Photo medley - random meals, funny stuff and more...

It's time again for one of those posts where I compile the pics don't really warrant a full-on post, such as this bitch kickin' pair of purple patent fake Docs.

I don't remember what the brand was, but I know it definitely was NOT Doc Marten's, at only $24.99? Real Docs are $100 or more and better quality than these fake leather shoes. These boots will probably fall apart after two or three wears, but boy, I do like that eggplant shade!

Then again, it's not the 1990's and I'm not Daria Morgendorffer and can get away with wearing these....

Sigh...If only...

NEX - 32nd Street

The day after Christmas most folks head over to the shopping mall to get stock up on half price stuff like wrapping paper, Christmas candy, clothes, or whatever. Earlier this morning, Bert, TC and myself stayed clear out of the mall's way and hung out for breakfast and snacks in North Park (post will be forthcoming...eventually)...

That afternoon, my dad offered to take me and my SIL to the 32nd Navy Exchange (NEX)...

which I hadn't been in more than a decade.  My ID card expired ages ago when I was in college. My dad took me here before we bought our house so I could look at some furniture (which I didn't get).

As a family, going to the NEX on weekends was a ritual...

Donut Star again..

After our lunch at Nijiya, we headed over to Donut Star to meet up with Darlene and Paulin their 'hood.

They had a goodie bag from the Comic Con to give us along with a few other items I asked them to purchase for me.

Toki x 3

Isn't this cute? This is the Favola print Tokidoki in the Carino cross body style...I love the different fairy tale characters. Which ones can you spot?

Teen nephew's bday party food...

Before we start, let us enjoy this classic scene from Mel Brooks' "History of the World Part 1":

"Jesus!"
"What?"
"What!"
"Yes?"
"Jesus!"
"What?"

Ha ha,that never gets old!

Of course, every old school Filipino has one of these in their house, some form of the Last Supper, preferably on black velvet. In this case, this biblical masterpiece was found in my sis's former MIL's house for my oldest nephew's bday party.

"Will you be having separate checks?  Try the mulled wine! I hear it's terrific!"

Tokidoki at Yogurtland and It's It from Vons!

We headed back towards the Vons parking lot where we left our cars earlier to the mercy of El Cajon Blvd. C was kind enough to drive us all over town that day.

Here is a painted greenbox on the corner of Montezuma Drive and College Avenue.

Tokidoki Cake

Jenny has done it again! Isn't this cake just too cute to eat?

Jenny from the blog Foray into Food is a fabulous cake designer. This is the third birthday cake she's done for me. She's also done a retirement cake for a former co-worker, birthday cupcakes for me in 2009, a Superhero themed cake and matching cupcakes for Bert along with Pokemon cupcakes for TC. She's done so much more for other folks (weddings, baby showers, bridal showers, etc) but you must check out her blog and flickr to see her other designs.

I loved how she was able to make a 2-d image come to life with these killer flower cake toppers. Look at the little star antennas! The straw was even striped!

I wanted different design elements on the cake such as this happy apple...

along with this vampire cherry and "Carnivora"(yes, it has a name!), the tulip with teeth...

as well as multicolored stars and the heart and crossbones Tokidoki logo...

I also wanted a lightning bolt separating "Happy" and "Birthday", which was inspired from the "Concerto Punk" Tokidoki design/Fall 2008) which of course is inspired by the AC/DC logo.

Not only did the cake look good, it tasted fantastic! The flavor was mango with lime curd filling which included bits of real mango and macadamia nuts.

Everyone really enjoyed this, so once again, a big thank you to Jenny for making my cake and my birthday gathering so memorable!

Here are the images that inspired the cake:

This is from the Tokidoki for Sephora Sodashop makeup collection tin ($49). The print is called "Sodashop" and is also reminiscent of the recent "Americana" (Happy Days/50's diner inspired print) print. Do you see the flowers?

The tin includes 12 types of eyeshadows (I've already used a few of the darker colors), a mirror on the lid of the tin, black liquid eyeliner (the quality of that wasn't so good) and a nail file in the shape of Sandy (the green cactus friend). It also came with a sheet of magnets (seen below) which are so cute I don't even want to put them on my fridge!

On my "Americana" print bag was this apple...

Here's "Carnivora" with the image taken from my 2011 Tokidoki calendar...

along with a fanged cherry...

and multicolored stars...

Here's a look at the cake once more...I loved it!!!

Here's my previous birthday goodies from Jenny:
2010 - Tokidoki inspired from the "L'Amore" print
2009 - Chococat cupcakes (my purple polka dotted cake not pictured)

Can't wait for next year! Her cakes make getting older a lot more fun!

South Bay Food Crawl - Imperial Beach: Oasis Ice Cream

Yo', this here's the last post of the South Bay Food Crawl Extravaganza!

Our last stop was good old Oasis Ice Cream Parlor on the corner of Saturn and Coronado. Look for the Albertson's and Rite Aide. St. Charles Catholic Parish is right next door too. You will probably see the Jack in the Box first. They just recently refurbished their signage from the old 1970's bubble lettering to the newfangled font. Look for the small strip mall in the middle of the parking lot and there you will find Oasis, home of the one of the best homemade ice cream places in San Diego.

Although I've been here many times already, it's always a treat. The ice cream is so creamy and  I love supporting mom 'n pop places.

The owner (below) is super nice...

I got the blueberry while Dennis got the cantelope.  I finally caved a few months ago and got the Tokidoki "Americana" print bag on clearance with free shipping; (I forgot the bag style and will add it later). I adore the print - it's got a nostalgic soda shop/"Happy Days" type of vibe. See the little Fonzie guy?

Their blueberry ice cream is awesome! Other favorites of mine are their double chocolate chip and coffee.

As we sat there in the tiny shop, there were sporadic bursts when the store would be crowded. Lot of diversity -from age to ethnicity which is very cool.

Even though we visited ten places, only five were actual food places. We ended up not eating at the Seafood City food court. We also could have eaten at Otay Farms Market. I thought it would be fun to check out certain spots that had some sort of meaning and interesting background.

Before leaving Oasis, I bought a half dozen paletas for me, Bert and TC. That way, they could have something when I got home. I got Bert the coffee and peanut butter, along with cantelope and watermelon for TC and chocolate chip and blueberry (again) for me.

The paletas were a hit! I'd also like to mention that Dennis is a very cool guy. It was the first time I met him and I gotta say that he's funny, easy going, smart, and just as obsessed with food and photos as me. Even more so. Like waaaaaaay more so. And I say that in a good way. He also had to put up with me, my cursing, my music (Guns 'n Roses "Appetite for Destruction" played very low on my cd player; I didnt want to scare him with Benedictum, Iron Maiden or Kenny G) and my choices in venues. He was a total sport, even willing to try dinuguan. Just for that, he gets a blue ribbon in Filipino food tasting. 

He was also super generous, gifting me with a bottle of Okinawan chili dipping sauce, these cool Splatter Collector sticksers, and a limited edition Onion figurine/qee (for TC). I love how the stickers are so violent. I remember seeing ads for this in my Giant Robot mags.

Here's the itinerary. With the exception of El Super, Aqui es Texcoco and Northgate on Coronado, we pretty much hit up every spot on the list. Am I anal efficient or what? And that is why Bert leaves all this stuff to me whenever we travel...

There were a few other spots in IB but unfortunately time was limited for me and those places were closed. The first was South Bay Drugs which had a huuuge selection of imported and local beers. According to their website, they closed earlier this year but are relocating soon.  The second was Star Dust Donut Shop on Palm Ave.  This place opens whenever they feel like it and since it was already almost 3 pm'ish, they were most likely done for the day. I'm never lucky whenever I pass by the Donut place. They are always closed whenever I'm there.

Check out these posts on the two places we didn't see:
South Bay Drugs, which has an "A+" rating from BeerAdvocate.com (see that page here)
and Darlene's post on Star Dust Donuts (May 2009) plus the hilarious yelp reviews here!

And if you want to read up more on Oasis, here are my previous posts on Oasis here and here.

OMFG, that was an epic five hours. Time to do another one soon in the near future. Doesn't have to be South Bay either...

Hope you enjoyed reading the posts as much as I liked putting it together and throwing all that trivia at you! The South Bay has some hidden gems and contrary to what some may believe, there are good eats south of the 8!

25 Forty Bistro

[Update - Closed as of June 2013]

This was the weekend of using up my groupon and coupons...This was one I got for $20 for $40 at 25 Forty Bistro in Old Town. (NewTokidoki bag - "Americana" print in Carino Cross body messenger style - finally got it on sale!)

Ooh, I used the "sunset" setting on my camera for this freeway pic:

The restaurant was on Congress Street but we parked on some tiny side street that dead-ended into the Rockin' Baja Lobster restaurant. We were lucky to even find a spot.

25 Forty Bistro is in a renovated cottagey-looking house.

There's some cool outdoor seating with heatlamps and another area with a mini fire pit.

The inside is not huge but not so tiny that you are elbowing our neighbors. The decor was also very cool - black and white and very modern. None of this frou frou crap. Very streamlined and tasteful. The music was also very Thievery Corporation'ish (it probably was Thievery Corporation!). On the counter were glass topped domes with pastries within.  At 6 pm, we were the third party there that night. By the time we left, the room was filled.

We also had a cool view of the kitchen. The lighting in here was not totally dim or dark but towards the end of our evening, I had to resort to using the flash.

I like how their menu is quite simple. No overblown pretentious descriptions.

One of the walls had a huge chalkboard with a world map of where their wines are from.

Bert got a German beer that night, the Franzishaner. The flavor had a nice orange finish towards the end. I had a sip or two and thought it was pretty good.

We were given a tiny complimentary appetizer. This was a thinly sliced toasted baguette with Stilton cheese and honey. I ended up giving my cheese to Bert since I'm not a fan of blue cheese.

For starters, I chose the Kale salad which had candied cashews, sweet soy sauce and golden yellow raisins. It was quite a bit for one person so the waiter was kind enough to provide two extra plates for me to share with TC and Bert. I loved the thinly sliced kale with the sweet soy sauce. The salad had sweetness from the raisins, soy sauce and cashews as well as texture and crunch from the nuts. Everyone liked this unique salad.

My entree was the Homemade Fettucine with Duck. The sauce was the broth created by braising the duck with onions. The ethereal topping was razor thin wisps of fried vegetables, perhaps leeks and/or carrots.

TC chose the Rib Eye with homemade fries and Chimichurri. It was served on a wooden lazy suzan which was fun for her because she liked how she could spin it around.

In addition, there was also a salad of mixed greens and a pile of coarsely ground salt. We liked how the fries were thick cut and how there wasn't an obscene amount of fries on her plate. Well, for a 10 year old it was a lot but for an adult, it was just right. We "helped" her out with it anyways. Her ribeye was done "medium" but it was too pink in the middle for me. The leftovers are still in the fridge waiting to be eaten for dinner.

This was Bert's Bistro Filet with Truffle Sauce and seasonable vegetables and mashed potatoes. He really enjoyed this; the meat was tender and flavorful. The truffle sauce had an interesting flavor (it's not my favorite but I liked it). The vegetables included not just your standard carrots and broccoli, but also asparagus, cauliflower, and halved brussel sprouts.

We saved enough room for dessert as well. By this time, we'd gone way over the groupon limit of $40 but we knew that would happen anyways so Bert took care of the difference....

TC and I shared the Raspberry Sphere. Now this was NOT what I expected. When I read "merengue" on the menu, I was thinking of the hard, baked crunchy kind like an Australian Pavlova. I was pleasantly surprised to see this snowball looking thing. The waiter set it down on the table and opened up a tiny vial with the blood red raspberry sauce and poured it on top of the sphere! I should have taken a photo but by the time I tried reaching for my camera, he was already done.  The sphere was also ice cold which was also a pleasant surprise. TC had so much fun eating this.

Bert's choice was the Caramel Pannacotta with Chocolate Sauce. This was served in a small jar which was cool. I was thinking it would be served as a "mold" from a ramekin or something. His dessert had a nice silky smooth texture.

Inside the sphere was more of that super concentrated raspberry sauce. That was an amazing dessert and I wish we could have had more of it.

I'd love to go here again but for lunch since they offer a different menu. They are also known for their baked goods so I'd like to try some of those next time since they are only $2 each. 25 Forty  also offers breakfast but I'm not up early enough for that. The service here was super nice from the receptionist to our waitress and servers. 

One thing I noticed was that the clientele was old, like bluehair old. We were probably the youngest people there (as well as the only ethnic Asians). Although this was not a formal eatery, I noticed that people did dress up here but not so much that you looked like you were going to the Opera or something. It was fun going out to a nice comfortable place that served excellent food.

Who else ate at 25 Forty Bistro?

Ed Bedford of the SD Reader went here last fall: "25Forty Bistro and Bakery is an Island of Modernity"

I like how it's not near all the tourist trappy type restaurants but it's still in Old Town so my only gripe is the parking. When we left, this car totally sharked us for our spot. Can't wait to try this place out again.