Be warned: if you make dinner plans with me and our get-together falls through, I’m still going to go out for that dinner. Especially if tacos are involved.
The smartest (and nicest) people work at El RanchitoYum.
Tonight I learned a new word in Spanish- “antojitos” are “little cravings,” and the word is generally associated with street food snacks. I like how Wiki jives with the exact same thing that the cashier told me. El Ranchito hires the best people as food guides, I tell you.
Antojitos are on their menu, and it comes as two little enchiladas and four small tacos- two each of potatoes and beans, a lot of shredded cabbage, salsa and cream on top to stuff in your tacos. I honestly think that El Ranchito is hands down the best Mexican food in the county!
Me peeking into the photo, about to run…Why wouldn’t you learn to run if at your first 5K they hand out chocolate at the halfway mark?!?
Holy cow, this was fabulous! Especially since my Official-Running-Coach-turned-Official-Chauffeur joined me… can’t beat that at 5:30 in the (fill in your preferred explicative) morning. “Yes, dear. Drive me to Padre Stadium at the crack of dawn, thank you.”
A supportive spectator along the way is WordPress blogger and Jubi Kitty teileifortunes.wordpress.com. Hi and thanks for the kind words!More awesome supporters, cheering on family and more..
There were all kinds of people running or walking the San Diego Hot Chocolate 15/5K– I loved seeing the kids and parents! The DJ pumping up the crowd at the start line tried his best to keep up with congratulating children running their first race. My favorite thing (besides the chocolate) was the comments I overheard. Overall winner- the guy who asked volunteers handing out water “No thanks, I’m looking for the Chardonnay!” Close Second to the couple calling out to other volunteers and supporters with the bells and noisemakers,“Needs more cowbell!” Honorable Mention to the college girls who couldn’t believe they were there at 6:30, “That’s it, walk time, we are so not even running this!” Makes you wonder if they were just ending a long night without any sleep! You know why teen girls don’t go out in groups of three, five or seven? Because they can’t even. Ha!
Forget the goodie bag, here’s the goodie bowl!Ready for snarfing down hot chocolate and a banana to dip into really good chocolate..
I’ve been using my family’s activities for an excuse not to do much for myself. Don’t get me wrong- I LOVE the organizations, projects and competitions that my children and husband have chosen to challenge themselves. The teachers who led The Boy’s Academic Decathlon? Gold standard. Our community’s Rec Soccer? The best parents and coach. Don’t get me started on The Girl’s high school, I have several posts lined up on this blog for them alone. And The Husband’s work and biking friends? I thank God for them in particular. I just enjoy going along with everyone else’s plans and needs. You need a Helper Bee and not another leader? I’m there, just ask.
But, along with the theme of this blog, it is time to start branching out and learn new tricks for me. I wonder what next month’s project will be and where it will lead me? :oD
San Diego’s South Park neighborhood has unique shops, home after home of the quintessential California bungalow, and a boatload of eateries. One of the neighborhood and San Diego’s favorites restaurants includes Big Kitchen Café where you can stop in and enjoy some great grub. While you eat you can try, and fail, to take in all the memorabilia posted everywhere- from the Whoopie Goldberg signed wall (where she used to wash dishes) to the Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead photos, and hundreds of personal photos. You will never take it all in.
Busker out in front of Big KitchenMy Frittata. T’was yummy, with lots of roasted garlic.
We had a couple of good breakfasts. The Husband had good bacon with his biscuits and gravy and I really liked my roasted garlic, onion and potato frittata. The home fries were cripsy potato chunks with a generous amount of chopped herbs. Dee-lish. And halleluia, the coffee was fab, too.
I’m really glad a friend recommended this spot when we were looking for somewhere to eat breakfast while we waited for The Boy to finish an activity. Thanks a bunch to Deb E. for the suggestion!! We even found a great gift for The Girl at a shop next door…
See? I wasn’t kidding! Click the pic for the Amazon link if your family has as goofy a sense of humor as ours.
When you see a book titled “Farts Around The World,” and it comes with a sound machine, you just DON’T pass this stuff up (I think I will let her brother buy it off of me and give it to her for her birthday- it makes the PERFECTsibling gift, n’est-ce pas?). I can post this here, she never reads this blog, lol.
(I swiped the featured photo- the one at the very top- right off of the Big Kitchen’s Facebook page, don’t know who took it, but I definitely didn’t want to take credit for someone else’s stuff…)
Fish Tacos and Lightning’s Elemental Pilsner“Better Beer Through Science” Who can argue with that?
Quick Fish Tacos for dinner tonight, and what to drink with it?
I consulted the resident beer expert (he’s also my running coach, among other things) and he suggested a pilsner. So… pilsners generally don’t have a lot of hops, I’m guessing, that must be why I didn’t hate this beer.
Don’t you wish that wines and beers with amusing labels and clever sayings on the bottles tasted better than boring ones as a rule? That would make selecting one much easier. I think The Husband picked this beer because of the motto alone… patronizing fellow scientists. “Better Beer Through Science.” Clever.
I liked this! Lightning Brewery, in North County San Diego, was founded by a couple of former scientists, and I’m happy to see something other than double, triple and quadruple hopped beers coming out of this part of the country. This is getting to be ridiculous!
It may be one of the signs of The Apocalypse, but there are now TWO kinds of beers that I would drink- pilsners and stouts (it only took three wrong spellings before I gave up and used the spell checker to see how to properly spell ‘apocalypse’).
Today’s foray into new food was setting up to be one of extremes- it was looking like either vegan fast food or a donut shop. The restaurant wasn’t where I thought it was. Oops. However, the donut shop on the walk up the hill to find it was looking mighty good! But, I turned the corner and there it was, right where The Girl pointed it out to me a couple of years ago. Her friend works at “The Loving Hut,” the largest family of vegan restaurants worldwide, and a meatless Lent makes this the perfect time to finally try this restaurant.
You know It’s a good joint when there are two Buddhist monks sitting in a booth near you, and the satellite choice is tuned to jazz combo music. Yea!
I ordered way too much for lunch so I could share with whoever shows an interest, IF I decide to share…
Fresh Summer Rolls
Fresh Summer Rolls– lots of basil, carrots and jicama for crunchiness and protein of soy ham and tofu. Very good.
Ginger Tofu
Ginger Tofu– whoops… remembered that I don’t care for ginger. Fortunately, it wasn’t overloaded with ginger. It was just plain good, a gingery-teriyaki-ish sauce on tofu cubes that might have been fried. They were good, however they were prepared.
Healthy Fried Rice– it’s darn near impossible to make a good fried rice with brown rice, even The Boy would like this. I don’t like meat in my fried rice but love the scrambled bits of egg. I didn’t miss my egg as the fried bits of chopped tofu were really delicious.
more of the menu options at The Loving Hut- non-GMO, organic tofu used…
The guys working were really helpful with suggestions for what to order next time (oh yes, there WILL be a next time). Lucky Lemongrass soy fillet with veggies, the wonton soup, Crispy Chow Mein noodle bowl filled with sautéed veggies and soy, Drunken Noodle stir fry, and a couple of taco options all came highly recommended.
And jazz music. Did I mention that? Piano bar jazz on their background music playlist.
The Loving Hut is neither fast food, nor junky, and all around delicious- I will be coming back here soon.
branching out... on a limb 