La Couronne

In between the Waste Not, Want Not show and the Pasaje Rodriguez art shows, we went for dinner to fuel up for a night filled with adventure. Tonight we are trying La Querencia in the Zona Gastronomica  district. After our delightful dining experience at Mision 19, we were more than looking forward to another Baja Mediterranean feast and La Querencia definitely lived up to our expectations.

The menu is filled with uniquely Baja flavors, delectable  small bites that are perfect for sharing over a glass of wine or beer. There are also main courses which we did not try this time around. When you’re as excited as I was about trying as much as our stomachs could handle, you choose a handful smaller plates. Above is the chicharron de pulpo which was octopus with rosemary, chile, and flambed with tequila. Definitely a spectacular presentation worth ordering. I’m not a lover of octopus, but the preparation and mouth-watering flavors were impressive. Now if I could only get over octopus’ naturally chewy texture…

As we ordered a few more dishes, the waiter came by with a plate full of sauteed shrimp with the most delicious aroma. Of course I just had to try it.

By far, the most delicious dish was the seared ahi with fresh avocado, avocado salsa and Japanese ingredients such as furikake and shoyu. See what a healthy portion this is? I have to admit, we ate it all! This is definitely something I would order again and think about often.

Lastly, we had the portobello quesadilla with gorgonzola and peppers. This was good, but not particularly memorable. But hey, they can’t all be spectacular, right? All in all, our dining experience at La Querencia was a hit, especially the ahi. Next time we return, I’d like to see what it’s like during lunchtime.

La Querencia:

Av. Escuadrón 201 No. 3110
Entre Blvd. Sánchez Taboada y Blvd. Salinas,
Tijuana, B.C.

Spring is in the air. I can feel it. The weather is getting warmer, the days slightly longer, and sakura are beginning to bloom at Balboa Park. We took advantage of this sunny day with its crisp, clean air and went to the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. Of all the times we’ve strolled through the park we never stopped to visit this garden. This day, we were on a mission to view some cherry blossoms.

After our trip to Japan last year and experiencing the beautiful cherry blossom trees in full bloom, I had a better appreciation for these delicate flowers. Right now, there are not many blossoms left to be seen at the garden (thanks to the wind and rain last weekend). However, adjacent in the canyon where the garden is expanding, cherry blossom trees line the walk and were full of blossoms just in time for the 8th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Soon after the blooms appeared, they were quickly blown away. Unfortunately, this newer part of the garden is still under construction and not yet open to the public. Not to worry though, there are still nice pockets of tranquility to be explored in this compact garden.

Japanese Friendship Garden, San Diego

2215 Pan American Road

San Diego, Ca 92101

Phone: (619) 232-2721

Times have changed since high school, but my musical tastes have remained pretty much the same. Well, ok I’ve kinda branched out a little and taken in new bands like this but Morrissey and The Smiths remain high on my list of all time favorite bands- ever.

Last Friday, I got the text of the year- Two extra Morrissey tickets at Hollywood High on Saturday! Oh yes! I just had to convince you-know-who and it was a done deal. I couldn’t wait. The two or so hours left at work were pure drudgery as I was too excited to think of anything else but Saturday and the smallish venue and our general admission floor tickets.

It’s been 20-ish years since my last Morrissey concert, one that landed me in the hospital after only 3 songs. It was so sad. I was so sad about it all. I tried to last, but the crushing mass of fans more zealous than I was carried me away in a suffocating stream. Needless to say, 20+ years later, I was happy with the seats we found, 5 rows from the stage. After all, who needs to be in the pit anyhow? Apparently, me and J’s friend, also J. Somebody did not learn her lesson and could not resist taking the opportunity to slide into second row seats and eventually jump a row of chairs as soon as security turned their backs. J and I saw a sliver of an opportunity and we took it. As J said, when it comes to Morrissey, it’s every man/woman for himself/herself.

This time, I was prepared for the dedicated Morrissey crowd. I was ready to not be crushed/stomped/trampled in the mass of sweaty bodies. I was so ready. To my amazement, the crowd turned out to be very docile, save for the one idiot that wormed his way next to me and acted the complete fool. There’s always one. I guess as times change so do people and maybe we’re all getting older and more frail, but it was all so well behaved. I was shocked and amazed.

What was supposed to be my cure from years of listening to Morrissey sing about more of the same, I was sure this time around I would change my tune and see that the show wasn’t all that fantastic. That it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Surely, I’d experience this show thorough more mature eyes and my interest would wane.  Quite the opposite happened. Going to this show brought back all the great memories and reminded me of why I enjoyed Morrissey’s music. Secretly, I hoped to be over it all but last Saturday’s performance sucked me in all over again.

A stop at the Roosevelt Hotel bar for some pre show relaxing.

So we’re back in SD and I was thrilled to find out that Redd Kross was playing a show at the Casbah. Awesome. At first, I couldn’t believe it since this was a blast from the past for me. I never got to see them live back in the day so I’m sure you can imagine my enthusiasm many years later… Talk about bringing me back to high school when I first started listening to Redd Kross along with Celebrity Skin. Whoa. Let’s not talk about how many years ago that all was.

It was great to see that we were not the oldest fans in attendance- not by a long shot. This made me feel so good! Anyhow, the music was great and I was happy they played some of the older songs as well as new material that I had not yet heard. I’m looking forward to seeing them again should they ever play in a city where we can get to the show.

The world has changed in the last 10 years. Neighborhoods which once were filled with people whose genders were difficult to decipher have now been taken over and gentrified. I’m not saying gentrification is bad, I’m merely saying that the world and at a much lower level, individual neighborhoods within large cities have changed.

This brings us to today’s post. The neighborhood, “the tenderloin”, the place, “Hemlock”, and finally, the band, “Mean Jeans”. From the isolated hipster outpost of Portland, Oregon, home of rain, trees and beards, comes the heavy influence of two bands,  one from NH and the other from NY. Loud, Fast, Poppy and Punk, Mean Jeans never fails to turn a normally subdued crowd of art school dropouts into an angry mob of middlewestern rage and frustration. Among the mob of raging middlewestern art school dropouts were two mature people from the concrete wilds of San Diego, with the sole purpose of providing you, our gentile readers, with this photographic essay.