Unidad Park - return to the Filipino American history mural

[*The return of this year's Presidents' Day LA roadtrip]

After checking out the famed Music Box Steps in Silver Lake, we headed over to Historic Filipino Town (Hi-Fi)...passing by Bert's former college fave, Tommy's on Rampart...

which was a few short minutes away from a mural we last visited back in 2010 (post linked at the end)...

located in Unidad Park...

Snacks from Harvest International Market

Yesterday I thought I would get some Christmas shopping done at an ethnic grocery store I hadn't yet been...Harvest International Market in Clairemont.


This used to be North Park Produce...

Takeout from Bane Phonkeo

I almost forgot about this...

while on our way home, on a whim, I asked Bert if we could stop by the Laotian place off Imperial Ave...

En route to Normal Heights with commentary

It looks like all the crying and screaming by the South Park denizens did  not prevent Target Express from taking over the old Gala Foods

I wonder what it's like inside...

Scenes from Golden Hill + lunch @ Pizzeria Luigi & pastries from Panchita's

This nice sidewalk emblem can be found on the southeast corner of 25th and Broadway...

in front of the Golden Hill Fire Department, with it's fabulous art deco style building.  Sufficiently caffeinated by our drinks from the newest location of Dark Horse Coffee...we made our way north on 25th for lunch...

passing by lovely historic homes such as this...

Dark Horse Coffee, Golden Hill

The view of the mixed use You Are Here complex directly on the 25th St. offramp from the 94...

As seen on the 25th Street Bridge after we checked out the "hidden but in plain view" Crab Carillon....

At the bottom of the building is San Diego's third location of Dark Horse Coffee...

Playing the Crab Carillon on the 25th Street Bridge

This rather inocuous bridge from above is one you might have driven under many times while on the 94...

Atop the bridge on the western pedestrian walkway is a piece of interactive public art...

Our anti black Friday morning - MLK Mural on the 94 & painted stairs in Golden Hill

Under dramatic cloud cover we ventured off into the late morning...

on this so-called Black Friday...

but instead of acting like crazed materialist consumers at the malls, we did our own Anti Black Friday thing...

Thanksgiving 2015

It's time to give thanks....

(banner seen at one of the houses on Mt. Nebo near the La Mesa Secret Stairs)

for all that we've been fortunate to enjoy this past year...

Almond Kringles are back...

Hey now...

Remember these?

Supernatural Sandwiches

My first day of my weeklong Thanksgiving Break was spent up in Mira Mesa...

where TC and I met up with Mary for lunch at Supernatural. Sandwiches.

Heartsleeves Coffee (formerly Mad Fix)

Sunny and warm in November?

We'll take it...it beats freezing our @$$es off eh!

Our morning was spent checking out the newest coffee place in Little Italy...

Fried pies from McD's

Earlier this morning we had some time to kill before mass while TC did her volunteer service. I had a craving for a hash brown but when I saw this sign (see below)...

we just had to...

Taco Bell, La Bodega and the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club

All right...

I did a drive thru (hangs head in shame)...

Return to Andres and Gelato Vero Caffe

TC was watching a play for extra credit for school which meant...

date night for a few hours, so off we went to Linda Vista...

Music Box Steps

Our next stop was over in the Silverlake area of Los Angeles...

Apparently, this place is becoming more and more hipster (i.e. gentrified) from what I've read and seen...

I was curious about a set of steps that played a big part in an old Laurel & Hardy movie...

Tustin Trio - Cream Pan, return to Tan Hoang Huong & Kolache Factory

This past weekend we made a short trip (which ended up being 12 hours including driving time) to LA...

Our first stop was Tustin...

But first, we had to pass the tits the decommissioned San Onofre power plant...

Mountain Hawk Park

It felt good to be able to accomplish most of what we wanted this morning...

we climbed the Secret Stairs of La Mesa, had breakfast and coffee...

and took the 125 toll road down to a park whose background we've seen many times on friends' IG and facebook posts...

Return to Clockwork Coffee Shoppe

I just noticed the word "Hair" in red right in the middle of the sign...

which reminded me of our previous breakfast stop where I almost ingested one of those, ugh...

Shirley's Kitchen

Reader Christina C. commented on my recent "Breakfast with TC at lil b's" post not too long ago...

where she recommended Shirley's Kitchen for their version of my latest obsession...

La Mesa Secret Stairs

Veterans Day was in the middle of the week and with the day off for all of us...

it was prime time to get up early...

and get some exercise  and enjoy some views...

Old Mill Cafe

A few Fridays ago Bert and I had dinner at this old school diner...

which was pretty dead the night of our visit...

Mandarin & Cucina Urbana revisit

Lunch on a whim earlier this week...

with my friends, La Ley and Mr. TJ...

Champagne French Bakery Cafe, Carmel Mountain

Our last stop of the day, after having enjoyed a trio of amazing coffee drinks from Mostra was here...

at Champage French Bakery Cafe, also in Carmel Mountain...

Mostra Coffee

Our crawl was still going strong as we traveled eastward...

past Manila Mesa and on towards the Carmel Mountain Ranch Area. For a South Bay chick like me, this is like going to the moon (just kidding).

In an industrial business complex is a coffee company I'd always wanted to visit. Today was that very fortunate day...

E.Vil Donuts

A few blocks away from Copa Vida was a relatively new donut shop...

it's right by the trolley line and Azteca taco shop.

Despite the mostly negative reviews on that four lettered site, I couldn't pass up the opportunity...

Edamame Noodles & Fun with roasted vegetables and spiralized zucchini

A recent lunch..

which was relatively healthy...

Copa Vida

Although they served coffee at Center Cut, we wanted GOOD COFFEE...

so our next destination was downtown,

at the newly opened Copa Vida on J Street...

Return to Center Cut Steakhouse Breakfast Buffet

Earlier this morning D and I had breakfast which turned into a food crawl...

That's how we roll and it is always fun going on a crawl with a willing participant...

More random pix...this time from January to April 2015

Slowly but surely these pix are coming out of the woodwork.

Here are some taken from the first quarter of this year....

which include snacks like this..

Little Jewel of New Orleans

Like the Pied Piper of Hamlin, the nattily dressed Carl Baldwin led us down the street to one of his favorite new eateries in Chinatown...

the newly opened (at the time) Little Jewel of New Orleans...

which he and his wife raved about. We couldn't pass up on their recommendation especially since po'boys were on the menu...

Mushroom trio & lemon pasta

Did you know that these very same mushrooms you can get for cheap at Zion...

are $5.99 at Sprouts? WTF!

Save some moolah and head over to Zion...

Velveteria revisit + Chinatown storefronts, January 2015

Slowly but surely, I am wrapping up loose ends from earlier this year, such as our first road trip of 2015 in which we did a musuem two-fer in LA. Firstly, the JANM for the Hello Kitty retrospective exhibit..

Secondly, it was the return to one of our favorite museums...

All Dressed Ruffles

These ridged potato chips may look just like ordinary chips to the casual observer...

but one bite will make you crave more!  Like the whole bag more!

Thanks to Mary's recent post for a sandwich shop in the College Area, I was dumbfounded to find that this particular chip flavor was now available in the U.S.! Have I been living in a cave or what?
Soon after reading her post, I had to go to Vons for myself...

Return to Beef 'n Bun Whistle Stop & Trinitea Tea

On Halloween morning...I woke my sorry ass out of bed to have an early morning meet up with Cathy and her Mister...

at Beef 'n Bun in El Cajon.

As you can see, their windows are currently geared towards Halloween...

and will probably soon have Thanksgiving paintings in a few days...

But first, breakfast!