Brunch @ The Cork & Craft

Brunch this morning would be waaaaay the hell out here...

in this business park in Ranch Bernardo,

at a place that I'd been wanting to try for a while...

Return to Dark Horse Coffee + You Are Here, Golden Hill

We had the whole morning before us before picking up TC later that afternoon...

Our first stop was for coffee at the newest Dark Horse...

Return to Siam Nara

Dinner was rather late this particular Saturday...

Earlier, Bert and I attended a charity event up north in Oceanside for my friend's husband. We ended up leaving the show early so we could have dinner.

Return to Kate Sessions Park + a new mural in North Park

After checking out David mural, we headed over to Kate Sessions Park...

which Bert hadn't been to yet. It was a nice sunny day and the views were sure to be much better than my previous visit...

Halo Halo Cafe & Ice Cream Parlor

Back in December, when I got albondigas from Los Primos, I noticed this store front next to that crappy Thai restaurant...

There was a lot of buzz about the upcoming Halo Halo place....

The "David" mural in Old Town

One of these days we vowed to look at this particular mural up close and personal...

It's located off the 5 freeway in Old Town. It's right next to the Courtyard Marriott...

Seafood Friday 2016 Week 3 - Sushi from Bento & TJOB #3

La Ley and I met with a former co-worker at our go-to place...

Bento Noodles in Terra Nova Plaza. We ordered the same thing we always get...

Time Travel Mart

A few doors away from Woodcat Coffee Bar

is a store that called itself the Time Travel Mart...

Woodcat Coffee Bar

Whenever we are out of town...

I'm always on the lookout for hipster coffee shops...

The Park's Finest

After seeing that awesome colored bottle art installation at Randyland...

we headed over to our lunch destination which was only a few minutes away from Echo Park Lake...

Bird Rock, Bay Park

We're always on the lookout to try new coffee places and although Bird Rock itself isn't new,

their roasting facilities in Bay Park finally opened to the public (limited hours) about three months ago...

"Banner Art" Sculpture, Imperial Beach

We had a free morning...

TC and her friends were hanging out at the beach that morning...

and as we saw the "Art" red noodle looking sculpture in the distance...

Coronado Sunset+ dinner at Meijo

We'd been experiencing a heatwave this past week with clear skies...

that we thought we'd try to catch the sunset across the bay.

Seafood Friday 2016 Week 2 - Ahi Poke + Fish Fry + paletas from Oasis

Lunch today was shared with my friends...

over at the second location of Homestyle Hawaiian...

Two Fish Baking Company

Prior to this trip, I'd never heard of The Sea Ranch before...it's a ten mile stretch of private homes on the Sonoma Coast. The houses are private set amongst natural, unspoiled land. My former student who got married a few years ago had her "mini-moon" here. She and her husband rented an apartment here to commune with nature...

But I digress...The Sea Ranch was not only known for its unspoiled landscape but also for a baking company at this business center...

known for their sticky rolls...

Phantasmagloria @ Randyland

After we were done with taking pix at the Filipino American history mural at Unidad Park,

we headed over to nearby Echo Park to check out an artistic endeavor...

Galley at the Marina

My coworkers and I had an off campus training yesterday...

Our lunch hour was actually longer than an hour and we chose to go to a seafood eatery closeby...

Echo Park Lake

We'd seen this lake during previous road trips and TC and her dance troupe performed her for the Lotus Festival during the Summer of 2014.

At the time, the park had undergone an extensive rehabilitation project and was reopened to the community with much fanfare three years ago...

We thought it would be a nice place to stretch our legs...

Day 3 - Summer Road Trip - Goodbye Ocean Cove Lodge

It's the return of the summer road trip posts. While I still have 2014 posts on the qeue, I thought I'd finish some of last summer...

which brings us back to Day 3. Our view from our room before heading up to see the redwoods...

Return to Unidad Park and the Filipino American History mural

After our Tustin trio of treats, we made our way to LA...

specifically to this part of town...

where we last visited last President's Day Weekend (2015).

We were back again for our family's holiday card photo shoot...

Return to Copa Vida

It seems as though our weekend ritual (if we are out and about, that is) is getting coffee after breakfast...

Bert hadn't been here yet and it was an excuse for me to come back to Copa Vida which is right next to Petco Park (they still don't have their signage but they are right under Fit, the gym...

The Lemon Grove History Mural

Here is one of the most awesome landmarks ever...

The Giant Lemon in Lemon Grove, right by the trolley tracks...

Bleu Whisk Diner

Earlier this month Bert and I were out on a "morning date"...

She was at a youth retreat and we had the morning to ourselves...

making our way to Lemon Grove to have breakfast at a new diner...

Mini Roadtrip first stops - Cream Pan and THH

Having left our home at an ungodly hour, we made it to the checkpoint around 6 am...

The sun hadn't even risen yet, but we had a long day ahead of us...

Valentine's drink specials x 2: Hawthorn & James Coffee

It was a holiday weekend which  meant...

(image from this BlackBaroque, an Etsy seller)

time for caffeine and what better places to try a few Valentine's coffee specials...

Valentine's Highlights 2016

After having breakfast and coffee earlier today, I crashed when we got home...

and woke up to this...

Seafood Friday 2015 Week 1 - Bassa tacos & fried sand dabs (the short version)

Now that Lent has begun...

It's the return of Seafood Fridays. Today we were out of town in beautiful Pasadena.

Return to the Cravory & Embargo Grill

After demolishing the whole coffee program at Mostra and appeasing D's desire to windowshop for home furnishings...we made our way to this strip mall for a two fer...

Maximize our time, I say....

After all those sweets, we wanted something savory...

Return to Tuktan Thai

Who knew that our day would end up this long? TC's tennis tournament lasted all morning and most of the afternoon. It was finally time for dinner...

here in this tiny (and I mean tiny) strip mall crammed with businesses galore...

The Safehouse

[Update - Closed as of late September 2017.  It lasted nearly three years]

We were debating whether to go to Caffe Calabria for food (for me) or to a new place.

I ended up choosing this restaurant which is a tad bit south of the North Park sign

Return to Soda & Swine & Verbatim Books

It's been nearly three years since I'd been here...

Bert was craving meatballs so this was the perfect place to go...

Return to Hawthorn Coffee

Yesterday, we dropped off TC to go on a retreat with her youth group. It was right after school so we had the whole afternoon and weekend ahead of us. We had to circle around the block a few times before finally finding parking near a cremation place (yeah, wtf).

I was so glad it was a Friday...

Appethai & dessert at Paris Baguette

Sometime last winter, I had the pleasure of having lunch with my friend Kirbie...

We thought we'd do a two-fer in this strip mall off Convoy and Ronson...