Father's Day recap

This will be just a quick post.

This is how we spent Father's Day...

Lunch was Bert's choice...

Tropical Star x 2

A few months ago, I read the Food Ho's posts on Tropical Star (click here to view in all of its glory). I was immediately intrigued by her mention of morcilla, or the blood sausage...We hadn't been to Tropical Star in a while. Plus, I had.......................................................................wait for it....

....................................................................................................still on the edge of your seat? In my possession, in my hot little hands was my money-saving-friend...............................................the (drum roll please!).....................................................................................................................coupon!

Yes indeed. The first visit was just me, Bert and TC. Here's the view from our table. Shortly after I snapped this shot, a big ass part of 15 came in. It was a Latino family, all dressed up. Maybe they came from church or something. TC and I were seated at a table, near the front window where a man sitting at the bar height counter was working on his laptop. He said to me, "Is that your seester?" while pointing to TC.

I was like, "WTF dude". (pause) No, actually, I didn't say that but I THOUGHT that.

I told him, "No, she's my daughter"...totally setting myself up for the next line...

"Oh, well you look like seesters! You look so young and preety" I wanted to throw up in my mouth. This was one of the oldest lines in the book.

While this was happening, Bert was in line getting our orders.

I told the guy, "Thanks, but I'm her mom!" and he just smiled and said that I looked really young, blah blah blah". After that exchange of words, he turned around and resumed his uploading of triple XXX porn. Right. No, he just turned around and started working on his computer again. I guess he was trying to be complimentary to me, but it felt kind of creepy for me to hear it. I guess I feel uncomfortable being complimented by strangers. I tend to find it annoying and akward.

Pictured below is Bert in line. Smooth pick up line man is not pictured here. I told Bert about what happened and he thought it was kind of funny.

We love this place...it's pretty small and it's a mom and pop operation. It's almost always busy everytime we go here and today was no exception. Just seat yourself and get one of their laminated menus.

Flip it over and you will see full on color photos of their entrees...

This was my entree (and because I'm lazy, I'm typing the description verbatim from their menu) #16 - PICADA COLOMBIANA - A Columbian combination country plate of chorizo, morcilla (black sausage), chicharron (pork rinds), patacones (fried green plantains), papas criolla (yellow potatoes), yuca frita (fried yucca), y arepa (cornmeal griddle cake) - This sucker is $13.99 and worth it. The menu says this is "also great as appetizer sampler plate"! One word here...FRIED !

The little yellow potatoes were one of the best things I've ever tasted. EVER. They were so cute and tiny and buttery! Biting into one was like experiencing a little volcanic explosion in one's mouth! The arepa was a little bland - it was kind of like a cornmeal coaster. Just put your tasty beverage on this and forget about it. The yuca frita was good for maybe one bite or two, but man, there was mega starch on this plate!!!

The best thing on this plate besides those mini potatoes was the chorizo, which was way better than the morcillo. There was more flavor and kick to it, while the morcillo had a more "earthy" taste. Maybe I'm saying that because I know there's blood in it. I kept telling myself, "If I can eat dinuguan", then I can eat a blood sausage!" It was really no BFD but the flavor didn't excite me, nor did the tiny grains of rice that were in the sauge. Look at that plate of fried shit. I mean, let's not kid ourselves, you didn't come in here to eat salad did you? It. Was. So. FKG Good!

This was Bert's entree (description again taken from the menu) #12 LOMO SALTADO - Peruvian beef delight. Beef strips (I think they meant 'strips') sauteed with fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro and french fries - servied with white rice. $9.50. Since we had our "coupon", this entree was free since my dish was the more expensive item. We shared both of our plates with our daughter, who really liked the smashed fried plantains and the sausage. She wasn't so keen on the morcillo, but gave it a try. She was more into the rice and meat STRIPES. Ha ha.

Our appetizer - the tastyass PASTELILLO ($2.25) - Deep fried turnover filled with your choice of beef, chicken, or cheese. Ours was beef and we ordered two of these bad boys.

Cross section of the pastelillo (no flash). I love the crusty edges! Mmm!

So that was our summer lunch at Tropical Star. I recently went again, this time with my friend who is not only a counselor but a professor at a local community college up North. She wanted to take me out as a late birthday gift...Of course, I couldn't refuse her offer. The last time we went to lunch, we were going to eat at Asia Cafe but since it was closed, we went to Bonnie Jean's Soul Food Cafe (see that post here). Here's a few pix from that outing...it wasn't as busy that day so we got a table for two right near the side counter.
View from our table...with various food items in this market/restaurant.

For one of our appetizers, I ordered the Bacalaita ($2.95) - 2 cod fish fritters fried to a golden brown. This wasn't what I expected. I didn't realize they would be so thin. I thought it would be like a fish ball, like the kind I've had at Costa Brava (it's one of the tapas there). It was way too crispy and the fish flavor was kind of washed out.

We tried to liven up it's bland flavors with these two sauces...the one on the left was really spicy and lip-numbing, which means it was good! We also ordered two Pastelillos but since I already posted a photo of that, I didn't both including yet another pic of the same thing. Also, we ordered the #16 to share between the both of us...No pic as well. However, I noticed that they gave us 2 arepas and one extra piece of both sausages for each of us. Nice!!! This was a lot of food for both of us. Asides from trying to get caught up since we last saw each other, we were doing our best to make a dent in this combo platter (she ended up taking home the leftovers). Again, the little potatoes were the star as was the chorizo! It is one of the appetizers, but unfortunately, is served with an arepa (the tasteless cornmeal puck). I just want that chorizo. Now.

For dessert, we had some homemade Alfajores, which are two powdered sugar coated cookies with a dulce de leche filling. I've had these before at the Peruvian place, Latin Chef (in PB) but theirs were tiny. These were the larger sized ones. When Bert, TC and I were there, we saw the delivery guy drop these off. They look really nice in the covered cake platter (located right next to the counter, beckoning you to buy them).So...my friend and I got one each...They were super sweet and practically cavity inducing with just one bite! I saved the rest for later since the cookies were served in a silvery space agey like mylar sleeve.

I still have another coupon for this place! Gotta come back again for their #10 - PESCADO FRITO-MOJARRA - Whole fried Porgie fish served with salad and your choice of white rice, tostones, or fried yucca.

Okay, uh....when I see the word tostones, I think of testicles. It sounds like a combination of the words testes and cojones. Same thing, I know!

But that is not the reason why I want to try #10! I've never had Porgie fish before so next time we're up in the Clairemont area, we're dropping by here again! Porgie and Bess. George Porgie pudding and pie. Porg out! Porgorama! Porgmeister! Porgtacular porgy!!!!

Balboa Park - Ethnic Food Fair 2009

[Some photos came out really bad - I think I had a smudge on the camera towards the middle of our visit...sorry!]

It's that time of the year again! Yes, it's the Balboa Park Ethnic Food Fair! This is one of my favorite events to attend. Bert and I went even before TC was born. It's more fun with her now because she has the opportunity to try all kinds of foods. We're big believers in trying something at least one and going out of our culinary comfort zone. Otherwise, what is the fucking point, right? Anyhow, here's an older posts from 2007 and 2006 (sans photos) here and here.

Since I was going through treatment last year, I wasn't really supposed to go out in crowds due to my suppressed immune system. I had just lost all of my hair and would get tired easily. Furthermore, what sucked big time was that I wasn't supposed to risk eating out a lot either because the doctor didn't want me to catch anything from unwashed fruits or vegetables or whatever. So, last year, we had to sit this one out...This year, we were back...with a vengeance! Plus, we brought TC's friend and her Robsessed mom... We planned to meet another family there as well. We made sure to get there super early, like around 10:30'ish am.

Of course, I made a beeline for the House of Puerto Rico for these...
Pastelillos - these are huge empanadas with a nice, flaky crust and they are filled with beefy goodness!
My friend bought the girls Churros from the House of Mexico. A lot of food items were priced higher than normal since this was a fund raiser for the different Ethnic Houses at Balboa Park. Let's put it this way, churros at Costco are way cheaper than this version, but the girls enjoyed their little snack...
While we were perusing the booths, Bert held down our picnic site with the other family. Our plan was to switch off, but it later became tedious and stressful for me, because the compulsive streak in me wanted to make sure pix of the food and booths were taken. I felt lost without my camera. We never did get anything from House of Hungary that day. We had tried their sausage sandwiches in the past and the lines were always super long. They were quite popular that day as well.
I remember going here a couple of years ago and buying a couple of evil eye bracelets for me and TC...
In fact, someone was selling bracelets again. I bought two for the girls. They had big blue eveil eye beads interspersede with spacer beads with links for charm dangles. They loved it. I should have bought one for myself. At $5 a bracelet, I thought that was reasonable especially since I didn't know when I'd be seeing those again and also because I don't make bracelets (just earrings).
I bought some Borek at the House of Turkey. These were pretty damn small. I rememeber the big frisbie sized borek I got in Astoria, NYC last year. It was as big as a plate! But I still liked these, even though they were bite sized. Borek is a type of pie made with flaky phyllo dough and filled with either meat, cheese (usually feta) and/or spinach. These were the spinach and cheese borek. Every time I said 'borek', it would elicit a giggle. Sounds like Borat, maybe?
Bert went off to the House of Scotland where these kindly kilted gentlement served him the combo plate...
These were the sides for the Scottish combo plate. The green stuff were cucumbers and the pink stuff were strawberries. The last item on the end was barley.
Here's Bert's combo plate...Peas (which looked liked they came out of a can), mashed potatoes with gravy, meat pie, cut up apples and barley. I had a tiny bit of the meat pie and it was pretty bland. Not so good. The peas were kind of gross too. It reminded me of elementary school cafeteria food. Bert liked his plate but agreed with me on the peas.
Next to the House of Scotland was the House of China selling dim sum. Usually we skip booths like China, the U.S.A., the Philippines, and Mexico whenever we go to this event. We figure we can get that type of food anytime...
A couple of years ago, I think we tried House of India...I got all excited because I didn't see anyone in line...
Turns out that they weren't ready yet. Damn it.
This book is always good for home made desserts. Plus, they were seeling their dessert plates for $2.50 instead of $3.00 a plate like some of the other European houses.
The swirly pastry is poppyseed. The dark colored one had rum in it. The last pastry was buttery and had a cherry preserves on top...My favorite was the poppyseed - it had a tiny bit of crunch to it with the tiny ground up poppyseeds. Just don't test my pee - it might have opiates in it. Ha ha.
I had my eye on this booth:
Especially on the Kefta Combo plate:
Workers putting my plate together:
Various pastries at the House of Lebanon...Most were baklava type things.
I complimented them on their juice containers. The lady told me that she got them from Costco! Those look really cool and elegant.
The kefta which was baked meat (beef, I hope) with potatoes, tomatoes, and a rich creamy sauce...
It was served with 2 pita wedges, rice, and hummus. TC really liked this and ended up eating most of the rice and aboug 1/3 of the meat. I was happy that she was willing to try it and even enjoyed it. That goes to show you that if you give kids the opportunity to try new things, they can develop more sophisticated palates instead of that fried shit that fast food joints try to pawn off as "kid" food.
Close up of the borek:
We saw a couple of our friends working the Philippines booth (they aren't in this picture):
I'm glad they finally changed the name to just "The Philippines" because it used to be House of the "Philippine Islands" for the longest ass time. The Philippine Islands moniker is a colonial term given to the Philippines during the Commonwealth Period (1934-1946). One of my Pinay colleagues (she's older and left the Philippines after the 1986 coup) gets really rankled when people refer to the Philippines as "PI" (as in Philippine Islands). Not only that, PI is also a slang term for a pretty bad Filipino curse word: "putang ina mo", literally translated as "your mother is a prostitute/whore").

Quick history lesson - The Philippines was a colony of Spain from 1565 up until the turn of the century. After over three centuries of Spanish rule, the Philippines changed colonial masters. Spain sold the islands for $12 million under the Treaty of Paris and transferred their island possession to the United States. The country was called The Philippine Islands up until 1946, after the end of WWII and after the Philippines was given its freedom by the US. The country now is officially called the Republic of the Philippines (or RP), but most people just call it the Philippines. Okay, let me get off my soap box now.
My other friend bought lumpia for her son:
The other friend bought the combo plate from the Philippines booth. You have your staples: rice, chicken adobo, lumpia and pancit (bihon, in this case).
From the House of Panama, Bert bought two sausages on a stick. I don't remember what these were called, but man, they were hot!!!! They had some serious pepper action going on in there. I took a bite and saw pepper seeds in the cross section! The sausage had a good snap when you bit into it also! This was one of the best things I tasted that day!
From the House of Columbia, some sort of fried dough. Bert was the one who got this, so I don't know the name of this exactly. Either way, it cooled our mouths down between bites of that red hot sausage on a stick! We offered some to our friends. The women were a bit reluctant. One of the husbands was pretty game and tried a few bites of the sausage.
Cross section of fried dough thing:
This was from House of Peru - it's also a version of fried dough, but it was drenched in Honey. That's my bag in the background. The brand is Tokidoki, season - Winter 2008, style Graziosa messenger bag, name of print - Celebrazione...It's one of my favorites and I always get compliments on it wherever I go. Kids seem to love it too. My fave characters include Donutella and the Disco ball head guy.
Mmmm...Peruvian doughnut!
This is my boombox bag with working speakers (half off last December when Karmaloop.com was slashing prices). Cool, ain't it? TC was borrowing it that day. You can plug in any mp3 player in there and it will play the music through the speakers, which aren't that strong. It's not BOSE quality okay, but it will do if you want to hear music. I had it on full blast but the music was drowned out by the noise of the crowd that day. There were lots of people in the park having a great time and enjoying the diverse food offerings.
Here's House of Peru again...we saw their doughnuts earlier...
But now, you will see the Anticuchos, or Beef Heart on a Stick! And it's served with creamy potatoes! Bert and I debated on getting this. Everytime he checked the booth, they kept telling him it wasn't ready. One of the moms ended up getting it for him while she was out with our kids. There it is...
Since the heart is a pretty tough muscle, I expected this to be pretty tough. It tasted irony too. Very chewy. I could only manage a few bites but Bert and the other dad's (mostly Bert though) ate this. It was seasoned well, I have to say.
From the House of Finland - vanilla ice cream with strawberries.
From the House of Germany, the Death by Chocolate cake. It also had orange zest on top. This was pretty dense and chocolatey, but I 've had better. I was pretty full by the time this made the rounds...
Our friend's Choripan (Chorizo sausage in bread or 'pan') from the House of Argentina. The green stuff you see is Chimichurri, the sauce Argentinians use with everything, especially grilled meats! Chimichurri is made from made from finely chopped parsley, minced garlic, vegetable oil, white or red vinegar and red pepper flakes. It's so good!
This guy had grill duty:
At some point, Bert and I took a quick walk to the Prado to get a gift card for a co-worker...That building you see will lead you to the Prado. There is a horse statue on the far left and the building in the very back is the Museum of Art.
The California Tower:
Sensory overload? I know, it was a long post! This event was a success in my book and we are making sure to return again next year! I still think House of the Philippines should sell Balut and Diniguan! My favorites this year - as always, the pastelillos from Puerto Rico, the sausage on a stick from Panama and the Kefta from Lebanon! The Latin American countries get a big "Win" from me for their flavorful food and interesting offerings (beef heart on a stick!)!!!