Catching up

So, I feel like I've been slacking. Not so much that I've been lazy, but that I've been too busy to keep up with this as I like. That, or I eat way too much and too often to keep up daily. So, here's my solution: a quick list of all the food I've eaten in the past several days.

Tuesday, February 22nd
-Ham, tomato, and cheese omelet; tatter tots; one and a half sausage links; watered down orange juice; all at the UCLA dining halls. Yum.
-Toasted onion bagel with cream cheese and a banana (both taken from the UCLA dining hall). Both were eaten on the drive home from Venice.
-Dinner was rice, lotus root and chicken soup, stir fry vegetables with seafood, some pork thing. Yum (not in a facetious way--my mom cooked).

Wedneday, February 23rd
-High tea with Colin and Eleanor at Lovejoy's on 26th and Church. I had half a sausage pasty, a warm scone with Devonshire cream and strawberry jam, salad greens with a vinegrette, cream cheese and salmon tea sandwich, pear and stilt tea sandwich, asparagus and chicken tea sandwich, cucumber and cream cheese tea sandwich, all washed down with their house black tea.
-The best tuna melt ever at Max's. Grilled tuna salad (totally not mayonaise-y at all), avocado, and havarti, and french fries.

Thursday, February 24th
-The other half of my tuna melt from last night.
-Mo and I went to Jupiter's. I had a pizza with spinach, feta, sun-dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts, along with two beers, an amber and their sun spot.

Friday, February 25th
-Half a very tart Granny Smith apple.
-Evany left a bag of cookies she baked on my desk. I had six. They were good, with white chocolate chips, regular chocolate chips, and walnuts. Man, I ate six of those.
-Dinner at Charanga's on Mission St. Lots of "Pan-Latin" food, whatever that means if not delicious. Sauteed mushrooms, tuna cooked in lime juice, a dish of plaintains, ground beef, and black beens, spinach and pear salad, potatoes with a spicy orange sauce, coconut rice with shrimp and squid, paella, flan, and Mexican chocolate cake. A good amount of sangria.
-Party at Joey's and Neil's. Way too many banana chips, some purple drink, a beer, lots of Frito-Lay products.

Saturday, February 26th
-Lunch again at the Oakland International Airport. This time, it was the King Arthur's Special from Round Table Pizza.
-Airplane snacks: Dorito's Munchie Mix, half a pack of peanut M&Ms, half a bag of original Skittles, cheese and crackers in Jetblue packaging.
-Karen's cooking: brown rice, chicken, and asparagus.

Dorming it

Dorm food, I must admit, has come a long way since I was a freshman in college not all that long ago. Jeanne, Justin, and I got food from some café-cafeteria-deli-sandwich-coffee-smoothie-shop place at UCLA after the pizza that we ordered from Enzo’s never delivered. The hot turkey sandwich and bread bowl with clam chowder was quite impressive for dorm food. The turkey sandwich was a warm one, heated up in a large oven open for public viewing. The foccacia bread was dense, soft, and chewy all at the same time, with bits of the corners and edges a golden brown and toasty. I’m not a big fan of cranberry chutney but was impressed that this sandwich had a cranberry chutney smear that actually tasted like cranberries. The tomato slices were thick, real, and ripe. And, the turkey, amazingly, was not dry. Very impressive. The bread bowl was a wonder as well. The bowl, made of the same foccacia bread as the sandwiches but in a different shape, was this time enhanced by the thick and cream soup. The bread was just soft enough to ask as a sponge for the soup so that each bite of bread oozed with clam chowder. The foccacia was a superior substitute for the usual sourdough, which can be sometimes too chewy and tough. I could have eaten that soup bowl forever.

Reliving the wonder years

Jeanne and I went to Jim's Famous Burgers this afternoon for lunch. It's where I always go when I come back to LA. There are things about this town where I grew up that I always sort of long for--Vietnamese pho, an In-n-Out animal-style burger, and fried zucchini from Jim's. A strange amalgam, but representative of life here.

We ordered a turkey club with avocado (EZ mayo) with fries, half-n-half of onion rings and fried zucchini, and a large Coke. Mmmm...greasy goodness. The man who shouted out our order number was the same man who called me "Smiley" on one of my last visits (I can't figure out if I should be offended or if I'm really all that smiley to warrant such a name). The turkey club was stacked high with avocado, lettuce, bacon, tomatoes, and turkey. It was a just-okay sandwich despite its impressive demeanor. The turkey was a bit dry--even for turkey--and the avocado was not quite ripe enough. The mayo, however, was spread on EZ, just as the name suggested. The onion rings were just okay too. Sure, they were made of real onions and real batter--none of that frozen concoction--but they lacked something. An extra bit of cruch. An extra touch of salt. Something.

But, the fried zucchini never lets me down. So hot at the first bite that almost always I nearly burn my tongue. That crunchy, just salty enough batter is the perfect encasement for the soft yellow and green flesh of the zucchini. A little bath in the ranch dressing (yes, ranch again) cools the hot zucchini down enough so that its heat is manageable. And, of course, the hotter the zucchini, the more ranch dressing.

Not a bad way to spend a little part of my afternoon back in this strange southern California town.

Lunching at the airport

The Oakland International Airport really needs better food options. After eating only an apple and a handfull of Doritos all today, not to mention all the free samples at Andronico's, I was hoping for something fullfilling at the airport. It didn't have to be fullfilling in the "Wow, this is the best meal ever and now my life if fullfilled" kind of way. It just had to be enough for me to feel like I was somehow satiated. A greasy pile of potatoes would have been fulfilling. Or, a cheesy burrito. Maybe even a Toblerone bar. Something. But I chose none of those.

I chose the Cobb salad, instead. It was one of the "Air Meal" things that have come into popular existence recently because of all the discount airlines. (I'm not quite sure how I feel about those. Sure, I might save a couple of bucks on my flight, but I kinda like the food that comes in those strange tiny plastic trays with all the condensation on the clear plastic wrap. Not that I like the food really, but I like the idea of the food.) In any case, I chose the Cobb salad. I had no idea what a Cobb salad was, but it looked more appealing than the tiny bowl that contained just iceberg lettuce and the other tiny black bowl that contained iceberg with the addition of croutons. This Cobb salad must have been the super deluxe salad, with chicken, what looked like bacon, not one but two cherry tomatoes, a hard-boiled egg cut in half to expose the perfectly yellow yolk, shredded parmesan cheese, and, of course, iceberg lettuce (the only kind of lettuce, apparently, at the Oakland airport.) I chose a packet of ranch dressing to top off all the salad goodness.

I was skeptical and perhaps a bit delirious from not eating much the whole day. I must have been. Come on, I chose ranch dressing. What level-headed Californian purposefully chooses ranch dressing? Anyhow, after tearing open the packet of ranch along the perforated edge, squeezing out that milky white substance, cutting up all the big chunks, and giving it a toss, I started to dig into my first meal of the day. The salad tasted of ranch dressing, although I don't know how to describe the taste of ranch dressing. Creamy? That's not a flavor, is it? Tangy? Yeah, a bit tangy. Coated my tongue with a layer of fat? Yup, there was some of that too. The two cherry tomatoes were spectacular for airport tomatoes though. Quite a surprise. Sweet and a bit sour at the same time, with just enough give to the skin of it to know that it was fresh. And, those bits of brown that looked like bacon, tasted like bacon too.

Go banana!

I actually had breakfast today. An onion bagel, a banana, and coffee. Quite a feat for me, but not such quite a feat as actually making my own breakfast or even pouring my own cereal and milk. I left my apartment early wishfully thinking that I'll get to work early and have some quiet time to myself to get some things done. With banana in hand, I headed for the BART station. It was an almost perfectly ripe banana. It was one in a bunch of four that I bought earlier in the week. Yesterday's banana was good--it left a bit of that yucky feeling behind my teeth that an unripe banana can do but not as much as the banana from the day before and even less than the one before that. Today's banana was soft, flecked with black spots, and smelled of banana. A marvelously handsome banana. Another day, and it would have been too sweet, too fragrant of banana, too mushy to be a truly beautiful banana. But, today's banana--the last banana--a wondrous banana.

The Breakfast Club

Today's food adventure took me to Rick and Ann's, one of my favorite breakfast/brunch spots. It was quite an adventure too.

It started with Mo coming by to pick me up in his car with the not-so-pleasant aroma of mildew (sorry, Mo, I couldn't not mention it). He promised that it wouldn't be as bad as the last time, but I took my Febreeze just in case. And, sure enough, it wasn't as bad as before--now it just had the floral fresh scent of air spray. Mo had never experienced the wonders of Febreeze before, and agreed to allow me to spray his car as we knew we would have to wait for a table.

We had a long wait too. At least an hour. But we were going to stay strong and hungry and wait it out, and wait for the rest of our breakfast crew too. To stave of the hunger and sleepiness of a relatively early Sunday morning, we got coffee at the Peet's next door. My coffee and steamed milk came overly full and I spilled some on the counter. I hoped no one noticed. A bit of sugar and some cocoa topped it off. A sip of the coffee and I was happy, although I unknowingly longed for a Parisian cafe creme. Mmm...cafe creme.

We waited some more, this time with our coffee. We decided to cross the street and journey to the Claremont Spa and see how far we could go before being asked to leave. Little did we know at the bottom of the hill that we would be invited to tour the facilities at the top. How could we pass it up? The possibility of naked bodies abounded. We had to take separate tours though. One for guys and one for gals. I had been eyeing that spa for almost the whole time I had lived in Berkeley, and had grand visions of glory. But, nope. Just some fluffy white robes, lots of steam, and a bathtub just slightly larger than my own. I left with a brochure though. February is Thai massage for two month.

Back at Rick and Ann's we waited some more. And then some more. Our friends came, and we waited some more. Finally, we thought we were next. But, fooled once again, and we waited some more.

After lots of waiting, about 68 minutes of it, our table was ready and I was excited. I almost did a little jig. Just almost. Mo and I decided to share the Californian and the Smoked Glass Menagerie (apparently the specials were Tenessee Williams themed). We couldn't pass up the Smoked Glass Menagerie: a smoked pear and apple omelet with gorgonzola and caramelized onions, with a side of homefries plus sour cream, and a strawberry scone. Where else would that exist and when else would I remember that bad high school performance of a Tenessee Williams play by eating egg? The egg of the omelet was light and creamy with just a little bit of runniness. The smokiness of the pears and apples permeated throughout. Quite a bold flavor for early in the morning, but by that time it was no longer morning.

After polishing off two plates of food, we then headed to the bakery next door, where the world's heaviest bread resides. A piece of seriously dense pumperknickel bread got passed around five pair of hands. We all marveled in disbelief at its heft. Doorstop? Paper weight? A Valentine for an unloved one? We all wondered the myriad possibilities for its use. Strangely enough, none of us ventured to guess eating it.

Before we left, we had to do one last olfactory test on our innocent-nosed friends. Mildew or Febreeze? The Febreeze won.

Passionate chocolate?

I just finished off the last bit of my chocolate bar that was brought back from Italy. The packaging reads, "Novi cioccolate...passione dal 1903." I can only guess that it means "Novi chocolate...passion since 1903"? I don't know for sure since I don't read Italian. What throws me off by my assumed meaning of this phrase if the word passion. Are the Italians really that passionate that they must even include that on candy bar packaging? But, it was a darn tasty chocolate bar--tasty enough for one to even go "Mmm" and lick one's finger. A bit creamier than American kinds. Reminiscent of a Cadbury (how does one spell that?) milk bar, but without the all that phlegmy stuff a Cadbury can leave behind. The bits of hazelnut added a nice crunchy texture without being overbearing the way peanuts can sometime be. It was a tough decision between the Novi or the Scharffen Berger to end the night. That Scharffy'll just have to wait until tomorrow.

Mr. Cliff

Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch flavored Cliff Bar. Ah, my savior. I forgot to eat lunch. Not that I forgot, but I didn't really want to and then it became late and the tofu sandwich that Jory gave me was good for the moment but it didn't last. So, I resorted to Cliff from the guy at the corner store who always remembers my name but I can't seem to quite remember his (nice guy though--said he'll let me know when his new shipment of beads comes in). But, Cliff Bars can only do so much and they're not really all that great. A bit grainy. A bit dry. A bit too sweet. And, no peanuts nor cholcolate chips to speak of for a Chocolate Chip Peanut Crunch bar.

The tofu sandwich, however, was a different story. As I was talking outloud, professing how much I just wanted half a sandwich, Jory reached into his backpack and, viola, half a sandwich magically appeared. Sure, I wasn't totally thrilled by a tofu sandwich, not that I have anything against tofu, but this sandwich was quite a tofu treat. Tasty foccacia bread that wasn't too dry or greasy. Pickles that weren't soggy. Something that seemed to be a pesto but I can't quite say it was a pesto. And, for a bit of crunch, a leaf of lettuce (a real leaf, not just some shreded stuff). All wrapped in plastic.

Tangerine

Remember that song, I think by the Flaming Lips, with that part that goes, "She uses tangerines"? Anyhow, I was singing that today as I peeled my tangerine--the tangerine that my mom grew and threw into my backpack as I was about to leave on a jet plane at 5:30 in the morning in LA not too long ago. It didn't suffer too much through the security check point and survived a couple of weeks in my 'fridge. Maybe it was due to the thickness of its peel. But, under that tough exterior, was juicy goodness. From the outside, it looked like a dried, old tangerine. But, as I've been often told before, you can't judge a tangerine by its peel. Inside awaited the glory of the tangerine. Juicy, sweet, and cold. Made me tingle. True, the white veiny stuff was rather dry and kinda gross, but once that was all picked clean, only tangerine flesh remained. Mmm...tangerine.

I'm lame and am doing a test run

The title says it all.

Okay, so I haven't starved

So, so, I'm sure you all have been anxiously awaiting my next food post. And, no, I haven't starved to death yet. Quite the contrary. Just been swamped with trying to sort things out. But, anyhow, to the food.

After a lovely Chinese New Year's Eve dinner at the home of the people who we call my sister's godparents, I woke up to journey out through the Tenderloin to Dottie's, where I was welcomed by a beautiful waitstaff. A longish list of specials stared down from above on a dry erase board. And, after surveying the choices, I opted for the blueberry cornmeal pancakes with maple syrup and a sprinkling of powdered sugar. A great choice to satisfy my strange yearning for pancakes. They came three to a stack, which was more than I could handle, and were flecked with fresh blueberries amidst a golden yellow canvas. A smudge of butter and a drizzle of syrup and I was set. Coffee came warm and frequently. A near perfect way to start out a Wednesday morning. Breakfast company was pleasant too.