Sad news...Howard Zinn died today

Author Howard Zinn, author of the seminal book, "A People's History of the United States died today of a heart attack at the age of 87.  This book is often a required text in college American history classes.

Howard Zinn's book is one of the few that opened up my eyes about learning about my Filipino American heritage back in college. Besides "Filipinos:  Forgotten Asian Americans - A Pictorial Essay" by Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) National co-founder and Pinoy archivist extraordinaire, Manong Fred Cordova (see book cover below), these are two books that I hold in high regard and which have a hallowed place on my library bookshelves.

"People's History" even gets a mention in one of my favorite movies, "Good Will Hunting"! Matt Damon throws it down when he's verbally sparring with some intellectual douchebag in a bar. For myself, as a young college co-ed, I took a load of classes in African American History at SDSU and ended up minoring in it as well. During the Summer of 1988, my good friend N came home from USC raving about the Zinn book as well as the Cordova book. We bought our copies of Zinn at our respective campus bookstores and "shared" the Cordova book ("borrowed", cough cough, from the USC library)until we were able to buy the books through the AACP (Asian American Curriculum Project).

I eventually got my own copy of Cordova's book which was years later when I met him in person at a Filipino American Educators of California conference back in 1994 when he was the keynote speaker. It was like meeting my hero. When FANHS formed the San Diego Chapter in 1995, I was one of the founding members and began a friendship with Manong Fred and his wife Dorothy, both of Seattle, Washington and pioneers in the Filipino American movement and figures in Filipino American History.

Looking back, it was a formative chapter for my cultural identity as a Filipina American. Growing up, I didn't know about this and neither did my parents. Lucky for us in San Diego, there are a few professors that taught (and still teach) Filipino American Studies at SDSU and Southwestern College (respectively, the late Dr. Riz Oades and the still living Prof. Felix Tuyay).  Learning about the past was quite addicting for me. N and I both pored over the two texts, especially Zinn's book which devotes a chapter or two about  Anti Imperialist movement and the injustices of the Philippine American War, both shameful chapters in American history that are often excised, marginalized or trivialized as mere footnotes in America's quest for domination at the turn of the century.

Zinn's book was a slap in the face to standard American history texts and a refreshing breath of air to those who wanted to hear the ignored perspective of the oppressed. History is written through the eyes of the winners but there is always two sides of the story. My love of these books also lead me into a few other favorite books that I really love such as Stanley Karnow's "In Our Image - America's Empire in the Philippines" (it won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize in History) and  Daniel B. Schirmer's "The Philippines Reader - A History of Colonialism, Neocolonialism, Dictatorship, and Resistance".

Reading these chapters  in Zinn's book made me think about how and why Filipinos were even tied to the United States. After over three centuries of Spanish rule, the Filipino people fought against Spain during the Philippine Revolution. Through the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish American War, the U.S. bought the Philippine Island along with Spain's other island possessions. This $20 million sale was the spoils of war from the Philippines' former colonizer. Almost immediately, the Filipinos rebelled against their new colonizer, the United States and launched into the Philippine American War. From one white master to another. 

Zinn's book discusses these events that are nary given a mention in mainstream texts. You think high school kids learn about this? They only hear or see a tiny paragraph about the Philippine Insurrection, the term the U.S. gives to the Philippine American War which isn't officially recognized as a war (although it was a full fledged bloody war and a precursor to the Vietnam War). The tangled history of American colonialism in the Philippines and how it permeated into the Philippine cultural landscape at the expense of the Filipino national identity was also an eye opener (ex: the enforcement of English as the language of instruction and the whitewashing of Philippine national history).

These events directly affected the subsequent waves of Filipino immigration into the United States because of this "special" relationship the Philippines as a result of American colonialism (ex: Benevolent Assimilation, Pensionado Act of 1903, the recruitment of Filipinos to work in the fields in the west coast, the fisheries in Alaska and the sugarcane and pineapple plantations in Hawaii, the amendment of the selective service act so Filipinos could serve in the US Military in 1941, the Fiancees and War Brides Act of 1945, The Military Bases Agreement of 1947 , as well as blatant discrimination and anti miscegenation laws targeted against Asians and Filipinos and so on). 

Thank you Howard Zinn for changing my world view and for helping me learn more about my history as a Filipina American. Learning about past struggles helped define my identity as  Pinay and made me
stronger person in knowing my heritage.

Know Your History

Know Yourself

No History

No Self

ABC Music Humpday Videos - "M" is for The Monroes

If you were a San Diego music fan back in 1982, you SHOULD remember this song from a local band which unfortunately became a victim of the "one hit wonder" syndrome...The Monroes' lone hit, "What Do All the People Know"... Think back to the days of KGB FM 101.5, back when the station was really good! Or even KPRI 106.5! That's what I'm talkin' about....Hearing this song was inescapable...

When the Monroes came out, they were supposed to be the next big thing to come out of San Diego. Unfortunately, their record label, Alfa ended up dropping them and selling them out to another record company that didn't give a shit about them. No support. Band went downhill. From opening up for the Greg Kihn Band (best known for "The Breakup Song" and "Jeopardy") and (gasp! Dr. Noah Drake himself), the very hot Rick Springfield...to one hit wonder status. Okay, at the time I didn't think Rick Springfield was that hot, but in retrospect, yes, he was pretty good looking. Now, he's a big old mess with his wierdly botoxed face.

 By the way, I was in 7th grade going on 8th when"What Do All the People Know" hit it big...Do the math. I'm old. Ha ha. Well, not really. If you didn't notice by now, I live in a musical time warp. Ask me who's popular? I really have no idea. I have an inkling because I do work in a high school and I know what the kids listen to. But...if I had a choice, I would be listening to 80's shit ALL THE TIME. And I pretty much do.

This song is one of those songs that brings me back to the 80's. KGB was promoting the hell out of the Monroes and even featured them on their annually produced "Homegrown" record series!(more on KGB and "Homegrown" here My friend N and I had a hell of a time trying to find this song. We ended up pooling our money to get it at Blue Meannie Records in El Cajon because it was the whole album, not a 45! I think we spent $10 on it. Just for that one song. Just so we could make our cassette tape compilations! (more on our compilations here).

I think it's one of the most perfect pop rock songs of the 80's. The catchy beat, the new wavey keyboards, the hand claps (very cool!) and the lyrics...

"Tell me if I'm getting in too deep
every night I'm talking in my sleep 
Lately I am so confused
I really don't know what to do...

Could you be the one I'm thinking of?
Could you be the girl I really love?

All the people tell me so
But what do all the people know..."


I really liked this guy's article on his blog and this article from The SD Reader by music critic Jay Allen Sanford.  Click here to see the band's picture...I vaguely remember the video being played in the early stages of MTV, but for the most part, this video has been buried in the cobwebbed vault of my mind. Until this post actually.  Just my little trip down memory lane with a San Diego connection!

Runner up videos for this post....and this was pretty fkg hard because I like a lot of bands that start with the letter M!

Muse - "Knights of Cydonia" (hilarious!)
Morrissey - "Everyday is Like Sunday" (nice and mopey)
Megadeth - "Symphony of Destruction" (because I liked Dave Mustaine's growl and his fkg awesome hairdo)
Metallica - "Until It Sleeps" (awesome video, very Boschian)
Modern English - "Hands Across the Sea" (notice I did not choose "Melt With You", the more obvious choice!)
and... the always non-misogynistic Motley Crue's "Piece of Your Action" (ha ha, gotta love those lyrics - and you can see Tommy Lee when he was young and NOT married to Pamela Anderson)!

San Diego Restaurant Week (extended) - Roseville

Update - This restaurant is now closed. :(


[As has become my pattern of late, four new posts! Scroll down to read...]

San Diego Restaurant Week has been extended from January 23 to the 29th. This was the first time that Bert and I went to Restaurant Week. In the past, we've always wanted to go, but the days were wierd. They weren't convenient to us since they were usually Sundays through Thursdays and we both had to work; plus there was added complication of trying to getchild care on school nights. So, I usually thought, "Fk that..."!

This year I'd totally forgotten about restaurant week until a co-worker told me about the extension. I saw that the dates were "workable" so....I chose for Bert and I to go here...

...which was Roseville in Point Loma. Now that's a lovely view of the BACK door. I didn't get an outdoor exterior shot. There is also parking in the back by the way...While getting links for this post, I found out that Roseville is named after the neighborhood in which this restaurant is situated (Wikipedia info here). 

According to that article:

"Roseville-Fleetridge is a neighborhood in Point Loma, San Diego, California. it is bounded by Rosecrans Street on the east, Cañon Street on the south, Catalina Boulevard on the west and Nimitz Boulevard on the north. It is actually two separate neighborhoods, Roseville and Fleetridge, which the city lumps together for policing purposes.

Roseville is the oldest settled part of Point Loma, and is named for its developer, San Diego pioneer Louis Rose.[2] Rose bought the area in 1866, laid out streets, and built a wharf and a hotel. For a time, Roseville functioned as a separate city from San Diego. Many Portuguese fishermen and fishing boat owners settled in the area, and it is still the focus of San Diego's large Portuguese community."

I've lived in San Diego nearly my entire life and I never knew that there were named neighborhoods in Point Loma...Interesting. I now have a new wrinkle on my cortex.

By the way, the above photo was a shot of the back of the restaurant since that's where we parked. We had 5:30 reservations but arrived ten minutes late (I called in our "tardy"). Not to worry because when we passed by, the restaurant was empty save for one couple. Here's the restaurant's official site here, a copy of the Restaurant Menu here, and reviews from Yelp, Clayfu (you can see an exterior shot of the restaurant as well as a more extensive review of the various dishes in his post), and Food Buzz SD.

The restaurant was pretty dim so I felt so conspicuous taking photos.We were seated along a banquet and I chose the corner instead of sitting next the that other early bird couple.  There were a ton of waiters there...One of them brought us some bread with a ramekin filled to the brim with soft and tasty butter. Real butter, not that margarine shit. Not that a nice restaurant would ever serve margarine...unless it was some health food place, in which I would never set foot in it!

Bert's choice of alcoholic beverage that evening was the Thunderweissen which I think he chose because he liked the name. But seriously, because it was similar to another beer that he liked...I had a glass of Pinot Grigio (not pictured plus I forgot the maker)...

Because I'm a lazy ass, I'm taking the descriptions straight from Roseville's Restaurant Week menu. Comments of course are mine.

First Course

Kabocha Squash Agnolotti

Mushroom Ragout, Rosemary Brown Butter and Walnut Gremolata

This was my first course. I didn't really want to have cauliflower soup since that is one my least favorite vegetables.  The agnolotti itself was pretty thin...I loved the mushroom sauce and the brown butter (the rosemary flavor,thank goodness, was not pronounced)...The walnuts also added a bit of texture. One thing that irked me was that our waiter kept pronouncing "Kabocha" squash as "kabuchka" squash.  Did this vegetable somehow acquire a Russian pedigree? Anyways, mispronounciation aside, our waiter did a great job introducing each dish and answered many of my questions about the ingredients.  As for the "kabocha" squash...I've been seeing it more on menus now. I usually eat kabocha squash in Pinakbet, a Philippine vegetable stew with fermented shrimp paste.

Shaved Fennel and Clementine Salad

              Salmon Tartare, Poblano Rajas, Chive Creme Fraiche and Crispy Purple Potato

Now this was Bert's choice...He really really liked that raw salmon..it was really fresh tasting and went well with the other ingredients. There was a tiny bit of a smoky kick from the peppers. The clementines didn't really look appealing with their membranes on. Isn't there a fancy chef way to section citrus fruits without the membrane? He also liked the dressing because it wasn't overpowering - it was quite light and you could tast each ingredient. The purple potatoes, while they may look "cute" because they are waffle cut and are a freaky color, didn't really add much to the dish. It seemed like an afterthought to me, like, "Oh, let's put some colorful vegetable on the edge of the plate to make it look nicer."

Second Course

Braised Beef Cheek

              Roasted Winter Vegetable, Parsley Root Puree and Red Wine Sauce

Okay, this was my choice...None of that Provencal Fish Stew for me. Ever since I had the Beef Cheek at Urban Solace (see my old post here), I'd been longing to have it again. This time, it was Roseville's beautifully braised version that lay atop a puree of parsnips. The sauce was really good - I kept dipping the meat into the sauce and if I could have done so, I would have licked that damn plate. Ironically, Bert and I saved some of our food so that TC could try it the next day. We left the the damn box of leftovers in the restaurant! Boo. My portion was pretty substantial - I could not finish it all. The meat was so tender it fell apart on my fork and I could taste the unctuous fat in some of the pieces...One thing about this dish...the sauce could have looked nicer. But the important thing was that the flavor of this dish and I guess that really would override the presentation.

Next up...Bert's entree...

Pancetta Wrapped Pork Tenderloin Herbed Goat Cheese Spaetzle, Braised Red Mustard Greens,

         Kumquat-Sage Marmalade and Madiera Reduction

Now that is a mouthful! His pancetta was pure porky goodness wrapped around more pork. The pancetta was a soft smoky blanket of meat and fat. The kumquat marmalade on top utilized whole fruit; I detected the rind when I tried this. The waiter said the vegetable was 'black kale' (does that even exist?), but the menu description was red mustard greens (which I liked because it has a bitterness to it that contrasted nicely with the pork and marmalade). I've never had spaetzle before but it didn't wow me. Maybe because it had goat cheese in it. All in all, Bert really enjoyed this dish!

Third Course

Double Chocolate Bread Pudding

   Ricotta Cheese, Candied Orange Peel,

Mascarpone Gelato and Sambuca Sauce

So this was my dessert...they only had two choices. Since it was a bread pudding, the 'chocolate' flavor wasn't really as pronounced as it would be if it was, say, 'cake'...It was moist and had a layer of ricotta cheese in the middle. The gelato was also a nice touch, but I prefer to have my desserts one temperature and not a mixture (ex: I hate pie a la mode - I like both ingredients separately but not touching each other!). What was interesting about this dessert was the sambuca sauce (an Italian liqueur), which had a faint anise or licorice flavor to it. It was a nice finish to this dessert which wasn't overly sweet.

Butterscotch Pot de Creme

Cognac Chantilly and Walnut Shortbread Cookie

It was so funny when Bert took his first taste of this pudding...he likened it to the food critic's reaction to the rat's ratatouille in Pixar's movie of the same name...You know, the scene where the critic gets a forkful of the dish which triggers happy childhood memories in him.

That was how Bert felt last night about this dessert.

I had a few spoonfuls of this as well, and while I normally don't like soft mushy things, I really liked how this tasted. The shortbread cookie however, was devoid of any walnuts or walnut flavor, unless the nuts were ground into the dough. The chantilly cream was also quite delicate. I kind of wish they boozed it up some more!

In all, dinner at Roseville was a win!  Everything, and I mean everything was done perfectly. The service and the ambience was great. Our waiter was really attentive and helpful...This three course meal was $30 a person. For this type of meal, that was a deal. I liked that the restaurant was not in the Gaslamp (horrors, no!) or in Hillcrest (don't get me wrong, I like Hillcrest but parking there sucks ballz)...

It wasn't overly busy here but the place was packed when we left. I did notice that there were very few people of color there. And by few I mean no one else besides us!!! WTF!!! Besides a few Latino waitstaff, we were the ONLY nonwhites there. Hmmm...I'm just sayin'!   But then again, I am not surprised.

And before I end this post, check out this awesome bathroom! There are two. This is the bigger one. I chose this one because someone just left the other room and out of the door emanated an odor so foul as to make me do a hasty retreat so as not assault my olfactory senses with its horrificly inhuman stench. Whoever was in there should have lit a damn match.  Nay, a whole matchbook. I think I may have singed a few nose hairs from inadvertently walking in and haplessly breathing. I would have gladly traded places with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca in the trash compactor.

So, they had this really cool black and white damask print wallpaper...so lovely! It reminded me of the black and white decor at the old Laurel...

And ooh la la! Check out that fancy gold mirror and chutelike faucet!

That was our first (and hopefully not last) outing for San Diego Restaurant Week. Cheers!

Zion, Marukai, Ranch 99 & Kyoto

Earlier yesterday, before our dinner at Roseville, Bert and I did an Asian market food crawl...Our first stop was Zion...a Korean market in Clairemont. I wanted to get some Chapchae noodles ($2.99 for a tray), Seaweed Salad and Korean Potato Salad...Since it was a Saturday, it was crazy busy in the parking lots! Scary too! On our way out, I bought a couple of these hot dog things...they had sliced hot dogs, mustard, ketchup and cheese on this really soft and sweetish bread. Kind of like Hawaiian bread. One was for me and Bert to share and the other for TC. She was spending the afternoon and evening with my sis and her two boys so Bert and I could have a very rare "date night". I don't care if people think this concoction is gross! I think this hot dog thing rocks!

I also bought a long bun that was split and filled with creamy custard. I still liked the peanut butter version we had at this bakery in Super H Mart in Chicago. This wasn't even close...

Next was Marukai Market which was down the street from Zion. Because Hogetsu was closed until the 25th, I was searching for mochi...I know this isn't mochi. In fact, I didn't get any mochi at Marukai because it didn't look fresh. We tried Nijiya earlier but couldn't find any parking in their hellish lot of doom. That has to be one of the worst parking lots ever! Lots of shitty drivers and people who take up two parking spaces by parking diagonally!  These here were mini chocolate eclairs.

They were still kind of frozen but I liked them! Let's put it this way, Bert and I snarfed these down en route to Ranch 99. Gone within 5 minutes.

At Ranch 99, I found the noodles I was looking for. They don't have the "fine" vermicelli at North Park Produce in Chula Vista. I ended up getting 5 of these (.79 each)...that should last us for awhile. We'd been having bun this past week and eating it with these really tasty meatballs from Costco (Adell's Chicken Teriyaki & Pineapple meatballs - try them! They're delish!).

Parking was also a fkg nightmare. Bert dropped me off while he searched for parking. Inside, it was a madhouse with little Asian grandmothers elbowing they way past me and scores of people doing their grocer shopping from the regulars to college students and whatnot. I got a pack of these snack nuts (heh heh, she said "NUTZ") for Bert...he also likes the adobo flavor as well as the garlic, but I wanted to get him something different...

Mmm! Nice and crunchy!

On our way home, I impulsively wanted to stop by Kyoto, a tiny (and I mean really tiny) Japanese market on Sweetwater Road (next to the old Da Kine's)...Again I wanted to see if they had fresh mochi but they didn't have any. However, I saw this, Castella, which is a type of sponge cake that is popular in Japan. I first heard of Castella from Kirk's blog (his posts on Hogetsu mentioned that the bakery also offered Castella). I noticed this was $3.99 here. At Marukai, the Castella was $7.99 and it was the same kind too! What a big markup. So I decided to plunk down some $$$ for this cake...

While this is no substitution for the mochi we had at Fugetsu, I bought these pre-packaged orange flavored mochi with my daughter in mind...Also, we hadn't tried this flavor yet...They also had melon.

Strawberry was the other choice so I got one of these too.

This photo is out of order in terms of the market it came from (Ranch 99)....Since it's Tet (Vietnamese New Year), there were a lot of seasonal sweets at Ranch 99. Superman's wife gave us some of these coconut candies before. One of my former students, a dynamic Vietnamese American girl, also bought me one of these from Little Saigon. These were the "MIXED CORLOR (sic)" variety.

It was a long day...I can't wait for Hogetsu to open up again. Maybe I shouldn't have bought the other mochi but I wanted to have some sort of mochi fix!

Hogetsu & Seafood City

After my lunch at the Chula Vista Adult School culinary program, I figured, "Hey I'm in the area! Let me check out Hogetsu and buy some shit!".  I haven't been to Hogetsu in years. Like more than twenty years!  I accompanied Mr. Pyromaniac there while doing errands for his mom. She needed mochi cakes for her tea ceremony with her friends. Mr. Pyromaniac was half Japanese and half Caucasian. I remember that he liked having his mom's friend's over because they always gave him an assload of cash as gifts!!! He bought me a couple of mochi that day. I don't know why I haven't been back since!

Anyhow, I'd been dreaming of biting into another pillow soft mochi filled with red beans...Right off the Third and Oxford intersection is this strip mall here...

Unfortunately, I was greeted with this sign...

According to Kirk, the owners were taking a vacation and may have been visiting their daughter who lives out of state. Also, you will notice that the building is undergoing construction of some sort so you can't really tell the names of the businesses. Here is an older post by Kirk here and a few here by Kirbie of  the blog Kirbie Cravings. She has some really nice photos of Hogetsu's offerings in her post which also links to her other Hogetsu posts.

 

Disappointed, I drove a few blocks down to Seafood City which used to be a "Big Bear" Supermarket baaaaack in the olden days. This is near the Castle Park High area of Chula Vista.

Normally this cheese goes for $9.99 but it was on sale for a few dollars off. This is "Queso de bola" (literally this means "cheese ball"), which is a red wax covered Dutch cheese called Edam cheese. This is something Filipinos normally get during the Christmas season. My dad bought one of these during our Christmas get together.

I also got one of these...I regretted buying this because it wasn't sugary. Pili nuts taste better as Pili Nut brittle. What was I thinking? The nuts themselves are really buttery tasting but this roasted variety didn't really taste that good since the bitter skins were still on some of the nuts.

Maybe because I couldn't get mochi at Hogetsu, I was desperate for anything mochi. This was a variety that was covered with a roasted soy bean powder (Kinako). The mochi's were filled with red beans. I remember TC liked these before...

Another item I bought was coconut powder for making coconut rice. I remembered that WC from the blog Wandering Chopsticks used this (maybe not this exact brand) for her coconut rice.

I also had a craving for Hopia, a type of Chinese flaky pastry that can be filled with mung bean paste or in this case, ube (purple yam). My favorite! Valerio's is a local Filipino bakery located in various spots in San Diego. If you didn't already know, I love almost anything ube! Very Prince!

The last thing I bought on impulse (ha ha) was this...Philippine Brand (they are the same one who make those delicious dried mangos you can get at Costco) juice - the Flavor is called "Four Seasons" because there are four kinds of fruit (mango, pineaple, guava, and orange). I never knew about this type of drink until I saw it on Cendrillon's menu in NYC (check out that post here). L and I had lunch that day and that is the drink he ordered...

So, that was my impulse shopping spree at Seafood City. I didn't hear the regular guy who works in the fish department...You know, the guy who calls out the numbers...."Number pipty-two! Your peesh is ready! Come get it now bepore it swims away! Number pipty-two!" No wonder the store seemed quiet without his humorous comments over the intercom...

The Chula Vista Adult School Culinary Arts Program- Lunch

Sometime last week, I found myself in western Chula Vista again for a computer training. Last time we did this, the coworkers and I ate at the Chula Vista Adult School Culinary Art Program in room 203 (see original post here). For $8.00, you can choose between two appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Your meal also comes with two sides and a drink. The head chef  of the home economics department iis Chef Ellen Baum. She and her students make a delicious lunch every Wednesday and Thursday at the Chula Vista Adult School campus. They only serve lunch from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. You can also in the neighborhood or park on campu,s but that day I went, I was lucky to get a spot.

I got there early, around noon. My coworkers ended up running late and only one ended up joining me. This post only shows my meal since my coworker got practically the same thing as me.

I chose the Salmon Puff Pastry which came with two sides of vegetables: Roasted new potatoes and green beans with yellow squash. Also included was a bread roll, a mini tart, dessert and a drink (lemonade or iced tea)...

Here's a close up of Salmon. The other choice was a Teriyaki Pineapple Hamburger. Having had chicken teriyaki pineapple meatballs for the past week, I wanted to try something different. I didn't really like the taste of this. The fish had some sort of mushroom sauce in there but made the flaky pastry kind of soggy inside. My coworker on the other hand, really liked it; in fact she polished hers off. I only ate 1/4 of this and boxed up the rest. It was actually quite a large portion of food and I couldn't fathom even finishing even half of it.

This photo should have come before the entree photo. This was my appetizer, the Tomato Basil Tart. The other choice was a sweet potato soup garnished with sour cream and some chive snippets. I really liked this tart - the crust was nice and flaky but it was not puff pastry. Each ingredient tasted so fresh and stood out on their own. The fresh basil also went well with the tomatoes and the thin layer of mozzarella cheese. It reminded me of a tiny pizza but way better.

My dessert was the Apple Charlotte. I'd never heard of a "charlotte" before so I chose that over the Tiramisu. Ho Hum. Boring. 

According to Wikipedia's entry on "Charlotte""

"A Charlotte is a of dessert that can be served hot or cold. It can also be known as an 'ice-box cake'. Bread, sponge cake or biscuits/cookies are used to line a mould, which is then filled with a fruit puree or custard. It can also be made using layers of breadcrumbs. (more info here).

I really liked this dessert, especially the bread! It was soaked in butter and had a bit of a crispness to it. The dessert was filled with tiny chopped apples and golden raisins. It was really quite good but I ended up eating the crust!

I notice, like last time, that many of the cooks were staring at me. Specifically the older Filipina ladies. I mean, there was a mix of ethnicities working there (Hispanic, Caucasian, Filipino and Asian) as well as ages (20's up to senior citizen age). Last time I was there, I used my superawesome-equivalent-to-a-two-year-old Tagalog speaking skillz to thank the elderly Filipina cooks who served me my meal choices as well as the older Filipino man who took my payment at the end of the cafeteria line. This time, I could hear them buzzing in Tagalog about whether or not I was Filipino. I just smiled at them understanding what they were saying about me. Hey, at least they were not talking shit! 

So, after I paid and sat down, I was fiddling with my camera (ha ha, I bring it with me everywhere!) and after a few seconds, noticed someone standing next to me. I looked up and saw it was one of the older Lolas who was smiling at me earlier. She was beaming and asked me excactly what I knew she was going to ask me. Man, this should be a comedy bit because it's always the SAME three questions. I am not kidding you.

Here goes:

1)  Are you a Filipina?

My reply, "Opo" (which is a respectful way to say, "Yes", when you use "po" at the end of everything you say". 

To which, she began to speak to me in Tagalog....which lead to the next expected question.

2) Do you speak Tagalog?

"Kaunte lang 'po" (Just a little bit, which is basically shite! In otherwords, NO!) and in English, I told her that I understood it more than could speak it. I didn't tell her that I know many of the bad words! Well, who doesn't?

After hearing my lack of Tagalog skills, she mercifully switched to English...actually I would have done all right if she kept on speaking Tagalog!

3)  Where are you from?

"San Diego...but my parents are from Zaragoza, San Vicente, Nueva Ecija (in order: the town, the province, and the region of the Philippines)."

See if I just said San Diego, she would have asked me where my parents were from so I beat her to the punch by answering her ahead of time. The question, "Where are you from" really means "Where are your parents from" especially if they know you were born in the States like I am.

She said she and the other ladies were wondering what I was and she seemed happy that she was "right" in her assumption of my ethnicity. She asked how old I was. She also complimented me on my hairdo and how "young" I looked. Again, I didn't take any of her questions personally even though most people would consider it pretty personal to be nosying up to someone like that. It's a Filipino thing I guess.  It was like she was my Lola or something (if my Lolas were still alive).

She told her mer kids were grown up and that they were in their fifties! "My oldest is 59!"

 I told her that she looked so young to have 50 year old children to which she challenged me to "guess her age". Before I could reply, (thankfully) she proudly told me that she was 79. I tell you , she did not look that old! Proof that Filipinos age well! She seemed so spry and happy.

Anyways, that was a fun little conversation from an elderly Pinay who was quite friendly. Maybe, the workers probably don't see many Filipinos that pass through the cafeteria. Many of the people who ate there were either employees (classified and certificated). I spotted the principal of Chula Vista High eating at a solitary table. 

Next time I have another computer training, I definitely plan to come here again!

ABC Music Humpday Videos - "L" is for Living Colour

Anyone remember Living Colour? Frontman Corey Glover kicks ass! He has one of the powerful  voices in rock! Their guitarist Vernon Reid was also a hotshot!

Open Letter to a Landlord was one of the singles from their album, Vivid (1988). Before Living Colour hit it big, the bandplayed at Montezuma Hall at SDSU in 1989...I remember Mr. Agua Dulce raving about the show. I was actually supposed to go with Mr. Pyromaniac that night but had to work instead. Damn May Company. I should have called in sick that day!

They were the next big thing and I found them to be great role models for people of color who wanted to ROCK because in the 80's, black musicians were typecast as just R & B crooners or hip hop artists. Unfortunately, Living Colour didn't really get the respect that they deserved - maybe America wasn't ready for black rockers? I thought they were absolutely brilliant! Their lyrics were not about "I'm big and bad and I wear all these gold chains, blah blah blah" or "bitches and hos" or whatever. They sung about thought provoking and socially conscious topics...
The only thing I thought was laughable was Corey Glover's bright neon neoprene Body Glove outfits. Oh yeah, and the bike shorts too. Remember that horrid fashion trend? I'm glad that's done with!

More on Living Colour (courtesy of their Wikiedia entry):

"Living Colour is an American funk metal band from New York City, formed in 1983. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by heavy metal, funk, hard rock, free jazz, hardcore punk and hip hop (although the band are frequently tagged as being a "hard rock" act). Their lyrics range from the personal to the political, in some of the latter cases attacking the Eurocentrism and racism of America. The band were prominent members of the Black Rock Coalition during the late 1980s and early 1990s (a movement which also featured Fishbone, and 24-7 Spyz). "

[My notes - Have you heard any Fishbone and 24-7 Spzy stuff? They were  awesome too! I  especially liked the 24-7 Spzy songs "Spyz Dope" and "Grandma Dynamite"! Memories of college years!

Runners up to this entry:

The La's - "There She Goes"
Led Zeppelin - "Kashmir"
Lita Ford (Okay, "L" was her first name) - "Kiss Me Deadly"
and dammit, I fkg forgot Lush - "Sweetness and Light"!!!

Kang Kang Food Court - Taiwanese Shaved Ice

[MARATHON POSTING SESSION - Scroll down to read the 4 newest posts! Thank you.]

After our dinner, WC suggested Chinese desserts, specifically the Taiwanese Shaved ice here at Kang Kang Food Court:

It was just a few miles away from Yazmin in a crowded building complex that held a plethora of businesses...Inside, business was brisk. Kang Kang also had steam tables with tons of offerings. For a more detailed post on their food (rather than dessert) offerings, check out this recent post by the man himself, Kirk of Mmm-Yoso. As you can see from my photos and his, the menu offerings are extensive. Check out that huuge wall display. I'm glad we were here for just one item. I would have gone crazy trying to figure out what to get.

Although it was crowded, Bert and I snagged a table while WC and TC ordered our dessert...

This is what we were here for...

The ice was piled really high atop the three ingredients chosen by WC and TC...If you look closely, you can see the condensed milk topping on the shaved ice...looks a bit yellowish.

The three ingredients chosen were: red rice cake, red beans,and longans:

It was like eating halo halo but on a plate...and with less ingredients...and with no ice cream. I really liked how fine the shaved ice was. The red rice cake pieces were kind of big but I liked their chewiness. Don't you just love my lack of Photoshop skills? Ha ha.

There was a refrigerated case behind me that held a lot of food items - sausages, buns, and ingredients for the shaved ice, and some other stuff I didn't have a chance to get a good look at...

It was a really nice way to end our day! I neglected to mention in previous posts that this was the first time that WC and I met. She's super nice and very knowledgable about all kinds of cuisines. She'd given me tons of recommendations for our Portland, Chicago (and Wisconsin) trips. The cool thing about blogging is the friends I've made through the blog whether it's just through comments, emails, or actually meeting in person for lunch and dinner. I think it's always nice to place a face with the name too!

Knowing that I love checking out grocery stores, she offered to take us to her favorite one.  Unfortunately, since our time was tight, I told her one day she'll have to take me grocery shopping at the San Gabriel Superstore next time I'm up. I'm sure I would love it judging from her post. Our evening came to a close as we headed back to her place to retrieve our car so we could head down to my bro-in law's place in Aliso Viejo.