Recipe geek restaurant review: Cheesesteak Shop and Adamson's French Dip

I'm mostly done with the contents of my freezer, and have started making the rounds of local restaurants that I've been meaning to try.  The first two places, the Cheesesteak Shop and Adamson's French Dip Restaurant, are in the same shopping center.  It's about half a mile from where Missy and I grew up.  We spent a lot of time there, since there was a drug store and a grocery store.  Now's it's restaurant central, with a Popeye's, a pho place, a chinese place, a cheesesteak place, and a French Dip place.
Anyway, two nights ago I wanted to try the French Dip place, but it was closed, so I went to the cheesesteak place and ordered a small chicken cheesesteak for $5.  It was tasty, not quite as good as the premier place, but tasty nonetheless.  The chicken was chopped up in very small bits, philly style, rather than in stir-fry size pieces. There was ample amount of cheese, so it was an ooey gooey delight.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  However, the Yelp reviewers were right. It was not very big.  If you's hungry, order a larger one or get double meat.
Tonight I stopped off at Adamson's French Dip after I went walking.  It's an interesting place. It's located in the middle of the parking lot in a former camera store. It's mostly take-out so there are just a few tables.   It serves beef, chicken and pork cooked in a wood fired oven.  The star item is, of course, the French Dip.  I got hooked on French Dip sandwiches when I was in college.  They're like pizza - even when they're bad they're still good.  But this one was probably the best one I've tried.  The meat was amply marinated and juicy, so the au jus was hardly necessary, but it was nice.  The bread was squishy and yummy.  A sandwich was $7. It had about three times as much meat as my cheesesteak.  The fries were good too.  They tasted like old-school McDonald's fries from my childhood, so they must be cooked in beef lard.  Everything was on the salty side, which was fine by me since I love my meat and potatoes to be salty. 
I'll do some reviews on stuff other than meat/cheese sandwiches in my next update.

Sunnyvale Farmers' Market

I went to the Sunnyvale Farmers' Market yesterday. I needed some strawberries, and around here you can find them from early March until late October. During that time, I probably buy a half flat of strawberries at least every other week.
The Sunnyvale Farmers' Market is one of the medium sized ones in the area. It's usually extremely crowded. I think it's due to a combination of the prices, the funky street vibe, the food vendors, and the fact that it's Saturday morning. I'm not entirely sure, but I think the vendors change their prices according to the location of the farmers' market, especially for the produce. This is based on my unscientific observations at other local farmer's markets. Friends who live in pricier areas complain that stuff is too expensive at their farmers' markets, but at the Sunnyvale one it's usually comparable or cheaper than the supermarket. In any case, it's close by so I can walk to it if I want. Yesterday I didn't, although I did have to be gently reminded by T that walking too much might not be a good idea just yet, was lugging larger amounts of produce.
There are a ton of hot food vendors. Due to the fact that I have usually just had breakfast, I never eat there. I should, sometime. Depending on the day, there may be a crepe vendor, someone selling oysters on the half shell, mexican food, indian food, middle eastern food, various types of asian food, and of course, the corn-on-a-stick place, which is extremely popular. There are also a lot of places selling baked goods, cheese, meat, eggs, etc, as well as some places selling jewelry, crafts, soaps, etc. I like to look at all the variety, but in terms of what I spend it's all about produce and plants.
I bought my strawberries and some carrots and kohl rabi. The orchid guy was there and I was sorely tempted. He has really nice orchids at really good prices. Orchid maniacs of both genders were snapping them up in multiple quantities. Now I know why there are usually only a few orchids left if I get there late. I resisted the orchids and the little tomato plants, but succumbed and bought a massive fuschia plant for $13. It's hard to resist anything with that much purple in it. When I got home I rigged up the pot so I could hang it from a hook on my patio.

Cherry Trees

I grew up (and currently live) in Sunnyvale, CA, which is in the heart of Silicon Valley, home of many cycles of economic bubbles, which was formerly known as the Valley of Hearts' Delight, home of some of the most excellent cherries, apricots and plums in the world. Many of the orchards had disappeared by the time I was a kid, but there were still a lot of Bing cherry trees around. For those of you who haven't tried them, Bing cherries are incredible - big, sweet, tart, flavorful and firm-textured, and Sunnyvale Bings are the best. When I used to walk to elementary school, I passed a number of houses with big cherry trees in the front yards. With the perspective of childhood, I remember them as being gigantic trees, almost like giant redwoods, but now that I'm older I suspect they were merely medium sized. Every June, they would be covered with cherries. Like my memory of the size of the trees, this memory may be somewhat exaggerated . I used to sneak a cherry or two from each tree that I passed. I remember the soft calm June morning air and the excitement that came from only having a few days of school left, but mostly I remember the cherry trees.
I was not the only one who noticed the cherry trees. My mom, who's a bigger cherry maniac than me, dreamed of having some massive cherry trees of her own. I've lost track of how many she's planted over the years. They never yielded many cherries. Either they didn't bloom at the same time and couldn't cross pollinate, or they bloomed at the same time as the orange tree and none of the bees even went to the cherry trees since the orange tree was so sweet smelling. The birds would then get a lot of the cherries that were produced. Occasionally a tree would die and she'd replace it.
I drive on the same street when I go visit my mom. Most of the cherry trees are gone. Nonetheless, I still have my dreams of cherry trees. A few weeks ago I went to the garden store to buy some fertilizer. I came home with a cherry tree. It had a Bing and a Ranier grafted onto it. That combination should do the trick for cross pollination. Nonetheless, the next day I went out and bought another cherry tree. I planted them in my front yard alongside my driveway. Somewhat painfully, I dug out massive holes for them and rearranged rose bushes. I also planted a grapefruit tree, and though I'm pretty sure it will be more productive than the cherry trees, it just doesn't quite have the same magic. I fantasize that they will be as big and productive as the cherry trees of my childhood memories, and I might even begrudgingly let the neighborhood kids steal some on their way to school.