San Diego travel notes

We drove to San Diego for the weekend with Mick's friend R to meet up with another friend doing a 10 day brewery tour. Yep, I was the DD. Thankfully, we only went for the weekend.

The Westin is under construction. Jackhammer construction. Boo.

We met the friend and wife at Tipsy Crow for drinks.



I had Chopin (potato vodka), cranberry and lime.

We went to some brewery I've already forgotten the name of and had dinner from a food truck. They made tacos and fries for me. It was actually pretty good but also light. We 3 went for second dinner later at Hopping Pig. I had a beef and pork burger which may have been one of the best burger patties I've ever had. Plus caramelized onions. Yes please. And another Chopin and cranberry. Apparently no one has Tito's but they have Chopin.


MUST TRY!

We didn't stay out nearly late enough for R but I was wiped from this week and Mick was about to pass out from the ridiculous amount of beer they already drank so we called it a night.

The next morning, we met the friends at Coffee Bean where I got coffee to go with my almond milk I brought from home. The friend's wife tells us on the way to breakfast that she had seen a place with gluten-free and vegan options but decided on this place instead. A creperie. Mick and I almost started laughing. That has to be the epitome of what I can't eat. They were able to give me some fruit and bacon. And I had a yogurt I brought with me.


Breakfast

We split up since they were picking up another friend so we wouldn't all fit.


Want. Mick said yes. :)

We met at BNS Brewery where they drank a lot of these little glasses--I think a dozen or more each.


want those glasses, too

We had lunch at a sushi restaurant they wanted to go to.

the clock

The waitress was pretty good about helping me order but the guys also ordered sushi/sashimi for the table to share. I had a rainbow roll with shrimp instead of crab. This was my favorite thing I ate but I miss soy sauce. A lot. I should have run over to Von's to see if they had coconut aminos or chili sauce.

half my rainbow roll with shrimp sushi

The shared plate had a couple ponzu items in the middle and egg items as well so I watched carefully what was touching what. When there was not much left, R asked me to have some more but I couldn't. Mick actually knew what was going on and mentioned that the remaining items had contaminated items dragged across them (I would have just said they were touching, but he was right). I think it was just a defensive thing, since he felt bad that I couldn't eat it and he didn't think about what he was doing, but he kinda made some commentary about us being ridiculous. In reality, maybe I would have had more if there was sauce or something but the large pieces of just fish were not that appetizing to me after a few pieces.

The friends took off and we went to Seaport Village. I got some awesome stuff for my sister, and Mick and I got a few things too. He kept me from buying more for my sister. Voice of reason and all that. We stopped at Ben and Jerry's for a snack and they had 3 non-dairy sorbets so I had the berry and lemonade. They were very good together; separate, the berry was better.

Almost ice cream

That evening we met at Stone brewery with a couple more couples. I thought we were going to a garden but it was a beer garden. In case you don't know (I'm probably the last person in the world to figure this one out), a beer garden is a patio where you drink beer.

beer garden for real yo

We sat for dinner and the waiter helped me out with ordering. Since the rest of the table was ordering appetizers, I got ceviche without the chips. It was good.

I bet those quail were good...

They also had Brussels sprouts. The ladies who ordered them thought they were burnt. I thought they looked roasted but I couldn't eat them. So R and Mick tried them and said they were good. YES! Mick ate Brussels sprouts. And not just one. He thought the ladies were being ridiculous and tried to explain they could take the outside layer off and it's green inside. I pointed out the pancetta to him and he liked that too of course. Now he's a little excited that we're growing the Brussels sprouts.

dinner is served

My dinner was a prosciutto wrapped rainbow trout with brown rice and pan roasted carrots (in oil) topped with arugula. The fish was very good. The prosciutto was great except that I didn't want to eat the fish skin so I was peeling the prosciutto off the fish skin--messy. The carrots were surprisingly good and Mick had a few.

Since we were there to celebrate the friend's birthday, there was dessert ordered all around. And they had one the waiter was certain I could have and another he thought I could have. (One said g/f on the menu and the other didn't but we weren't sure why it wouldn't be.) So I ordered the safe one, a tapioca pudding with mango chutney.

I love coconut milk.

The friends were done but we knew R wouldn't want to call it a night, so we took the earlier suggestion of the owner of a shop at Seaport Village and walked from our hotel to the Top of the Hyatt. It was not a party scene but we had drinks and hung out for a while before heading back.

our view of the water

Today, we were going to Kono's for breakfast at the suggestion of Mick's friend we had dinner with last weekend. While he stood in line, R and I got coffee, then joined him. The lady behind us was certain they would be able to feed me. At least a fruit cup. Ha-ha. They use bananas so no. But the bacon was way better than the creperie. So I had about the same meal as yesterday but no fruit. And it was on the beach.

See his giant burrito?

We headed down to Mission Beach, stopped in some shops, then they sat at the bar at the Wave House while I walked on the beach. Because it's San Diego. And the beach. And sand. And awesome.

I'm no Beyoncé.

Before leaving, I had another ceviche. The waiter said it's local cod and he gave me veggies with it. Pretty good stuff.

ceviche

In case it looks like I ate pretty healthy the whole time, I also snacked during the whole trip on a bag of Way Better Sweet Chili chips that I finished on the way home.