LaughAloud

Avocados & Olives

Two things I used to like not at all, but that I am growing to love.  While I'm sure it has a lot of do with changing tastes, I really have my CSA veggie box (& martini's to thank.)

Avocados

When I was growing up we lived on about an acre that was adjacent to an avocado grove & had 8 or 9 avocado trees on it.  My Mom loved the avocados & probably my Dad & some of my brothers did as well (I particularly remember her making guacamole) but personally I thought they were really only good for having rotten avocado fights.

I started sparingly eating guacamole even before we left Chicago, but it wasn't until about a year or so ago when we started getting our CSA vegetable box that I really started eating them.  Suddenly, they started showing up every week, and well, I HAD to do something with them.  Surprisingly, avocados are SO delicious chopped up and sauteed with other veggies.  they are basically soft buttery green things that take on the garlic & whatever other flavors you're sauteing.  They add flavor & texture & it's even getting to the point where I will eat bites of them plain & raw as I chop them up for dinner.

Olives

I have never really liked olives.  Even a year ago, I would order my martinis with olives for the slight saltiness they leave at the bottom of the glass, but I would never eat them.  In my Greek salads I would push those black olives aside or give them away. Then, one day around in March (it was when Kristen was just about to arrive in town) I went to pick up my CSA box, and I am asked "do you want black olives or green olives?"  I didn't know what to say, so I said "black."

I wasn't expecting to like them, but I decided to try them in a martini at least for their saltiness.  And to my surprise, when I ate them (soaked in vodka at the bottom of my glass) they were so yummy.  Slowly, I got used to and began to really like the black ones, though the green ones I wasn't sure about.  I tried them a time or two, but then this weekend I think I ate about 10 of them and wow, they were the perfect salty treat to balance out my martinis.  I have yet to venture eating a green olive NOT soaked in vodka, but I am slowly working my way to loving them, too. (And just for the record, I just got back from ALA, I don't normally buy 5 or more martini's in a single weekend, but something about librarians at a conference! ;)

Have a Beer (or Two, or Three...)

A few months back beer advocate came out with their "top 50 places to have a beer" in the US.  My favorite place for beer in Chicago is the Hopleaf, which came in at #21, but a bar in San Diego, O'Brien's Pub, came in #6.   My friend Smith, who also loves the Hopleaf, was in town this weekend for an interview, and we decided we should go out with a few other San Diego beer lovers and test out this place for ourselves. Here's what I thought:

Atmosphere: less crowded, but strange decor...all the chairs were like big, fluffy, wheeled computer chairs...weird.  Outdoor seating was a plus though, and the chairs were more normal.

Food: decent pub food, cheaper than the Hopleaf, but nothing special. (I miss my Hopleaf mussels!) Plus the kitchen closes at 8:30pm on Saturday night instead of 12am like the Hopleaf.

Beer: now to the important stuff!  The beer was definitely good...they had a nice selection on tap including some good local beers, and they had quite a large selection of bottled beers.  In both categories the Hopleaf has more selection, but O'Brien's was definitely less expensive. Our first round (3 beers) was only $10!

So if both these places were in the same city, where would I go? Hopleaf would be my first choice, but when its easy to spend $100 (or more!) on dinner and beer, O'Brien's would be a great place to go while my wallet recovers. :)

Chicory & Coffee

Just a thought about chicory.  Lots of places in New Orleans sell coffee with chicory in it.  I liked it, and brought some home with me.  This morning I looked up chicory to find out exactly what it is.  Its a plant, whose roasted root has a similar, but richer flavor than coffee.  It is caffeine free, and was often used in times when coffee was scarce, either as a substitute, or to stretch out coffee supplies and make them last longer.  Several sites also mentioned that chicory root is supposed to be good for your liver.  No wonder it is popular in New Orleans.

Resturant Rundown

So this past weekend/week Chip's sister Alicia, and her husband Ryan came to visit us and get a San Diego tour.  While we did lots of fun stuff (zoo, golf, Coronado Island, downtown & Hillcrest explorations) the highlight was definitely the food.  Of course, Chip and I weren't REALLY on vacation, but Alicia & Ryan were, which meant we all got to EAT like we were on vacation!  Which is really the fun part right?

Friday:

City Delicatessen for brunch.  The first time Chip and I went here, we expected a deli. It's really not. But if you go in expecting a diner, its excellent.  Not to mention open till 2am! Rebecca eats: Bagel with Lox and cream cheese, plus a few pickles from the pickle jar (there's one on every table!)

Blarney Stone Pub for dinner. Ryan demanded corned beef & cabbage for St Patrick's, and after much adventure we ended up here. It was very yummy, but so packed we had to find a non-Irish bar to hang out in peace the rest of the evening. We ended up at the Hard Rock cafe, because it was probably the only bar downtown that wasn't Irish, but had Guinness. A requirement, because Ryan and I had to do our Car Bombs. In the Irish spirit, you know.

Saturday:

Mona Lisa Italian Delicatessen for lunch. Now THIS was a deli! It was an Italian market with a huge deli counter, and also a full restaurant in the back. Rebecca Eats: #11 -  thick slices of fresh mozzarella with basil tomato, and a vinaigrette dressing, on you guessed it, delicious Italian bread.

India Princess for dinner. This is one of our favorite restaurants in San Diego, and  its only a short walk from our house!  It opened just after we moved here,  and its one of our favorite places to take guests.  Rebecca eats:  a little bit of everything!  The India Princess is family style when we go there!

The Wit's End for post dinner drinks and games. I've already mentioned the Wit's End on this blog, so you all know its great! We all played Uno (so fun!) and Ryan and I both chose carefully from among their vast beer selection.

Sunday:

Hillcrest Farmer's Market for brunch. A great way to kick start the day! Rebecca eats: Chicken and green chile tamale & a Greek cheese pie.

Coronado Boathouse for dinner.  We sought out seafood, and we found some good stuff! Not very good on the vegetarian end (no real options) but good (although a little pricey) for seafood lover's.  The setting was pretty though, a stilt house, right on the water. Rebecca eats: fresh prawns stuffed with crab wrapped in bacon.  Everything is better wrapped in bacon.  Ever notice that?

Tuesday:

Jimmy Carter's Mexican Cafe for dinner. What a funny name! Apparently there is a San Diego restaurateur named Jimmy Carter. No relation. Another restaurant within walking distance. We picked a good neighborhood. Rebecca eats: Calamari strip in lemon and garlic oil, with rice beans and flour tortilla for wrapping. Yum, yum. 

OK, enough food for now.  Maybe later, there will be pictures of our super fun weekend.

A Mini Hopleaf

Last night Chip and I went to the Wit's End with some people from work who live in our neighborhood.  The Wit's End is a nice little restaurant/pub/coffeehouse that is only a couple blocks away from our house.  Why haven't we been there before?  That's a great question!  After seeing their beer menu, I couldn't believe it took us 4 months to make it there!  While not as extensive as the Hopleaf's menu, they do have a about 6 beers on tap, and over 100 bottled beer from around the world.  Including my favorite: The Duchesse de Bourgogne.  Their menu lacks the nice descriptive blurbs the Hopleaf menu has (very helpful when choosing a new beer), but there is still plenty of beer to try and enjoy!  Chip decided to dub it a mini Hopleaf: a place where I could get a fancy beer fix & some good food, even though there are no steamed mussels for two.