It’s coming out in June. Check out the preview here.
China Bowl: The Best Al Pastor?
On the way up from Huntington Beach, Kohei and I picked up some fresh, wild-caught shrimp in a small town right before we reached Santa Barbara. If you are familiar with that stretch of coast line, it’s the place that used to have the banana plantation back in the day.
Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures, but the place selling the shrimp was like something you might encounter in Mexico or a rural coastal village in Thailand. I saw no signs advertising their shrimp, only a broken down taco truck converted into a produce stand, which also sold long skateboards.
Kohei inquired if they were the place that sold shrimp, and the young dude cleared some lettuce off of a battered box, and removed the lid to expose some really fresh shrimp. It still had bright pigmentation, and the only smell was of fresh sea water.
I drove off with my mind blown that such a place could exist, hidden from everyone other than the locals right next to the 101. This is what I had grown addicted to in Japan: finding places that no one else knew of that were extraordinary. Since returning, I’ve found such places, but not nearly as frequently as I did in Kyushu and Kansai.
What was the chances of finding 2 places that surprised me in one day, covering a stretch of California that I have driven through countless times? Well, it was pretty good that day.
“What do you recommend for lunch?” is a question I’ve asked Ko on many occasions, and he has never done me wrong. Tri-tip burgers in Long Beach, Pink’s Hotdogs, and the best chili fries in L.A. are only a few things that we have enjoyed on an afternoon. This guy knows good food, but I was still more than a bit confused when he recommended a Chinese place for Mexican food.
We walked into the restaurant at about 2pm, and there was no one to show us to a seat. Instead, we walked up to a window next to the kitchen, wrote down our order on an order pad. We summoned the cook, and he shaved a seemingly insignificant portion of meat off of the stack, serving us 3 tacos apiece.
This beautiful ball of sizzling pork reminded me of all of the great chunks of roasting meat I’ve sampled, notable those of the kebab places in Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, of tacos in Mexico, and of Churrasco in Kobe.
The salsas and condiments were top rate as well. Notably, they served their tacos with a side of canned pineapple that perfectly complemented the tacos. Pico de gallo, cilantro and onions, jalapenos, sliced radishes, guacamole, and other toppings rested underneath two Shisars, a lacquered hyotan, and a samurai helmet display. Could this place be any more awesome?
The owner clearly liked fishing and hiking in the mountains, as he decorated the restaurant with mounted fish and family pictures in the Sierras. I have no idea about the history of this restaurant, but I intend to return and find out. It will give me a good reason to go back and enjoy some of the best tacos I have ever tasted!
On the China Bowl website there is no mention of tacos, but take my word for it: it is well worth your time to stop by this place if you find yourself passing through Santa Maria. Long live Chinese tacos!
Categories: Food, Northern California
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Views from my daily commute
This is what I get to look at every day on my walk to work:
It’s a little under 2 miles from my apartment to work, and takes about 18 minutes to walk from start to finish. Of course, I’m talking about walking at an Osaka pace, so it would really be more like 25 minutes at a leisurely stroll.
Every morning, I am very aware that I could be sitting in traffic on the 405. Yes, I know that I am a lucky bastard.
This is Hopkins Beach, the home of many sausage-shaped harbor seals. I saw some newborn pups last week, so there’ll probably be a lot more of them when I get back to Monterey.
Thanks to the changing seasons, the sun is higher in the sky when I walk to work. It’s kind of cool getting up in time to watch the sun rise, but I much prefer the longer days of summer.
I hadn’t realized how large my backlog of photos has grown since I’ve started working at MBA. For the sake of posting, I think I need to take more vacations.
Categories: Monterey
3 Comments
A Simian Mug
Take a look at this fish. What would you say its face looks like?
The monkeyface-eel lives along the coasts in tidepools and eat mainly algae and crustaceans. A friend of mine has gone fishing for these, using a poke-pole, and says that they taste pretty good, though cleaning them can be problematic. Their skin is so slippery that it is hard to cut a fillet off of their body.
Categories: Fishes
2 Comments
Dishonesty sucks
Alright, I have a bone to pick. Some jerk ripped off my pictures, and his page got Dugg to the #1 spot today:
(This site has been completely changed now, thanks to the support of readers like you!)
http://www.bloggingwv.com/the-worlds-most-amazing-fishtank/
Here’s the Digg link:
http://www.digg.com/general_sciences/The_worlds_most_amazing_fish_tank_PICTURES
And my original post:
http://www.cosmicbuddha.com/adam/archives/002230.html
If you’re as disgusted as I am by this individual, please drop by the West Virginia Blogger’s site and Digg and let everyone know how you feel.
This sucks: I’m flattered that the Digg community liked my content enough to earn a #1 ranking, but I’m pissed that someone would post the content and not give any sort of credit where credit is due, let alone ask permission.
Who does this individual think they are? Wouldn’t they think that I’d be keeping track of my page after I’d been Farked and increasingly thumbed-up on Stumble Upon? Ultimately, in seeking attention through Digg, he pwned himself.
The following is a comment that I left on the guilty blog:
As the owner of the pictures that you posted without my permission on your site, I am asking you to take them down.
I also think that an apology is in order.
Re-posting other people’s content without making it clear that you had nothing to do with anything other than copying and pasting stuff to your own page is dishonest and misleading.
I think you owe it to yourself to modify your behavior.
I hope that you are as disappointed in yourself as I am of you.
All right, I’m through for now. Gonna go to bed.
***Update***
The comment above was successfully posted to his page, but he deleted it like a coward. Below is the comment and response that he left, after deleting the other one:
# Adam Says:
April 8th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Yo, if you’re going to repost images from my site, the least you can do is give credit:
http://www.cosmicbuddha.com/adam/archives/002230.html
# Bucky Says:
April 8th, 2007 at 1:40 am
ADAM,
I didn’t get the images from your site. They were sent to me as an email FWD.
Nice blog BTW.
I could really care less about what “Bucky” thinks of my blog. What I want is for my pictures to be removed, and for an apology. Is that really too much to ask?
Just to give fair notice, I’ve just posted this:
I couldn’t care less about what you think of my blog.
I will ask again:
1. take down my pictures
2. apologize
I will remind you that my content is protected by a Creative Commons license and I DO NOT give you permission to have them on your site. It doesn’t matter how you acquired them. For the record, your excuse is pitiful.
Erasing my comments will not make me go away.
along with the other comment that he erased. OK, now I’m really going to sleep.
***Update 2***
Bucky has blocked me from commenting, but I really need to get some sleep. Let’s see how things pan out tomorrow.
***Dirt off my shoulders***
Thanks to everyone who backed me up on this, and thanks to everyone who dropped by my post and left comments.
Both of my requests were ultimately met, with a twist.
He kept the post, deleted all of the comments pertaining to my post and from those who backed me up, and has posted a story (that has already been Dugg in the past by someone else, big surprise!) to bring in residual traffic. It’s kind of funny to see how much he still treasures getting exposure. It’s also amusing to see how poorly the old comments match up to the remodeled post.
I wish I would have kept a record of the comments that urged him to do the right thing, as no one really was overtly hostile. Most of the comments were civil, and sounded like something a nice first grade teacher would say to gently nudge a misbehaving child in the right direction. It would be a stretch to call any of the feedback that he received “flaming”, though Justin’s challenge of letting the comments stand used some colorful language. I have a feeling Justin would make a good high school teacher, and perhaps a preschool teacher as well.
Lastly, check the comments to this post. I was a bit surprised about his request, but will chalk it up to sleep deprivation and extreme embarrassment (on his behalf, of course).
Categories: Art
8 Comments
Reminiscing of Ryukyu
Watching this conjures up memories of awamori, umibudo, goya champuru, taco rice, and stewed pig’s feet while listening to the laid back twangs and beats of the shinsen and taiko, accompanied by hauntingly beautiful vocals of a dialect that I love to listen to, yet do not understand.
Little Evil vs. BJ Penn
The 3rd season of Ultimate Fighter has Jens Pulver and BJ Penn as coaches on opposing teams, and they’re going to fight on the last show!
Both of these fighters are among my favorites, and despite being conflicted on who I want to win, I know it’s going to be a good fight.
In other news, Sam Sheridan’s book, “A Fighter’s Heart” is really good. I remember watching him on National Geographic a few years back, and it’s interesting to see how he’s progressed in his fighting career. This guy trained with Team Miletich and got a magazine to foot the bill in return for writing about his experiences. He has that special mix of eloquence and grit, the qualities that make a warrior poet.
Categories: Martial Arts
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Use the pliers…
This fish has big teeth:
link
Puppies of Spring
This set was actually taken in the Fall, but the 7 seem more like harbingers of Spring to me. As much as I don’t like small dogs, these puppies were the best puppies in the world. They weren’t the smartest, nor the most ferocious or dependable, but they were the happiest dogs I have known.
I hope that they’re all living happy lives. I feel like an uncle to them.
Killer and Pinky are under the care of my parents, Yvel (now named “Chanel”) now rides in a Bentley in Carmel, Cat and Spanky are also millionaires and live in a multimillion dollar house near Monterey, Blaze lives in Fountain Valley, and Monster resides with a Veterinarian in Huntington Beach.
These are a bunch of lucky dogs. Thank goodness for that, as they would have zero chance of surviving in the wild. They have very few wits amongst themselves to fend off wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions.
These dogs, my dogs, now eat filet mignon and drink only expensive mineral water. That’s kind of cool, hahaha!
Categories: Puppies
2 Comments
A tale of two fishes
What’s the difference between the words “fish” and “fishes”,? This was explained to me a few weeks ago in a lecture about fishes (and if you feel I’ve left anything out, please let me know):
Fish (I’m just dealing with the noun form, pertaining to language used by aquarists, keep in mind) can mean an individual or a group of the same species of fish.
Fishes, on the other hand, deals specifically with the plural of two or more species.
So does this mean that the sentence “I eat a lot of fish.” is wrong if you enjoy eating salmon, tuna, yellowtail, barramundi, and other types of fishes? I don’t think so, but I’ll ask around.
Anyhow, on to the pictures. One fish pictured is a gar. The other fish is a goldfish. One of them ate the other one, and though the outcome was predictable, I was not expecting to see the following play out.
I don’t know enough about gars to hazard a guess at which species this is, but I can tell you that it is the King (or Queen) of the tank.
Maneuvering by using mostly its muscular pectoral fins, the gar slowly positions itself for a meal.
The attack is lightning fast, and devastating to the goldfish. Pressure sensitive canals are lined up along its snout, and function much like a lateral line, letting the gar sense changes in water pressure. It attacks by lining its prey up right next to its mouth, and then snapping it up with its needle-like teeth while flexing its body to one side.
For some reason, the gar spat out its meal, and started to drag the disemboweled goldfish around. It reminded me of a master walking his dog.
After a few minutes, the intestines finally snapped, and the gar finished its grisly meal.
Categories: Fishes
6 Comments