Passionate Eater: July 2011

There are several things I love about San Diego. First, is Kirk from Mmm-Yoso!! He is classy, friendly, very sweet, and the best "O.G." food blogger of the blogosphere.

And a very distant second San Diego love for me, are the fish tacos. I believe that San Diego is the type of city that you could go anywhere and get an awesome fish taco. A fancy restaurant? Guaranteed. A food truck? Absolutely. A gas station? Okay, yes, even that too. Honestly, you could look in a random bucket on the street and find a delicious fish taco just waiting to be eaten.

Several years ago, I passed through San Diego while on a business trip. (Although I did say I was behind on posting, I am hoping you didn't notice the "several years ago" part.) Since Kirk was out of town on a vacation to Southeast Asia, I decided to spend some time with my second fiddle in San Diego, the San Diego fish taco, and hit up a place featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives ("Triple D"), the Blue Water Seafood Market and Grille. (Side Note: Although a lot of people think Guy is obnoxious middle-aged douche bag desperately trying to act young and cool, he reminds me a lot of my high school English teacher, so I actually find him quite endearing. Hey, give him points for trying!)

Since a meal in San Diego without a fish taco is like a game of checkers without the black (and red) pieces, I had to order the fish tacos, which, as Triple D indicated, came with a grilled fillet of fish dressed with a marinade of canned chipotle peppers, garlic, butter, and oregano. The grilled tortilla base was spackled with melted cheddar cheese, and loaded with the fish, an ample mound of shredded cabbage, chopped tomatoes, minced red onions, scallion ringlets, and a squiggle of sour cream. I had ordered the "halibut" version of the taco, and true to the claims of Triple D, the fish was firm, flaky, and fresh ("Triple F").

While the fish taco at Blue Water wasn't necessary the best I have had, it was fresh. Indeed, you could tell that it would be fresh when you entered the restaurant/market to see a seafood case stocked with fish (caught just that day) being displayed on crushed ice. If I am ever back in San Diego, the Blue Water is definitely worth a repeat visit, but this time, with Kirk!

Also, as a big side note, my in-laws (my husband's family) have just started up a food blog! Go visit! It is Piqqy Piggy!

Yes. that is not a typo. This is a post regarding events from 2009, not 2011! But better late than never, right? Err... Okay, maybe not.

I never intended to take such an extended hiatus from blogging. Unfortunately, the "hiatus" happened "organically," after I started a new job, purchased a new house, and had beautiful baby boy. (Life comes at us quickly, I must admit!) Before I knew it, a one week hiatus morphed into an ugly and unbearably long two year hiatus, and it was easier for me to treat the blog as an "out of sight, out of mind"-type thing. Also, I was further dissuaded from blogging because I was trying to hide from the embarrassment of failing to regularly update my blog and from losing the rights to the passionateeater.com domain name. Yes, it is now a spammy Viagra site. *Sad face.*

When I recently came across food pictures I had taken at two events in 2009, I suddenly thought about all of the wonderful friends I made through blogging and the fantastic opportunities that I had because of my blog. Although it felt liberating not to blog during my lengthy hiatus, I realized I missed the camaraderie and the inspiration that came along with being a food blogger. And I thought, "I might as well start blogging again!" My unrealistic spontaneity is back... Hopefully, in a good way.

Just like I tried to surreptitiously return an entire set of overdue library books when I was high school (thinking I would not get caught and fined), here are many-many pictures of two food-heavy events that I attended on the same day, Cochon 555 (an event courtesy of Foodbuzz where big name chefs gather and compete to see who can most creatively and deliciously prepare a pig) and East West Eats (a fundraising dinner for Asian-American journalists). And I just so happened to meet two of my idols at East West Eats: Martin Yan and Ben from Cooking with the Single Guy!

Although I was able to meet huge culinary superstars at Cochon 555, including Nate Appleman (while he was still in SF), and dined on fantastical food items such as pork sushi rolls, nests of hand spun sugar, fragrant pork blood and chocolate sausage (Italian cotechino) topped with a warm apricot on a bed of braised lentils, and crisp and airy chicharrónes, I think I liked East West Eats a little better. There, Martin Yan did two enthusiastic and informative cooking presentations and we dined on mouthwatering Asian and Asian-fusion classics, such as Korean tacos with nori and marinated bulgogi, dense crab cakes with a sweet tamarind dressing, fresh Vietnamese spring rolls, and ahi tuna tartare.

Unfortunately, since it has been almost two years since I took these pictures, so I might not able to describe these events (or the food) very well. Okay, I am not even gonna try! But please check out these links for delicious descriptions of that grand evening of June 14, 2009.