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There's a deli near the convention center (in Horton Plaza) called Beach City Market. They have all sorts of sandwiches and sushis and smoothies. The sushi was actually quite decent...not too much like the usual supermarket stuff where the rice is too hard and tastes too much like vinegar.

Beach City Market
3 Horton Plaza
San Diego, CA 92101
Phone: 619-BEACH-91 (232-2491)

Man, these updates are taking a long time...this one is for April 7th. Dinner was at a place called Rama...interesting interior design! This was inside the bar lounge.

Rama
327 4th Ave
San Diego, 92101
(619) 501-8424

I'm not sure how to describe this light fixture...it's like a hoop sphere?

Bangkok Appletini - Skyy Melon Vodka, Apple Picker, sweet & sour fresh apple. "An eastern twist on a western favorite." Where's the eastern twist? Looks like a regular appletini to me...

Rama has a wall in the back that is actually a waterfall...cool!

Don't let the plate fool you...it's actually plastic. It's been awhile since I've been to a place where there are decorative plates that they take away once you start eating.

Great Tom Kha!!! Veryyyyy creamy.

Pla Bae Sa - Steamed Fish topped with celery, lemons and green onions. "Making the fish light and refreshing." The fish was HUGE...almost couldn't finish it all...I didn't like the sauce however...the flavouring was too citrusy for my taste.

I like the hanging dividers...

Back at the hotel, a film crew was setup. Apparently, the TV show "Veronica Mars" was filming a scene in the hotel lobby.

So many people in the lobby...first they did an elevator scene...and then a front desk scene.

I think they're doing a flashback scene...the girl at the desk seems to be the girl who dies at the beginning of "Veronica Mars".

The sound guy seems tired...wonder how long they've been filming.

Wonder how many seconds of footage they're getting...

Afterwards, I headed to Altitude (the bar at the top of my hotel) to look at the baseball game...

...this is the view of the convention center.

Watching the game from the top of the hotel is a pretty nifty experience

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Going for the artsy photograph...this was around 6 in the morning...oy, I had to wake up at 5:30 for more than a week.

I like how (for now) there aren't too many tall buildings...in SF, you can barely see the sky sometimes.

Locally known Cafe 222 was a recommendation by Priscilla...it had a line but since I was by myself I got a table relatively quickly. Food was alright but I hear their pancakes are what they're known for. I wasn't in the mood for them though and had corned beef hash. Did the hot sauce again (ala Napa) to turn them up a notch. Worked like a charm.

This was at an Italian restaurant called Acqua Al 2. Supposedly it's the sister restaurant to another in Florence, Italy that's supposed to have the exact same menu. Here's the 411...

Acqua Al 2
322 5th Ave.
Gaslamp, San Diego
tel (619) 230-0382

I've seen decorative plates before but this was the first I've seen that had customers decorate them. That's a cool idea to have your friends come over and create your decorations.

Table for 6! Table for 6...

The place"mat" was pretty humorous...

Strozzapreti al Radicchio Rosso - Fresh ricotta cheese and spinach balls hand rolled, baked in our house tomato sauce and italian red cabbage then topped with parmesan cheese.

Scott and Anjee look tired...we all are at this point. The wait at the restaurant was really long too...it took us almost an hour after we ordered to get our entrees. It was all due to the Giants vs Padres baseball series that went on that week. So many people in the Gaslamp...

Another of Bill's pics...I look so white in the picture I almost blend into the wall.

Pizzetta Margherita - A hand tossed pizza topped with our house tomato sauce, fresh basil and Mozzarella.

Controfiletto al Pepe Verde - A hand carved New York steak sauteed and topped with a green peppercorn, brandy, dijon mustard and cream sauce. Hand carved huh? I wonder if there are chefs out there that carve with their feet. This is what I had...just a small strip but the beef tasted like it had been charred at some point...thank goodness for the dijon/cream sauce.

The Fish Special...I think it's a bass of some kind. Aimee got this and pretty much only finished the spinach...maybe the fish wasn't too good?

It was pretty noisy in there so it made for a very festive atmosphere...everyone was so hungry though...I wouldn't recommend going to this place when it's packed. The chefs can't handle it.

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These were a bunch of pictures that Bill took with his Rebel while we were at Ch1ve.I'm very much a camera toting individual. Put a guidebook in my hand and I'd definitely look like a tourist.

Quickdraw...Rebel style. It'd be fun to participate in a shootoff with someone.

We all love mugging for the camera...I like that tie!

Hehehe...the turtle Angela harassed apparently had little babies! Angela...what did you do?!!!

Had dinner at Lou and Mickey's where we had Ana's birthday dinner last time. The clam chowder is nice...nothing fancy (like a bisque) but good anyways.

Lou & Mickey's
224 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 237-4900

The salads are quite large! But then again, salads don't really cost $7.

Hmmm....ravioli.

Matt's parmesan dish.

My jumbo shrimp dish. I love big shrimp!

Appetizer's galore! Huge head of broccoli...2 portions of scalloped potatoes. The broccoli was a bummer since it was only steamed and it wasn't even cut up in bite size portions. I understand the concept of family-style portions but still...they should have cut it up. The potatoes were EXCELLENT. So fattening though.

And my personal favorite, mushrooms mushrooms mushrooms.

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Buy as much gas as you can before the summer rolls around. I don't see the gas prices dipping below $3 for awhile yet. At least until Nigeria calms down and the Iran situation cools off. Like that's going to happen any time soon...

Urgh....apparently I missed buying the Simpsons 8th Season!!!

Catching up with updates is taking a long time. I was late going into San Diego and I'm still late now. I refuse to skip ahead. Just know that I came back from San Diego on the 8th of this month so don't start looking for me in San Diego. That means you Cathy! :-)

I made a joke with Matt (a derivative of his joke of taping his TV remote on the ceiling) that if he did that, he should have a Spiderman costume in the laundry bag. Imagine the look on the cleaning lady's face. Hehe!

Apparently, the New Orlean's Police Department is now headquarted at the Royal Sonesta Hotel where I was supposed to be staying last year. Supposedly New Orleans has one of the lowest crime rates in the country since there are so few people there. I heard this on NPR a few months ago...listen in here.

I never tire of watching this fountain near the convention center. Every time I've been in San Diego, I've made it a point to eat outdoors at Tin Fish.

This sign sprouted legs

Clam chowder goodness!

After a later meal at Tin Fish, did I realize that it was too bad I didn't order a grilled plate...too much fried stuff here. Still their fried oysters are tasty.

A camera crew were taking videos of people eating and getting served food...not sure if it was for a commercial or for a TV show.

Hmm...a sweet Mango Lassi...I really like the menu covers too...the owner used the same cover for his new restaurant as well...

Monsoon - Fine Cuisine of India
729 4th Ave, San Diego, 92101
(619) 234-5555

You know...I used to not like Lassi's at all...I'm glad I got over that conpunction.

Potato & Peas Samosas - Two crispy stuffed pastries seasoned with mild spices and deep fried. Very tasty...not too spicy and love them when they're hot. Like little curry pockets.

Cool bowls but I suspect that you get more food at Naan and Curry

Chicken biryani mixed together with curd cheese, golden raisins, almonds and pistachios. Ehhh...Naan and Curry's version is better.

Lamb Vindaloo and we also had a Shrimp dish...

Saliva overwhelming!

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The view from my hotel room at the Gaslamp Marriott was nice. If you're ever there, try to get a room on the East side.

Lotta new developments in the Gaslamp District...

Emily and Angela went to the San Diego Zoo...here's a meditating Koala.

Is this some kind of marsupial?

A balding camel...actually it's probably just molting.

Meerkats are just the cutest things around...if I got to have any kind of illegal pet, it'd either be meerkats or flying squirrels.

Meerkats are naturally inquisitive creatures

Awwww....

Reminds me of my shot of a llama doing the same thing in Peru...not sure if Angela or Emily took this picture. (Edit. - Angela took all the zoo pictures, Emily disavows all knowledge or ownership of them...haha)

G. Raffe...he'll be the number one NBA draft pick next year. He's got some speed issues but they should be resolved in conditioning.

Gulp...uhhh, that Zebra has got a freakin huge kickstand! All the other ones were small...what is up with this one?!!! He doesn't seem very happy about it though...probably more embarassed than anything...GEEZ!!! Emily didn't understand the concept of kickstands...so for those kind of people, simply count the number of legs this zebra has.

The Mountain Goat must be gawking at the Zebra..."Yo dude! What the heck are they feeding you?!!!"

No idea what the heck this is...it's just a very very ugly goat of some kind. A lot of the shots had the incorrect white balance...I let them borrow my Powershot S60, so they probably set it to one of the manual settings accidentally.

Peacock...I guess they walk around freely or something...or has this one escaped?

Panda...why is there so much dirt?!!! Should be grass all around...this is supposed to be zoo royalty after all! Still, pandas are merely another pawn that China uses to throw its weight around. They could do with a little status adjustment.

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At the Omni, they were using a projection system at the nearby parking garage to promote an event there. I put my hand in front of it but only managed to diffract the image.

Steve graciously invited Emily and Angela to join us for Priscilla's birthday shindig at Region. As some of you may recall, Region was one of the restaurants I visited the last time I was in San Diego...very good. This time, we had a group of like 15 so we got the back room...right next to the meat closet.

They have seasonal cocktails! I had the Meyer Lemon Lemon Drop and the Pazzo de Fresco. I loved the Pazzo...right amount of fruitiness vs alcohol.

The bread was warm and good. Tasty!

Weisswurst (with Mustard Seed) was plump/juicy/delicious...everything that a good sausage should be.

Look at how it plumps! Michael Jordan ain't got nothin on this!

Milpa Greens, Pecorino, Walnuts, Vinaigrette

Rich enjoys his proscuitto platter...supposedly aged 11 months. He got the "Trust the Chefs" deal where it's prix fix but you have no idea what they give you.

Priscilla got the same plate too. I wonder what salami aged 11 years tastes like.

This avocado and oro blanco (a brand?) grapefruit salad was quite delightful. The citrus of the grapefruit contrasted well with the creaminess of the avocados.

Who ordered the Lasagna Bolognese? It's probably pretty good but on the scale of being adventurous...

Sheep's Head Snapper, White Beans, Artichokes, Tomato, Oregano...white beans are tolerable in minestrone but I'm not a fan of them. It's been years since I've had Sheep's Head.

My Niman Ranch Osso Buco had olives underneath it! Had a little sourness which enhanced the flavor of the meat. Interesting combination.

Local Large Fin Bass, Carrrots, Saffron, Zucchini, Fennel Oil...I wonder if there are any health benefits to using fennel oil.

Risotto Balls...yummy! I like them but I don't usually fry anything at home...seems simple enough to make though.

Sauteed Swiss Chard...they must know the secret of cooking chard. Maybe blanching? The fact that the chard is still red is really amazing.

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You know I never really liked Mexican food...but in actuality it's a dislike of beans that kept me away. So when I arrived at the AAN kickoff lunch, I was a little disappointed. Nothing to fear though...lots of freshly made guacamole, and tons of fajita fixins including even fish.

Emily and Angela made it down to San Diego to visit...here they are at Osetra after a looooooong drive down.

Osetra
904 5th Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
Tel: (619) 239-1800

The top floor of Osetra...actually, the decor wasn't as fancy as I thought it would be...They probably spent all the money on the wine tower.

Interesting vase...drowning flower.

The food on the other hand was quite delicious. We got the oyster sampler which had a bunch of dipping sauces. I love oysters.

Lobster Bisque with caviar and creme fraiche. I heart lobster bisque. My favorite cream soups, lobster bisque and clam chowder. Thai food's Tom Kha Gai is somewhat creamy too but much thinner.

My 32 oz. Ribeye...it didn't have much flavoring...the juice was there but during the meal, I kept thinking about A1 sauce...a key sign that something is wrong.

Sea bass...Morel-crusted, served with Belgian endive and Lyonnaise potatoes. Finished with a chive roasted garlic cream sauce. Emily got this but liked Angela's dish more. Even so, Emily seemed to like the chive roasted garlic cream sauce because it was gone by the time they switched plates. lol

Osetra Ahi Tuna Rolls...Pan seared, wrapped with spinach in spring roll paper served with spicy tuna rolls tempura-style. Drizzled with wasabi and soy glaze.

Side of spinach...a good part of any meal!

The "lilypads" hanging from above would change color periodically...

View of the wine tower from above...last time, I came here just to see the wine angels going up and down the tower.

I love looking in Emily's eyes...my hair however was already quite long...didn't get a haircut till later, a story that will come up in a later post.

I don't remember what exactly I was doing in this picture...I just find it amusing. "With this fist, I did slay that monstrous mosquito with GRREEEAT vengeance."

Hilo Hattie is a store specializing in Hawaiian items. 400XL...supposedly the world's largest Aloha shirt.

Angela pokes a cute turtle in the nose...blatent violation of animal cruelty laws.

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Forgot to mention that while I was moving, I went and had dinner with Emily and Angela at Left Bank in Santana Row. We sat outside next to a table where a drunk woman and her boyfriend debated the status of their relationship all night law. The shrimp appetizer was probably the hit of the night. Blame my runny nose for not having a camera that night.

Taken while flying down to San Diego for the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN), can't believe it's been a whole year since Peru (where I went after last year's AAN meeting). Passed through Orange County, where I grew up.

While many sites claim that where you sit will not influence your chances of surviving a flight, I feel that sitting near the wing is better. That way if the plane breaks up, I can jump on the wing and ride it just like Kit did in Talespin! "When you're in it You can win it In a minute When you spin it, spin it, spin it! So spin it! Tale Spin!"

Downtown San Diego from the sky. I stayed at the third building from the left last time, the Sheraton Suites. This time I'm much closer to the convention center...the Marriott Gaslamp. When I checked in and the hotel clerk saw that I was staying there 9 nights, she said,"Welcome home!" hahahaha

A visit to San Diego isn't complete for me without a visit to Tin Fish. You can make your own combos...here's scallop/shrimp/oysters. The scallops were beer battered. Big but I just like oysters much better.

A Shrimp Taco

Mr. Duck waddled around looking for handouts...

"Whatcha looking at?!!!"

"Well if you're going to take pictures of me, at least let me pose a bit..."

First night's dinner was at ch1ve in the Gaslamp District of San Diego. Here you see Bill taking pictures with his Rebel 300D.

CH1VE
558 Fourth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101
619.232.4483

Hmm...first time I've had free raisin bread at a restaurant.

white corn and buffalo mozzarello pizzette with tomato, balsamic onion, pesto

duck nachos with all the fixins...interesting and tasty mix...I've noticed that many Caucasians don't seem to like duck very much.

Even the bar at CH1VE was cool...I like backlit bars.

golden baby beet...arugula, smoky blue cheese, hazelnut, port gastrique

apple smoked bacon and potato bastila...grilled portobello, whisky cheddar, chive sour cream

ahi tartar...daikon radish, carrot, fuji apple, uzu vinaigrette, micro wasabi

butternut squash bisque...I took a risk with getting squash but this was really quite tasty!

olive sampler...four varieties...olives really aren't my thing though

hawaiian sunfish...wild mushroom roll, baby bok choy, ginger soy nage, wasabi...the wasabi swirls are a neat touch.

i love the colors...the fish though just can't beat Roy's whitefish...

duck two ways...leg and breast, black peper spaetzle, spaghetti squash, pearl onion, vanilla/sage cinnamon gastrique...of course Meg got this

tofu falafel...baba ghanoush, grilled seasonal vegetable, cucumber preserved lemon salad

beef tenderloin c.a.b...today's smashed potato, spinach, red wine reduction

savory mopped pork chop...white cheddar and pancetta bread pudding, spinach, blackberry relish

goat cheese crusted colorado lamb sirloin...caramelized onion and white corn polenta, heirloom tomato kalamata vierge...kalamata vierge would mean virgin olives from Kalamata, Greece.

The service was quite excellent at CH1VE...I would have loved to seen how they make all the different sauces.

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So many flights of stairs in this home...I wonder what it'd be like to live in a 3 story home. This place actually had a small basement which was nice. If I had one, I'd convert it into my personal Bat Cave. It's right next to the garage too so I could totally cry out "To the Batmobile!!!" when leaving.

Emily has some mad plating skills...I woulc have gone with a bigger plate though.

I got this mug for Emily when I was in San Diego the first time. I'm actually currently in San Diego again for the third time in 6 months.

Hahaha...I got this mug for the great colors...not for the message.

This is the Spring Valley area of the Ed R. Levin County Park...Here's a map of it for future reference.

Emily caught sight of a Crazilia Personus on the trunk of one of the trees. Apparently, the Crazilia Personus was trying to climb the tree when it realized that it's hands were going to get very dirty from the endeavor.

Here we have pictures of more Crazilia Personus. Their primary method of attack is running while yelling and sometimes also accompanied by the flailing of limbs.

Here's an especially cute Crazilia Personus...

There's a small lake there that has quite a few ducks around.

On the way back, Angela caught sight of a huge turkey. I went to follow it and ended up chasing it uphill on a dirt road. The turkey finally got wise and went into the brush.

What the hesk am I supposed to do with that space? You just can't put a TV in there...

Fear

I saw a protest against Guantanamo on the way to work in SF.

Some people got arrested...check out the amount of cable ties that one police officer has!

One legged bird on Mission...

Eric and Andrew visited the Bay Area to watch UCLA play Gonzaga in the NCAA Basketball Regionals. UCLA ended up winning that night and made it all the way to the Final Game before losing out to Florida (last night). Eric showed me his cool Gorillapod tripod. I like the idea of being able to wrap it around fixtures and other situations where a regular tripods just won't do. I don't think it would handle the weight of a DSLR though.

More soy sauce?

Bungry...

Moriawase! Get in my belly!

Ever want to take pics of flocks of birds? Go to a dump. All those white specks are birds scavaging stuff over a huge pile of trash. I didn't have time to really stop and take pics of all the birds at the dump but next time, I'll try to do so. This is at the Newby Island Sanitary Landfill which is what turns Milpitas into "The Armpit of the Bay Area" during the summer months.

342 acres of space...270 of which is currently used...apparently BFI will turn it into an open space natural habitat after it's closed. Apparently, the methane generated from underground trash is enough to power 4,000 local homes.

Pad See Ew from Osha...it was ok...the soy/oyster sauce was a little too strong for me. I got the Seafood Mix one. I wanna try to make it sometime.

Last time, I moved from Berkeley to Emeryville, a bird nested on our balcony while protecting her eggs. It seems a little freaky that just when I'm moving from Emeryville to Fremont, a bird (that looks exactly like the other one) should appear on the balcony again. Hopefully, it's a good luck sign.

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Off menu tomato bisque at Macaroni Grill in Milpitas. Turns out to be probably the best dish of the night (I didn't go for my favorite spaghetti and meatballs dish this time). Very flavourful.

Chicken Portobello...the orzo was not as tasty as nmr's...somewhat of an overbearing sweetness but I loved the portobello mushroom..."Grilled chicken breast topped with a grilled Portobello mushroom, melted mozzarella and demi glace. Served with spinach orzo pasta"

Penne Rustica...I like cheese but in small quantities. "Imported penne pasta with shrimp, grilled chicken and smoked prosciutto baked under a golden crust of Parmesan cheese." It was just too much Parmesan.

Smothered Chocolate Cake...she was supposed to get us some strawberries to sweeten the deal but the berries never materialized...Tease!..."Topped with warm homemade chocolate ganache and sprinkled with pecan pieces"

The spire of the Transamerica Building always strikes me as being really cool for whatever reason.

Margaret and I met up before her Brazilian tour to try out a Singaporean place near Chinatown. The Hainan chicken was ok...not the best by far. Nice colors though.

For Sassy's birthday, a bunch of us headed out to Azul Bar and Lounge near work for drinks.

Place was bumpin after work hours...nice to get away and relax.

I never thought that I'd enjoy sweet potato fries until I tried Azul's. If that's what they taste like, then I'm a new convert.

I have no idea which citrus fruit I have on my head...either a pummelo, kumquat, tangelo, or the newest fashion from Dior's summer line.

It's been so cold the last few weeks that it's actually snowed on the peaks around the bay area. Here's snow on Mission Peak.

Looking at a lot of homes, you get an idea of interior decorating that you like and don't like...jungle motifs are cool!

This water faucet pretends it's a waterfall...so pretentious.

I like these wall sconces...waste of energy though...

Guess who wants this up in her room?...

After a long hiatus, we went back to eat at Darda...the Lamb Soup with Knife Cut Noodles did not disappoint.

Moo Shu Pork was very good as well although I like Great China's version better since it has more greens.

The tasty fried rice (3 Ingredients Fried Rice) was ok but not as good as we remembered it. Seemed like the chef forgot the flavouring.

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