Myeongdong

The day my sister and I went to have our Hanbok Photoshoot we meandered back a forth a few times between Myeongdong and Insadong.  I highly recommend Myeongdong for shopping and eating.  It's especially active at night when the street vendors come out full force and you can literally enjoy a buffet of variety without stepping foot in a restaurant.  It's been a long time since I have posted a blog but I figure better late than never.  Enjoy some photospam from our adventures in Myeongdong.

Sanchon (산촌) - Vegan dining in Seoul Part. 2

Founded and opened by Monk Jeongsan, Sanchon is a vegan-friendly restaurant that mainly serves temple foods. The dishes found here are a results of Kim Yun-sik, who was inspired by the simple, clean and healthy diet that a Buddhist practitioner taught him years ago. Now, being a top authority on vegetarian food in Korea, Kim Yun-sik helped perfect the standard and quality of temple food.  

The dishes are made with all natural ingredients such as vegetables and mountain herbs, and are cooked without chemical additives. The actual dishes served vary by season, and in order to meet the tastes of the general public, the restaurant includes "five spices" (garlic, shallots, mountain leeks, etc.), which monks are typically not allowed to eat. Those who would like their food without these ingredients are asked to make their request at least one day prior to visiting.  - VisitKorea

Dear Mc Donald's #3,

     I know better than to eat your "meals", I really do.  And I really know that my sweet tooth will be the death of me.  But why would you try to kill me so soon?  I just wanted a simple sugary snack and I chose the relatively safe ice cream cone.  I didn't even get it dipped in chocolate.  I feel like throwing up and as if my stomach is full of hot lava.  Mc Donald's why must you tempt me with your sugary snacks and then try to kill me????  Do you not want me to return and spend my dirty American dollars on what you try to pass off as ice cream?

     I have now decided never to eat ice cream from you ever again.  I will stick to the high price of Ben and Jerry's because I know that it is made out of real milk and not some vanilla flavored powder.  You can keep your nasty sugars! 

     Oh god I wish I could just barf to make this horrible feeling end.  Dear lord I want to throw up so bad.

Respectfully,
     Sick To My Stomach Susie

P.S.  Your unsweetened iced tea is starting to taste rancid too!

P.S.S.  I probably have myself to blame for not eating as often as I used to.  My tolerance has gone down and your Mc Fatty sugars destroyed me like tequila destroys many a young adult when they reach legal drinking age.  They want to vomit too.

Review: Steamers of Pismo

I am a fairly easy going restaurant patron.  I don't nit-pick everything to death but I do appreciate good food and good customer service.  I usually complain about how horrible service is at places I have eaten at.  I really should point out the good ones.  They deserve the good AND free advertising since they are good; just like Steamers.  My sister and I were looking for a place that served oysters on the half shell.  We drove roughly 30 minutes, to Steamers of Pismo, in order to appease our urge for oysters on the half shell. 

Solvang Brewing Company

Well, how was it?

The beer was good.

The food was mediocre.

The service was terrible.

After a nice day hiking with my mom and sister, we decided to drive into Solvang for a bite to eat.  Solvang Brewing Company is a place we had yet to try and decided we would give it a go.  The place was not very busy when we got there and we were urged to sit any place we liked.

When fairness fucks me.

Backstory:

When I started work at my company my contract stated an hour lunch.  After conferring with my boss and explaining that my peak productivity is during mid day (teachers and staff call me during their lunch time) we agreed it would be smart for me to have a 30 minute lunch.  I love 30 minute lunches, don't worry I will get to the reasoning after the backstory.  Skip forward several years, after we have gone through several HR directors, to present day. (I like our current director because he IS fair.)

Bad Candy

Or is it?

Once upon a time my friend and I set out to try all of the candies listed at this site:

While the site is no longer being updated, it is still in existence which is pretty fucking rad!  Needless to say my friend and I got through several of the "Bad Candy" that was listed but not all.  Sometimes while I am out and about I stumble across things that would qualify as "Bad Candy".  On a recent trip to the dollar store I found a pack of Pulparindo.  The bag contained 10 individually wrapped pieces of Pulparindo.  I am a big fan of Mexican candy; especially the sweet, spicy, salty variety.  Oh also, did you know that I love tamarind?  Well now you know!  I snatched up the bag of Pulparindo and mowed through the bag fairly quickly.  I figured I better take a picture of the last one as proof that they might be laced with crack.

12-12-12

Nabbed from Geocaching.com

 I was really hoping to get some better pictures than the boring ones I took on 11-11-11.  Alas today was a work day so I had to work with what I had.  So you get to tag along for my entire work day, hooray?  I had planned to start taking pictures as soon as I woke up but I forgot.  Sorry folks.

SpongeBob SquarePants Underoos

Once upon a time I had an iguana that I would go rock hunting for.  I would go check out the dry Santa Maria riverbed and fish out large, flat rocks for my iguana to bask on.  I was out early one Saturday morning, hunting for rocks and I had spotted the perfect rock.  It was smooth, flat and large enough for my iguana to lay on perfectly.  So I decided to abandon some of the other rocks I had piled up and opted to lug the perfect one back to my truck.  Once I got to where my truck was parked I discovered a problem with my plan.  How the hell was I supposed to hoist my rock up to where the road was?  I was too short to throw it up there and I didn't have a container for my rock.  Then a stroke of genius hit me, I could fashion a container out of my blue jeans.  Then all I have to do is hoist it over my shoulder and climb on up out of the dried up riverbed.  My plan was flawless!

Click to enlarge.

Chinatown, San Francisco

After the 10k run it was time to eat.  Not just a nibble, I mean eat!  I had my mind on dim sum the whole time I was in SF and I was ready to get to Chinatown to replace the calories I had worked off.  I deserved it right?  We ate at the Imperial Palace Restaurant, their reviews are not so great but I had eaten there several times before and never had a problem.  Thirty bucks for us to eat until we felt like we were about to pop and I even had beer!  I don't know about you but that's a damn hell of a deal!  I was obviously so hungry I failed at taking pictures of the mighty feast.  My sister was able to snap a few teaser shots.

Japantown

Before race day we decided to take mom to some shopping and food.  We visited Japantown and spent a good bit of time wandering the area, checking out the shops and finding some yummy food.

The concrete Peace Pagoda designed by Yoshiro Taniguchi was presented to San Francisco by the people of Osaka, Japan.

Eating in Little Italy

When my sister told me we were going to San Francisco, we discussed places to have dinner.  She was very keen on having some Italian food.  She is currently taking Italian at school so she wanted to try some of their food.  I am going to admit, I am not a huge pasta or pizza fan.  But that's nothing a little cheese with an extra side of cheese and wine can't fix right?  I want to apologize in advance for the lack of pictures.  I was starving, and was the only one that did any of the 4 hours of driving.  Did I mention the hike through Lombard Street was before dinner?  I know my sister was constantly killing her iPhone taking pictures but I don't have access to her phone and she hasn't posted pictures for me to steal from her.  She emailed me her iPhone photos, so I will be sure to credit the pictures she took.

Pilfered from their website.

Why is Susie lagging at blog posts? - Part 4

I couldn't wait to get on the road again... because the life I love is sleeping in my bed.  Oh I couldn't wait to be on the road again.

I woke up sicker than a dog Monday morning.  The plan was to stay one more night in Garden Grove and stay with one of Joey's family members.  But the heat from the previous day and my flu (the beer probably didn't help) had other plans.  Not to mention the A/C dried out my throat and sinuses so bad, I just wanted to die!  So we decided to meet up with Joey's dad for a quick lunch before hitting the road again. I was weary about lunch because breakfast didn't go so well.  Anyone remember Lard-ass?

Why is Susie lagging at blog posts? - Part 2

Answer:  Because she was too busy enjoying food, drinks and friends.

Knockoff Lunchables

I remember when Lunchables hit the market store shelves.  I remember how the novelty of them was alluring to me, as a child of course.  I blame the bright packaging.  And then I ate one.  BARF!  So nasty.  For you that don't know or remember, here is what a Lunchables looks like:

I dunno!

That was my answer when my husband asked, "What is it?"

Sunday afternoon I came home from my mom's house with tripas.  She had put some aside for me and since she knew I liked them she called me to get some.  So I came home and was absentmindedly popping tripas in my mouth when I asked my mister, "Hey, you want some tripas?"

"What is it?"

"I dunno just come over here and try it."

He comes into the kitchen and pops one of these in his mouth:

I guess I am lucky my husband is an adventurous eater.

Dear Mc Donalds #2,

Post-production title: Dear Susie, when will you learn?

On my  lunch break I decided to run to the optometrist to get my new glasses.  After I got my glasses I figured I would stop at my closest fast-food, filth-hole and you were the closest one.  I should have known better from previous experience that your sandwiches are terrible.  I should have ordered a soft-serve ice cream cone because you have yet to find a way to fuck that up.  But no, I was stupid again (or just maybe a little insane). I decided to try something I had not tried from your selection of over processed filth.  I wanted to try your Filet-O-Fish sandwich.

Light, flaky white fish.  Tangy tartar sauce and melty cheese.  A delicious favorite at 380 calories.

More cannibalism?!

And I thought dubstep was a bad trend!!!  Ok, ok dubstep sucks and so does cannibalism.  What the hell is going on out there?!

Last week I was shocked about consenting cannibalism.  This week it gets better.  Or worse?  Worse.

He did what with his junk?!?!?!?!

He cut it off!

He had his penis and testicles surgically REMOVED.

Who the hell does that shit?
Mao Sugiyama did it.  

And ya know what he did with his removed naughty bits?
Stop reading right here if you are easily grossed out.

He cooked his genitals and served them up for dinner for about $250 dollars a plate.

Winner, winner! Chicken dinner.

 

I made this for dinner the other night.  All of the veggies in the picture came from the Blosser Urban Garden.   I figure I should share the recipe for this even though it was a bit of a daunting task to get my dinner made.  My oven decided to blow the bottom coil!  So originally my plan was to cook this all at 450 degrees for about 35 minutes.  However I am not sure what the oven temp was but I ended up cooking the taters and chicken for about an hour and fifteen minutes.  If your oven works I don't recommend cooking for that long!!!