World Cup Special of the Day

Local Mexican restaurant, El Cuervo, was busy this morning and extremely busy midday with both football fans and hungry customers. Congratulations to Germany and Italy!

Rayzors

Inside a local barber shop called Rayzors in Hillcrest at University Ave & First.

Warhol-esque ketchup

Who needs 7 pounds of ketchup? Only $2.99 from Costco! Visit the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park to see some of Andy Warhol's screenprints. The exhibit is here until September 10, 2006.

The local paper

Some cities have kiosks or newspaper stands where there is a person selling newspapers and magazines. Here most people have the newspaper delivered to their home or they buy them from a dispenser like this. The headline says San Diego got bumped to being America's 8th largest city - San Antonio is now #7. ...And congratulations to the 8 teams in the World Cup showdown: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Ukraine.

Electrical box #3

This is starting to become a series...here is another one of the many painted electrical boxes around the city. This is a funky random one that I like, located at University Avenue and Boundary Street in North Park. Click here for the pelican electrical box and here for some smiles.

Dog Beach

Established in 1972, Dog Beach is a place where you can let your dog roam without a leash. I can only imagine that this is like dog heaven: your owner lets you run wild - swimming, sniffing others, chasing - a total dog free for all. The only rule is no fighting. There have been some updates since 1972: a sign and notice board indicating the Dog Beach area, a cemented entrance with big dog paws, and this cool sculpture of a paw.

Buzz Buzz

So many flowers, so little time! Enjoy your weekend!

Fred's Mexican Cafe & Cantina

Fred's in Old Town is a popular place for tourists. Actually their sign says they are Number One in Old Town. What do you think?

Roast pig at the Fair

I gravitated toward the food at the Fair. This was the first time I've seen a pig on a rotisserie. This American Wild West BBQ had a huge grill with other meats as well. I walked away smelling like BBQ smoke.

Kiddieland at the Fair

After your deep fried avocado, make your way over to the rides in Kiddieland. My son and his friend went on the rollercoaster first and came off the ride pointing ("I want to go on that one and that one and that one!") and running to the next closest ride. We spent most of our day in Kiddieland. :) Happy 1st day of summer!

The County Fair at Del Mar Fairgrounds

The San Diego County Fair is in town until July 4 and it is a ton of fun. Some of the things to see: photo exhibition, farm animals, flower & garden show, home & hobby exhibition, adult & kids' art show, electronic arts show, carnival rides, and of course there is expensive fattening food to eat. Participate in a one-day walk-in contest and get into the Fair for free, find out how here. My 3 year old son tied for first place in the Best Animal Noises Contest with his imitation of a rhinoceros! Check out Edinburgh, Scotland's deep fried cuisine here.

Get your margaritas here!

A whole wall of TEQUILA!!! This round is on me. This is El Agave restaurant and it is filled with tequila hanging from the ceiling and along almost every wall. Here is the meal that I had there. Agave is the name of the plant that tequila comes from and it looks like the plant pictured here. See Mark at Sainte Maxime DP for another round of drinks, a margarita recipe, and a chance to win a beautiful postcard from the French Riviera. Cheers!

Backyard sunset

Happy Father's Day! A decent sunset photo from my backyard. Enjoy your Sunday!

Hot sweet candy

My husband said that candy is not food, so I am posting this photo today instead of yesterday. I don't think sugar is a food group, but some of these Mexican candies look substantive enough to be a snack. Your tongue will not forget the chili and sweet combination of these candies.

Breakfast burrito

More Mexican food Fridays. I work next door to El Cuervo taco shop and it is easy for me to have a yummy fast meal there anytime of the day - they serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner - all day, every day. It is a casual place where you wait in line to take your food out or sit and enjoy your meal . (My first Mexican food post was from El Cuervo.) This breakfast burrito is so filling that you may not need lunch. The breakfast burrito is a tortilla, eggs, cheese, French fries, and salsa on top. You can also add bacon.

The California Building

Along with the Botanical Garden that I posted on Tuesday, this building was built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. It is called the California Building and it houses the Museum of Man, an anthropological museum in Balboa Park. Here's more about its history. And here's another view of this building from the Zoo.

Didgeridoo player

On almost any weekend as you stroll around Balboa Park, you can see musicians, mimes, people that make things out of little balloons, and various other entertainers. We watched as this man made amazing music with only the didgeridoo and bells strapped to his ankles.
Visit Daily Photos in Australia (origin of the didgeridoo): Darren in Brisbane, Gold Coast, or Logan and Sally in Sydney

Botanical Garden

View of the Botanical Garden and the pond with yesterday's waterlilies. This building and many others in Balboa Park were built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition. Balboa Park is a great place for walking around, relaxing in the sun, having a picnic, or visiting the museums.

Waterlilies

Lisi and Kris inspired me to post this photo of the lotus flower or waterlily seen in Balboa Park. Ohm.
Lisi's lotus flower in Hong Kong
Kris' in Szentes, Hungary

Sun Bear

A lazy afternoon at the Zoo. Add a cup of coffee and the newspaper and this would be perfect!

Copper cactus

This is my favorite sculpture that is part of the Urban Tree project that lines Harbor Drive. The above is 1 of 30 that were just installed last month and will be on display until April 2007. An interesting thing to note about all the trees is the medium each artist chose because these scultures have to brave the sun, wind, and (a little bit of) rain throughout the year.

Pig out on pork

This is one of the taco shops in the mercado. Here they serve only pork and parts of the pig. They make the tacos, tortas (this is like a sandwich), or burritos with pig (carnitas) and have pork in the beans. You can see the pork rinds - the cooked skin of the pig, in the lower left corner. They do serve drinks that do not have pig in them. Is this making anyone hungry?

;-)

Bench in front of Hamburger Mary's restaurant and bar in Hillcrest.

California Poppies

The California Poppy is the state flower of, you guessed it, California! They grow wild along the hillsides and easily in the garden too. They close up at night and open up again with the morning sun. Sometimes they stay closed in windy or cloudy weather. It has been cloudy here in San Diego (yesterday's photo was taken a week ago), so maybe these little ones are confused.

Star of India

Built in 1863 as the Euterpe, and renamed the Star of India in 1906, this ship is considered the oldest active sailing ship in the world. The ship houses exhibits for the Maritime Museum and sails at least once a year. Ghost stories and some interior photos are here.

These boots were made for walking

A photo from the shoe shop in the Mexican mercado (market). The mercado also has a few excellent taco shops, a small arcade, a shop selling candy and piñatas, a shop with specialty (baptism, first Communion, quinceañera) dresses for girls, clothing shops, and a supermarket. Do you need a new pair of boots?

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon

Congratulations to my husband Robert and my friend Carla for finishing the San Diego Rock 'n' Roll Marathon today!!! You are so awesome! A marathon is 26.2 miles/42 kilometers...this is a long, long, long way. There were over 20,000 runners and walkers participating. What is special about this marathon is that there are bands singing and playing music at every mile to encourage the runners along. Above is a picture of the band Global Party keeping the beat for runners.

Tide pools

Although a little slippery, it is fun to walk around and explore the tide pools. I've seen fish, crabs, starfish, mussels, and sea urchins. You can walk for about 1/4 of a mile further down the coastline along these rocky cliffs. Watch out for waves!

Chicken mole

A photo from lunch at El Agave restaurant, serving "nouvelle" Mexican cuisine. Mole (prounounced mo-lay) is the sauce and it is made from chiles along with a variety of spices and sometimes chocolate. It has a very unique and delicious taste.

This is the "Mole Negro", from Oaxaca, with four different chiles, pasilla, mulatto, ancho, chipotle, tortilla, plátano frito, sesame seed, peanut, almond, nut, pasitas, tomate, tomatillo, celery, cinnamon, oregano, pepper and clove served over chicken. (I copied this from their website because I wouldn't have known or remembered all this!)

Lower Otay Lake

My friend Jill and I got lost going to the Olympic Training Center and stopped off to take this photo of Otay Lake. There are two lakes - upper and lower. In fact, we were really close to the OTC - there is a white building in the upper right and also the boat launching area that is part of the training facility is toward the middle of the photo.