I hope....

I can eat ice cream with the same reckless abandon as that of a child.

A lot of things happening lately. Will try to write.

Food Craving Wednesday

Resuscitating this series of Food Craving. On my last vacation in October/November, I made sure that I have chocolate con churros in Barcelona. Otherwise, the Barcelona experience wouldn't be complete.

Of Corned Beef and Cabbage and WTH.....

2013_03_30 002, originally uploaded by M'roy.

Every year on St. Patrick's Day our non-Irish household has adopted this tradition of eating an Irish dish, corned beef and cabbage. I love this dish. It's one of those dishes that can give you comfort, that one can make you happy. I look forward to St. Patty's because of this dish. It's also one of those once-a-year meal, like turkey is only for Thanksgiving.

Anyway, something happened to me. I don't know how to explain it. I don't know how it happened.

A couple of days ago on my commute home from work as I was nearing a Costco where I would gas up for the week, I suddenly found myself swerving left and right and my speed is higher than I would normally do.

I don't know what happened or how it happened. It seemed to me like all of a sudden I was trying to control the car from swerving the left and then to the right. It only happened a few seconds, but I felt like I was watching myself do it. It's pretty frightening on hindsight. But while it was happening and soon after I got the car in control again I was not scared. Fear wasn't what I felt. Confusion was. I was at a loss for explanation for what just happened. I was too shock to be scared. As a matter of fact, I felt my pulse and it's normal. My heart was beating normally, not jumping out of my chest as I expected after an experience like that. I am easily ruffled and get nervous quickly and so my "normal" reaction to what had transpired puzzled me. I told myself to take a few minutes longer to gas up so that I can compose myself, but when I got out of the car to put gas on, my legs weren't shaky. NO part of my body was stressed or agitated.

I pinched myself. Am I alive? I read and watch so many stories like this. Anyway when I got home (I made a conscious effort to drive slower than normal) I asked the husband to kiss to me. I then blurted out what happened.

Days later I am shaken, scared, but still very much baffled at what really happened.

One thing I know for sure....I'm lucky. I'm truly blessed. My guardian angel was with me the whole way.

Food Craving Friday

Cocktails and appetizers, perfect munchies when cruising the bay.

Food Craving Friday

Anyone else craving some sushi?

Food Craving Friday

Some days you just want to eat desserts first.

Our anniversary is coming up. Well not right away, it's two months away. But the planning for a small get-away has started. I have started to explore areas where we might be tempted to spend 2-3 days. Nothing concrete yet. No solid plans. I do have two places that are vying for the top spot. Both are in the Central Coast.

One is in Cambria. The hotel package is reasonable - we've been there before for hubby's b/day get-away. Plus it includes tickets to the nearby attraction, Hearst Castle, and a wonderful 3-course dinner for two. We've been really impressed with the dinner we had at this restaurant before and so we long to dine there again someday.

Monterey is the second one. The dessert sampler in the photo above is from Jack's Restaurant that is inside Portala Hotel and Spa. The hotel is really fancy and swanky, so did the restaurant. We had the best time here and the most likely the best dinner we've ever had was here. Incredible food. Just look at the dessert.

The final destination will go down to which place will give us the best bang for our buck. Budget speaks loudly when we go travel, either for an overseas trip or to a place 2 hours down the road. Either one of the places we choose, I can't wait for the anniversary dinner because I know it's going to be good.

Daily February: Day 7

Coming soon to a strip mall nearby. I have been hearing rumbling about how good the burgers are in this place and little did I know the small communities in the I-80 corridor is getting one. I still limit my burger intake to 2 per year. I'll wait for this to open and see how good the burgers really are.

Food Craving Wednesday

If tehre is one Filipino dish that I wouldn't be tired of eating, it's the lumpia, espcially if it's home made. And especially if it's made by my niece. She has the knack for cooking that one.

When she was little and was about 9 or 10 years old and she would need money for a little fishball fix in the afternoon after the naps, and she knew no money would be coming her way because well, kids only get so much allowance and nothing more.

Her entrepreneural spirit coupled with resourcefulness kicked in. She would get rice from the rice bin and make lugaw (porridge) and she would sell this to all of us, her aunts and uncles and cousins. She would charge 50 cents per bowl of lugaw. At the end she would have enough money to have two orders of fishball.

Now that she's grown and mother of three boys, her family is well fed. She continues to enjoy cooking and this is her lumpia.

Weekend Reporting

Time for weekend reporting again.

It was a 3-day weekend in this country, well for some people. My dear hubs had to work, they never get Martin Luther King Day as a holiday.

Here's how the weekend went:

Saturday:

• Lunch at China House with Mother.  This is one of her regular go-to places to dine.
• Drove out to Vallejo to get some supplies, like empanadas and puto bumbong from Valerio's Bakery and a stop at Andrea's for some cooked food for Mother. 
• When I finished running errands with Mom, which included stops at a shoe store and grocery store, my hubs and I went food sampling at Costco .  Oh we did some shopping too.

Sunday:

• Church in the morning.   Lunch at a little Cambodian/Vietnamese restaurant in San Pablo where I had to make sure my stomach was full for the sake tasting at Takara Sake.  I particularly don't find sake tasty and only have it when I'm in a Jap restaurant and sake is free with the meal, but I scored this really good deal from one of them (Travelzoo, I believe).  So we bought an extra voucher so we could have  dear friends come with us.  What was very fascinating about this whole deal is that I would not be persuaded to come here otherwise; therefore I would have missed learning about sake making (video show was informative and interesting) and looking at all the instruments/utensils needed in the tradional sake making process.  The sake tasting part itself is pretty educational.  They have menus on what to taste and of course I chose to taste the sweeter variety of sake.  While I enjoyed one or two kinds of sake from the tasting, I don't think I would be buying a bottle soon.  Also included in the package is a set of 3 little bottles of three different sakes.  All in all what a wonderful experience.
• The sake tasting took up most of the time that we're supposed to watch the football game on tv, it being a conference championship and all.  By the time we got home, it was 9 minutes left in the 4th quarter.  Fortunately, the local team, the Forty Niners emerged victorious, which means they'd be playing for all the marbles in 2 weeks at the Super Bowl.  Hubs is thinking of hosting a viewing party for that.  No concrete plans yet, but we'll see.  We're not even avid fans, just casual onlookers, but a party is fun.
• Plans for watching The Hobbit went down the drain after the game, as I felt a bit sluggish after all the sake I tasted/ingested.  Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in front of the computer.

Monday:

• Our church had a Clean-Up The City program in the morning in connection with the MLK Day as well as the National Service Day (?).  Members of our church as well as high school kids from the neighboring town's High School (the same high school kids that helped with our Tenderloin Project over Christmas and then some) came to church at 10 am and by 10:30 we were all signed up and have our routes mapped and with gloves in hand and the other carrying a trash bag, we walked away from the church to our clean up route.  I was with three lovely ladies from church - Chris, Susan and Margaret.  We chose to clean creekside and the levee side.  But it was really clean, hardly anything was picked up except for cigarette butts.  It was a lovely upper 60s day with lots of sunshine that we felt a bit guilty about not filling our bags with trash because well there wasn't any in our route.  So we decided to veer from our route, which according to the leader of the program is okay, and headed to the little park by the waterside.  I told the ladies that I have spied a group of kids going that way earlier.  I was right, the park was clean as well.  We chose to return to church and see if there are any routes that needed more cleaning.  We chose another one that we had in previous clean up programs picked up the most trash. It was clean, must be another group had finished collecting trash.  Back at the church, our lunch consisting of hotdogs, cole slaw, cookies and potato chips was ready.  The firetruck came that moment to the delight of the children.  The firefighters were very accommodating to the children, they let them climb up the truck, ask many questions, begged to fire up the siren (which they did eventually ONCE).  With food in hand, we all trooped inside the nave and watched MLK speech, which was introduced by our deacon, who was at there when the speech was made.
• Came back home to see the kitties sleeping in the master bedroom (where else?) and decided I'd join them.  Planning on napping with them, but I wasn't too sleepy or tired, so I switched on the tv and decided to check out what's ON DEMAND and thankfully I did because I saw there's a new epi of my show, SMASH.  The new season is in February. 
• Hubs came home from work to say, "Let's go to Happy Hour."  I wasn't really feeling it because I think I may have eaten more hotdogs than I could handle (2), but he was insistent and so we did have a little drink and some nibbles at La Revolucion.  While we had high hopes for this restaurant, Latin/Spanish fusion in this part of the Bay, we were disappointed.  Only judging by the bar bites menu, we will not be in a hurry to return. 

I just realized after writing this down that I ate too much this weekend.  The month is halfway over again, way too quickly, isn't it?

Food Craving Wednesday

It's been a while since I've done a food post, so why don't I pick up where I left off?

I'm craving for some home-made snails in butter and parsley sauce and corkscrew pasta and a side of steamed broccoli florets. Paired with a good Pinot Grigio. One of the many "gourmet" creations my dear husband whips up for dinner.

My food cravings are here.

Food Craving Wednesday

The Eat Real Festival is coming in 2 weeks, but my schedule is full that weekend. I wonder if I can find a little break in my busy weekend to sample some food truck delights?

Food Craving Friday

Burgers, anyone?

Do you like burgers? What is the best burger you've had?

Food Craving Wednesday

How about a trio of lamb tacos?

What are you craving for today?

Food Craving Friday

I'm supposed to have a Food Craving Wednesday, but I only remembered it today.

I am a bit saddened that the little restaurant next to the cinema is closed. It was a combo of restaurant and sports bar and it has a rocking happy hour 7 days a week. My favorite during happy hour is this chips and spinach dip. The price is right at $3 and the portion is just enough. Plus it's really good. Now where am I going to get my spinach dip?

Food Craving Wednesday

My husband, er WE, make this pasta dish that I adore so much. It doesn't require a step to step procedure since whatever veggies are left on the fridge is what we put into it.

We first grill the veggies or sometimes broil them in the oven. Then we add them to the cooked pasta (whatever you prefer) and toss it with some homemade pesto, which we always have. When I go to farmers markets I never could resist buying basil even though I have no use for it. Well there is always a use for basil. We make pesto and freeze it for occasions like this.

We top off the dish with cheese - our choice is feta.


The good thing about this comfort dish is that it can be eaten hot/warm or cold/room temp.

Grab a fork and dig in.

Food Craving Wednesday

I thought it would be nice to have another segment here.  A food craving day.  Not that I cook.  Nope.  In our household my husband is the chef, and I the sous chef - a lofty title for the chopper, dicer, slicer person. But I don't mind.  First my husband truly enjoys cooking.  Second, when he's stressed, cooking gives him comfort and relaxation.  And I get to enjoy the product of his relaxation.  Isn't that a great deal?

Anyway, once upon a time when I used to work in Emeryville, I'd frequent the Emerybay Public Market.  This is where I would get Moroccan Pastilla - like a siopao but different.  I googled the recipe and found out that it is traditionally a pigeon dish.  Here in the states, they use chicken.  I would love to taste pigeon, I never had before.

If you want to try this recipe, click here, and let me know how it tastes.