Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Cousins Weekend in San Diego

My husband has lots of cousins who are all very close.  Most of us live in socal so we always try to get together as often as we can.  I really love that part about being in his family now.  Once a year, we try to do an annual cousins trip and this year, we decided to go to San Diego for one big slumber party at Karen and Chris' house.  

Friday night we arrived to their house late evening.  I had to show a picture of their new kitchen that they did all by themselves.  I don't have a picture of it but they installed two sky lights in the ceiling for natural lighting during the day and they did everything themselves except install the granite counter tops.  It looks amazing! 


I love all the storage in the island for cookbooks and wine bottles.  I totally want to do something similar to my dream home one day.


The night started with late night Thai food and wine.


And the eating and drinking begins....




Saturday morning we started off the day with a good hearty breakfast at the Mission and I wore my comfy Sanuk's (most comfortable walking shoes ever).  They have a lot of Mexican inspired dishes which I love. 





The french toast was really fun and unusual.  It was made from cinnamon buns!


I couldn't help but start the day with a mimosa.  Happy me =)  They also had fresh made flour tortillas to go along with some of the dishes.



It was overcast on Saturday so we couldn't go to the beach like originally planned.  We decided to go to the Wild Animal Park Zoo where it was more inland, sunny, and gorgeous out.  I hadn't been to the Wild Animal Park Zoo since college so it was so fun to experience the tram ride again. 


I absolutely LOVE this zoo because it's not actually a zoo but a breeding facility for the animals to coexist and roam around in a natural habitat.






If you look closely, my cousin in law is the sweatiest man alive.  He is the one in the navy shirt in the picture below.



When we initially started to plan the weekend, the first thing that people emailed out was to have dinner at Searsucker.  I would definitely come back again.  The restaurant had such a cool vibe and the place had a great lively energy.  The restaurant was sectioned off so that part of it served as a traditional restaurant, the middle section had a bunch of vintage settees and low tables to be set up like a lounge, and on the other end served as a bar area.  How clever!  The decor was also beautiful and eclectic... and vintage and modern at the same time.  There were ropes hanging from these fixtures with light bulbs, the tables looked like there were made from reclaimed woods, none of the chairs perfectly matched but looked like they belong, we were served with cute turquoise glasses, there were beautiful Turkish looking rugs in deep colors, and the list goes on.



Throughout the restaurant, there were all these signs that said, "Eat" and we did just that.


I never saw anyone carry that many glasses in their arm at once.



Duck fat fries.  That's all I had to say.  French fries are my favorite and duck fat?  Why not?


From the small plate section of the menu, I think we ordered half of it and shared them amongst the table.  I couldn't keep track.


There was a giant size strainer hanging from the ceiling. Totally random but it fit perfectly the funky decor of the restaurant.



A soft egg yolk over potatoes.  I don't know why this idea seems new to me because it isn't.  It is just fun and innovative to see very casual plates all spruced up.



Someone told the waitress that it was one of our birthdays and we got a free mini cake.  Oh and our bill always looks sorta scary like this....it goes on and on.   You will never go hungry with this family.



Mat and I really have to visit SD more often.  The Gaslamp is such a lively place to go out and it was fun just walking through the streets.


After dinner we headed to Solamar to have drinks on the rooftop.


To end the night, Karen cooked us 4 or 5 different types of ramen in one pot.  Eating ramen brings back so many nostalgic memories from my childhood.  I couldn't resist but to have a bite, a slurp and another bite. 

  

'Til the next cousins trip....

6 comments:

Cyn said...

OMG, the guy on the bike cab at Gaslamp! We rode on his before! He has curly light hair. I think he is half Korean. We have pics with him on my FB album when some girls came to SD. How funny!!

Searsucker looks so fun! I must try it out! And did you take your SLR out? How did you get your photos to come out so well? I have no idea how to take pics in the dark. Let me know!

Oh Sweet Escape said...

that is so funny that it is the same bicycle man!! =) i love visiting SD and i don't know why mat and i don't visit more.

i did take my SLR out for the weekend. honestly, i put the camera on automatic (no flash) most of the time! lol! nothing fancy here. i don't like messing with the aperture or ISO often because i'm not that familiar with it and you can lose an opportunity to take a good shot when you are fiddling around with the camera settings too much. the lens you use has a lot to do with the results too. in low lighting situations, you need a lens with a very high aperture because it is able to capture more light and maintain a clear image.

Cyn said...

I just emailed you pics. Hahah! Check out the seats too. Same LV seats.

kawang1 said...

Hey Monica! Thanks for featuring our kitchen with the nice little blurb :=) You took some great pics! BTW - I showed a friend at work (mainly to show her my kitchen :=)) she said your pics are really good. You should be a photographer.

Oh Sweet Escape said...

thanks karen! =) i really appreciate the compliment! that is so sweet of your coworker to say. btw, i'm still working on uploading all our weekend trip online. the files are so large that it is taking a while. i'll try to get it done by tomorrow!

DrunkOnShoes said...

i just got so hungry looking at all this. *tummy rumble*

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