Christmas is coming up sooner than you think! One thing I always like to do every year is to make homemade gifts for friends – mostly in the form of food related gifts. In the past I’ve done flavored sugars, varieties of cookies, mini loaves of bread as well as flavored salts. In partnership with Whole Foods Encinitas, I’ve got an easy DIY gift to share with you plus a holiday entertaining idea! Also, HINT HINT – there’s another giveaway …

I’ve been wanting to check out Bella Vista Social Club for awhile after I had read Jinxi’s post about it earlier this year. At the time it was too far away for me to go for lunch, but since our office move to mid-Miramar/Mira Mesa, it’s much closer and easier drive.

It’s right near the turn off for the Torrey Pines Glider Port and there’s a small sign out front indicating that there’s a restaurant nearby, otherwise you’d probably never know …

Oh my goodness. It’s December. Where did the year go?! I don’t think I’m prepared for this whole Christmas thing yet, especially not when it’s been in the 70′s lately. Ahh, the glamorous life of a San Diegan.
To celebrate December, and to celebrate the start of the Christmas season, I am in the gift giving mood with a $50 gift card to Daphne’s California Greek Cafe (thanks to Daphne’s and their generous ways). I was also able to pick a …

I was invited recently to go and check out Firehouse Subs, a sandwich shop that’s apart of a larger nationwide chain. The cool thing about Firehouse Subs is how much they give back to the community and their support of local firehouses.

For instance, you can purchase one of these used pickle buckets for $2. All proceeds benefit the Firehouse Subs Public Safety, whose  goal is to provide funding, life-saving equipment, disaster assistance and educational opportunities for first responders and public …

I hope you and your family had a very lovely turkey day, er Thanksgiving, yesterday! I just chilled out at home, helped with making the dinner (which was a true “dinner” this year – Jake had to work until 6PM and we didn’t eat until after 8PM instead of our usual “eat-at-3PM”).

I started the day off by baking some scones. These are actually the packaged mix from Fresh n Easy. You just cut in some butter, add an egg and …

Since it’s been awhile since I took some of these photos, I must come to the conclusion I’ll never do a “proper” full-fledged post. And since I’m feeling lazy before the big start of the holidays, you get this mis-match of photos and little stories of a few places I visited with my co-workers.
On Friday’s I give my co-workers a choice between two places – usually places I really want to visit or sound interesting to me. Here’s a few …

I know I don’t do a whole lot of recipe posting on here. Mostly because I cook and then I just want to eat already! If I’m cooking, chances are I’ve been hungry for longer and making pretty plates and then taking photos seems like way too much work. Here are a few suggestions for Thanksgiving sides that I have actually documented which would make a great appetizer, side, or dessert!

Memere’s Pork Stuffing
My memere (or actually, great-memere, or great grandmother) …