Quick Trip to San Diego

Juan just sent me a link to a guide to 6 dim sum restaurants in San Diego from the San Diego Union Tribune. One of the restaurants, Lucky Star has ballroom dancing on Thursday nights and Maine Lobster Sunday through Wednesday. Their Dim Sum menu is online but your have to look at it sideways... Maybe the Emerald Chinese Seafood Restaurant is the one to go to since its home page is in Chinese -- fortunately their Dim Sum menu is in English! China Max looks good too. Have you been to the Dumpling House?

We haven't had dim sum since Hong Kong - although Judy did order some dim sum for book group from a Squirrel Hill restaurant. I especially liked the deep fat fried sesame balls.

And while I'm running through San Diego restaurants, have you ever been to the Loving Hut? It's a global VEGAN chain! But it actually looks pretty interesting and has a jackfruit salad. Oh my gosh! They say they have one in Pittsburgh too! It's over on Campbell's Run Road near Ikea. We'll have to check it out the next time we're over there.

And another oh my gosh! San Diego has a Japanese Izakaya. And like many places around the country, it is having a Restaurant Week this week. Maybe Juan and Mandy can check out a few restaurants for us!

Frommer's 24 Great Walks in New York

I've been reading the walks on Chinatown, Little Italy, Soho and Tribeca but I decided it definitely needed more illustrations so I could really see where I was walking. So I pulled out the laptop and went to the street view in Google Maps, which worked so well for Hong Kong and Paris. The two definitely should be combined commercially: create an online Frommer's Walk linked to the street view of Google Maps. How hard is that? Of course it might be so good that people wouldn't go to New York at all -- but I doubt that. You still can't go inside the buildings (yet).

In any case, the walk in Soho/Tribeca was especially good because of the cast iron architecture. Sometimes it is hard to precisely locate the building Frommer is talking about because it is hard to see the street numbers on the structures but usually one can figure out what building it is. More about cast iron architecture in New York City is available from the New York Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America and a map of the Soho district (and others) is available at the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission website. Typically I don't consider myself particularly interested in architecture but it is hard not to be captivated by these cast iron buildings.

Lamb Noodle Soup

I read the serious eats article on the Lamb Noodle Soup at the Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing and said to myself: now here is a place that Juan and Mandy would love! Hand-pulled noodles, cilantro leaves, lily bulbs, Chinese wolfberries, black tree fungus -- not to mention the fat-fringed lamb. And the show of them pulling the noodles! One could go just for that. But I think we would need Juan and Mandy. You can watch the Anthony Bourdain episode about it on YouTube.

Bourdain also liked the lamb burgers at Xi'an Famous Foods which now has a location in Chinatown, which was reviewed by the Village Voice Blog, which describes the food as: "The cuisine of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, is distinguished by a plethora of cumin-scented lamb dishes and all manner of wheat noodles." Fernando loves lamb so he should appreciate it, even the lamb face salad. At the Xi'an Famous Foods website you can see the many lamb and "hand-ripped" noodle dishes they have on their menu. But if you watch the Andrew Zimmern video on their website, you'll see they are not pulled as in the Lamb Noodle Soup Shop in Flushing. Not quite as impressive. Maybe we don't have to wait for Juan and Mandy to go there. Penny, have you and Leena been there? And it turns out that Xi'an Famous Foods is run by a father/son team and the son, Jason Wang, is a graduate of Wash U!

Let's see what else they have in Serious Eats New York. They have a post on Favorite Sandwiches under $6, which sounds just like the amount we want to spend for lunch. Although after reviewing their 23 choices it appears that meat is still the star. Hm. They probably haven't heard of the chile relleno burrito at El Zarape in San Diego. I suppose that counts as a sandwich.

And Penny will be happy to know that they are opening a Steak 'n Shake in New York tomorrow, January 12th. Hurry, Penny, the first 150 customers win free burgers for a year!! what a deal...

Good Gravy A New Post

I'm catching up on Anthony Bourdain and he's in the outer boroughs of New York, currently at the Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing. I guess I haven't used Blogger since they went to the new interface, and, of course, it sucks. Until I'm used to it, of course. Bourdain also goes to the Ganesh Temple Canteen in Flushing, which reminds me of Udipi in Monroeville by the temple. And he goes to Dim Sum in Brooklyn. And a tortilla factory in Brooklyn. Too bad Fair Lawn is on the other side of Manhattan!

Getting Ready for NYC - Pearl River Mart

It's been a long time since I've posted anything of real content here. I'm forgetting how to use Blogger. Juan gave us a link to a large Chinese department store in New York City's Chinatown called Pearl River Mart. Of course it reminded me that I better get busy on my Google Map of New York City as well! The Pearl River Mart website reminds us up front that it will be the Year of the Dragon, so we should look for some dragon charms for Speck. I also need a Rabbit charm for Sebastian.

Are We Ready for the Camino Again?

Grant Spangler posted an article from the November 2011 issue of the Lonely Planet Travel magazine on the Camino and Northern Spain in the Go Camino Listserv: Fork in the Road. Is it time to get enthused and get in shape?

Restaurante Club Colombia

When we were in Bogotá in December of 2006, Patty and Juan David took us to the restaurant "Club Colombia", which I thought was only a beer. I'm not sure what the relationship is between the restaurant and the beverage but there is a history of the restaurant at Colombia.com which says that Club Colombia opened its doors November 21, 2005 in Bogotá when two culinary experts, Harry Sassón and Leo Katz (!) decided to revive the traditional recipes of grandmothers and offer to the public an ample range of typical Colombian food from Cartagena to the Amazons. They have 25 types of juices, 4 kinds of arepas and empanadas and the best dessert is a torte of almojábana with cheese and honey.

The biggest selling dishes are Posta negra de Cartagena, sobrebarriga (brisket), and Sancocho trifásico which is a stew with three kinds of meat, served with avocado and rice with coconut. I think that Fernando may have ordered the Sancocho trifásico last time. The specialties of the house are Ceviche de langostinos, caldo de costilla con papa, empanadas de pipián, arepa de huevo, tamal bogotano, cazuela de mariscos y la sobrebarriga guisada.

The thing I remember most was the champu made with fresh lulo. Absolutely delish!

I'm trying to pull together other typical restaurants just so we'll have a list! Unfortunately Google Maps does not understand Colombian addresses. You cannot look up a regular address and get a proper result. You have to search by the restaurant name and even then it gives lots of incorrect or incomplete information and there's no street view to verify.

Bogota, por fin!

OK, so finally I'm back to posting and it's high time since we have less than a week before we go to Bogota! Lots of things have changed on the web since we last went in 2006 and I should be able to orient myself much better since apparently they have google maps.

I was looking at the city of Bogota's tourism map and they showcase Andres Carne de Res and also La Puerta Falsa, a small store around the corner from the cathedral that sells typical Colombian sweets. It says it is 100 years old. Unfortunately the BogotaTurismo.gov site is technologically challenged and its "galerias" are not working. They are also supposed to have "Bogota in a minute" video clips that are nonexistent. I'll have to find some better sources - there are bound to be some out there somewhere!! Except I've been looking at the restaurants and almost none of them have followed Andres Carne de Res and created their own websites. They might have a facebook or myspace page, or a gmail address but that is about all.

Oh, and WHAT A DISAPPOINTMENT!! Google Maps does not have street views for Bogota! Will we have to wait a decade for that? I guess I should be happy they have maps. I'll have to get some addresses to plot. Hm. Do I remember where we lived in the 1970s? I'm going to have to play around with it a bit so I don't get lost.

The New York Times ran a 36 Hours in Bogota last year. And they mention the new location of Andres Carne de Res at Calle 82 No. 12-21. Oh, my and look at this one: Sopas de Mamá y Postres de la Abuela. How could you go wrong with a name like that??? And it even has a theme song! See there is some hope that things have progressed a little in Bogota! Papi will be so happy. They have morcilla with papas criollas, fritanga, calentado, empanadas... I didn't get this listing from the New York Times, of course it would be too plebian for them, but from Bogota's city site in English.

Sign up to stay informed and visit the libraries!

The first thing you might want to do (or might not) is sign up for newsletters that tell you what is happening in San Diego. Or you can just go to their websites.

• KPBS San Diego Week (TV)
• San Diego City Beat
• San Diego Reader
• San Diego Restaurant Week in September
• San Diego Union Tribune
• This Week @ UCSD

And you always have to stop by the libraries to see what is up. Then you will see that the Geisel Library's (as in Dr. Seuss) 40th Anniversary is May 1st. Now, because you work for UCSD does that mean you get a UCSD library card?

And then there is the San Diego Public Library but their website gives me a headache, and their sirsi catalog does too. Sometimes I wonder if I am really a librarian...

Grunion Runs

Wow! The grunion are still running on the beaches of California! Here's something for you to do, Juan and Mandy. The Birch Aquarium at Scripps Institute sponsors Grunion Runs. Will you be in San Diego Thursday, May 19, from 11 p.m. - 1 a.m.? When we go visit you some spring, that is something I definitely would like to do. And in the winter months, they offer tidepooling, and in the summer months snorkeling. There! All your weekends are taken care of!

San Diego

Juan says that my next destination has to be San Diego. Let's see. What do I know/remember about San Diego? At Santa Cruz, there was a student, Jeffrey Greenberg, who spent two years at Santa Cruz then transferred to Berkeley. Later I remember seeing a news program done by an ex-Stevenson College student about Greenberg -- he became a dentist and moved to San Diego. He was saying how as a Northern Californian he had always made fun of Southern California, but then he moved to San Diego and was absolutely smitten. Well, that goes to show you that Northern Californians are full of hot air and don't know what they are talking about.

I've only been to San Diego twice. Once as a child (maybe 9 or 10?) when we went to visit the Pipers and I vividly remember going to Tijuana and getting a serape. The second time was with Fernando when we were at Berkeley. We didn't make it to Tijuana that time because Fernando needed a visa to cross the border (although Gonzalo and his friends crossed the border without one...). We did see the chimpanzees at the zoo.

I would go to San Diego to check out the California Rare Fruit Growers. Except now I see they are at The Fullerton Arboretum - CSUF and not in Vista anymore. Whoops. Now what am I going there for? Ah, maybe to see the undersea canyon that goes up to La Jolla. And to walk along the seashore. And maybe to see the Torrey Pines that my grandfather's cat was named after. Did they really pick him up along the road there?

2011-03-12

Today, our last day (sob, sob) we walked up to the second stage of the Eiffel Tower and survived! Then we walked (as if we hadn't walked enough) around that neighborhood admiring the architecture and the market on Rue Cler. We are now attempting to pack and tonight we will use up (we hope) all the leftovers in our refrigerator. It's been wonderful.  Having the apartment has been fantastic and we were able to do  and see so much.  It's enough to make us wish we could do this every year, or, perhaps, say for a month or two.
Wish you were all here

bring your bottle and they'll fill it or get one of their bottles on deposit

Why didn't we come to the Baron Rouge sooner. We got deposit bottles at .50 and filled two with inexpensive but very good (we think) wine from their barrels. This is near the Marche d'Aligre and the Viaduct des Artes (fine crafts people). Then after lunch we went to the GRAND MAGASINES (actually just the Gallery Lafayette) and we certainly now understand why people come to Paris to shop and to check out the styles. And Fernando got the Mephistos he's been after. Then (as if that wan't enough) we walked over to the Latin Quarter and walked the streets teeming with students celebrating Friday evening, and saw Rue Mouffetard and Rue Monge before heading home to look for a restaurant that was still open. And we found one!

Like our new hats, Vincent?

Like our new hats, Vincent?

Thursday, March 9, 2011   Paris, France
Today, after a quick trip to the Bastille Market (can't have a day without a market in Paris?) we took the bus to the Musee D'Ordsay, then had a lovely lunch, before going to the Orangeries for most great art.  Then walked up the Champs d"Elysees to be au courant before Metro-ing home.  Penny's pictures at https://picasaweb.google.com/pennykaplan/20110310?feat=directlink

Cathy's at https://picasaweb.google.com/chaparroc/ThursdayInParis#.

Today was the Louvre

Unfortunately Penny had to wake me up this morning. It was 9 am and I was still sound asleep. So much for getting early starts. I think we got out of the house around 10:30 and had cafe au lait and croissants/brioche/pain aux raisins at the neighborhood boulangerie/patisserie: Miss Manon. Fernando was shocked to be billed 20 euros, especially since we had paid 15 euros for our dinner of falafels the night before. So I think he will be satisfied with coffee and croissants at home from now on.

Then we started walking down the Rue Saint Antoine to the Louvre, passing shops where I wasn't able to stop, except for one Spanish store Zara. Here's the gmap pedometer map of where we went, where the walk was 5.13 miles, not counting the Louvre.

When we got to the Louvre there was a long line towards the pyramid with a guard holding a sign saying that from that point it was a 1 hour wait. He was also asking people if they spoke French and if so he told them they could go to a different entrance. So we followed the French speakers to the Carousel du Louvre, which is a shopping center connected to the Louvre where there really wasn't a line at all. But first we needed to find a bathroom, les toilettes, but couldn't find one anywhere. Finally a woman showed us to a swanky pay toilet with colored toilet paper for 1 euro. Kind of steep but we were desperate. (Later we found there were free toilettes inside the Louvre.)

We spent a couple of hours in the Italian and French section of the Louvre - saw the Mona Lisa and works by David, Ingres and Delacroix. And we saw lots and lots of people, old and young. I think we took plenty of photos so you can see some of what we saw. By then it must have been 2:30 so we decided to eat in the mall's food court. Penny and I split a dish of roast lamb, carrots and ratatouille (Fernando had his own). It would be nice if American malls had equally good fast food.

Then we came back out of the Louvre, walked over towards Rue Montorgueil and tested out one of the automatic toilettes in the street. It was quite satisfactory except for the hand dryer and the amount of time one had to wait for the toilette to disinfect itself between users.

We visited the cookware store E. Dehillerin and almost bought that big stock pot that Camila needed. Then we went into the food store G. DeTout but didn't buy anything except a few chocolate bars. I'd like to buy some Kushti tea because the tins are so pretty but it is rather expensive.

We had the best time on rue Montorgueil, going into the produce markets where we bought strawberrries, a cucumber, heart-shaped red potatoes, and purple artichokes. Fernando picked up some boudin noir (blood sausage) and head cheese at a boucherie and finally we picked up two kinds of cheese at a fromagerie. This was our dinner. It was about 2 miles from there home and we still had to pick up some wine and bread for dinner and milk for breakfast so we stopped at our neighborhood monoprix, which is a supermarket just a block away.

Tomorrow we might pick up a roast chicken for dinner -- or maybe we should make an omelet with these huge champignons we bought the first day. Then we'll boil our artichokes and undoubtedly find even more food that we can't resist. I better check when the markets are. Maybe Penny and I can run out tomorrow morning to the Bastille market...

Carousel at Hotel de Ville for Isabel

Click the photo to begin

Cathy and Fernando arrive

We have arrived!

Our flight from Atlanta arrived early at 5:33 am and so we were able to catch the RER train into Paris at 6:45 am, arriving at Chatelet-Les Halles and then transferring to the metro and arriving at the St. Paul metro station at 7:30.

Then we easily found the Rue Saint Paul and the apartment house (except that they had repainted the front door light green instead of burgundy). We got through the first front door but then couldn't open the second door to the apartment building. We tried phoning Penny but the phone number didn't work on Fernando's Iphone. We were planning our next breaking and entering strategy when a woman came down to walk her dog and let us in.

Fortunately at this early hour, Penny was still in the apartment and welcomed us with open arms (and later showed us how to open the second door with a kick to the baseboard (actually it was a glass door).

Then we went out to buy croissants, pain au chocolat and another small sweet bread to serve with the Peet's coffee someone had left. (I will buy some Illy coffee at the Monoprix when it opens at 9 am just to be european). Now Penny is taking a shower and we are catching up with email on our computers.

Penny Arrives in Paris

Penny arrived in Paris on schedule Sunday, March 5, but Cathy & Fernando weren't so lucky. Their flight from Pittsburgh was cancelled after several false promises. Penny found her way to the apartment, turned up the heat, took a nap and headed out to rediscover the Marais and Iles St-Louis and de la Cite and walked a bit around the Right Bank She had her camera for company and an omelette for dinner at the local Tabac.

Wi-Fi or not?

We've become a bit concerned about the wi-fi in our apartment - will it work, how do we sign on, etc., etc?  A query to the rental company resulted in the advice to bring an ethernet cable...just in case.  So now Cathy has 4 feet of cable to add to her electronics packing.  And I, who had forgotten all about the ethernet cable, just checked out free wi-fi hotspots.  About.com Paris Travel has a list of the city's free wi-fi hot spots by arondissement.  But apparently these only broadcast during the day ?!
And here is a Spotted by Locals site with a goggle map even more populated than ours showing free wi-fi - and that's from 2009 so it should be even more crowded now. "In every part of Paris, there are many free wifi-access points via “Paris Wi-Fi”. In many public spaces, such as parks, gardens, city halls, librairies and museums you can go online wireless for free.
Jessica has been so kind to provide a short tutorial on how to connect to the Free Paris network (source: Paris.fr)
1. Find a point on the map above. Go to it. It will tell you it’s WiFi by the symbol you see in the picture, which looks like purple blobs with the words “wifi” written in it.
2. Select the “Wifi ORANGE” network on your computer. This is the reason no one was having success before with this!!! “Free” is actually the brand name of an internet provider, NOT a description of what it is; hence why it wasn’t working for people. ORANGE is what you’re looking for.
3. Open your browser, type in an internet address, and you will be redirected to the access portal. You can switch to English in the orange box. From there, it’s easy! You just type in your name and email address, and there you go. Two hours of free surfing!"
But let's really hope the wi-fi works 'cause it's a little cold to sit on the grass with our laptops

The Schedule

Juan wanted to see our day by day shedule... Like his and Mandy's for Japan. I told him we were staying put in Paris and didn't have to catch any planes or trains except back home... But for what it's worth, here's a tentative layout of our plans. Penny, let me know if you can't edit this and if so, I'll let you post it.

Sunday, March 6
Arrive Paris. Meet at the Sheraton Hotel above the trains to Paris and then take the train/bus and then metro to the Apartment, where we will drop off our luggage.
Go to the Marché Bastille (open 7am-3pm) just right on Rue Saint Antoine to the Bastille, north on Boulevard Beaumarchais and then right on Boulevard Richard Lenoir. Pick up cheese, milk, butter, fruit, eggs, sausages, whatever looks good. Stop at the Monoprix for coffee, sugar and salt and whatever looks interesting. Drop our provisions off at the apartment.
Explore the neighborhood (Marais, Ile Ste Louis?), find a place for dinner (L'As du Falafel? - closed saturday not sunday), stop at the Pompidou in the evening? Upload our photos and finalize our schedule for Monday.

Monday, March 7
Wake up early and rush up the street to a boulangerie to buy bread, croissants, pain au chocolat to have with our coffee au lait. Send Fernando up the street to buy a newspaper at the kiosk on Rue Turenne.
Explore the Ile Saint-Louis and Ile de la Cite. Maybe have a Berthillon ice cream cone (check here for a list of flavors - I think I'll have Fruit de la passion and Rhubarbe).
Continue exploring into the Latin Quarter - maybe take Toms Strange and Interesting tour on the left bank and if our legs are very strong, Montparnasse. Have a big dinner.

Tuesday, March 8
Since it is supposed to be sunny, take a walk to Montmartre, going through the Marais on Rue des Francs Bourgeois, up Rue Montorgueil and then up Rue Montmartre, checking out the food and cookware stores. In Montmartre, up the little side streets and into the Sacre Coeur. Maybe down the east side through the fabric district. Shall we pay our respects at the cemetery? Where shall we have dinner?

Wednesday, March 9
A museum day. Louvre first thing in the morning? and the classy department stores over in that neighborhood? Printemps and Galleries Lafayette on Boulevard Haussmann? and the Au Nain Bleu toy store? Wander in the Palais Royal area - Orangerie if we get the museum pass. Would this be the day to eat at Au Pied de Cochon?

Thursday, March 10
Go to the Musee d'Orsay and admire all the Impressionists. Have a pastry and then head over to the Rue Cler. Check out the Italian Grocery that serves choucroute garni. Walk over to the Tour Eiffel? If we visit, is it better early in the morning or in the evening?

Friday, March 11
OH! our vacation is almost over!! Decide what we have missed. The Marché d’Aligre and le Baron Rouge for the wine and oysters? Or should this be done at the beginning of our stay so we can stock up on wine? Make sure we have seen the BHV basement and other places in the neighborhood. Keep walking.

Saturday, March 12
Run around like madmen seeing everything we missed. Find the fountain to drink from so that we are guaranteed to come back. Or does one have to eat escargots for that guarantee?

Sunday, March 13
Catch the metro/bus to the airport for our flights home.
An official day of mourning...
But wait till Isabel sees what we got her!