Bird Rock Coffee Roasters, La Jolla

A few steps northward from Wayfarer Bread & Pastry was the original location of one of San Diego's venerated coffee shops...

As mentioned earlier, we are hardly in this area, so we couldn't miss it...

UTC + La Colombe Coffee Roasters + Sprinkles, lunch @ The Purple Mint & The Cupcake Store

Both of us hadn't been to UTC in years...

There is all kinds of new construction going on. I didn't realize the mall was undergoing a major overhaul...

Revisits - Copa Vida (Sorrento Valley), Zumbar Coffee, Mount Soledad & Pho Banh Mai

A few days ago, Bert had the day off..

TC was out for sports practice so we made do with this free morning...

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

All right...

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

La Jolla Coves & the Sunny Jim Cave

It was so nice of Bert to take a day off work...

Our day's outing took us to a community to which we rarely venture.

TC had on her fall break bucket list, 'visit La Jolla Coves' so that is where we went today...

Okeanos Sculpture (aka The Scripps Turd)

From Bella Vista to the corner of these two streets nearby...

was a rather strange piece of art with an interesting history...

Return to Bella Vista Social Club and Caffe

TC had a performance nearby earlier today. To kill time between the drop off and the actual performance, we went to the Sanford Consortium building near UCSD...

I hadn't been back to Bella Vista (I've shortened the name if you haven't noticed)...since last year. As for the ocean view? You can kind of see it...

The day started off overcast which made for nice and even lighting...

Birthday Lunch at Del Mar Rendezvous 3x, return to the Torrey Pines Glider Port and cupcakes from Sprinkles

I was liking this concept...being "off" on my birthday. It was like, as my friend TORC said, "playing hookie".

(photo from my "Return to Del Mar Rendezvous" post, April 2014)

Even though I felt a tiny twinge of guilt, I thought about it and thought, "You know, FK it! Work will be there tomorrow. I need to to do this EVERY year, %$#@"!

Birthday Highlights 2015

What a groovy year this was...

But the best day in April was LUCKY 13!

because it marks, as The Fonz once said in the special sign language episode of "Happy Days", my BORN DAY, haha...

UCSD - The Sun God, Stonehenge, the Che Cafe and a free lunch

We were recently on UCSD campus a few days ago...

TC and the troop had a cultural dance performance for UCSD's Oasis Summer Bridge and Triple SSS (Student Support Services) Programs. Bert also wanted to see several former colleagues from Bridge...

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...

"Get used to disappointment"

I saw an older twitpic from Jinxi that 'lette's was "Coming Soon". Hmmm....very exciting!

Then a few days, on Bert's FB, I saw that Ms. Lollypop had posted that 'lette's was open...

Well now...

Michele Coulon Dessertier

After my fab lunch with Dennis and Jinxi at Bella Vista Cafe, I headed out to downtown La Jolla...

I haven't been here in ages and I was a bit unnerved by all the stop and go traffic on the surface streets. I guess I'm a driving wimp, but I quickly overcame this feeling knowing I would be checking out some good desserts in a few minutes...

Bella Vista Social Club and Caffe

Sometime last week, I had the pleasure of lunching with Mr. Radiused Corner himself, Dennis as well as the lovely Jinxi of JinxiEats...

Our lunch spot was on the campus of the Sanford Consortium which is located on the same street as the Torrey Pines Glider Port...

Return to the Torrey Pines Glider Port

It was like deja vu...

Taking the same few snaps again for my return visit...

but this time, with TC and her friend Sherlock in tow...

We had our banh mi from K Sandwiches and our pastries from Pangea waiting to be enjoyed...

The Torrey Pines Gliderport

After our super fresh and fantastic lunch at Green Acre, Dennis had to go back to work, but before leaving, suggested that Cathy and I take a quick peek at a prime viewing spot nearby...

I'd never been to that particlar spot before so Cathy offered to show this place to me...

Green Acre Part 2 - The Food

Now where was I?

Oh yes, last time we were admiring the fantabulous gardens belonging to Green Acre, located in the Nautilus Three building in an office park in La Jolla...

Green Acre Part 1 - The Garden

Last week I had the pleasure of having lunch with my awesome friends Dennis of A Radiused Corner and Cathy of mmm-yoso. Sadly, CAB of CAB Cooks was sick that day, so she was M.I.A. Hopefully she is doing much better so that we can meet up for a future lunch date.

Dennis had the honor of choosing the restaurant and we were only too happy to oblige for our meetup at Green Acre.

Man, I hadn't driven up here in years. Reminds me of when Bert was still in college at UCSD. I've never felt in my element in the La Jolla area...

The new UTC Food Court

This weekend we took TC and nephew #3 ice skating at UTC...

Apparently they are done with their new food court!

On our way to UTC and Hot Dog on a Stick

Even though it was a sunny day, there was a marine layer on the coast. Here's the I-5 right after the Garnet Ave exit.

You can barely see the Mount Soledad cross on that hill (leftish middle)...

As we approached La Jolla, we pass by the white spires of the Mormon Temple. Back in 1993, when I was still in grad school, Bert and I were able to take a free tour of the Temple before they officially closed it off to gentiles (non Mormons). We had to wear these little plastic booties over our shoes so we wouldn't ruin their floors. It was quite surreal being in there. You also had to be invited by an LDS (Latter Day Saints) member and one of the women in the master's program was LDS.

Fast forward to UTC...I remember when going to this mall was an adventure. For us kids who lived down South, this was pretty fkg far to drive. Plus, La Jolla was a lot "whiter" back in the 80's than it was now. It's so much more diverse.  While TC and Bert enjoyed ice skating, I did a bit of walking around, browsing, and shopping. TC had a late lunch from Hot Dog on a Stick.

Here's that nice and healthy lunch - Two corn dogs (Remember the mall scene in "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure"? The one with Freud holding a corn dog and tilting it forward as he said, "Tell me about your mother!" Ha ha!).

As you can tell, she loves ketchup.   Mmm, meat tube...fried...

They skated until the allotted time; after that, it was time for the local ice hockey team to take the ice. We headed back home down South to Chula Vista...