One of the San Diego Home Cooking restaurants-Centre City Café

by Stacey Kuhns

Centre City Café is located at 2680 S. Escondido Boulevard in Escondido-92025. They are opened 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. I have visited Centre City Cafe twice, once for lunch and once for breakfast. Both times, the staff have been extremely friendly and attentive. However, the restaurant is old, so do not expect a modern updated place.

The restaurant is fairly large. We got there at 9 a.m. on a Saturday morning and had no trouble with seating; but, by 10 a.m., there was a long line of people waiting for tables. This restaurant seems to have a good number of regulars which is always a good sign.

I went with two friends for breakfast. One friend had the corned beef hash, which is quite a plateful and also comes with your choice of toast or English muffin. She said it was quite good.

My other friend had the chicken fried steak, with hash browns and whole wheat toast. He said the chicken fried steak was very good, but the hash browns were not the best he had eaten. He said they were overdone.

I had the cinnamon roll French toast. I was expecting slices from regular sized cinnamon rolls. Boy, was I wrong! It was humongous! It came with warm syrup, three gigantic thick cinnamon roll slices and homemade glaze/frosting. The slices were almost too thick and I needed a knife to cut them, but it was good and was enough for three meals. I could barely finish one slice and the “to go box” would not even close with two slices in it.

All in all, the San Diego Home Cooking-Centre City Café was a fun a fun place to visit. Food is not outstanding but it is good and there is plenty of it. My friend took half her corned beef hash home also. We never felt rushed even after we paid the bill and were just sitting at the table talking.

Great for all ages. I saw some kids eating pancakes that were twice as big as their heads!

Sunday Breakfast at the Rainbow Oaks

Sunday Breakfast with the family is always so much fun.  This morning we went to a different restaurant.

The Rainbow Oaks Restaurant, originally established in 1946, reopened in April 09, newly remodeled to restore the interior of the historic building to become a gathering place for locals, travelers and bikers to engage in fine, yet affordable dining for breakfast, lunch and dinner serving traditional American cuisine.

Coast Oak - Santas Little Helper.

 

Reef Indy - Before he got in trouble.

 

  Coast Oak enjoyed his first baby peas at the Rainbow Oaks!

Christmas Lights-Candy Cane Lane

by Stacey Kuhns

Candy Cane Lane is located in Poway. It is really Hickory Street (Butterwood Court) and the zip code is 92064. It is approximately three and a half blocks of decorated homes.

I had never been before but according to our driver, it was not as fully decorated in years past. Still, there was a number of amazingly decorated homes to see. There are lots of people out and about, families walking the streets, and lots of slow traffic so use caution when driving the area.

It was raining the night we went so I was unable to get a lot of good photos. Many of the homes have the families standing outside giving out hot cider, hot chocolate, cookies and other Christmas fare. It is a safe, festive place to be for you and your family and seems to have something to make everyone smile.

There was even a home that had a small theater area set up with chairs and they were playing kid-friendly movies. All in all, a cool place to visit that is maybe closer to North County folks than having to drive to the Lights on the Prado in Balboa Park.

(I do wish the photos came out better, but was in a moving car in the rain - Much better in person) 

Roma Market, A Small Treasure

by Stacey Kuhns

I had heard good things about Roma Market in Escondido, so a friend and I went and checked it out. Roma Market is located at 1054 W. Valley Parkway, in Escondido and they are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. seven days a week.

I was surprised at how small the market is, but it is definitely packed with Italian treasures. The layout is great and the store is extremely clean. They have a small produce section and the produce looked wonderful. They also have a selection of wines and beers. Their displays are beautiful.

They also offer a variety of funny T-shirts.

Their pasta selections are amazing. There is freshly made pasta in their refrigerator/freezer sections along with packaged pastas on the shelves. The items are definitely a bit pricey, but they have many unusual items not found in regular markets.

And of course they have many bottled as well as fresh pasta sauces to choose from. They have a deli counter where you can order a variety of items including coffees, gelato, sandwiches, salads, meats, breads, Italian dishes, and desserts. Everything looks delicious.

We ordered the meatball sub and the hoagie. Both were so good. The counter staff were very friendly and the service was excellent.

Roma Market also has a wide variety of cheeses and salads to choose from.

The deli counter had samples of Parmaggiano Reggiano which was so yummy, we had to purchase some.

My friend tried the marinated mushrooms and I tried the Sicilian salad. Both were lovely.

They have a nice assortment of prepared foods to pick up for a meal, picnic, or anything else. And the foods are quality foods, not just your everyday run of the mill prepared items found at your local grocery store. 

There are plenty of items that would also make great holiday gifts. 

My friend and I decided we will both return here many times. It was fun just to walk the aisles and look at all the different products.

Volunteering-It Does the Heart Good

by Stacey Kuhns 

Ever since I can remember, I wanted to work with animals. I never had dreams of being famous, a ballerina, or anything kids my age at that time dreamed about. My goal was to be an exotic animal veterinarian for a zoo. I was always around animals. I had a horned lizard, mice, rats, a bullfrog, rabbits, guinea pigs, tortoises, dogs, cats, and a snake at home.

I began volunteering at a local veterinarian's office at the age of 15. Every day after school, my mom would drive me to the vet's office so I could volunteer.

I also signed up for the 4-H Club and did demonstrations on animal care.

I eventually began getting paid as an animal technician at the vet's office. When I graduated high school, I entered Pre-Veterinary Medicine at San Diego State University. (I was accepted to the University of Pennsylvania also, for their veterinary program, but decided to stay close to home).

I took classes Zoology, Primates, and of course all the requisite classes. While in college, I got a fantastic opportunity to volunteer at the San Diego Zoo. I worked in Research and Pathology. I assisted in autopsies of animals that had died at the Zoo and ran electrophoresis studies (DNA) on Prezwalski horses.

I was already into photography then and was asked to go to the Wild Animal Park to photograph a rhino calf that had just been born. They drove me out onto the plains area where he was and I was able to take some photos. It was all very cool. I would walk around the zoo before it opened to the public and study the animals, who are very active at that time.

Unfortunately, math has always been my downfall, even in grade school. I figured if I wanted to be a vet badly enough, it would happen. But between Organic Chemistry and Biological Calculus, I realized I was not going to be able to meet the math requirements to be a veterinarian.

I was devastated, but continued on with college under a different major. I eventually left State and moved back to Los Angeles County to get married. I worked for veterinarians prior to my first child being born. I continued to have cats and dogs at home.

When my son was in fourth grade (about 21 years ago), we purchased an iguana. That turned into iguana rescue and I had six iguanas in our living room at one time. I would take my large, tamer iguanas to schools and institutions, Girl Scout groups, and other places to share about their history and care.

I began working in law enforcement around 1991 (don't ask me how I went from animals to law enforcement. It just happened). While working as a probation officer, I volunteered to foster feral kittens through the County of San Diego Animal Services Tweenies Program. I fostered three kittens and wound up being a foster failure because I kept two of the sisters.

While working as an officer, I also took some time to visit a wolf sanctuary in the Palm Springs area. I was not happy with what I found there and made calls and wrote letters which had a positive impact on changes made there.

I retired from the County of San Diego almost three years ago. I wanted to return to working with animals so I searched the internet for places to volunteer in my area. I got involved volunteering with a rescue organization called Animal Rescuers without Borders .  I have been there ever since and volunteer two to three days a week in the Cat Adoption Center at inside the Oceanside Petsmart. We also have a Cat Adoption Center in the Petsmart in Clairemont Mesa. We have many dogs for adoption or fostering also and hold a large number of adoption events at various locations.

I volunteered to foster an adult cat and kitten (who were bonded) at my house. Once again, a foster failure as I adopted them.

I have helped a number of animals find their forever home and that wonderful feeling never gets old. I love seeing our animals get a second chance at life and I hope to keep volunteering with animals for a long time. It does the heart good.