Carcass Soup

Ok, so it's actually just plain ol' turkey soup, not anything exciting. 

But just because it was simple doesn't mean it wasn't delish. It was hearty, veggielicious, turkeylicious and served piping hot — the perfect antidote for Monday's Thanksgiving hangover.

Turkey broth is definitely our fave leftover. Thanks to J's mom for being so generous with hers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's impossible to count all our blessings, but at the end of the day, we're most thankful for life's simple luxuries — a job, a home, good health, our friends and family... 

...And, of course, food! We were too busy stuffing our faces to take a lot of pictures, but we can assure you it was all delicious and homemade with lots of love.

Pre-dinner sliders with cranberry-orange sauce

It's Party Time!

We kicked off the holidays on Thanksgiving Eve with our friends J+B (who also happen to be our neighbors), and M. After a brisk walk past the shady video store and a creeper outside the adult fetish store, we arrived at J+B's doorstep in under 10 minutes. In a city where everyone drives, it doesn't get any better than that!

There were some delicious munchies waiting for us upon arrival.

We supplied the spinach-yogurt dip and some spiced cranberry sangria. 

Dinner started with butternut squash soup with creme fraiche and scallions...

...followed by turkey with all the trimmings. 

Roasted brussels sprouts with bacon? Yes please!!!

J+B sure know how to throw a party. So much so that they're now the keepers of our storied IT'S PARTY TIME sign, which has presided over many of our get-togethers over the years.

 The IT'S PARTY TIME debut, on J's birthday

IT'S PARTY TIME, poolside

Peekaboo...IT'S PARTY TIME at M's birthday sleepover!

We are so thankful for our wonderful friends J, B and M. IT'S PARTY TIME whenever you guys are around! 

(Now if only we could figure out a way to sneak IT'S PARTY TIME into J+B's upcoming wedding!)  

This is Love

An egg tart from Golden Gate Bakery in SF, thoughtfully packed by our wonderful friends W+M and painstakingly hand-carried home by J. It arrived in perfect condition and tasted mindblowingly delicious as always!

Phogettable

Sometimes that craving for Vietnamese food hits like a ton of bricks and we need to eat it like NOW. Unfortunately, we have yet to find a good Vietnamese restaurant west of Chinatown. But with each new place that pops up, our hope is renewed.

We were totally excited when Unphogettable opened and even more excited we finally had the opportunity to check it out.

After we ordered, cucumber water and accessories promptly followed.

Then came our first entree. This "vegetarian vermicelli" be shady. There were two kinds of egg rolls in it, and we think one kind totally had pork inside. Either that, or it was made with really funky, meaty veggies. Anyway, aside from making us feel kind of guilty, the bun was ok and just lacked the punch of tons of fresh Vietnamese herbs (love you, tia to).

Of course, we also had to try the pho. Now, we're of the belief that no pho is quite as good as mom's pho, and, in a pinch, the next best thing is a greasy bowl from Pho 79. So our expectations for any other pho are pretty low.

And thank goodness, because this pho was so mediocre and so...phogettable. Despite the cute signage that tried to convince us otherwise.

Going BIG in San Diego, Part II

After a BIG burger pit stop, we finally got to our destination — Coronado.

We can't confirm whether the Del is haunted, but it's definitely creeeeepy.

When this is right outside your doorstep, though, how bad could it possibly be?

Then again, we did have a mystery visitor in the night...but we think it was friendly.

BIG Brunch
Our mornings started with an overwhelming brunch buffet.

This isn't even half of the selection

There was so much going on that we mostly just grabbed an omelet and then called it quits...except when we felt like taking a BIG risk. Here, we present to you the prime rib breakfast taco.

Was it good or was it bad? You'll just have to try it to find out.

BIG Fish
Lunch was back in Ocean Beach, where the fish tacos at South Beach were ENORMOUS, as were the shrimp.

BIG Birthday
We celebrated two birthdays at Saturday's dinner, so Island Prime was more than appropriate with their huge double-cut pork chop and baseball cut steak.

Go BIG and Go Home
On Sunday, we concluded our visit with a San Diego must — carne asada fries from Lolita's.

This plate of fries topped with two cheese, guac sour cream and meat could've easily fed four, and yet, somehow, it was almost finished by two. Yikes! BIG mistake!

BIG Laughs
Not only was the food supersized — so was the fun.

 Giant Jenga

Thanks, SD and friends, for a BIG, beautiful weekend!

Going BIG in San Diego, Part I

We had a BIG weekend with lots of things to celebrate — a friend's birthday, a reunion of college buddies and 7 years of E+J — and there was no better way to spend it than in San Diego under a BIG blue sky with some great friends.

We started our adventure in Ocean Beach. Not much has changed since we were last there about 5 years ago — it's still the same laid-back, slightly crunchy beach town.

BIG Burgers
We were in OB for a late lunch at Hodad's, where both the burgers and the lines are huge.

A typical wait — luckily, we had somehow missed the lines that day

The funky surfer beach shack interior and San Diego's version of Sriracha

We started with a mountain of hot and crispy Frings, a mix of fries and onion rings.

They don't kid around with their burgers. They were piled high with a generous patty, tons of sweet, mild onions, crunchy pickle slices, thick slices of tomato and a handful of lettuce.

BIG Bacon

There is major bacon craziness here. Not just a couple of slices, but a giant disc that was pretty much its own patty.

It's no coincidence that Hodad's is on Newport and Bacon

BIG Shake

We ended the meal by splitting a ginormous vanilla shake crowned with a huge hunk of ice cream. They probably don't use any milk in this thing — just lots of hand-scooped, old-school Thrifty ice cream.

Like sleepy beach towns, no-frills milkshakes and dating anniversaries, some traditions are definitely worth keeping!

Read more about our BIG weekend...