Little Italy's Farmers' Market

Check out that latest addition to our family!
Look at how cute our new puppy is :)

Look at how big our new puppy is! 
Okay, kidding.  I mean, I tried to convince my mom he would be more fun to play with and wayyy easier to take care of than my little brother, but she wouldn't budge...

Where did we find such a beast?? (He's an English Mastiff named "happy dog" btw)
In downtown San Diego!  At my new favorite place on earth: The Little Italy Farmers' Market!!

We picked up my momma and the sista from the airport around 9:45-10 ish and headed to Little Italy for some snackage and some of the best pizza in the city!

Our first stop?  Carbs.  and lots of 'em. We hit up the "bread man" and 5 minutes later, I was ready to ask for his hand in marriage.  Anyone who will provide me with freshly made pastries every morning is husband material.

Sister and I were torn between a cranberry orange scone, a cran-walnut scone, and this monster....
We made up our mind in 2.5 seconds.

 I don't remember what my future husband called this baby, but it's somewhat of a cross between a scone, a croissant, and a muffin.  It has a light flavor of Panforte - an Italian fruit cake - and it was dense and flaky (yes, at the same time) and moist with bits of apricot, raisins and almonds. So good. Plus, the powdered sugar topping didn't hurt much :)

After snacking our way through the market -- this place had more samples than Costco! -- we decided to hit my mom's favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza joint in the city! This pizza could be compared to our Croatian pizza pies, it was sooo good.  The crust was thin and crispy!

I had a veggie-type pizza but I ended up finishing off that and my sister's ricotta and meatball slice!

Dessert was pure decadence. 
From the beginning, Mom told me and sister to save room for some of the best dessert we'll ever taste and of course, we rolled our eyes and didn't believe her. 

wrong-o.
This bakery stand in the Farmers' Market - possibly french - was filled with all kinds of goodies.  We decided to try a pistachio, cranberry, chocolate cheesecake.

So moist, so rich, so fluffy... yet dense (I know, I'm filled with contradictions)

It was pretty too :) Not that appearance matters....

We also had these babies:
Two chocolate caramel tortes and a key lime pie torte.... oh my yum. 

Check out the rich chocolate and caramel love fest going on....!

Upon the bakery guy's recommendation, we also picked up an apple strudel type thing, which had a nice flaky crust and a juicy apple filling.  I loved the toasted almonds and powdered sugaaa

I literally wanted to pack up, drop out of college, and move to the cute little apartments that lined the farmers' market... but I don't think the parentals would approve of that plan :(
They obviously have their priorities mixed up. Food trumps all!

------------------------------------------ nap time. sun time. snack time.

Come dinner time, sister and I were still full-bellied and un-exercised... so we sought to remedy that uncomfortable combination by embarking on one of my go-to exercise adventures:

a six mile walk to GOLDEN SPOON!!!

If frozen yogurt isn't a good motivator to get out and get moving, I don't know what is.
Six miles flew by, as sister and I planned her future wedding (this seems to be our new favorite pastimes... although her "wedding" is like 5 years away).

Guess what I'm in charge of?!  The bachelorette party, because I'm a crazy good time :)
and... the catering & cake testing.  DUH.

Anyways, half island coconut and half peanut butter froyo topped with chopped reeses pieces.

Heaven.
I should throw in the towel and opt for an early retirement inside of our local Golden Spoon... It would save me the 6 mile walk there.

Anyways. What a great day!! And I was reunited with sister and mom... and food.