Short Hawaii Trip Xmas '09

Sakura Okazuya

musubi, grilled salmon, hash, gobo, potato mac salad, shoyu hot dog, and mochiko chicken

Our favorite shrimp truck: Macky's!

spicy shrimpy goodness

garlic buttery morsels of love

pineapple whip at Dole for dessert

moh's pineapple float in the collectable pineapple cup

(that you can use as a bank!)

when geko's jump from plant to plant, they do this!

shave ice happy hour at Dave's- $1 for that bowl!

Pudding parfait with rocky road on top

Ow, hot tamales

Today, Aaron and I did our own little Christmas since we won't be here to open presents on Christmas day.  We'll be in Hawaii!  Woo!  In honor of Christmas, we went and got tamales since we won't be with Aaron's family this year.  Aaron's grandma makes really yummy tamales.  We found 2 tamale shops in Pacific Beach to try and compare.

First, we went to Grand Ave. Tamales.  It's a tiny little shop with 2 tables inside.  Behind the scenes in the kitchen, we saw a microwave and a steamer.  There was also a little area behind that we couldn't see.  We picked up a chicken, beef, pork, and chile cheese tamale to go.  I suggested we eat it on the beach.

Next, we went to Tamales Ancira on Garnet Ave.  They had a few more tables, and served their tamales with rice and beans.  We got  a chicharron (fried pork skin), chicken, and picadillo (ground beef and vegetable) tamale.  Everything was a little spicy and tasted pretty good.  Aaron didn't like the fact that all the tamales had the same sauce on them.  They didn't really need a sauce.  The meat was flavorful on its own.  I liked the picadillo best.  I didn't really like the chicharron. 

our tamales

L-R: chicharron, picadillo, chicken

At the beach eating the tamales we picked up first

First, beef

super flavorful; I thought it tasted like mole

Next, chile and cheese

It was like a chile relleno in a tamale

There was cream cheese and monterey jack and possibly egg

The chicken tamale was wrapped up so pretty!

The chicken was very flavorful and delicious;

a little spicy, but not overpowering

Joined by a few birds

Ensenada Cruise

Cruised to Ensenada a couple weeks ago.  (So really, this should be posted up in November, but Thanksgiving came around, and I got lazy.. so.. at least it's here now.)  It took 2&1/2 days to get there, and we got back overnight.  The food on the ship was.. forgettable.. but it was all you can eat.  So, eat we did.

We stopped in Ensenada for one day and we made up for the lack of good food there.  We got off at the port, and looked around town for a little bit.  We ended up haggling with a taxi cab to take us to the blowhole for $35, when the tour buses that were taking people were $15 each.  Essentially we saved about $25 on transportation.  Plus the taxi driver drove crazy and fast, so we probably got there much faster than we would have on a bus. 

First stop, fresh hot crispy churros.  Trav bought some from the first guy we saw (churros had been his mission all weekend), and they were super delish.  For some reason, I don't have the picture of them saved.

Next stop, $1 tacos.

Long line of toppings for your tacos

Aaron and I got carnitas (oh so good!)

..and adobada.  Also so good!

Chowing on tacos

and now,

 blowhole: a haiku

Water rushing up

tiny splashes in my face

ew. Mexi-water.

After visiting the blowhole, we stopped for some fruit. 

I got pomegranate topped with lime and chile. 

Super sour, but I ate the whole refreshing cup.

When we got back in to town, we found an ice cream shop selling fruit popcicles! 

I got strawberry cream.. so yum!

Ann got hers dipped in chocolate

Found cheese balls that tasted like Andy Caps hot fries :)