Craving South African or British Food in San Diego?
I miss British food. I know many people think that British food is bland, but if you grew up with it – you wouldn’t think that. When someone told me to try a place called Capetown Pub/Restaurant on Miramar Road, and mentioned they have fish and chips and all kinds of savory pies, I was quite excited, but never did I imagine that this new discovery would be so good.
Here’s what I ordered -pie and chips! Not just any pie, but chicken curry pie and quite delicious- I must say.
Pie and chips from Capetown Pub, Miramar Road
The chips actually were chips – the British kind – and not just thin tasteless fries. I was in heaven! Additionally, there was vinegar – Heinz Malt Vinegar – to drown the chips in- but since they were so good, I didn’t drown them!
Here’s a look at their menu
The only problem is deciding what to get as I wanted the samoosas, which must be like the Indian samosas, and my little girl wanted the chicken curry and rice. I also wanted the fish and chips. In the end, we opted to share the pie and chips.
You must be wondering what the restaurant looks like. Here are a few pictures:
There’s a few pictures of Nelson Mandela on the walls and the music playing reminded me of UB40 – one of my favorite groups from the UK. There are at least seven TV screens showing sports, including cricket of course.
Even though I was full, I could not resist dessert, especially when I found out that the one recommended had custard in it on top of a thin layer of sponge cake. It’s called “Milktert” – basically a Milktart, but should have been called Custard Tart or something like that – it was heavenly, delicious, yummy…..I should stop there. The other options were Brandy Tart with custard which I had wanted, and another one that was a sponge cake with coconut. All the desserts sounded wonderful.
Here’s the Milktert
Milktert at Capetown Pub, Miramar Road
Oh, I forgot to mention that all that delicious cold custard had cinnamon sprinkled on it. I was very tempted to get a cup of tea to go with my pudding, but resisted – not sure why. Anyway, if you crave South African food or British food, perhaps even Indian food….and you enjoy a modern, even trendy setting and tasty food – then give this place a try.
Star Of India – Star of San Diego
I like to think that I have something in common with the Star Of India. After all, I’m Indian, live in San Diego and was born and raised in England. Well, the Star of India was put together on the Isle of Man in Great Britain, and now calls San Diego home (just like me). As to why she has “India” in her name, you can read more about that here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_India_(ship)
Here are more pictures of the Star Of India:
Star Of India
Star Of India
Star of India, San Diego
Star of India, San Diego
By the way, these pictures were taken with my Canon G10. I still can’t decide if I like pictures taken with my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 better or with the Canon G10. If you have any comments on what you prefer – the pictures on this post (taken with the G10 or the other Star of India post taken with the Note 3), please let me know.
The Star of India can be found berthed on North Harbor Drive, near San Diego Lindbergh International Airport. You should not visit San Diego without visiting the Star of India – after all she could easily be the Star of San Diego!
Star of India, Star Of San Diego
This beautiful ship is the Star Of India, and one of the stars of San Diego. Did you know that it was put together in Great Britain?
Star Of India, San Diego
Star Of India, San Diego
Want to learn more? See the picture of the sign below – I hope you can read the words.
Here’s two more pictures of the Star Of India.
This was a quick post – the first I’ve posted from my phone. All these pictures were taken with my Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Next time, I might post more from my computer of the ship taken with my Canon G10.
This is a lunch time post. Until next time!
Just added to the post at 6:53 pm PST – somehow posting from the phone did not include the first picture that was supposed to be in it, and I also added another!
Imagine (the Flower Fields)
Imagine all the flowers, it’s easy if you try.
The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA
Just close your eyes and smell them, above you only sky
Imagine all the people
The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA
Going crazy for the flowers…..ooh, ooh!
You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us….and the world will be a flowery one!
The words above were inspired of course, by John Lennon, and from his song “Imagine” which is a truly beautiful song with so much meaning…only his is about peace. However, you can use the word “Imagine” and his music (and apply it to almost any theme) and it can still be a beautiful thing (hopefully).
Here are some more pictures of the spectacular Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA (just 40 minutes or so north of downtown San Diego).
The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA – windmill, flowers and ocean!
The Flower Fields, Carlsbad, CA – windmill, flowers and ocean!
If you’d like to see more of the pictures I’ve taken at the Flower Fields, I just made a new board – just for the Flower Fields! You can find it here at: http://www.pinterest.com/Luchanik/flower-fields-carlsbad-san-diego/ – there are a few pictures on this board that I did not take, but the majority of them I did!
Well, Happy Spring to you all, and remember to imagine all the flowers, it’s really easy if you try!
More than a Glimpse Of Balboa Park
I continue with the trip I took to Balboa Park a month ago now. How time flies! I can’t beat time anymore, it wins me constantly.
Anyhow, as Chandra and I left the Botanical Gardens, we got a closer look at the building that was on the other side of the lily pond.
Balboa Park, San Diego
We saw some devotees chanting “Hare Krishna” and I could not resist taking a picture
Balboa Park, San Diego
We saw people photographing the beautiful architecture
Balboa Park, San Diego
The sky was a beautiful blue, and it was a perfect day
Balboa Park, San Diego
There were beautiful cherry-blossom type flowers in the trees – I was reminded of Washington, DC
Balboa Park, San Diego
A really talented musician played for the audience using an Aboriginal-type horn. I have taken his picture before at December Nights at the Park. We could have listened to him all afternoon. He was very entertaining!
Balboa Park, San Diego
Going in the other direction of the park, closer to the Houses of Hospitality, which sadly were closed today (Saturday) – they’re open usually from 10 am to 4 pm (I believe) on Sunday’s – we saw the Organ Pavilion, also the scene of Diwali at the Park and December Nights.
Balboa Park, San Diego
This is also part of Spreckels Theatre – The Organ Pavilion
Balboa Park, San Diego
Here is more of the park
Balboa Park, San Diego
Pretty flowers….imagine what it will be like in Spring!
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Sometimes, I can’t stop taking pictures.
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
There is art even outside the museums, and children will delight at the sight of it. They can even play in one of the structures, outside of the Mingei International Museum.
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
At one point, the wind started blowing, and it felt like it was snowing. It was snowing cherry blossom type flowers. It was such a beautiful few minutes, and very surreal.
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
This is outside one of my favorite buildings in Balboa Park – the San Diego Museum of Man – what a lovely building!
San Diego Museum of Man, Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
Balboa Park, San Diego
This is back to the area just outside the Mingei International Museum.
Well, I have to leave off here. I think I may have run out of space for my media files – I think I upload too many pictures – infact, I take too many pictures. However, you can never have enough pictures – it’s always best to have dozens of varieties of each, then you can pick your favorite. My problem is that sometimes I can’t pick properly. I want to use them all. Anyway, next time when I sort out my media storage situation – I might even post more pictures of Balboa Park. Happy March!
A Glimpse of Balboa Park
I went to my very favorite park in San Diego yesterday – Balboa Park. The park is so amazing, that I had to give you a glimpse of it, through this picture first:
- Balboa Park, San Diego
The picture leads me to the question, do you like looking at the gate, through the gate or at what is on the other side of the gate? This was a hard one to decide yesterday, since I was in the Botanical Building and it was so filled with beauty that I did not want to leave it, nor did my little Chandra.
This picture was taken when we first headed to the Botanical Building, and of course I had to get my little one in the picture
As we got closer this is what it looked like
Here are some pictures of the flowers
- Orchids at Balboa Park, San Diego
- Botanical Building, San Diego
- Botanical Building, Balboa Park
- Botanical Building, San Diego
- Botanical Building, Balboa Park
However, the ornate fence beckoned me to go outside again
- Botanical Building, San Diego
This is a very interesting looking bush outside the Botanical Building
- Botanical Building, Balboa Park
Outside was just as lovely as inside the Botanical Gardens. This is the view looking out from the Botanical Gardens Building.
- Balboa Park, San Diego
I zoomed in and got this picture
- Balboa Park, San Diego
I either zoomed out or walked a little closer and got another picture
- Balboa Park, San Diego
There were fish in the water, both big and small
- Balboa Park, San Diego
There were ducks in the water
- Balboa Park, San Diego
There was music in the air, as people all over the park were making this park even more beautiful if possible with their wonderful music.
- Musician at Balboa Park, San Diego
As we walked away from the Botanical Building, I couldn’t help but think that Balboa Park is such a treasure, a park that needs to be on everyone’s list of places to visit when they come to San Diego. The visitors who come here will surely fall in love with Balboa Park, and will definitely want more than just a glimpse of the park – an entire day or perhaps two should be what you allot to just this park.
Here’s more of this beautiful park
- Balboa Park
However, I am going to save more pictures until next time. Happy February!
A Little Bit of Paradise At The Hotel Del, Coronado
I love to go to the Hotel Del – that place is just what the doctor would order or should order for anyone to get away from it all! It makes me feel content and serene and as though I am on vacation. Yesterday, on November 30th, we finally got to go and visit this beautiful place again. My heart had been yearning for the Hotel Del. I was so excited to go and visit it again.
On the way to the Hotel Del, there are many picture taking opportunities:
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
near the Hotel Del, Coronado
Don’t park in the hotel grounds as you will have to pay for parking, and it isn’t cheap. There is plenty of free parking by the beach on the main streets. We had to park about a ten-minute walk away from the hotel, but it’s such a lovely place to take a walk. Just take in the surroundings all around and you won’t be disappointed.
near the Hotel Del, Coronado
near the Hotel Del, Coronado
near the Hotel Del, Coronado
near the Hotel Del, Coronado
near the Hotel Del, Coronado
People just love to gaze at the Hotel Del, well……it’s so swell!
near the Hotel Del, Coronado
Coronado near the Hotel Del
Finally, we got to the Hotel Del. The ice-skating rink is now open for the holidays and I could just stand here for hours taking in the happiness of everyone and the beauty all around.
I couldn’t decide if I wanted pictures with the hotel in the background
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
or without it
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del
Hotel Del Ice-Skating Rink, Coronado
Hotel Del Ice-Skating Rink, Coronado
You might want to start with taking a break, just to take in the surrounding beauty while you have an ice-cream from Moo-Time Creamery or grab a cup of coffee or a cold drink – this area shown in the picture below is a self-service area and it is ever so relaxing and a great place to sit.
Hotel Del, Coronado
Moo-Time Creamery, Hotel Del, Coronado
There’s plenty of shops and places to get treats
The Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Then, you’ll want to go and see the lobby and the Christmas tree, and some more of the grounds of the hotel
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
This tree is located where the Sheerwater Restaurant is and close by to where the self-service coffee shop is located
If you go through the lobby and past the tree, then you can exit from the other side and wander out into the beautiful garden
Hotel Del, Coronado
This area shown below is a restaurant with out-door seating and a prime view of not just the ocean, but people-watching
Hotel Del, Coronado
We ended up staying for several hours, and got treated to a nice sunset.
Hotel Del, Coronado
Feel like some hot chocolate out by the ice-skating rink? Then you should try Coffee By The Sea
The ice-skating rink is now bathed in a beautiful sun-set
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Then the sunset became even more spectacular, but how could it be other than spectacular in this beautiful of most beautiful places?
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Last, but not least…..this place is just where you have to come to get into the holiday spirit! It looks like a holiday bonanza, and it is so festive and elegant here that I can’t describe it accurately enough.
Hotel Del, Coronado
Did I tell you that I loved the Hotel Del, did I tell you it is so so swell? It is beautiful and I highly recommend that you visit.
Diwali Mela, 2013 – San Diego
Diwali is always special here in San Diego, and this year was no different. First, we had the wonderful Festival Of Lights in Balboa Park, then we had the Diwali Mela just last weekend on November 9th. The Mela always takes place in front of the Shri Mandir on Black Mountain Road in San Diego’s Mira Mesa area. That’s also where one of my favorite Indian fast-food/snack restaurants are: Surati (see pictures of their yummy sweets right here). Here’s just a few pictures:
Diwali Mela, 2013
Diwali Mela, 2013 – San Diego
Diwali Mela, 2013 – San Diego
Diwali Mela, 2013 – San Diego
Diwali Mela, 2013
This picture was taken of the group in the video below, but the picture was not taken at the Diwali Mela, it was taken earlier in the year when they performed to the same dance:
Indian Dance
Here’s my video of just one of the performances…..I hope you enjoy it.
New blog url – it’s now luchanik.wordpress.com and not luchaniktravel.wordpress.com
Have you ever made a mistake and regretted messing with something that you don’t know much about? Well, I just did that recently, and I have been quite shocked that I could not fix it. Oh well, I need to stop “crying” about it. As my 16 year old daughter would say “it’s a first world problem”. There’s many more real problems out there such as the horrible and devastating typhoon that just hit the Phillipines. My problem is not a real problem at all when you put it into perspective, after all….why do I even have a blog I sometimes ask myself.
I have toyed around with the idea of changing my online name to “luchanik”. On Pinterest I am known as luchanik. Now, I will change my name on Twitter to luchanik instead of @luchaniktravel and I might even do away with that particular account. Now that I am not involved in travel anymore, I have stopped tweeting on that account and only go on it to post my new posts whether they are videos or WordPress posts. By the way, all my links don’t link back properly. It’s hard to explain. I pointed my domain www.luchaniktravel.com to www.luchanik.wordpress.com and this at least solved some of my problems, but how do I get past this particular issue – let’s just say it has to do with Pinterest again. Okay, to give you an example, let’s just point to one of my pictures on there – it’s one I took in Vegas. Okay, so far so good, but now when you see that the picture stemmed from one of my WordPress posts, do you see where it says visit http://www.luchaniktravel.wordpress.com and if you click on it, it then brings up an awful page wherein when pressed, it says “luchaniktravel.wordpress.com is no longer available – the authors have deleted this site”. However, if you didn’t know about my problem and I had just told you about my blog url change, you would have seen all my content – it’s still here, and you wouldn’t realize there’s some other underlying problems – yes, it’s like I wiped out all my content and everything I did before, and have started anew with a new blog url but with all the content listed – I just don’t have anything from before pointing to the old url’s properly. As I said, it’s hard to describe.
As my daughter would say, this is a first world problem, or more accurately described as not a real problem compared to “real problems” so I can’t cry about it, and won’t cry about it. After all, I even said on my About Luchanik page previously that I might change my name. I took the step, and even though I didn’t think before I did it or didn’t realize that it wouldn’t work out quite the way I wanted it to, or that I couldn’t press the “undo” button – it’s done now, and I’m going to live with it. I will just go on Twitter and post my links again, this time they will have luchanik.com infront of them instead of luchaniktravel in front of the post.
The night when I changed my blog url and realized the big mess that I had created – I stayed up until 2:30 am and needless to say, I was like a “zombie” that morning at work – it would have been more fitting it was Halloween, but it was a few days after Halloween. I did not immediately publicize my new blog url as I sometimes still wonder do I really want to do this, and then I say – why not? It’s all about the creativity, and about a hobby or passion. I still love travel and I love photography. Anyway, I think this name will fit me better, it’s still a name I care about – “luchanik” consists of the names of my three kids, but since I’m not a travel agent any more, I don’t need the travel part on the url. All I can say is, if you want to change your blog url, think carefully about it, and prepare to be up late and for things to not work out exactly the way you want them to. However, I wish you better luck than I had.
You know I can’t blog without pictures, so here’s some to take my mind off things and away from my non-existent problems
Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
Hotel Del, Coronado
A house near the Hotel Del, Coronado
Sunset at Coronado
As Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz: “there’s no place like home”, I say the “Hotel Del – it’s so swell”. Talk to you all soon, have a terrific November!
Me and My New Note 3 and Balboa Park
I have a new Note 3, and I have enjoyed getting to know it. It was quite a transition from going from an Iphone to a non-Iphone, such as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
My first major testing place of my Note 3 was at Balboa Park on October 26th, 2013. I went here for the occasion of the Festival of Lights. However, I will show you some pictures taken at Balboa Park using my Note 3, and then some pictures taken with my Canon G10.
With the Samsung Galaxy Note 3:
Balboa Park
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Now, here are some pictures taken with my Canon G10
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
Balboa Park – San Diego
I won’t show you pictures of my Note 3, as you can see what one is like from taking a look at this link:
http://reviews.cnet.com/samsung-galaxy-note-3/
However, I think the Note 3 takes pretty decent pictures, and can perform quite well in dim lighting. But, I would never give up my Canon G10 as I love this camera – there’s nothing like a dedicated stand-alone camera! I will say that I prefer the pictures taken with my Note 3 over those I used to take on the Iphone, but then my old Iphone 4’s camera had had only 5 megapixels or so, and the Note 3 has 13 megapixels, so that’s not a fair comparison. The G10 has about 10 megapixels, but I can’t say the Note 3’s camera is better, I am not that much into camera specifications to pass that type of judgment.
Here’s a picture taken with my Note 3 of one of my favorite subjects for photo-taking – my little 4 year old daughter!
Note 3 photo of Chandi
Note 3 photo of Chandi
I could take photos all day long of this little Princess!
But going back to my Note 3, all I can say with confidence is that I love using this super smartphone!
luchanik 