Row, row, row your boat

Can you see the see the upside down boat hovering over the entrance at Gulf Coast Grill? The steering wheel and navigational lights are still intact. The boat and other ocean themed furnishings should clue you into the menu offerings - a swell of seafood: oysters, clams, calamari, crawfish, prawns, and all kinds of fish.

Liberty Station Vons (in Point Loma)

The most creative grocery store I've ever visited award goes to the Vons located in Liberty Station. Firstly, there's these cute bicycles which house the flowers. Secondly, there's the fact that these are located outside, which is technically the *middle* of the store. To both the left and the right there are buildings where one walks into doors and can shop - the produce located on the left of the entrance and the dry goods located on the right - in the middle are flowers.

And for a firm thirdly, there are cashier stations located all over the place - I guess for convenience, but I feel like I should purchase the goods that I pick up in that area before moving on to the next area. Which for me, would be pulling out my wallet 4-5 times!

It's totally weird, and kind of cool. I've only shopped there once and I couldn't get the hang of crossing out the door of the produce side of the market, walking out in the open, and back into the other side...I felt like I was going to be accosted security at some point!

Do you have any really creative grocery store layouts in your neck of the woods? Have you shopped here, and what did you think of it?

Posting from Chinatown

Here is another unique topper that distinguishes one of San Diego's neighborhoods.

Birds of a feather

Can you believe that there once was an ostrich farm in the middle of our city? Well, it is true. Kind of near where Trolley Barn Park is now is where Bentley's Ostrich Farm once stood in the 1900's when women's ostrich feather hats were popular. Click here to see an old photo of the farm's entrance or here, to read a memoir of the neighboring Mission Cliffs Garden and the ostrich farm.

So blue

I passed by this cute little blue accented house in North Park on trash day. My photo doesn't capture it that well, but the stones on the border and at the curb are also painted blue. What a sight!

There's a large hotel...

Expat is watching it unfold at Hotel Circle - and just in time for the start of the tourist season.
For several weeks the Holiday Inn on Hotel Circle South has been draped like a Christo art project -- its beds cold and empty, its coffee shop silent. Now we discover that when the wraps come off, looks like it'll be presto-chango time.

The jacarandas are out early

Anyone recognize the building from this photo and story from Expat?
These beautiful trees are normally a June phenom, to cheer us up in the June Gloom. This year they've come to cheer us up in the May Grey instead, possibly commiserating over the poor performance of our baseball team.
How do you pronounce the name? I favor zhac... but wikipedia allows zhac... hac... and djac... So all of us are right, regardless.
Tip: Don't park a car under a jacaranda in July, it'll ruin your paintwork!

Italian sunshine at Lib-Sta

This meal from Expat makes me happy as a clam!
Tireless in our search for fine food & fun, we checked out Solare in the heart of Liberty Station last weekend. It's quite a swanky place, with several seating areas including one highly romantic table-for-two right inside the wine store. For some reason, we were seated in the "Mafia Room" (that's my nickname, not an official name, so don't go blurting it out), with personal control of the lighting and background music (our chosen setting for music: OFF). The two dishes in the pix are:
Seafood bisque with Sardinia-style semoule pasta and squid ink (on the permanent menu)
Clams with polenta (daily special)
We loved the Albarinho (visible in the pic below).

Mission Bay

At the end of Mission Blvd. to the south, there's a little park, with a beach quite near. The water is technically part of Misson Bay, so the waves are quite mellow. This photo was taken at that spot, where the water is a gorgeous blue. It's a really relaxing spot.

Go check it out sometime!

Electrical box #13 - vino

This electrical box shows all the fixings of a great meal and it sits next door to the Italian restaurant Paesano in North Park. Check out the other electrical boxes that I've shown before: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.

Craftsmen

Pillars and cobblestone, features of the Craftsman style, welcome you to North Park's historic craftsman neighborhood. The sign honors "two men whose work is most abundant in the district", David Owen Dryden and Edward Bryans. Click here to read an interesting article about cobblestone use in San Diego. The author surveyed its use, within a ten mile area that includes parts of North Park, and recorded over 300 cobblestone walls, many piers/pillars and chimneys, as well as an entire home.

It's alive!

Okay, two embarrassing things. The first - I watched Jackass the Movie 2.5. After watching the completely stupid, ridiculous, and all out audacious things these guys do to their bodies, it made me think of a gross thing that happened to me that I could see these guys doing for fun. Which leads me to the second thing - once when I was swimming in the ocean, a small hermit crab crawled in my ear looking for a home. I kept rubbing at my ear thinking it was water in my ear and then out it came. It only stayed there for a few minutes, but I was pretty grossed out. Feel free to (anonymously) comment on your most embarrassingly gross moments!

Angel's Trumpets

For Mother's Day, I thought I'd share with you one of my favorite flowers called Angel's Trumpets (Brugmansia is its official name - but how ugly is that?!) Above is the pink variety and to the left the yellow variety as seen at Balboa Park. Happy Mother's Day and hope your day is filled with gifts from your angels!

All your ducks in a row

I just happened past the Farm House Café (from yesterday's photo) and saw this cute family of ducks on the side of the restaurant. Is this making your mouth water for fois gras yet?

Farm House Food

Another enjoyable meal from Expat: The latest dining sensation in North Park is the Farm House Café on Adams Avenue. Owner/chef Olivier Bioteau is from the Loire region of France, and serves up a limited and ever-changing menu of delicious dishes. Thanks to a rave review in the Reader, this cramped little place is "reservation only" for the time being.
My dinner was sea bass served with artichoke, fava beans, fresh tomato and a little chervil. The sauce was so marvelous I went through three slices of bread mopping up every last drop.