Good Eats

Categories: Food · New York · USATags: · · · · · · · ·

No visit to New York is complete without eating your way around the city. I was able to try new food places during my last visit, but also got to return to some of my favourites. The first one I checked out was Andy RIcker’s Pok Pok Phat Thai. After watching Andy Ricker play host to Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown in Northern Thailand, it got me more than curious. The Lower East Side Rivington Street location is a simple “hole in the wall” with only stools and counters that serves a limited menu of Phat Thai and Kuaytiaw dishes – worth a visit nonetheless.    …

New York

Categories: Accommodations · New York · Travel · USATags: · · 2 Comments

I’m in New York for three days.   For this trip, I stayed at Hyatt 48 Lex and was pleasantly surprised. This 3-year old hotel is not like the other standard flagged hotels. It is more of a boutique-hotel set up with only six rooms per floor and several original artwork throughout. There is a compact lobby on the ground level and a more comfortable lounge on the second floor.  One cannot complain much for a decently-priced hotel room located in midtown Manhattan.  

MCASD

Categories: Art · California · Carlsbad · San Diego · USATags: · · · · ·

The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego  was founded in 1941 and  has a collection of more than 4,000 works created after 1950 in its location in La Jolla, California  and it’s second location in downtown San Diego. The MCASD reflects an artistic program that encourages promising emerging artists and recognizes mid-career artists whose works need more visibility.

Del Mar

Categories: California · Del Mar · Travel · USATags: ·

Luckily, there is no sign of the polar vortex in Southern California! The small affluent coastal city of Del Mar (“Of the Sea”) is located twenty minutes north of downtown San Diego. With a population of less than 4,500 people in a 2.1 square mile area, Del Mar has two miles of pristine beaches. Home to the Del Mar Racetrack and the San Diego County Fair in the summer, its historic downtown village dates back to the 1880s and has over twenty-five restaurants. Because of an active resident group, billboards and high rises are not permitted within the city limits. The city is immortalized in…

USS Midway

Categories: California · San Diego · Travel · USATags: · · ·

The giant USS Midway aircraft carrier was one of the U.S. Navy’s flagship vessels with close to 50 years of history from 1945 to 1991. It was commissioned towards the end of World War II and has been through the evacuation of Saigon, Operation Desert Storm in the first Gulf War, and into evacuating 1,800 Americans from Subic Bay in the Philippines during the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Before being moored in San Diego and turned into a museum in 2004, this “floating city” with a 1,000-foot-long flight deck accommodated a crew of 4,500.

San Diego Zoo

Categories: California · San Diego · Travel · USATags: · · · ·

The world-famous San Diego Zoo is one of Southern California’s major attractions. The zoo showcases more than 4,000 animals, representing over 800 species, on 100 acres of beautifully landscaped lush setting that is an accredited botanical garden. Located in the northern section of Balboa Park, the zoo originated with the Panama-California Exposition of 1915-1916. San Diego Zoo is privately operated by the non-profit Zoological Society of San Diego and is one of four zoos in the U.S. which have giant pandas on display and the most successful in terms of panda reproduction.

Balboa Park

Categories: Architecture · California · San Diego · Travel · USATags: · · ·

The country’s largest urban park with 1,200 acres, Balboa Park in San Diego, is home to 15 museums, performing arts venues, gardens and the world famous San Diego Zoo. Balboa Park was the location of the First World’s Fair of the 1915-1916 Panama-California Exposition (in commemoration of the opening of the Panama Canal) which created many of the stunning Spanish-Rennaissance architecture. Named for the Spanish maritime explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the park was also the location of the 1935-1936 California Pacific International Exposition.

La Jolla

Categories: California · Food · San Diego · Travel · USATags: · · · ·

With advance apologies to my friends back in the northern part of North America, I escaped the -20C windchill and snowstorm on the weekend and headed to Southern California, where it is a gorgeous +22C sunny day in La Jolla. My system seems to be in a state of confusion, but I am not complaining! La Jolla, or “The Jewel”, is a hilly seaside community in northern San Diego occupying 7 miles of coastline along the Pacific Ocean. For real estate watchers, this neighbourhood is one of the most expensive in the. U.S. Voted one of the best restaurants in San…

San Diego County Fair

Categories: California · San Diego · Travel · USATags: · · ·

In commemoration of the Fourth of July, I found myself wandering around the San Diego County Fair. Held annually at the Del Mar fairgrounds and race track since 1946, the fair originated as an agricultural fair in 1880. It is considered the fourth largest fair in the U.S., attracting 1.5 million visitors annually. Happy July 4th to my American friends!