JRDN

Mmmm...

723 Felspar St.
San Diego, CA 92109
858-270-JRDN
866-86...

It's called JRDN, which is a fancy way of spelling Jordan. I came here last week for a nice glass of afternoon sangria.

At $5, it was super yummy and totally worth the price. I don't go out to drink often because of the ridiculous prices people think their drinks are worth, but JRDN really hit the spot. It's got great ocean views of Crystal Pier, the boardwalk and North Pacific Beach.

The Del Mar Fair

As a kid, one of my fondest memories of San Diego was going to the Fair every summer. To some the fair means shoddy hastily put together rides, to some it means looking at animals and to some it means randomly booked concerts of people who you thought weren't even touring anymore. But to most it means any kind of food you can think of, battered and deep fried, awaiting your hungry mouth.


Every year there is a "new thing" at the fair. Some new fried anomaly that probably should have just never been thought of, yet you want to order and try anyway. Becca and 1 month old baby Jackson joined me on our quest to find the BEST OF THE FAIR! Read below...

We started off at an old favorite and staple, the Australian Battered Potato. Now I'm not exactly sure if this is something that people actually eat in Australia, maybe my reader from down under can chime in and let me know, but these babies are delicious. They are essentially slices of potato, battered, deep fried and drizzled in an array of toppings of your choice. We chose ranch.

Afterwards, we decided to get some zucchini. Becca swears up and down that Juicy's has the best, but I disagree!!


After ordering some fried zucchini, obviously we weren't going to order more from somewhere else to prove my point, but trust me, Juicy's is only second best.


We needed to let the fried settle, so we went to check out the booths and pitchmen inside the halls.

Inside Becca found the tiny baby donut maker and we just had to get a half dozen.

We didn't stop the fried food bonanza there! After a while we were feeling pretty hungry again (I have no idea how) and Becca wanted a funnel cake, and I wanted a churro. We found the best of both worlds....

MEXICAN FUNNEL CAKES!!! They also had Chocolate Covered Bacon (which we didn't try, but I hear it's all the rage)

It's like a PLATE OF CHURROS! This was the best of at the fair for me, and I would be hard pressed to find something else this year that made me quite as happy.

We mozied over to Chicken Charlie's cuz Bec was jonsin' to try this insane new crazy weird fair treat called a Zucchini Weeni. It's a hollowed out zucchini, stuffed with a hot dog, and you guessed it, battered and deep fried.

It was weird. Mostly because I couldn't figure out what to dip it in. Ketchup on a zucchini sounds nasty to me, and ranch on a corn dog is blaspheme.

For "dinner" we ate the "Fair Special Plate" at Chicken Charlie's.

Chicken strips, onion strings and zucchini curls with like a million kinds of dips. We both left stuffed and smelling of hot frying oil.

The Fair runs until July 5th.

Nick's at the Beach

So I got a text earlier commenting that I have been slacking on the blogging. I didn't realize there were people who counted on my posts, so here comes a flood of them starting with Nick's at the Beach.

809 Thomas Avenue, Pacific Beach
San Diego, CA 92109
(858) 270-1730

Nick's is in Pacific Beach and is a *mostly* seafood restaurant. I know I said I would never post about seafood, but I got steak.

It came with some basic sauteed vegetables and some pretty garlicky mashed potatoes. If you are not a fan of garlic, it's best to pass on this side.

Nick's has been voted "The Best of..." a few times and came highly recommended by San Diego's Unknown Eater. For steak it was so-so, but for seafood I assume it's probably pretty boss.

I ordered mine "medium" and it came with a nice pink center.


My friend ordered the Chilaquile Seabass.

It came with the same sides, which were just a little boring for me for a "nicer" place. Not bad at all, just kinda boring.

For dessert we opted to skip Nick's and head down to Mission Beach to an old standard favorite of mine as a kid.

It's just a plain old ice cream stand. But inside...

The closest thing to Hawaiian Shave Ice I've had since being IN Hawaii.

Complete with Ice Cream in the bottom. Om nom nom.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Last week I posted about Red Velvet Cupcakes. I frosted mine with a very easy to make Cream Cheese Frosting. I once again consulted my Magnolia Bakery Cookbook, below is the recipe.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1 pound cream cheese (that's about 2 bricks of it) , softened and cut into pieces
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened and cut into pieces
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
5 cups (OMG I KNOW) powdered sugar

I thought for sure this would be wayyy too much and almost halved it, but it frosted the entire recipe of red velvet and I had just enough left to lick off my fingers.

In a large bowl with a mixer, (I, again, used my Kitchen-Aid) beat the cream cheese and butter until nice and smooth. Then add the vanilla, and beat well.


Next, very slowly and gradually, cuz the stuff goes everywhere, add the powdered sugar, a half a cup at a time.


Scrape the sides down after about 2 1/2 cups worth of sugar has been added. Once all added, cover and chill for about 2-3 hours, but not much longer so it can thicken before frosting.


To frost you can go about it a few ways. If you are pressed for time or don't use piping tips, you can just slather it on there with a butter knife or frosting spatula. That isn't who I am, but if it's you by all means, go hog wild! If you wish to use a pastry bag with a piping tip, use the largest one you've got. If you don't know how to use a pastry bag, watch this.


Then once again, by all means, go hog wild! I pipe my frosting on in big circular swirls. Lots of frosting on red velvet is the only way to go.

Then I got all fancy and sprinkled the living daylight out of them.

VOILA!