6/29/2008

Addictive

San Diego is a Mexican food paradise. This is "carne asada", a grilled steak taco with fresh avocado and tangy cilantro :)










Cotixan
Fresh Mexican Grill

6/28/2008

Phil's B.B.Q.

These are baby back ribs and onion rings. Very American but yum!!

6/25/2008

Restaurant Week

In San Diego, "restaurant week" takes place twice a year. More than 130 reputable restaurants in San Diego offer a three-course meal for $30 or $40, depending on the restaurant. The menu is prix fixe and we can try any opulent restaurants who are usually too expensive to visit. Taking advantage of this event, we visited this decent restaurant, Marine Room, in La Jolla last week.

Smoked Almond Dukkah Coated Prawn Duet Tancello Bulgur Tian, Ancho Chile Aioli, Coriander Agrumes Reduction

Muscat Kalbi Glazed Kobe Beef Top Sirloin Wasabi Chive Potato, Shiitake Butter, Pickled Cipollini XO Reduction

“Trilogy” Hibiscus Lemon Tart, Gianduja Chocolate Crunch,Crystallized Ginger Plum Crème Brulee

It took quite some courage to take out the big camera out of my purse after every dish served and take a sneak shots among dressed-up people.

6/20/2008

Rolls

When Americans say "I love sushi," it means, "I love rolls." Today, California roll and other kinds of rolls can be seen everywhere, such as in supermarkets or food courts in malls, and people eat them as lunch or snacks, using chopsticks. As Japanese, it is amazing to hear all the acclaims by old and young folks, saying they love sushi, and also I feel proud to be asked which restaurant we like to go.
Furthermore, one of my friend's son was commented on his home-made lunch with envy by an American classmate, who said, "I'm jealous because your lunch is always sushi." It was not exactly sushi but rice ball (onigiri) though.....

Speaking of sushi, the most famous sushi restaurant in San Diego is "Sushi Ota." Ichiro, a Japanese outfielder for Seattle Mariners, seems to be visiting "Sushi Ota" whenever he comes to play at Petco Park, and for that reason, it is known as the best sushi restaurant here in San Diego. Other than Ota, there are a few authentic sushi bars in San Diego, as well as abundant of Korean-owned sushi restaurants.

Today, one of my friends and I ventured our lunch at Korean-owned restaurant named Nozomi. What I ordered was Spicy Tuna Roll, which seemed to be pretty popular since I see it everywhere, even in Sushi Ota. Its ingredients are some tuna mixed with mayonnaise and chili pepper, cucumbers, seaweed, rice, and salmon on top. Salmon is my favorite, so this roll satisfied me :) On the other hand, the one my friend ordered was weird. The Caterpillar. As its name shows, it looked like an odd caterpillar. The inside were cream cheese, burdock(gobo), cucumber, seaweed, rice, and avocado on top. We cannot count them as sushi, but as a new category of cuisine, they were acceptable. Our lunch, on the whole, was worth trying.

6/19/2008

SATC

Watching movies is my favorite pastime;as long as it involves either love or moving scenes, I can enjoy it. Sex and the City, however, is not just a movie that I will choose for fun. It's more than that I have been longing for.

Today, four of nubile girls including myself marched into the theater, just like four protagonists in SATC, wearing not New Yorker's ostentatious dresses but Californian casual outfits such as T-shirts and flip-flops.

Frankly, I loved it. I just loved without any specific reasons. But during the first half of the story, I had been sort of shocked by the fact that most of the actors got old after four years of leave and all they got I thought were wrinkles above their upper lips and around eyes. Moreover, Carrie's "Big" seemed a little ordinary old man with a double chin. Unlike a small TV screen, on which they flamboyantly flourished four years ago, a large screen helped their tiny flaws like spots or winkles stand out.

Not until it's released in Japan, would I state anything about the story.
But interestingly, two of my friends stayed cool while I had been with tears in my eyes for almost an entire story. It might be a melancholic feeling that sprang up and made me feel so emotional, arousing my memories from each story on the TV show. Every single scene from the movie seemed to have some connection to the TV show, which has subtle but significant meanings. It means those who did not watch the TV show might not be able to enjoy the movie, though it introduces a plot a little bit in the beginning.

Contrary to various negative reviews that I read before, the movie version of SATC has attracted me just like the TV show did. If you enjoyed the TV show, you'd love the movie, for certain.

6/17/2008

US Open Golf 2008

The U.S. Open Golf championship was held at Torrey Pines golf course in La Jolla. It is a beautiful course sitting on the cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Luckily, I happened to have a chance to observe the playoff, Tiger Woods v.s. Rocco Mediate with my friend. Though it usually takes only about 15 minutes by car from my house to Torrey Pines, it took me more than one hour to carpool and get there since all the nearby parking lots were closed and the only way we could take was to go to Qualcomm stadium, the designated parking area 30 minutes from my house, and then take a shuttle bus for 30 minutes. Anyway, we made it. Barely could we arrive and see Tiger teed off. Tiger seemed to have a perfect figure, like dummy, and had a much smaller face than I imagined. Maybe it is his height and big arms that made his face look compact.

Give the tickets the night before, both of my friend and I had another appointment by noon. Therefore, we targeted the place to see Tiger and waited for him at the green on the second hole. The silence added up more tension around the green and it bursted into applause as he successfully putted. It was worth coming even for a glance at Tiger.

Moreover, this event turned out to be an unforgettable event for me. My friend was going to leave San Diego for good the next day for her country, Korea. This was the last chance to see each other, so she came with me, putting her packing aside on the condition that we would spend only an hour in Torrey Pines. Thank you for coming. Not only today's event but also everytime I spent with you, did I enjoy myself. I hope your life in Korea will be going well and we can meet up in Seoul or Tokyo again.

6/16/2008

Baby shower

Unlike in Japan, Americans celebrate an expectant woman or an expectant couple before the baby is born. Trying to assimilate their culture, some of my friends and I had a baby shower last Sunday for a friend whose due date is July 6th. On the right hand side of the photo is the diaper cake my friend and I made with diapers for a newborn baby.
As an entertainment, we played some game. One of them is a diaper game. My friend prepared the diapers with various brand of chocolate spread out on it to imitate baby's poop, and all of us tried to discern which one is which by checking the color or smelling each chocolate. Being chocoholic, I got first prize. Moreover, my friend prepared a cake and hid a bizarre tiny figure of baby in it. The one who got the piece of cake with the baby figure will win a prize. Again, I got that prize too. I hope my fortune was not worn out only for it.


This time, the party was held at my friend's house, but last December, we had another surprising party at my house.