Welcome to my first WIAW blog post! First things first... what is WIAW? It stands for "What I Ate Wednesdays," first discovered on Laura's blog (Sprint 2 the Table). A person dishes on the meals (and sometimes activities too) from one day of their week. I've been wanting to participate in this forever because I'm a blogger deep down to the core. My personalized version will also add tasty nibbles and thoughts throughout the month.
The month of January has been interesting, to say the least. Laura challenged her readers to a 21 Day Jump Start, which I foolishly joined for fun...
Last year's tour of London could have used a few extra days. Besides all the engaging activities available, there were also diverse dishes to captivate our dining curiosity. Dennis and I selected several restaurants and gleefully squeezed them into our schedule. If only there were time for more...
If you're struggling on what cuisine to eat first, Roti Chai brings modern Indian food to the table. We arrived in London around lunchtime and found our way there by tube plus a brief walk. The spacious eatery was calm that morning and we had options galore with their tapa style selection.
On our biking Sundays with kid brother Robin, Dennis and I are always ravenous afterwards! I remember reading about Bushfire Kitchen on friends' blogs and noticed they offered breakfast, which is exactly what we were craving one weekend. After our workout, we drove to their Del Mar location ready to fill our bellies with the most important meal of the day!
San Diego Restaurant Week starts this Sunday on January 21 and continues until January 28, 2018. We're always excited to partner with local establishments such as SoleLuna Cafe. This Italian restaurant is located in downtown San Diego and has been open since 2006! Their offering is a 3 course dinner for $20 with optional $15 wine pairing. There are also vegetarian and gluten free options available.
We were greeted by the owner Michele, who had been manager for several years before becoming the owner. Michele and our server Francesco chatted with us throughout the evening and made sure to keep the flow of food going smoothly. Both are originally from Italy, proudly bringing a bit of their home into this neighborhood. After ordering, complementary bread with bottles of olive oil and balsamic were set on our table.
While searching for a birthday celebration location, I was pointed in the direction of Tribute Pizza in North Park. This pizza spot can tempt taste buds with its popular house made dough and inspired toppings, baked in a hefty wood fired oven. The website points out free customer parking one block away but we found all five marked spots already occupied by 5:30pm on a Saturday evening! The restaurant was busy so I made sure to greet my guests at the entrance before we ordered food.
Tajima has been expanding its business over the last few years and now has five locations in San Diego plus two more in Long Beach and Tijuana. The newest SD locations have all been ramen bars so I was thrilled to include my ramen loving partner Dennis for a media invitation! We headed to their East Village location which I had walked past during my Comic Con adventure. After arriving, our choice of seating was a cozy corner booth near the windows, where we reviewed three sections of the menu: ramen, appetizer and bowl.
Trust Restaurant has been in business for almost two years, which coincidentally is how long my foodie tribe has been praising it! The restaurant is located on the east side of Hillcrest and is self-described as "urban rustic food with the addition of wood fire cookery." With only a meatball sample from Taste of Hillcrest under my belt, I decided Dennis would take me here for my birthday!
Dennis and I are enthusiastic about what's in store for us during the year 2018 but first, a quiet moment to reflect on the year 2017...
It was an eventful year, especially with a mid-year job change and the ever constant stream of gossip and politics on social media. At least food was our steady pillar, taking our minds off the crazy and instilling a peace of mind and belly. With the blog sneaking past 11 years (what? already?!?), we've visited countless new restaurants, forged foodie friendships through Instagram, and even traveled to Europe for the first time! There was much left unpublished so I'll share several new pics of recommendations as well as a few other favs.
