Not what we expected

Upon finishing this entry, I had to make it brief and revise it, since the rant is rather too long.



We saw the postings about the SD Asian Night Market on Facebook and kinda relieved that the event was being held in the SDCCU Stadium, formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium. It was a bigger venue and parking is abundant.



The event does not start till 4pm and ends at midnight. So heading there around 6pm would not be too bad then. Upon exiting the freeway, there was traffic already heading to the stadium. I then proposed to just make a U-turn and head on towards the other way. 45 minutes later, we were still there waiting in the car trying to get to the parking lot.

There was a huge turn out, thinking the place must be packed with all sorts vendors. We then parked and was now greeted with a line that's very reminiscing of last weeks Comic-Con. There's only one entrance going inside the event. And it does not matter whether you bought tickets ahead of time.







And now were inside, and the merch vendors were very sporadic and spread out rather far apart. There was maybe a good number of food vendors lined up on the sides but with very, and I mean very long lines.

We immediately went from one stall after the other, looking at menus and trying to choose which ones to line up for. We then chose Cross Street Chicken. By this time, we are so hungry. 20 minutes waiting in line (again) and maybe half way on ordering, the staff then said that there's no more chicken and they only have fries.



We have to look for another place to eat and had to settle for Japanese. It was also a long wait, and the price was decent and we actually liked the fried squid. WE then bought refreshments at Mind Squeeze and again the line was maybe 30 minutes. It was lemonade and no surprise to us, the mason jars ran out so we had to settle for the novelty giant baby bottle.

We wanted to get more food, but it was not worth lining up again for another 30 minutes or so. We then just walked around to see the merch vendors, but there was not a lot. We then decided to head on out and get food by convoy instead.





The event had potential. The traffic would have been handled way better. They could have at least maybe put 3 or 4 entrances. They should have just made the area smaller since there was not a lot of vendors. Your time at the swap meet would have been way better compared to here. It seems that the event was organized by a bunch of kids that had nothing better else to do on a weekend.

I did set up two events in my younger years, and they were near disaster. This one was nowhere close to that. This one should be lock in a closet and should never see the light of day. Massive fail for this one

Throwback 10 years ago

Was looking through my digital library of endless pics and I happen to stumble upon photos of our first San Francisco road trip.



Back then, I already have my DSLR and it gave me that feeling that with such an advanced camera, it would yield images that would be close to works of art, fit to be displayed in a museum. Strutting my camera all over the city, as if I'm a professional.



I'm not saying that they were bad. They were decent. But it would have been way better and closer to my present standards if I would have taken the time to at least learn the basics back then.



And looking through the properties of each photo, I had no idea back then how I was adjusting my cameras settings. On the bright side, at least I was not using our point and shoot.

May look good but

Spring is here and we've been seeing of the super bloom all over social media. Anza Borrego was the go to place to see all those wild flowers.

It was a 2 hour drive from Chula and the weather was in the 80's when we got there. We also had to cross the mountains and seeing this desolate town in the middle of the desert was just pretty amazing. 

Made us wonder how it feels like to live here. Vegas is filled with so many things and Palm Springs is less congested but it still has everything you need. While Anza Borrego is really tiny with mom and pop shops, long stretch of asphalt roads, hiking trails and a rotunda in the middle of the town with picnic tables.

We also went around to see the metal structures that they're famous for. 

Cheap paradise

 Amazon is our go-to [virtual] place when it comes to books. And I guess 80% of people for that matter.

 But no matter how convenient online shopping can be, you still need that feeling of being able to touch the thing you've been longing to buy, to see it in person and gauge how big/tiny or what material it's made of, before you eventually decide whether your hard earned penny is really worth spending on it.

  

 A few months ago, we happen to stumble upon Book Off. We've been ignoring this place for the  longest time. It's a Japanese chain store that sells mostly pre-owned items. Whether it's DVD, electronics, toys and even instruments. But they carry mostly books which was the next best thing besides Amazon, as I mentioned.

 Zion, Prime Grill, K-Bbq, Kura, Somi-Somi, Mini Cooper, Bonchon, H-Mart, Murakai, Costco Business and etc. We have added Book Off on our long list of places to go in Clairemont as another "excuse" to drive up. In fact, the drive does not matter when most of the things or stores we like are all located in one place. And it's a soiree of our so-called cheap paradise.

Address: 4240 Kearny Mesa Rd #128 San Diego CA 92111
Website: BookOff

Manna (Po) Bbq

Our one and only AYCE (All You Can Eat) Korean Bbq place in the south, closest to us would be Manna by Southwestern College. It's been years since we last came here and this was the second time. It was not impressive on our first visit considering that a lot of people we know have been raving about it.



I may not be the best critic when it comes to Korean Bbq, but we've had our fair share of places we've eaten at. And by far, Manna [East Lake] is at the bottom of our list. The only reason we went this time was because I wanted meat and I insisted we go despite Anna's warnings of possible disappointment.  She even added we might as well drive over to Clairemont I really want good meat.  But I wanted to give this place another chance and see if there might be any redeeming factor.




I was mistaken.

It was a Saturday and normally, K-Bbq restaurants have premium prices on weekends, even during lunch time. Given that, even the cheapskate in me was willing to fork out that much $. Beef brisket is a staple and a popular favorite on our K-Bbq table anywhere we go. But this time, it was a disappointment. What was supposedly described as thin on the menu was thickly cut and naturally became chewy when cooked. Since I was being generous on that day, I ordered another plate of it thinking maybe the first plate I was handed was a fluke. 

But fluke it all was.


A2 tier Menu

The rest of the meat were ok.  So-so. But then again, I'd rather drive and be satisfied with the food I eat with  the money I pay for. I would only consider coming back a third (and last) time just because I'd want to go with my food buddies and be able to criticize and prove that Manna should be, and stay for that matter, at the bottom of our list.


Price: 2 out of 5 ($25 per person/lowest tier)
Customer Service: 3.5 out of 5. We had to call somebody to have our grill replaced all the time compared to most of the places we've been to. It's good they have a "ringer" if we need anything instead of waiting for a staff member to pass by.
Food: 3 out of 5. Quality of the meat is as not a good considering their price against other better places we've been to.
Parking: 4  out of 5. There were a lot of parking space. However, even our Mini barely fit in the slot. You'd see a lot of SUV taking up two spots and not judge them.

Address:  724 Otay Lakes Rd. Chula Vista, CA 91910 b/t H St and Canyon Dr.

Website: Manna Korean Bbq

This is how we do it

There's always two outcomes with holiday/office parties. Either it would tank or be the talk of the town the next day. Lately, our parties have not been how it used to be.  Too much drama, issues with contributions and even people not getting along because they don't want certain people showing up. Basically, our parties became the millennial era. Easily offended and not satisfactory to everyone's needs.

A year ago, JD had a little party of their own for Christmas, an "Ugly sweater". It was a small group and Anna was the only one invited. No biggie in my part. And then the group decided to include guys and expand their guest list.

Me and Anna came in strong with our ugly sweater and swept the competition. But that's not the issue here. The party became how we did our parties a few years ago. It's the one where you just chill, enjoy, chat, dance, sing, basically do what your heart contents and more so, NO DRAMA.

The DJ played real music, one's that don't mumble the lyrics and ones that you can actually dance to it like a normal hip person would do.

It may not have the overflowing of food like it once had, but it was not even relevant. Alcohol was flowing and that invigorated the thirst of these party animals. There's hope on the horizon. We're slowly trying to put the pieces together and get to enjoy life once again outside the stress of work.