A foodie week and a romantic weekend

We start off the week with our first-timer’s guide to San Diego, California.

It’s got all the tips and secrets you need to make the most of ‘America’s finest city’.

San D is a great town and we’ve had some amazing times there. The weather’s perfect most of the year round, the people are friendly and the food is awesome. It’s probably this post that has set the tone for our plans this week. Apart from our 5th wedding anniversary on Saturday, we’ve got some great food-focused activities coming up over the next few days.

Lunch today is inspired by the chilly, rainy change to the weather. I truck on down under the Hunter Connection in the city to the Happy Chef Vietnamese place. They do a very good pho there, but I’ve also discovered their spicy beef laksa is pretty damn good.

The coconut soup is really thick and the big chunks of beef have been cooked so long they fall apart in your mouth. Perfect rainy day food!

Following yesterday’s hefty laksa, I’m on the lookout for something a little bit lighter today. I don’t end up going for lunch till almost 3pm, but this is the perfect time to find some food bargains.

This bento box from Izakaya Masuya on O’Connell Street was only $10. I also get a special discount my company has worked out with them, so I get it for just $5! I’d still pay full price for this though. It’s a pork katsu bento and comes with a sort of spring roll thing, a gyoza dumpling, some grilled veggies, some crispy tofu, some strange potato salad in a cupcake case, and a potato croquette. All delicious!

Tonight, we’re off to the Botanist’s first birthday celebrations. The Botanist is a cool little bar and restaurant in Kirribilli. It’s north of the Harbour, which usually causes great consternation with me, but we love this bar. Their canapes are delicious (this slider didn’t last long after the photo was taken!) and I love the Vale Ale IPA. Mrs R is busy tucking into the cocktails on offer too.

On a regular day, we’d go for the tacos here and the Vase cocktail jug. It’s got lots of gin in it!

I’m barely out of the office today when the heavens open. Mrs Romance texts me shortly after saying ‘watch out – it looks like there’s some bad weather on the way.’

No kidding. I’m on the bus home watching pedestrians getting washed away down the street when I find this incredible picture on Instagram. I don’t usually ‘regram’ other people’s pics, but this is amazing. Thank you @theluxenomad for sharing this fantastic photo of the storm coming over the heads at Bondi Beach with the rest of us.

Mrs Romance shares her experience of a gluten-free high tea on MrAndMrsRomance.com today. She usually avoids high tea these days for fear of gluten reprisals, but the tea at the Park Hyatt Sydney is well-equipped with dietary specific alternatives.

What better way to finish off the week than with a few beers with your mates in the best pub in town?! We love the Royal Albert Hotel in Surry Hills. Their attitude to beer and the incredible Royale with Cheese burgers are something to be very proud of.

The night gets even better though when one of our friends announces that his wife is pregnant. It’s beautiful news. They’re going to be the best parents around, I reckon.

It’s our anniversary today! Five years ago, Mrs Romance and I tied the knot in a rainstorm that broke through the venue’s canopy and shorted out the celebrant’s mic. We got married at the beautiful Gunners’ Barracks. The views out over the Harbour are astounding… unless it’s raining so hard you can’t even see the water down below.

It’s supposed to be good luck to have rain on your wedding day – so we’re surely blessed with ample good luck!

Lunch by Mrs Romance today is a sure sign that this fable’s right. Taking inspiration from Scott Gooding and Luke Hines’ Cleaning Living Cookbook with creamy scrambled eggs, avocado, smoked salmon and sauteed kale. A good healthy lunch stands us in good stead for the rest of our romantic day.

As today is our anniversary, we thought it would be appropriate to write our weekly He Said, She Said on how I proposed. I found reading Mrs R’s perspective on the event very interesting – I was so caught up in my own nerves I had no idea what she thought was going on! The same goes for her: she had no idea of what I was planning until she saw me down there on one knee.

This pic is one of our favourites from our time in the Cook Islands where we got engaged. If there is a paradise on Earth, it’s right here.

It’s only right we stroll down to Messina for a gelato on our special day. When we get there though, the queue is as long as it usually is at 9pm after everyone’s finished dinner. It’s understandable though; we’re here at about 4pm – a.k.a. ‘sugarcrash o’ clock’. It’s also a lot warmer today than it should be this time of year – as we discovered on our wedding day!

The wait’s well worth it though and we come away with delicious frozen goodness!

We get home from our walk to the gelato shop for a glass of ice cold champagne and a snuggle in front of a movie before heading to dinner.

And here we are: the culmination of a day full of romance and eating! We’re at the three-hatted Rockpool on Bridge Street. We only booked on Thursday and of course the tables were all fully booked. We were offered a place at the bar instead, and they ended up being the best seats in the house.

We were able to watch everything going on in the front kitchen, talk to the barman and get to know the sommelier. We felt much more part of the restaurant than I think we would have if we’d been sat on the main floor.

In fact at one point some some early leavers meant a table was freed up. But when the staff offered us the table we turned them down, preferring our view from the bar.

Apart from the seating, the food, the service and the wine was all so good it makes me want to become a millionaire even more just so I can eat there more regularly!

We finally get home full, content and very loved up. What a good week it’s been!

What was the highlight of your week? Tell us about it in the comments!

Images by Mr and Mrs Romance via Instagram: @MrAndMrsRomance, @HairRomance and of course @AngryBastard!