Orange County – Page 2

Clearing Out the Memory Card – Never Made the Cut Road Trip Edition

August 10, 2019 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Bun Bo Hue, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Pho, Road Trip, Santa Barbara County, Vietnamese Restaurants

Here are some photos that I was just going to delete…..I have a bunch of breakfast one's from when I was driving to Irvine almost weekly as well. But since these weren't in San Diego; where I try to visit places more than once; I thought I'd just do one of those "never made the cut" posts.

I went to lunch with the folks I was working with in Irvine a couple of times.

Ngu Binh:

I've posted on Ngu Binh before, but was excited to try the Bun Bo Hue. Unfortunately, the folks that got there first ordered for all of us…….

They like their Bun Bo Hue not spicy with no pork hock and that's what I had waiting for me when I arrived……what the??????

Ngu Binh Restaurant
14072 Magnolia St
Westminster, CA 92683

Pho Lovers:

Which was right in front of Lien Hoa, it has since moved.

loved the herbs which were amazingly fresh.

The pho was seriously defatted, the noodles over-cooked, though the broth wasn't overly sweet or salty.

Now at:

9892 Westminster Blvd
Garden Grove, CA 92844

From other Road Trips.

Chengdu Taste (Alhambra):

The Missus was seriously psyched to try the place that had been declared the "best Sichuan Restaurant in America". We were quite disappointed.

And the service was so terrible, that we got our mapo tofu and Shui Zhu Niu Rou, the beef boiled in hot sauce to go. Both just didn't have enough spice and were seriously defatted versions. The won tons in hot sauce were too sweet and lacked spice, not even close to the version I had at Long Chau Shou (龙抄手).

828 W Valley Blvd
Alhambra, CA 91803

The Lark (Santa Barbara):

This one was from the same road trip where we had a wonderful meal at Yoichi's. It was a super hot weekend; yet they had the fire pit going!

From the mushy brussel sprouts to the teeth rattling sweet duck wings, not our favorite meal.

Though the lamb shoulder confit was quite good.

The Lark Santa Barbara
131 Anacapa St.
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

So there you go; thanks for indulging me.

I'll be back tomorrow with more San Diego restaurants.

Brodard (Fountain Valley)-a Saturday morning road trip

July 7, 2019 Cathy Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is the name of this food blog. Cathy is writing. Kirk (and His Missus) are enjoying the holiday weekend.

The Mister said he would be responsible for breakfast on Saturday. At 7 a.m., I saw him on the computer, reading a menu.

We took a 'short' (83 miles one way) trip North. The craving for nem nuong (pork sausage) was overwhelming in the middle of this four day weekend. Both Kirk and His missus as well as The Mister and I have been to the 'original' Brodard; it moved South on the same main road (Brookhurst) in late 2017, from Garden Grove to Fountain Valley-so it is much closer to the 405. We arrived at the "new" Brodard location in about 75 minutes. The side parking lot was empty,

as was the beautiful, spacious interior. (Business picks up later in the day; you can get on a waiting list online and the wait was 75 minutes at 2 p.m. yesterday).
We asked for hot tea; jasmine and strong!
One order of nem nuong cuon (grilled pork rolls) ($6) Heritage Berkshire grilled pork (fresh grilled- warm) wrapped in rice paper with lettuce, cucumber, carrots, cilantro, chives, daikon, mint and a strip of crispy fried egg roll wrapper. Served with the 'house special sauce'-warm: savory, spicy and sweet. The pork- I could just eat a plate of that.
Roasted duck spring rolls (goi cuon vit) ($9.95) Warm, roasted duck wrapped in rice paper with asparagus, scallions, cucumber and cilantro. Served with a plum sauce. This was quite wonderful and special.

It was breakfast. We ordered sole porridge (Chao Ca) ($7.95) It came garnished with roasted shallots, fresh ginger, cilantro and scallions and a nice plate of add-ins (lime, jalapeño, bean sprouts and cilantro). Fancy, tasty, filled with a lot of firm, tasty sole.

Instead of a Vietnamese crepe (banh xeo), we ordered the plate of several small crepes-the Luna rice cakes with shrimp (Banh Khot Tom) ($8.95) Small, light, crispy rice-flour crepes made with coconut milk and turmeric. Filled with mung beans, scallions and a large, plump shrimp and served with mint, sesame leaf, lettuce and pickled daikon and carrots. Great little bites.

If you look back at the first photo, that's the doorway to the left of the main doorway. You can walk in there to pick up an order, stare at the bakery offerings or just go ahead and order something.

cc has visited the new Brodard

Brodard Fountain Valley 16105 Brookhurst Street Fountain Valley, CA 92708 (657) 247-4401 website

One pistachio and one raspberry macaron. The almond topped, crispy pastry is filled with hazelnut cream (not sweetened) ($7.88).

Clearing Out the Memory Card – Romeo & Julieta Wine Cafe, Et Voila, and Sushi Noguchi (Yorba Linda)

October 14, 2018 mmm-yoso French Restaurants, Japanese Restaurants, Orange County, Polish Food and Restaurants, Sushi and Sashimi

Just a quick post for tonight – 2 Happy Hour revisits and once place where not all the photos came out.

Romeo & Julieta Wine Café:

**** Romeo & Julieta has closed

Now that the weather is getting a bit cooler, we're enjoying HH here. It's never too crowded and the food is hearty. There's always leftovers for the next day.

My previous post on Romeo & Julieta Wine Café.

Romeo & Julieta Wine Cafe
4715 Monroe Ave
San Diego, CA 92115
Hours:
Tues – Sat 4pm – 10pm
Sunday 3pm – 10pm

Et Voila!:

Honestly; we're not overly fond of many of the meat courses and entrees. But we really enjoy HH.

Even though the Huckleberry Bourbon is now nine bucks during HH….it's still a relative bargain.

Two drinks and a couple of staples from the Happy Hour menu and we're….well, quite satisfied and happy.

Et Voilà!
3015 Adams Ave
San Diego, CA 92116
Happy Hour:
Sun – Fri 430pm – 7pm
Saturday 430pm – 6pm

Funny story insertion time. The Missus and I were eating outside on the quaint little patio. There was a couple seated right past us…..the gentleman was really, really chatty. We usually keep to ourselves, but he was very amiable. We talked about everything from this being his first visit to Et Voila (he was pleasantly surprised – Jayne's was closed) to Japan to whatever seemed to come to mind. I told him he looked familiar; turns out it was Mike Aguirre. I laughed and said; "wow, you're famous". He smiled, shook his head and said, I'm sure in jest, "no…more like infamous." You never know who you're going to sit next to…..

Sushi Noguchi (Yorba Linda):

Yes, Yorba Linda. This one is from last year actually. I had a meeting up in the OC and the Missus decided to join me since She had a couple of days off. I'd been waffling between sushi places, so I sent off an email to the one and only Elmomonster, His vote was the tiebreaker. We chose Sushi Noguchi; which is a rather odd place….another strip mall treasure in Yorba Linda.

The Missus and I had a great time….such a great time that I missed a couple of photos and some of what I took was not usable.

I thought about trashing what I had; but the meal was very good; especially having three different uni (San Diego – Santa Barbara – Hokkaido), where we could really make out the differences in flavor – San Diego was the meatiest and the mildest, the Hokkaido uni had an amazing briney-sweetness, it tasted of the ocean, the Santa Barbara might have been the sweetest of the three. We also really enjoyed all the shiromi (white fish).

The only thing we didn't particularly care for was the yellowtail in the olive oil-soy sauce.

This was only about half of what we got; the negi toro temaki was also fantastic.

I'm not sure when or if we'll be back in the area in the future, but this one is a total winnah! I'll do a better job of documenting our meal then. And worth every penny of the $120 per person without drinks.

Sushi Noguchi
18507 Yorba Linda Blvd
Yorba Linda, CA 92886

2019 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade Float Road Test #3 (meals at Kolache Factory (Tustin) and Douglas Burgers #23 (Lake Elsinore))

August 29, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Bakery, Breakfast/Brunch, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Ontario/Riverside/San Bernadino, CA, Orange County, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!!, this is a food blog. The first part of today's post will be about the events centered around food. Cathy is writing; Kirk is on a break.

For your convenience: here are links to Road Tests #1/2 Road Tests #4/5 and Road Test #6

Another road test of mechanics and maneuverability for floats participating in the 130th Tournament of Roses Rose Parade, which will roll down the streets of Pasadena (and on your television) on January 1, 2019 occurred last Saturday at Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale. (There are three other float builders as well as six 'self built' floats participating in the Parade).

There's a surreal quality to each float, and the Lions Clubs International entry for this parade is just so cute. "Rocking' The Vest" is a fun "rap" video title from 2011-the inspiration for this float (Lions wear a distinctive yellow vest when volunteering). A Boom Box is on the back seat of the Cadillac, part of having a 'musical instrument' on each float- in accordance with the theme-
The Melody of Life.

"Home Tweet Home is the entry from the City of Alhambra. The large bird outside of the birdhouse moves her head.

Shriners Clubs International features their mascot, Fezzy, on their float, "Fezzy's Garden of Hope and Healing". The butterfly on top of Fezzy's hat (a Fez), flutters.
United Sikh Mission has a float in the Rose Parade for a fifth year. It features a Rabab, a stringed instrument played by the founder (in 1500) of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak. The float title is "A Divine Melody Resonates In All". The message of peace, compassion and one loving God, the foundation of Sikh belief, will be featured in a unique song, "Eternal Cosmic Symphony" by Ghat Ghat Vaaje Naad.

Other floats were tested, in the shell stage; I'll be showing progress next month.

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Here's the food portion of this post.

We leave at 5 a.m., get to Tustin by 6:15 and stop somewhere within the vicinity of Red Hill Avenue. The Kolache Factory is a good choice for a quick snack.
Three kolaches were more than filling for the two of us. The most 'traditional' is the cherry topped sweet dough ($1.75), our 'breakfast dessert'.
The smaller kolache is a bacon-cheese filled delight ($2.45) which is a wonderful, savory, slightly sweet white dough.
The sausage, egg & cheese kolache in wheat dough (there's a choice) ($3.45) is larger, heavier and a filling meal for one; ideal if shared.

Kolache Factory #070 14091 Newport Avenue Tustin, CA 92780 (714) 730-2253 website

Those kolaches were filling! We weren't hungry after float viewing and drove over to the 15 freeway when hunger pangs started to set in. The Mister looked for 'breakfast' on his phone and the next exit (Central Avenue) in Lake Elsinore showed two places of interest. We stopped at the first one.

Douglas Burgers, #23. A few mentions (on Yelp) go back to 2009, saying it has been here 'forever', before the housing build up.

The long kitchen (under the menu board) has six flat top grills and an employee at each one. The drive through seems to move fast.

The Pancake Combo ($6.75) includes two (large) pancakes, three eggs (any style) and two sausage (or bacon). The pancakes are excellent; sweet and light with a thin crisp exterior. The sausage was good (skin on). Eggs perfectly cooked over easy.

There was a lot of bacon inside this breakfast sandwich ($6.25), even a piece on the exterior. Egg, cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise: each bite perfect.

Douglas Burgers #23 18461 Dexter Avenue Lake Elsinore, CA 92532 (951)245-5441 Open Mon-Sat 6 a.m.-10 p.m., Sun 7 a.m.-10 p.m.

2019 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade float road tests #1 and 2 and Cream Pan (Tustin), The Donut Man and Peppertree Cafe (Glendora)

August 6, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Bakery, Breakfast/Brunch, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Orange County, What Cathy Eats!

Usually there are reasons as to why we stop and eat somewhere. Cathy is showing you some meals and snacks consumed while on the way to and from a regular event, as well as the event. Kirk is busy.

Other float road tests for the 2019 Parade: Road test #3, Road Tests #4/5 and Road Test #6.

I'll write about food in the first part of this post.

Wake at 4 a.m., leave the house at 5 a.m., drive North, exit at Red Hill Avenue. There's a Starbucks. Two lights North, take a left and there is Cream Pan.We hadn't been here since January Everything is fresh (Cream Pan opens at 6 a.m.) and wonderful here. Ham and cheese baked in a croissant ($2.60) (a common order wherever I go) and, of course, a strawberry croissant ($1.50). We also purchased some raisin rolls ($3) for later snacks.

Cream Pan 602 El Camino Real Tustin, CA 92780 (714)655-8239 Website 6 am-7pm daily

Glendora, East of Irwindale and 'on the way home'/Route 66. I've written a short combination-post then a specific post about The Donut Man, a Glendora treasure. It is indeed 'Peach Donut Season'. This was the line before 9 a.m.. This walk up donut shop is almost always open. It's easy; the line starts to the left in the photo.
Check out the donuts in the window,
order and pay. Done.
The fresh peach donut ($4.50) and a Tiger Tail ($1.95) were all we wanted…this time. Fresh peach has been out Since July 21 and usually are only available for three or so weeks a year. So good. So fresh.

The Donut Man 915 E. Route 66 Glendora, CA 91740 (626) 335-9111 Open 24 hours, closed some holiday weekends. Website

Just across the street and East (into the sun) from Donut Man, Is the Peppertree Cafe.

Located in Glendora more than 20 years, this Family Style restaurant can get very crowded on weekends. Fortunately we were here before 9 a.m..

My order from the whiteboard at the front- Grilled Club Sausage links with two eggs and two sides ($9.99). The "sides" to select from were plenty: not only toast, hash browns and O'Brien potatoes, but french fries, biscuits and gravy, refried beans, tortillas, cottage cheese, fresh fruit, cup of oatmeal, one pancake, peach halves, pineapple, sliced banana, sliced tomatoes or a baked muffin. As you can see, I chose a single pancake and the sliced tomatoes. This was wonderful. The Club Sausage links were *so good*- skin on, coarse grind, a good spice blend.

The Mister ordered the Chicken Fried Steak ($9.99) and chose cottage cheese and fresh fruit as his sides. This huge serving (there are three large eggs included along with two sides) really hit the spot. The 'crust' on the fried steak was right on the edge of being burned by about ten seconds, but managed to turn out quite perfect and amazing. If we lived closer, Peppertree Cafe would be a regular stop.

Peppertree Cafe 1020 E. Route 66 Glendora, CA 91740 Website Sun-Thurs 6 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri-Sat 6a.m.-10 p.m.

Now, the reason we were 'up north'…

In mid-January, the Theme (with banner design) and President of the 2019 Tournament of Roses were announced. Float designs were submitted, reviewed, accepted and float building began. In June and July, The Mister and I drove to Phoenix Decorating Company in Irwindale to view some of the floats undergoing testing of safety and maneuverability.
The theme for 2019 is "The Melody of Life". Each float will have a reference to music in some shape or form on each float. "Service Rocks" the 2019 Rotary International float, looks to be a reference to the song 'Crocodile Rock', with the crocodile playing a keyboard and wearing heart shaped (Elton John-style) glasses.
Kiwanis International float is a Jukebox and will have an Elvis impersonator onboard. The 2019 float title is "Helping Kids Rock Their Future"; a great way of combining the theme of the parade with the goal of this Service Organization.

The International Order of Oddfellows and Rebekahs 2019 float, "200 years of Harmony" is commemorating the longevity of this Service Organization in North America. The calliope as the music source on this float should be fun!
"Joy To The World, The Lord Is Come" is the 2019 entry by the Lutheran Hour Ministries. This will be the 69th year for the only Christian themed float in the parade, decorated by about 5000 "Petal Pushers" volunteers who also assist with decorating other Service floats. The 'music' portion of this float will be performed by a choir. Of course.
A month ago, the Lions Clubs International float, "Rockin The Vest", was rebar, plywood and screening.
The other day, it was in a 'cocoon' and will be colored in for the testing next month. The title "Rockin' The Vest" is in reference to the yellow vests which Lions Clubs International members wear when volunteering (Lions Club is the world's largest Community Service Organization) AND it is also in reference to a 2011 'Rap' video, 'Rockin' The Vest', a fun music video designed to appeal to younger potential members. So fitting in this 2019 theme of 'The Melody of Life'. That's a boom box on the back of the car.

There were more floats tested, you'll see progress next month.

Tommy’s Restaurant (San Clemente) after a visit to the Mission San Juan Capistrano

May 27, 2018 Cathy American/New American Restaurants, Diner, Orange County, Stuff, What Cathy Eats!

Thanks for reading this food blog named mmm-yoso!!! Kirk has been away for a few days, resting and Cathy has been taking some 'staycation' time and is writing today.

Having an out of town guest is always a reason to also do something out of the ordinary. We want to show friends how and where we live and not do too many typical touristy things. The Spanish Missions in California are a strong part of our history and always fascinating as well as educational. We thought a short drive up the coast would be fun. Mission San Juan Capistrano, the "loveliest of the Franciscan ruins",provided us with insight as to how the missionaries and indigenous natives lived and built their self sufficient compound, with gardens for food, vineyards (for wine used during mass), a baking area, stables and all in all a small city
with a church next to the cemetery. (This is the second church built on the grounds, the original 'Great Stone Church' with its Greco-Roman style architecture was felled by an earthquake on December 8, 1812).

A great day of walking, listening to a well recorded self guided tour and learning so much.

Mission San Juan Capistrano Website

We left just after 1 p.m. and although hungry, didn't want to stay in town, instead driving a few exits south to the signage we had seen so many times over the years.Yep. Tommy's Restaurant. We had always been curious but usually were 'almost home' so had never stopped.
The view from the parking lot is of the ocean.
Inside…well..look for yourself…

A 50's diner with beautiful upholstered booths and a fresh flower on each table. We had just missed the 'lunch rush'.
The menu accommodated each of us. The "2x2x2" breakfast ($8.99) had some really great, sweet fluffy and tender pancakes along with perfectly over easy eggs and two slices of quality, thick meaty bacon.
The Monte Cristo ($9.99 plus $1.50 for substitution of onion rings) was really well made, with plenty of ham and turkey (and melted Swiss) on a nicely fried eggy french toast. The rings were surprisingly good; whole onion slices in the crispy corn batter.
The 1/2 sandwich (with soup or salad, $7.99) was a wonderful choice. The clam chowder (soup of the day) was definitely made from scratch, had a clam juice based broth, filled with clam pieces as well as finely minced (yet still crispy) celery and with several (but not too many pieces of) skin on diced potato. Tuna salad on marble rye bread with lettuce, tomato and pickle was a great sandwich. It wasn't a 'solid' tuna, which meant it accommodated the various ingredients and had more flavor.

We will definitely stop here again.

Tommy's Diner 1409 El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672 (949)498-7000 Open Daily 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Website

Road Trip – Irrawaddy Taste of Burma (Stanton)

February 15, 2018 mmm-yoso Burmese Food and Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

During my late November stay in Irvine, I had really wanted to return to Cafe Hiro. But not knowing what time I'd be cut loose, I didn't want to make reservations and not keep them. So, I did return to Café Hiro, but the place was packed. Luckily, I had a "plan B". I'd noticed a restaurant when I drove back to my hotel on Katella.

It had been a while since I'd had Burmese food. So this ended up being my back-up. The place was surprisingly empty on a Saturday night.

The Servers were very friendly and gracious.

I ordered a Myanmar Lager while I perused the menu. Slightly malty. fairly light overall.

I had one item already in mind and searched for another. Because of the hours of work and my leaving straight from the client the next morning, leftover didn't make sense.

But there was no denying the fact that I needed to order the Tea Leaf Salad ($11). I love the fermented bitterness of "laphet", tea leaves that have been fermented.

In terms of being nice and refreshing, this salad was very good. In terms of having the pleasantly bitter-tart-fermented flavor of laphet, this fell a bit short for me. The dressing had a good amount of lime in it and was on the sweeter side for my taste. Loved the seeds and peanuts. Nice salad overall, but not quite what I want in my laphet thoke.

For my main; I chose the Sour Leaf (chimbaung – Hibiscus Leaf/Roselle) Shrimp ($13), in spite of the rather humorous description on the menu.

A very pleasant, if not especially memorable dish. I expected a bit more spicy heat, sour, pungency, and saltiness. This was quite mild. There was an abundance of shrimp that tasted a bit muddy side, but were nicely cooked. My favorite item in the dish was the okra, slightly crunchy with a pleasant gooey-slimy finish. Think of this as a fairly mild, though oily curry, and you'd be right.

This was a pleasant meal and I'd think about visiting again one of these days. Nice service and I thought things were well priced. Not very busy on a Saturday night though.

Irrawaddy Taste of Burma
7076 Katella Ave
Stanton, CA 90680

Roadtrip – Revisits to Qing Dao Bread Food (Monterey Park), Kang Lac Bakery, Lien Hoa, and Song Long (Westminster)

January 13, 2018 mmm-yoso Chinese BBQ, Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Road Trip, Vietnamese Restaurants

Whew; I need to catch up on all my posts! Since I've posted on these places a multitude of times; I'll keep it shirt and sweet.

This one is from back in August of last year. Basically, I had an all day meeting in Irvine. The Missus had the following day and night off; so we decided to stay in the area. We started things off well by having dinner at Sushi Noguchi in Yorba Linda (sorry no post on that one….next time). The next day after my meetings we headed off to dinner and was kind of unimpressed with Sichuan Impression in Alhambra. In fact we basically ate maybe half of what we ordered. Our hotel had a fridge, so I'd end up taking stuff back and then home.

Being somewhat disappointed in driving all this way, we decided to make a short stop. The Missus was really missing good jiaozi, so we decided to make a stop at….

Qing Dao Bread Food:

Man, it's been a good long time since we've been here.

The place is starting to look even more run down and the folks working a bit older. Though it's fun to get a smile out of the Missus when She hears the "Qingdao Hua"; the accent of Her hometown.

Two orders for us. The lamb versin; which doesn't have as much "soup" as before; but is still very gamey. And the vegetarian, which on this occasion was really good. The wrappers were nice; with that pillowy-pull to them.

The Missus had really been missing jiaozi it seems as She put these down in no time.

There was one rather sad moment during our meal. It was when the traditional garlic condiment came out. I've called this the Missus's "little dish of memories". Her job when She was a child in Qingdao was to pound the garlic for jiaozi in a mortar and pestle. Something She used to hate, but now loves…..in fact She did it with such relish the last time we were in Qingdao. Looks like they now put the garlic in a blender….very sad; because you really get the most flavor out of the garlic when you pound it; you release all the oils…..this really didn't have the "umph" we were used to. Perhaps the folks here have gotten old and tired of pounding garlic.

Qing Dao Bread Food
301 North Garfield Ave.
Monterey Park, CA 91754

The next morning, we got up rather early. Instead of just hanging out at the hotel until check-out and heading off to Sea Harbour, we decided to check out early and just do the usual two-fer of Lien Hoa and Song Long. We hit a snag as when we arrived at Lien Hoa; the place wasn't open yet. I had an idea. You see, years ago, "Beach" took me to the place right over in the next parking lot for a snack…..

Kang Lac Bakery:

The Missus had never had the Bot Chien here and it was right next door to Lien Hoa. So why not?

Radish and Taro cakes coated in crisp egg.

Man, that sauce is still good!

Tea for the Missus, some Vietnamese Coffee for me. The cost was like ten bucks. A very nice start to our morning.

Kang Lac Bakery
9301 Bolsa Avenue
Westminster, CA 92683

By now…..

Lien Hoa:

Was open.

And I got our roast duck; which I've posted on a number of times.

Lien Hoa BBQ
9311 Bolsa Ave
Westminster, CA 92683

And then it was time for "our real breakfast"……

Song Long:

Ever since "Kha" recommended this place to us years ago; it's become a real favorite of ours.

And I have to say; it's still a big favorite. Hmm……maybe we have some time next weekend?

Song Long Restaurant
9361 Bolsa Ave Suite 108
Westminster, CA 92683

Thanks for stopping by!

2018 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade: Post Parade Showcase of floats, Snacks and a meal: Cream Pan (Tustin), Arsen House of Cookies (Pasadena), T Burgers (Monrovia)

January 7, 2018 Cathy Bakery, Burgers, Festivals & Events, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Sandwiches, What Cathy Eats!

mmm-yoso!!! is primarily a food blog, but there are many events surrounding meals. Both Kirk and Cathy like to write about that aspect of the eventual meals. Today, Cathy is writing.

The 2018 Tournament of Roses, with the theme "Making A Difference", is over. There were numerous events and activities between Christmas and December 31-the Bands and Equestrian Units had presentations, you could visit float decorating places and a two day event, "Live on Green". The parade and football game were on January 1. Following the parade, the floats lined up on Sierra Madre (at the end of the 5.5 mile parade route) and were on display (the Post Parade Showcase of Floats) from 1 p.m. on January 1 and again from 9 a.m. on January 2.

There was a little advertised way to get into all of the Official Tournament events for one very small price- The Event Pass Pin was sold for the first time this year at the Tournament House, the Pasadena Museum of History, Vromans Bookstore and online for $10! (The fee just to view the floats at the Showcase was $15 per person this year).

There were road tests of the floats in July, August, September, October and November. The Mister and I helped to decorate floats in early December. There are more details and excellent reporting of all Tournament events at this link to The Rose Examiner.

I could not decide how to show you the floats: there were 44 in the Parade. Six were not judged, six were self constructed and the others were constructed by four professional float companies. 24 were recognized with awards. All of the floats were beautiful, detailed, magnificent and decorated by volunteers, especially the week following Christmas when the live flowers were delivered. Each float deserved to be recognized.

So, I had to pick and choose through my photos (so you wouldn't be bored). There were surreal floats.

There were little details on every float…

(These guys were on the 'off camera' side of their float, you never saw them if you were watching the parade on television.)
One of the record breaking floats held 100 people- two farmers from every state in the Union.
There were cute floats (but all of them were cute, weren't they?)

I could mention the mishaps which happened at the end of the parade route…

(it seems the float operators forgot (or weren't warned as to when) to collapse the float at the end of the route, resulting in some damage).

It was a great theme, a great parade and I have at least two photos of every float. If there is one in particular you would like to see, I can add it at the end of this post. THIS is a link to the entire parade from KTLA TV

Soo went to see the 2018 floats, too! Maggie also has a great point of view of the post parade.

But now, we return to the Food portion of the blog…

We got to Cream Pan around 7 a.m., ordering the same items (ham and cheese croissant and a cheese cracker) we had on our last visit along with a loaf of sesame bread. The cheese based items were a light breakfast. Cream Pan 602 El Camino Real Tustin, CA 92780 Website

We had parked off of Washington Street and walked to the Blue entrance to the Post Parade Showcase of floats. On the way back to the car, we passed Arsen's House of Cookies, where we have stopped several times previously. Mrs. Arsen recognizes us and we catch up, about once a year.

We purchased some sweets for cc and for ourselves.

As well as four of the (still warm, freshly made) cheese/herb pastries on the counter. Total cost? $9. The bonus was I received an Arsen's Bakery calendar (last photo, bottom right) which will be used a lot this year.

We headed East, didn't want to take the freeway and ended up on Foothill in Monrovia. This looked like an interesting place to stop for lunch. We hadn't noticed it before, but Yelp has posts going back to 2007…
The menu has breakfasts, Greek, Mexican and American (salads, burgers and sandwich) choices.
The half pound burger ($6.39) was char-grilled and had that flavor I crave. It was cooked to order (medium rare), served on a fresh toasted bun with 'everything' (lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and mayonnaise). As with every establishment that serves Greek/gyros, the onion rings ($3.79) were handmade, whole onions, sweet, properly fried with a cornmeal based breading. (The ranch sauce was an extra 50¢ and wasn't even necessary.)
Since we were in this part of the State which serves pastrami at almost every fast food joint (I need to do a post of all the taco shops up here which have pastrami on the signage), The Mister ordered a Pastrami sandwich ($8.99). When asked what he wanted on it, he only asked for mustard and pickles…and that's what was received. The bread to meat ratio is so wonderfully in favor of the meat…which was smoky, peppery and lean. A wonderful sandwich.

T Burgers 226 W. Foothill Drive Monrovia, CA 91016 (626)357-4844

This was the start to 2018. Almost 12,000 steps of walking and wonderful food. So far, resolutions kept!

The theme of the 2019 Tournament of Roses Rose Parade:

Cypress – Cafe Hiro

December 20, 2017 mmm-yoso Asian Fusion/Pacific Rim/Hawaii Style Fusion, Japanese Restaurants, Orange County, Road Trip

Work has been a real "bear" for me this year. This past quarter, I've had to make several trips to the OC for work, which culminated in a two night support stay.

It was over a weekend…no biggie since I'd already done almost 20 days straight of work. We had a bunch of choices for places to stay, with most of the support team staying in Irvine near our customer.

I chose to stay in Cypress. Yes, Cypress. You see, since this was a weekend and I'd be heading to our location at around 6am, there wouldn't be any traffic. Plus, this hotel was even cheaper than the other choices.

But why Cypress? Well, it sure wasn't to check out the Noodles & Company or the El Torito that basically shared the same parking lot with my hotel.

No, it was to be able to finally visit Café Hiro.

I'd been waiting to check this place out for years. You see, when I first started this blog back in May of 2005, the focus of the food blog back then wasn't a career path and social media as know it now was in its infancy. Remember Friendster ? Facebook was still a Harvard campus oriented site; it wasn't released to the public until 2006. By the time I had started the blog; there was already a pretty strong food blogging community, yes, in those days it was sort of a community and "Elmomonster", perhaps you are more familiar with his food blog Monster Munching was going strong. Elmo, or you probably know him more by his real name these days, was one of the first to comment on this blog. One of Elmo's favorite places is Café Hiro; he's done multiple posts on the place over the years, culminating with a poetic Valentine's Day post in 2016. In November of 2017, a full twelve years since I first read about the place, I finally had an opportunity to check out Cafe Hiro.

I made my reservations for later in the evening since I'd be working almost a full day in San Diego, then drive up. And oh what a drive it was….a full 140 minutes of thrills and excitement. I managed to check in at the hotel and then decided to do something that drew a bit of attention; I walked there from my hotel, up Valley View Street. Several cars actually slowed down to see the odd sight of a person walking of his own free will up the street. I'd forgotten………

The place was full, except for the small bar area, which is where I was seated.

Things were pretty busy; but the two young ladies working were very efficient and quite nice.

I had my sights set on Uni Pasta, but when a woman walked in to pick up 10 orders of Uni Risotto, well, my mind was made up.

Things started with a simple, refreshing crisp salad.

And a cup of creamy potato soup; which, to be perfectly frank, could have been hotter.

Though I did enjoy the touch of curry flavor in smooth and creamy soup.

For some reason I was a lot more hungry than usual. I really can't eat as much as I used to anymore. Perhaps it was the twelve years of anticipation? Regardless, I ordered the Beef Tataki – "Japanese Style".

Which was pretty much by the book; the beef pleasantly toothsome; I enjoyed the refreshing ponzu-daikon oroshi, and the pungency of the onions. Not a big fan of the fried garlic which was on the bitter side. This was a nice version of Beef Tataki.

My risotto took about thirty-five minutes; which is perfect in my book. Risotto takes time. There are very few versions of restaurant risotto here in the states I enjoy. Most of it is terribly par-cooked, leaving the center of the Arborio rice hard and rather unpleasant. This was nice and creamy all the way through.

All the seafood as a whole was well prepared; the shrimp plump, juicy, with a briny-sweetness, the calamari adequately tender, ditto the mussels. The Manila Clams had a bit of grit in it, but not enough to stop me from eating. The flavor was at once rich, yet quite mild and balanced with just a hint of sweetness and a definite oceany finish. It was very good.

I actually wanted to return to Café Hiro the next evening, but wasn't sure of when I'd be finishing up work. So I decided against making reservations. I did show up and the place was packed so I had to go with a Plan "B".

I'm glad to have finally been able to check out Café Hiro. It is worth a visit. I spent a good amount of time during my meal thinking about how much time has passed since I started this blog; all those SoCal folks…..Dylan & Jeni, Pam, Kristi, ChubbyPanda, Andy…..Beach! I wonder how they're all doing now. Passionate Eater still has a post once in a while and Elmo of course, still does a post weekly. But time has passed, lots of things change in twelve years. And my visit to Café Hiro gave me time to reflect on things. So maybe I wasn't twelve years too late……I'm thinking it was just the perfect time!

Cafe Hiro
10509 Valley View St
Cypress, CA 90630

Elmo, I'm not sure if you still drop by once in a while. But thanks man. Not only for all the posts and emails over the years, but for being, along with Reid, one of the folks who inspired me to start this little old blog way back when!