go go gyro

when i saw the sign stating that there was a new greek place so close to my house i was stoked!  today ended up being the perfect time to check it out so liz, elle and i stopped in for lunch.  pictured above is my lamb & beef gyro (i picked off the tomatoes) with onions and a cool yogurt based dill sauce.  the flavor was sufficient but what i didn't like was the fact that it wasn't the sliced off meat.  instead it was ground lamb and beef combined together then cooked and i would have preferred the meet on the spigot that rotates and is sliced off just before serving.  let me say it was not bad but it wasn't what i expected it to be.  i didn't take pictures of the other items i ordered but i also got a bowl of lemon chicken soup with rice that i thoroughly enjoyed, it had a unique balance of flavors and the rice helped to offset the slightly creamy broth.  also not pictured is a cheese type dip that was the consistency of humus but had a little kick of spice that i liked.  i'll let you know if this place is a hit once i try it again.

we are augustines & the boxer rebellion

at slim's tonight i was introduced to a new band called we are augustines who opened for the boxer rebellion.  i was so impressed with them that i ended up purchasing a cd as well as an autographed poster, which now hangs in my room.  i love being introduced to new music and i love it even more when i'm introduced to them through live music.  great job tonight we are augustines!

i actually talked a friend into attending the show with me since none of my friends knew who the boxer rebellion was and thankfully she was down for the cause.  we both enjoying the show and i think that she is now a fan of both bands.  funny thing is that i only know 3 songs by the boxer rebellion but those 3 songs were enough that i was interested to hear more.  happy to report that i do not regret my decision to attend!

nopalito

only 88 more to go

#53 - carnitas at nopalito, done and done



the pork was cooked and caramelized to perfection with some nice slightly crisp edges but mostly soft and succulent.  not super greasy with loads of flavor in each bite.  it's served with cole slaw, green salsa and fresh house made tortillas.  one thing i will say that we arrived around 8 for dinner and they had at least an hour wait to be seated so call ahead and get reservations or do what we did and step over to the side door and order your meal to go.  since we were there for a concert we couldn't very well head home to eat so we sat inside the grocery store that is next door and ate since they had tables and chairs (don't worry i bought 20 bucks worth of food there too).  too bad this place isn't closer to my house so i could enjoy this more often but i guess it's a good thing it's not.

random but i found a shirley temple in a bottle at the grocery store where we ate, i had no clue anyone sold it already mixed and in a bottle.

kincaid's

happy administrative professionals day to me

ate lunch at kincaid's with my coworkers.  with all the buzz around the office i assumed lunch was going to life changing.  i'm afraid that the meal did not live up to the hype and my sandwich was only average.  in case my words don't express my proof is the fact that i only ate half of my sandwich.

since my sandwich was less a let down i had to shut down my meal with pear bread pudding.  let me start by offering a little known fact about me, i do not like pears so i picked them off.  after moving the pears to the side i dug in but only mildly enjoyed my dessert.  i've only had homemade bread pudding the lady i know who makes it can make one much better then this.  i did really enjoy the bourbon sauce i dumped on top.

mango caribbean

 mango caribbean

cafe gratitude

café gratitude is an organic vegan restaurant that specializes in gourmet raw and cooked cuisines.  we ate at the harrison location in san francisco.  i've never eaten at a vegan restaurant or eaten a vegan meal so i was very sceptical walking into this experience.

i am thriving is their cooked soup of the day.  this is a picture of my cauliflower soup and vanilla smoothie.

i am extraordinary is a BLT sandwich without the bacon and no tomatoes.  they use coconut to replace the bacon, it's sauteed in maple and served with avocado and spicy chipotle aioli.

i'm not sure how this place made such great food that i'd eat again without using any animal products.  don't get me wrong, i don't have to eat meat everyday but i would never have imagined that i'd want to go back to a place that makes only vegan food.  in fact i didn't even miss the bacon on my sandwich and didn't notice that my soup and shake weren't made from real cream.  thanks café gratitude for the wonderful meal and congratulations you've gained a new fan.

yes i did...

eat a taco from the truck parked on the same block as café gratitude before i entering the vegan side of life for dinner.  when i noticed the truck i figured it would be a good idea to eat a little something before i sat down for dinner at a place i was certain i wasn't going to enjoy.  surely one taco could hold me over until i could leave the vegan world behind me and grab a few more tacos to top me off before going to the art show.

i'm glad i did only because it was a tasty carnitas taco but i really didn't need to eat a taco since i liked my meal so much.. who knew.

questlove

tonight questlove is preforming at the mezzanine and i wish i was going.  too bad i found out about this show too late and now i can't find someone who is down for the cause.  dang, i bet i would've had a chance to meet him.  on the real i feel like he'd be so much fun to kick it with.  in fact i've got an inside source that tells me he is fun & chill and that source happens to be my cousin who used to hang with him and the rest of the roots back in the day.  i'm just gonna throw it out there that you should hit me up after the show ahmir!!

throwback thursday - i really love your peaches

i wanna shake your tree

love that line above from this song by the steve miller band?  i still sing along to this oldie but goodie every time i hear it.  plus i give them mad props for using the lyrics gangster of love and pulling it off.

butterscotch on the go

butterscotch pudding form butterscotchonthego

i highly recommend you make a point to swing by when they are in your area and try some, it's the best pudding i've ever had!

king's bakery

#52 coconut buns from king's bakery

CHECK

i was headed into the city for dinner at the tiny dancers house and thought it would be fun to check another thing off the list.  this seemed fast and easy so i went for it and i'm super glad i did.  the buns were light, fluffy, flavorful and amazing!!  when i first saw them i was a little worried that i was loading my tray with the wrong item, even after i asked the man behind the counter who assured me with a weird grunt that they were what i was looking for.  the sesame seeds were totally throwing me off but i bought twenty anyways and went on my way.  if i had known then how good they were i would not have waited until later to taste one.

i'm sure this picture looks appetizing but it's hard to tell from this plain jane picture how taste worthy this treat is.  let me help put this into perspective.  think king's hawaiian rolls (but fresher) then add a buttery coconut flavored center.  are you with me?  or are you on your way to san francisco to get one?

i hope that helped a little bit to understand what this picture is trying to show.  can you see the coconut center?

want me to eat fruit?

then they should make fruit taste like this.  my wonderful aunt has a way of getting me to try foods that i don't think i like and making me enjoy it.

rice cakes with peanut butter & bananas and

apples with no skin sprinkled with cinnamon & sugar

another missed opportunity

elle and i planned for months to go to the concert tonight.  when the day arrived i ended up giving away my ticket for the yellowcard & all time low show.  from what i hear yellowcard put on a great performance but all time low was less than exciting.

claim jumper disappointment

dear claim jumper,

what have you done with your menu?  and your delicious food?  and your large portions?  and worst of all your potato cakes, pork loin and avocado egg rolls?  i'm extremely disappointed in your poor decision making since it now directly effects me.  i think you now owe me dinner and a much better one than you served me tonight!!!

chicken salad sandwich with loaded mashed potatoes

munchner haus delicatessen

sharks game, hanging with the griffins and delicious german sandwiches.. sounds like a perfect thursday night to me!

if you are ever in fremont and are craving a sandwich i suggest you don't go to quizno's or subway.  you will not be disappointed with munchner haus and i'm sure you'd even thank me for the suggestion.  the picture is of my black forest ham sandwich with greyer cheese on dutch crunch bread.

rolling in the deep

so this song has taken over the radio on all the stations i can't seem to get away from it.  don't get me wrong i like it but it's getting played out already!!  it was released as the 1st single off the 21 cd at the end of last year and it blew up and i loved it and was happy for her but for some reason people are just now over playing it.. on everything.  so i thought if you are tired of hearing this every place you turn, like me, then you too might enjoy this spin on the song.

grubstake

#95 done, 90 more places to try

several months back i purchased a coupon to a place called grubstake dinner.  when i saw the deal online i vaguely remembered hearing about this place so i googled it, sure enough it was on diners, drive-ins and dives.

the tiny dancer, her husband, liz and i planned to meet up for dinner and lucky for me everyone was happy to try a new place, actually they were all equally as thrilled to check it out.  we decided to order food and share/eat it family style so that we would be able to try several dishes.  here are the items we ordered caldo verde soup (kale, potatoes, linguica), french dip, onion rings, french fries, portuguese buffalo wings and a special plate that i'm not sure what it's called but it had linguica, beans and rice and it was delicious!  photos will be added shortly but i forgot my camera that night so when the tiny dancer sends them i'll add them.

meat glue.. what?

The industry-wide secret butchers don't want you to know about:

you are a tourist

yesterday death cab for cutie nailed the first-ever “live, scripted, single-take music video” for their new codes and keys lead single you are a tourist.

nothing like...

tomato soup and grilled cheese

edgewood eats

after striking out on saturday i was juiced to find out there was a food truck gathering so close to my house.  i immediately text the main asian and asked if she was interested in redeeming our shattered dreams.  indeed she was in and we were off to edgewood eats.

at house of siam on wheels we ordered a roti bouquet (satay grilled chicken breast with siam peanut sauce garnished with fresh green leaf cucumber, pickled carrot, red onion and cilantro)

also at the basil chicken & pad see ew

at hapasf we ordered sisig (filipino pork dish served with rice)

my favorite items were the roti bouquet followed by a close second with the pad see ew.  i was disappointed that the house of siam ran out of mangoes and sticky rice so early in the evening but what can you do.  by far the biggest disappointment of the night for me was the basil chicken which tasted super fishy to me and the chicken was either ground up or it was canned chicken.. talk about party foul!  i was also let down by the fact that hapasf had too much fat let on their pork, the flavor was great but i couldn't get past the fact that every other bite i was spitting out large chunks of fat.  i'm sure this is just my issue since i hate fat on most of my meat but i will say again that the flavors in the dish were great.

since i was unable to get mangoes and sticky rice i picked up a brownie from butter scotch on the go.  the brownie was actually the only thing they had left which i thought was a good sign.  i ended up being pleasantly surprised by how much i enjoyed this brownie.  especially since in my mind i had settled for since there was no other options and no mangoes/sticky rice.  the a homemade dark chocolate dusted in coco brownie was fantastic and i'll be back for more. 

bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers

for christmas i got the pioneer woman cookbook from elle and have been wanting to make these bad boys.  unfortunately they didn't turn out as amazing as i pictured but i will say it's my fault.  so please learn from my mistake and use thinly sliced bacon!!  i beg of you thin bacon would have made this a tasty treat instead of an overcooked cheesy mess.  since i used extremely thick bacon mine had to cook nearly 2 hrs before it was cooked enough to eat.  they tasted ok but really would've been much better had i used thinner bacon.  here is a picture of my poor overcooked poppers with burned cheese & bbq sauce:

ingredients:

18 fresh jalapeños

8 oz of cream cheese

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

1 green onion (i used white onions since i didn’t have green)

18 slices bacon, cut into halves

bbq sauce (sweet baby rays)

toothpicks

rubber/plastic gloves for working with the jalapeños (pioneer woman tip - WEAR THE GLOVES…trust me!)

directions:

preheat the oven to 275°

cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise

remove the seeds and membranes with a spoon, for more heat….leave some seeds in

in a bowl combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and chopped green onion. mix gently.

stuff each half with the cream cheese mixture

wrap the bacon slices around each half, be careful not to stretch the bacon and wrap too tightly (it contracts when it cooks)

brush the surface of the bacon with your favorite  barbecue sauce (you can use chutney or apricot jelly instead, if you like)

secure the jalapeños with toothpicks.

i like to use a pan with a rack onto so that they get crispy all around.

bake them for 1 hour or until the bacon is sizzling

delicious goodness before i ruined it..

can you tell how thick the slices of bacon are?

 yummy bbq sauce!

my day with the main asian

since the main asian and i were unable to eat lunch at one of the food trucks at sjeats we decided to shop the local vendors at sjmade.  two shirt purchases later we left to find something to eat.

we settled on all you can eat mongolian bbq from el camino mongolian bbq.  it was really good and the price was right at only ten bucks.  after lunch we were off to get new phones as well as meet her family at a cooking demonstration at the santa clara convention center.  we thought it was more of a cooking expo but when we arrived it was just a demo.  it was cool to see how fast the girl popped out so many meals but i'm no professional and it'd take me half a day to do what she made in 2 hours.  even though it wasn't what we had imagined we still enjoyed ourselves and i ended up winning one of the meals to take home (potato leek soup).

after the show we were hungry again so we hit up dusita for thai food.  i know it's funny cause we didn't even realize that the only food we'd been consuming was all asian food.

treatbot

within a minute of viewing the menu i knew exactly which flavor i had to try

it may surprise most of you but my first obvious two choices were kicked to the curb once my eyes saw the word HORCHATA

while looking at this picture please imagine that you can taste it.  now picture that bite of horchata ice cream being sandwiched between two snickerdoodle cookies.. may i have another?

words cannot describe how delicious this ice cream sandwich was.. seriously this was hands down the very best ice cream sandwich i've ever eaten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

thank you treatbot for making this my reality this afternoon and for making amazing ice cream that stands superb above so many others!!

it's friday friday

not sure why but the video is flipped.. lol

ps this is the first time i've heard this song all the way

through and the only time i've enjoyed it!