Cannoli: Yay or Nay?

Just past San Onofre

Sometimes, it's just nice to get away, even if it's only for an evening. We're lucky in southern California - we've got just about everything you could imagine within a couple of hours' drive. So Saturday after work, James picked me up and we drove down to San Diego to spend the remainder of the weekend in Little Italy and exploring Balboa Park.

Little Italy

We strolled down India Street in search of a restaurant, and oh my goodness, were we ever spoiled for choice. It was almost like it didn't matter where we chose to eat, because wherever we ended up would be fabulous! We chose La Villa and weren't disappointed. Wine. Rustic, handmade pasta. Chocolate mousse dessert with salted hazelnuts and praline. YUM. Afterwards, we had coffee at Caffe Italia (and I had a cannoli - yep, two desserts).

So, I have a question...what am I missing with cannoli? Am I just having really bad ones? Because every one that I've eaten tastes stale and slightly...odd. I keep ordering them because I want to believe that there are better ones out there, but maybe I'm wrong?

There was a man who squatted near her foot and took a photo looking up her dress. Total photobomb.

Sunday was spent walking from our hotel in Little Italy to the waterfront to see The Star of India and the USS Midway (we also saw a dolphin playing in the water!), and then walking to Balboa Park to the Air and Space Museum. I had two desserts and a giant breakfast with a mimosa to work off, after all!

Rigging

Balboa Park

Succulents

Organ

Sunken Garden

Flower-filled Fountain

Doorway

Spring Flowers

Probably the best part of the weekend for James. I made him pose with this Spitfire, since he's built multiple models of them since Christmas.

All in all, we spent about 7 hours walking. My feet may fall off.

The Cutest Eggs You've Ever Seen

I was all set to tell you about my day in LA but I got sidetracked quite quickly by cute Japanese animal eggs. Seriously. I went to San Francisco last year and one of the first stops was to the Ichiban Kan market in Little Tokyo. I fell in love with these little animal egg shapers, but decided not to buy them. Big mistake. I've been wanting them ever since. So last week while in LA, I found a small Japanese dollar-type store and decided that they HAD to have the egg things. And guess what....


Animal Eggs!

Bunny and Bear

 ....they did!! (They also had lime green bunny chopsticks which I absolutely HAD to have. They seriously make meals taste better.)


Chillin'

You have to hard-boil your eggs and peel them while they're still hot. Then they go in the molds and get stuck in ice water for 10 minutes.
 

Bunny & Bear Eggs

I don't know if my eggs were too small or if the bear is just a little too large or if I just haven't gotten the technique down, but the bear eggs turned out mostly without ears.

The cutest egg you've even seen

The bunny eggs turned out a little better than the bear eggs.


Eaten egg with tomato salad and risotto

 Even my vegan friend ate one. They're just way too awesome.


Cupcakes, pre-eating

Oh, and I also made some kick-ass cupcakes this weekend. They have cream cheese frosting and pink sprinkles. P.S. They're almost all gone.