Snacks and gifts...

This is why it's awesome to have friends who are into food just as much as you are...

It's always lovely to receive gifts of food...

Two for two in Santee - Part 2: Mary's Donuts

Awww yeah man....

A visit to Mary's is not something to pass up when you're in Santee...

Two for two in Santee - Part 1: Sab e Lee

This is a classic scene:

Lunch with friends that are food bloggers...

Can you tell? Yes, we are food papparazzi!

This past weekend was spent with two awesome chicks...the two C's, CAB of CAB Cooks and Cathy of Mmm-Yoso. This time we were in Cathy's 'hood...

Three is a Magic Number - Swoon Dessert Bar

[Update - Closed as of Fall 2014 and reopened in August 2015 as Tostadas]

Three times...

Remember this song from "School House Rock"? Gen X'ers I'm talkin' to you!! This was the remake by Blind Melon. This is how we learned our times tables, ha ha!

The night was still young...

Asia Cafe for the bajillionth time...

Last Friday I had the pleasure of dining out with my friend and neighbor across the street. She wanted to take me out for a belated birthday dinner, my choice.

 Lucky for me, she is also willing to try new things, so this meant another long overdue visit to one of my favorite restaurants, Asia Cafe...

Return to Swoon Dessert Bar

[Update - Closed as of Fall 2014 and reopened in August 2015 as Tostadas]

And so this was my second time to Swoon...

this time with Bert...I thought it would be a nice end to our evening so far. Thank goodness my husband is always willing to try new foods and desserts with me (so yay for that!)...

Sage Turkey Patties

This was my flavor booster for this new recipe...

I thought I'd use about 4 or 5 cloves of the garlic TC roasted yesterday...

Today was Sunday which meant it was a cooking day which was a good time to  do a twist on a new recipe...

Eggplant and Zucchini Casserole

Earlier today, I got some vegetables on clearance from Fresh & Easy...

No, they weren't rotten or going bad. Three zucchini were .98 on sale! The tomatoes were .60 (in a plastic container), a medium eggplant was .34! Plus, I got some homegrown herbs from Cathy of Mmm-Yoso fame...

It was time to try a new recipe...

South Bay Liquor

After our pleasant experience tasting the beers from Mad Lab and also due to curiosity as well as the recommendation from a reader, we decided hands down to visit a liquor store we've passed by many times in the past whenever we've gone to Target.

Never really noticed this place until we read the reviews about their great selection of craft brews and such. It's in this strip mall, on the south west corner of Palomar and Broadway...

Return to K-Pasta

Last weekend was a pretty rare one since we went out two nights in a row!

The previous night was enjoyed in the company of Tatonka at Mad Lab Craft Brew and sushi afterwards.

The next day we had another game plan...with the return to what will be a new favorite on the corner of 13th and Donax in IB...

Mad Lab Craft Brewing

[Update - Closed as of Summer 2013. The owners closed the tasting room but still have their bottling production business]

Last month when TC and I were on break, we had a really great lunch at K-Pasta in IB. While there, I picked up one of their postcards and logged onto their website later on at home. I noticed that everything was either made in-house (like the pasta and meatballs) or was made locally, such as the sausages from Tarantino's, the greens from Suzie's Farm (which is a few minutes away from there), and the beer from Coronado Brewing Company as well as the curiously named Mad Lab Craft Brewing Co. When I looked up Mad Lab, I saw that their area code was 92154 (where I grew up) and that they were located in Otay Mesa near the DMV!

I read up on Mad Lab's story and their beer selections and was curious to visit the "Southernmost brewery in the U.S."....Along for the adventure was our good friend (and beer enthusiast), Tatonka...

Which Wich - Pacific Beach

Last Friday, TC and I went up to PB to utilize these coupons...

Little did I realize that we would get stuck in craptastic traffic on the way back. Call it naivete, but I didn't expect to be stuck on Grand Avenue, inching forward glacially for 45 minutes!

I was worried about the time because Bert and I were planning to meet up with Tatonka for drinks and dinner later that evening...

Bday dessert @ Eclipse w/MFH

Last year MFH took me to Alchemy for brunch and Cafe Madeleine for dessert. This time, dessert would be here...

at good ole Eclipse in South Park since MFH hadn't been here yet and because I wanted to try something new...

Bday lunch @ Que Huong with MFH

The day after my birthday, I went out with Mi Firme Hina (MFH) for a "belated" birthday lunch...

This meant a return to one of my favorite restaurants, Que Huong over in City Heights. Look for this sign and feel free to park in the Burger King lot (seriously)....

Birthday Dinner Part 3 - Swoon Dessert Bar

[Update - Closed as of Fall 2014 and reopened in August 2015 as Tostadas]

I think I better crank this out before I completely forget everything...

Continuing on from the 3-part dinner adventure with the Educator GF's...it was time to have dessert at a relatively new place in North Park...

Birthday dinner with the family

They should have had a card that said "Vince Neil", "Jon Bon Jovi", or "Eddie Van Halen"....

(card from TORC)

Hallmark this wasn't! I thought the card was funny though!

This year, we didn't go out. I wanted something low key and for the family to come over and just enjoy themselves, especially the nephews (all five) and my brother's new baby, who has booted TC out of being the lone girl amongs all the boy cousins....

Fuddrucker's

Yes...I went THERE!

Blame my puerile sense of humour, but Darrel Hammond as Sean Connery on SNL Celebrity Jeopardy kicks a$$!

Bert and I had some downtime that morning of my birthday since TC was at dance pratice. I had just bought those fkg expensive cupcakes and dammit, I was hungry for lunch....

And...since it's STILL APRIL, birthday posts will still be oozing out like the pustules from a crusty Jabba the Hutt...

Sprinkles Cupcakes - La Jolla

Come and get 'em...

I got yer overpriced cupcakes right here, yo!

Well, at least ONE of them was free...

Strawberry season is here again...

This is the breakfast that greeted me on the morning of my birthday...

The heart shaped waffle maker was one of our wedding gifts years ago and it still gets used, thank goodness!

The gorgeous strawberries came from this field....

Raspberry and Blackberry Mochi Cake

Another dessert I made for my bday dinner party has its roots in this movie...

Believe it or not, there IS a connection...

Chocolate Chow Mein Noodle Cookies

I don't know about you, but I've never had the need to buy this before...

I usually see it at Soup Plantation as a salad topping.

There's a first time for everything and while I was waiting for my hair to dry while sitting in the chair at my hair stylist's place, Giada from the Food Network was demonstrating this super easy cookie recipe...

Birthday Cake 2013

"You say it's your birthday..."

"Ba da da da da DA...it's my birthday too!"

Celebrating another year once again with my wonderful family and another awesome cake...

Birthday Dinner Part 2 - Polite Provisions

From this...

(older image from discoversd.net)

to this....

What was once Kadan, a sports/dive bar on the corner of 30th and Adams is now a new hipster bar from the same people who brought you Neighborhood, Craft & Commerce, and Noble Experiment. Never having been to any of those places, I had no expectations  or comparisons when coming here.

This spot, which was conveniently connected to Soda & Swine was the next stop on my (early) birthday dinner with the Educator GF's...

Birthday Dinner Part 1 - Soda & Swine

Last weekend was my birthday dinner outing with the Educator GF's (TORC, D, and KD)...

We were going to try something  different since we've normally gone out mainly for lunch. This time it would be an early early dinner...

Ferryride from Levis to Quebec City

After we rested for a few hours, we drove down to the ferry landing so we could have dinner in Vieux Quebec (old Quebec)...

The Levis side has a spectacular view of Quebec and the ferry ride, we were told, would be very short...

More of Levis...plus the Levis Armoury!

Since we were unfamiliar with the town, we had no choice but to follow NM and her kids around the neighborhood...

This billboard touted the virtues of Blanche de Chambly beer, made by Unibroue from Quebec.

Further up the street, we would pass by NM's favorite breakfast place...

Glacerie a l'Europeenne/Les Chocolats Favoris

Here we are trekking into the Glacerie a l'Europeene which is housed in a beautiful old Victorian home...

which was built in 1909 for Dr. Alfred-Valere Roy, a surgeon. The ice cream shop moved there in 1996 and also shares space with Les Chocolats Favoris, an artisanal chocolate and confection shop. That's TC about to walk through the door...

After looking at other folks' photos of this place, I guess you could say we were lucky that there weren't any lines! The pix I saw had people lined up across the street and down the block!

Levis, QC, Quebec

After our awesome lunch at La Belle Province, we piled back into the minivan and headed to the city of Levis...

but not before trying one of TC's wierd Canadian candies, in this case, gummy and sour blue raspberry flavored Big Foot. She thought it was hilarious that the candy was shaped like a foot and that the toe was really huge. This candy made by the Allan Candy , a Canadian product, and comes in other colors and flavors. I could only take one piece since I'm not into the sour stuff...

We would be on the road for a few more hours...

Trolley Aventure 2 - Donut Bar

Last week when we were still on Spring Break, we took TC and her friend KDD on a trolley adventure. It was a few days after the grand opening of the new Donut Bar downtown...

It's right around from 6th and B (near La Gran Tapa). We arrived around 9:45 am and were wondering if anything was even left, if we were to believe the reports of them selling out way early)....

Birthday gifts and freebies

Even though my real birthday hasn't arrived just yet...who says that it only has to last a day?

(someone's anime video using The Vandals' "Happy Birthday To Me")

Whenever April rolls around, I end up trying to use up my freebies and stuff sent in the mail....

La Belle Province

As soon as we opened the doors, we were greeted with a blast of oppressive heat...

After close to three hours of driving, it was finally time to take a break and have some lunch at a place that C insisted we try...

Canada Trip 2012 : Day 6 - Quebec City

Well now...after a brief hiatus caused by a combination of laziness and other sorts of distractions, I bring you the Return of the Canada posts!!!

Last summer was one of the best trips we've had because we went on an epic road trip with C and her family (of the blog Life on Manitoulin)...Above, their trusty mini van which was our traveling vehicle, as it was parked at her friends' place in Ottawa.

It was time to hit the road and drive up to Quebec to meet up with one of C's blogfriends...

Project Pie

Last week when TC and her friends were over, we checked out this new pizza place in Hillcrest...

which was suggested by Darlene of My Burning Kitchen, who is always "in the know"about all the hot new restaurants.  Word to the wise. It's Hillcrest. Parking sucks. Good luck.

Look for this sign but don't expect to find parking in the lot, although I did. I got the last spot in a green, 30 minute space even though we stayed nearly an hour and were supposed to pay but didn't. But I digress...