Asado Grill

I received in invite to check out Hotel Karlan, a DoubleTree by Hilton located in North San Diego, which recently went through a re-imaging. The invite was specifically to check out their flagship restaurant, Asado Grill and enjoy a family-friendly movie on the lawn after dinner. This sounded like the perfect night for my family!

Asado Grill offers sustainable seafood, gourmet culinary creations, cocktails, local craft beers, and wine. They had a spacious indoor dining area located off of the hotel lobby and an outdoor seating area. We opted to sit outside and enjoy the nice late-Summer night.

Asado Grill, Outdoor Seating

Outdoor Seating at Asado Grill

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Mom’s Pies in Julian

Every year we make at least one trip to Julian in the Fall to experience the leaves changing, cold crisp air, and grab some warm apple pie. There is an abundance of pie to be found in Julian, but one of my favorite spots is Mom’s Pies.  Mom’s Pies have been around since 1984. All of their pies and baked goods are made fresh daily.

Mom's Pies

Mom’s Pies

Outside of Mom’s you are wafted with the scent of apples baking. On the weekends, I have always found the line out the door. While you wait, you can catch some pies being made from the front window. The line moves pretty swiftly so don’t get too comfortable. Continue reading

The LOOP: Handcrafted Churros

We made a recent stop on the way home from Disneyland to The Loop: Handcrafted Churros,  named after the shape of the handcrafted churros they offer, which is located in Orange County’s Little Saigon community. In a fun little twist on the classic Mexican treat, the Loop offers churros dipped, glazed, or chilled, meaning they come with an ice cream sundae.

The LOOP: Handcrafted Churros - Westminster, CA

The LOOP: Handcrafted Churros – Westminster, CA

They are so insta-famous to me that I refused to head back to San Diego without getting my hands on some churros. We arrived expecting a crazy line considering it was a Saturday afternoon, but we got lucky and only had a couple people ahead of us. Although, after we ordered it was another story. Continue reading

Soda & Swine at Liberty Station

Soda & Swine is a creative meatball eatery with lots of small to medium sized bites. We visited the Liberty Station location. It has a gold bar, old-fashioned looking baking area with pies on display, sunroofs adding lots of natural light, wood covered walls, a 20-foot foosball table that works as a community table, plenty of seating, and an outdoor patio with more seating.

You order your food upon entering Soda & Swine, then seat yourself and your food is brought to you. You can also order from their wide selection of sodas. On the other side of the registers are the pies, they have a couple different types of apple pies, seasonal treats and soft serve ice cream. The next stop is the bar, it is a full bar where you can order a cocktail, wine, beer (lots of local crafts), and if you are feeling funky, a champagne slushy.

We got some suggestions on what to order for lunch from the employee at the register. You can check out their menu here for yourself. Soda & Swine has several meatballs to choose from, such as, smoked pork, chorizo, chicken, beef and quinoa meatballs. You can order your meatball as a slider, submarine, spaghetti, or 3 meatballs in a skillet with sauce and cheese.  Once we picked our meatballs, we ordered some sides as well and set off for a table. The food started to arrive quickly, but not everything came out at once. We liked this system since we ordered a bunch of different items to give a try so it was like having appetizers, entrees and dessert.

Fried Pizza Knots

Fried Pizza Knots

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Birthday Celebration at Disneyland

Every year we designate a December and January visit to Disneyland for both of our boys’ birthdays. On these particular visits, they get to pick out what rides we hit and get any treats they want…wait, they do that every visit?! HA! My youngest turned 7 this year so we visited the park in late January to celebrate his day. On our way to the park, I like to tweet @disneylandtoday for a fun little birthday shout out that makes my kids’ day.

Happy Birthday tweet from @disneylandtoday for my birthday boy!

Happy Birthday tweet from @disneylandtoday for my birthday boy!

Hayden is one of the pickiest kids you may ever meet. The only treats he wants from Disneyland are Mickey shaped soft pretzels, Mickey cake pops, hot dogs and macaroni & cheese, all depending on his mood. This particular visit he wanted a Mickey pretzel as soon as we got to the park. Mickey pretzels can be found at Pretzel Carts located all throughout the park. They also sell a side of nacho cheese at an additional cost or cream-cheese filled pretzels. Continue reading