OMF Conference

i attended the OMF northwest missions conference held at peninsula covenant church. i was a workshop speaker, sharing about my summer english teaching with my church and omf in thailand. they had me give my workshop 4 times! the first time, 6 people showed up. the second, 5 people. third, 8. the fourth time, 19...altho technically, one guy walked out a few minutes into it...so 18. it wasn't too hard, since i showed the opening of my 1999 documentary (a music video set to "testify to love") and my 2000 documentary (which is 20 min long, and pretty much took me a month to finish). i shared about what we did, connecting to the people, the preparation, the culture, and buddhism there. nothing too new, since i've shared about it plenty...but first time going to the conference and being a workshop speaker. it was funny, some of the recognition that i had. it was really funny how i shared the spotlight with gl (basketball swat and bed guy) and ds ("am i fat?" and thai dancing guy), pointing them out in the documentary as attendees in the conference. one or two people complemented d on his dancing.

OMF Conference

i attended the OMF northwest missions conference held at peninsula covenant church. i was a workshop speaker, sharing about my summer english teaching with my church and omf in thailand. they had me give my workshop 4 times! the first time, 6 people showed up. the second, 5 people. third, 8. the fourth time, 19...altho technically, one guy walked out a few minutes into it...so 18. it wasn't too hard, since i showed the opening of my 1999 documentary (a music video set to "testify to love") and my 2000 documentary (which is 20 min long, and pretty much took me a month to finish). i shared about what we did, connecting to the people, the preparation, the culture, and buddhism there. nothing too new, since i've shared about it plenty...but first time going to the conference and being a workshop speaker. it was funny, some of the recognition that i had. it was really funny how i shared the spotlight with gl (basketball swat and bed guy) and ds ("am i fat?" and thai dancing guy), pointing them out in the documentary as attendees in the conference. one or two people complemented d on his dancing.

Surplus Auction

$5 for a hp deskjet? that's the deal my bud g got at a san mateo county surplus auction. he also got a chair for $15. the county was selling off a bunch of old used equipment. i didn't really see much (and besides, g had borrowed about all the cash i had to get the goods). i should really look into going to defunct dot-com company liquidations. i'm sure there are major deals there.

18 Mighty Mountain Warriors

tonite i went to an 18MMW perfomance at a coffeehouse nite at Locus, a place dedicated to promoting the asian american consciousness and community thru the arts. (1640 post, in j-town.) i've heard of the 18MMW asian comedy troupe before, but this is the first time that i ever got to check them out. i went with a bunch of lumps people. i bumped into an old friend, m, there. i haven't seen her for 3 years i think. hopefully i'll be able to keep in touch.

before they got started, they had an open mike time to start it off. i was chatting with m, and then noticed that my bud e had gone up there! oh my gosh. i went back to my seat (in the front row) and was wondering if he would bomb or if he would be a blast. well, e went into one of his well-told spiels about being an asian journalist in the south. he had celebrity status and people were very much curious of him being asian. he described his tales and conversations using southern accents and voices, which weren't too bad. some people laughed b/c of the voices. but they didnt react much to his jokes, mainly cuz his timing was too fast. i think i've heard him tell it better in casual situations. his material wasn't too bad. i know he had some better stuff tho. overall, it was just ok. i give him mad props tho for having the nads to go up there. i dunno if i could have done that. (hmmm...that's like a challenge to myself to do it. maybe one day. it would definitely scare me.)

the 18mmw performed for almost 3 hours doing readings of their material. usually they get into full costume and have it totally polished, but tonite was a work in progress and old material. (that's why it was $5 admission. still worth it tho.) some of the stuff was pretty funny. they had a piece about the unknown asians - two russian asians hosted a cable tv show...talking about peace (but pronounced it "piss"). one long piece was recapping a hillarious e-mail list thread, which was originally 400 messages long. it was all about their attempts to get organized and efficient with web calendar software, which ultimately proved to be the opposite. i wasn't laughing too much when they had a skit in which two guys shot buddha and jesus. there was an ok skit, about people in group therapy. a lot of their jokes reflected asian american identity issues. one of the first ones was pretty funny...it was about the awareness of asian-american sports role models. i learned that the top weight lifter ever is a filipino guy who boosted 800 lbs. wowsers. anyways...most of the stuff was enjoyable, altho there were still a lot of jokes i didn't laugh at. i'd like to see them in a full production.

Fruitful Grounds

i had my bi-weekly regular meet up with O today. we went to Fruitful Grounds, a coffeehouse/eatery near usf which i read about in the "a moveable feast" chronicle column back in september. it's a pretty hip hangout for usf students. O had a cheese burger, which he declared as one of the best burgers he ever had. i had a grilled chicken burger with cheese (trying to be a tad healthy). pretty good. next time i go (and there definitely will be a next time, i'll try one of the sandwiches or some of the "cal-med" fare (supposedly a combination of the chef's left coast upbringing and palestinian heritage).

Miami in San Francisco

i'm seriously thinking about attending the miami ad school full-time program in sf. i'm interested in interactive design (which is pretty funny, since i'm using this ghetto blog template and hosting). i visited their facilities inside GMO/Hill Holliday, an agency on battery.

Latte Frappe

after visiting the school, i bummed around the area, enjoying the fab weather and the meterless street parking i chanced upon right in front of the agency. i walked over to the Battery St. Coffee Roastery and paid $3 for a latte frappe with a shot of vanilla. pretty much their version of a frappacino. i think the original is a little better, but this hit the spot on a really warm day. afterwards i hiked on over to william stout books on montgomery. i browsed some interesting logo design, branding, and interactive books. i think if i go to the miami ad school, i should really try to supplement my condensed design education with a book a month. it'd be worth it, considering the money that i'd save compared to going to a full fledged art school at $10K a semester. holee gumdrops. i'd have loans up the wazoo for a while. but i'm starting to really believe that it would be a worthwhile investment. O and my other art teachers were encouraging me towards it. decisions...decisions.

i went back to the ad school that nite to check out a visual impact class given for art directors. along the way in, i bumped into this girl who looked familar. it was d. she was a copywriter in one of my advertising classes from a year ago. turns out she's in her second term at the school, and started right when the full time program began. i'll have to ask her for her opinion on the school. she had advance placement and is in her 4th qtr right now. it's great to have another contact, particularly someone who's sort of in the same situation that i'm in.

AP Style Copy Editing

yesterday i filled out a copy editing test for grammar, spelling, and associated press style. i'm looking for a freelance marcom job. this was to test my ability to edit copy, particularly press releases. (pr's not really my thing tho. i'm more into visual stuff.) i think i've always been good at grammar. i was always a whiz when it came to deconstructing and diagramming sentences in 7th grade. good thing my sis is into journ. i borrowed her AP style book for some style guidelines.

House Hunting With My Honey

never imagined that i'd be doing it now, but i did yesterday. sorta. i was meeting up with J and along the way to a coffee spot, i had to stop by A's pad to pick up a tape. A called me on my cell and asked us to pretend to be a couple interested in checking out the place that A had up for rent. that was pretty exciting. we acted as new couple that just moved up from la. we hung around for an hour. a couple and another guy came by to check out the place. i wonder if we worried the couple who was still there. maybe they thought that we would have an in, since we're chinese and A is chinese. :) it's also interesting to observe how the home owner and the potential leasers represent themselves to each other. i'm still in the middle of reading goffman's the presentation of self in everyday life. altho i've taken a break, i'm in the middle of the chapter called "communication out of character." (how ironic. i should finish this chapter tonite.)

it was interesting to imagine looking for a place, imagining what we would need as a young couple starting in sf. the quality of the neighborhood. trying to psych out the competition. (not that we really did that.) the other couple was from germany. they were speaking the native deutsche tongue to each other. i bet it would really surprise them if i said "ich spreche deutsche auch" to them. i didn't really pick up too much german from them. i'm really rusty. but i think i can still understand the german in the indiana jones and die hard movies!

Happy Donuts in Noe Valley

J and i were planning to hit circadia, my favorite coffeehouse. however, b/c of our little detour playing house hunting couple, we couldn't make it in time before it closed (and it closed early too! 9:30!). so we wandered to 24th street in noe valley. thought we'd find a late open coffeehouse, but didn't. (can you imagine that?) luckily we found a happy donuts on 24th and church. it's open 24 hours. wasn't too bad. i had a V-8 splash and a cinnamon cake donut. i think the only other happy donuts i've been to is in berkeley. i think there are at a few locations in sf.

Careers in Animation

do i wanna be an animator? i don't really know, but i think i could if i wanted to, since i know i can draw. i went to a career seminar at sf state on sunday. it was a little enlightening. heard from some speakers on web flash animation, cd rom animation, and ilm movie animation. there are a lot of parallels to the interactive industry. they talked about the merits of going to a phat school like disney's cal arts in la or risdie, a famous art school (where it is i have no clue). most of em went to sf state. there said that what really matters is talent. you can always learn the tools (and you'll always have to in the always evolving field.) speakers were from ilm, mondomedia, imaginengine, and wildbrain.

hmmm...i have some catching up to do.

Three Free Jambas

the past few days was the free am jamba juice promotion that i'm sure everyone got multiple e-mails about. along with the 5/2 free ice cream e-mails. (i must have received the forwards 7 times.) well sat am, my dad and i woke up early to hit up the irving street shop. we each got two free jambas. i got the new orange mango and the power jamba (or whatever it's called with the 7 essential nutrients in there.) later on we both got a third one after stopping at the jamba juice on california. i got a coldbuster there. drank them all that day.

Burrito Mojado

after my class (my last one), i wanted to get something good to eat. i barely ate all day, since i was cranking as usual on my project. (i made packaging for "Greg Wong's Do-It-Yourself Haircut Instructional Styling Smock." turned out great!) so at around 10:30 i drove from downtown to the mission. went to can-cun and ordered a carne asada burrito mojado. it's a big one with guac and enchilada sauce. i realized that i really like my burritos hand held (no sauce) and with avocado.

The Little Bargain Center

monday i tried to go to the attic antique store on taraval, but it was closed. i have no idea what their hours are. so i went for a walk towards outer sunset. i came across The Little Bargain Center, a used tools place. 38th and taraval. it has some old junk in there too. i was thinking how my graphic design teacher shared that art center students loved going to the hardware stores. they would find all this really cool stuff that looks nice, but they have no idea what it really does. same experience i had going to the store. i was searching for something with some old-fashioned 50s or 60s type design for my how-to project. didn't find too much. but it was interesting going in there. i really need to go to more random shops like that. especially if i want to take design seriously.

Sunrise Service at Twin Peaks

i was up at twin peaks at 6:10 this morning to check out the sunrise and have a worship service with some lumps ppl. f and d organized the whole thing. first time i really saw a sunrise in sf (while facing east). it was pretty awesome. the golden sun started peeking over the downtown buildings at 6:32. it rose in about 4 minutes. when it finally was in full view, i applauded. i was the only one. my friends thought i was a freak. d called me a dork. i had heard some other people clapping too, but they might have been clapping for jesus, i'm not really sure. we weren't the only ones up there. there was another group of christians doing some praise and worship. but we were the only ones who stayed up there for quite a while. we were up there until 8ish. after watching the sunrise, we had an awesome time of worship, scripture reading, and prayer. c was playing on the guitar and a dozen of us were singing. we had also heard f read excerpts of the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe.

in the middle of our last song, i busload of chinese tourists came up right by us and got out. that was hillarious, but i tried not to laugh. they were all around us posing by the rail and snapping photos. i wonder if they understood what we were doing. i'm sure a few of them did.

b made soy sauce tea eggs. i don't think i've had them before. my egg wasn't cracked, so i couldn't really taste anything special. d said that if she boiled the eggs a bit longer, it would have been the bomb.

afterwards i went to early service at scbc. i think i got more out of the sunrise service. i think this will be one of my most memorable easters. right up there with my easter egg hunts that my grandma threw for us.

Resurrection Art Installation

sat nite i checkd out an art installation about easter and the resurrection. dance. paintings. sculpture. dj's spinning. film. multimedia. food. it was at this place on polk. i went with a few buds. they were pretty weirded out by the whole scene. i thought it was ok tho. there were some tribal drummer people. some other people in costume and face paint. i think they were really out of their element. i had a more open and appreciative mind. i don't think they'll ever go to another art installation again.

Dot-Gone

today i went to check out dot-gone, a new art installation in the mission. it's put on by a trio of berkeley grads called fAMOUS. jm, one of my old co-workers and officemates at zp, is in the group. she's been working hard on it for the past few months. i had heard of it, but didn't know where it was at until i read an article in thursday's chron. there's exhibit is a commentary of the today and all of the failed dot-coms. pretty relevant and interesting. the place was a little smaller than i expected... too bad i couldn't make it out to the opening reception...this was the first time i ever went to an independent art installation. it was cool chatting with jm today about all the work and all the stuff they had to go thru to get this together. i probably wouldn't of been able to learn as much if i had gone last nite...i'm thinking that i should check out more art installations like this. it's kinda cool. esp since i have the time and am considering really pursuing the arts.

i've got baby back, baby back, baby back ribs

after ak, i hung out with some lumps at chili's in san bruno. i ordered the pork baby back ribs. they use danish pork, and haven't raised the prices yet. (altho...the rib bones did seem a little long, so i was thinking maybe they switched to usda, unbenownst to the
waitress. imports of danish pork (used for 1/2 of america's babyb back ribs) have been stopped from europe b/c of the pending hoof and mouth diseast for livestock. as a result, there's a nationwide shortage of the ideal type of pork. some places have to up their menus and/or substitue with usda. the ribs were just ok. $12.

newness all day today...

the 5th burrito joint

i met up with en to make a burrito run back to the mission. i know he likes burritos, b/c every friday like clockwork he always rolls up to church carring a burrito from la glorieta, next to blockbuster. i don't really like that place, altho he says it's one of the few places you can get whole wheat tortillas. i told him we had to get authentic burritos. so we went to la tacqueria. it was the burrito joint that had closed early on the nite of the burrito bounce. it cost about $4.25 for a basic burrito. meat. beans. tortilla. all the frills were extra (while at most other places, they were included). i paid extra to have cheese ($.30) and avocado ($.75). well, the carnitas burrito wasn't that bad. this place won a lot of awards from zagat and from the sfbg. oddly enough, they don't offer any burritos with rice. i do like ricelessness at el burrito express, but after having it at all the other burrito bars, i was expecting it. w/o the rice, the burrito wasn't as big. especially in light of the value and the light poundage, i'd rather go back to tacqueria can-cun or el farolito (one block away). i also tried the mango/tangerine/peach drink. forgot what it was called.

i just found this link to mission restaurants. might just have to try some of these soon.

Sally Beauty Supply

i was trying to find a place where i can buy a hair cutting smock (a.k.a. cape) for my project. i looked up barber shops in the yellow pages and sally beauty supply was the only place in san francisco listed. i drove there today after lunch and after wondering around that old sears shopping complex for a while, i found it. seems like they have some cheap stuff. i didn't see a lot of top name brands, like kms or paul mitchell. but they did have a bunch of l'oreal hair dye...for salon use. found a whole bunch of smocks. got a black one for $11. also bought some hair cutting shears on sale for $10. finally...a decent pair of scissors to cut my hair! i've always used regular scissors. i need to cut my hair tonite. i know people in class tomorrow are going to look at my hair, b/c of my "how to cut your own hair" project.

Vintage Posters

after a quick run in vain to the art store to find some materials to print on the smock, i drove down polk and saw an interesting store. so i quickly parked my car and went in to vintage poster art. it was strange that they keep the door locked all the time, even when they're open. i couldn't figure out how to open the door when they buzzed it, so a customer came to open the door. the vintage posters in the window looked pretty cool. i thought that they might have some cheap reproductions or facsimilies, but they have the real deal. a lot of posters cost a few hundred $$. some interesting things were original star wars posters. i saw one famous print by toulouse-lautrec (who's stuff is on exhibit at the legion). but some art that i thought was really cool was a bunch of prints by alphonse mucha. wasn't really familiar with him, but i recognized his classical art nouveau style in some comic illustrators like joe quesada, jason johnson, and charles vess. maybe i can find a book of his work.

$2.96 Chinese food

the sign on the awning of tien tien at 21st and irving caught my attention yesterday. $2.95 chinese food. so that's where i suggested to go to lunch after church today. it's sort of like s&e cafe on 10th, but just a little cheaper. i sat with a bunch of guys...so we all got noodle dishes to share. the food was good. there were some dishes i didn't recognize, like some indonesian noodles. i think the place was a pretty authentic hk cafe...our first waiter didn't really understand english! at my table, 4 guys and 1 girl shared 4 noodle plates. not too bad. at our other table, the girls and d each got individual soup noodles. they thought it was just ok.

Irving Beauty Salons

i stopped in on nearly all of them (about a dozen) along irving street. i'm checking out what kind of hair smocks they use and what they're made out of. my next design project is a how 2 project in which i will explain how to cut your own hair. i'm going to custom print on a hair smock. i wonder if there are some good cheap ones made out of cloth.

Cajun Po'Boys

friday i met up with o. we went to cajun pacific on irving and 46th. great place. supposedly famous for their po'boy sandwhiches. i had one of the specialties - the louis xiv - grilled andouille sausage and egg with whole grain guiness mustard. o had "the bomb" - fried catfish and bbq glazed shrimp with cheese and served with cajun remoulade. i'll have to get that next time. it's a cool little place. great new orleans decor. seems pretty fun. i'll definitely come back. i wonder what other good cajun places there are in the city.

Cafe Sappore

hung out with g at cafe sappore on lombard and taylor. small little place on the corner two blks away from his house. i was reading my new book (see below). i decided to try a sarsaprilla (by hansen's). it tastes a little like a mild, vanilla root beer. i think i shoud try other types of old fashioned soda pop. i decided a while back, that i will start refering to soda as its proper name - "soda pop." i wonder if i'll get any weird reactions. maybe i will, if i refer to it just as "pop."

The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life

that's what i'm currently reading. it's a famous social psychology book written by erving goffman, a important author in the field. this new book for me is pretty old; it came out in 1959. the title describes it all. it explores the role of human behavior in social situations and the way we appear to others. the first two chapters were about performances and teams. interesting stuff. i can really identify a lot of it to my own personal group interaction dynamics. i think reading this will help me analyse situations, lead teams, persuade people, and give good personal impressions all the much better. but the original reason why i ordered this book, was b/c it was on an interactive industry recommended reading list. altho written long before the internet, i can see the applications in terms of needing to know how people work, interact, and present themselves. the book's a little dry and academic tho. a few other of his books were recommended also. i could probably find them used at some college textbook store or used book store.

Rug Samples

i went with my grandma, my aunt, and my mom to abbey carpets in el cerrito. there were looking into recarpeting an apartment. i learned a little about what carpets are made of, how much it costs, and all the exciting new developments in carpet technologies. (it's really not too exciting.) one cool thing i learned was that you can get mat-sized rug samples for just $1 at the store. good for the bathroom or just to wipe your feet. there's a store in sf also. the owners of the two stores are best friends.

book covers

whew. finally done with my two book covers for my graphic design class. as usual, i was pushing the clock and came to class about 45 minutes late on a due date for assignments. i'm pretty satisfied with how they turned out, except i wish i had time to have gone to kinko's and output them. i'll still do that in order to have some really nice colorful pieces that pop in my portfolio.

i learned how to do all sorts of stuff in photoshop this weekend. pretty much worked in photoshop all my free time. i was orginally planning on going on a mini tahoe retreat, but i had to bail last minute b/c i realized all the work that i had to do. (and with all of that extra time, i still was pushing the time and ran late to class...anyways, this weekend i learned how to blend layers by multiplying layers (thanks ds for the tip!) and taught myself how to paint with the program. thank god i had a tablet. it would been impossible with just a mouse. i'd probably get carpal tunnel.

another thing that took time, was preparing to cover flap the board. unfortunately it seems that the sized paper i was searching for isn't really available. in two days, i went to three art stores. the first one - the art store - i had to return to, b/c ui just couldn't find the right thing initally.

next project is a how-to project. i plan on desiging a haircutting bib with funny instructions (with pictures of course). should be cool.
two more weeks! i have a pretty solid idea for my project, but hopefully executing it won't be too bad. after i shared that i've been cutting my own hair for several years (9 now?), i noticed everyone turn to look at my hair (as expected). i need a haircut. i'm thinking that it mightt be interesting to videotape one session of me cutting my hair.

(oh boy, my vision is getting to me. on the white blogger scene i'm startnig to see the hues and blends that i used for my project.)

dance of the concubine & ethnomusicology

sunday i went to the masonic auditorium for some jazz. first time going to a sf jazz concert and first time going to the auditorium. it's right across from grace cathedral (where m & d will be getting married) and by the fairmont (where they will have the banquet). but anyways...back to the jazz. the program was called "composers in concert: the world premieres" featuring the joshua redmond quartet and russell gunn's ethnomusicology.

trumpet firebrand gunn started off premiering a new work of his hip-hop infused ensamble ethnomusicology. the was this dj apollo who was spinning some hip hop and scratching it up along with the quartet. very cool stuff. i enjoyed it. i'm not sure if a lot of people in the audience did, since a lot of the attendees were a bit older. probably my favorite of their pieces was "dance of the concubine." some interesting instruments and unique sounds. (reminded me a little of yo-yo ma in crouching tiger.) definitely a contemporary left-coast approach to jazz. i liked it.

after intermission was redmond and his quartet. he's the artistic director for the festival. altho i didn't really know who he was, i learned that he's an acclaimed sax superstar and composer. his quartet performed a brand new song cycle called "passage of time." it must have been an hour long. great music. alternated between faster songs (accompanied with a red light on them) and slower songs (which had the light become blue). i could totally feel changes in my mood from the visual and audio stimuli. during the red fast sessions, i felt ansy and somewhat on the edge of my seat. i was a bit more relaxed during the blue sessions. this reminded me of the purple and green-lit rooms at the sf moma, designed to trigger the somatine (?) in your body by the different light stimuli.

the drummer was pretty awesome. he was playing pretty hard. sometimes it looked like he was jumping out of his seat b/c he was hitting the drums so hard. he was playing pretty much non-stop the whole time. i figured he must have been pretty tired. i think the other guys were able to take breaks, but it was still pretty exhausting for them, i imagine.

another cool thing was chatting with m. don't think i've really gotten the chance to do so as much before.

i think listening to the music was inspiring and thought-provoking. however i can't recall too much of what i was thinking about. i know my mind was pretty much focused on my narnia bookcovers all weekend. i think it made me think about the colors i was using.

bun rieu

after the jazz, we got a really late dinner at golden deer, the vietnamese place on clement open til the wee hours which had a shooting some time back. i decided to get something new, other then pho. i ordered one of their specials - bun rieu. soup with ground shrimp, crab meat, and rice noodle. pretty good.

the burrito bounce

hola all you fanaticos de burrito-

thur nite, my lumps guys’ sg went on a burrito progressive dinner/taste test around the mission. ds, jc, cc, kc, ay and i hit up the best of the best burrito places, in the quest for the ultimate carne asada and pollo super burritos. we only went to the ones with the most critical acclaim and highest recommendations. it was a lot of fun and a lot of eating. some of it was messy (it's much easier to bite into a burrito than to cut it up in slices to share.) this was something you can only really do with a bunch of guys. i don't know too many girls who love burritos, and the mission isn't that great of a district. at least around one particular burrito place.

here are the results of our burrito bounce. we hit up 4 spots. (la taqueria was closed by the time we were gonna go there.) at all but one of the places, we ordered both a char-broiled steak and a char-broiled chicken burrito to sample. each of the 7 sampled burritos was cut into 5ths or 6ths. in total, we each ate 37/30ths of a burrito. here are our unscientific findings, in chronological order of visit.

a few of the opinions might be contradictory, since we were 6 different critics.

Pancho Villa - 3701 16th St (Valencia) - one of the most critically acclaimed burrito places. the area isn't too good tho. we felt that we had to tip this black guy to personally protect our car (from himself…he had given my car an indirect threat if we didn’t give him money. Not very nice. )...very nicely lit and clean. also, the helpful security guy opens the door for you...tap water available for self-serve. - we ordered the especial carne asada and asada chicken for $5.99 each. it comes with meat, rice, bean, cheese, guacamole & salsa. (this was the most expensive place.) - carne asada: tasty, not too tender. slightly charred. just average tasting - pollo asada: tasty meat. like the steak burrito, it wasn't really hot, just luke-warm. - chips: thin, light, fresh. not stale. - salsa offerings: great selection of 4 or so different types. - we learned that ithey also own el toro, one block away.

El Buen Sabor - 699 Valencia (18th St) - although only a couple of blocks away, this neighborhood was much better and nicer. - we ordered a carne asada and pollo special burritos. $4.15 gives you meat, rice, beans, and guac. - carne asada burrito: not a lot of taste. hot and mushy (probably b/c of the refried beans). somewhat ricey. meat was chopped finely. nice and soft tortilla. would have been nice if cheese was melted first...not enough meat, tender, not too tasty...good hot sauce...good beans - pollo burrito: chicken was tender. would have been good grilled - chips: thin and fresh. - atmosphere: not too great. plastic forks. served in a basket. only one type of salsa. water not readily available. (you have to ask for it.)

Taqueria Can-Cun - 2288 Mission St (19th St.) - we ordered just one super burrito for the 6 of us. carne asada with rice, beans, onions, cilantro, salsa, cheese, avocado, & sour cream. (real avocado is a definite plus.) all for just $4.25. - pretty fat burrito. a lot of girth...tortilla was toasted...hot...meat was tender, just ok...cheese was melted (2 points right there!)...rice was plain...a little saucy and messy (due to the sour cream.) - salsa was good and spicy - chips not too fresh. like out of a bag. - atmosphere was festive. interior decorated with colorful flags. very homey and comfortable. some people were at home. some messages were even carved in the front door. - iced pitchers of water available for easy access - a guy mopping the floor distracted from the eating experience.

El Farolito Taqueria - 2777 Mission St (near 24th St) - chris and drew loved the atmosphere. inside was a little colder, like a fast food restaurant, but they were playing Salena music...a must for a taqueria. we had to drive down from the other joints. parking was available in front. one detraction for jason, was the waffering scent of toilet cleaner. this made any return trips be "to go" orders. - $3.99 gave you huge monster sized carne asada and pollo burritos. biggest burritos for the cheapest price. it gave you everything too. real avocado. yum. - some mixed opinions about the burritos. some said that meat was tender and tasty. others said that the portions were huge, but the taste is just ok. the slight spice was good. - we realized that when you slice up a burrito into 6 pieces like a sushi roll, the eating experience is a little different than if you were to just bite and eat. - because this was our last stop, we! got sodas. (conveniently enough, since water was not readily avialable.) the horchata (cinnamon rice drink) was excellent. so was the fresca agua (strawberry). - chips were good. had some real corn taste too them. not stale. salsa was fantastic. i learned that salsa verde is the green one. overall: food –
D and K liked pancho villa. el buen sabor had jason's vote. taqueria cancun had my nod. chris and drew loved el farolito. atmosphere - jason dug pancho villa's clean, active look. K, D, and i enjoyed can-cun's festive, homey feeling. we learned that it's difficult to cut up burritos into 6 pieces with a knife (sometimes plastic). C did give us some advice, saying "you have to puncture it first." we then had to eat them with each section in our hands, ingrediants droping out, and slopping all over. even if you use a knife and fork, it's not quite the same as biting into the thing. next time: i think next time most of us would go to can-cun or el farolito again. the second one especially since its right by to la taqueria (25th mission). that place is supposed to be really great. too bad it was closed (about 10:00 or earlier.) next sg free week, i suppose. the quest isn't over. we still think that the ultimate burrito is out there. la taqueria is a future must now. also, la cumbre is supposed to be good, too. one last tip, park on valencia instead of mission. sometimes one block is a huge difference. if you're interested in what places were voted city-wide as best burrito...check it out the best of the bay.