Viva Pops and Mariposa

While we were waiting to get our table at Tao, we sat down in these bright cherry red chairs next door to Tao. They belonged to this shop, Viva Pops.

Hmmm, we were curious...

I liked how the starburst pattern of their logo is pattern like the one behind the Virgin of Guadalupe. This particular mural was tkaen somewhere in the Mission District in San Francisco during our trip last month (which I still have to finish those series of posts).

View from inside - there were patterns on the windows. Across the street is an old movie theatre that's been converted into a fabric shop. Inside the colors were candy like. There was also a string of lights framing the window with little popsicles covering the tiny bulbs! Too cute!

There was a diorama on the counter made by school children. They used recylced items for this art project. I ended upchatting with the lady working the counter. Jill Altmann, the owner wasn't in that evening. The woman and her son were chatting with a another customer and her two kids.

Viva Pops is a "popsicle" store, not really ice cream. The flavors are all natural and the bars are handmade. At $2.50 each, they are a bit pricy, but TC used her own money for this (again, thank you Grandpa!). She really wanted to try the Mango Passionfruit bar. Bert and I were saving our appetites for Mariposa (yes, again) down the street. They have a lot of really cool flavors as you can see.

Here's that Mango Passionfruit bar...it had a nice fresh flavor to it. Very fruity and intense.

I bought a few pins too. The one in the upper right corner had a smiling blue popsicle with the words, "I'll melt with you". These same pins were also available as shirts and there were the original art prints on the walls too. Awwww, so cute.

I got cavities just looking at these smiley cartoon popsicles. I wanted to fart rainbows and prance around sprinkling fairy dust while skipping to William Shatner singing, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"! If you haven't heard his craptastic version of that classic Beatles song before, just youTube and listen to the aural ear fuckery that is Capt. Kirk mangling the Beatles in his own inimitable way. This song by the way is also featured in Rhino Records classic compilation, "Golden Throats" in which celebrities from the 60's and 70's warble horrid cover versions of popular songs. Play it one time for laughs or for clearing out your parties of unwanted guests. Or, if you have a twisted sense of humor like me, enjoy it for what it's worth!

This was Bert's first time to Mariposa...

Sign on the wall that I liked...

Here's our cups - I got the peanut butter fudge with black cherry. Bert got the coffee and the Mexican chocolate.

So creamy and so good...


Here's another song from my CD mix from TORC, "The One That I Love" by Big Country from their 1993 album, "The Buffalo Skinners".

Kinda sad about lead signer Stuart Adamson. He committed suicide by hanging himself in November 2001. So tragic.

And not to be a Debbie Downer, here's another more upbeat song from a different cd mix TORC made for me when I was recovering from my treatment a couple of years ago. It's one of my fave mixes because she put a lot of songs on there to cheer me up. This is one of my fave quirky songs by Georgia natives, the B-52's:

"Hello I'm Suzy, I'm a Pisces! I like chihuahas and Chinese noodles!"

"La la lalala
La la lalala
La la lalalalala!"

JNC Pinoy Foodmart

Ah, the local Filipino food joint...It used to be called Pacific Food Mart back in the mid 90's. Then in the early 2000's, this whole little building complex burned down. The flower shop Duffodils never returned once the complex was rebuilt. The Domino's is still there but the copy shop is gone and now there is a computer repair place. Turns out that there was "faulty wiring" in the Filipino place that caused the fire. Sucks eh.

Anyhow, the place has new owners with a new name. I like going here to get snacks or last minute ingredients like Mama Sita's mixes (Afritada, Menudo, Sinigang - Tamarind and Guava flavors), or Magnolia ice cream (now that nearby North Park Produce stopped carrying Filipino ice creams), and food from their steamtables. They always have a good selection. On weekends, they have a outside grill on for grilled pork or chicken skewers.

This is in the same strip mall that is right in front of Southwestern College. There used to be a Henry's here but now the store is vacant. There is also Yokoz (which sux royally since the owners changed! Don't go there!) and Pho Convoy Noodle House (our "go to" Vietnamese place when I don't want to cook).

I had TC along with me after picking her up from school. I needed some sinigang packets and was looking for ube jam (which they didn't have unfortunately). Here's a shot of their steam tables. They had so many good choices there (adobo, sisig, sinigang, fried fish, menudo, afritada, mechado, bittermelon with shrimp, pinakbet, pancit, longanisa, lumpia and fkng a - they had dinuguan!!!!)....

What I wanted to try was their Sariwang Lumpia ("fresh" lumpia", meaning not fried; the wrappers are also different).

Here it is...this is an item you will hardly see in Filipino places. Usually wrapped with wax paper, fresh lumpia consists of a thin crepe wrapped around sauteed juliened carrots and sweet potato, pork, shrimp, celery, and served with a sweet soy-garlic sauce (cornstarch based).

I've seen some recipes that call for "ubod" which are coconut palm hearts. You can buy them canned here. When we were young, my mom used to make fresh lumpia on special occasions. She made the wrappers so paper thin on her electric skillet. Her sauce was so damn good too. She also put green beans in there. As you probably figured out, every mom does it differently.

Here's the "fresh" lumpia opened up. I didn't like how they wrapped the waxed paper. I'm used to it just encasing the roll, not folded and tucked into it, forcing you to open it and making it kind of messy to eat and ruining the look. At least for me. It still tasted good.

I love all the different vegetables in there along with the crunchy peanuts. These were $2.99 each. TC drowned hers in the sauce. She never had this type of lumpia before which is why I got one for each of us. Plus, I was kind of hungry!

Here's some of the Mama Sita's and Knorr mixes I bought ranging from .80 to .90 each.

And just like the dude at Leocynn's Lumpia, JNC also had a shelf with religious figures. The 2nd one is Our Lady of Penafrancia (the Patroness of Bicol, a region in the Philippines known for their spicy food such as the "Bicol Express"). The third one is the Santo Nino. Don't know what the first and last figurines are. I'm a bad Catholic. Ha ha. Well, growing up, even though we went to church every Sunday, our parents at least didn't force us to do the rosary or have a shrine with statues, flowers or the Santo Nino. We weren't that religious actually.

The last time I had Sariwang Lumpia was at a friend's baby's birthday party. His mother made it and when I saw the huge tray laden with the wrapped fresh lumpias with the lettuce peeking out, my stomach did cartwheels of joy. It's just not that common of a party food because it is kind of time consuming to make, but it's really worth it to eat it!!! This is one Filipino food that I really like eating but hardly ever do because it's so hard to find. I'd pick this over fried lumpia!

Do any of you like certain Filipino dishes and if so, what are they and why do you like them?

More songs from the CD that TORC made me:


Prefab Sprout comes from, of course, England, the country with the coolest bands EVER! This hidden gem is the second song from their 1985 album, "Steve McQueen". Man, I have to hand it to TORC for introducing me to these bands. Of course, these songs are from the 80's, so it's right up my era. After the 90's, music really started to go downhill in my opinion.

The Go-Betweens were from Australia (another country which produces cool bands like AC/DC, the Church, the Divinyls, Jet, Icehouse, Silverchair, and Wolf Mother). "Right Here" came out during my junior year in high school, 1986 (the same year Bert and I watched our first movie, "Pretty in Pink" in the theatres). I could kick myself for not even knowing about this band. The video says "1987" but I looked up their discography and this song came out in 1986. So there.

Pizzeria Luigi & Eclipse

For Halloween lunch, we decided to finally try this place out, Pizzeria Luigi on El Cajon. It's right next to Eclipse Chocolate and right around the corner from Alabama Street which has Mama's Bakery and Lesbianese Deli.

There were so many choices. Good thing all three of us were here. My mind was already scheming on how to "maximize" our choices. The lunch special is $6 for 2 slices of pizza and a soda. Sounds a'ight to me. So....

I snuck in some photos while Bert ordered our slices...It was Charger game day and yes, we won against the Tennessee Titans, which has localboy and Filipino American offensive lineman, Eugene Amano, who hails from the RB area. Because not enough tickets were sold, the game was BLACKED OUT so Bert had to just listen to the radio in the car and at home to get the details on the game.

There's two locations of Pizzeria Luigi - Golden Hill and this one. We'll have to try the other location one day.


These were my two slices - Spinach with ricotta cheese and Ricotta with mushrooms. Sofa King Good!!! Loved the texture of the cheese. The only thing I didn't like was the end of the crust - too hard. But I loved how thin the crust was and the slice wasn't so big that I would need to fold it.

Here are TC's choices - the Pineapple with Ham and the Sausage with Olives, which I ended picking off her plate when she wasn't looking. Fk, okay, when she WAS looking! She's not an olive fan anyways!

Bert got Sausage and Cheese along with the Three Meat Pizza (ground sausage, pepperoni slices and  sliced sausage!). The three meat slice was great! I wish they would make that but with spinach on top.

Just let your eyes gaze upon these slices of perfection...

Huminah huminah...(and welcome to the Gun Show!)

Of course, we had to have dessert too and since it was right next door and since we didn't want to drive anywhere else, we went to Eclipse. I've been there so many times, I can't even count and I don't feel like hyperlinking my past visits, although one memorable time was back in April with the Educator GF's took me out for my birthday. That was the same day as the fkg table fiasco at Que Huong.

We got the Cocoa Nib Rocher  ("Roh roh roh! Say that in a pretentious French accent) which they touted as "vegan" and "gluten free", but I didn't give a flying fk about those qualities because I'm not a vegan and I am not allergic to wheat products. I wanted it because it looked like an anemic cow patty with tiny little brown sprinkles on top. Plus, it was kind of merenguey (yes, I just made up that word dammit). It was $2 and super sweet. In fact, so sweet that we could only manage a few bites before boxing it up as leftovers.

This was the Burnt Caramel Marshmallow cupcake. First of all, the marshmallow is not really the main event. It's just the topper. But it's a handmade marshmallow which TC devoured. She wasn't too crazy about the filling, which I really enjoyed. The caramel had that nice "burnt" flavor which tasted awesome with the dark chocolate cake and the ganache frosting. I only finished half of this. Too sweet.

Bert's cupcake was the Espresso - complete with espresso beans on top. Very nice and bitter. The cupcake, not Bert.

There's that Rocher again...Wacka wacka wacka!

The Eclipse employees were getting ready for their 3rd Anniversary Dinner so they were cleaning up and getting the tables ready.

Would we go back to Pizzeria Luigi? A definite yes. We plan to try the other types of pizza and Bert wants to try some of their beer selection as well...

Who else ate at this location of Pizzeria Luigi?

Roger from The Fifth Deadly Sin went here back in July 2008
and Darwin and Ange from Eat, Darwin, Eat! went this summer...

While these folks went to the Golden Hill location:
Mary from Foodies - A Southern California Food Blog
Ms Cinda from Cherry Blossoms in my Dreams

and the Food Ho from The Pork Porn Pages went back in early Jan 2009 but I didn't know if it was the Golden Hill or El Cajon Blvd location.

Songs that are running through my mind right now:
"Honeydrip" by Ian McCullough (former lead singer of Echo and the Bunnymen - I love his voice!)
and "Tears" by The Chameleons UK (a postpunk British band that I should know about, but sadly didn't).

OMG! ALL of the BEST 80's bands are from the UK!!!


These songs are courtesy of a CD that TORC made for me and I must say that she outdid herself. I only knew about 3 or 4 songs on that whole CD! She included some bands I hadn't heard of or weren't too familiar with like the Chameleons UK along with Prefab Sprout and Julian Cope. She also threw in some obscure ditties by Gary Numan (no, not the song "Cars"), Big Country (no, not "In a Big Country"), Gang of Four, Killing Joke, and the Lightning Seeds. TORC, your musical taste is just as awesome as mine! (Thank you, thank you verrry much said in slurred Elvis accent)

CD Mix my friend made me

During my last chemo, I texted my friends that I was going to "kick cancer in the 'nads". I originally wanted to text "nuts" but decided against it because it might have been too vulgar for some of the other text recipients. When I think of 'nads, I think of that Australian waxing product. Anyways, my good friend (she's one of my educator gal pals; we recently went to Eclipse last month) made me a CD mix of songs she thought would cheer me up. She is so awesome! We met 15 years ago at an Filipino American educators' anniversary dinner. She can speak Spanish, is one of my few friends that listens to and enjoys Rock en Espanol (and she's not of Hispanic descent either, not that you have to be), and loves going out to eat at different restaurants with me and our other friends.

She is also of the few friends that I have who share a similar wavelength in terms of musical knowledge and trivia. We were talking last month about how we are both female educators with Masters degrees, consider ourselves to be pro-woman, yet we still like misognystic rock bands/songs from the 80's! Motley Crue anyone? Early Van Halen? AC/DC? However, her musical taste is a little more diverse than mine and over the years we've been friends, I always learn something new whenever I'm riding in her car listening to whatever she had in the tape/cd (and now IPOD) deck or whenever we traded CD mixes (remember tape mixes? ha) with each other. So here goes the playlist along with selected (blather) commentary...

Thank goodness there are no insipid and flaccid inspirational ballads in here either (Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and their ilk). Thank you!

Kick 'Em in the 'Nads Mix
Summer 2008

Song for a Future Generation - The B-52's
Wow, how did she know that this is one of my favorite B-52's songs? "Wanna be ruler of the galaxy...wanna be the king of the universe...Let's meet and have a baby now!"

Getting Better- The Beatles
One of the "happier" sounding songs from the "Sgt. Pepper" album. Although, if you listen to the lyrics, Lennon says he used to be "cruel to his woman".

Stayin' Alive- The Bee Gees
The brilliant opening song of the classic disco movie, "Saturday Night Fever". I wonder why people thought the Bee Gees were so hot and hunky back then. I know they sported the "open to the navel" big collared satin shirts which showed off their chests along with a gleaming gold medallion nestled amongst their chest hair. Yet their singing voices were falsettos. Falsettos don't remind me of manly men. I think of eunuchs or Prince (but Prince is different!). All right Barry, Robin and Maurice! Rock those skin tight Angel Flights and platform shoes.

By Your Side - The Black Crowes
Not much of a Big Crowes fan but I can see why she put the song in...

I Still Believe - The Call
I totally forgot about this song. This was one of their few songs played on the radio besides "Walls Came Down" and "Let the Day Begin". When I was reading the Wikipedia entry on the call, it mentioned that this song was included in the soundtrack for "The Lost Boys". (tangent alert) Remember that film? Corey Haim? Corey Feldman? Jason Patric? And let's not forget Kiefer Sutherland as the evil vampire in that flick! Actually, I have that soundtrack and only remember one gem off that album which was Echo and the Bunnymen's deliciously faithful and dark cover of The Doors' classic "People are Strange".

Times Like These- The Foo Fighters
Love this song. Dave Grohl is awesome.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot- Pat Benatar
Yes, I liked this song in 6th grade (dating myself there!). Pat Benatar was one of the few women musicians that I admired back in the day, along with Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders. Then, this song got overplayed and got boring after hearing it the 100th time on 13k and the Mighty 690! C'mon! You know you listened to those radio stations!

Eye of the Tiger- Survivor
Okay, even though I don't like Survivor, I know why she put this song in this mix. I think this song was in one of the Rocky movies. Sylvester Stallone is so gross and 'roided up. I can't believe he made Rocky V (or was it 100?). Uhhh...straight to video (I mean, DVD)! This song is the king of cheesiness!

Life's What You Make It- Talk Talk
This is one of those "learn something new" moments. I admit that the only songs I knew by Talk Talk were "Talk Talk" and "It's My Life", the latter song recently remade by Gwen Stefani.

Gettin' Better - Tesla
My friend is also a rocker like me. No wonder we get along so well! She knows I totally dig on Tesla. This is one of my favorite Tesla songs (besides "Love Song" and "Modern Day Cowboy"). Jeff Keith has got one of the most distinctive voices in rock. This song reminds me of my early college days, when I was the only chick in my Guitar elective class. The other female was an older woman who was totally into Blind Faith and Jethro Tull. The other guys were thrash metal freaks, which I think irked the teacher because he did not equate "playing fast" (a la Yngwie Malmsteen, Paul Gilbert of Racer X, Anthrax, Metallica, etc) as being "good".

Little Suzi - Tesla
Another kick ass song!

Little Fighter - White Lion
This was a band that I didn't want to admit that I liked back when they were popular. I was irritated by the plethora of mass produced glam/metal hair bands in the late 80's. Their album "Pride" had a few other catchy tunes, like this one, "Wait" and "Tell Me". Mike Tramp had a cool head of hair back then. Pretty boy. I YouTubed him recently. He's still performing but not as White Lion. Time has treated him well. He still looks relatively good! Love his Danish accent. Their guitarist, Vito Bratta, is underrated. Unfortunately that's what happens when you get stuck in a hairband in the 80's and live in the shadow of being an Eddie Van Halen wanna-be.

I Need Novocaine - Greenday
Another band I don't really listen to. They are kind of like whiny neo-punks but I think she may have put this in for humor's sake.

Dig - Incubus

Nellie the Elephant - The Toy Dolls
When I did the Wikipedia link, I was surprised that the Toy Dolls were an older punk band. I should have known something like that. I feel like I've been living in a cave and aurally tortured by songs of Kenny G, Yanni and John Tesh. This song is kind of funny too.

Happy Boy - The Beat Farmers
Wow! I'm surprised she had this song! I haven't heard this in years! The KGB morning show in the late 80's used to play this song ALL THE TIME! As I read the Wikipedia entry, it listed the specific DJ's, Jim McIness and Pat Martin. I used to love listening to Pat Martin - he had a cool voice and played so many cool rock songs back then. For you non San Diegans, the Beat Farmers were a local band featuring animated frontman, Country Dick Montana, who was often a guest on the radio morning show. Hearing "Happy Boy" made me smile.

Luna

The Killing Moon (All Night Version) Echo & the Bunnymen
Destination Moon Dinah Washington
New Moon on Monday Duran Duran
Fly Me to the Moon Louis Prima
How High the Moon Mel Torme
Bark at the Moon Ozzy Osbourne
Moon River Henry Mancini
Dancin' in the Moonlight Thin Lizzy
Moondance Van Morrison
Blue Moon Rockapella
Lazy Moon Groove Armada
Pink Moon Nick Drake
Dancing in the Moonlight King Harvest
Mr. Moonlight The Beatles
Moon Raker Shirley Bassey
Walking on the Moon The Police
The Whole of the Moon The Waterboys
Bad Moon Rising Creedence Clearwater Revival
Fly Me to the Moon Astrud Gilberto
Moonlight Sonata Beethoven

I could have used a little more Cowbell...

I've got a fever! And the only prescription is More Cowbell !!!

Actually I've made this CD a few years ago and now my playlist is being posted. I actually like most of the songs!

More Cowbell

Saturday Night Live "More Cowbell Sketch" SNL with Christopher Walken (4/8/2000)

Dance the Night Away Van Halen

Only Time Will Tell Asia

Funky Cold Medina Tone Loc

Hooked on a Feeling Blue Swede

Can't Get Enough of Your Love Baby Barry White

Alex Chilton The Replacements

Mississippi Queen Mountain

Evil Woman Electric Light Orchestra

Photograph Def Leppard

The Refugee U2

Working for the Weekend Loverboy (this was a truly heinous song!)

Shake Me Cinderella

Come on and Dance Motley Crue

You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet Bachman Turner Overdrive

It's So Easy Guns 'n Roses

She's a Lady Tom Jones

You Can't Do That The Beatles

September Earth Wind & Fire

Don't Fear the Reaper Blue Oyster Cult

Slow Jamz Vols. 1 & 2

And for those of you that think I'm just an 80's metal head, I present to you some material to heat up your Valentine's evening...Sorry, no death metal or grindcore here!

Slow Jamz - Old School
Vol. 1

Reasons Earth Wind & Fire
Treasure Brothers Johnson
You & I Switch
What's Come Over Me? Blue Magic
Betcha By Golly Wow The Stylistics
Penny For Your Thoughts Tavares
Love's Train Confunkshun
Love Over and Over Again Switch
Now That I Have You Dazz Band
One in a Million You Larry Graham
I Call Your Name El DeBarge
Still The Commodores
Love Me In a Special Way DeBarge
Love's Holiday Earth Wind & Fire
If This World Were Mine Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
For You Cameo
Always and Forever Heatwave

Slow Jamz - 80's
Vol. 2

Slow Jam Midnight Star
Time Will Reveal DeBarge
Perfect Combination Stacy Lattisaw with Johnny Gill
Two Occasions (live) The Deele
I Miss You Klymaxx
Tender Love Force MD's
A Dream DeBarge
I Promise (I Do Love You) Dreamboy
Lost in Love New Edition
Don't Go Dreamboy
Share My World DeBarge
Crushed The Controllers
Live Without Your Love Windjammer
Where Did Our Love Go? The Reddings
Lady You Are One Way
Miracles Stacy Lattisaw
International Lover Prince

Rain Songs Vols. 1 & 2

In tribute to today's sucky weather... 2 Rain Mix CD's..Encyclopedic geek that I am, songlists includes links to songs and/or artists.

Rain Songs

Vol. 1

Love Reign O'er Me The Who

Here Comes the Rain Again The Eurythmics

Red Rain Peter Gabriel

I Made It Through the Rain Barry Manilow

Only Happy When It Rains The Jesus and Mary Chain

Blame It On The Rain Milli Vanilli

Walking in the Rain The Ronettes

Laughter in the Rain Neil Sedaka

The Rain Oran "Juice" Jones ("I Saw You...and Him...Walking in the Rain)

Rhythm of the Rain The Cascades

Rain Madonna

November Rain Guns and Roses

Rain The Cult

Rain (version 1) The Beatles

The Rain Song Led Zeppelin

No Rain Blind Melon

I Can See Clearly Now Johnny Nash

Rain Songs

Vol. 2

Riders on the Storm The Doors

Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head Shonen Knife

Rain Candlebox

The Rain The Dramatics

Have You Ever Seen the Rain Joan Jett

Shadows in the Rain Sting

Don't Rain On My Parade LaToya London

Raindrops Dave Clark 5

Fool in the Rain Led Zeppelin

Come Rain or Shine Billie Holiday

Rain in the Summertime The Alarm

Endless Rain X Japan

I Love a Rainy Night Eddie Rabbitt

It's Raining Men The Weather Girls(with RuPaul)

Ain't Gonna Rain Anymore Nick Cave

Purple Rain Prince