San Diego County, Mary, North Park

anniversary dinner at alexanders / north park – san diego, ca

Hoo boy, I am behind in posts! My laptop issue isn’t quite solved just yet, but hopefully in a few more days I’ll be back to work using my own laptop instead of someone else’s (aka, my dad’s laptop). Using another laptop is not quite the same as using your own. Things are different and everything’s in a weird place and you don’t have your usual programs. Arrgghhh, frustrating.

Anyway, let’s talk about something fun! As in my 5 year anniversary dinner last month with Jake!

I had grabbed a coupon for a swanky little spot in North Park called “Alexander’s on 30th” to celebrate our special occasion. The place is definitely full of swank with their all-white decor inside on the restaurant. It creates a cozy, comfortable and romantic feel to the restaurant.

[Swanky interior in the daylight]

We got some bread in a basket to start with for our lovely anniversary meal.

[Crusty bread]

Jake let me pick out an appetizer to start with. He wasn’t much into it, but told me to “order whatever I wanted”. I was tempted to order something I would usually like (aka, something with just cheese, like their roasted garlic and brie) but instead opted for one of their crostini’s.

[Goat cheese bacon and honey crostini]

I don’t remember the exact name of this one – I don’t see it on their menu anymore – but it was a crostini with goat cheese, crispy bacon, herbs and a drizzle of honey. The bacon was super crispy (just the way I like it) and the creamy goat cheese gave it an intense flavor constrast. It was very light on the honey – I would have actually preferred just a tad more honey to balance out the richness of the goat cheese. While I did enjoy this, I found I couldn’t it too much of it since the flavors here were so intense.

Continue reading “anniversary dinner at alexanders / north park – san diego, ca”

Miscellaneous, Mary

Food Blogger Bake Sale Recap

I’m a little late on my bake sale wrap up post – but at least I have a good excuse! It’s a quick recap though, with lots of photos!

20120501-084237.jpg

The things I bought from all of the other wonderful bakers!

The things I made and sold at the sale!

Pretty packages of baked goods, ready to be sold.

Orange ribbons and samples!

I love raffia. I don’t know why. I hate it when I’m trying to take it off of packages, but I think it’s so pretty and rustic looking, especially on these awesome, exotic sounding cookies from Dooley Noted.

Continue reading “Food Blogger Bake Sale Recap”

San Diego County, Mira Mesa, Mary, Multiple Locations

the kebab shop / san diego, ca

It’s been awhile since I’ve been to the Kebab Shop. But I was recently invited to come in and try the menu again and I happily accepted.

I revisited the one in Mira Mesa and was happy to see they have expanded to include two new locations in Encinitas, CA and Little Italy. The Kebab Shop serves up the kind of food you’re used to seeing at Greek places, but slightly different. Their main item are their Doner Kebabs (sort of like a gyro, but wrapped in flatbread instead of pita bread), Shawarma (think sandwiches) and Shish Kebab. They also offer a variety of salads and plates of meats to round out their menu. I got a bunch of stuff to-go and take home for sharing.

[Cucumber Dill Salad, Greek Salad and Hummus]

The Cucumber Dill Salad was one of my favorite salad items here. I’m often afraid that the dill will be overpowering, but on this it had just the right amount – enough to taste the dill without the overkill. The cucumbers are completely peeled and have a nice crunch to them.

The Hummus (which came with pita bread, not shown) was a nice creamy and smooth consistently with a good bit of flavor. Salad is pretty much salad, but it was fresh and crisp and came with a tasty dill dressing (again, not overpowering, woo).

[Falafel]

I also got an order of freshly made Falafel – I’m not the biggest fan of falafel to begin with so I wasn’t totally digging on this one. They seemed to be a bit overcooked and dry. Or maybe I just don’t like falafel.

[Lamb Rotisserie Plate with Greek Salad and Saffron Rice]

This probably looks familiar! They have lamb on a spit that they shave off and serve as a plate with two sides. You get a yogurt based sauce with this (not quite like tzatziki sauce but similar – no cucumber detected in their sauce) and your choice of two sides. I added Greek salad and saffron rice to this.

Continue reading “the kebab shop / san diego, ca”

Rolando, Cheap Eats, San Diego County, Mary

carnitas las michoacanas / rolando – san diego, ca

One day I was hungry.

For carnitas.

I was at Jake’s and started looking on Yelp and found this one place called Carnitas Las Michoacanas. Carnitas was right in the name! It had like three reviews, all good. The place was also very, very close to Jake’s house. We had unknowingly passed it so many times without ever noticing it.

No more!

On our first visit, Jake, T and I sort of stood awkwardly outside the shop, watching people go up and get carnitas. There was this nice gentleman outside, rapidly chopping meat like nobody’s business.

[the carnitas man]

Everyone was speaking super fast Spanish and I just looked at Jake and said, “Uhhh, what do we do?”

He shrugged at me. He was being so helpful.

I tried to get him to go up there but he shook his head and refused. My usually talkative boyfriend suddenly clammed up on me when facing native Spanish speakers.

Damn him.

I walked up and asked what was up. We found out you can buy carnitas by the pound, with all of the fixings. Then they gave us samples.

[three sample carnitas – just plain meat and fresh tortilla]

Well, one sample was all we needed to be convinced. We got a pound to go that first visit. We’ve visited since – they moved a few blocks down the road closer to La Mesa, pretty close to the Kroc Center.

We were again greeted with free sample tacos! Man, I love this place.

[their full menu with a bunch of other stuff I’ve never tried]

The carnitas are still sold the same way at $10.99lb. They had just run out when we stopped by so we had to wait for a bit. You can ask for a “mixture” of carnitas or get only belly meat. Your choice.

Continue reading “carnitas las michoacanas / rolando – san diego, ca”

San Diego County, Mira Mesa, Mary, Multiple Locations

new shrimp items at daphne’s california greek

Daphne’s has undergone a transformation, becoming Daphne’s California Greek last year and offering more and diverse items on their menu. One of their newest additions are their new shrimp items.

[Crispy Shrimp Pita Sandwich with two sides]

The crispy shrimp has been on the menu before, but never before in a pita sandwich. I got the Shrimp Gyro meal with two sides – greek salad and rice pilaf.

The shrimp itself was nicely done – crisp with a bit of herbs that are in the batter. It’s kind of unwieldily to eat a shrimp pita though, since the shrimp like to keep jumping ship and falling right out of the sandwich. While it was good, I’d still prefer to get the shrimp “on the side” and not eat it in a pita.

[Mango Shrimp Salad]

One of their other new items is the Mango Shrimp Salad. I went with the grilled shrimp this time and am happy to report that the grilled shrimp is quite tasty. They’re fairly good sized shrimp and the grilling gives the shrimp a nice, distinct flavor. I took them off the skewer to eat with my mango salad. The salad itself has hand-made mango salsa with a hint of smoky chipotle flavor, mixed greens and feta cheese with a balsamic hummus dressing.

Continue reading “new shrimp items at daphne’s california greek”

Downtown L.A., Little Tokyo, Los Angeles County, Mary

eating in la: curry house / little tokyo – downtown los angeles, ca

For dinner on my one and only night in Los Angeles on this trip, I was given a few different options. I chose to go to the Curry House since they had a big variety of items and a Curry-Spaghetti Japanese place sounded really interesting to me. I was sad to find out later that there used to be a location in San Diego off Convoy that has since closed. Sad I never knew about it!

Curry House has ten locations in Southern California serving up their take on Japanese curry and other Japanese items.

I stared my meal off with a simple salad.

Well, sort of simple anyway. I don’t think I’ve seen kidney beans in a salad before… or green beans for that matter. In any case, it was lovely and flavorful and the dressing was very nice.

[Teppan Hamburger with Teriyaki Sauce]

After looking over the long and somewhat confusing menu, I decided to get one of the Teppan Hamburger steaks. It comes to you sizzling hot on a cast iron plate surrounded in a sea of teriyaki sauce, onions and veggies (which are on the other side of those gigantic onion rings).

Continue reading “eating in la: curry house / little tokyo – downtown los angeles, ca”