If at first you don't succeed, call it version 1.0

The finest of family brunches

Mother's Pozole rojo
hominy and slow cooked pork stew

herb coated capricho cabra cheese
from Spanish Murciana goats

tangerine and ginger caipirinhas

epicurious.com

Creamy, spreadable koko gouda with coconut cream and white chocolate

Spend time with your family.

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Monkey bed jumping for Saturday'ing or anyday'ing

Good morning, and a colossal happy Saturday to allofyous!

Get out from bed and start your day with a spring in your step and a bed jumping marathon.

I promise you acts of hilarity that will keep you shrieking with laughter until your belly aches.

Don't forget the camera.

For more bed jumping Olympics take a looky-loo over at:

http://bedjump.com/

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Be a good listener. Your ears will never get you in trouble. - Frank Tyger

Bone Appetit – Adventure Dining at La Jolla's Whisknladle

Long taking a backseat to side dishes, bone marrow dishes have seized the main stage with star appearances throughout restaurant circuit acts. La Jolla's Whisknladle offers a unique and bold option for the adventurous diner, a charred bone marrow dish. One taste of the seasoned bone will allow anyone to see why pups can spend hours on end gnawing at the tasty bits.

The success of this locale is attributed to the hand that rocks the ladle, Executive Chef and partner Ryan Johnston, and his farm to table philosophy. At Whisknladle, all menu items are prepared in house, including the butter heavily schmeared atop the toasted Texas bread that accompanies the steer cow bone. Although not for the texture wary, marrow is enjoyed by removing it from the bone (much like an oyster is shucked from its half shell), and spread onto its bread counterpart just before devouring. 

Whisknladle offerings include a rotational menu and craft cocktails made with soul. Savor the ladle’s London's Burning, a far more grown up bloody mary. This signature drink is created by infusing roasted jalapeños into water. The addition of citrus, cilantro and avocado lends to its calming shade of peppery green. However, be fair warned this one’s a real firestarter, as it yields a good kick from the very first spiced sip.

Try the London's Burning as a daring option

Bar fixins to delight those seeking a fresh cocktail thrill

Another showstopper on the menu is the Crows Path Bloomsdale Spinach Salad. Dressed in mustard bacon vinaigrette, a slow cooked, floaty egg rests atop a leafy bed of spinach with added bits of pork chicarrones. Toss, then take delight in getting to the doughy center of the toy sized croutons.

Plunge into this leafy, spinach salad fit for adventure

The ladle offers a vast selection of menu items bold enough to satisfy any adventurous diner. For those wishing to steer clear of bone gnawing, Whisknladle showcases far more comfortable, and less spine-tingly menu options. With seared ahi, burgers served a la loco moco (fried egg) style, and small tapas plates. 

Don't forget a grand finale by asking for the “Stressed Spelled Backwards” menu. The marscapone cheesecake is a toothsome delight with candied pistachios, meyer lemon shavings, rhubard soda and a few spoonfuls of blackberry sorbet. A treat well earned after stepping out of your comfort zone to savor something new.

Take delight on the monster-sized ware decor throughout the Whisknladle

Bone Appetit

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see the write up at:

http://www.examiner.com/restaurants-in-san-diego/bone-appetite-adventure-dining-at-whisknladle-review

Whisknladle 

1044 Wall St. 

La Jolla, Ca 92039 

(858) 551-7575

http://www.whisknladle.com/

Today will be a damn fine day

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When life hands you a bottle of bourbon...

Make lynchburg lemonade.

Use real lemons too,

not the stuff they use in furniture polish.

Lemon cupcakes don't hurt either.

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When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile. - unknown author

Seven deadly cheese and chocolate sins, a meal fit for rapture

Check-checkity... All systems go? No human combustion, nor apocalyptic doom?

Check!

I am so pleased that you've managed to evade the wrath of rapture, and a much anticipated end of days. 

This calls for a proper celebration, and what better way to celebrate the very survival of the human race than with cheese and chocolate* for a delicious
 dinner?

Giving little thought to whether this would indeed be my last meal on earth, I decided to forgo substance for indulgence.

Ready for a sweet  fix, or two, or seven?

one

Start with a creamy and light chevre

 cheese paired with a decadent truffle whose delicate, thin chocolate  wall is just one bite away from rupturing into a gooey caramel  flashflood of goodness inside your mouth.

Trust that you will be left calm after the storm with a lovely sea salt ending...

two

Tomme brulee cheese from the Basque, France region.

 Yes ladies and gentlemen, it's a bruleed, roasty, nutty little scrumpet of cheese

 fit for partaking in utter gluttony.

Besides, giving it a tasty go is a much less precarious experience than any asteroid impact you may have been expecting recently. 

As an added treat, pair with a date and honey milk chocolate piece

three

Since we happen to still be upon the good earth, why not have a sliver of fleur de la terre cheese?

(fleur de la terre literally means flower of the earth)

A pairing with an exotic and rich dark ganache

spiced with chili pepper would be far more enlightening
than a gamma ray burst from a distant galaxy.

four

Howsabout a fresh crumbling of Venezuelan ricotta

 cheese in lieu of the collapse of earth's surface? It's all the more better when displaced with a bit of olive oil and sinfully dark chocolate shavings. 

  Disclaimer - This one is deathly. 

Don't say I didn't warn you about the possibility of perishing in its aftermath.

five

Next partner a mango, ginger and white Stilton
 with white chocolates.
Add a few honeydew and kiwi slices.

Trust me, it goes down like cheesecake, and you may not wish to consume anything further for your remaining days on earth.

six

 Let's not forget the perfectly paired blues.

Select a creamier blue such as the Rouge et Noir Marin French variety. 

Include a mild clove and cocoa powder based chocolate to balance the blue's saltiness.

seven

For dessert have a handful of dark and white chocolate cheesecake lollipops

need I say more?

...

So, in case you did wake up this morning to find that the rapture was all just a dream,

what better way to realize that you exist than by taking delight in deliciousness?

Wine Tip:

Have fun and play with a variety of wines as both reds and whites will bring various layers to your cheese and chocolate tasting experience.

...

As a side note, I believe I would have made a lovely Mrs. Willy Wonka. If only I could have clenched my grabby little hands on just one of those shiny, golden tickets!

curses profusely #*!@#%!!?#! WTF?!?!! 

Ahem

 I am quite certain that I am but one of dozens of potential suitors vying for Mr. Wonka's affections.

...

I am elated to share the news that I've been recently appointed a San Diego Restaurants Examiner! A part time gig I'll be devouring this summer.

Stay tuned for wine and dine adventures with Ringo Firefly.

There is one thing I can say with utter confidence...

If a really-real D-day does arrive, and I have the rare opportunity to meet my maker (who I always believed to be my mother), I shall do so while fat and happy.

A gracious, thank you for having survived the day to end all days with me. It is indeed, a great cause for celebration, and you owe it to yourself to splurge now.

Join me in the divine chocolate and cheese intervention of epic proportions.

Is has been spoken...

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* additionally, it's also Gene and Dean Weens fourth studio album, but those are just my wandering headthoughts**

** lead into even more wandering headthoughts

It's the end of the world as we know it

This cheeseball has yet to be raptured,
so I'm off to join my fellow sinners
at the OB Beach Ball.

I have selected to spend the remainder of my apocalypse atop a seaside ferris wheel.

Happy last day on earth my loves...

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Fluffy fashionista fancies

I'm delighted to welcome these party
gempieces to the closetfinds...

Additonally, a package arrived safely at my doorstep bearing the new custom festival belt. 

This was fashioned using upcycled leather and a couple of rusted chains I found near an abandoned building by the Salton Sea.

Go on... 

Burst into song.

Preferably, into Aretha's You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman.

Especially you fellers, if you've made it this far.

Happy Friday!

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Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, "I wil try again tomorrow". - Mary Anne Radmacher

rainy day woman

If you haven't stepped away from the seat where you gaze (eyeglazed) at your monitor while slowly becoming internet fungus...

or

If you've been locked up in a building all the livelong day breathing nothing but recycled air...

It's time you took a break to discover
 all that is discoverable. 

I haven't much to complain about when it comes to the weather, since the climate round these parts is quite accommodating, so it's indeed a rare treat when I have a chance to venture out into the rain for a lunchbreak on a blustery  day.

Throughout my explorations, I've made some great discoveries:

• a grand piano inside a grand hallway

• a group of four lifelong friends and musicians
 who gather every tues to practice in a garage

• a city historian - who has shared with me that very spot in which I am seated daily was once a field of lemon trees

• a diving competition

• bits of street art
• a Japanese bakery
• Thursday afternoon Farmer's Markets 
• interpretive trails

• a hummus factory tour
• a well seasoned tea expert

• a magnificent field adjacent to a major freeway

• a residence with six quack-quack, waddle-waddle ducks as pets

It's a wonder what one can discover in their very own backyard.

My favorite place to wander for the hour is the Bayfront.

 Therein lies a hidden gem, just seven miles north from the International border. It's an eye-candied spectacle for any treasure-seeking footwanderer.

Here, you'll find a lone bird overlooking the masts of sailboats posted at the entrance of a fishing pier

A living museum along the seaside marsh 

Seaboats and sailships

A musical, waterfront harp that hums in the wind

"to lift your heart and reach those memories that touch your soul".

As I wandered beneath the dark and sheepcloudy sky, I gave little notice to the oncoming rain and happened to have strayed off the beaten path. 

Wandering in the drizzle of the day, the rain unexpectedly turned into a downpour. I did nothing to avoid it. In doing so I crossed paths with an elder fishergentleman beneath the animated raindrops. He acknowledged me with a warm "Happy rainy day" greeting, to which I immediately repeated it back to him with a smiley grin. 

When I arrived to the edge of the pier, I closed my eyes and listened to the sound of the rain falling onto the seawater, and the splashy, rhythmic lapping against the rocking boats. A plane flying quietly above. It was a breathtaking, rhythmical soundscape to take in.

Not having a change of clothes on my person, I returned to the department soaked from the cat and dog weather, much to the horror of my colleagues.

"Did you get stuck in the rain?"

"No. I went for a walk in the rain". 

I flashed a beaming smile,

 and it didn't leave my face for the rest of the afternoon as I slowly dried off.

What wandering wonderment can do for your soul.

If you have the opportunity, go for a stroll beneath a raincloudy sky to reflect

Or just step into the outdoors to do so, come rain or shine

There is quite likely an amazing place just outside your doorsteps you have yet to discover.

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass...
It's about learning to dance in the rain

~Vivian Green

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