Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Interesting Times in San Jose

Well, I've been in San Jose approximately six days now, counting the two halves of Wednesday and today. I've gotten comfortable, done a little exploring, and managed to keep myself fed and occupied.

The downtown area is vibrant with big buildings, unique murals and all kinds of restaurants and stores. Pretty parks, too. Yesterday I went and got a burrito in Japantown, which is kind of an ironic food choice given the location, but there was one right there, and I had originally planned to go to Chipotle, which turned out to be too out of the way.

I took a picture of this interesting mural, which seems to be making a statement of some sort...

Can anyone tell me what you think this mural is saying?

Here's an example of the fantastic architecture downtown, too.


When I'm not out exploring or surfing the net, I'm cooking. The shared kitchen is right next to my room, so it's perfect. My roommates say I should be majoring in cooking, since I seem to be cooking all the time. I've made pancakes with bananas, macaroni and cheese, quinoa and stir fried vegegtables, ramen, and recently, this great vegan chili. It made a huge batch so I'm freezing some to have later. It's great with rice.

Well, hope everyone's having a great week!

8 comments:

  1. Great post Jen!

    As for the mural, I dunno... What you wear does not define who you are. You can dress up a chicken in a business suit...But it's still a chicken. LOL

    Sooo glad you're settling in!

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  2. Hey Jen!

    Now that I've regained my composure(was laughing along with Meesh's sensible, yet humorous logic), have to ask what the picture is near? Was thinking it may be near an art museum's entrance, or near an establishment that serves great chicken dishes, and the painting was to draw attention to passersby.

    Happy you are finding your groove as you continue to settle in your new surroundings. Mmm, mmm good @ pancakes, macaroni & cheese and vegan chili. Hat tip to the clean streets and architectural designs--impressive! Enjoy your day.

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  3. Both good answers regarding the chicken mural. I will have to check what it's by when I pass by there next, but I didn't notice it being by anything in particular. There was a little mural right next to it of some crazy looking bunnies, kind of like Easter high on sugar, so it might have just been kind of random.

    Hope you're having a good week, Al and Meesh :)

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  4. Thanks Jen, hope yours is great too!


    Ah Ha! About that mural... Well it could be this too... you know humans often wear silly looking "chicken suits" for sports as mascots, or as Al suggested some restaurants that speacialize in fried chicken hire staff to wear a "chicken suit" in order to advertise for them.. Soooo someone redefined the term "chicken suit" LOL

    What an interesting question, I am dying to know what gives with that mural!

    Beautiful city by the way!

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  5. I meant to say, I noticed a couple of your recipes above are from AllRecipes, I love that site, but most of all I enjoy the comments and tweaking suggestions from other contributors as well.

    I have a friend who used to say that her specialties were "Swanson", "Stouffers" and "Sara Lee"... once being an avid reader of this site, she's now using cooking utensils, mixing bowls instead of just reaching into the freezer and popping meals in the microwave.

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  6. Have a great weekend, Jen, and as you continue to make preparations for your vacation, please don't forget your warm boots.

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  7. Yes, it is a lovely city :). I'm inclined to believe the mural is kind of abstract, just someone's artistic way of covering up some graffiti or something. There are all kinds of murals all over downtown.

    Allrecipes is great, you can just do a search for whatever food you want and they have all kinds of results.

    Thanks Al, I'm breaking in my boots as we speak.. wore them today cause it was a little chilly out.

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  8. Dad says: The chicken is trying to rise above his place in life as a bird, but ends up getting bird crap all over him. No matter how hard you try to be something that you are not, you will end up getting messed up. It would be better for the bird to just stay a bird, then the white would blend in with the color of his feathers. It is a political statement.

    I say: I need to know the surroundings of where it is at in order to draw a conclusion.

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