Saturday, Part II

Over the course of a week, the gent rekindled a friendship with an old friend from his hometown. Online chatting, of course. Pssh, duh. What better way to reconnect with someone than over blogs, food, & design. This resulted in.. you guessed it! A double date. Oh, how we love double dates. The two we’ve been on have been fantastic. Full of fun & excitement. And by fun & excitement, I mean discussing where to get sofas upholstered  and “how we met” stories while fine dining (i.e. Red Lobster). The lucky couple (us) got to hang with the cool two people in the second banner to the left… Chris & Kristine from “The Birds & The Beasts“. Check them out!

What we wore:

What we ate:

That’s right kids, we came to Red Lobster for their AMAZING CHEESE BREAD. Seriously. That’s why we went. I don’t know about you, but this is what I call gourmet :) We must’ve had at least 6 baskets. Not including the 2 baskets we took to-go. Dip these babies in the Lobster Bisque, and you got yourself a full on dinner.

We ended the night by going over to The Cheesecake Factory after Red Lobster closed. We ordered the Banana Cream Pie cheesecake ( our fave), and the Wild Blueberry White Chocolate cheesecake with blueberry muffin crust. Yum!

Cue regret… We didn’t take any pictures with the cheesecake, nor did we take any pictures with the couple. I know! Unbelievable. How did we miss taking pictures of the cheesecake? They were so delicious. I guess we all are going to have to go back. Best excuse ever :)

Saturday, Part I

First, we ate at Brodard. Amazing Vietnamese food. This place really is a hidden gem.

These spring rolls have a crispy kick.

You can see my review & more pictures of what we ordered on Yelp!

Later that day, the plan was to do a few errands. I had to pick up my glasses from the optometrist, buy Rusty a new harness, and buy a bottle of Hand Therapy from Crabtree & Evelyn at South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. Click on the link. That hand lotion is like heaven.

Anyway…in the midst of these errands, we got caught up in looking at (gasp) home decor. Relax, relax. We both are just huge fans of gadgets, furniture & design. But here is a couch that we absolutely adore from Environment:

I’ve given this couch a name. Say hello to Eventually :)

We went back to the apartment to change for the evening. While I was getting ready, these two were having a moment.

Later in the day we met up with my bff Jules & her boys, Jayden & Tristan at Dripp, in Chino Hills.

I’ll be yelping about this place pretty soon. For now just click on the link. This place is definitely the hip spot. We were geeking out over their branding, and the likes. The wood + the color scheme is ridiculous. We loved everything from their coffee packaging, to their t-shirt designs. Not to mention the fact that its an Ice Cream Sandwich & Coffee shop! Who does that?! Genius. Although it’s a little too fab to be in Chino Hills, I’m glad it’s there. It gives me extra incentive to go back to my home town. so, way to go, Chino Hills!

Showtime

The gent came back to SoCal to perform at a show at USC.

But the bigger purpose of him doing this show was to have an excuse to enjoy yet another (maybe last) weekend here in SoCal with yours truly :) After this month I say good-bye to Orange County.

Maybe the espresso was a bad idea

Can’t sleep. Ok, a self-reflective non-food-picture post. Why not?

We are living in exciting times. 2012 has already proven itself to be quite the eventful year. Transitional, to say the least, for every single person in my direct circle. Hey, end of the world is coming right? Apparently. If you believe such things, there really isn’t a better time than now to take full advantage of our lives and our full potential. Not to mention, the perfect time to kick off a blog to start chronicling the excitement, eh?

That basically takes care of that question. Great Scott.

Since I can’t sleep, I figured I would take a snapshot of some of the exciting things currently in the air. A few mentionables:

  • My love and Cheese and Donuts partner, Lady Brie, is moving up north to the Bay Area. WAT. There was a time when she was simply telling me about how she daydreamed of moving elsewhere to continue her nursing career and experience life outside of her bubble. Crazy to think it was only a few months ago and to see all the pieces fall so effortlessly into place. Can’t begin to say how proud I am of that giddiot. <3
  • I officially have a roommate. None other than the designer/idiot you see there on the left sidebar under the “Homies” section — Guyguy. (Ok, his real name is Geoff. But that’s boring.) He’s only been my slave– I mean, roomie for two full days, and already it’s exactly how I’ve always pictured our year-long #operation plans. Evenings are now filled with mixing music, watching movies, and overall nonsense. Not to mention the occasional glass of scotch. This is actually my first time ever truly choosing a roommate that I consciously picked to live with, knowing it would be a harmonious and cooperative experience. Other than his first night, getting off at the wrong train station, and making me come pick his absent-minded ass up (haha), I’d say it’s been pretty fun so far. But it’s only been two days. I’m sure I’ll be kicking him out soon. Idiot.
  • My parents are beginning their initial preparations for the big move. Now that all the children are grown up and off pursuing their own endeavors, the parents can once again be lovebirds. So happy for them. And the whole family, really. 2011 was a challenging year in more ways than one, so it’s beautiful to see the outcome of a family really sticking it out for each other. My family. And that ultimate outcome is seeing my parents moving on to live in a house that they can call their own without having to always play the role of parents. Maybe… grandparents? Eeek. No rush on my end, haha.
  • I’m a responsible full-time working adult in a serious relationship, in bed every night by midnight, and buying healthy groceries. I don’t know who I am anymore!
  • Speaking of work, for the first time, I really see myself staying with my job for a long time. I really can’t complain about anything at Duarte — there’s zero drama in the office, I’m constantly challenged and never bored, and there is a clear path and opportunity for creative growth and development. Not to mention, they gave away iPads to everyone for Christmas AND still gave bonuses on top of it. Unheard of.

…aaaand while we’re on the subject of Duarte, I should really try to get some sleep for work tomorrow. I think my brain refused to turn off, and was urging me to do some good ol’ introspection.

Bottom line: it’s been an amazing year so far, and it’s still January. Let’s keep it going, stay positive, stay hustling, and see what the other 11 months have to offer. I have no doubt in my mind that it will only continue to bring more blessings, experiences, and perspective.

Good night :)

Late night craving

Can summer please hurry up already? All this rain makes me want one of these. How does rain correlate to me wishing it was summer and wanting one of these, you ask? It doesn’t. I just want one right now. This is the Strawberry Donut  from one of my other favorite donut places, The Donut Man. (Yes, one of many). It’s the best in the summer when the strawberries are in season. As successful as this business is, they don’t have their own website. Luckily, I can count on amazing food blogs like Consuming LA to come through with a great description of The Donut Man. You can read all about it here! Don’t get me wrong, the peach version of this donut, along with the rest of the donuts there, are pretty spectacular. The strawberry donut, however, will always have a special place in my heart.

So…can summer hurry up already? Please?

Rusty Dog

Meet Rusty! He’s a menace. Seriously. He’s terrible! Always running and hopping, meaninglessly all over my apartment. Running around so fast that he knocks into coffee tables, gets injured, whimpers, then continues to run again. Moreover,  this kid loves to throw his toys up in the air…but never catches them! He eats chocolate during the holidays, resulting in me rushing him to the pet emergency hospital & giving me a near heart attack (not really). I’m sure you get the gist of it… He is such a dog!

But… just look at his face. Agh! I cannot help but tolerate the mindlessness of this little rug-rat. Behind all that craziness lies a loveable, lazy, sweetheart. I mean it. When he’s just relaxing, he can be Mr. Affectionate. He loves to sit at your feet & wait for you if you need to use the bathroom. He literally sits at the door and waits ever so patiently. And just like a child, he hates getting in trouble. He knows when he does something bad and gives “the face”. You know… the face that says, I-know-I-did-something-wrong-but-just-take-a-good-look-at-how-freaking-adorable-I-am. Ugh. Every time Rusty uses “the face”, he always wins! I can’t resist it. Oh, what a pup. Gotta love this little guy.

Carb overload and I don’t care

I love baked potato. I love grilled cheese. Put the two together and it makes… BAKED. POTATO. GRILLED. CHEESE. This is not right. Yet at the same time… so very right.

The folks over at BS in the Kitchen cooked up this hybrid beast that I am both curious and fearful to try. They are also responsible for other awesome/awful creations as the broccoli and cheddar soup grilled cheese. I know. What the hell is wrong with these people. And why didn’t I think of it first?!

Click the picture if you’d like to attempt the recipe to this glorious creation (or if you would like to hate whatever it is you are currently eating).