Tag: #pork

TACOS & BOBA! BOBA & TACOS! TACOS & BOBA!

These are the best tacos in the SGV, San Gabriel Valley, well in my opinion. I come from an area of predominately Asians and Mexicans, so the food in my hometown is very diverse. You can see a Vietnamese sandwich place next to a taco shop, or a Taiwanese boba place across the street from a Japanese sushi place.

Due to this diversity and the intermingling of cultures I stumbled across this delicious street food. This taco truck is located in the parking lot of a 99 Ranch market at the intersection of San Gabriel and Valley. You can not miss it as it is known for it bright flashing lights at the top of the truck displaying the different kind of meats available at the truck in many different languages such as Spanish, English, and even Chinese!

This is a family owned business ran by the father, his sons, and nephews. The father would usually take the orders and is a very good talk. He remembers his regulars and sometimes even hooks it up. This quick and delicious taco stop is called, Arandinos Tacos El Patron!

This stop is perfect for late night craving as it is open till 12:30 am. The taco truck is usually very busy as it gets later in the night and it is very cool to see all kinds of people enjoy this amazing place. People from old to young, Asians to Mexican, students to mothers, comes to this place to enjoy this delicious street food.

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This is the exterior of the taco truck. The bright electric sign on top of the truck is very hard to miss and attracts a lot of attention as it is parked at busy intersection.

Here is the link to there yelp page!
https://www.yelp.com/biz/arandinos-tacos-el-patron-san-gabriel-2?osq=Taco+Truck

*WARNING!!! THEY DO NOT ACCEPT CARD!! CASH ONLY! So if you pay this truck a visit be sure to have cash! *

They have a variety of different options, from multis to quesadillas to tacos to tortas. With many different types of meats and parts as well. Some options they carry are beef, chicken, pork, beef tongue, beef head, intestines, and even sausage.

This very fast and delicious street food is also very inexpensive! Here are the prices and a small description of how it is served down below.

Tacos: $1.25 for each taco, double stacked in tortillas. And you can choose any type of meat you would like. You can also get everything on them (diced white onions, cilantro and a red spicy sauce) or just plain.

Quesadilla: $6.00 for one large one, it is then cut in three slices. You can also get whatever type of meat you would like an have it plain of with everything on it (diced white onions, cilantro and a red spicy sauce).

Mulitas: $2.00 for each mulita. This is similar to a mini quesadilla as it is two tortillas with cheese and meat on the inside, which is then fried on the grill.

Tortas: $6.00 for one sandwich. For those who don’t know a sorta is a Mexican sandwich. You can pick whatever type of meat you would like!

*You can also ask for grilled onions and green peppers on the side!*

Each order comes with a bag of lime and red radishes, perfectly delicious with any of the meals above. These are just the few items they have at this taco truck, there are many more I have not mentioned and can be found on their yelp website.

Another helpful tip if you come to this taco truck is, they have SO MUCH SAUCE! I don’t know about you, but I am a saucy person, I love saucy foods! I personally love the green sauce, also known as salsa verde, this is delicious no matter what you pair it with.

I usually get a CARNE ASADS QUESADILLA WITH EVERYTHING IN IT, GREEN SAUCE ON THE SIDE, AND EXTRA LIME. img_5377.jpg

In the same parking lot you can find another one of my very favorites, AU79, this is a boba shop, which is usually open very late to the morning hours of 1:00- 3:00 am depending on the day!

This is a perfect combination with the tacos at Arandinos Tacos El Patron, just across the parking lot. For me boba and tacos are always eaten together, if I get tacos I have to get boba too and vice versa.

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Here is the exterior of the tea house, they have patio seating for those who would like to have a smoke and a dine in lobby area for students who want to study.

This teahouse is known for there fresh brew tea, served both cold or hot depending on your liking. They have green teas, black teas, milk teas, fruit teas, any type of tea you can think of. The price ranges from $4-$5 per cup, very much affordable.

*WARNING!! With orders less than $10, there will be an extra 30 cents charge for the transaction fee, so if you want to avoid this fee, bring cash or simply order another drink, THEY ARE ALL VERY TASTEY!*

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Here is a menu of all the drink they have! 🙂

When I come here, I usually get a basic Jasmine green milk tea with MINI boba and less ice! Mini boba is the BEST thing ever! It is so much better than regular boba and doesn’t really require a lot of chewing!

Fun fact: I HATE CHEWING, IT IS SUCH A CHORE, but with mini boba it minimizes that chore for me! Best of both worlds, I can eat but not have to put in as much effort!

They not only have drinks at this teahouse, but also FOOD! I don’t usually get the food here, but I will provide a food menu for all those who are curious!

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The food menu! 🙂

The combination for Arandinos Tacos El Patron tacos and Au79 boba will always satisfy my cravings!

I really hope you guys give these two of my favorites a try and who knows soon later they might even be your own two favorites! 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this entry, Sandy signing off. ❤

Summer Rolls

This easy to make Vietnamese dish consists of sliced pork, shrimp, noodles, and a variety of your favorite vegetables wrapped in a Vietnamese rice paper and dipped in a delicious peanut sauce. This simple to make but beautifully mouth-watering roll is one of my childhood favorites and today I will be showing you how to make this decadent dish.

First off we have to understand there are a variety of spring rolls out there, we have the fried one that everyone may know from Panda Express and the clear transparent ones, the one I will be writing about today.

Lets Get Started!!

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Shrimp and pork spring rolls with peanut sauce and 4 dots of sriracha!

Ingredients: 

  • 2 lbs of pork
  • 2 lbs of shrimp
  • Vegetables of your liking, in my case, 1 head of lettuce and 2 cucumbers
  • One bag of vermicelli noodles
  • One pack of 23 cm spring roll paper (can be found in the Asian section of the grocery store or at 99 Ranch market)
  • 1 cup Peanut Butter
  • 1/4 a cup of Water
  • 1 cup Hoisin sauce

This recipe feeds four to five people with around ten rolls each.

HOW TO MAKE SUMMER ROLLS

1. Gather you’re ingredients.

 

 

 

Vegetables, vermicelli noodles, and rice paper.
Meats used in this recipe.
Ingredients for peanut sauce.

2. Fill two pots with water for boiling both the pork and shrimp. Let boil on medium heat until the pork is the color of the picture below, usually will take 30 minutes. Let the shrimp boil until the shell begins to peel away from the meat of the shrimp around 20 minutes on medium heat.

 

 

 

Boil the 2 lbs of pork
Boil the 2 lbs of shrimp

3. Peel and devein the shrimp, then cut in half like the picture shown below. IMG_4819

4. Slice the pork into small chunks, like the picture shown below.IMG_4818 5. Boil another pot of water large enough to fit one full bag of vermicelli noodles, bring up to a boil then add the noodles, wait for the water to boil once again. Turn off the heat and cap the pot with a lid, let it sit for 30 minutes until the noodles have come to a consistency of your liking. (Should flexible)  IMG_48326. Wash lettuce and slice cucumbers into thin sticks.

 

 

 

 

7. Make the peanut dipping sauce, drab a small sauce pot and add one cup of hoisin sauce and one cup of creamy or crunchy peanut butter along with 1/4 of a cup of water. Stir the mixture under low heat until well combined and has the consistence of honey. (I will be using creamy today because I prefer the creamy one over the crunchy, but either or will work)IMG_9896

8. Grab a bowl large enough to dip the 23 cm rice paper in, filled with warm water.

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9. Now that you have prepped everything you can now set the table up, you will need 4 or 5 empty plates, large enough to hold a 23 cm rice paper. You will also need 4 or 5 small sauce boils so each person can have their own dip. Lay everything out on the table as this will be a very interactive family meal.

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Our table set up!

9. Start wrapping and enjoy this simple but delicious meal with your family and friends.

Here is a quick clip to my mom of my 3 roommates and I enjoying our summer rolls!