Stuff I Loved in San Diego

Welcome to The Enthusiast, a newsletter thats all yum, no yuck! Every weekend, I'm sharing five things I'm loving right now. The challenge for me is keeping it to just five...

This week, the hubs and I were in San Diego–he attended an IT conference for work, and I tagged along. We'd never been before, but we fully intend to go back and spend a week when we don't have to work to fully take in everything it has to offer. Here are a few places I enjoyed and some travel goodies that got me through my first flight in at least 2.5 if not 3 years:

Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens, Liberty Station

Stone Brewing, based in Escondido, is best known for popularizing the now-ubiquitous West Coast IPA, so their World Bistro & Gardens was our first stop after we arrived and got situated in San Diego. The beer wasn't the only thing I enjoyed  (because the beer is very, very good, even if you’re not an IPA fan), but also deeply appreciated the respectful treatment of employees at this location. We went on Monday evening and the place was mostly empty, but there was still a 30 minute wait. Why? Because they were short staffed, so instead of seating every single table right away, including several large parties ahead of and behind us, they metered out tables so servers wouldn’t get overwhelmed or underwater. It was honestly pretty refreshing to see. We waited with several tasty beers at the bar and then had a really delicious meal (including some really incredible cake) that we ordered via app and came delivered directly to our table. We had some technical difficulties, but in the end it was a lovely, breezy dinner enhanced by truly delightful beer, food, and staff.

Ilia Super Serum Skin Tint

I’ve pretty much about had it with full-on foundation these days. Between it settling into my pores or sliding down my face by lunchtime, on top of not matching my skintone, I can’t seem to find anything that moisturizes as well or looks as natural as Ilia Skin Tint. This is a very lightweight, very dewy skin tint with SPF 50, Niacinamide, and squalane. They also make a good setting powder with SPF 50 as well, but I’ve found that this tint works best for me without added powders. A little goes a long way, but it is buildable for additional spot or redness coverage. It’s a mineral sunscreen as well, so it definitely feels like you’re wearing sunscreen, but the other ingredients keep it from being too heavy and clogging me up.

Urban India, Gaslamp Quarter

If you told me I’d have the best Indian food of my life in the touristy Gaslamp Quarter of downtown San Diego after attending an IT conference party on a decommissioned aircraft carrier built in 1945, I would have said, ok sure. Because I totally did. In the midst of the clubs and the hookah bars and party squads, we hit up this tiny, local Indian spot to sober up a bit on spicy daal and luscious butter chicken. It was so simple but so delicious and satisfying in the way only well-made Indian food can be sometimes.

Girlfriend Co. Tote Bag

I picked up this tote made of recycled water bottles a couple of months ago on sale, and it turned out to be the perfect size for an overhead bin carry-on bag. It easily holds an extra shirt and underwear (because my paranoid ass refuses to put all my clothes in a checked bag with no backup), my admittedly much-too-large makeup and toiletries bags, and my ereader, with sizable pockets on the outside for my phone and wallet when going through the security check. I love pretty much everything Girlfriend makes (my entire workout and most of my lounge wardrobe consists of their soft and sturdy recycled outfits), and I got a great deal on this plus a new gym bag for my husband with discounts and rewards points.

False Idol Tiki Bar

Before said IT Conference party, we hit up an extremely tiny and extremely dark Tiki “speakeasy” in the back of another bar and got ourselves thoroughly buzzed on extremely strong and extremely delicious concoctions. My husband is the true Tiki fan, with his love of any and all kinds of rum with juices, bizarre bitters and wild extracts, and I’m the pretender because I like more modern recipes with tequila and mezcal. False Idol's menu of drinks is truly MASSIVE, both with the traditional Tikis you know and love, and with their modern twists on each. My husband had his faves—Jet Pilot, Zombie, and Jungle Bird—and I found a new one along with some classics: Engima de Muerte (False Idol's take on a Demerara Dry Float), El Diablo, and Sidewinder’s Fang. Apparently False Idol gets very busy and reservations are usually recommended, but we got there early-ish on a Wednesday and got two spots at the bar with no problems.

Libras to Love, RIP Edition

bell hooks (9/25) - If you consider yourself an intersectional feminist (which: if your feminism isn’t intersectional, it’s bullshit), bell hooks’s body of work is essential reading. As a fellow Kentuckian, it made me proud to know that one of the leading thinkers of modern feminism was born in and also made her home in the Bluegrass State, at Berea College, Kentucky’s most progressive institution of learning. I am still proud to be able to claim her, but hooks’s legacy reaches far beyond this state we both love in spite of itself. She left behind a lifetime of brilliant writings, and her library at Berea will be a testament as well as a tribute.

Meat Loaf (9/27) - Listen, I did not know Meat Loaf’s passing earlier this year would affect me as much as it did, but when you listen to the extended version of “I Would Do Anything for Love” on repeat for a few hours straight, you start to feel things a little more intensely. Marvin Lee wasn’t the kind of artist I usually look up to or get into, but he was a big, passionate rock n’ roll weirdo who could belt for days, and sometimes that’s all you need to be in order to become a legend.

In the Mood for More Love?

🖖🏻 TV - Star Trek: The Next Generation had its 35th anniversary this week. As much as I’ve been enjoying most of the new series these days (NOT Picard, much as it pains me to say so), TNG will always be my Trek, Picard my captain, Worf my lovable grouch, Geordi my engineer, and Guinan my futuristic accessories icon. Spock is still my favorite Trek character of all time, but TNG is where I see the future I want to believe in.

✍🏻 Writing - Jami Attenberg has been on fire with the writing advice and encouragement of late, and her newsletter from last week on how to start writing again was another banger. I truly cannot wait for her #1000DaysOfSummer book next year.

💪🏻 Fitness - I am absolutely an adult-onset “athlete” in that I didn’t enjoy any sports as a child, but I’ve now found movement (yoga, weights, kettlebell, dance) that I enjoy and makes me appreciate what my body can do, just 30 years too late. It still takes me a LOT of effort sometimes to even get started, but I find that I almost always feel better even after the tiniest workout, which would have made a big difference if I had actually learned that in PE Class...

🧵 Thread - Do yourself a favor and experience the complete majesty of Maggie Cheung in In the Mood For Love…

And that's it for the last week of September–welcome to October, otherwise known as the best month of the year! Thank you for reading The Enthusiast – if you're not already a subscriber, you can sign up here (it's free!). Pull out your spooky season faves, treat yourself to something spiced, and dust off your sweaters and blankets for cozy time, my babes.

Stay yummy,
LKH