Eating Out: Mama's Chicken Noodle

Doesn't the name of Mama's Chicken Noodle restaurant just make you want to get all warm and cozy? The actual location even brings me back to my childhood. That same building used to be a KFC that was around the corner from my grandparent's house, but now it's a whole other place, and instead of me lickin' my fingers good, I'm slurpin' it all up.

There is no way I could go there and not order some soup. I didn't get the chicken noodle; instead I ordered the wonton soup with egg noodles. The wontons were super stuffed, and some even had full shrimp inside.

The eggrolls arrived towards the end of the meal and I liked the rolls, nice and thick, but not really the sauce. I also ordered a Vietnamese coffee, and the waiter damn near forgot to give it to me.  I should have just forgot about it because damn, it was strong!  The crazy hyena woman came out of me on the car ride home....and well into the night. 

Eating Out: La Vic

Mexican food is my weakness, and with all the taco trucks and taquerias around me, I should probably be eating a burrito once a day.

Everybody always talks about the orange sauce from La Vic.  It's creamy, spicy, and orange, and I heard it was some crazy recipe that I don't want to know about. 

I ordered the veggie burrito ($4.95) filled with beans, rice, salsa, guac, cheese, and sour cream. Almost like the super burrito but without the meat, of course. When I was a vegetarian, I realized that I don't need meat in Mexican food. To be a little different, I asked for a spinach tortilla.

This thing was so fat it stood up on it's own.  Burritos should always be like that.  I ate half and wrapped the rest up so I could munch on it later. 

Eating Out: Crab House

Today I played tourist in San Francisco by visiting the Fisherman’s Wharf. I haven’t been to actual Pier 39 in years. We were going whale watching but I was most excited about eating. I usually just get a sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder from the outside stalls, but this time I wanted a sit down spot (and one that validates parking!).

It was a toss-up between Bubba Gump’s Shrimp Co. and the Crab House, and we ended up at Crab House. I haven’t been to either.

There was a short wait for a table and I requested one right next to the window overlooking the pier, near the sea lions. I loved the crabs that decorated the perimeter of the restaurant, each crab possessing a fun and unique costume...I'm talking taxi crabs, technologicrabs, you get the picture. 

To be different than the normal clam chowder, we ordered crab chowder ($6.95 cup, $9.95 bowl). It had chunks of vegetables but not too much crab in my opinion. The soup was also watery. I used most of my complimentary mini-baguette to soak up the liquids.  I also packed the extra baguette in my purse. 

We also ordered garlic bread with mozzarella ($6.95), garlic noodles ($9.95), and a child’s macaroni and cheese ($6.95). The garlic bread was only 4 pieces of bread (2 slices of baguette cut in half!) with cheese on top. The cheese was rubbery and didn’t taste too much garlic. Plus it was a rip-off. On the other hand, the garlic noodles had tons of flavor. I have a thing for garlic noodles.  Slurppppp.

I also have a thing for macaroni and cheese. What’s interesting is that their mac ‘n cheese doesn’t use macaroni, but fettuccine noodles. Shouldn't you call it fettuccine and cheese?  The sauce was cheesy and thick, but pairing it with those long flat noodles doesn’t feel right to eat it like that.  I have standards.

The best part of my meal was the pineapple mojito ($9.00). Probably one of the best I’ve ever had! I had to get two of them.  I probably would have ordered two even if they were horrible. 

I don’t think I’ll go back to the Crab House again for food. I can cross it off my list. If the crab chowder isn’t to die for then I should be eating my crab somewhere else. But for a mojito…..I might reconsider….

Mile High Club: Virgin Atlantic Airplane Food

For some reason, I love eating out high in the sky...on airplanes. I don't care how terrible people say that airplane food is, I always clean my tray.

I was kind of excited to fly Virgin for the first time.  Yes, a virgin on Virgin.  I've heard all the cool, posh things about the airline, so I hoped that the food was good.  On a flight to London from SFO on Virgin Atlantic, I realized maybe all that hype just applied to domestic flights because there really wasn't anything special except for a few cute stewardesses with even cuter British accents.  But because I like to eat on planes, I pigged out on Cesar salad, and some meat, mashed potatoes, and veggies. Pretty much a TV dinner, but I like TV dinners.  It was a small serving but they kept us full with snacks throughout the flight so it wasn't so bad. My only complaint was the cold dinner roll. Gross. I loved the cutesy purple utensils though.

Eating Out: Horatio's Happy Hour

Aside from the water and proximity to outlet shopping, another highlight of living by the Marina is being near one of my favorite restaurants, Horatio's. The views of the sunset over the water are amazing during Happy Hour, probably the only time I ever really go there. Don't get me wrong, I love the nautical decor and the menu that's quite extensive, but eating there outside of the bar can get a little expensive. 



I'm a little food whore when it comes to eating out at Horatio's.  I'll go twice in the same day, with whoever, I don't care.  Or I'll even stay longer, keeping that food coming.



These pomegranate margaritas are only $4 during happy hour. The best part about them is the sugar rim. This sugar is super fine and just makes the drink so much tastier. I usually end up licking the glass. Classy.



I usually order the usual, but when I walked in today I noticed a gentleman eating this smoked salmon dish ($7.95 during happy hour). Everything looked good, but what got me were the little pickles.



Mmmm, little pickles, where have you been all of my life? I learned that they are called cornichons, but I will just call them delicious. The whole dish went well together: moist salmon mixed with capers and formed into a patty and topped with creme fraiche and caviar. I don't really care for caviar. I ate it with the fresh potato chips and cucumber slices. This will be one of my new happy hour eats.



Of course we had to order something familiar, so we relied on the macadamia crusted brie ($6.95) to fill us up. The honey drizzles and sweet and tart apple slices really make this dish delish. I've copied something like this at home, except I don't deep fry the cheese, I just bake it with macadamia nut crumbles.

One word of advice...don't get the spicy ahi tacos if you are hungry. They are not like taco truck tacos at all, just some fancy concoction where the tuna serves as the tortilla. $15 for 4 pieces? I'm definitely sticking to the happy hour menu. But if some millionaire is buying you dinner, then get it all, girl!  The world is in your mouth.  Let me find myself a millionaire and we'll skip the happy hour for the full entree.   Really though, if you are hungry and expecting a taco because you are from California and you know what a taco is, then don't get the tacos. 

Homegirl Cooking: $5 Lobster

Some twist of fate pulled me to Safeway on a random day...a day when signs everywhere promoted $5 lobster for the next few days. I'm all about the good life on a budget, so I instagrammed the photo to share the love, and planned on going to cop some tail bright and early the next morning.

I picked up 6 tails, the limit, but that couldn't be enough. I made other plans to go back after work but by then, they were sold out.

And sold out the next morning, too. So I called in the morning after that, and yes, lobster was back in stock so I rushed there with another head so I could get 12 more. Gotta get em when it's good!



For the first batch, we just steamed the tail and served it with my favorite lemon butter, along with some teriyaki sirloin and asparagus and a baked potato. So simple yet extravagant.  And hella fancy.  I got that asparagus at the 99 cent store too! 



We didn't finish 6 tails in 1 night, so Jada had some lobster leftovers for her school lunch. Yes, she's a lucky girl and we like to keep it fun, unlike all those boring kids who just eat Lunchables and drink Capri Sun. 

I tried to go back and get even more tails, but they sold out again. Oh well, because I still have to figure out what to do with the rest of mine.

Munchies: Candy from the UK

I should have learned from my last trip. In Hawaii, I had to check in a huge box just to carry the all chocolate I was bringing home.

On this trip to the United Kingdom, the last of my pounds were spent on the pounds of chocolate...which will turn back into pounds (but not money, if you know what I'm sayin'!).  An inside tip from SuperNoodleRach led to a late night rampage at a market in Leeds, and a last minute scavenge at the Heathrow Airport in London.



Damn, was it worth it. Malteasers have always been a favorite, but those are the candies that I rarely come across. So when it's in abundance, I buy by the bundles! And the Twix....for some reason it tasted better in the UK. I've had Twix from Saudi Arabia before, and that stuff was nasty!

But my ultimate favorite was the Aero bars. There's just something about those tiny little air bubbles that just make the chocolate so much better. I especially liked the mint Aeros. That's something that I'm going to have to savor while it's here.



From now on, my suitcases will always be filled with chocolate from where I travel.

Eating Out: UK McDonald's

Rarely do I ever go to McDonald's, not because I'm too good, but because it's kind of against my religion.  But I've decided that whenever I travel to faraway lands, I would try something different on the McDonald's menu.  All the locals must think I'm sort of boring American girl who only eats at McDonald's.  Ha...if only they knew where my tongue has been!

In the United Kingdom, most of the menu is the same, so I went for the Filet-O-Fish, a dish that I often miss but deny myself of back home. The one thing that did differ and stand out to me was the Apple & Blackberry pie. YUMMMMM! This is like the old fried apple pies, but better.

It was a good thing we at at Mickey D's because with all the pounds spent out there, my wallet needed a break, and nothing is cheaper than this.