Apologies for the really crap quality photos of the menu and food because we were hungry and I was impatient.

Happy hour menu, part I.

Happy hour menu, part II!

Sangria! It was pretty good, but I haven’t really had enough experience in drinking to tell you if it really was as good as I thought it was. In any case, the sangria wasn’t overly sweet but it was sweet enough to be potent as you kept drinking.

Especially since we ordered a pitcher of it and only two of us were drinking.

Pulpo a la vinagretta (marinated octopus): Sadly, this wasn’t my favorite as the marinade tasted faintly of mustard/wasabi/horseradish. And I really don’t like any of those three in any combination. But the octopus pieces were generous in size and weren’t tough to chew. So if you do like the taste of mustard, then you’ll really love this dish.

Champinones a la vinagretta (marinated mushrooms): This was SO GOOD. We ordered a second serving of this because we all really enjoyed it. The vinegar that composed the marinade was perfectly tart/sour without being so overwhelming that you’d start crying. Absolutely loved this dish and it was a great way to start off the meal and whet your appetite.

Cesta de Pan con Ali-Oli (basket of house bread with aioli). The bread arrived warm and was pleasantly crunchy on the outside while still soft on the inside. If I hadn’t been so preoccupied with the other dishes, I would have been able to finish off an entire basket by myself because I love bread. The aioli was also a really nice pairing with the bread.

Pollo al ajillo (Sauteed chicken in garlic and sherry wine): The chicken was very tender, but there wasn’t anything extraordinary about this dish. It was simply good – order if you like chicken and aren’t too adventurous. :p

Pimientos a la riojana (Spanish peppers sauteed in olive oil and garlic): Again, nothing overly spectacular about this dish but it was still very good. Order if you like bell peppers and want to add some vegetables to your diet.

Queso Cabrales (Spanish blue cheese from Asturias): SO GOOD. I absolutely love blue cheese (I always get blue cheese on my burgers) and so this was just divine. I did pick off the olives, so I can’t comment on those, but the blue cheese was amazing. It was fresh and creamy and while I do prefer a stronger tasting blue cheese, this one was subtler… but I didn’t care because it was honestly just so delicious. How much did we enjoy this? We ordered this dish three times because we loved it so much. If you love blue cheese, this is a must-have. (also the bread was toasted/brushed with garlic and olive oil, like a crostini)

Patatas a la brava (spicy potatoes): Not very descriptive, but if you know Spanish food, you know what this is! Their version was perfect for me. They weren’t spicy and the potatoes were fried perfectly. Despite being smothered in the sauce, they were still crunchy when you bit into them. I loved this dish too and so did our entire table because we ordered it twice.

Pinchitos morunos (grilled lamb on skewers): I don’t know how they did it, but these pieces of lamb were juicy, tender, and absolutely had no trace of the usual “scent” of lamb. It came in a stew of vegetables (mostly bell peppers and tomatoes) and it was just fantastic. We had three orders of this dish because it was just so good for its price and quality. I would highly recommend ordering this if you were going… and of course, if you like lamb.

Montadito de morcilla (Spanish pork sausage sandwich): I wasn’t too impressed with this as I didn’t really enjoy the sausage, but the bread is the same as the ones that come in the bread basket and it did come with sauteed onions. I probably wouldn’t recommend ordering this because there are so many other amazing items on the menu that are worth your money/appetite.

Pescaito frito (fried whole baby anchovies): The anchovies were fried to perfection. They weren’t oily and came with an aioli for dipping. If you have a craving for french fries, these are a much healthier alternative since you’re eating the entire fish – bones and all! I liked this dish and they were fun to eat but it isn’t something you can’t find at another restaurant.

Something I really, really loved about this restaurant was the fact that they were showing beinsport… and thus, Real Madrid and La Liga. >:D (and yeah, this wasn’t the best photo, but they were showing highlights from the two past clasicos – both in the Copa del Rey and in La Liga)

Of course, Spanish pride for their national team winning the 2010 world cup!

Jamon Serrano: We ordered this off of the regular menu for $12.50 and I think it’s definitely worth it. The dry-cured Spanish ham was drizzled with olive oil and thinly sliced. We actually took some pieces of the jamon and put it on top of the blue cheese crostini. But it was also really good by itself as it wasn’t overly salty.

Montadito de choricito frito (Spanish chorizo sandwich): Again, not entirely impressed by the sandwich as I didn’t like the chorizo (though I usually do, when it’s served with paella). I think that I was just much more attracted to the other tapas than I was to the sandwiches they had to offer.

Croquetas de queso (blue cheese croquettes): These were really good, but we ordered these near the end and were getting full so I didn’t think we enjoyed them as much as we could have if we had ordered them earlier on. The blue cheese was subtle and once again creamy. If you have had Japanese croquettes and liked them, you’ll like these too. If you have never had Japanese croquettes, then think fried mozzarella sticks but with a cream cheese consistency (I promise it tastes better than how I just described it!)

Empanadillas de atun (tuna in pastry): Perfectly fried and the tuna inside was tasty. I really can’t say much more about this dish because I was really full at this point and only had 1/3 of one of them. But everyone else at our table really liked it and finished it off.

Can you spot the Real Madrid crest?

As full as we were, one can never pass up dessert! But we did decide to share because we couldn’t really stomach two. So here’s the dessert menu…

Crema catalana (Spanish style creme brulee): You could taste a bit of condensed milk in this, I believe. And it didn’t have the usual black specks of vanilla that you could see in the traditional French creme brulee. But it was fantastically creamy, smooth, and it was a great way to end a perfect meal.

I had never been to Costa Brava before this visit and now it’s one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego. The prices of happy hour are amazingly fair and their food is even better. I don’t have anything truly negative to say about any of the dishes. Everything was delicious and if my family lived in Southern California, I would definitely take them here. Everyone at our table (K, J, and T) all agreed that it was a terrific meal and the service was always prompt. Our waiter was kind and patient enough to explain certain dishes as well as their wine selection (T ordered a bottle of red because he didn’t want to drink the sangria as it was too sweet for him). I could not have asked for a better first experience and can’t wait to go back!

The next time I come back, I’d probably want to try their paella because if I loved their tapas this much, I’ll probably really love their paella. In the case of tapas… I would order the marinated mushrooms, the lamb skewers, the spicy potatoes, the bread basket, and the blue cheese crostinis.

(Also one thing really awesome about them is that they actually have a football schedule on their website, where you can check to see when they are showing which La Liga matches!)

Costa Brava
1653 Garnet Ave, San Diego, CA 92109

http://www.costabravasd.com/

So after my snack swap with Australia… which people on Twitter saw. One of my friends in Canada, M., was amazingly generous. She simply offered to send me snack from Canada because she wanted me to try them! How wonderful is that? There are a lot of snacks that both the States and Canada have, so she sent me a sampling of the snacks that we definitely don’t carry here in our grocery stores. Her package arrived super quick and everything inside was delicious. THANK YOU M. <3

The entire haul. >:D Lots of maple snacks because Canada is of course famous for their maple syrup and other maple confections. (she asked if I wanted to try maple mustard or something like that… but I politely declined because I dislike mustard in all forms, hehe).

An abstract postcard.

A really cute beaver keychain. WHICH WAS TOTALLY UNEXPECTED. (but very welcome)!

MAPLE SYRUP! I’m not going to open this until I go home for the summer so that my family can try it when I make pancakes or waffles. :) But I know this is going to be so much better than the generic maple syrup that we have here in the stores.

Maple candies!

Out of the package…

And you see a maple leaf! These are surprisingly not as sweet as you might expect. In fact, they’re just the right amount of sweetness with the subtle taste of maple syrup that just melts in your mouth. They remind me of molasses/burnt brown sugar.

Maple fudge! Haven’t opened this yet, but I’m sure it’ll be amazing because I love fudge in general.

A large lollipop version of the smaller maple candies. I’ll save this for finals week so that I have something to distract from all the fun classes I’ll have to study for.

CLODHOPPERS! I’ve never heard of these before she asked me about them. Apparently they are seasonal and so she had to go hunt down the last bag for me, hehe. They are vanilla fudge covered graham cracker wafer clusters and they are absolutely delicious.

The vanilla fudge is reminiscent of the outer coating of Circus Animals, but what really makes the difference are the graham cracker wafers. I think I could snack on those alone because they’re so crunchy and I love wafers.

Saving the best for last… All Dressing Crispers are honestly the best. I can now say that All Dressing is my new favorite flavor. I really wish they sold potato chips and other chips with this flavor. They are honestly what the name implies. ALL DRESSING.

I could taste salt and vinegar, BBQ, chipotle, and bacon. It was… awesome. I love foods that have heavy/strong flavoring and these really hit the spot. Honestly my favorite thing in the entire package! But I’ve loved everything I’ve tried so far (so much in fact, that I’ve barely touched the Australian snacks… oops. But it’s okay because most of the things left are chocolates that can last for a while yet)

Thank you again M!! This post is dedicated to you. :)

NUTELLA. Everyone loves it, right? And everyone loves easy recipes with minimal work, right? Well then everyone will love this two ingredient nutella cake from Kirbie’s Cravings! Yes, it only has two ingredients and it works. Also, another plus is that it’s gluten free!

Nothing quite like opening a fresh jar of nutella… the first thing I do is take a spoon and just eat some because for all the things you can do with nutella, the best is to simply eat it out of the jar. (things just taste better out of their original containers… like ice cream)

Below is the recipe, somewhat paraphrased from the original post over at Kirbie’s Cravings.

Two Ingredient Flourless Nutella cake
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup Nutella

Instructions:
1. Line a springfoam pan with parchment paper. (I hate greasing pans, so I just cover everything with parchment paper for minimal cleaning afterward – this does lead to uglier cakes because the edges will be crinkled)
2. Preheat oven to 350F.
3. Beat eggs on highest speed with your mixer for about 6 minutes… or beat them by hand until they have tripled in volume.
4. Measure out nutella into a glass bowl.
5. Microwave for about 20 seconds.
6. Add in 1/3 of the egg mixture, stir in the same direction until all of the egg is mixed in.
7. Repeat until all of the egg mixture has been added.
8. Remember to add even the egg foam that has formed.
9. Pour batter into your parchment paper-lined springfoam pan.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

An entire cup of nutella…

Nutella in the bowl…

Not the prettiest photo of eggs…

But they look better after all that hard work beating them by hand! Kind of like a chrysanthemum.

Nutella and eggs mixed together to form an interesting batter.

Coming out of the oven! That huge hole/crack you see is the result of me sticking a knife into it to see if it had cooked all the way through. (Also, see what I mean by just covering everything with parchment paper?)

Out of the springfoam pan!

Dense and sweet and absolute nutella heaven. It’s also a little spongy. But I think you can actually alter the softness/denseness of this recipe by a) changing the amount of eggs and b) altering the time you beat the eggs for. (and of course, adding more nutella) I really loved this recipe and how easy it was to make. It’s another great way to consume nutella if you’re feeling up to doing something more than eating it straight out of the jar.

And… for texture! It formed a nice crackly top. I think the next time I make it… I’d dress it up with some creme fraiche spread out on top… lined with sliced strawberries… and on top of the creme fraiche, I’d add a chunky strawberry salsa >:D

I love food trucks and all the ones in San Diego are such quality. Hoangies is no exception. I’m so glad I accidentally discovered them last Friday when I was driving back from the post office after retrieving my package of Australian snacks.

Okay, so… I was driving on 805 N and I happened to see this brightly colored truck… and immediately I knew it was a food truck. So I told myself I would give them a try if… IF they took the same exit I did (since I was driving back to my apartment and then, later to lab). And… miraculously, they did take the same exit I did. I followed them, noting their name… and when I lost them (due to a red light) I looked for them on Twitter (haha I use Twitter more than I use Google sometimes). I realized that they were actually going right by UCSD and very near my lab. So of course I had to go. (though I did look up what kind of food they were serving before I decided to follow)

(don’t worry, I didn’t use my phone at the same time I drove) But anyway… soon, I was pulling into a parking lot and waiting in line to order with a few other people who were employees of the businesses in the area. I was a little out of place, since I was the only student (I was wearing my UCSD hoodie), but that was okay. >:D I looked up reviews of their food truck on yelp and on the web… and they really had shining reviews on the whole and I’d never really had a proper banh mi before, so I thought why not?

Here is their menu! (it’s also available on their website, so if this is hard to see, then don’t fret!)

Nicely wrapped – and it was very thoughtful of them to include a rubber band with which to hold the napkins.

One more layer…

And ta-da!

AMAZING AMAZING SANDWICH.

I haven’t had many Vietnamese sandwiches before, but oh my god… this was such an amazing sandwich. The first words out of my mouth after the first bite were literally oh my god this is amazing.

The sandwich was stuffed full of pork – absolutely juicy, delicious, mouth-watering pork shoulder – that had been sweet marinated. It was heavenly. The French roll was wonderfully soft and not too thick so as to take up more volume per bite, rather it was the vessel that carried all the sandwich fixings. The pickled vegetables were fantastic too – not overly sweet but a good contrast to the pork. Personally I would have loved it if they were more sour, but I think I enjoy stronger tastes so this amount of sour in the pickled vegetables would be ideal for most. The cucumber was an added bonus of refreshment and crunch in between all the meat as well.

Their spicy aioli and French butter were the cherries on top, so to say – again, very complementary in the overall taste in the sandwich. I didn’t find their spicy aioli to be very spicy and I’m not usually a fan of spicy so I think people who are wary of spicy foods will be happy with this and people who love spicy can simply add siracha or ask for extra aioli.

SERIOUSLY.

All their sandwiches actually include cilantro and jalapenos as well – and you can add a fried egg in for an extra dollar. I decided to forgo the cilantro and jalapenos – but I’m sure people who enjoy either or both would find them delightful additions to the sandwich.

Super fast and friendly service. Sandwiches are made fresh and I am so glad I took a chance on this food truck. I definitely would come back for more because just… wow. I doubt any other Vietnamese sandwich in San Diego can compare.

Hoangies
Location: Rotation!
http://www.hoangiesfoodtruck.com/ 
Twitter

So… there’s this community on livejournal where you can sign up to swap snacks with someone else in a different country. You turn in an application and then you are paired up with someone. After that you get in contact with your swap partner, exchange emails to find out likes and dislikes (this is the time when you make requests for specific items!)… go out and buy everything, ship it out… and wait for your package to arrive!

I had been dying to do this for a very long time… and now, I finally got the chance to do it. :) My partner was from Australia and it was her first snack swap as well, so we were both learning as we went. I ended up sending her about $30 worth of snacks in a large priority box and thus shipping cost around $60. So it’s not cheap, kids. If you want to participate, you’d better be willing to throw down some serious cash for your snacks… otherwise, you might as well just order from online.

Okay, so I had an awesome post written out… but then I somehow deleted everything when I tried to make the cut, so… I guess here’s the short version of what I had typed out earlier.

BUBBLE-WRAPPED. I’ll admit, I shook the box the moment I got my hands on it. By then, I was already super excited and even more impatient. (I was tempted to just tear open everything and see the spoils of my package without taking any photos… but I resisted)

The package actually came for me yesterday, but I wasn’t home to sign for it and so I had to take a little road trip to the post office where it was being held (captive). However, now I know where a weird post office is, where a public library is… and I also managed to discover an awesome food truck… but more on that in a later post.

NO BUBBLE WRAP! SO MUCH STUFF INSIDE THE BOX. SO MANY SNACKS. BUT WHAT DID IT CONTAIN?

All of the snacks, in all their glory. I was filled with such glee as I arranged my snacks in a nice fashion. (and just so everyone knows, I haven’t opened or tried anything yet! but I will… very soon… and when I do, I’ll probably post some product reviews and photos in groups so that I don’t spam my own blog).

To start with the savory portion of the package… I asked her to include something chicken flavored because there’s not many (if any at all) chicken flavored chips in the States (unless you really look for them). And then my request was just simply to please include some Australian chips – and she totally delivered.

From L to R: Smith’s Chicken flavored chips, Cheetos Cheese & Bacon Balls (I have never seen these being sold here in CA before), Twisties Cheese Flavor (from what I know, this is a pretty popular/standard brand of chips in Australia), and Toobs Original Flavor (I have no idea what this is, but it claims to be saucy!)

From the category of big bags of sugar… ;) My swap partner herself is a huge fan of sweets and chocolate and gummies… so when she asked me if I wanted to try chocolate flavored gummies, of course I said yes! So that’s what that bag of “chicos” is on the far left (is it just me or does it seem a bit… racist?)

Then comes the Darrell Lea licorice. One thing I noticed Americans always asked their Australian or New Zealand partners for was licorice… so I thought, why not? Turns out you can buy Darrell Lea licorice on Amazon or at grocery stores like Bristol Farms… HOWEVER, the packaging is different. The one my swap partner sent me is called: magic mango… but the one you buy on Amazon/at Bristol Farms is just called mango (and it’s also labeled as soft eating licorice). I wonder if there’s a difference…

Next is what is probably the most exciting thing for me: ASSORTED MINI CADBURY CHOCOLATES!!! I think my three exclamation points will suffice.

And last are… dark chocolate mint Tim Tams! Because you can’t swap snacks with someone from Australia without getting Tim Tams, right? I had already tried the original flavor of Tim Tams so I asked her to send me a different flavor. And she was kind enough to provide a list of the flavors she could buy and let me choose. So I went with dark chocolate mint… which I hope will be a cross between kit kats and thin mints.

SO MUCH STUFF. SO MANY DIFFERENT KINDS OF CHOCOLATE. THAT IS ALL.

In the dead of the night… a mysterious package arrives…

And okay, to preface the rest of this post, I want to apologize for the lack of updates. But spring quarter is really time-intensive and I’m usually too tired to write stuff by the time I get home. (instead I watch TV or read ASOIAF) I actually have a lot of photos ready and separated into folders for future posts, it’s just that I’m too lazy to write up an entry for it. If this were simply a “post food photos” blog, then I guess I’d be set. :p Anyway, onto what was inside the package…

It was an entire case of soda! And a lovely card! I kind of had a suspicion of what was inside, but it wasn’t until I picked up the package and brought it inside that my suspicions were confirmed. It was really heavy… and so of course, it was soda! But not just any soda… Cascal Soda.

You can already see their signature logo peeking out from the envelope… (speaking of envelopes, I should probably go buy a card for my mom since Mother’s Day is coming soon…)

And inside was a lovely handwritten note from Cascal! (I photoshopped my name out, haha) But yes, as the note says, I won one of their many (generous) giveaways! If you follow them on Twitter or add them on Facebook, you’ll see that they host giveaways quite often. (hint: I recommend that you follow them in one fashion or the other)

So now I have a twelve case of soda. And of course the first thing I do is take photos. (and then I try a can)

I’m sure everyone was dying to know what flavor it was. It’s Berry Cassis! It has hints of black currant, tangerine, and lemon flavors… and it is best paired with hummus and pita chips as well as tandoori chicken. (as it is suggested by the website)

All together now. Makes for a pretty presentation. :)

The best part of Cascal? ONLY 80 CALORIES A CAN. That’s right. EIGHTY. And the thing is, it is 12 fluid ounces… which is the same amount of liquid as you would find in a can of Coke. However, a can of Coke (classic) has 140 calories.

Some nutrition facts for you… and in continuing with the comparison: Cascal has 15g of sugar per can – however, Coke contains 39g of sugar… that’s about 2.5x the amount of sugar in the same amount of liquid!

But of course, I know Coke isn’t the best comparison because we all know it’s one of the worst sodas you can drink… so how about a comparison with Izze? I feel like the best comparison in taste for Cascal is Izze as both, stripped down, are basically selling fizzy fruit drinks. In fact, I find that Cascal’s Berry Cassis tastes a lot like Izze’s Sparkling Blackberry (who else is surprised?) However, Cascal is not as sweet and not as fizzy as Izze – which is why I prefer Cascal to Izze.

Side by side comparison:

Cascal (Berry Cassis): 355mL, 80 calories, 15g sugar. 18g carbohydrate, 30mg sodium
Izze (Sparkling Blackberry):  355mL, 130 calories, 29g sugar, 31g carbohydrate, 25mg sodium

As you can see, Cascal is healthier in every aspect except for the amount of sodium… but that’s in milligrams and 5 milligrams is not such a big difference considering all the sodium that we consume daily from other sources anyway.

Cascal is pretty awesome and I’d recommend giving them a try when you want a healthy soda. I can’t wait to try out their other flavors (they have a total of five!). Also, they sell their products in Whole Foods and Bristol Farms. If you live in San Diego, the Bristol Farms near Costa Verde sells them!

Cascal
cheerscascal.com

Biscoff? What is that, you say? Well, I’m sure Europeans are no stranger to this confection… and maybe some of you well-traveled readers know of this too. But in any case, this is a post about Biscoff spread used to make a cookie and the recipe is from Kirbie Cravings. (you’ll find that I use a lot of recipes from her because her food blog is awesome)

Biscoff is usually consumed in cookie form… but then comes Biscoff spread. It’s basically the cookie in paste form. Now I know that doesn’t sound too appetizing, but I promise you it is. If you like peanut butter or if you like Nutella, you’ll like the consistency of Biscoff (although it is a little heavier than Nutella, but not as sticky as peanut butter). ANYWAY. I’ve had Biscoff cookies before, but never the Biscoff spread… so I went to World Market and bought myself a jar to see if it was worth trying.

It was.

(At least it was for the first couple of times, now I’m just tired of it… BUT DON’T LET THAT DETER YOU FROM TRYING THIS… because everyone should at least try Biscoff spread. Also the Biscoff cookies themselves are great with tea.)

Biscoff Chewy Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup Biscoff spread
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Cream butter with both sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and Biscoff.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then add into the wet mixture until just combined.
4. Drop the dough by large tablespoons onto baking sheet and bake for 6-8 minutes.

Super easy to make and super soft. The Biscoff spread is very prevalent in taste and they taste even better the next day. Plus, they look nice and are very presentable.

Original recipe is HERE.

Also, if you buy the whole jar of Biscoff spread and are at a loss for what to do with the rest (save from eating it from the jar with a spoon), visit Kirbie Craving’s for more ideas! She has a lot of great recipes for Biscoff spread. :)

(Because people enjoy knowing how much a product costs… at least, I do)

Brick and Bell Cafe! (apologies for the skewed photo) Apparently it’s one of the stops on the La Jolla edition of Bite San Diego Food Walking Tours and the description is: “The brickyard bakery and bistro with famous scones La Jollans swear by.” And because I didn’t want to take the walking tour (I walk enough on campus anyway), I simply decided to vist this place by myself on a weekday, around 10AM or so (because I had heard that they sold out of their baked goods relatively fast).

The place was bustling by the time I got there; the tables outside were packed and the inside was pretty full too. Luckily for me, I was only there for the scones and not the hot beverages or else I would have probably have had to wait at least 15 minutes before leaving. Service is fast and efficient and when it was my turn, I asked the cashier about the selection of the scones available. She rattled off a long list of scones (too many that I don’t remember) and I quickly decided on two. Cranberry and blueberry.

Amazing display of scones. Lots and lots of scones.

They also have other baked goods (as you can see, there are cinnamon rolls on the very left and muffins on the right). Maybe I’ll go back and try some next time.

One cranberry (in the back) and one blueberry (in the front).

The raspberry looked so perfect and so pretty with its generous sprinkling of sugar on top. But the cranberries were so sour. Well, they were really sour at first, but then as I continued eating it, I started to love how sour the cranberries were.

The blueberry scone just refused to photograph. So I ate it.

Both scones were amazingly fluffy and dense at once. You can absolutely taste the cream and butter in each bite. It’s not hard or crunchy outside, but rather it’s like a perfect crust. For those of you who have had Red Lobster’s amazing garlic butter biscuits, these are like three times bigger and sweet instead of savory. My only gripe is that the scones weren’t sweet enough for my sweet tooth. But I think most people will love these scones with a coffee or tea. I’m just picky because I love sweet things. >:D

Brick & Bell Cafe
928 Silverado Street La Jolla, CA 92037
(no website)

Food trucks are popular in San Diego and my hope is to try at least 75% of them once before I graduate (though I’m not sure if that’ll actually pan out seeing as how my schedule is going to be hectic this quarter… and even more so next year when I’m an RA). But nevertheless… another food truck post, this time about Dharma Dogs.

Sadly I don’t think Dharma Dogs is currently operating… in March, they announced on their Twitter that they were relocating from San Diego to the Bay Area. And since then, I’m not sure if they’ve actually re-opened and started up again. So I’m glad I got to try their hotdogs and donuts before their hiatus.

The best thing about Dharma Dogs was the fact that they were one of the few food trucks that were open until 2AM almost every night. Unfortunately for me, they were usually open in downtown San Diego… but one day, they stationed themselves closer to La Jolla/UCSD and for lunch, no less… so of course I drove over to give them a try.

They give you a menu when you walk up to their food truck and everything is very fairly priced. I was debating whether to go for the donuts or the fries as a side… and well, I love dessert, so donuts won over the french fries (even though I love garlic fries). In the end, I ordered a Baja dog without mustard (I hate mustard) and three donuts, one of each flavor.

The bun is nicely toasted and it was really hot when they handed it to me, I almost couldn’t hold it long enough to take a photo, but I managed… and then decided to take photos of the donuts when I got home.

I actually really liked the hot dog and all the toppings, but I felt that it was a really small hotdog and not really enough to fill you up when you’re hungry. Usually I slather my hot dogs with ketchup (I love ketchup), but I found that I didn’t have to do it this time as the toppings were fantastic complements to your basic hot dog. However, given the price, I think I would rather go to Costco and have one of their polish dogs instead. But if it was late at night and I was in downtown San Diego, I would definitely buy one.

Original glaze, pumpkin glaze, and chocolate glaze. There were some rave reviews about these donuts on Yelp, so I was definitely intrigued. But… I’m not sure if I was wowed by them. I did like that they were freshly fried and made to order. The glazes were still wet when I started on the donuts and I didn’t really enjoy that – also they were really small. I think I’ve been spoiled by my travels because I love Timbits from Tim Horton’s in Canada (and in select states in the USA)… and I also love Mister Donut in Taiwan and Japan. Compared to those two stores, these donuts just couldn’t compete.

Overall, the service was great, fast, friendly. The food was decent, but served in small portions. All the best to them in the Bay Area!

Dharma Dogs
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So this is a recipe post! (yes I do actually make some of my own food once in a while… if I’m not too lazy, haha) Inspiration is taken from The Secret Cookie Service and a chocolate chip cookie post on Kirbie’s Cravings. :)

I’ve been trying to recreate The Secret Cookie Service’s chocolate chip cookies without much success… so for the time being that project is being put on hold. Instead I decided to use a chocolate chip cookie base that I knew would be amazing and added the mint chocolate on top, a la the secret cookie service. It’s a good substitute, but it’s not the same thing. (sadly)

The truth is, before I moved to San Diego (to go to UCSD)… I had never really given chocolate chip cookies much thought. Or any kind of cookie for that matter (except macarons). So it wasn’t until I started reading Kirbie’s Cravings about the perfect chocolate chip cookie that I was sufficiently intrigued to make them myself. Of course making them was kind of a chore due to the ingredients that go into the batter, but I bought all of them anyway. :p That was… the start of fall quarter and so I’ve used up all of my chocolate disks by then. However, I still had the bread flour and the cake flour (which are probably the most vital and “unusual” ingredients that go into these cookies), so I decided to make a new batch with some modifications to satisfy my cravings for mint chocolate chip cookies (since they’re usually only offered once a week).

Below is the recipe, copied from Kirbie’s Cravings (which is an amazing blog that posts much more regularly than this one, hehe – so if you have the time and you live in San Diego, you should check out her blog!) with my minor modifications (aka, the modifications of a lazy college student).

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 15 mins
Total time: 30 mins

Ingredients
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 chocolate chips
2 packages of Andes mints

Instructions

1. Unwrap all the Andes mints (make someone else do this part)
2. Mix flours, baking soda, and baking powder into a bowl. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugars together in a separate bowl, whether by hand or with a mixer.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
5. Stir in the vanilla.
6. In a plastic bag, crush the Andes mints to desired size (I’d say about 1/4 of what each normal piece is)
7. Add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
8. Drop chocolate chips and one third of the Andes mint chunks in and incorporate them.
9. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. (or if you’re impatient, it’s all right to bake right away, but you sacrifice quality of the finished cookies)
10. Save the other 2/3 Andes mint chunks in a zipbloc bag for when you bake.
11. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
12. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie.
13. Press several of the bigger chunks of Andes mints onto the tops of each cookie.
14. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes.
15. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.

Ingredients I’ve omitted: salt and sea salt – I never add salt in my cookies… and chocolate disks.
Ingredients I’ve added/substituted in: chocolate chips and Andes mint chocolate.

Oh, yes, also I don’t have a mixer (hand or kitchenaid) here with me in San Diego, so I just cream the butter and sugars by hand. I’ve found that it actually makes for a much more even mixture, but the downside is that you really have to let the butter stand at room temperature, you can’t just rely on the power of the mixer to blend it for you.

In addition to all that, I’ve found it’s better to take out the cookies while they’re still relatively unformed so that they can continue baking once they’re outside the oven. This leads to an “undercooked” cookie that is amazingly soft and chewy at once… much like the secret service cookies. I would say pull them out of the oven when you think they’re almost done. It really depends on watching them carefully and how much dough goes into each cookie. But if you prefer denser and more well-formed cookies, I would advise you to follow the instructions on Kirbie’s blog and not to deviate.

These cookies do spread, so I would definitely give each rounded ball of dough their own space.

Close up shot. (I actually ran out of chunks of Andes mints to press onto the tops of cookies so I had to ration out the remaining pieces because this recipe makes for a lot of cookies… a lot more than I had accounted for)

A finished product. (you can see the difference between pulling them out early, on purpose compared to baking them for the full time as pictured in Kirbie’s blog – I’ve actually made them by following the recipe to the T, but those pictures look ugly, so you can go enjoy hers instead :p)

The greatest thing about this recipe is that you can refrigerate the dough and enjoy freshly baked cookies whenever you want (especially if you freeze the dough).

Hehehe. >:D