mmm-yoso!!!

How (not) to plan a vacation the mmm-yoso way....And yet another update on the (former) Vien Dong III Supermarket

One day after we returned from our trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, the Missus was after me to start planning our next vacation. Our first idea was:

We both thought this would be a great idea......I'd get to eat my fill in Merida, and other towns, and the Missus has always wanted to visit Chichen Itza and Uxmal, and perhaps even get some beach time in at Tulum. Just as I was about to pull the trigger, something happened, and we thought that maybe we should do this some other time.

So up next was another bright idea:

Tikal is another site on the Missus's list, and the areas we planned to visit were away from the paths of most hurricanes. As a plus, I thought we'd bus our way into El Salvador. But what stopped us this time, were the ticket prices....they started in the mid $300 range...and slowly approached $800!

About the time I was contemplating just calling it a year, some civil unrest took place in another country. Now the Missus knows not to trifle with Mother Nature, but a little civil unrest, in a Country that is known as "The Land of Smiles", and that we've always heard fantastic things about? The only thing that the Missus, a classic opportunist, thought was "lower ticket prices!" And so it came about, by the time I purchased our airline tickets, the Prime Minister of Thailand was forced to resign for taking payments for appearing on a cooking show.(!) There's got to be some irony there somehow.....so maybe this is the trip that was meant to be.

We'll soon find out. As many of you are reading this, we're on the way to LAX. This may be a bit different than other trips. Other than making our first nights hotel reservations, we'll be "winging it", with just a basic outline, and no real plans. I only know when we'll be arriving in Bangkok, and when we leave, everything else is wide open. The basic outline is to spend a day or two in Bangkok, than head North, past Nong Khai into Laos, and Vientiane, and eventually Luang Prabang, before heading back to Thailand. I think I'm a bit old to be traveling by the seat of my pants, but what the heck.....

And even though I now have the largest collection of Lonely Planet guides in San Diego, at least we know where we are headed, sort of......

So I'll now turn you over to Cathy, who I can't thank enough for keeping our blog's heart beating. I'll try to check in every now and then, but other than that, we'll see you in a few weeks!

One last update:

As mentioned by "Sam" in a previous post. Vien Dong Market is now going to be a location of Thuan Phat Supermarket.

I know there's a Thuan Phat Supermarket in Westminster, so I'm wondering if they are affiliated?

Saturday Stuffs

Just a few quick one's for today:

(Another) Santana's Opens:

Right on Morena Boulevard in the old KFC location, and just .75 miles from another Santana's.(I checked).

The banner says that both locations are open. Shades of Starbucks! I'm thinking they may close the other location.

Santana's Mexican Food
1975 Morena Blvd
San Diego, CA 92110

Another new restaurant in the cursed corner:

First it was Linda Vista Food to Go, than Mi Ngoc So 1, and last Thai by Tara. I'm not sure what it is now...but the sign says "Grand Opening Aug 2/08".  I'll check it out soon.

2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

The Power of 3:

I've noticed something over the last couple years. I tend to buy books in "three's". While it's not as fascinating as say, the Number 23 enigma. The purchases have weird pattern to them.

I bought my "sushi trilogy" at the same time:

I tend to read several books at once, and have finished both The Zen of Fish and The Sushi Economy which are similar but different.

Then there my "Chinese Food" trilogy, which I also bought at the same time:

Of course, this one could get off on a technicality, since I preordered Serve the People, and it didn't arrive until several weeks ago. I just finished The Fortune Cookie Chronicles, and really enjoyed Jennifer 8 Lee's writing style. I'm still working on Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, which may end up being one of my favorites.

Last year, I ordered my "Japanese Cookbook Trilogy":

The reason for purchasing Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art, has an interesting story behind it. I don't know how, or why, but my Mom owned a copy of that book. After she passed away, it disappeared...or maybe got accidentally discarded, I'm not sure. So when I saw that the 25 anniversary edition had been published, I bought it.

This one might be stretching it, but it's kinda, sorta my "food science trilogy":

I know Sauces by James Peterson might be pushing it, but I spent 3 hours reading through it after it arrived.

So do you think this is a bit strange? I'm not trying to get all Jim Carrey on you, but I just noticed this weird habit.

Five Favorite Cookbooks Meme

Tag I'm it! Reid from Ono Kine Grindz has "tagged" me for this meme, he originally got tagged by Stephanie fromda*xiang and so on..... Being really new at this I must say I'm truly humbled.....

So here goes:

1. Total number of (cook) books I’ve owned:

At last count +/- 50 or so.

2. Last cookbook(s) I bought:

I'm waiting for my latest Amazon delivery, so those don't count. So it's Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop. A really super book.

3. Last food book(s) I read:

Land of Plenty by Fuchsia Dunlop, I've really developed an appreciation for Sichuan food, and this book is really a treasure trove of information.

Chinese Food Finder by Carl Chu, not just a listing of restaurants, but Carl also gives a listing of dishes representative of the specific type of cuisine.

4. Five (plus 2) cookbooks that mean a lot to me:

This is really tough, so I decided to list my favorite cookbooks that I use on a regular basis.

Chinese Cook Book Volume I by Fu Pei Mei. Known as the Julia Child of Chinese Cooking, Fu Pei Mei was a respected and almost deified Taiwanese cooking instructor who had her own cooking show in Taiwan. Her Chinese Cook Book Vol I is probably the most accessible. Fu Pei Mei passed away from cancer on Sept 16th, 2004, and had a great long career for someone who only learned to cook after she got married. Easy basic Chinese recipes!

50th Anniversary Best of our favorite Recipes 1946 - 1996 by The Maui Association for Family and Community Education. OK, no laughs, but since I can't up and call Mom when I have a question, I just reference this. This is a compilation from various community cookbooks over a 50 year period. I've never, ever been able to copy a recipe "ver batim" and have it come out right - probably explains why I can't bake! So I look for references and guidance in my cookbooks.

The Legacy of the Japanese in Hawaii: Cuisine by The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii. Good source for "local style" Japanese recipes. For example, if you want to make Nishime, or other Japanese - Hawaiian type dishes it's really hard to find a good recipe source.

How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. Alright, time to come clean, I don't actually own this cookbook, but have borrowed it from the local Public Library at least 8 times (not including renewals). Great comprehensive source of basic recipes, and now my guilt has resulted in my purchasing this from Amazon, so will actually have my own copy in a week or so.

The Way to Cook by Julia Child. I've been without my Joy of Cooking for over a decade so this fills the spot - my "Bible" of cooking.

Plus 2:

The Choy of Cooking by Sam Choy. Very easy down to Earth Pacific Rim. Made me understand what a great place Hawaii is with regards to food.

The Food of Paradise by Rachel Lauden. More of a well researched study in Food Anthropology than cookbook. Well researched and very informative, if you wonder why we eat what we eat in Hawaii, this really explains alot.

5. Which 5 people would you most like to see fill this out in their blog?

I'm really too new at this for me to fill this out, but I'll try to give you a few:

Sarah at The Delicious Life

Jo (yes, Jo) at Truly Thankful

Elmo at Monster Munching

Pat at Eating LA

Whew, this has been more work than I thought it would be. But finally, my really most important "cookbook" is one where I've never tried any recipes:

After my Mom passed on in 1996 I found this "cookbook" with hand written recipes. There were many loose sheets, some of which were recipes written before I was born. Some were full of info from my Mother's life before "me", we never talked much about these "things" in our household, but I found this so interesting:

Mom worked as a Housekeeper on Kauai and had written and collected some of the families favorite recipes. Who knows, the meatloaf looks really good I might try that soon!