Vagawandering.com

A blog about SoCal food and travel, with a spicy Asian flair

Marching along we’re adventurers/ Singing the song of adventurers/ Up or down, North, South, East, or West, an Adventurer’s life is best!

Vagawandering.com Blog

Travel

6 Places Every Beatles Fan Should Visit | Travel Deals, Travel Tips, Travel Advice, Vacation Ideas | Budget Travel

http://m.budgettravel.com/blog/budget-travel-vacation-ideas-beatles-tours,24787/ "Abbey Road There comes a time in every Beatles fan's life when this photo just needs to be taken. Grab your friends, hop on the Tube's Jubilee line to the St. John's Wood station, and take a 5-10 minute walk down Grove End Road to Abbey Road Studios, the place where the magic happened. Chances are you'll spot the...

Food

Love Boat Sushi (Big Bang Sushi) – Rancho Bernardo

Not the easiest parking lot to leave (you can only go E on RB road or S on Wed Bernardo) but the food is great! The sushi is carefully and exquisitely crafted by Japanese sushi chefs. We like the PGA Tour, Chef Special, Hot Night roll. Sam usually has either the Udon or chicken teriyaki and the chicken portion is...

Food

The Board at The Barrel Room (Rancho Bernardo)

The meat and cheese board at The Barrel Room is the best in San Diego. Plenty of high quality meat and Cheese (and most boards skimp on quantity) and the bread is perfect: toasted crunchy but still soft inside and great artisan flavor. We plop the sugared walnuts right on top of the sandwiches. 3 meats and 3 cheeses are...

Travel

Raiders of the Lost Chinese Ark (Beijing, China, 5/21/2009)

Our mission was, actually, to locate 2 shipments and verify the contents. They sent us to a dusty warehouse near the Beijing airport. Being Sunday, the staff were outside lolling on the sidewalk, smoking and one guy had his arm around what looked like a 18mo old baby. The young wife was hanging around too with another kid, turned out...

Food

Frog Soup (on a business trip somewhere in Henan province, China, 5/12/2009)

When you go to a restaurant in China, they will always push the specials on you. They push hard and they won’t take no for an answer. And when they tell your Chinese colleague that a special soup is “for ladies” then like any good man, he caves to the mysteries of woman-hood and feels compelled to order it for...

Travel

Disaster or cool adventure, you be the judge (Oahu, 2/23/13)

Mr A and I had a wonderful breakfast/brunch this morning with Aunty Jan at Big City Diner in Kaneohe.  And then we were off to kayak. But in our haste to meet Aunty this morning, i forgot my fancy paddle at the house so we had to go back after breakfast – a 45 min round trip. We got to...

Food

Cork and Craft (Rancho Bernardo)

Send off for a longtime employee. Sad, but I also laughed so hard I almost peed my pants. That is what a wake is all about. The Irish are nuts, but also right on. . MOSTRA MOCHA STOUT Milk Stout – 5.1% Simulating a mocha coffee drink and is incredibly easy drinking Brewed with Guana cacao nibs and Mostra Fortissimo...

Food

Saturday morning pancakes

Cooked by my daughter. Is there anything better? Oh yes, her discovering that she needs to serve her guests first, resulting in Dad eating her "favorite" pancake.

Travel

NYTimes: A One-Man Quest for a Missing Jet

I am more than a little obsessed with MH370, having been a long time international traveller to Asia. When did the passengers know or suspect they were in trouble? What did they do then? What would I have done?  What did they do when they realized they were about to crash? Who would have programmed the computer before flight and...

Food

Fuji Grill (Brea)

Fuji Grill, sadly, is one of a kind. They are the only place I know of in Southern California that serves Spicy Ahi Bowls – crushed sushi-grade Ahi mixed with spicy chili sauce and served over sushi rice. We fell in love with this in Hawaii (thank you Ninja Sushi in Oahu) and Fuji Grill's is just as good as...

Travel

Disney adopts demand pricing; ticket prices will rise most days – LA Times

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-disney-adopts-demand-pricing-20160226-story.html “Disneyland and Disney California Adventure have been charging $99 for a one- ticket. Under the new policy, each day on the calendar will be designated a “value” day, a “regular” day or a “peak” day. The new price will be $95 for a value day, $105 for a regular day and $119 for a peak day. Over a 12-month...

Food

Senorial Mexican Restaurant (Banning)

The Inland Empire is a major Latino population center and, as a result, is home to many outstanding Mexican restaurants. We discovered one tonight (via Yelp) that we really liked – Senorial. A tiny sit down affair, they were nonetheless able to seat a party of 6 at one table. The girls ordered their tacos (Samantha: double rice; Megan: double...

Travel

Solitude

Solitude can’t be rented by the night. It’s not found at a resort. It is a space you have to create for yourself where you can leave the regular world behind. It has to be quiet and still and away from the city so you can see the stars at night. When the sun rises it should be crisp and...

Food

La Michoacana 100% Natural (Hemet)

I think this is the Saucillo? Bar with pistachios, almonds, peanuts, and raisins. It's incredible. Chewy and chock full of nuts, it eats like a meal (as Guy Fieri says). Dip it in chocolate and roll it in peanuts or pecans – as Alan P did – and you're gilding the lily. This little place was jammed with people at...

Food

Creme Brulee

I've lost track of how many undercooked Creme Brulees I've had. Too often they are soupy or like pudding. Properly cooked, it should be dense and your spoon or fork should leave a well defined mark in it. We had a wonderful Creme Brulee at Flemings this week. We were using up a $25 coupon on a few steaks and...