i made a quick trip to sacramento middle of this week to escape southern california's getting-to-be-warm weather. monday and tuesday were a bit on the really warm side. and it's only march.
the short one hour flight was uneventful. headed to my hotel to check-in and to prepare for the first phoner. yes, i flew all the way to the state's capital for a phoner. hahaha. this was to brief us for the event the foolowing day. anyhow, after that, i strolled a bit and found myself walking near the capitol. some of the streets are lined up with really beautiful flower-bearing trees. f says they are cherry blossoms but i am not convinced yet.
f arrived after about an hour and we strolled further to old town. this was 28 acres of the old sacramento and they were able to preserve it well. it actually looked as if i was inside the universal studios backlot. had dinner at this crab shack called joe's and it was full of people. on a weekday! i found out that this was one of the best seafood places in town.
the following day, j picked me up from san francisco. i was able to change my flight back to los angeles from sacramento to oakland so i could visit my riends in our sf office. m, j & i had dinner at san bruno ihawan, a really nice place that serves really delicious food. we ordered sinampalukang manok, pork sisg and crispy tadyang. woohoo. their sisg's not your usual sisig. it's actually pork inihaw in small cubes served on a sizzling plate. it's very, very good.
bought coffee in burlingame and hung out at m's apartment. around past 1, j and i went home. by 8, we were awake. we had to go to the ofc for me to finish the story i covered. we had plans to have lunch in downtown sf but since my story was a bit more important (hah!), we skipped lunch altogether and he just brought me to the airport around 1:30 to catch my 3 pm flight.
i was in LA around past 4, got to my ofc around 5ish. had a lovely dinner with some friends at palms in hollywood. r's dinner treat because he was promoted as their company's director of operations. yay! congratulations!
Saturday, March 17, 2007
sacramento
Friday, January 05, 2007
off to san francisco
...and i have to take a southwest flight.
i was actually dreading this one, after my really scary southwest flight to las vegas last september. the fact that the pilot told us that the weather's not too fine in the bay area made me fear the turbulence more.
ironically, despite the really dark clouds that hovered in the horizon, it was a pretty uneventful flight and by the time we landed, the sun was shining brightly. but it is cold.
i'm here in northern california to attend two major events. the first is the inaugural of governor arnold schwarzenegger and the other is the macworld. yes, macworld! hehehe. is it too obvious that i am more excited to go to the macworld than ahnuld's inauguration? it's because i am. well, i'm quite excited to see and hear steve jobs talk. he's the man! i hope to pick up a lot of stuff from this expo.
j brought me earlier to this new japanese place (market) in daly city called daiso and the place is so, how do you describe it, cutesy? it had thousands of materials that you don't actually need but you are going to buy anyway because they're dirt cheap. got me some stuff, like a calling card holder. oh well. had pinoy dinner at the lucky chances (cafe colma). combo (pork chop & tapa) silog. $8.99. not bad.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
food trippin' in the bay area, part 3
another day
okay, so the next day, it was breakfast. light breakfast. hehehe. red ribbon fare - ensaymada, palabok, empanada, pandesal and cake (quartered, four flavors).
lunch time at the 'boulevard cafe,' a diner-type resto serving comfort food in the westlake district of daly city. it's a notch higher than denny's. very nice interiors and very good food.
this is what i got: tutto mare, spaghetti with prawns, clams, mussels and red snapper in a white wine marinara, basil and garlic sauce. whew. heavy meal.
g ordered the house pot roast, which he claims, is very, very delicious. served over orzo pasta with mizithra cheese and seasonal vegetables. i'll try it next time.
and dinner-time at kincaid's. it's a fish, chop and steak house in burlingame, overlooking the bay.
what i got: grilled seafood brochette - fresh salmon, tiger prawns and a jumbo scallop grilled with toasted hazelnut butter. the scallop was so tender and tasty. the salmon was really fresh and kinda sweet and the tiger prawns were fine.
g ordered the special of the day and from the looks of it, i can't seem to decide what it is. looks like chicken or fish to me, with some veggies on the side. whatever.
[red ribbon is all over california | boulevard cafe is at 2 poncetta drive in daly city, california. call 650.755-3400 | kincaid's is located at 60 bayview place in burlingame. phone is 650.342-9844]
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
food trippin' in the bay area, part 2
okay, so where did we stop? okay, moonstar.
lunch the next day was at ppq dungeness island, along clement street in downtown san francisco. it's a vietnamese restaurant specializing in roasted crab.
here's what we had --
green papaya salad, a tasty salad made out of shredded raw papaya with peanuts and some beef. it was okay. not a big papaya fan.
steamed seabass, which i was not able to taste at all. there were 7 of us and four of them do not eat crabs (for one reason or another). do the math. 3 of us divided the 2 yummy crabs amongst ourselves, and let the seabass and chicken to the non-crab eaters. why we did we eat there in the first place? first off, we didn't know that the 4 people in our group didn;t eat crabs. hahaha. so much for asking.second, their garlic noodles was rumored to be goood.
crab 1 in creamy white sauce. not a big fan of crabs (i find it messy, eating it, i mean) but i had to eat some anyway.
crab 2 bathed and smothered in garlic. yum.
the resto's garlic noodles. i didn't like it as much as i would have loved to. crustacean's garlic noodles win by a mile and a half.
dinnertime six hours later. off to san bruno to dine in one of the city's newest restaurants. welcome to tribu grill.
had some appetizers: this one's my manila favorite - salpicao. didn't match my favorite - dulcinea's salpicao. maybe they sliced the beef in very small cubes. or maybe i didn't taste a lot of evoo. don't get me wrong, the taste was decent, not just the salpicao i was looking for.
this is where i miss italianni's. at tribu, they have a dalandan slush. it was very good, i loved it. i miss the shake and the plain dalandan juice at italianni's though.
one of a kind dessert - the frozen brazo de mercedes. if you think it is a frozen brazo de mercedes, think again. it's just graham crackers (for the crust), vanilla ice cream, caramel custard and cream, burnt a bit to simulate the look of a brazo. it's sinfully good, and original. i think.
the restaurant's specialty of the house: binagoongan fried rice, in an orgy of colors. i loved the presentation, i loved the taste, i loved the entire concept. the yellow-greenish mango, the red tomatoes, the brown binagoongan and the yellow scrambled egg. it's a must-taste when you're at tribu!
[ppq dungeness crab is located at 2232 clement @ 25th avenue in san francisco. call 415.386-8266 for details | tribu filipino grill is located at 235 el camino real in san bruno. call 650.872-8851]
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
food trippin' in the bay area, part 1
this is going to be a long post about food, so if you are hungry, stay away! hehehe. my blog has turned into a foodie blog without me even planning to. yum.
on our way to san francisco, we made quite a few stops - to eat, for restroom break, to pump gas. our first stop was 'little quiapo' near valencia (which is famous because of six flags' magic mountain). actually, it's in the city called newhall. this is where we had breakfast. i had pork inihaw and five pieces of tuyo. yum. no photos because i forgot my camera in the car.
next food stop was about 4 hours later, at panera bread in gilroy, the garlic capital of california. i've blogged about panera bread before because i love their food dearly, especially their sandwiches, and their soup.
i ordered take 2, which means that i get half of the sandwich i want and either a soup or a salad. and a side. all for $6.99. not bad. so i went for my favorite soup (broccoli cheddar) and i tried the pepperblue steak (seasoned steak filets, lettuce, tomatoes, red onions & creamy Gorgonzola roasted red pepper sauce, on toasted Ciabatta) plus my chips. good deal.
next stop was dinner at this newish buffet restaurant in daly city called moonstar. it's like todai, only better. i think. there was lots and lots and lots of food and i was getting dizzy just trying to remember which ones i wanted to try. i went to the japanese station and i was solved.
i had one of these, a lot of sashimi and sushi. had soft shell crab, too, and some unagi. oh gee, and this is only the japanese station. i was getting full.
oh, the rows upon rows of sushi. this is sushi heaven!
and crab legs, shrimps, oysters. there was also lobster (which i am not a big fan of). the waiter gives the customers one card each. if they want to have lobster, they need to present that card to the lobster chef. if not, they can return it to the cashier for a $2 rebate.
fruit salad! i didn't get to try this because i was busy messing up their cappuccino machine. had some miniature cakes and chocolate fondue as well. ten pounds gained. just for tonight's meal.
it's getting cold in the bay area
just got back from a four-day trip to the bay area with my bosses. timed the trip to the blessing of our new office up north. the weather was cold, very cold. how cold?
this cold. cars were frosted. the grass was white. well, it desn't reallys now in california but sometimes, it gets really cold and well, ice forms when it happens. this was around 7 am, on our way to mass in san bruno.
this doesn't happen in LA. i think. maybe decades ago it did.
