Guess Where I'm Wandering 3?

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After four visits to this country, I finally got to see this area.

The day after I got into town, my cousin suggested that we leave that very evening since the weather today isn't supposed to be as bad as it's forecast for the next few weeks. I saw tons of waterfalls and cute towns, and about 10 minutes before the boat was about to dock, rain gushed down. Just in time!

Guess where I am now?

P.S. I should also point out that I'm now in a different country than 1 and 2.

*****
1 year ago today, How to Make a Homemade 3-tiered Cupcake Stand.
2 years ago today,
3 years ago today, Dragon Fruit Bud.
4 years ago today, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens (Chinese Garden) (Spring) - San Marino.
5 years ago today, Korean fried chicken at Kyochon Chicken - Los Angeles (Koreatown).

Guess Where I'm Wandering 4?

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Am I making these too hard? This one should be very easy? A major international award is presented each year at the city hall building here.



Today, my cousin and I went to a festival on the waterfront in front of city hall. Panjabi MC was performing on stage when we arrived so it was packed! I ate Pakistani Lahore fish (lovely spices) and chicken tikka and a chickpea kebab wrapped inside naan, finished off with a mango lassi.

The city hall seems like a pretty obvious clue to me? And if you've been reading for a while, you know I have family in Europe in this country, which has a large ethnic Pakistani population. And a good-sized Vietnamese population too, obviously.

Since it's my fourth visit here, it'll give me a chance to catch up on the blog. I'll probably still do these updates though after I hit up some of the tourist spots that I haven't been to since my first trip 15 years ago.

Where am I?

*****
1 year ago today,
2 years ago today, dragon fruit blossom abundance.
3 years ago today, dragon fruit blossom extreme close-up.
4 years ago today, part 4 of my How to Start a Food Blog Series - Picking a Name: Be Clever, Original, and Memorable.
5 years ago today, Deep-Fried Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Basil and Cottage Cheese.

Guess Where I'm Wandering 5?

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So you figured out I'm in Oslo, Norway. This is one of my favorite spots that my cousin took me to on my first visit 15 years ago.

This park features several hundred statues by one artist, who donated all his sculptures to the city. The sculptures run the gamut of human emotions and ages. I'll show you some of my favorites in more depth later.

Where am I?

*****
1 year ago today, Ding's Garden - Alhambra (Closed).
2 years ago today,
3 years ago today, my sad little tomato harvest.
4 year ago today, a garden tour and outdoor party.
5 years ago today, whipped cream, clotted cream, Butter with a handheld mixer.

Saigon's Bakery and Sandwiches - San Gabriel

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Ah well, you knew I couldn't keep up the real-time updates on the blog. So let's go back to the day before I left for vacation. I had a 5-hour flight to Washington, D.C., then several hours layover, and a 5 1/2-hour flight to my destination. Could you believe neither of those flights had free meal service?

So in between trying to get my house in order, I managed to run to Saigon's Bakery and Sandwiches in San Gabriel to grab some Vietnamese sandwiches for the road. This location is by the San Gabriel Superstore, so it's a convenient stop-in after grocery shopping. I've been going to Saigon's Bakery and Sandwiches for years now, and have to say it's my favorite Vietnamese French bread, light, airy and crispy. It also has the best Banh Mi Xiu Mai (Vietnamese Meatball Sandwich), seasoned and flavorful, not just steamed like at other places. The sandwiches also wear well for travel. The bread doesn't get hard and dry and the filling isn't all fatty, absolute musts when I buy them a day in advance before a flight.

Freshly toasted, I'm still partial to Banh Mi & Che Cali Restaurant - Alhambra's crunchy soft bread and the pate they use just does it for me. But for price point, Saigon's Bakery and Sandwiches is actually cheaper now. Banh Mi Che Cali charges tax, Saigon's Bakery already has the tax in the price. So it's a few cents cheaper, but hey, those pennies add up. The Vietnamese French bread sandwiches here are $2.25 each (The baguette sandwiches are $2.75 each.), and they're buy 2, get 1 free. They used to be buy 3, get 1 free baguette, and buy 6, get a free sandwich. But this summer, they lowered their price point to many a happy customer, namely me!

Pictures are from previous visits.

The sandwich options.



The Vietnamese French bread here are rounder and shorter than other places.



This is the banh mi dac biet (Vietnamese special sandwich) with Xa Xiu (Chinese Barbecued Pork) belly, cha lua (Vietnamese steamed pork loaf), Pate (Faux Gras with Chicken Livers), Do Chua (Vietnamese Pickled Stuff ie. Carrots and Daikon), and jalapeno slices.



Close-up of the filling. The other thing I like at Saigon's Bakery is that they still include cilantro in the sandwiches. A lot of places have been leaving the cilantro out these days.



The baguette version.



The meatball sandwich with all the usual fillings.



The plain Vietnamese French bread rolls are three for $1.



After being up literally all night cleaning house and packing, I conked out on the flight east. I finally got to enjoy my banh mi on my flight from Washington, D.C. to Iceland. Even digging in a full day after I bought it, the banh mi was still good.



Did you correctly guess that's where I was headed?

I used my United frequent flier miles to visit my cousins is Oslo, Norway, but only had enough miles for the flight home. The cost to buy the rest of the miles to make it a round-trip ticket was actually more expensive than a one-way ticket from LAX to Oslo on American Airlines via Icelandair. FYI: in case you didn't know, the cool thing with Icelandair is that you can layover in Reykjavik for up to a week for free. I've always wanted to visit Iceland so this option became the obvious choice. The only downside is that Icelandair doesn't have free meals, even on international flights. Boo!


The other cool thing was while reading the in-flight magazine, Icelandair Info summer 2012 edition, the Icelandair CEO Birkir Holm Gudnason was interviewed on his 12 years with the airline. The quote wasn't as important as the fact that the default pronoun was the feminine. Whoot! Grammar nerds rejoice!


The flight went much quicker than I expected and I arrived at Keflavik airport at 6 a.m. I pre-booked a shuttle to my hotel in Reykjavik and in my eagerness to get on my way, the guy at the shuttle desk even had to tell me to calm down, I was on vacation. Vacation!


I thought I gave myself three days in Iceland, but forgot I lost a day of travel. Doh! Blonde moment. I kept looking at the confirmation itinerary and seeing the day I left, ignoring the +1. So I had to squeeze everything I wanted to do in two days now! Nonetheless, I couldn't wait to explore Iceland!

Other Vietnamese sandwich shops:
Banh Mi & Che CALI Bakery - Westminster (Little Saigon)
Banh Mi & Che Cali Restaurant - Alhambra
Thanh Tam Bakery - Garden Grove (Little Saigon)
Tip Top Sandwiches - Garden Grove (Little Saigon)
Top Baguette - Westminster (Little Saigon)

*****
1 year ago today, Jaengban Gooksu (Korean Cold Buckwheat Noodle Salad)
2 years ago today,
3 years ago today, Chichen Itza Restaurant - Los Angeles.
4 years ago today, How to Eat a Jackfruit.
5 years ago today, on Sundays... I still watch out for and give my cans to the little old Chinese man who digs through the recycling bins.

Subway's Creamy Sriracha Sauce

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I haven't done a "fun food" post in a while. Tipped off by Cousin Q's post about Subway testing a creamy Sriracha sauce in some markets, I hit up my local Subway to check it out. I got a six-inch Cold Cut Combo on honey oat wheat with everything and two drizzles of the creamy Sriracha sauce.

Here, I'll open the sandwich so you can see. It's a bright orange color, which led me to wonder if the "creamy" part was achieved by watering down Sriracha sauce with mayonnaise?





As you can tell, I added both jalapenos and banana peppers in my sandwich, so additional spicy sauce might be overkill to some people. What can I say? I like my chile peppers. After taking a few bites, I found the spiciness to be rather mild actually. The owner saw me photographing my sandwich and asked if I wanted additional sauce, which I readily agreed to.



I ended up dipping the sandwich into the sauce and it was much more to my liking.



It took long enough for Subway to get onto the Sriracha bandwagon, but I'm just tickled that a mainstream American chain did.

Later, I mixed up mayonnaise with the bottle of Sriracha sauce I had at home. Tasted the same! Don't know why this didn't occur to me before?! And then it struck me that this made a great dipping sauce. So I bought some chicken nuggets from Wendy's (Four for 99 cents.) and tested it out. Perfect!



I guess it depends on your spicy tolerance, but the mayonnaise helped tone down the spiciness of the Sriracha sauce so I could see this going over well. I texted oldest nephew, who's a Sriracha fiend, and he declared it a "game changer."

Is it just California? Is there creamy Sriracha in your state? I admit that I don't really eat at Subway often enough to know, and wouldn't have if cousin Q hadn't pointed it out. While it wouldn't replace my beloved Vietnamese banh mi, I could see this gaining popularity nation-wide to add a kick to an ordinary American sandwich.

*****
1 year ago today,
2 years ago today,
3 years ago today, Best Of: Top 10 Recipes of 2008.
4 years ago today, Pho Minh Vietnamese Restaurant - South El Monte.
5 years ago today, Taqueria Chihuahua - Los Angeles (Mar Vista).
6 years ago today, I reminisced about the beginning of my culinary wanderings with Fessenjan(Persian Walnut Pomegranate-Glazed Cornish Game Hens), and waxed poetic about the gloaming.

Monday, December 31, 2012

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Monday, December 31, 2012: (Vigil of Solemnity of Mary)
Jesus said: “My people, this vision of the fires of hell does not look like any place that a soul would choose, but it is a place of eternal punishment. Hell is for the souls who are evil and have rejected My love. You have seen people who kill others, and some even worship Satan. Some make pacts with the devil, some bring people into hell by coercion, and some are lukewarm without even thinking of Me. These are the kinds of souls who come to hell without anyone praying for them. Hell is a place of constant punishment by fire, tormenting by the devils, full of hate, and these souls will never see My face again. Everyone is given an opportunity to accept and love Me. If you desire to come to heaven, you need to die to self, and follow My Will and not your own. I am love, and only those who love Me and their neighbor will be allowed into heaven. Pray for poor sinners that their souls could be saved from hell. Keep working to save as many souls as you can from going to hell.”

Jesus said: “My people, many of you are celebrating the New Year coming in, and there are crowds in New York City bringing in the New Year with song and revelry. In this vision I am showing you crowds in the streets all over your country that will be protesting your taxes and cuts in your budgets. Many entitlement programs will need to make some adjustments and cuts as well. There has been a major gridlock because every interest group does not want their funding cut, and they do not want more taxes. Both Republicans and Democrats are to blame for not compromising on their positions. I told you that your Administration wanted to have higher taxes on everyone to pay for their entitlement program deficits, but they will not admit it. More problems will come as your Health Care Law will be implemented. There also may be another battle over increasing the debt limit. Riots and revolution are not out of the question when you have a non-functioning government. Pray for peace in your country, and that your people can reach a fair compromise for all parties.”

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2013/01/14/monday-december-31-2012/

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

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Tuesday, January 1, 2013: (Solemnity of Mary, Ann Marie Cupp Mass)
Jesus said: “My people, when you see a yellow color, as in your traffic lights, it usually is a sign of caution or a warning. The yellow tunnel represents how some may travel through a tunnel to My Light in their Warning experience. At the Warning people will come out of their bodies and out of time to face Me at their life review. After seeing their sins, they will have a mini-judgment of heaven, purgatory, or hell. The mercy of this experience is that people will be given a second chance to come back into their bodies to change their sinful lives. If they do not change, then their mini-judgment will become their final judgment. Heaven or hell are your only choices, so choose to obey My laws so you can be with Me in heaven.”

(Ann Marie Cupp memorial Mass) Jesus said: “My people, it is unfortunate that Ann Marie died suddenly at a fairly young age. She will be missed by her family and friends, but she will be praying for all of you. This Mass for her intention will help her on her way to heaven. Keep praying for her soul.”

Jesus said: “My people, some people are so taken up with material things and working for more money to buy things, that they do not have any time for Me in their lives. It may be nice to have things of comfort, but you should not be living your life just for material possessions. Think of where everything comes from, and you have to admit that I was instrumental in all that you have. Some of your best blessings are in your very children. You should be thanking Me more for all that I do in your life. Once you realize that you would have nothing without Me, then you could find more time for Me in your prayers and Masses. You have a great gift in your belief in Me, and you have My very Presence with you at every Mass and in every visit to My tabernacle. Those, who desire to be with Me in heaven, need to work on purifying their lives, and helping others to avoid going to hell. My souls were made to seek to be with their Creator because I am the only source of peace that they will find on earth. Keep close to Me in all that you do, and you will find your eternal rest with Me in heaven.”

 

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2013/01/14/tuesday-january-1-2013/