Logos

I'm experimenting with a couple logos to include as links, profile pictures, and general Internet marketing material.  Here's what I've worked up thus far:

Black shirt logo

Alternate blue Hawaiian shirt logo

Burger logo

Alternate black Hawaiian shirt logo

Black shirt regular

Alternate Hawaiian regular

And here's a quick food pic:

A scone, much like the one I ate yesterday.

Gourmet Martini Tester

Found this cool novelty item buried in my grandfather's dresser in the family storage locker.  My Grandpa Sid loved toys and quirky goofy gadgets, so we thought this was a joke but couldn't figure out exactly what the joke was.  I mean just look at it:

It actually does say Gourmet...maybe I can go into a partnership with these people

An eye dropper with three balls inside

Eye dropper with case and cap

After doing some research online, it was discovered that this is an actual item.  It's still a novelty, but what you do is put it in a martini, take a squirt, and the balls will rise or sink depending on the dryness of it.  I thought this was a game or a joke or something.  What's more interesting is that when looking this up online I found that everyone is saying this item is vintage, as in, it's from the 50s (that or it's a replica of another item from the 50s).  Other pictures of it online also have the squirter with a red ball on top (it's supposed to look like an olive) but this one's is gone. 

I gotta get a martini and try this.

"We have temporally offering Potato Chicken" Edition

Seriously, who the heck wrote this?

I apologize for making fun of your lack of grammatical knowledge...but not really

It just galls me that restaurants put these signs on display for everyone to see and they have such blatant typos.  I mean, this isn't just a single typo --- they totally butchered this.  We have temporally offering?  It's like the writer had three different sentences going through his/her head and decided to combine all three.

If this was a grammar blog I'd have a field day.  But nobody cares about that kind of stuff -- we care about food!!

From Watson's in Orange, CA:

Eggs Benedict

I love Eggs Benedict and this one was delicious.  The sauce had a hint of lemon in it which helped enhance the flavor.  Also in our party was this:

Cheeseburger and curly fries

As I said in a previous post of Watson's, they regularly offer the curly fries which is a rarity.  I don't know what it is about curled fries but they just taste so darn good.

And then there was another sandwich from the Mt. Soledad Market and Deli:

Turkey club

And here's something I saw at an Albertson's a week or so ago.  I thought it was pretty cool:

SD baseball

Thanks for reading!

Quick Gourmet

It was a busy day for Gourmet but this is going to be a quick post -

The entre came from Islands in Valencia, CA:

Malibu burger AKA a bacon cheeseburger

Also from Islands:

Strawberry margarita

And even more ridiculous nonsense from Menchie's:

All sorts of sugary goodness

Jewish Gourmet

Happy Passover to my Jewish friends.  On this great day I got to experience some great Jewish gourmet with my family.  Of course, in my infinite wisdom, I forgot to take pictures of it, so this blog gets the great honor of seeing pictures of...LEFT OVERS!!!!

Except this:

A delicious chocolate cake, no flour included

Okay - now the leftovers:

The main course - a 14 pound turkey.  I ate both drumsticks

A bottle of Mogen David wine

Manischewitz is generally the drink of choice, but this stuff you got more for less and it tasted about the same, which is really, really sweet. 

Matzo

And, of course, the Matzo.  Part of observing the holiday is to restrict your bread/yeast intake (I usually make it a few days into the 8 day span).  Last year I made a few sandwiches out of it with chicken, mustard, and hot sauce.  It was a very suitable replacement I must say.  

And just for fun, last night I went to a place in Pacific Beach called Lotsa Pasta:

A 12 inch pepperoni pizza

It's weird -- I walk by this place all the time but never really "noticed" it.  The food was great, the service was great, and in general it's a really good establishment...which is why it was so odd that there was a very large cockroach on the floor of the men's room.  I've never seen a roach that large.  It was like something you see in a movie.  It especially sucks cause you're standing there at the urinal and there's this roach crawling around your feet.  Plus I was wearing sandals! 

But other than that it's a great place and it was a great Passover dinner.  L'chaim. 

Jalapeño Holiday

It seems like I've become really resistant to hot food.  I like to put Jalapeños on my sandwiches because of the kick they give the flavor...but recently they haven't been doing it, making me think that my resistance to hot food has really gone up.  Is that good or bad?

Club sandwiches topped with Jalapeños from the Mount Soledad Market and Deli:

Also a club, but a couple weeks later

Some people really like jalapeños but a lot don't.  I don't know why I became interested in hot food -- I guess I just like the deep flavor they add to food.  Makes it feel like you're eating more than you actually are.   Also for your sweet enjoyment from Charlie's Best Bread:

Cinnamon roll that's bigger than my hand.  Incredible.

Gourmet Classics: Candy Mountain - The Complete Story

The Great Candy Mountain

This is a story I've wanted to tell in its entirety for a while.  During my two years living at State, I earned the unofficial reputation of "The Candyman" due to the large stashes of candy I would accumulate during each semester.  

The Great Candy Mountain - another view

There were four Candy Mountains in total and they all began entirely by chance.  It was the weekend after Halloween in 2007 when I was in LA visiting friends and family.  My aunt offered me six bags of candy that never got passed out and, naturally, I took it back to San Diego with me.  They were the fun size ones - 3Muskeeters, Snickers, Milky Way, Butterfinger, Crunch, etc.  Six bags of this stuff.  I always let friends have some whenever they'd ask but for some reason I liked the idea of always having a collection of candy.  Why? I have no friggin' clue.  I just did.  

So I started buying candy.  I had a pre-paid meal plan which had a daily allowance of $8.90 up to 4 PM and $10.90 from 4:30PM until whenever the eateries on campus closed, every weekday.  It also provided a "declining balance" each semester of $500.  That was money that could be used at any time (weekends, after hours, when the daily allowance ran out, etc.), at any place, for any food item.  I ate two large meals a day, had my place stocked with plenty of water and snacks, but I would always have money left over and if you didn't spend it, you'd lose it.  So I decided that any money that would be left over would be spent on candy and then stored in that box beside my bed and it would be accumulated into a nice pile and would be given to my mother for Christmas.  I am not joking.  

The first Candy Mountain.  Funny - at the time this was a lot of candy

Pretty good stash considering it was accumulated in only half a semester.  The first Mountain was such a rousing success that I decided to build another one the following semester:

Candy Mountain 2

 My friends Josh and Landon, in an effort to spend their massive remaining balances on the last day of school, bought me that entire carton of Junior Mints, the chocolate cherries, and a few other items in there. 

Oh yeah

The following school year I started over for a third go around.  This time I came prepared with a larger box and the goal of surpassing the amount of the then-epic second Mountain.  The result was a rousing success.

That's the same table from Candy Mountain 2.  This one was about double in size

Candy Mountain became a tradition.  It even became a myth as word of a "massive box of candy" spread across the floor.  The thing is -- I barely ate any of it during the semester.  I would buy an item or two with all of my meals and add it to the box but I would rarely ever eat any. 

Candy Mountain 4 in progress

In Progress

And then you got this:

The box, which was a good sized box to begin with, was packed to the brim.  There was barely any breathing room in there and some of the chocolate actually melted.  It also took several plastic bags to transport the excess candy/cookies/miscellaneous items.  

I miss those mountains very much.  Perhaps some day there will be a 5th.  

Pizza Steak

I was up in Orange this weekend celebrating my second birthday in less than a month and, naturally, I came across some delicious gourmet.  Let's dive right into it!  First up is from Zito's Pizza:

A really good, really hot pepperoni pizza

I rarely ever sit down for pizza in a restaurant.  I think the last time I did that must have been at a Sammy's several years ago.  But this pizza was amazing -- so amazing that I didn't bother to let it cool and wound up letting it burn the skin off the upper inside part of my mouth.  It still feels weird today but was totally worth it.

And I couldn't get over the name.  I've never heard "Zito" other than the Giants pitcher Barry Zito.  If only his pitching was as good as this pizza then maybe he wouldn't suck so bad.  Though he did contribute to the World Series champs by not pitching at all, so that's something.

For breakfast the next day I went to Spiro's where they were having a special that was too good for me to pass up: $8.99 sirloin steak and eggs:

Sirloin steak, hash browns, and eggs

Now I've been to Spiro's a few times and it's a solid establishment but on this particular day something odd was afoot.  I was with my sister and we could tell right off the bat that our waitress was not having the best of days.  She brought over my main dish here, said she'd bring out the toast and my sister's bagel (as well as my water which I was dying for)...then ran out of the restaurant in tears.  As a result her whole section came to a standstill and never really recovered until her diners were gone.  The busboy came off the bench and helped out but I've never seen a restaurant just stall like that.

Not that I'm complaining -- we all have those days and who knows what was going on in her life.  Plus I've been there a bunch of times so I knew this was an aberration.  

I finished the plate but didn't get my toast until the end (as well as the bagel).  What really sucked though was she never got me my water and I didn't get that until all that salt was in my stomach.  I was sucking the juice out of that orange slice there to compensate for my lack of beverage ahaha.

And oh yeah, some candy, of course:

Pretty much the perfect candy

Broken computers make me sad, but good food makes me happy.