Awhile back Jonathan mentioned that he was going to be headed to San Diego for work soon and suggested that we make a weekend trip out of it. Then I found out that my good friend Sara was about to move there with her husband from Florida, so I decided to turn it into more like a week trip. :)
We flew down on Tuesday evening and after some delays out of San Francisco and some confusion about which hotel we were actually staying in finally arrived! Jonathan of course had to work so we grabbed bagels and he dropped me back off at the hotel to wait for Sara where I enjoyed some serious Food Network watching (sometimes I really do miss cable, but it's probably a good thing otherwise I would watch a ton more tv!). Sara and I spent the morning wandering about the mall that was nearby - it's probably also a good thing there isn't one of those near me either! After a new pair of jeans, some shoes, a new shirt and a dress I think I'm done with my clothing budget for a little while!
By this time we were ready for some lunch - without any suggestions from me Sara picked
Evolution, a place that was high on my "must go to" list for this trip. It is an all-vegan fast food restaurant - think burgers, chicken sandwiches, fries, shakes, etc. What!? Ok, maybe not the most healthy but still, sometimes it is nice to feel like a regular person eating regular person fast food once in awhile! I had the BBQ Chikn Sandwich with Sweet Potato Fries (really I would call these chips, I'm not sure why they decided they should be called fries), and Sara had the Southwest Black Bean Burger, also with the Sweet Potato Fries.
I really liked my sandwich, but then again anything with BBQ sauce is pretty much good. Sara said her black bean burger was a little too dry, as if it was just cooked black beans pressed into a patty. The sweet potato fries were great though... I really love sweet potatoes!
We wanted to wander around the Hillcrest district but weren't exactly sure where it was so we ended up deciding to drive back to her house along the 101. Unfortunately we lost the highway pretty quickly around Mission Bay - I still have no idea where it went, perhaps it merged with I-5 for a bit. Instead we followed random roads as close to the water as we could up along the coast until we ran back into the 101. It was a neat adventure and we saw a lot of the coast. I miss being near the water, the river through my town doesn't quite cut it. We stopped along the way to look at a few shops and to get some coffee. I also miss coffee dates - my friends and I used to meet up for coffee and chat for hours all the time!
That night we met up with some of Sara and Rick's friends for dinner and drinks at a place called
Stone Brewery, which I had never heard of before but is apparently a San Diego based brewery. The place was really cool - we sat out on a patio that appeared to be surrounded by a garden (it was dark) and had a big fire pit in the center. Luckily there were heat lamps otherwise I think I would have frozen, it was not a particularly warm week in Southern California!
The next day Sara and I tried to go to a flea market (grossest term ever - I will now refer to it as a swap meet) in Escondido, but the swap meet had apparently been temporarily shut down. Sketchiest looking place ever. It looked like a barred up run down carnival minus the rides. It's probably a good thing it was closed. We decided instead to drive to Carlsbad and go look at antiques. Clearly I know nothing about antiques because the things that look like junk to me are expensive and the things I think are cool seem to be less so.
We got lunch before we left at a place I found (on HappyCow, of course) called the
Naked Cafe. It was a little hard to find, but the food was very nice. I had something that consisted of fried potatoes and jalapenos with black beans, salsa, avocado, and cheese. It was served with a tortilla so it might have been intended to be eaten as a burrito or taco, but it was the world's smallest tortilla. Anyway - it was still quite good. They also had delicious iced tea, so bonus points there.
We went to Mission Beach later that afternoon and then met up with Jonathan for dinner in Little Italy. The pizza place that had originally been suggested had a line out the door so we went to the next place up the street which initially looked like it had no ambiance at all, but actually had the nicest patio out back where we ate. It seemed like a fun part of town - lots and lots of restaurants along this one street with a ton of people out. Unfortunately we were tired so we just headed home after dinner.
Speaking of tired - I'm going to have to finish recapping the rest at another time! I have more to show you - farmer's markets, wineries, and the zoo to name a few!
-C
On to comfort food though - I definitely have seasonal cravings. I've been eyeing those delicata squash for awhile, I think they are best served simple - sliced, tossed in some olive oil, salt and pepper, and roasted until tender. I've also been really wanting one of Field Roast's Celebration Roasts, but turns out I can't find it anywhere in Corvallis anymore! This makes me very sad.
