Halloween

Another Halloween...part of TC's stash.

We ended up giving away only 1 1/2 bags of candy. Not a lot of trick or treaters this year. Someone gave out these gross Chinese candies - a dried, salty plum. Sorry dude, but I'm sure a lot of kids threw those in the trash! Score with all the chocolates. I'll probably end up bringing her unwanted stuff to the office...

Crucio!!!!! (The Cruciatus Curse)

Latin for “to torture”.
The Cruciatus Curse. This inflicts severe physical pain on whomever it is cast upon. To effectively use the Cruciatus Curse, the witch or wizard casting the spell must have the genuine desire to cause pain. When effectively used, the curse is excruciating and has the ability to drive victims insane. As such, it is one of the three Unforgivable Curses. The use of this spell against another human being is punishable by a life sentence in Azkaban (from "Muggle.Net's List of Hogwarts Spells).

I was a Hogwarts student from the House of Slytherin... Some kids asked me if I was Cho Chang...Ya huh...Hello, get your facts right, Cho Chang was in Ravenclaw! Not all Asians look alike! Some of the costumes I saw at work included: Aristotle, a "pregnant" man (he was wearing a "sympathy boobs/belly"), a goth rocker, Jessie and Woody from "Toy Story 2", a flamenco dancer, a hillbilly, a fairy godmother, Raggedy Ann (and it was a guy - truly scary), a doctor, a cat, and more that escape me at the moment. It was pretty cool to see the staff dressed up. Some of the students' costumes were pretty creative (I spotted a "Borat" and a "Prince") but there were some that were pretty skanky ( a lot of dominatrix looking stuff, tarty sailors and French maids and pirate wenches).

Remember this?

Gwaaaa ya ya ya yaaaaah!!!!!!

AAAAAAAGH!!!!! It's the Zuni Fetish Doll from the made for TV anthology, "The Trilogy of Terror"! This doll scared the crap out of us back in the day (especially Mr. Drum Major)!!!! Especially scenes like this. This was before way before Chuckie from "Child's Play".

Life in Manitoulin's latest post was about dolls she collected when she was young, like Charmkins and Sea Wees, which I had never heard of. I mentioned them to Bert to see if he remembered them and amazingly enough he did, but only after we checked out the old commercials on Youtube.

Below is another image of this doll taken at Comic Con in 2004. This was the doll's "debut" at the Con. We emailed the photo to several friends including Mr. Drum Major himself. Even after all these years, this doll still freaks people out.

The only doll I had as a kid was a Malibu Barbie (a gift I didn't ask for) and very few toys. The only ones I remember were Holly Hobbie Colorforms and some lame weaving set that I got as a gift. Never the coveted Spirograph , Lite Brite or the Snoopy Sno Cone Machine!

China China and K Sandwiches

Bert's mom was in a generous mood and had wanted to take us out to dinner earlier in the week. Since the air quality was still bad midweek, we waited until last Friday. Also, because we wanted to eat someplace close by and not too "fancy" or too expensive for his mom, we thought revisiting this restaurant we hadn't been to in years would be okay. Chinese food is also "safe" for older Filipino parents since they're more familiar with it than other cuisines.

So...we ended up at China China which is located in Terra Nova Plaza right off the East H Street exit and the 805 in Chula Vista. After that night's dinner, Bert and I remembered why we never went back. Our last time to eat there was in the early 90's. I hate to say this, but I would have rather eaten at Pei Wei than China China! At least they have more flavor! Man, this was kind of bad. China China is next to Bento Noodles, a Japanese food joint which is owned by the same family who owns China China. The Bento Noodles place used to be Thaigo which only lasted a few years in the late 90's. At the time, Thaigo was the only Thai (or place remotely remotely resembling and tasting like) restaurant in the South Bay.
This is the "lobby" or waiting area. The color scheme is straight out of the late 80's. Peach and beige walls and shiny black chairs with gold accents throughout. I kept expecting to see Patrick Nagel paintings on the wall.

We ordered four entrees to share. This was the Seafood Combo ($12.95) which totally wasn't worth it. It had shrimp, fake crab (yuk), calamari strips and I think sliced scallops (or some sort of mystery seafood meat). I didn't really like this at all because it was so bland and tasteless.

This was the Almond Chicken (forgot the price, but who cares at this point). Lots of almonds were thrown in there. It was generic chicken with celery, mushrooms, carrots and canned baby corn and soy sauce. I could have done this better myself.

This was the Vegetable Medley, which looked just like the Seafood plate except without seafood. I didn't eat too much that night...

And here is the Honey Walnut Shrimp which was the only thing I kind of liked (the shrimp only) but that's not saying too much. I like the version at Panda Inn (in Horton Plaza). The honey/mayo sauce looked so thick and gross. I did not like the pineapple in there either. I was also wondering why the candied nutz were on the side instead of incorporated into the dish. The next day, us 3 (me, Bert and TC) went to K Sandwiches for lunch. This used to be a Pho place and I'd read good things about K Sandwiches from other food bloggers. This is the view from the corner table. I'd never had a banh mi sandwiche before, not being a big sandwich fan, but this won me over. Bert has had banh mi before but really liked the bread on their sandwiches because it wasn't rock hard and didn't cut the roof of his mouth! The crust of their bread was nice and crunchy and the interior was light yet chewy. They had a French pastry corner there as well as some pre-made Vietnamese food in wrapped plastic. I wish they had labeled those in English as well as indicated the price.

Our drinks: Mangosteen soda, lychee soda (I'm a sucker for packaging and I was attracted to the 'clear' can!) and TC's Jackfruit w/boba shake. Man, the Jackfruit shake tasted kind of strange. It also cost more than my sandwiche ($3.50) . TC's sandwich was egg and bacon in a croissant ($1.99) which I didn't bother photographing. It was pretty standard. She ate only half and the other half was destined to be her breakfast the next day (today as I write this).

My choice - The #10 Sandwich - grilled beef with pickled vegetables, cilantro and 2 slices of jalapeno. Don't worry, there was meat in there, I just didn't pull open the sandwich enough for the photo. And yes, my skin is way dry! We cut our sandwiches in half so we could handle them a little easier. Plus, I didn't want to look like Dagwood Bumstead while chowing down.

Bert's choice was the #13 Sandwich ($3.95) - your basic ham and turkey with lettuce, cheese and tomato which he liked. Next time, he wants to try the grilled pork.Our service was pretty fast. We got our order in less than 5 minutes. They were doing very brisk business and at times the line was out the door. The clientele, while largely Asian, was mixed which was cool. It was pretty noisy in there with conversations going on and the flat screen tv in the bakery section blaring some college football game. We'd go here again just to try the other types of sandwiches. I'm sure it gets pretty crazy after school since it's next to Kearny High and nearby Mesa College. One thing that majorly sucks about going here is the parking. The parking lot is way too crowded and the spaces are tight - well, that and people here suck at parking their cars within the lines.

Greenbox #6

Does anyone know where this painted is located? I also just learned that the "greenbox" (the normal color) is actually called a "utility box" . D'oh.
Answer to post next week...
I just put in load of new posts below...

Happy Family at Zion food court

Remember I said I wanted some fried oysters? TC and I made the trek up to Balboa Ave today to get these, as well as a small tray of sushi and some Japanese snacks at Mitsuwa.
Man, I didn't realize how thick that panko crust was! We ate this at...

the Food Court in Zion Marketplace. We'd never eaten here and I remember this post from MMM-Yoso's blog. Except instead of "Happy Meal", it was called..."Happy Family". I ordered the Beef Box which was $7.99. This was the same thing that MMM-Yoso ordered and I noticed, after rereading his entry that they had raised the price $1.00. The girl who rang me up was quite helpful. She could probably tell that I couldn't read the signs in Korean. The prices were also in Korean I believe.
Here's the Beef Box. Lettuce cut into strips with thousand island dressing, some sort of dipping sauce, a scoop of rice, two fried mandu (or gyoza), bulgogi with onions and potatoes, and sliced plum (which TC ate). TC and I shared this after we ate our oysters and California roll. The beef was not as tender as I hoped it would be. There were also some pieces that were too fatty and chewy. I thought this was overpriced. In addition to upping their prices, they also took out soup as one of the starters.These were the panchan - kimchee, tiny dried fish, (mild) pickled radish) and what appeared to be fried seaweed. Ever the culinary trouper, TC tried almost everything on this plate and even had thirds of the dried fish. I didn't particularly like the fried seaweed. It was dry and had the texture of sawdust. The fish were also a bit chewy. I like fried dilis much better.

Because we had gone to Mitsuwa earlier, I brought in those previous purchases because I didn't want the Pocky snacks to melt in the car. We ended up buying more crap at Zion. I bought Bert another bottle of Soju. Man, the young guy working the cash register didn't even bother to card me!!!

Ashes

These pics were taken on Tuesday afternoon by Bert. Even though the Harris fire was quite far from our neighborhood, we took no chances and spent the night at his mom's place down in Otay Mesa. Bert went back to videotape our belongings. Lots of ash in the driveway...

Later that evening, we had dinner at my parents house in Otay Mesa. This photo was taken around 6 pm at the top of Arey Drive. That's the Montgomery Middle School tennis courts down there.

View from my parents' front yard a few minutes later.

The sunsets have been quite surreal lately due to all the ash and smoke in the air.

Tea Pavilion & the SDNHM

This was taken last Sunday on our way to Balboa Park. Here we are on the 5 nearing the 6th Avenue exit. Nice clear day...so far! We had some lunch at the Japanese Tea Pavilion, located near the Spreckels Organ Pavilion.

This was the teriyaki chicken bowl. The rice was too mushy. Nothing is worse than mushy rice and bland chicken despite the sauce they slathered this in. This was shared by Bert and TC.

I had half of this sandwich. Kind of like a California roll but in sandwich form. Fake crab meat, mayo, wasabi, lettuce and avocado.

Bert and TC actually went to the Tea Pavilion ahead of me. I wanted to check out the International Gift shop first (I do all my Christmas shopping early - my goal is to be done my either late October or early November). Distracted by a table milling about with elderly people, I bought this pastry sampler from the ladies of the House of Czech and Slovak. There were all kinds of little plates; this one was $2.50 for five pieces. Clockwise from 11 O'clock - prune cookie, blueberry cake, cherry strudel, poppyseed cake and apricot cookie.

This was the prune which Bert and I really liked. In truth, I could have polished off that whole plate myself but it was shared by all. You'd have to eat a lot of these to really have an "effect".

The apricot cookie was moist and flavorful. The coconut topping was a nice touch.

This was a sweet yet salty rice cracker that Bert bought at the Tea Pavilion. From this angle, it kind of looks like a thick piece of chicharron.

The Moreton Bay Fig near the San Diego Natural History Museum . I remember when I was a kid, we would sit under the tree during field trips to the park. Can't do that anymore. The tree is fenced off now to prevent people from destroying the tree. TC had a free SDNHM pass and I had a 2 for 1 ($9 total for me and Bert) pass so we saved some money. Because of the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit, we had to go through security. We didn't see that particular exhibit (it costs extra plus it would bore TC) anyways, opting to see the basic stuff at the museum. We even caught the 2:15 "Ms. Frizzle" show - this time the kids learned about bats.

This a fossilized piece of prehistoric sloth fecal matter. Lovely. These are called Coprolites.

The last time TC and I went here, it was a "Free" Tuesday which was horrible because everyone and their grandmother was here. Everyone goes on Free day and it was a hassle moving through crowded exhibits with rude brats and screaming babies. This time, our pace was more relaxed, it was quiet and TC was able to do the hands on exhibits unlike last time.

Folks lined up for tickets on the bottom floor...

Bert with the manatee statue...

On our way home we crossed the 54 and saw a big plume of white smoke coming from behind the mountains. Looked like trouble was in the air...I could smell a faint odor of acrid smoke. When we turned on the TV, news of the fires were on every channel.

Orchid Show

After lunch we headed over to the San Diego Natural History Musem. BUT...on the way there, we saw a sign for a craft fair near the Casa del Prado. I ended up buying a few items plus a pair of earrings for myself. There was also the bi-annual Orchid Show. My friend's mom is the president of the San Diego Orchid Society and sure enough, there she was talking up a storm with visitors. She's quite knowledgeable and was very helpful to the guests. We said "hi" to her and checked out the many award winning flowers on display. Here are a few of the specimens we saw. Sorry, I don't know the names of any of these! The only thing that kind of sucked about taking photos in this room was that you either had someone in the background (like this foot below) or the linoleum floor, chairs or the walls. Ugh.

I thought these were lovely...I liked the long curly petals and the unusual striping.

Interesting color combination. This was another specimen that the Orchid Society president raised. I believe she mentioned it was a Miltonia (normally called "Pansy Faced orchids), but these didn't have the "pansy face". This one is from Brazil.

This won the Best of Show and was grown by my friends' mom.

These flowers were so beautiful. Some varieties were quite striking with unusual color combinations. Orchids seem so hard to take care of. I totally do NOT have a green thumb! These flowers would die under my care.

Filipino party in San Ysidro

Last weekend, we attended a birthday party for my friend's daughter. They've been in this new house in San Ysidro for a little over a year now. Their place is on a hill overlooking the 905. You can see Mexico (far left)...the Pacific Ocean (middle)...up to Point Loma (hidden in this shot). There's a glare here because his fence is clear acrylic.
So check this out...the cleared area below was a spot where Caltrans wanted to dump trash. The neighbors complained so that idea was abandoned. That would have been an awful view...to see a makeship dump as if folks in San Ysidro wouldn't mind. Anyways, this is the canyon where there was a small fire earlier this week. It was supposedly started by some kids - yeah, pyros...Luckily the fire was contained before it spread to any houses, including my friend's.

You can see the Otay Mountains in the distance. Keep going east on the 905 freeway and you'll hit San Ysidro High School, Brown Field, Sony, Donovan State Prison and eventually, the border checkpoint.

As with any Filipino birthday party, you know there's gotta be food. His wife is a good cook and she always kicks ass with her food spread. What I like about her style is that she doesn't always dotraditional Filipino foods or serve a lot of fried stuff (well, two items were). You can see asparagus, toasted baguette slices with dip, sliced fresh fruits, and marinated vegetables. Not stuff that your normal auntie puts out on the table.

Along with the fresh fruits, she had sliced veggies for toppings, mini shanghai lumpia with sweet and sour dip as well as rice. I liked her presentation of the rice. No giant Zoijirushi orchid patterned rice cooker here (although I like those and I want one!)! She even had baked mini potatoes along with sliced honeybaked ham. Snacks not pictured were the boiled peanuts (yum!), assorted sliced cheeses and sausages plus chips and guacamole dip.

And yes...oh yes...the fried salt and pepper chicken wings! It ain't no partay unless you gots the wings! They also had sliced fruits for the chocolate fountain! For the younger kids they also had pizza but we made sure TC had a few bits of greenery! The only thing missing was pancit which, although Chinese in origin, is traditional to serve at Filipino birthday parties because long noodles symbolize long life.

Okay, does Filipino style spaghetti count? I'm not a fan of "sweet" spaghetti but Bert tried this and said it was pretty good. No sliced hotdogs in there though.

This is what I really enjoyed! The roast beef! My friend's dad, a retired Navyman and cook, made this. The curvy covered dish had the kickass gravy with mushrooms. This was just like my dad's! Gotta hand it to the Navy cooks, they really know how to do it right.

Last year they had a lechon, complete with decapitated head and apple in its mouth. This tasted just as good!