Return to Sarap Filipino Kitchen: Stop 2 of TORC's Birthday Crawl

Our second stop that morning was here...

at the new'ish Sarap over by the Pyramid on Miramar Road...

Easter 2017 - Seaside Buffet + new Easter Pez

Easter lunch was spent at Seaside Buffet in Mira Mesa...

chosen by my dad, we got there before they opened...

Zorba's revisit

Mr. TJ, another co-worker and I had a training nearby...

it wasn't for another hour or so and I suggested this place...

Return to Center Cut Steakhouse Breakfast Buffet

Earlier this morning D and I had breakfast which turned into a food crawl...

That's how we roll and it is always fun going on a crawl with a willing participant...

Canada 2012 - Day 8 - Breakfast buffet @ Aloft, Montreal

Having spent our first and only night at the Aloft Hotel, we were ready for a big day to explore Montreal again...

but this time in the daylight. We had an idea of what we wanted to eat that day which included some iconic Montreal fare, but first...

Karina's Enamorada

[Update - Closed and relocated to Otay Ranch mall]

A few weeks ago, the coworkers and I went to the end of the year party for our union. The bash was held here:

I first noticed this place last year when we ate at the Broken Yolk, when there was an "Opening Soon"  sign where the Brigantine used to be...

What's shakin'....

Located at the former location of Pizzeria Uno at the Chula Vista mall, it has since been resurrected as Shakey's Pizza.

Aaah, memories of the old Shakey's on Broadway when my mom used to steal sneak out fried chicken drumsticks wrapped in napkins. Try doing that with pizza slices too!

But no, this post is not about the joys of surreptitiously spiriting away food...

John's Incredible Pizza

I wanted to just take a long long nap after lunch today, but no. We only had a few hours of rest before leaving the house again...

This time to John's Incredible Pizza Co. located where the old Mervyn's used to be in the Plaza Bonita Mall. Can you see the sign for Nordstrom Rack? Anyhow, one of the mom's thought it would be fun to have the kids come here to play games and hang out with their classmates. It looked like a Chuckie Leray Cheese kind of place but let's find out the real deal...

Hometown Buffet, Otay Mesa

Last week on Veterean's Day, TC and I caught a matinee of "Megamind" at the AMC at Otay Mesa (the movie was 'meh') and later had lunch here:

That's right people, Hometown Buffet!  Actually, Bert and I wanted to go here the previous month because I had this coupon card I wanted to use. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed because they were remodeling it so we ended up eating at Tomodachi nearby. What they were doing at HTB was putting in new stations and revamping the look, which I must say, is a major improvement.

The older version of HTB was old, dark, wooden and chrome. Now it is much lighter, brighter and more modern looking. To my extreme annoyance and consternation, there was an Asian lady with two brat kids in front of us. She had absolutely no control over them. I think they were in need of not just a tongue lashing, but also a swift kick to their....okay, I'll shut up now.

Ooh, it's so much nicer in here now!  If you look closely, you can see the different buffet stations: Bakery (featuring all kinds of pies, cakes, and cookies, Asian (using stereotypical font as well as food like crappy fried rice, ultra-shitty eggrolls and orange chicken, broccoli beef), American Classics (hotdogs, mini sliders, meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, fried chicken, etc), Fresh Market (salads), a Soup bar (didn't try any), as well as an Italian bar (spaghetti, focaccia, pizza), Mexican food (it was kind of sad - crappy tacos), and fresh fruit and different types of salads (green, pasta, seafood). Lots of variety for sure!

The booths were all taken, so we picked a table in the front which made me a bit self conscious when I took the photos. The brat kids were nearby and they kept standing up on the seats and looking over at the other diners. Their mom didn't even ask them to sit down.

TC started off with Caesar Salad, onion rings and a mini slider (can't really see it well here but it was kinda dried out).

Oh wait, here it is closeup. The triangular thing on the right was a fish fillet.

I got the spring greens with corn, peas and mushrooms, I also got a thin sliver of this type of Italian stuffed pizza, plus a small scoop of mashed pototoes and a piece of a sweet potato (not so good). Our meals came with drinks so TC got us some Icees - I liked that she mixed the flavors too, blue raspberry with cherry. Remember getting a "Suicide" slurpee at 7-11? That's when you mixed ALL the flavors together and the color was horrendous gross looking but it fkg tasted good! At least that's how I remember them...By the way, the drinks station is pretty extensive. They have your regular sodas, the Icees (new!), tea (hot or cold), milk (plain and chocolate), AND Mexican drinks too (horchata, jamaica and tamarindo)!

TC's 2nd plate - Another fish fillet, fries (eh) and meat loaf, which she really really liked (so did I!).

Here's my 2nd plate which I kind of picked at. My eyes were bigger than my stomach I guess. From 11 o'clock: a piece of lemon fish, 2 slices of Polish sausage, some fried chicken bits, mashed potatoes with gravy, pasta salad with seafood, green salad with corn (plain, no dressing) and since I couldn't resist, a few of the breaded onion rings.

TC got a soft serve for her dessert. She told me that she likes to make the swirly poo design.

I got 3 small things - a rice krispies treat (the only one I finished), a small slice of cookies and cream pie (too sweet) and cherry pie which I only wanted for the crust. Thecherry pie was warm which I did not like so I wasn't crazy about that. Of course there were tons more desserts out there, but I was already full and my "off switch" was in effect.

Using the discount card I bought as a fundraiser (it was only $5) , I got one free kids meal with the purchase of 1 adult meal. Total was $10 something. Not bad for 2 people. Plus we had those Icees!!!

The discount card has more deals on them like buy 1 lunch/get 1 free, buy 1 dinner/get 1 free, 1 free drink w/purchase of meal, and so on (you must purchase beverages with most of the deals). We hardly go here, but since it was a "holiday" and it was next to the AMC theatre, I wanted to use it and I knew that TC liked this place. Anyways, the new food stations and the decor are a big improvement on their old look. The food that I liked most was the Italian and the American. The worst, Asian and Mexican.

Who else had HomeTown Buffet?

Mary from Foodies: A Southern California Food Blog went this past September. She had their pecan pie (which unfortunately was not a choice the day TC and I went).

Here's an article about the changes at HTB:
HomeTown Buffet in San Diego Improves its Menu

I have about 10 more coupons on that card to use up before it expires in March 2011!

Solar Halo & The San Diego Country Club

Check this out.. earlier today there was a "Solar Halo". One of our period 4 student aides came back to our offices a bit freaked out by a "hole in the sky around the sun". That sounded intriguing so a few of us went out there to check it out. I had never seen anything like it before and my pictures don't do this phenomenon any justice. Read more about solar halos here.
According to that Wikipedia article, a solar halo occurs when ice crystals in cirrus clouds are reflected and refracted by the sun. Depending on the angle of the sun, various colors may also be seen. In this case, and it's hard to tell, the inner portion of the halo was a brownish yellow color and it was white on the outer edges. There was also a jet or rocket trail that was heading sound, so it bisects the photo. I didn't take these photos looking at the sun - I ain't an idjut! I kind of pointed the camera at the sky and hope that the shot would come out.
One of my co-workers said, "Oh, that's just a halo" and another one said, "That means it's going to rain!". I wasn't able to get the whole circle in the shot..
Later that day most of us went to a banqet at the local country club. Ooh, yes, a country club with a golf course and all that hoity toity, hi-falutin' what not. Actually, it was pretty nice. I didn't get an exterior shot since the sun was too bright and ruined my shot. There were appetizers like assorted cheeses, crackers, fruit, and even bocconcini (herbed and marinated mozzarella balls).
There was also an assorted vegetable tray with ranch dip. I really liked the olives - they were huge!!!! Mmm, salty too!
Within half an hour, the crackers and cheeses were ravaged and laid bare by the student honorees and their parents, as well as by us and a few teachers. It was a really nice program that honored the top students in this rigorous academic program our school offers.
Here are some views from our table...Nice eh?
Clouds were rolling in by night's end...
More golf course...
The banquet room before everyone started arriving:
Now we get to the serious business - the food. Of the many banquets I've attended in the past, this was one of the best. Most of the time, you get rubber chicken. Instead, carnivores were greeted with the sight of a slab ' roast beef. Carve that.
There was an impressive array of food on the table. As I was taking my snapshots, I was subjected to the withering stares of a few people who wondered WTF I was doing. One of the workers smiled as I asked him if I could take pictures of the food. One teacher asked me why I was doing this (taking pix, that is) and I told her it was for my food blog (which of course, I didn't tell her the name). She had no reply since she probably didn't even know what a food blog was. Fellow food bloggers do you ever feel this way? I hate explaining myself, especially to non-foodies or non-bloggers who don't understand my compulsion.

It was so funny a few months ago when I had lunch at Sab e Lee with Lotus, the Food Ho and her friend. Three of us had cameras and were just snapping away at our entrees. No one thought twice about it. It was natural. With my co-workers, who are slowly learning just how wierd I am (ha ha), they are tolerant of my desire to photograph their food during our lunch outings. Anyways, I didn't take pictures of everyone's plate tonight!
This was the fruit display...I liked how they carved up the fruits. For example, on the far left, you can see a series of carvied fruits - canteloup with a lemon, then a lime, which is topped by a strawberry! The pineapple was also pretty cool!
There was also some sort of fruit salad dish that had sliced almonds on it. I didn't get this item becuase I don't really like creamy fruit. I would rather eat my fruit plain.
This was a pasta salad with peas and ham. Hey, this would have been great with SPAM!
This was a carrot and raisin slaw...Love the garnishes on the outer edges of all the entrees! Makes it look so much more visually appealing...
Various salad items like baby corn (I liked that they had that!), mushrooms, sliced beets, carrots, and cherry tomatoes along with spring salad mix.
This was my plate - The slice of roast beef with au jus. There was actually chicken served but I didn't bother taking a photo of it. It was sliced chicken breasts swimming in a really delicious mushroom sauce with bits of mushrooms in it. I took that mushroom sauce and poured it over my mashed potatoes (no rice here, sorry Asians) as a gravy. I could have eaten just that all night!
Dessert was a generous scoop of vanilla icea cream topped with chocolate sauce and garnished with a dollop of whipped cream, a sprig of mint, and a rolled wafer cookie. I only ended up scraping the chocolate covered parts since I was already full.
It was such an exhausting day having to go to the banquet after a long work day...but it was super nice to see the students enjoy their moment in the spotlight and be congratulated for their academic achievements. Plus it was an excuse for us to get dressed up too! Prom is this weekend! I'll be blogging that as well!