Chick Fil A & Tutti Frutti

A few weeks ago during the winter break, TC and I were doing errands and stopped by Chick Fil A for lunch and utilized a coupon that was burning a hole in my wallet.

It was a Buy One Get One Free (chicken sandwich). The cashier also told me that today's special was "Buy a Shake and Get Nuggets Free", so figured, "All right, what the hell".  Here is TC's chicken sandwich. It comes with pickles but you can put your own condiments which they supply in packet form.

This was mine with mayo and BBQ sauce and no pickles!

Notice anything? Turns out the cashier gave both of the chicken sandwiches for FREE. Oops on him. I was wondering why my total was so low. So I basically paid for the shake. I don't think he understood the concept of that coupon but if I ever get a chance to use my other one, I hope he's working that day, ha ha.

I also had a coupon for our favorite yogurt place, Tutti Frutti. This is near Achiote (not so good Mexican restaurant), In 'n Out and El Michoacana  taco shop (ugh) where I had bad service there last month.

The flat screen was showing the end credits of the American remake of "Shall We Dance"...
They were out of chocolate and I was kind bummed. This was TC's cup of course. She got about three
or four different fruit flavors (don't remember which ones) and added gummy bears and a few gummy worms. I noticed that the cups are also "holiday"-like.

Because chocolate wasn't there, I got taro, red velvet (it's hidden), and vanilla topped with my usual combination of chopped almonds and mini chips with chocolate sauce.

I had a nice conversation with the guy working there. He told me that a customer the other day was really angry because they were rotating their flavors and had temporarily pulled the peanut butter flavor. I joked with him that it was probably my husband (PB is Bert's fave flavor at this location). During that same transaction, a woman from the corporate office came in to drop off a late Christmas gift and took photos of his shop. That was pretty random. [Update - Tutti Frutti is now closed as of 5/2012]

At least I saved some bucks that day!

Lucha Libre & Gelato Vero

Man oh man, they weren't kidding about how crowded this place was, Lucha Libre. We parked up the hill from the Regal Beagle (formerly some$6.95 Indian buffet joint) and El Indio and walked a few blocks to the taco place. Regal Beagle...I wonder if the owners were Three's Company fans.

Painted utlity box with a Victorian on the corner of W. Washington and India St.

The line wasn't that long outside but it was mega crowded inside. I was kind of worried that we wouldn't be able to get a table. Every chair was taken except for a few on the outdoor patio.

Look at the gold Champions booth? See the bald guy? Turns out he is some famous wrestler dude. Later towards the end of lunch, he took a group photo by the back wall with practically the whole crew of Lucha Libre. A bunch of people were taking photos but for the life of me (and Bert), we had no idea who he was.

Lots of quirky and kitschy wrestling decor...



We were lucky enough to get a table but there weren't enough chairs. The three girls had to share two chairs. I felt like I was getting bumped into a lot since my back was facing the drinks machine whenever people would walk by, which was pretty much the whole damn time. Plus,we were in the front in the line of sight of the folks in line.

These chips were pretty good - nice and thick with the right amount of salt. There were regular salsa and cilantro sauce (OMFG, I wanted to just drink that!). There were about six different kinds but I only got three (the third was hidden).

Here's most of our order....

One of the girls got the three rolled tacos without guacamole. TC got hers WITH guacamole (not pictured). The rolled tacos were beef; the other filling choice was potato (ooh, must try that next time!).

Older neighbor girl got two carne asada tacos. In retrospect, we should have just ordered one for her because we didn't know how big or small these would be. In any case, the extra one was taken home as leftovers. It looked pretty meaty and filling.

Bert, TC and I shared a TJ style bacon wrapped dog with grilled onions and peppers and ketchup. I asked for it WITHOUT mustard but it kind of looks like a tiny dollop was on there. It was okay but not earthshattering with God's rays coming out of clouds. I could barely taste the bacon underneath all the toppings and ketchup.

Underneath the shredded cabbage are juicy and tender shrimps in the "Undefeated Seafood Taco" (gotta love these names). I should have moved the greenery so you could see the shrimp but trust me on this, there was a lot of shrimp under there. The other choice of filling was grilled mahi mahi but I wanted my skrimps.

The Surf and Turf Burrito, one of their most popular items:

Oh yeah, this was pretty gigantor and chock full of steak and shrimp. I could do without the rice filler though. The avocados, cheese and pica de gallo and "super secret" chipotle sauce made this gourmet burrito awesome! Bert and I shared this one...

Ooh, lookie here...the Gold Champions booth which is roped off from the rest of the peons. You have to reserve this at least two days in advance.

Time to GTFO and get some dessert. Even as we left, the place was still packed wall to wall...

Diagonally across the street was our dessert destination, Gelato Vero Caffe.

This place is tiny but luckily it wasn't mega crowded like Lucha Libre. The girls snagged a couple of tables in the back...

The girls had their choice of one or two flavors for the small size. At 9 o'clock, Strawberry with Vanilla, at 1 o'clock, just Vanilla, and at 5 o'clock, dark chocolate with Vanilla.

Bert and I got the medium size with two flavors: Chocolate Hazelnut and Espresso.  The gelato melted kinda fast so I didn't like how soft or soupy it was...The flavors were great though!

Bert took this shot from our table...That's Lucha Libre across the way....

Who else ate at Lucha Libre?

Darlene from My Burning Kitchen
Kirk of Mmm-Yoso
Mary from Foodies: A Southern California Food Blog (complete with way better pictures of the sauces and the Champions booth)
Jorgina of San Diego Food
Alice of Alice Q. Foodie
and the review from the SD Reader

While the food was good, I didn't care too much for the crowded atmosphere. Some people might enjoy or even thrive in a high energy setting, but I felt like one of those tiny little hermit crabs at the OB tidepools scurrying away into watery nooks.

It was jam packed in there and I somewhat felt "pressured" when eating in such an atmosphere. I could feel the people "eyeing" our prime table and even before we got up to leave, some chick with tray in hand was ready to take my chair (Bitch, get back, heh!).

But really, apart from the cool decor (pink walls, Mexican wrestling memorabilia, discoballs, etc), and the notoriety they got from Man vs. Food, their food is just regular Mexican food but priced a dollar or two more. The quality is also better so that's  also factors into the cost. It's a fun place to be if you like tacos and crowds. It's worth going at least once.

Orale!

Return to the OB tidepools...

On Monday we returned to OB but this time with some friends of TC's, the neighbor girls (our tea time companions from last Fall). Instead of the mid-late afternoon, we got there by 11 am and lo and behold, we got the LAST parking spot at the lot by the pier. The beach gods were smiling upon us my friends!

This time we came prepared with buckets, shovels and sand toys for the girls...

This time I got to enjoy the tidepools as well...

Did I mention that it was in the mid to high 70's this weekend? Man, it's awesome to live in San Diego right now. Wearing shorts, flip flops and enjoying the warm sun...

In the tide pools are tiny little hermit crabs, anemones, tiny fish, seaweed, and lots of broken sea shells.

Here's an anemone - the girls poked a few with their fingers....

It's hard to believe that we spent nearly two hours here! Bert brought this tarp for us to sit on while the girls were playing in the sand. I don't know if it was just us, but it seemed like all the damn sand flies were seeking us out. It made my skin crawl just as badly as it does when I see that baby spewing Duggar woman , high waisted and tapered Mom jeans, or hear any songs by 'tween heart throb Justin Beaver, or the lame-o alto saxophone noodlings of the dreaded Kenny G. I wanted to do a Dumbledore and wave my magical elder wand and proclaim, "Sand flies! Begone!!!"

Beautiful Day...

Sunday's sunset on the I-5 passing by Lindbergh Field

More of that sunset while heading south past the National City Marina (you can see the US Navy ships' silhouettes).

Return to Cupcakes Squared

[Marathon post alert - 5 new posts]

You would think we had enough sweets after that ice cream at Lighthouse. Well, think again.

Our original plan was to go to Cupcakes Squared after the beach but Lighthouse ended up being a pleasant impulse visit. We still planned to go here and therefore, we did. It's been about one and a half years since our last confession visit back when Bert and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary in 2009.

I love this sign!

Some of the offerings looked kinda sparse, probably because it was already after 4:30 p.m. I liked the plate for the mocha cupcakes!

It's pretty small in here. No place to really sit down.

Here's our three. Repeats from 1 1/2 years ago. From the left, Mocha (for Bert; $3), Lilikoi (for me; $3) and Chocolate Peppermint (for TC; $.375; seasonal).

The peppermint flavor was infused in the batter along with crushed peppermint candy on the buttercream frosting. Yummy but messy to eat. We wished we had forks with us.

Bert's cupcake was Mocha flavored throughout  as well and topped with a coffee bean and light bchocolate sprinkles.

Although mine was called Lilikoi (passionfruit), the batter was yellow cake (kind of disappointing in a way) with a lilikoi infused buttercream frosting topped with lime zest. I still liked it but it would have been better to have a passionfruit flavored batter.

Ha, you can see a bit of the chocolate frosting on my buttercream frosting!

Lighthouse Ice Cream

Damn, I'm on a roll here!  I'm trying to cram in my posts before I start work again tomorrow.

After a few hours exploring the pier and the tide pools, we headed up Newport Ave BUT before doing so, saw this ice cream place, Lighthouse - Home of the Famous Ice Cream Waffle Sandwich". Dude, we were SO THERE.

It's a small cash only mom and pop shop.

Me want.

And here's our desserts. TC had a rainbow sherbet cone while Bert and I shared a waffle ice cream sandwich. The waffles were blueberry and the ice cream was Java Chip. Kind of a wierd combination (I didn't know that Bert would choose the blueberry waffle actually) but it worked. I wanted something with chocolate or chips in it. Next time we have to try the blueberry waffle with the blueberry cheesecake ice cream!

(TC's t-shirt by Simone Legno's Tokidoki for Target, Summer 2009; she has the size M and I have the size XL. I always think it is a rabbit on a skateboard but it's really a long eared skatepunk dog!)

I normally don't like my desserts mixed with hot and cold but this waffle sandwich was really great. I think we should make our own at home. Hmm, mixing and matching the flavors and such.

Bert said there were several waffle flavors - he thought I'd like blueberry instead of plain or apple.

OMFG, look at that...

Here are the obigatory "eating ice cream shots" starring TC...

Bert Wolfe...(sporting his favorite 3 Stars and a Sun t-shirt by Lagulabeach.com)

and yours truly...

Cute little place. Very busy too. They must do really well in the summer time. Lighthouse serves previum ice cream from Bud's Ice Cream of San Francisco and Double Rainbow (the "official" ice cream of San Francisco).

There are regular flavors plus sugar free ice cream, sorbet, ice cream for dogs, yogurt, and soy (extra charge). You can also request toppings for your ice cream in a cup or cone. If you want, there are sundaes, flurries, drinks (shakes, floats or freezes) and apple pie from Julian.

Since Bert did the ordering, I didn't have the chance to really look at all of their flavors but what they had was pretty standard (chocolate, vanilla, strawbery, rocky road, bubblegum, mint chip, etc). Some of their seasonal flavors include pumpkin, peppermint, egg not, strawbery explosion (that sounds good!) and "snookers" (not sure what that is). All of this info taken from their pamphlet. Again, cute little place. Although it's good for their business, a downside (for antisocial me) is it's in a really crowded touristy area with hordes of people.

Coincidentally, DD and her husband were here recently as well! See her post on Lighthouse here...

Did we have room for more? Stay tuned...