Pinks

The "Dicks" of Hollywood...apparently its where you go after the bars. No frills, in fact their famous chill dog is bland in my humble opinion. Its probably delicious if you have had a long night of drinking! Their spicy polish dog is better, but I had to bust out the fork and knife like a rookie!

Clippers vs. Spurs

Row 9, peanuts, beer...perfect night! I got to yell at Manu Ginobili (a lot). He pretended he couldn't hear me, but he could!

Philippes Double Dipped!

Dipped, double dipped, or wet...Philippes 1001 N Alameda St, Los Angeles. The only thing better than the french dip was the mustard! Wicked hot = don't miss it!

When it comes to food, I will try anything once...almost

My sister scored at Ranch 99 when she spotted a "Salted Snake-Head Fish in Brine". She decided to put my very sophisticated palate to the test and challenge my "I'll try anything once" claim. The jar sat on the kitchen counter for about 6 months before I finally worked up the nerve to give it a try.

I Googled "Mam Ca Loc Con" and "Salted Snake-Head Fish" for recipes with no luck. I quickly realized that I was going to have to go all in and just cut a piece off and taste it.

I was actually expecting it to smell a lot worse than it did. There was definitely a strong scent of brine and fish, but it didn't have the pungent spoiled seafood quality I was anticipating.

We pulled it out, put it on the cutting board and went to work. It was EXTREMELY hard to stab with a fork. It was tough and bony.

Thankfully, I wasn't going to have to go it alone. Andrea and I bravely sliced into the Snake-Head Fish. I chose to eat my piece, skin and all.

The flavor wasn't as bad as I was expecting either. It was sort of sweet/salty much like I would imagine fish jerky tasting, however, the bones were more than I could take! After about 3 chews, a very sharp bone jabbed right into my tongue.

After I was assaulted by the bone, I had no choice but to spit my bite into the sink. I think Andrea got most of her's down.

I tried it!

Sake One Forest Grove, OR

Nothing beats the G! The duck mousse was made with real ducks from Eugene ;) Seriously, Sake One > do the tour > do the sake shock food and sake pairing > meet Tony!

St. Francis

So far San Francisco has lived up to my expectations. Drinks at the Irish Bank, dinner in Chinatown, and breakfast at Lefty O'Douls. As I was taking this picture of our hotel from Union Square park, park security asked to leave or extinguish because its a "no smoking park". Maria refused to put it out because they are $10 a pack here, so we are moving on. Next stop Lombard St.

Legoland