but really don’t miss the 100 degree plus temps and the psycho drivers and traffic.

Here’s the sign of the day:

You too can go where the "Implants Hang Out"!!!

What about our lunch? That’s for tomorrow, when I’ve recovered from my heat stroke.

Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour

June 20, 2005 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Desserts, Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt

*** I think most San Diego residents know from the press coverage, that as of July 31st 2006, Farrell’s has closed it’s doors. A sad day for all…..

Caution, the following post may bring on severe side effects associated with a case of terminal nostalgia!

I don’t think that you could’ve grown up in Honolulu in the 70’s and early 80’s without having gone to Farrell’s at least once! Bright, loud, and rollicking, the pounding of the drums, and the siren going off when a "zoo" was being delivered! Farrell’s is very near and dear to the hearts of those raised during that era.

Then, it seems like overnight they all started closing one by one, until I walked by the location of my favorite in Kahala Mall, and found they were gone……

Until today that is. I had read that one of the last two Farrell’s(the other is in Santa Clarita) in existence is located in Mira Mesa just about 12 miles North; but I had never made the effort to go there. After all they say "you can never really go back home again"…. But I made mention of Farrell’s on Ono Kine Grindz, and man if we didn’t start waxing nostalgic! So of course, a trip was in order…..

The Farrell’s in Mira Mesa is located in a mall across from a Target store, next to a Domino’s pizza. The location looked really plain and we almost missed it, how so "Un-Farrell’s" – like :

As we walked in, all of the "classic" kitsch-y, faux 90’s Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour decor was on display. From the booths to the tiffany lamps, to the red and gold wallpaper, to the player piano, it was all there. The old Farrell’s spirit and excitement was missing however. It was unusually dark, and Adults out-numbered children 5 to 1, and it was very quiet. Maybe because it was Father’s day, who knows! There were three what looked like Middle-Aged Siblings with a Gentleman who was obviously their dad having lunch and ice cream. We were seated and handed the classic Farrell’s Newsprint Menu! With great joy I turned to the back and saw that The Zoo, Volcano, and Pig’s Trough, were still on the menu! In fact most of the ice cream desserts that I remembered were still on the menu. On the downside, no Gastronomicaldelicatessenepicurean’s Delight, bummer! And in deference to the location there was stuff like Pot Stickers, Asian Chicken Strips, and Tempura Vegetables, on the menu. Very strange. The classic Patty Melt and Whing Ding Hot Dog are still on the menu however.

We ordered a "Crunchy Burger" (not a classic I know) and a Banana Royale (a classic). The burger was pretty good, tasty, well cooked, as good as I remember. The Banana Royale was also good, no frills vanilla ice cream, real good thick fudge, and nuts. The Missus kept asking me why the fudge was so thick, and I had to explain that this is not the thin, runny, squeeze bottled stuff. I eventually showed Her the fudge warmer.

So what’s the verdict? I actually enjoyed my burger enough to return. Farrell’s is a little worse for wear, and alot of the atmosphere is gone, but those memories are still there. There’s a site with an exhaustive history of Farrell’s.

Here’s to the memories!

Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour
10606 Camino Ruiz
Mira Mesa, CA 92126

Indulgence – A Sugar Free Bakery.

June 3, 2005 mmm-yoso Bakery, Desserts

*** Update: Indulgence has since closed.

Hard to miss this place – the bright purple sign beckons on Park Avenue.

They advertise themselves as a sugar free bakery. So we stopped by just to see what this was like. The interior is cafe-like and ecletic, with artwork lining the walls. And there is a large case filled with cakes, cream puffs, and other pastries.

That's a strawberry chiffon cake calling to you…. Though these treats are sugar-free, they're not low calorie! A slice of that chiffon cake is 477 calories. We chose two lemon bars – only a 100 or so calories a piece. The bars had a good texture, but as amazing as this may seem, tasted overly sweet! I enjoyed the slight tang and good aftertaste, but a little too sweet for me.

The staff is very friendly and helpful, so much so, that when I asked if it was ok to take a picture of the cakes, the Gentleman behind the counter, answered brightly, "of course", than proceeded to open up the case for a better picture! Breakfast is served from 9-5! With various egg or egg substitute options, quiche, and other items. Lunch is served from 11am to 5pm, with extensive menu of everything from Boca Burgers to Reduced Carb Pizza to Pot Roast. Indulgence A Sugar Free Bakery. So if sugar- free, low-carb, and organic is your thing, give it a try.

Indulgence Bakery
4207 Park Blvd
San Diego, CA 92103
(619) 299-3404

Tuesday to Saturday:
9 am – 9 pm
Sunday:
9 am-5 pm
Closed Mondays