Tag Archives: Fish

Mariscos Chente: Best Staff Ever

I was set on posting every day this week, but my car decided to act up. I ended up not going into the office yesterday to take care of the car, and everyone knows you get your best blogging done when someone else is paying you to do something else. So although this wasn’t the post I originally planned on posting next, I think it’s important. This blog post is dedicated to a great restaurant with the best staff, hands down. Mariscos Chente.

Chips are freshly made every day and the salsa is fresh, maybe a little too fresh. Is that possible? You can taste the raw peppers in this, and that makes it VERY hot. Maybe cooking down some of the heat would help.

Camarones a la Diabla. During the meal I heard phrases from Michelle such as, “I like dishes that are this dark red. It means it’s extra spicy.”

“Tell everyone on the Internet that I love this. It’s like Flaming Hot Cheetos Shrimp.”

My dish was the Pescado Zarandeado. You split a snook in half, grill it, and serve it with some caramelized onions and lime.

You can see just how juicy the fish was even though it was grilled. I don’t know if it was just that day, but this took a while to prepare. Because it took so long to finally make it to the table and I had eaten so many chips and some of Michelle’s shrimp, I only ate one of the two fish. It was delicious though with the cheeks and belly region being soft. In contrast the outer edges were firmer, nicely grilled.

With full bellies Michelle and I made our way to the car, which was parked just outside the restaurant. I knew I had a slow leak in my tire, so the plan was to stop by the gas station and get some air for the tire. When I turned the key to the ignition, we heard a pop and saw a small plume of smoke pour from the crack in the hood. Upon lifting the hood I realized one of the vent caps popped off the battery. I tried to turn the engine over and got nothing. My thought was just to leave it, call a friend to get me (Thanks, Angie), and replace the battery in the morning.

Since the restaurant was winding down, the staff were out back and they were so helpful. They brought out limes and baking soda to clean the battery terminals. They were also going to try to jump my car the “Mexican Way” by taking out their battery and connecting it directly to mine, but when they found their batteries weren’t the same size they called a friend to bring some jumper cables. Alas, the battery was very dead (as opposed to kind of dead).

The next morning I went to install a new battery only to find out the only wrench I’m missing in my set is the 10mm, the one I needed to loosen the bolts to remove the battery. Fortunately for me the staff of the restaurant were there cleaning the grills outside. I was able to borrow a wrench and get my repair done.

Mariscos Chente. Come for the food. Stay for the mechanic work.

Something smells not so Fraiche in here.

That something is your spelling. Michelle and I went to Fraiche in Culver City last week. How that is pronounced “fresh” is beyond me. Fraiche was one of the places within two blocks of our place that we hadn’t checked out yet, because it looked expensive, beyond our normal casual dining standard. Taco trucks are right in our dollar to flavor ratio. We decided to try it out because we had a Groupon.

People watching while we sip on our beers.

Steak Frites. Cooked perfectly and not drowned out by the sauce. I want to taste the meat.

Monkfish “Francaise”, poor man’s lobster. Say what you want about the socioeconomic status of those who eat this dish, but I love it.

The dishes were well balanced without one flavor overpowering any other. I don’t think that I will be eating here regularly without some money saving coupon in the mix, because I don’t think I could take a hit in the wallet from this place regularly.

2006: Stuff Happened

I had no idea how to categorize the things that happened in 2006. It was a lot of travels, a lot of fun with friends, and the beginning of a lot of fish.

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I got my new MacBook. I remember having my friend watch me on iSight on my old PowerBook as I unwrapped it. Yup, nerd.

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Michelle and I took a trip to Hawaii, our first trip together.

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We had too much beer and sake, so we went to Home Depot. I have a lot more pictures of us running around the place.

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Oh the joys of Las Vegas. Scotch and cigars.

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I took a trip to Europe. I took Michelle. This is our second trip together.

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I won goldfish at the state fair. This started an obsession with keeping fish.

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This was my first fish tank I started with, a small 10 gallon unit.

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For Halloween I went as my friend Spencer. That’s me in the back center. I made extra masks so everyone could participate.

Only a couple years left until we’re current. Stay tuned!

Eating Like a King

Alice is back in town, and she wanted to get together for dinner. Since I was out of town earlier this week I told her and Michelle just to count me in and let me know where to show up with my fork. We met up with Jenny at Il Chianti last night for a six course meal. It was the meeting of the Moron Enterprises bloggers. We had michellewoo.com, aisforbigapple.com, and lovethewang.com.

I was powering through, and I thought I was doing pretty well with the pastas until I was informed the main dishes had not even arrived yet. It’s a hard life having to eat six course meals. Sorry about the quality of the photos. The lighting was low, and food doesn’t look as good when you use a flash.

So happy. We have no idea how much food is going to come out.

I’ve never seen one that big before. It’s tremendous.

Everyone has different sized hands. Use your head. Those are all almost the same size.

This reminds me of a movie I saw. It started with a pizza delivery.

It’s lame when everyone is taking pictures of food at the same time. One at a time!

Up yours, iPhone lovers! We’re the Blackberry crew!

Where Have the Fish Gone?

It’s been over a month since I’ve written anything about my fish. No, I haven’t given up on the hobby. Things are just as addicting as ever. I even have some new arrivals showing up in the mail in the next day or two. So if I’m still obsessed with fish keeping, why am I not sharing my joy?

I actually bought another domain dedicated to my fish keeping hobby. I don’t know yet if that means I will spare you my fish stories here. I may just duplicate my entries. Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to present to you, Box of Water! Although most of you aren’t into fish like I am, let me know what you guys think.

Aquascaping 101

I’ve been inspired to redesign my fish tank. I have decided to set aside a little bit of time to make sure I clean up the look of my tanks. Why the sudden interest again? Practical Fishkeeping published the results to the annual aquascaping competition. These guys are the cool kids in the “It’s still fish keeping and therefore still kind of lame” world. I want to be like these guys, the king of the losers! See my initial tank transformation after the jump.

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Here is my tank with lots of the same plant. It’s a bit too green, kind of boring.

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I received some new plants with a few more colors, shapes, and sizes. I am not sure how I want to finalize the look, so I just planted the plants in various locations for now to watch them grow out.

Happy Bee Day!

After much delay, we finally decided to go out for Fred’s birthday. Korean BBQ was on the agenda. Unfortunately, Fred has lost his wedding planner ways and neglected to make reservations. For an hour some of us went back to Mo’s place, one block away to start celebrating Fred’s birthday, without Fred.

Cheers! Where’s Fred?

We went back to the restaurant and stuffed our fat faces with meat, meat, and more meat. Those Koreans sure know how to prepare a meal. Fred was going to try the “water soju switch-a-roo” he is so famous for, but I kept Andrew filling up his glass with the real stuff. He complained at each shot he took, even though it was a total of four with the meal.

“This is my bottle I brought from home. I filled it with water and resealed it.”

We got him a forty, because damn it feels good to be a gangster.

That is all Fred could muster up to drink. Michelle also says, “Yech!”

Fred made a comment of preferring straight vodka or rum to malt liquor. So we obliged him with a cup of Ketel on the rocks. Soon after, the guys decided to play Halo 3, and we added the rule that every time Fred got killed, he would have to take a shot of his cup of vodka. Fred put the cup up to his lips and tipped the cup, but he never opened his lips. What a wuss!

Spectators engrossed in Halo 3.

Two people that drank more than Fred.

Another person that drank more than Fred.

All in all it was good friends, plentiful food, and good fun.

Before I forget and people wonder why I spelled the title of this post the way I did, this is why. For some odd reason, bees are attracted to my water lettuce in my goldfish barrel. At first it was one or two, but their numbers kept growing. It makes no sense to me, because there is no flower on the plant. Feeding time for the fish is getting dangerous.

Here is a swarm of bees, hanging on to the water lettuce.

Here is a short clip of the little buggers at work.

Aquarium Updates

I added a large amount of Java Moss in my Dwarf Crayfish tank. They are happily climbing around in the tangled jungle. There are quite a few of them carrying eggs. That means more crayfish are on their way!

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I added some Oto Catfish to my large tank. They swim together and suck on the glass, rocks, and leaves of plants. They’re a bit plain in color, but they swim around very slowly and seemingly very purposefully. They are fun to watch.

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Full tank shot. Plants are coming in nicely.

Labor Day Weekend (Lots of Fun and Pictures)

It was a hot Labor Day Weekend. No one can deny that it was miserably hot, but it was also jam packed full of fun. Let’s skip the chit chat and get right into it.

Friday after work, we went to The Edison in Downtown Los Angeles. I knew we were going, but I didn’t think about it, so I had no clothes to wear. A quick stop at Ross fixed that problem right up.

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You’d think the old Edison building would have more lights.

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Saturday was the day for Lorenzo’s surprise birthday party. The best part was that he prepared all of the food thinking it was for some other event. That’s classic. We went to hang out by the pool and even played a game of Stupid Pong.

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Look at the surprise on this guy’s face.

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Rule of thirds. One of these three guys is gay. Here’s a hint. It’s not me.

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Girlfriends all talking. This can lead to no good.

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Thanks for the food, Lo.

Sunday was a day spent at the Aquarium of the Pacific. Michelle was going along to fulfill her duty as the faithful girlfriend and to get a Bubba Gump’s shrimp meal beforehand, but she really ended up liking it. We took the normal admission as well as a behind the scenes tour of the place. Every single parent in a forty mile radius brought their kids here for the long weekend. Since 80% of the parents were Hispanic, there was an average of five kids per pair of parents. You can see some of my videos, including feeding time for the Leafy Sea Dragons and a cleaner shrimp cleaning my hand.

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Overpriced but delicious.

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Stroller parking took up the whole hall.

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These guys are on my list of fish to get when I get a saltwater tank.

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Michelle, petting a stingray.

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Poking a starfish in the behind the scenes tour.

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Divers coming out of the exhibit after feeding.

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Standing on top of the tropical reef exhibit.

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The girl behind me mentioned “Deuce Bigalow” when we saw this exhibit.

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Monday Michelle wanted to check out this small block party held by the owners of The Hundreds brand. It was way too hot out for any kind of outdoor activity other than swimming. I fail to understand how any fashion style can become more than pieces of clothing. There were kids wearing jeans and hoodies in sweltering heat. It makes little sense to me, but more power to those that are able to create a brand name that commands so much power.

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They converted the store into an open bar.

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I bet they didn’t even have to turn the grill on to cook the meat.

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This last picture I took driving home this weekend. I was turning off the road, so it was no longer my problem. Only in Palos Verdes do you see this. That is a long four miles to spend staring at the rears of 30+ cyclists.

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Summer Images

A dragonfly was trying to cool down in the sprinklers by my fish barrel. Being someone that is not a fan of bugs, taking these pictures was a little bit scary for me. This bug is larger than my camera.

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