Knott’s Berry Farm and the Boysenberry Festival
A Southern California berry is celebrated at Knott’s Berry Farm with a sweet annual festival. The boysenberry is one of a kind which makes juicy jam and pies, so it’s fitting to honor this prized fruit. The Boysenberry What really is a boysenberry? The berry may look like a blackberry, but it’s a cross between...
Time To Try New Bakeries
O’Brien’s Boulangerie in Poway is just what is needed in-between freeway 15 and hwy 67. The Escobar family has been baking breads for 30 years, mostly wholesale, and it’s new location also offers pastries, breakfast and lunch. You can watch bread being made and order a very buttery palmier cookie like I did. My turkey...
Big Island, Hawaii-Coffee and Chantilly Cake
Anytime is coffee time, and I discovered the Kona Mountain Coffee store on the Big Island. The coffee is 100% grown and hand picked on the family’s Kona farm, then roasted in the store. I met the owner Bill Dwyer and his daughter Heather, and they are committed to producing the smoothest coffees. Chocolate candies...
Big Jake and Randy Serving Big Island Style BBQ
BBQ at the roadside stand Big Jake’s in Honaunau, south of Capt Cook, Big Island, Hawaii. It’s all about the barbecue ribs, meats and chicken cooked over keawe wood by Jake. Jake was raised on the island, cooked in many established kitchens and is a certified bbq pit master. You know its good bbq when...
Honolulu Baby-How I Love Their Foods
Every few years, I like to go to Honolulu and eat favorite foods just like the locals do every day. Known for long wait times in Waikiki, Eggs ‘n Things, the check in person at the restaurant on Saratoga Road, told my cousin Ann and me that the wait would be an hour. Happily, the...
More Genuine Mexican Food in San Diego
Chilaquiles with or without a fried egg? I must have the egg with a runny yolk to drizzle over, but Chris’ mom, Norma wanted her dish without an egg. Talavera Azul in Chula Vista, Calif is very well known for their varieties of chilaquiles. The traditional dish (not to be confused with nachos) is made...
Carlsbad-“The Village by the Sea”
To think Carlsbad used to be a stop off point between LA and San Diego before modern roads existed. Usually, I zip by this coastal city while driving on the freeway, and when the opportunity came to take a walking tour with Carlsbad Food Tours I got excited. Our guide took us to an old...
Old San Diego with the New Rising Up
Oh how much my native San Diego has changed in downtown with new high rise structures in front of old buildings. Whenever I travel people always say how they love to visit our city. So I say to my local friends, get out there and experience it and don’t take it for granted. I soaked...
The Creative Sweets of the Holidays
Time for the holidays with food and decor. One of our favorites is the elaborate Holiday Chocolate Display at the Park Hyatt Aviara in Carlsbad. It has become a traditional event for us and this year’s “Santa’s Workshop Emporium” is incredible. To create this masterpiece, Executive Pastry Chef Christophe Rull brought together a few teammates...
Wickenburg, AZ has Surprising Sweet Treats
Wickenburg, Arizona home of the world’s team roping competition! But we were here to visit our niece and her family. We loaded the kids in the car and headed to Chaparral Homemade Ice Cream store where ice cream and bakery goods are made on premises. The kids loved the mint chocolate chip, cherry vanilla and...
Fine Dining at Manhattan La Jolla
There’s a reason for the experience of fine dining. It satisfies the need to be waited on with style and to make you feel special. Manhattan of La Jolla is such a place. Located in the Empress Hotel in the village of La Jolla, white linen tablecloths signaled the start of a nice evening. We...
