My Birthday in "quarantine" - April 2020

This pretty much sums it up for me...

(Happy Birthday from Mr. Chow!)

The year 2020 really threw everyone for a loop...

Blush Desserts (under new management)

Months later...

I'm finally posting my visit to the newly revamped Blush...

Toy Boat Dessert Cafe

Literally right down the street and on the corner was this light blue building...

which you cannot miss...

International Deli and Cafe + shopping break

Before heading over to Fashion Valley to window shop, I wanted us to check out this place that Cathy of mmm-yoso highly recommended...

It's in the same strip mall as Rose Donuts and J & T Thai Street Food...

Cake from 85C, dinner @ Bamboo Garden + another birthday freebie

I've never had an actual cake from here before so...

here we were...

Pre-Birthday Cake

The pink box held a long coveted dessert...

After my coworker had this cake flavor for her birthday a few months ago...

Lezzet with the neighbors

Last night we enjoyed dinner with our neighbors at Lezzet Cafe,

a Turkish/Russian restaurant next to the "Nude Girls" sign on Main Street...

The best lemon cake ever! Little George's

Those who live in the South Bay will remember this fanciful storefront in National City...

(photo from my "A & D Hawaiian BBQ - National City" post, Nov. 2011)

The bakery had been on Highland Avenue since 1946 and sadly, closed in 2010...

Cake de Partie - the last stop for TORC's birthday crawl

When searching for a dessert place for TORC's birthday crawl, I wanted to go somewhere that we all hadn't been to before. Here's my "drive by" shot (I was the passenger mind you, not the driver).

There were a couple of choices in this area, but Cake de Partie seemed to be the most versatile since it offered not only desserts, but snacks and drinks (soda, teas, and coffee).

Cake de Partie (only two weeks new at time of writing), is located at the site of the now defunct Tea Garden and next to the now empty Pangea Bakery storefront...

Bert's Birthday Dinner @ Sea 180 Coastal Tavern + a sunset at the IB Pier

It was a rare occasion for all of us to be out on a week night, a school night if you will...

The main reason for our outing in Imperial Beach today was to celebrate Bert's birthday.

We were able to make it with ten minutes to spare before Happy Hour ended, ha ha...

The SD Skyline 3 ways, European Cake Gallery + rose garden

This view sure beats sitting in my office...

We saw the San Diego skyline in several permutations on my birthday...

Olive Baking Company

While in Mission Beach, why not see the beach, right?

We were taking a short stroll to get to the boardwalk when I saw this sign...

Lemon Poppy Kitchen

Since I did most of the planning for the trip, I was a bit brain-fried and didn't plan on where to eat for lunch. Thankfully my husband took over the "lunch" destination duty...

Doing his research the night before and deciding on a nearby eatery so we wouldn't have to drive too far...

Nestled in Verdugo Plaza near a water store and coin laundry was our welcomed lunch spot...

Los Pollos Cuban Bakery

The sky as it looked yesterday around 5'ish...

while heading west on J...

Return to Ryan Brothers Coffee

The start of our day after dropping off the teen at her volunteering gig...

Just beyond the new Barrio Logan arch...

was our coffee destination, a revisit actually...

Kettle & Stone

After our hearty breakfast at The Huddle, we headed over to a fairly new coffee shop...

over in the tony West Lewis Shopping district of Mission Hills...

which shares space with a cute gift shop...

Dessert from 85c

Between coffee from Better Buzz and dessert in the near future, we'd gone window shopping at Home Goods (D wanted to see their lamps), Ulta (I bought nailpolish for $2!) and Bookstar at the former historic Loma Theatre...

We thought we could enjoy some desserts at 85C since none of the other gals had been to the new location...

Bart, a sorpresa, more yarnbombs at BGCB, and baklava cake from Donut Panic

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

From City Farmers Nursery, we drove up the hill and turned on Fairmont Ave...

before taking the "scenic" route through El Cajon Blvd. to get to Normal Heights to our favorite bookstore...

Skybound Coffee & Dessert Lounge

Although we just had dessert earlier at Le Parfait, I wanted to check out a fairly new dessert place downtown...

It was just a few blocks west and gave Bert and I a chance to walk off our calories from that awesome almond and chocolate croissant...

Fourteen

It helps having a kid born in the year 2000...

you always know their age just from looking at the year! All kidding aside, today is TC's 2nd year of "teenhood"...