Taco Surf

We had some friends come into town over the weekend.  They’re both California natives, but now that they’re grown up, he has a job in Nebraska, so that’s where they’re raising their kids for now.  They wanted some Mexican food while they were here, so in true San Diego style, I took them to Taco Surf in Pacific Beach.  It was a hit, and just what they wanted.  I love the decor there.  There are surf boards lining the walls and the ceilings.  One board even has a leash attached.  I wonder if the guys working there just grab a board after work and head into the water.  The Boy loved the “sticker door” that was plastered with stickers.  The atmosphere is great, as is the food.  We will definitely be back!

VG

Continuing home from The Great Park, we thought we needed another activity.  I have been wanting to visit the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, but it’s under renovation until August 20.  Then we thought we would stop at the California Surf Museu in Oceanside, but The Hubby forgot and we drove right past the off-ramp.  So moving south, we decided to stop in at VG Bakery to try their famous donuts.  I had to know if they were better than Peterson’s.

With a name like VG (meaning very good) I thought the place might be kind of lame.  I mean, couldn’t they come up with something more exciting?  I guess not because all of their creative genius was going into making their magnificent donuts.  Let me just warn you that we got there around 3 in the afternoon and they were out of raised donuts.  They bake at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. so if you go around 6, you’re in luck.  They did have a few that were sprinkled with sugar (one of which The Hubby got) and one maple glazed that somebody had actually taken back, but I snatched it up anyway.  I’m glad I did because that thing was divine!  It was so good that I scarfed it down before taking a picture.  The donut itself was not big, but it was sure tasty.  We also lucked out with some buttermilk donuts that were just coming out of the oven.  They were warm and delicious.

I’m not usually a huge fan of them, but just looking at this picture makes my mouth water and want more.  It was that good.  The kids, my little donut-haters, vied for cookies and since we needed to spend $10 so we could use a card to pay since we just ran out of cash at our last stop, we bought some sourdough bread and some extra cookies.  The Hubby chose what cookies to buy and ended up with two white chocolate ones that he didn’t realize had walnuts in them.  Since he’s allergic to walnuts, that left the white chocolate cookie eating to me.  Now, I don’t like walnuts.  My mom puts nuts in everything.  In fact, baked goods don’t even tempt her without nuts.  I’m the opposite.  They don’t tempt me if the do have nuts.  But I didn’t know there were nuts, let alone walnuts, in the cookie before I started devouring it.  I was surprised to find that I actually liked the nuts!  They made the cookie better!  Weird, I know.  So in case you’re still wondering, VG did not disappoint and I’ll definitely be back (and taking more pictures because I didn’t do a very good job of that the other day) the next time I’m in Cardiff.  Let me know if  you go.  I’ll be jealous.

Free Lunch

JSYK (that’s what The Girl always says to me instead of just so you know), El Cajon is offering free lunch to children, ages 2-18 every weekday through July 29.  I know Chula Vista is doing the same thing, but I don’t have the location information for that city.  In El Cajon, your kids can pick up their lunch between 11:30 and 12:30 at one of three locations:

El Cajon Library (201 E. Douglas Ave)

El Cajon Family Resource Center (220 S. 1st St)

CVUSD Nutrition Center (225 Roanoke Rd)

We took advantage of this once last week and got a pretty decent lunch.  We went to the library for our lunch and took it home to eat.  There (and I assume at the other locations as well) you can also buy an adult lunch for $2.  Not too shabby.  Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch?

BTW (by the way) did you know that milk comes in these crazy little bags now?  That’s how they are in school lunches.  Weird.  How they don’t make a mess, I’ll never know.

Peterson’s

Over the weekend, my cousin and I took a trip to Los Angeles to attend a baby shower for another cousin of ours.  I met at Brooke’s house and we drove together.  On our way out of town, she convinced me (which I’ll admit, didn’t take a lot of leg-pulling) to let her stop at Peterson’s Donut Corner.  She assured me that they were the best donuts.  We saw this line and I believed her (not that I doubted before).

It’s not in the greatest neighborhood and it’s not the best looking building.  In fact, you can’t even go in.  You can see the donuts and pastries through the window, but it’s an order and eat outside kind of place.

I love the hand chairs

But they make some dang good donuts.  Brooke said she could never remember if it was the cake donuts or the raised donuts that were so great there, since she always gets an apple fritter.  I’m convinced that raised donuts are always better than cake donuts.  Sometimes I wonder why people ever even buy cake donuts.  But after looking at the cake donuts, I’ll have to admit that I was tempted.

I think I made a good choice with my chocolate frosted raised donut.

Not only was it delicious, it was ENORMOUS!  Seriously, I think that’s the biggest donut I have ever eaten.  I never would have been able to finish a maple bar.  Maybe the next time I’m in Escondido, I’ll have to stop at Peterson’s again and try out their cake donuts.  And it doesn’t even matter when I go.  They’re open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day!  That’s my kind of donut shop!