San Diego - Part 2

Ice cream at Ghirardelli's with Tito B and Tita N


Hotel del Coronado, Coronado IslandLunch at Uno's

January 11, 2008, Evening. One of the highlights of our San Diego trip would have to be the visit to the Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop (643 5th Avenue) with Tito B and Tita N. I am a mint chocolate lover and one of my favorite brands is Ghirardelli's! And E as you already know by now is an ice cream lover, so this is such a wonderful treat for us! Thanks Tito B and Tita N! A bonus of that trip to Ghirardelli was being in the middle of San Diego's nightlife district. It was exciting!

January 12, 2008. Tito B, Tita N and D brought us to Coronado Island, the seaside resort of the rich. We went to the posh Hotel del Coronado and daydreamed that we were guests of the hotel. We walked along the beach and imagined ourselves in one of the cabanas. Some parts of the hotel reminded me of Fort Ilocandia in Ilocos Norte, and some parts, the Manila Hotel.

We had lunch at Pizzeria Uno Chicago Bar and Grill, and we loved the Shrooms Pizza! Fresh marinated mushrooms, spinach, garlic, mozzarella and grated Romano, yummy!!!

Columbus, Ohio

Port Columbus Airport tarmac
Dinner with E's cousin TS and girlfriend JS at a Japanese restaurant
Easton Town Center
Lunch at one of E' favorite restaurants during our trip
At Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream

January 8-10, 2008. After a 2-hour delay, our plane finally arrives at Port Columbus International Airport at 8PM. I had to have a picture at the airport tarmac, it was a new experience for me.

E's cousinTS and girlfriend JS took us to dinner at a Japanese restaurant and we had steak and shrimps which were cooked on our table. Good thing I didn't order rice, but I was still so full after. (Thanks TS, for the delicious dinner treat!) Since it was already late, we decided to call it a day.

The next day, JS brought us to the Easton Town Center. Wow! It was so big we didn't know where to start. We picked up a lot of bargains from there. A big sale was ongoing at C.O Bigelow with some items at 90% off! We also picked up a lot of stuff from our favorite store Bath and Body Works. We used the gift card given by TS for some of our purchases (Thanks again TS, it is a wonderful gift and we really appreciate it!) and the ever reliable credit card for the rest of the purchases! Bath and Body Works and C.O Bigelow are based in Ohio, by the way.

Now with TS and JS, we went to the highly recommended Jeni's Fresh Ice Cream. I hope to try that some time because at this point of the trip I was nursing a very bad cold already and was coughing the whole time. But everything looked good on the menu and I will make sure that the next time I visit, I will have 2 scoops.

We had dinner at the very popular Thurman Cafe (183 Thurman Ave.,(614) 443-1570 ) and had their specialty burgers. They were so good, and very big, too! Afterwhich, we watched the play "The Wedding Singer" which we enjoyed so much. Yes, it's based on the Adam Sandler movie set in the 80's (my favorite era).

Not to forget, TS and JS drove us through Ohio State University. As you know, universities are of great interest to me. I love looking at the school buildings and seeing students around, and imagining how university life is there. We also drove through the Italian and German villages.

It was a great visit! We were able to explore and enjoy the best that the city has to offer, and we had so much fun with TS and JS. Thanks TS and JS for a wonderful time!

28 Hours in New York - Part 2

With DL, at their lovely apartment
Central Park
With RL and DL at the Time Warner Center
Cold Stone Creamery

January 5, 2008, Saturday. We headed to the Time Warner Center in our continuing search for the "cruet". But since Time Warner is right across Central Park, we had to take pictures there first. Inside the Time Warner Center, we couldn't help but also take pictures of the lantern, which we called the "giant parol". We also decided to take our brunch at Whole Foods located at the basement. It was their version of the food court, where you had a lot of choices of food and the food was priced per pound. I tried to take a picture of the place pero bawal daw... We ordered macaroni and cheese, beef stew, shepherd's pie and vegetables.

E's special request for dessert was, you will never guess... ice cream! We were all shivering earlier at Central Park, how can he think of ice cream? DL and RL took us to Cold Stone Creamery. Ice cream was served similar to the "teppanyaki" ice cream we have in hotel buffets here in Manila. It was really good!

To DL and RL, thank you very much for a fun-filled 28 hours in New York and welcoming us in your lovely home. Indeed, the time was too short to see everything, and most especially to spend time with dear friends. But as I texted, there are now more reasons for us to go back to New York!