in da (strip) club

so although my road trip and hotel stay was totally a solo outing, i wasn't truly alone in san diego. my friend delovely details was a hot chocolate blogger ambassador like me, so she and her husband were down for the night too. in fact, she's the one who alerted me to the deal for the hotel. it was nice to know that i had friends nearby - on the same floor, even.

dinner was in the heart of the gaslamp district, just a ten-minute walk away. when i suggested this place to DD, she actually thought i was trying to drag her along on a different kind of adventure:

i don't actually know if she was relieved or disappointed to find that it was just a clever name for a steak joint. and not just any old steak house - one with a twist. you order your cut of meat and sides, and then you get to season and cook it yourself on one of several communal grills sprinkled throughout the restaurant. 

the hub despises places like this ("i'm not paying money to have to cook my own food!"), so i have to grab these opportunities whenever i can. 

first course. it was...well, a salad. nothing special. 

then our garlic bread and meat arrived. 

inside, it was a lot noisier and rambunctious than our nice, quiet table out on the patio. there were big screens playing music videos and people just hanging out having a good time. 

at the grill was a full lineup of wet and dry seasonings for the meats. 

i went with this one:

we read the posted instructions and then carefully put the goods on the hot grill. 

back at our table, our sides had arrived. lobster mashed potatoes for mr. DD and me to split:

seafood-less au gratin potatoes for DD:

and then a little green...you know, for color. 

plate o'happiness. 

we stuffed ourselves silly and capped it off with a giant slice of cheesecake. on the way back, we eyed this fun party bike thingy:

with a hilly 9 mile run ahead of us the next morning, we called it a night relatively early. back in my room, i changed into comfy clothes and flipped through the channels to find something fun to watch. 

and before i finally fell asleep, i laid out all of my gear. 

it was kinda cool knowing that i wouldn't have to tiptoe around in the dark as i got ready. not that i didn't miss my family, but i was glad that i wasn't going to risk waking anyone up in the morning. 

of course, i woke up hourly throughout the night, but that's neither here no there. heh.