happy day light savings day

November already....I can't believe it. Apologies for the lack of updates lately. School has and will always be a struggle to keep on top of things, but I'm not complaining. I love every second of it here. So here's a few pictures of what's been going on lately. All pictures below were taken with my cell phone.

My sister came up a few weeks ago, and we wanted to check out a local sushi joint, but they were closed for lunch, so we went next door to Thai Recipes. It's no secret of my love for soups, so I ordered the Tom Kha Jay: a hot and sour soup filled with zucchini, mushrooms, and cauliflower with lemon grass, galangal, cilantro, chili, and lime juice. Overall, I thought it was a decent soup. I'm going to have to make this myself one of these days because it's one of my favorites.

I also went with the papaya salad. I've only had this salad once or twice before so it was interesting to see apples in this. The sauce gave it a nice pungent kick. I ordered the spiciness level at a medium, and the heat was definitely there as it slowly built up to burn away at my lips.

I've been experimenting with different salads at home. Here is an purple cabbage slaw with green onions, cilantro, and tomatoes in a gochoojang (red pepper paste) dressing.

Another time, I tried making a nicoise salad (I suppose I should have taken the picture before I mixed things up, sorry to those that lost their lunch looking at this picture) in a mustard vinaigrette.

And of course, I try and take advantage of every free lunch talk the school has. Usually, it's pizza, but occasionally, we get a treat. Here's a steak sandwich from Pluto's.

For the most part, I've been cooking at home and haven't been exploring the restaurants too much. It's a great way to relax and forget about school for the one or two hours in the kitchen.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend!

road trippin 2: berkeley, point reyes, russian river!

well rested, i continued my trek up north, stopping by bakesale betty's in berkeley for lunch. the menu is simple: fried chicken sandwich, chicken pot pie, and whatever baked goods they happen to be making. i opted for the sandwich. i'm not a big fried chicken fan, but i found this to be pretty good. the coating of the chicken was still crispy when i got it. the simple slaw comprised of cabbage, peppers, and i think parsley or cilantro, dressed in some kind of olive oil/lemon dressing. put some tapatio on that, and this was a pretty tasty and filling sandwich. also picked up a slice of banana bread, which honestly was the best i've ever had (no picture tho, ate it for dinner).i planned my trip to explore parts of cali i hadn't been before, so i kept goin up, across the richmond bridge to point reyes.did an enjoyable hike although i have to admit i was a bit scared as i had never really hiked alone before. paranoid thoughts ran rampant of being killed and my body never being found. luckily, my backpack has a built in rape whistle, which gave me confidence and quelled my fears.stayed at a hostel for the first time (never thought there were any in the us for some reason)room shot.after a rather sleepless night, i explored the area a bit more the next morning (curiously enough, it had rained the night before), then made my way up to santa rosa to visit the russian river brewery. sound familiar? they make pliny the elder.it was around lunchtime, so i ordered the meatball sandwich with a side salad. the sandwich was nothing special (meatballs tasted frozen), but i really did enjoy the vinaigrette on the salad.but really, who cares about the food? it's all about the beers here. i sampled a few of their brews, my favorite being damnation, a strong belgian style golden ale. i ended up buying a few bottles to bring home.as much as i wanted to try them all, i had to show some restraint because i still had to drive a few more hours up north to caspar. remember not to drink and drive kids!

my first chicago hot dog experience

after enjoying a few beers at bootleggers with some friends, we started to have the mad munchkin munchies. a friend suggested portillos in buena park, and off we went. the majority of these pictures are credit of the young, up and coming jomo.

inside, the place had enough visuals and bright lights to trigger an epileptic seizure.

after the posts on kirk's blog, you can only live vicariously for so long before you break down and get your butt over to whatever it is you've been reading about for the past few months...or even years. and let me say that this was delicious. Mustard, relish, onions, tomatoes, pickles and peppers on a poppy seed bun. i could taste celery salt in it too. like the restaurant itself, the dog looked like it had too much going on, but once you took a bite, wow. like the protocol when one has a fit, follow suit: clear the area and enjoy the ride. and for $2.45? winna~

i'm an onion rings lover, so of course, i had to try these as well, and these were solid....perhaps not the best, but when you got the munchies man...

friends opted for the italian beef on french bread, which looked really good too. they gave it two thumbs up. i mean look at that thing. would u want to mess with that? (the answer btw is hell yea, and say it with some gumption!)

we killed that **** mang! the place is pretty close to knotts...anyone want to go? i haven't gone in years and for some reason have been itchin to go. holla day inn! (credit goes to paestry, who's been murkin it w/ the posts lately)

yosemite sam

a few weeks ago, i went camping with a few friends to yosemite. i didn't take pictures of the food because i was too busy cooking, but i did get to try a tri tip recipe from menu in progress that was pretty doggone good. it was my first time cooking over a fire though, so it was tricky, but i did learn a few things from it. honestly though, it could have turned out like crap and still tasted good. i don't know about you, but when i'm out camping, everything tastes delicious. i remember once i had canned corn beef hash on a trip and thought it was the best thing i ever had. so when i got home, i bought it at the market and cooked it up, only to spit it out because it tasted like dog food. so there you have it.

despite the beer drinking binges and card games, we did have time to squeeze in a short hike to sentinel dome.

where you got a pretty nice view of yosemite falls

as well as the amazing half dome....something that is on my to do list the next time i come here.

made a new friend up here. damn thing had been fed by people so many times, it wasn't afraid to get close.

inspiration point. a weekend is barely enough time to just see one place because the park is huge.

we left the park through the west exit, following the merced river and noticed it was remarkably hot as it got well over 100 F that day.

decided to just stop by the first place to grab a quick lunch before the long drive back and saw this happy joint in mariposa.

the place was so packed and busy! a typical american joint with your sandwiches, burgers, and what not.

having had my fill of meat and heavy food, i was craving for something light and fresh so i got my favorite tuna sandwich on wheat and a trip to the salad bar.

verdict? it was a good sandwich although the mayo seemed a little watery. all in all though, a fun trip with some old friends.

Some revisits

Sorry, all these pictures were taken w/ my phone.

I revisited Taco Nazo in Walnut a few months back and decided to try something else besides their fish tacos.


I ordered the mix seafood cocteles, which comes with octopus and shrimp. The squid was not fresh at all, and borderline disgusting. The "soup" was a little too sweet/ketchupy for my liking. I would have liked it with more lime.


Condiments of a blended pico de gallo, radishes, hot carrots, and a lone jalapeno. They only offer two or three salsas, and I usually just stick to the pico and the bottled Tapatio.


Carne Asasa Sope covered with lettuce, pico, and cheese. I really liked the masa . Dense and not too oily. The carne was decent...nothing too impressive, but remember this is a place more known for it's fish tacos than anything else. I was also given a grilled yellow pepper that was pretty damn hot...

Taco Nazo
1267 N Grand Ave
Walnut, CA 91789

I also made another visit to Dante's Italian Deli for their happy hour.


Caprese Sandwich. Tomatoes, fresh basil, water mozzarella, onion, oil, balsamic vinegar. This costs more than the Italian at $6.55 for a small compared to $5.75. They were still doing the happy hour 1/2 deals although the sign for it is now gone. The bread was good like last time. Fresh and a little spongy. I've never had a Caprese sandwich before, but I found the cheese to be quite bland, and the balsamic vinegar overpowered everything.


Don't forget to ask for some cherry peppers on the side. I love these things.

I still have yet to try out their pizza and pasta.

958 N Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Reclaiming my Sundays

Going up Grand over the hills and far away,

you come across the Stater Bros Plaza on your right side, and in it is Manna Donuts, a 24 hour donut shop that also serves sandwiches.

Bought a dozen for $6.50 to bring into work. Why? Because today is my last day working Sundays, and I wanted to celebrate. Props to all those that work every day. I just couldn't do it anymore and needed one day off the week to recoup. Jelly, crumb, maple bar, chocolate bar, glazed twist, and two rainbow sprinkles. They are not stingy w/ the jelly and use better quality stuff that actually tastes like raspberry instead of syrup. I'm also a fan of their maple bars. Their cake donuts are delicious. None of their donuts(at least the ones I've tried) are overly oily.

I also ordered the tuna sandwich for lunch (no picture sorry) for $4 bucks. You get a choice of a sub or croissant and I chose the sub. It's definitely a fatty sandwich on a somewhat airy piece of bread(I wonder if they make their own here), and the tuna salad was plain along w/ all the standard lettuce tomato, etc. A good sandwich for what you pay, but I would have appreciated some chopped onions and celery in my salad.

Overall a pretty good donut shop that also gets +1 star for being 24 hours and serving sandwiches.



My new addiction/upper to keep me going in the mornings. It's not too sweet and has a sort of plant-y (I know that's not a word, but I can't find the right word to really describe the taste) and herby flavor mixed in w/ whatever one you get. The original is fine w/ me although here I have the passion fruit and pomegranate flavors. I try to switch it up. I find that for myself it gives me just the right amount of the caffeine kick I need to stay awake in class. How do you stay up w/o caffeine or any drug? I'm always tired and need to find healthier alternatives to stay awake.

*Just looked up the key ingredients in the Passion flavor: catuaba and damiana. These herbs have a variety of remedial claims, one of them being an aphrodisiac, hence the name "Passion."

Sundays come and go too quickly. Time to enter the rat race once again.

Dante's Italian Deli

Suck it Boston.

And now, onto our main story of the night. A while back, some friends of mine had been raving about a sandwich place that was nestled in between Oak Tree Lanes and the Emergency Pet Clinic in Diamond Bar off Diamond Bar Blvd, so I finally decided to check it out today after class.

The deli not only offers sandwiches, but a variety of other items such as pizza, salads/sides by the pound, and home made Italian food, such as spaghetti and lasagna. They also serve various coffee drinks (they advertise using "illy Brand Coffee" although I confess I know nothing about coffee brands) and gelato.

After perusing the menu and giving it some thought, I ordered a small (roughly 6 inch) "Grilled Chicken" ($6.25) and a small "The Italian" ($5.75). Argh...that last phrase is bugging me..."a small the" just doesn't sound right even though I know it's okay. But moving on from my anal grammar tendencies...

I'm not exactly sure how one is supposed to take a picture of a sandwich, but here it is.


Fresh sliced mozzarella, tomato, roasted garlic herb spread on white bread. The chicken was made to order and was still warm when I got home to eat it. It smelled delicious. The first thing I noticed was when I took a bite of the bread. It was really soft, and although it had soaked up some of the oil/grease from the chicken, it still held its form. I'm not really sure what kind of bread it was and will ask the next time I go in. The chicken was a little on the dry side. The tomatoes were fresh and gave the chicken/gooey cheese a tangy compliment.


An inside look of 1/2 of the Grilled Chicken.


"The Italian:" Italian dressing, salami, mortadella*, coppacola**, ham, provolone cheese along the standard shredded iceberg lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, red onions all thinly sliced along with some mayo and mustard. They use Boar's Head brand for their sandwich meats. For some reason, I had been craving a nice cold cut sandwich, and this definitely hit the spot. Everything was fresh, just like the chicken sandwich, and the same type of bread was used. I ate half of this and saved the other half for a late night snack, which I happily consumed not too long ago. The only complaint I had about this place was that I wished the pickles weren't sliced so thin and would have liked a spear or two on the side. I always do appreciate a good pickle.

Bonus: As I was about to pay, I noticed a sign that said Happy Hour. Curious, I read the finer details which stated that all sandwiches, pizzas, and entrees were 50% off from 2-5 PM everyday, combos not included. My final price for these two delicious sandwiches? $6.99. Winner winner.

I'd definitely check out this place again, not just for their happy hour prices, but to try out their other sandwiches and items. I'll have to see their take on my favorite: tuna sandwiches.


958 N Diamond Bar Blvd
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
dantesitaliandeli.wordpress.com

End Notes: I had no idea what mortadella or coppacola was nor had I ever tried it before until today, so I looked it up.

*To anyone who is interested, mortadella "is a large Italian sausage^[1] or cold cut (salume /sa'lume/) made of finely hashed/ground heat-cured pork sausage which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck of the pig). It is delicately flavored with spices, including whole or ground black pepper, myrtle berries, nutmeg, coriander and pistachios and/or olives." Taken from Wikipedia.
**Coppacola/Coppa/Capicola is a traditional Neapolitan Italian cold cut (salume) made from pork shoulder or neck and dry-cured whole. The name coppa is Italian for nape, while capicola comes from capo—head and collo—neck of a pig. Taken from Wikipedia.
***Lastly, for any Sopranos fans out there who, like myself, always wondered what the hell a "gabagool" was they were referring to capicola but were using a Neapolitan dialect. Again taken from Wikipedia.