san diego and my new hiking buddy

i decided to visit friends in san diego last weekend. it really was a spur of the moment trip (as in planned in less than a week), which i really should do more often. anyway, i went on a hike with my friends in carmel valley. the hike was a bit weird in that the trail started behind this apartment complex:

the trail head goes up this ramp:

the initial part of the hike was fairly steep. the ascent came in about three stages. the entire elevation increase lasts for maybe a quarter of a mile. no biggie.

once you reach the top, it's all flat. like hiking on a mesa.

here's franklin, one of my hiking buddies. ain't he adorable?

on top of the mesa is what they call a vernal pool...

where you can see tadpoles.

here are some views of the urban sprawl.

the recent rain left weird black sand (or maybe it's something else?) on the trail.

this sign cracked me up. it just identified a civil code. that was it.

...and i killed another shoe.

this was the post-hike meal at nico's in carmel valley. i wish i could say great things about it. but i can't. i am a sweet lover but this taco was drenched in some sweet cream sauce. even the horchata was too sweet. after i diluted it in more water, it was still too sweet.

luckily, dinner at an izakaya place in kearny mesa, called oton, more than made up for the not-so-good lunch. this was fabulous. i highly recommend making reservations because this place is tiny.

we started off with tuna belly, which portion was generous for $14.

next, we had monkfish liver. it was prepared cold with a bit of vinegar, which was fine. although i prefer mine served warm.

this black cod was fresh, had natural sweetness and delicate.

the final meal was a hot pot cooked in front of us. it was a miso based soup with chicken, shrimp, finely sliced pork belly, pork dumplings and mushrooms.

i think the pot is ready.

the finished product.

dinner at oton was more than satisfactory. the ambience was nice. we were in a small private room (all of the booths were private) with a curtain to shield us from other prying diners. we happened to be sat in the elevated booths where one had to take off one's shoes and go up the private booth. they then arranged our shoes so that we didn't have to turn around to put them on after we descended the short stairs. the service was also top notch. very polite, very prompt with refilling our water and tea. and very talented in walking backwards without falling off the stairs.

the next day, i headed home. but not before breakfast. introducing, the bacon cheddar pancake.

my friend j really adores this. i found it more of a novelty more than anything. the bacon, because it was cooked in the batter, wasn't crisp as i like them to be. glad i tried it but i was not enamored by it.

but before i leave san diego, here's another picture of my buddy franklin.

with a hiking buddy like franklin, i'll probably go back to san diego and go on more hikes.

sandstone peak: the first hike of 2010

it has been a while since i last posted primarily because of life. that being said, i haven't stopped hiking or traveling or caring about ucla (despite ucla's recent issues in BOTH football and basketball -- ugh!).

life has been manageable again so here goes....

this past week saw torrential downpour in southern california. while the rain is usually a welcome respite for drought plagued california, i hate it when it rains. there are many reasons to cite - from drivers who insist on driving fast so they can splash pedestrians and/or fellow motorists to looking like a wet dog.

however, i do like the day after. especially for angelenos, the day after means the smog has been washed away, albeit temporarily. it also means great views of the freshly snow-capped mountains. perfect time to hike.

this time, we chose sandstone peak near the border of los angeles and ventura counties off pacific coast highway.

to get there, from the pacific coast highway, turn onto yerba buena road (right next to neptune's restaurant) and follow it for a few miles. once you pass circle x ranch, go about maybe .2 miles more. you will then see this sign:

turn onto the dirt road, which will lead to a parking lot. the trailhead starts here:

when we got there, the trail was, remarkably, not as muddy as one would expect after a week-long continuous pounding rain.

at some point, the trail split. we chose to just go straight to sandstone peak.

the snow capped mountains in the distance were stunning.

the lushness was also remarkable. who knew urban sprawl was just around the corner?

finally, we were almost to the top. while 3111 feet may not be that high, put in perspective, the tallest peak in the entire united kingdom is only about 4000 something feet.

finally, at the top of mt. allen (aka sandstone peak). sure enough, the views were stunning and the air so crisp and clean.

the compass in the picture below was on top of the mt. allen sign i was hanging on to in the picture above. the compass points to the "true north," which i found interesting because, if i didn't know better, it looked like it was pointing northeast.

after a leisurely two hour hike (3 miles roundtrip), we were famished and below was my salmon and egg scramble at the 17th street cafe.

the weather man reports that los angeles is bracing for more rain during the week. perhaps it will be a good hiking weekend next week too. bring it on, rain.

street food in a pricey resto

susan feniger's street resto has received a lot of buzz from the critics. i was intrigued because everyone was raving about it so i just had to try it myself. the idea was that the resto served "street food" from around the world.

first off, the valet (which you pretty much had to do because of the permit street parking around that area). it was strange yet fabulous that all the valet parkers were women. they made it a point to say that they do not discriminate. although they later said, if men applied, they send them off to another agency. uh-huh. but my main beef was that it cost $8.50(!!!!) to valet. what a ripoff.

next up was the decor. it was pretty cool. minimal but had character.




lots of drawings on the wall (as in graffiti-like) that would, presumably, reflect what streets looked like.





they also had this nifty fireplace thing (in addition to the heat lamps). and in case it got chilly, they offered blankets/wraps for patrons.



ok, on to the food. we decided to go for the "globe trot" route -- it was basically chef's choice for $35 per person. they started us off with the below bread and butter substitute. it was basically like rice balls with some anise and fennel and cumin. i personally did not like it. i didn't think that the flavors worked well. the rice balls were on the soft side too and not on the crunchy side. the texture was more like rice krispies completely drowned in marshmallows, i.e., no crispness.



next up was the new jerusalem bread salad made of cucumbers, feta, greens, croutons made of olive bread and topped with a hard boiled egg. this was an explosion of flavor that was refreshing. although, if i had a criticism, it would be that it was a bit too overdressed.



next up was this mung bean pancake made of mung beans, kimchi, scallions and pork belly. the mung bean pancake was crunchy, which i enjoyed. the pork belly was so subtle in flavor that it was completely overpowered by the kimchi. maybe a little less kimchi? otherwise, it would have been great.



next was the spicy peanut noodles with vegetables and tofu. this was my favorite. it was like a spicy pad thai with a sauce that was thicker in consistency. i thought the ingredients worked well together.



at this time, we were really full. but, we ate on. the below was the egyptian style baked fish with greens that i thought were too bitter and some macaroni and lentils mixture. i liked the fish, which was juicy and fresh but the sides, not so much.



finally, they served us with corn and pork belly. i did enjoy this dish. too bad, i was really really full to even truly appreciate it.



the food was good but i would not say it was exceptional. there were some hits and misses. one thing i know though, in my travels, no street food has been this expensive.

ucla football: not a pretty sight

it is really quite telling when the highlight of the ucla scrimmage is the tailgate.

ucla's offense can be summed up in one word: suckage.

yeah, offense scored a couple of touchdowns. but the qb's would've been sacked -- multiple times -- before then but for the fact that there was a self-imposed rule of no hitting the qb's.

and oh, i was just informed that the touchdowns were against the second or third team defense.

great.

on the positive side, i love this guy:


"who does the taliban not want you to be? BRUINS!"


and another positive, i love the new grill for the tailgates. woohoo!

long beach grand prix

i recently visited long beach during the long beach grand prix and had a primo spot watching this car racing thing. as i have previously mentioned, i really have no clue as to what was going on. and seeing it hasn't really changed that.

apparently, these drivers (who were both from irl and champ or lemans - whatever that meant) had to go around this track (or, as i say, in circles) 85 times or in 2 hours. strange sport.

franchitti (a.k.a. ashley judd's husband) -- the second red car in the video below -- won and danica patrick came in fourth. the video below was the last lap with a bonus view of a crash at 00:35.




so i thought the race was ok. but i really came for the food that included: lumpia, pansit palabok, chicken dijon pressed sandwhich and an assortment of goodies like pork crackling, nuts, chips, chocolates, and, oh yeah, some fruits and salads.

oakland: le cheval

so i was in oakland the other other day and took the opportunity to hang out with some of my friends. g decided that since we were car-less, we had to go somewhere close to a bart station. so we were off to le cheval -- supposedly vietnamese food.



we had the snow pea shoots, which was fresh, crisp and good.



the singapore noodles with chicken and veggies was supposed to be spicy. it was not. it tasted like it was drenched in curry powder though.



the lemongrass pork chop was pretty tasty. it had a nice char taste and had some bit of sweetness. i enjoyed it very much.



i think le cheval was fine. we did end up paying about $30 a pop with a bottle of wine and 2 beers. i think it's a bit pricey for what it was. there were definitely hits and misses. but for options around the 12th street bart, it was just fine.

long beach grand prix: qualifiers

i'm not into cars. or racing. or car racing. but, i had access to a condo with a view of the racetrack -- and particularly, of one of the turns. so, off i went to the LBC. it wasn't officially the grand prix yet but there were some drifting (i don't even know what that means) qualifiers this past saturday.

as much as i know nothing (zip, zilch, nada) about car racing, this i knew. the first video was not a good race while the second video was better.






ok, so i really wasn't in the LBC for the grand prix. i was really in the LBC to hang out with a family i met back in the czech republic in november 2006 who were in town for a visit. while those cars roared loudly below us, i had a great time reminiscing about the CR by chatting and reconnecting with them, and enjoying the company of their daughter, who is now a ripe old age of 5 and a half. wow. time flies.

either that, or, i'm just old. bah. those cars were loud. they needed to turn down that ruckus!

joking aside, the CR was a fantastic place to visit. if you don't believe me, just watch:
1. the illusionist - the backdrop for showing the main characters when they were young, was filmed in cesky krumlov. the backdrop for the rest of the movie was prague (doubling as vienna).
2. casino royale - the casino was the grand pupp in karlovy vary and some outdoor scenes also showed karlovy vary.

if the location does not convince you, then tasting fresh beer at the pilsner urquell brewery in plzen or budweiser brewery (the original, please) in ceske budejovice just might. sure beats cringing every time those cars loudly made a turn below us.