Beard Papa's

As a thank you for babysitting my sister-in-law's two Yorkie's, Ira & I got a box of Beard Papa's cream puffs. I've only heard about this place in passing so I didn't know too much about it. I found out that Beard Papa's  is a Japanese Sweet's Cafe.These cream puffs are huge! The custard that is inside is not too sweet. Just right. I really liked the plain one on the left. The chocolate one was too sweet for me. It's very flavorful though. The custard tastes best when it's right out of the fridge. The bread is perfectly soft. Overall, I'd love to try more of what Beard Papa's has to offer. They have a coffee flavor which I'd like to try next.

Tostada Tuesday's

Every so often, I get a hankering for tacos. Awhile back, we decided to eat tostadas instead. Not that it's much different, but I felt like having flat tacos.If you are ever in the mood for some tostadas, Guerrero shells are the way to go. They are so crunchy! About a month ago, we had tried it out for the first time at our family Tostada Tuesday's. Everyone loved the shells.

We ended up having some leftover shells that we never used and brought it to our next family Tostada Tuesday's about 2 weeks later. We were pretty nervous about it because it should've been stale. It wasn't at all! My husband even said it's like wine. The older it is, the better it gets. Haha. After thinking about it, that's probably not a good thing.Kind of like McDonald's french fries. They never rot, but they taste so good. Hmmm...better check to see how healthy these delicious tostada shells are...

Tasting 1-2-3: Satura Cakes Salted Chocolate Cookies

Satura Cakes. What can I say about them? I love all their pastries and other goodies. They're made so precise and beautiful. How can you say no to them? Me and Ira went to the one in Palo Alto on the way to the Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. I could not decide on what I should try. Everything was so tempting. I finally settled on their Salted Chocolate Cookies. Surprisingly, the cookies are quite crumbly. I was also pretty surprised at how "unsalty" it actually is. It looked so salty, I was wondering if I could handle it. It's not too bad. Either that, or my taste buds have become immune to salty goodness. Overall, the cookies are pretty good, but I think I would have preferred it to be a little more salty. Orrr...I'll just buy more to taste test it again to ensure that it is not my taste buds.

Potato & Smoked Salmon Frittata

This recipe is pretty easy to make. It's almost like comfort food, except not as heavy. The main ingredients are egg, potatoes, baked salmon and dill. I want to figure out how to bake the top better. The recipe said to put a heated flat pan on the top of the skillet, but we put the skillet in the oven instead. It sounded a little weird to put a pot over the skillet. I'll have to research that a little more. I decided to use our Le Creuset cast iron skillet for this dish. Man is that thing heavy. Either way, it was the perfect size and seemed to cook the dish well. Plus, I'm anemic so I was able to receive more iron because of the skillet.

I was hesitant about the dish because I'm not too fond of very strong herbs. (Dill, cilantro, etc.) Surprisingly, I liked it. The dill blended well with the smoked salmon and eggs. Smoked salmon can be pricey, so we chose a large one from Costco so that we can make other dishes with it. Next time, I'll have to add more smoked salmon. It definitely needed more on the top. I also made a sour cream and lemon mix to have with it on the side. I made sure to put extra lemon to add more flavor. Overall, I was very happy with the dish.

Sun Tacos; San Diego, CA.

When you think of tacos, what do you think of? Taco Bell? I hope not. Don't get me wrong, Taco Bell is pretty good. Not healthy at all, but still does the job if you're craving tacos. When I think of tacos, I think of the homemade tacos; ground beef or turkey, salsa, sour cream, onions, etc. There's always something special about homemade tacos. Personally, even though it's not "real" tacos, I prefer the crunchy shells over the soft tortilla's.

I always love to find new hole-in-the-wall taco joints where I'm at. My sister-in-law and her husband kept raving about the burrito's at Sun Tacos in San Diego that we had to try. According to them, the taco places in the Bay Area was just not the same. We finally got a chance to go try it out when we were at San Diego for a visit. I was a little skeptical though because it only got 3.5 stars on Yelp. I didn't try the burrito, but it did look pretty tasty.

However, I did try their tacos. I wasn't too hungry, so I just asked for 2 tacos. I should've been warned! When you think of tacos, this is what you should think of...

Now these were some tasty tacos. Jam packed with meat, sour cream, and everything else. Now this is what you call a taco.

Hodad's; San Diego, CA

Ira and I went to San Diego this past weekend to celebrate my sister-in-law's stepson's high-school graduation from La Joya Country Day. Our goal, aside from celebrating, was to try and eat at the best places that our family knew of. We were only there for 2 days, so we weren't sure if we would be able to pack it all in with the festivities. Lucky for us, we were able to. Next trip, we'll find more places to go eat at.

First stop: Hodad's. We purposely did not eat any burgers the whole week to savor Hodad's burgers. Hodad's has gotten pretty popular now because the line is always around the corner of the building. At least the few times I've been there it always has.

We had to order our standard burgers, one of their milkshakes, and their "Frings" (onion rings and fries basket). Their milkshakes are so thick and yummy. We get the strawberry milkshake and you always get surprise treats of fresh strawberries mixed inside.Their burgers are pretty big and flavorful too. The whole meal made me a happy camper.

Stella D'oro's "S" Cookies

There are always those childhood memories and food that would always bring you back. These cookies are one of them for me. My dad used to buy this every now when we were young for us. I had a craving for them awhile back, but I could not find them at all! It didn't help that I couldn't remember the name of the cookies. I only knew them as "S" cookies, and how they were packaged. I finally found them and had to have them. They're made from Stella D'oro. The packaging is normally a clear plastic bag, but the one I found was a nice white box.

I was wondering if I would still love the cookies now that I'm older. My first bite, and yup, I still love them. They've got a distinct almond taste, crumbly, but soft on the inside. The only downside is that it's about 90 calories per cookie. Very sad. So I only have one a day with my coffee in the morning. Such a wonderful way to start the day.