Indiscriminate medley of photos...

End of the month already?

Once again, clearing out the odds and ends on the good ole memory card...

Macaron ice cream sandwiches

This will be a short and sweet post...

featuring some ice cream macaron sandwiches that my sister gave me...

LAX-C

Directly across from Mae Ting's dessert stand was the entrance of LAX-C....

curiously covered with murals of  Indians on horses, which was a bit incongruous considering this was a restaurant supply warehouse that specializes in imported Thai goods...

Mai Ting's Coconut Cakes

Located just outside of the LAX-C warehouse and between an abandoned and gutted building (known as the Kelite Building) is a cluster of umbrellas sheltering a Thai food stand known as Mae Ting's...

which is only open during the weekends and is known for their coconut custard cakes (kanom krok)...

We knew we had to try this little snack before we did anything else that day...

Chimney Brick Toast Coffee House

Our eventual destination would have to wait since they wouldn't be open until 11 am. So, until then, we planned to check out this indstrial area that's located on the outskirts of Chinatown known as The North Industrial District of Los Angeles.

Located within the LAX-C building were other shops around the perimeter...

In fact, Wandering Chopsticks recommended this place for their specialty item...

Asia Cafe updates their menu

Yesterday before heading over to the hell known as Fashion Valley mall (I needed to look for new eyeglass frames), we had lunch at one of our favorite spots...

Same old exterior, but wait, what's this?

Their menu has been updated after how many years!

Let us compare...

Highlights from our LA Road Trip

Yesterday, we took an impromptu mini road trip to LA...

Our particular destination was Chinatown, but not for Chinese food or trinkets or such...

Nephew #1 turns 17

Last weekend, my sister's oldest (nephew #1) turned 17...

What's a Filipino birthday party without pancit (as seen above) and freshly sliced (and deseeded) calamansi...

Return to Romesco's Mexiterranean for lunch

Just as I had hoped...

Our planning calendar meeting day culminated in a working lunch over at Romesco's...

The future SFFCC and Victoria Manolo Draves Park

As we wandered the SoMa looking for La Boulange earlier...

I noticed a building across Mission street with a big black board...

Tribute to Dr. Fred Cordova

This is a belated post that I meant to publish in early 2014...

If there was any book that changed my life, this was it:

Sadly, the author, Fred Cordova passed away a few days before Christmas and after hearing the news, it really  hit me how much his book made an impact on me more than twenty years ago...

La Boulange - Yerba Buena

Before driving off in our car to see the Golden Gate Bridge, we made a quick stop to a local bakery...

which WASN'T here (photo above). I took the photo because it has Inday Filipino Kitchen on the sign!

This was a busy area in the Financial District...

Dessert at Blush once again...

Astroboi and I were originally going to go to the Food Blogger Bake Sale in PB but spent more time in Mission Hills without realizing that they would be closing up soon (as alerted by Mary)...

Plan B was over in Kearny Mesa...

where we passed by what used to be U-Mart (the old Zion Market), which is now Hana Mart...

Our dessert destination was supposed to have it's "grand opening" today...

Meshuggah Shack

At night, this sign looks quite cool...

Astroboi and I thought we'd check what was "on the other side"...

Enjoying the pretty lavender blooms of the jacarandas...

Return to the Ferry Building - Humphry Slocombe

Trudging along the Embarcadero in the hot sun wasn't my idea of fun, but we wanted to get back so we could do some other stuff that afternoon. We still had dinner plans with my former student who is now a musician.

Back at the Ferry Building, we encountered crowds...

and a long line at our next stop, Humphry Slocombe, which replaced a gelato shop...

Lunch at Pier Market, Pier 39

After seeing the boisterous and rather pungent smelling sea lions on the other side of the wharf...

we looked around to see where we could have a quick lunch snack.   I thought the store above was cool, especially since I am a lefty myself...

TC was dead set on having clam chowder in a bread bowl, so we went here...

to a place that was both a tourist trap and also one that was voted "Best Seafood in SF", Pier Market at Pier 39.

Return to M-Theory

We thought we'd check out the used record and cd place up on Washington St.

I hadn't been here in awhile and we were both curious to see what they had in their racks...

I was hoping they would have their buy one get one free sale like last time, but...

Return to Gelato Vero Caffe's brunch

After my donut break at Donut Panic with Cathy, I headed over to Astroboi's place nearby...

He lives just up the hill from Grantville...and I totally needed to use his bathroom.

Coffee, you know...

Cuppa Cuppa Drive-Thru Espresso Bar & Return to Donut Panic

Before meeting up at Donut Panic with the ever so flexible Cathy, I stopped by a nearby coffee drive-thru...

It's in the same strip mall as Chamorro Grill and Mr. Chick....

This would be my second time doing a coffee drive thru...

Romesco's - the Reboot

Yesterday, my friends and I were wanting to try something different for lunch...

One of them suggested Romesco's, a place I hadn't been to in at least five years...

and definitely before everyone started salivating about "Baja Med" and "Mex Fusion" and all those buzz words that so-called "foodies" get wet about...

Max Cup

[Update - This place is now CLOSED as of June 2015 and replaced with Otay Lake Pho]

To make the Eastlake "trifecta" complete, having been to the two newest additions to the strip mall...

TC and I went to check out the new boba place...

Which Wich, Eastlake

Located at this strip mall anchored by Vons...

is yet another new restaurantfast casual eatery in the Eastlake area, Which Wich. I've already posted on the newest Project Pie next door...

Both of these restaurants took over the former space for D'lish (which used to be a bbq joint, and before that, a previous incarnation of D'lish).

The first time we visited was during the height of the lunch hour...

Project Pie, Eastlake

About a month ago, the second Project Pie opened in Chula Vista...

East Chula Vista that is...

I was here recently with a few friends with a coupon burning a hole in my pocket...

House of 9 Dragons

[Update - Closed as of Summer 2015 - It is now a wings place]

One of our friends wanted to have lunch at this Bonita mainstay, House of 9 Dragons.

I hadn't been here in a long long time, like pre-blogging days, which makes is pre-2006. I think it has been more than a decade come to think of it...

Golden House Chinese Restaurant

The second half of Mother's Day was spent down south. First we visited my parents and then we took out Bert's mom to a local Chinese restaurant...

With us was Bert's older bro. Everyone with the exception of myself had been to this place before...

Zooies Cookies

It turns out that the picnic potluck had some good stuff after all!  In addition to hamburgers, homemade chapchae, salt and pepper wings, and pork menudo, someone brought these...

The younger kids were all abuzz with the arrival of these boxes...

Vintage Religion + Tomboctou return

[Update - Vintage Religion is now closed as of Summer 2014; they still have an online shop]

Before heading home, I asked Bert if we could check out this store off of University Ave and 32nd...

I see it all the time right before I head south on the freeway so it was about time to finally check it out...

Return to Coffee Tea & Collective

With a bonafide coffee drinker with me, on we went to the "&" hipster coffee joint...

located just around the corner from the Belching Beaver Tasting Room...

Pizza + the Belching Beaver Tasting Room

Near the corner of Grim and University....

is Fatboy Corner Store & Deli, which carries a big selection of fancy sodas. I just now noticed the new vertical deer painting.

Looks like they covered the old "Beer & Cocktails" sign...

(photo from my Around North Park...", December 2013 post)

Bert and I were planning to meet up with the Horns...

Third time's a charm - Mother's Day dessert @ Blush

I'd been wanting to come back here again...

Bert and TC were happy to indulge my whims yesterday since it was Mother's Day, but even if it wasn't, they wouldn't have minded coming here again...

Mother's Day Lunch @ Que Huong 2014

Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful mom...

(circa 1961 at the Teacher's Ball, Zaragoza, San Vicente, Philippines)

My mother graduated from the University of Santo Tomas (a Catholic university which predates Harvard) in three years and at age nineteen, was the youngest school teacher in her province...

Donut Panic

Earlier this morning, I made the drive up to Grantville, that neighborhood near the Kaiser Permanente Zion Hospital...

Located in the stripmall with the (crappy) Soup Plantation that's stuck in a 70's time warp...

is the newest incarnation of what used to be Sunshine Donuts...

Happy Hour @ Cafe 21, Adams

Earlier this evening, we thought we would give Cafe 21 on Adams another try...

I really liked their Happy Hour at the Gaslamp and we wanted to go to the original location especially since the tapas are $1 less than the Gaslamp's...

Nijiya and Sage Cake with Kirbie

During last weekend's meetup with Kirbie we agreed to meet over at Nijiya Market...

It had been awhile since I'd been here and I was pleasantly surprised to see three large tables at the front of the store...

Walking along the Embarcadero and heading towards Pier 39

The last time we were at Pier 39 was nearly 10 years ago...

TC was but a wee tyke back then...and we've avoided that tourist trap ever since. However, it WAS on our daughter's list of "to visit" places so off we went by foot to enjoy the bayfront and trek over to tourist hell...

85C Bakery @ Chino Hills

I thought we would try going to a certain 24 hour donut shop in Glendora, just a half hour drive away...

The 210 was a horrendously jam packed freeway in some part...

Unfortunately, I should have checked ahead because...

The Ferry Building - Boccalone Salumeria, Miette Patisserie, & Blue Bottle Coffee

When Thane used to live within walking distance, we would visit the Ferry Market Building quite often...

Going in the morning when all the shops and eateries are just opening up is quite nice since there are no crowds and you can go about your business without bumping into anyone...

Day 3 - Bay Area Road Trip: Heading into SF

One of the best pieces of advice we got was, "Stay in the carpool lane"...

Getting out of El Cerrito onto the I-80 was a breeze....

EurAsia

After our foray to Solano Ave, we headed back to Thane's house to relax a bit before dinner...

Eurasia was the place we originally meant to eat first but I thought it was closed.  Well, it wasn't, so dinner it would be for tonight..

Trio - The Pie Whole, Pressed Juicery & Cool Haus

Right next to Intelligentsia Coffee was this trio of shops:

We actually didn't go in through the front, but through the back of Intelligentsia which connects...