Festivals & Events – Page 10

2014 Tournament of Roses Parade float decorating (and meals in Pasadena)

December 26, 2013 Cathy Bakery, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! the food blog is written by a few people who do more than just eat. We (Kirk, Ed(from Yuma), Cathy and others) have professions, jobs, hobbies and various interests. The end purpose of each post is to share some sort of food and/or eating experience. Today's post, written by Cathy, is a compilation of food and interest…

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas Day! The year has really flown by and in less than a week- it's 2014. The year will begin in Southern California, as it has begun for the previous 124 years, with the Tournament of Roses parade and football game.

If you follow the blog, you know I've been sharings 2014 Rose Parade float road tests with you all year and finally the time arrived for decorating the floats. The Mister and I volunteer with the Petal Pushers, who assist in decorating floats which are parked in the Rose Palace Barn belonging to Phoenix Decorating Company and sign up for the days we want to volunteer months in advance.

The Saturdays before Christmas Day in December are "Detail Days" (and used to be called 'dry decorating days'). "Detail Days" are for cutting, shredding and gluing. Lots of gluing. It's when The Mister and I volunteer and perform repetitive, tedious, necessary tasks for eight hours. Needless to say starting today, "Decorating Days" begin- from 8 a.m. until 11 p.m.(or later) every day until the floats are finished and ready to be judged on the morning of December 31. Decorating days are when fresh vegetables, fruits and flowers are being placed. Many of the flowers (iris and roses) need to be cut then placed into water filled vials (which are all filled as one of the many tasks) then onto the floats. Thousands of fresh flowers are being delivered on the day after Christmas as well as on the 27th, 28th and 29th. This Banner Float will be the first float you see in the 2014 parade, announcing the theme. The floats are 'colored in' both as a guide and in case some sort of disaster befalls the float and flowers or dry materials wash off; you'll still see color.Here are some views inside the Rose Palace. There are eleven floats being decorated. Another perspective. You can see the scaffolding is set up for the gluing that was to be performed this day.

Some of the many dry materials being prepared for gluing. The statice are delivered in three main colors (pink, light blue and dark purple) and only the flower petals are cut off and used. The bags filled in the third photo are the results of about ten of the five gallon buckets being cut, or seven hours of cutting performed by ten people.

Yellow straw flowers are in abundance here, petals are cut off, then pulverized in Blendtec Blenders (a Christmas gift this year, by the way) and the resultant powder as well as centers are glued onto the floats for both color and texture. The shredded ends(palm fiber) from palm bark are also peeled off and ground up in the whirring blenders.

The seed chart shows all of the dry materials which are used (and excess stored) during Detail Days.

Here's the City of Glendale float (with Meatball the Bear), which I first showed you during the August road test (last two photos on the post) and in it's coccoon stage during the September road test (the eighth photo).

The City of Los Angeles float (which will need a *lot* of the purple statice for the LA Lakers portion of the float)

Here's some detail of flower pots being covered with braided dry materials, called Pac-Pac.

Only three people are allowed on a scaffold at a time (this is the Western Life Assurance float). Scaffolding is moved and lowered a bit each week.

The Shriners Hospital for Children float, is a superhero bear bounching off a giant heart with detail on the back of the cape.

This is the back side of the heart that the bear is bouncing from-covered meticulously with cut red straw flower petals…

The Lions Club International had many volunteers show up from Lions Clubs all over Southern California.

Farmers Insurance is one of the last floats built and road tested and wasn't quite ready for decorating on the day we were here. It's theme of "Thank a Million Teachers" is based on a three year program the insurance company has been promoting.

The Centenniel of the City of Beverly Hills is a magnificent float.

Of course we had breaks before and after this day of gluing and cutting. Above is outside the Rose Palace decorating barn when we all took a lunch break. {See that large doorway? That's the maximum height and width a float needs to contract, so it can fit under the street and signal lights along the parade route.} The Pizza Hut a block away provides a personal pizza and beverage for $3.50 (you order when you sign in to work) and donates $1 from each order to the Petal Pushers. The Mister and I had brought our own lunch…

We had stopped at Mr. Goods Donuts on Colorado Boulevard before our long day.

The shelves were full, but we only (of course) bought the wonderful ham and cheese filled croissants sold here, to be part of our lunch.

Mr. Goods Donuts 1840 East Colorado Boulevard Pasadena 91107

After a long day, we left and parked around the corner from this old design McDonald's on Colorado Boulevard, next to Pasadena City College.

Walking past it, and the Comics Factory (really, it's on Colorado Boulevard and the Parade route-look closely at all the Rose Parade signs on every light post), we were back at Zankou Chicken (where we ate after decorating last year), which we figured would be a 'healthy' meal with enough leftover for the next day…

And it was. Enough for another meal, sides and snacks for two more days actually.

Zankou Chicken 1296 East Colorado Boulevard Pasadena 91106 (626)405-1502 website

Since we did not have to be ready to start until 9 a.m., we didn't leave home at our usual 5 a.m., so got to Cream Pan far past our 'usual' time of about 6:15. There were a few more people inside, however the shelves had more choices, including this $2 cup of karaage…which was nice to eat in the car as a supplemental breakfast item. Of course, the usual suspects, ham and cheese croissant and catsup covered pastry wrapped hot dog were also consumed that day.

Cream Pan 602 El Camino Real Tustin, CA 92780 (714)665-8239

I hope everyone is having a good day after Christmas!

Las Vegas Road Trip: NFR vacation and some meals

December 12, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Festivals & Events, Las Vegas, Nevada, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food centric blog, often with stories leading up to the reasons for the food. That's what's happening today. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are busy with 'research' for their food posts. Last week, Cathy mentioned she would be leaving on a vacation soon. She went and returned and now is blogging about her days out of town.

National Finals Rodeo, the best of the best. The top 15 cowboys from North America in each of seven events compete against each other in a rodeo a day for ten days. On the tenth day (this Saturday), the winner amongst winners receives a gold belt buckle in addition to their cash winnings. It's on the GAC channel, but last year the tenth day was broadcast on ESPN.

Before the rodeo starts, there's the Star Spangled banner, a prayer, a song by a famous Country Artist and the competitors line up and tip their hats to the crowd. The events are over in two hours.

Ms. T and I drive out here every year (and have for nine years now) for a "girls weekend" of relaxation, shopping and Rodeo. You can see splashes of pink on the cowboys and/or their horses as well as in the crowd because we were here on Day 5 of the Rodeo, "Tough Enough to Wear Pink" night.

My photos demonstrate the speed of timed events and not much else; the iPhone isn't quite sophisticated.

The Thomas and Mack Arena is surrounded with Sponsor booths and advertising.

The interior has a varied selection of food and adult beverage choices.

This booth caught my eye since I was looking for a low carb choice for a snack. This had sales of macaroni and cheese, chili and macaroni, chili dogs and also sold a cup of chili- for $3!

Meaty and with beans and a good tomato broth, topped with cheese and onions (no extra charge), this was a really satisfying snack. Chili and Rodeo also seems 'right'.

Ms. T and I had rooms reserved at Green Valley Ranch Resort, in Henderson.

The hotel, spa and casino are a nice respite for us.

After checking into our rooms, we met in the casino and walked across the street, through "The District" and across the main road to a Whole Foods store, where we each purchased snacks. \

The Protein bars and pecans and almonds were brought from home, as was the tea. Inside the box was from the prepared foods/serve yourself/by-the pound chicken adobo, which was delicious!

We went to Cowboy Christmas, a free-admission gift show, the following morning. Many purchases were made and events and giveaways enjoyed.

That first evening, I wandered into the casino area, where there is a"Food Court" and (of course) found a Starbucks, which took the place of a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf location a month ago.

The Capriotti's storefront in the Food Court caught my eye, with the 'breakfast' signage. I asked, and they said I could order a breakfast sandwich, even at 8 p.m..

I love being able to watch short order cooks…

Egg, cheese and genoa salami on a toasted Kaiser roll ($3.27). Excellent. Quite large and very, very tasty. I need to find out of the Capriotti's around here does breakfast; the menu looked good.

Every hotel has a 24 hour restaurant.

The Grand Cafe, inside Green Valley Ranch has a special menu from midnight until 6 a.m.

This is the most expensive menu item ($5.99) -steak, eggs(poached), hash browns and toast (rye). Coffee is extra, and necessary at this hour. The NY strip steak is a real NY strip and quite large and was perfectly cooked medium-rare, as I had ordered.

Of course, Ms. T and I also at at Feast (Link to restaurants in the hotel) the all-you-can-eat buffet, where I enjoyed a plate of mains (liver and onions, chicken picatta, egg drop soup and spicy eggplant), a plate of salads (ranch salad, egg salad, mandarin beets, sweet potato salad and pear Bleu cheese salad) and my 'carby' dessert plate (a cannoli and mashed potatoes with gravy). The food and pastries prepared in this hotel are exceptional.

At 6 a.m., a coffee service is set up in the lobby area. We were on our way home at 6:30. The outside temperature was 15.

The drive home was uneventful, except for a portion of the I-15 and I-215 split, with high winds and large profile vehicles parked on the sides of the freeway.

Home before noon.

I hope everyone has the time to take a relaxing vacation during this hectic time of year.

2014 Rose Parade Float Road Testing-Baja Ranch Supermarket-Pasadena Farmers Market (Road Trip)

October 27, 2013 Cathy Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Markets & Grocers, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping and reading mmm-yoso!!!, a food-centric blog. There are numerous ways to find and acquire ready made food and ingredients for meals at home. Today Cathy will share a couple of those ways along with sharing a bit of a quick Road Trip from San Diego. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are relaxing today.

The Mister and I woke up late yesterday morning. It was 4:45 a.m. and the dogs had to be fed and let out, we dressed quickly and were out the door at 5:07 a.m.. There was a low fog overhanging the freeway the entire drive. We got to the Red Hill exit from the 5 (in Tustin) around 6:25 a.m. and stopped at the Starbucks for coffee then drove up the street to Cream Pan and picked up three hot, fresh pastries. The cinnamon pecan roll ($3), which is filled with crispy, whole pecans; a raspberry bottomed cheescake in a paper cup ($2) and a ham and cheese croissant ($2.50)…light breakfast to eat in the car. The freeway entrance is just around the corner.

In about 45 minutes, we were in Pasadena, parked, crossed the Metro tracks and the Rose Parade float Road Test was already underway. The eHarmony.com float (the first dot com float ever in a Rose Parade) was going to be tested with people on board. (During the parade, Natalie Cole will be on the float, singing along the parade route).What will end up being the last float in the parade was also being tested- it looks like a football…and it looks like two GIANT screens will be inserted into those frames…we don't know, but speculate may be playing highlights of either prior Rose Bowl Games (2014 will be the 100th anniversary of the Rose Bowl Football game) or of prior parades (2014 will be the 125th Tournament of Roses parade). We'll have to wait and see… This VERY large float will be one of the first you will see in the parade- it is by Honda, the sponsor. we suspect it will look somewhat futuristic, because

it will be preceeded by these five smaller (powed by Honda motocycles and one driver, no 'viewer' inside) floats, depicting various "Dreams Come True"-the parade theme-along time… The famous WWII poster (and some sort of circular float behind it).

A sort of Model T vehicle.

A construct of the Spirit of St. Louis. There's also a small diorama depicting Man landing on the moon.

Other floats tested were in their basic stages… The City of Beverly Hills will be celebrating 100 years as a City and will have a float in the 2014 Rose Parade.

The RFD-TV float looks like a large barn-like dance floor will be on the front of the float, with smaller buildings behind. I'm interested in seeing how this ultimately will appear. The front piece, made with heavy steel beams (instead of rebar) is unique.

We left the road testing area, and had no plans for breakfast, drove up to Orange Grove Boulevard and stopped at Baja Ranch Market, which I only mentioned slightly in another float road test post last November. We wanted to grab another quick bite. When you first walk into this medium sized Mexican/Latin American Market, you are in the Bakery area.

It is right around the corner, next to an extensive steam tray area.

We picked up 1/2 lb of those fresh chicharron from the end tray.

and also asked for one of each flavor of the empanadas- the ham and cheese and the ground beef (which is made with corse ground hamburger, hard boiled egg, olives and raisins; a very traditional and wonderful flavor combination), sometimes called 'picadillo'.

We also picked up a few other items, went to the car and started driving East while munching on an empanada.

Baja Ranch Supermarket 475 Orange Grove Blvd, Pasadena 91101 website

Parking on a side street, we had a short walk to the Saturday Pasadena Farmer's Market on Sierra Madre Boulevard (see Pasadena High to the right? The set up of booths is in the parking lot of the school.) This is the street where the Rose Parade floats line up at the end of the parade route.

I have become enamoured with young, small, tender jicama ever since I bought it here. It is so good, a bit sweet and easily a craving without needing to be mixed with other foods or topped with Tajin.

The autumn vegetables and fruits are in abundance. This Farmers market is central to so many farms and really is the nicest one I've encountered other than the one I went to when I was young..

I hope everyone has a great rest of the weekend!

Escondido World Marketplace (a swap meet with food)

October 26, 2013 Cathy Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Festivals & Events, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is a food-centric blog. Today, the post will end up about food, but the story of how to find it is part of the fun. It's Cathy writing today, by the way; the guys (Kirk and Ed (from Yuma)) are both crazy busy.

I've been planning (collecting photos) to write a post about the food vendors and items available at Kobey's Swap Meet and the ten or more food trucks parked at the Spring Valley Swap Meet each weekend. However, the most interesting (food-wise) Swap Meet in the County is in Escondido, surrounded by West Mission Ave, North Quince Street, West Washington Avenue and Rock Springs Road.

For a very long time, the Escondido Swap Meet was the name of this location. Escondido World Market has been the name of this space since 2011. It's open Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and, as all Swap Meets, charges admission ($1 on Wed and Sat, $2 on Fri and Sun)(Hours are at end of post).

Once you walk in. the Swap Meet sales areas are to your left, the stands selling fruits, vegetables and other Produce items are straight ahead and to the right are the 12 or so permanent structures selling food. The above photo is looking left.

Covered sellers areas with some 'standard' items (lots of women's clothing, used and refurbished tools, athletic gear, kitchen items, religious items…garage sale sellers) On this day there were quite a few empty stalls in the covered areas.

The Produce-fruits, vegetables, herbs, chiles (fresh hot peppers and dried-those are some very large habañeros Manzano (Rocoto) peppers in the middle photo), nuts and many, many other choices are situated under covered stalls, all in one lane, staying cool and undamaged in the sun of the day. This lane is straight ahead as you walk in the entrance, and right next to it…

are the permanent structures which house the various food vendors.

There are several spaces selling an array of aguas frescas and juices (I bought a small ($2) of the dark green on the far right- it's spinach, cucumber, celery and pineapple…you can see the foam on the top of that juice jug- and also on the top of the yellow one; pineapple does that when juiced).

Here's a sandwich board sign in front of another vendor.

This small shop turned out to be my favorite- items from Oaxaca, brought in from Tijuana that morning. Note the second from bottom on the sign-chapulines…

Pan de Muertos -Day of the Dead bread, traditionally sold this time of the year. Inexplicibly topped with plastic faces as well as sesame seeds. These were $10 and were on sale last weekend; the lady said she'll have larger loaves this weekend. There are other pastries, cookies, baked tortillas and several other items for sale here.

I decided to buy some red mole ($8/lb). There was green mole (unlabled ingredients) for the same price for sale in the Produce section, and I'll try that after I finish this batch.

Chapulines- fried grasshoppers. $5 for a good size bag. Crispy, lemon and salt topped and quite definitely alfalfa/grassy in flavor (which is exactly what the nice lady explained to me, while stressing they were organic). A nice snack, or they can be put into sauces.

I was able to edit and zoom in…Those are intestines in the foreground, and tripe and other parts near the back of the grill.

The Mister wanted to try 'real' Tostilocos ($5.50). This was HUGE, hardly any chips on the bottom, filled with a lot of cueritos (sliced pigs ears), cucumber, jicama, chamoy sauce, tamarind and cacahuate (coated peanuts). This was an excellent excellent breakfast.

But, I had to try more…a birria taco with beans-excellent stewed meat, beans, toppings and tortillas.

and a pupusa (the taco + pupusa price was $4.50), which was made after I ordered it and brought out to our seat in front…the side of curtido was not 'dumbed down' and was crispy fresh with a good amount of heat, complimenting the 'plain' corn flavor of the thick, fresh, hand made dough, which was filled with both beans and cheese (I was asked which I wanted or if I wanted both).

Here's a cross section of the pupusa- that's a Mexican cheese inside along with the very flavorful beans. Really good.

There were at least two vendors selling mariscos (seafoods), but those places were crowded…

If you aren't in a mood for Mexican food of any type, there is an option.

Escondido World Market 635 West Mission Avenue Escondido 92025 (760) 233-7703 Hours: Wed: 7-3, Fri 2-9:30, Sat 8-3, Sun 7-3:30. Admission $1 on Wed and Sat, $2 on Fri and Sun Website

Scenes from the first San Diego Night Market

September 28, 2013 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events

I mentioned this back in August. The Missus and I decided to go early, like five minutes after things were scheduled and the place was already packed. We parked on the street; the combination of Zion shoppers and folks checking this out made for a chaotic parking situation. The folks who put this on managed to keep a small footprint.

The area with peace and quiet was the Beer Garden. Perhaps it was too early, but it also seemed that 50% of the folks here weren't legal drinking age and the crowd was overwhelmingly Asian. I probably would have settled in here if we stuck around.

There was a decent variety of food booths, though only one really interested me. It also seemed that just about everyone else was interested in this one as well…..the grilled cuttlefish on a stick looked quite appealing….though the super long line did not.

This was at 5:15 mind you….just imagine later on?

It was nice to see some familiar faces……

Here are some of the other food booths.

Other than Pangaea, nothing I was particularly interested in.

The size of the crowd this early on in the evening shows that San Diego can really get behind this concept.

I hope they do well.

It runs tonight from 5pm – 11pm. It's about 8 right now, so you still have time to get on down there and check it out yourself.

7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

Andy’s Coffee Shop & 2014 Rose Parade road test & Pasadena Farmers Market (Road Trip)

September 22, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for stopping to read mmm-yoso!!! Kirk and Ed (from Yuma) are busy busy busy right now, so Cathy is writing a post for today.

Yes, another road test for some floats that will participate in the 2014 Tournament of Roses parade was conducted on Saturday and The Mister and I woke early so we could be there at 7 a.m. Since this is a food blog, the first part of this post is about our breakfast that morning.

Andy's Coffee Shop is located on Colorado Boulevard; it's easy to miss (parking is in back and we are always looking for cars on the street to see if a place is open).

Inside, it's a step back to the 1950's. In fact, a few episodes of Mad Men were filmed here.

There are photographs signed by famous stars of the past. The large photos are of crowds camped in front of the storefront to watch the Rose Parade.

The Mister ordered French Toast ($5). It's made with fresh bread, unlike when we make it at home with days old bread. So very good- crunchy on the exterior and creamy soft on the interior.

I ordered a bacon and egg sandwich on rye toast ($7.25). Really really good and served with crispy hash browns.

This was a very good meal and we enjoyed sitting at the "U" shaped lunch counter in the center of the room, seeing the hustle and bustle of the workers: the booths and tables were taken.

Andy's Coffee Shop 1234 Colorado Boulevard Pasadena, CA 91106 (626)793-0825 Mon-Sat 7-3, Sun 7-2

Before our breakfast on this overcast morning, we were on Raymond Street

The colorful float with them "So Near and Yet Safari" is very animated with the gazelles racing, giraffes bowing their necks and elephant ears flapping as well as water flowing from the top of the 'rock' formation. Behind that float, you can see the "Banner" float- which will introduce the 2014 parade with it's theme of "Dreams Come True".

Here is the City of Glendale float, covered in its cocoon. Last month, it was only out of rebar and a lot of the design wasn't very clear.

The CIty of Los Angeles float was also in it's rebar form last month. Now that it's covered and partly painted, the details are emerging.

Above, you can see the City of Los Angeles float in its collapsed state (so it can fit into the Phoenix Decorating barn as well as under street and signal lights along the parade route) and you can also see the head of the Chinese dragon, which is painted with its colors and ready to be decorated. All items covering the float must be natural, alive or had been alive and in case glue fails or items are washed off by rain, you'll still see color when watching the floats in person or on television. I think it's nice that the dragon will be on the 'other' side of the float- away from the television cameras-people sitting on that side of the street sometimes don't get to see a lot of the float details.

After our breakfast, we stopped at our usual Saturday morning Pasadena trek- the Farmers Market, held in the parking lot of Pasadena High on Sierra Madre Boulevard.

You can see the cloud covered Sierra Madres in the distance…very overcast. That's the booth where we always buy a loaf of seed filled, corn meal bottomed rye bread for $4.75. It's so good.

This market is my favorite out here; it's busy and the vendors are knowledgeable and the variety is amazing.

We drive North on the 5 and home on the 15…where we passed a convoy of about ten Marine LAVs (Light Armored Vehicles; they float)…another Saturday of fun. Hope you are having a good weekend!

Saturday Stuffs – Convoy/Kearny Mesa Edition: The San Diego Night Market, BH Chung Closes, Green Shallot to open.

August 24, 2013 mmm-yoso Festivals & Events, yoso-silly

Some interesting stuff, based on the 92121 and 92123 zip code.

The San Diego Night Market debuts September 28th:

A few weeks back, I had a nice dinner with "DanielT", whose family is wired into the Linda Vista/Kearny Mesa area. During our conversation he mentioned plans for a San Diego Night Market, which I assume is modeled after the way busy 626 Night Market. So just the past week, FOY "YummyYummy" sent me more info on this. Apparently, the San Diego Night Market makes its maiden voyage on September 28th in the parking lot of Zion Market. I recall mentioning that I'd hope the market was on private property, which would give the folks running the thing more control. I know some folks who have gone to the 626 Night Market and the biggest complaints were the crowds (long lines), prices, and for those food lovers, pretty much underwhelming food choices. I'm hoping we get to taste some good eats, not regurgitated fair food, or over-hyped money grab cuisine.

Anyway, you can go to The SD Night Market Site or the Convoy District website. This will be a great organization test. It'll be interesting at the least to see if it can be pulled off successfully.

7655 Clairemont Mesa Blvd
San Diego, CA 92111

B.H. Chung closes to be replaced by…..

So, I was told that B.H. Chung had closed. I drove by during a weekday lunch hour and it was indeed closed.

It was indeed closed. My sources tell me the new lessees are Chinese. Still not 100% sure what type of restaurant it will be. Stay tuned…..

4646 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Green Shallot to open.

I was wondering what was up with the former Mama Jamaica's location. Apparent it's (yet) another Thai Restaurant. This one called Green Shallot.

"Thai Gourmet Express"? Sigh….. Right across the street from where Dusit opened and closed before I even had a chance to visit. I quizzed some folks about the place and the best thing they ate there was some Sate Burrito thingy? I hope this is better, though I'm not opposed to Sate Burrito thingies…really.

5447 Kearny Villa Rd
San Diego, CA 92123

Roscoe’s House of Chicken ‘n Waffles (and the 3rd 2014 Rose Parade float Road Test)-Pasadena

August 20, 2013 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Breakfast/Brunch, Festivals & Events, Road Trip, What Cathy Eats!

Here you are again, at mmm-yoso!!! the food blog. Kirk is really really busy today and so is Ed(from Yuma) so Cathy is writing about another one of her eating adventures.

It was a foggy August Saturday, The Mister and I woke before 4 a.m., let the dogs out, secured the house and started driving North. I'll start with breakfast (but really this was our fifth stop of the day).

Roscoe's House of Chicken N Waffles has been "pecking around since 1975" according to the signage. It opens at 8 a.m. daily and there seems to be a constant flow and lineup of people from about 8:25 forward.

The Pasadena location is next to a KFC, across the street from a Popeye's and a Church's- all chicken centric eating establishments.

We were seated at the second to last empty table, in the rear of a former Pizza Hut building. Decor is simple, with photographs and posters, many of the staff with President Obama, taken when he stopped here. The above photo is Louis Armstrong, New Orleans native and American Jazz trumpeteer virtuoso. His contribution to Jazz is unsurpassed.

Condiments on the table are simple and include Louisiana Red Rooster hot sauce.

The menu is very simple; only two pages. You can get eggs and call it breakfast, or not, at any time of the day.

The Mister ordered the C- 'Stymie's Choice': fried chicken livers, grits, two eggs (over easy and nicely runny) a fresh hot buttery/not flakey biscuit and gravy with onions. ($11.70). Each item was really fresh, flavorful and cooked in the proper manner.

I decided to try…the 13- 'Carol C.': a fried chicken breast and a waffle ($8.95). The waffles are made with Roscoe's own mix, are not sweet and have a bit of 'chew' to them…really good. The chicken breast was perfectly and freshly fried-crispy thin layer of nice flavored batter- and not dry. This was quite a bit of food and we took home some of the livers because there were so many.

I couldn't take photos of all the people inside and outside and so put my phone away. As I was pulling out of the parking space, another car was waiting…and as I started to drive out of the lot a BIG black horse, with noisy shoes, and a rider wearing a black cowboy hat came trotting at a fast pace toward the car, passed us by and continued. It was surreal.

So, earlier that morning -beginning at 7- were Rose Parade float road tests at Phoenix Decorating. Above, the 2014 City of Los Angeles entry. You can make out the Space Shuttle that was moved there last year. Some of the other details will become clearer at the next road test.

The Lutheran Hour Ministries float is all painted, so there's an outline for all the various dried and fresh items to be placed. I beleive the 'windows' will have a 'stained glass' look…You can see the church steeple is in its descended position- so the float can pass under the various signal lights, street lights and other obstacles along the five mile parade route.

The Donate Life float, "Light Up the World" depicts various lanterns. Seated on the float and walking alongside it during the parade will be families of organ donors and donor recipients. As you can see, the float was road tested with a full weight load on board.

Trader Joe's entry this year is titled "Relish Your Dreams", going along with the theme of the 125th Rose Parade, "Dreams Come True"…and this float seems to depict an old fashioned "relish tray" along with cheese wheels and wedges – and pickles, crackers, olives, honey and other snacking items.

Now, recall that I mentioned that the floats along the parade route need to be able to fit under signal lights, street lights, etc?

I took photos of the Trader Joe's float hydralics being tested. You can see the how the mechanics of these floats have to be in working order…

The doorway of the Phoenix Decorating Rose Palace barn is the maximum dimensions that a float can be.

The City of Glendale's entry depicts "Meatball", a bear that made headlines in that City last year.

This is the Artist's rendition of how the float will appear on January 1, 2014.

All in all, another busy and exciting Saturday. Hope everyone is having a good week!

Roscoe's House of Chicken 'N Waffles 830 N. Lake Avenue Pasadena (626)791-4890 or (626)791-5097 Website

House of Cookies, Pasadena Farmers Market and 2014 Rose Parade float testing

July 14, 2013 Cathy Bakery, Farmer's Markets/Night Market, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!-a blog about food and the events leading to acquiring said food. Kirk and Ed(from Yuma) are busy acquiring and Cathy is posting today.

Hi. I'm writing this post about our day in backwards order…we stopped at House of Cookies last on this road trip to Pasadena, but it's been our destination since we parked in front of it on the first day of the year and today we had time.

The signage for House of Cookies is visible…if you look for it. The doorway is small as is the interior of this family run Armenian bakery.

As you walk in, there are cookies packaged and on the shelves at the door…

There's a refrigerated case with cakes to your right…

and small pastries in another refrigerated case at the back wall, next to another set of shelves of cookies. Yes- those are the prices.

It's *tiny* insde- four adults have difficulty turning around if all are inside at the same time. The husband and wife owners are very friendly. They are Armenian (as are a few of the businesses in this area) and only on Saturdays, they fry a few items (seen above, on the front counter) and offer them for sale- the powdered sugar covered rounds are filled with a custard, the oval shaped fried cakes are filled with either a peppery mashed potato filling or a ground meat filling. (The fried items are $1)

We also purchased what's in the photo above. The fruit topped one has a delicate crust and the same not too sweet cream filling as in the round fried donut. The eclairs are marvelous, not too large, fresh, not too sweet… and the flaky cream filled horn was perfect. We bought all the above, plus two meat filled and one potato filled. ($7.20-total. Really) You can see the delicate layers of the fried sweet donut, and just a little of the custard filling layer: not too much, not too sweet; perfect! Did I mention it was still warm?

Lightly fried, still warm, perfectly seasoned ground meat…these little meat pies are wonderful- and only made on Saturday.

A **wonderful** local place.

House of Cookies 2451 East Washington Blvd. Pasadena, CA 91104 (626)794-4280

Before stopping at the House of Cookies, we were just down the street – Pasadena High School- which has a Farmers Market in the parking lot every Saturday morning. I've written a few posts about this market.

On this day, almost every booth -and one entire booth- had fresh peaches available. I suspect in a few weeks, the same will be true for tomatoes.

This is a really nice Market, filled with a great variety of booths with beautiful fresh produce, flowers and other products. It's busy, bustling and filled with pleasant odors of fresh.

I really enjoy looking and shopping here. Overhearing the farmers telling cutomers that regular cabbage is not growing now and only Napa is available…and that the lemons from last week are all gone and the only ones are still white and on the tree is a good sign that the farmers here bring quality products to sell.

Our real reason for waking at 4 a.m. Saturday July 13; it was another Road Test day for the floats that will participate in the 2014 Tournament of Roses parade, being held for the 125th time. (Here's a link to the first road test)-at the Rose Palace assembly and decorating barn of Phoenix Decorating.

The Trader Joe's float, "Relish Your Dreams", is in the basic/rebar phase of construction and looks to have wheels of cheese, pickles and crackers as well as some small appetizer forks. I haven't seen the Artist Rendition yet and can see the float is very detailed.

Last month, the City of Alhambra float as in its rebar stage and now it was road tested in the 'cocoon' stage. It's a "Monster" truck- complete with monsters! Rotary International's float, "Engage Rotary, Change Lives" was road tested with adults aboard today. Last month, it was wood and foam over rebar.

Shriners Hospital for Children with it's "Love to the Rescue" titled float, Lions Club International and Lutheran Hour Ministries were also road tested with people on board.

The Odd Fellows and Rebekahs float was driving down Raymond Street when we got there this morning-this is the 'camera view' side of the float; more detailed than the other side…

Having the people onboard- and having them all able to get off the float in 45 seconds (in case of fire)- is the final stage of Road Testing and the floats will be stored at the Barn next to the Rose Bowl Stadium (the Rosemont Pavillion) until the first Saturday in December, when 'detail decorating' begins.

The Kiwanis float is very detailed, with an owl in one tree and an eagle at the top of another tree.

The Donate Life float is a group of lanterns and the float is titled "Light up the World". I heard that the float will have organ donor families and recipients riding on it and walking along the five mile parade route next to the float.

The Western Assets float was also tested today. You can see a giraffe rebar outline to the left. I also saw what looked like gazelle and elephant outlines.

Well, that was an early and busy Saturday. We woke at 4 a.m, left at 4:59 a.m. and got back into the driveway at one minute after noon… Hope you had a good weekend!

2013 San Diego County Fair: Part Two: It’s open!

June 16, 2013 Cathy Festivals & Events, What Cathy Eats!

This is a food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk, Ed(from Yuma) and Cathy try to write the reasons/situations about trying/preparing/eating food. Today is one of those posts: Cathy is writing.

The San Diego County Fair, largest (by attendance) in the State of California and fourth largest in the entire United States opened last Saturday. I wrote a short post about what to expect before the Fair opened.

This post is about our FIRST visit this year. We could not stay very long on this day to see (or eat) all the Fair has to offer and there will be a follow up. For now, lots of photos to give you a taste of what is happening.

The Midway rides are pretty much the same as always.

The Preserved Foods, cookies, breads and decorated cakes have been judged and are on display in Home and Hobby.

Quilts, Crafts and Collections are on display with their respective prize ribbons.

The Agriculture Education barn is open for visiting.

Many of the garden displays and entries emphasize the Theme of the Fair ("Game's On!")

Then there are the "County Fair Food" booths.

Chicken Charlie's has three stands and the center one does offer grilled and healthy choices, like these chicken and vegetable kabobs. The stand to your left fries everything. and around the corner (to your right as you face it) is Chicken Charlie's"Pineapple Express" and offers different, but mostly 'healthy' (in comparison) items.

So, What did we eat?

Yes, the carb-free selection of bacon wrapped jalapeños ($7.55 including tax)from the "Bacon A Fair" stand(formerly the "Heart Attack Cafe", which must have been a bit too blunt of advertising). These are **fresh** jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese, then wrapped with bacon and grilled. The pepper is spicy hot- in a good way to me- in a not so good way to The Mister's tastes…

To make up for this 'healthy' Fair food, we headed across the Midway.

The "Grilled Cheese A-Fair" stand.

The Monte Cristo ($9). Ham and Cheese, grilled (on a very hearty, fresh white bread) then dipped in batter and fried, served with strawberry jam. This was really good, fresh and 1/2 of a half sandwich was enough for me.

There are some atypical Fair/common food booths here too.

Then there is the question of…Where do people who work here every day for the 23 days of this Fair eat? Sure, they get some sort of discount at the various booths, but there is only so much sugar and oil in the world…

Located on the outside of the Racetrack, just in from the Midway is the Paddock area.

On the North side of this semi-enclosed (beer-centric) area you'll see this:

It was not crowded when we were here for two reasons: 1. The regular prices for beer are around $8. B) There is a "Happy Hour" at 5 p.m., when you can get a beer and a taco for $5. We didn't care about beer.

$3.50 tacos and $4 sopes! Adobada and barbacoa!

The display.

The cook.

Our order. Adobada taco and a Barbacoa sope. Each meat was moist and well seasoned; excellent. Both servings were generous.

Here's a photo showing the (very fresh, crispy edged) sope. The beans, toppings…everything was extremely fresh and good.

The parking and transportation to and from the (free parking area) Horse Park this year is *much* larger and easier to navigate. We were there early and parked in horse corral #10 (the main parking lot is #1 and the bus stops and picks up at various areas). There was a very visible security presence, with Mounted Sheriffs in the regular parking lot and bicycling Sheriffs throughout the Fairgrounds. There is a lot of information about how to save money on admission, rides and food items when going to the Fair. Check out the website.

Hope to see you at the Fair!!! Remember, it's closed on Mondays (except that July 1 Monday). July 4 is the last day.