TC's Bday, PVLL @ the Little League World Series, Shoes and randomness

Man, San Diego is having one major fkg heatwave! It was so hot yesterday and today. I even wore a damn skirt to work and I normally don't like showing my legs! Anyhow, today was also TC's bday. Our "baby" is now 9 years old. She is at the age where she doesn't even want to wear dresses anymore. She's almost a "tween", or does 9 count as a "tween"? She's into biking, skating, and was recently elected class rep at school and made the "Peace Patrol" (kids that mediate between arguing kids during recess/lunch). OMG, she's growing up. I'm going to have that "talk" with her soon too. Thank goodness she's not into that Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana crap!!! Yes, I taught her well. And no princess shit either! She's an Avatar girl all the way!

So, we had family over tonight for her bday plus dinner. We had the usual suspects - Lumpia and Pancit (the noodles are for long life, says my mom) plus vegetable stir fry and baked chicken. I thought my mom was going to make her fried chicken wings, so we didn't order any from the Chinese place (Mandarin). Instead, my mom brought baked chicken because she said it was too hot to fry anything. Not to be an ingrate, but I know I'm going to end up sounding like one for even mentioning it - but I was looking forward to having fried chicken wings. Disappointed I was, but I can't complain. My mom made us food for the partay. My friend who used to work for Kona Kakes made TC's cake - strawberry/banana. What made her bday pretty fun was also watching the Little League World Series!

Can you say Hell Yeah for Parkview Little League (also known as "WEST")???? They won tonight against Georgia and they are going to the Finals against Texas (whom they lost against a few days ago). These kids are from our city, Chula Vista. Most of the kids go to the local schools in the district where I work. My nephew (7th grader) knows most of these kids from Little League, has played with or against them, and has them in a few classes at middle school. Chula Vista has Little League fever! Everyone was cheering and clapping at every run made as well as the home runs!

On a totally different note, check out these shoes I got on sale last week at Macy's! Aren't they fkg cool? They were on clearance and I used my $15 off coupon. These lavender platforms are about 4" high (TC measured them!) - I love the two tone look; there's a darker shade of purple on the toe part of the platform. These shoes came about to around $30.
Here's the other side of the shoe...
I also bought this sexy pair, also on Clearance and with the $15 off coupon...The heels are 4 1/2" high - These are the highest pair of shoes I've ever bought. Are they too hoochy? Ha ha. Best of all, with these fkrs on, I am almost 5' 10"!
Ugh, the buckle strap isn't intertwined here. I normally don't wear this style, but I couldn't resist a good sale! Plus, these look really great with my dark denim shorts (no, not Daisy Dukes, but respectable above knee length a la Michelle Obama) and my super long jeans.

Okay, if you are Filipino, then you will know why I think "Kiki Sushi" is fkg funny...This was in Hillcrest on University...Looks like the same colors as the "Kinko's Copy" sign, but it's so not Kinko's. One of the slang terms for pussy is "kiki" in Tagalog. Well, there's also "pec pec","keke" (pronounced "keh keh", and pookie" (also pronounced as "pookeh"). "Kiki" might be someone's name or nickname in English, but it means the VADGE (aka - vajay, snatch, muffin, hairpie [that's a "Revenge of the Nerds" reference for you pop culture mavens], pooks, whatever you want to call it) in Tagalog!

Think about how ironic this sign is.

By the way, I have some Mexican friends who tell me that "Kiki" is also the nickname for the boy's name "Enrique" (can also be "Kique", sounds like Kikeh) or the girl's name "Cristina".
In other news, there's going to be a new Hawaiian food joint, "Tastea Grill" in the Otay Ranch area. It's going to be where the old Eduard's bakery was. Too bad they didn't last - they were the closest thing to a really nice bakery (besides Hans and Harry in Bonita) in the east Chula Vista area. This is on East Palomar St. across from Heritage park. The spelling of "Tastea" bugs me. I'm sure it's a play on words since they're going to serve those round and chewy snot ball things called boba. While walking around Heritage park, Bert and I saw this masterpiece of a car...Folks, give it up for the Gremlin , which was made by AMC back in the 70's. Almost as "interesting" looking and as shitty as the Pacer, this car is pretty hard to find on the streets or on the road nowadays. It was equivalent to finding a unicorn in a forest, or the devil in heaven, or me at a Kenny G concert.
Currently reading:
The Vampire Diaries. I kind of want to see what the big deal is since the CW is making this a tv series...So far, I've read the first 4. I'm now on the 5th book...They are kind of lame if you ask me.


Currently listening to:
Podcasts from Living True Blood in Dallas


Currently watching:
The Little League World Series (only Parkview aka West)


Currently craving:
Nem Khao from Asia Cafe

Cotija's

[Went here about 2 weeks ago during a lunch break]

Wow, I actually met Bert for lunch. That is a rare occasion that calls to mind the aligning of the planets, the moon, the stars, and all that cosmic crap. But seriously, it was one of the few times we've had lunch together. We wanted to go someplace classy so we went to Cotijas. No, but really, I wanted to go here because I was really craving their Tacos Papa (potato tacos) which I tried the week before with my co-workers. This place is where Rubio's Fish taco competitor Fins used to be. Before Fins, it was Patrick O'Palms, which was a hybrid Mexican/American food joint.
And for a limited time, they have a value menu - $1.29 for the items you see on the sign!
Bert ordering...we ended up sitting outside. There was a small tv in there blaring out a Mexican soap opera.
Bert got a combo plate - the Machaca with rice/beans/chips/guac. The machaca was so good here - shredded beef with eggs, green peppers...Tortillas also came with this, so he rolled himself a few mini burittos with the tortillas.
I got two items from the Value Menu - the Beef/Bean burrito. I put the plastic knife on there so you could see how big/small it was. The burrito was still pretty hot but it was loosely rolled, which I didn't like. I ended up eating only a few bites because I didn't like it...
Inside of the loose burrito. It was also kind of "too wet".
No, what I really wanted to eat was my Taco Papa - my lovely potato taco, which was loaded up with fresh chopped tomatoes, cilantro, onions, lettuce and sprinkled with cheese. Imagine mashed potatoes in a tortilla shell, then deep fried! That's what this is...
So nice and crunchy...I love the toppings. I could have eaten a couple more of these...
There's always next time! I hope they keep it at $1.29 for a little while longer. I know not to get that burrito again. You get what you pay for, I guess. But this taco is worth it.

IHOP

[Sometime in mid-late July]

It was one of those days where I wanted to just slum it. First of all, I wanted to use up my coupon for this place. Secondly, I knew that TC would like IHOP because they serve breakfast all day. Thirdly, it was close by. This is the IHOP location on Otay Lakes Road, near Eastlake Parkway; it's right by McD's in the Vons shopping center. Coupon time does not always equal good food but I was willing to sacrifice good taste for family time.

Please enjoy my ever so awesome spray paint/face obscuring skillz. Yeah, I rule. That's Bert on the right. They had these spiral mylar thingies hanging from the ceiling. Lovely. The theme was tropical or Hawaiian or something like that.
I haven't eaten in one of these places in who knows how long...it's like Denny's/Coco's/Carrow's/Bob's Big Boy/Bakers Square, etc...(haven't eaten at that last place, actually but wanted to throw it in there!)...
Bert's cup of joe and TC's orange juice:
Click to see their offerings if you dare. See the smile face pan cake? Should be on a new blog called "Pancake Wrecks".
Of course, the smiley face pancake is what my daughter wanted. She got the chocolate pancake with chocolate chips with a horrible squirted on face. The eyes had two maraschino cherries on it. Very evil looking. The chocolate chips were dumped haphazardly on the lower portion of the "face".
Bert got this entree - The Tuscan chicken griller...
Doesn't quite look like the photo on the menu, eh? It was a grilled chicken breast with mayo, a roasted tomatoe, a lonely lettuce leaf and a grilled cheese bun. Wait a minute, I just realized you could have read that description above on the photo of the menu. And I just saw that I was wrong about the cheese.
Here's the cross section of that sandwich - featuring the so-called juicy chicken. Never mind my weak sarcasm - my husband liked his sandwich and that's all that mattered.
I ordered this - the Philly Cheese Steak Super Stacker...
And again, it doesn't look quite like the photo above, huh...My cheese looks kind of washed out. I wanted grilled onions along with my french fried onion rings!!! Now those, I liked!

I basically denuded my sandwich and picked apart the meat, cheese and onions. Well, half of it, since I didn't finish it. Bert and I shared our onion rings and fries with TC. She didn't even eat all of her pancake, so we took it home where she had the leftover the next day. Another no cook breakfast for me. Hey, don't judge. I can't be like Martha Stewart EVERY DAY. Snort.

Another coupon adventure for you. Will we go here again? Probably, but maybe I'll eat something beforehand.

Urban Solace & Heaven Sent Desserts

[Went here earlier this month with my sis in law from OC, 8/1]

Here's a short post about my lunching outing with my SIL from Aliso Viejo. She and her husband Bert's oldest bro) came down to visit Bert's mom as well as help her clean out her house. I picked her up for lunch while Bert's side of the famly did their thing. I never knew this until she told me, but whenever she visits San Diego, she and her husband either only go down south to his mom's, or the Carlsbad outlets to shop, or to Chula Vista (where we live), or to La Jolla. She'd never been to the other parts of San Diego. I suggested North Park's Urban Solace. Here's an old post of mine here. We were originally going to go to Mille Feuille in Hillcrest (we made plans for this late last year), but unfortunately, they closed a few months ago. I thought about Extraordinary Desserts' Little Italy location but decided against it because I didn't want to deal with metered parking spaces. Plus, I knew that Heaven Sent Desserts was just a few steps away from Urban Solace...yes, the wheels were turning.

My chicken salad sandwich with tarragon mayo, served with a side of sweet potato fries. Again, I ditched most of the bread and picked mine apart. The bread was brioche I believe. I liked the tarragon mayo - that's an herb I hardly ever use or eat. Interesting flavor it had. Why am I speaking like Yoda? I know not. Ha ha. Lame. Yes. But the food? Not bad...loved the sweet potato fries.
The other half of our buttermilk biscuits with sweet orange butter. We had eaten several already before I realized, "Picture!". How sad and sick indeed - the compulsive mind of a food blogger that is. My SIL's plate - the Fish and Chips. I didn't try it, but she seemed to really like it. The fish portions were also substantial.
Went down a few doors to Heaven Sent Desserts where we chatted over dessert. This is her macaroon...which she proclaimed to be the best one she's EVER had. High praise indeed. She's a really great cook and an even better baker. The macaroon was .80 which she had with coffee. This was my dessert - which I forgot the name of, but it was triangular and chocolate covered (as you can see) and, best of all, filled with chocolate mousse. Plus I tend to think that everything looks better on a nice white plate. And it does.
Cross section of the dessert that has no name:
My drink was an Italian soda but that isn't really as exciting to look at as the dessert you see above. With the end of August fast approaching, I barely remember what happened this particular day. I hardly ever see my SIL (we've stayed at their house a few times this year before flying up to Portland and driving down the coast) so it was very nice to finally go out, relax, have lunch and all that girl stuff I hardly ever do.

El Salvadoreno with Lotus

[sometime in early July with Bert, TC, Lotus and her daughter]

We haven't been to El Salvadoreno in awhile, so it was about damn time we went again. I'd been thinking about their Pupusas..If you click on their link, you can see the menu (seen below) in all of its inhumanly mouthwatering and Douglas Sirk-like steak glory (the 'steak' is a reference to John Travolta ordering one of those in 1994's "Pulp Fiction" at Jack Rabbit Slim's). Go ahead and click and prepare to have a mouthgasm. See my previous two posts on El Salvadoreno here.
The curtido (pickled cabbage and carrot slaw) with two kinds of salsa. The one of the left is not so great. It's too watery and not even spicy. The brighter orangey one on the right is the one you want to dump all over your food.
Bert's soda is the Kolashampan, which is from El Salvador. It tastes like pineapple. The drink on the right is TC's "ensalada" which is pineapple juice with chopped fruit (apples and one other kind, which I don't remember). Very refreshing, but I personally don't like my drinks to have chopped up shit in them. Like boba - I don't like boba. I don't want to chew on things while I'm supposed to be drinking.
Here's our pupusas - "Revuelta con todo" - with everything, which means cheese, beans, jalapeno, pork and loroco (an edible flouwer found in El Salvador). I really love the texture of these pupusas - they're a bit chewy.
My salad was originally ordered without dressing. I guess the waitress wasn't paying attention because it came with dressing. I asked her to please send me a plain one since that was what I ordered. It took forever getting that one. Maybe she was pissed off or something for the extra hassle, but shit. She should have gotten it right the first time. Hopefully, she wasn't like the waiters in "Waiting" and didn't do anything nasty to it. Or like Horatio Sanz's character (aka "The French Toast Guy") in "Road Trip" where he rubs, no, GRINDS French toast in his crotch out of spite. Yeah, let's hope none of that happened with my salad. I saw no signs of logies in them or hair. Bert's - The Bisteck Encebollado a la Plancha (Grilled steak and onions) with rice/beans/avocado. We both liked this plate - meat and onions? Yes please.
Lotus had the Salpicon de Res (Salpicon beef - diced and minced beef) with rice and beans. The meat wasn't really spicy but not being a connoisseur of salpicon, I don't know if it's meant to be spicy or not.
Why the hell is this picture in here? It's Bert's food again but from another angle...I wished it came with more avocado slices!
TC's food - the fried chicken with rice and beans. It was, uh....kind of boring. The chicken was kind of burnt looking. It was a thigh piece with part of the back. She liked the skin - nice and crispy. Oh to be young again and not have to worry about cholesterol.
I ordered one of these the last time we were here. Here's my Baleada with carne asada inside...This is a fkg big tortilla chock full of MEEEEEAT. So good. You must have one.
Go ahead...lick your computer screen. You won't regret it.

Eddie's Place

[Original outing was on 7/12 during the Coupon Spree of Summer 2009]

A few days after our dinner at Sea Rocket Bistro, we found ourselves in the North Park neighborhood yet again. Armed with yet another coupon provided by the lovely HotFudge, we decided to check out a place neither of us had ever gone to before...Bert and I had already perused the Uptown and Downtown magazines for their coupons...This place sounded pretty good. Not pretentious. It wasn't too far. It had Philly cheese steaks. That pretty much sealed the deal with Bert.
Our destination was the recently opened Eddie's Place, also on 30th. I liked the name because it sounded nice and dirty, like the kind of place you'd find on the wrong side of the tracks. See the Yelp reviews of Eddie's here. Some people thought they were kind of pricey, but shit, we had a coupon so it was a'ight.
Since it was a Sunday and fairly pretty early for lunch (11:30'ish), parking was pretty easy to find. What I like about North Park is that most parking (at least on the side streets, not the main drag, like University Ave) is free. You just have to hunt for it on Friday and Saturday nights though. Looks like this used to be a house but equipped with a rather labyrinthine handicapable walkway.
Here's their menu which can be found online at the first Eddie's link above.
There were framed posters and other type of memorabilia related to Philly in here.
My favorite was this one! Isn't that a great lineup! Back in the day too! In 1986, I was still in high school (summer before senior year!)! Seems like there is a resurgence (it usually comes in waves) in old school hip hop. My 7th grade nephew was sporting a Run DMC shirt last week. The Vietnamese waitress at Pho 888 (haven't posted that yet) also had on a Run DMC shirt. You can buy those at Wal-Mart or Target nowadays. Back then, the only way to get a t-shirt with a band logo on it was to go to the concert. You couldn't buy your "look" at the store like you can nowadays (ex: Hot Topic). Damn posers.
More of their menu...click to enlarge. Sorry if it's still blurry.
So many choices...Lots of American style comfort food here. For those of you that know me, it's not my favorite style of food. But, since Bert is such a big fan of Philly cheesesteaks and because we both wanted to try a totally new place, relatively risk free (since we had that damn coupon), whynot, right? Man, they have meat loaf here. To me, meat loaf is pretty damn exotic. They also had a pork ribs plate and a spaghetti and meatballs plate. We definitely have to go here again (with the coupon, of course).
This was TC's dish - the kid's hamburger with fries which isn't on the menu, but it's basically a smaller version of their burger with American cheese. Here it is without the top bun. I snuck a tiny bite of hers (we traded bites of our meals) - the patty meat was pretty good but it could have used a little more seasoning.
Hmmm, the flash made this look too much like a Hollywood starlet's fake tan, but these were the sweet potato fries, which were $1 extra if you had it with a burger. Nicely seasoned. Despite what you see here, these weren't burnt.
This was my Philly cheese steak sandwich - Mushroom, Steak and Onions with Provolone Cheese (extra .75). I hardly eat these types of sandwiches, but damn! This was so fkg good! I almost ate the whole thing! This totally kicks ass on "Steak Umms" which we loved as kids while growing up. The difference is like night and day!
Just look at that melted cheese! And that meat! Yeah, I'd eat this again!
Now for Bert's - Pepper, Steak & Onions with Provolone cheese. The rolls, by the way, are "Amoroso" rolls, which are synonymous with Philly cheese steaks. Although I'm sure there are bread fans out there, after a few bites, I deconstructed my sandwich and ignored the bread. Here's a cross section of the Pepper Steak and Onions...I wish mine had green peppers in it...would have been even better.
Service here was friendly. There were two girls working the counter. The place filled up before we left. It seems like a cool local hangout...Like I said, we'd go here again for their dinner specials.