Having my fun

Welcome to the City of Angels!

For spring break 2012, Teammate and I took a short but sweet vacation to Los Angeles. We headed out on the road on Saturday, March 24, 2012 and parted on Tuesday, March 27, 2012. I had such a fun time but I wish our vacation was longer. :(

Saturday, March 24, 2012
Headed out at about 12pm to get the rental car and then we went to In n Out to grab lunch. By the time we really hit the freeway, it was about 1pm. About 3 hours later, we turned in to get gas and grab a locos taco from Taco Bell. You can barely taste the Doritos.. After our pit stop, we headed back on the road for another 3 hours. After about 3 and a half hours, we finally arrived to our destination and home for the next 3 nights. Hello Holiday Inn LAX! We checked into the hotel and I even got a voucher for a complementary drink from the lounge. We grabbed our stuff and dropped it off in our room. We got ready for dinner and headed to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffle. Unfortunately, we went the wrong way and headed to the one in Manchester. -__-' We grabbed dinner and headed back to our hotel. Service was mad slow and food wasn't that great. Decided to grab our comp drink from the lounge and a salad to munch on for later. Took our drinks and headed back upstairs just to relax. After some relaxing we headed off to sleep. It was so nice just to snuggle up to my babe. :')

Sunday, March 25, 2012
A rainy day in LA so we decided to go do some outlet shopping. We headed out to Camarillo and did some shopping there. Babe and I were hungry so we headed half a mile away to Eggs N Things for brunch. We waited for about 20 minutes for a table and the food wasn't half bad. Their swedish pancakes were pretty good but I didn't like my omelette. I had the swiss cheese and spinach, the swiss cheese isn't very good. :( Babe ordered a create your own omelette, which was pretty good. He always picks good stuff. -__- After filling up our tummies, we headed back to Camarillo Premium Outlets. There was a wide array of outlet stores to shop from. Charlotte Russe, New Balance, Lacoste, Steve Madden, Nine West, American Apparel, etc. By far, this outlet had the best customer service ever. Most times outlet stores are dirty, the boxes, clothes, accessories strewn all over the floor, don't even get me started about the customer service... Quite the contrary here, we were greeted kindly upon entering the threshold and thanked when we left without buying anything. After finishing up, we headed home to change for dinner.

For dinner, we headed to the heart of Beverly Hills to a steakhouse called Mastro's. We were greeted warmly as we walked through the water streamesque vault door. Our hostess lead us up a spiraling staircase and through all the liveliness to our table. Live music and people chatting up a storm. We took a seat and our waiter came over to greet us and was very informative about the menu. We ordered the jumbo lump crab stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer and the lobster mashed potatoes as our side. I had the bone in filet mignon in medium rare and Babe had the New York steak strip in medium rare. The stuffed mushrooms were hot and delicious and served with cloth wrapped lemons to squeeze over our mushrooms for that extra zest. The bone in filet and New York steak strip were served on 400 degree plates. My filet was very good and had a slight crisp to it while the New York strip was juicy and tender. Our waiter helped serve our lobster mashed potatoes on our plates. The pieces of lobster were quite large and the bowl of mashed potatoes could serve at least 4 people. Babe was smart to cut up all his New York strip into little pieces and let the rare sections cook on the plate. After dinner we headed home to do some more relaxing. I was so full from dinner so we watched David Blaine on tv before I drifted off to sleep.

Monday, March 26, 2012
Disneyland day! Time to pop my Disneyland cherry! We headed off to Disneyland around 12pm and spent the whole day there. We parked in Jessie's section of the parking lot and took the shuttle bus to the park. The bus driver was quite entertaining, he had lots of corny jokes but it was cute. We hopped off the bus and decided to go to California Adventures first. We grabbed lunch first then headed off to the rides. We rode the Little Mermaid which was so cute! Then we went in line for the 3D shooting game. I lost to babe the shit talker but for what it's worth, I had better accuracy. ;) After the losing in the shooting game we went to Soarin' California which was a bit lame, haha. After that we went to get in line for Tower of Terror. This ride was a mindfuck but was still entertaining. It's kind of like Drop Zone in Great America, but Tower of Terror goes up and descends quickly.

Decided it was getting late, so we had to go to Disneyland! We hopped in line for Space Mountain which was very exciting, it even had good music! HAHA. After Space Mountain, we went to the Buzz Lightyear game which I DOMINATED! Babe was so mad and asked how I got from 10,000+ points to 40,000+ while he still had 18,000+. I'm a galactic warrior, that's why. We headed in the direction of the famous castle but it was closed off for the fireworks that night but managed to get a picture in anyways. We grabbed some hot dogs and stood in the large crowd to view the fireworks. This idiot with a balloon totally ruined it, the balloon was cockblocking my view of the fireworks/castle. RUDE... We left the park before the fireworks ended so we could beat the traffic. Disneyland was so magical, the fireworks were a nice ending to my first time there. We hadn't had a real dinner so we went to Cheesecake factory in Redondo Beach, it was so fancy... Had valet parking and everything! We headed home and it dawned on me that it would be our last night in LA. :(

Tuesday, March 27, 2012
We had to check out of the hotel by 12pm but I still didn't get to see the pool. We headed to the pool for about an hour before we headed back upstairs. We grabbed all our stuff and left. :'( Decided to get some Pink's hot dogs in Hollywood. The line was pretty long but it moved pretty quickly. Babe had the Lord of the Rings and guacamole dog, while I ordered the Planet Hollywood and the bacon chili dog. Babe's Lord of the Rings was good and had an interesting texture with the onion rings. The guacamole dog was very refreshing after eating the Lord of the Rings. My bacon chili dog was good but the Planet Hollywood was awful. The Planet Hollywood was nearly the same as the bacon chili dog except it had mushrooms. The mushrooms were awful like they were canned and I had enough bacon and chili. Very popular place in LA and many celebrities have been there e.g. Emeril, Dr. Phil, Laurence Fishburne, etc. After Pink's we headed to Pinkberry to grab some froyo before we were en route back home. I tried the original and the salted caramel. Babe actually likes the salted caramel froyo, usually he doesn't like anything salted caramel. After we had our sweet fix, said our goodbyes. :(

Our vacation felt so short, I wish it were longer. One day... I will have 6 month long vacations, twice a year.

En route

Pretty scenery

Pretty clouds

Locos taco snack

Our home for the next 3 nights

Our bed

Old Holiday Inn pictures

Roscoe's

Shopping time!

Mastro's

Complementary bread

Harrow :)

Stuffed mushroom

Lemons

My bone in filet

Lobster mashed potatoes

Babe's New York Strip

♥

Acting silly

On the way to Disneyland!!!!!!!!!11111 OMAIGAWSH

California Adventures!

Babe took this :D

Where magic happens

Nomz

:)

Little Mermaid ride

Y so evil?

:')

Waiting for Tower of Terror

Waiting in line nom.

Disneyland!

That effing balloon

Cheesecake factory in Redondo Beach was mad fancy.

PINK'S!

Wall of fame

Our doggys

For me?!

Haha, we saw this on the way to Pinkberry

Mine

His

Nom

CREEP CREEP!

Babe is not bad at taking pics. :)

Back home and we see this. HAHA

I've just begun

Does anyone else hate this new blogger layout? Or is it just me? Well, in any manner, let's get on with this blog post. Two in one day, call me butter cus I'm on a roll! Just keeding. :)

Well guess what gaiz? I'm finally 21! Yes, I am eagerly exulting the fact that I am now of legal drinking age. So what bitches? SUCK A DICK! I wish I went to Vegas (yes, very original for one's 21st birthday) or even to Napa for the weekend just to be away from my obligations and responsibilities. Don't fret, I shall and I'll keep on dancing until the world ends. I got a beautiful 21st birthday gift from my mom and a lovely one from my boyfriend. :)

For my birthday, Babe took me out to dinner to Boboquivari's steakhouse. The decor and dim lighting reminded me of harlequins or a circus. Don't come here and take pictures if you don't like flash photography.

Our server was very kind and sweet. She asked if either of us have been here before. Babe has but I haven't. She informed me that Babe took me to the best steakhouse in the city *giggle* and informed us about the menu. After she left us a couple minutes to decide and Babe asked me, "Is this really the best steakhouse in the city?" LOL, what a gullible one. I replied, "Everyone says that baby." He counters, "No, I don't think they would say that if it's not true." *Eye rolls*

For our appetizer Babe ordered the Dungeness Crab Crostini with smoked salmon & avocado served with burrata. It was so pleasant! It also came with a heaping of tasty fresh mozzarella, so tasty that I kept it for my bread.
For our steak, we both ordered the Bone in Filet Mignon both cooked in medium rare. The first slice was amazing and so delicious. It had a crunch or crisp on the outside, while the inside was juicy, tender and succulent. As I got closer to the bone, it got more and more rare, which I don't like. It was like chewing gum, ew. I got too full to even finish off the large piece near the bone. Babe also ordered the Twice Baked Potato, it wasn't bad but not worth raving about. Not so sure why he was so eager to order it, plus it was only half a potato! WTF.

The steak was so filling we could barely order dessert, but we said what the hell, it's my birthday. We went ahead and got the little chocolate cones and comes on a plate of four. It was yums and even came with a candle. :')

I got to spend my birthday eating a palatable dinner and staring at my hunk of a boyfriend, that's what I call enjoyable.

Thank you baby! ♥

Mojito time!

Lobsta crostini!

Bone in Filet Mignon

Twice baked potater

Dessert!

Hello February!

Harrow boiz and gurlz! So much went on I'm not sure where to begin! I'll just begin in the month of February.

The most important day in February for a couple is... *drum roll* VALENTINES DAY! Lovely Valentines day fell on a Tuesday, so babe and I decided to celebrate early and go what else but fine dining. Gents, if you don't know that date, you're not gonna get a date.

This time around, we headed over to a restaurant named Masa's for French cuisine. Seriously, this place was beautiful but overall QUIET. Dead quiet. Penis game quiet. Echo quiet. Whisper quiet. Twas the night before Christmas, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse quiet. YUP, mad quiet. Got here a couple minutes late because of the crazy traffic and also because of the Chinese New Years parade that was unfolding. Had to walk down a treacherous hill in 4 inch heels but luckily made it unscathed. We were seated immediately and the hostess even offered to take our coats.

Our garcon was extremely nice and friendly and spoke with a calm voice, answering our questions articulately. He also informed us that foie gras was going to be outlawed this year in the summer so I had to try it at least once, and especially so when my boyfriend was raving about how good it is. Babe and I made our decisions and we ordered. Before our food came out, we had complementary bread and even a sample of the crab salad. YUM

First course: Appetizer
I ordered the Winter Citrus Salad with fennel, pistachio, mole and citrus gelee. The fruits and nuts were good but the gelatin sauce that was smeared on the plate smelled like B.O. kind of weird when the server put it on our table cus I totally thought it was her!

Babe ordered the Fruits de Mer with lobster, uni, calamari, daikon, tosaka, aji, amarillo, and black sesame also complete with a pair of chopsticks! Delicious and didn't have that weird seafood taste to it.

Second course:
I ordered the nothing. I ordered 4 courses while babe ordered 5.

Babe ordered the Dayboat Scallops with endive, blood orange and bacon, this is seriously something to rave about. The scallops was seared to flawless perfection and tasted exquisite. WHY DIDN'T I ORDER THIS AS WELL?!?!11 Truly the best damn seared scallops I've ever had. But if you guys know a better seared scallops dish, do tell!

Third course:
Babe and I ordered the Hot Foie Gras with duck leg rillette, baby turnips and tart cherries. For those that don't know what foie gras is, it's French for "fat liver". Yeah, sounds kind of gross but it's actually very good! I always used to think it was a fancy name for a type of fish *shrug* Very delighted I ordered it because it was actually very delicious. Usually I don't like slimy textures or oily textures, e.g. fish skin, sashimi, etc. But foie gras is really good and cooked with lots of flavor.

Fourth course:
Both babe and I ordered the Filet Mignon with pommes salardaise, baby vegetables and bordelaise. I ordered mine medium well while babe ordered his medium rare. Yes, his was better. I still have qualms about ordering my meat not well done. -__-' My filet was a bit on the dry side but that is my fault I suppose.

Fifth course: Dessert
I ordered the Buckwheat Crepe with marmalade de cinqe agrumes, organce glace, chocolate sorbet, and cocoa nib. Both were so delicious! I really enjoyed the ice cream *drool*

Babe ordered the Peanut Butter Mousse with peanut shortbread, raspberry, pecan praline, and roasted banana ice cream. I don't usually like to eat peanut butter but this dessert was quite lovely and not overly peanut buttery.

We were basically done for the night until our garcon rolled over a candy shop on wheels. Full of sweets, the cart had homemade macaroons, lollipops, chocolates, brittle, brownies, and more exotic goodies I've never tried before. Babe asked to box an assortment of the goodies into a box to take home since we were much too full to eat another bite.

When Valentine's day really came, Babe took me to the Academy of Science museum to spend the day looking at sea creatures and animals. I enjoyed going up the spiraling dome and seeing the butterflies, birds and stuff. It's really humid up there to cater to the animal's habitat so it's best if you don't go there if you don't like humidity. There's also spiders but they're encased but still freaky, not recommended for arachnophobics. The birds and butterflies are not encased so not recommended if you don't love beautiful butterflies and loud birds. They won't attack you or anything tho. Best part was the living roof... NOT! Idk why the yelpers raved about the roof, there's practically nothing there. Or maybe I just don't know the beauty of it? Bad part about the museum was the kids running around. I think we'll make a trip to CAS nightlife.

Complementary pre-nomz

More complementary pre-nom: crab

Bread! The one that looks like a cracker is my favorite. :)

Pre-nomz photo

Babe's appetizer

My appetizer

Babe's seared scallops

My delicious invisible plate

Me luvz to wait fer food. :(

Babe and I's foie gras

Babe and I's filet mignon

Babe's peanut mousse

Mai buckwheat crepe!

Goodies from the candy shop on wheels

Just because I am teh vainz.

Penguinz! ♥

This was was following us around :)

He was cleaning algae off the windows.

The tunnel

Jellyfish

Inside the dome

South Lake Tahoe!

Salutations readers of this blog. You are probably pondering my existence and where I have gone, maybe you think, just maybe I am lying in a ditch or something dramatic of that sort. Quite the contrary! I have been having fun so I can share my experiences and fun so that you can feel the fun I felt.

Moving along... I went to South Lake Tahoe the weekend right before the Spring semester of school began. January 13-16, oh what a fun time I had, why oh why did it have to end?! Initially, teammate invited me so that he could pop my snowboarding cherry. I was so excited! Mini vacay and snowboarding?! YESSS.

The day before, we headed to Sports Authority so I could get some snow pants. I fit Young Boys North Face snow pants. -___- Good thing teammate told me not to rip the tag off because I returned the pants right after we got back from Tahoe. The snowboarding cherry remains intact and unpopped.

Friday, January 13
Teammate drove his brother and his friend to the airport to pick up the rentals cars and headed to his brother's girlfriend's house. I played with her dogs for about 20 minutes and we left. We packed up mostly everyone's luggage, food and games. After getting in the rentals, we went to get some Vietnamese sammitches for breakfast and some for the road. Not before long, we were done and we were off! 3 hour drive was a pain in the ass and the AUX cable in the rental was janky. #firstworldproblems Teammate, I and two others won the race and got there first. We explored around for a bit and claimed the king bed to ourselves. :) Finally the second rental came around 5pm and we relaxed. Not before long, someone decided they were hungry so Joe the cook whipped everyone up a burger. /NOM NOM NOM /Belch... not too soon after that the drinking games began. And not too soon after that Joe the cook whipped up some nachos. So pretty and so delicious. I think we all went to bed around 12 am or 1 am.

Saturday, January 14
Saturday morning cartoons! Football! Oh how can I contain the excitement! I lie, I wasn't excited for either really. I got up and made teammate and I an omelette. YUM. Teammate spent the whole day sitting on the couch and watching football. LAME. I spent a couple of hours just working on my prelicensing materials, I got bored after that so I decided to get dolled up for nothing. :) Time ticked closer to dinner time and Mimi was making tacos and burritos for the night's dinner. It was such a nice dinner, it felt like... la familia. Yet again, not before long, the drinking games started. Intense night that lasted until about 4 am. Taboo and Twister is my shiet. :)

Sunday, January 15
The realization that it was our last night here in South Lake Tahoe dawned on me, better go out with a bang... I made teammate and I an omelette. It is now my specialty. Quickly, it became another day of football but we also planned to go snowboarding. After thinking it over, there was a total count of 8 people but the only ones that would go would be teammate and I. The snow in Tahoe at that moment was artificial. Lame. And $80 to snowboard. Let's plug in the equation shall we? 2 people + artificial snow + $80 = NO SNOWBOARDING and NOT WORTH IT. Sightseeing would suffice but too bad we didn't go. Instead of wasting $80 on artificial snow, we decided to get wasted at 11 am instead of the usual 12 am. After a drunken game of Taboo, everyone else went to the casino, while teammate and I were left home to rot. Just kidding, no we didn't rot. I knocked out on the couch and after I noticed I was drooling I hauled my ass to our room and fell asleep. A couple hours later teammate woke me up before everyone came home. Joe the cook made spaghetti for us that night, yum. Since it was the last night, I kind of wanted to make a toast, haha, but I didn't. owell. Stayed up for a few more hours before teammate and I showered and hit the hay. About 1:30 am, there was a large ruckus outside out our door. "CREEP CREEP!" the loud voice yelled. Oh gosh... I quickly woke up next to teammate with insomnia. After an hour or so, they calmed down and teammate went outside to use the restroom. Outside our door was stacked red drinking cups that made a wall. LOL, finally done with the pranks, I fell back asleep.

Monday, January 16
YAWN, last couple of hours here. Time to pack. I made some breakfast for teammate and I and started packing all our things. I brought way too much stuff on this trip that wasn't used or necessary. The clocked ticked away, coming closer to our check out time. Packed the garbage and the rest of our things into the car. That was it. Goodbye Tahoe, you hold many memories. We left and within an hour we found ourselves at Boiling Crab in Sacramento. People were already waiting in line for the shop to open! Oh goodness. Mimi and Anita invited me to the nail store with warehouse prices. OPI, Essie and China Glaze for $3! WHAT. Man, they had really cheap stuff. Anita told me about the Seche Vite top coat nail polish and how wonderful it was. I bought a bottle for around 4 bucks? Give or take a couple of cents. I still haven't tried it yet, but when I do I'll tell you how it is. Boiling Crab service in Sacramento was kind of eh... Not as friendly or upbeat as the people at the one in San Jose. Lots of crawfish, king crab legs, hot wings, fries and shrimp were ordered. YUMMMY. I love Boiling Crab. :') After Boiling Crab, it was back into the car we go.

What a nice mini vacation. :) I can't wait for the next one! I should have taken pictures of our cabin. :( I wish I took pictures of the food we had as well. Joe made such beautiful looking tacos, haha.

Oh yeah, you probably all read my tweet on how stupid I was. Teammate and I went to Target to buy some necessities for travel i.e. toothpaste, shampoo and the like. Why did I bother to buy travel toothpaste for $1 when I could have gotten it for free at the dental office I work at. STUPIDO.

"ARE YOU GAIZ READY FOR BOILING CRAB?!" This is how they respond... not amused.

Didn't get to see snow. :(