Salad Is Slaughter

Walmart has a policy of not carrying books that they find indecent, obscene, or wicked. Normally I would oppose such policies. However, the book cited in this petition seems to have no redeeming value and goes against everything that decent people believe in: freedom, compassion, and equality.

Please, I urge all of you to click on this link and join me by signing the petition to get this obscenity removed from book shelves everywhere before it warps more young minds. And please include the link in your web pages to help spread the word among your readers. This wickedness must stop!  Thank you.

For only having 5 questions, this quiz was scary-accurate.

You Are Dr. Pepper

You’re very unique and funky, yet you still have a bit of traditionalism to you. People who like you think they have great taste… and they usually do. Your best soda match: Root Beer Stay away from: 7 Up

What Kind of Soda Are You?

We had most of Saturday free; our limo wasn’t scheduled to pick us up for our trip to the airport until about 5:00 so we hopped in to the rental car and headed out for breakfast. One of the hotel employees told us about a brunch place in La Jolla, but we couldn’t find it. We drove around, looked at the ocean, then pulled in to a strip mall and decided to eat at a place called The French Pastry Shop.

Unfortunately for me, the French Pastry Shop breakfast menu consisted of eggs and omelets. I despise both fried eggs and omelets. They did have a limited lunch menu available so I ordered a BLT. The BLT was okay, but those are pretty hard to screw up. I’m not sure what kind of bread they used, but they should have toasted it. Janet’s eggs were really runny. I was not impressed.

Our next stop was the San Diego waterfront. They’ve got a bunch of wooden ships down there, but we drove past that and stopped at the USS Midway aircraft carrier.  They have a really good self-guided tour. They give you an audio player with headsets, and when you get to an exhibit you find the number, punch it in to the player. We spent two hours going through the bowels of the ship, walking around on the flight deck, and touring the bridge, and we could have spent more time there but our parking meter was running out. I enjoyed it, and except for the crowded living conditions almost made me regret not joining the Navy.

Lunch was at the Fish Market restaurant next to the carrier. It’s just like the Fish Market Restaurants here in San Jose, except it’s on the water. The food was okay, but not great, the service was spotty, and they views were nice. Across the water we could the Navy carriers USS Nimitz and the USS Ronald Reagan. I thought it was kind of cool watching sailboats (using one of the most primitive forms of propulsion) sailing past nuclear powered aircraft carriers.

After lunch we went to Balbo Park and toured a couple of museums. The first stop was the Aerospace Museum.  They’ve got a lot of historic planes and a couple of spacecraft. There’s an SR-71 out front, the Apollo 9 capsule, a GPS satellite, a Spitfire, a Mustang, and loads of other stuff.  I thought they should have added more space hardware, but I tend to be more interested in that then in aircraft.

We stopped next at the Automotive museum because it was next to the Aerospace museum.  They’ve got a lot of great cars and motorcycles on display, and I saw several cars that would be great to have. But just where would I get a Tucker?

Our final museum stop was the Model Railroad museum.  It was all the way across the park and kind of hard to find. Parking ended up being a real challenge but we finally found a place. The Model Railroad museum was great. They’ve got elaborate set ups for almost every gauge available. The detail work on the scenery was really impressive. I really admire the skill and patience of the people who do all that work.

Balboa Park has a bunch of other museums that would be interesting to go through, but we just ran out of time. Maybe our next trip…

The wait time in the airport is longer than the flight to San Diego, but I knew that would be the case. I also figured that the overhead bins wouldn’t be nearly as jammed as they were a couple of months ago and I was right about that, too. The Muslim terrorists may not have managed to kill innocent people by blowing up planes, but they’ve certainly killed carry on luggage.

We arrived at the Estancia La Jolla Hotel and Spa in the early afternoon. I was impressed with the landscaping; they’ve done a beautiful job with the cacti, succulents and grasses. There were several varieties that I’d like to put in our cactus garden.

Unfortunately, aside from the plants and the decent service, that was all that impressed me. The room was a step above a Motel 6, the food was forgettable, the wine was overpriced cheap crap, and the mixed drinks were below average. Maybe they expended all of their effort on the spa packages (which I didn’t use) because I don’t know how they would get any repeat business.

Friday we went to the San Diego Zoo.  The first thing that I noticed was that there were a disproportionate number of really rude people. Perhaps they were tourists from places where they don’t have our concept of manners. We started our zoo trip by riding the double-decker bus around the park. The 40 minute ride gave us a chance to view the whole park and decide where we wanted to return.

One of the highlights was the Giant Panda Research Station.  The line was pretty long but it moved fairly quickly. Once inside the bamboo we saw three pandas – two on a tree and one in the corner taking a nap - and took some pictures. We moved at a constant pace put I didn’t feel like they rushed us through.

I like what they’ve done with the hippo display. They’ve set up a viewing area like an aquarium so you can see the hippos under water and surrounded by fish. It’s a lot better then just seeing a nose pop out of the water every once in a while.

I was most impressed with the Gorilla Tropics.  We had been walking around all day and needed a rest, so we sat and waited for the gorillas. They were no where to be seen. Then I saw a head peek up over the rocks. We waited some more. Finally a pair of gorillas approached. They were amazing, and I swear that one of them was posing for pictures. The photos I got came out okay, but there was some glare and reflections in the glass.

After watching the gorillas try to open some doors (where I assume they get fed), the look in their eyes, and the way they acted, I can understand why people would spend their lives studying them. Do you want proof that humans and other primates share a common ancestor, watch gorillas for a while. If you don’t see the connection, you’re not looking very hard.

After dinner, we wandered around Old Town San Diego.  Many of the historical buildings were closed, but you could still get a good look inside through the windows. We did go through several that were open and it’s interesting to see how people lived in the mid nineteenth century. Some of the buildings house various shops, and the only reason we didn’t buy more stuff was that we had no way of getting it home.

We knew we wanted Mexican food on Friday night. We almost always have Mexican food on Friday nights. But what to do when you’re in a strange town for the first time and you don’t know where to go? Ask the locals.

We arrived in San Diego on Thursday afternoon. On the way to the hotel I asked the limo driver where the best Mexican food in town was. He gave us a name, then called his wife to confirm the location.

The driver was a nice guy, but a little strange so I decided to get a second opinion. Janet and I were sitting at the hotel pool bar drinking below-average Mai Tai’s, and I posed my question to the bartender. He gave the same answer as the limo driver, and pointed out that the place had homemade tortillas.

Friday afternoon as we were leaving the San Diego Zoo we stopped in to the gift shop and just for grins I asked the woman ringing up our souvenirs where the best Mexican food in town was. To my surprise her answer matched the other two. Casa Guadalajara got three votes out of three from the locals, so off we went.

We arrived at Casa Guadalajara between 4:30 and 4:45 and the place was already filling up but we got seated almost immediately. Someone in the dining room had a pina colada that looked pretty good so we both ordered one. It was one of the best pina coladas that I’ve ever had.

We sat munching our chips and salsa – not too mild but not too spicy either – and looked over the menu. There was a lot to choose from, but we decided to start off with the Ceviche a la Duran. The ceviche was loaded with large chunks of fish swimming with onions and avocado in a citrus tomato broth. The fish was really good and you make a meal out of the tomato soup.

For the main dish, Janet selected the Carnitas a la Michoacan. They really piled the pork on the plate, with both tender and crispy pieces available. It tasted like it had been simmered for hours and picked up all the subtle flavors. It rated up there with some of the best carnitas I’ve eaten.

I was really tempted to get one of the combo plates so I could sample lots of stuff, but I finally picked Pollo Mole Poblano. The mole sauce wasn’t what I expected, but I remembered that there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of different mole recipes. This mole sauce did have a chocolate base like others I’ve had, but it also had a distinctive peanut flavor. I was aware that some moles use peanut butter as a base, and this was one of them. Casa Guadalajara’s mole poblano is good; not the best I’ve ever had but I would certainly order it again.

We also ordered a cheese enchilada on the side and split that. It was really good, one of the better enchiladas I’ve tasted. The red sauce was flavorful but didn’t drown out the cheese enchilada. They did a really good job.

Normally the refried beans that come on the side at most Mexican restaurants are forgettable at beset. The beans at Casa Guadalajara were really good. I was a bit disappointed with the rice. It was loaded with vegetables and had an okay flavor, but it just didn’t work for me. Janet thought the rice was great, so your opinion may be different from mine.

When I placed my order, the waiter asked me if I wanted flour or corn tortillas. I responded that I wanted what ever was homemade. Those would be the flour tortillas, and they were incredible. Flour tortillas that were dough five minutes ago have an amazingly fresh flavor. Those alone are worth the trip.

If you go to Casa Guadalajara, go early. The place was full by 5:10, and when we left at 5:45 or so, the wait for an inside table was about 20 minutes or more. The patio tables were also packed, and both areas had lots of people waiting. The next time I’m in San Diego, I’m definitely going back.