Category Archives: food + drink

Eating, drinking, grocery shopping… Who knows what might be related to food and drink?

North of Samara

So all the little towns north of Samara aren’t really my kind of vacation spot, not much of a “downtown”, it’s all spread out. Generally not as spread out as Santa Teresa but no real central location. Now, we didn’t drive down every street so we might have missed something. But that seems to be more of the norm around here. Garza was a little town right off the ocean, there was a big Fut Bol (soccer) game going on, but it wasn’t a tourist place at all.

We did get to cross a pretty wide river in our little 4×4, I would have been a little hesitant but the littler BoGo 4×4 in front of us made it so we knew we could. Although we’re pretty confident the woman in the passenger seat wasn’t sure they’d make it (and they waited to make sure we made it). In hindsight we should have taken a picture of the river.

I thought Nosara would be a place I really liked but it was spread out a bit, but there seemed to be a lot there, a lot of “side streets”, a lot of isolated hotels (some really fancy looking ones). It was off the main “highway” so that was really nice this town might require some more exploring.

But the cruise “up the coast” really wasn’t the case, it was a lot of side roads that you had to take down to the water so you never know what might be down there: public access, a home, a hotel, a farm so that was a little tricky.

Found a nice little restaurant north of Nosara, in the town called Oxtional, just called “Tony Resturante”. I think the ocean is just behind here but you can’t see it. Nicely shaded, celling fans and just overall clean and nice (especially since they aren’t far off a semi-dusty road). I had a delicious “Arroz con Camarones” (rice & shrimp) and Mark had some kind of Thai-ish Chicken entree (Pollo Tailandes) that he loved. And they have Coca-Cola and Fresca is glass bottles (that were mucho frio). They do have a translated semi-English menu if you ask (we couldn’t translate Tailandes).

It’s not dusty where we are eating, but we’ve passed a but of “health / dust warning” 20 KPH signs in various towns along here. Overall it hasn’t been too dusty today, I think the rain helped.

Gas Prices and Food Prices

I know everyone keeps their eyes open for good gas prices and will hit one gas station over another since it’s a few pennies different. I’m sure some people sometimes waste gas by driving a little farther. I know I’m always happy when I can save a few pennies per gallon (I usually fill up on Tuesdays since I’m usually over by some cheap stations). Here’s something to keep in mind, 6 cents more a gallon (if it’s around $3) is only a 2% difference (12 cents more a gallon is only 4%).

Normally, when I eat at McDonald’s I get a number 3 meal (Quarter Pounder – no pickle, no mustard which includes a 20 oz soda and medium fry). At the McDonald’s by work (Plymouth/Beech, Redford, MI) it’s $4.77 (tax included); at the McD’s by my house (Michigan/Greenfield in Dearborn) it’s $5.36 (tax included). That’s a 59 cent difference! That’s 12% more at the more expensive McDonald’s. FYI, both the McD’s I’m referring to have been renovated in the last few years and the cheaper one has a playland.

So keep in mind if your $3 gallon of gas was 12% more at a nearby location it would 36 cents more per gallon! Now it’s not cost effective for me to take the time (and gas) to drive home to save 60 cents, but maybe I should check out the other two nearby McDonald’s to see what they charge. Plus Kelly always refers to the Redoford one as an expensive one (that’s the one I say is cheap).

When they talk about fuel price gouging, maybe we should consider all types of fuel…

Nachos at the Restaurante Tabacon

TabaconThese Chicken Nachos are delicious! I’m at the Restaurante Tabacon in Jaco, it’s right across the street from Planet Food (closed for years but still a landmark for giving directions). They come with everything, including sour creme, beans and guacamole (I did not get the latter two). It’s a huge bowl for 3,000 colons ($6), it’s not a appetizer, it’s a meal.

I think I really enjoyed my food lat time here too. They used to be a pizza parlor and I think that was really good too, if I recall back 3-4 years correctly…

Other details:

  • Free WiFi.
  • The cool paper lanterns that I’ve only seen in Montezuma before.
  • Pepsi products
  • Their drinks are never cold enough. I recall this from before.
  • They have Smirnoff Ice in a bottle, it’s hard to fine at home, but very common in Jaco.
  • “Someone is at my Table!”

    So I’m at my Einstein’s bagel and someone is at the table a always sit at. It’s the only high-top table in the place and it’s by the window but next to a wall so that I get shade for my laptop. When they asked at the counter “what would you like?”, I said “I’d like my table”. The one person didn’t know what I was talking about, but the other one said “I noticed that when you came in…”

    I guess I’m just a create of habit.

    Update: The guy just left, I’m trying to decide if I’m obsessive compulsive enough to move. “It’s nice and sunny right there”, he thinks as he tries to rationalize it….

    Kerby’s Coney Island – Dearborn, MI

    So I just got a bite to eat at the new Dearborn Kerby’s Coney Island at Ford and Mercury (next to the Best Buy). I gotta tell you this is the most boring Chile-Cheese Omelet I’ve every had in my life. The eggs are boring, the chili sauce is boring and the toast seemed boring. I even tried the hash browns, which I generally find boring, to also be boring. Fortunately, the strawberry jam tastes normal so I know it’s not me; and the water actually tastes pretty good!

    There is another (non-chain?) restaurant, Parthenon II (Coney Island), where I usually get a Chile-Cheese Omelet, a little farther into this strip mall area that I’ve been to a million times and I’ll be sure to go back there next time. Unfortunately, they’ll probably lose business since Kerby’s does have a much better location.

    I’ve also got to try the new Seahorse Grill which just opened at the same mall.

    UPDATE – I just drove by the Parthenon II and it looks like they are out of business :(

    I’m in Chicago (Finally!)

    So I made it to Chicago, even with the traffic reports not helping me any (actually I had two ways to go and choose the one that I hadn’t heard any numbers mentioned so maybe it did help). The weather is awesome right now and looks like it will be great.

    SRO_ChicagoOn the way in, I was starving and I headed straight for Standing Room Only to get some ribs. It was the last meal I had the last time in Chicago and they were delicious, so I made it my first meal this time around. Google maps on my phone helped me get here, I sure wish it had GPS to figure out where I am so that when I want directions and I’m don’t have an exact location that it could figure it out for me!

    I think I might take a short walk, and then go check in. I’ve got to get this car into the hotel parking so I don’t need to deal with driving/parking any more today, then I’ll see if I can hook up early with some of the people I’m meeting later on. I had planned on being in town hours and hours ago but yesterdays delays resulted in my not getting enough sleep and flooding delays encouraged me to do some shopping in Michigan City before getting too close to Chicago in hopes flooding would die down..

    More Alpha-Bits….

    So after my box of yummy Limited Edition Alpha-Bits (now with the sugar back where it belongs) I hadn’t seen it anywhere but Meijer’s so I started feeling anxious that they might stop making it again (it is “limited”). But then I was at Target the other day walking out with my arms were full (I had paid back in the electronics section) and they had just opened (I needed stuff for work) I passed all the employees standing in the aisle having their morning meeting I spied an end-cap with the Limited Edition Alpha-Bits 3 boxes for $7. So I checked the expiration date and managed to stack up 8 boxes in my arms (in addition to my bags and the water, this was all I could hold), this will give me about 1 box a month until expiration, but that’s probably not enough sugary letters for me, I should probably get another 8 or 10 boxes while they’re still on sale today.


    Long live Limited Edition Alpha-Bits!!!

    Limited Edition Alpha-Bits

    So about 18 months ago I mentioned that Post removed all the sugar from Alpha-Bits cereal. Not only that, they removed all the flavor! They were awful!!!

    So someone e-mailed me last week about the new “Special Edition” dark blue box that was out. Here’s the thing, the box says “special edition” but not what’s “special” about it. THe box does say it’s sweetened but that’s it. Very strange.

    It’s like the old Alpha-Bits are back. Very yummy! The last box I bought was the un-sweetened kind and I didn’t even finish the first bowl. I hope these last a while. I which there was a place to vote or something they should never return to the awful bits they’ve been trying to peddle for the last year…