Gobble, gobble: Thanksgiving in San Diego!

In the San Jose Airport, ready to go!

Time to celebrate Thanksgiving, the secular eating fest where a turkey is sacrificed on the alter of gluttony!  Rejoice and be glad!!!

SMS and I decided to head down to San Diego for Thanksgiving so we could spend some holiday QT with his family.  We headed down on Thursday morning and were picked up by Linda and Rip.  We headed over to the house and were joined shortly thereafter by SMS' grandfather Marty and his lovely girlfriend Pam.  We hung out and had a great time talking throughout the afternoon.  I tried to have a semblance of manners and talked about things other than how excited I was for Thanksgiving dinner and was it time to eat!?!?!?!  With my inner Piggly-Wiggly under reasonable control, our party expanded when SMS's sister and her husband arrived.

About an hour or two later, it was time to sit down for the feast.  We had turkey, stuffing/dressing, mashed sweet potatoes, rolls, kale salad and cranberry.  It was all pretty delicious.  Afterwards, we had three kinds of pie and yes, I managed to sample them all.  The apple crumble pie was pretty good but for tradition's sake, I think I'll crown the pumpkin pie as my personal favorite.

SMS in Cafe Calabria

On Friday, Linda, Pam, SMS and I made the slightly ill-considered decision to brave the crowds of Black Friday at the 32nd St Exchange.  While we got a few good deals, the line-waiting (done mainly by St. SMS) was pretty excessive and I think we were all glad to get out of there!  Getting out of there was also nice because it meant we headed home and had Thanksgiving leftover sandwiches, yay!

That night, we met up with family sans Marty and Pam to eat at Davanti Enoteca.  It wasn't bad but I feel like it was better in the past.  It was fun to hang out though and I got to enjoy Aperol Spritzes, which is a fine beverage!

Del Mar, at the turn-around point

On Saturday, I headed up to Cardiff to do my 13 mile long run after stopping at Cafe Calabria for a coffee.

I started on my old 4-mile loop to downtown Encinitas and then ran along the 101 just past the Del Mar dog park and back.  It was a gorgeous day and amazing run.  I'm so happy I got to run such a scenic route.  Because I was hungry, I stopped in at the Seaside Market to buy some Cardiff Crack (burgundy marinated tri-tip) for dinner. I also stopped in at VG's Donuts and bought some buttermilk bites.  Delicious!

I got back home, showered and then headed out to Mission Gorge with SMS.  We went rock-climbing with our friends Eric and Angela and had a great afternoon.  To be honest, I was frustrated a little bit at my lack o'skill but mostly because I was additionally handicapped by ill-fitting shoes that were simultaneously too big to get a good hold but still able to hurt my toes.  Whah!  *pout, pout*  But, overall, it was a great, social afternoon and even though I didn't get the best climbing day in, I felt like I had checked my "active self" box due to my run in the morning.

On Saturday night, John and Grace came over and we ate the Cardiff Crack which Rip BBQ'd up beautifully.  It was so amazingly good.  We also drank a lot of wine and cabernet sauvignon goes very well with Cardiff Crack, in case you came to read this blog for food-wine pairing tips.

Ladies who brunch.  

Sunday was our last day in San Diego but we had a pretty full day.  SMS hung out with his friend Oscar while I headed out to brunch at the Patio on Goldfinch with some of my SD friends.  A big group of us used to go out for brunch and even though we've lost a few members to moves, we had a great time catching up and eating a delicious breakfast.

Afterwards, I went to the Miramar PX to buy a Sonicate toothbrush head (highlight of the weekend) and then headed over to my former co-resident's house where he, his wife Erin and I shot the breeze for a little while.  It was nice to catch up on San Diego ENT gossip and also just catch up in general since it had been about two years since we've seen each other.

Then, I headed back to Rip and Linda's where we all hung out until it was time to go back to San Jose.  It was an incredible weekend and I didn't want it to end!