Post 50.1: Goodbye Thousand Oaks, Part 1 - Monday Mornings (LA-SFV: Glendale)

Just a few weeks ago, I transferred from the Thousand Oaks office to the office in Orange.  It's cut my commute down from 52 miles to 36 miles one-way.  Since gas prices are skyrocketing, I'm sure the shorter commute will help my bank account just a tad.

One thing I will miss about my commute to Thousand Oaks is the Monday morning car ride with my cousin Monica.  We would make weekly pit-stops at Porto's Bakery in Glendale on the way into the Valley.  I would pick up my Monday morning OJ and a ham and cheese croissant sandwich for lunch, and Monica would buy dozens of potato balls and guava cheese rolls for her and her roommates.  Every so often we would sneak one or two chicken croquettes in before jumped back onto the freeway too.

I was one of the few that made the commute from 626 into Thousand Oaks, which means I was one of the few who had access to fine Cuban baked goods.  Feeling the need to share the world's best food with everyone at work, I would bring Porto's into the office every so often.  And of course, we would rejoice together and celebrate in Cuban pastry revelry by dancing circles in our cubicles and dropping flaky crumbs on the carpet like sprinkles on a cupcake.  Okay, that didn't happen.  But you get the picture... there was pastry bliss.

It was one of those typical manic Monday mornings at Porto's that I discovered that the bakery made not only potato balls, but potato ball sandwiches.  Whoa.  So on top of my usual ham and cheese croissant, I ordered a papa preparada, the potato ball sandwich.  Deep fried mashed potatoes with seasoned ground beef with lettuce, tomatoes and cheese gets sandwiched between light Cuban baguette bread.  A bit trippy, no? 

Biting into the potato ball sandwich conjured the same feeling as eating a potato taco.  Oh, drool... the potato taco is my new discovery at the Mexican restaurant next to my new office in Orange.  Can we say carb overload? But the bread definitely outweighs the tortilla in carb count.  I still think the ham and cheese is my favorite (there's definitely a better carb-protein ratio), but the papa preparada is something that everyone should try at least once.

New office location, new morning commute.  Can't wait to see what culinary delights awaits me in Orange.  Oh, don't forget the Tapatío! Until next time, let's get S.O.F.A.T.

ML - 20110228