mmm-yoso!!!

Big Island - The Volcano Thursday Market, Revisiting Halemaʻumaʻu, and Dinner at Kilauea Lodge Restaurant (Again)

After lunch at Suisan we headed back to the Kilauea Lodge and took a short break. I also made late dinner reservations at the restaurant, this would allow us to spend more time revisiting Kilauea Caldera. We decided to head back out before sunset so we could easily find parking and relax and watch the "show". Before heading back there, I had one more stop in mind. It was Thursday and Volcano Village has a local food and crafts market at the Cooper Center. So, we headed there first.

It's a quaint little market and it seems that a lot of the folks there were locals as folks were having fun socializing.

Food and craft booths were set-up thru the community center.

It was a nice little stop.

Volcano Thursday Market (At Cooper Center)
19-4030 Wright Rd.
Volcano, HI 96785

We then headed back to the Kilauea Overlook and easily found parking adjacent to the lookout. There were folks just arriving to check out the "show".

Folks even brought beach chairs! We chatted with a few folks and they were all locals; some driving all the way from Kona!

Several folks brought offerings for Madame Pele.

We just stood and watched Halemaʻumaʻu doing its thing.

As the sun slowly set the bright red colors became the star of the show.

You could even make out the spatter cone!

We just loved this! We stood our eyes fixated on the crater, just as amazed as we were the night before. Heck, if we stayed another night, we would have returned again!

As it was, we felt blessed to have been able to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience twice!

More folks started arriving and the parking lots were closed. It was time to head back for dinner.

We just wanted to take things easy on this evening and had made dinner reservations at Kilauea Lodge Restaurant again.

The staff here are wonderful, so warm and friendly.

This time we started with the Coconut Brie which came with the bread made inhouse.

 The coconut crust was a bit too sweet for us. There were also spots where the coconut was burnt, adding a rather unpleasant bitterness to the dish.

We enjoyed the bread.

The Missus had the same main as previous night, Crispy Tofu.

Again, we thought the star of the dish was the cauliflower and mushrooms.

This time around, I kind of went against my better judgement and got the Seafood Risotto.

The risotto was the standard par cooked version and some of the arborio rice was under cooked and hard in the center, it was also on the salty side. The Kaua'i Shrimp was outstanding, sweet and briny, cooked perfectly. The mussels were overcooked and dry; but the clams were nice and tender.

Overall, based on our dinner the previous night, we got what we expected. Of dishes, made better by the fantastic staff.

Kilauea Lodge Restaurant
19-3948 Old Volcano Road
Volcano Village, HI 96785

And most of all, we got to witness the glory of Madame Pele and nature!

Taipei - 2/28 Peace Memorial Park and Ningxia Night Market

After lunch at Lao Shandong Homemade Noodles we decided to slowly make our way back to the hotel for a break before heading out in the evening.

But first, we would stop at one of the hundred of tea/boba shops for some light refreshment.

We ended up making 2-4 "tea stops" everyday....these places are so inexpensive....our drinks would usually be 30-35NT$ - think $1 -$1.15! We stopped at so may places that I just couldn't keep up with documenting them.

We made several stops on the way back.

This one is the Taiwan Provincial City God Temple.

This temple is dedicated to the "City God", Chénghuángshén (城隍神).

This was quite a busy and colorful temple. This page has more info if you're interested.

There was one last stop for us. A few blocks away was a large and pleasant park, where the National Museum resides. On this day, there was a group of students looking to take what seemed to be school yearbook photos?

The park was lush, green, and quite pleasant, especially with temps hitting the 80's with the equivalent humidity.

It was fun watching folks enjoying their lunches; or in the case of this pooch trying to get a squirrel to play with it.

This park was established in 1908 by the Japanese; the first European style park in Taiwan. It was then renamed Taipei New Park when the KMT took over. The current name is in recognition of what is called the 2-28 Incident. Which is detailed on this sign (click to enlarge)

Event which led to Taiwan being under Martial Law for 38 years.

Hard to imagine all of this taking place in such a peaceful green area.

We got back to our room and took a nice nap in airconditioned luxury.

For dinner, well, we thought it would be a nice night to finally go to a night market. After doing a good amount of research, we decided on Ningxia Night Market. I know many folks recommend Shilin Night Market, but after doing some reading, it seemed that night market has many more tourists. We'd have our choice validated by several cab drivers during our stay. The best quote was "Shilin is the place where tourist and young people go to spend money on things they don't need. Ningxia has better food and less crowds." 

We decided to walk the mile and half to and from the market.

When we arrived, except for a couple of stands, things weren't too busy. Things would start picking up a few minutes later.

Ningxia Market stretches along a single street, lining both sides of the avenue. There are also restaurants on the street as well with any choices.

We decided to walk the length of the market before making our choices.

My first choice was a Scallion Pancake with Salted Egg Yolk.

This was crisp, fairly light, the eggy flavor coming thru quite distinctly.

Of course, once the Missus saw...well, more liked smelled the "fragrances" from this booth Her mind was made up.

The chou doufu was still being fried up, so we were guided to the table behind the booth.

Soon enough, the Missus's stinky tofu was delivered. Man, the smell was quite potent, though nothing like what we had in China.

And in terms of chou doufu, this was "all bark and no bite". It was crisp and smelled the part, but was very mild in flavor. I guess the Missus's rule for me still goes "if you can eat it; it isn't stinky enough!"

As we walked back down the street we saw this stand.

These looked good so we ordered some. After ordering, the mushrooms were refried to heat and crisp up.

Crisp and earthy enoki and two types of oyster mushrooms.

  We'd enjoyed the vibe at the Ningxi Night Market, though I think the Missus had gotten Her share of fried food and really wouldn't order much for the rest of the trip!

We also enjoyed the walk back which took us thru some other neighborhoods in the Datong where places seemed open a lot later than where we were staying. There seems to be more younger people and boutiques and other shops the Missus enjoyed.

I was kind of bushed when we got back to the hotel. I guess I was a bit our of shape and not used to putting in the mileage like we do in, say Paris?

Obviously, I slept well. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hilo - Poke Market and Hilo Farmer's Market

The Missus and I were so excited about heading to the Big Island. We both love the amazing environmental diversity, the warmth of the people, and just the relaxed vibe on the Big Island. I had good friends who had resided in Hilo for almost a decade and another good friend whose family used to own property in Kamuela that we'd check on, so we had visited many times in the pre-blogging days. So when the Missus asked me when was the last time we were on the Big Island, I gasped; it had been a decade! Even though we had only a couple of nights, we felt comfortable with the Big Island and had seen much of it before, so we'd spend our time focused on a couple of things and just enjoy ourselves.

It was interesting flying First Class on HAL, the Premier Lounge is quite comfortable, but only has coffee, tea, soft drinks, and those little bag of snacks they give you on flights.

Still, things were quite mellow here and it was right next to the gate for our flight to Hilo. The first place the Missus wanted to hit when we landed in Hilo was Suisan. Sadly, this was a Wednesday and I had to break the news to Her that Suisan is closed on Wednesdays. Which led to the question, "where are we going to get poke?" Luckily, I had a back up plan. I'd read about a little shop on Waianuenue Avenue simply called the Poke Market. We lucked out and found parking in the lot on the corner of  Waianuenue and Keawe Street. The place was across the street. Ordering was done at a simple window and your food brought out from the door.

There was one young lady waiting to order at the window when we arrived and one rather disheveled old timer standing with his bike by the door. The young man running the place came out and handed the gentleman a poke bowl and simply told him, "you come back later and pay, okay?" I'm guessing this guy had no money and the owner of this place was really displaying true "Aloha". 

Anyway, two of the six featured poke were sold out by the time we ordered. Because we had a rather substantial breakfast, we decided to just get three 1/4 pound portions of poke. The Hawaiian Style, Ginger Sesame Soy, and one that I would usually never order, the Shiitake Salmon. I'm not a big fan of salmon in poke.

We then walked down Waianuenue and then onto Kamehameha and sat on the stone wall in front of the Tsunami Museum, which looked like it was closed and had our poke.

The Hawaiian was our favorite, though it was on the salty side. The fish was tender and of good quality. Could have used more ogo, but this as much better than what we'd had the day before.

The Ginger Sesame Soy also had good quality fish.

We were surprised at the Shiitake Salmon, the salmon was tender, it had a nice savoriness and umami. I'm still not a fan of mayo on my poke though. I think it detracts form the texture of the fish....but since this was salmon..... 

 This was a nice start to our stay on the Big Island. And the Missus was to even get Her "Suisan fix" over the following days as well.

Poke Market
41 Waianuenue Ave.
Hilo, HI 96720

We decided to head on over to the Hilo Farmers, a place that we both love.

It was good to see that the place hasn't changed much. The Missus got some rambutan which She enjoyed over the next couple of days.

It was comforting to see that things haven't changed much since our last visit.

Hilo Farmer's Market
Corner of Kamehameha Ave. and Mamo St.
Hilo, HI 96720

We dropped by a couple of shops as we wandered back to the car.

As we sauntered over to the vehicle, the Missus and I looked at each other and laughed. It was so good to be back on the Big Island. All the craziness of life on the mainland had been paused and we had settled into "island time" quite quickly. Something that usually takes a couple of days. It was a great feeling.

We smiled and looked forward to our next stop. Volcano Village and Volcanoes National Park!

Edinburgh (2022) - Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Farmer's Market, Statue of Bum, The Golden Mile, and Cheese From I.J. Mellis

**** Not much food in this one. Though if you like to see a San Diego connection and castles and such, this post might be for you. I'll try to keep things as brief as possible

Our two whole days in Edinburgh would be fairly full. I know that a visit to Edinburgh Castle is pretty much a must and since we'd be in Edinburgh over a weekend, I made sure to get tickets for the castle online with an entry time of right when they opened at 930.

One good thing about our AirBnb on Blackfriars street was its location right off the Royal Mile. So the walk was pretty easy.

  We walked past places that would become all too familiar during our short stay in Edinburgh, like the St Giles Cathedral, which we'd visit the following day and the distinctive former Tolbooth Church, which is now a building known as the "Hub".

We were going to be early for our reservations, so we hovered off Castle Hill onto Johnson Terrace, before heading up the steps to the entrance to the castle.

I'm glad I booked tickets online as we got to go right on in and didn't have to wait in line. I also received a guide to Edinburgh Castle for free. As there were really only a couple of places in the castle complex that I wanted to see, we kind of just made sure to see those, like the crown jewels (where photos aren't allowed), we just went to those places and stopped whenever something caught our attention.

Because of where folks gathered, our first stop was below the Great Hall; the Prisons of War.

The vaults below the Great Hall and Queen Anne Building were first used as a prison during the Seven Years' War and by the end of the war held over 500 prisoners here. The vaults became a prison again during the American Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars. 

The Missus did think that they ate pretty well based on this display.

And of course, there are the stories; like the one I read about when a prisoner tried to escape by hiding in a dung cart. Unfortunately, the cart was emptied by being tipped over the walls and the prisoner supposedly died. Which, according to this post may or may not be true, the post also notes that the ghost of this prisoner still haunts the castle where you smell, well, you know what, while the ghost tries to push you over the walls of the castle.

We visited the Great Hall....

Took in the view from the Argyle Battery.

And when we got to Mons Meg, well, I totally forgot to take a photo because it had a view of one of the places I had wanted to see, the Edinburgh Castle Dog Cemetery.

Which was established in 1837 as the burial place for regimental mascots and soldier's pet pooches.

We took "aim" from Dury's Battery.

And explored the National War Museum.

Where along with the memorabilia and paintings of soldiers like Lieutenant James Irving above, we saw this.

That's Bob the dog who was the Regimental Pet of the Scots Fusilier Guards, 1st Battalion, from 1853 - 1860. According to this site:

"The regiment adopted Bob when it was based at Windsor in 1853. A year later he accompanied it to the Crimean War where he distinguished himself by chasing cannonballs at the Battle of Inkerman. In recognition of his courage, he was awarded the special silver medal attached to his collar."

We also visited the Royal Palace. Edinburgh Castle was the principle royal residence from the 11th to the 17th century, so many familiar names resided here.

Upon glancing upon the Scottish and British Royal Coat of Arms, I noticed something.

The Unicorn, the national animal of Scotland is wrapped in chains. I was wondering why and came across this.

We'd been exploring for a couple of hours at this point and things were getting crowded.

We headed out of the castle and down Johnstone Terrace.

But instead of heading East and back to the Royal Mile, we headed west. It was Saturday, which is when Edinburgh's Farmer's Market took place, so we walked on over to King's Stables Road to check out the Farmer's Market.

    It wasn't a very large farmer's market, at least on this day. But the Missus did find some soap She loved. And folks were really friendly and nice.

Edinburgh Farmers' Market
NCP Castle Terrace Car Park
Castle Terrace, Edinburgh, Scotland
Saturday 9am - 2pm

I had another ulterior motive for heading in this direction. I was looking for a specific statue with a San Diego connection. 

Near the end of King's Stables Road is a church - the Parish Church of St. Cuthbert.

And nope, this has nothing to do with the church's cemetery.

But right along one of the walls is a familiar statue. Do you recognize it?

Yes, it's Bum the Dog! I had done a post on the statue of Bum and his story back in June and mentioned an Edinburgh link.

This explains it. Edinburgh and San Diego are sister cities!

I considered this "mission accomplished" for the day. We decided to return to our accommodations.

Instead of returning by heading around Edinburgh Castle via Princes Street Gardens, we decided to make a U-turn and head back via Castle Terrace and Victoria Street, then head back via the Royal Mile.

We ran into a craft fair on the way back.

And did some shopping and browsing on the way back. We stopped in at a cheese shop I had on my list; I.J. Mellis and I ended up getting a sampler pack for our lunch back at the apartment.

Once back on the Royal Mile, I went looking for some rather obscure things. Like this one.

Apparently, this is the sight of the last public execution in Edinburgh. It is also said that Deacon Brodie, was hung somewhere near here. And to pile on with the irony, remember in this post I mentioned that Deacon Brodie designed the gallows that would be used to hang him. Kitty-corner from here sits Deacon Brodie's Pub!

Right before St. Giles Cathedral is this mosaic heart.

This is the Heart of Midlothian, which has quite a backstory. Everything I read said that folks spit on this a lot.....so perhaps it's not the best place to stand on and take your selfie????

Speaking of St. Giles Cathedral.

Well, we'd be visiting the following day, but there was something I wanted to see....in the parking lot.

John Knox founded the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and was a leader of the Scottish Reformation. John Knox was buried in St. Giles cemetery. Well, you may say that St. Giles has no cemetery. Because this is prime real estate, those in St. Giles cemetery were (supposedly) moved in the 17th century. But John Knox was (supposedly) not moved. So, if you'd like to find John Knox's grave it's in parking stall 23....

Yes, for real. On this day there were no cars parked in that stall, so I managed to get a photo. What's the saying? "Reality is stranger than fiction."

As we were walking along the Royal Mile I saw a couple of these structures.

These are Wellheads. This was the source of water for folks in the Old Town until the mid-1800's! Yikes!

We got back to the apartment. The owners were amazing as they had stocked the fully functional kitchen with coffee, cereal, bread, and such. 

Because we had our "blowout" dinner in Edinburgh scheduled for this evening, having some bread and the cheese we picked up the I.J. Mellis made sense. I'd actually wanted to get stuff from the actual cheese monger, but they were super busy so I just went with a prepackaged sampler which was fine.

The blue cheese was especially good. I'll make sure to check them out again if I'm ever back in Edinbugh.

I.J. Mellis Cheesemonger
30A Victoria St.
Grassmarket, Edinburgh, Scotland

Next up, dinner at Martin Wishart. And yes, they'll be much more food in that post!

Thanks for stopping by!

Roadtrip (2022) - Ragamuffin Coffee (Oxnard), Ojai Certified Farmers Market (Ojai), Olive Hill Farm, and Lunch at Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe (Los Olivos)

Whew, ever sine we got back from Ojai, the Missus has been wanting the amazing produce we got from the Ojai Certified Farmers Market. In addition, there was a place I'd been eyeing out to try in Santa Barbara county. So, we planned a overnight road trip to hit up some favorites, old and new, then grab dinner, and as it would turn out lunch from what is a new favorite of ours.

We first drove up to Ventura County and stopped at a place I've posted on twice before; Ragamuffin Coffee.

I needed a caffeine boost for all the driving and the Missus wanted some natural process beans.

Just what I needed.

Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters
550 Collection Blvd. (In the Annex Food Hall)
Oxnard, CA 93036

Next up a quick drive up to Ojai to the Farmer's Market.

We got three baskets of tomatoes from this stand.....last time we chowed it all down before we left town!

More broccolini.

And some eggs.....which are so good.

The Missus eyed some nectarines from this stand.

And ended up buying a half dozen....

And She's already has me planning our next trip up!

Ojai Certified Farmers Market
300 E Matilija St.
Ojai, CA 93023

I then made the 90 minutes drive to Los Olivos. We'd be having dinner and spending the evening in Los Alamos (California, not NM) and our room wouldn't be ready for a while; so I thought a stop in Los Olivos would be nice.

We stopped in at our favorite Olive Oil stop during our last visit here Olive Hill Farm.

We did a light tasting and the wonderful, no-nonsense young lady working was amazing with spot on flavor profiles.

We ended up getting a bottle of the Lucca.

Olive Hill Farm
2901 Grand Ave
Los Olivos, CA 93441

I'm thinking that we have a pretty large collection of Olive Oil right now...maybe I should do a tasting post. What do you think?

It was around time for lunch, so we took a look at a couple of places. Unfortunately, even thought the Fess Parking Inn is still there.

The restaurant we enjoyed in the Inn, the Bear and Star has been replaced.

So, we took a look across the street and decided to have lunch at the Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe.

Along with the outdoor dining, there was a wind shop, bar, and restaurant.

The Missus had seen a salad being brought to one of the tables when we walked pass, which is how we decided on this place.

It was the Grilled Romaine Wedge.

I will often grill romaine or cabbage these days which the Missus enjoys, so this was a no-brainer for Her. She enjoyed the bacon and gorgonzola, and the salad wasn't over-dressed.

I looked over the daily specials menu. It was pretty hot, so I decided to order a bowl of the Japanese Cucumber Gazpacho.

While I would have preferred this a bit smoother with more of the vegetal "chorophyllic" cucumber flavors, it was quite refreshing with a clean finish.

I also ordered the Zucchini Sticks.

   While some of the pieces of zucchini were under cooked and too hard for my taste, there were a couple that were nice and creamy. These were nicely seasoned and not overly salty.

This was a decent lunch, though nothing special; the staff was quite busy, but were professional and doing their best.

Los Olivos Wine Merchant & Cafe
2879 Grand Ave.
Los Olivos, CA 93441

 As we strolled on over to our car, the Missus and I remarked about how much we enjoyed the vibe of Los Olivos. We just wished there were better accommodations (like under $400/night) and perhaps a nice destination restaurant.

It was a nice visit though....and it had been almost five years since we were last here!

We got back to the car and headed off.....Los Alamos beckoned.

Roadtrip (2022) - Luci's Trail, Ojai Coffee Roasters, Ojai Certified Farmers Market, Ojai Olive Oil, and Rainbow Bridge Natural Food

Our last full day in Ojai was going to be pretty full. Even though we did some hikes the previous day, the Missus still wanted to do another hike. So, we got up early and headed over to the Valley View Preserve and did Luci's Trail. The Missus loves hills.....not switchbacks mind you, but just heading uphill. Luci's Trail wasn't very long and didn't have a zillion switchbacks and the view was quite lovely.

The mist was still rising when we started.

But soon enough we rose above it. 

And we enjoyed the view.

The trail is short enough....it took us just a tad over an hour to complete.

After which we headed into town and stopped for our caffeine fix at Ojai Coffee Roasters.

Nice people here; the Missus enjoyed Her pour over and I my cold brew.

Ojai Coffee Roasters
337 E Ojai Ave.
Ojai, CA 93023

It was still fairly early, so we took our coffee back to the Hummingbird Inn, freshened up, then sat in the front yard and enjoyed our coffee.

As a bonus, folks were bringing out their pooches for morning walks around the property which is super dog friendly. Got to meet a sweet Black Lab named Midnight.....I shoulda taken a photo, but was just having so much fun.

After our "coffee time" we headed back into town and went to visit the Ojai Certified Farmers Market. We both loved this farmers market....so much produce! I stopped counting at 20 produce booths! 

I didn't take too many photos because we were just having a great time. We did buy some amazing tomatoes which we'd have for lunch. And since we'd be heading home the next morning and had a fridge we also bought some wonderful looking tomatoes and broccolini.

Ojai Certified Farmers Market
300 E Matilija St.
Ojai, CA 93023

Sundays 9am - 1pm

Here's what I made with the broccolini.

Topped with a couple of poached eggs and some truffle....man this was good!

After wandering thru the Farmers Market we walked back to the car and headed to our next destination. Ojai Olive Oil  has a booth in the Farmers Market, but we wanted to a a tasting of a full range of their products. So, we headed off to their farm and tasting room. I had read that finding the farm was slightly confusing, so we followed the instructions on their site and found the tasting room with no problems.

Tastings were $10 per person. And you get as many of all the various olive oils and vinegars. You get a small container to hold the tiny cups and a bag of bread as well.

The cups are labelled so you know what you're tasting.

We were told that we could have as many tastings as we wanted and should not overfill the cups. I laughed and told the friendly woman about our our olive oil tasting in Crete and that we understood. 

We sat outside and went thru our tasting.

After which we made some decisions and strolled back to the tasting room.

While we do prefer the stuff Pasolivo and even Temecula Olive Oil, we settled got bottles of the Tuscan, the Andalucian, and some Lemon Infused Olive Oils.

Ojai Olive Oil Tasting Room
1811 Ladera Rd.
Ojai, CA 93023
Hours:
Daily 10am - 4pm

On the way back to the hotel we decided to stop and pick up something for a light lunch. We had liked how some of the item looked in the deli of Rainbow Bridge Natural Food, so we decided to pop in and get a couple of items.

Which we took back and ate in the wonderful front yard of our accommodation along with some of those wonderful tomatoes.

The Missus especially liked the cauliflower and this did the trick of holding us until dinner.

Rainbow Bridge Natural Food
211 E Matilija St.
Ojai, CA 93023

It was now time for a short nap in the air-conditioned comfort of our room.....

And then it would be dinner time!

Thanks for stopping by!

Scenes From the Linda Vista Farmers Market

So, I went to do a quick takeout visit to Zab Linda (post upcoming) and was quite surprised when I got to Linda Vista Plaza! There was a Farmers Market. Now, I had visited the former Farmers Market in that location, which I believed stopped doing business in 2019 and hadn't heard a word about their reopening.

So, I went and placed my order at Zab and then decided to check out what was going on in the Farmers Market. It was 245pm and the place was pretty empty.

With only a couple of produce stands, which didn't have too much on offer it seems.

There seemed to be more craft stands then anything else.

And then about two-thirds way down the booths I saw this sign......

So, when I got home, I did a search and came up with the website for this Farmers Market which is put on by a non-profit named Love, Linda Vista, which restarted the Farmers Market in June of this year. Kudos to them!

There were a nice variety of food stands.

Which I definitely would have checked out if I hadn't already placed an order at Zab Linda, Rollin' Roots was just "rollin" into the parking lot as I left.

I'm hoping they do well and get more vendors. You can find the vendor list here.

6939 Linda Vista Rd.
San Diego, CA 92111
Hours
Thursdays 2pm - 7pm

The Little Italy Mercato and Pozole Blanco From My Pozole

This past weekend was the Little Italy Art Walk....a great event to be sure, but I felt kinda sad.....you see for the last couple of months the Little Italy Mercato has become a routine for me. I would grab some coffee and park on Ivy Street.....you know, we aren't able to get back to Paris, where I'm able to shed pounds just doing the the Flâneur thing, so every little bit of walking helps.

And then I'll just walk up Kettner or India and do the opposite back to the car. It's been quite fun for me......after all there's a lot to see.

From places that I'm quite familiar with....

To that which I'd never seen before......

   In fact, the first time I saw the statue of Frankie Laine in front of Nonna, it brought a smile to my face. As I mentioned in an earlier post my late Mom enjoyed country music....and I grew up to the sounds of Rawhide and Mule Train playing on the record player....in Kaimuki of all places. More about Frankie Laine in San Diego can be found here.

Often times, I'd arrive a bit early and would just walk along the streets.

On one visit, I was taken with the houses on State Street that are from a different time in San Diego's history....it reminded me of our walk in Pacific Grove.

And of course, Little Italy would not be complete without a Catholic Church and Our Lady of the Rosary truly fits the bill. It just looks like it belongs here. I haven't been in the church yet.....but perhaps I'll be invited to a wedding soon! 

And it's interesting to see how Little Italy has pivoted to outdoor dining with parklets and such.

And of course, it's always interesting to see how long the line for Morning Glory will be......

I do hope they are checking out the market after their breakfast/brunch.....

And there's always something to keep you entertained.

But, of course I'm here to shop. And after almost three months I've got my favorites.

My favorite is this one - Indian Summer Farms.

It's a one man show, the proprietor, Andrew is so kind, friendly, and gracious. And he has some really great chard, kale, shishito, radishes, and whatever else comes out of his farm in Ramona. The Missus also loves the eggs he sells which he says comes from his neighbor.

I'm sure you want to know what I've been getting the last couple of months.....well, in a previous post I mentioned  that the Missus had started to enjoy gooseberries....

Dragon Tongue Beans are so delicious.....it is stringless, sweet, easy to sauté, and if I recall in season until mid-November.

Shishito of course.....

And oh man; purple okra....so sweet and tender, you can eat them raw. While the Missus loves them roasted, She'll eat them dipped in hummus.....

Of course there's all the prepared food and similar vendors....though for us, it's been a mixed bag. On one visit I went ahead and picked up pozole from this stand.

It was pretty good....pozole blanco. The pork was much better than the chicken version.

 It's mildly "porky", has a nice velvety texture.... while not quite as rich as "homemade", it's still really nice overall.

Until, of course, the Missus demanded that I make pozole blanco.......which you have to understand is to Her taste. You might want to try this out. It also feeds the "cabbage versus lettuce" thing which I'll go into at a later time.

As a bonus, whenever I see the sign, there's a certain beat that goes off in my head....to the tune of "My Sharona"......"Da da da da dum dum....my pozole!"

I know the Little Italy Mercato is also going strong on Wednesdays, but have only been to the Saturday Farmers Market, so will only list that time for now.

Little Italy Mercato
Saturday 8am - 2pm

I seem to notice something new on every visit. And sometimes, it seems like Little Italy is trying to communicate with me......

Roadtrip (During Covid-19) - The Collection Farmers' Market, Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters (Oxnard) and Mama Lu's Dumpling House (City of Industry)

We slept rather well after our excursion to Anacapa Island then dinner at Moqueca. We woke rather early and I took a short walk. We needed to refuel both on gasoline and  caffeine for the drive to Monterey Park where we'd be spending the evening.

I decided to make a stop at the shopping complex called the Collection Riverpark which was right next to the 101 freeway. We had stopped here before to grab some snacks at Whole Foods, but on this morning, being a Saturday, there was a Farmer's Market. Which was pretty mellow, I guess not too many folks want to head on over to the mall at 8am on a Saturday?

Still, we enjoyed the stroll and the Missus figured out how much She enjoyed Gooseberries.

The Collection Farmers Market
2710-2780 Park View Ct.
Oxnard, CA 93036
Saturdays 8am - 2pm

The Missus had been wanting some coffee, so we headed over to the Food Hall in the complex called "The Annex" and Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters.

The Missus really enjoyed Her Pour Over and their Cold Brew was quite good as well. 

I think this will be a nice stop for us on future road trips.

Ragamuffin Coffee Roasters
550 Collection Blvd. (In the Annex Food Hall)
Oxnard, CA 93036
Hours:
Mon - Thurs 8am - 6pm
Fri - Sun 8am - 8pm

The drive to the SGV was a breeze and we headed off to our old neighborhood to do some snack shopping at Hong Kong Market, before trying to decide on what to get for a light lunch. We drove down Colima Road and noticed that a location of Mama Lu's had opened up. Some Jiaozi and Niu Rou Chuan (beef roll).

This was back in July when things were looking good, before the Delta surge hit. Still, seats were spaced out nicely. We were seated and then something interesting happened.

We heard strains of Beethoven's Ode to Joy and soon a "robot" made its way past us holding takeout containers!

It followed the set "path" and took the takeout to the front, then promptly returned to the kitchen....rinse....repeat! It was quite entertaining.

First to arrive was the Niu Rou Chuan; which was quite hefty.

   The bread was nicely browned and crisp and not overly greasy. The beef was a bit on the tough side and the bean sauce much too sweet for our taste. The slices of cucumber too thick and cumbersome. Not even close to our favorite version from 101 Noodle Express....though we haven't been there in ages...perhaps we'll revisit again one of these days.

And of course we got some Jiaozi....the Shrimp and Pork version.

Well, at least Mama Lu's is pretty consistent. Like my visits to other locations, the wrapper of the jiaozi was on the hard and brittle side. As my MIL taught me, it seems the dough has been over-mixed. The filling was fine, if on the salty side. 

Not bad, but not great.....man this had us missing QingDao Bread! 

Still, it had been a while since we'd been back and things are always changing.

Mama Lu Dumpling House
17515 Colima Rd.
City of Industry, CA 91748

By now it was time to see if we could get an early check-in at where we were staying in Monterey Park and perhaps grab a nap before dinner.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Seven Bridges Walk, Hillcrest Farmer's Market, and Sabor Piri Piri

*** This is kind of a long one with just a bit of food at the end.

While going thru photos of our latest roadtrip(s) and of past trips to our favorite cities in the world it's always quite surprising how much walking I do....and even more; how much I enjoy it. While the Missus is more of a "real" hiker, I prefer nice walks, and even more so Urban walks, something I should do more of. A while back I was looking thru the Alltrails app and noticed something called the "Seven Bridge Walk". After walking thru the North Park Farmer's Market right after reopening, I decided that I'd go ahead and do the walk that Sunday. And to make it more fun; I'd throw in a visit to the Hillcrest Farmers Market to grab some fruits and stuff for the Missus as part of the 6 mile loop.

The walk....I really hesitate in calling it a hike; starts at Balboa Park, roams thru Banker's Hill, then Hillcrest, before ending back at Balboa Park.  It's a nice 6 miles or so. I know, you're thinking Balboa Park on a Sunday? But, I'd be starting just after 7am and Balboa Park was pretty empty, no parking issues, and most of the folks out were taking their pooches for walks.

And of course, this time of the morning belongs to the "critters".....

Everything started at the Park Boulevard Bridge....you recognize this one, right? 

This is the pedestrian bridge that crosses over Park Boulevard.

It was a quiet morning as I passed the Bea Evenson Fountain and headed down El Prado.

 Walking past Casa del Prado and Casa de Balboa made me realize that even though I've been to Balboa Park many times over the years; that I really didn't know much about it. Isn't that how it is? We've been to a few other countries and many cities in the U.S.....but I still need to learn so much more about the city I live in.

I walked down El Prado to the next bridge and passing the Museum of Us....which used to be the Museum of Man. The name change occurred in August of last year.

You know the next bridge up, right?

Completed in 1914 for the Panama–California Exposition, the Cabrillo Bridge. It's a multi-arched Cantilever Bridge.

These days the 163 Freeway runs below the bridge which was completed in 1948. 

El Prado becomes Laurel as you cross Sixth Avenue. 

I headed down Laurel and took a right turn on 1st Avenue - at this wonderful looking house.

Which made me recall the wonderful self walking tour we took in Pacific Grove. 

A few blocks up the street is the First Avenue Bridge.

It is a steel truss bridge - you can read about the history of the bridge along with why it is known as the "People's Bridge" here.

It crosses over Maple Canyon.......where I should probably do a hike one of these days to get another angle of the bridge.

A bit further up 1st, you take a right on Quince Street and where Third Avenue meets Quince you come across the wooden trestle Quince Street bridge. One of my favorites on this walk.

Here's a wonderful post on the bridge and how it was almost set to be demolished in 1987. It's a wonderful bridge, built in 1905 and also crosses over Maple Canyon. It was built to allow residents of Western Bankers Hill access to the Fourth Street Trolley.

It's worth walking across the bridge, then back again.

After walking across the bridge and back, I headed back west and took a right on 2nd Avenue. I started noticing some of the grand and unique houses along the way and took some time to "stop and smell the roses".

I really need to find a nice self guided architectural tour of the area.

I took a left on Spruce Street and found the bridge that first got me interested in doing this walk; the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge.

Down at the end of a cul-de-sac, the location seems rather discreet.

The bridge was completed in 1912 over Kate Sessions Canyon to allow access to....you guessed it the trolley lines.

Since it is a suspension bridge, it will rock back and forth, not as much as the Capilano Suspension Bridge, but you will get a slight thrill out of it. If you don't like heights and motion; you may want to skip this one.

Once across the bridge I took a right on Brandt. From here, it's rather long walk to the next bridge. Though I did see some interesting things on my way up to University Avenue.

On Brandt, I saw an honest to goodness Horse Hitching Post! 

I'm wondering when, or if, a horse has ever been hitched to this post!

   On West Walnut, I saw the tree above. It's an Angel's Trumpet Tree, which is extinct in the wild! The leaves and flowers are sometimes used to make hallucinogenic concoctions that can cause paralysis and yes, even death.

From here it was walk up 1st until University, to Hillcrest.

   And all those familiar sites and sounds.

It was pretty quiet still on this morning; it was now around 845. I had thought about grabbing a "cup o' Joe", but decided to just keep on walking to the next bridge.

To get to the next bridge, I headed east, crossing over the 163, and took a left on Vermont Street, past the mall with Ralph's and Trader Joe's.

If you've ever driven East on Washington, you've come across this bridge. 

Though I must say that I've never walked across it before.

From here I deviated a bit and walked east on Pascoe Street, which seems more like an alley, then crossed on Lincoln Avenue, then on over to Normal Street and the Hillcrest Farmers Market. It was just past 9am, so I had timed it well.

Still a bit leery in crowds, I decided to get there early to grab the Missus some produce from Her favorite vendors. Covid is still on my mind.

It felt somewhat strange and a bit surreal......and shall I say very "normal on Normal Street". Something that had definitely been missing for the last 15-16 months.

I also decided to grab something for a light lunch and decided on the Sabor Piri-Piri Stand.

By this time, it was starting to get more crowded....it was time for me to head out and get to that last bridge.

Hillcrest Farmers Market
Normal Street - Hillcrest
Hours:
Sunday 9am - 2pm

Much like the Vermont Street Bridge; if you've ever driven East on University I'm sure you drove under this small bridge - the Georgia Street Bridge.

And like the Vermont Street Bridge; I'd never walked across this one either.

I walked down to Park Avenue and took this photo.....which is probably the view of the bridge you've seen when driving on University.

From here it was a walk back to my car at Balboa Park.

It had been quite the morning and was still before 10am! I'm glad I had planned to visit the Hillcrest Farmers Market, which broke things up for me.

Back home, I broke open the Piri-Piri Chicken and Black Eyed Peas with Kale I had ordered from Sabor Piri Piri.

The piri-piri chicken wasn't very spicy to me; I'd had my share of piri-piri in Portugal and other places; this was rather mild and tame. The chicken was decently cooked, not overly dry. I enjoyed the green bell peppers. The black eye peas were nicely cooked, but kale was chopped in large pieces with large portions of the stems of the kale. The sauce was a bit too sweet for me as well. But after my 6 mile plus walk....I wasn't going to complain much at all.

Thinking over this morning made me realize that I really should spend more time exploring the city I live in...San Diego. I'm also hope that with our vaccination rates, even with the variants coming into things that this reopening is successful.