SDNHM

I'm on a roll here...This was taken last Tuesday (4/3) at Balboa Park. The weather was perfect - the sun was out and it was so beautiful outside. This was taken near the International cottages.
A plaque commemorating Agoston Haraszthy, a Hungarian aristocrat, a legendary vintner and the first sheriff of San Diego. This is fittingly located near the House of Hungary. Gorgeous rhododendrons near the Spreckles Organ Pavilion:

The right wing of the Organ Pavilion:

In the courtyard near the Prado restaurant is the "La Tehuana" by sculptor Donal Hord , who also made Monty Montezuma at SDSU! The statue used to be located outside, near the Adam's Humanities building. Now good old Monty is located in the new Student Center:

Here's Monty (taken at SDSU Family day April 2006):

Since it was the first Tuesday of the month, that meant it was free admission to theSan Diego Natural History Museum as well as the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center (which we didn't have enough time for). The downside with free admission is that there are big fkn hordes of people, many with strollers and whining bratty kids. This is the pendulum that knocks down blocks (dominos?) on the hour...I remember being so fascinated with that as a kid.

An ankylosaurus:

Jaws:

I want to say this is a T. Rex, but I'm not sure! This was a permanent exhibit called, "Fossil Mysteries":

Another dino that I forgot the name:

Here's the other side of the dino above:

The dino downstairs...Kind of pales in comparison to the one in "Night at the Museum".

Another view. This is on the first floor:

Here's a view of the Moreton Bay Fig Tree taken from the second floor of the SDNHM. It's been fenced off since 1989. As kids, we would sit under the shade during field trips. They fenced it off because the roots were getting messed up.

A view of the Casa del Prado theatre:

At the top (4th floor) of the SDNHM, there were several art exhibits (photo & sculpture) going on:

I'll post the artist and the names of these works later:

Cheesy tots and Bacione

[Bacione has been closed for past few years and replaced with another business]

Last Thursday (when I was still on Spring Break), TC and I went to Mission Valley to do a few returns. At the mall food court, we got some (forbidden) snacks. A small order of fries from Burger King and this new menu item called "Cheesy Tots" which are deep fried cheese embedded potato nuggets. Mmmm. I only bought the 6 piece because I wasn't sure if they would be good or not. They were okay...
After Mission Valley, we went to Fashion Valley to make a few more returns. As we were walking from the parking structure (near the movie theatres) to get to the mall, I happened to look up and there were two boys (maybe 10 or 12 years old) standing above us. As we walked under them, TC and I were showered with popcorn bits. I could hear their laughter above. I was upset that these kids were doing this for fun...What total losers. After I did my returns, we went to have lunch so I figured we would kill two birds with one stone and have lunch somewhere near Trader Joe's in Hillcrest. After finding a lone parking spot behind the store, we walked over to this place in the Ralph's/Trader Joe's shopping center.We were greeted by an elderly man with an Italian accent who seated us in a window facing booth. He was so nice and he seemed to know most of his customers. He said "Bye boys, see you later" to a male couple who were leaving as we walked in. Turns out that the man was the owner and his name is Ned Geha.

The interior, dark wood with hand painted murals of Italy:

The front counter:

I ordered the Pizza Margherita which came with a green salad. I didn't care too much for the dressing because I eat my salads plain. I picked at the dry pieces instead and TC had a bit of the salad as well:

I'm not kidding when I say this is one of the best pizzas I've ever tasted. The ingredients were so fresh and simple. The crust was also very good. Most crusts are thick and doughy or thin and cardboardy. Not this one. It was light and crisp with a satisfying mouthfeel . When I mentioned that I really liked the crust to the owner, he was so happy I noticed. He told me that all of the other places use refrigerated or ready made dough but he made his from scratch every day and that was the difference.

TC had the child size portion of the spaghetti marinara with fresh parmesan cheese on top. There was a time when TC had spaghetti at Lotus's house and Lotus joked with her, "Do you want some spaghetti with that cheese?" since she totally piled it on!

There was a trio of older folks sitting in the booth behind us and I could overhear their conversation. One of the men knew the owner (that's how I found out his name was Ned) and he was greeted like an old friend. Ned even joined them for part of their lunch.
He and his wife were so kind to me and TC. Before we boxed up our leftovers, he said to TC, "You didn't like your spaghetti?" To which she replied, "I did like my spaghetti but I couldn't finish it all". So he said, "Can I finish it for you?" He proceeded to make a show of taking her fork and pretending to scoop up the pasta; she ended up laughing and smiling. I'd like to go again (next time with Bert) and try a few other items on their menu...

Wake up Donnie...

" Well, hello there children! Wait...where are you going?"

Just kidding...I hope you all have a Happy Easter!!!

(lilies from our front yard, taken 5/06)

Paul Giamatti

"Aaaaaaagh! I can't believe I was in this movie!!!"

We were watching the 'tween masterpiece "Big Fat Liar" starring Frankie Muniz and Amanda Bynes and last but not least, Paul Giamatti...Yes, you heard that right. The same guy that who played Harvey Pekar in"American Splendor", the pinor noir loving Miles in "Sideways" and nominated for Best Supporting Actor in 2006's "Cinderella Man".

Actually the movie was pretty formulaic but funny in some parts. Especially for our 6 and 1/2 year old who enjoyed the pranks and pseudo-violence...There are a lot of cameos by many actors such as Donald Faison (Scrubs), Sandra Oh (Grey's Anatomy - a show I've never watched), Amy Hill (she played Margaret Cho's grandmother in her canceled TV series, "All American Girl"), plus Dustin Diamond (the annoying Screech from "Saved by the Bell" and ), John Cho (the "MILF" guy from "American Pie"), Lee Majors (WTF??? the "Six Million Dollar Man"!), Kenan Thompson (currently on SNL, played "Fat Albert" and was in "Good Burger") & Jaleel White (Urkel from "Family Matters" - another show I've never watched).


My favorite scene:


When Marty Wolf (Paul Giamatti's character) is undulating his pot belly and gyrating to Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf" in his tiny swim trunks before he takes a dip in his pool. Unbeknownst to Marty, his pool was infiltrated with blue dye by Frankie's character who is hell bent on revenge since Marty stole his English paper for his film "Big Fat Liar". Frankie and Amanda (his sidekick) also put orange dye in Marty's shampoo so his hair turns flaming orange.


Sigh, I know...so juvenile...


I'm still looking forward to watching "Grindhouse"!

Farmer's Market

Last Thursday was the Chula Vista Farmer's market which TC and I visited that afternoon. This is an electrical box (I used to call these 'green boxes') on F Street in downtown CV.
This box is on F Street near the Congregational Tower (an old folks home - it was in the news a few years back when this guy went psycho and shot up a few people!):

TC and I actually went earlier, thinking (mistakenly) that the Farmer's Market was open around noon. It wasn't (it opened at 3 pm), so we had lunch at California Sushi on 3rd Avenue. It's right across the street from Buckfutters. I had a side salad with ginger soy dressing on the side. It was blah, just iceberg lettus with a few bits of red cabbage and slivers of carrot and one soggy tomato slice.

We sat outside to people watch. It was pretty dead that time of day. They started having the lunch crowd when we left one hour later. I ordered several rolls a la carte: the California roll.

the shrimp tempura roll:

and the salmon skin roll. Yes, 3 rolls. TC had a few pieces of the California roll, but I intended to save some of the leftovers for Bert's dinner later.

I ordered the Chicken teriyaki bowl for TC. There was way too much food so I only gave her a tiny portion and saved the rest for dinner (and lunch the next day) as well. This was not really good. They put so much sauce that the rice was soggy and the vegetables were all limp (cabbage and carrots).

We ended up going home after lunch and TC fell asleep in her room. When she woke a few hours later, we left the house again to go to the market.

The day was cool and overcast. I kind of liked it. It's nice picture taking weather. No harsh shadows from the sun. I wanted to buy some fresh berries and vegetables that day so we browsed the different booths before making our selection.

I bought some white zucchini (not pictured) from this booth.

I bumped into a former student (and now a colleague because she is now a counselor in the same district) who was there with her mom.

I liked how this jewelry seller used screen mesh in place of glass in this picture frame. It's a neat way to display hook earrings . I plan to use this same idea (with a black frame) so I can hang the frame on my side of our (small) walk-in closet.

I think I'll buy some of these next time. There's a recipe I have where you dip these in a light batter and fry them!

I bought red chard (.75 for one bunch - and I thought Whole Food's $1.49 price was good!):

Fresh raspberries:

and delicious strawberries picked that very morning in Carlsbad:

What's cool about the farmer's market is that you can talk to the people who grow the produce. Most of them are very nice and they also give out samples of their fruit (which TC likes). I'm trying to buy more of my produce locally. Bert really liked these strawberries. They were really juicy and fragrant. Unlike the shitty kind you get at the regular supermarket where they're still unripe, hard and flavorless.

Another tape I found

Here's a blast from the not so distant past.

I found an old tape cover of a cassette my very good friend and I made of our favorite songs in mid 1989. This is my same friend who made Depression Vols 1-3 (as seen on my February 5 entry).

We labored intensively over our song choices. I had one side, she the other. Our theme was our favorite songs as kids up to the present day. We recorded the songs in chronological order and vowed to have no song repeats.We shared some of our favorite songs such as Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" but since she claimed it first, I had to let that one go. We also had to compromise as we were both huge (Roth-era of course) VH fans. She also liked "Dance the Night Away" but I got to pick that so she ended up choosing "You Really Got Me" . We also compromised on Def Leppard's "Photograph" so I chose an earlier Lep song for my entry. Towards the later years, you could see the differences in our musical tastes.

Note: Most of the songs/artists are linked. You can click on them to know more our choices.

Our Fave Songs
compiled June 16 -20, 1989
recorded on a Maxell MX 100 cassette (IEC Type IV Metal)

Side A (my side)

1975 You're My Best Friend Queen
My favorite Queen song of all time from one of their best albums, A Night at the Opera. I still love this song to death!
1976 Silly Love Songs Paul McCartney and Wings
One of the few songs I remember really liking as a young child. One of our good friends used this song for their wedding video montage.
The Things We Do for Love 10CC
We actually had this .45! I think it was my brother's. Looking back, I wish I had "Hotline" by the Sylvers to replace this instead!
1977 Cold as Ice Foreigner
And then I discovered FM radio and my musical tastes were never the same again! Lou Gramm's voice was so cool and powerful. From their debut album Foreigner.
1979 Dance the Night AwayVan Halen
My #1 favorite VH song. Eddie Van Halen rules all! EVH wrote this song because he was inspired by Fleetwood Mac's "Go Your Own Way".
BabeStyx
As sappy as this song was, I really dug Tommy Shaw's voice and that soft electric piano! Well, it was this, or "Too Hot" & "Ladies Night" by Kool & the Gang which came out the same year!
1980 Let it Go Def Leppard
Oh man, this song fkn' shreds! This was early and raw Def Leppard before they turned into the pitiful soft rock pussies they later became. I remember taping this song off the radio! "High 'n Dry" is one on my top 10 albums list. Come to think of it, why don't I have more 1980 entries here? I should have had AC/DC's "Back in Black", Judas Priest's "Breaking the Law" & "Living After Midnight" ! Dammit!
1981 Crazy Train/Dee Ozzy Osbourne
From Ozzy's landmark "Blizzard of Ozz" album. I was in 6th grade and Randy Rhoads was about to replace EVH as my favorite guitarist. Sadly, he was to live another year before the deadly plane crash which ended his life.
Our Lips are Sealed The Go Go's
From the album, "Beauty and The Beat", which was one of the first albums I ever bought. Plus I liked the fact that they were an all-girl band.
Petite Etude Triumph
Although I liked Rush a little better (another Canadian power trio for you all), this little guitar solo from the album Allied Forces was quite pretty and I felt I had to include at least another instrumental to accompany "Dee".
Last Chance on the Stairway Duran Duran
One of their 'non-hits' from the album, 'Rio'. A gorgeous ballad with a cool vibraphone solo.
1983 Gloria (live version in 'Under a Blood Red Sky') U2
Although this song was featured on classic 2nd album, October, I liked this version (which was the opening song from their 4th album, Under a Blood Red Sky) much better . I miss early U2.
1985 Prelude Mortale Vandenberg
From 1985's "Alibi"; the group was led by Dutch guitar wiz Adrian Vandenberg . This band was not well known and I knew of them because of a neighborhood guy friend I hung out with (he's now in jail!). Vandenberg later joined Whitesnake and is now an artist. This song was another instrumental. So there are three so far.
1987 Welcome to the Jungle Guns 'n Roses
This was the year we both graduated and started college. My friend veered more towards the post punk groups and was leaning towards her goth phase. I, on the other hand, was still into hard rock and entranced by these young upstarts. Where are they now? Their debut album blew all others out of the water.

Side B (her side)

1973 Live and Let DiePaul McCartney & Wings
From the James Bond movie of the same name. I believe it's set in the Caribbean or some other place where they practice voodoo . Stars a young Jane Seymour, who was my friend's favorite actress. This movie had a bit of blaxploitation in it as well (afros, references to pimps, drugs, etc). This song was later covered by Guns 'n Roses on their "Use Your Illusion I" album.
1978 I Want You to Want Me (live at Budokan) Cheap Trick
The song I totally wanted. Robin Zander in that white suit!!! Hey, I should have had "Dream Police"(which came out in '79)!
You Really Got Me Van Halen
A kick ass version of the Kinks' song and a waaaay better version than the one butchered by Sangina on American Idol a few weeks back.
1979 Message in a Bottle The Police
From the album, Reggatta de Blanc. Oooh, looking back, I wished I had the Police on my list. They are actually back together again and will tour this summer.
We Live for Love Pat Benatar
From her debut album, In the Heat of the Night which showcased her operatic vocals. The album also spawned the hit "Heartbreaker" and "No You Don't".
1980 Stories for Boys U2
From u2's debut album, Boy, one of her favorite albums.
1981 This Town The Go Go's
Another song from "Beauty and the Beat" that we labored over choosing.
1982 Inoculated City The Clash
From the album, "Combat Rock"; it's cool that she picked this instead of the more well known "Should I Stay or Should I Go" .
1983 Photograph Def Leppard
We loved this song! I loved the video. Last Halloween, I was dressed (almost) exactly as Joe Elliott in this video. I had my vintage Union Jack shirt bought for $15 that year!
(I'm in Love with a) Working Girl The Members
I think this was their only hit...We actually searched a lot of record places to find this record. We eventually found it at Off the Record (a now defunct used record store) on El Cajon Blvd.
1986 Here is the House Depeche Mode
From the album, Black Celebration which actually had a lot of good songs on it like "It Doesn't Matter", "A Question of Lust"and "Fly on the Windscreen".
Love is the Slug Fuzzbox
The group's reall name was We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It but was shortened to Fuzzbox. An all girl group from England and a one hit wonder as well.
1987 Dear God XTC
A controversial song from their great album, Skylarking which also featured really cool songs in various genres (my favorite was the ultra cool spy-like "The Man Who Sailed Around his Soul") . The video for this song was also cool and if you stayed up late enough, you could catch it on MTV's "120 Minutes".
1989 Loveless New Order
From the album, Technique . She didn't choose the obvious favorites (of others) like "TrueFaith", "Blue Monday", "Bizarre Love Triangle".
Lovesong The Cure
One of their more "recent" songs at the time and a romantic one at that.

Sorry no cassette cover art. The writing is all faded and I threw the tape away awhile back since I could burn this same compilation easily. Still trying to dig up more compilations we did back then.

Seafood city

Last Sunday I went to Seafood City in Chula Vista to get some snacks. These bags of shrimp chips were 3 for .99. I opened one on the way home, so it's not pictured (it was the plain shrimp flavor).
Got some cracker nut snacks for Bert.These also come in plain, adobo, and garlic flavors. I like these because there is a thick, crunchy coating but they tend to be really salty. Good pulutan if you're drinking beers.

I ran out of oyster sauce so I needed a new bottle. I have no brand loyalty. I got this one because it was on sale. I use this sauce when stir frying baby bok choy.

My old standby powdered mix for afritada and menudo (Filipino style, not Mexican style). There's this brand and Knorr's.

I was planning to make halo halo this week (but ending up not doing so - didn't get the Magnolia ube ice cream and Carnation evaporated milk that day). Sometimes I buy red azuki beans but this trip I didn't. I just got macapuno strings (great eaten out of the jar!), green kaong (palm nuts - they also come in red), and nata de coco.

These lychees & langka (jackfruit) were also for the halo-halo. TC likes to eat these plain.

I bought an assortment of spicy sardines. They were out of the brand I normally buy (Ligo).

The "new" Mama Sita's packaging (compare to the earlier photo). This is powdered mix for guava sinigang. My mom hates that I use this because she prefers using the guavas from her trees. I'm lazy like that. Bert doesn't like the guava flavor, preferring instead, the tamarind sinigang mix.

Here's one of those shrimp chips. I could eat a whole bag of those!

Not pictured: my box of Skyflakes crackers and Japanese style steamed fish cake (for future pancit bihon).

These snacks (excluding soup mix) should for a while. The one thing about the Chula Vista location of Seafood City is that their checkout aisles are too damn narrow. You can't push your cart through there. Then, there's lazy a-holes who leave their cart in front of you while you're still in line, blocking your way. Inconsiderate fkrs! How hard is it to push the cart a few feet to the cart return?

Anyhow, the Filipina checkers are so rude there and sometimes I think they're ruder to me because I don't speak the language. They never greet you or say thank you, or count out your change properly. Oh yeah, since you can't push your cart through, a bagger is supposed to put your groceries in a cart waiting at the end of the checkout stand. Sometimes no carts are available and you have to wait (this is a pain especially if you have more than 2 bags of groceries to carry out). I like going to the Seafood City in National City. Even though it's always crowded, you CAN push your cart through the checkout aisle!

Movie to watch

Forget about those wannabe horror movies, the Battle of Thermopylae, the TMNT, and movies featuring fat middle aged men riding motorcycles as well as the formerly fearsome NWA rapper Ice Cube as a hapless family man!!! Here's a movie to sink yer teeth into: