La Michoacana + AmPm Freeze Drinks

After my aunt's service, we went to the reception at my cousin's house. She is considered my second cousin since her father is my dad's cousin (their fathers are brothers)...When her parents were first married and came to the United States, the first place they stayed was my parents' house. In fact, in my aunt's memorial slide show, there is a photo where I recognized our house's ornate gold framed mirror along with my mom next to my uncle and aunt. That photo was taken in 1984.

My aunt was taken too soon; she was only 57 and had been a nurse for over 30 years. Diagnosed with cancer in early August, she soon passed away before the end of that same month. It was very touching to hear all of the testimonials from her friends, co-workers and fellow choir members. Although I hadn't seen her in over 10 years, I will never forget her kindness and generosity. They always made special trips to San Diego and even went to our wedding twenty years ago.

It was already 102F when we left the lunch reception in Moreno Valley. We wanted to have an icy dessert before heading back to San Diego...

Prior to our trip, I researched "ice cream" in Moreno Valley and this place, La Michoacana popped up.  The town of Tocumbo in Michoacan, a state in Mexico is the originator of  paletas ('shovel' in Spanish). Tocumbo is also where the late Senor Juan Andrade is from (beloved owner of Oasis Ice Cream Parlour in south San Diego). There are also three neverias (ice cream shops) with the moniker, Neveria Tocumbo in San Diego. Below, a sculpture of a paleta, complete with spinning globe with paletas, in Morelia, capitol city of Michoacan.

(photo courtesy of LaPaginaNoticias)

That sculpture is so AWESOME! Every city should have something quirky like that!

I really liked seeing the photos of the paletas on that four lettered site. Many of them depicted fruit embedded in the paletas. I know Oasis doesn't do it like that but I knew we had to come here to give it a try. La Michoacana was a fairly new place. In fact, they were celebrating their one year anniversary the day of our visit. A local Latino radio station was out front giving out prizes and a line was out the door of the ice cream place.


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Many of the patrons were Mexican but we did spot a few Filipinos (I'm pretty sure they were; I heard snatches of Tagalog from an older Lolo). I like being the ethnic minority

Everyone was there for the same thing - icy cold refreshment. Whether it was ice cream, raspados, chamangos or paletas...everyone seemed to be in good spirits despite the busy atmosphere.

They had two lists of their paletas (waterbased and creambased). Bert chose Mango (plain and not wit chili or anything else in it) while I got a mixed fruit one with a kiwi embedded in it. Look at those choices. The paletas were also $1.99. Much better than Viva Pops which, last time I was there several years ago, was selling their frou-frou/hipster popsicles for $3 (it's probably even higher now). For comparison, Oasis sells their waterbased paletas for $1.65 and their creambased paletas $1.75. Not bad.

So many choices and only one stomach.


A mangoneada being made...

Their ice cream selection was also quite awesome. They even had a tequila with almonds flavor!





Our selections - The one in the middle was TC's, a cream based mint Oreo paleta.

Unfortunately, hers broke in half after a few bites (the creambased seemed to be "softer") and made it a very messy to eat. It kind of ruined her eating experience. She also did not like the flavor of the ice cream because it tasted too artificial, like mint toothpaste. I offered to get her another one but she said she would just have that one.

Bert's Mango:

Unlike TC's, Bert's mango paleta did not taste artificial. The fruit flavors rang fresh and true.

My mixed fruit paleta with bits of pineapple, strawberry and kiwi. This not only looked beautiful but tasted just as good as it looked.


So refreshing!

Before we drove down, we bought gas at a local AM/PM, also on Alessandro Blvd. I laughed at the name because he is the hunky forbidden Indian love of the title character in Helen Hunt Jackson's "Ramona". We had to read that book in 8th grade Honors English. Our class even took a field trip to Hemet to watch the play, which is REALLY big deal in this area along with the famous "Ramona Pageant". The book has been adapted into movies, plays and even a Mexican telenovela. Anyhow, yeah...the origins of the street being named Alessandro.  You're welcome.



7-11 may have Slurpees, but AmPm has the Freeze.  While Bert got gas, TC and I went to in get these slushie drinks (sugar water really). The Blue Raspberry was mine; The Sour Green Apple Watermelon was Bert's while TC got a mix of the cola with the blue raspberry. I should have gotten some of the Cherry for variety. I thought the green apple watermelon was too sour for me but Bert really liked the flavor.

Only  .99 for the 22 oz size.

Heading home...104F!

When we got home, it was the high 90's in Chula Vista which wasn't much better. We got home by 4 pm and were able to relax sufficiently despite the sticky heat.

La Michoacana
24430 Alessandro Blvd, #112
Moreno Valley, CA 92553
(951) 485-2542

Here's their Fb page and take gander at the reviews from you know where (their paletas with real chunks of fruit look so amazing!) + foursquare

One week of Fall Break is done. One more week to go...