I've included a new food related posts that were piling up over the past few months. I finally had the desire and energy to post them. But it's been kind of nice going out to eat and NOT obsessively taking photos of each and every food item. But the itch to get back into it was too overpowering.
Well, it's the end of June.
Happy Birthday Thane! I'm glad you're back in good ole SD.
Tomorrow is July 1 - which is Canada Day, so to Chrissie from Life in Manitoulin, Happy Canada Day, eh!
Tomorrow is also our 13th Wedding Anniversary. So yay for that.
I have one more chemo treatment to go in 1 1/2 weeks. The sooner the better!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Eclipse Chocolat
My friend and I checked out Will Gustwiler's relatively new shop Eclipse Chocolat last month. Based on favorable reviews in the paper as well as local food blogs (here are the links: Citybeat ,The Boulevard ,yelp a few local food bloggers such as Alice Q. Foodie and My Burning Kitchen, (because they have better pictures than me and more articulate ramblings than my blather). There are more Eclipse related posts from other foodbloggers, but, I wasn't sure about posting links to them if people didn't want to be identified by face and name. If you're ever in the area, Eclipse is on the corner of El Cajon Blvd and Alabama St.
We got there right as it opened and got street parking right in front. 
For lunch, I had the roast beef panini with jalapeno laced cheese. I believe there may have been mustard in there as well. I'm not much of a sandwich lover, but this panini was pretty tasty. I would order this again.
The paninis were served with a side of, no, not chips, Spanish Marcona almonds, which are very sweet and almost buttery tasting, and what the owner called "candied" mango. Actually, I'm quite sure it is the the Philippine Brand dried mango you can get from Costco. They're not really candied, but very very sweet and addicting! Just liking the fact that the owner came up with something way different to serve with sandwiches other than pickles and/or chips.
My lovely friend had a sweet/savory panini consisting of Nutella, chocolate, goat cheese and figs! Yes! What a crazy combination - she loved it. I wasn't too keen since I'm not a goat cheese fan or fig fan. But I would eat this without the goat cheese.
Here's the four dessert tasting plate descriptions for the month of May:
Here are all four items together. From top left, the frozen chocolate with berry merlot, the white chocolate lemon bar, the grilled white chocolate carrot cake and the dark chocolate bread pudding. Looks like a lot for two!
This was my favorite, the frozen chocolate mousse with berry merlot. I also liked the bread pudding - it was very moist and flavorful, while the white chocolate carrot cake was a bit dry. I'd never seen a grilled cake slice before either. The lemon bar was also tart; you could barely taste the chamomile. Between us two, we finished the mousse and bread pudding and picked at the other items.
Before we left, we bought several chocolate bars which the owner makes in house. There are so many varieties. He also sells cupcakes and hand made truffles with exquisite flavors. Besides that, he sells chocolate drink mixtures and sauces as well as non truffle candy such as the item you see below. This was Tarragon Candied Ruby Grapefruit covered in 60 % Dark Chocolate. The sugar is infused with tarragon so if you don't like the taste of tarragon, you could always brush the sugars off. This was quite different and I enjoyed the combination of flavors.
Here's one of the candy bars I bought. Try it. It's Dee. Lish. Shous. (2 snaps up in a circle)
I just realized the candy bar is upside down (the initials should read EC):
[Update - I'm writing this part on July 7 ]I wanted to eat at Eclipse again this month so my husband could also check this place out . Our anniversary was July 1 and we were planning to eat at Bite in Hillcrest but changed my mind to Eclipse (they serve their paninis all day until they run out). Unfortunately, I got sick but I'm okay now - that's the short story. We'll be making our way there eventually so we can try the other paninis, truffles, cupcakes and candy bars. Well, maybe not all in the same visit!!!
We got there right as it opened and got street parking right in front. 
For lunch, I had the roast beef panini with jalapeno laced cheese. I believe there may have been mustard in there as well. I'm not much of a sandwich lover, but this panini was pretty tasty. I would order this again.
The paninis were served with a side of, no, not chips, Spanish Marcona almonds, which are very sweet and almost buttery tasting, and what the owner called "candied" mango. Actually, I'm quite sure it is the the Philippine Brand dried mango you can get from Costco. They're not really candied, but very very sweet and addicting! Just liking the fact that the owner came up with something way different to serve with sandwiches other than pickles and/or chips.
My lovely friend had a sweet/savory panini consisting of Nutella, chocolate, goat cheese and figs! Yes! What a crazy combination - she loved it. I wasn't too keen since I'm not a goat cheese fan or fig fan. But I would eat this without the goat cheese.
Here's the four dessert tasting plate descriptions for the month of May:
Here are all four items together. From top left, the frozen chocolate with berry merlot, the white chocolate lemon bar, the grilled white chocolate carrot cake and the dark chocolate bread pudding. Looks like a lot for two!
This was my favorite, the frozen chocolate mousse with berry merlot. I also liked the bread pudding - it was very moist and flavorful, while the white chocolate carrot cake was a bit dry. I'd never seen a grilled cake slice before either. The lemon bar was also tart; you could barely taste the chamomile. Between us two, we finished the mousse and bread pudding and picked at the other items.
Before we left, we bought several chocolate bars which the owner makes in house. There are so many varieties. He also sells cupcakes and hand made truffles with exquisite flavors. Besides that, he sells chocolate drink mixtures and sauces as well as non truffle candy such as the item you see below. This was Tarragon Candied Ruby Grapefruit covered in 60 % Dark Chocolate. The sugar is infused with tarragon so if you don't like the taste of tarragon, you could always brush the sugars off. This was quite different and I enjoyed the combination of flavors.
Here's one of the candy bars I bought. Try it. It's Dee. Lish. Shous. (2 snaps up in a circle)
I just realized the candy bar is upside down (the initials should read EC):
[Update - I'm writing this part on July 7 ]I wanted to eat at Eclipse again this month so my husband could also check this place out . Our anniversary was July 1 and we were planning to eat at Bite in Hillcrest but changed my mind to Eclipse (they serve their paninis all day until they run out). Unfortunately, I got sick but I'm okay now - that's the short story. We'll be making our way there eventually so we can try the other paninis, truffles, cupcakes and candy bars. Well, maybe not all in the same visit!!!Thursday, June 26, 2008
15 Favorite Food Photos
On MMM-Yoso's website, he recently posted his 10 Favorite Photos of Food., as did guestbloggers Ed from Yuma and Cathy from San Diego (but her's was 9). Well, I couldn't pick just 10, so I made mine 15. Here are my favorite food photos over the past few years. Let me add that the photos aren't gallery quality, but just my favorite by virtue of either having been memorable meals whether they were made by me, someone else or at a restaurant or food cart or whatever. Because I'm anal like that, I've included dates in parentheses, which mean nothing to the reader anyways.
Gambas al Ajillo made by yours truly. Spanish style garlic shrimp (11/1/07)
Nem Khao (Laotian fried rice) at Asia Cafe (9/15/07)
An assortment of Macarons from Bouchon in the Time Warner Center, NYC (6/26/07)
Shack Burger from the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, NYC (6/27/07)
My Mom's Pinakbet (5/28/07)
Pastelillos from the House of Puerto Rico at Balboa Park's annual International Food Fair (5/27/07)
Fries at the Belgian Frie in Pacific Beach (4/22/07)
Margherita Pizza at Bacione in Hillcrest (4/6/07)
Spring Greens with Seared Citrus Scallops at the now defunct Just Fabulous (current home of Burger Lounge in Kensington)
King Crab Legs at a birthday party (3/17/07)
Rabbit Three Ways at Laurel (2/17/07). This was actually my husband's meal, but I also had a bit of it!
Papaya Salad at the Vietnamese Tet Festival (2/11/07)
Tostones at Habana in La Mesa (9/30/06)
Dinner at my Uncle & Auntie's place in Keaau, Hawaii (BBQ chicken, kalbi ribs, grilled salmon, salad, broccoli, and Hawaiian Sun Passion Lilikoi drink(6/27/06)
Spam Musubi at the Hilo Market (6/28/06)
I could probably include 10 more, but this is it! For now!
Nem Khao (Laotian fried rice) at Asia Cafe (9/15/07)
An assortment of Macarons from Bouchon in the Time Warner Center, NYC (6/26/07)
Shack Burger from the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, NYC (6/27/07)
My Mom's Pinakbet (5/28/07)
Pastelillos from the House of Puerto Rico at Balboa Park's annual International Food Fair (5/27/07)
Fries at the Belgian Frie in Pacific Beach (4/22/07)
Margherita Pizza at Bacione in Hillcrest (4/6/07)
Spring Greens with Seared Citrus Scallops at the now defunct Just Fabulous (current home of Burger Lounge in Kensington)
King Crab Legs at a birthday party (3/17/07)
Rabbit Three Ways at Laurel (2/17/07). This was actually my husband's meal, but I also had a bit of it!
Papaya Salad at the Vietnamese Tet Festival (2/11/07)
Tostones at Habana in La Mesa (9/30/06)
Dinner at my Uncle & Auntie's place in Keaau, Hawaii (BBQ chicken, kalbi ribs, grilled salmon, salad, broccoli, and Hawaiian Sun Passion Lilikoi drink(6/27/06)
Spam Musubi at the Hilo Market (6/28/06)
I could probably include 10 more, but this is it! For now!JRDN at Tower 23
Last week, a few co-workers and I went to celebrate our good friend's birthday. As the birthday guy, among us three women, he chose JRDN at Tower 23 (a swanky boutique hotel) in PB. Because I'm kind of lazy and also because this other post has better pix, check out this review here from San Diego's own Captain Jack . Check out the first photos of the outdoor seating area from that post. See the lower left hand corner? That's where we sat. Very nice. It was an ideal spot because we were shaded underneath three palm trees (you could see the trunk of one of them) and we could observe all kinds of people making their way along the boardwalk. Lots of good looking guys and women, people walking their dogs, rollerbladers, skaters, families riding tandem bicycles or regular bikes, lots of bikini clad women, and one guy who was stoned. I'm sure there were more.
As mentioned earlier, we sat outside on the patio with a great view. We could also see Crystal Pier in the close distance. Although the tables looked sparse, it started to fill up fast. There were a bunch of guys in the bar watching the Euro cup and cheering madly whenever someone scored a goal. Yeah, soccer. Who cares!
For starters, we ordered the Fried Calamari, which was a veritable mountain of squidy goodness enrobed, but not drowning, in spicy aioli and served atop a bed of useless but pretty greens. The calamari, if it were not for the sauce, were bland, but had that satisfying crunch. We did not polish off the plate, since we had appetizers at our friend's place earlier, and were saving room for lunch.
Because we were still reeling from that heatwave last weekend, and experiencing a bit of heat that same day, three of my friends ended up ordering the same thing, the Lobster BLT which is served on toasted brioche with tarragon aioli.
They all liked their BLT's - exclaiming that the lobster tasted really fresh.
I ended up ordering the Shrimp Pasta which featured bucatini (long and thin hollow tubes) with spicy lobster broth and tomato sauce , topped with shrimp and grated parmesan. Maybe I ended up talking too much with my friends, because when I started to eat my entree, it tasted kind of lukewarm. I've never had bucatini before, so the mouthfeel was kind of different for me. It was a bit thick to maneuver on my fork. The spicy lobster and tomato sauce was a bit overpowering. I ate only a tiny bit and saved the rest for leftovers (which my daughter ate and enjoyed later that night).
The bucatini...
I also ordered the Seared Scallop appetizer. Notice that is Singular. Perhaps I read the menu a little too fast because I thought I was getting more than one. My bad. But, no matter! I liked this appetizer much better than my pasta. This was a huge scallop sitting on top of sweet pea puree (The Exorcist anyone?), garnished with thick, glistening slices of country ham with attached fat and chanterelles.
Here's another shot of that tender scallop...it was perfectly done and the sweetness of the peas went quite well with the salty ham and earthy mushrooms.
The dessert menu:
We got the sorbet trio: hazelnut, blackberry and blood orange (back to front). Serving them in these Chinese soup spoons may LOOK cute but they are a pain in the arse to eat nicely, especiallywith 4 people vying for a taste. It would have been easier to just put the whole spoon in MY mouth, but that would look piglike, wouldn't it? Trying to scoop out the sorbet was much easier if you held the cute spoon down with the other hand. The sorbets are all made in house. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the hazelnut. The blackberry was quite tart (but good) and the blood orange's texture was too icy. Mmmm...now I have a craving for some good gelato...
This is the Blade hand air dryer in their bathrooms, which are, by the way, tres cool. You stick your hands in after washing them and your manos are blasted by warm air all around, drying them in mere seconds. I needs me one of these.
I liked our experience at JRDN. I'd like to go again but for dinner in the near future with my husband. They had ultra cool decor, a great view and pretty decent food (taste wise and presentation wise). Plus their bathrooms were way cool too. I even saw the men's one because I made a wrong turn. Urinals? WTF? I didn't see anyone using them though. Maybe next time! Not!
As mentioned earlier, we sat outside on the patio with a great view. We could also see Crystal Pier in the close distance. Although the tables looked sparse, it started to fill up fast. There were a bunch of guys in the bar watching the Euro cup and cheering madly whenever someone scored a goal. Yeah, soccer. Who cares!
For starters, we ordered the Fried Calamari, which was a veritable mountain of squidy goodness enrobed, but not drowning, in spicy aioli and served atop a bed of useless but pretty greens. The calamari, if it were not for the sauce, were bland, but had that satisfying crunch. We did not polish off the plate, since we had appetizers at our friend's place earlier, and were saving room for lunch.
Because we were still reeling from that heatwave last weekend, and experiencing a bit of heat that same day, three of my friends ended up ordering the same thing, the Lobster BLT which is served on toasted brioche with tarragon aioli.
They all liked their BLT's - exclaiming that the lobster tasted really fresh.
I ended up ordering the Shrimp Pasta which featured bucatini (long and thin hollow tubes) with spicy lobster broth and tomato sauce , topped with shrimp and grated parmesan. Maybe I ended up talking too much with my friends, because when I started to eat my entree, it tasted kind of lukewarm. I've never had bucatini before, so the mouthfeel was kind of different for me. It was a bit thick to maneuver on my fork. The spicy lobster and tomato sauce was a bit overpowering. I ate only a tiny bit and saved the rest for leftovers (which my daughter ate and enjoyed later that night).
The bucatini...
I also ordered the Seared Scallop appetizer. Notice that is Singular. Perhaps I read the menu a little too fast because I thought I was getting more than one. My bad. But, no matter! I liked this appetizer much better than my pasta. This was a huge scallop sitting on top of sweet pea puree (The Exorcist anyone?), garnished with thick, glistening slices of country ham with attached fat and chanterelles.
Here's another shot of that tender scallop...it was perfectly done and the sweetness of the peas went quite well with the salty ham and earthy mushrooms.
The dessert menu:
We got the sorbet trio: hazelnut, blackberry and blood orange (back to front). Serving them in these Chinese soup spoons may LOOK cute but they are a pain in the arse to eat nicely, especiallywith 4 people vying for a taste. It would have been easier to just put the whole spoon in MY mouth, but that would look piglike, wouldn't it? Trying to scoop out the sorbet was much easier if you held the cute spoon down with the other hand. The sorbets are all made in house. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the hazelnut. The blackberry was quite tart (but good) and the blood orange's texture was too icy. Mmmm...now I have a craving for some good gelato...
This is the Blade hand air dryer in their bathrooms, which are, by the way, tres cool. You stick your hands in after washing them and your manos are blasted by warm air all around, drying them in mere seconds. I needs me one of these.
I liked our experience at JRDN. I'd like to go again but for dinner in the near future with my husband. They had ultra cool decor, a great view and pretty decent food (taste wise and presentation wise). Plus their bathrooms were way cool too. I even saw the men's one because I made a wrong turn. Urinals? WTF? I didn't see anyone using them though. Maybe next time! Not!Costa Brava & Sage French Bakery
Okay, dipping my feet back into the world of foodblogging.
These photos were actually taken in late March, soon after my diagnosis. My three supernice and supercool educator girlfriends took me out to an early birthday lunch at Costa Brava in PB. We'd been there before and were hungering again for their tapas. Pictured below is their sangria:
Warm bread with garlic alioli...which is SO GOOD
with Manchego Cheese!
Below is the Tortilla Espanola, an egg omelet with onions, potatoes and peppers. A bit on the mild side but a great tapa nonetheless.
These were bacalao fritters, which are salt cod fish balls. Niiice sounding, but they taste really delicious! I wished the tapa came with more than 4. I could have eaten all of these.
Here are the Patatas Bravas, which are fried potato chunks with a spicy alioli sauce. One of my Spaniard co-workers told me the secret (well, at least HIS secret to his recipe) was Tabasco sauce. Sounds really Spanish to me. In any case. the coating wasn't really spicy even though we were warned by our waiter.
Since there were 4 of us, we had 2 orders of the paella (which I assumed they put all in this paellera). The paella had an abundance of shellfish (mussels and clams), and squid, as well as chicken. It also wasn't as salty as the last time we were here, so that was a good thing!
The things about shrimp in the shell is that you have to touch it and peel it. I hate getting my fingers dirty, so someone else ate the shrimp that day.
After our rather heavy lunch, we wanted dessert because the flan at Costa Brava didn't cut it for us. No, we needed chocolate or something else! That something else was found at Sage French Bakery on Convoy which is in that crazy-small parking lot in which you can find Nijiya Japanese Market and Sunrise Buffet. We were lucky to find a spot actually. The place was packed when we got in but we were able to find an empty table (the last one). I forgot the name of this cake, but I believe it was some sort of chocolate mousse with hazelnut. That is a slab of marbled white chocolate on top.
Also, when I took these photos, I didn't think about removing the plastic encircling these morsels of delight. So, they look kind of sterile all wrapped up. The one in the back is called 'Mistral Cake' (don't ask me why, that's all I remember). The one in front, sorry, don't recall.
Here's a better shot of the "Mistral Cake", decorated with a flower petal and gold leaf. There were layers of white chocolate, raspberry and I want to say passion fruit, but again, this was so long ago, I don't remember. The cake in the middle had chocolate mousse and green tea as the flavorings. The one in the back, again, was chocolate mousse and hazelnut cake.
These photos were actually taken in late March, soon after my diagnosis. My three supernice and supercool educator girlfriends took me out to an early birthday lunch at Costa Brava in PB. We'd been there before and were hungering again for their tapas. Pictured below is their sangria:
Warm bread with garlic alioli...which is SO GOOD
with Manchego Cheese!
Below is the Tortilla Espanola, an egg omelet with onions, potatoes and peppers. A bit on the mild side but a great tapa nonetheless.
These were bacalao fritters, which are salt cod fish balls. Niiice sounding, but they taste really delicious! I wished the tapa came with more than 4. I could have eaten all of these.Here are the Patatas Bravas, which are fried potato chunks with a spicy alioli sauce. One of my Spaniard co-workers told me the secret (well, at least HIS secret to his recipe) was Tabasco sauce. Sounds really Spanish to me. In any case. the coating wasn't really spicy even though we were warned by our waiter.
Since there were 4 of us, we had 2 orders of the paella (which I assumed they put all in this paellera). The paella had an abundance of shellfish (mussels and clams), and squid, as well as chicken. It also wasn't as salty as the last time we were here, so that was a good thing!
The things about shrimp in the shell is that you have to touch it and peel it. I hate getting my fingers dirty, so someone else ate the shrimp that day.
After our rather heavy lunch, we wanted dessert because the flan at Costa Brava didn't cut it for us. No, we needed chocolate or something else! That something else was found at Sage French Bakery on Convoy which is in that crazy-small parking lot in which you can find Nijiya Japanese Market and Sunrise Buffet. We were lucky to find a spot actually. The place was packed when we got in but we were able to find an empty table (the last one). I forgot the name of this cake, but I believe it was some sort of chocolate mousse with hazelnut. That is a slab of marbled white chocolate on top.
Also, when I took these photos, I didn't think about removing the plastic encircling these morsels of delight. So, they look kind of sterile all wrapped up. The one in the back is called 'Mistral Cake' (don't ask me why, that's all I remember). The one in front, sorry, don't recall.
Here's a better shot of the "Mistral Cake", decorated with a flower petal and gold leaf. There were layers of white chocolate, raspberry and I want to say passion fruit, but again, this was so long ago, I don't remember. The cake in the middle had chocolate mousse and green tea as the flavorings. The one in the back, again, was chocolate mousse and hazelnut cake.
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