Spring Break

I got a weeklong spring vacation, so my family took this opportunity to go visit my sister in San Diego. It was about time we did...I haven't seen her since my stroke in 2009! That and we were dying to see her new baby, now four months old. My sister told me not to bring any clothes cuz she has tons that she can't wear any more. Kinda funny--she gained a lot of weight while I lost a lot during the two years we haven't seen each other.

So I packed very lightly--basically underwears and toiletries--and flew to San Diego. I was a bit worried about the effect of air pressure and sudden elevation change on my cranium, but everything went fine. We all hugged when we first saw each other...It's been two years! But then it was the unavoidable grocery shopping for dinner that night. It was actually fun! My sister has been checking out several pastry shops around town that we can go to. We went to two the very first day: Big Joy Bakery and Sage's. My sister has been requesting sukiyaki, oden, and sushi, so at Nijiya Market, we bought napa cabbage, noodles, tofu, green onions, and beef strips for the sukiyaki.

Then...time for dessert!

Pistachio Mousse Cake, Hazelnut and Chocolate Macarons from the Big Joy Bakery. Eh. It was alright, a little too sweet, and not really a lot of pistachio flavor on the cake.

Mille Feuille and Mousse Chocolat from Sage's Bakery. This was actually really good, not too sweet, both the cream and the mousse was really smooth.

The next day, on Sunday, our in-laws got together for a family reunion. My sister had asked me to make a special dessert for the occasion, so the night before, I baked cream puffs and egg-less chocolate cup cakes (one of the kids is allergic to eggs).

These disappeared pretty quickly. The little kid with the allergy gobbled down two of them--because he can't eat the majority of the store-bought baked goods, he has been craving chocolate cake for a while apparently.

The next day, my sister took us to the Opera Bakery. A very chic place, serves sandwiches and soups for lunch. As we waited in line, two very metro gentlemen in front of us ordered two "Chocolate Crunch". That actually sounded pretty good, so I ordered one too, and a Passion sampler.

The sampler had Apple Tart, Lemon Meringue Tart, Passionfruit Mousse, Pistachio Mousse, and Strawberry White Chocolate cake. The one on the right is the Chocolate Crunch: Hazelnut feuilltine, rice crispy, Chocolate cake and chocolate mousse. We split each of them into five portions--we could barely taste them, especially the samplers. The Chocolate Crunch was good, but very rich, I doubt I could've eaten it all by myself.

The following day, we went to Extraordinary Desserts. It was a very small place, serving only desserts, teas, and coffee.

Dazzling displays of tortes and desserts! It was hard to pick just one...looking at the size of each of them, I figured one would be enough for four of us. I picked the Pavlova, since I haven't seen any other cafes or bakeries with it on the menu.

When the order came...I was awed by the presentation!

Love the saucework on it! The meringue was crisp, light as air, the tang from the passionfruit cream balanced the sugary meringue, and the more mellow strawberry-kiwi sauce rounded everything together. The fruits were sweet, at the peak of their ripeness!

The next bakery we went to was HeavenSent. They had mostly cheesecakes and cupcakes.

I really wanted this one, but I wanted to try their cheesecakes too. So I picked their marble cheesecake.

Eh. It was an ordinary marble cheesecake, nothing special. There was one other cheesecake shop we went to--we got a carrot cheesecake from there, but it was, unfortunately, not even worth taking a picture of :P

The next day, all of us went to Coronado, had a picnic at a park (we brought onigiri) and got a great panoramic view of the ocean! After that, it was time for yet another pastry adventure at...

The Tartine Bakery! I've heard lots of good things about this place, so I was stoked!

It was hard to choose! My sister recommended that their cheesecake is out-of-this world, so we got a Citrus Cheesecake. I wanted to try their Bread Pudding, but Mom doesn't like bread pudding :( So we got the Tiramisu Torte instead.

The Tiramisu torte was, despite its looks, surprisingly light. It was dense, but not cloying sweet--as a matter of fact, it wasn't very sweet at all, but that made it easier to enjoy it. The cheesecake was good, very light and not too heavy. There was a white chocolate butterfly and lavender for garnish.

It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it really is a bird....a little sparrow kept flying in and eating the crumbs from the baguettes on the floor.

A really funny-looking tree we kept seeing all over San Diego. Wonder what it's called? Alas, our adventure wasn't quite over yet. There was a cupcake shop that my brother-in-law really likes, so we made a stop there.

Cups Lounge, specializing in, of course, cupcakes. They have gluten-free and vegan cupcakes. We picked up a few cupcakes for dessert that night. As for dinner...

Sushi party! Fresh sashimi definitely isn't available in Utah (at least not in grocery stores) so we took this opportunity and bought amaebi, tako, and tai. Everything was so good!

Dessert time! We split the cupcakes we bought earlier: Almond Dream, Brulee-J, and Vanilla Vixen. They were really good--I can tell they use quality ingredients.

Then...the last day in San Diego. There was a guest coming over that night, and since there was still a lot of egg whites leftover (from the custard cream I made for cream puffs), I baked an angel food cake. I left it on the kitchen counter to let cool while we went shopping for groceries and last-minute gift shopping. We stopped by a bookstore and I bought a Japanese dessert book.

Mom prepared dinner while I prepared dessert...

A simple Angel Fruit Torte. I layered it with whipped cream and sliced strawberries. It was quite divine! Mom even had a second piece, which was quite rare. Moist, light texture, the cream was nice and rich, the fruits sweet and ripe! When I thought about it, I realized that I had used all organic ingredients! Organic eggs, organic sugar, organic flour, organic fruits.... no wonder! It really is important to use quality ingredients. Our guest enjoyed our dinner and dessert immensely.

And then it was time to go home... We bid my sister and my little niece good byes and headed for airport. We'll miss them both... Hopefully they can come visit us soon.