McRib!

[OMFG - This post is a milestone! It's my 1000th post!]

Hey hey hey...on top of today's Sunday paper was a free coupon for one of McD's new McChicken sandwiches. Last week when we went to Pizzeria Luigi's and Eclipse, I saw a sign on top of the McD's around the corner proclaiming, "McRib is Back!". Fkg A!!!

We were so tempted to go last week but figured we'd get one sooner or later. This coupon gave us just the incentive to go up there. Plus, we were on our way to a wedding reception and I wanted to pick up a little something from Eclipse for the newly weds...Yeah, kill two birds with one stone.






I've never had one of these so I was determined to have one. Luckily for us, we didn't have to drive hundreds of miles like some diehard fans. I read articles about people driving across statelines to get McRibs sandwiches with coolers in their cars so they could buy like ten of them and shit. Wow. Something that inspires this much madness/loyalty intrigued me. Bert remembers McRib when they made a comback the mid-90's but doesn't remember eating his last one.

I took a back table which was unfortunately by the bathrooms. Didn't realize that until I sat down. Kinda grody hearing the toilet flush so many times and kind of getting a whiff whenever the door opened.

Got a back corner table so I could wait for Bert and TC in relative peace and quiet and also so I could take pictures without people staring at me once the food came. The McRib was about $2.90 with tax. With the Cheddar Onion McChicken sandwich being free because of the coupon, each food item was less than $1.50 each. Score. But will my arteries be thanking me later? Most likely not.

Here's that McChicken Cheddar/onion sandwich. I brought a plastic knife from home. I was prepared dude. I cut both sandwiches in half for us to share. Even though we had a wedding reception to go to at 3 up in Dana Point, we hadn't really had lunch and we figured we would have a little snack on the way up. Plus, dinner wasn't going to be served at 3 anyways, so...why the fk not!

Nicely cut in half, eh. Our daughter had one half while Bert had the other. I had just one bite and thought it was okay. TC liked how the chicken had a crunchy texture as well as the flavor of the onions and cheese together.

Here it is - my first one. I cut this one in half too.

Ooh, preformed into a rib slaband precooked spongy pork with bbq sauce topped (unevenly as you can see) with sliced onions and sliced pickles. I happened to get the half without the pickles.

And because I'm really anal and because the last time I did this was when we were in Chicago at Superdawg, I took photos of the box! Wait, I did this last month in S.F. with the "It's-It Ice Cream Sandwiches"!

Ha ha - "boneless" pork! The meat had that spongy texture but I liked it. I don't know if I'd drive hundreds of miles and buy ten of these and stick 'em in a cooler to save for later though.

The bbq sauce was on the mild side.

The last bite of my half. TC ended up eating the other half.

Of the two, I liked the McRib more. TC liked the chicken sandwich. Bert only had a few bites of the McRib but didn't seem to think it was that big of a deal.  It wasn't like a mindblowing experience, but I still wanted to try one for the hell of it. Been there, done that.

For you San Diegans, there's probably a few other McD's out there that sell the McRib. I didn't see any down south in Chula Vista, IB or National City.  This particular McD's is off of El Cajon Blvd. If you are heading west from the 805, it's the street before you hit the Red Fox dining room and Lafayette Hotel. If you hit Alabama Street, you've gone too far. Just across the street (same side) of the McD's is a flower shop. Enjoy your McRib while it's still around.

New Shoes

Payday was a few days ago so I went to my fave shoe store, DSW. Even though these weren't on sale ($69.95), I figured I'd be wearing these fierce ass bitches at least 15 or more times, so the price was worth it. These are by Nine West (forgot the style - don't have the box in front of me) which makes cute shoes in a moderate price range. The heels are not skyhigh. They are only 3" so at least they don't look frumpy. This heel height is pretty comfortable for me.
These heels are black and grey with faux fur covering the tiger stripe pattern. They are also very pointy, the way I like my closed toe heels to be.  They elongate the silhouette. Please forgive my toe cleavage!

I love how they look! Rawr!  When I brought them to the cashier, she pulled out the shoes from the box (they always check to see if the shoe size matches the one on the box) and said, "Now why am I not surprised?". When I asked her why she said that, she pointed to my hair. I thought that was kind of funny but I don't think it's wild or anything. I have an asymetrical 80's style haircut that may look edgy to some but to me, it's been my normal hairstyle for about a year or so now. Better than being bald like two years ago. Anyways, I thought that was pretty funny.

They also had black leather in the same style as well as brown for $10 cheaper.  I was nearly about to buy the black ones since I needed basic black heels but decided on getting these offbeat ones instead! I think they make the outfit "pop"!

Daphne's Greek Cuisine

[Marathon post alert! Scroll down for the latest 5 posts!]

Last week we finally had the chance to go to Daphne's Greek Cafe in the Eastlake Target shopping center. TC had a free meal given to her after she earned an award at school. Bert and I had a coupon (hell yeah man) - buy one entree get one free, so we took advantage.

I'm not into Greek food too much but gave it a shot. We did go to Zorba's earlier this summer and I liked that. Especially their flaky spanakopita.

TC got a Chicken Pita plate with rice and a side of Tzatziki sauce with a drink. Hmmmm, those fillings seem kind of sparse to me.

I got a Pita burger (yeah, that's really Greek isn't it...) with a side of rice and salad and that same sauce. I ended up giving some of my salad to TC so she could have greens. I ended up giving the other half to Bert because I didn't like that the salad already had dressing on it as well a feta cheese which I do not like. I liked the burger which was nicely seasoned and quite juicy but ended up eating mostly the meat and not the pita. It was kinda too doughey for me.

Bert was nice enough to let me have his roasted vegetables (carrots, green beans). He got the Gyro combo with salad. The vegetables were really good!

So all in all, we only paid for one meal (the combo), so yay! I don't think I'd go here again since I'm not into most of their offerings. TC's school used to give free meals to Islands (also in the same shopping area) for student awards. The only thing with Islands was that the meal was free if an adult paid for an entree. But then they switched over to Daphne's pogs which offered the kids a free meal with no obligation for an adult to buy anything. Either way, an adult (one or both of us) would be accompanying our kid to the restaurant so it didn't really make a difference.

After dinner we went to Target so I could finish Christmas shopping.The day before, I went out with Divalicious and we took advantage of the sales at Aztec Stores at SDSU - 75% selected shirts. So, I'm pretty much done. I'm so anal but hey, I won't be stressing out later since I'm pretty much done. I usually get 90% of my shopping done before the end of October. My next goal is to have our Xmas cards done in the next two weeks with the intent to mail it at the end of November. I like being first. What can I say...heh heh.

Honey's Cafe

[Update - Closed and is now Hinotez Japanese restaurant]

My coupons from my entertainment book were about to expire on November 1. Bert, TC and I had a craving for Puerto Rican food so we drove up to Balboa to use our coupon for Tropical Star only to find that it was closed on Sundays. Son of a ....So...I looked through the coupon book to see if we could go somewhere else in the same general area for lunch. It turned out to be a place we'd never gone to. We didn't know if it would suck or not. We were going to find out.

But first, here's a BITCHIN' CAMARO that we saw in the parking lot at Honey's Cafe, our destination! You guys remember that song by the Dead Milkmen right? "Bitchin' Camaro, bitchin' Camaro, I ran over my neighbor!"

That Camaro were pretty damn blue! Honey's Cafe is on the eastern side of Balboa Avenue just up the street from Ranch 99 in lovely Kearny Mesa.

We wanted a breakfasty lunch.

See our coupon? It works out pretty good since it's by one entree get one free. Even though we get three entrees, we are only paying for two.

I had my eye on the Swami's Favorite Stuffed Croissant.

While Bert wanted the Polish  "Egg-Ceptional" hash.

TC got the chicken fingers with fruit (instead of fries). It was served with a side of bbq sauce which she left untouched. She preferred ketchup.

Bert's entree had two poached eggs, chopped green peppers, white onions, chunks of sliced Polish sausage and cheese! Very filling.

My stuffed croissant had the same chopped onions, green peppers, cheese but instead of Polish sausage, it was cubed bits of ham served witha side of potato hash and fruit. This was more food than I could eat. I ended up eating about half of it and not really eating the bottom half of the croissant. It was soggy from all the juices. I also shared my potatoes and the sauteed vegetables with TC.

This was a pretty good meal and we were glad we tried this place out. The people working there were really nice. When Bert was paying, the guy  (the owner I think) asked if we lived in the area. When Bert told him we were from Chula Vista, he was surprised he went that far up to eat. The owner asked out ethnicity and then told Bert he was from Lebanon. He gave us some coupons for our next visit. Very nice guy.

On our way out before heading over to Marukai...

We still had a week to go before my 2010 coupons expire...so hopefully we can still fit in Tropical Star.

Baja Oyster Bar

With TC and her classmates practicing for their event, Bert and I finally had the chance to try out this Mexican place next to Victoria's. It's on the corner of Saturn and Coronado Ave. Across the street is the strip mall with Albertson's, Rite Aid as well as the mini strip mall with Oasis Ice Cream Parlor. Plus, the Diligent Diletante recommended this place...the Baja Oyster and Sushi Bar.

The place got more crowded when we left. It was a mixture of couples and families and guys watching the game at the bar's flatscreen. The decor was festive but a litle too busy for me.

After my almost octopus order at Marisa's earlier that month, I knew I wanted something with octopus that day.

Chips with salsa and lime were brought to our table...

I ordered the Octopus Coctel along with a mixed seafood ceviche.


We were both given a piping hot fish soup - it wasn't spicy at all but you could make it that way by putting hot sauce in it. The mildness of the soup was just right for me.

Hey, there's them there sauces...

Here's the ceviche which was nice and fresh. It was a hot day from what I could remember so this was perfect with the lime juice, the creamy avocado and the sweet seafood.

Man, this was a huge goblet filled with chunks of octopus in cocktail sauce which I really liked. The sauce had almost a sweet quality to it. I didn't really eat the crackers though. They are too crumbly for m taste so I just ate this with the chips.

Bert shared the ceviche with me but also ordered a shrimp taco. The taco shell was fried (mmmm, crunch) and the shrimp were cooked just right. Chock full of shrimp I say!

We're going to have to come back here and try a few of their other menu items! For sure dude!

Now I don't know about you, but when I see the words "Oyster Bar", I think of the Blue Oyster Bar from that awesome movie classic, "Police Academy" (the first and best one). Enjoy.

Woodies

A few weeks ago, Bert and I were killing time on a Saturday while TC was at CCD. We drove down Coronado Avenue to get to the area near the IB Pier. We ended up having a small snack at Woodies Beach Club Grille.

There's a downstairs dining area and another dining area upstairs which the hostess recommended since it was nice out.

On our way up the stairs...

We didn't want an actual meal, but more of a snack.

This was our view from the top...

There's also a kitchen on the top floor...

View of the street...exciting. Huh.

Bert just got a coffee.

We shared some battered onion rings - yeah, this is a nice and healthy snack, eh.

I totally wanted something fried and oniony. Later on, when we thought TC was done with class, we found out from the teacher that they still needed the kids to stay longer for some ceremony, so Bert and I headed off for lunch...which will be the next post.

Sage French Bakery

I meant to post this a few weeks ago when TC and I had lunch at Wa Dining Okan. After our lunch there, we bought a few snacks at Nijiya Market before getting dessert at Sage French Bakery.

TC chose to have a melon popsicle instead of dessert at Sage. When unwrapped, the popsicle is not cylindrical. Rather, it's like a long spring green hued squarish column. She seemed to enjoy this - it smelled like melon but it was pretty artificial tasting though.

I hadn't been to Sage in awhile. Luckily it wasn't crowded...

Here are a few shots I snuck in before the rather stern Asian guy came out to the front.

I ended up getting one of these, the Elby (the wha???) which is a mixture of white and milk chocolate mousse cake.

I chose three different desserts to go. It was so cool because he put a piece of dry ice in the box to keep the cake slices cold.

Later on that evening, we had them. The Elby is at the bottom while TC's Strawberry Mousse dessert is at 1 o'clock. At 11 o'clock was some sort of Chocolate Caramel mousse cake.

Bert can solve the Rubik's Cube in under 90 seconds.

I like how nice and light these cakes are.

There was a rolled up white chocolate stick on Bert's cake...

Excellent food styling by yours truly (har har). Rubik's Cube prop courtesy of Bert.