Baked in Brooklyn is one of those New York bakeries I’ve been dying to get to. Unfortunately, I haven’t made it there yet, and now that we have relocated to the Left Coast, who knows when I’ll get to go back to the Big Apple!

Yesterday, I was surprised by mail-order Baked brownies not because of the knock at the door where this box of chocolatey goodness was waiting for me, but because I happened to look at our bank account that morning where I saw the purchase my husband had made. I tried to keep this from him, but failed miserably. He’s very good at seeing through my ridiculous attempts at being deceptive.

Either way, it was such a wonderful surprise! This particular Sweet & Salty brownie has been featured on  The Best Thing I Ever Ate: Salty Goodness on the Food Network. Ready for my review of this “famous” brownie?

While the name suggests it’s a mixture of salty and sweet, I found that it was mostly sweet and rich. It was a good brownie. I also realized these weren’t fresh out of the Baked ovens so I expected them to not be mind boggling to begin with. Did I say it was a good brownie? A really good brownie? Well it was, but if I’m being perfectly honest… not necessarily the best brownie I ever ate. But wait…

In an effort to preserve this box of six rather large brownies until my Mom and sister come to visit on Wednesday, I decided to throw the box in the fridge last night. I also put one brownie in the freezer for extra preservation in case the others go bad. Go bad? What am I saying? I mean in case they get eaten… by me… the Sweets Fiend!

Anyway, where was I? Oh, right! O-M-G! This is the best freakin’ brownie ever! Why the change of heart you ask? These brownies are so moist and fudgey. I ate one straight from the fridge in all of it’s cool, chocolatey awesomeness. Seriously good. I’ve never had a brownie straight from the fridge, but I’m never going back to those subpar warm ones. (I’ll probably get hate mail for that jab.)

This is the best brownie I’ve ever had. Chilled, of course.

Thanks to my amazing husband for making my chocolate fantasies come true. You are the best!

Order your very own brownies here. Next, I’d like the Baker’s Choice box!

Yesterday, we made our way to a local Salvation Army to drop off a load of items for donation. It was so amazing how much we stuffed into our little ‘72 Super Beetle that even one of neighbors who say the pile of junk before we loaded it up said, “You guys fit all of that stuff in there?!”

I had high hopes of finding something wonderful between the Salvation Army and the nearby Goodwill store, but it was such a let down. We’ll have to check out some other areas of town before we find our gold mine.

I did score this nice lampshade in spectacular condition for a whopping $4.50, so it wasn’t a total bust. I think it replaces our ratty old ORGEL shades from Ikea nicely! Those shades that have lasted us through five moves over the last five years. What do you think?

Now, I just need to score another nice lampshade for our second ORGEL lamp and I’ll be a happy lady.

I’m also not sure where I’ll place this “new” lamp yet. I have been moving it around our new place hoping it will speak to me when it’s found it’s home. It hasn’t spoken yet.

Recently, my husband and I decided to try Cafe 222 a couple blocks from our new place. Little did we know it was featured on an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate where Bobby Flay raved about the Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast.

We arrived around 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon last Saturday. Had to wait about 10 minutes or so. It’s a small place so you’ll have to wait, but had a super friendly and helpful staff. While we waited, I started looking over the menu only to see a TON of things I wanted try!

My husband ordered the “famous” Peanut Butter and Banana Stuffed French Toast, but really wasn’t impressed. I think he said, “Bobby Flay doesn’t know what he’s talking about…” or something similar. Maybe it was an off day for the french toast, but it was gone before I even could ask for a bite! I guess it wasn’t that bad.

I settled on Eggs Italia, but soon called the server back to order a Sweet Corn Waffle as well. My, oh my, was that ever a good decision. While the Eggs Italia were tasty, it was far too much food for me. I would have preferred the dish sans bread and potatoes. There was nothing really special about them. The eggs were scrambled with goat cheese, tomatoes and pesto. Quite tasty.

Now, let’s talk about that waffle. It was so very good. Basically, a cornbread waffle. Yep, that’s right. I drizzled just a little syrup over it as I munched away, and I my mouth was quite pleased. I would most definitely get that again.

Overall, we liked this place. It’s fun with mostly outdoor seating, and it’s very affordable for being a downtown San Diego restaurant. We’d try it again. Good for breakfast if you are in the area.

Yep. Today marks our 5th anniversary! It has really gone by so quickly, and it’s been packed with tons of moving, crazy adventures and wonderful memories. I can’t wait to look back on the next 5 years. What did I do to celebrate you ask? I had some chocolate yogurt from pinkberry, and Skyped with my husband. Yep, that’s right, folks. We aren’t even together today. Boo! He’s off being a manly man for the Coast Guard right now up in Alaska. Talk about long distance! Could we be any farther apart? Sheesh! That said, we’ll be celebrating together this weekend. For now, life goes on as usual. Just Bonsai and me. We’re buddies like that.

I love you, Dustin. So happy we get to share in one another’s lives. It’s been real.

Rust is beautiful. I’m a little obsessed with it. Now, I’ll just let you enjoy these photos taken in La Jolla at Children’s Pool. I love how nature leaves it mark on the things we create. It’s lovely.

This past Saturday, I made it out to the Little Italy Mercato here in San Diego. I scored big time with cipollini onions, heirloom tomatoes, swiss chard, fresh french baguette, goat’s milk feta… and the list goes on!

I’ve never tried cipollini onions before, but I’ve been dying to since I read how tasty they were after roasting them. But what recipe should I try?? Hm. This was tough, but when I came across Smitten Kitchen’s Roasted Tomatoes and Cipollinis I was hooked!

Wow! Really. WOW! I would like to eat this every night. I didn’t add white beans to mine, nor did I used the chopped basil. (It was in fact chopped and sitting on my cutting board, oops.) It was still so tasty!

Can’t wait to make this again… with the basil.

To accompany my roasted delights, I made my first batch of swiss chard. I used the Lemony Swiss Chard recipe from Martha. This was also quite good, and a lovely addition of color to the plate. It was different than I’d expected, but in a good way.

I could have photographed this swiss chard all day. It’s so lovely. So vibrant. So fresh. Straight from the farm.

If you haven’t found a local Farmers’ Market in your area yet, then get out and find one! It’s totally worth it.

Yesterday, while exploring downtown San Diego, we stumbled up Heavenly Cupcake. Mind you this was right after we just finished Pinkberry. Now, I approached the cupcakes with caution, knowing that it would take all my will power to resist their charms and advances. I believe I could have resisted had I been alone, but Dustin was while me. As soon as he saw the Vanilla Caramel, he was in cupcake lust. Naturally, if he gets one, I have to try one too, right?

Let me just say, I am a HUGE fan of chocolate and orange together, and this Orange Chip Cupcake did not disappoint. The cupcake itself (sans icing) was so moist and tasty all on it’s own. The icing only enhanced the flavors adding a richness. I haven’t been eating sugar much lately so I took it easy on the icing. Even so, I was in a major sugar coma by the last bite! YUM!

We even got a Pupcake for Bonsai!

Heavenly Cupcake (Get it? Topped with little halos.) is located at 518 6th Avenue between Island Avenue & Market Street.

Many other flavors look and sound so good. Can’t wait to try them all. Good thing we live here now. I would hate to have to eat all of them at once!

We got the keys today for our very first loft! So exciting. Can’t wait to move our stuff in tomorrow, and share more photos with you of the space. The 38 foot wall of floor to ceiling windows is by far my favorite feature!

For now, we’re adjusting to life on the West Coast with much ease and happiness. Seriously, what’s not to like about this perfect San Diego weather? Not to mention having In-N-Out at our fingertips!

I have so much more I want to share with you, but we have a very loooooong day tomorrow. It’s bedtime. Nighty nite.

I’m still here! I promise. Life’s been crazy the past few months with moving from the East Coast to the West Coast and all. We’ve been without a home of our own for a month, living out of suitcases, eating out way too much and staying with family here and there. But, we’ve found a little time between house hunting and moving to enjoy the beach! This was the first time I’ve stood on the beach in two years since we left Hawaii! It felt so good. More to come…

Are these not the coolest?! Tracy Melton of focuslineart on Etsy.com creates these lovelies. These original pieces are painted on dead elm trees which the artist cuts down herself with a chainsaw. I love when an artist can take something from their surroundings that is otherwise expired or useless and turn it into such a beautiful item full of new life.

Each an every one of Tracy’s paintings is so gorgeous. Good luck deciding which set of 3 you’d like to purchase! I know I can’t. While I’m particularly drawn to the cooler paintings, I would be thrilled to own any of these beauties. Aren’t they just perfect placed over the bed? I’d love to add a set to my home.