I dedicate this post to San Diego and all of its delicious glory. Here is a taste of San Diego in one weekend.

FRIDAY:
Blind Lady Alehouse in Normal Heights. An entire wall of this establishment is pretty much a set of windows, which I love. Sunlight streams in and hits our glasses, making our delicious beers glow like lanterns.

Left: An imperial stout (forgot name) and Alesmith’s Lil’ Devil. Right photo: Coronado Idiot IPA and Coronado Orange Wheat.

Clams and mussels

Ice cream cones from Mariposa – also in Normal Heights. Banana is one of my favorite flavors. I kept hearing about Mariposa so I was determined to try it. Very nice ice cream that is on the icier, less creamy side.

Banana walnut and maple walnut

SATURDAY:
Cafe Zinc in Solana Beach.

Salad and a vegetarian quiche

A pink hydrangea

Bronx Pizza in Hillcrest. By far my favorite pizza joint in all of San Diego because I love New York-style pizza. By the way, my friend and I almost finished the entire pizza! Just two slices left, which will be wonderful as leftovers tomorrow. Just needs a quick trip to the oven. I may also add sliced fresh tomatoes and baby spinach to jazz it up.

Cheese pie at Bronx Pizza

SUNDAY
Hillcrest Farmers Market, where have you been all my life?? I can’t believe I’ve been going to the La Jolla market all this time without ever stepping foot in any of San Diego’s other fine outdoors markets. I was so impressed by Hillcrest. I actually left to get more cash from an ATM so I could buy more. Toward the end I had to tear myself away before I spent a fortune on all the fine produce. Next, I’ll have to visit Little Italy’s market.

Loved how these were still in a mangled bunch. Wild!

Edible flowers

Radishes and a vegetable I do not know.

Bright heirlooms. Tomato season is finally here.

Raw zucchini with chili and lemon

I must have a few words about these samples. One produce stand went the extra mile and seasoned them. It caught my eye immediately. I tried the tomatoes mixed with cilantro — divine. But what blew my mind was the sliced zucchini plate pictured above. It was so zesty! Not only was it attractively sliced like so, it was seasoned with lemon, salt, and a Mexican chili spice. It was truly inspiring. I also didn’t know one could eat zucchini raw.

Tomatos with cilantro

Below: Fresh Mexican juice. I had the watermelon and it was so beyond refreshing. It was the perfect thing for a sunny, hot walk down the market stands. Next time I’m getting strawberry.

Thank you San Diego for another wonderful weekend of eats. See you next time.

It’s something I do all the time these days, literally and figuratively — confront the chicken. Some of you may have heard me use that phrase before. It’s what I say to be brave when the going gets tough. It’s also very apt in describing those chilling moments before I handle raw poultry. I really do have to confront it, as I would confront any difficult task that needs to be done. So in my latest cooking adventure, I learned how to NOT be chicken, while cooking the chicken. When I got slammed with the flu a couple weeks ago, it was the perfect chance to give it a whirl. I dragged myself out of bed, went to Ralphs and bought a bird to make a nice broth. Believe it or not, it was the first time I have ever prepared whole poultry. This is what happened next:

It didn’t go as planned, but the broth turned out beautifully. I quite believe it cured me faster. By the way, this experience was very different from a previous one involving chicken thighs because this little guy was whole. It seems absurd to be so afraid of a nicely butchered, clean chicken but I can’t help myself. Am I among millions of Americans who have become dependent on mechanically separated chicken pieces, tightly packaged in styrofoam trays? Probably. Unfortunately, the more my protein (meat) source resembles its original form, the more intimidated I get.

Things I want to devour right now:

a big fat juicy steak, grilled (medium rare)*
strawberry cupcake with cream cheese frosting
fresh strawberries
grilled cheddar cheese sandwich
chopped romaine with black olives and balsamic vinaigrette*
Dungeness crab legs
fried okra
tomatoes fried in olive oil
poached eggs on toast
cheese enchiladas with a pile of chopped iceberg lettuce
buttered baguette and salami sandwich

*really want

Somehow, it helps to make this list. Actually, not really. Mind you…I demolished a Big Mac, Chicken McNuggets and fries for a quick dinner tonight. What is going on? I’m still hungry!

As you know, there’s been a massive egg recall. More than half a billion of them have been recalled, or so I’ve read. That’s a lot of eggs! What irked me the most about it, even more than the salmonella scare itself, was that the tainted eggs came all the way from Iowa. No wonder supermarket eggs are so lackluster — it’s because they’ve traveled cross-country to get here. That is why I try to buy local eggs from the farmer’s market, pictured above.

Just recently, however, I really needed eggs and I considered buying the supermarket variety because my swiftly ripening bananas demanded to be baked into bread. So off I went to Vons. It shouldn’t be that bad, right? Lo and behold, a sign was posted above the cartons saying that the particular brand — Lucerne, to be exact — is NOT part of the Iowa egg recall, despite the fact that Lucerne is one of the brands on the recall list. I looked at the what few shoddy egg cartons remained, some of them soggy with who knows what…and peeped inside. They were cracked and ugly. I desperately wanted to bake banana bread but I just couldn’t risk using these tired-looking eggs, salmonella-laced or not. I decided to wait another day and go to the farmer’s market for the farm-fresh variety.

I had a sneaking feeling this would happen: I got to the market and the egg guy said they were sold out. The egg recall had everyone in a hizzy and cleaned out his supply quicker than usual. I was crestfallen. I drove through downtown La Jolla traffic just to get eggs and now they’re all gone! The egg guy must have seen my disappointment because a couple minutes later after I walked away, he came up to me and said, “ma’am, if you’d like some eggs, come see me later this afternoon at 12:45.” He had eggs on reserve somewhere in that van of his!

Of course I said I’ll think about it. Since I ran into a couple friends at the market, I dilly dallied and had some lunch to kill time. I then went back at 12:45 and as promised, Egg Guy sneaked a carton of a dozen jumbo eggs in a plastic bag and handed it to me. I couldn’t believe I had just taken part in what seemed like an underground transaction for quality eggs. It was just too hilarious. A black market for eggs? I’d believe it. I also like to believe that Egg Guy recognized that I care. I care enough to deserve his backdoor farm-fresh egg supply.

Watch out for my next post, in which I baked these bad boys for banana bread.