I always thought I didn’t like beer, turns out I just don’t like hops. I love an oatmeal stout, imperial stout and various porters. I let the local barflies pick my beer tonight at O’Brien’s Pub, and then the bartender wouldn’t let me get it. She loves IPAs and the Ripcurrent One 20th Anniversary Quad (an IIIIPA!) was too much for her. Always trust your bartender! She suggested the Alpine Duet IPA instead and… well… I don’t hate it. I’d even get it again!
We returned to our home state about five years ago after twenty years and three states. One of the best things about being back, besides returning to family, is that we are back in the land of diverse dining options!
Central Pennsylvania and Indiana had great restaurants, (Facia Luna and Three Sisters come to mind, respectively) but when you go into a grocery store intending to make salsa, ask in produce where the cilantro is, and get a puzzled look in return… you know you are in for some bleak years. Penn State students celebrated when Taco Bell arrived in town.
Back in The Southland, it seemed that we patronized strictly the little taquerias, with an occasional In-N-Out stop. I could have eaten tacos every day… and at times we did! After about a year the kids were fed up with our limited dining-out diet and we moved on to more variety, but we really didn’t branch out too far. Japanese, mainly (yum!).
We live smack in the middle of a huge Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean and Indian neighborhood. Half of our church is Filipino, with a monthly pancit and lumpia sale- it doesn’t get any better than this!
Wednesday nights are a good fast-food night for us, and tonight we are branching out to Indian Food! Sitar, buried in a little Sorrento Valley food court, was highly recommended. Check them out here: http://www.sitarsandiego.com/menu.htm Vetted by my Indian neighbors, it should be great (no pressure on you, Raja, har).
This is what we tried, and here’s our thoughts:
Is this how Samosas are supposed to taste? Wow! Crispy, fried, savory, spicy pockets of veggies and meat. The dal was tasty, too, and we all liked the lamb vindaloo better than the chicken biryani. I think my kids enjoyed making naan jokes the best- “Dal? I’ll have naan of that, thankyouverymuch! Naan for me!”
I love helping drive the field trip carpools for my kid’s school- I love these kids! The morning trip to the courthouse and afternoon doctor appointment left me with having to change today’s plans… but as one of the teachers who trained me used to say, “Tomorrow is another day!”
Instead of my go-to favorite sandwich I tried something different today- a Tuna Salad on Whole Wheat with Jalapeños.
The jalapeños made me suspicious… I like chilis, but don’t like food that hurts! I went ahead and tried the tuna instead of my favorite ham and cheese on a croissant… Tuna Salad Needs Jalapeños!!! The blackberry iced tea was nice, too, freshly brewed and not fake fountain tea. This was a huge sandwich and I was so glad to find that one of my friends was happy to take the other half off of my hands.
http://www.pannikincoffeeandtea.com/
Pannikin Coffee and Tea has two locations- Encinitas and La Jolla, and a third if you count San Diego Int’l Airport…
In trying to stick with the goal of serving up our favorite meals in different ways, today I made the family switch from this:
and try this instead:
The family LOVES brown basmati rice, and somewhat willingly chokes down the spinach, but we always serve these same sides with our salmon. So, I decided to up the torture for my son- I made the kid eat an artichoke. He complained so little that I suspect he secretly liked it. My daughter and I not only really like artichokes, but think that they make a great excuse to get more butter into our faces, yeah!
Three out of five of us think that we need to eat artichokes more often- the spare 5th person was the boyfriend… he redeemed himself because even though he can’t stand the artichokes, at least he’s a salmon lover… so he can stay.
It is amazing how many lemons even one little potted Meyer lemon tree can crank out. There are blossoms on it continuously, providing a non-stop supply of my favorite floral scent. Heavenly!
This tree keeps me in need of recipes to use up all of the lemons, and a quick Pinterest search turned up one calling for the entire lemon- score! A great treat to bake on a rare rainy day in the Southland.
Here’s the original recipe:
http://www.aminglingoftastes.com/2008/01/meyer-lemon-muffins.html
At first, I wondered why the blogger went with photos of this batch of her muffins… they turned out so flat. Then I made her same recipe and got the same results. It has to be all of the acid from the whole lemons.
Here’s the finished muffins! They taste great, and I will be using this recipe again- I will monkey with the flour and levening ratios, and the 1 teaspoon of salt called for is too much, in my opinion, but great overall!
branching out... on a limb 