Scully

Dog photo of the day:

Our pup, Scully, at the dog park.

Website link of the day:

Farmgirl Fare - I really like the farm photos especially the ones that show the season changes (same view, different seasons.) I always wanted to do that when I lived in the midwest.

All dogs, all the time.

Taking a cue from Rob, this blog will now feature a dog a day. Nothing else. Just dogs. I may toss out link or two.


I read this NY waiter rant blog often: WaiterRant.net

Chuao

Finally got to try a full box.

This ain't See's, baby! Strawberry caramel with balsamic vinegar! Fresh passion fruit caramel! And this classic: Raisin fondue and cabernet caramel spiced with cayenne pepper! Locally made, all fresh and hand made with nothing artifical! I've read they have a curry flavor.

We ate half the box before dinner, and the rest after. $25 for what you see there. Smaller box is $16 (for 9 pieces) up to upper 30's for 25 pieces. I'm not sure if prices were increased or not for Valentine's (I don't believe so, but since the value of roses seem to skyrocked in mid-Feb. it's always possible.)

Yet, I'm pretty happy with Hershey's Special Dark or Mr. Goodbar. Go figure.

http://www.chuaochocolatier.com/

Uh, Happy Valentines Day!

Anybody have great restaurant plans?

Brr...WINTER!
Usually the winter months in San Diego offer up some perfect weekends when the Santa Anas blow on in, and this weekend was a great one to be a dog on the beach:


This blog…
Somehow I discovered a website that shows what sites link to a blog, so I checked it out and discovered a few of the normal local culprits and one that found me because she bought that same stinky cheese a few months ago and found my blog. About that cheese, she writes: "This was foul. This was taking the envelope, stomping on it with muddy boots, then shredding it, and finally lighting the resulting scraps on fire. This was just plain wrong, and it had to be destroyed." It was pretty foul.

Otherwise, I don’t really know that Bloggy Blogger Blogspot has much in the way of tracking in the free version. Or maybe it does. Who knows? I must find a way to discover if I have 10 unique hits a week or 12!

Macy’s School of Cooking
I’ve written about the Macy’s School of Cooking at the Macy’s Home store in Mission Valley before. We found ourselves there at the last minute on Feb. 4th the Chocolate and Champagne Valentine's Celebration with Bernard Guillas (of The Marine Room). The 110 person capacity room was ¾ full – the biggest turnout I’ve seen.

Macy’s usually has a Saturday class and a Thursday class. Depending on what is involved it ranges from $10 to $25, sometimes a bit more. Sometimes it is an area chef doing his own class and sometimes Chef Bernard is there with a guest chef from an area restaurant (in these cases Chef Bernard is “demoted” to assistant) but this was a rare week that Chef Bernard took center stage and did all the cooking. He really knows his stuff and provided 2 hours of entertaining cooking. If you get a chance sometime, I highly recommend.

I’ve been meaning to write a little more about the items presented, and I may get around to that, but there is little time for that now since “Chocolatier” Michael of Chuao was also on hand with chocolate samples for all…side by side tastes of Venezuelan cacao, in various percentages and also chocolate from other regions.

…which leads us to a delicious mystery Valentines Day gift…

....what could it be now?

To be continued! Da da daaa!

Are you getting FRESH with me?

Usually when people read this blog their first thought is noticing the horrid grammar, not to mention run-on sentences that have awful sentence structure in the very least and poor placement of, punctuation along with garing misspellings.

But that is okay.

I like it like that.

Since I’m not the greatest at describing the food, I do wish I could take more pictures of out restaurant outings, but sometimes it just isn’t possible without standing out. (Why is that guy taking a picture of his food?) I commend those that do post great food pics on their blogs.

Just to follow up on some past postings, we never made it to any of the Cohn Restaurant $20.06 meal deals (I saw a couple of reviews at the San Diego Eats page), but did make it to Fresh for their deal.

And so, the following account:

Fresh
We’ve been to Fresh in La Jolla before for their half priced food happy hour, afternoons daily from 4 to 6 pm, and enjoyed it, though I think the small plates menu seems to be most geared for individual servings (with some exceptions) compared to sister restaurant Roppongi which seems to be more easily shared with the table. (Oh, that is one of those run-on sentences I warned you about!)

But the food was pretty good and the space quite comfortable so when I read that they were running a (read this with a loud echoing voice) one-day blow out everything must go 50% off all food sale I said I am going! That’s all that is to it. I’m going!

What was the deal? Going out of business? Fridge broke down and food going rancid? La Jolla about to fall into the Pacific? Nah. It was a one night 3rd anniversary of the restaurant opening. All on a Monday night in late January.

What did we have?
We started with Crisp Calamari with a couple of dipping sauces (spicy remoulade and marinara). The deep fried calamari is one of those exceptions to the starter (or small plates) menu – here the portion is huge - and fried with a light batter. It’s more than enough for one person, and best shared with a couple. (Plus it comes on a large plate). I also had the Tuna Tartare, which was tasty, spiced with slices of jalapeno peppers.

For the main, my wife had the Coriander Crusted Mahi Mahi with shrimp risotto and port reduction and I had the Sesame Crusted Ahi with baby bok choy and soy ginger natural. Portions are moderate – the ahi was a smaller portion than I recently had at Island Prime. But both were tasty and absolutely no complaints.

Desserts were Kahlua White Chocolate Cheese Cake and a serving of Blackberry Sorbet (two small scoops served up in a martini glass). Wha? No chocolate for us chocolate lovers?

Thumbs up, overall. Service was fine. The place was busy, but not packed. Food came to all of $45 total for 2 of us for 3 courses. It was a nice chance to try the place – of course, we added on some wine (they have several options for wine tasting sampler flights) and a better than normal tip for the end price since it was discounted.

On a grade level, I’d give it a B+. Verdict from my wife: Not quite worth normal prices (mid 20’s for entrees at regular prices). The menu seemed a little shorter than what is posted online - at least 5 to 7 of the small plates were not on the menu this night.

Cooking at home
I’ve been slightly inspired to make a few items after seeing Chef Bernard Guillas (of The Marine Room) in a Macy’s School of Cooking class this weekend. More on the recipes and my meager attempts to make them later this week!