The Halal Guys

We were in the south bay again and had lunch at The Halal Guys, located at 81 Curtner Avenue in San Jose. Look for the Boiling Crab and it's a few doors down.

The last time we were here, there was a line out the door. I guess the hype has died down because there was no line today.

My sister joined us today. She also went to New York with us and didn't care for The Halal Guys there. She liked it here though. She thought the meat was more tender and agreed with me that it was definitely less greasy.

Regular Combo Platter with Beef Gyro & Chicken--$9.99. The small size was significantly smaller and was only $1 less. I got my hot sauce on the side. I dropped about 7 drops on my platter and it was plenty hot. My husband used a whole packet of hot sauce and sweated through his lunch.

Baba Ghanouj with 1 pita--$4.99. We all liked this. It was nice and smoky. It wasn't too salty today.

2016 08 13

T's Mesquite Rotisserie

We were up in Lake Tahoe and looked for a place to have lunch. I searched on yelp and found T's Mesquite Rotisserie.

T's Mesquite Rotisserie is located at 901 Tahoe Blvd in Incline Village.

Combo Chicken & Trip Tip--$10.95. 1/4 chicken and 1/4 lb tri tip. The chicken was supposed to be soy lime or yucatan style but it didn't have much flavor so it was hard to tell which one it was. Unfortunately, the tri tip didn't have much flavor either. At least both were moist and tender. The  combo comes with 2 sides. I chose rice, which was a little mushy and the coleslaw, which was good.

My husband got the same combo but opted for the marinated cucumber salad and potato salad. He didn't tell me how they were.

The combo plates were served with three corn tortillas and salsa--I got the mild pico de gallo and my husband got the medium green salsa.

2016 08 06

Tri Tip Trolley

We had an event at work and Tri Tip Trolley catered it.

Tri Tip Bowl--$11. This was 1/2 lb of tri tip, coleslaw and chipotle sauce. It was tasty but I was looking for some carbs. It would've been really good over rice.

New Orleans BBQ Shrimp--$12. New Orleans BBQ Shrimp sautéed with Worchestershire Sauce and garlic butter on fresh toasted roll. This was disappointing. The roll was stale and there weren't many shrimp. Don't call it New Orleans unless it's real New Orleans style BBQ shrimp.

Street Corn Salad--$6. Fresh grilled sweet corn with sautéed onions and Chipotle sauce topped with Cojito cheese and cilantro. I did not like this at all. I wasn't a fan of the cheese on the corn.

Shishito Peppers--$6. Grilled and served with Chipotle sauce. This was delicious.

2016 07 31

SEA Noodle Bar

Went to SEA Noodle Bar for lunch while at Coddingtown Mall in Santa Rosa.

Spicy Lemongrass Noodle Soup with Wild Prawns, Kaffir Leaves, Roasted Peanut, Galangal, Tomato, Yu Choy, Beansprout, Cilantro--$15. This had such potential but it was disappointing. The broth was too sweet for my taste.

Sauteed Pork, Japanese Eggplant, Garlic, Onion, Sweet Pepper, Thai Basil in Spicy Black Bean Sauce--$12. This was just okay. It wasn't a big serving and there was too much black bean in it.

2016 07 30

Final Notes on Norway

We spent 2 weeks in Norway. I brought 3 pairs of shoes: hiking boots for our trip to Pulpit Rock, sandals and a pair of rain shoes. I ended up wearing the rain shoes for the majority of the trip, even to our dinners at Hos Thea in Oslo and Lysverket in Bergen. Norway is a casual country and I didn't need anything fancier.

When the weather behaved, Norway was absolutely gorgeous. When it rained, it was difficult to appreciate the beauty. I'd like to go back to see the Northern Lights but will need to be prepared for dreary weather.

We were fortunate to have a good exchange rate. $1=NOK8 or greater. It was NOK5 in 2011. Norway was expensive at NOK8. I can't even imagine how ridiculous it would have been at NOK5.

2016 05 28

Kirkenes

We arrived at our final port Kirkenes at 9 am. You could take an excursion on a bus to the Russian border for NOK510, ride an ATV to the Russian border for NOK1130 or go on a king crab expedition for NOK1490. We had a flight at noon and opted for the shuttle to the airport for NOK120 per person. It was a 15-minute ride.

There were some people who didn't disembark in Kirkenes. They took the southbound voyage, which left Kirkenes at 12:30 pm. The ports were the same but were visited at different times. The ports passed at night on the northbound voyage were now toured during the day.



2016 05 28

Friendly Competition

Every day, we passed a Hurtigruten ship or two. Towards the end of the trip, it became a competition to show who had the most spirit. On the last night, our expedition leader pulled out all the stops and brought out yellow and blue plastic bags. We filled them with air and waved them at the passing ship while screaming at the top of our lungs.

We passed MS Nordlys at 9:45 pm. Clearly, we won. You can't even see how many people were out on their deck. After we won, our expedition leader played, "We Are the Champions." It was hilarious hearing Norwegians sing this song. 

2016 05 27