Palate cleanser...

Just a little wardrobe break in between the Toronto posts...

In continuing with the shoe and clothing posts, here's a new (but still dark) color I'm sporting, Navy Blue with Crisp White. Nautical colors but not nautical looking.

Yo man, I feel like Thurston Howell the III.

St. James Park

Okay, HOLY SHITBALLZ, RPATTZ is in Toronto filming "Cosmopolis" and looking all kinds of awesome in his suit!!! Mmmm, finger lickin' good. Ha ha!

Toronto Sculpture Garden

Across the street from the imposing Cathedral Church of St. James was this beautiful sculpture garden just calling our names...

Cathedral Church of St. James

Right around the corner from the Gooderham building was this impressive church...

Gooderham Building

One last view of a mural near the St. Lawrence Market...

Although I'd seen this iconic building before on postcards in Torontian gift shops, we weren't prepared to see it up close and personal a mere few minutes away from the market. This was a pleasant surprise...

St. Lawrence Market, Part 2

Oh yeah dudes, European Delight was awesome!

If you're ever in the mood for Ukrainian foods, this is the place to go...

Last Day in Canada - St. Lawrence Market, Part 1

Finally, the posts from our last day in Canada. Man, this was nearly ONE YEAR ago! I seriously lag!

Our flight wasn't leaving until earlier this evening so we wanted to make the most of today. Here's the view from our hotel room - we stayed a few blocks away from St. Lawrence Market, which was to be our first destination for that day. As you can see, there was a bit of rain that morning...

Grey Roots...no not my hair!

Our traveling companion K mentioned seeing this place that had replicas of different houses. We figured we'd stop by to look at it. We weren't going to go in or anything. Turns out that the place, Grey Roots,was already closed when we got there.

Return to 2540 - Brunch revisited

Last weekend, we went back to 2540 for Brunch. We used another one of my groupon deals. Again, we were lucky enough to get parking at our "secret" spot.

Potluck...

Last weeks, TC's dance company had their annual junior recital. As always, the parents brought in food for the potluck lunch.

Here's a quick run down of what they had:

Chicken adobo - the only thing I didn't like about this is that there was no skin. :(  Come on now, this isn't health food!

Easy as meat pie...

Meat pies are just about the easiest thing to make, especially if you have ready made puff pastry squares.

Since this eating plan, I've been having a lot of ground turkey or ground chicken. One of my favorite ways to prepare it is to brown 1 lb of the meat with diced onions, then add dried cranberries, and season it with black pepper and a dash of soy sauce.

They've hatched!

Remember this?

This photo was originally taken on Sunday, May 22nd...

As of yesterday (Thursday 5/26), all three eggs have hatched!

I took this quick shot and left right away. I didn't want the mother bird to feel so threatened that she might abandon the babies. They were making tiny chirping noises and their eyes were closed. The feathers were just wispy tufts and their mouths were wide open once they heard the bushes rustle. I hope these birds survive. They're pretty protected deep within the bougainvillea shrub.

The Wayside Chapel

Hey, I'm not a religious person, but we HAD to stop here and check it out...

I remember seeing this tiny church on our drive up to Tobermory and thinking, on our way back, we MUST go there!

On the way back to Toronto...

Well, my friends, it was time to head back to Toronto. After the nearly 2 hour trip from Manitoulin Island's South Baymouth to Tobermory at the tip of the Bruce Peninsula, we  piled into the car and hunkered down for a long ride back. Joining me, Bert and TC was C's German friend, "K" who was planning to head back to Toronto and then fly back to Berlin.

Calvin Klein wedges

With the weather so nice, it almost feel like summer's here.

That means more open toed shoes...

The Drought is over...

The Rpattz drought that is...
The first official still from "Cosmopolis":
(photo credit: @caitcronenberg via Robsessed)
*Cait Cronenberg is the daughter of  David Cronenberg who is directing "Cosmopolis"

In the limo with RPattz as dotcom billionaire Eric Packer and Sarah Gadin as his estranged wife Elise Schifrin. "Cosmopolis" based on the novel by Don DeLillo, is now filming in Toronto and soon to relocate to NYC.  From what I've read in the book, this will be quite an "interesting" movie.

Especially the sex scenes. With three different women. But not all together.  Ha ha.

All I can say is, this better be rated R and none of that PG-13 crap!

Also starring in "Cosmopolis":
Juliette Binoche
Paul Giamatti
and Jay Baruchel

Can't wait for this movie to come out! This should kick ass on the "Twilight" movies  and showcase more of RPattz's acting skills. It looks to be a more superior production with better actors, a sexier wardrobe (suits and ties), and an intriguing story line.

PS
Happy Birthday Astroboi!!!

Wedgie...

Somebody give me a Wedgie!

No, that not kind!!!

WTF! Priest on Idol?

One of my favorite metal bands was just on the season finale of American Idol!

Recently booted rocker and AI hopeful James Durbin opened the show with a bang! Notice I didn't count the unsufferable Lady Gaga "Born this Way" opening number by the top 12 or 13 or whatever.

McD's...

Hey, I'm not above an occasional visit to the devil chain known as McD's...this was a recent fundraiser for TC's school.  As soon as we walked in, the smell of fried STUFF filled the air. Plus it was chock full of noisy kids. Not a pleasant place to be, for antisocial me at least.

The Bird is the Word...

One of these lives in front of our house...

Next to our garage wall is our bougainvillea shrub. Now that it's spring, it's lush with leaves and brillianttly deep pink flowers. 

More from the vault...

In keeping with wearing my collection before vacation, here's a pair of shoes that needed to see the light again...My Steve Madden black peeptoe heels (bought on clearance a year and a half ago at DSW).

I don't know if they're even leather or not. Probably not. Well, at least an animal didn't die for these right?

Dilated Peoples...

Eye C U!

A few weeks ago I had my yearly checkup with my optometrist. Foolish me, instead of springing extra $$ for the Optomap/retinal scan procedure, I opted not to do it thinking, "Oh well, they'll just skip that part of the exam!". How wrong I was.

Waiting does suck...

More Eric Northman please!

Woo hoo! Man, it seems like yesterday (well, last year) that C and I were watching the Season 3 premiere of "True Blood".

Auntie's garden...

These pics were taken the side yard from my auntie's house (my sis's MIL) in San Ysidro. Like most Filipino moms, she has a green thumb. I'm not sure what these were called but I know I've seen these before at the San Diego Zoo. I remember seeing the thorny stem but the flowers were red instead of yellow.

She also had what they call a "money plant". It's a succulent and you can break off pieces and replant them. Having one of these is supposed to bring good luck...

Teen nephew's bday party food...

Before we start, let us enjoy this classic scene from Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part 1":

"Jesus!"
"What?"
"What!"
"Yes?"
"Jesus!"
"What?"

Ha ha,that never gets old!

Of course, every old school Filipino has one of these in their house, some form of the Last Supper, preferably on black velvet. In this case, this biblical masterpiece was found in my sis's former MIL's house for my oldest nephew's bday party.

"Will you be having separate checks?  Try the mulled wine! I hear it's terrific!"

Pork Ribs Sinigang with Tamarind

The weather's been wacky here in San Diego. Last week we had a heat wave. Earlier this week it was cold and rainy. Last night I opted to skip the gym to go food shopping and make Sinigang (Filipino sour soup). Sinigang is not to be confused with the similarly spelled "Sinanggag" which is fried rice. 

I normally make our meals on Sunday but it was a busy weekend. Last night was the only night I could do this, and a few other meals.Cold weather means a hearty soup. In this case, Sinigang na Baboy.
The souring agent in the sinigang mix was Sampalok (tamarind). I was originally going to make it "packet free" with homegrown Bayabas (guava), but our guavas in the back yard were not ripe enough yet. So, a prepared mix I had to use (Yoda Speak).

Post WFE lunch at Villa Capri

After watching the fkhawt RPattz in "Water for Elephants" last month, TORC and I had lunch at nearby Villa Capri. It had been several years since we last went here (Sept 2007). I also thought I could use my buy one entree get one free coupon. Unfortunately, it was only valid from Monday through Thursday and it was a Saturday, so FAIL on me.

Mea Kwan - Rolling Hills Ranch

Today my co-workers and I wanted to try something different. I suggested the new Thai place off of Proctor Valley Road. It's in "The Shops at San Miguel" strip mall with an Albertsons. This place is almost always dead. The restaurant that used to be here several years ago was Kona Pacific Cafe but that folded in less than a year. In fact, this whole strip mall has A LOT of vacancies. It's kind of dead. The other food places here are Kyoto Sushi, Figaro Pizza, Los Primos, and Villa Capri (old post from Sept 2007 and my visit with TORC April 2011 forthcoming}

Reptile...

I bought these a few months ago and have worn them a couple of times. They are Moda Spana and were on sale at DSW (see product info here)

They are peeptoe platforms with a 4 3/4 inch heel and a 1" platform at the toe.

I love the reptile-like scaley pattern.

It's black but with a tiny bit of a subtle shine.

No one died today. I'm finally NOT wearing all black but half black. The top half is a basalt gray sleeveless jersey top with a rough edge silk chiffon edge at the sleeves. There are also  chiffon pettals on the front with a few silvery gray seed pearls on one of the flowers. Black pants seen before. The 323's (fitted flare) by BR. Bracelet - heavy metal braided chain from Ann Taylor (bought on clearance a couple of years ago). Not seen, my 1996 BB Dakota cropped black leather jacket. Even though it's from '96, it still looks contemporary.

Another one from the vaults,

Loved this song, from the album, "Starfish" (1988) by Australian band, The Church. That same album also spawned the atmospheric and moody hit, "Under the Milky Way". Steve Kilbey's vocals are so amazing and I love the chiming neo-psychedelic guitars. The Church were so under-rated and underappreciated.

Just added this video per Thane's suggestion. I have to admit, I'd never heard this song before, "Reptiles and Samurai" by the awesome Oingo Boingo:

Thanks Thane!

Carbs and sugar galore!

Here's a recap of the dessert I bought at the recent San Diego Food Blogger Bake sale.

I forgot to mention in my previous post that the bake sale had sweets of all kinds. You could choose from cupcakes, homemade candy, cookies, brownies, and even treats for dogs! There were also a few sugar free items, gluten free and vegan for those who have special dietary needs. I got the full on sugar desserts!

It was so hard choosing something to bring home...

Def Leopard...

I've been trying to wear my shoe collection. Since we have only a few weeks left of work before going on summer break, I'm breaking out the old and the new.

This is the fairly new, a pair of heels that I'm trying to get more mileage from (first seen, unceremoniously, in my Benihana's post against the dashboard. No, not like that!)...

These are by Style and Co from Macy's. I used an Xmas giftcard for these. Plus, these were on sale and since I used my Macy's card, there was an extra 15% off as well!

I thought they might be too frou-frou for me. But I liked how the leopard print was a peeptoe and had a bit of a ruffle at the toe. Naughty and nice.

Did anyone die again? No, my friends. It's just my regular uniform of black. The dress is a tiny bit loose on me since I've lost a few pounds from when I first bought it. All those military presses and dumbbell flies and curls are starting to pay off. Welcome to the Gun Show, heh.

The dress is by Ann Taylor and it was on clearance. Yo' it was $20 bones man. Can I find bargains or what. It's a simple black jersey sleeveless sheath with a gathered detail at the neck which gives it an asymmetrical edgy look. I normally don't wear dresses. I probably wear a dress about five to seven times in a year. Filipino Scholarship Luncheon. Awards Night. Scholarship Night. Prom. Graduation. Christmas. Maybe a party or two. I'm also lazy because I hate shaving my legs but I will do it if I am wearing a dress or shorts. I don't want to look like a fkg hairy animal you know. My legs are also not the same shade as my arms too but summertime should even that out. But mostly, it's jeans, Converse, and a t-shirt.

Here's an oldie from the hard rock vault. Check out how young Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee are! Sorry Mick Mars, but you were one ugly MF!

I still love this song after all these years! I should make it my theme song! Astroboi, this is for you! :)

Recent gifts...

I'd been meaning to post this last month...

I love how food bloggers gift each other with food or food related items. Last Christmas, Darlene sent me some bacon flavored toothpicks! Pure awesomeness, right?

For my birthday last month, I received a mysterious tube in the mail. I was excited once I saw whom it was from and that the tube contained Gourmet Spiced Caramel Corn.

The brand, CC Made is from San Anselmo. I wonder if she got it because it had "CC" for CanineCologne? :)  One month later, which was last week, we finally opened it up and finished it off over a couple of days. We meaning mostly me and some of Bert. TC had a few pieces but wasn't fond of the spiciness. If you're reading this, "Thanks again Darlene!"! [The whiteboard lists TC's Spring Break reading list]

Recently, I was the lucky recipient of these blood oranges straight from the backyard of Cathy of Mmm-Yoso! Isn't this nice? Something to have for breakfast! Plus my daughter really likes how red they are inside!

In addition to the blood oranges, Cathy also gave me some floral printed rice paper napkins.

These are so pretty I don't even want to use them to wipe my filthy greasy lips after mealtime! Ha ha. But seriously, these napkins are quite beautiful and I just want to lay them out on the counter for all to admire.

Tokidoki at Yogurtland and It's It from Vons!

We headed back towards the Vons parking lot where we left our cars earlier to the mercy of El Cajon Blvd. C was kind enough to drive us all over town that day.

Here is a painted greenbox on the corner of Montezuma Drive and College Avenue.

Food Blogger Bake Sale in PB

After our fabulous lunch at Alforon, we headed over to PB. Yeah, PB on a Saturday! Fun traffic!

Actually, it wasn't that bad.  Here's a place I've always wondered about, The Nite Owl...

Alforon

On El Cajon and 60th is a tiny strip mall. It's right next to San Diego Desserts. Look for this sign (below). You can park in the parking lot (kind of small and it's one way only) or on the street.

Yes! Alforon was now open!

Vine Ripe Market

This weekend, I had the pleasure of meeting two fellow foodbloggers, both named "C": the first is from CAB Cooks and the other is a guest blogger on a very popular blog in San Diego.

Our original plan to was have an early lunch at Alforon on El Cajon, which was supposed to open at 10 am. Well, it wasn't, so to kill time, we headed over to Vine Ripe Market which is adjacent to Chili's off
of Fletcher Parkway.

The Ferry ride back...

Finally, it was time to board this thing! To refresh your memory, the ferry boat is called, the "Chi-Cheemaun" which means "Big Canoe" in the Ojibwe language. Call me juvenile, but I can picture a Jamaican dude saying, "Hey mon, let's ride the Chi-Cheemaun"....Okay, lame, but yeah...

South Baymouth - The Ferry landing and snacks...

While on our way to the ferry landing (just five minutes away from their farm), wewanted to see this, the Little Schoolhouse Museum. Unfortunately, it was closed since it wasn't full on summer season yet. Just like that Island Fish and Chips place.

Even though the ferry wasn't leaving until 3:50, we wanted to get lined up by 1 pm...

More of the Farm...

Bert took these photos of their barn...

Bales of hay for the cattle...

TC  and J (C's husband) and Chance the dog (pronounced the French way):