On Thursday during lunch time, the Toasty Melts truck parks about 1 1/2 blocks from my workplace.  They serve grilled cheese sandwiches and soup….nice comfort food.  Toasty Melts has two grilled cheese sandwiches they’re known for: the ABC (Apple/Bacon/Cheddar) and the Godfather (Mozzarella/Basil Aioli/Prosciutto).

For some reason, Toasty Melts didn’t have the ABC available but had a 3-cheese sandwich instead.  I decided to get the Godfather since it’s one of the two sandwiches they’re known for.  When I opened my brown paper bag, I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did it come with the sandwich, but the meal also included Kettle Wrinkle-Cut Chips and a Rice Krispy Treat.

The Godfather was grilled perfectly with buttered toast on the outside, a generous amount of melted mozzarella, salted prosciutto, and a basil aioli pesto-like sauce on the inside.

Good job Toasty Melts!

- Norm

Children’s Menu [n]
Changing Station [n]
Highchairs/Boosters [n]
Stroller Access [sidewalk/parking lot]

Other reviews of Toasty Melts:
yelp
I Left My Cart in San Francisco
VirgoBlue
Foodspotting

It was a rare day that I got to spend with just Emily since Norm took Melody to the SF Symphony. We have been reading a book that we checked out from the library called Daddy Adventure Day. They girls are loving it, and we decided that since Melody is having Daddy Adventure Day, that Emily and I would have Mommy Adventure Day. After going to the library, I wanted to take Emily out for some crepes. We drove to Crepes de Art in Hayward, but it was closed for remodeling. I found Frodo Joe’s on Yelp and remembered that a friend had mentioned it before (actually sister did too, but I couldn’t remember the name), so we headed over to San Lorenzo.

There is a regular seating area, and there’s this lovely set up in the back. There is lovely artwork that you can buy there too. I didn’t look, but I think they have a shelf of books that you can take, or if you want to leave one too. There are coffees and teas, and pastries and sandwiches, but we just had the crepes.

Image Source: yelp.com

It look like the person taking orders was new since the owner was giving some instructions on what to do. As soon as I paid and Emily chose a seat by the window, we got our order. That was quick! The owner also brought out a plastic plate and plastic fork for Emily even though I didn’t think to ask for it for her since we were sharing. We had a Breakfast Galette, which is a crepe with tomatoes, ham, cheese, and mushrooms. We had a choice of a side of pasta, Greek salad, steamed veggies or fruit. We chose the pasta. There is a pesto sauce that they put on all the savory crepes. The crepe (egg part) itself was just okay as far as crepes go. The stuff inside was pretty yummy.

We finished our crepe and ordered our dessert crepe to-go since it was Emily’s naptime. It was a little mushed by the time we got home so below is a photo from yelp of how it would look if we ordered and ate there. We would have ordered the strawberry crepe, but strawberries aren’t in season. We got the mixed berries crepe with orange sauce. You can add a side of fruit or ice cream. Since we were taking it to go, we chose the fruit. I like that they added a piece of foil to keep the crepe and the fruit separate so that the sauce doesn’t totally mix.

Image Source: yelp.com

Another cool little thing about Frodo Joe’s is that you can get a card that you can get stamped for each crepe you order. After getting 10 stamps (=ordering 10 crepes), you can get a free crepe. I like businesses that reward loyal customers.

- Joyce

Children’s Menu [n]
Changing Station N/A
Highchairs/Boosters [y]
Stroller Access [maximal]

Other reviews of Frodo Joe’s:
yelp

At first, I started out with buying the Philips Solar LED Cool White Icicle Lights for the small front entrance roof of our house.  They were about $19.99 and the length was just about right.  However, because of the way I strung them up, the solar panel wasn’t really sturdy even though I tried taping it down with packing tape.  You can see it hanging down in the below picture.  They don’t flash/blink and just steadily stay on for about 6 hours from a sunny’s day charge and less when there are more clouds.

I also bought two color-changing cracked glass solar LED ball lights on stakes ($12.99 each) and one color-changing snowflake solar LED stake ($12.99 each).  The two ball lights have a battery inside each of them (which I still don’t know what they do because there is already a solar panel on the stake).  The snowflake stake required some assembly and I accidentally cut the wires connecting the solar panel because I pushed the connecting rods together too tightly.  My dad stripped and soldared them back together to work again.  In the below picture where the bushes are, the snowflake stake is in the middle while the ball stakes are on the outside.

I then tried the find flashing multi-colored solar LED lights for the rest of the house, but I couldn’t find them for a couple of weeks.  While on another shopping run, I was at Walgreens at spotted some cheapo made-in-china solar LED multi-colored flashing lights.  I bought four of them ($8.99 each on clearance) and strung them on the roof on top of the garage and also on the roof on top of the front room (which was pretty high and dangerous to get to as Joyce held the ladder for me).

Here’s the final product of what the solar LED Christmas lights look like on the front of our house:

- Norm

Sidenote: This is not the first time that we’ve received a request to review a product, but it is the first time that we have accepted a product for review. I do like getting free things, but only if they are things that I can see myself using. While workbooks is not the best way for all kids to learn, it is the way that my girls love to learn.

Learning with Curious George Preschool Reading was the 2nd book we received from The Learning Company.

The reading components that are taught in Learning with Curious George are:

• Alphabet order
• ABC order of words
• Beginning writing and drawing
• Text movement
• Practice drawing and writing

First, we will start with Melody’s review of the Curious George workbook.

The Good :: You get to learn letters.
The Not-so-Good :: Melody didn’t have any “not-so-good”s
Suggestions :: There should be more tracing and drawing.

Here are my thoughts:
I think children who know Curious George will be at least interested in trying the workbook even if they normally wouldn’t sit down to work on them. I tried this with Melody, who is my older one, almost 5 years old. I have to note that she is a little advanced for her age (i.e. reading 3rd grade level chapter books), so the actual work on the pages was easy for her. Nevertheless, she still wanted to work on some of the pages. I let her flip through the workbook and she picked out a few to do. She really liked the themes (clouds and camping). I really like that the workbook provides different ways of teaching the same skills/concepts to a child. I think Melody’s favorites were the mazes and tracing. I will have my younger one, who is 2.5 years old, try out some of the pages, and will report back later on, how she liked it.

You can also go online to their website for some activities that go along with the workbooks.

You can buy Learning with Curious George Preschool Reading on Amazon.com. See the book info page here on The Learning Company Workbooks website or The Learning Company website.

- Joyce

Disclosure: I was provided with 2 free workbooks to review on my blog. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

Sidenote: This is not the first time that we’ve received a request to review a product, but it is the first time that we have accepted a product for review. I do like getting free things, but only if they are things that I can see myself using. While workbooks is not the best way for all kids to learn, it is the way that my girls love to learn.

We received 2 workbooks from The Learning Company. Melody hasn’t completed the Curious George workbook yet, so there is another review to come. The reading components that are taught in Reader Rabbit: Let’s Learn Kindergarten Reading are:

• Beginning word sounds
• Ending word sounds
• Middle word wounds
• Number of letter sounds
• Rhyming words
• Syllables

First, we will start with Melody’s review of the Reader Rabbit workbook.

The Good :: You get to write words and learn. I like that you get to learn new stuff!
The Not-so-Good ::  They didn’t put the stickers in there. (The cover says there are “achievement stickers” that come with the workbooks.) The book doesn’t have math problems in it. (haha! I was laughing so hard I forgot to tell her that it’s not a math book!)
Suggestions :: Put stories in the book too. There should be 82 pages.

I really like the colorful and playful images in the book. It really catches a child’s attention. The pages are fairly thick compared to other workbooks that I have seen, so they are durable. The amount of work on each page is just enough not to overwhelm the your child. I like that the workbook was divided into two parts with two themes (beach and cave themes). There was definitely a good flow to how the skills were presented as you go through the book. A child should be able to increase their reading skills going from the beginning of the book to the end. The activities on each page were varied enough that a child would not be bored learning the different concepts, but there was repetition so that they are able to acquire the skills. There are also answer keys for each section, which was not always there in other workbooks. After the first few pages, Melody kept saying she wanted to keep going and do more. The only suggestion I have would be to provide parents with a few activities on how to encourage more interactions with reading in their daily routines.

You can also go online to their website for some activities that go along with the workbooks.

You can buy Reader Rabbit: Let’s Learn Kindergarten Reading on Amazon.com. See the book info page here on The Learning Company Workbooks website or The Learning Company website.

- Joyce

Disclosure: I was provided with 2 free workbooks to review on my blog. The opinions I have given are mine and may differ from others but were not influenced by the company or the free product provided.

One foggy Tuesday lunchtime run had me going again to the TruckStopSF alley.  This time I went there with a co-worker for the An The Go food truck’s famous garlic noodles.  An The Go is a food truck from the An family which owns the Thanh Long (46th and 47th Aves/Judah) and Crustacean (Polk St. in Nob Hill) brand of restaurants in the City.

The truck had the famous garlic noodles on special along with a choice of something to combo the noodles with that day.

I ordered the combo garlic noodles with lemongrass beef skewer.  The noodles were yummy, abundant, and garlicky.  The grilled lemongrass beef skewer was flavorful and grilled perfectly.

The truck is great if you can’t get to Thanh Long or Crustacean.  Maybe they should stop by the Gilroy Garlic Festival some time?

- Norm

Children’s Menu [n]
Changing Station [n]
Highchairs/Boosters [n]
Stroller Access [sidewalk/parking lot]

Other reviews of An The Go:
yelp
urbanspoon
Roaming Hunger
zagat

In the midst of a week-long training I attended during the last week of September, I visited the Off The Grid: St. Mary’s Square event held every Monday.  One of the food trucks that happened to be there was the Bacon Bacon truck.  For all you bacon lovers out there, visiting this food truck is a must!

I ordered The Burger with The Fries.  There was a generous amount of crispy bacon and grilled onions sitting on top of two ground beef patties for The Burger.  The Fries consisted of crispy garlic and cilantro steak fries.  Since I’m a ketchup lover, ketchup was generously added in the picture below after I received the order.

You can find basically anything wrapped around with bacon these days as bacon is naturally salty/crispy.  The BaconBacon truck has a good sampling to choose from.

- Norm

Children’s Menu [n]
Changing Station [n]
Highchairs/Boosters [n]
Stroller Access [sidewalk/parking lot]

Other reviews of Bacon Bacon:
yelp
Inside Scoop SF
The Bay Citizen
I Left My Cart In San Francisco

Last month, we resumed our monthly date night.  We frequented Amakara in Dublin.  I found it by Yelping a Japanese restaurant close to our house and Amakara came up as highly rated and reviewed.  Yes, another Japanese restaurant after taking my brother to Sushi House in Alameda for his birthday dinner the week before.

The Grilled Edamame with sea salt and olive oil was an addictive appetizer.

The Tuna Ceviche salad had a generous amount of maguro tuna sashimi and mango cubes.

We ordered two Amakara Original Rolls: Italian Dragon and Klondike Express.  The Italian Dragon roll had sweet teriyaki inside and sat on top on a tasty basil/pesto sauce.  The Klondike Express was unique in that it had scallops and five different colored roe as a topping.

The food came out and the service was great in that our drinks were constantly refilled and the waitress came by to check on us often.  This is a great place to go out on a date with romantic-dimmed lighting around with the exception of the sushi bar with big screen TV.  Amakara also has great cushion-ey leather seats.

Hurray for finding a Sushi House-like place that’s closer to our house.  We’ll be coming back for more.

- Norm

Children’s Menu [n]
Changing Station [? - didn't venture to the bathrooms]
Highchairs/Boosters [y]
Stroller Access [plentiful]

Other reviews of Amakara:
yelp
zagat
Diablo Magazine
Yahoo! Local
urbanspoon

One of the first trucks I saw was a familiar one: Kung Fu Tacos.  Their regular lunch spot is a couple of blocks from where I work.  Interestingly enough, they were selling t-shirts!  I was hunting for a food truck t-shirt, especially the black one from Chairman Bao….but every time I frequent the truck, they say they’re out of t-shirts.  Thanks for pulling through with the t-shirts Kung Fu Tacos!  I love the street design and Melody/Emily love pointing out the location of where Daddy works.

Kika’s Treats was my next stop.  I had Gourmet S’mores which was a chocolatey cookie on top with softened marshmallow (you can request how “soft” or torched you want it) and graham cracker.

Fat Face Popsicles from my alma-mater town of Davis followed.  I had a Blueberry Lemon Yogurt Popsicle which had sweet blueberries and creamy tartness from the lemon yogurt.  I’m a sucker for fruit.

Laloo’s Goat Milk Ice Cream was next.  I had a scoop of the Strawberry Darling with Balsamico (balsamic vinegar which deceptively looked like fudge) which gave it quite the interesting and unique taste.

I was looking for a Dulce de Leche Empanada from El Porteno Empanadas, but since the line was quite lengthy, Scream Sorbet was my final stop before heading back home.  You can taste free samples before deciding to delve into the flavors you wish to buy.  I had a scoop of the yummy Pink Pearl Apple and a scoop of the Coconut Lime Basil which had a strong taste of basil and some lime, but couldn’t really taste the coconut.

Thank you Eat Real for a wonderful sampling of food this year.  Until next year…

- Norm

The first stop was Pietisserie.  The mini Okinawan Sweet Potato Pie from Jaynelle St. Jean was absolutely, wonderfully sweet.  Emily and especially Melody loved every bite.  It’s a bit pricey for the portion you get, but oh so good!

The girls then found Pizza Politana (a regular food vendor during the Thursday Farmers’ Market at the SF Ferry Building).  A slice of Housemade Garlic Pork Sausage Pizza was good and the Roasted Mushrooms/Parmesan/Carmelized Onions/Thyme/Truffle Oil pizza was excellent Joyce said.

I then stopped by The Taco Guys and got two tacos: a Maui Fish Taco and the Burmese Lamb Taco.  The Maui Fish Taco was good but a bit spicy from the sriracha mayo.  The Burmese Lamb Taco was excellent with a generous amount of lamb given.

Ebbett’s Good To Go was the next stop.  The Cubano Sandwich was great with shredded pork and ham.  The Roast Beef Sandwich was scrumptious with the blue cheese; however, the Acme rustic bread was a bit hard.

The last stop of the day before heading home was the Belcampo Meat Company.  The sweet corn relish hot dog was good for the kids except for the part where the yummy soft brioche hot dog bun and its contents fell apart.  Melody and Emily didn’t mind as they ate everything separately anyways.  We also had Beef Tallow Fries (aka French Fries fried in beef fat) which was quite tasty.

I came back to the Eat Real Festival the next day, so stay tuned for that review.

- Norm