Week 156: Happy 2026!

Week 156: Dec 28th-January 3rd, 2026

Happy 2026, everyone! I hope this year is full of new adventures, fun things, time with loved ones, lots of laughter, and big, fat paychecks. That is what I am hoping for myself at least.

This year, I did something I'd never done before which was go out for dinner on New Year's Eve. It was a semi-pre-fix dinner menu at Rusticucina, a nice little Italian spot that I've been to a couple times.

I went with my friend Syann because we both didn't have plans for New Year's Eve and didn't feel like sitting around at home alone. I love going out to eat with Syann because we have similar tastes and don't mind spending a little more for good food, especially for a fun occasion like New Year's Eve dinner.

The pre-fix menu was $55 per person, which felt like a pretty good deal, since you got a choice of appetizer, entree, and dessert. We got the fried burrata and the caesar salad to share, and I got a cucumber spritz cocktail. Syann got a classic Aperol spritz.

The fried burrata was insanely good. If it had no effect on my body, I would happily eat that every single day. For my entree, I got the pappardelle al brasato, which had amazing shredded short ribs and a truffle cream sauce.

For dessert, we shared the two options of the limoncello cake and the cannoli. I'm a big fan of both lemon cakes and cannoli, so these were both great. Our server was a nice woman with an accent we couldn't quite place but assumed was Italian, and despite the very busy restaurant, we felt well taken care of.

Our appetizers and drinks at Rusticucina

My pappardelle al brasato at Rusticucina

Limoncello cake and cannoli at Rusticucina

The New Year's Eve special menu is below, though it might be hard to read since it's a bit low in quality.

Their normal menu looks like this. I highly recommend Rusticucina as a nicer option for good Italian food.

After dinner, we braved the rain for a few seconds while jumping in our Uber back to my apartment. Instead of going out somewhere and facing long lines, crowds, and expensive bar tabs, we agreed to just stay home and hang out. I was happily surprised when Syann asked if we could play Nintendo Switch, because she doesn't normally like any sort of video game. We played a few rounds of Mario Kart and then played Nintendo Sports golf, which was actually pretty difficult. Syann has been really into real life golfing lately and she said it was pretty accurate for a golfing simulator.

My boyfriend came back home from his parent's house before midnight and hung out with us for a while as well. After we all did our New Year's cheers at midnight and yapped for another hour, we finally went to bed (after taking Syann home to save her from a $60 Uber!). Little did we know this would all occur before one of San Diego's wettest New Year's Days in recorded history. I didn't expect a good night's sleep given the fireworks and the late night, but my night was interrupted by extremely loud rainfall as well. Apparently, multiple cities in San Diego County broke precipitation records for the day on January 1st, 2026. It isn't hard to believe either, because many roads near me in Mission Valley are still closed due to flooding. Other areas like Chollas Creek had some crazy floods as well. There were a few of those unlucky people who left their cars parked in flooded areas who are now starting the new year without a working vehicle. I am lucky to not be one of them.

Before the rain started this week, we thankfully got one of the nicest sunsets of the year. I'm sure there are tons of better photos out there, but this one I quickly got while taking out the trash is pretty nice.

Bonus: my dad is enjoying himself in Africa and is capturing amazing photos of wildlife. These two photos of lions are insane. All credit to my dad, Greg Martin!

Anyways, I will be staying as dry as I can to start off 2026. I hope everyone drives safe, especially around Southern California drivers in the rain, and happy new year!

See you next week.