Falafels in Fremont

Cindy was coming down to see us at Fremont via public transportation, so I decided to try to find a good place by the BART station.  Yelp had recommended a place called "Falafels Etc" which won out over both Olive Garden and Sweet Tomatoes.

Jeremy and I both got a falafel sandwich and Cindy got the chicken schawarman sandwich.  I had to go for the falafels because people on Yelp raved about them.  They were definitely crispy on the outside and wonderfully moist on the inside. It also had a definite but subtle taste to it which was nice, compared to other overly salty/flavorful ones I've had previously.  I also got my tahini sauce on the side because some places drench their sandwiches in tahini sauce, making it juice from the pita pocket very easily.  I liked the pickled veggies in the sandwich, which was different from other places where they just have the standard tomato, onion, cucumber, and lettuce. I had a bite of chicken from Cindy's sandwich.  It was good but it had a different, slightly curry taste to it.  

They also had a little condiment bar which was neat.  It had yogurt sauce, some chili sauce, pickles, peppers, and some flavored onions.  I didn't use much of the sauces but I will experiment more next time I go!  The food overall was good and I'd go back again to the place. However, I'm not a huge falafel person and I don't feel like driving out of my way for falafels so next time I'm in the area, maybe I'll stop by!

California Burrito at Lolita's

Jeremy finally had his long awaited California Burrito at Lolita's!  Lolita's has been a consistent stop every time we visit San Diego, but I previously failed to mention the California Burrito or Carne Asada fries until it was too late.  I think Brenda had mentioned it after we had ordered last time, at which Jeremy gave me the "I can't believe you never told me about this" look... which is why our last SD meal was Lolita's.

The California Burrito consists of carne asada meat, sour cream, cheese, and french fries.  Jeremy being the french fry lover that he is, wanted to try this.  Misato came with us and suggested that we add guacamole to make it even better.  I had never been a California Burrito fan, since I prefer just a regular carne asada burrito, but took some of Jeremy's anyway.  Besides, only a few hours had passed since our Pancake House meal!  I know the picture doesn't look too appetizing but you can tell there are a lot of french fries in the burrito-too many in my opinion. That's probably why Misato ate the meat side and not so much the french fries side! The items are also segregated which makes it difficult to have a little bit of everything in each bite.

A few days ago my parents, Jeremy, and I also went to Tacos El Gordo after the driving range for some Tijuana style tacos.  I love the small tacos made right in front of you...  a little pricey at almost $2/taco but so delicious!  You definitely don't get those very often in the Bay Area! You can tell I devoured them right away because I was so excited to eat them I forgot to take pictures...  I love San Diego and its delicious Mexican food!

The Original Pancake House

The last morning in San Diego was spent at The Original Pancake House in Clairemont Mesa. When Jeremy heard about this breakfast place, his eyes lit up, so my Mom, Jeremy, and I set out to have a good breakfast. 

Their most well known specialties are the Apple Pancake and German Pancake so we had to get those.  Between the three of us, those two pancakes plus a side of fried potatoes were plenty.  The Apple Pancake is very sweet because the apples are caramelized with cinnamon and sugar.  I really liked it with a little lemon because it made it not overly sweet.  We think they use the same batter on the bottom as the German pancake, but it also seems to have an additional layer that is almost like a light custard under the sweet apple layer.  

The German pancake looks so neat when it comes out because it is huge and "poofed up".  It starts falling quick though so we tried to take pictures quickly and start eating.  I really enjoyed it with the lemon and powdered sugar they serve with it, as well as the berry syrup sauce.  I believe it was lingonberry but I'm not positive.  They were both delicious but I could definitely taste eggs in both pancakes so I'm glad we didn't get an omelette in addition.  We did see one family order an omelette that was basically the size of the apple pancake, but even thicker!  We joked that it would take 4 of us to eat that omelette.  The potatoes were good but nothing special.  I saw some other interesting menu items like the buckwheat pancakes or various crepes that I would love to try next time!

World Famous in Pacific Beach

Memorial weekend/week off for Jeremy meant Jeremy and I were going to San Diego to visit my family.  My long time best friend Misato suggested we go to a restaurant called World Famous in Pacific Beach for breakfast/brunch.  She loves the place, so I decided it was a perfect time to try something new!  

We thought parking might be crazy since it was Memorial Day and World Famous is right on the Pacific Beach boardwalk, but it wasn't bad at all... at least when we got there at 10am.  We waited for about 10 minutes outside, but it was fantastic because we were right on the beach and we enjoyed the cloudy/sunny weather and soaked up the atmosphere.  Misato loves sitting on the patio area, but we got an inside booth which was quite comfortable and not too big for our party of 3.  Jeremy liked that it was inside since he wouldn't get burned.

We finally got to ordering and I got a pork carnitas chilaquiles platter served with eggs, beans, and tortillas.  I'm not a huge egg person so I only had a little with my meal but it was delicious! Some tortilla pieces were crispy while the others were softer.  The carnitas meat was a little on the saltier side, but balanced out in the whole bite when you had avocado and some salsa with it.  

Jeremy got the Carne Asada Benedict. Again I'm not a huge egg person, but he seemed to devour the 2 muffin, meat, and egg mounds as well as the potatoes served with it.  

Misato's go-to-meal at World Famous is the Carne Asada platter, so she got some Carne Asada meat, eggs, and beans, served with tortillas.  She also got a raspberry mimosa, since they make about 5 different mimosa mixes that apparently are all delicious!  Maybe next time I will have a mimosa also!

Mil's Diner with Angela

Angela and I were finally able to meet up for a Saturday hang out!  After hearing good things about the breakfast items at Mil's Diner in Milpitas, we decided to give it a try.  

We decided to split a few things, including the avocado, tomato, mushroom, and and onion omelette (which came with hash browns and buttered wheat toast), short stack of buttermilk pancakes, and a bowl of fresh fruit. The omelette was really good- I think the avocado was what really did it for me!  The hash browns were good but a little on the too crispy/burned side for my liking.  I like crispy, but it was a bit too crispy overall.  The toast was good but a bit too buttered, since I'm not a huge buttered toast person.  

The pancakes were soft and fluffy.  I usually don't get plain pancakes but we thought about giving it a try to test the taste of the original buttermilk pancake at Mil's.  I'm not sure why every breakfast place puts the butter mound right smack in the middle, but I always scrape it to the side... I'm sure I'm one of very few people that actually don't like butter on my pancakes though.  I wish there were fresh preserves and not just the packaged jams, but that may be asking for too much.  I added some fresh strawberries from the fruit bowl on my pancake and made it a fruit pancake!  The fruit was good, but some of the fruit still seemed a bit unripe.  Overall though, I was pleasantly surprised with the bowl of fruit.  It was a nice touch to balance out the carbs, oil, and heavier items on our table.  I'm glad we shared because it was still a large amount of food!  I'd definitely go back again!

SJ Giants Game and BBQ

I went to my first minor league San Jose Giants game! People have told me that it is really fun and that the Famous Turkey Mike's BBQ they have at the stadium is really good. We went as a work fun event so I didn't even have to pay to experience the fun!

The rib dinner I got was delicious. The ribs weren't too fatty which I very much appreciated, and they gave you a lot! (Even though I ate it all while I was chatting...) I chose corn on the cob and baked beans as my sides. The baked beans weren't super sweet which I liked, but it could have been a little more saucy. It had dried out by the time I had gotten to them. The corn was sweet, and I love corn on the cob so that was a good side. The only issue with this meal is that it is messy and there are many things that get in your teeth. I survived! Thankfully they had wet wipes to use after the meal is done!

Other people got sandwiches and chicken. The chicken was rather small, but the sandwiches looked good! I have heard that the tri tip sandwiches are delicious and I heard good things about the cheese steak as well. I learned that though there are posters that say "frozen cocktail" they have not sold it in a very long time, if at all, so don't expect to find one!

Overall, a super fun event, but I would go back at night next time. It got super hot sitting there in the sun, and apparently I didn't put on enough sunscreen on the edges, because I am a bit sunburnt on the edges of the tanktop! Apply lots of sunscreen when you're out directly in the sun without moving too much for long periods of time!

Red Egg and Ginger Party

Today I went to my first Red Egg and Ginger Party at the Hong Kong Flower Lounge in Millbrae! I had never been to one before, so this was an exciting new experience for not only Jeremy and I but a number of people at our table!

It was a HUGE menu... let me see if I can recall:

1) Seaweed salad, BBQ pork, and jellyfish- the seaweed salad and pork I enjoyed, but the jellyfish was a bit different from the usual kind that I like.

2) Seafood and tofu soup- good but I think it needed a little more flavor so we added a little white pepper.

3) Walnut Prawns- the walnuts were a bit more mayo-y than I would have liked but the candied nuts were fantastic!

4) Mongolian Beef- just enough spice and loved the dish!

5) Lobster in sauce with green onions- very tasty but shellfish is a bit messy and hard to eat. I gave up on a few because I was lazy...

6) Duck in lettuce cups- Loved it! I've had ground beef mixtures in lettuce cups as appetizers before, but this was the first time I had duck in a lettuce wrap- delish!

7) Peking Duck- I love Peking duck and I liked the buns they were served with. I can't say it was the best I've had but it was still good!

8) Whole pan fried fish with soy sauce- Nice and crispy! It was hard to break off pieces and pick out the bones, but the sauce was great and when you got a piece, it was yummy!

9) Crispy noodles with vegetables, seafood, and gravy- I personally like the soggy parts mixed with some crispy, but I felt like the noodles were thicker, so the crispy parts were a bit chewy. Loved the veggies!

10) Fried sesame balls with lotus paste- I love this dessert since I love mochi, I love sweet paste and what is not to love about fried foods! This combines it all!

And of course there were 2 types of cake to finish and celebrate in American style :) Jeremy especially loved the cake! The cake was not too sweet and I loved the custard filling!

Overall, the meal was great and I was so thankful I was able to go. Baby Jake is adorable, and was especially adorable in his special outfit for the day!

Thanks for inviting us to the fantastic banquet!

The Old Siam

My friend Jessica who I became friends with during my time in Japan is back in town and came out to have dinner with us! In an attempt to find a place to eat that would meet the special diet I was on this past week, as well as a location close to our small group, we found a cute and delicious Thai place called The Old Siam in Sunnyvale!  It is small but very authentic and well priced!

There were 5 of us that went and we all loved our food!  Since I wasn't supposed to have any starches on phase one of "The Maker's Diet", I chose to get the Yum Nua salad.  The description is "Beef, tomato, carrots, cucumbers, onion and lettuce mixed with spicy lime sauce."  I actually read on Yelp that it was delicious so decided to try it!  It was a fantastic combination of sweet, spicy, and sour!

The others were also very happy with their food.  The other items ordered were Pad See-Ew, and three different types of curries.  Apparently all of the curries were absolutely delicious because the rice and all the gravy was devoured!  I will definitely be going back again to sample more foods!