The Hunt for the Original "Home of the Pupusa"

Our crew made the most of our 5-hour layover for our return flight from San Jose, Costa Rica to SFO, by taking a little side trip from the El Salvador aeropuerte to Olocuita, La Paz... also know as the home of the pupusa!

The pupusa is a 'tipica comida', or traditional Salvadoran dish. Pupusas are made of thick tortilla shells generally made with corn dough and filled with a variety of ingredients. In Olocuita specifically, the specialty is for the tortilla shells to be made with rice flour dough; Olocuita is where rice flour dough pupusas originated!

After an interminably long wait at airport customs, we got to the taxi line where we were promptly besieged by about 10 different people trying to "help" us. We chose a gentleman named Oscar, who ended up being our taxi driver (read: tour guide) for the afternoon. Oscar drove us to Olocuita, approximately 20 km from the airport, where you could literally count the pupuserias one after another (there were around 50 of them w/in a 1.5 mile radius)!



One pupuseria after another!

Oscar selected one which he said was "bueno", and we had a chance to watch the ladies making them fresh on the spot... "made to order!"

As the ladies prepared our pupusas, we walked around the little "town" and took some pictures. Here was a man making a delivery to the ice-cream vendor from the back of a pick-up filled with goats:


We also saw one of the shops tasked with supplying the ingredients and grinding the corn/rice flour for the tortilla shells:



We finally made our way back to our pupuseria, Pupuseria Tania, where we were greeted with our motley assortment of pupusas (con frijoles (beans), queso (cheese), chicharron (pork), loroco (some type of S. American flower), as well as a number of other ingredients. It was delish served with curtido (a lightly fermented cabbage slaw with red chiles and vinegar - you can see it in the foreground of the last picture), as well as a watery tomato-based salsa.

The very satisfied crew... "mission accomplished!"

Travel Bug

Yes it's been a while since our last post, but we'll be updating really soon. We've caught the travel bug and will be oversees in a few weeks. Stay tuned for updates...

San Mateo Funny

So we're dining outside on a patio at a small Italian restaurant in S. Mateo with our dog, Jordan:

Waiter: That's such a cute dog. What kind of dog is it?
Us: It's a shiba.
Waiter: She looks like a fox. Are they related to the chows?
Us: Uh..nope.
Waiter: Are they related to a shiatsu?
Us: (giving each other the quick glance) Uh..definitely not! Shibas are related to the Akitas.
Waiter: Ohhhh... really cute dog (walks away)...

After he left, we turned to each other at the same time and said "did he mean to say shih-tzu?!"

On another note...we're now on Twitter. Follow us at www.twitter.com/jaimeandweb

Carson Falls

The past few weeks have been non-stop rain. When the 1st sunny weekend came around, we didn't hesitate for a minute! We packed up our stuff and headed out to hike another dog-friendly trail in Marin County: the hike to Carson Falls. 

The trail started off very rocky and there were some interesting landscapes that looked "Mars-like". The pebbles seemed to be bothering Jordan, and she didn't really seem to be enjoying herself (although we certainly were!). 

The rocky road gradually started turning into more of your typical dirt-like trails, heading into lush, tree-lined hills. 

Soon enough, we found ourselves literally in the forest... Jordan was enjoying herself in the shade!
















After another mile of hiking uphill and then working our way down a few switchbacks, we could finally hear the sound of the nearby waterfalls. Getting there was well worth the trip!

Web and Jordan found a rock and took in the view... 

Jordan, in particular, seemed to enjoy her day in the sun!

Rachel Ray Isn't All That

Do any of you watch the Food Network? Rachel Ray has a segment on that show where she goes out on the town and makes a big deal about not spending more than $40 each day (http://www.foodnetwork.com/40-a-day/index.html). 

Well, Web left his wallet at home this morning by accident, and ended up hours from home with a car and a half tank of gas. No wallet, no cash, no credit cards... nothing. Could he make it?

9:30 AM: Web parks the ride at a 20 minute meter, steps out, and is relieved to see that there's still 8 minutes on the clock. He manages to coax an extra dime out of a lady walking by to get himself the full 20 minutes. This is followed by a quick stop at Noah's bagels for breakfast... 

The girl behind the counter remembers him from last weekend's visit. Web explains his "issue" and he gets his breakfast sandwich for free based on a promise to come back next week to pay the tab.

Total cost: $0

11:45 AM: Web sepnds the rest of the morning unpacking boxes and moving heavy stuff around the new crib. Around lunchtime, hungry, he rummages around the empty new fridge and finds himself some 4-day old Thai leftovers from Osha Thai in downtown SF.

Although it tastes a little stale and soggy after going in the microwave, it does the trick and he is able to continue on with his day.

Total cost: $0 (so far, so good!)

2:30 PM: Web races over to Atherton Appliance (http://www.athertonappliance.com/showroom.php), where he is scheduled for an appointment to review everything about washers and dryers that he never thought he'd need to know. 

What was even better about the store is that they serve all their customers cookies and gourmet coffees! Web chows down on a pile of chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, and also helps himself to an espresso and a cappuccino. Score!

Total cost: $0

5:45 PM: After a long day, Web cruises back home where Mom #2 (Jaime's mom) has got a whole home cooked meal ready for him and Jaime.

Total cost: $0

That's a wrap... see, it isn't that hard! Why does Rachel Ray get her own show just to do what Web did with ease?

Trip to Memphis, TN

We missed out on our Memphis road-trip recap. If you want to read about Beale Street, click here: http://jaimeandweb.blogspot.com/2008/12/we-got-blues.html

Shiba Inu Cam

Cute shibas! It makes us want to get another one.

Broadcasting Live with Ustream.TV

New Crib

We wanted to update our readers with some sneak peek pics of the new crib. We will be moving in around Thanksgiving.

Entering through the front door...


The kitchen...


LR/DR, aka "The Great Room"...




We'll be sure to post more pics once we get some furniture!

Vancouver

We went up for a long weekend in Vancouver to visit Jon. The weather was a bit cool, cloudy, and rainy when we landed, but we lucked out and ended up with great weather throughout the weekend. We did some touristy stuff like visiting Stanley Park, shopping on Robeson, and walking around Yaletown. We also took a day trip to the Sunshine coast to do some kayaking, but when we got there, we found out the kayaking tour company was shut down for the season. Instead, we found a cool trail to hike.

Jon, thanks for being a great host and showing us everything that was (and wasn't) in Frommers. We enjoyed the hiking, kayaking, chowing down, listening to Leona Lewis 100 times, and all of our encounters with crack heads, crack wings, and crack berries.

Cataract Falls

Took advantage of the great weather this past weekend and hiked Cataract Falls in Marin Country. It's one of the few trails in that area that allows dog, so we packed our bags with snacks and treats for all and were on our way. It's about a 3 mile hike round trip - we didn't get to see that many waterfalls, but there was still some beautiful scenery...

Adventure Race Results

On July 26, 2008, Team Huge (TH) went all out at the Ocean Blue Adventure Race in Half Moon Bay. Over the course of 2.5 - 3.5 grueling hours in the mid-day heat, TH exerted themselves and pushed each other to the limit. The final tally had us finishing in the following order:

1st place: Matt Cook / Jeff Liepman
2nd place: Scott Moorefield / Paul Schultz
3rd place: Jaime Chen / Victoria Arvizu
4th place: Curt Herberts / James Wu
5th place: Nicky Singh / Michael Tancer

Most importantly, we cheered, jeered, harassed and encouraged one another for weeks and months on end, as well as over the duration of the official race day, and in the end it all paid off as all of our team members crossed the finish line.

We tried to upload the video to the blog, but it's too big to post. Although Web couldn't race that day, he was there to cheer his teammates on and take some great action shots. Thanks for the pics, Web!

Victoria and I arrived early to sign in and set up for our race...


Looking over the map one more time before the start of the race...


A team pic at the starting line...


And we're off...first a run down to the beach and back...


Finishing our first leg of the run...and heading towards the kayaks...


We had the hardest time out on the water... damned inflatable kayaks!


After finishing dead last in the kayaks, we made a great recovery and finished the race in 3 hr. 30 min.


We ended up placing 4th/16th in the all female division. We rock!


Just a stroll in the park for the 1st place finishers of our group, Matty Cook and Jeff Liepman...


Jeff rockin' our TH t-shirt...


The front of our the t-shirt...


and the back...


It was a huge accomplishment to finish the race and we are looking forward to the next TH event. 5K run coming up in Sept and then maybe the Muddy Buddy race down in Los Angeles? More to come...

Race Day

After months of training, this Saturday is finally Race Day. Although it's only a beginner Adventure Race, I'm sure it'll still be extremely challenging.

2-3 miles kayaking
3-5 miles trail running
7-10 miles mountain biking

Pics to come...