Sunny Donuts, National City

Earlier this evening, we dropped off TC at dance for a performance...

Since we were in National City, we thought we would swing by this place first, to get our dessert. It was raining as you native San Diegans probably experienced today.....

FILAMEDA Fundraiser at Halphen Red Burgers

It's been awhile since we went here...

even though it's very close to home, we haven't found another reason to revisit until tonight...

Class 302 Cafe, Irvine

Still in the same stripmall but just a few doors down was this...

A Taiwanese dessert place modeled after a Taiwanese classroom...

Mag's Donuts & Bakery

Because this is a "short" post, this one is being put up "out of order"...

Normally anal me is actually posting OUT OF ORDER!

What has the world come to?  But seriously...

The Old Grape Vine and the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel

As mentioned earlier, we had to walk off those calories, right...

And since we were in San Gabriel, planned on seeing their local Mission...

The Cravory

Yesterday TC and I capped our our day by checking out this new cookie place in Point Loma...

They just opened on Valentine's Day and don't have proper signage out yet. It's in the same strip mall as Soup Plantation  and Baron's Market...

Random photo roundup

This month is almost over and it's time to clear our photos that don't really warrant full posts like this one...

of a sunset a few weeks ago, along with a few others lurking on my memory card...

New reading material from Adams Ave Bookstore + Return to Broke Girls Coffee Bar

[Update - Broke Girls Coffee Bar closed May 2015 and is now Backyard Cafe]

One thing that excited TC about our outing was my promise to stop by our favorite bookstore...

She was hoping that one of the cats would be there like last time while I just wanted to browse through the cookbooks and who knows what else caught my fancy...

Da Nang

We interrupt the regularly scheduled Valentine's road trip post for a more recent (as in "today") post...

featuring a restaurant in City Heights (edging the southernmost border of Talmadge)...

I passed it by and had to double back and park on a side street. As you can see, the parking lot is pretty small and due to my extreme hatred of parallel parking, was avoided at all costs...

Ganache Patisserie & Cafe

Holy $%#@, here it is, finally!

Geez, just how many dessert places are in this complex? Anyhow, this would be just a quick stop...

Beard Papa's

You'd think we'd be done with sweets by this point, right? But as mentioned in my previous post, we were originally going to go to this patisserie which was in the same complex. After walking a few doors down, I saw this:

and knew that I could not pass it up...

Macchiato

Due to the "pepper incident" from the tea leaf salad, as promised, we went to Macchiato, located in a sprawling complex filled with Asian owned businesses.

They served ice cream along with coffee (complete with "latte art" on the foam), as well as macarons.

There was one ice cream dessert in particular that we HAD to try...

Daw Yee Myanmar Cafe

While it might have seemed we were eating all morning, we only really had a few bites of a pastry and some caffeine laced drinks. It was time for some actual food now...

I remember reading about this place on the Gastronomer's blog (post linked at the end) and made sure to put this in our "to try" list...

The restaurant is not on the main drag, but on a small residential side street. Even better with easy parking right in front for us...

Cuteness Overload - The shops at Atlantic Time Square

This entire center, called the Atlantic Time Square is a combined retail and residential complex located in the middle of Monterey Park.

It seems to have it all, from restaurants, to a fitness center and walking distance to various ethnic markets...I noticed they had Curry House here. The one in San Diego by Nijiya is long gone, having been replaced by Koon Thai...

TC and I wanted to check out some of the shops before leaving, especially the candy store....

De Cafe Baristas

Traffic wasn't too bad on our way up which was a good thing. There's nothing worse than being stuck in traffic and needing to use the bathroom, heheh.

I noticed that the bridge had "Rosemead" on it. Trivia-minded me remembered that the city of Rosemead was used as the setting for the show, "The Wonder Years" (loved that show!).

Our next stop was here, off Atlantic, one of the main drags in Monterey Park.

That's how we roll - First stop: Cream Pan

Since the place we wanted to go to first wasn't open 'til 10:30, we made a quick stop here...

because it was "conveniently" on our way...

Valentine's Day Highlights

Just a few highlights from yesterday...

(Off the 805, the 43rd St. Bridge in National City)

We left bright and early that morning...hardly any traffic!

More macs from ROCQ

Also in the Flower Hill shopping center was Whole Foods Market...

a place where I normally don't shop for anything, except for one thing...

Love Removal Machine - Valentine's playlist

Like last year's post, this will be a playlist...

(seen somewhere in Pasadena while on our way to breakfast...)

this time featuring songs with the word "love" in it...

Dallman Chocolates, Del Mar

While walking back to our car after viewing "The Art of John Lennon" exhibit, I saw this chocolate shop on the top floor...it was a few doors down from a dog bakery, of all things. Who the fk buys their dog cookies and cupcakes? WTF man!

Of course, I was curious but also a little scared...

A tale of two Chamangos - Teresita's vs. Fruit & Beyond

Last week, I wanted to use up one of my coupons...

No, not the dry cleaners but the juice place next door...

Sunny Donuts, Chula Vista

I had to run an errand in west CV after work. Before heading home, I spotted Sunny Donuts at the southeast corner of Broadway and "I"...

I remember reading somewhere that this place was a time warp...

Blueberry donuts two ways - Donut Touch and Bonita Donuts

After our late lunch at Luong Hai Ky and thinking we'd try our luck at Opera Cafe before closing time, we rushed over to find that their dessert case EMPTY. We were hoping to score those $5 dessert tray assortments (buy 2 and get 1 free) that I had last month with KD and TORC.

So...we drove back across Manila Mesa in the opposite direction to try our luck with the quirkily named "Donut Touch"...

not to be confused with "Donut Stop" which is next to Lucky Seafood!

Who thought of these donut shop names? Enough with the puns already, and let's go in...

The slutty quail at Luong Hai Ky Restaurant

Yesterday Bert and I were up in the Manila Mesa area for a meeting. I was getting impatient because it started at 10:30 and ended two hours later...Lunch of course, was on my mind...

Earlier that morning I read Mary's post (linked at the end) about this lace and realized I'd seen this place before...

The Art of John Lennon

While Bert and I were out today, I got a text from Mi Firme Heina (MFH). She and her husband just saw "The Art of John Lennon" exhibit in Del Mar earlier today. Below, an ad in the SD Reader...

Since we were up in the Mira Mesa area already, we decided to go see it, especially since the show was only running for three days...

Photo medley - random meals, funny stuff and more...

It's time again for one of those posts where I compile the pics don't really warrant a full-on post, such as this bitch kickin' pair of purple patent fake Docs.

I don't remember what the brand was, but I know it definitely was NOT Doc Marten's, at only $24.99? Real Docs are $100 or more and better quality than these fake leather shoes. These boots will probably fall apart after two or three wears, but boy, I do like that eggplant shade!

Then again, it's not the 1990's and I'm not Daria Morgendorffer and can get away with wearing these....

Sigh...If only...

A handcrafted ring + return to Providence Bay

In my hand is a ring made by one of C's First Nation students...

The young lady who made it is a teenager and part of the Objibwe tribe on Manitoulin Island. It looks quite delicate and I'm almost afraid to even wear it...

Pickers of Prov

Even though we did not get any actual "fish" at the fish and chips place, we knew we would be in for a great meal for dinner, our last in Manitoulin (sniff)...

The little shack next door to the Fish and Chips place was a newly opened mini shop...

As you can tell, the building was pretty new and hadn't been painted yet. The owner just got there and let us in...

The Red Velvet Cupcake Taste-Off!

After having carbs with those pizza slices, we had...uh...more carbs and sugar to boot! Yikes!

This past weekend was the Epic Red Velvet Cupcake tasting organized by Mary of This Tasty Life...
We were instructed to buy two cupcakes from assigned bakeries and then bring 'em to our meetup spot...

Late lunch @ Social Life Pizza

This past weekend I participated in a Red Velvet Cupcaking Taste-Off (my title, ha ha) coordinated by the ever so awesome Mary of This Tasty Life. Before the cupcake tasting however, was lunch  at a new'ish pizza place...

located in the college area right around the corner from Burger Lounge on the corner of El Cajon and College Ave.  It's just a few steps away from San Diego Desserts, a seedy pawn shop and the wonderful Lebanese restaurant Alforon. The good thing about this place is that they have their own parking lot too, so score for that.

Seem like a lot of these "custom" pizza places are popping up nowadays...

More fun food gifts...

As mentioned in a previous post, it's awesome to have friends that happen to be food bloggers...

Food bloggers are so easy to shop for and easy to please (well, at least I am, ha ha)...Here are just a few food gifts received these past few weeks...

A quintet of desserts at Hanna's Gourmet

After our Vietnamese foodfest at Que Huong, we headed off to dessert in nearby Normal Heights...

or perhaps this was Be-Hi (between the Heights, as in University and Normal?)...In any case, it was relatively close by....

Ladies who lunch...at Que Huong

Last week I had the pleasure of having lunch with a great group of gals...

We met up at one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego...

Lake Huron Fish & Chips

You'd think that with the persistently gloomy cloud cover and chilly temps (low 60's = freezing to SoCal natives)....

the girls wouldn't want to go to the beach, but they weren't going to let the weather deter them. Before making our way to the beach, we made a stop for a quick snack...