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Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Pho Saigon II

On the way home from Bakersfield, we stopped at the 99 Ranch market in Richmond. It's in a shopping mall with many restaurants. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants were a conditional pass on their health grade. We decided to bite the bullet and take our chances.

We chose Pho Saigon II.


Fresh Spring Roll with Shrimp & Pork--$5. The peanut sauce was thinned with soy sauce. I like my sauce thick and with more peanut taste.


Pho #5 with rare steak, well done brisket, tendon & tripe--$7.75 for small. The large was just $1 more but looked about 50% larger. I get my pho without green onions then add cilantro, basil & bean sprouts. The broth didn't have much flavor and the broth was lukewarm. I hope I don't get sick.



2018 02 19

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Dewar's

Another Bakersfield tradition is Dewar's. It's a classic soda fountain and candy maker. Their taffies are the best. I like the nut ones the best--peanut butter, almond and pistachio. It's $17.99/lb.


The original store is located at 1120 Eye Street.




Small Sundae--$5.25. Two scoops of house made ice cream with one topping and nuts. I asked for Butterfinger and Reese's ice cream but got Reese's and vanilla. I asked for gummy bears and ground almond. I got the gummy bears but got hot fudge instead of ground almond. The hot fudge was actually quite good so I'm glad they made the mistake. The gummy bears were not good though. I like Haribo's and it's hard to beat them.


Black & White--$7.99. A scoop of vanilla ice cream with hot fudge and a scoop of chocolate ice cream with marshmallow topping and ground nuts. 



2018 02 18

Monday, February 26, 2018

Noriega Hotel

Another Bakersfield specialty is Basque food. There are several Basque restaurants in Bakersfield. Bakersfield Basque is nothing like the Spanish/French Basque. I couldn't find anything that came close when I was in the Basque region in Spain & France.

We had dinner at Noriega Hotel. It's located at 525 Sumner Street. There's only 1 seating--at 7 pm. You sit at communal tables and pass the plates. You can ask for more if your neighbor takes more than his share. It's a flat $25/person.


Cabbage soup is the first course. You can add beans and salsa to the soup. It's followed by a green salad and cottage cheese.


The next course is pickled tongue--beef tongue sliced thin and marinated in Italian dressing. I ate a whole plate by myself. Blue cheese is served next.


One of the entrees--oxtail. This was delicious. The oxtail was so tender that the meat fell off the bone.


Spaghetti was served with the oxtail. The spaghetti was terrible--overcooked.


Broccoli with a dressing--it was hard to tell what the dressing was but it was probably a combo of mayonnaise, blue cheese and Ranch.


Garlic Fried Chicken came next. I was so full I only ate a wing. The garlic was tasty.


Dessert was a scoop of vanilla ice cream.



2018 01 17

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Luigi's, Bakersfield

One of my favorite places to eat in Bakersfield is Luigi's. It's an Italian restaurant filled with locals.


Luigi's is located at 725 E. 19th Street.


The entrees are served with a roll (you have a choice of soft or hard), cheese, salami, marinated carrot & pepperoncini.


Tongue for One--$3.50. I love the marinated beef tongue that can be found in a lot of restaurants in Bakersfield.


Large beef ravioli--$13.95. It's served with 1/2 sausage. I wish I had ordered it without the cheese. The ravioli is good and the sauce wasn't too greasy today. The sausage is delicious--nice and lean.


The best thing about Luigi's is the Butterfinger Pie--$4.75. In fact, I had this before I ate my lunch to make sure I had room in my stomach.



2018 02 17




Saturday, February 24, 2018

Yi Yuan Szechuan

After we arrived at SFO, we had dinner at Yi Yuan Szechuan, located at 1711 El Camino Real.


Pickled cabbage was served when we sat down.


Zhajiang Mein--Noodles with spicy meat sauce--$9.95. This was just okay, not enough flavor and not much spiciness.


Beef Pancake--$7.95. This was also just okay. It needed more hoisin sauce.


Leek & Pork Dumplings (12)--$7.95. My favorite dish but still it was just okay.


Seafood & Tofu Claypot--$13.95. Not much flavor here either.


Garlic Sauteed Pea Sprout--$13.95.



2018 01 26

Friday, February 23, 2018

Final Notes on Iceland

We spent a total of 5 1/2 days in Reykjavik and it was the perfect length of time. We loved the convenient non-stop flight from SFO to Reykjavik. Our only complaint was the early arrival. Next time, I'll reserve our accommodations the night before so we can check in immediately when we arrive in the wee hours of the morning.

We were glad we got to see the aurora borealis. If we didn't get to see it, we might not be as happy with the trip. Plus, we had a beautiful sunny day and took advantage of it with a tour of the Golden Circle.

Our itinerary:

Sat
Depart SFO at 11:20am

Sun
Arrive KEF at 3:35am (was supposed to arrive at 4:10am)
Duty Free Shop at KEF to buy alcohol for our stay
Took Flybus shuttle into town
Arrived at BSI in Reykjavik
Walked 10 min to Nordurey Guesthouse
Slept until 10:40am then checked out at 11am
Walked to Rental Office for Luna Apartments and dropped off luggage
Lunch at Messinn Granda
Dinner at the apartment

Mon
Woke up at 11am (sunrise at 10:40am)
Lunch at Restaurant Reykjavik
Toured Hallgrimskirkja
Sundholl Pool
Dinner at the apartment

Tue
Breakfast from Braud & Co.
Purchased 48h City Card at the Tourist Information Center at the Raohus
Toured: Settlement Exhibition, Museum of Photography, Hofnarhus Art Museum
Hot dog at Baejarins Beztu Pylsur
Toured: Sun Voyager, Harpa
Lunch at Saegreifinn
Toured: National Museum
Vesturbaejarlaug pool
Take out from Bergsson Mathus
Northern Lights Tour--no luck

Wed
Breakfast at Sandholt
Toured: Culture House, Arbaer Open Air Museum
Snack at Reykjavik Sausage Company
Laugardalslaug Pools
Dinner at Icelandic Street Food
Northern Lights Tour--success!

Thurs
Golden Circle Tour
Dinner at Sjavargrillid

Fri
Checked out of apartment and dropped off luggage at Rental Office
Lunch at Messinn Granda
Toured: Domkirkja
Taxi from Rental Office to BSI
Flybus to KEF
Flight KEF to SFO



2018 01 26




Thursday, February 22, 2018

Sjavargrillid

Dining out gets pricey in Iceland. I found that there wasn't much of a price differential between an average place and an upscale restaurant. I had read about Sjavargrillid and decided to have dinner there. The bonus was a 10% discount if you have the City Card.


Sjavargrillid is located at Skolavoerdustigur 14 in the center of town.


We chose to go with The Big Grill Party tasting menu for ISK10,900. We got an amuse bouche of Scallops, Bacon-wrapped Dates, Parsnip, Burnt Paper Onion, Dill Snow and Fennel Cream. There were 3 of us and all 3 servings were presented on the same plate. The scallops and dates were quite good but the rest didn't add much to the dish.


The next course was Cured Sheep Fillet, Fried Portobello Mushrooms and Beets. The sheep tasted like prosciutto. The mushrooms were a little greasy because they were fried. The beets were shaved and raw--a little too crunchy for my taste.


Cured Arctic Char, Buttermilk Foam, Apples, Radishes and Chives. The char tasted like gravlax. The kitchen delivered 3 plates and we thought they were huge portions. We realized when the next course was delivered and it was only 1 plate with 3 servings, just like the first 2 courses, that this was an error. Since this was my favorite dish, I didn't mind the error. 


Fried Cod Cheek, Kale, Bok Choy and Remoulade Sauce. The cod was well prepared but the rest did not compliment the fish.


Salted Cod with Broccoli, Grapes and a brown sauce that I couldn't identify. The fish was again good but the rest of the dish didn't compliment.


Grilled Perch with Roasted Cauliflower and Carrot. 


Fried Lamb, Celery Root, Baby Corn. The lamb was very good and not too gamey.


Grilled Lamb, presented on a mini hibachi. I liked the smoky flavor and the lamb was tender.


Intermezzo of raspberry sorbet.


Dessert--Strawberry Sorbet, Strawberries, Creme Brûlée, Sorrel Ice (the green stuff) with dollops of Whipped Cream. This was a lot of dessert and none of it worked together. 

We left very full and most of the dishes were quite tasty. The meal was definitely not Michelin-grade though. They need to work on the combination of flavors, presentation (I was quite surprised that we weren't given individual portions) and service.



2018 01 25

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

The Golden Circle Tour

We took a full day tour of the Golden Circle. It was a beautiful sunny day.


Our tour left at 9:30 am when it was still dark. Sunrise was at 10:30 am.


The first stop was Pingvellir National Park, 40 km northeast of Reykjavik. This is where the fissured rift valley formed from the meeting of the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates.


This is also where the 1st Viking Parliament (Alpingi) was established in AD930.


The law speaker recited the existing law to the assembled parliament from Law Rock which faced this rock formation.


Pingvellir was where we came to see the Aurora Borealis the night before. We were sheltered behind the brown wall. It looked so different during the day.


As we drove through the Icelandic countryside, we could see steam from thermal springs.


Our second stop was at Gullfoss, Iceland's most famous waterfall. This is a double cascade and portions of it were frozen in January.




Third stop was Geysir, the original geyser. Unfortunately, it's not very active now.


At the same site, Strokkur is the more reliable geyser now, spouting every 5-10 minutes. Prior to spouting, you'll see a turquoise bubble.


It shoots pretty high.


Our final stop was at Skalholt Church.


Again a very austere interior. The church is known for its free Baroque concerts in the summer.

This was a full-day tour and we returned to Reykjavik at 5:30 pm. The stops weren't very long and we didn't have time for lunch. You would have to forego seeing some of the sights if you took the time to get lunch. We had brought snacks and were happy we did.



2018 01 25

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Northern Lights

We signed up for a tour to see the Northern Lights. We chose Gray Line tours. They will pick you up at your hotel but if you're staying in the center of Reykjavik, they are not allowed to stop to pick you up so there are designated bus stops throughout town where they can pick you up. The closest stop to us was Stop #3, just a 2 block walk from our apartment.

The night we signed up for the tour, the prediction for Northern Lights was minimal but they were still optimistic. We drove to Pingvellir National Park, a 40 minute drive outside Reykjavik. It was freezing that night and the sky was relatively clear but there was no Northern Lights activity. There was no place to sit so standing for 2 hours was tough. There were picnic tables nearby and if we had brought some plastic sheets as well as towels, we could have sat on the frozen benches. After 2 hours, we gave up and drove back into town.

If you don't get to see the lights, they will take you out again for free. We chose to go again the next night. The prediction was a little better--it was a 3 instead of 1.  http://en.vedur.is/weather/forecasts/aurora/


We drove to the same park and when we arrived, we could already see the green streaks. It wasn't as brilliant as what we saw from the plane but it was better than nothing.


Pretty soon, there were violet, blue and yellow lights as well. It was pretty good and everyone was oohing and aahing. I thought that the dancing lights were time lapse photography but soon enough, the lights started to dance. It was an amazing display and made the whole trip worthwhile.

My sister had an iPhone X and was able to take these pictures on the phone. She found out later that there is an app to take Northern Lights pictures but she didn't know about this earlier.

I did bring a tripod and a Panasonic Lumix point and shoot camera. It was hard to take pictures with the tripod because it was so windy that the tripod kept tipping over.



2018 01 23 & 24