Belgian Frie

[Update - Closed]

After wavering between the Laotian New Year Festival on Skyline and our curiosity to try Belgian style fries, Bert and I chose the fries place in PB (recommended by Captain Jack). I printed up the menu a few nights before, thinking the address was on it. It wasn't. For some reason, I thought it was on Garnet Avenue. I ended up calling information and we found the place on Mission Blvd, just a few steps away from our friend's surfshop, Star Surfing Company (next to Hennessy's) and the Pacific Ocean!We actually found parking on a side street a few buildings away. These are going to be new condos.
Here it is, the Belgian Frie. The shot from across the street (taken as we were leaving):

The view as we were approaching:

Their lunch/dinner menu (click on photo for a larger view):

Extra condiments:

The place was pretty small. I expected it to be much larger. Bert on the other hand, wasn't surprised. He used to have a paper route back in our college days in this area. He remembers PB being more run down looking and not as cleaned up and new as it is now. He figured it would be pretty tiny. On a side note, I used to accompany him during his 2 hour paper route; even though it was only 2 hours, he got paid $20 an hour, which was pretty good back in the early 90's. His partner was a beach guy who proclaimed that there was "no life east of 5". For that guy, the paper route was his ONLY job. Once Bert met Steffi Graf at one of the hotels during his route and got her autograph. I also remember him maneuvering between the narrow alleyways to get to certain places faster. Once we saw a bum draining his main vein on the side of a building. That was pretty gross, but according to Bert, commonplace. Ugh!

At Belgian Frie, there were a few tables and about 14 chairs plus a bench in the back by the kitchen saloon doors and patio seating out front.

I was reading the new Citybeat (you can see it above) and noticed that they had a foodblogger's page. I noticed that Kirk and Cathy from MMM-Yoso were listed! Cool!

Bert and I shared a meal that included salad, fries and two beef croquettes ($8.95). The croquettes were okay. We also ordered a small side of Belgian Fries ($3.95) which came with one sauce of choice (we chose the Fritesauss). For an additional $1.25 we ordered an additional trio of sauces: Honey Mustard, Mango Chutney and Roasted Garlic Mayo (I liked that one the best!). TC had her ketchup with fries, I mean her fries with ketchup! She also shared our salad but didn't care for the croquettes.

In the immortal words of Vincent Vega as he expounded the differences between American and European fast food with Jules Winnfield (from the "Pulp Fiction" Royale with Cheese scene)

VV: "You know what they put on French fries in Holland instead of ketchup?"

JW: "What?"

VV: "Mayonnaise."

JW: "Goddamn!"

VV: "Heh heh I seen 'em do it man, they fkn' drown 'em in that shit!

JW: "Ugh!"

Voila...Pomme frites avec le frittesauss (mayo with capers, parsley and anchovies).

The fries are served in a traditional paper cone (cool stand, eh!):

The front counter. The three guys working that morning were all very nice, patient and friendly.

It got crowded after we seated ourselves. Most people took their food to go.

After we finished off our meal (which really only served one), we ordered a few additional items. Another order of fries (single) because we wanted to use up the sauce, as well as the Meatball Brochette (below). These were meatballs and red onions on a stick served with marinara sauce and parmesan cheese. I didn't care for the red onions but enjoyed the meatballs which we all shared.

This time, we had the Samurai sauce (hot pepper sauc with chile & cayenne) with our second order of fries. This was truly scorching to our tastebuds!

Lastly, we got an order of Pork Croquettes ($3.50). The croquettes were crispy & quite tasty! The pork had a bit of a kick to it!

Mmm...fried food!

Eduard's

Yesterday was my brother in law's birthday so we went out for dinner at Hanaoka's in National City (they don't have a website). That place has been around since the late 80's. About 5+ years ago, they expanded into the old Swensen's next door. Anyways, I didn't bring the camera that time but it was the same old stuff I normally order: salmon skin roll, side salad and mixed tempura. On the way back home, we stopped by Eduard's in Otay Ranch for dessert to take home. I just realized the link to Eduard's has no links within. Hmmm. Maybe they are still under construction. This European style bakery (the only one in South Bay, besides Hans & Harry's in Bonita) is owned and run by the second owner, Edwin Real (pronounced "Ray-al"; he's Filipino American I believe).

Bert chose the Chocolate Mousse Cake which had fluffy layers of dark and milk chocolate and (top layer?) with a lovely layer of ganache on top...Mmm
I had the Espresso tart which was very dense and smooth:
TC had a Dark Chocolate Macaroon cookie, which she ended up not liking. She appropriated some of Bert's cake while I finished her macaroon. The cookie was very moist and the dark chocolate very rich. What I liked most was the chewy outer edge...
Another view of the Chocolate Mousse Cake. This was actually finished that evening. I only had nearly half of the Espresso tort and saved the other half for this morning.

Ranas

Yesterday, after attending an educational summit and before attending my student's wedding, I drove my lonely self over to my friend's place in Jamul. Since the wedding was in El Cajon, she lived nearby so I could hang out with her for 2 and 1/2 hours before the ceremony. We ended up going out to lunch at a place called "Ranas" ("frog" in Spanish) which is off the 94 freeway and the Kenwood exit in a small strip mall. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me and the website they advertise on their business card does NOT work (www.ranas.com.mx)! :(

For nice photos of the restaurant and a review to boot, please refer to this review by Kirk of MMM-Yoso! Here's another site with a few comments .

My friend and her husband frequent the place often and know the owners personally. In fact, we were greeted by Oscar (the very nice and friendly young owner) that afternoon. To start, I ordered the Flor de Calabaza Quesadilla (Zucchini Flower Quesadilla). This was a corn tortilla filled with zuchinne blossoms, cheese (not sure which kind), epazote (a Mexican herb), and chopped jalapenos. The tortilla is filled, folded (like a taco) and fried. The result was an interesting array of flavors. The squash blossoms had a vegetal taste and were almost sweet.

My entree was the Camarones a la Chile Poblano. This was shrimp was served in a boat dish on the plate, just swimming (in a good way) in the creamy chile poblano sauce. The sauce was a light orange hue and not spicy at all. The shrimp was served with a choice or either flour or corn tortilla on the side as well as beans and rice (white rice with peas). My friend had the entree that included two Flor de Calabazas quesadillas with a side of nopales strips (cactus) and white rice with peas.. She ended up having half of my beans since I'm more of a rice fan.

This Mexican restaurant doesn't serve your regular "Berto's" taco-shop choices. What I mean by that is that most taco shop places serve the same old thing. One of the reasons why I'm not too crazy about some types of Mexican food is that most typical restaurants serve their dishes drowned in red sauce and cheese, which I really dislike. I'm not a fan of saucy dishes. However, after that Chile Poblano sauce on my shrimp, I might just might convert! According to my friend, the Mexico City style is quite different from California Mexican food because the sauces are more sophisticated and complex. There are more exotic dishes with interesting sauces on the menu that I am interested in trying, next time with Bert and TC in tow. I was glad my friend steered us over to Ranas.

After the restaurant, I went to the wedding in El Cajon. It was in an Apostolic Church and I noticed a lot (not all) of the women had little circular veils that they pinned on the back of their heads. I didn't have one of those and hoped that I wasn't "disrespectful" for not having one! I also noticed I was the only Filipino (or Asian for that matter) person there. The other non Mexicans were a Caucasian couple, who, like me, came way early. The church was locked and the wedding started an hour late! I was in my car during most of the wait biding the time until the parking lot filled up and someone opened the church door.

The service was in Spanish and I understood bits and pieces of it, like when the preacher said (in Spanish, of course), "Marriage is forever. Marriage doesn't end when the husband becomes bald or the wife becomes fat" (I understood the words 'pelon' and 'gorda'). He also went on about husband and wife becoming one person and that marriage is a spiritual partnership and so on. It was pretty religious. I felt like a heathen riding down the highway to hell. Just kidding.

My student looked beautiful and quite happy on her special day. Although I went solo (Bert was with TC for her dance practice) like a loser, I was glad I showed up. I didn't go to the reception since I had planned to go home and relax. Instead, after coming home, my plans for just a family dinner changed because we ended up to dinner with Bert's brother and mom since it was my bro-in-law's b-day.

Rubber chicken & SPAM

One of the perks I remember when I was the Scholarship Counselor (before TC was born) were the free lunches and dinners for scholarship events. Although I am no longer filling that role, my colleague (who is) invited me to fill in for our principal who was unable to attend today's Bank of America Awards luncheon at the Mission Valley Hilton. I gladly accepted, if not to be off campus for a few hours! Plus, our student represantative was the one I nominated.

It was sprinkling a tiny bit as we drove up to the venue (it poured when we emerged an hour and a half later). We arrived a few minutes late, but still in time for the first course which was spring mix salad already pre-plated. In fact, the dessert was also on the table as well, tempting me to try it first, but I resisted the urge. Although free lunch is sometimes nice, in this case, it wasn't the greatest of meals. The entree was a rubbery and dry chicken breast scantily topped with some sort of cream sauce (it didn't help much), garnished with a lonely carrot, two roasted new potatoes and a few thin sprigs of Chinese broccoli. Two potatoes?

I ended up eating just a bread roll with butter and the vegetables. After several bites of the chicken, I decided to just leave it be and went for the dessert which was tiramisu finger topped with a chocolate covered espresso bean. We heard an inspiring keynote speech, and a rundown of the student winners in each category (my student won $1,000 for 3rd place!).

So that was my boring ass hotel banquet-style lunch. If I had stayed on campus, I could have bought some better food from the Filipino mom & pop place across the street and enjoyed that much more!

Later that afternoon, after picking up TC and my nephews, I made them fried rice with SPAM which was promptly devoured by all four of us, then later my brother, when he came to pick them up. My Spam fried rice was kind of basic today. Just a chopped onion sauteed with cubed SPAM, to which I added the day old white rice, leftover frozen mixed vegetables, garlic powder, fresh cracked black pepper and low sodium soy sauce....Mmmm

And you are?

(photo NOT taken by me)

Yesterday, I went on a mini field trip with a few colleagues and students for the Regional Occupational Program (ROP) Non-Traditional Career Conference. As the students and educators congregated under a huge tent filled with chairs and a resource fair, a lone musician sat on a stool, strumming and crooning the Frampton standard "Baby I Love Your Way" and a few other reggae-fied songs. Sounding vaguely familiar, I thought to myself, "Hmmm, he sounds like the guy from Big Mountain" (whose remake of the song was included in the 'Reality Bites' soundtrack in 1994).

As the conference kicked off and introductions were made, I found out that the singer was indeed that guy! His name? Joaquin "Quino" McWhinny. He is currently subbing in our district and starts this July as an ROP teacher at the new high school. In addition to teaching Computer Web Design, he will also be teaching a studio/recording/sound engineering class (I forgot the exact title but it has to do with recording music) in a state of the art classroom/studio.

Students attended assigned breakout sessions in various fields like Sales & Merchandising, Hotel Management, Building & Construction, Medical, Maritime Industry and a few others I can't remember. The educators had carte blanche and could attend any of the workshops, so I kind of drifted in an out of the various classrooms listening to bits and pieces of the workshops. I ended up going catching the tail end of one of the Technology sessions and Quino was the presenter. My colleagues and I ended up staying for the second session where we got to learn more about him.

I was never a big reggae fan and still do not enjoy this type of music. It's too bouncy and monotonous for me. Man, it was musical hell for me when we were in Hawaii last summer because all they played on the radio stations was that Jawaiian bullshit. OMG I wanted to scream, but different strokes for different folks, right?

But nevertheless, it was cool to meet a musician whom I've only seen in videos. He looked differnent without his dreadlocks! It's great that he stayed local and is giving back to the community. He is also still in the music business with Big Mountain (as the only remaining original member) and musical side projects like Quinazo . All in all, he was a down to earth guy and I'm sure the kids who take his classes will find his passion for technology and music refreshing and contagious. He seems like the kind of teacher that kids would gravitate towards as opposed to someone who's just there to get a paycheck.

Favorite Songs meme

Favorite Songs Meme

(taken from Curiosity Killer's blog)

1. Favorite Song From Childhood:
If I had to pick one , "Silly Lovesongs" by Paul McCartney& Wings.

2. Favorite High School Dance Song:
I only went to the dances to get out of the house and be with my friends. I didn't really care about the music. Most of the shit they played was r&b. The music I like isn't really danceable, unless you count "headbanging" as a sort of dance. So, I have no answer to this one.

3. Senior Class Song:
We didn't have one unelss you counted The Beastie Boys' "Fight for Your Right to Party" (kidding, but they played that song so damn much, it may as well have been)


4. Song That Makes You Think of College:
Unfortunately,the early 90's were the grunge years, so Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was one of those songs. On a plus note, when I started college in '87, the song that summed it up for me was "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns 'n Roses (had a smokin' guitar solo by Slash).

5. Favorite Rock & Roll Song:
Oh my God! Too many to name here!

6. Favorite Disco Song:

7. Favorite Country Song:
WTF!!!! None at all!

8. Favorite Pop Song:


9. Favorite All Time Love Song:
"Reign in Blood" by Slayer

.............Not



10. Favorite Break-Up Song:
None (sorry, I'm boring)

11. Favorite Slow Dance Song:
The all time classic, "Always & Forever" by Heatwave.

12. Song That Always Makes You Cry:
No songs make me cry.

Okay, wait - the song about that rat,"Ben" by Michael Jackson.

Sorry, I should be taking this more seriously, eh!

No songs make me cry.

13. Songs About Your Kid/s:


14. Favorite Classical Song:
"Raindrop Prelude" by Chopin (because I can play it on the piano)

15. Favorite Jazz Song:
"A Night in Tunisia" by Dizzie Gillespie

16. Favorite Christmas Song:
"Christmas Don't be Late" by the Chipmunks


Okay, the real song is


17. Favorite Gospel/Praise Song:
"Number of the Beast" by Iron Maiden

Actually, none at all! I do not listen to this genre.

18. Favorite Ringtone on Cellphone:
None - Those ringtones bug my ass.

Buga & Heaven Sent Desserts

My birthday fell on a lucky day, Friday the 13th!

Bert, TC and I went to Buga for dinner with Lotus and Thor. Here are the guys' Korean beers:

Our panchan below (broccoli, I think, with mushroom? the other one is spinach):

The salad that you can eat with your grilled meat plus more panchan. Pictured are the kimchi and fish cake. That last dish contains chili dipping sauce for the meat.

Radish with chili sauce:

Cuttlefish. This was too chewy for me. Lotus ended up having most of it.

The pickled, green wasabi flavored radish, rice wraps, and Korean potato salad (it had big chunks of Asian pear in it --- hmmm)

We ordered the Bulgogi (thinly sliced beef, #5 on the BBQ menu):
The Joomulruk (seasoned beef rib eye, # 3 )

and the Daeji Samgyubsal (pork belly, #11):

The waiter fired up the pork belly first, four big thick strips of it:

Later on, a waitress in a hanbok came over and sliced the pork belly into smaller strips:

We also ordered Chapchae:

It was so much food, but we managed to eat it all!

Just look at that bulgogi sizzling on the grill, curling up just so...

After this veritable mega-meat feast, we went for dessert at Heaven Sent Desserts in North Park. We had been here a couple of times before and I was really hoping they would have their macarons (they didn't):

Cute design on the pistachio cake:

*Note: The descriptions in quotes were taken straight from their online menu

My dessert was the Champagne Pear Tart, which are "ripe pears poached in champagne and vanilla accent, baked in a frangipane filling, all in a delicious shortbread crust ($5.75). Although this was quite good, I only had a few bites because I also had a cookie, plus a few stolen bites of Bert's dessert. I took the rest of the tart home.

Bert's choice was the Marbled Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake ($6.25), which was a "smooth, silky chocolate cheesecake swirled with bursts of refreshing raspberries. It was pretty rich and dense.

I also had the Chocolate Orange Sarah Bernhard cookie ($1.75 each). This was so good that I bought three more to go (one for each of us the next day).

TC had the Alice's Tea Party Cup Cakes, a "wonderland of nine miniature assorted vanilla chiffon and chocolate fudge cupcakes. Iced with fanciful colors of sweet buttercream and topped with whimsical chocolate edible butterflies" ($6.50):

TC ate the decorative butterflies first, then picked off the real flowers. A few cupcakes were eaten so we took the rest home along with Bert's cheesecake and my pear tart.

Lotus & Thor shared their Golden Sunset Butter Cake, "a golden yellow butter cake layered with a colorful apricot French buttercream and raspberry marmalade. Edged with toasted chiffon cake crumb and fresh raspberry decor" ($7.00):

The dessert place wasn't too crowded when we arrived but it picked up by the time we left. On an adjacent wall was a projection of a Charlie Chaplin silent film, forming an amusing backdrop as everyone enjoyed their desserts and coffee:

Today

What do I have in common with these folks?

Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the U.S.
Don Adams ("Get Smart")
Tony Dow ("Wally Cleaver"),

and Ricky Shroder ("Silver Spoons")

?????

Back to work...

After one week of a short-lived vacation, I'm back at work.

The next five days will be spent registering our current juniors for their senior year. They'll be coming into the Counseling Center in waves and we will meet with our own students individually and go over their graduation requirements, college plans, summer school plans, and so on and so forth.

I barely remember doing this when I was in school. I hardly ever complained about my classes or my teachers to my counselor (who is STILL there by the way)!

Okay, now I feel old. I was invited to my first wedding (of a student).

I've been to a few graduation parties, invited to an Eagle Scout ceremony, attended a couple of cotillions, but a wedding? Actually, I won't be able to attend due to a previous committment that same weekend, but I feel I should get her a small gift or card or something.

Oh yeah, for our 20 year reunion, the organizer sent us his weekly update with a different question for everyweek. This week's question (previous ones were, "Which countries have you traveled to?" and "What is your current occupation?") is: How many child(ren) do you have? Any grandchildren?

Holy shite! Grandkids?

Well, it could happen. Example: One of our friends dropped out of high school to get married at 16. Ironically, she was NOT pregnant; her psycho dad made her get married to get out of the house. Her husband turned out to be a total abuser (and luckily she dumped him after enduring several years of marriage). She did end up having a baby at 17. The kid is now 21. He could have a kid and make her a grandmother at age 38.

Legoland

This was taken a few weeks ago (Monday 3/26). I took the day off and went to Legoland with TC, my sis and her boys and my brother's boys. Our dad bought the tix for cheap at the base. It was overcast and cool that day, but the sun came out later when we left (see photo below).
Star Wars geek that I am, I had to take a photo of Darth Vader. Not pictured is R2-D2 who would have been on the bottom right corner.

We took a cheesy boat ride (no lines!). The Taj Majal:

Mount Rushmore with George getting his ears cleaned. That q-tip was actually moving back and forth!

Some pretty flowers by the miniature golf course:

This is still at the miniature golf course; this skunk actually sprayed you with water if activated the sensor. My nephew kept running back and forth to set it off. It's not spraying here.

I wish I knew what this flower was:

A miniature version of Bourbon Street:

The NYC skyline:

They were still working on the Vegas miniatures. My sis went later that week (you can visit the park for $1 more if you go within the same week) with the kids and the Vegas exhibit was finished.

One of the workers trying to finish up the Vegas exhibit:

I'm not a theme park fan. I hate crowds and the crappy overpriced food. But I went since it was on my dad! Plus I got to be with my siblings and TC got to enjoy herself with her cousins (all boys). I waited out most of the rides because one or more of the nephews didn't want to go on the fast rides which was no problem. Most of the time, for our entertainment, we use those coupons and go to museums or to the library or park with TC. We've done that since she was a baby.

Usually Bert will take her out so she can ride her scooter or bike. Anything to get out and have fresh air. Going to Legoland was a big treat for her because we normally wouldn't have gone. She keeps wanting to go to Disneyland. Perhaps one of these days, but I would have to suppress my intense hatred of all things "Princess" and my dislike of Disney in general.