Eclipse and Flavors of East Africa

No, not "The Twilight Sage: Eclipse", but Eclipse on El Cajon next to Luigi's.

This weekend, we wanted to try this African place in North Park. They weren't open 'til 12 noon and it was only 11:30 so Bert got a coffee here while we killed some time.

This was just their regular house coffee with their cute little container for the cream! They were having Sunday Brunch but we were only there for coffee (and chocolate).

There were works by local artists...This one was called "Patches". Looks like a wanna be Gloomy Bear (a San X character who is also a pink bear but with bloody claws). This one looks too happy to me. Plus Gloomy Bear doesn't have a heart on its chest.

We'll have to try their brunch menu next time. Their offerings looked pretty good and ooh look, fancy napkins, eh!

I printed this coupon from the Flavors of East Africa official website (20% off the whole bill!):

Flavors of East Africa is where the old Pomegranate used to be. It's next to Gilly's  Sports Bar and next to that is Pomegranate with merged with Petrushka (which I still want to try since the food is "Georgian" not really Russian).

Menu board outside. There is also a small wooden stand with postcards. Make sure to pick up one of those because that postcard is also a coupon (20% off the entire bill)!

Click here to see their menu online...

Our strategy was to order different items with different sides so we could all sample everyone's food.

We didn't even bother with the Kids Menu. They almost always suck. Fried this, fried that. As if kids will only eat fried ass food and nothing else.

We were the first customers there and got to pick anywhere we wanted to sit. We picked the front corner booth (better lighting!).

Nice and bright walls with various African textiles and wooden decorations, like the fork and spoon!

TC and I had our matching grey skinny jeans on. She had her Vans skater shoes on (yes, she can really skateboard). Those are my pointy toed flats.

For TC we ordered the pineapple lemonade drink which she really liked. I liked that flavor combination...

We ordered the Sambussas appetizer which comes with six of your choice. We chose two beef, two chicken, and two potato. The sauces were tamarind and mint; the latter had a bit of a kick to it, surprisingly.

The beef was my favorite. I wish these sambussas were bigger! I could eat just these. The other choices were lentil (not a fan) and some sweet one with coconut and cream cheese (ugh).

Okay, now let's get down to the real deal. This was the "Keema" ground beef plate. You could choose your choice of one starch and one side. My starch was that big white anvil-like thing on my plate, which is called Ugali (steamed corn flour). The waiter (who was super nice) suggested that since the ugali is dry, it should be paired up with a saucy side dish. In that case, I chose the Biringanya which is chopped eggplant in a tomato basil sauce.

The eggplant had basically melted into the sauce and I couldn't really taste it. I did see a few eggplant seeds so I knew eggplant was in there somehow. The sauce was also a little creamy and had a few of these things in it (see below). When I asked what they were, the server said they were some sort of seed. He also didn't know what type of "African" spices were in the sauce. In my past experience whenever I've asked about ingredients and such, most servers either know it, or if they don't, offer to find out. So, we never found out and I didn't feel like pressing him for more info even though I really wanted to know what this was. The seed things were soft and had no real flavor of their own, but added some texture to the sauce which was a bit thin.  The ground beef had some unusual seasonings in it. Again, who knows what it was, but it tasted pretty good.

I ate about half the beef and made a tiny tiny dent in that corn flour anvil. It was quite plain and didn't really "soak" up the sauce. The ugali is not spongy but had a rather thick and dense texture.

Bert's got the Chicken Curry (cooked with coconut milk and "mysterious" African spices). His sides were the Chapati (an African flatbread kind of like a tortilla, but not; perhaps more like a roti), and the Sukuma Wiki which were collard greens and cabbage sauteed with garlic.

Bert's chapati was useful in soaking up the sauces and picking up the meat...I just liked the thin texture.

TC's plate consisted of the beef short ribs with Wali (rice) and a side of Nyoyo which was beans and hominy sauteed with garlic, carrots, tomatoes and chunks of potato. The ribs were thin and cross cut. She enjoyed eating that and gave us a few pieces. I liked the bits of hominy on her plate. It's wierd not having it in pozole form.

We liked all of our entrees. The side dish I liked the least was my Ugali; I thought it was too bland. I  liked the Nyoyo side dish and Bert's vegetable side the best. My vegetable side was really just a thin sauce so it didn't seem as "vegetably" as theirs did.

Since I picked up their postcard coupon, we plan to come back so we can try some of their main specialties such as the goat meat, oxtail and dried beef entrees. We kind of played it safe that day but I'd love to come back here again.

And not to sound like an a-hole, but if you don't like that Paul Simon "Graceland" crap (like I do), or similar sounding "World" music (kind of like Police drummer Stewart Copeland's solo album, "The Rhythmatist"), then bring some earplugs, because they play that here! A lot.  Luckily, their soundtrack is not entirely that genre. They also had some African rap and pop which was slightly better and more interesting to listen to.

Dolls I mean, Action Figures...

A few days ago, we were in Target looking for a birthday gift for a Superman's kid. To cut to the chase, we got little Supe Jenga. We figured, he's six. He'll enjoy knocking the tower down.

For my amusement, I took a few surreptitious photos of some boy dolls, I mean action figures.
I mean, look at this shit. It's so damn stereotypical and gender specific. None of this sensitive "My Buddy" doll crap, right? Remember the creepy "My Buddy" doll fromthe 80's? Anyways, I don't watch WWE so I have no idea if this represents a real dude in real life. Behold, "Fist Poundin' Sheamus". Check out his stereid induced bulging biceps. His douchebag goatee and soul patch. His redneck pompadour. Methinks the Tennessee Waterfall is hiding in the back. And of course, the rock hard six pack.

Okay, now exactly who is this doll (the one on the left) geared towards? Is this the gay best friend of the goth chick doll?

Pause.

Some quick googling reveals that this is a series of dolls from "Monster High". This is the "Gloom Beach" series. So, the waify boy doll is "Jackson Jekyll". Love the beach ball prop and the hideous muscle shirt and checkered board shorts. Like you'd ever really see a goth/emo boy wearing that get up and exposing his skin at the beach. The girl doll's name is "Dracalaura". Man, who was the genius who thought of this? I can't imagine my daughter playing with these things.

Oh yeah, we hit the jackpot right here...

This is the "Ultimate Boyfriend" (as seen on his shirt as well), "Sweet Talkin' Ken"!!!! You can actually record phrases and Ken will repeat them ad nauseam until your ears explode. I see some potential verbal abuse here. In a funny way too. Kind of like when you could make Teddy Ruxpin scream out Judas Priest or Iron Maiden songs by adding your own cassette tape in his back! Or like trying to spell bad words with the "Speak and Spell". I was always disappointed that it would never say "Punk ass Motherfucker" in that robotic voice.

"Hey Barbie, do these jeans make my ass look fat? Let's go shopping girlfriend!"
(C'mon, we all know that Barbie is really Ken's BEARD!)

And of course, gotta throw this in. Ripe and ready for an avalanche of marketing for the upcoming "Thor".  In this case, this version is the "Lightning Power Thor". Come on all you fanboys,  isn't Chris Hemsworth dreamy?????? Uhhhh, not.

"Thor is the sworn protector of both Earth and Asgard. With his hammer Mjolnir in his hand there is nothing that can stand in his way. To battle against villains he calls upon the full strength of his mighty arms and the full power of lightning.

Even the very toughest opponents are no match for you and your Thor figure! When enemies approach, press his belt to unleash flashing lights and electronic phrases, like “I am Thor!” and “Feel the might of my hammer!” If the villains aren’t yet quaking in fear, use his snap-on “lightning” launcher to send “bolts” flying in their direction. With that kind of firepower and your figure’s mighty muscles, you’re sure to win the fight!" (info from the hasbrotoyshop website)

Of course Bert just had to try on Thor's Helmet!!!!  (Cough) Nerd (Cough)!

Hey, I read on Yahoo News that Chris Hemsworth got too buff for the role and couldn't fit into his Thor suit. In fact, it was so tight it cut off circulation! I wasn't as surprised to know this as much as knowing that Kenneth Branagh is directing!

Anyways, that was my little foray into the world of boy's toys. Don't even get me started on the girly crap they have out there.

Before signing off, here's a blast from the past, the original "My Buddy" commercial from 1985:

Doesn't the song make you want to stick red hot knitting needles in your ears? Sounds like a kid that's trying to do a "Broadway" showtunes kind of voice.

I think this doll...

was the precursor to this one!!!

Yes, Chucky LeRay from the "Child's Play" series. The first one was the best.

Anyways, can't wait to hit up the toy section again for more hilarious hijinks. Watch out Wal-Mart!

Stuff bought at Foodland

Time to unload our packages from the store...

Here's those cool milk in a bag things. Farquhar's Milk for C's family:

C bought us some Ringolos and Compliments brand cream soda (I belive it's the store brand for Foodland). Now, whenever I think of cream soda, I think of A and W and the soda is kind of a beige color, for lack of a better description. C has only known cream soda to be pink. When I see pink soda I think of those artificially flavored Strawberry Nehi's or something but not cream soda. The cream soda was super sweet. I kept thinking it would taste fruit flavored because of the color. I just can't get over that bright pink color!

I had to include this. Not only does C make her own maple syrup, but she also makes her own vanilla extract. It's easier to make than syrup - I believe it's just vanilla bean pods steeped in brandy.

I thought this was a rather nice gesture. One of C's friend's (whom I met earlier that afternoon, although very briefly) gave our family a bag of Nana's Kettle Corn; the brand is based out of Sudbury (a town two hours away and off the island). The snack was enjoyed while we were at the airport and on our last day in Toronto.

C insisted that I try these Dare Maple Cookies. I ended up buying several packages to give as gift to friends. I really liked these cookies. Later, I found out from Lotus that Trader Joe's had a similar product but when I tried their version, it wasn't quite as good as Dare's. I liked these so much that I ended up buying some off amazon.com to give as gifts (I love giving food/candy/snacks as gifts by the way). I noticed there were a ton of maple flavored EVERYTHING in the store.

All right, here's those Ketchup flavored Pringles. A very interesting flavor but one that I'd rather eat than something that's dill pickle or vinegar flavored. The ketchup powder was also very very red, which I liked.

Of course, I had to stock up on some candy too. These were 4-packs of Aero bars (the chocolate with bubbles in it), the highly addicting Coffee Crisps,  and one box of the Junior Caramels for Bert. I was told that buying only one bar of Coffee Crisp would not be enough and it was better to buy them in bulk! C has been my, uh "supplier" this past year. I have about 1 1/2 packs left from her.

This was a Mirage candy bar and two kinds of Kit Kat. The Mirage bar is manufactured by Nestle and is related to the Aero bar in that it also has a bubble texture. This flavor happened to be milk chocolate. I bought it mainly for TC because she likes milk chocolate more than the dark. Speaking of dark chocolate, I loved that version of Kit Kat Noir here. That's pretty hard to find in San Diego. The other was a Kit Kat Senses bar; these were not the wafer sticks but rather an actual bar with hazelnuts inside.

Maynards bagged candies - The Fuzzy Peaches and the Sour Gummy Worms. I liked the worms the best, especially the pink and blue ones (better than the orange and green striped). The flavors were nice and sour with that gritty sugary coating. 

This Van Houtte Coffee was for Bert; the brand is based in Montreal.

And yes, more of that Coffee Crisp! This has got to be my favorite candy from Canada!

This "nice light snack" (as seen on the package)  is not really nice healthwise though. It's over 200 calories and has a ton of transfats in it. There's something about wafer bars that I really really like. These are much bigger and thicker than, say a Kit Kat (also a wafer bar). There's more heft in the coffee crisp. If you like a light coffee flavor, this bar has that. It's also a big sized bar. It's not easy to bite gracefully either like those thinner candy bars. But I figure, who cares about looking dainty when you're horking down one of these, right?  I haven't really seen these here in San Diego, but a fellow blogger commented that she'd seen them at Fry's. So I guess I will be checking out Fry's really soon to see if they have that!  C, if you're reading this, send me that package soon! Ha ha! Strawberry Pocky for you and Coffee Crisp for me!

Readers, do you have any favorite snacks/candy's that really like? U.S. or foreign brands?

Miniature Horses and Canadian flora...

After picking up Bert and TC from the Kicking Mule Ranch we headed out to one of C's friends who has miniature horses. She'd never been to their house before. It was so funny when we were driving there because they told her to turn on XX street and their house would be the first on the right. Well, we drove for miles without seeing a driveway. It was a straight up forest with a road in the middle. We finally saw the first driveway and headed in.

C's friends are this older couple who live on this big property. Their kids are grown up and married. It's just them and their horses and dog. This was one of the miniature horses; it was a male.

He had the male separate from the other female horses. I love how it's mane has that flat-ironed emo hair look.

A snowball flower cluster from one of their trees.

Here was another of their minis. I believe it's name was Bella. This was the "mother" horse.

Their dog was so funny - it was so excited to see guests and kept running around barking. It had a huge cowbell around it's neck so it also made a lot of noise!

In one of the nooks of their trees was a mother duck protecting it's eggs.

As you got closer to it, the duck would hiss angrily. I could swear I saw the anger in its eyes! If you moved any closer, I'm positive the duck would have attacked!

Beyond the fence of their yard were cows from their neighbor's property.

Here are the female minis together. The smaller and darker horse was the "baby". TC really enjoyed seeing the horses and petting them. They are not meant to be ridden on. Bummer. I would have wanted to see that.

More of that snowball flower tree:

White peony:

A lady slipper orchid:

We stayed for about an hour and chatted with her friends. They were both super nice. The gentleman enjoyed showing Bert his maple syrup making equipment. I know that C and her husband make their own syrup as well. It's a lot of hard work just to make a tiny amount! Turns out a lot of people on the island make their own maple syrup.

It's such a different way of life here. So much slower paced. People aren't rushed to do anything here. I think I would go nuts! There's also a lot of open and unspoiled space. Now that is really great to see. No high rises or condos or pollution. We saw so many kinds of wildlife on Manitoulin and were just thrilled to have met these folks and their unusual "pets".