In the kitchen...

My first attempt at Tortilla Soup.  Chicken bouillon, yes I cheated.  Sweet corn, tomatoes, zucchini, celery, cilantro, good salsa and avocado slices.  Just combine it all in a pot (minus the avo) and let her boil.  I recommend adding some grated cheese on top and some Tapatio to boot.  Look, its not fancy and probably not authentic but its pretty tasty and easy as all get out.  Try it and let me know if it works out as good as it did for me.  xoxo

Lighthouse Ice Cream & Yogurt- Ocean Beach

I so wanted to like this.  And its not that I didnt like it, I just didnt like it very long.  First few bites were heaven.  After that, the waffle gets cold and soggy.  Plus it wouldnt kill them to put some more ice cream in that bad boy.  Overall, not bad...just not great.  


Pros: nice concept, friendly staff, decent ice cream, many options for different ice cream/ dessert snacks, different waffle flavors
Cons: small serving, $3 for the small size is not equitable, gets soggy pretty quickly
Score: I am waivering between leaving it or giving it once more try...decisions!

Funky Garcia's- Downtown San Diego

Date night with the mister led us downtown this weekend.  Along with meeting the great Michael Flohr Michael Flohr's Official Website and chatting with him for a spell, we bought some mustache things, tried on eyeglasses for moi, and grabbed some food.  Have you heard of this place?  I thought it looked fun so we checked it out, even though it was not on the Entertainment Book.  The bouncer was a riot!!! He convinced us to come in and even recommended a few things.  


Pros: bouncer was cool as heck, happy hour specials seem cheap, cool atmosphere, prices are on the low side for being in dtsd (down town san diego).  The chips were crunchy and good salty and table chipotle sauce...is un-freaking-believable, like I'd want to drink it.  
Cons: basically taco shop food, our waitress was pretty much not interested in helping us, parking of course, and menu originality. The Al Pastor tacos were bad salty and the shrimp tacos only had one skinny shrimp on them w/ a pound of cabbage.  The other item we ordered was the Funky Roll...aka a skinny carne asada burrito sliced to resemble sushi roll pieces.  Guacamole usually makes me happy...but too runny to be really called guacamole.  Disappointing really.  
Score: I might one day eventually some time possibly check out a happy hour here...or if someone else is picking up the tab duh.

South Beach Bar and Grill- OB

Do you miss the days of yore?  Of not having a care in the world?  Of lazy days and sticky fingers from candy or ice cream?  Today was a society sanctioned hooky day for me and hubby.  We went to go play in the sand at good old Ocean Beach.  Except I didnt go in the sand..I dont like getting dirty.  So we went to go eat at South Beach for tacos, although the original plan was Hodad's.  

Pros: ranch sauce on tacos, who knew the yummy factor?  Fried oyster/ calamari/ shrimp perfectly done, decent amount of non filler items inside the tacos.  
Cons: wahoo overcooked and dry... is it me or have the tacos shrunk in size? No shark meat available today.  It also took awhile to get the food today.  At about $4 a taco, I expect more senor south beach! 
Score: still love it, but it feels like we had a lover's quarrel somehow.  


p.s. it was like 75 today at the beach in good ole cali...hence the beer at 11 in the morning for the mister.  I never want to leave this place!!!!!


South Beach Bar and Grill website

I love presents!

Especially unsolicited.  Especially when its something I like.  Especially from my husband.  This is a post where I get to show off my new goodies from husband...God bless him sometimes.  The babushka measuring cups can nest or stand on its own.  The lunchbots is environment friendly and cute as a button.  What have you received lately that made you smile?  

Advice please

I'd love to make a little extra income from blogging each month. It's
probably unlikely that I would ever be able to live as luxuriously as
I am accustomed to... Hahaha! Seriously anyone have any good tips? I
know that some of you guys are able to turn a few bucks over from your
blog so any words of wisdom would help. Like practical advice...
Thanks. Sorry if this is out of left field. :-)

Panda Restaurant- Lemon Grove

They were nice owners.  Thats probably the nicest thing I will say about this place.  We got the shrimp fried rice and the foot long banh mi for lunch one day.  Large menu of chinese, vietnamese and sushi food items.  Yes i said sushi.  Moving on.  Who puts beansprouts in fried rice?  Filler failure.  Shrimp was fresh enough but I could have definitely used a few more.  The sandwich was another disappointment...who the hell grills the pickled veggies inside the banh mi?  Plus they didnt even taste pickled, the meat inside was limited and the bread wasnt too chewy.  Parking can also be tricky here...if you have been to the Lemon Grove post office, you know what I am talking about.  Lets get to the score....Leave it (in the kindest way possible).  

A&D Hawaiian Food- National City

If you havent been before, get off your butt and go.  If you have an Entertainment book, its in there for a B1G1 deal (no min purchase or stupid must buy a drink codicil).  I'm not going to mince words, the place could use a major rehaul decor wise and is borderline skeezy in cleanliness, but the food was awesome.  The salt and pepper chicken was piping hot with the perfect mix of peppers, garlic and onions.  We literally took the vittles and mixed the rice up into it.  The BBQ beef was tasty and tender.  The only thing I ddnt like was the onions in the mac salad...


Pros: S&P chicken is off the chain, cheap and good portions, coupon in the Entertainment book, friendly staff
Cons: on the not-clean side, order took a little while to come out but was piping hot so we didn't mind, parking limited
Score: Love it...the food, not the atmosphere...

Bull's Smoking BBQ- Morena Blvd

Photos (L-R) Sausage sandwich with cole slaw, Smoked pulled pork and smoke brisket sandwich with fries

Pros: Try the sweet BBQ sauce, unique take on cole slaw with the candied

almond slices, and nice chew roll. Oh yea, dog friendly!

Cons: portions small for BBQ joint, parking sucks bad, sausage was just ok

Score: undecided but leaning towards leave it

Aunt Emma's Pancake House- National City

Lets clear the air.  I've gotten a bit lazy with the blog.  I love the blog culture big time.  Dont confuse my lack of blog activity with an apathy for the blog world.  I ceremoniously check my google reader feeds through the day and love hearing some of my favorite bloggers (shout out to Lynn@The Actor's Diet, Kirbie@Kirbie's Cravings, CC@Pink Candles at Ridgemont High, Kirk@mmm-yoso!!!!, Ameena@Fancy That Fancy This, and The 99 cent chef@ at the similarly named blog, and so many others I couldnt possibly name).  So how can i still share my food experiences?  I am going to occasionally try blogging from my iphone for awhile and see how that tickles my goat or something to that effect.  Phone blogging means no fancy editing, images will be uncentered, and posts shorter than usual.  But it also means, we skip right to the gooey middle of the shizzz.  I'm also gonna try a new rating system- love it, leave it or undecided.  Cross my fingers, hope it flies.  

Aunt Emmas Pancake House

National City CA

Pros: price, neighborhood joint, parking, friendliness of staff, generous on the sauce and avocado in lieu of turkey meat (which would probably have been cheapo sandwich meat)
Cons: bland, bland bland. Good thing I had my entertainment book coupon...

Score: Leave it