mmm-yoso!!!

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante revisited (again).

It had been a while since we'd been here and even longer since my last post on the place. The Missus is sure craving Her Latin American dishes. She had been mentioning returning here for close to three weeks before we finally made in back. In my last post, I mentioned how the place had been "freshened up" a bit. Now it's pretty much returned to the look of old....a bit mismatched and worn, but we really don't come here to gaze at the design and furnishings.

The service was fairly unorganized, but very nice....it seems like the customers were more of the problem as one of them kept walking to the counter and shouting to whomever was in the back! Sheesh....

The Missus loves the curtido, the pickled vegetables that accompany pupusas. But not on Her pupusas...She eats them with Her chips! She also misses the large communal container of curtido,which has been replaced by a bowl. I'm figuring code violations probably made this come about.

We started with Pacaya Forradas, basically the the flowering portion("male inflorescense") of a species of palm. The pacaya look much like tentacles of baby corn.

This looked much different then what we had here before. I thought the sauce tasted much like the salsa we had with the chips. It lacked body and didn't have enough of the tangy tomato flavors. It wasn't bad, in fact the Missus still loved the slightly bitter flavor coupled with the nice crunch. I thought it wasn't quite as good as before and not nearly as good what we had in Honduras, though I didn't expect that since what we had in Copan was fresh and this was obviously bottled. Still, it didn't seem too different, perhaps just a bit more tough and bitter. If you order this dish, make sure to get it with hand made tortillas, which are like pupusas without filling.

While I thought the pacaya was not as good as before, I believe the pupusas were better than I recalled. Very moist and well put together. The Pupusa con Chicharron almost squirted molten juice on me when I cut it open. Nice rich pork flavor...a little goes a long way.

And while I enjoyed the pork a lot, perhaps the queso en loroco was even better. Loroco is the green bud of the Fernaldia pandurata, a vine that grows in Central America. You can find jars and bottles of these, as well as pacaya at Northgate Market. I really like the unique, pungent-artichoke like flavor that comes through clearly.

Though it could easily be said that in spite of the cheese, you could really make out all of the different flavors in the pupusas...the Missus had three Herself.

I had a taste of the jalapeno and cheese and thought it as pretty good. The curtido also helps cut the richness of the fillings as well.

Consumption of masa will usually put me into a pre-coma state and my two pupusas were no exception. The Missus took it a step further and had an entire tamale elote en crema....a sweet corn tamale!

After which we headed home for a nice Sunday nap! On the drive home, the Missus mentioned that we haven't been to El Salvadoreno in a while. We always preferred this place....but will probably need to check them out soon....just for comparison sake, right? Especially since the Missus is still on Her Latin American food kick!

El Salvador Pupuseria y Restaurante
3824 University Ave
San Diego, CA 92105

Revisits to The Original Sab E Lee, Sab E Lee Santee and Koon Thai

Here's a trio of revisits to various Thai places we've been to in recent weeks.

The Original Sab E Lee:

**** TOSEL has closed

You know, we've been here tons of times since they opened in August of 2008. We miss Koby, who used to own this, then Sab E Lee in Santee dearly. There have been times when our meals...usually when doing take-out has been less than stellar and there seems to be a group of young kids often running the front of house, but they've always been pleasant, if a bit inconsistent.

I've found that my heat tolerance, once leveled off at "Thai spicy", a 10, is now about a 7. And what we usually get here is a rotation of our favorites, sometimes throwing in something we hadn't had in a while. This visit was no different.

We started with the grilled duck larb:

One need to look no further than this for a savory, tangy, sour, and satisfying dish.

The Missus was wanting something like the Shrimp Pla from SEL2, so we went with the Shrimp Larb:

This was pretty weak by SEL standards, not spicy enough at even a 7 heat level, too much lime interfered with any other flavor, and not enough really going on. We thought the Shrimp were a bit overcooked for this type of dish. At the most, we'd prefer shrimp just barely cooked.

But all was right with the Shrimp Pad See Eew.

Nice flavor, shrimp cooked quite well. There's some "wok hei" going on..... great flavors from caramelization and the combination of ingredients, high heat, a well seasonedwok and the now ever popular and over-used "Maillard Reactions".

The Original Sab E Lee
2405 Ulric St
San Diego, CA 92111

Sab E Lee 2 (Sab E Lee Santee):

After our visit back in May, I received and email telling me the place had gone downhill. A couple of weeks ago, the Missus wanted Her fish fix, so we decided to head back.

The gentleman, whose name, if I recall is something like "Chud" still remember me from the days when Koby was here and our San Diego Beer week dinner in 2010. His daughter is now working there; it's become a real family affair.

We started with the Shrimp Pla, with it's spicy-sweet-sour-savory tones, this really perks us up and gets us ready for the rest of the meal.

Instead of my usual Garlic Rice, I went with one of my favorites at TOSEL, the Salted Fish Fried Rice. This version was much more mellow, but really delicious, and less salty. You could make out the fragrance and taste the salted fish, but it really didn't over-power the dish.

The Missus went with the Volcano Fish, instead of Her usual the House Signature Fish.

This one had a bit too much going on for me, but the Missus enjoyed it, and that was the main thing.

We also ordered one of those typical, you pick the protein, you pick the preparation, Thai dishes.....

Which would be ok from your neighborhood Thai take-out joint, but was nothing special.

We'll probably be coming again, the Missus enjoys the fish here.....and I want more salted fish fried rice.

Sab E Lee 2
9159 Mission Gorge Road
Santee, CA 92071

Koon Thai:

Based on my previous post, you can figure out what I order here, right? The Nam Khao Tod of course.

This is pretty "wet" and I still prefer the Lao version, but the gingery-sour-salty flavors, topped by some spice I find quite refreshing.

And of course that simmered pork leg dish, the Khao Karr Moo (Khao Kha Moo), which, when done well.....about a 50-50 shot during my last couple of visits, takes me back to Thailand.

At least it's now on the permanent menu.

On a recent visit, the Missus went with the...are you ready....pla nuer onn tod kra tom. Can we just call it crispy whole fish? Anyway, this thing took about 15 minutes longer than both of my dishes....no mention of anything amiss, just dropped my dishes off...and we waited. Finally the Missus told me, "just eat you food....if it takes more than five more minutes, we'll be getting it to go and never coming back." Luckily, the fish made it's way to the table....again, no indication that anything was out of the ordinary....I guess it's SOP here. We're used to the "appetizer sin", which really doesn't bother us, but this was strange. Anyway, this wasn't just a whole fried fish....it was 11 whole fishes!

These were sheathfish and the Missus told me they were fried and seasoned perfectly as She ate all 11 of them! She also enjoyed the sauce and asked if we could have more....and they wanted to charge us $2......really? Whatever....... I've had some kind of weird service here in the past, I guess that's the norm.

I will usually come here for lunch when I have the time, not sure the Missus would want to come back, though.

Koon Thai Kitchen
3860 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

So there you go, three down and a couple of more to go......stay tuned!

2013 Rose Parade Float Road Test-and breakfast at Euro Pane Bakery (Pasadena)

mmm-yoso!!! is a food blog. Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy do things and eat, just like you.  Today Cathy is writing about why, where and what she had for breakfast.

As you (may) know, The Mister and I grew up back East watching the Rose Parade from our snow covered homes on January 1 (or 2nd, if the 1st was a Sunday) for most of our childhood.  At some point, we were able to fulfill one of our "when I grow up" goals.  We have volunteered decorating floats for a few years now and know that the parade does not happen overnight.  Planning for next year starts almost as soon as the parade ends.  One of many steps is the "road test" of the floats.  I've posted about the July and the August road tests from this year and skipped writing a post in September, but did, once again, wake at 4 a.m. (so the dogs could all be let out) before leaving our home in East County so as to be on Raymond Street in Pasadena at 7 a.m. to view the floats. We did it all over again on Saturday. So, here are some photos of the September and October road testing..and our breakfast. 

 

The Banner Float-the first one you'll see, showing the Theme of the 2013 parade.  It will have so many different items to match and contrast all the colors painted on here as guidelines.  

The LAX float was just a shell of rebar in August.  That's the new Tom Bradley Terminal, which will open in March.

The HGTV float last time was kind of difficult to picture, but now, all the different home styles are clear.

This little guy, in his own home, will be on the "camera" side of the float.

So those were the 'completed' floats from September.  

After we saw all the road testing, once again, we stopped at Lucky Boy and pretty much ordered what apparently has become our "usual".  I didn't think you'd be interested in another post, especially containing the same meal...

But I did think you might be interested in seeing a September road test of the rebar-only floats and the resulting October completed floats...

All we knew about this float was that it was the Farmers Insurance Group entry in the parade. It looks like some sort of centerpiece or that something will be featured on the top of the vessel. 

It turns out that one lucky couple will be getting married on this float during the parade! (There was a contest to pick the couple, entries ended October 14). The people are on the float to test how it moves/turns with weight, as there will be people riding on the float during the parade. 

In September, seeing this...

pulling this, with our only clue being this was the RFD-TV float, had us guessing what was what (other than we knew the front item was a tractor). 

Amber waves of grain- so surprised to see such a beautiful result.

Here's the "camera" view...

The Donate Life float appears to be one long mobius ribbon forming hearts along the float.  The riders will all be recipients or families of organ donors, as always.

<--This is a closer look at the float, while the riders were exiting on a fire drill.

There was only one 'bare' float being tested and I'll save it for next time. (Hint: Honda) 

After this early day, we headed out to seek breakfast 'somewhere on Colorado Boulevard'.

and since it was before 9 a.m., only had to look where we saw vehicles parked...and Euro Pane Bakery looked like a nice place.

Not very large inside (I counted 12 two person tables, and one that could seat eight).  When we arrived, only five tables were occupied.  

The two photos show all of the display cases and breads available (those are very large macarons in the photo above).  Of course, I didn't want any sweets, and chose a slice of spinach quiche:

It came with a currant filled eggy roll... fresh-soft and lightly chewy, which went well with the unsalted butter.

The quiche is very spinach-y, without addition of other flavorings (i.e., no onion or nutmeg).  The custard part of the quiche was smooth and eggy, like flan (there was an opposite of a custard:spinach ratio in the pieces near the edge). The crust was light and flaky...and gosh, so fresh.

The Mister saw this item on the counter and asked what it was and the nice Lady said "ham and cheese". Turns out there was also bacon, onions and carrot inside this fresh, crispy crust.  It was very much like an Alsace Onion Tart (or the Tarte d'Alsace sold at Trader Joe's), but rolled and inside a crust.  The onion was a carmelized sweet and inoffensive (The Mister only eats onions if they are battered and fried or in French onion soup and he did eat some of these, although a nice stack was on the side of the plate when we traded.).

Both items were heated-in an oven in back-for us and brought out to our table. Heating made the flavors even better. I neglected to take the receipt and only know that these two items plus one coffee cost a bit less than $13.  I must say the quality was there and the sandwich menu board looked extremely interesting...and now I wish I had grabbed a sweet, or a loaf of bread...

Euro Pane Bakery 950 East Colorado Boulevard, Suite 107 Pasadena, CA 91106 (626) 577-1828

 

 

PL Bagels-(Point Loma)

This is mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog.  Kirk and ed (from Yuma) are out and about running errands today. Cathy was out and about running errands and this place caught her attention. She is writing about it today.

A few years ago, I was working in the Point Loma area on an Election Day. When I had time to take a break, I stopped in this parking lot on Voltaire Street, anchored by this Stumps Family Marketplace, a 'fancier' Market.  The Mister and I now make regular trips here, mainly to purchase their various house made sausages, which are coarse ground and have just the right amount of spices.  

It's a very nice market, selling a good variety of items and I would shop here regularly if I lived closer. On the same block, but around the taco shop and in the next parking area East (closer to Point Loma High School) I discovered this humble looking bagel shop.

 

It's owned and run by a very nice Asian family who make what I think are the best bagels in the County.

Eight tables inside the building. A limited menu.  A limited number of bagels made daily- usually sold out before 1 p.m. (the store opens at 6:30 a.m. daily). Bialy (my favorite) are made on weekends only.  Mini bagels available for 35¢ each.  These are not huge, fluffy, chain store bagels; each one does have a hole in the middle. Handmade, with great chew yet soft and always fresh is what is served here. I have heard people say the bagels here are as close to New York Style as you can get on this coast.

Toasted and with butter is how I've always enjoyed a bagel.  You can see the size on these smaller (6 inch?) paper plates.  The Mister's (on the right) is his favorite- a salt bagel. Mine is a (wheat) everything (white everything is also available).  (I order an everything as a default because I am easily overwhelmed when  having to choose, and an everything has a bit of...everything... on it.)

What really sets these bagels apart from others is this- this is a photo of the bottom of each bagel.  The 'toppings' are really 'surroundings' of flavor.  Just perfect.

I hope everyone is have a good weekend!

PL Bagels 3704 Voltaire Street, Suite 107 San Diego 92106 (619)223-4788 Open daily 6:30-1:00

Turo Turo Thursday: A Revisit to Conching's Cafe

*** Conching is now Erlinda's Filipino Cuisine & Ice Cream Parlor

Over the course of the last twelve weeks I managed to revisit a couple of turo turo places, which I'll post on over the next few weeks. Actually, I dropped by Tita's twice during this period, but they didn't have any sisig, so I decided not to wait in those massive lines. I've heard that they actually changed the sisig recipe when AZ(not you "AZ", the other AZ) visited; I always thought the sisig there was terrible. So it took a television thing to get them to make a better product? I guess even they knew their sisig wasn't up to par..... Well enough of that. Here's enough saturated fat for a week or so.

There was a time not too long ago, when I thought that Conching made some of the best turo turo sisig in San Diego. As of a couple of years ago, I felt that the sisig had slipped a bit. It just wasn't as good. Those thought were percolating in mi cabeza as I parked.

No matter how many times I visit, walking to the turo turo ("point point", a reference to steam table cuisine) counter, I can't help but be amused at the ice cream parlor look. Someone asked me to describe the interior once and the best I could come up with was "Farrell's meets patis". Because I had just come from the long lines and cold stares at Tita's, the stark emptiness of the place really made an impression. There were no other customers during my entire meal.

Looking over the steam table items, I saw something I never recalled seeing before, so I ordered it.

I guess it's the purple tinted red color that got me...plus this had slices of pork belly in it. Well, even more than the color, catching a whiff of it as I brought this to my table really got my nares out of the morning doldrums. I actually liked this; it was salty, in a good way, very savory, obviously from a good amount of bagoong alamang. It was also fairly spicy, a rarity in most Filipino dishes that I've had....the possible exception being bicol express and some versions of sisig. Still, I didn't know what the heck this was and the woman behind the counter wasn't in a particularly chatty mood, so I took a photo and sent it to my former coworker "MG". Who informed me that this was a dish with the catchy name of Binagoongang Baboy. The combination of pungent bagoong, garlic, chilies, tomato, and green bell peppers, adds up to salty-savory,tangy,spicy, and pretty delicious in my book. I have another dish to be on the look-out for in the future.

Of course I had the sisig.

Which was disappointing. Oh how the mighty has fallen. This was soggy, lacked vinegar, and had rather unpleasant bitterness to it. 

On a positive note, I have a new dish to look out for. On the flip side, it seems that the sisig here has gone downhill. I asked MG when I saw her a couple of weeks later. She told me that the food at Conching hasn't been very good for the last six-eight months. Sad.

Conching's Cafe
3400 E 8th St.Ste 115
National City, CA 91950

 

Pangea Bakery Cafe

Pangea has closed.

Welcome (back) to mmm-yoso!!!, a food blog. Kirk, ed (from Yuma) and Cathy usually share their adventures in eating here. Your being able to vicariously experience is a bonus.  Cathy is writing today.

Well.  The Mister and I were some of the first people to go to Pangea Bakery Cafe when it opened, in about May of 2011.  We went here a few times and I was ready to post and looked around on the interweb and it seemed that just about every San Diego blogger had done a post.  So I put the photos in a very special place. Finding some of them brought back some memories and since The Mister and I chose this for one of our eight days of birthday snack stops, more recent photos should make this post complete.

Located on Convoy Street, just south of Engineer Road, right next to Tea Garden the visible storefront has a small driveway where you can park for 15 minutes if you are just running in to pick up a snack. Otherwise, passing through the gauntlet of cars leads to a small parking lot.  The one way parking lot exits onto Brinell Street, which usually has plenty of parking (depending on the day and time you are there) and since the lot is small, the walk isn't bad.

When the store first opened, the display racks of baked goods were pushed up against the walls and a small center island contained breads and trays. This Taiwanese bakery is filled with an ever changing variety of baked goods.

The display racks have now been brought inward and tables and chairs line the glass walls

and the center table now mostly holds day old baked goods.  In this above photo, you can see a heated glass display case on the coffee/check out counter in the background.   

On the other side of the cash register counter are refrigerated cases. 

 

On the inner display racks are trays with individually wrapped selections. The above are garlic knots. Buttery...

Although, from this 2011 photo, you can see that items were not always individually wrapped. 

There are trays stacked at the end of the cases are so you can place your selections separately without crushing any of the delicate pastries. 

Above is what we ordered on our very first visit. There was a paper sign at the register after we had selected the sweets we wanted, offering pan fried dumplings and a choice of beverage for $2.49. Beverage choices were coffee, tea and hot soy milk.  We chose the soy and also a coffee (there is (and was) an extensive list of espresso drinks available).

Above is a cross section of the dumpling.  It was wonderful, crispy and not gummy, filled with ground pork, cabbage, carrots cooked in sesame oil. At some point, they stopped offering the beverage special, as well as the dumplings.  You can still order a hot soy milk, but it isn't listed on the menu.

Here's a cross section of a cheese filled pastry.

Above is a photo of our birthday snack- at 12 o'clock is a red bean paste filled pastry, the item at 2 o'clock is pineapple filled and in the 6 o'clock position is a hot cheese pastry which came from the heated case on the countertop, next to the register. Fresh, still warm and all very good.  Sometimes there is more of a pizza in the hot tray; it's good.

Above is a little snack/meal we brought home the other day.   The 11 o'clock item is another red ben paste filled goodie, in the 5 o'clock position is a three pack of almond puff pastry...and that item placed at 1 o'clock

is a quite large loaf of ham and cheese bread.  We can get 3  nice slices from this bread and always grab it when it's available.

The prices here are reasonable (the puff pastry was $1.25 and the cheese bread was $2.50). There is a lot of seating and it's a nice place to share a snack and talk.

Pangea Bakery Cafe 4689 Convoy Street, Suite 100 San Diego 92111 (858)560-0688 website

Miramar Fish Market & Seafood Grill-Chula Vista

Miramar Fish Market & Seafood Grill is closed

Well, you have stumbled upon mmm-yoso!!!, the food blog.  Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are just too busy to blog today, so Cathy is sharing a few virtual meals with you.

Well, I've found another place to satisfy my cravings.  It's kind of a drive from East County, yet only five or six signal lights from either freeway exit, and worth it. 

 

  

This rather plain façade in a newer mall on the East side of Broadway, one signal light South of Palomar in Chula Vista, may have been a place I would not necessarily stop.  However, friend and fellow blogger caninecologne was kind enough to send me a 'Get One Free' coupon in June and one day, when The Mister and I were going to be driving South, I grabbed the coupon...you know, just in case I would be hungry.

The clean interior and fresh smelling fish display was inviting.

As were the photos of some of the meal choices, in addition to the rather large menu which was handed to us when we sat down.

The variety of hot sauces on the table, as well as the jarred condiments(limes, pickled red onions, a mild, chunky salsa and a smooth, fresh made chili based hot sauce) brought out with fresh corn chips was just a peek into the flavors we would soon experience.

On our first visit, we decided to share a fish tostada ($2.50) and our waitress was kind enough to just bring the ceviche on the plate and we supplemented it with the corn chips. This ceviche is available in the fish counter, is very fresh and really good. 

The Mister ordered a "House Special",  Filete de la Casa ($10.95)- a grilled fish topped with large sauteed shrimp, grilled mushrooms and vegetables.  This was so fresh and perfectly flavored.  It was served with tortillas, rice, beans and salad.  

We were also served some seafood soup before our meals came out.  As you can see, filled with fish and shrimp and in a rich broth.

I had ordered the Cabrilla Sarandeado ($11.99) A whole sand bass, split, covered with a mayonnaise/salsa mix and grilled....served on this GIANT (larger than the 15 inch laptop I am writing on right now) foil covered tray, along with the same sides and additionally grilled onions and jalapeños.  So fresh and so very tasty. 

So, a few weeks later, it was my birthday day and I knew what I wanted.  This meal started with a pulpo (octopus) tostada ($3.50).  There is a whole section of the menu with just octopus dishes- always fresh, since they seem to go through it quickly.

This is the medium Botaña ($9.95)- seafood combination snack/appetizer, but I made it my main course. Because it is huge. Octopus, half  moon scallops, shrimp, sea snails.  Fresh, just 'cooked' in lime juice accompanied by cucumber, avocado and topped with a nice chile salt.

The Mister chose the Empanizado filete ($9.95).  Breaded and fried, this was a *very* large piece of fish, quite meaty and perfectly fried.  It was served with the usual sides and was really good, crispy and didn't get soggy.  Magic bread crumbs!

Just a few weeks ago, fellow bloggers and friends, Carol, caninecologne and I met up for a "C3 Bloggers Food Crawl" and our first stop was...yep...Miramar Fish Market. We each got a hearty cup of the seafood soup to start our meal.  I am pretty sure it is the Seven Seas Soup,  since this time there was octopus in the mix. I am going to order a bowl of this the next time; perfect in this chilly Autumn weather.

Here's an overhead of our meal selections, which we shared...the Culichi shrimp (at 1:00)($10.95)-I've been trying this cheese and poblano pepper sauce every time I get the chance.  The version here has a nice kcik of heat from the poblanos.  It's very satisfying...and the shrimp here are so large and not overcooked, providing a nice vessel for the sauce.  The item at 11:00 is another "House Special"- the Filete Relleño ($11.95) another good sized fillet, grilled and 'stuffed with seafood' as well as topped with shrimp and a wonderful creamy sauce (you could say it was a Mornay, but there was no cheese... so, a white sauce that was creamy and well flavored on its own).  

The third item, a large mixed seafood cocktail ($9.95) was so large and absolutely filled with shrimp and scallops in a wonderful tomato/lime sauce filled with onion/cilantro/cucumber and topped with a beautiful fanned avocado half.

Every meal here has been absolutely fresh and wonderful and enjoyed with either the Mister or friends and I want to eventually try the whole menu...

Miramar Fish Market & Seafood Grill 1655 Broadway Ave, Suite 12 Chula Vista 91911 (619)425-5504 Website

Tip Top Meats- a breakfast revisit

Welcome back to mmm-yoso!!! the blog with percolating posts.  Today, Kirk and ed(from Yuma) are busy and Cathy is posting about a North County restaurant inside a grocery store.

Well, another year has passed and The Mister and I celebrated our eight days of birthday with many meals. (Our birthdays are seven days apart, and celebrating on the day of and on the day of makes it eight days when we deliberately do something a bit out of the ordinary.) For one breakfast, we drove to Carlsbad and Tip Top Meats, a German grocery store, which has a nice restaurant inside.  \

Yes, I've written only one post on Tip Top,  coincidentally a birthday breakfast, even though we have enjoyed many lunches and dinners here. Vicky also wrote a post, which included some other menu items.

There is a small list of some meal items, located at the entrance.  

Once inside, the grocery store is overflowing with various German and European sundries, condiments and side dishes. The vast meat counters are filled with a wide array of fresh meat choices-

-as well as smoked meats. We passed this area quickly, as there was no line at the cash register for the restaurant, ordered, paid and chose a place to sit.  

The condiments on each table include mustard choices along with the usual catsup, Tapatio and A-1.

Soon, our meals were brought to us. The Mister ordered the Big John Breakfast ($7.98) Three eggs (over easy), potatoes and all you want meat.  This first meat selection was the breakfast sausage and bacon.

Later, Polish sausage and Bratwurst were choices.  (Ham, the other meat choice, wasn't ordered this day) 

I decided to go all out and ordered the steak and eggs ($8.98) Two eggs, poached, and a Delmonico cut of steak, cooked rare-medium. Of course, we each asked for rye toast.  

Very nicely poached eggs...the yolk was fresh, velvety,wonderful.

You can see the rare cooked,very tender cut of dry grilled steak in this photo. A perfect breakfast!

On the way out, we stopped at my favorite aisle, all licorice...my weakness...so many choices, all good.

Tip Top Meats 6118 Paseo del Norte Carlsbad 92011 (760)438-2620  Website

Beijing: Our last day......

Man, it's taken me so long to finish all of our China posts....but I really did want to get it done, so here it is.....

It was pouring like crazy when we left the Wushan fish restaurant, so we decided to take a cab. During the drive back, the Missus talked the cab driver into stopping at a location where She could take a photo of this:

So while the cab driver took a smoke break, the Missus climbed up a median and took Her photos.

Upon first leaving Beijing, the Missus had Her mom talk to Mr Li. We wanted to thank and pay our respects to all the great folks who took great care of us during our time in Beijing. So we decided on having everyone together for a banquet. Mr and Mrs Li picked us up and drove us through the streets of Beijing, where "he with the most nerve has the right of way." And after going through a series of stops and gates ended up on the second floor of an empty restaurant. But this wasn't just a restaurant.....it looked like we were on a military base, and this looked like the VIP/Officers club. It was nice to gather and have a meal with all the wonderful folks whom we had the pleasure of meeting in Beijing.

Once the dishes started arriving, Mr Li asked the Missus why I hadn't brought out my camera....sheepishly I had the Missus explain that "tonight is for friends....no pictures". Which didn't last very long. I did restrain myself and only took photos of two dishes that Mr Li and Mr Doo explained were very special. The first was a very tasty deer tendon dish.

The second this delicious fish and beancurd dish.

It was another wonderful night. I really am indebted to these folks for welcoming me and really making me feel welcome.

The Missus and I didn't sleep much that night. We spent much of the night reminiscing......we'd done so much in our time in China.

From arriving in Beijing and hiking the Great Wall.

And my love for Suan Ni (sour milk - yogurt) and Lu Rou Huo Shao(donkey meat):

And of course the Forbidden City.

There was the visit to the Missus' High School (which is now part of the Hutong Tour!) and of course the wonderful banquet.

The Missus' soul may reside in Beijing; but Her heart remains in Her hometown of QingDao.

It was a great time revisiting all of those places that the Missus held in Her memory.

I was amazed and touched at how the Missus' family just welcomed me into the fold, as if I'd always been part of this wonderful clan. And of course, there were all those banquets...even two in one day! But what I remember most fondly is the soulful cooking of Fifth Aunt.

We had a chance to visit Jinan and meet relatives whom the Missus doesn't even remember.

I got a chance to meet some serious foodies, as the Aunts and Uncles here are really serious about their food.

In Hangzhou, I had a chance to visit West Lake(Xī Hú) which looked post card perfect.

And had a couple of chances to taste what is arguably Hangzhou's most famous dish Dongpo Rou a couple of times.

Suzhou remains one of the places I'd like to revisit. There's an amazing air of delicate artistry to the city. The Missus tells me, even the accent is rather delicate. The canals and gardens are studies in aesthetic design and beauty.

Nanjing, the "Capital of Six Dynasties" was our next stop. A proud city, with it's own unique beauty.

And it's own special dishes.....

There's a saying in Chinese that "two places ten miles apart don't share the same habits". We found that true of food as well.

There are times when grand descriptions of places really don't live up to expectations. I'll say this much, the Army of Terracotta Warriors exceeded my expectations.

As did the food!

I appreciated the the stick to your ribs flavors of Qin Cuisine.

In Chengdu/Jiangyang we met my Father In Laws family. Though we didn't have much time in the area, we managed to have a memorable dinner, with a dish that tasted like no other I'd ever had before.

We didn't know what we ate until we came home and the Missus saw the restaurant's sign.....

But hey, those Pandas at the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base are really cute.

The Missus thought this was really funny.....at my expense:

Which led us back to where we started...Beijing.

There was so much we had done....so much we had seen.....we dozed off and before you knew it, the sun had risen over Beijing, morning had broken. The ever gracious Mrs Li took us out breakfast before we left for the airport....the new Beijing, pumpkin porridge.

With the more traditional youtiao.....

In my mind, this is the China I visited.....so much is changing, so new, so quick, and yet, the backbone of tradition exists. I hope that history, the pride in declaring where you came from, the sense of  identity, never goes away.....

 

Djerba (Tunisia): Restaurant Aladin and the Green Palm

Our basic travels around Tunisia, except for the last few days in Djerba and La Marsa had come to an end. We were dropped off at the Green Palm by Ben, who would be picking us up tomorrow for a short tour of Houmt Souk and Erriadh. The Green Palm is located, along with what seems like a zillion other "all inclusive" type reports in the Zone Touristique. The objective is to keep you on the property or in the properties clutches the entire time. No outside food or drink allowed on the premises, distances between properties can be a bit of a hike......

The facilities are decent, there are "animation team" (I didn't even know what that was until we got here) events, a large pool, and the Missus started whining from the moment we arrived feeling trapped.

There's a definite lack of atmosphere at places like this.....you can tell, Club Med ain't for us. I will say, the folks here are really nice, more on that later.

So after freshening up, the first thing we did was to go for some lunch.....not in the hotel. We walked about a mile or so and stopped at a place where all the cab drivers were eating called Restaurant Aladin.

You can always count on cabbies, cops, and other civil servants to find places that are reasonably priced with decent fare. And this was not an exception. The food was simple, the lettuce was iceberg, but it was a decent meal, and very cheap.

The brik was a bit overdone, the egg too overcooked.

The merguez was quite good though......

For some reason, the Missus kept wanting more tomatoes.......

It was a decent meal that filled us up nicely.

We picked up some bottled water on the way back to the resort....not knowing at the time that outside drinks of any kind were not allowed.....what ensued when we passed by the guards was nothing short of hilarious. The guards stopped us and spoke to us first in French, then German, the Arabic......yeah, we really looked like we spoke those languages. We kept talking to them in English, which they didn't speak. Finally, they got a clue and asked us, "you.....English?" When we nodded in agreement, they pointed to a sign on the wall......the was WRITTEN IN FRENCH! What? I told them, "no francais, no francais....." By this time, even they were laughing, and they passed us through.

We also came to find out that there was no wifi reception in our rooms, so I ended up getting some "cafe express" in the massive lobby area, while checking email and even doing a short post.

Later that evening, as we were getting ready to go to the dinner buffet, I recall looking out off the terrace at the empty lots and other resorts thinking to myself, "this is going to be a pretty rough two days...."