Come fly with me, come fly come fly away...

I am back in California for the week, visiting friends from various facets of my 6 1/2 years in the Golden State. The plane ride was not terribly appetizing: just a breakfast burrito at California Kitchen (at BWI, no less), a Nathan's hot dog at Phoenix Sky Harbor between connections, and two soft tacos from Del Taco en route to my friends' house. Okay, those weren't horrible things to eat at all. I could have imagined worse (like those vanilla Oreos I got on the Southwest flight to Phoenix).

A few more food-related things to do whilst I am in the Southland:

* Tomorrow I hit LA (another taping of G4TV's Web Soup with the awesomely funny Nerdian-American comic Chris Hardwick). While here I want to try to make as much of my meals out of food truck eating as I can (I recently did this in DC. I will write about that when I get home). If not, well LA is definitely a food city.
* Vietnamese, Thai and Mexican abound in the Inland Empire. Imma eat it all.
* Not sure what to indulge in, food wise, in Palm Springs yet. We shall see.
* Some of my closest friends are doing an all-Southern meal for me (living with his wife and daughter in Redlands now, my buddy Kurt is originally from the other end of the Chesapeake Bay - Richmond - so we both have a crab-related culinary reference point)
* Two friends of mine, Gil and Jim, have fallen in love with this new sushi place. They will take me there or I will hurt them.
* And more shopping at Fresh and Easy, Tesco's US-tailored supermarket chain.

Ah, California here I've come!

NOTE: The state-spotlight posts about Illinois will still be going up this week. I actually wrote those a few weeks ago in anticipation of the trip. Pre-scheduled auto-publishing is a beautiful thing.

Snacking State-by-State: California Part 1C (the Southern Half) - Date Shake It Up, Baby

If that Southern California institution known as the California roll was especially complicated, this next one is very much the opposite.

Snacking State-by-State: California

Official Name: State of California
State Nickname: The Golden State
Admission to the US: September 9, 1850 (#31)
Capital: Sacramento (7th largest city)
Other Important Cities: Los Angeles (largest, & 2nd largest in the USA), San Diego (2nd largest), San Jose (3rd largest), San Francisco (4th largest)
Region: West, Pacific (small sections of the state can be considered Northwest or Southwest in terms of its food and culture); Pacific (US Census)
RAFT Nations: Acorn, Chile Pepper, Pinyon Nut, Salmon
Bordered by: Baja California, Mexico (south), Arizona & Nevada (east), Oregon (north), Pacific Ocean (west)
Official State Foods and Edible Things: golden trout (fish), California Valley quail (bird), grizzly bear (animal)
Some Famous & Typical Foods: Where to begin? "New California cuisine", diversity of ethnic cuisines, especially Asian, Latin American and Mediterranean (Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Thai, Salvadoran, Korean, Italian), citrus (especially in the south), wine (especially in the center and north), seafood, dates, and so much else

The ever-famous date shake is a desert invention, coming from the Coachella Valley and Inland Empire regions which I am more familiar with than any other part of California. I was quite familiar with the Cabazon-based Hadley Fruit Stand and its locally famous take on the shake. I was quite unfamiliar with the seeming rivalry between Hadley and Shields Date Gardens of Indio, who makes its own variety. I ended up using a third recipe, which Saveur.com attributes to Oasis Date Gardens in Thermal, CA.

The recipe: Date Shake


This one is ridiculously simple, almost as much as the quesadilla, and I actually had all the ingredients on hand:

* milk
* vanilla ice cream
* dates - preferably pitted ones


All you do is chop the dates - about 1/2 cup or 10 dates for a single serving of milkshake - and throw them in the blender with 1/2 cup of milk.


Blend and make sure the lid is on, because those date pieces will be flying all over the blender container. Then add a cup of ice cream, blend until drinkable, and you're done.


I've never cared for milkshakes that have things floating in them, but I admit this shake could grow on me if it weren't so rich. It is indeed a rich shake, with a honeyed taste (dates will do that). A single serving only yielded about 8 ounces, and I could barely finish that due to its richness. It is a shake that is meant to be drunk slowly and savored.

Stay tuned next week, when there will be no California rolls or date shakes. I'm hitting San Fran, Berkeley, Napa - it's all Northern California, dude, and it's hella awesome!

Sources:

Mitzewich, John. How to Prepare Perfect Sushi Rice (video). About.com, date unknown.

Saveur. "Date Shake". Saveur.com (http://www.saveur.com). Originally printed in Saveur Issue #70, November 2003.

Yoshii, Ryuichi. Sushi. From the Essential Kitchen series. Periphus Editions (HK) Ltd., Boston, 1998.

Yoshizuka, Setsuko. "Making California Rolls". About.com, date unknown.

Some information also obtained from Wikipedia's "California" page and the Food Timeline State Foods webpage link to "California".

Best of 2009 Part II: 10 Places, 10 Recipes, 10 Items, and then some

I know it's taken a while. But as far as we are into the new year (half a month!), I've finally narrowed down my favorite eating experiences of 2009 down to tens: ten restaurants (and then some), ten recipes and ten foods.

Ten (Plus) Restaurants of Note

13.5% Wine Bar (Italian, American, wine - Hampden) - A smallish wine bar, hip but not in an in-your-face sort of way. But it's got so much more than that. It's got beers and cocktails. It's got appetizers, panini, salads, a roving cheese cart, and a massive wine selection. And you can buy whole bottles if you want. Even on Sunday. Plus, their desserts are walked over fresh from the nearby Puffs and Pastries (see below). My favorite dish: the "Mack N. Cheese PhD" which sports mascarpone and several other cheeses ($10 except on Sunday evenings, when it and several other small plates are 1/2 off).

Carlyle Club (Indian, coastal Indian - Roland Park) - The formerly Lebanese restaurant now serves haute coastal Indian food. Specifically try their dosas, though most things are good to eat. And much of it is local.


El Nayar (Mexican, Western Mexico - Catonsville, Elkridge) - It's very difficult to find particularly good Mexican food in the Baltimore area, but it is there. The favorite place I found this year has been sitting in Elkridge for a while now. I had the chance to eat at their new Catonsville location. I was impressed by the quality, variety and reasonable price of their soft tacos, a quality of which I just haven't found in Baltimore yet.

Grano (Italian - Hampden) - Not only has it stuck around (unlike most of the businesses in its same location on the Avenue) but it's expanded to a second location down the street. The mix-and-match pastas with sauces are a revelation to me, and you have to try very hard to spend more than $15 to $20 there. Their coconut flan is also tasty, more coconut milk than coconut flakes.


Joong Kak (Korean - Charles Village / Koreatown) - The filling, tender, flavorful Korean barbeque is just the tip of the iceberg. The soju, the pajeon, the panchan, the homey atmosphere, the pleasant and quick service - well, here's the rest of the delicious iceberg. A fave of my friends.

Kooper's Chowhound Burger Wagon (burgers - various locations, depending on the day) - I love a good burger, but lately they have gotten tiring. Kooper's has helped by delivering deceptively juicy burgers, available in beef, turkey, bison and veggie. I first found them at Tide Point, where I got a juicy, packed beefy hamburger for about $8. And they cook it to your taste. The next time I found them they were at the Rotunda, where I benefitted from their Rotunda lunch special: $5 for the burger of your choice, plus sweet potato fries.

Minato (Japanese - Mount Vernon) - This has become my favorite sushi restaurant, though certainly not my only favorite. It's more than just a flashy interior: their rolls, their selection of martinis, their sake and wine selections, and (especially) their sashimi are all consistently delicious, and their service is regularly friendly. My favorite thing to order: the sashimi, which is juicy and comforting.



Puffs and Pastries (bakery - Hampden) - Yes, there's a lot from Hampden. I am biased by the places I spend the most time, and I pass through often. This itty bitty and inviting bakery has some of the most amazing cookies I have ever eaten. They've had to raise the price of their humongous chocolate chip cookie, about 7" across, to $2. Considering most places would likely charge at least thrice as much for half the quality, I mean it's a steal, people. A delicious, buttery, sinful steal. I just hope they don't read this lest they raise the prices of their wonderful cookies.

Tamber's (diner, Indian - Charles Village) - I went here with a large group after a Christmas concert (I was in the concert). They all raved about this diner that I hadn't heard of before. Tamber's has two diverse sides to its menu: its diner side and its Indian side. the chicken tikka masala was buttery and wonderful, and the naan soft and hot. It's not difficult to please me with Indian, but in a place that makes it just one of its specialities, it was kind of a surprise to me. Plus, the service was pretty quick for a large groups such as ours.

Trinacria (Italian, deli - Downtown) - Why did I never stop in here before? They sell quality groceries from Italy, quality pre-made foods in their refrigerated section, and inexpensive wines, bulk pastas and ready-made sandwiches. Try their tiramisù, in the refrigerated section. It's rich and light at the same time, and I don't know how they manage to do that. Wonderful stuff.

Also deserving of high praise

Dukem (Ethiopian - Mount Vernon) - The service was a wee bit slow the last time, but still friendly. The food was rich and spicy as always.

Mughal Garden (Indian - Mount Vernon) - Now serving dosas! But their northern offerings are still filling and flavorful.

Sotto Sopra (Italian - Downtown) - I haven't eaten there in a while, but I'm really, really looking forward to going back.

Wine Source (wine, beer - Hampden) - It's a market, not an eatery. But their constant tastings, extensive cheese section and always helpful staff have made it my favorite beer-wine-and-liquor store by far.

Woodberry Kitchen (Chesapeake, slow food - North Baltimore) - They really pride themselves on serving up local foods with local ingredients, in unique, somewhat pricey ways. I ordered a helping of their bacon wrapped Chincoteague clams ($9). Small, but every bite was lovely.

And if you're in...

Inland Empire and LA County: In addition to all the praise I must heap on Fresh and Easy (that is, Tesco stateside), I also have great things to say about Pepito's (Mexican - Riverside) who serves a darn fine soft taco, the Ocean Star (dim sum - Monterey Park) with all the dim sum you can eat (I think they undercharged us, too), and the consistently delicious tapas to be found at Café Sevilla (Spanish - Riverside).


New York City: My summer trip to NYC was actually the first trip where I was truly happy with everything I ate. Among the best things I found: the Northeast's answer to In-N-Out: the Shake Shack (burgers, shakes - Manhattan, Upper West Side), who make ALL their burgers from freshly ground meat and ALL their shakes from freshly made ice cream. La Carbonara (Italian - Manhattan, Chelsea) was also a good food find thanks to a lucky recommendation. I haven't been able to replicate those caramelized zucchini slices yet. Plus, for those of us who aren't from New York, we often forget how much great stuff can be found outside Manhattan. The spacious Jackson Diner (Indian - Queens, Jackson Heights) has a buffet that'll knock your socks off, including ready-to-order dosas.


Raleigh: The delicious Asian fusion of Duck & Dumpling (pan-Asian - Inside the Beltline) is a bargain in a beautiful space, just a few blocks away from the city's museums. I am now sold for good on cha chiang noodles. I just hope I can find some in my neck of the woods. I also enjoyed my stop at Flex (Inside the Beltline), one of the friendliest gay bars I've ever had the pleasure to set foot in.

Savannah and the Fort Stewart area: If in Savannah, pass on the Lady and Sons unless you've reserved a few months in advance, and head for the Moon River Brewing Company (Lowcountry, burgers, brewpub - Savannah), whose samplers of microbrew and selection of Lowcountry favorites should have a wait, since it's pretty damn good. And please don't leave Savannah until you stop by the Savannah Candy Kitchen (candy - Savannah and various other locations). Get a warm chocolate praline if you're able. There are also many, many places to find wonderful barbeque in the area, such as the Clubhouse at Rye Patch (Southern, Lowcountry, barbeque - Ludowici). But I am surprised to admit that the ribs and mac & cheese at the Kroger of all places (supermarket - various locations), though not nearly as good as at the Clubhouse or most other restaurants, is better than from any other supermarket.

Washington: ThaiPhoon (Thai - Dupont Circle) gives you some hearty tom kha gai and a hearty and satisfying pad thai. But they give you so much that you might not be able to finish it. Just a warning.

Ten Recipes of Note

Cantonese style stir fried greens and/or seafood - I found myself stir-frying a lot of things this year, Cantonese-style, using Chinese rice wine, sesame oil, soy sauce and garlic, among other things. Sweet potato leaves, beet greens, bok choy, Boston lettuce all work quite well. Swiss chard? Well, okay, I don't like Swiss chard.

Hot Milk Cake - A classic Baltimore sponge cake, if done right it is velvety and moist and will keep for a while. It's also extremely sweet.

Irish Soda Bread - 2009 was a year that I started using the bread machine I bought from my landlady in California for eight bucks. She used it three times. I've already used it about ten times as much. I've made a dizzying variety of breads and rice dishes in this thing. My favorite was an Irish soda bread I found from a recipe on the ChefMom website. It was so much better than the store-bought version that comes out every St. Patrick's Day, with juicier raisins, softer bread and a strong caraway flavor that holds up ridiculously well to the pre-made stuff that I can only describe as "grainy" and "cardboard-flavored".


Mozzarella Cheese - What can I say? I made mozzarella! And it was much creamier than the store-bought kind. Again, it'll be difficult to go back.


Nataing - The first main dish I made in my new Food Ethnography project, this Cambodian meat dish from The Elephant Walk Cookbook is extremely rich with all that pork and coconut milk and fish sauce. I had to make a second for Dara's blogger dinner party.

Neapolitan Tomato Sauce - I haven't used a jarred tomato sauce since I learned how easy it was to make it from scratch, and to freeze it so I can have more later. It freezes very well.

Old Bay Boiled Peanuts - After eating so many boiled peanuts and driving in Georgia this past summer, I had to make my own, with a Chesapeake twist. But you have to add a lot of Old Bay to get the flavor. These also freeze very well.


Old Bay Caramels - I swapped out the sea salt in a Fleur de Sal Caramel recipe for some Old Bay, in a kitchen experiment. While it didn't turn out at first, particularly the ones that I added extra Old Bay to since I couldn't taste it at first, the ones with less Old Bay ended up tasting quite nice after sitting for a week or two - the perfect blend of crumbly, sweet caramel and salty, spicy Old Bay. A strange mix, to be sure, but an interesting one.

Pan-Fried Soft Crabs - Most Baltimore families have a soft crab recipe, I imagine. My mother's mother pan-fried hers with nothing more than some flour and butter. I added cornmeal since I like the taste. Even better in a soft taco with some sliced onions or scallions.

Roasted Vegetables (peppers, chilis, tomatoes, broccoli) - Quite simply, there are fewer things more satisfying than a nice oven-roasted tomato or flame-roasted pepper. Don't even need bread crumbs or anything like that. Just drizzle in olive oil and salt and bake for about an hour at 350°F.

Ten Other Food Items of Note


anything made by Fresh and Easy - Despite their almost-Scientological zeal, the folks at Fresh and Easy (supermarket - various locations throughout Southern California) have every reason to be enthusiastic about their wonderful products, which often end up half-priced in a special, prominent aisle when they are a day or two old. Their lemon bars, brownies, and many of their bottled sauces are sorely missed in my apartment.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale - On tap during the fall months at the Hippo!

Farmers' Market Milk - Like most milks bought at a farmers' market or CSA, South Mountain Creamery's rich homogenized and cream top milks (available year-round at Waverly Farmers' Market on 33rd Street) have spoiled me for supermarket milk in the same way that Fractured Prune donuts have spoiled me for Krispy Kremes. Just tastes like water now.

Fat Tire (and beers like it) - Since we still can't get Fat Tire in Maryland, the best we can do is the Gordon Biersch Märzen out of San Jose. It has a similar fatty and rich feel in the mouth, I have found.

Fresh Berger's Cookies - The fresh ones you buy at the booth in Lexington Market have now spoiled me for the Berger's Cookies you buy at the store. But if I can't make it downtown, the ones at the store'll do, hon.

Mo's Milk and Dark Bacon Bars - The Dark Bacon Bar (available at Ma Petite Shoe and Whole Foods, among other locations) is better, but the Milk Bacon Bar is still pretty good.

Mrs. Holmes Boiled Peanuts - Fresh out of South Carolina, you had best stop in almost any convenience store to buy some to eat along the way to wherever you're going. Plentiful in Georgia.


Palmiers from Sarabeth's Kitchen at Chelsea Market - I know, I'm the last foodie to ever realize that the Chelsea Market is where the Food Network offices are located (and I'm the first one to accidentally stumble upon the place without that knowledge). The wing-shaped (or "elephant ear") palmiers cookie is the only palmiers cookie I have ever eaten that is, well, edible. And its buttery flakiness makes up for all those other nasty, gummy, sticky, cardboard-flavored ones I've eaten in the past.

Southern Tier Choklit Stout - My favorite part of Baltimore Beer Week was a beer from a brewery I already knew quite well. Southern Tier's Choklit Stout is among the best from a brewery that puts out some of the best beers on the East Coast.

Whoopie Pies - My first exposure to whoopie pies, ever, was this year. Before I just thought they were some type of moon pie. Silly me! They really are tasty, with a rich buttercream filling (or marshmallow, or "bettercreme" - yekhkh - depending on where you get yours) sandwiched between two soft and moist devil's food buns. I guess this Yankee-slash-Amish dessert has crossed the Mason-Dixon Line for good! My favorite is the one Trader Joe's puts out in a six pack (regular or pumpkin). Not so good: the one from Giant, but hey, Marylanders are just learning about whoopie pies, okay?

That's it for what I liked the most in food in '09. Coming soon: what I disliked the most.

Un día de comida mexicana

I fulfilled one of my specific goals for this trip: finding and eating actual Mexican food - you know, the edible stuff, which is difficult to found "Back East." I got to do this twice today, eating at two restaurants I have never been to before. Now don't get me wrong: I've eaten a lot of Mexican food out here in Cali. I just haven't eaten at these places.

Síquio's is in the smallish city of Colton, next to a water park. I had passed by it many, many times but had never gone in. Jim and I headed in today and got hit in the face with the possibility of a Mexican buffet. It did not look impressive, so we ordered the lunch combos. Like many Mexican restaurants in SoCal, you can choose items to form a two- or three-item combo, which typically comes with beans and rice. My two items were the chile relleno and meat enchilada. Both were good, but I preferred the enchilada. The chile relleno was a little slippery under my knife and fork, but that's to be expected. The coating was the perfect level of light and eggy, and didn't have the strange egg-ish aftertaste that many chiles rellenos I've eaten have had. The enchilada seemed more like a small burrito. Most enchiladas I have had are thinner and wetter. This was a substantial enchilada! Along with that were house made tortilla chips with homemade salsa and homemade guacamole. The total for each two-item combo: about $10, plus an extra $3 for the guac.

I later met a former professor of mine and his wife for dinner. We met at Pepito's in Riverside, near the corner of Central and Magnolia. It was a cozy, colorful and lushly decorated restaurant and cantina. They go there all the time, and I can see why. After ordering a Dos Equis lager at the bar, I met them in the restaurant for our meal. This time, we all ordered off the a la carte menu. My professor suggested the ground beef tacos. The thing I hadn't expected was the mixture of potato in the taco (apparently, this is how they do it in Michoacán). The shell was hard, but this was no pre-fab Ortega taco shell. Instead, it was a normal corn tortilla that was folded over and fried (Síquio's were the same, except at the cheaper buffet). I ordered two ground beef and potato tacos and a tamale. The tacos were flavorful, especially with the side order of guacamole. As an aside, I have no idea what they put in their guac at Pepito's, but they need to keep putting it in because this is better than most guacamoles I have had. The tamale was massive, bigger than any I had ever eaten. It was a nice big layer of corn dough wrapped around lots of shredded pork, and smothered in a delicous red sauce. The waitress came by to ask specifically about the tamale. I told her I was pleased. These three things each cost around $2.50 (the Dos Equis? Four bucks).

Fresh and Easy - That's My Style (or, "Tesco, Can You Hear Me?")

I love Fresh and Easy. That's what my friend Jim told me last September when a Fresh and Easy supermarket opened up in Yucaipa, where he lives. After visiting today, I am of the same opinion: I love the place.

I was early meeting him for lunch (Tokyo Sushi for a super-filling meal), so I decided to visit Fresh and Easy. As I've mentioned in the past, F&E is owned and operated by the UK-based Tesco Supermarket chain. Their mission: to open up supermarkets in urban places, especially the inner cities. Yucaipa is not the inner city. It's about as rural and rednecky as you could ever hope for (besides, maybe, Banning). So why open up a fresh and fun Fresh and Easy store right across from Yucaipa's "master-planned golf course community" (I'm not kidding), now covered in all the ooze and goo that is the uber-bursted housing bubble? Who cares why? It's awesome!!!

The one time I went into a Tesco sandwiched in between compact buildings in a tiny corner of St. John's Wood in London, I saw the same crispness and efficiency of the layout. Like Tesco, Fresh and Easy prides itself on higher quality at an affordable price. The prices were slightly higher than those at Trader Joe's (with more fresh produce and other stuff you would find in a supermarket but not at Trader Joe's), and much lower than those at Whole Paycheck Foods.

They also have a free sample section with several different free samples, just waiting to be eaten. Their hash browns and homemade macaroni salad were pretty tasty - not the best, but definitely good. And employee enthusiasm is not to be taken lightly. The woman manning the free sample section insisted on giving me a ten-minute tour of the place when I told her that I had never before been. She told me about how:

• this location was the first in the Inland Empire that had been built for F&E instead of just moving into a pre-existing location. You can tell by the skylights, which are put in to save on energy.
• everybody who comes in zeroes in on the "Day-Old / Up to 50% Off" section, by the beer (Oh GOD, do I miss living in a state that allows supermarkets to sell alcohol!). I bought lemon bars that were about 25% lower than their normal cost.
• the place prides itself on natural ingredients, without the ridiculous markup that the sometimes-valid, sometimes-dubious "ORGANIC" label brings.
• it's a place that a lot of people come into just to buy something quick and cheap and tasty.
• most of its wares are shipped to their Moreno Valley warehouse and then distributed to all the area F&E's, thereby reducing carbon emissions from the trucks.
  

She showed a zeal for the place that lay somewhere between "Scientologist" and "Chick-Fil-Aniac" on the enthusiasm scale (that is, quite high). But while it may be easy to poke fun, I can understand her enthusiasm. It is a lovely place, and many of the items sold at F&E are indeed F&E brand items, packaged in much the same way that Tesco items are packaged.

I did buy some items. I went for the aforementioned lemon bars for a mere £1.40 $2.25. Along with those, I got a bottle of mint-flavored water for 60 cents. They also have cucumber, strawberry and (get this) coconut. Total after tax: about three bucks.

A few snacky things from Tesco, American-Style

Honestly, I do see myself going there next Tuesday (the day before I fly back home), buying a few supplies, and shipping them back to Baltimore. When did I last do that? Oh yeah, it was about 12 years ago, after I had moved to California and found this great place called "Trader Joe's" that had yet to move into the Baltimore area. Then it was for family. This time, it's mine! (Yes, and theirs, too.) Maybe Tesco will plop a few Fresh and Easy's somewhere in Baltimore someday?

California up ahead...

Ah, California. With that screwy, falling-apart sort of economy. I used to work in some capacity for Riverside and San Bernardino Counties. I truly wonder if I would still have work there given the current budget crisis. Oh, and I also can't get married there >:( At least there's still most of New England. And Iowa. Let them get the "wedding tourism" that California just won't be getting now. They need all the money they can get.

Anyway, I'm going back next week. Again, flying on a cheaper-than-expected ticket (via Southwest), driving with a prepaid, much-cheaper-than-expected rental car (via Priceline), and staying with friends (so no need to pay for a room at all). A few foodie things I am looking forward to while I'm back in the Eureka State...

• The last time I went out to Cali, I was introduced to Fat Tire Beer, one of the most wonderful beers I have ever drunk in my life. At least a six pack is coming back to Maryland with me, once I figure out how to fit it into my luggage without letting it break (stupid, stupid, antiquated no-shipping-of-alcohol-into-or-out-of-Maryland laws).
• The promise of actual, edible Mexican food - an elusive dream on this side of the Mississippi River, but something easily found in SoCal.
• Eric was berating me yesterday about ever eating fast food. He's reading a new book about healthier eating. Yes, I should look it up, but I'm a slow reader, so I'd rather wait for the audiobook. Anyway, there are lots of great - and not-so-great - fast food options on the lovely Left Coast. Faves include Del Taco and In N' Out, which merit an immediate visit. Not-so-faves include Carl's Jr. and Jack-in-the-Box, whose food has achieved a truly inedible quality. Weinerschnitzel became tiring but I'm willing to give it another chance.
• It's a helluva lot easier to find See's Candies out there than it is out here.
• I hope my main man Kurt is able to meet up. He and his wife may be out of town the whole time. He's a darn good cook and always has something good when I come over to visit. He makes a mean cochinita pibil. Being from Richmond, he also loves 'em blues as does almost any person that grew up near the Chesapeake Bay. When I first moved out there over a decade ago, the two of us introduced the rest of our grad student friends to steamed crabs. I still get a kick out of thinking about one guy's plea to just "set them free."
• The small city of Redlands has one of the first farmers' markets that I ever set foot into. I'm longing for their kettle corn and mini-donuts.

Plus, I can't get the promise of that strong, strong smell of orange blossoms and garlic farms along the 10 out of my head. It's strongest just west of the San Bernardino County Museum. Wonderful, just wonderful stuff.

City of Angels, City of Lunch

I sit in the United Terminal of LAX feeling as if I am about to pop. In my quest to see what I could of Los Angeles before I fly away from it for who knows how long, I overate. It all started back in Redlands when I met Jim and Gil for lunch at Hello Sushi (I picture Hello Kitty behind a sushi bar every time I think of it). The place has some good tempura and rolls. One roll that stood out big time was their albacore garlic roll. I've never had garlic in a roll, and I wish I would see more of it. Also good was my combo lunch of tempura and Japanese-style broiled mackerel.

After a long drive and a little sightseeing in LA, I headed through West Hollywood (WeHo) to locate a quick bite. My plan was to get a snack, do some more sightseeing, and then get some dinner before my flight. First stop: Pink's Hot Dogs, an LA/WeHo/Hollywood institution for 69 years now. Currently up for one of the eight things that are best about Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles Magazine, Pink's has satisfied everyone from folks who just step off the bus to television and movie stars and producers down the street at the Paramount Pictures lot. The many autographed photos on the walls betray the hot dog lovin' proclivities of everyone from Simon Cowell to Ellen DeGeneres, Celine Dion to Richard Simmons* to, well, Pink. They even have hot dogs named after celebrities, including Rosie O'Donnell, Martha Stewart and the incoming director of the LA Philharmonic. His hot dog sounds like a freaking mess. It's like they threw everything onto it. They have dozens of different varieties which will take too long to describe. Just check their website to see them all. They also serve burgers, but who the hell is going to order a burger at this place?

You wait in a very long line to order, but it is sooooooo worth it. After fifteen minutes smelling hot dogs in the beautiful weather (It clears up just as I'm leaving. That figures.) I go ahead and order a New York Dog – their 10” dog smothered in red onion relish – and a side of onion rings, with a Diet Coke (they also offer everything from Orange Crush to Yoo-Hoo). The total cost: $7.25. And it was a well-spent $7.25. The hot dog pops with every bite, and has the best flavor of any dog I've had in a long time. The onion relish is alright, but my mind is still on the hot dog. The onion rings were crisp – not at all soggy – and only a bit greasy. Plus, they weren't too big to not fit into the little Styrofoam tub of ketchup I got before I sat down.

The hot dog feast, in the golden Southern California sun!

I parked a little further up and walked the rest of the way into WeHo, stopping at the popular LGBT news and book store A Different Light. No, it's not that kind of “bookstore”. I headed back to my car with a copy of Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss, featuring a pre-Will and Grace Sean Hayes, stopping en route at the little bakery Cake and Art. I had never seen this place, but it obviously does fancy cakes. It also sells a small but fancy assortment of cupcakes. I bought their black and white cupcake for $2.75 and saved it for the flight. I still haven't eaten it as of this writing.**

Behold: the black and white cupcake

Last stop before I hit LAX was one of my favorite LA restaurants. Nyala is on Fairfax Avenue, the heart of Little Ethiopia, and years ago when I lived in Redlands I occasionally would drive 75 miles just to eat there. Granted, there wasn't any Ethiopian food in the Inland Empire so I kinda had to drive that far to get some. Nyala is decorated in paintings of scenes from daily Ethiopian life, with mesob baskets sitting in various places around the earth tone dining room. It was around 6:30 when I got there, and I was the only one there at the time, so the service was pretty fast. I started off with a Hakim Stout beer ($4), made in Harar, Ethiopia. It's hard to describe – a little rich, not very chocolaty, and somewhat mellow. It was the perfect accompaniment to my yebeg wot (somewhat spicy lamb chunks "marinated in red wine and sautéed in seasoned butter, fresh onion, garlic and ginger", $10). It was a little gristly in places but still good, in a complex spicy, buttery red sauce. It came out flanked by a lentil stew and a green salad in a nice dressing, all on an oval plate, sitting on top of the only oval piece of injera bread I have ever seen. And this was after the customary appetizer, a hummus-like dip surrounded by super-skinny pita wedges. The best way I could describe it is a cross between hummus and tahini, mixed with pepper, cayenne and olive oil. I had to force myself not to eat the whole thing.

First, the beer...

...then the tahini-like dip...

...and at last, the yebeg wot. Mmmm, wot.

And so that is why I am sitting on the floor of the United Terminal (you find a closer place to sit next to a working electrical outlet), feeling like I can hardly move. And with about an hour until I board. I hope I can just get some sleep once I'm in the air.

* Am I alone in thinking it odd that Richard Simmons of all people is eating hot dogs? It's not a low-cal sort of place.

** I eventually ate the cupcake, of course. It was rich and fudgy.

Other photos:

Oh my! Now for the president with pink hair.

Until the sun goes down over Santa Monica Boulevard.

The electronic billboard in the back had a changing ad for the new Get Smart flick. I was paying more attention to the dozens of dining options.

WeHo: LGBT mecca of Southern California. Outside of Palm Springs at least.

And lastly: no, I didn't stop in. But I'm sure it would've been a gas, no?

Notes from the Inlandbelly

Friends of mine have been cooking for me and taking me to lovely holes-in-the-wall for some good food over the last day or two. One restaurant I went to with some friends was in Riverside - the Jumbo Bowl. If you're in the Inland Empire and you're reading this, you have to go there. It's a Thai place that has this great fried fish covered in a coconut curry sauce that I just went mad for.

Also good were some dishes that friends of mine made for me. One friend I stayed with in San Bernardino made Dutch pancakes for breakfast. These didn't seem like the same ones I ate in Amsterdam but perhaps they were a variation on the theme. It's a very eggy pancake. It tasted nothing like the humongous pancakes I had in the Netherlands but was still very rich. The corned beef hash and bacon also went nicely with it.

Then I stopped by another friend in Redlands for more food! I had no idea he would be making food. We looked at his recent photos from his vacation in Mexico and then he made some huevos motuleños, an egg dish from the very Mayan northern Yucatecan city of Motul. It is eggs with cheese, beans, ham - lunchmeat is actually normal to use - and peas. Canned peas, in fact, are preferred, but frozen or even fresh ones will probably work just fine. (That's the rare time you'll ever see that phrase.)

Vacation Over

Sadly, my vacation is done. **SIGH** The next time I post anything I'll be back in the comfort of my home in Bawlmer. But I have one or two things left to write about:

Papaya Bay of Yucaipa

Jim took me to this Thai restaurant, Papaya Bay, in this remote, dusty little Yucaipa strip mall. Note that this city isn't very big to begin with, but hey, it's the desert, so 40,000 people can live on a patch of land much bigger than they need anyway. My jaw dropped when I walked in; the place is gorgeous, with all this beautiful woodwork and even a fancy table and chairs when you walk in, all ornate Thai woodworking.

The food was just as good, and as usual we ordered too much of it. For starters we ordered some egg rolls - crispy and with a sweet and sour sauce - and some puff pastry sort of thing that looked like a tiny empanada, but with curry and potatoes in it - still done up in Thai style. This latter one came with a sweet vinegary sauce with little chopped-up red onions and cucumbers in it.

Then our soup came out - tom kha gai, which I have never received as a complimentary part of my meal before (and so good). Next was the mains course. Mine was panang curry chicken, which I've never had before. Smooth and coconutty (coconut milk, not coconut bits), a little hot. It looked more like a stew than anything else, and came with a large mound of white rice. It also came with a little salad that I didn't bother with.

Total price for two: about $38.

Café Sevilla of Riverside

It seems to have become a tradition, our going to Café Sevilla once during every trip out here. We went in April and we did it again. Just a note of advice (heads up, Danielle, if you make it out this far; you'll be in LA by the time you read this): if you are out in Riverside, go there on a Wednesday night. They have tapas platters, and they are all half price. We got $50 worth of tapas for $25 easily, not even that. Plus, try their sangarita. It's their claim of "Spain meets Mexico!" It's just a margarita mixed with sangría, and put in a standard short glass with sugar instead of salt around the rim. Tasty. Total was about $60.

And that's it. I'm off to the local Vons (a Safeway subsidiary - note how alike their websites look) or Stater Bros for something to eat on the plane. I could just get something between connections in Phoenix, but I won't have enough time and it probably won't be any good anyway.

Day in the Desert: Yucaipa to Palm Springs

Tokyo Restaurant in Yucaipa

Yesterday Jim and I went for some great sashimi and sushi in Yucaipa, a smallish city known more for its dustiness than its sushi. Sitting down at the Tokyo Restaurant, we ordered lots of tasty nibbles, including a plate of Japanese mackerel sashimi, each piece separated by a paper-thin lemon wedge. There was more than the waitress said there'd be. But my favorite thing had to be their "Screaming Orgasm" (a name like that in conservative little Yucaipa could be scandalous enough). Simply put, it's albacore tuna sashimi piled on top of the radish "noodles" and greens that usually come with sashimi, and smothered in their "screaming orgasm" sauce - mayo and small fish eggs, with a little spiciness and some salmon-y color. I almost screamed, yes it was that tasty. And it made the usually bland and flavorless "noodles" taste almost spaghetti-like. I finished half of them. Note, however, that their miso soup is pretty forgettable.

Russell Wright: Living with Good Design

I made my way to Palm Springs and found, to my dismay, pretty much half the town was shut down! It soon dawned on me why: this is the summer, stupid! There are no tourists here, because it regularly gets up to 115 degrees in the day (August is PS's hottest month by far). One thing that was open was the Palm Springs Art Museum, formerly the Palm Springs Desert Museum. It's removed all of its natural history and anthropology exhibits (sending them elsewhere) and replaced them with more art.

One traveling exhibition hosted by the museum right now is the fascinating exhibition of mid-20th century designer Russell Wright's furniture, dishes and eating utensils. Russell Wright: Living with Good Design put on display objects that I didn't think I'd see in an art museum for a few decades yet: utensils that our parents, maybe even some of us have used throughout our lives. But instead of putting them on display purely as recontextualized art, they were displayed as both art and history: we saw these things as they were meant to be used or displayed. Very cool. And that Iroquois translucent china? Wow.

See's Candies

After a little thrift store shopping at the local Revivals (proceeds go to benefit the Desert AIDS Project, and they have some really neat stuff, too), I finally stopped for a snack at that California institution known as See's Candies. Because most of my family is dieting and forbidding themselves from having fattening, delicious, sugary chocolates - and because I already got them some gifts they probably shouldn't be eating - I got half a pound of candies for myself and friends here (yeah, that's it, my friends). Some of the tasty buttercreams that I bought (I am a buttercreamaholic) were vanilla, brown sugar, toffee and apricot. Too bad they melted together in the car, so I had to freeze them and then thaw them out in the fridge. Should make for some interesting eating.

Hunters Video Bar of Palm Springs

Like San Francisco, Palm Springs has a very vocal and vibrant gay community and nightlife. I explored it, as I have before, with a Guinness at Hunters, a local institution with massive screens showing (last night anyway) Beyoncé, Shakira and Norah Jones (funny, I always think of them at the same time, don't you?). In the gay-specific strip on Arenas Road, it's one of the brighter bars, and one of the ones I like more in that area. Of course, there are many other gay and straight bars all over Palm Springs and nearby Cathedral City (their leather-lovin' Barracks Bar has a popular happy hour).

Las Casuelas - ¿Otra Vez?

I went to Las Casuelas again. Yes, I went there the last time I visited PS. But this time, with so fewer people in town and such smaller crowds - and with so fewer options because, y'know, everything was closed - I went back. Only this time, for a change of pace, I stopped in their much bigger Terraza location up the street from the smaller one that's a favorite with the locals. Here I got a cool, crisp Dos Equis beer in a very tall glass to wash down my tortilla chips and salsa. Then came the two-item combo that I ordered: a mild chili relleno filled with, it seemed, mozzarella (or at least its Mexican equivalent) and covered in delicious breading and melted cheese, and a large pork tamale. All that with rice and Oaxaca-style beans (just whole black beans cooked with onion and cumin; I couldn't really taste the onion). Total price for this delicious food: $18. I left a $4 tip.

Other photos -

Even Lucy thought it was hot - must be why she's sitting near the sprinklers.


Just resting? Or are Duane Hanson's Old Couple even real?

Maybe they'd be more comfortable in these swell furnishings by Russell Wright!

FOOL, please!

Oh it IS, is it?

If too blurry, this reads:
THIS RYE: a favorite with people FROM BACK EAST

In one fell swoop, a natural bread maker out of Palm Springs lumps all us "Back-Easterners" from Maine to Mississippi together as "those people." A little blurry but still funny. Photo taken at a local produce market in Yucaipa.

Revisiting Old Haunts in Riverside: Miyako

Today found me in Riverside, running some errands (yes, errands on my vacation - does that not suck or what). After that, I took myself over to the Canyon Crest Town Center near the University of California, Riverside. The Town Center was just up the street from me when I lived in Riverside. It’s one of those places that always has lots of businesses opening and closing, including a budget cinema-cum-storefront church. I also remember a little Italian deli that, overnight, as if by magic, turned into a water and ice cream store (buying large jugs of water is popular out here – if you’ve ever tasted the tap water, you’d taste why).

A few businesses have lingered for a very long time. Four of my favorites have endured for at least a decade. One favorite Chinese-Thai place, the Little Emperor, is closed for remodeling, but I remember a good lunch buffet and a very hot squid dish that had me sweating one night. I took my parents to another fave one time they visited me, Romano’s Italian Restaurant. It’s a lovely place (it's not the Brass Elephant, but I still say it's charming) with decent Italian food. A third is a favorite local chain, Papi’s Tacos al Carbón. Their burritos and tacos are simple, flavorful and (if you want ‘em that way) hot. I never got to try their huevos rancheros, but I’m sure it’s good.

Little Emperor, Romano’s and Papi’s were all there when I first moved to SoCal, ten years ago next month (Damn, has it really been that long?). A fourth one popped up only a few years after that. Miyako’s Japanese Restaurant took over for a previous Japanese place that was there when I moved out West. They had a good teriyaki-tempura-cutlet combo that the new place carried over. They also had lots of sushi, but at the time I really hadn’t become a sushi convert like I am now. So I never ate it.

I found myself getting exactly that at Miyako today. Specifically, a dish I’ve never seen at any Japanese restaurant before. This dish, which they call roe-ju ($13), is a not-so-thick layer of rice with several kinds of raw fish eggs on top, along with sea urchin (yuck) and, perhaps, some kind of eel (yum). Four different kinds of fish eggs. I am going to show off my ignorance of different fish eggs by describing them by color and size! They gave me the large orange fish eggs, the small, caviar-size red eggs, a green wasabi version of those eggs, and an orange version of those same small eggs. I don’t know what they were flavored with, but I couldn’t get enough of it all – well, except for the sea urchin (again, yuck).

Add to that two pieces of mackerel sushi ($4) and a Diet coke ($1.50) ad the total after tax was about $19.50. Money well spent. Sadly, I was too full for the tempura ice cream that they only started serving after I moved back to Maryland 3 ½ years ago. Oh well. I know where else to get it.

Update on SoCal visit 2: Back to Bawlmer, hon, er, dude

Oh my God, did I hit the Publish button instead of the Draft button? Now I feel so embarrassed! Oopsie! My heartfelt apologies for the very embryonic post there (I was wondering how Fairfax could've known I was back in town already). My only excuse is that I had to act fast because we were boarding. Anyway...

Well I am sitting here at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport waiting to board my connection between Ontario and BWI (or at least I was when I started typing; I'll probably be back in Maryland by the time I publish this), and my meal here was a bit less appetizing, just a slightly tough little Nathan's hot dog (again, the Fresh Connections sandwiches I found at Las Vegas are here, but the hot dog was cheaper). This after I polished off a Del Taco bacon and egg breakfast quesadilla and three and a half hash brown sticks (hey, I won't be eating that for a while anyway, so why not). But I have had much better food over the last day or so. A recap (again, photos are forthcoming, because I am too tired to deal with them right now):

VISIT TO THE VILLAGE AT CLAREMONT

Think Mt. Washington Village, but with more smog and palm trees. And wind - man, those Santa Anas were kicking up yesterday! I almost got hit by a very heavy palm frond. But the Village at Claremont is in Claremont, CA. This city is on the westernmost cusp of the Inland Empire, and the easternmost part of LA County, and it's a very cool, happenin' place. The Village at Claremont has a Rhino Records, a music store where I bought this really cool device where you turn a knob on a string and it makes these wooden chickens "peck" the platform above the knob. And I almost bought a VHS tape on how to play the didgeridoo (yes, I have one, and yes, I know that is weird).

A. Kline Chocolatier - My friend Jim and I went to Claremont's A. Kline Chocolatier. Okay, I did, and dragged Jim in with me. They have some absolutely wonderful candies in there, and some Easter candies on sale for $3 for a small, Mary Sue-sized egg (the one that's about the size of a very large normal egg). It's as good as a non-Mary Sue can be (God, am I a typical Bawlamoron or what, comparing all such candy Easter eggs to Mary Sue). Bought some wonderful butter creams, too, about $18 a pound, but each was worth about 50 to 60¢, and I only got 10 of them.

Kinya Japanese Restaurant - Every hip, happenin', semi-pretentious place like the Village at Claremont (or Mt. Washington) almost always has a Japanese restaurant with sushi. So on a hunch I did a search of the restaurants there, and lo and behold, Kinya popped up. This place had some very good (though occasionally stringy) sushi and sashimi, at comparable prices (we ended up paying about $50 before taxes for drinks, appetizer, mains and dessert). I liked the presentation of the sashimi in a bowl of rice and radish shreds, their Chirashi Zushi. However, I was particularly bowled over by their deep-fried (though not tempura) soft-shell (Mmmmm. Soft shell). Even better, they had the first tempura ice cream I have ever had outside of Baltimore that actually tasted good at all. And unlike the ones here, which serve it in a dish, Kinya cut their tempura ice cream into quarters, making it ridiculously easy to eat. What a great idea! They even put a nice dollop of whipped cream and a cherry in the middle. Jim got the green tea flavor (which is odd, considering he's no great fan of green tea ice cream), and I got the vanilla, but we each tried the other's.

I hope I see tempura green tea ice cream in Baltimore soon.

BACK IN RIVERSIDE

Café Sevilla - We finished off the evening, and my trip, at a favorite tapas bar and dance place, the Café Sevilla. This place is in a fashionable part of downtown Riverside. And though we don't dance, we do like those tapas. We started with drinks - Jim got the sangría, which was so strong he almost asked me to drive home as soon as it first hit his lips! I had a Spanish beer, whose name I forget, but it was good enough for me!

For tapas, Jim got a good, hearty gazpacho and this quartet of marinated vegetables and seafood, including some "firm" octopus, very sharp and tangy artichokes, mellow red pepper (and garlic that actually took on the flavor of the pepper, not the other way around), and almost bland mushrooms (all for $11). I got a tangy ceviche for $9 and some very smooth meatballs (that is indeed the best way to describe them - smooth) al Jérez (in Sherry) for $6. Then we shared a crèpe filled with chocolate mousse and covered in white chocolate and Grand Marnier - which was better in theory than execution. Altogether, another $50 for the two of us, before tip.

And so that's it. After some more junk food on the plane and in Phoenix, here I am, ready to go to bed and off to work tomorrow morning, and ready to hunker down into this horribly cold weekend. Well, at least I can look forward to my next trip out there, whenever it is (I'm shooting for Christmas break - I plan these things well in advance).

Man I wish I was back in California!