Terra Restaurant

[Update - This location closed. New location on El Cajon Blvd in La Mesa as of 2011]

Earlier this evening, Bert and I went out to dinner...just the two of us...Or as TC said, "I know, you're going to a place that's not kid-friendly and serves alcohol!" Smart child. This was such a rare occasion so we wanted to pick a good place to eat.

We checked out a few after-Christmas sales at the outlet center after dropping her off at my mom's where we knew she would enjoy being spoiled. Where else can she eat in bed and watch TV at the same time?

We ate at Terra in Hillcrest. Terra is located on the 3900 block of Vermont St in San Diego, right next to the upper level parking garage by Trader Joe's. One of my co-workers raved about this place and I heard great reviews about the chef, Jeff Rossman and his use of fresh, local/artisanal ingredients. Although we had no reservations, the gentleman at the bar seated us in a very spacious and cushy banquette. The restaurant was dimly lit and wasn't crowded at the time (6:30'ish).

I asked Bert to take off the 'cat meow' sound that goes on when I click the 'on' button of our camera. I didn't want to bug the other diners. I also took this photo without a flash, hence the crappy quality. Although bottles of wine were half off that night, we opted to just have single servings each. It would be hard for us to polish off a whole bottle by ourselves and drive home as well.
I had a French Viognier while Bert had a 'Flat Tire' (the brand of beer?) [edit - correction - The beer is called 'Fat Tire'!]. We were served sour dough bread with a dip that I initially thought was pureed white beans. It was actually garbanzo; so basically it was hummus without the garlic and lemon. A bit bland but okay when you're hungry!We had the mini Kobe beef sliders as appetizers ($12). I wish the dinner menu link to Terra's website worked. I didn't remember exactly what type of cheese was in the burger (I want to say Gorgonzola, but I'm not sure), but these were great!
(edit on 1/2/07: the Kobe beef sliders had caramalized shallots, truffle mayonnaise and cambazola cheese)
They were cooked medium rare, were so cute, and best of all, practically melted in our mouths! I could eat two orders of these things! There was also a truffle sauce in the burger but my unsophisticated palate couldn't discern it. The sliders were served with a tiny pile of microgreens.
This time, I used the "food" setting on my camera (which I never knew it had) so this picture actually looks pretty good! By the way, this portion was perfect. It was not an obscene amount of food (like what they would give you at Claim Jumper's, Buca de Beppo, et al.), nor was it a tiny portion where you felt like you got ripped off. No, this was a perfect portion that was filling in a satisfying way. I ordered the pan seared scallops served over a bed of creamy mashed potatoes which were drizzled with a mushroom dill reduction. On top is a grilled baby bok choy with a blade of chive on top. There were four good size scallops in there and I ate them all, tender things that they were, not horrid rubbery pucks.
Now Bert had the Sea Bass Tipi Tapa (the menu's title) which was served over a puree of carrot and potatoes. The sauce was a mango vinagrette and the dish topped off with roughly crushed macadamia nuts. The "Tipi Tapa" (according to the waitress) referred to the spice rub on the seabass which consisted of...get this...cocoa powder and curry! Sounds kind of gross, but it actually tasted quite good! You could not tell there was cocoa on there but I could taste the curry just slightly. The fish was quite tender and again, the portion was just right. His entree also had baby bok choy and had a sprig of frisee on top.
This dinner was worth the splurge as our entrees were about $24-26 each. We would definitely go again and try other items on the menu that we eyed with interest.

Favorite Christmas movies

Although I started writing this on 12/26, it's actually 3 days later.

My Favorite Christmas Movies:

1. Trading Places (1983)

Ahh, the genius that is Eddie Murphy and Dan Akroyd.

Favorite lines:

Randolph Duke: Exactly why do you think the price of pork bellies is going to keep going down, William?
Billy Ray Valentine: Okay, pork belly prices have been dropping all morning, which means that everybody is waiting for it to hit rock bottom, so they can buy low. Which means that the people who own the pork belly contracts are saying, "Hey, we're losing all our damn money, and Christmas is around the corner, and I ain't gonna have no money to buy my son the G.I. Joe with the kung-fu grip! And my wife ain't gonna f... my wife ain't gonna make love to me if I got no money!" So they're panicking right now, they're screaming "SELL! SELL!" to get out before the price keeps dropping. They're panicking out there right now, I can feel it. [on the ticker machine, the price keeps dropping]
Randolph Duke: He's right, Mortimer! My God, look at it!

[Jail Scene] Big Black Guy: You beatin' 10 cops. How come I don't see no bruises on you? Billy Ray Valentine: 'Cause I'm a karate man, see! And a karate man bruise on the inside! They don't show their weakness. But you don't know that because you're a big Barry White looking motherf----r!

Billy Ray Valentine: When I was growing up, if we wanted a Jacuzzi, we had to fart in the tub.

Billy Ray Valentine: That's called the quart of blood technique... you do that and a quart of blood will come out a guy

well, practically everythline is a classic, especially, "One dollar Winthorp!"

2. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Seeing Anthony Michael Hall as the hulking bully Jim was priceless
Favorite lines:
Jim: "Ha ha, I'd give my left nut to see that again!"

[Joyce offers Edward lemonade] Joyce: Lemonade? [Edward pukes]
*Joyce is the Avon-product selling mom

3. Love Actually (2003)

(one of the few chick flicks that I like)

No favorite lines to speak of but I do like the scenes where Colin Firth's character mangles the Portuguese language when proposing to the woman he loves, along with anything with the goofy British guy who goes to Wisconsin and actually scores with hot chicks who dig his accent. And lastly, the couple who act as stand ins for a porno movie shoot that is shot in Venice (so it's "classy"). Like most heterosexual men, Bert hates Hugh Grant. Okay, not hates, but is annoyed intensely by him.

4. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Another classic. And a TRICK answer to a Scene It! Movies edition question in which one is asked which movie did Tim Burton NOT direct and that I got WRONG (and I am hardly ever wrong!)? It was this movie dammit!!!! And the director was actually Henry Selick...But I digress.

5. Scrooge (1970)

I remember watching this movie on the big screen for a 7th grade Honors field trip. It was at the Mann Circle Theatre in Mission Valley, which was later demolished a few years ago after having been used as a makeshift church. This version had Albert Finney as a most cantankerous scrooge and future Obi-Wan Kenobi, Alec Guinness. One of the songs I liked from this movie was called, "Thank You Very Much".

6. Elf (2003)

I'm not a big Will Ferrel fan, but this movie was pretty funny. Especially when he sings an offkey and impromptu song to his father telling him that he is his son.

7, 8, 9, & 10 (in this order):

The animated classics:
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964)
The Simpsons Christmas (1989)
and South Park - A Christmas in South Park (1999)

Christmas in San Diego

Unlike the previous day when it was quite chilly and dreary, Christmas day in San Diego was beautiful and sunny. Not wintery at all. This is the view at the corner of Heritage Road and East Palomar, on our way to my parents house for Christmas lunch for my side of the family. As is my mother's tradition, she cooked a load of food because her philosophy is that it's better to have more food than not enough. Otherwise, it would be considered a "shame" or "embarassment". My mom's Pancit (in this case, Pancit Bihon):
Turkey Macaroni soup:

Ham:

I don't know if there's a name for this, but this is sauteed chicken with bittermelon (one of my favorite vegetables - an acquired taste):

My dad grilled up some chicken that was marinated with soy sauce, Jufran sauce (Philippine banana ketchup), lemon juice, salt and pepper:

I don't know the name of this dish, but it's sauteed onions, jack straw mushrooms with peas and shrimp. I think my mom puts corn starch in it to thicken the sauce.

Marinated flank steak (aka 'flap meat'):

My dad made tortilla roll ups for some reason:

My mom's attempt at making Arroz Valenciana (which she made with chorizo de Bilbao):

Along with the grilled chicken and steak, my dad grilled up some corn as well.

Here's the Arroz Valenciana again, but this time, with olives on top. I don't think it's supposed to look like this.

My cousin's family came over and his wife made Pancit Malabon which has sliced boiled eggs and crushed chicharron (fried pork rinds) on top as garnish.

She also made fish with tomatoes and onions. Check out the eye on the head. Crunchy!

My sister bought the new Wii off of Ebay; she wouldn't say how much she got it for, but I'm pretty sure it was more than it was worth. This gaming system was a hot item. The kids (along with Bert and his brother) had fun "playing" tennis and bowling. After a few hours of eating, talking, playing games and BS'ing, we headed home so I could make Christmas dinner. This time with Bert's side of the family (sans the oldest bro and his family). I wanted to make different dishes than my mom's and she did give us quite a bit of leftovers. My main dishes were Chicken Adobo (seen on my other blog, J'ai Faim), Chicken Nillaga, and a storebought beef pot roast from Costco. My side dishes were sauteed mushrooms and onions and roasted potatoes. This is my mom's Kutsinta (crappy photo - I didn't use the flash):

And my godmother's homemade banana nut bread:

Since it was a special occassion, we broke out our wedding china and our nice cutlery as well. We hardly ever use them so...why not! The table was set by TC. and we used a card table as an extension (not pictured).Here's my Chicken Nillaga:

Dessert was sliced mangos (Costco) along with lemon bars, kutsinta, espasol, banana nut bread and Oreos (for the younger ones).

It was a nice day spending time with both sides of the family.

Potluck with friends...

This past Thursday, another set of friends (my lunch/dinner friends) came over for a Parol Making Workshop and a potluck lunch. My gracious friend (she teaches elementary school) brought over a most scrumptios mango jelly roll cake from Red Ribbon Bakery. Here is the long shot of it.
Okay, don't think I'm gross, but I "recycled" the rum balls from last Saturday night for the top tier of this buffet server. I had quite a few leftovers that night plus I wanted to stick the decorated toothpick on one. Actually, two of us ate one rum ball that day and they were still good! They dried out a bit, but boy, could you taste that rum!

Do you see the little snacks surrounding the rum balls? My same friend brought those over and they were great! This is what she did: get those mini square pretzels. Place mint chocolate kisses (which are available only during this time of year) on the pretzel pieces and place them ib a baking sheet in the oven at 100 degrees F. Leave it in for 5 minutes. Take out the sheet and place one red (or green) M & M Candy on top of the now melted kiss! So cute!

The middle tier is a fresh batch of peppermint fudge and the last tier are Oreo's (for the girls).

The centerpiece on our dining table. You can see the Caesar's salad my other friend brought (she teaches middle school).

Lastly, my other friend (she's an Assistant Principal) brought over rice and pork and chicken BBQ skewers! These were so very good! Especially the pork (fat!)! I just realized, we had all levels of educators here that day (from elementary, middle and high school)!

The pork BBQ skewers are in the foreground while the dead meat of our poultry friends are situated behind the pork. Another shot of the mango cake...sliced this time.

Our chandelier with mini capiz parol ornaments. We also have our 2nd attempt at making a parol (sans tails & tassels).

My friend brought her daughter who is great friends (and roughly the same age) with TC. Together, the girls made their own "parol". These are popsicle sticks that I glue gunned into a star shape the night before. The girls decorated them with "jewels", mini and regular size pom poms, glitter glue and garland. My daughter's parol only had one tail, but that is what she wanted so I hung it in our living room. She was so happy and proud.

My girlfriends and I exchanged gifts that day. Among the gifts exchanged, I received a tin of this decadent hot chocolate mix from Williams Sonoma. It wasn't cocoa powder, but actual chocolate that you melt into warmed milk. Bert, TC and I had this later that night....Mmmmm.

The gift also came with these:

And they looked like this:

They were quite sticky and didn't really melt all that much! But all the better to soak up the hot chocolate! By the way, here is a close up of that pretzel/kiss/m & m snack!

Although some of us only got as far as making the parol skeleton (those bamboo spacers were a total beeyotch to insert), it was more of enjoying each other's company rather than the process of making these time consuming parols. We appreciated catching up on things and hearing how we were spending our short break. I'm glad and thankful that we were able to chat, exchange recipes, stories, eat good food and enjoy the season with each other.

Buga and the SD MOPA

Yesterday, I went to lunch with two friends (one co-worker and one former co-worker). We went to lunch at the Korean BBQ restaurant, Buga (this is MMMYOSO's blog). They never had Korean food before so I ordered for us: one order of beef bulgogi (seen on the grill), one order of spicy pork and one order of Chapchae, a noodle dish. You can see the order of chapchae on the far right. Below is the beef nearly done:

We had a plethora of Panchan: Bok choy, kim chee, bean sprouts, spicy daikon:
Another view: bean sprouts, spicy zucchini (?) , seaweed with daikon:
There's the lettuce (it's like a salad with a ginger dressing) that you eat with the bulgogi. TO the lower left are some battered, fried potatoes and bean sprouts (?) and rice paper wraps.

We were so stuffed! Afterwards, we headed over to the San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts (SD MOPA) in Balboa Park where we saw this exhibit: review here . The Casasola photo exhibit was simply awesome. The images were so powerful and I am glad we went. When Bert, TC and I saw this (briefly) during December Nights, we were jostling elbow to elbow with dozens of other folks. Musuems were free that night but we could not enjoy the photos at our own pace. This time, with my friends, we practically had the museum to ourselves and were able to read each placard thoroughly. There were some haunting shots like the one of a heavily made up prostitute behind bars, her makeup evocative of Clara Bow (sporting bee stung lips and pencilled in eyebrows), along with a group of homosexual men posing for the camera after getting arrested (both photos were circa 1930's). One photo in particular showed a man about to be executed by firing squad; he is looking squarely at the camera in defiance, a cigarette dangling from his lips.

Below is a view of the California Tower in the daytime. I had a night shot of this in the December Nights entry.

We saw a tour bus while walking back to the car.

I found this tree grill/grate (whatever it's called) quite striking.

The tree grill/grate was towards the back of the Spreckels Organ Pavilion where we saw a newly wed couple having their photos taken.

It was the first week of our winter vacation spent during a beautiful, clear and sunny day. The school year is halfway over.

Hair cut day, lunch and window shopping...

Being an educator, I feel pretty lucky that I get 2 weeks off for the Winter andSpring Break as well as 2 months off in the summer. Most of my friends have regular jobs don't have this luxury. This past Tuesday, my daughter and I had a full day planned. This was indeed a treat because on normal work days, I only see her for a bit in the morning (since Bert takes her to school) and again when I pick her up. I try to enjoy those rare "full days" with her during vacation.

But first, this is what I noticed on our tree... The other day, the rubber band was wrapped around another ornament. Hmmm.... We both got our haircut Tuesday morning at my hairstylist's home. I had 3 inches removed from TC's length because her ends were dry and damaged. As for me, the sides were cut a lot shorter and the back thinned out. The stylist also used a ceramic hair straightener and made my hair look really cool ---verrry rock and roll! Of course, by the next day, the volume of my hair returned to it's poofy normal state despite my attempts to use hair straightener and the 'high' setting on my blow dryer. : (

After lunch at the new Soup Plantation on Main St., we headed over to Horton Plaza, after finding out that the Chula Vista Nature Center was closed for the Holiday Break. Bummer! We had a free pass for her which expired on Dec. 31st! As we headed into downtown on 6th Avenue, I gave her the camera to take a few shots from her perspective. Actually, I took this first one...

The next few shots were TC's...This is heading South on 6th towards F St.

We saw the San Diego Trolley as we were stopped on 6th and C Avenue. This is her shot of House of Blues nightclub and restaurant in the Gaslamp Quarter. It's so ironic now that the Gaslamp is totally gentrified when just 20 years ago it was a scary place to drive! We're talking about the former red light district here - titty bars, tattoo parlors, porno theatres and barber shops galore. Now what is it? High end chain stores & restaurants and shiny, happy and soulless eateries.

And we arrive at our destination on level 6 in the Fruit Garage (Cherry section) of Horton Plaza.

Below under a pedestrian bridge at the mall was the historic Jessop's Clock .

We looked at a few stores, but did not buy anything except a pack of blueberry flavored gum from the Sanrio store (her choice). Good thing the salesgirl asked me if I wanted my parking ticket validated because I had completely forgot about doing that. I wanted to see if they had any nice winter coats because mine was outdated. Alas, to no avail, our search was fruitless so we left after spending about an hour browsing around.

Here's the view of Horton Plaza and part of the downtown skyline from the upper level near Nordstroms. I noticed that my daughter's attention was fixed on these huge potted flowers by the railing. Turns out there were dozens of birds congregating in these pots. They were chirping quite noisily. When I approached, a few hopped out and flew away.

On our way home heading west on G to the 94, I was wondering why the traffic was so slow! Apart from the booming development downtown (see crane below) near the Petco Park area, there was...

an accident on the corner of G and 9th. There was a car crash and the lane I was in was closed. I had to squeeze through and cut someone off because no one was letting me through. I didn't see any bodies covered up, so at least there weren't any fatalities. There were a lot of homeless people there (you can't see them in the photo, but they were on the right hand side of the street)

My young one fell asleep in the car on the way home which was just as well..Later, Bert took her out to the park so she could run amok!