Snacks from Harvest International Market

Yesterday I thought I would get some Christmas shopping done at an ethnic grocery store I hadn't yet been...Harvest International Market in Clairemont.


This used to be North Park Produce...

A trio of ethnic markets - Seafood City, Ranch 99 and Zion

Gosh, I'm here almost every weekend I think this was later afternoon or something when it wasn't crowded...

Trying to find parking at Seafood City on a Sunday when everyone is there after church is qite the task, but at least their parking lot is more spacious than Ranch 99's...

Ethnic market roundup

Before the end of the year, I visited a number of ethnic markets. TC was with me for some of the visit as my "accomplice".

I wanted to buy some snacks and supplies for various get togethers and gifts for the season, but mostly...

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...

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...

Snacks & Sweets & other random items...

Wasn't last week a scorcher?  Wednesday was also pretty windy, starting fires all over the county.

The wind was so strong, blowing down trees, branches, and making these palm trees bend as seen at the Jaguar dealership (that's my red car in the driveway, yo') on Convoy...

Ethnic Market Round Up: Ranch 99, U-Mart (plus the new Big Joy), Thuan Phat & Northgate

It was fun to see the awesome paintings on these store doors...

These designs were some of the better ones I'd seen...

It looks like someone really took the time to paint these using shading and depicting "movement" somehow with the paint instead of looking like some flat crappy paint by numbers job.

This particular weekend saw me going to several places in search of Vietnamese coffee filters...

Gemmae Bakeshop, return to Vinh Hung & Lucky Seafood

One thing that I noticed while driving around in Mira Mesa is that it is full of strip mall. This is one I hadn't been to in awhile, the one with the Target...

I was actually here for Vinh Hung (which we refer to as "Wun Hung Low, heh heh, and yes, totally un-PC) which is behind the Target...

Stuff from Zion & our dessert from PB

No matter where I go with Astroboi, we always have fun...

It didn't matter if we were at a mall, a park, a museum exhibit, a party, or whatever. We can always make each other laugh with our silliness. Of course, ethnic markets are just rife with opportunities for amusement....

Foodland, Chula Vista

Across the ways from Fred's is Foodland, which used to be this...the old Seafood City:

(photo taken on Super Bowl Sunday, 2011 from my Seafood City on Orange and Melrose now open!" post)

I haven't been in this building since Seafood City switched to it's new digs on Orange and Melrose.

I wanted to go inside for old time's sake and also out of curiosity...food nerd that I am. Markets in general, especially ethnic grocery stores fascinate me.

Noodle J-1 with Astroboi

Earlier this week, I met up with one of my favorite people, my childhood friend, Astroboi...

at the scene of our last outing, Zion Market. We thought we'd grab something at the food court then go food/snack shopping later on...

Valerio's Tropical Bakeshop

This post is a combo of three separate visits over the past week and a half at the Seafood City in Chula Vista...

which houses a variety of other Filipino eateries and bakeries in their food court. Although Valerio's City Bakery in Otay Mesa is now gone, another Valerio's exists  at this Filipino food mecca...

La Bodega, San Ysidro

Before heading down to the San Ysidro Outlet, I took a detour on a street that ran parallel to the I-5...

I guess I never noticed the store before but something caught my eye as I sped past, then I recognized the name of the place...

Return to the Holy Land Market

A few weekends ago TC and I went out in search of a few places. Bakeries specifically.

Our first stop was here, at a strip mall near Montgomery High School in Otay Mesa. This is the strip mall anchored by CVS (formerly Alpha Beta back in the 70's) and Bank of America. It's changed over the decades and I literally have not driven in this parking lot in at least 20 years!

Unfortunately, the bakery was closed on Sunday....

I was curious about this place because there are three similarly named bakeries in the South Bay.

India Snacks & Groceries

Located not too far from Cream Pan was this Indian market that TC spied earlier.

She was attracted to the Thrifty Ice Cream sign so we made a mental note to drop by on our way out...

Wholesome Choice

After our breakfast bites at Bon Epi, I thought we could check out a nearby donut place located in this stripmall on Culver Drive...

In retrospect, I didn't even notice that it had "Wholesome Choice" an international grocery store I'd been meaning to check out....

We actually had to go to Rite Aid first for some dramamine so that TC wouldn't get car sick...

Paris Baguette, Boba Bar & Cocohodo Walnut Pastry Cafe

If you couldn't tell by the title of the post, or by looking at the produce below,

we were in Zion Market, where napacabbage and giant white radishes are DIRT CHEAP! This is definitely not Ralph's or Albertson's yo!

TC, Bert and I had a fun time showing my sis around Zion; I quite liked seeing her fill up her basket with assorted goodies (she's a good cook)...

Happy Day of the Dead - Sugar skulls from Vallarta

Today was actually a pretty beautiful day...

It was quite fitting for my Ninang's sendoff as well as for the Day of the Dead (a Mexican tradition celebrated on October 31, November 1 and 2)...

The view from La Vista Cemetery atop the hill overlooking Plaza Bonita. As for the cross in the previous photo, you can see it from the 805 freeway.

After my Ninang's burial, my sister, TC and I headed out to look for sugar skulls while Bert went back to pick up food for the reception...

Pulutan time at the Kababayan Market

Hot off the press as of 1/10/14 - Cathy was just here and saw that Kababayan is now CLOSED. However, it has since relocated near the Spring Valley area, near Leocynn's Lumpia.

We were on a mission...

a mission to get these:

Cholesterol levels be damned, we would get some o' these flavor bombs!

Mercado International 2000

Just a few minutes away was a Mexican market on the corner of Third and Orange...

Those of you who are from the South Bay might remember this market in its previous incarnation...