San Diego Restaurant Week 2014: The Marine Room

First stop for San Diego Restaurant Week was at The Marine Room. Recommended to me by my friend Christine for their spectacular views, I could not resist making a reservation.

Started the night off with some drinks: Dan-hattan and Sassy Mule. Both were very strong so I guess you could say there were worth their hefty $15 price tags :P.

Next up were appetizers. We ordered the Prawn Duet and Mushroom Bisque (see menu above for complete details). Very flavorful. I'm a lover of soup and their mushroom bisque did not disappoint. In fact, Tony had stop me from actually doing my Charles Dickens impression of "Please sir, I want some more" to the waiter. I was thinking of even asking to trade my dessert for some more soup. Yes. It was good. I had read on their Yelp page that their Lobster Bisque is really good also so I'm sure I'll probably be back to try that (maybe if they have that on the next Restaurant Week menu? Purty please?!).

For our entrees we ordered the Diver Scallops and the Filet Mignon. Scallops were good but definitely not the best I've had. The sauce was light yet flavorful. The scallops themselves were pretty tasty but Tony ended up biting into a huge piece of sand lol. The Filet Mignon we got medium rare and even still it felt tough. Ever since I discovered rare plus (which isn't quite rare but just a notch below medium rare), medium rare just isn't the same anymore. I guess I like my cows moo-ing. I also felt like the sauce was a bit overpowering. I really couldn't taste the flavor of the meat with all the sauce slathered all over it. Still, I think the next time I order steak it'll have to be rare plus.

Finally, for dessert we had the Trilogy. The cacoa was definitely SUPER rich. I couldn't eat all of it. My favorite of the three was probably the gelato. Nothing that really stood out or was to die for.

Overall, I would give the food 4 stars. The standout of the night was the mushroom bisque. The ambiance of the restaurant is super romantic as you watch the waves crash up to your window. Maybe next time we'll make a reservation close to sunset. I also requested to sit next to the window but we ended up sitting 3 rows back from the window so I would suggest getting there earlier for the best seat (we got there 5 minutes after our reservation because we got lost).

Sunday Sounds: Coachella 2014 Series - Jhene Aiko

First time I heard of Jhene Aiko was on Drake's track From Time on his album Nothing Was The Same. I really love her voice. It brings me back to the days of Ashanti and Ja Rule (those were my jams back in the days lol). On my drive back to LA recently I heard her song "The Worst" on Power106 and fell in love. Performing on Sunday, here are some of my favorite tracks from Jhene Aiko.


The Worst

"Please don't take this personal
But you ain't shit
And you weren't special
Til I made you so"

My favorite lines in the song. It's reminiscent of unrequited love and believe me I'm a real expert in that area. Just a lesson that sometimes through no fault of our own, we put people on a pedestal when we love/like them so much when really when you look back you can't seem to figure out why you liked them at all.

San Diego Restaurant Week January 2014 - Eater/SDRW Challenge

Every January and September, I find myself debating whether or not to participate in San Diego Restaurant Week. It's a great deal but also quite expensive when you're going out every night lol. But once again I gave in. On the Eater site, there's a list of "38 Essential Restaurants of San Diego". I've narrowed down the list to only restaurants that are participating in restaurant week. Most of these restaurants are only participating during the 1st week (look for a check mark on the SDRW site for those that are participating during week 2). I decided to do most of my picking off this list.

Here are the restaurants that are on the Eater list and are also participating in restaurant week:

1. Cafe Chloe* - $20 lunch, $35 dinner
2. Blue Ribbom Artisan Pizza - $25 dinner
3. Farm House Cafe - $35 dinner
4. George's at the Cove - $45 dinner
5. Wine Vault and Bistro - $25 dinner
6. Cucina Urbana* - $35 dinner
7. Bankers Hill Bar & Restaurant* - $35 dinner
8. Nine-Ten Restaurant & Bar - $45 dinner
9. Jayne's Gastropub - $35 dinner
10. Whisknladle* - $45 dinner
11. Market Restaurant + Bar - $45 dinner
12. Tapenade - $45 dinner

* indicates a restaurant that we've been to but not during restaurant week.

I probably won't be going to all of these (not unless I want to become broke in less than 2 weeks lol) but I'll be choosing some restaurants to try from this list. Are you participating in San Diego Restaurant Week? Which restaurants are you going to try? Leave a comment below! And check back next week for posts on my San Diego Restaurant Week foodie adventures!

Concert: Sam Smith

December 2nd, 2013

Sam Smith at The Troubadour

Drove all the way from San Diego up to LA to see this guy! Quite an amazing singer. The way he can express emotions through his voice and singing is amazing. Seriously got chills when he sang Nirvana. Really love how intimate The Troubadour is. I remember when Judy and I saw Sara Bareilles and Maroon 5 there when we were either freshman or sophomores at UCLA. So long ago!

Sunday Sounds: Coachella 2014 Series - Chvrches

In response to the recent unveiling of the Coachella Line-up, Sunday Sounds from now until Coachella weekend 1 will be dedicated to Coachella artists. One of the biggest problems with me and Coachella is that for most artists I only know 1 song from the artist. One of my goals for doing this Coachella Series of Sunday Sounds is so that it'll force me to check out more artists. Of course I won't be able to get through all the artists and I might not like all of the artists either but I'm going to try to get those ears twerking... I mean working overtime lol ;P.

This week I'm going back to an old favorite of mine. From the moment I saw them live, I had an inkling that they were going to headed to Coachella. I'll be honest, before I saw them live, I had no idea who they were and I hadn't really listened to them at all. However, just seeing them live once was enough to get me to like most of their songs. Now I even have their Pandora station on repeat. The band is Chvrches and I'll let the music speak for itself. They will be performing on Saturday at Coachella. Here are some of my favorites from them as well as some of the live footage I have from their show in San Diego at the Belly Up Tavern. Check out that post here.




My favorite lines:

"I can sell you lies, you can't get enough
Make a true believer of, anyone anyone anyone
I can call you up if I feel alone, I can feed your dirty mind
Like I know like, like I know, what you want"

November: Month in Review Part 1

Nov. 1st-3rd: Weekend in NorCal for Linda's Wedding

Flew into SFO on Friday night and stayed with my friends Lauren and Jason in Castro Valley. On Saturday morning we had to get up early to help with the tea ceremony. It was a really nice Vietnamese tea ceremony at Linda's house and then they went to Will's house to do the Chinese tea ceremony. We got a little break between the tea ceremony and the actual wedding ceremony at the chapel at the University of the Pacific so we went back to Lauren and Jason's to take a nap. After the chapel we headed to the Chinese restaurant to help the wedding coordinator set up the wedding favors and other little nick-nacks for the reception.

The day after the wedding we went to have brunch at Denica's Real Food Kitchen in Dublin. It was pretty tasty food. We then went to see Ender's Game. Thought it was a pretty good movie but then again I haven't read the book. I was actually really surprised at the end but I had suspected it since they all looked so nervous. After the movie we quickly browsed around at the outlets and then went back to Lauren and Jason's house to pack up for our flight back to San Diego.

I've never flown into or out of SFO before but that airport is absolutely ooozing swag. It does't feel like an airport at all... but then again we flew Virgin Airlines and apparently they had remodeled that area recently.

We got to the airport a bit early so we decided to get a light snack before the flight. We stopped at Cat Cora's Kitchen.

something strong lol (can't remember the name) and farmer's market bloody mary

chef selected cheeses

Nov. 4th-6th: Work


Nov. 7th-8th: Viewing and Funeral

On Thursday I drove back to the SGV for my grandmother's viewing and then Friday morning was the funeral.

After the viewing on Thursday night, my mom and I opted for take out comfort food.

After the funeral on Friday we went to eat buffet with the family. After lunch we went home for a nap and then met up with some friends in the area around the Grove and Melrose for some grub and drinks.

Nov. 9th-10th: Christina's Bachelorette in Santa Barbara

On Saturday morning we started our journey to Santa Barbara for Christina's Bachelorette. First thing on our agenda of things to do was horseback riding. I've never gone horseback riding before so I didn't know what to expect but it was a lot harder than I thought! There were points where I was struggling to stay on the horse. My horse was a little piggy 'cause he kept trying to eat during the trail and they aren't supposed to.

drinking in the lodge after horseback riding

loved all of anna's decorations and favors for the bachelorette! 

On Sunday, we packed up our stuff and headed to brunch at Scarlet Begonia. Such a beautiful cafe/restaurant! It really reminds me of Venice, Italy and people eating outdoors in little courtyards.

Nov. 11th-14th: Work

After work on the 12th we went out to enjoy a movie. I can't remember for the life of me what movie we watched. I believe it was Thor - The Dark World. Really loved Loki in that movie hahaha. I've never been one to like the anyone but the protagonist in any movie but I feel like Tom Hiddleston does such a great job portraying Loki that I honestly believe that he's really Loki lol.

berry frost - soooo good!

On my birthday my coworkers were so sweet to nab me a Despicable Cake. It's cause I "bee-doh" all day in the pharmacy lol.

They also got me these gorgeous flowers. Love the vibrant colors!

The man took me out to dinner at Sushi Ota, one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego.

That pretty much concludes the first part of the month. Part 2 should be coming soon!

Happy New Year!

Howdies! And Happy New Year! This post is going up a little late and if you know my profession well, then you'll totally understand why. It's probably the busiest time of the year for us which means I probably won't be posting much this month. I've been trying to catch up on my Month in Reviews but it's been pretty hard since there's so much I want to include but I'm trucking along. This year has already started on the down side with a death in the family and some work-related issues. Literally the first day of the new year I was faced with this work-related issue and the next day I received a call from my mom that my grandmother passed away. It's been pretty hard trucking along but it can only go up from here right? I hope everyone had a good holiday and I will talk to you all very soon!