Best Mexican food I ever ate

We decided to venture out to Santa Barbara for 2 days, so we could get outside the city and get a taste of the Pacific coast drive heading north of LA. 

After doing numerous wine tastings, my main question was inquiring about the best Mexican joint in the city. We were referred to 'La Super-Rica Taqueria.

I have to say, I have tried soft corn tortillas here in Montreal, and was so discouraged by the mealy off taste. But LA taught me that they are scrumptious when done properly!!

1st good sign: Big line up outside. 

Lady pressing fresh tortillas

 So I started myself with the most refreshing, no sugar added, watermelon juice with nice mini chunks of watermelon added inside. OH SO GOOD! on a hot day!

Marinated pork on 3 soft corn tortillas, with a generous amount of green chili, cheese, and a side of avocado. SCRUMPTIOUS

 Soft corn marinated porn tortilla with a side of guac! Mmmmm.

 'Tamal de verduras': Vegetarian tamale with, chayote, corn, zucchini, potato, chile pasilla strips, cheese and béchamel type sauce. It was good, but not AS exciting as the other items!

Unlimited sides of salsa and spicy sauces.

a little taste of heaven and incredibly cheap.

La Super-Rice Taqueria

622 N Milpas St
Santa Barbara, CA 93103

Go Grease Lightning!

Where did we find this taco truck? 

Outside the Venice High school! 

Read on to figure out why that's so exciting!

We decided to make a pit stop on Venice Boulevard because the monthly flea market was up in a large parking lot. Right outside was Valentino's Taco's food truck, offering inexpensive Mexican food options. 

 Pork Taco, excellente!

 MASSIVE, vegetarian burrito with the best black bean and rice mixture I have ever had. It came in a bag with some fried tortilla chips too! I think this only was 4$!! Enough to feed 2.

Yep, this is the high school where Grease was filmed! 

Venice

Los Angeles

The Buttermilk Truck

With the help of the 'truxmap' App on the iPod Touch, we were able to find the Buttermilk truck on Venice Boulevard. I was so excited by the look of this creamy welcoming friendly truck, and curious as to what heart clogging options were offered. 

Did you know? Buttermilk is actually low in fat, containing around 5g, just like 2% milk. In the process of churning butter, buttermilk is the leftover liquid. You can see that visually for yourself if you over whip 35% cream. You will extract a big solid clump and a thin liquid as a result. 

Why did I think this truck would be heart clogging then? Because buttermilk is a magical ingredient in southern cooking, for baked goods like biscuits, and battering items for the deep fryer. It contributes some dairy fat, and a nice tang from its fermented nature.

We arrived at night, so that was our selection.

Fried Chicken with Cinnamon Waffles. 

I cannot even explain to you how scrumptious this was! 

For some reason, the combination of the savoury chicken, with the cinnamon waffle, and the maple syrup...a foodsplotion in your mouth! Absolutely amazing. 

This is too heart clogging for a full meal, but definitely fun to share as a snack!

Venice

Los Angeles

Check them out! http://buttermilktruck.com/

Gainey Winery - Santa Barbara

Gainey Winery

Santa Barbara CA

Best Ceviche I ever had in my life

Mariscos La Playita

I have not tried a lot of ceviche in my life, having not grown up anywhere near the sea, but this place was fantastic. For around 5$ you can fill yourself up on a good portion of fresh seafood, mexican style. 

I got the ceviche cocktail: A citrus cilantro/shallot/fresh tomato chunk liquid, with scallops, shrimp, octopus and huge creamy chunks of avocado. Perfect on a hot day... or any day in my opinion!

Dahlia got the octopus tostada, with cilantro, fresh tomato, shallot, avocado, and lots of tlc. AMAZING!

Venice area

Los Angeles

My first food truck

My main goal in LA was to finally get to sample these heavenly creations on wheels, featured on Food Networks "Eat Street", which is the food trucks!

On our first evening, we decided to find little Tokyo in downtown LA, and accidentally stumbled upon a parking lot FULL of food trucks. It turned out to be Art Walk night, which happens downtown twice a month on thursday nights. So many options, so little stomach space!

They had a Lobster truck, fancy ice cream sandwiches, Tornado Potato, Hawaiian, Greek, Asian, etc!

Being so overwhelmed by the options, we decided to come back and select dessert.

Our choice: 'Brazilian Taste' truck.

 Pastel: Deep fried bubbly dough, stuffed with banana, nutella and cinnamon. 5$

Dahl and Priss who were ever so patient with me

Food truck HEAVEN

downtown Los Angeles

I heart Chipotle

I discovered Chipotles (fast food Mexican) in Michigan one summer, and fell in love. It is almost like a Mexican subway, where you choose your base (salad, bowl, taco, burrito), then select all your toppings. The portion sizes are massive, everything is always fresh, and sadly they don't have a chain in Montreal. I even went to the extent of emailing them, saying that they would make a killing in our city, but they said Montreal is not on the list of upcoming openings. 

With the lack of good Mexican food in Montreal, I know this would be a hit!

View the menu here: Chipotle Menu

I went for the Salad. 

I chose pulled pork, guacamole, corn salsa, spicy sauce, and much much more! It could easily have fed 2 people, or enough for lunch the next day!

 Chipotle's salad 

Dahlia and Priss

Chipotle

Downtown Los Angeles

It speaks for itself...

Grilled ahí tuna burger with coriander asian slaw, in a whole wheat bun.

TO DIE FOR.

I thought I made a mistake by ordering something so snazzy at a drive-In, but it turned out to be fantastic!

We accidentally stumbled into Mel's Diner, not knowing it was a tourist spot, or that Guy Fieri from the Diners Drive-Ins and Dives had been there before (his picture was up on the wall).

Perfect place for a classic milkshake and burger. 

Tuna melt on rye + Dahlia

Mel's Drive-In

Los Angeles

LA food reviews coming soon!

Atwater Market - Satay Brothers

I kept hearing about the Satay Brothers from several people, so I decided to hit them up during the lunch rush on a monday afternoon (they are closed on tuesday and wednesdays). In the area, the closest thing to Asian is probably Thai express (meh), so these guys are making a killing!

Overall, there are many things I really liked, and others that I wish were better.

My first impression

I instantly spotted the Asian lady behind all the hard working boys up front, and turns out she is from Singapore, with her 2 son's working up front (the satay brothers!). This explained their mixed Asian menu of around 10 items. They have Indonesian satay and gado gado (salad with peanut dressing). Southeast Asian som tam green papaya salad, pork in Chinese style steamed buns, baguette style sandwiches, and some Asian desserts and drinks. A big seller for me was how friendly the staff was by taking down your name for your order to be called, making it very welcoming and homey. 

My order for 2 of us

Chicken satay (3 skewers for 7$)

Steamed buns with pork (2 for 7$)

som tam papaya salad (6$)

and too bad they were out of gado gado...

 Som Tam green papaya salad

Chicken satay

Pork steamed buns

Overall the food was good, small enough portions so you can taste a bit of everything on the menu, but if you have a large appetite, this would have been a meal for 1 person. 

Best dish: Steamed pork buns

Could have been better: Chicken satay

Pork buns

The idea of making a fold over steamed pork bun is absolutely brilliant! I have never seen it, but these white fluffy pillows of love made it seem like you ate no carbs at all, and just nice and light. You were able to focus on the nice sweet sauce and the pork. My only complaint is I wish there was more filling inside!

Satay

Since they are called the 'Satay brothers' I would hope the satay is the best thing on the menu and that this skewer would burst with flavour to invade my dreams at night. But sadly it was just a moist, but regular tasting chicken skewer. It needed something.. something more. And the sauce could use a little kick as well. So.. maybe I will try it again on another day.

Papaya Salad

Lastly the som tam. As I looked around the room figuring out my order, I could see that everyone had one. On a hot summer day, its such a refreshing salad, I had to get it too.

The only times I experienced som tam was Thailand and Laos. The main things that hits your mouth right away is insane amounts of chilli, lime juice and hints of garlic. In Laos they also add shrimp paste, making it incredibly salty, so I opt for the Thai style.

I thought it was good, but sadly not the best. I know I am being picky here, but it lacked that big punch of any of those seasonings I was longing for. And because not everyone loves crazy spice, they did not make it spicy, but dressed it with some sliced thai red chili, which I dislike because that slice is so much hotter then if it were dispersed. 

But overall, it was still refreshing and I loved the generous amounts of peanuts. 

Will I be back? Yes! I want to try that Gado Gado!

Satay Brothers

Atwater Market Montreal

Xie Xie for following my 6 months adventure

Saying thank you is xie xie and pronounced sorta like shee-yeh shee-yeh in mandarin.
And I want to thank you all for sharing my 6 months travels with me. It comes to an end here, but I will continue in Montreal, and onto wherever else the wind takes me.

Dali

Here is a little video on Dali, in the Yunnan province.
The street food includes grilled strips of cheese with balsamic type glaze, dragons beard candies which is basically sugar wrapped peanuts, and the streets of Dali!
You can get dragon beard candies in China town in Montreal from a little stall across the large red Chinese buffet restaurant on the brick road (also near the shop that plays super loud asian style music!).

Dali

China

What is organic?

Check out this funny animation to give an insight on organic foods:

Make sure to check which fruits and veggies are hardly affected to save on your budget!

Yuanyang rice terraces bits and clips

Yuanyang is the most beautiful place on earth. Sadly we came at the wrong time, in the summer, which is very foggy and chances are the rice terraces are full, and not water filled. When they are empty, it looks like endless glittering pockets of silver throughout the deep valleys.
It's incredible.
The owner of our hostel, called the photographers hostel, recommended to return in the winter.
I hope to do so one day!

Due to so much song copyright issues, here are some plain clips from Yuanyang

Yuanyang rice terraces

China

Hostel family dinner

At certain hostels, you can sign up for the family style dinner if you don't feel like searching for a cheap eat. This particular experience was at the Panba hostel in Lijiang and cost 18 Yuan, which is around 3-4$. The food was fantastic, with many vegetables I had never tried before. 

It is a great way to meet other travellers, as well as the staff! 

Family night 1

Family night 2

Chinese Tourists

After going through all my footage from China, I caught myself several times making comments about the insane amount of Chinese tourists. I finally understand what it means to be overpopulated!

This is just a few clips to give you a taste of it.

Bejing, Lesan, Yangshuo

China

Funniest moments in China part 1

Well, I am pretty much in video mode now, so here is the debut of some of the funniest moments that I thankfully got on tape!

Beijing, Yangshuo

China

Chinese cubed sugar

Due to bad cloudy weather, we found ourselves exploring the town of Yuanyang...and the grocery store is always fun!

The host: Roger!

Yuanyang

China

Hot Pot Beijing

View post about the hot pot: http://pointandeat.blogspot.ca/2012/03/hot-pot.html

Beijing

China

Vegetable soup

My attempt to order vegetable soup

Chengdu 

China

Tiger Leaping Gorge

In the Yunnan province, this is the worlds deepest gorge, and sadly the lonely planet talks about the possibility of closing it up to build dams for electricity. 

I hope it never happens because what a beautiful peaceful place it is! You can either get a driver to take you through, or hike yourself along the right side of the gorge, which has amazing cute guesthouses and hostels along the way! There is a main road, or a hiking trail further up that can be extremely dangerous in rainy weather (and also hard due to altitude). 

I stuck with the road since there can't be too much traffic in these parts, and had a wonderful time!

Mid-complete right is Tina's guesthouse, which brings probably the nicest view in the gorge. 

http://www.chinatravelca.com/places/hutiaoxia/

Flock of umbrellas

If theres a lot of anything in China,

its Chinese tourists. 

Beware.

Forbidden city

Beijing

China