A Day Of Fun

Every once in a while we need a day of pure fun.  I had a day like that a few weeks ago.  Fran, Marie and Deb joined me for our Asian adventure.  Here's some of what we did.

We met in Del Mar and drove to Claremont Mesa Blvd to browse and buy wonderful food items from Zion Market and 99 Ranch Market.  We started at Zion.  If you've never been there, it is well worth a trip.  The fruits and veggies are fantastic.  There will be many veggies that you've never heard of or seen before.  I bought a Chinese eggplant.  It was light purple in color, about two inches in diameter, and about 18 inches long.  It was similar to the Japanese eggplant, but much longer.  I also bought a box of dried persimmons.  I am never able to find them in traditional markets, and since they freeze beautifully, I bought a box.  There were several perishable items, like sushi and salads that we loved, so we decided to return there at the end of the day.

Our next stop was 99 Ranch.  We concentrated here on the prepared foods.  I bought several Portuguese custard tarts.  I first had these on a cruise several years ago, and the only place I ever see the custard tarts is at 99 Ranch.  I bought sesame balls filled with taro and mung bean paste.  It sounds terrible, but I love them.  Fran bought lumpia, a Philippino type of taquito, Marie bought Kimchee, Deb bought ginger cookies and some frozen thin pancakes, that you fry on a skillet.  I haven't tried them yet, but Deb loves them.

It was now lunch time, so we headed to Jasmine, my favorite place on Convoy St. for dim sum.  We stuffed ourselves, then decided to check out the rest of the shopping center.  We found the reflexology center and vowed to get reflexology treatments on our next visit to Convoy Street.  Also of interest was a new ice cream type treat.  It comes in dairy or non dairy, and many flavors.  We tried strawberry.  They take a huge frozen disc and shave it into thin strips.  The result is a cross between a snow cone and ice cream.  It's light and fluffy and they have toppings you can add.  I don't know if it will catch on in San Diego.  Boba drinks, so popular in Los Angeles, are available in San Diego, but never really became popular.  Also in the center is another dumpling restaurant, and a Chinese herb store.

What a great day.  We all went home with lots of goodies, and most of us bought prepared food for dinner that night.  We'll need more time on our next visit, as the $29.99 one hour reflexology treatment is too much to pass up.  It was a great day with friends, and I can't wait to do it again.