With a smoked jalapeno and charred cilantro glaze, topped with chopped peanuts and green onions. $8
The Bar at Husk, Charleston SC
Ugh, such a disappointment! These wings had the crap fried out of them. They were SO dry that you really couldn’t taste much of the glaze. I can’t believe they actually sent this out!
United States Custom House. This large building looks a little out of place among the small businesses along East Bay Street and Market Street, but it looks pretty cool.
Project 365: Day 126
Only worked a half day today so I could go to the dentist and get my teeth cleaned. I’m kind of annoyed with them because they thought I was a different person and had pulled the wrong records and even greeted me as the other person. Shouldn’t they know who I am when I make the appointment!? Gonna have to keep my eye on them from now on!
Fresh wrap in rice paper with bean sprout, mint, carrot, cilantro, lettuce and vermicelli noodles served with peanut sauce and hoisin sauce. $7
Siam Saigon, San Francisco CA
This tasted great. The shrimp was good (not old or grainy) and the other ingredients were fresh and clean. There’s not much shrimp in the rolls, but the flavors were there. Their peanut sauce is on the thick, creamy side and I like that they also give you the hoisin sauce as an alternative.
With lily bulb, peanut, and pickles. Pre fixe dinner $180
Benu, San Francisco
I think the caramelized anchovy was actually the reddish, dome shaped gelee with more slices of lily bulb embedded inside. There were a few pieces of lily bulb scattered on the plate in addition to dried fish and pickle. I don’t know what the soft, white gelatinous cubes were. This dish totally brought me back to Filipino flavors and textures though. It struck me as odd to get that memory while eating at Benu!
Project 365: Day 81
Argh, I’m back in the real world! Had to go into work of a couple hours today. Kinda glad because I really need the money after that trip! Went to Whole Foods to grab groceries for my lunches this week. Ended up meeting Hubbs for catching up and drinks in the Castro. I hadn’t seen him in a while so I got a little too crazy with the drinks then ended up at 7-11 for nachos, lol!
Bun thit nuong bo cuon. Cold vermicelli, a thin rice noodle, is call “bun” in Vietnamese. With pickled carrots and radish, cucumber, and garnished with toasted peanuts and green onions. Served with fish sauce and choice of meat. Large $8.25
Hometown Noodle 2, San Bruno CA
Project 365: Day 80
We’ve landed in San Juan PR and it’s departure day. We had brunch with the gang up in the Oceanview Cafe then headed down to the theater to await our disembarkation announcements. The 6 of us who were flying out today shared a cab to the airport. Our flight back was SJU-JFK-SFO. We were a little delayed leaving SJU but we made time in the air and arrived at JFK on time. As our connection was leaving the gate at JFK, some girl wanted to get off the plane so we had to return to the gate and wait for her to leave (so annoying!). Even though we had a super late departure, we still made it back to SFO at a decent time and I was in my bed before 1 AM.
Bun cha gio voi heo. Cold vermicelli, a thin rice noodle, is call “bun” in Vietnamese. It’s with pickled carrots and radish, cucumber, and garnished with toasted peanuts and green onions. Served with fish sauce and choice of meat. Large $8.25
Hometown Noodle 2, San Bruno CA
Diet Coke.
Project 365: Day 78
Finally, we’ve made it to Gustavia, Saint Barthelemy (St. Barths)! We had a small breakfast at the Oceanview Cafe, then met the gang to tender to shore. Gustavia is really clean and pretty and EXPENSIVE! Everything is also in Euros so it’s more expensive than you think. We made our way to Shell Beach and rented chairs for the day. Thank goodness because there were a few downpours but we stayed mostly dry. We had a fabulous lunch at Do Brazil, laid out and swam all day, did some shopping in town, had coffee at a cafe, then tendered back to the ship. So sad to leave such a beautiful and relaxing island. We relaxed in our cabin for a little bit, then I went for a snack at Oceanview Cafe, met Silverfox for drinks at the Martini Bar, had dinner with the gang in the main dining room, took a disco nap, then partied the night away at the White Party!
Bun tom nuong. Cold vermicelli, a thin rice noodle, is call “bun” in Vietnamese. With pickled carrots and radish, cucumber, and garnished with toasted peanuts and green onions. Served with fish sauce and choice of meat. Large $8.25
Hometown Noodle 2, San Bruno CA
Project 365: Day 77
Roseau, Dominica! The exclamation point means “get me out of here!” No joke, this place was super scary and the people were NOT friendly. I had 2 breakfasts this morning, one at Oceanview Cafe and the other at AquaSpa Cafe. Then we were stupid enough to go explore Roseau by ourselves instead of doing an excursion elsewhere on the island. The town was pretty dirty and some of the people were scary and mean. We walked around town just checking the non-existent sites, looked for a bookstore, visited Our Lady of Fair Haven Cathedral, had a Jamaican beef patty at Patty Shack, then ran back to the ship. We tried to decompress in the solarium while eating food from the AquaSpa Cafe and the Pool/Mast Grill. We then attended the 70’s T-Dance, had drinks at the Martini Bar, had a couple’s dinner at the main dining room, watch Mario Cantone, then went to the Oceanview Cafe for ice cream.
2 large rolls with boiled shrimp, lettuce, bean sprouts and rice noodle are wrapped in thin rice sheets. Served with house special peanut sauce. $5.25
Hometown Noodle 2, San Bruno CA
Green tea. Complimentary.
Dressed in Shaoxing wine and chicken fat, scrambled egg, roasted peanuts, sliced cucumber, green onion, cilantro. $7
Mission Chinese Food, San Francisco
Although this rice is probably coated in chicken fat, it somehow still tastes light. The tender cubes of chicken are SO good and the rice is nice and fluffy. The ingredients look pretty simple, but I love the overall flavor of this rice dish.
With shrimp, grapefruit, herbs, and “nuoc cham”, topped with chopped peanuts. $9.95
Betelnut Restaurant, San Francisco
Nuoc cham is a Vietnamese sauce usually made with chilies, garlic, fish sauce, lime juice and sugar. It’s salty-sweet and so yummy. This green papaya salad was good, but I think it was too watery. I loved the addtional of grapefruit though.
Vanilla cupcake with vanilla and chocolate cream, dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with toasted peanuts. $2
Noe Valley Bakery, San Francisco
Another delicious treat from my neighborhood bakery, noms! I love the addition of peanuts on top and the chocolate mouse inside. Yummy in my tummy!
Salt pickled napa cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, roasted peanut, fresh coriander, and chili oil. $3.50
Mission Chinese Food, San Francisco
Yum! How can you really go wrong with a dish of pickled vegetables. And Mission Chinese knows how to pickle! The napa cabbage was the star of this dish. I could’ve easily had a couple more bowls of this!
Project 365: Day 6
Went to try this Vietnamese restaurant for lunch because this was the last day of their Grand Opening special. Free soda and 20% off the entire bill. Heck yeah! I guess this is their second location – the original restaurant is down in Redwood City. The food was pretty good and the lady was super nice, but a little slow and forgetful.
Can’t wait to bike to work tomorrow! I love the early morning cardio. My legs are still a little sore from squats at the gym yesterday. Rapunzel, Papa Chang and I are also gonna go for a quick ride during our lunch break. We’re gonna rule the road, lol!
Banh hoi tom heo nuong. “Banh Hoi” is made by packing thin rice noodles together tightly into patties, then cut into squares. Banh hoi is combined with mint leaves, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, radish, cilantro, green onions, and ground peanuts. Served with house special fish sauce. $9.95
Hometown Noodle 2, San Bruno CA
This was very tasty, but you really can’t go wrong with Vietnamese food – the flavors are bright and refreshing. Both the pork and prawns were tender and flavorful. I really like the compressed vermicelli noodles! I don’t think I’ve had them like that before. I made one lettuce roll, but it was too messy so I ended up just dumping the fish sauce (and some chili oil) over the whole plate and using chopsticks to eat everything. I’m a simple man!
Vittle Monster 