Ending with a VROOOM! San Diego International Auto Show

Cars of the San Diego International Auto Show

I was literally dragged from my bed by my friend (due to my parking perks) to accompany him at the 2013 San Diego International Autoshow being  held at the San Diego Convention Center. Also known as ” Cars I will Never Ever Could Afford In My Lifetime”

This is my 2nd time attending the Autoshow and there were some changes this year. One, it was raining (boooo!), there were a lot more test drives of cars like Nissan, Toyota, Honda, Acura, and the ever popular Jeep rugged playground.  Unfortunately there were fewer exotic and classic cars this year along with jet skis, fewer showcases of motorcycles.  There were a few custom car companies that were selling and auctioning off muscle cars.

A Hyundai compact 2 door car with roll over top for Bike or Gear space alternative

The auto show featured over 400 car models, interview with a San Diego Charger player, Concept cars and a look at 2013 car models.   The show ends tomorrow Sunday Dec 30, 2012 and cost around $12.00 for entrance tickest. Ohh the test drives also comes with a free gift. I highly recommend doing the Jeep Test Drive. A built in rugged course complete with a steep incline. It is best to come in early due to the long wait line for the 7 minute test drive (soo worth it)

More information about the auto show can be found at www.sdautoshow.com

Jeep Test drive track at SD International AutoShow

Do You Fancy a Lechon Kawali

Lechon Kawali with Crab fried rice on the background from Villa Manila Restaurant

The best of Filipino foods are often featured during the December Holidays. Not too long ago I posted on my Tumbler account about traditional Filipino Bibingka . But yesterday was when I truly had my first Pinoy Holiday meal of the season. celebrating also my friend’s birthday. We went to a Filipino Restaurant in National City called Villa Manila and ordered Lechon Kawali, also known as Deep Fried Pork Belly.

Often paired with steamed or garlic rice and dipped into vinegar mixed with a hint of soy sauce and crushed garlic with some chili or the ever popular Mang Tomas sauce. This meal is a calorie buster and would be often served during fiestas, Christmas Holidays, Weddings and other festivities.   And being it’s really, really high on calorie, fat and all those bad things that makes food so good, Lechon Kawali is really a meal of indulgence. I haven’t eaten one in 1.5 years until yesterday.  But hey they say Christmas is the season of giving, and my belly just got its first yummy gift of the season.  Happy Holiday eats y’all

The gift that’s worth it.

Sock Monkey Gift

In this time of year of gift giving, there will be that one moment, that one gift that is worth all this crazy holiday drama of shopping, spending, traffic and wrappings.

There is this little girl who is a niece of a good friend of mine that has fallen this past year with the most difficult of circumstances. Her parents just entered into a nasty divorce, her sister is going through her rebellious years and she is also mentally handicapped which further confuses her between the chaos of jumping from home to home of her now split up (and often bitter) parents. Often times when I visit, she would keep on tugging my shirt and follow me around the house. One day I noticed how she literally lit up after watching Yo Gabba Gabba. Singing to the songs and actively participating with the exercises. Ever since that day I made a promise to myself that I will get her a Yo Gabba Gabba doll (the Sock Monkey) for her to cuddle and love.

I also decided that she needed to dress up more her age. Though she has a mental age 6 or 8, she is a young blooming pre teen 11 turning 12. Unlike her sister (who is her twin but was born without a disability), this young lady has a stunted growth and was often dressed up as if she was 4 or 5. I bought her a cute  casual top from Old Navy 1 size big that she can grow in and an elegant blouse that she can mix and match with jeans, leggings or even a Sunday best skirt.  The surprise were stashed in one of my unused USPS box which I wrapped. Rather than a gift bag, I wanted her to experience that excitement of opening up a boxed gift, under the carefully tinseled Christmas Tree of her Grandma.   I am looking forward to her squeals of happiness if any when she see’s the shiny box I prepared for her. After a tough year, I wanted it for her to end with a wonderful memory filled with family and friends that thinks the world of her.   Happy Holidays Everyone.

A Homemade Juicy Lucy (Kudos to Travel Channel)

Summary how I made my Juicy Lucy burger

After recovering from the flu, my taste buds are just starting to regain it’s sense of flavor. During my sick day, while watching Travel Channel’s Man vs Food, I was fascinated on a burger called the Juicy Lucy which is a popular burger from Minneapolis hailing from the 5-8 Club and Matts bar. The burger is your basic cheese burger, except that the burger is molten hot to the bite, just oooooozing out from your bun.  The host Adam, was shown how easy it was to make one. The trick is to put your cheese (American, swiss and cheedar) between 2 patties and cooked well done.

Add your choice of fixings like lettuce, seared onions, tomatoes, bacon and in my case avocado and bite into its HOT, MOLTEN, JUICY, GOODNESS.  Caution, the cheese is really burn into your tongue hot.  I’ve decided to post an easy recipe from Chow.com however, I just made mine from what I saw from the TV show.

The First Giftwrap

Sorry for the late post. The cold weather brought my office a wave of the flu and unfortunately I was one of its victims. On a good note once I felt better, I did an early start on the gift wrappings. I’m half done with the shopping and started wrapping the biggest gift I have for a friend of mine.   Unfortunately, gift wrappers are higher than the price of gas $4.00 for a roll on some stores.

Happy Holidays Everyone and Happy Gift Wrappings!

 

The First Time Photographer at La Jolla Shores

This Black Friday Weekend my friend bought a Nikon D3100 in red. His first DSLR camera. However, like all his new toys, he often hands them over to me for some testing, being I took a semester of Photography lessons over 8 years ago lolz (like I still remember).

Inspired by an old classmate of mine turned professional photographer, I remembered that his first few amateur shots were of tide pools and coastlines he did during a random vacation. Me and my friend trekked half a mile into La Jolla shores to reach the tide pools around 4:30 PM last Saturday. The tide was coming in fast so we have very little time to get our shots.  The experience was both painful and awesome, as he and I fell onto the slippery rocks and onto the water getting ourselves soaked, barely making it back before the tide came in.

Needless to say, I am very satisfied with the shots we took and will definitely do another one soon.  Not bad for a first time DSLR user 🙂