yoso-silly – Page 38

Mid Week Mystery Market – It’s 97 Supermarket!

July 19, 2006 mmm-yoso Markets & Grocers, yoso-silly

*** 97 Supermarket has closed

Over the last 14 months or so, I've collected quite a few photos. Most of them end up in the recycle bin, since I do "goof-up" alot. I try to be organized, but sometimes I find a collection of photos that leave me scratching my head. As in where the heck was this???? This is such a collection. I did find out which market it was; I had put the "street shot" in another folder, and it was left languishing.

So, I guess it's better late then never. But here's the deal; first 5 Emails I receive that guess the correct Market, I'll send you a cup of Peet's on me. The reason I chose Peet's, is because I can Email Peet's certificates.

Let's start the clues…..

1 – This is a Southeast Asian Supermarket, you know right away, since they stock everything from Betel Leaves:

To Boba:

2 – This San Diego Supermarket, has quite an interesting collection, some looking quite old:

And items that are quite new…at least to me.

3 – As with this type of market, there is the requisite Meat and Fish department. Though it is quite small.

4 – If you've ever been in this market, the produce department is a dead giveaway:

I think I've provided enough clues. But here are a few more photos…..

There is some interesting stuff here.

The Missus always tells me, that after a while, all of these markets look the same.

But I'm willing to bet that there at least 5 of you, who can figure this market out in no time flat.

And you will be much smarter than I, since it took me about 15 minutes to remember where the heck this was.

And though this market, was a bit worse for wear. It was still fun for me! And I'll drink to that, though probably not with Palm Juice.

Once I have enough guesses, I'll reveal the Market. One correct guess per IP address, please have a valid Email address.

Hope you enjoyed this little Mid Week quiz!

Thursday morning update – I probably made this too hard. Though I think if you ever set foot in this market you'd recognize the produce department. So here's some clues, that I've included in the response to comments:

– It's not any of the Viet Dong Markets, nor World Foods.

– It is not on El Cajon Boulevard.

Again, comment away – though I'd rather have email guesses – but since you all like to share….

Thursday noon update – Sheesh…… More clues. Let's see…..

– It is not on Mira Mesa Boulevard.

– It is not in the South Bay area.

– I haven't done a post on this market

– And this should clinch it. If you look real carefully at the photo of the seafood bin – you'll notice part of the market logo….just a small part, but if you've ever walked or driven pass this market you should know it. And possibly made fun of the name…..

My apologies…I must totally suck at giving out clues. Nobody figured it out! I'm totally devistated. The answer is:

97 Super Market
4679 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

I know, I'm terrible at giving out clues…..but tell me, would you want me to do this again? If I made it easier????

Midweek Miscellanea

July 12, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I thought I’d do a post about a few items, that I’ve been waiting to mention. So here goes….

The Brunch Master hits the Big Time!

I enjoy Jim’s(aka The Brunch Master) site San Diego Sunday Brunch. Talk about dedication! Jim and His lovely Wife have been to 44 Buffet style Sunday Brunches, and have started in on Menu Brunches as well. Jim’s site is not a review site, but is dedicated to informing us about prices, food, and other useful information. I know that I’ve used His site when trying to figure out which Brunch spot to hit.

So it’s only appropriate that Jim’s hit the "Big Time". On Friday, July 14th, News10, the local ABC affiliate will run a spot featuring Jim and His Brunchmaster Site. After the spot runs, there will be a live in studio section as well. So don’t miss it. The spot is set to run during the 4pm News time slot.

That’s Jim and his Wife with the Guys from News 10.

Congratulations Jim!

Howie hits a Half Million!

600,000 actually. That’s how many recipes you can access on Howie’s Foodieview Recipe Search Engine. Geez and I thought 330 posts was alot.

Curry House Coming to San Diego.

If you haven’t read the post on Chowhound, here’s the info. About 2 weeks ago, I heard that Curry House was coming to San Diego. So to confirm, I sent an Email to House Foods Corporation, the parent company of Curry House.

Here’s the response:

"Thank you for contacting us.

Yes, it is true that we will be opening a Curry House in San Diego. It is planned for its grand opening sometime in the middle of September.

Furthermore, the address of the location is as follows:

-Sunrise Town Center

3860 Convoy St. #102

San Diego, CA 92111

If you have any further questions or need further assistance, please contact us back."

So good news for those Curry House fans in San Diego.

So where’s the food, you may ask?

Okay, just for the heck it:

It’s the Com Tam Nhu Y(i.e. Com Tam Dac Biet – Broken Rice special – $6.45) from where else, Nhu Y Restaurant. Not bad, the steamed egg was quite moist and good, though the slice was on the small side. The fried "tofu-cake" was crisp, though on the bland side. The BBQ Pork Chop was okay, moist, but very mild, and the shredded pork actually had some flavor, and was relatively moist.

Hope everyones week is going well.

Portland: Land of a Thousand….Food Carts???

June 26, 2006 mmm-yoso Portland, Oregon, Travel, yoso-silly

Growing up in Hawaii, I’ve developed a real fondness for Lunch Wagon grub. And I miss those no frills, inexpensive meals. So imagine my surprise as I turned the corner SW 10th and SW Alder to find this.

An entire street lined with what I’m told are called "Food Carts" in Portland. At this point in time, I had just completed checking in, taken a shower, and headed out for a quick bite when I ran into this informal food court lining a public parking lot. Sounded like a nice option for a fast meal. But now I had to make a decision……..

Would it be the Bratwurst Wagon, which I dubbed the "Brat-Mobile"?

Or maybe something else?

I finally settled on something from this cart, Aybla Grill, after the wonderful smells drew me in:

I decided on a Lamb Shawarma "Super Gyro"($6.00):

This was a personal pan pizza sized pita, with quite a bit of tender Lamb Shawarma meat, onions, diced tomatoes, and tzatziki. I didn’t care the flavor of the tzatziki, but the lamb sure was good, very tender and full of flavor.

The very next day, I happened to be passing the same food carts on my way back to the hotel. Hungry and need of a break, I decided to grab some food from from the Food Cart selling Thai Food, Sawasdee.

I just decided to go with the "special", Pad Kaw Gai with Chicken. Only 5 bucks. I waited while my dish was being stir fried, while watching a group of students from the Western Culinary Institute, smoke, eat, and chat, all the while wearing their Whites and Chef’s Toques, looking strange and out of place in this jerry-rigged food court. A few minutes later my noodles were ready and I headed back to the hotel and ate:

There was quite a large amount of food in the container. But right off I knew I should have chosen the tofu version of the dish. Chewing the chicken was like chewing on an inner tube. On the positive side, the noodles were flavored well, nice touches of garlic and soy. Didn’t quite know what to make of the bed of iceberg lettuce the noodles rested on. But for 5 bucks, you really can’t complain much.

I had an inkling of how pervasive Food Carts were after my visit to Restaurant Murata. As I was crossing the street to get to the Portland State University street car stop; I spied two more Food Carts.

Right after I snapped this photo, a group of 5 people mobbed the New Taste of India Food Cart; and you could smell the curry all the way down to the street car stop.

Now I’ve had many Lunch Wagons Meals, visited my share of Taco Trucks in LA, not to mention the really good ones in Yuma. But nothing matches the size and scope of the group of Food Carts I saw on my way to breakfast at Mother’s Bistro & Bar.

This collection of Food Carts lined SW 5th Avenue, from SW Oak Street, to SW Stark Street. The variety was impressive. Everything from Barbecue:

To Borscht:

Which had the "best sign".

To Burritos:

I’m not quite sure what tie in the Elephants have to Mexican Food…..

From the sleek:

To places that might give me a bit of a pause.

There’s even what looks like a little rivalry going on. This Cart, The Real Taste of India:

Was just a few carts over from this Cart, the New Taste of India.

How ’bout we open one up a few carts over called the New Real Taste of India?

Short on cash? There’s even a portable ATM!

Here are 2 carts, right across the Police Station on SW 2nd Avenue:

On my way to dinner at Pok Pok, I passed a Taco Truck:

Here are a few more for good measure. Some of them could even qualify for street art.

Portland Food Carts….they’re everywhere!

What I Did for My Summer Vacation……

June 18, 2006 mmm-yoso Travel, yoso-silly

Did you ever have to stand in front of class during your first week back in school, and have to do a report on, "What I during my Summer vacation?" I dreaded this, most of the time it was summer school, and not much of anything else. So when my classmates were going to Disneyland and whatnot, I really had nothing to report on. As I got older, the kids were going to Japan, or doing exciting things during summer….but I was doing something like working or picking pineapples on Lanai! But this summer, I went on a nice short trip….but I’m not telling you right away. I just got home, so I’ll try to complete my previous post, and start doing my vacation posts.

So where did I go? Well these "guys" aren’t talking…but may give you some clues:

Maybe this guy can help you:

The city has something to do with these:

I’ll throw in a food pic, just so I can still feel I’m doing a food blog.

I know I’ve made it much too easy for you all…….

Did you happen to catch mmm-yoso….

June 4, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

I think this is a hoot. About 2 weeks ago, I started noticing referrals from FoodandWine.com, which I thought was kind of odd. Well after checking out the Food and Wine site, I noticed an entry under the "Blog Watch" portion, and there it was……….

A link to my bozo attempt at Seasoning my Wok of all things.

Don’t know how long the link will be there, but I thought it was pretty cool. And somewhat ironic, since Howie noted, that this was from the site of "the magazine that caused the whole cheese sandwich uproar."

I kinda mulled over whether to post this or not….but what the heck, I’m kind of tickled!

Of course if they really wanted some in depth info, they should’ve done a link to Barbara’s post in Tigers and Strawberries on Asian Kitchen Essentials.

“Wokking” the Wok

May 21, 2006 mmm-yoso Stuff, yoso-silly

My poor old wok had seen better days. The bottom had developed a dip, and portions have "peeling", and the poor fellow was pretty much ready to be retired. I think alot of the damage was due to a poor job of seasoning and care, on my part. When I got the wok as a gift a dozen or so years ago, I had no idea of what wok care, or seasoning consisted of. I had decided to get a new wok last year, but hadn't really made any effort to purchase one. Then I read a post on Barbara's blog; Tigers and Strawberries, that was a post on Asian Kitchen Equipment Essentials. In that post she mentions that The Wok Shop in San Francisco does Internet and mail order. The Wok Shop has always been one of my favorite places to visit, when in San Francisco, and I've bought a few knives, and other items. But I've always hesitated on purchasing a wok, and putting it in my luggage. But now, here was my chance. So I ended up ordering 2 woks from The Wok Shop. I placed my order on Tuesday, and by Saturday my woks had arrived!

I purchased a 14 inch Carbon Steel Wok($16.95), with a rounded bottom, and a 14 inch Cast Iron Wok ($14.95) imported from China. I decided to start with the Carbon Steel Wok. Grace Young's excellent book The Breath of a Wok, has several wok seasoning methods. One of the methods included in the book is Tane Chan's oven method. Tane Chan also happens to be the owner of the The Wok Shop, and sent me email wok seasoning instructions along with my order confirmation. So I decided to use that method.

"The wok is carbon steel and has to be seasoned to prevent it from rusting. The seasoning process is relatively easy to do. Just wash and dry your wok thoroughly. Coat lightly, interior and exterior with cooking oil. Bake in hot oven, 425 degrees for 20 minutes. Place in oven upside down. Remove from oven, let cool to touch and scour wok with an abrasive pad.
Scour the "seasoning" or patina away…like you want the wok back to its original finish. Wash, dry, coat and bake again…same process. Do this 4 times. After the 4th baking, you will not be able to scour the seasoning away…and that is the result you want."

The result?

The Wok had achieved a dark, golden, lacquer like finish. I don't quite know if it's perfect or not, but it seems to have worked. After cooling, I did the typical "pungent" post seasoning cooking. Using about 1 tablespoon of oil, I stir fried ginger and green onions until somewhat charred, making sure to "hit" all of the cooking surface. I cleaned my wok using the basic instructions from The Breath of the Wok. After this session, the wok had started to blacken.

Looks like I'm on my way……. Next we'll see how the wok holds up to the 50,000 BTU Big Kahuna.

Now the shipping for my woks had come to $13, almost the price of a wok. But I didn't mind, since I expect to have these woks for a long time. But I guess The Wok Shop felt bad about this, and included a few items with my woks.

I thought the back scratcher was a nice touch, the Missus was immediately drawn to it. A skimmer was also included, and I also received an email telling me that The Wok Shop was including the skimmer. The last sentence of that paragraph cracked me up:

"This skimmer is durable and will last a long, long, time. Dishwasher safe and boilable! (fyi…great for cat litter too!)"

I'm hoping they aren't expecting the skimmer to do "double-duty" after doing the cat litter thing……

The Wok Shop, fast service, they sound like good people, and they have a sense of humor too!

Yoso-silly – The Comment of the Week(And it’s only Monday)

May 1, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Since I started this blog in May of last year. I’ve noticed that as "hits" increase, so do the "flame" emails(some of which I can’t even bring myself to post), the spam, or spam-like comments, and the various trollish comments.

Here’s an interesting comment of my post on Porkyland:

"Doesnt it seem funny that these reviews came rapid fire one after another….. As if an internal person was writing them back to back. Porkyland is ok, but I doubt San Diegans are hammering away at their keyboards over it. Stop using such obvious marketing strategies. They make you look desperate."

Hmmmmm, this was so very interesting that I wanted to make sure to post it.

I mean it’s a masterpiece, isn’t it? A touch of cynicism, sarcasm, even a bit of high-handed condescending attitude……

Most people that know me; and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting several of you, understand that I’m a pretty plain-spoken, no-nonsense, and overall, a pretty straight forward individual. So naturally, this oh-so-eloquent and intelligent comment left me in awe!

This individual(troll? trollette?) named "Michelle", worked so hard to sound intelligent, superior, and basically "high-mucka-mucka", that She, He, or It, forgot that one can prepost in Typepad. Also, what the heck is "an internal person", I guess it’s the opposite of "an external person"? Sorry, I’m really not that great at pseudo-existentialistic jargon. "Michelle" also underestimates Our ablility to try new restaurants, new food, old restaurants, and find grocers and restaurants scattered all over San Diego, and points beyond. tsk-tsk….

"Stop using such obvious marketing strategies." So what am I marketing, specifically? Now this one really hurt; I go out of my way to Not put advertising on my blog(except for Amazon, cause I use it all the time). I pay my way completely, and I also pay $149 a year to Typepad, for the sheer pleasure of doing this. I’d still do it, if no one ever read it but the Missus and Myself. I also, never, ever, call my entries "reviews", though many do define it as such. It’s just a "food blog", and will always be such. Sort of a "what we ate for breakfast/lunch/dinner" thing. If anything qualifies as the veritable Pete Wells "cheese sandwich" it’s mmm-yoso!!! And I think most of you "get it."

You know, in the end, I’m not the one who sounds desperate(for attention). Perhaps it’s a cry for help?

Thanks for indulging me(yet again), but I thought this comment was so very funny!

The Mystery “Huo Guo” Contest

April 26, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

*** Here’s the five winners:

1 – Liver Bomb
2 – Becky
3 – Calvin
4 – Happy
5 – Robert

I’ll get you GC’s out next week.

Oh, what’s the restaurant – believe it or not it’s Ba Ren. A report is upcoming.

I’ve been getting into the habit of posting "incomplete" entries recently, which is just totally unacceptable by my standards, and for this I humbly apologize. In order to "teach myself a lesson", I though I’d do a little contest.

Someone emailed me recently after our visit to Kingswood, lamenting the fact that there was no decent "Huo Guo"(Hot Pot) in San Diego. Well, we think that you can get a good Yue Yang Guo in San Diego, and here’s the proof:

So where is this from? Well, that’s the fun part…..you tell me! The first 5 unique(1 IP address per) persons to Email(not comment – but Email) me the restaurant here in San Diego that serves up this herbaceous Hot Pot, will get their choice of a $5(US) Starbucks or Peet’s gift card. (Don’t shoot me DCCF, ok – I needed something I could mail anybody)

So just email me your guess and preference of Starbucks or Peet’s card, and if you are one of the first 5 correct guesses, I’ll send you a reply email asking for a name and mailing address(so no bogus Email addresses this time). Easy enough, right?

Bonus points for you(just points…) if you know what that is above. And here’s some supporting photographic evidence.

I’ll reveal the restaurant tomorrow, along with the 5 winners(I’ll use your "handle", in case you’re shy…..).

Good Luck!!!

Yoso-Silly – LA Roadtrip: Hong Kong Fishball House and a Very Special Dish

April 15, 2006 mmm-yoso Chinese Restaurants, Los Angeles County, Road Trip, yoso-silly

*** Hong Kong Fishball House has closed

*** You know……tastes change; and I now find this stuff kinda bland, who’d have thunk???

We just got back from LA, so I thought I’d do a short post. Elmo from Monster Munching mentioned a very special dish during the course of a comment on my post last Saturday.

The special place that sells this dish is the Hong Kong Fishball House, and is covered in detail on Monster Munching.

HK Fishball House specializes in very, very, reasonably priced(usually under 3 bucks) soups and other snacks. But there was a special snack that the Missus just had to try…….

How could you resist the temptation of Fried Pork Rectum, and only $2.25! So while I waited for my frozen Xiao Long Bao from Yi-Mei Deli, the Missus waited for Her Fried Rectum from the Fishball House – why does that sound so wrong? It didn’t help any, when the Gentleman frying what is actually Pork Large Intestine told the Missus, “Oooh, this smells so good!!!”

So what did it look like?

Nicely fried and seasoned with salt and green onions.

So how did it taste?

I think it’s an appropriately named dish…….after all the large intestine is attached to the?????

The initial taste was a fairly pleasant sweet and salty flavor, with a crisp and “spongy” texture. But as you kept chewing the hard to describe, very earthy and strong “intestine” flavor came through, along with a slightly unpleasant aftertaste that lasts for a pretty long time. The intestine also left my mouth with what felt like a slimy film. Definitely an acquired taste, and I don’t think I’ve been exposed enough to similar flavors to appreciate it. I’ll stick with the fried calamari!

Hong Kong Fishball House
18414 Colima Rd
Rowland Heights, CA 91748

Much Mahalo, Ed…ummm I mean Gracias!

April 5, 2006 mmm-yoso yoso-silly

Friends are great aren’t they? Rhetorically speaking, of course. The infamous Ed from Yuma is in town getting His San Diego food fix this week, and he was nice enough to pack us His very own Yuma care package. And man, was it some kind of care package!

In the filled ice chest were 4 packages of tortillas:

This is not the run of the mill stuff but the "good stuff" made in Mexico! I asked Ed what I was going to do with the leftover tortillas, and His reply, "well that’s why they have tortilla chips!" Duh…… Ed also gave us a Tortillero, a tortilla warmer, to keep those tortillas warm and moist before eating. There was also 4 tubs of salsa, including an super-spicy salsa roja, though the Missus enjoyed the chunky salsa roja the best!

Also included was a couple of pounds of Pork Adobada:

And some marinated chicken:

Now we’ve had some major rain and thunderstorms, but with this sitting in front of me I had to take my chances, and got the charcoal started.

The pork cooked very quickly, and the scent of "chili" permeated the air. I must admit that the bright red color of the chicken kind of threw me in the beginning, but then again, I eat Char Siu don’t I?

While I was grilling, the Missus was busy heating up the tortillas. The only problem with that was, She was eating a one tortilla for each one that made into the tortillero!

We did manage to beat the rain, and finally a made a "few" tacos, with some minced sweet onions and cilantro for garnish.

The Pollo (chicken) had more flavor, a nice chili-salty flavor.

The adobada was much milder, and the Missus stated that she could’ve used some lime. But the meat was very tender(I could strip them by hand), and went very well with the tangy Salsa Verde(green salsa made from tomatillo’s):

Soooo delici-yoso!!! If anyone has questions, I’m sure that Ed can answer them! Thanks for indulging me, I’ll be back with another restaurant tomorrow. Right now, I’m slowly sinking into a food induced coma……..

Thanks again Ed!