Random pix & Sab e Lee

While at Seafood City in Chula Vista (their checkout aisles SUCK! the carts don't go through and assholes just leave their carts all over, blocking the way! aargh!), I picked up some of these...I've never had them before...and after tasting them, realize why I haven't!

They tasted awful! Yes, I am attracted to almost anything violently violent hued and this garish package lured me in with its Prince Rogers Nelson signature colors...These are gross! They were so dry ("seko" should have given me a clue). It was like eating a purple chalk. What a waste of $2 or however much it cost. Bert and I also saw this San Miguel beer display on one of the end caps in Seafood City...(this was prior to the Pacquiao vs DelaHoya fight and we all know who won that!)
Manny Pacquaio shilling out San Miguel to his compadres...

Fish and shrimp flavored Filipino snacks...I don't know if I'd eat these. I personally like the Korean brand, Nong Shim better when it comes to shrimp chips.

Tins of "Otap" which is a type of biscuit. Look, they even have "ube" flavor!!! By the way, my sis just told me that the tin for Skyflakes crackers is no longer tin! It's PLASTIC! Blasphemy!

Oooh, these are good! I love pilinuts!!!! I liked the crunchy sugar coating. The sugar just tastes different than the kind here. Never had the garlic flavor though. Maybe next time I'll try it.

Check this out...this store is near the corner of Orange and Third, in the tiny strip mall that has the Chinese Bakery (but Filipinos work there). Look closely....yes, would you go to a beauty salon that's named...

D'Sexy Look? I would....NOT. There used to be a beauty salon in the Seafood City strip mall in National City. It was called "Hair Salon d'Manila". What's with the "D Apostrophe"? It just looks and sounds so pretentious and lame. There were some transvestites that worked at that hair salon too. Okay, moving on...the day after Christmas, we all went out to do some shopping. I got our blank photo cards for next year and a few ornaments for next year's ornament exchange party, but otherwise, not so much stuff. We went to Grossmont (it's dead there!) and Mission Valley Mall. Since we were in the area, we went to Sab-e-Lee. Sorry, this is kind of a repeat from my last Sab-e-Lee post (when Bert and I had lunch with Lotus and her daughter). These are the pork won ton appetizers with chili dipping sauce. These are nice, light, crispy and FRIED!

And this is also a repeat. We wanted to get the Northern Style sausage with curry and pork skin. But the owner said he was out, so we got the other kind of sausage, which we've had twice before already. It's the Northeastern style sausage with curry and rice. I'm not complaining - this is really tasty! Plus our daughter was with us and she'd never had it before, so we got it again. This time, it was served with sliced ginger along with the regular sides of vegetables.

We tried something new this time - this is the Spicy Mint Pork Leg. We ordered it spicy hot and they did not disappoint. Our daughter, who's normally pretty adventurous, couldn't handle it. She mostly ate the sausage with her sticky rice. The pork leg dish had the mint leaves, peppers, bamboo shoots, and tiny cut up green beans which added a lot of crunch and texture. The only thing that could've been improved is to use less fatty meat. One fourth of the dish was set aside because it was fat.

Here's another random pic...A couple of my friends and I have been hosting holiday dinners & Charger game parties these past few weeks. After dinner, while the kids play and the husbands drink, watch tv/football and yuck it up, the wives are painting their nails. My hands are at the bottom. My friend has a collection of really cool dark colors by OPI (a salon brand of nail polish). I am wearing "Lincoln Park After Dark" (a deep dark eggplant). The other two are wearing some other dark shades. The polishes all have whimsical names like Ruby Rajah, Light my Sapphire, and Cherry Chutney. There's another one she had that was super dark blue. I'm partial to the gothic dark purple.

Tip - if you wear dark polish, it's best to keep your nails short, otherwise you'll end up looking like Cruella de Ville. Luckily, I cut mine every week. Having long nails is a pain in the ass and it makes playing piano too "clicky".

Slumdog Millionaire

Man, it's January 6th already and I'm finally posting my "Slumdog Millionaire" review. I was going to do an elaborate review with links and everything, but I'm just all, "eh" now. This doesn't diminish the fierce feeling I have about this movie. Bert and I saw this about three weeks ago (the same day we ate at Mille Feuille on that dreary Morrissey day). The movie was not yet in wide release until the Friday of that week (which was 12/19). I'd been recommending it to all of my friends. Those who have seen it have agreed it's one of the best movies they'd seen this year.

The movie is directed by Danny Boyle(the gnarly "Trainspotting", the Leonardo diCaprio flop, "The Beach", and the slow but disturbing "Shallow Grave") and features virtually no known actors unless you are a Bollywood addict and already knew of Anil Kapoor, who plays the slimy game show host. I only knew of Dev Patel, who portrays Jamal Malik. As a fan of the raunchy BBC teen show, "Skins", I recognized him as the horny and nerdy Anwar Kharral. The movie is about a young man (a former "slumdog" or impoverished child of the slums, now a "chaiwallah" - tea server), Malik, who is a contestant on the Hindi version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire". On the brink of answering the very last question, the game show host and police are convinced that he's cheated and therefore, he is jailed and tortured. Through the framing device of toggling back and forth in time, we learn exactly how and why Malik knows all the answers. The film was a bit Capraesque in that despite the shittiness of one's life, there is good in the world. Young Malik's life was even a bit Dickensian. Filmed in the gritty slums of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), he and his brother are orphaned when their mother is killed in a religious riot (the song for this scene in the soundtrack by A. R. Rahman, is awesome by the way!); they befriend a young girl, Latika who joins the brothers as they eke out a meagre existence before being whisked away by a Fagin-like character. Of course, in the movies, any kindly adult who takes young children away from a life of misery is also bound to be a miserable and shady bastard. In this case, the guy abused and maims the young children he protects so that they can earn more money in the streets because disfigured children are more "valuable" (there is a scene in the movie involving a boiling liquid and a spoon which made me shudder with revulsion). The children escape but Latika is left behind. Jamal and his brother live on the streets and swindle unsuspecting tourists. There's a gorgeous view of the Taj Mahal as well.

Jamal Malik and his brother Salim, were played by three different sets of actors. The young children spoke in Hindi. What was really cool about this was that the subtitles were not just your plain old boring white or yellow subtitles at the bottom of the screen. These were multicolored and moved fluidly with the action. The second set of actors whoportrayed Jamal and Salim in their middle childhood years did a good job especially since the story picks up dramatically when the boys find Latika dancing for money and rescue her. Actors Patel and Madhur Mittal portrayed Jamal and Salim respectively as young men. I really felt for the characters - sympathisizing with Jamal's predicament and despising Salim for his selfish ways.

The movie fast forwards to Jamal's involvement on the show "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" in the hopes of finding his lost love, who is being held prisoner by a criminal (whom Salim works for). He amazingly answers question after trivial question much to the delight of the audience and to the nation who view him as their own personal underdog.

"Slumdog Millionaire" is one of those rare films where you experience just about every emotion. This was quite refreshing - it was definitely not a "one-note" film (ex: see any piece of crap Adam Sandler is in). There was one scene in particular that had my heart pounding, but the next cut, which was also jarring, still had my heart pounding but for a totally different reason. The flashback scenes also give the viewer insight as to how a totally uneducated young boy's life was shaped by a fantastic series of events. I really liked the cast - the tough police interrogator, the lead actor and the condescending game show host. Latika (played by Mumbai native, Freida Pinto) seemed to be there just for eye candy, since she didn't really do much. Stay for the last scene which is a Bollywood style choreographed number filmed in Victoria Train Station in Mumbai. You'll leave the theatre smiling. Unless you are a heartless S.O.B. with a heart of stone.

Bottom line - if you plan to see a movie this year, put this down on your list to see FIRST. I hope it gets nominated for a lot of awards. BAFTAS? SAG? I would say Golden Globes (but those are kind of meaningless, eh), OSCARS? I smell "Best Picture"!

Eff!!!

I'd been meaning to post this months ago. Earlier this year I took a photo of this sign at North Park Produce which proclaimed, "PHILIPINO EGGPLANT"...
It's been awhile, but now it's Phinally Phucking Phixed!

Remember, it's Filipino with an Effin Eff!

Crazy Train

Because you just can't get enough sugar...
Behold! My daughter's Candy Train. Everyone in her 3rd grade class did this fun project...Bring three full size candy bars and a bunch of other kinds of candy plus a tub of white frosting.

I picked off what I thought what an M & M. Blech! It was a Skittle! Most of these candies were sour!

Since last night's dinner party with my side of the family, the train is now picked over by TC and the nephews and is now quite bare. It was nice to look at while it lasted!

Sliders and more!

Just a quick post...Here's round 2 of the Holiday Rotation - this time we're at our friends' place. They had Mexican food last year. This year, it's Sliders. They had two types of patties - beef and turkey (beef shown below):
Cute buns (Trader Joe's):

The condiments:

Her husband's awesome crunchy salad. There's shredded red and green cabbage, green onions, cilantro, crunch noodles and rice wine, olive oil dressing with toasted sesame seeds!

Onion rings (there were also fries & nuggets):

See that blue bottle? That's sake! There was also mini quiche and gyozas (regular size, that is):

And even sushi...Crunchy Shrimp Tempura & Spicy Crab rolls:

Spicy Tuna & California Rolls:

One of our friends made this kickass flan! This tasted how a flan should taste! The flan itself was dense, smooth and creamy! Not mushy and vomit inducing like one I had recently. I also loved the scalloped edges of her flan! Very nice!

The same friend also bought an assortment of 10 cupcakes (2 of each flavor) at Cupcakes Squared in Point Loma. The top ones were cut off in the photo, but the flavors included: Banana Nut, Red Velvet (the cream cheese frosting was so good!), Mocha, Carrot Cake, Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Every flavor that I tried was absolutely delicious, especially the Banana Nut! So moist! Ewww. I said moist! Ha ha. But seriously, these cupcakes were very decadent.

I brought my lemon cheese cake bars with star cookies (Dark Chocolate Shortbread Stars from Trader Joe's) as a request from the hostess. I usually make these during the holidays for my friends and neighbors...
Another fun evening. Next get together is the upcoming Chargers-Broncos home game. Hopefully the Chargers will win, but who am I kidding? I don't care about sports! But my husband will surely be decked out in his Chargers gear cheering the team on.

Ranas Revisited

Today I had lunch with one of my very good friends (and former co-worker) at one of her favorite spots, Ranas.Com. I've been here a couple of times before and it's always been quite good. Since it was cold today, we ate inside. Over the summer, we sat out on their new patio. I hadn't been inside in awhile and it looks like they got new decorations (see below), which I think are so cool!
And this one too! Aztec Warrior with Maiden!

I mentioned this in a previous post and I'll say it again. Ranas is not a typical Mexican food place. They have a lot of unusual offerings that you won't find on other menus like a quesadilla with Flor de Calabasas (squash blossoms) and Nopales (cactus)...Below is my Cactus Taco...
The interior colors are bright and cheerful and there's even a tree in the corner! We got there before the lunch rush and we were glad we did because it got very busy very fast!

My friend ordered the Sincronizadas - I forgot if this is a tortilla or some other type of bread (oh my gosh, I'm doing this from memory and I could be wrong!) filled with ham, cheese, guacamole and jalapenos.

I had two bites of this and really liked it...

Here's my Flor de Calabasas Quesadilla - I liked the combination of the squash flowers, cheese and the herbs/spices used in here...Last time I came here, I meant to order this but got excited over the specials on the menu and had that instead. Not this time!

My friend got the Chicken Soup - this had a kick to it! I liked the textures in this soup - there was cool and smooth cucumber, firm cheese, rice, spicy broth, and of course, the boiled chicken.

Lest you think I'm a big pig, I only ate half of my Cactus taco and half of this plate, which was the Machaca Plate. I wanted something kind of breakfast like. The meat was really good here and so were the beans. I normally don't even eat beans but I do like theirs. I saved half so my daughter could try some later on. Plus, I was also full!

A close up of the shredded beef with the cheese, tomatoes and eggs. This entree also came with several tortillas which I rolled up with the machaca filling.

I keep telling my husband that he should go here and try their food. There was some sort of sandwich that some customers at another table ordered. The bread had red sauce on it and it was prepared a certain way, according to the owner. I think Bert might like that. There are so many other items on the menu that I want to try...Until next visit!

Upcoming Posts...

*More new posts below this - Mille Feuille (finally!), Moroccan and Filipino, Holiday Food Assault, Sab e Lee Revisited, Romesco, and More...

Just a preview...Today, Bert and I had lunch here...
Here I am with my fabulous purple rabbit fur puff ball scarf.........oh yeah, and lunch and dessert was just as fabulous!

More details and pix to follow...along with my thoughts on the movie, "Slumdog Millionaire",

which, by the way, is one of the best movies I have EVER seen! I shit you not. Get thee forth to a movie theatre and watch it now!

Update - new post on Mille Feuille below:

PASACAT Christmas Party

Here are the pix from the PASACAT Christmas Party potluck...It's been TC's 4th year as a Junior Dancer and she's gotten better over the years. From an unsure 4 year old kid to a confident 8 year old who can deftly dance atop a bench (Sayaw sa Bangko), deftly hop in and out of clapping bamboo poles (Tinikling), and waltz with grace (Sampaguita, Aray, Obando), and isn't freaked out by holding a boy's hand because of dance. The best part of her being in Pasacat? The potlucks! This year, as with last year, the parents delivered! Here's one of the versions of Arroz Caldo (Rice Porridge) that someone brought in. Unfortunately there wasn't much chicken in there. This person deboned the chicken. I like having the pieces with bones in mine, but this was still quite "masarap" (delicious).
Another parent made Penne Pasta with cream and bacon. Not really a Filipino dish, but yhis was one of the first dishes to be devoured. She is such a damn good cook. She makes her Pinakbet with Lechon Kawali!

The same mom also made Scalloped Potatoes. I haven't had this since the potluck last year. Her husband is one of the chefs at the U.S. Grant and it's their recipe, I believe. There are five kinds of cheese in there. Don't ask me to name them because I don't know. This was also cleaned out within the half hour.

Pancit Bihon...looks kind of lonely and sparse with the lack of meat. And yes...the Salt & Pepper Chicken Wings!

This is an assortment of Filipino desserts. The far left is Puto Bumbong (purple rice cakes with coconut), Putong Puti (white rice cake), the orange one is Kutsinta (rice cake), the multi-colored one is Sapin-Sapin (layered rice cake), some sort of Ube rice cake, and another type of rice cake. I forgot the names. Both have toasted grated coconut on top.

Here's purple rice cake with toasted coconut (one of my faves):

Cassava cake. Sorry - don't know the Tagalog name. This shit is so good. There's grated cassava and condensed milk in there, plus macapuno strings. I need to learn how to make this. I ended up snaking one of the corners for myself!

There were more desserts like chocolate chip cookies and my lemon bars but you know what those look like already. Someone also made a flan. Here's a unique "dessert" that was a hit last year and was again, a populalr item with the kids...Jelly Sticks!

I haven't tried mine yet but TC had at least 4 or 5 of these. You cut open the top and the inside is kind of like firm fruity jelly.

It was a pretty fun night - just eating and chatting with the parents and kids. There was a secret Santa gift exchange with the kids (younger ones and the teens separate) along with a White Elephant gift exchange for the adults.