Mi Quang, Banh Mi, and a Vietnamese Flan too..

After being told to try Mi Quang a couple months back, I finally tested it out today. Not that many restaurants make it out here and after searching online, the majority of the restaurants that made this dish were in Westminister and Venice. I decided to go with Venice for distance purposes. So I went to test it out at the China Beach Vietnamese Bistro right near the Venice Beach Boardwalk. They only offer this dish on the 3rd week of every month in which I couldn't try it last month because of my travel plans, but this month I was able to make a go for it. So let's start eating....



Mi Quang



This flavorful dish is from the Guang Quang Nam Province in Vietnam. In my bowl, I had a wonderful seafood sauce, bacon, shrimp, chicken, hard boiled egg, peanuts, mint, basil, tomato, carrots, egg noodles, and topped with an oh so good spring roll.




I loved it, but I have an inkling it is so much better in Vietnam. No doubt, this is a damn good dish and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My tastebuds did too. It was very light to me even with the bacon in the bowl! I'd grub again for sure.

My friend Eunice had her first experience today with the Vietnamese cuisine. I just let her pick what she wanted. She ended up choosing Banh Mi.



Her Banh Mi was filled with chicken, sweet fish sauce, green onions, onions, cilantro, and carrots. She loved it and left me eating my dish alone because she had finished it in less than 10 minutes! She said the baguette was perfectly toasted on the outside and the right softness in the middle. Not soggy at all. She's willing to come back again and bring her man too.

Last but not least, I noticed out of the corner of my eye..the dessert menu!! Now I'm not really into dessert but once I saw this, I was curious and had to! So I ordered it.

Vietnamese flan!



What makes this flan a Vietnamese flan? I still don't know. I couldn't taste the difference other than the fact that I enjoyed it being very light. And it being too damn amazing to me! All the waitress said was that it was inspired from the French, but to me, it just tastes like the normal flan you would get anywhere in Europe, South America, and Asia. Either way, I just loved it and didn't think too much into it.



Overall, I give China Beach 4 and 1/2 hearts: ♥♥♥♥1/2. Honestly would have been 5, but I found it to be just a little expensive for me. Eunice paid $5.25 for her Banh Mi, which I thought was reasonable, but I paid $11.95 for the Mi Quang and $4.00 for the Vietnamese Flan. It was more than what I was expecting to pay, but I'm wondering if it is the combination of the beach location, ingredients for the dish, and the dish itself being special.

I did want to say I loved the waitress there! She was really friendly and opened up right away. One minute she was commenting on my full bowl and asked if I even had any of it (I like to savor my dishes so I tend to eat slower, but that's how you should be eating anyway!) to her and her husband wanting to have a baby but her doctor says she is too skinny and can't have one until she gains weight. Her husband bought her "junk food" so she would eat it and gain but he ended up eating most of it and is now 10 lbs heavier! And how she should just quit working, sit in front of the TV, and grub out on junk to gain the weight. Just loved her.

But I have noticed this with all the Vietnamese restaurants I've been too as well. I can tell the Vietnamese are very sociable, warm, friendly, and talkative! The last waitress I had gave me a hug and told me to see her soon. Probably the most friendliest people I have met in all the restaurants I have ever been too here in CA, besides the Middle Eastern ones, as they also tend to be very funny, cool, talkative, and expressive with their feelings. I'll be coming back here if I'm ever in the area. A better alternative than most of the offerings on the boardwalk.

It has been awhile...

So I'm just now finding the time to update with a post. Just recently got back from my Ecuador and Chile adventure. What a great time I had! And again, I wish I was back but already planning for a huge South America 2011 adventure. Anyway, I'll update what I had been able to do and then recap my adventures on and below the Equator.

First, I baked and decorated a cake for my besty Lacey. A pretty pink butterfly decorated with red hots. My original plan was to get the colorful rainbow sugar sprinkles and make a rainbow affect but she is not a fan of sprinkles so had to tweek everything around. She also only prefers the confetti cake and confetti frosting so that is why the frosting on the cake looks bumpy.



All I did was bake the cake in two 9-in round pans, allowed them to cool completely, stuck the cakes in the freezer for a couple hours, frosted and layered them and cut the cake in half and made sure to cut out a diamond near one edge, split the cake in half, and flipped them to make the shape of the butterfly. Frosted the cake and decorated it with the red hots. She loved it!

I enjoyed sushi for the first time in a month! It was nice! Sorry, no pictures. I figured it was just the usual!

And my friend RaraRosa aka rufflesizzle came down from SF and made plans to hang with her and her friend. Bluebizzy and Rufflesizzle reunited! I missed her. Ended up going back to Carnival, the Middle Eastern restaurant I fell in love with awhile back and was craving!


Ordered Tabouli. Tasted almost exactly like homemade! Except I grew up with a secret ingredient that isn't usually added in Tabouli. It's cucumber. My mom always added the crunch to it and that's how I'll always make it and prefer it in my Tabouli. So it was fantastic at the restaurant and I made it even more amazing by finely chopping up cucumbers and added it to the salad when I got home!


Grape leaves aka Dolma. Tastes exactly like homemade. Usually put ground beef into it but it is fine either way.

I also got Kibbeh but for some random reason, I forgot to take a picture of it! Ridiculous. It was splendid of course, and just like the first time I came here, there were only a few pine nuts in each Kibbeh. Ridiculous again! I'd like them to add more but besides that, they are darn good here!

Rosa and Maryanne got the Chicken Shawarma and were completely satisfied with their sandwiches. They took my tahini sauce that was on the side of my Kibbeh and used it in their sandwiches. They loved it. I'm not a fan of tahini so I was happy to let them utilize the sauce in their Shawarma!




I love Kafta so got a small plate of Kafta Kabob with rice, tomato, and onions. Amazing! Perfectly cooked, seasoned, and moist. Superb.



Next up, dessert of course!

Rosa settled with Baklava. It is filo dough with a mixture of walnut and cinnamon/sugar, honey (or most of the time it is actually a simple syrup), and usually topped with finely chopped pistachios. I would have ordered one but they used honey and I'm not a fan of honey. My preference is first enjoying Baklava without the syrup and then Baklava with a simple syrup. She ate it up.



Maryanne tried my dessert, LOVED it, and ordered her own. And myself, I of course got Knafeh!! If I could, I would eat this everyday! So I bought two so that I can keep it in the fridge and drag it out until the next time I have some more! It's shredded filo dough (usually dyed a pink-to-orange color), sweet cheese, and topped with a simple rose or orange blossom syrup and finely chopped pistachios. My go-to dessert. Get it. Now.



'En'credible Ecuador and Chilly Chile next up....

Ecuador and Chile

UPDATE: I will be in both Ecuador and Chile for the remainder of my summer! I will try my best to update while in the midst of being on an island, in a rainforest, trekking the mountains and volcanoes, where the grapes are, and in different cities! Maybe even try to make room for Mendoza or Cordoba, Argentina.

Where I'll Be:

Guayaquil, Ecuador
Galapagos Island
Old Town Quito, Ecuador
Coca, Ecuador
Yasuni, Amazon, Ecuador
New Town Quito, Ecuador
Santiago, Chile and surrounding cities

Stay tuned....

Green Guacamole

I was in the mood for some salsa the other day but realized that I was out of tomatoes. Bummer! So I looked through my fridge and found some avocados and decided to make an all green guacamole. The color isn't too appealing because well, it's all green, but the taste is just great and of course, more important! I actually made a mistake too which I find quite laughable. I thought I was adding pepper to the guacamole but realized that I could not taste the pepper and after looking at the container, I saw that it was ground mustard! Oh goodness! That's what happens when you wake up at 5:00am everyday for work! I have been a little tired this summer, so don't blame me! Anyway, here is the recipe. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures because I was hungry, but just it being guacamole, you know it'll be good!

Green Guacamole

2 small to medium sized avocados
1 cucumber
Small handful of flat leaf parsley
2 garlic cloves (Cause I love my garlic!)
1/2 of a lemon (or lime)
Eyeball Salt, to taste
Eyeball Ground Mustard, to taste
Ground Pepper, optional :)

Scoop out the avocado, smash it up a little to make it chunky, and add the remainder ingredients. Serve alongside homemade corn tortilla chips. Yum!

Photo Journey

Today I was in the mood to add some favorite pictures from Argentina and Brazil. My anticipation for Ecuador is building...the day is finally almost here!


























Life was made to be explored. ♥

Tortas Ahogadas - Las Originales

For bomb tacos, you need to check out Tortas Ahogadas in Old Town Newhall. It's a hole in a wall near my area that has not been remodeled..thank goodness! The owners originated from Guadalajara, Mexico and they know what they are doing in their kitchen. I love the vibe the place gives off. Makes you feel like you are in Mexico. The background music is Spanish, the menu is all in Spanish, and Spanish is spoken more than English. All this in Newhall. It can't get better than that. I would just recommend that you come here anytime before nighttime, when it is safe, or in a group if you choose to go at night. My triathlete bud Diana told me she has been eating here every week now since her man took her there, told me it was blog worthy, and that I must try it out. My question to this: Why haven't I known about this place? I only drive by it when I choose to take the short cut when heading towards the freeway..which is quite often. Anyway, these tacos were amazing, blog-worthy, and craving-satisfying until the real thing is consumed in Mexico.

There were so many dishes I wanted to indulge in but we ended up getting the Tacos con carne fresca de su preferencia acompañados de arroz y frijioles. Our meat of choice: Carne Asada. I included Nopal Asado (grilled cactus) with my meal.





The result: Just perfectly made tacos. Two corn tortillas topped with carne asado, onion, cilantro, and their own spicy red sauce. Just simple ingredients used with the spicy kick from the red sauce. Simply put--You don't need to add excessive ingredients to magnify a dish. Sometimes, and most always, simple is best. In this case, the tacos were simply damn good just the way they are!

Wasn't in the dessert mood, but you know what flan does to me, so I decided to order the Jericalla.


This is a first that I've seen. I thought it would have been a burned sugar shell, but it was not sweet and right away I figured it was a cinnamon shell. I wasn't really too fond of it but it wasn't bad. Just an acquired taste of burned cinnamon. Below is how the flan is once you crack into the cinnamon shell.


Jericalla is a specialty flan that originates from Guadalajara. The only difference between this flan and regular flan---cinnamon. What I also noticed was that they chose to make it an egg white flan--no hint of egg yolk. I think that's what brought this dessert to a slightly higher intensity for me. I know that sounds like it would be the opposite for anyone but I find I really like the all egg white versions of flan just as equally, if not a little bit better than the original. ***I would like to add that I find this at the top as one of the best I've ever had besides the one I had in Buenos Aires, Argentina and at Ford's Filling Station in Culver City. And for $2, it should be illegal because I'm afraid I might head over there more often now while I'm still near the area. Uh oh, I'm in big trouble...

I give Tortas Ahogadas 5 hearts: ♥♥♥♥♥. Well worth the drive to get your taco fix on. Wallet friendly as well. A definite plus. Next time, I think I'll try the Tortas Ahogadas, which is one of the typical dishes in Guadalajara. Hasta que Mexico viaja a pasar, ir a Guadalajara en Newhall, por ahora.