June 2006 Archives

Went to the late late first showing of Superman Returns last night.

Yeah, I actually went to a movie!!

The movie was done well, with lots of inside nods and winks and great special effects. If you're familar with the Superman legend, you'll find some funny bits. It's also a good idea to watch the first two Superman movies before watching this one, because it's connected. Supermans 3 and 4 thankfully no longer exist!

There wasn't a lot of warmth in this movie though. And the best way to describe the movie is "edgy political correctness". It reminded me of what Syndrome said in the Incredibles: "..if we are all special, then none of us are".

Also, definitely watch what you drink before the movie; it's over 2 hours, 40 minutes long!

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day in San Francisco! It was warm, it was close to 23 degrees outside and sunny and I got comped for a day at the races at Bay Meadows, courtesy of one of my buds!

That's how a comped ticket looks like!

Going to the racetrack is one of those things that I've never done before. It's not like it has the same interest for me as, saaaay, hopping a 777 across the Pacific Ocean or having a nice dinner with someone charming in Singapore or Sydney. But the opportunity presented itself and off I went...

There was a buffet set up in the lower patio of the Turf Club.

The Turf Club entrance

The food was nothing really exciting so it's not worth a photo or commentary EXCEPT that dessert and sweets were at the begining of the food queue. Despite that, there was a lot of cake left over.

Now if you know me well enough, you'll know that I dun like to gamble. Gambling to me is wagering that I'll get the upgrade to BZness Class on the flight to Tokyo Narita because I was reallly nice to that hella kawaii gate agent at SFO. Not coughing up real money that could be lost in the bet, that could be used for real things, like food. Or beer.

This follows the horses around when they race. I dun think a horse will fit inside.

But when in Rome, eat Roman (food). Going to the racetrack means wagering, so I decided to give it a shot. After reading the "so you'd like to gamble" brochure thoughtfully left on each table by Bay Meadows' management, I decided to give it a try. I committed US$20 to gambling, no more! I lost US$2.00 on my first shot. Then, I tried a multiple bet, using the following criteria:

Odds (how much of a long shot)
Lineage (where the horse was raised)
Name (how funky is the name?)

Guess what? I picked the winner (out of three bets on the slip)!

Here's my bet

And here's my win!

This is the next race; I bet on #1 to win

More Winnings!

Sooo out of US$16 wagered, I won back a total of US$91.00. Wah! If only I had the guts to wager US$160 instead! Would have made US$910.00! Would be enough for a ticket to Beijing right now!

Guess that's why I'm not meant to be a gambler...

I promise, this is the last of the entries featuring little ones...

When I dragged myself into SFO last Saturday AM for my flight to paradise, I mean, Southern California, I ran into a big friend and some little friends (his kids). We wound up on the same flight down to SNA. What a coinkydink!

Maddie and Katie.

Katie is a bit camera shy and Maddie looks upset because she missed her close up. Sooo....

"I'm ready for my close-up now!"

Here you go! This was the start of my busy LA weekend last weekend.

I received a care package from Singapore! Yeeeeeah! (thx M!)

Because this is how I get World Cup info!

Some local magazines and cookies from Bengawan Solo. Now I'm craving for some kaya toast...

This has been a busier than usual LA trip because I'm visiting with a lot of frens that happen to either have moved back here or are visiting or have come back from overseas.

Interesting thing is that all my frens here have daughters. Wonder what that means?

Here's one of them. This is Kaylee.

I met up with an old friend in Long Beach. Truc was working in Singapore for a few years before deciding to shoot for her Masters' Degree at CSULB. We spent much of the day catching up. And eating. Beer!

Truc's the glam one with the shades..

A busy day.

Let's see...I had a McD's Sausage McMuffin w/egg on Sat AM. Del Taco Macho Burrito and a Bahia robusto for lunch. Followed by quiche, fruit salad, ravioli and a toll house cookie for dinner.

Then the next day, fish and chips and a full Chinese banquet lovingly ordered. Then today where it was a mole burrito at a local taquiria followed by lots of beer.

Where would I eat such a melange of different kinds of cuisines? Where else but Southern California!

It's not Asia but it IS out of San Francisco. And the only place where I'd subject my stomach to such differing food! Ha ha.

I got dragged shopping today! Arrrrgh!

I dun do this for just anyone...

My fren Window Shopping at Two Rodeo Drive

Of course, last time I got corralled into window shopping a few months back, we wound up at Tiffany in Ngee Ann City/Taka's. Today we wound up, again, at Tiffany in Beverly Hills. Didn't spend as much time inside this visit. *whew* Must be something about those little blue boxes.

Or my fren. Hmmmmm. *quizzical look*

"Heeeeey, my hand fits!"

Hmmm. My fren. Marilyn. Interesting...

An izukaya opened up in my 'hood a few months back called Oyaji.

Well, not really "in my hood" as it's about a mile as the crow flies. Maybe in the other side of my 'hood. A 2 minute drive or a 20 minute stroll in the howling wind and cold that marks a San Francisco summer out here.

The best way to describe an izukaya is a bar that serves beer and nihonshu and food that goes good with both. So there's all kinds of stuff, from ramen to a full sushi bar to yakitori and the like. Menu here.

Schu called and wanted to eat. I suggested Oyaji. We went. I ordered a starter of California Maki and Cha-Siu Ramen. The sushi here is fresh made and the rolls were pretty good. Purty too.

Tastes as good as it looks

They have an excellent selection of sake and shochu. Not so much on the beer. Although they did have the dark Asahi I drank a lot of last time I was in Tokyo. Burp.

Necessities of modern life lor.

The ramen arrived and the broth was flavorful, but not too heavy or too full of MSG. The noodles were of the thick kind and were not overcooked. Springy.

Imagine, a nice bowl o' ramen close by my house! Waaaah!

Not overcooked, they're springy!

Some minuses though. The egg was unusually salty (maybe stored in soy sauce?) and the bowl didn't come out as hot as it should have. Nitpicking here though, because...

the cha-siu was tender and there was just enough fat to give it good taste without being gross with the fat on top. Mmmmmm.

It's best to walk here from the house though. Then can walk back, thus burning off all calories!

Oyaji
3123 Clement St.
SF CA 94121

I took a long ride yesterday, riding downtown, through SOMA, to Potrero Hill, back to downtown for ramen and then to the beach.

Mark Twain one remarked that the coldest winter he ever experiences was a summer in San Francisco.

That's fog in the picture, not smug! And this is at Ocean Beach, near the Cliff House!

This is typical summer weather. It's foggy, cold and wet. Now this is what summer is supposed to be!
Muhuhahahaha!

A few years ago, near UCSF, there was a kick-ass ramen shop called Katana-Ya. They made lots of ramen and had some other kinds of food (non ramen).

Now, a new Katana-Ya has opened up in Downtown San Francisco on Geary, near Mason.

The new Katana-Ya on Geary Street

This is the banner you look for. It says "ra-men"

The restaurant is dominated by the sushi bar...

This new incarnation of Katana-Ya is a sushi bar/restaurant that happens to serve ramen, instead of the other way around, like the old place. I ordered miso cha-siu ramen and hoped for the best.

Mi-so ra-men. Will it be "yum?"

The broth was flavorful, the cha-siu had a bit of fat on it and was tender (but not as fall-apart as Santa Ramen's stewed pork) and the noodles were the thick kind, nice and hearty! And as an added bonus, it's actually run by Japanese AND a couple of the people running the place worked at the old place!

In short, I like!

Katana-Ya
430 Geary Boulevard (at Mason)
SF CA
Open for dinner, 1700-0200 every night!

This is a LOT closer than Santa Ramen...

San Francisco claims to be a foodie's town. How can that be when there are exactly FIVE ramen shops in the ENTIRE city and none of them are really that outstanding...

Although we did have one shop called Katana-Ya near UCSF that closed a few years back. Now THAT was great ramen!

To get great ramen now, you have to drive about 20 miles (50 minutes from my place) down the 101 to San Mateo where the ramen epicentre of the Bay Area is. San Mateo is home to Santa Ramen, a ramen shop off a non-descript street away from downtown San Mateo.

If it helps, it's across the street from Nazereth Plaza...

Santa has a great selection of ramen dishes and broths. They have shoyu, miso and my favourite, tonkotsu! It's hard to find places that do tonkotsu here, let alone do it right.

Tonkotsu is a pork and chicken based broth that involves boiling bones for many days and nights. Ramen is a regional dish and tonkotsu hails from Kyushu, land of the Tsubame, Kagoshima, Hakata, Beppu , Hamasaki Ayumi and Moritaka Chisato! Tonkotsu is also extremely rich, milky and absolutely delicious! Here's a place in Tokyo that makes it VERY well (since visitors to Japan dun usually make it to Kyushu..).

Santa also is known for their stewed pork. Basically it's thick pork slices that replace the cha-siu that you would normally get in your ramen. When you pick it up with your hashi, it literally falls apart. It's that tender and that flavourful. And since this is their speciality, you need to get here early because they only make so much each evening.

Which brings up the issue of the queue. Santa is open for both lunch and dinner and they have incredibly long queues when they're open. Even longer on the weekends.

Hours of Operation!

I was able to have stewed pork exactly once, on the same night that the Chinese New Year parade was happening in SF. So there were less people in the queue at Santa and I was able to partake. The next time I tried, I waited for 45 minutes until I was next on the list to be seated. Then they ran out of stewed pork. Then I left for In-and-Out.

This time, I ordered tonkotsu cha-siu ramen and slurped down! The broth was good, but a touch salty and the thick noodles were just a touch soggy. Not as snappy as I usually like. And if you want an egg, that's extra.

Tonkotsu cha-siu ramen. Tamago (egg) is extra...

Despite these nits to pick, it doesn't detract from the utter goodness that Santa is. The restaurant itself is warm and loud (means lots of people slurping!) and it's still kick-ass ramen! I'll do a follow-up next time I'm here and get the stewed pork again...

Santa Ramen
805 South B Street
San Mateo CA 94401

The neat thing about having a place like Santa is that other shops of similar quality will open up nearby. Like Himawari!