Out for Food Burlesque…

It’s been a while since I’ve uploaded some food porn to ShindoTV. For a while, I was going out to lunch or dinner every other day and taking pictures. Food is fun and so are the pictures, but there’s only so much dining I can do in this economy. In the second night that I’ve hung out with Jen in a row, I joined her, our mutual friend Melodie, and some of her friends out at the Linkery. Jen was still in birthday mode, so what better place for her birthday than where the food is dramatically presented?

As pictured above, the kitchen is only separated from the dining area and bar by glass windows. While this has the advantage of keeping the kitchen staff from doing nasty things with the food, the true objective is more likely to give the diners a show. This is how the food is prepared and it is definitely sexy! Also, everyone can feel like they are at the chef’s table.

I could have easily included the table drinks in the pics, but your need for alcohol porn, especially beer, will have to be satisfied with the two photos below. The menu contains a bewildering list of wines, beers, and ciders, and they all can be paired with starters and courses. I played it safe and asked the waiter what went well with the link plate (where the diner can have 1-3 sausages). I ordered the Choucrotte, which essentially was three sausges with some sauerkraut. I’ll save the fun details for two photos later.

Alex, one of Jen’s friends, had a plate of flat bread with some links. Looked tasty like a pizza. Also, it was very light on both the wallet and the stomach.

Now here is where it gets fun. There was a mix-up as someone else at our table also ordered a link plate (the picnic plate). At first, I thought the chef put the wrong sides on the plate, forgetting my sauerkraut. I figured I’d ask the waiter for some sauerkraut when he came back to our table . In the meantime, I got the money shot of this plate, and Melodie and I sampled the potato salad. We only had a few bites between us.

Needless to say, the other person at our table had my plate. Once we realized that there was a mix-up, there were some casualties. As mentioned before, Melodie and I took a couple of bites out of the potato salad. On the choucrotte, one of Jen’s friends amputated one of the weenies.

She didn’t eat the piece, but I wouldn’t have been offended. I did eat some of her potato salad after all. I was left with a John Wayne Bobbit piece of food porn, though.

Now to the alcohol presentation. Food and beverage storage is usually out of site for the customers, but the Linkery has the bottled beers in plain sight for any customer who wants to walk up to the pantry in the back and see the inventory.

Modern beer kegs are ugly devices; however, the beers created by the Linkery brewery are also in plain sight. Too bad no staff member was around to give me the money shot.

The last time I was at the Linkery was in its old location, a few blocks south of the new one. The food theatre component is part of the new location. Given that there was a lot of stage tease with the food and drink, lovely presentation, and the comedy of errors regarding some link plates, I’ve been out to a night of food burlesque.

SDTwineup

If you wonder what an SDTwineup is, it is essentially a smaller Tweetup (a meeting for Twitterers) with a healthy dose of wine and cheese. Organized and hosted by @DowntownRob, the soft opening of the Twineup was held in Rob’s West Downtown apartment, which has a very beautiful view of the Marina District and even the new Electra Tower. Among the Twitterers represented were your truly, @NREK, and @Nomatophobia.

The benefit of the Twineup is that there is more of opportunity to meet and get to know fellow Twitterers, which is present at the Tweetup, but there are fewer people with a less hectic party pace. And, there is nothing like some wine and cheese to help the conversations get going, very good ones indeed.

The Twineup eventually migrated to Altitude, which had an excellent view of Petco Park’s baseball diamond. We eventually met up with @MyMelodie, who was with her friend @jenniferaron. At one point, several of us couldn’t resist doing a runway walk, which was only a small part of the crazy fun post-wine.

A special thanks to Rob for his hospitality and for creating the event. As I’ve mentioned before, Rob is a big part of the San Diego online community, helping to organize the Blogger Meetups and recently co-sponsoring last week’s SDTweetup. His internet server business, Webwizards.Net, has a special 60 day trial plan available to Twitterers. Check it out and make your grand presence known beyond Twitterville.

The next SDTwineup is on October 24, 7pm.

I’m wearing my headphones so I don’t have to talk to you…

Yesterday, I was at Twiggs in University Heights to unwind after a day of teaching, around 6’ish pm,  when I saw some people with clipboards hanging around outside by the entrance. I didn’t know what they were up, nor did I find ever find out. I just didn’t care to find out. They may have even been working for some cause I’m for, but the strategic ambush posture didn’t go very well with me.

As I did my Internetting and sipped my coffee, I thought of my exit strategy. I imagined being rude, I contemplated simply running past them, and I thought of running towards the street corner and crossing the street. I just did not want to engage in conversation with them at all, as they would have kept talking so I would buy whatever they wanted to sell, whether it was making a contribution to their cause or consider their product. It reminded me of when I was recently in Washington DC walking around in Chinatown, only to be accosted by someone from Greenpeace. I didn’t mind the initial conversation, but I did not want to get roped into making a donation right there on the spot. I simply made an excuse that I had to meet some friends to get away from her, but the woman wasn’t too happy that I got out of her grip.

I settled on wearing my headphones and listening to my iPod. However, they weren’t deterred as two of them tried to rush me when I was a few feet out the door. I then put my hand up in the classic “talk to the hand” gesture and moved on. I called Twiggs afterwards to voice a complaint about the clipboard people.

A part of me felt rude for quickly dismissing them like that. However, I resent that they placed themselves in a position where they had a captive audience.

The outdoor solicitor problem got so bad at the Trader Joe‘s in Hillcrest/Uptown area that they put up a sign telling customers that they were not obligated to talk to these street hawkers. It’s pretty bad when we need institutional blessings to say “No.”

#SDTweetup @The Pearl Hotel

Last night, I went across town to the San Diego Tweetup at the Pearl Hotel in Point Loma. Like many of the past tweetups, this one was organized by Jennifer Van Grove, also known as @jbruin on Twitter. I’ve only been to the Tweetup earlier this month (held at the W in Downtown) and the one last night, but both were done with great style. Swank venues and sponsored free drinks, especially the ubiquitous martinis/cosmopolitans, helped make for some very memorable evenings.

Many local Twitterers, or Tweeps, were present, including @DowntownRob, whose business WebWizards Web Hosting was one of the sponsors of last nights event. He’s done a lot for the local online community, as he’s also an organizer of the San Diego Blogger’s Meetup.

One interesting feature was the Twitter Board, a screen where various tweets were projected. Many people present had their iPhones, including yours truly, and we were all standing around and posting. Oh, I shouldn’t forget about the Crackberries and the other kinds of mobile phones. Those were present as well.

I got to see a few people including my new friend Gio (@giographic), and Daniel Phillip (@danielphillip) and his partner Richard Allen (@richarchallen). I also got to meet up with Eileen (@eyemusing), whom I’ve been trading tweets about what I call the “fashionista trainwreck shows” and Alan (@awanisAlan). I had some good conversations with Tom (@big_perm) – thanks for the beer – and a brief chat with Richard (@richandcreamy), who went around taking pics of the party. Good times.

I was hoping to meet Shindy.TV at the tweetup but that never happened. I don’t doubt they were there, but I was talking to various people and just didn’t get around to meeting them. It would be fun for Shindo to meet Shindy. It’s gotta happen sometim in the future.

Thanks, Jennifer, Rob, Newsforce, and Engine Ready for making this Tweetup possible. It was awesome!

I now look forward to the Blogger’s Meetup later in October.

Can’t Get You Out Of My Head

No, it’s not about Kylie, but the subject makes me want to mindlessly sing “Lah la la, la la la lah…” Ever since I found out about Shindy.TV, it’s frakked with my head. To make matters worse, it’s not pronounced Shindy dot TV, but ShindyTV. It sounds a little too similar to website name of yours truly.

What is Shindy.TV exactly? It’s a website that gives information on the various happenings in San Diego. You can get info on restaurants, nightclubs, and some superfun events. Being true to the .TV domain name, ShindyTV goes out into the field and has correspondents give us mortals the skinny on what’s going on.

As for the name, it gets to me for the reason I’ve mentioned above. In all fairness, they are Shindy.TV and my website is ShindoTV. Two different entities altogether. Shindy simply is a synonym of shindig, an event or happening. Strange thing is, one of my older nicknames was Shindig. When your name is Shin, the nicknames seem to come without end. Shindo was another one I had, one that I’ve used as a pen name to this day. I’ve never been a Shindy, but it’s a little too close for comfort.

Now that Shindy.TV has a presence on Twitter, no doubt some confusion will arise. Keep in mind they are Shindy_TV and I am shindotv.

That all said, name confusions aren’t always bad.

iPhone Photos Askew

Am I the only one who’s taking pictures where the perspective is warped on my iPhone? Perhaps I’m accustomed to the two-dimensional effect of conventional cameras, but from time to time, buildings seem out of whack. Here are some lovely examples:

5th and Washington, Hillcrest.

Ash Street towards the Harbor, Downtown San Diego.

Columbia District, Downtown San Diego.

This one almost seems to be in classical perspective, but is still a bit off:

Core District and East Village, Downtown San Diego.

Please tell me I’m not crazy.

Just a few photos today.

I’m stealing this photo post idea today from Chris.

All pics photographed with my handy, dandy iPhone.

Bank of America Plaza, taken from a nearby high-rise.

Not dove love at all. These pigeons are fighting with the fattest one over food he has in his beak.

In the afternoon, I ducked into Pasha‘s, a new Turkish restaurant in Hillcrest, to get away from the traffic. I ordered this tasty lunch and the Ayran, a yogurt drink. Not my usual fare.

Saturday in Photos

Some more photos, which I took a ton of on my iPhone. We’ve been having mild weather here in San Diego, which is unusual for August.

On Saturday, I met up with Brian and Sharon at the Tourmaline in PB* (Pacific Beach). Here’s a photo of the water:

An interesting arrangement of kelp in the water:

Afterwards, we were off to La Torta, a Mexican deli further south in PB. Food porn!

Then there was a visit to La Jolla Cove. At the Children’s Pool, or Casa Beach, some people went swimming there and hung out on the shore even though that’s an area where the seals like to beach (not things I’d do there):

It was cloudy late in the day and the horizon looked too much like one of those motivational posters. I’ll entitle it “Optimism.”

The Pink Berry recently opened in Hillcrest. Good frozen yogurt, but a place of cute overload:

My last thing I had to do was stop by the Apple Store to pick up my computer. While in Fashion Valley, I saw this brilliant window display in front of Saks:

*San Diegans often refer to Pacific Beach as PB. Definitely part of the local dialect.

iHunk or I-Hunk: take your pick

Just a little silliness to get through Monday morning:

Which would you pick: iHunk or I-Hunk?

The iHunk – sighted while I was waiting for my Genius Bar appointment on Friday:

or the I-Hunk, an image I found on Flickr:

I’d take the iHunk over the I-Hunk anyday.

No Pho King Way!

Like many large cities, San Diego has its fair share of Vietnamese restaurants, especially those that serve pho. Many (but not all) of these restaurants have pho in their names, particularly one out on El Cajon Boulevard, not too far from Hoover High and the Saigon Restaurant (very good).

Whether it was an intentional pun or simply a brag about having great pho, you gotta love the name choice.

Sometime, I’ll have to pay them a visit and see if all that Pho King is worth it.