trip to the motherland

I envision this blog slooowly becoming a non-food blog. Hmmm, don't know how I feel about this. But this trip had SO MUCH food involved! So I think it's alright that I write about my spring break trip to The Motherland aka California. Even though I only lived here for four years, I was born here, so gotta give it some respect, right? But one thing before we move on....

IS THIS PLACE FLIPPIN' BEAUTIFUL, OR WHAT?!

I'm convinced that at the ripe old age of 22 (not really) I can finally appreciate the prettiness that is California. I never really realized it when I would go out here to visit my dad when I was younger, but really, it's such a beautiful place. And SO many different things to do all within an hour or two away! Crazy, right? And....the Mexicans are EVERYWHERE. I'm among my compadres....my people! It's pretty cool, actually. :)

Also, I've come to the conclusion that when I am a real-person...aka have a job and real-person money...I need to live at least in semi-close proximity to a body of water. Actually, I've had this conclusion for a while, but being in California just solidified it after being by the ocean so many times this past week.

Anyway, these are two of my favorite pics from the week. A family friend, Olivia, makes a really good subject! As does the scenery at Zuma Beach.

Let's move on to the food part of the trip. The part where we ate and ate and ate and ate. Oh my. Seriously, people, I feel like I'm gonna roll out of the plane when I get back home tomorrow. But whoa, was it delicious and, heck, it's spring break.

The epic eating night, however, happened yesterday. My dad, step-mom, and I literally meal-hopped around San Diego. We started at the Hotel del Coronado for appetizers and drinks: fried calamari, crab/salmon dip smeared on warm ciabatta bread, and mai tais. SO GOOD. If you go to San Diego and want delicious, five-star dining, but not the price tag....do this: go during a week day during happy hour. Three words: half-off appetizers. GOOD STUFF, let me tell you.

Next, we went up and down Fifth Street in downtown San Diego in search for a good dinner place. After much searching, we settled on the Urban Bar & Grill. Pretty decent food, I was still a bit full from appetizers, so I ordered....another appetizer: chicken satay. I'm not gonna lie, for the price ($10), the chicken was a little low on flavor, but the presentation was pretty neat. Three chicken skewers were stuck in a huge round of pineapple and surrounded by little fried white things. Erm....never really figured out what those little fried white things were, but they tasted like some kind of cheese curl, without the cheese. Actually, I ate that entire round of pineapple, which must have been an abnormal amount of pineapple to eat because after polishing it off, my tongue felt wickedly weird. Too much acid? Mayhaps.

Next stop? The Altitude Sky Lounge on the 22nd floor of the San Diego Marriott. This is also another must-go-to stop in San Diego. It was really tame when we went up there, but apparently, this is THE place to be during the weekend in the summertime, according to my dad. Hmmm, and how would he know....? ;) The only bad thing about this place, is that drinks run a little higher than usual. However, you are also paying for a beautiful view of the downtown lights, so it's worth it. Go here. I guarantee you'll leave feeling so San Diego-urban-esque.

Anyway, tomorrow I leave this sunny state and head back to cold, snowy Michigan. Frankly, I'm not too thrilled, except for the fact that I get to have a few chillaxing days at home and will be hanging out with the madre for a bit before I head back up to school. It's always depressing to leave a warm place and then zap back to reality once that plane lands in your snowy homeland. Siiigh. Guess some good things must come to an end, right? I'm sure I'll be back soon, though, to the motherland. Here's to a very, very good trip. :)