Hi friends, and Happy Friday! Today is another installment of my new San Diego Spotlight series, in which I share details about local restaurants, dessert spots, and wineries that I love. So far I've talked about Crepes & Corks Restaurant & Wine Bar and Elizabethan Desserts (Note: They were undergoing temporary closures the last time I stopped in there - insert sad teary face). Today's feature is a quintessential Southern California eatery called Swami's Cafe. Swami's Cafe is a wonderful hippy dippy sort of place that has 9 locations around San Diego County. My favorite one that I've been to (I haven't hit all of them just yet!) is their Highway 101 Encinitas spot, which is situated in a great location right next to the beach. This is most likely their first location, as ... [Read More]
California travel index
Ice Skating Along the Coast at Hotel Del Coronado + Dinner at Il Fornaio
Happy Hump Day friends! Hope that you all are having a lovely week. Christmas is in just over a week, and I can hardly contain my excitement! I'm like a little kid when it comes to the holidays. And on the topic of the holidays, let's back it up a few days to talk about a very holiday-ish activity that I did over the weekend: ice skating! My hubby surprised me on Saturday with a date to Hotel del Coronado for... ice skating on the coast! I didn't even know that this was a thing until last weekend. I thought it was super sweet of A to plan a date because 1.) He knows that I love all things related to the holidays, and 2.) I'm most definitely the planner out of the two of us. I love being the planner, but it was nice to have him plan something and totally surprised me. ... [Read More]
San Diego Spotlight on Crepes & Corks Restaurant and Wine Bar
Hello and Happy Friday! You may remember that a few months back I started a post series where I highlight an eatery, bar, or winery within San Diego County. There are so many great places nearby, and I thought it'd be fun to share more of that with you guys. Last time I talked about Elizabethan Desserts in Encinitas, and today I'm putting the San Diego spotlight on a restaurant called Crepes and Corks Restaurant & Wine Bar. I first visited Crepes & Corks not long after I moved to the San Diego area. Crepes have a special place in my heart, and combining them with wine? Sounds like a good time in my book! Crepes remind me of studying abroad in Italy, and of roaming the streets of Thailand on vacation gobbling up irresistible crepes from street vendors... ...and ... [Read More]
A Trip to Lundberg Family Farms in NorCal During their Rice Harvest
“LEAVE THE LAND BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT.” - ALBERT LUNDBERG Supporting companies that make it their main priority to create their products in a way that is responsible and with their customers' best interest at heart is important to me. I love getting to know more about companies, whose running them, and what's going on behind the scenes. This is one of the big reasons why I love buying food at local farmers' markets, nabbing produce from the farm stand down the street from me, and attending events where I get to learn firsthand about how food is made with love. That's why when Lundberg Family Farms recently contacted me inviting me to visit their farm in Northern California during their rice harvest, I jumped at the chance. Lundberg is an organic, non-GMO certified maker of all ... [Read More]
Weekend Escape to Big Bear Lake
"Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny space you occupy in the world." - Gustave Flaubert With my hubby and I both home last weekend with nothing on the agenda, we decided to take a road trip to a place we'd never visited before: Big Bear Lake. Located in the San Bernardino Mountains about 2 1/2 hours away from our house in San Diego's North County, Big Bear Lake is a popular destination known for its winter ski slopes as well as summertime water sports. My hubby had brought up the idea of camping in the area mid-last week. However, all of the campsites at the lakeside campground I wanted to stay at were already reserved. Plus fires aren't currently allowed there because of the extremely dry conditions and high fire danger, and that's kind of my favorite part of camping, ... [Read More]
San Diego Spotlight on Elizabethan Desserts
Hi there! Today I'm switching gears a bit, as I thought it'd be fun to start a new series where I highlight an eatery, bar, or winery that I love within San Diego County. There are so many great places in my area, so I figured I'd share some of my favorites with this post series! Today the spotlight is on a place that's sort of like heaven on earth for those with a sweet tooth called Elizabethan Desserts. Located in the town of Encinitas in North County, this bakery became my favorite joint to satisfy a dessert craving upon moving to the area. I'm usually a take-it-or-leave-it kind of girl when it comes to regular cupcakes, but moist, decadent gourmet cupcakes are another story. You can keep the plain old Betty Crocker vanilla cupcake with store bought chocolate frosting, I'll ... [Read More]
