Bartavelle Coffee & Wine Bar - Kouign Amann from Starter Bakery

Prior to our trip up to Thane's, I'd asked him to do a big favor for me.

Starter Bakery in Oakland is known for their kouign amann pastries but unfortunately, they do not have a storefront, just a warehouse which does not sell individual orders to people. Instead, the bakery only does local farmer's markets which we didn't have time for. When looking online, I saw that Starter Bakery offered their pastries at several local (to Thane) places, such as Bartavelle...

which used to be Cafe Fanny's (an offshoot cafe started by Bourdain nemesis, Alice Waters) and next to Acme Bread. We went there for their beignets during our 2011 trip. Bartavelle is a Coffee and Wine Bar located on San Pablo Ave (which has so many great eateries) and just "conveniently" a few miles down the road from Thane's, who was kind enough to grab a few kouign amanns that very morning while we were making our way up the 5...

Lush Gelato @ the Epicurious Garden

Someone should have warned me about this area...

because there are just so many tempting places to check out, like this gelato place in what they call, the "Epicurious Garden"...

Georgia Street Bridge

Does this bridge look familiar to you?

If you've ever driven west on University Ave towards Hillcrest, you've driven under this bridge...

Industrial Grind Coffee

[Update - Industrial Grind is CLOSED as of 2017]

The day after our return was spent  just relaxing at home but that Friday I was antsy and wanted to explore some places with the everpatient TC.

Our first stop was near the corner of Park and University at a coffee shop we hadn't heard of before...

which was a tiny shack called Industrial Grind Coffee....

Masse's Pastries

Of all the times we used to visit Thane back in the 90's and even during our more recent trips, we never ventured into what they call, the "Gourmet Ghetto" in north Berkeley. This is the same area that houses the famed Chez Panisse (helmed by many uppity foodies' wet dream/poster girl and target for Anthony Bourdain's derision, Alice Waters).

The area also has Andronico's Market (an upscale grocery chain), the Cheeseboard Collective, along with a a variety of higher end artisanal shops selling coffee, cupcakes, candy, and in this case, macarons from Masse's Pastries...

Ryan Brothers Coffee

Our last stop during that beautiful sunny day was here in Barrio Logan...

Although we'd been gifted their coffee before by RH's husband, we'd never visited the actual storefront until today...

Tio Chino's

By this time, we were already hungry after having walked through the Japanese Gardens and the Botanical Garden in Balboa Park...

We headed over to Point Loma crossing over the PCH and seeing what looked like construction going on at Lindbergh Field (new parking structures perhaps?)...

There was a new'ish fusion restaurant that I heard of from a mutual friend and we were curious to check it out...

Return to the Botanical Garden

See the year on the architectural detail?

The year 1915 will mark the centennial of the Pan Am exposition, which celebrated the opening of the Panama Canal. San Diego was the host city for the Panama-California Exposition, which was the impetus for Balboa Park's famous, Spanish colonial revival influenced buildings such as the California Tower (as seen in the opening credits of "Citizen Kane" as Xanadu), the Museum of Art, the Museum of Man, and various other buildings near main walkways...

Andy's Donut Stop

With Bert's fresh hot coffee in hand, we made our way to a local donut place that has been here for at least 40+ years...

Although I like to bag on that four lettered site, I admit I do use it to look up places and then read the reviews with a grain of salt. This was one of those "finds"...

Seafood Friday - Week 4

I still haven't forgotten about Seafood Friday...

It's one of those "no cook nights"...

Did you see the crepes? Bought from Costco this morning. In fact I haven't seen boxed crepes there in a couple of years...

Catahoula Coffee Company

After our lunch at The Red Onion, we ventured north on San Pablo to check out a coffee place I'd looked up...

It turns out that the Catahoula Coffee Company is named after a Louisiana dog breed...

The Catahoula is also known as a "leopard dog"!  Hmmm, you learn something new everyday!

Bert wanted to get a cup before we headed over to a local donut joint...

Elena's Greek Armenian Cuisine

After a day of viewing exhibits at the Grammy Museum and the Griffith Observatory, we only had a few snacks in between. Dinner was supposed to be at this tiny Armenian place called Moon Mart Kabob but we couldn't find it in the strip mall, so again, we went with Plan B...

which was Elena's Greek Armenian Cuisine. We figured, when in Glendale, (hich has a sizable Armenian population), we should have some Armenian food...

Bay Area Roadtrip - Day 1: The Red Onion

While TC watches some hokey Animal Planet show on "mermaids", I thought I would do my first post from our recent road trip...

The photo above was somewhere along the 5...while the photo below was near the 580 as we approached the Oakland area...

We were excited because we hadn't visited Thane up here since 2011...this time it was different since he was now married with a toddler son and with a house!

Before hunkering down with Thane and his family, we sought out a place for lunch in his neighborhood...

Bay Area Roadtrip - Day 5 Highlights

We made the trip back to San Diego during this cold and wet morning...

Just our luck, the train crossing signal went on and we waited and waited and waited...

But no train in sight. Not sure why we had to wait if nothing was there. Hmmm.

We were glad that we were out of SF during the storm but now we had to deal with rain and possible hail during the drive back home...

Bay Area Roadtrip - Day 4 Highlights

This morning we had dinner at a neighborhood eatery in the Inner Sunset...

which is purportedly Chris ("Wicked Game") Isaak's favorite place to eat in the city. Unfortunately he wasn't there the morning of our visit (awwww), but we enjoyed the laid back ambiance.

We explored a few more shops along that same stretch of street...

Bay Area Roadtrip - Day 3 Highlights

With a bit of sadness, we left Thane and his family in El Cerrito...

seeing the new portion of the Oakland Bay Bridge while en route to the City...

Bay Area Roadtrip - Day 2 Highlights

This morning we had dim sum with a view...

You can see the new part of the Oakland Bay Bridge.

This was just the beginning of today's food adventures...

Bay Area Roadtrip - Day 1 Highlights

On the I-80 near the University Ave bike bridge...

on our way to visit Thane and his family in the Bay Area. Here are just a few highlight from our first day...

Seafood Friday - Week 3

It's a Friday once again...and that means seafood...

But first...

Hodor!!!  Just a couple of the buttons I got from Whimsic Alley, coupled with the recent buzz that Kristian Nairn, the actor who plays Hodor is gay (yay! he has a following among bears) which was a nice surprise.

I didn't cook today and this was our first fast food fish item in a long long time...

The new canyon expansion at the Japanese Friendship Garden, + return to the Tea Garden Pavilian

A couple of weekends ago we made a trip out to one of our favorite places, Balboa Park...

specifically to see the new developments at the Japanese Friendship Garden...

Plus, I had that coupon burning a hole in my wallet, so it was finally put to use!

We hadn't been here in about five or so years and even then, I didn't blog that visit...

8 years

Well now...

Today marks the passage of PCaRH's 8th year of existence...

Griffith Observatory

Back to the L.A. posts before I forget...

The last time Bert and I were at the Griffith Observatory was when I was pregnant...

That was about 14 years ago and TC was still "in utero".  During that last trip in 2000, the observatory itself was closed and we never got around to checking it out.

Until today...

"I'm the leprechaun!"

Happy St. Patrick's Day...

This scene never gets old, ha ha...

Hope you wore some green...

Niederfrank's once more

After our short excursion to Big Ben Specialty Market, we kept some of our stuff in the truck, then headed across the street...

we kept some of our stuff in the truck, then headed across the street...
to get a small scoop before heading home...

Proof Bakery

With a slight sugar buzz from our cookie snack from Milk Jar,

we made the short drive over to a bakery I was curious about.

As I was snapping the shot above, the dude walked right in front of the Jim Morrison Portion of this bus bench's artwork. WTH was he holding? Was that a stuffed dog toy? Okayyyy....

We hadn't really had a meal since breakfast and wanted something to tide us over 'til dinner...

Daiso & return to Paris Baguette in H-Mart

Since we were "in the area", which is my justification for coming here, we decided to brave the parking lot of H-Mart for my Paris Baguette Fix...

We managed to snag THE one LAST spot in the back and as we walked towards H-Mart, we heard the loud rhythmic pounding of Taiko drums...

(photo taken when the drummers were on break)

Apparently, there was a new Daiso Japan store opening that very same day and out of curiosity, we went to go check out the hubbub...

Pho Ban Mai

Two weekends ago we were in Mira Mesa yet again, having been there the previous night for the Mango Bride book reading...

I was actually pretty happy to come back to Mira Mesa because that meant we could try out Pho Ban Mai...

which is around the corner from the Corner Sandwich Cafe (a Vietnamese sandwich placed), blogged by Cathy here and Siam Nara Thai restaurant (which many of my foodblogger friends have tried).

As tempted as I was by Siam Nara, we stuck to the original plan...

Milk Jar Cookies

Despite our disappointment about the changes at Whimsic Alley, we were still able to find a few related gifts for TC's friend...

like the Flying Cauldron Butterscotch "Beer" and a pin that said, "Perhaps our friend's loyalties lie elsewhere...(a quote from Voldemort to Wormtail in "Deathly Hallows Part 1")...Potter freaks they are!

We saw this cookie place on our way there so we stopped by on our way out...

Big Ben Specialty Market

This afternoon TC and I cruised on over to National City on a tip from reader Marla that Coffee Crisp candies were to be found here...

Hmmm...that and the news that Big Ben Market (which burned down last summer) has been rebuilt at the tune of nearly a million dollars and reborn as Big Ben Specialty Market...

Seafood Friday Week 2 - Wild Yellow Tail Ceviche...and fish sticks

This will be a short and sweet post...

which will be followed by a longer and more detailed post about a newly remodeled market I recently visited this afternoon...

Recent snacks and other unpremeditated detritus...

Cathy recently stopped by to drop off a few food gifts..

such as this cute seasoning container...

Whimsic Alley 3x

We had such a fab time at the Grammy Museum but it was time to move on to an area of Wilshire Blvd known as "The Miracle Mile"...

TC had been wanting to come back to Whimsic Alley for the longest time...

Donut Stop me now...

After "The Mango Bride" event, we headed back here...

because my initial visit during our dinner at Lucky Seafood was fruitless...

But that all changed a couple of hours later...

"Peace and Love" - The Ringo exhibit @ The Grammy Museum

Now that we had a cool-ass assortment of sodas from Galco's...

we were free to head to downtown L.A. and hopefully avoid blocked off streets due to the World's Largest Concrete Pour...

The Mango Bride book reading

Last Friday we attended a literary event at Miramar College...

featuring a friend's novel with an unforgettable opening paragraph...

Galco's Soda Pop Stop

With our "second breakfast" settling in...we made our way to the freeway to get to L.A.  As I often do when I "navigate", I check our Garmin and see what spots are on the map as we are driving.

When I saw that Galco's was very close by, I asked Bert to make the next exit, York...

which brought us to this old school shop in the historic neighborhood of Highland Park...

Mac quintet

Yesterday, my sis surprised me with these...

No she did not make them (an enterprising friend did) and was nice enough to give me this lovely assortment...

Seafood Friday Week 1 @ Lucky Seafood

It's Lent again...

and that means the return of Seafood Fridays...

Pie 'n Burger

Day two started off with the wonderful news that "Jamzilla" was in full swing that weekend...

As "blissfully-unaware-of-L.A.-traffic-problems-San Diegans", we had no clue that was to be a major traffic snarl on the northbound-405 (near Sepulveda Pass), but luckily, nowhere near where we were going...

The Donut Man

Even after a day filled with snacks and sweets, and more recently topped by the dynamic duo of fried chicken and waffles, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to travel twenty minutes to Route 66 for this Glendora institution...

It's open 24 hours and fresh donuts are constantly available, much to our delight, heh heh. TC fell asleep while on the way so Bert stayed with her in the car while I waited in line...

Who says romance is dead? Valentine's dinner at Roscoe's, Pasadena

It's Valentine's Night...Time to play some Barry White to get in the mood...

the mood to EAT FRIED CHICKEN that is!

As Barry would have said, "Aaaaaah yeah...."

Forget roses, hearts and all that it was time to get some chicken on...

Hop on in! The Bunny Museum

Bert, TC and I have a tradition of going to quirky places wherever we visit, such as these gems in Portland, Oregon: the Kidd's Toy Museum, the FreakybutTrue Peculiarium,  and the now defunct Velveteria Museum of Black Velvet Paintings, along with the Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin (which has since relocated to Middleton), the Pez Museum  (which has since been renamed the Museum of Pez Memorabilia) in Burlingame, CA, and the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto to name just a few.

This recent mini vacation was no exception. When researching what was interesting or quirky about Pasadena, one place kept popping up...

Phuong Trang & Big Joy two fer

It was a bit drier in the Convoy area...and look!

There are empty parking spots which was nice. It was still quite early after all but the lunch rush would soon begin...

Cafe Virtuoso

Before heading up to the Convoy area for some soup...

we made our way to Barrio Logan to check out Cafe Virtuoso, a coffee shop I was curious about...

Tortas Don Vicente

During the mid-week, Bert made good on a promise to stop by Tortas Don Vicente...

They've been open since late last summer and I'd been wanting to try their food for quite awhile...

Recent party food + food gifts + lunches

Last weekend's weather was so much better than what's happening now. Behold, a view from the Eastlake Clubhouse...

where Bert and I were for a recent birthday party...