I'm currently in Seattle and trying to post San Diego happenings...I better not have a huge backlog again.
Aqua Blu's Lobster bisque...ok nothing like Boston...at this point Boston holds the crown for best lobster bisque. Although San Antonio is a close second.
Aqua Blu
734 5th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 544-6456
I could never bring myself to buy a salad at a restaurant.
Seafood Cioppino - Fresh fish, sea scallops, black mussels, tiger prawns, crab legs, red curry tomato sauce...hmm mmm good. I took a chance on the sauce but it turned out very well.
Seared Ahi Tuna - Japanese pepper sauce, wasabi potato cake, tempura Chinese long beans, pickled ginger
Filet Mignon - with potato strips and organic mushrooms over a pea foam?
This must have been the fish over chinese vegetables...the chips are interesting...potato and taro?
Huge Seminar
"Excuse me!...do we have enough chairs?"
Sometimes you get a craving for some ribs. I love pork ribs more than beef ribs because I think they're much juicier. These ribs from Dick's Last Resort were finger lickin good.
The Power Outlet Atoll
Lice are pretty photogenic
Mini MRI machine...used to scan the nasal cavity.
Take a ride in your nostril!
March 15th 2007 - 6:12PM - Red Pearl Kitchen Part 2, Ch1ve
These were calamari over wonton sticks...they were spicy which was great.
Shrimp Rolls! Yummm...not enough sauce though.
Guo Tieh...pretty traditional...nothing spectacular.
I usually don't like yams but fried yams with "special sauce" will always have a special place on my plate.
I read online about the mango rice so I made sure that we ordered it...GREAT STUFF!
This was just ridiculous. All of the food was much more expensive than if we went to a traditional Chinese restaurant. However, everything else took time to prepare...the black sauce noodles are so simple that it should be a crime to charge $10+ for them.
They play old Kung Fu movies at the bar...some Bruce Lee flick was on when we went.
It's very 1920 Shanghai
We found the WMDs...they were in the back.
Ch1ve changed their menu somewhat from our last visit.
Restaurant interior design is quite cool...
For the rest of the pictures from Ch1ve, I'm just going to do the descriptions...all I can say is that all of the food was good. I was lucky enough to sample pretty much everything. I like the direction that they've gone since the last time, I wasn't very impressed. With these pictures...I don't think words can do the food justice. The scallop foie gras was amazing.
blue prawn spring roll english pea wasabi puree | mango coulis | ginger
miso marinated tuna asian pear salad | wasabi caviar
beet terrine goat cheese | hazelnut | arugula | port gastrique
hamachi and tuna dish
roasted spanish chestnut soup triple cream brie purse | anise crème fraiche
moroccan spiced chicken pinchitos garbanzo puree | cucumber tomato relish | lime yogurt...Anjee had this and said that it was disappointing since apparently Moroccan spiced means no spices used at all.
seared diver scallop fois gras | cassis reduction | butternut squash puree
sesame marinated beef salad bibb lettuce | citrus poached daikon | kaffir lime vinaigrette...I'm always amused by salads that are self-defeating. Like the fried chicken salads...
pan seared sea bass udon noodle | green lip mussel | apricot compote | cilantro aioli
The sea bass was so tender...isn't compote just jam?
crab mac ‘n cheese boursin cheese | english pea | panko crust...towards the end all of us were so full (very surprising) so we may not have finished these last family-style dishes.
feta fries...SO GOOD!!! I've never had it this way but since people like fries with Ranch why not Feta cheese? The trick was to get the cheese on the fry.
winter truffle risotto royal oyster mushroom | parmesan tuile | porcini foam
chocolate chocolate
lemon verbena panna cotta green tea chiffon cake | candied apple compote | ginger granita
March 14th 2007 - 2:06PM - WoW, Lou and Mickey's, Tin Fish, Red Pearl Kitchen Part 1
Cathy wanted a funny WoW story and up to now I couldn't deliver...I've really neglected training the fishing profession with my character. I'm leveling up first aid, mining, jewelcrafting but not cooking/fishing. I did want to try it out though so recently I bought a fishing pole, equipped it, and went fishing. After I grew tired of it, I went back to town, did some stuff, and then went out again. After meeting a ferocious rapter, I did the usual...Seal of Righteousness, Consecrated Ground, Blessing of Might. As I watched the raptor's health bar though...nothing seemed to be happening! He wasn't losing any health! This was highly unusal and the raptor didn't show Elite status. Was my connection slow? Was this raptor some sort of super raptor sneaking around without an Elite mark? Did the raptor have some sort of horrible debuff on me? Frantically, I looked around to see what could be the matter. As my gaze fell on my Draenei paladin, I realized that he was swinging a fishing pole, not the mighty Verigan's Fist. Needless to say, I don't go fishing anymore.
Lou and Mickey's is one of my favorite San Diego restaurants where the helpings are large and generous. It's also the place where I've been getting my steaks for the last year or so. That sauce that they put on it is quite good. Vegetables/Desserts are served family-style.
A trip to San Diego isn't complete without going to Tin Fish. Their fried oysters are great.
Crisscut fries...better tasting than most restaurant fries.
Fish tacos are big here as well since they use good ingredients.
Sassy and Scott ham it up for the camera.
This time around I stayed at the Hilton. Prior to working, I think the longest I've spent at a hotel wouldn't have been more than 2-3 days. Now I spend up to 2 weeks there. "Living" at a hotel for me means trying to make the office area as much like home as possible. That means bringing a power strip with me. I love the accents around the hotel. It'd be great to try them out myself.
Although having empty basket boxes lying around is a bit weird...
Having a Buddha watch you eat may be a bit disconcerting...especially if you're ripping into the flesh of some small animal. This is at Red Pearl Kitchen...
Red Pearl Kitchen
440 J Street, Suite 108
San Diego, CA
This is the first time onsite with the new flash unit. I'm still getting used to it but the results are great! Usually I'll do my research before eating at a new restaurant which I did when we went to Red Pearl Kitchen in the Gaslamp. I read that the Mojitos would be good...that is correct although it's lighter and sweeter than most (ie less of the expensive stuff). Cool glass!
You really get a different mood from different lighting speed/angles. Red Pearl Kitchen didn't have the standard white ceiling which made things a bit interesting.
See how the mood changes?
The glow of candles behind glasses has always been a favorite image of mine...
March 4th 2007 - 2:06PM - HDR, Chinatown, KrungThai
I made this HDR image in order to get the foreground to expose at around the same as the background. SF after work is sometimes quite beautiful.
We saw the JJ Chin AKA "The Happy Happy Happy Guy" in Chinatown. The first time I saw him was at the intersection of Bancroft and Telegraph in Berkeley many many years ago. It's good to see him again. Here's some info on him...Link 1
Link 2
Link 3. I don't agree with everything he says but he's just such a genial guy, you can't help but think he's cool.
It was the Lunar Festival so there were red lanterns up in Chinatown... we weren't looking for anything in particular in Chinatown but we ame away with an idea of what we'd want to get later on. I still can't find the bowls that I bought for 50 cents each (or 99 cents for 1 + 1 cent for the second one rather). I did see a waterwall that someone had made which got me thinking for a cool DIY project.
...lots of them!
Chinatown is always busy on the weekends...I'm going to look forward to using one of these things. :-D
She must have been like 5 ft tall...someone's mom, someone's wife, someone's sister.
I always wondered what those badges on car grills were for. Turns out some of them are awarded by car manufacturers for high-mileage cars. Only some of the car manufacturers have that program though.
I finally went with Emily to one of her favorite Thai places, KrungThai (they have 3 locations...this one is usually referred to as the "New" KrungThai although there is another one in Mountain View). This place had amazing food and the prices were reasonable, around Osha prices. Menu here.
580 N. Winchester Blvd.
San Jose
(408) 248-3435
Panang Fish "Gaeng Panang Pla"- Bass filet simmered in rich Panang curry paste in coconut milk with bell peppers, sweet basils & fine kaffir lime leaves. The "pla" must be fish. It's sweeter than red curry but I thought it was pretty tasty. Emily thought that it was a little too sweet for her.
Eggplant Chili Garlic Chicken "Pad Ma-Keur Khee Mao" - Sauteed with eggplants, fresh chili, minced garlic, bell peppers & sweet basils. It's funny how I used to hate eggplants.
Peekaboo
"Guess" Who?
I usually take the Montgomery St. BART station back to Fremont. Sometimes though I miss it which means I need to wait 15 minutes more for the next one. At the Montgomery St. station, there's usually a horde of people waiting to get on (hehe horde...) and there's no chance of getting a seat in the middle (which is best since the stairs at the Fremont platform is in the middle). I used to take other BART routes (usu the Dublin/Pleasonton one) in the hopes that I would be able to get off at Bayfair (before the split) and catch a Richmond/Fremont train. By my calculations, it seems that I don't save much time with this method...a few minutes tops plus I usually end up freezing my butt off waiting on the open air platform at Bayfair. Thus, I've begun to what my parents did in Taiwan, which is go backwards on the line and catch the train you're waiting for but be able to get on when there's less people on it. How far you can go down the line though is an exercise in mathematics.
Question:
2 trains, Train A and Train B, are on opposite tracks an unknown distance apart. These trains go the same speed which is again unknown. When you leave the station and get on Train A, Train B is due to arrive at that station in 15 minutes. Assuming that the stations are spaced about 1.5 minutes apart, and the trains wait at the stations approx 45 seconds, how many stations can you go and still manage to get on Train B? Assume that the trains are the same model and condition, frictionless surfaces, no unknown delays, and that the conductor is of sound mind/judgement and not drunk.
I ended up doing this in my head while leaving the first station and got a rough estimate but broke out my cellphone's timer just to be sure. Sure enough, I was able to get off and catch Train B less than a minute later. Sweet!
