Coda Bakery – Albuquerque, New Mexico

JP, my former boss at Intel used to pride himself on consistently working “half days.” If you’re thinking you’d like a job where you work only four hours a day, you’ve misinterpreted his definition of “half days.” To him, half days is a literal term meaning twelve hours a day. When most of us are done for after only nine or ten hours, he was just starting what he called his “second shift.” Very few of us have the stamina, initiative and especially the passion for what we do to work “half days.” I know restaurateurs for whom half days (or longer) are standard six or seven days a week. Because they spend so much time in their restaurants tending to the care and feeding of others, they tend not to eat there–when they make time to eat. On their rare days off or when they’re able to make time for a quick escape, they like to visit their fellow restaurateurs, not necessarily to check up on the competition, but to be pampered and fed well. Some restaurateurs would make great restaurant critics though they do tend to be overly “honest” when describing direct competitors, restaurants which serve the same…

K Style Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico

If you’re susceptible to the power of suggestion–especially as it pertains to ear worms (recurring tunes that involuntarily pop up and stick in your mind)–you’re probably going to hate me (or you can skip this paragraph and continue to love me).  That’s because if you do read this paragraph you’re going to be humming to yourself one of the most annoying songs of all time–Gangnam Style.  Arguably, Gangnam Style is not as annoying as La Macarena or My Humps (which Rolling Stone declared “the most annoying song ever”). The more you try to suppress Gangnam Style, the more your impetus to hum it increases, a mental process known as ironic process theory.  By the way, those most at risk for “stuck song syndrome” are females, youth, patients with OCD and anyone reading this paragraph. Unless you can speak Korean you’re going to have to hum Gangnam Style and not sing it.  The only lyrics in English are “Eh, sexy lady.”  Korean rap singer Psy who took Gangnam Style all the way to number one describes the song as “a tribute to the ladies of the wealthy district.”  He’s talking about the affluent Gangnam district in Seoul Korea which Psy describes…

Banh Me & You – Albuquerque, New Mexico

According to The Tanner Food Group, a a food consultancy focused on international trade, industry preparedness and regulatory activities, there are now nearly 8,000 Vietnamese restaurants stateside.  Food Scientist Michael Murdy, founder of robustkitchen.com attributes the  popularity of Vietnamese food to the “wide range of flavors and textures associated,” specifying that “the combination of sour, sweet, savory, and spicy flavors, as well as the use of fresh herbs and vegetables, makes Vietnamese food particularly attractive to people.” From among the nearly 8,000 Vietnamese restaurants on this side of the pond, it’s a good bet many of their menus are graced with banh mi, the sandwich melding French and Vietnamese flavors and techniques.  I first encountered the banh mi during one of many trips to the Santa Clara-San Jose area courtesy of Intel.  With a significant Vietnamese population, the area was teeming with restaurants, most generally serving pho and other wondrous delights from Vietnam.  At the time (mid 1990s), the San Jose area was starting to see Vietnamese bakeries opening up mostly in areas frequented by Asian populations.  Among them was Lee’s Sandwiches, maybe the first to showcase the banh mi. Lee’s Sandwiches has suffixed its corporate name with “International” and…

Kawaii Boba Cafe – Albuquerque, New Mexico

I have a confession to make.  I just don’t get anime…and can’t figure out the pokemon craze.  That’s a rather starting admission for an Information Technology (IT) professional to make.  Maybe I need help?   After all, for your stereotypical male IT professional, anime and pokemon are just steps in the typical progression of IT affectations.  They’re the logical graduation that follows a rather unhealthy obsession with Princess Leia and all things Star Wars.  Which reminds me, I found Star Wars silly and boring.  Since I’m airing dirty laundry, I may as well admit I’d just as soon watch paint dry as play a video game.  Any video game. Nor do I ever celebrate Pi day (March 14th) and my Kim had to explain what Star Wars Day (May 4th) means (May the fourth be with you). My male colleagues in the IT profession, several of whom still live in their mom’s basement, are probably apoplectic about these revelations.  They probably think I don’t like dinosaurs either.  Well, er…   All these heretical confessions probably mean I’ll have to renounce all my IT certifications and turn in my beanie.  Next thing you know my techno-nerd colleagues will hack my computer to…

Leona Banh Mi – Albuquerque, New Mexico

“I’m not allowed in the Vietnamese sandwich shop anymore. They decided to banh mi for life.” During an ice-breaker at what promised to be a stressful project planning meeting, all participants were asked to stand up and describe their favorite childhood Christmas gift. For the most part, favorite gifts conformed to gender stereotypes. Male colleagues waxed fondly about GI Joe action figures (don’t ever call them dolls), Star Wars Lego sets and their first bike. Females in our group described Barbie dolls, playhouses and cabbage patch kids. Then it was my turn. “My favorite Christmas gift as a child,” I explained “was a dictionary.” Copious groaning ensued though for some reason no one was surprised. As a child for whom English was a second language, my first dictionary was a good friend, one consulted frequently when reading my other favorite tome, the encyclopedia. Yeah, I was a weird kid. Perhaps because it was so ponderous and not a few gazillion bytes of information floating around some ethereal concept called the cloud, the dictionary was much more uncool back then. It was also much more mysterious and stodgy. No one seemed to know how new words were added from year-to-year (I…