So soon already? Return to Blush Desserts

The day after I visited Blush with MFH, I went again the next day with Bert and TC...

I was curious to see if she had any new macaron flavors and to try a wider ranger of her offerings...

Return to Rita's

So this is what Rita's looks like in the daytime...

I was here a few weeks ago for an icy treat...

Desserts @ Sea 180 Coastal Tavern

To cap off our early evening, we made the drive down to IB...

to check out the new Cohn restaurant in the new hotel, Pier South...

Happy Hour @ Cafe 21, Gaslamp

As mentioned previously, I would be going out with three gal pals from the gym for yet another belated birthday celebration...this time, in the (dreaded) Gaslamp Quarter.

It actually wasn't so bad, now that Cafe 21 has taken over Croce's spot at the Keating Building. Parking is free (for three hours at least) at Horton Plaza and walkable...

Blush Desserts

Fresh from our brunch at Gelato Vero Caffe, MFH and I made our way over to Kearny Mesa to this little strip mall, which looks like they updated their sign...

No more Moby Dick or Octopus's Garden, but the So Cal Gun Shop is still there, along with a new Taiwanese eatery (Yes! Pingo) and this new dessert place I'd read about on Eater SD...

Better Buzz kiosk @ Fashion Valley

Yesterday we were in Fashion Valley for some errands. This big mall isn't kind of place for a "relaxing Sunday afternoon" but by necessity, we were here (sigh of dejection)...

 While waiting for TC near Urban Outfitters, where she bumped into a childhood friend, the Sexy Nurse's son, Bert and I saw the Better Buzz Coffee kiosk...

Return to Da Nang

This past Friday, Bert and I had some free time while TC was at dance practice. Rather than deal with crowds in North Park, we went to City Heights...

so Bert could try some of the soups here. I also had a craving for some strong Vietnamese coffee...

One last Birthday Freebie...

Yesterday, I used my last birthday freebie...

at least one that I wanted to use...

Brunch @ Gelato Vero Caffe

Earlier today I had the pleasure of being treated for a late birthday brunch with Mi Firme Hina (MFH)...

I thought it would be cool to try the new brunch being served at Gelato Vero Caffe in Mission Hills.

It's not just for gelato anymore, I guess! I never even knew there was an upstairs space with a kitchen!

Just follow the stairs up...

Bertrand at Mr. A's - the full post

On the last Friday of Lent, we wanted to check this place out and possibly have lunch here...

at this nondescript liquor store on Adams near Felton...

Doughnut Hut

I swear to (insert diety of choice here) that I've eaten more donuts this past year than I ever have in my entire LIFE, ha ha!

Another place that caught our eyes while driving up and down this street was this brightly colored and striped donut joint...

The Blue Pig

We'd passed this store earlier that afternoon while looking for the Martial Arts History Museum...

The motley assortment of items on the sidewalk caught my attention so we made a mental note to check it out after seeing the museum...

Tapioca Express

I was looking through "saved" drafts and found this old TapEx post from nearly two years ago...

I'm not one for these types of drinks, but I do remember the Educator GF's and I dropping by here on of our epic food crawls...

Martial Arts History Museum

While we were still up in the L.A. area, we thought it would be cool to finally see a museum we wanted to see three years ago...

Bert remembered seeing it on W. Magnolia Blvd, one of Burbank's main drags...It wasn't open at the time since it was after hours and we vowed to see it one day during a return visit and that day had come...

Next stop - Monterey Park: 101 Noodle Express & Grill plus Return to Daiso

After  some more time on the road in which D switched the driving duties over to KD, we finally made it to the Atlantic Times Square complex in Monterey Park.

We were up for another snack, but also up for browsing at some of the shops in this all Asian shopping/lifestyle complex...

Kean Coffee

Located just up the street and around the corner from Cream Pan was Kean Coffee, a very popular coffee shop...

found through using that four lettered site. Yes. I used it.

It was time to caffeinate ourselves before our long drive up...

Return to Pegasus Books and Andronico's

We had been snacking all day...first dim sum, then drinks at three different places and Chinese snacks...

To kill some time as well as walk off our calories, we headed over to the Solano shopping district in nearby north Berkeley..

Our first stop was a bookstore that TC and I really liked during our last visit...

The return of the Epic Birthday Road Trip - Version 2014 - First stop: Cream Pan

It's been two years since I did a birthday food road trip with the Educator GF's....

With all of us in tow (D, who was driving, KD, TORC and myself), we piled into D's car and headed up to the OC for our first stop...

Easter 2014

Happy Easter!

(Bunny Kitty mural by street artist Persue, North Park, off University Ave)

I thought this posterboard from Trader Joe's was a bit...uh, psychotic?

Yeah, "Don't forget your ham or else I'll come after you and (insert violent act here)...."

Here are just a few photos from the past few weeks and today's early dinner...

Pacific East Mall - Hong Kong Snack House, Candy Box & Sheng Kee Bakery

After our drinks trifecta from Asha Tea House, Guerilla Cafe and Philz...

we headed over to nearby Richmond to an all Asian shopping complex......

We were curious to check out several shops and eateries...

Seafood Friday - Week 7: Mr. A's

It's the last Friday of Lent...so we did it BIG!

Fucking A man, it was Mr. A's for the last Seafood Friday...

Dessert @ Sea & Smoke, new macaron flavors and a free bundlet...

With a fab 80's soundtrack playing in Astroboi's vehicle, we made the short trip from lour lunch at Del Mar Rendezvous to the Flower Hill shopping center...

One thing I can always count on with Astroboi is his good taste in music...

Elixir Espresso Bar

In my quest to try as many coffee places as I could during my break, I looked online to see what was downtown, and Elixir Espresso popped up...

It was right near the trolley line on C street and in a building with a storied past...

Pizza Studio with Kirbie

As I approached C Street from 6th, the San Diego trolley trundled by...

and I thought of how I would soon be walking on the same street afterwards in search of a coffee shop, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

I was on my way to have lunch with Kirbie at a new customizable pizza place downtown...

Snacks from Santos Market

I'm kinda jumpin' around with posts again...after our interesting foray to the world of hipster coffee, TC and I headed back to our car...

but before doing so, made a quick stop at this little market...

Return to Donut Haven

I thought I would try my luck at Donut Haven before my lunch meet up with Kirbie...

I had some time to kill and thought I might be able to score my favorite donut flavor since it was still early in the day...

Birthday food recipes recap

Here's another look at my super cute birthday cake...

Thanks again to JennyWenny Cakes for another crowdpleaser!

I thought I'd better post the following recipes before it slips my mind...

Coffee & Tea Collective

After our slices at Sicilian Thing, TC and I browsed around the Thrift Trader on the corner of 30th and El Cajon...which was a few doors away from this place...

You will see the bikes racks in front and the funky seating...

Le Parfait Paris

TC and I were on the tail end of our day, having just been to Cafe Bassam and Donut Haven...

There was a French bakery located in a business complex off the freeway I was curious about..

I'd never driven in that part of town so there's always a first time, right?

So off we went...

"Unconditional Surrender"

I've always wanted to see this giant statue of the sailor kissing the nurse...

It's by the USS Midway and it's pretty easy to spot from far off...

We saw this before going to Dunkin' Donuts a few weeks ago, the day we decided to do a Trolley adventure and kind of play "tourist"...

Birthday 2014

"Put a bird on it..." (or two)...

"Happy birthday...happy birthday..." by Altered Images...

"If they were me, if they were me and I was you, and I was you..."

I was so happy to have shared the day with my family and a few friends at a small dinner party at our house...

Return to Del Mar Rendezvous

A card like this can only be from one person...

and that would be my dear friend Astroboi with whom I spent several fab hours today in the coastal city of Del Mar...

For the record, the inside of the card reads, "The more you have, the harder it is to breathe"!

I joked to him that the word rendezvous reminded me of Sheila E...

Rita's of Bonita

Hot off the press yo'....

Rita's of Bonita (which is actually in Chula Vista, zip code wise) has finally opened....

Seafood Friday - Week 6 - Rubio's + catfood, I mean tuna

Went out to lunch at Rubio's with Mr. TJ, La Ley and another friend...

My ulterior motive...to use up my free birthday meal coupon from good ole Rube's...

Return to Fudd's - Bday burger + Sweet Sisters Bakery & Cafe

Last weekend we were originally planning to go to Del Mar Rendezvous for lunch but I didn't realize they don't do lunch on Sundays...Plan B - Fuddrucker's...

I'm glad we weren't that far up the freeway and were able to get to Fudd's bright and early. Del Mar Rendezvous would have to wait until next Saturday (post is forthcoming)...

Semi Sweet Bakery

Fresh from our "Last Bookstore" experience...I consulted my hallowed Garmin and found that a bakery I wanted to check out was within walking distance.

Hey now...a few blocks of walking wasn't going to break us right?

Right?  You're talking about lazy me, but when it comes to food or desserts, I might just make the effort like I did that morning...

Fruitiza

The other night I stopped by this Mexican fruit/juice joint...

It's in the Kohl's shopping center and right next to Krispy Kreme. I don't like Kohl's at all so I hardly ever go to this area, but since I had a magic piece of paper...

The Last Bookstore

It didn't take that long to breeze through the Spring Street Farmer's Market...

It was cool seeing this side of L.A., full of historic buildings with lots of character...

I'm one of those people that don't own an iPad or a kindle and actually prefer real books to "swiping" at an electronic page on a table...thus is was truly a pleasure to visit a place I'd read about...

Sicilian Thing once more...

I'm just skipping around now with these posts, but WTH...I'm trying to see which ones are easier to finish, heh heh.

So this particular day last week, TC and I had our hair cut..like super early in the morning. We're talking about 7:30 am. It turns out that our stylist had booked MFH for 9:30, which was fine since she's one of my best friends anyways and it was nice to see her when she finally showed up.

So, we chitchatted and left before 10 am and then headed up to North Park...

Gelato Paradiso, The Headquarters

To be honest, I wasn't that impressed by Dunkin' Donuts (let the hate mail begin!)...it was like, "Eh, no BFD man!"...

Across the street was this newfangled high end shopping complex that almost everyone and their mother is salivating about...

Cafe Bassam & Donut Haven

TC and I made a quick pit stop at Horton Plaza before heading uptown to this coffee shop I'd read about...

Even though it was sunny that morning, it quickly turned chilly and even the winds whipped us up a before we left...

Spring Street Farmer's Market

Driving around the historic core of downtown L.A. before it got crowded was pretty interesting...

We saw lots of beautiful architecture such as this old movie theater that was converted to a church...

Below was another vintage theater...

This particular bookstore was on our list of "must see" things in L.A. and I was determined that we should see it before the end of our trip...

LA Day 3 - Porto's

I haven't forgotten those LA posts, so here's the start of Day 3...

which began at Porto's in Burbank...