Halloween 2013

Happy Halloween!!!

I'm doing candy duty tonight, along with TC....

Chico's and Save a lot again...

Earlier this week I was in the area (my omnipresent "excuse", heheh)...

The tamales sign was calling my name at Chico's...

Gloria's Bakery

Merely just a few minutes away in a tiny strip mall anchored by a 7-11 is another Mexican bakery...

listed only as "Bakery" on the sign...

Gloria's, a small family owned panaderia just a hop, skip and a jump away from nearby Northgate Market (which used to be El Tigre and before that, Safeway back in the 80's)....

Gonzalez Panaderia

We are down in the area every weekend and I thought we'd kill two birds with one stone. Currently obsessed with pan de muerto and Mexican bakeries, we headed over to a tiny bakery that we'd seen only in passing but never went to. Isn't that how it always is with food finds?

On our way there, we passed by the South Bay Drive-in, one of the last few remaining drive-in movie places in San Diego. The last time we saw a movie there was 20 years ago, "Wayne's World 2", ha ha!
Yeah, that was a damn long time ago. We left early and got a refund because my crappy car radio couldn't pick up the audio clearly.

Looks like they painted the back of the screens. It used to be white.

Every Sunday they have swap meets there, but I digress. The bakery turned out to be just right around the corner...

Everything is brown or orange and pumpkin flavored....

I must be one of those rare people who DON'T like fall flavors. Since September, many baking items in the stores are rife with pumpkin flavored everything. Even dog biscuits. Really?

While looking for Halloween candy decor at Target, we saw this freaky eyeball mask.

Why????  Who would buy this?  Never mind, I don't want to know!

And strike me down for not liking pumpkin flavored products, but I am just sick of pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin...

It feels even sacrilegious for me to even admit it, but I just don't really like the spices they use in pumpkin pie like cinnamon and nutmeg. Makes me wanna...

Anyways, this post has some random pix I've gathered from the past two months...

Return to Donut Stop

Like this shot? It's called a "not wanting to fully get out of my car" shot. Yeah. Well, we did return to this place after attending the literary event at Miramar College a few hours before.

It was already 9 pm and the donut joint would be closing in an hour.

I needed to see if they had what I was craving...

An Evening with Filipino American author Oscar Penaranda @ Miramar College

Instead of staying home and watching a movie as a family as we normally do on Friday nights, we  took the opportunity to support FANHS San Diego Chapter's Filipino American History Month events. In brand spanking new Building "H" (which really ought to put their signage on the outer edge of the building rather than the interior front) was a literary event that I didn't want to miss...

It had been quite a while since I last saw the author, whom I first met nearly two decades ago at a Filipino American educators conference. It would be nice to see him again and to have him sign my books as well.

For those who are not aware, Filipino American History Month is celebrated in October, based on the documentation that Filipinos were recorded as being in what is now known as the New World on October 18, 1587 by Spanish explorer Pedro de Unamuno. He recorded that several "Luzones Indios" were part of an expedition to survey the land in Morro Bay. Luzones Indios were in fact, referring to Filipinos. Luzon is one of the mainland in the Philippine archipelago while "indio" was a derogatory term given to the natives.

(image from FANHS National "About Filipino American History" tab)

So there you have it, Filipinos have been in the New World for over 400 years. We were the original Star Trek red shirts. But seriously, this is the stuff I would cite if someone ever asked me how long "our kind" has been here.

Now let's go inside now dammit...

And now another version of pan de muerto from Save a Lot....

Earlier this week I asked Bert to bring home a particular seasonal item...

(photo from my "Return to Save a Lot" post, Oct. 2013)

I wasn't sure if they'd have it but I knew they had an in house panaderia so I kept my fingers crossed...

Tan Ky Mi Gia

For our second day in supporting FANHS, SD's events, we headed up to Manilamesa Mira Mesa for an early dinner...

It looks like some sort of transit connection/bridge is currently being constructed on the 15.

The sun was ready to set while we waited in post rush hour traffic on Mira Mesa Blvd.  Our destination would be in the Lucky Seafood strip mall...

Birthday dessert for TORC @ Eclipse

We had such a fab time sampling Russian and Georgian cuisine at Kafe Sobaka and now we were ready to move on to dessert...

which was only a few minutes away in neighboring South Park...

FANHS, SD Fundraiser dinner at CPK

A few nights ago, we went out to the Otay Ranch mall for a rare dinner night out on a weekday...

It was for a fundraiser for the San Diego chapter of FANHS (Filipino American National Historical Society). Next year FANHS, SD will host the National Conference so funds needed to be raised...

"Horror Business" @ Left Hand Black

During the break, I picked up one of these postcards from an art gallery in North Park. The graphics caught my eye, but what was even more interesting to me was the content of the exhibit...

Holy $#%@ballz, a collection of handpainted knives, hatchets and cleavers?

I WAS SO GOING TO SEE THAT...

Murals at the Redwood Laundrymat

Well, since we didn't get to see the "Viva Comics!" exhibit, I had another one up my sleeve for us to visit. We headed south on 30th, passing by this liquor store with a very cool retro sign...

It happened to be across the street from this...

a random laundrymat that was nearly covered with paintings on every wall...

When we passed it by, I drove for a couple of blocks and then made a quic U-turn so TC and I could see the art up close and personal...

Return to Indulge, plus Yog-Art and Mariposa revisits

After we enjoyed our rock-centrically named sandwiches from the  awesome Classic Rock Sandwich Shoppe, TC and I walked a little bit around the block to check out some of the street art...

I also wanted to check if that tiny gourmet food shop was open...

Plan B - El Ranchero

Last week the co-workers and I were at a meeting and thought we'd go to lunch at El Charco nearby. Unfortunately, it was closed, as Kirk would find out the next day. They were closed for "remodeling". In a pinch, La Ley suggested that we eat at El Ranchero taco shop which is literally one building down from El Charco.

If you see this sign, drive past it to the run down building along the side....

This is the strip mall that is parallel to where El Charco and the defunct Tacos el Gordo.  Just drive up to the very end...

More panaderias - revisits to La Concha and Chico's

After my first foray in trying pan de muerto, I thought I'd see if any were offered at this Chula Vista institution on the outer edges of downtown...

I noticed that the sign had changed since last year. It now has a graphic of a concha on top instead of long loaves of bread, as seen in the older photo below.

(photo from my November 2012 post on La Concha)

If there weren't pan de muerto, I knew I would find at least a few other pastries to take home for Bert and TC to enjoy...

Pan de muerto and more from Moreliana Panaderia

After seeing Cathy's recent post on pan de muerto (linked at the end of this post), which is a traditional bread used to celebrate Dia de los Muertos, I thought it was high time to finally try one of those at my favorite panaderia...

We're usually in the South Bay on the weekend, so TC and I headed there to check it out...

Kafe Sobaka Restoran Pomegranate

One month after TORC's real birthday, we finally took her out to lunch...

at a venue of her choice in the Golden Hill neighborhood. I was doing somersaults in my mind because the place she chose was a place I'd been curious about for the past year...

Tap that! Tap Tap Boba

[Update - As of late 2015, Tap Tap is now VaniTea Cafe]

(This is a two in one post. The first half is another semi-guest post; once again photos courtesy of Bert and text by yours truly and the second part is from today's visit with TC)

When I got the mail a few days ago, I was surprised (but secretly happy) that we got two "Get1Free" mini magazines. Double the pleasure, double the fun in trying out new places...

like this new boba place, which incidentally replaced the old Bert's Grill (no relation to my Bert, haha)...

Surprise from Coop's

[This location is now closed as of 2014]

(A semi-guest post by Bert meaning photos by Bert; text by me)

A few nights ago my husband was in the area...


picking up my brother's vacuum that we borrowed. One of the parts broke so he found a shop out in Chula Vista to fix it...

Well, since this was nearby...

Classic Rock Sandwich Shoppe

This was one of the "new" coupons in the book and luckily, to a place I really wanted to try out...

so that is what TC and I did  a few weeks ago during our recent Fall break where we went out almost every day and tried to use coupons as much as possible...

It's a few doors down from the very retro Lucky's on the corner of North Park Way and Grim. I like that this is a bit "hidden" and not on the main drag of North Park...

Cuscatlan Salvadorian Cuisine

After Baltimore Snowball, we killed some time by going to North County Fair (I know it's a Westfield mall now but I'm calling it by it's old name #$%@!)...Now that was a mall I hadn't been to in decades! Like waaaaay back in college!

Traffic wasn't so bad going back to Escondido where we planned to have dinner...

at a Salvadorian place on Grand Ave...

Once again! Honey Toast obsession...

Even though we had a tiny bit of halo halo from our friend's retirement party, we  were really craving the honey toast here...

I swear, the luck of the Honey Toast gods was upon us. We were able to find parking right in front and it wasn't even crowded inside, which was great...

See the line? That's a short line...

But really, we did score not just on parking, short lines, but also on the quick service...

Melcochas Candy

Last week one of my gal pals from the gym returned from her trip to Costa Rica...

Before she left, I asked her if she would bring me back some candy which, as you can see, she did...

I always find candy and snacks from other countries fascinating and this was no exception...

Retirement party food

One of our very good friends retired this past school year. This past weekend the educators association we belong to finally threw him a belated retirement party...

in the comfort of his beautiful home and backyard...

Happy Hour dinner and D's Nutz

Tired of eating leftovers at home and having "cabin fever", we ventured out last Friday night...

to the west side of Chula Vista. Gunco Ramen (which shares space with Kanpai) is on the corner of 3rd and Palomar and usually we just go straight on Palomar to get to the other side of CV. Sometime, I forget that the Palomar Street bridge that crosses the 805 is gone, like DEMOLISHED gone. It was part of the Darmaggedon plan that will build a direct access ramp, HOV and express lanes, and other freeway improvements.

It's also across the street from the notoriously named donut joint...but first, we were going to have some dinner...

Baltimore Snowball

Last week Bert took a day off so he could spend it with us during our last day of Fall Break. Our first stop earlier that afternoon was at Peterson's Donut Corner where we sampled a few of their cronuts then headed straight over here...

to ANOTHER dessert place...

Happy Hour at Up2You Cafe

Guess what...I just had to go during their new (and almost done) "Happy Hour" special.

The girls were quite excited since they'd been here before while KDB was open to anything...

Return to Save a Lot Market

Even though we weren't planning to go here, we were so curious to try their tacos...

plus TC and Bert wanted to try their aguas refrescas, so off we went since we were in the area...

Cookies from Milk Bar

A few weeks ago, I received some food gifts from Kirbie...

The contents of box with the stamped "Milk" logo was finally enjoyed earlier this week...

Station Tavern 3x

Lunch was across the street from the Bunny Kitty Mural, good ole Station Tavern.

I knew KDB had eaten here before and liked it, plus I knew the teens would like their burgers...

It was nice to be here on a quiet Friday morning instead of the horrendous crowded situation that was the South Park Walkabout  earlier this year....

Return to Captain Kirk's Coffee & Bunny Kitty mural in South Park

KD's brother (aka KDB) was in town for a week to spend time with family. It was nice of him to set aside some time to meet up with me, along with his niece KDD and my daughter (they've been friends since birth). He gave me carte blanche to choose our agenda for the day.

Where to? To the leafy lined streets of South Park...

MFH's birthday dessert @ Up2You Cafe

Just a few minutes later MFH and I were at our dessert destination...

One cool thing about being on vacation and going out on the weekdays was that it wasn't crowded at all...

Hot pot lunch for MFH - E & Drink revisit plus sugar cane juice

Now that I'm back to work, there will be fewer lunch outings. I'll just have to relive them through these posts...

This particular lunch was a belated bday celebration for MFH (Mi Firme Heina)...

You can't go wrong with hot pot...

Return to West Coast Cafe

As we left the beach area, we did a slow drive by the new boutique hotel, Pier South. It hasn't opened yet, but many locals are buzzing about the impending opening...

Plans to open the hotel have been delayed over the past couple of years. The old Seacoast Inn was demolished to make way for this upscale hotel which will boast an inhouse Cohn restaurant called Sea 180. Not sure how good that will be; I'm not too fond of the Cohn restos.

Room rates are projected to be $250 and up. No offense, but only tourists will pay that rate, not IB locals. The city is banking on "eco-tourists" to fork over the cash. I'm sure there will be curious locals and other folks from San Diego (us included) who might want to check it out for a staycation.

Our next destination was a local coffee shop I hadn't been to since earlier this year...

Peterson's Donut Corner

This past weekend, I thought it was about time to finally visit the famed Peterson's Donut Corner in Escondido...

Even though it's out of the way for us, we made use of our time up there by going to several other places with Peterson's being the first stop...

Yes, it's literally on the corner of 9th and S. Escondido Blvd.  It's open 24/7 and has a large selection of goodies...I'm sure they get their fair share of characters at 2 am...

Let's take a look, shall we...

Bibbey's Shells & Rocks

Before we left, Bert and the girls were goofing off on some play structures for kids while I crossed the street to take a closer look at these murals...

(This shot taken after we visited)

which are housed at a local shell shop, a local landmark here in IB...

Return to Cow-a-Bunga

At the very end of the pier are three shops, one selling beachy items like flip flops, sand toys, and boogie boards while the other two were food related which makes them a no-brainer for folks who don't want to wander too far off for food. Next to the sandwich shop is this locally owned and self-proclaimed "micro ice creamery"...

In addition to homemade ice cream, they also offered coffee drinks, Hawaiian shaved ice, sundaes, and other types of baked goods...

The girls were here for one thing only...

The Tin Fish @the Imperial Beach Pier

The last week of vacation, we took TC and her friend out to IB...

Not so long ago, the sleepy beachtown of IB was used as the backdrop for the now cancelled HBO series, "John in Cincinnati". The beach is situated at the mouth of the Tijuana River Estuary, has a cool fishing pier, interesting local characters, Star Dust Donuts (not at the beach), and more...

All we knew was that TC was excited to be near the water again while Bert and I relaxed...

Kamayan style lunch!

How do you feel about eating with your hands?

Sometime last month Bert and TC attended a "welcome party" for the new dance troupe members...

The lunch was a traditional "kamayan" style affair...