SHIMBASHI Izakaya – Del Mar

Disclosure: Our meal was complimentary, but I was not compensated for this review. As always, all opinions are my own.

My office isn’t that far from Del Mar, but I still rarely find myself taking advantage of the delicious restaurants we’ve recently discovered. Some of it is because it’s just a hair too far away for a quick lunch break; the other part is because after work I just want to go home, which is in a completely different direction than Del Mar. When I was offered an opportunity to explore the menu at Shimbashi Izakaya, I figured I might as well expand my list of Del Mar dining options.

What I’m learning is that we should be spending more time in Del Mar eating…

Continue reading

One Year Down, many more to go

One year ago today, I married the best husband a girl could ask for.  He is patient and kind, silly and sweet, thoughtful and genuine. He builds me chicken coops and garden beds. Washes the dishes after I make a mess of the kitchen. Takes me on great adventures and spends weekends at home watching silly movies with me.  I don’t have enough words to tell you what a lucky girl I am, how blessed my life is, how amazed I am to get to share this life with such a loving man.

Continue reading

San Diego Food Blogger Bake Sale

Last year, I had the opportunity to spend the day with some amazing bakers, bloggers, and baking bloggers.  Some I knew, some I knew of, and many I was meeting for the first time at the first Food Blogger Bake Sale in San Diego.

Not only is it a fun event to meet the bakers and bloggers you read about, it’s an amazing fundraiser that connects bloggers across the country.  All proceeds from the bake sales go to Share Our Strength, an organization striving to end childhood hunger.  I’m excited to be a part of this year’s bake sale, being held on Saturday, April 28, 2012 at Great News! in Pacific Beach.

Continue reading

Zodiac Cocktails at Burlap

Disclosure: Our meal was complimentary but I was not compensated for this review. As always, all opinions are my own.

As you may have heard, this guy named Brian Malarkey has been opening restaurants all over San Diego.  Burlap is his second (Searsucker being the first, Gingham the third, and most recently Gabardine) and, to be completely honest with you, I was fairly certain I was never going to set foot in Burlap.  I wasn’t sure about the asian-cowboy-social-dining experience.  I’d already been scarred, but when I heard about their Zodiac cocktails concept, I was admittedly intrigued.

Continue reading

Kitchen 1540 – Del Mar

For Christmas, Travis gave me the gift of a fabulous meal.  He printed out menus from all sorts of “higher end” spots in San Diego and said we could go anywhere.  We would get to see what San Diego cuisine has to offer and I wouldn’t have to think about how it would fit into our household “dining out” budget.  It was a pretty awesome gift.

After our trip to Portland and fabulously ridiculous meal at Castagna, I was curious about Kitchen 1540.  I had heard really good things about it, but also knew they had recently had a chef change.  I tried not to have huge expectations, but it turns out my fears were unfounded.

Continue reading