Scrimshaw Coffee

There's a new coffee shop in town...

Taking the "scenic route" from the 94 to Euclid during this cloudy morning...

Food for Thoughts Cafe + views from Grant Hill Park

Not too far from Dark Horse was a small cafe in the same neighborhood...

(view of downtown San Diego at the top of J St & 26th)

TC took that shot as I drove down the hill looking for a place to park...

The return of the Salted Maple latte at Dark Horse, Golden Hill

It was our last Friday of the Fall break...

(craptastic traffic on the 94)

TC had a free morning so off we went for breakfast, but first...

Cafe 21 with Astroboi + Hawthorn Coffee, Mission Thrift Store and the Incredible Cheesecake Company

Fall break is for meeting up with friends...

in this case, Astroboi and with his choice of breakfast venue...

Beacon Coffee Co., Ventura

Morning on the 101...

heading west on a weekend getaway..

Old Town Calabasas

See this tree?

Little did we know that this would be its last month of existence in Old Town Calabasas...

Dunedin

My good friend MFH celebrated her birthday earlier this month...

Due to our schedules, we weren't able to meet up until recently...

when I took her to the year old Dunedin, a New Zealand themed eatery in North Park...

10 Speed Coffee, Calabasas

We'd never been to Calabasas before...

TC knows it as the "substitute swear word" my late Ninang Edith used to say...

Wow Wow Waffle almost 3 years later

When I was out with MFH last weekend, we parked across from this...

our eventual dessert destination. It had been a few years since I'd been here...

Summer Road Trip - En route to Carpinteria

Finally...the start of our Carpinteria posts...

(strip mall with Starbucks and El Toro taco shop at the Red Hill Exit, Tustin)

which happened in late June but am just posting about now...

The former K-Pasta is now the Little Red Cafe

[Update: Sadly, Little Red Cafe closed as of early October 2017]

A few months have passed since K-Pasta closed down...

However, the same owners have replaced it with a different concept, the Little Red Cafe...

"C02 Kills Mermaids" mural, North Park

Right after our brunch at Dunedin, MFH and I headed down 30th...

and I remembered this mural next to the Jack in the Box...

Torque Moto Cafe

A few days ago, MFH and I enjoyed our brunch at Dunedin (posted on 9/24 and linked here)...

followed by coffee at another Craftsman home conversion...

Like our brunch spot, Torque just turned or will about to turn one...

Tropical Star Revisit

Last night TC was enjoying homecoming...

After dropping her off, it was time to do a revisit to Tropical Star!

Havana Grill

It's finally Fall Break (yeehaw!)...

TC's school had their homecoming game that evening so we had date night...

Rolling Out Cafe

Farther east up Taraval was another bakery,

which actually had a San Diego connection...

Sweet Passion Bakery

Right next door to Andytown #3 was a bakery I had my eye on from a previous trip,

but we didn't have the chance to visit until this day...

Return to Cafe Stems

Last weekend we headed over to the Convoy area...

We were just at The Forum not too far away in Clairemont...

Bert's Birthday + Post Bday crawl

Another revolution around the sun...

Above, our meal, including Bert's birthday dinner, from Hawaiian Style (CV)...

The Merchant, Long Beach

In searching for coffee shops in Long Beach...

one that popped up that was relatively new was this...

The Merchant, which is just a few steps away from the Long Beach Creamery (a bougie ice cream place recommended by a friend)...

Spring Break 2017 Road Trip Day 5: Andytown (location #3)

It's back to the Spring Break 2017 posts...

going waaaay back to March 29th for our 5th day of our vacation...

Balboa Bakery + Olivier salad from the market next door

D wanted to pick up her favorite salad at Balboa International Market...

At the deli counter, we were told the salad would be ready in half an hour..

Mimmo's Italian Village

This past weekend we celebrated my neighbor's birthday...

It was planned by her daughters and husband...

and led us to the heart of Little Italy...

The Forum Coffee House

This past weekend Bert, TC and I checked out a new coffee house in Clairemont...

It was near the strip mall with the now defunct Nazca Grill.

The Forum Coffee House has a makeshift banner for now but it's  under the auto insurance place...

The new Nomad Donuts Bakery & Cafe

In early January, the former Lady of the Lake New Age book store and gift shp was already gone...

The windows were papered over but...

this poster hinted at what was to come...

Star Dust, the new Breakwater Town Center, and Deb's Cookie Jar in Imperial Beach

The old rusted out Star Dust Donuts sign with missing letters was never replaced; the diagonal metal post once held it up...

This Labor Day weekend, I was out and about and thought I would give luck a try...

Cold ramen + Happy hour revisits @ Gunco Ramen

It's been so hot lately...

and I wasn't feeling it for eating anything hot at Gunco...

Quick stop at Ports O' Call Village, drive by of the Battleship USS Iowa + heading to Long Beach

Ports O' Call, unbeknowst to us at the time of our visit...

was undergoing a renovation, set to become a food hall with revitalized shops and restaurants...