Salinas Churro Truck, Echo Park

I love the Salinas churro truck. These churros are very addictive, and I often find myself in the ‘hood just to get a bag of these delicious, sweet, and freshly made treats! You get a bag of 8 churros for only $3! Score!

Although the churros own my heart, I have had a funnel cake before and must say it was delicious, and again, freshly made! From scratch! She literally made the batter in front of me. They also have a variety of very Mexican snack items, including flan (epic), corn in a cup, and even tostilocos. You can’t get more Mexican than tostilocos…

First of all, the truck is really clean inside. Secondly, the churros are served hot and freshly made right in front of you. You can actually look inside of the truck as they are being made. The batter is dropped right into the hot oil first.

Then they are rolled in sugar:

And finally they are served in a small brown paper bag. Just like in Mexico! Seriously, these churros can not be beat! The truck parks on Echo Park Blvd most days, going towards the lake, except for the days they go to El Sereno. They don’t really have a set schedule either, so if you are in the neighborhood, it is worth seeing if they are there. The truck parks close to the blue corn quesadilla cart, in case you want to eat at both places on the same day. Personally, I tend to skip the cart and head straight for the churros! They are amazing!

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Blue Corn Oaxacan Quesadilla Cart, Echo Park

I first tried this blue corn quesadilla cart months ago, perhaps in May? However today I went back with my camera! This post will be short because really, there isn’t much to say other than, its a food cart, blue corn quesadillas are her specialty, and her hours aren’t exactly set so you might not always find her.

Today, I didn’t have a blue corn quesadilla though. I just had a regular quesadilla which she made from scratch. Seriously. It starts out as a little piece of masa and she pats it down on the heat to form the shape before adding the filling and folding it over.

She has a lot of fillings and salsas, but I just wanted a plain quesadilla with just cheese. Three dollars later, I was eating one of the best street quesadillas ever! So thick and delicious!

A kind man that was standing next to me was nice enough to let me photograph his food so you can see what a prepared quesadilla should look like:

She is usually in the same spot on Echo Park Avenue (off Sunset, headed towards the lake) by a parking lot. Her cart is red, but beware of an impostor that sets up on Sunset! Fail! If you need a frame of reference, look for the Salinas Churro Truck that parks nearby.

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Hello, Marked5 Truck Shaped Cookie!

How adorable is this? Too cute to eat!

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First Friday on Abbot Kinney Food Truck Crawl, Venice

After the great success that Chonchis (not her real name but that’s what I like to call her) Hsiawen, his wife Deb, and I had at First Friday last month, we made plans to do it again this month, only this time more of our friends joined us! Including Carrie, Brian, Derek and a friend of Hsiawen’s.

Basically, First Friday is when shops and restaurants on Abbot Kinney stay open late and there is always a crowd. Lately, many of the new food trucks have parked along the street and it is great having most of them in one place. However, last month after a few hours, the police started telling the trucks that they could not park there, and they ended up having to leave. Hsiawen was actually in the middle of an order when it happened!

For that reason, when we made plans to go to Venice tonight, we decided that the best thing to do was to get there as early as possible. Around 7pm we all found eachother and started our food truck crawl which also included some actual establishments.

Carrie and Brian started off at BarbiesQ where they ate this sandwich and concluded that it was indeed, really good:

That was followed by one of my personal favorites, Fishlips Sushi! We all unanimously loved Fishlips. It was nice that they had a little bench outside where customers could sit and eat their sushi! Eating at Fishlips early on was a great idea. As the night went on, the line got longer, as did the wait time to pick up your order. Here is a picture of what Chonchis ordered. It looked really good!

Then we walked over to meet Derek at the Brig where the fabulous Border Grill truck was parked.

While, I opted for the ceviche cone, most of the group ordered the wings with mole sauce and loved them.

After that we walked to Intelligentsia Venice. It was the first time that Carrie and Brian had been there, which was pretty exciting since they were longtime Intelli fans! Carrie used to order their beans through the mail, and tonight she bought some in person! Score! We ended up hanging out at Intelligentsia for about an hour or so, and ordered a variety of drinks. Christopher (Nicely) Alameda was our personal barista and everything was absolutely perfect. His latte art is pretty spectacular too!

Someone in our group was still missing the sprinkles and the whipped cream…I’ll let you guess who…

After leaving Intelligentsia Venice, we walked over to Marked5. We didn’t end up eating at Marked5 tonight because the crowd was massive! The line was really really really really long. I later heard they had almost sold out! Congratulations guys!

The next stop was Nice Cream which sells gelato and sorbet.

Carrie and Brian got some gelato, while the rest of us skipped it. I’m not a big fan of gelato, and Hsiawen and his friend were holding out for CoolHaus. This is where I should mention that he claims to be lactose intolerant…

We all walked down Abbot Kinney and stopped across the street from the Brig where we people watched and chatted for a bit as we waited for CoolHaus and Kogi. Carrie, Brian, and I talked about how we would love a Fresh and Easy in Santa Clarita and made plans for a future trip to Territory BBQ and Records. As it got late, more people started to show up on Abbot Kinney.

After about an hour of standing around (ok, maybe more like 30 minutes) we decided that Kogi and/or CoolHaus were not coming anytime soon and it was time to head out to Don Chow Tacos nearby. Carrie and Brian opted to skip Don Chow and headed back to the SCV. On the way to Don Chow, Derek texted that Kogi had arrived just as we left. We weren’t too disappointed though. We had all had Kogi before anyway.

Don Chow was outside of the Townhouse bar near the Venice boardwalk and they had a steady flow of customers. We all ended up ordering tacos tonight. I opted for al pastor and BBQ pork. Awesome. We all had a variety of tacos, but Hsiawen decided to make use of the Don Chow special and quoted a line from The Goonies, thus getting bacon and onions on his tacos for free!

We all concluded that Don Chow was great! I usually order the ghetto taco de asada, but tonight I ordered something different, and I think its going to be my new “usual” because the flavors were amazing!

As I leave you with this photo of the famous Abbot Kinney Tree Man (which I will post more about later) I want to say that I can’t wait until the next First Friday where hopefully even more people will join us! Thanks to everyone for coming out! I had a blast and ate a lot of great food!

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Wings, Pizza ‘n’ Things, Castaic

After being disappointed with the chicken wings I ate the other day, I was craving some after working in my classroom all day. I went to Castaic with my usual dining companion to check out Wings, Pizza, ‘n’ Things. I had seen it before because it is next to Longhorns, but had never been inside. I had heard about it from various friends, but going in, I didn’t remember if those were good things are bad things.

As soon as I walked in I saw all of the sports memorabilia on the walls. Then I saw that there was an actual bar inside, complete with what looked to be a bartender. Then I saw a TV at each booth.

There’s a lot to take in.

Anyway! We ordered 20 wings for the table and a basket of fries. We tried a variety of flavors including my personal favorite, fried chicken:

Garlic Parmesan:

and Lemon Pepper:

The basket of fries was pretty unremarkable, but completely edible:

My food took a while to be ready. I’m not complaining. When it comes to chicken wings waiting is a good thing! I guess that’s why they have the TV’s to keep you entertained! Ha! Anyway when the wings arrived I ate, and ate, and then ate some more. The wings were moist, hot, and full of flavor. Dare I say better than Wing Stop? Yeah. My wings today were awesome! And each basket comes with a celery and carrot stick. A nice touch!

Something else that I liked was the use of actual plastic baskets to serve the wings in, and the paper liner. You can also get plates in case you are with a group. Loves it! After eating my weight in wings, I was too full for dessert but the options definitely sounded tasty. I will have to come back to try their homemade fried pies.

Even though this is a chain, this place is locally owned and operated. I overheard the owner saying that they deliver orders over $25 and in case you don’t have time to wait for perfectly cooked wings, you can call ahead and they will be ready by the time you arrive! Score!

They also have a nice outdoor patio seating area complete with umbrellas!

 

Wings, Pizza, and Things

28070 Hasley Canyon Rd.

Castaic, CA 91384

661-295-1000

 

 

 

 

 

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Fosselman’s Ice Cream Company, Alhambra

Before moving to the SCV at the age of 5, Fosselman’s formed part of my childhood. My mother and I would walk to Fosselman’s where she would buy me an ice cream cone, which became a weekly occurrence. I even kept my legos in an empty huge Fosselman’s ice cream tub.

Then I moved to the SCV, and never really had a reason to visit the old ‘hood since we didn’t have family nearby. However, since this is my birthday month, my mother wanted to relive something that was part of my childhood. And that is why, the other day, I went back to Fosselman’s for the first time in 20 years.

I present to you, my cookies and cream ice cream with whipped cream in a waffle cone with a cherry on top:

Bliss.

Fosselman’s Ice Cream Company

1824 W Main St

Alhambra, CA 91801-1897

(626) 282-6533

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Are you a teacher? Have you been to the Dollar Tree yet?

If you are teacher, you must visit your local Dollar Tree before school starts! Read on to find out why…

A couple of years ago, when I got my first classroom, a friend sent me a package full of stuff that she thought I would find useful. The package was loaded with classroom stickers, certificates, tickets, and an alphabet border for the wall. I absolutely loved everything and immediately put it to good use.

One thing I noted was that the packaging on everything said “Teaching Tree” which I had never heard of. I asked her about it, and it turns out she got it all at the Dollar Tree. The next day, I made it out to my local Dollar Tree and was amazed to find a complete aisle full of “teacher stuff” as I like to call it. Everything from borders (that can cost about $6 at Lakeshore) to certificates and even basic classroom supplies like pens, crayons, glue, and markers.

Ever since then, the Dollar Tree is one of my frequent stops when I’m shopping for classroom goodies. I still love Lakeshore, but there are a lot of things that I can get here for only $1 and the quality is the same! Plus, they are constantly updating their stock and introduce new themes almost on a weekly basis.

I have always made good use of the supplies I get at Dollar Tree, and because the prices were so great, I was able to change the walls of my classroom quite often last year. This ensured that my classroom always looked awesome and the kids enjoyed seeing what I would do next. Sometimes I buy something without a clear plan in mind, but once I’m back in my classroom, I’m inspired. Those paper cut-outs are perfect for creating a word wall for example! It is amazing the stuff you can come up with in the classroom.

If you are a teacher that lacks creativity (I’ve seen a couple of those), the Dollar Tree has your back! They have these little idea sheets that tell you exactly what you need to buy and how to put it together.

So now that I am at a new school and therefore setting up my brand new classroom, I went over to the Dollar Tree yesterday to see what I could find. Jackpot! I didn’t pick of any borders because I have a ton (sealed, unused) from last year, and I also ended up buying some at Lakeshore (I couldn’t resist), but I did get some actual supplies. Like a couple of these erasers which will probably be put to very good use…

I just couldn’t resist those erasers! Paper is a must have for ANY classroom. Trust! Construction paper can be used in so many ways and can improve any project.

Now, it is the Dollar Tree, so you might have to dig around to find the good stuff and it might be a mess, so don’t go there in a rush because it can take a while to look through everything. I ended up getting one of those job charts. I thought it would be a good idea to have…

One of the best things I found:

A pack of 10 pen/highlighters which will be great to use in class! I’ll probably hand these out and collect that by the end of class, so I made sure to buy enough for a class set. A whole $4 worth! Score!

I guess Dollar Tree is not just for teachers because parents can go there to buy school supplies for their kids. You’d be amazed at the amount of students that come to class without a pen, pencil, or paper…I’m one of those teachers that always has extras, but maybe a pencil box would help kids keep everything together in their backpack. Amiright?

When I have the students complete writing assignments, using nice paper makes all the difference. The DT offers packs of nice paper that you can put in the printer, or sometimes I even let the kids write right on it. Some packs have up to 50 sheets of paper. For about $3 I have enough paper for all 5 of my periods! Score! Again, this requires some digging around…

And! I have since found out that if you don’t feel like digging around at Dollar Tree, you can order online and pick up at your nearest store for free. The only catch is that you have to order by the case, and those numbers are large. Personally, I rather go treasure hunting and get my hands dirty!

Check out what they might or might not have in stock by visiting their website!

 

 

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Saucey’s Wings and Fries, Valencia

Saucey’s Wings and Fries is new to the SCV and I ended up going there tonight after working in my classroom for a bit. I was really excited (and hungry) because (as far as I know) it is a non-chain, locally owned establishment! My favorite kind!

I love chicken wings! It is my usual late night meal when I’m coming home from class, mainly because Wing Stop is open late. Turns out Saucey’s is open late too! Nice!

So, tonight I went there with two other people and we decided to order 20 wings. We were able to choose three different flavors.

Buffalo:

Garlic and Parmesan:

BBQ:

And salt and pepper fries:

Something that I found really strange is that in the time it took me to pay, serve myself some Cherry Coke, and sit down, I got my wings brought to my table. Say what? Wings in less than 3 minutes? Don’t these types of wings take a while? At Wing Stop I always have to wait about 20 minutes. At BonChon and Kyochon the wait is even longer than that!

My best guess is that the wings were already made, and they were just reheated before they were served at our table. The wings were very meaty, which was great, but there was just something “off” about the taste. They were really oily!

I think I just got a bad batch, because many friends have gone to Saucey’s and had a great experience. Despite the shills (especially the one from Suffolk), I genuinely wanted to like Saucey’s because it is close to home and they deliver! But after tonight’s experience, I think I will just stick to Wing Stop.

Saucey’s Wings and Fries

25347 Wayne Mills Place

Valencia, CA 91355

(661) 799-9464

 

 

 

 

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Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice from a Vending Machine in Downtown Los Angeles

After leaving Raspado Express, this caught my eye. It is a vending machine that sells fresh squeezed orange juice. Woah. I didn’t try it myself, but for only 1.25 you can get a cup/glass/mug of freshly squeezed Jugo de Naranja to go. And if you don’t have cash on you, don’t worry! There conveniently is an ATM right next to it.

You’ve got to love LA!

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La Monarca Mexican Bakery, East Los Angeles

Today I went to La Monarca, which according to their website, ” is a premium retail bakery chain in Southern California featuring cakes, pastries, and breads with the authentic flavor of Mexico”. Sounds like something I would really enjoy!

As soon as I walked into the bakery it was like I left California and was in Mexico. Maybe it was the decor, or the nice Mexican ladies that were working there and offering me samples, but something about this shop just felt “right”.

I grabbed a charrola and pinzas and headed for the bread! Look at the variety! Every Mexican bread you can imagine is featured within these cases! Major foodie score!

Although tempted to grab one of each, I controlled myself and walked away with only a couple of selections.

These breads are really reasonably priced at under a dollar. I thought this was going to be an expensive bakery, but the prices I saw all looked to be just right. When I went to pay, I noticed that they also have Mexican Organic Coffees. Nice!

After paying, I decided to sit and eat a pastry at the actual shop. They have a small seating area, which is nice. Although tempted to take a bite of each…I ended up just trying the concha, or conchitas as I like to call them.

I’m no stranger to conchitas. It is my usual Mexican pastry.  I had never eaten one that tasted quite like the ones in Mexico until…this happened:

Can you see how light and fluffy the inside of this concha is? It was pure magic! How about another view?

It was THE BEST conchita I have ever had this side of the border. Amazing!

Not only is La Monarca a very nice looking bakery with a friendly staff, but the Mexican bread is pretty amazing. Totally worth checking out if you want to know what a real conchita should taste like!

 

La Monarca Bakery

5700 E Whittier Blvd,

Commerce, CA

(323) 869-8800

 

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