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The Weekend: Running, Eating (#Vegan), Family and Easter. In San Diego.

March 31, 2013 · by Debbie · 17 Comments

My weekly training recap post will be up tomorrow. Week 10! I had way too much going on this weekend to write. I did have a great long run, which I’ll tell you all about tomorrow. In the meantime, here is what kept me from writing, in (mostly) pictures.

It was a beautiful (but a little chilly) day in Encinitas when we arrived around noon. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we headed to Moonlight Beach. We sat, looked at the ocean, admired the new construction (they’re building a new snack bar/restroom complex), then we headed to lunch at the Roxy. I had a great falafel pita, and while we were there realized that it was almost a year to the day that my son, Nathan, and daughter-in-law, Sarah, made their big announcement while we had dinner at the Roxy. After lunch we did a little shopping (any one else think about MizFit when looking at those dolls?), then checked in. We made it back to the beach for a lovely sunset.

For dinner, we headed to Native Foods. As you know, it’s my favorite restaurant and I’m so happy that the Encinitas location opened a few months ago. It was a beautiful evening, so Alan and I sat on the patio (next to a heater..it was a little chilly), and enjoyed our food. Bistro Steak Sandwich for me, Oklahoma Bacon Cheeseburger for Alan. We both had apple pie for dessert. Remember, in spite of the names, everything is free of animal products at Native Foods.

On Sunday morning, I had a 12 miler on the schedule. I decided to cut it back to 10 miles, because of our Easter plans, but I felt so good I ended up running 11 miles. Another beautiful day. I felt so great on the run that I wished that it was race day! I was really pleased that I ran mile 10, which is a pretty good uphill stretch from Cardiff to Encinitas, at race pace. Hurray for me!

After the run, we got a little dressed up and headed south to San Diego. We had big plans, but we stopped beforehand for a few photos. We were on Shelter Island, which is just across the harbor from downtown. Oh, the top photo is actually a statue of a surfer that is in Cardiff. It gets a lot of kidding for the pose and people tend to dress it up for the holidays.

Here’s the main reason we were in San Diego! To see my grandson, Samuel.

And his parents of course. And Sarah’s family. We were invited to Easter Brunch at the Bali Hai on Shelter Island. That is Samuel’s other grandma in the photo above. And Alan finally had a chance to feed Samuel. He’s four months old now, very happy, active, and has been sleeping through the night for about two months! He was a little off his schedule today, but, as you can see, he finally crashed out in his daddy’s arms.

More family shots from brunch today. Check out the view from our table at the Bali Hai. Beautiful, isn’t it?

How was your holiday weekend? Did you get to spend some time with family and friends?

Filed Under: Easter, Encinitas, Family, Grandsons · Tagged: Bali Hai, easter, Encinitas, family, grandson, native foods, running, Vegan

Thursday Thoughts

December 19, 2012 · by Debbie · 9 Comments

Hello and welcome to my new theme day, Thursday Thoughts. I plan to Vlog every week about a variety of topics. Sometimes I will talk about a specific thing, like veganism, a product that I love, or food (yes, I love to talk about food). Other times I may just ramble and talk about things that are on my mind, that I want to share with you. I hope you will take a moment to listen and tell me your thoughts about each topic.

Episode 1: On Being a Grandma

Filed Under: La Quinta, Thursday Thoughts · Tagged: family, FitFluential, grandchildren, grandson, thursday thoughts, video, vlog

Beyond Grandma: Weekend in San Diego

December 3, 2012 · by Debbie · 10 Comments

Saturday Dinner: Vegan Challenged

So, believe it or not, Alan and I went beyond the grandma and grandpa thing last weekend. We booked our hotel in Encinitas, our favorite place to stay near San Diego, which is about a 20-30 minute drive from my son’s house. While we wanted to see Samuel more than anything, we also enjoy being near the beach, taking our opportunity to relax.

Coming home from our first visit with the family, the streets were still closed along the Coast Highway in Encinitas for their holiday parade, so Alan and I parked the car and we walked the half mile or so to El Callejon our choice for dinner. While I find the lack of vegan and/or vegetarian restaurants in San Diego amazing, many places do offer a variety of animal free choices. We’ve been to many through the years, including the Roxy, the Lotus Café, and Ki’s. I knew that El Callejon had a vegetarian menu, but since it had been a few years since my last meal there I couldn’t remember if they had many vegan options. But, they were closest walking distance to the hotel, so we decided to give them a shot.

Unfortunately, their vegetarian menu depended heavily on cheese and sour cream. I read it through several times before I came to the conclusion that there was nothing for me to eat. Instead, I ordered a side of rice, beans, and tortillas, telling our server that it was important that they came without cheese. We also ordered a side of guacamole to eat with our chips. What was it covered with? Cheese, of course. The guacamole! I was able to spoon off the cheese and eat it anyway, but seriously…

I didn’t take any pictures, because frankly, the food wasn’t worth it. The rice and beans were tasty, to be sure, but still. It was rice and beans, the only vegan choice in the restaurant.

Sunday Morning Run Along the San Diego Coast

The next morning I enjoyed the rare pleasure of sleeping in (which for me is about 6 am). I vaguely remember Alan leaving to get coffee, but when I woke up again, he was walking in the door with a triple mocha just for me.

After taking a short drive to check out the waves (they were quite high, a surf advisory for the weekend), we headed out for a five mile run. I love running along the coast. It is so beautiful.

Vegan Food on the Road in San Diego

After the run we cleaned and packed up, planning to have breakfast then head back to Sarah and Nathan’s to get some more grandson time. This time we made the smart choice and had breakfast (brunch really, it was about 11:30) at Ki’s. I’ve had their tofu scramble before, but for some reason it seemed tastier than ever before. It had a great flavor and though I did add a little tabasco, that is because I like my food spicier than most.

I also added tabasco to my virgin Bloody Mary. I told the bartender “everything but the vodka,” and he followed my directions. It was very good, especially when I added a little more spice.

After breakfast, we headed over to the kids’ house and spent some quality grandparent time with Samuel. We left about 3:00, needing lunch and with a long drive home ahead of us. We stopped in Temecula, about halfway home, at the Earth Bistro, a new (to us) organic restaurant, that, while they serve meat, also has a nice selection of vegan items on the menu. We both had the vegan burger with garlic roasted potatoes.

We enjoyed what turned out to be our dinner. The Earth Bistro was a great find and we will go back.

Well fed and tired, we still made a quick stop at the Cabazon Outlet Stores, which are about 30 miles from home. Our usual plan is to park at the far end of the shops, hike over to the Nike store, then backtrack to the Adidas store, and usually checking out Under Armour, Reebok, and Oakley. Since it was late though, we settled for Nike and Adidas. I bought some socks. Such a shopper.

All in all a nice weekend in the San Diego area. The weather was lovely, by the way, though we ran into a light rain on the drive home. That’s why I love living in Southern California!

How was your weekend? Any running, eating, or family adventures you’d like to share?