My parents arrived Saturday night for a week-long visit, which got me thinking about my San Diego Musts. We’ve lived here for only a year and there’s tons more to see, but I already have a list of favorite restaurants, parks and activities that I share with all my visitors. And not to toot my own horn, but I’ve been told that I have some really excellent picks in here. Hope this gives you some pointers the next time you’re in San Diego!
Caffe Calabria (North Park): This Italian cafe/pizzeria is top-notch quality; their exquisite lattes are the sirens that beckon me at least once a week, and not just because it’s a great place to work. Food-wise, their Neapolitan pizzas are delicious and vibe at dinnertime is lovely. (But my favorite pizzeria is Buona Forchetta; see below.)
If I could go back to college, I’d change very little — except my majors. I doubled in journalism and psychology, but now I wish that second major was design or art. More and more I’m fascinated by typography, lettering and graphic design, and since college is a somewhat distant memory (yikes), I feed my curiosity with tons of design-minded blogs, like Maggie’s Waller’s Type & Title, which curates all things cool in typography and hand lettering. Maggie, a recent San Diego transplant by way of Iowa and Texas, also owns her own design studio, where she offers paper goods, temporary tattoos and custom projects. I love how her blog acts like a peek into the creative process with glimpses of inspiration and mid-stage projects.
Today Maggie tells us why she’s armed with a million notebooks, what she does for 30 minutes each day and coffee–always coffee.
Name: Maggie Waller Age: 26 Hometown: Boonville, MO Current city: San Diego, CA Profession: Freelance graphic designer & letterer // type & titleread more
Boy, that was fun. Last Monday I taped a segment for The Queen LatifahShow that involved food, the Queen, Curtis Stone and two other wonderful bloggers, Daniela Galarza of Los Angeles magazine and LAist food writer/TV personality, Krista Simmons (she was a judge on season 4 of Top Chef Masters). The challenge was to make a dish with a citrus theme, as Stone’s new seasonally focused Beverly Hills restaurant, Maude, is offering all sorts of citrus delights this month. The bigger challenge was that I had to make this dish during my Cosmopolitan Grammys assignment and in the kitchen of my friend’s apartment, where I was crashing all weekend.
I freaked out.
Then my mom put it all in perspective: My favorite dish growing up was, in fact, lemon-themed. Yes! I decided to make lemon rice sticks, a traditional South Indian noodle dish that incorporates turmeric, chilies and cilantro. It’s incredibly easy, which would help with my short-on-time conundrum, and represents my culture.
Teddy turns 1 today, and while a lot of people may think it’s ridiculous to commemorate an animal’s birthday, if you read my post about why having a dog is so important to me, then maybe you’d understand why I’m getting a wee bit emotional.
Most people talk about only the good stuff, but I’m here to tell you very honestly that Year One was hard as hell.
