Pictures of food

The City of San Diego runs commercials. Because of that, I'll spend the rest of the weekend thinking back to vacation, just when I thought I was moving on. Eating and SoCal are two of my favorite things so I dedicate this blog to comfort of what was.

The first morning at the beach house, the hubs and I had the place to ourselves and used the kitchen in our studio to make bacon (and eggs, toast, coffee and fresh blueberries and mangos). It was so good we didn't even really talk. Our only exchanges were passing comments on the brilliant view and weather and bacon from Trader Joe's.

My second favorite breakfast came to be by sheer fate.  I was out on yet another grocery store run and decided to drive down Pacific street just to see what else was in the neighborhood. 

I drove past this place which I can only describe as a food stand that happened to have rock star, unobstructed views of the Pacific Ocean. "The Bucc" was so amazingly good that I had the french toast, with a side of bacon twice that week.


My obsession with breakfast seems unending. My final mention of the meal includes Hill Street Donut House. These were so good that I was happy for the days when I traded in my daily dose of bacon for a plain glazed donut (or a cake donut with blueberry frosting as a substitute). Hill Street donuts were my last meal at the beach house. It was too sad to take a picture of the last anything that day.

Although breakfast is my favorite meal, I ate a lot of non breakfast related food too.  In a perfect world, someone would have handed me a In-n-Out single with cheese animal style, fries and chocolate shake the moment I stepped off the plane. 

I became a fan of the fish taco after my very first bite.  I have never savored a fish taco the way I did this one from George's at the Cove. Nor have I been offered the catch of the day for my taco. This was mahi mahi.

In all the times I've been through, in and around Dana Point, I've somehow missed Jon's Fish Market.  Which I totally blame my San Clemete friends for hiding from me. I was too busy eating to stop a take a photo but I thought about the crunch of the fish and chips basket from there for the rest of the week.  I wish I that could be my dinner tonight.  Instead, I'll bundle up under a blanket and eat a bowl of chili and listen to the rain fall.

I wasn't expecting that

For the first time in probably a decade (I do not like that I can account for time in decades), I decided to give up something for Lent. I'm used listening politely to what different people have chosen to give up for the Lenten season and then going on about my business.  For me, it has not seemed like something in which I needed to participate (kind of like watching the Olympics).  For reasons I still cannot explain, last night I felt strongly that I wanted to give up something. I had no idea what or why but I knew something had to go.  Honestly, I didn't want anything too hard. Coffee wasn't an option but things like chocolate or red meat seemed too easy because I have them so rarely.  I finally settled on the suggestion of a friend. Something that posed a personal challenge but not to the extent a week of detox was a requirement.

In the few hours that have passed this first day of Lent I have not had cravings for what I gave up but I have had an increased interest in the reason I've said no.  I'm excited about Lent 2010 because I come to it as a choice not an obligation. I'm looking forward to being a part of the conversation now and not only learning from others but having my own experiences to share.

Suprise!

Vacation was nothing I thought it would be and everything I wanted but didn't know it. Initially it was going to be a getaway for me and the hubs. We were going to go to a)Southern California, b) Colorado c) New Orleans.   He was going to buy the tickets and suprise me with the location. 

In a series of events that can only be summerized with "that just happened" we agreed to go on vacation with 2 other families. I'll say it, I expected chaos. I mean going on  vacation with 10 people including kids and that baby, sounded like crazytown.  The awesome part is that going on vacation with these people:

 

and these kids:

 

was definitely one of the best vacations I have ever had. The end result was a week of friends, fun and laughter that I'll never, ever forget...mostly because my friends took thousands of photos.  

Yes, I would absolutely take the "8 other people are coming with you" surprise vacation again.

I said I would eat a lot, and I did, more about that later.

*Photo credits in this blog to Laurie Creach.