The other day, Mrs romance as well as I were on the road driving around the Daylesford region of country Victoria. It’s a charming area of Australia, as well as if you ever get the chance, choose it (here’s our wrap of Daylesford as well as 7 reasons why you must go there).
Anyway, whilst on the road, Mrs R identified what she believed were sheep in a close-by field. completely natural in this rural part of the world. She got extremely excited… however they [turned out to be] goats. This is neither right here nor there I suppose. Mrs R was brought up in the city as well as – by her own admission – her understanding of wildlife was restricted to roadkill as well as whatever she might see at the Easter Show.
Realising this situation of mistaken identity, Mrs R ended up being rather reflective: “You don’t get black as well as white sheep, do you?” she pondered.
“No, not really. normally just one or the other.”
And then came the bombshell that blew my mind.
Are sheep all albinos?
There is no action to that.
So anyway, California! right here we are. Our second week. let the diary begin!
Monday morning. We’re still type of buzzing over the weekend that just happened. Not only the Halloween night out in San Diego, which was not only legendary however extraordinary fun, however likewise the Saturday as well as Sunday festivities in Old town San Diego.
The Mexican event of Dia de los Muertos – or Day of the Dead – is incredible. everybody gowns up, has their faces painted in the sugar skull styles as well as hangs out in Old Town. It’s a type of recognition as well as remembrance of lost liked ones, however it’s not maudlin or gloomy; it truly is a celebration. There’s a parade with the primary street lead by a mariachi band.
The procession starts in the park – one of the oldest parts of Old town (guess that makes it quite old then!) as well as completes at the old cemetery, with graves there dating back to the very first settlers in the 1800s.
The skeletons dotted about the location – such as this one – seem a bit macabre at first, however it’s not like that at all. The colours as well as symbolism in the costumes as well as in the designs all lead towards rather a interesting spectacle.
Of course, with every celebration, even one remembering the dead, there’s a cocktail! Our margaritas at dinner are from the Dia de los Muertos special menu… as well as they’re not bad!
Mrs romance has made a decision to go checking out on her own today. I’ve complied with suit, however she’s the one taking pictures! This is the museum of guy in San Diego’s lovely Balboa Park.
Mrs romance as well as I have made a decision to choose a walk around town together today. We’ve popped into an metropolitan Outfitters store as well as discovered this on display: it’s Mrs Romance’s book Buns, Braids & Twists. In America, this is what her Hair romance book’s called. In the UK, it’s called The hairstyle directory as well as in Australia – of program – it’s called Hair Romance!
But exactly how cool’s this – Mrs R is extremely excited. particularly as her book’s next to Lena Dunham’s as well as Amy Poehler’s autobiographies! Well done, Mrs Romance!
To celebrate seeing Mrs R’s book (and to nurse our feet back to normality after a quite legendary stroll), we pop into a bit bar in our suburb Hillcrest for a drink. These frozen margaritas are $10.50 for the pair – as well as there’s about 750ml in each glass! I believe we’ll be coming back to this place.
It’s called Fiesta Cantina on university as well as 3rd Avenue. We’d link to their website, however they’ve got horrible autoplay music that annoys us. The bar’s truly great though!
I’ve had to get up as well as return the rental cars and truck this morning. It’s rather close to the airport, however considering that the airport’s rather close to town, I choose to walk home. On my way, I find this a lot of unusual street. You see, anything truly can occur in America!
We go in browse of breakfast today. There’s so much to select from around town we’re type of overwhelmed. In the end we duck into a location called the Fig Tree Cafe. By this stage we’re calling it brunch – however with a view to going out for lunch with one of our friends, we try as well as keep the meal small.
What I’m expecting to be just a sandwich turns out to be bloody enormous! This is my ‘Eggwich’. It has at least two fried eggs in it, a stack of infant spinach, mozzarella cheese, crispy bacon in (what I suspect is fried) brioche bread. It likewise includes a stack of home potatoes… yup, I’m full.
By the way, I’ve learnt now what this ‘over easy’ service means. It’s similar to what you phone call steak that’s cooked to different levels. ‘Over easy’ is truly runny yolk, ‘over medium’ is where the yolk’s cooked with however near liquid in the middle as well as ‘over hard’ is where the yolk’s damaged as well as cooked solid.
The ‘over’ part indicates the egg’s flipped as well as cooked on both sides. otherwise it’s ‘sunny side up’. This style’s risky though if you don’t like the white a bit runny, which is rank as far as I’m concerned. No requirement for snotty eggs. Bleh!
So it’s lunch time, as well as we as well as our good friend Mona head out to objective Beach, which is quite close to the city. We have a stroll along the sand then back as much as the promenade for lunch. thinking about my huge brunch only took location about two hours ago, I’m a bit anxious about what to eat.
Very sensibly, Mrs romance as well as I select something to share. Nachos. Can’t be as well filling, can it? Mona likewise gets some poultry wings (she likes her wings, does Mona!). however when our nachos comes, it is available in a metal tray as well as looks a lot more like Kilimanjaro than food. This is the greatest plate of anything I’ve ever seen. It’s absurd.
And it’s not like it’s just topping splodged on a huge stack of chips. No no no. This has been very carefully layered to ensure that each time you believe you’ve defeated it as well as eaten all the great bits, there’s a lot more to go. It’s a bit like Tetris. You believe you’ve completed it, then one more level starts.
There’s no method even the three of us can get with this behemoth, so we box up what’s left (as in a lot of of it) as well as there’s supper as well as most likely breakfast sorted!
Here’s objective Beach. Beautiful, ins’t it? It leads on from Pacific Beach, which stretches back behind us, heading north. We can’t believe this is November!
Today we choose to modification office location. This is hotel del Coronado on the west side of Coronado – type of a peninsular that runs parallel to the mainland. This hotel is massive as well as rather charming too. There’s a bar right here that over-looks the beach, so that’s where we’re heading, laptops in hand!
Here’s the bar in hotel del Coronado. We’ve been right here a lot of of the day. now it’s sunset, so we pack up as well as make our method down to the beach for a walk along the water’s edge.
Mrs R has been snapping away like crazy getting some fantastic shots with our new Olympus OM-D E-M1. It’s so much much easier to utilize than her old DSLR. This even has a touch screen shutter choice to make it much easier to select where you want the cam to focus… anyway, speaking of focus, exactly how lovely does Mrs R look in this sunset?
The title photo at the top of this post’s likewise from tonight’s sunset. This truly is a splendid part of the world.
Finally! Our time has come. We’ve made it to an In ‘N’ Out Burger place! Mrs romance has been speaking about these burgers considering that the begin of last year! I can see what all the fuss is about – my Double-Double’s extremely tasty. I’ve done a bit of snooping as well as it seems the Double-Double (double meat as well as double cheese) has been around considering that 1963, so it’s a tried as well as checked recipe!
I mean you might state it’s the west coast’s version of Shake Shack on the east side of the country.
Today, we’re back in Balboa Park – in the museum of guy that Mrs R photographed the other day. There’s an exhibition on the history of beer on, so naturally I’m interested! I’ve got to say, it’s a bit underwhelming, though this wall of all the different words for beer is rather good. Under a great deal of them there’s a bit truth about beer.
The wall’s back decrease to a bit of beer technology, showing exactly how beer is made.
The rest of the museum’s rather interesting, with great deals of different aspects about where guy has come from. There’s a quite grisly ancient Egyptian bit that has genuine mummified remains. Mrs R doesn’t like that kind of thing, however that’s okay – we’re off for a drink after this!
We’ve walked for a long time after the museum. We’ve walked all the method down fifth Avenue, then up Fourth, down Third, up Sixth a bit – I believe we’ve totally explored the Gaslamp Quarter, as well as only with two refuel stops.
The very first pitstop was Magnolia tap & Kitchen on 6th Avenue as well as E Street. excellent bit venue. then we stopped in at the Hopping Pig gastro-pub on 5th Avenue between G as well as F Streets.
Then we girded our loins – whatever that indicates – as well as hiked all the method back to Hillcrest as well as to Fiesta Cantina. Where we promptly gotten two of these monsters. These are margaritas, however as they’re over 1 litre each (36oz), I like to phone call them ‘MEGARITAS’! We discover ourselves drinking as well lots of of these monsters as well as playing drag queen bingo (we didn’t win), gigantic link 4 (Mrs romance is some type of link 4 savant) as well as then charades/pictionary – which we won!
This morning we’ve made a decision to head to Pacific beach – or PB to its friends. This is at the north end of objective beach as well as its nachos mountain. The pier – Crystal Pier – has a hotel on it! Well it’s a lot more like two rows of bungalows as well as a street you can drive up anyway.
The views from under the pier are fantastic as well as the water’s so refreshing. Today’s so hot again. Doesn’t seem like we’re heading for wintertime at all.
Tonight we’ve taken a trip back down to San Diego Old Town. We’ve been hankering for a bit of traditional Mexican food – as well as a lot more specifically, I’ve been hanging out for a cigar.
Mrs romance has extremely well agreed to go along with me to the Churchill Cigar Lounge on San Diego Avenue. It’s the best location for a smoke – we even discover a backgammon board there. Mrs R’s quite great at that game in addition to link 4, you know!
This morning we pay bit Italy a visit. They have a farmers’ market – ‘Mercado‘ – weekly right here as well as block off a whole road. The stalls are amazing. So much fresh create that’s all so budget-friendly too. Makes such a modification from Sydney’s growers’ as well as farmers’ markets.
But finest of all is the gluten-free cake stall. Mrs romance picks up some remarkable stuff for dessert… including gluten complimentary s’mores cake! Un. Heard. Of!
For other things to perform in San Diego, you may like to have a look at our First-Timer’s guide to San Diego!
Dinner time! We haven’t had a cheese dinner for ages. So we get in some proscuito, garlic sopressa as well as some salami, some gorgonzola, triple cream brie as well as some crackers. Of course, to drink Mrs R hits the rosé as well as I get stuck into the regional beer.
Ballast point Brewing business – besides doing a quite great gin – makes an IPA called Sculpin. All their beers are named after different fish as well as they’re all brewed right here in San Diego.
The last word has to go to my much-loved photo of the week – I identified this van on the method back from dropping our hire cars and truck off at the rental company.
This is the best example of exactly how crucial it is to research study the name of your business before getting signage made. In America, ARS indicates nothing. Australia, NZ, the UK, the Rep. of Ireland, ARS Plumbing would suggest a service other than the one intended!
What’s the greatest margarita or nachos you’ve ever consumed? exactly how lots of languages can you state the word ‘beer’? Are all sheep albinos? tell us in the comments!
Images by Mr as well as Mrs romance by means of Instagram: @MrAndMrsRomance, @HairRomance as well as of program @AngryBastard!