A couple of photos of Monterey, CA

Last weekend, Leo and I went to Monterey to check out the town. The weather was gorgeous. Fresh air. Nice views. It was simple and sweet. Too bad for us everyone and their moms decided to go the same day.


Leo and I ate at The Whole Enchilada off Hwy 1 in Moss Landing.


I know. I take a lot of photos of our food. But this was a really good seafood enchilada Leo ordered.


My dish, the chamachon es muy excellente.


Leo's dessert. Chocolate mousse.


My dessert. Creme brule.


If you've read the Steinbeck novel "Cannery Row" this is the famous place. Lots of tourist.









Monterey is beautiful. But I'm really looking forward to Maui this weekend. :)

Blew a fuse

Last Monday, Leo and I went to lunch and had a wonderful vegetarian meal at a Thai restaurant close by the data center where he was working. He's been really supportive about this whole vegetarian thing that I have to repeatedly tell him that he doesn't have to eat vegetarian just for me. He's always like, "It's okay, I want to do this." When really he probably hates it. And I hate it when he says things like that. Makes me want to slap him in the face with a t-bone steak. I sometimes think he does it just to impress me. Like he wants me to return the favor with a humongous blow job.

Anyhow, after our meal, we make our way to the data center. He gives me the grand tour and then enlightens me about the stuff he does when he's not playing online games. The stuff that normal people like myself call a job. I'm just bitter because I don't work from home like he does. On our drive back to my office, I was thankful that he didn't quiz me about what I learned from my experience at a Google/YouTube data center after his whole spiel. Cus dude, if he did, my only response would be FLUX CAPACITOR!

Last Hurrah

Photos of my last meaty meal, beef kra pow. A Thai dish. Good bye, meat! See you in August.

Speak of the devil

So I returned to the restaurant for the second time and the owner recognized me right away. He came up to my table and handed me this letter he received in the mail from the wonderful people of Yelp.

He thanked me for the kind and honest words which was honestly the most adorable thing ever. And it was because the very first time I tried this place out, I instantly fell in love. So I told him I would write a really good review about it and viola! Instant loving from Yelp.

If you are ever in the neighborhood, please stop by at this wonderful slice of heaven in your mouth restaurant. And tell them Mary Anne, a Yelper, sent you.

I love Yelp

I love the Bay Area for the variety of good food. My hometown, San Diego, is filled with chain restaurants. Not very mom and pop. The Bay is seriously food heaven. I am love. In fact, I rated this place I ate at called Gulzaar Halaal Restaurant & Bakery very high. I would give it six stars if I could, but they only allow five. We've done a lot of eating lately. But who could really blame us if we happen to be smack dab in the middle of food central? I mean really.





Read more of my reviews @ maryanneizbicki.yelp.com.

I don't know if this post is about my weekend or food

So we're back in the San Diego area at my parent's house. I just ate a shit load of home cooked food and now I'm ready for my 4th nap. Today, Leo and I will be visiting our old co-workers and have lunch at an Indian buffet. Great... more food. Then afterwards around 5pm, we have to head over to my sister's high school graduation.

Tomorrow, we will be at the San Diego County Fair eating fried food. Then we will be heading over to my relatives house to celebrate my sis and cousins graduation. And yes... there will be plenty of Filipino food and karaoke. Because nothing says "congratulations grad" better than someone singing a Diana Ross song. And there will be Filipino's trying to dance to a dance they learned on the Filipino channel. There will be lots of kissing and hugging and someone telling me that I'm either getting fat or not eating enough. And then I will be reminded of why I don't live here.

Sunday is Father's Day so I will be spending lots of time with my food Dad. And then afterwards, spending time with my father in-law who will be flying in from Alaska. Leo is planning to barbeque and I will be planning to eat the barbeque.

Monday night, all our friends will be meeting us at El Torito in Mira Mesa for our last supper. We will be flying out the same night.

Tuesday, we will plan out a detox diet to rid the nasty food from our system.

Oh what a great long weekend this will be.

Breakfast

Apples.
Bananas.
Kiwis.
Mangoes.
Pineapple.

Goog Food

The other day, Leo and I went to his work and ate at one of Google's many cafes. Each cafe has a genre. Depends on what you're feeling at the moment. We were feeling American since we almost never do. Best part about my meal was the FREE part. I'm almost convinced that I was Jewish in my past life. And these gas prices aren't helping either.

Sex & the City

Last Friday, Jane and I had a girls night out with a few other friends. We watched Sex & the City at Cinearts Theater on Santana Row. The movie was good, not great. It was like watching an extended episode of SATC. The story was a bit predictable (happy ending) and a lot of nudity scenes. Not really complaining about that one, but it was more nudity than I'm use to when going to the theater. And OMG, I SAW PENIS! The theater was full of women with their girlfriends or even daughters. There were two women in the crowd that brought their husbands along. I really felt bad for them. 1) During the movie, the male actors would give their high maintenance girlfriends something extravagent, like a 60k ring or a penthouse in Manhattan for them to live in. This is so unreal, but I'm pretty sure it really made the guys in the crowd feel like shit or somewhat inadequate. 2) Some parts were really girly and boring. You'd be lucky if you fell asleep. It's a good movie to watch with a bunch of your girls after you had a cosmo or two. Honestly, I would recommend watching it on DVD, on your couch, in your sweats, with a blanket and a bag of Milano cookies, while you are PMSing. Yeah, it's one of those.

Afterwards, we ate at Pasta Pomodoro across the way. I ordered the Gemelli. It's always the safe bet when you're feeling unadventurous. Great chain though.

The trailer. Watch it before seeing it:

Cafe Rosalena

I gave this place great ratings on Yelp for their excellent chicken caesar salad. Again, Jane was the one who introduced to me to this place. It's located on the Alameda in San Jose.

People come here just for this signature salad. They make their own dressing which makes it all the better. And the quality of the chicken and the veggie is superb. I'm not exaggerating. This place has really damn good salad.

They're also known for their breakfast burritos. People swear it's the best. But we'll have to see about that when I come back. I'm a huge critic when it comes to great Mexican food. I'm from San Diego, so no NorCali son-of-a-bitch is going to tell me what's good Mexican food. Damn straight.

So if you guys are in the area, check Cafe Rosalena out. I heard she's pretty.

Click here to check out my other recommendations on Yelp.

Foodie

Since the restaurants in the Bay Area are all new to me, I've decided to give this website a new spin on what to post, like my own personal Yelp. However, I still contribute my opinions on Yelp. So if you guys are ever in the area and can't decide what to eat, check out my recommendations (maryannerodis.yelp.com). I don't have much yet, but I'm sure as I discover more restaurants in the area, I'll have more to contribute. Plus, my pal Jane is always nice enough to have me tag along with her on her lunch breaks. She's been a local forever so I can trust her to guide me to good food.

One of the biggest differences between San Diego and the Bay is that there are a lot more choices when it comes to food. A lot more mom and pop owned restaurants and hole in the wall joints that you don't see very often in San Diego. As Jane and I were driving to Japan Town today, I probably saw 15 new restaurants that I want to try out. And that is just one part of San Jose. I've worked here for several months now and I've never even seen those 2 blocks of restaurants before. Am I really sheltered? All I really knew from my old job in San Diego (or Del Mar) was Subway, McDonalds, and Starbucks. Holy crap. Good food, where have you been all my life?!

Bijan Bakery

One of my favorite desserts ever. Yellow mini cakes sold at Bijan Bakery.

If you're in the neighborhood, you gotta leave these at my doorstep try these.

My co-worker was the one who introduced me to this bakery. I kiss her feet everyday.

Leo and I bought two boxes worth of desserts. Muy delicioso!

Good Karma Vegan House

This afternoon, I went with Lily and James to a vegan restaurant in downtown San Jose called Good Karma Vegan House. It was actually my first time eating at a vegan restaurant. And since we're all in the weight loss contest at work, this was the place to go. The restaurant was quaint and hip like most mom and pop restaurants in downtown. Surprisingly, they had a variety to choose from. To substitute the meat, they would use tofu on most of their entrees. I had the tofu potato curry and spicy basil tofu with brown rice. It was pretty damn good! The owner was a hippy who was uber nice- made us feel at home. Definitely will be back.

How To Cook Chicken Adobo (A Popular Filipino Dish)

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And yes, Filipino's sing while they cook.

A gluttony for pain

I don't know what is it with wasabi that I really like. It has the worst after taste and feel out of all things edible. I'm particularly liking these at the moment. Saw these at the grocery store and just had to have them. I seriously have to close my eyes and wrinkle my nose everytime I pop a wasabi pea in my mouth.




Good shit.
I have this weird love for foods that kick my ass. Like Indian, Pakistani, Thai, and Mexican. I just love spices that give me an absolute beating. Being Asian/Spainish, I have a natural tolerance for it.

On another note, I recently discovered my love for cooking now that I am home more than I like. I stepped out of my comfort zone (the dining room), grabbed a knife, and came *this* close to fire.

My mom is totally going to flip her panties.

My bagel obsession

Chile cheese bagel with garden veggie cream cheese from Einstein Bros. Yum-O. This bagel combination kind of grew on me. And it's because our favorite bagel shop, Bruegger's Bagels, is nowhere near my work, I had to settle for this. Which is not bad at all. As matter of fact, I'm kind of torn between the two. You see, Bruegger's has the best jalapeno cheese bagels. They're always so fresh; right out of the oven when most bagel shops aren't. Einstein Bros., however, don't have jalapeno cheese bagels. They're chile nacho bagels. A yummy substitute. They're equally great! It's just a matter of convenience.

Oh yes, and they have darn good coffee too.