the end is the beginning

So I’ve succeeded in asking several friends to help out. I want to ask a couple more people that I’m not with all the time so this site can have real and frequent content. You know, make it fun to visit.
I’m gonna start a personal blog as well so I have somewhere else to put all that crap, talk about adventures in substitute teaching, and have a better spot to put any short stories I actually manage to finish.

I think I’ll eventually remove all entries marked “personal” from Burritos and Mojitos when this is all done.

New Site

Its 10:18 as I type this, but I’ve set this to post at 3pm. I should be taking my CBEST during that time, its the test that you have to take to be a substitute teacher in California. Finding out I wasn’t going to Japan was pretty heartbreaking, but I had already told myself I’d work on becoming a teacher here in the USA if it didn’t work out. The plan was to start a site with a new focus when I went to Japan because I knew I wanted to continue putting effort into becoming a better writer. Burritos and Mojitos has gotten me this far, but I think I need to change it up if I want it to remain entertaining to myself, let alone to others. Job misery leaves me too tired to right most night when I get home as well. So if I know one thing it is that leaving activision is the right thing to do.

I haven’t figured out exactly  how I’m going to change burritos and mojitos, but all my thoughts on it involve getting more people to work on it. Every once in a while Johnny and myself might have a brief conversation about him working on it, and more than anything I think him being on board would help it to maintain the fun it needs in order for me to enjoy writing it like I did at its origin. I’m not going to stop updating until the change though, and when I start teaching it will probably lead to more of my typical food posts. I’m also thinking of starting a blog for all the experiences I have in substitute teaching, and a place to post personal thing and short stories as well.

People always steered me away from teaching with different reasons throughout my life, but the main one was money. I swore growing up that I wouldn’t be able to afford a poorer lifestyle than my parents provided, but as an adult I realize just how different my priorities are. Things like spare time, food, and traveling are the things that are still most important to  Becoming a substitute teacher shouldn’t pay that much better, but the hours should be a lot better than Activision. That alone is worth the “career” change.

I could say Activision’s a good company and I’ll miss it, but I’d be lying. The people are largely incompetent, and my department (QA) seems to be the lowest on the totem pole. From what I’ve seen the fact that I have not had an incompetent boss shows I am incredibly lucky. I wont miss it at all, or the large amount of people that left me dumbfounded with their stupidity. I hope I keep in touch with the few friends I made better than I’ve kept in touch with other friends over the years.

Or I just blew the CBEST and I’ll be at Actvision a bit longer. In that case, I deserve it for not studying.

Ocean Park Pizza

I’ve found it extremely difficult to find pizza by the slice that is exceptional. Unfortunately this place ended up being another unimpressive pizza joint providing me with a par of a lunch. I don’t have a particular problem with thin crust, I just don’t understand why restaurants are unwilling to make thin crust with flavor, it’s like eating cardboard. I guess that’s why I’ve always preferred a thicker crust, because I actually care about the crusts flavor.

As I get older deciding on topings for pizza has proven more and more difficult. It’s no surprise that my expanding tastes would correlate with a broader preference for pizza topping, but more recently I’m struggling to find places with desired toppings. The benefit of getting slices from a place like this is limited selection, but it also means there will be very little available that strikes my fancy. I went with Hawaiian and Pepperoni at this place just because they were my favorites from the limited options.

Casa Blanca

The main reason I wanted to visit this place is its got the same name as an area of my hometown. It wasn’t the nicest part of Riverside, but I had a couple friends that lived there and I figured I had to try this restaurant that shared a name with that community. I roped my roommate Tree into it when we found some favorable reviews on yelp and off we went.

I made my choice of a wet burrito however because a different piece of hometown nostalgia, the wet carne asada burrito from Templo Del Sol. ultimately the burrito was underwhelming, with both me and my roommate voicing our dissapointment at its medicority. The red sauce is so red but has so little flavor, it was an overall bummer to the whole experience. It seems I never put a Templo Del Sol post up however so I’ll haveto dig around and try to find some pictures. If not, theres always an excuse to go take more.

15922 Gale Ave
Hacienda Heights, CA 91745-1603

(626) 330-9549‎

Banana Bite

Did this with my teeth, way clean cut.

Merkato

So you eat Ethiopian food with your hands, and I think I was always nervous about going to an Ethiopian restaurant because I figured I’d make a mess of myself. Finally, I stopped being a bitch and can say the food is incredible(and I didn’t make a mess). My first bite had so much flavor it caught me off-guard, and my Yedoro Tibbs was the best thing I had eaten in weeks, prompting me to ask nearly every person Iv’e encountered since if they had enjoyed Ethiopian food before, and encouraged them to if they hadn’t. I’m already arranging future trips with as many friends as possible just so I can try more things off their very wallet friendly menu.

I was pretty overwhelmed with hunger by the time we got our food, and I hope that’s the only reason I sucked up these pictures so bad. That platter in the background looks tiny but it was actually large enough to fill both Me, Wayne, and Wayne’s to go box completely. If I could just get better at taking those shots in low light I’d be pretty content with myself.

The Yedoro Tibbs was chicken heavily marinated in a delicious garlic sauce, served on top of Injera, something I can only describe as a sourdough pancake. There was a lot of this bread brought to the table, its also used to pick up the food. The best was still the Injera under the chicken since it soaked up all its flavor  for a very delicious bonus. I really should try making all of this at home, I’ve just been so lazy about cooking lately. Whatever, Can’t wait to go back

http://www.ethiopianmerkato.com/

Miyako

This is not the first sushi restaurant I’ve eaten at named Miyako, this isn’t even the 2nd. Surprisingly however they all 3 are of a similar quality and price, although this one lacks the yellow tail cheek I favored at the last Miyako I would frequent. Santa Monica is full of sushi bars however and if not for the fact that this one was in walking distance I’d most likely choose another.

This baked salmon roll was exactly what I needed on a day that I wasn’t too hungry. I could really go for high quality sushi at lunch, but this doesn’t do too bad a job of sating the craving, even if it’s a bit of a compromise. Their eel with rice bento will probably be my next lunch, it’ll hopefully hit the spot.

Miyako Restaurant
2829 Ocean Park Blvd
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 396-5588

Foo Foo Tei

I finally found someone I could drag to my favorite Ramen place: Foo Foo Tei. Eagerly I drove my roomate to the restaurant, my excitement being misunderstood for drug use. Upon our arrival worry set in. The parking lot was packed and they had only just opened on a mellow saturday morning. I quickly put my name down so we could get to the long wait. The wait payed off with deliciousness though, and thankfully my roomate enjoyed it as much as I always do.

There was much discussion about appetizers, but we ended up ordering simply 2 bowls of ramen. Once again I went with the negi ramen, although I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the last time I order it since I just dont feal the giant bowl of green onions as much anymore. The eggs will always be a fixture of my ramen, they are probably why I dont just warm up some cup o noodles at home.

Hori Real Arcade Pro 3

I took some quick vanity pictures of my new joystick. I just had to have one to properly experience Street Fighter 4. The stick feels wonderful and is probably going to lead to me playing a lot more classic fighting games. It’s truly a different experience using one of these, for ME at least. I had the most fun as a kid on super nintendo using an arcade stick, and I think this might be even more fun.

I threw the iphone on top there for scale, these things are pretty massive. Shipping was expensive for 2 of them. I still plan to open it up and swap out the buttons for some Sanwas to match the joystick. I’ll be sure to post pictures when I do that. It’s half the fun for me because I’m THAT kind of nerd. I think I want to have a Street Fighter party with appetizers or something.

Roy’s

My friend Anthony graduated from Cal State Fullerton recently and his parents had a delicious little graduation event at Roy’s@fashion Island. I’ve actually been to Roy’s a lot in my life because its one of my dads favorite restaurants, but it had been a little while since I’d gone and I couldn’t wait to savor some delicious beef.

Our Menu selection was limited but lucky for me the dish I wanted was on it. Filet Mignon with potatoes, and a delicious sauce that I can’t quite  remember the ingredients of. I’m definitely not getting enough quality steak in my diet, all I am eating lately is gyros and burgers.

Food was delicious, Congrats to Anthony.

http://www.roysrestaurant.com/