March 2014: Month in Review Part 2

Mar. 15: Hiking at Torrey Pines

Whenever we wake up early on the weekends we spend the mornings thinking about 2 things: where to hike and where to brunch. One of the more talked about hikes in San Diego is the Torrey Pines hike just because it showcases some of the best that San Diego has to offer. The hike offers some of the most amazing views and even lands you at the beach if you choose to go that direction. There is a path where you can actually hike down to the beach depending on whether it is low tide or high tide and then walk along the beach back to where the hike begins. There are also multiple paths so even if you've been once before, there are plenty of other trails you can try out. 

hiking down to the beach
(amazing what a few vsco cam filters can do huh? lol)

cool railings they have. just a few steps down and you're at the beach!

After the hike it was time to decide where to eat. We decided on this place in Del Mar called Stratford Court Cafe. It wasn't anything to write home about but it was decent.

Later on that night we met up with some friends that just came back from Hawaii. They were craving some shave ice so we went to this one place in Tierrasanta called Sunset Ice Shack. Considering this place has 5-stars, I was not impressed. Honestly they have some cool names for their products but they taste weird! Meh. Nothing beats having simple flavors in Hawaii.

Mar. 16th:
There's something about chain restaurants that I freaking love. First off, I love Cheesecake Factory and people think I'm weird but honestly their stuff is delicious. One of my favorite chains that I've discovered in San Diego is Sammy's Woodfired Pizza. OMG. Take a look at this Truffle Mushroom pizza *drools*. It was absolutely DELICIOUS. We opted for a light meal since we were about to head over to Tony's grandmother's house for their annual St. Patty's day celebration so we got the Spicy Thai Grilled Chicken Salad. Both dishes were delicious.

Mar. 18th:
After work, the man came by and picked me up for some happy hour at Whisknladle. I've been there before with some of my friends from LA when they visited but the man has never been. We weren't that hungry but we ordered the Spicy Fried Chicken Wings (a little disappointed with the portion size on that one.. see picture below), bacon wrapped dates, as well as the Bone Marrow from their regular menu. Their bone marrow was super good as usual and the dates were good as well. I opted for the white wine sangria and Tony got the bartender's choice.

bacon wrapped dates

bone marrow

spicy fried chicken wings

Mar. 22nd: Kings of Leon

A few day before the 22nd, I was mulling over whether or not to get tickets for the Kings of Leon concert. I've wanted to see them in concert forever but I wanted to see them at one of the festivals. Coachella line-up came and went, Bonnaroo line-up came and went and still no sign of Kings of Leon (this was before the Lollapolooza line up was announced...) so I decided to just go for it and look for some lawn seats for the concert. I wasn't too hopeful that there would be anything left since it was literally 2 days before the concert but I just went for "Best Available". Lo and behold I found orchestra seats in the 6th row. I nabbed them right away and was so glad I did. I think just seeing them play Closer was enough to put me over. Eargasms for sure.

Mar. 27th:
The man's birthday dinner at Fogo de Chao. I actually wasn't too impressed. I think my favorite cut of meat was the top sirloin.

Mar. 28th:
Birthday celebration continues at Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill. I swear every time I come here I am not disappointed. Despite the long lines, their portion sizes and delicious food make up for it. I'll have to say that the prices are a tad high but I'm willing to pay for the tastiness.

Mar. 29th:
And even more birthday celebrations. Late lunch at Cucina Enoteca. Extremely delicious.

And that concludes March! Happy Friday everyone!

March 2014: Month in Review Part 1

Mar. 1st:
Had the weekend off and being the working woman that I am, I tend to wake up quite early (try 6:30am before the time change). Usually we lay in bed and try to find a place for brunch. We found this place called Great Maple with bacon donuts! Had to try it. We got there and it was packed! Luckily it's open seating at the bar so instead of waiting almost an hour (which the lady quoted me), we waited 5 minutes for a spot at the bar. Brunch is not complete without a bloody mary so I opted for the Big 'o Pickle Bloody Mary. Yah... and this came out.

massive pickle

just for a size comparison

seriously delicious. so warm and toasty when they first come out!! *drools*

We went shopping afterwards in search of some new sheets. Ok, maybe this is one of those weird things about me but I absolutely LOVE the feeling of nice sheets and it's a MUST. I seriously can't sleep if the sheets don't feel good. So we bought some sheets last year at the San Diego County Fair and because we washed them a whole lot, they started having those little balls that pop up and make the sheets feel fricken weird. It got so bad that I was actually having a hard time falling asleep and staying asleep (It sounds like I'm joking but I'm completely serious!). Luckily we found some at Walmart which is what I have at my home home. I used my gift card so it was Free99.

It was only about 3pm when we got a little hangry. We decided to go for some Hawaiian food at Island Style Cafe. I love this place and I keep trying to get my friends from Hawaii to go to this place so we can see how authentic this place is. To me it's "broke da mout" lol. Thanks Richard for teaching me that hahaha.

We were pretty beat after being out all day so we called it a night after we got home.


Mar. 2nd:
Didn't do much all day. Went to dinner at Osteria Romantica with my friends Richard and Blaire who were in town for a few days. I got the Pappardelle pasta with braided lamb, mixed wild mushrooms, olives and rosemary. It was pretty good but definitely not as good as Bencotto.

Mar. 3rd:

Took the day off to go to the Childish Gambino concert. Met up with Richard and Blaire for lunch at El Zarape. Haven't tried this place before but heard really good reviews. I got the Wasabi burrito and it was pretty tasty and I don't even like Mexican food (I know... blasphemy right?! lol).

Went to the Childish Gambino show that night but unfortunately I forgot my camera (I was trying to vlog for the day and then ended up in the middle of uploading my footage to the computer so I completely forgot to put the camera in the purse). I have some minor videos from the show but nothing worth posting.

Mar. 4th:
After work on the 4th, we went brewery hopping. First stop was Ballast Point.

Next stop was Green Flash and the final destination was Stone Brewery Beer Gardens.

Mar. 5th:
Got a chance to do happy hour with one of my San Diego gals. We went to Fleming's and it was totally yumes! Their happy hour menu is really good. We got 2 burgers, 2 alcoholic drinks, and 2 apps between the two of us and it was $20 each. Their burgers were actually surprisingly good. Their calamari is a MUST (tastes tangy Asian).

For dessert we decided to go to Lette at UTC for their macarons. OMG. My snooty LA self will have to admit that these macarons are better than Bottega Louie or any other macarons I've had. Their salted caramel macaron is seriously the BOMB DOT COM (and I hate salted caramel stuff but I just ordered one of each flavor and I figured I'd just give anything I didn't like to Tony).




Mar. 7th:
Went out to eat in Little Italy at Mona Lisa for Tony's cousin's birthday.

Mar. 8th: The Curious Incident of the Infamous Pub Crawl
So one of Tony's friends rented out a bus and we went around to 9 different breweries. Needless to say, I only made it to 4.

Mar. 13th:
Random date night at Wa Dining OKAN. A really neat spot. I would highly recommend it. Everything was really good including the uni. They have these bowls and they are super tasty. They also had a green tea cheesecake dessert which was very interesting. It was good but not what I had imagined.

Mar. 14th:
Hope all you marshmallows went out and watched Veronica Mars! I went before work. Oh man, Logan in uniform. In the words of Veronica, "You should wear this and only this forever." Raises hand. Um yes please.

Stay tuned for part 2!