A Weekend Full of Droid and Local Food - 2009-11-18 00:33:48
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So all week we've been playing with our phones, sending each other mail and messages, testing out all the various applications. At this point I'm sure I would have had just as much fun with either the droid or the ipod. But application-wise I think Jon will be having some fun coding for it, if he's not doing that already. (I hear lots of typing coming from his computer.)

And the phone does have a lovely screen. I admit that I'm having a lot of fun with it. Which is why I have several comparison photos that I took on Saturday.

First an aside by xkcd:



Yes, it has inspired geek gadget humor. Because we geeks understand we must laugh at ourselves about this. Even as we continue to play with the new toy.

So we started by Jon putting his phone in the suction mounted vehicle cradle thingee. I have no idea if it has an actual name - I didn't get a good look at the box it came in.



Here we are in the garage, watching as the phone and the gps figured out exactly where we are in the big map of San Diego. Listening to the female voice give us directions was somewhat amusing for a while. Then I noticed that at times it wasn't entirely clear what the voice was telling us - mostly because it would read out the entire name of each exit. You never realize how odd or how long those exit names are until you listen to them read by a computer. Sometimes I think it really could have used longer pauses between words, but I'm not sure we can tweak that.


Droid's camera phone - on the left; Canon - on the right

Side by side comparison of the droid's camera phone - on the left - with the point and shoot Canon PowerShot Digital Elph (SD790) - on the right. Dull subject, but the droid took forever to get a clear shot. It seemed to have a hard time focusing. Or maybe it was just me having a hard time focusing it. Not that I was expecting it to replace my camera, so this isn't something I'm really bothered by.


Droid's camera phone - on the left; Canon - on the right

Again the droid on the left and the Canon on the right. Jon and I were trying that taco stand - Internacional 2000 Taco Shop. Which is one of those neighborhood taco joints that doesn't have to worry about good looks, because the food tastes so good.



What's supposed to be really tasty here are their Tacos al Pastor - and by "al pastor" the signs mean "shepherd style" - which really just indicates a way of cooking that was apparently developed in Mexico City. Pineapple is involved in either the marinate or the cooking (or both) - I'm not entirely sure how it tastes because I haven't had it more than a few times, and I get the sense that it can vary depending on who's doing the cooking and what seasonings they prefer. Jon's been focusing on sampling al pastor all over the city while I've been fixated on carnitas - mainly because I love pork and also because it's often a good bet to eat the carnitas in most restaurants because it's hard to completely ruin them. I know, I've said all that before - but once you get me started on pork I can't help but sing the same song.

Anyway the nice gentleman told us that we'd have to wait almost 30 min. for the al pastor so we got carnitas and carne asada tacos. Next to carnitas, the carne asada is also a safe thing to try. Jon's managed to talk me out of getting guacamole on my tacos because if you have really good and flavorful meat you'll end up tasting it better without any avocado. Though it's hard to pass up, because I do love a good guacamole.



A splash of that lime also makes for a nice flavor with the savory meat - it's rare that you aren't given limes with your tacos. The pico de gallo on this was a bit hot for me, thanks to the chunks of fresh jalapeno in it, but a few nibbles on the cucumber slices and all was well. Jon traded me one of his carne asada tacos for one of my carnitas. He got the better deal - the carnitas rocked.

Every weekend I think I'm going to mention to Jon that we should try some other type of food - something like a hamburger or pizza joint - but then we end up at one of our local Mexican food spots and I honestly can't seem to mind. Especially when we find a place like the Internacional. When I have pork that nice it's all I can do not to dab a bit behind each ear in order to continue to inhale that heavenly smell all day. ...Well, ok not really, but I do get all misty eyed over how yummy it is.

About this time Jon explains that I shouldn't be full because he has two more restaurants he wants us to try. Riiiiight. The two tacos I just ate weren't large but there was no way I was going to be able to eat two more meals. But Jon was in Adventure Mode so we got back in the car and let our Magic Computer Voice guide us to the next destination...



...Mariscos Godoy. Once upon a time when Jon kept talking about "Mariscos this" and "Mariscos that" - I used to think that this was the name of a chain of restaurants. Later I clued in to the fact that Mariscos means "seafood" rather than a family name. And again I wish I'd taken Spanish instead of French.

One thing I appreciate about Mariscos Godoy is the many photos of the dishes in the menu.



At least this way you get a general idea of what you're ordering. Jon attempted to tease me into getting a dish that was apparently served on half of an entire pineapple (which I thought looked good!) but instead I went with shrimp al pastor, since I'd missed out on the al pastor tacos earlier.



Here I'm having a pineapple aguas frescas, which had just a little bit of coconut in it. I'm planning on slowly trying all the different kinds of aguas - as soon as I can memorize the various kinds of fruits they use in them so I'll know what I'm ordering. Some of the flavors sound a little odd - like the cucumber for instance, but I'll try it eventually, just out of curiosity. At the time the pineapple was just what I was in the mood for. The little cups you see where full of seafood broth, and we had freshly made chips with some sort of dip - I wasn't sure what that was. Frankly I was trying just to sip the agua and the broth and not think about how I really was almost full.



Jon got the ceviche shrimp cocktail, and I helped him a little with it. Can you believe he didn't want that nice chunk of avocado?

Here's another example of Droid photos versus the Canon...



First the Droid shot - nothing done to it except cropping.



..and then the Canon. The Canon shot was tweaked a bit in photoshop - but not all that much. You'll note the light and color vary wildly. We were sitting next to a sunny window, so the droid definitely had plenty of light to work with.

The shrimp were really good - the sauce was cheesey-creamy - not entirely sure what was in it, but it was delicious and very rich. So rich that I wasn't going to be able to eat too much. Also the shrimp were staring at me, which I never find wildly appetising in a crustacean.

Once I found that when I ate the shrimp the head was easy to pop on the end of a finger like a little cap...


"Shrimp heads, shrimp heads, rolly polly shrimp heads,
Shrimp heads, shrimp heads, eat them up, yum."

If we'd been at a table in a dark corner I probably would have tried on five heads on my hand - but er, no, we were in the middle of the restaurant. Sometimes it's very annoying being an adult.



And here's Jon pondering the photos his droid has just snapped. You'll note that he doesn't have any of his shrimp diablo left on his plate - just a bit of the side dishes.

Jon had a third restaurant to try - but at this point we were both stuffed. And so we set the Magic Computer Voice to narrate directions to our local CVS. Jon took a wrong turn once just to mess with the thing - but after a few seconds it simply picked new turns for us to take to get to the highway.

So the short version of all that?
We are REALLY having fun with our phones.
And San Diego has the best Mexican food.

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