Cupcakes, surfers and seals.

I'm being tortured. It's Saturday Football time for the family and I am sadly, not a sports fan.  I relate football

to thanksgiving turkey thanks to growing up in a household where my father didn't give two beans about televised sports.  The only time it was on was at family gatherings. Now,  I hear the announcers and I automatically salivate like a dog.  I start craving dressing and pie. Sigh.  The entire fam is wound up in a USC game at the moment, so I thought I'll retreat to the www and update you guys on my trip.  

So it's San Diego Restaurant Week. Nice time for a vacation here, right?  We are running here and there during the day (specialty grocery stores, See's Candy, the beach, and holiday shops) and eating in a lot at night (saving our money for good wine). My aunt made us reservations for lunch at The Prado at Balboa Park on Friday so we could catch the special Restaurant Week menu.  

Balboa Park is BEAUTIFUL! It was built for the 1915 World's Fair in San Diego. There are museums and gardens and a beautiful theater designed after the original Globe Theater in London. 

 

I can't get this song out of my head.  Don't you hate it when that happens? The Beach Boys were one of my mom's favorite bands growing up. When she sings along, she's still totally cute. Yes, I'm fully aware summer is over by a day but here goes, and besides...

the surfers are still catching waves out here.  The sport really fascinates me. In my next life maybe I'll come back as a skinny little surfer girl. 

I saw seals at La Jolla Shores. MAN do these critters stink but I could watch them all day long barking and nuzzling each other.  It was high tide so I couldn't get to the tide pools but surfers and seals were good enough for me.  And I picked up a few pretty rocks on the beach.  I tried to get off the sand without getting wet but a wave snuck up on me and before I knew it I was ankle deep. I dropped sand everywhere we went for the rest of the day.

We zoomed into Sprinkles Cupcakes here. SO Exciting! Their cupcakes take the prize for second best of my life.  (Speaking of... I just remembered that I have a little bit of a almond cupcake with chocolate icing left!  Yea me!) The icing is piled high, the cake is moist and they are almost too beautiful to eat. There is a bit more flavoring in the batter than I usually like, but I can overlook that minor flaw. So worth the 3.50 for each cupcake AND when you whisper the daily word (find this on their FB page) you get a cupcake for free!  I loved their swag too.  The staffers didn't really get my excitement. 

We hit Cups in Downtown La Jolla too. You know if there's a cupcake place within a stone's throw, I'm totally there. (Don't worry, I didn't eat a dozen cupcakes yesterday.  I always get them to go and then pick at them with a fork for days.) This place gets points for coolness. See that lit wall of milk bottles? They had a fantastic gluten free Ricotta Lemon cupcake.  It was so moist and not too sweet.  So well done. Not often you get a gluten free product that you'd eat even if you aren't gluten free.  I actually liked their gluten free better than their regular cupcakes.

I'd like to say that traffic in San Diego is NUTS. Eight lanes going one direction FAST and everyone weaves in and out without much of a glance.  I could drive here if I had to, but might have to rent a bumper car. They should totally make cars with bumpers on them.  Maybe I should send my idea to Prius.  An electric bumper car.  Seems like the insurance companies would be all over this one, right?

Sweet potato fries are THE BOMB.  I usually douse them with ketchup and cayenne, but the mayo with curry spices my aunt whipped up made them the best thing since apple pie. We devoured the plate over a good back patio chat.

Check out the freaky chick in her Baconista t'shirt. I'm so stoked that Halloween is around the corner.  I tried on every creepy headband I could find. I can't wait to get home and set up my Halloween village!  I might be able to restrain myself until Oct. 1, but not much longer...

Hmmm... I think that's all for now.  It's about time to find a wine glass.  Have a good Saturday!