Pinks

The "Dicks" of Hollywood...apparently its where you go after the bars. No frills, in fact their famous chill dog is bland in my humble opinion. Its probably delicious if you have had a long night of drinking! Their spicy polish dog is better, but I had to bust out the fork and knife like a rookie!

Clippers vs. Spurs

Row 9, peanuts, beer...perfect night! I got to yell at Manu Ginobili (a lot). He pretended he couldn't hear me, but he could!

Philippes Double Dipped!

Dipped, double dipped, or wet...Philippes 1001 N Alameda St, Los Angeles. The only thing better than the french dip was the mustard! Wicked hot = don't miss it!

When it comes to food, I will try anything once...almost

My sister scored at Ranch 99 when she spotted a "Salted Snake-Head Fish in Brine". She decided to put my very sophisticated palate to the test and challenge my "I'll try anything once" claim. The jar sat on the kitchen counter for about 6 months before I finally worked up the nerve to give it a try.

I Googled "Mam Ca Loc Con" and "Salted Snake-Head Fish" for recipes with no luck. I quickly realized that I was going to have to go all in and just cut a piece off and taste it.

I was actually expecting it to smell a lot worse than it did. There was definitely a strong scent of brine and fish, but it didn't have the pungent spoiled seafood quality I was anticipating.

We pulled it out, put it on the cutting board and went to work. It was EXTREMELY hard to stab with a fork. It was tough and bony.

Thankfully, I wasn't going to have to go it alone. Andrea and I bravely sliced into the Snake-Head Fish. I chose to eat my piece, skin and all.

The flavor wasn't as bad as I was expecting either. It was sort of sweet/salty much like I would imagine fish jerky tasting, however, the bones were more than I could take! After about 3 chews, a very sharp bone jabbed right into my tongue.

After I was assaulted by the bone, I had no choice but to spit my bite into the sink. I think Andrea got most of her's down.

I tried it!

Sake One Forest Grove, OR

Nothing beats the G! The duck mousse was made with real ducks from Eugene ;) Seriously, Sake One > do the tour > do the sake shock food and sake pairing > meet Tony!

St. Francis

So far San Francisco has lived up to my expectations. Drinks at the Irish Bank, dinner in Chinatown, and breakfast at Lefty O'Douls. As I was taking this picture of our hotel from Union Square park, park security asked to leave or extinguish because its a "no smoking park". Maria refused to put it out because they are $10 a pack here, so we are moving on. Next stop Lombard St.

Legoland

What traffic?!

Disneyland and California Adventure were both very fun! There was almost zero time spent waiting in line because it was a Wednesday and all of the kiddies are back in school. They made Henry wear a huge button that said "I'm Henry! Its my birthday!"...priceless! We had dinner at the Stinking Rose where Henry was made to wear a hat that resembled a giant clove of garlic! It was classic and the food was great, including the garlic ice cream!

We sprung for the toll road to San Diego (apparently no one else in CA is willing to do this) so we are the only car on the road bound for LEGOLAND!

09-09-09

Happy Birthday to Henry! I'm 28 and my boyfriend is 30! He is a cradle robber!

Halo Halo (after)

Halo Halo (before)

Fiesta Hermosa!

Labor Day at Hermosa Beach! Mmmm I was in for a treat...multiple treats! Fiesta Hermosa claims to be the biggest arts & crafts fair in southern California. Aside from the arts, crafts, and people watching, I treated myself to Hawaiian shaved ice, corn on the cob, AND pistachio ice cream! We had burgers (with killer garlic aioli) at The Counter in el segundo for dinner! What a great food day! I think I've put on a stone!

Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!

This actual piece of the Berlin wall was presented to Reagan on April 12, 1990 (my half birthday). They must have given him the best section of the whole thing because its actually really pretty!

Ronald Reagan and Fabio

It was another wonderful day in southern CA. We started out at Palms for lunch (a Thai place famous for its singing Elvis entertainers) before heading to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
Besides being beautiful, the place is a little slice of heaven for a PolySci History major! I felt right at home when I was strolling around Air Force one (7 presidents used it before I finally made it aboard). Whatever your political affiliations are, it would be hard not to be amazed by this impressive museum. We finished the day at a wonderful italian restaurant owned by the cutest top chef contestant ever, FABIO! Cafe Firenze left nothing to be desired! Everything was delicious, even better than the food I ate when I was really in Firenze!

L.A.D.

Just in case you thought I was kidding this is the free shirt I got for Mexican night! $50 = entrance, t-shirt, all you can drink (soft drinks), all you can eat dodger dogs-nachos-popcorn-peanuts-Mexican food! MUY BIEN! L.A.Davies likes the L.A.Dodgers!

Third Street Promenade & Tar

It has been a busy day in L.A.! Started out with breakfast at Jinky's, then we took a stroll down the third street promenade where I sampled sweet limes (refreshing!) and "hot onion-garlic" pistachio nuts (bought a bag!). We checked out the Santa Monica pier, then we took a lovely drive down Sunset through too many famous neighborhoods to list.

We landed at the La Brea Tar Pits which were actually really interesting! They have pulled over a million fossilized remains out of the area, but only one human, a woman that they believe was murdered! That was weird, but so were all of the camel fossils...I mean camels?! Really?

We popped into the Grove to check out the shops/food. (Now when I read about celebrity sightings there in US Weekly I will be able to put it into context ;) Next stop- Mexican night at the Dodger game! Ole!

Snorkeling off Ni'ihau...so forbidden!

We took a ride aboard the Holo Holo along the Na'pali coast of Kauai (only accessible by boat or by a long hike). It was so pristine! After that we headed to the "forbidden" island of Ni'ihau to snorkel. We couldn't go ashore because you have to be invited by the Robinson family or else they will execute you! Totally kidding! We swam with some Monk seals, it was pretty cool (I was a little scared).

Spouting Horn, Polihale, and Mai Tai Hour

Day one in Kauai brought me to remote Polihale beach. Thank god we had a Jeep because the "road" to the actual beach was a real adventure! When we made it there we were with about 25 other people on a beautiful sandy white beach with prehistoric looking cliffs as the background. The surf was fantastic. I had a pretty good wipe out. When I surfaced my swim suit bottom looked like a sand filled diaper! It was a lot of fun! On our way home we stopped at Spouting Horn which is just a hole in the lava that shoots out water when the waves crash in. We made it back to the hotel in time for "Mai Tai Hour" where we had all of the free drinks we could handle while lounging in a hammock near the pool. It was VERY relaxing!

Diamond Head

Wow! We walked from our hotel (see the little pink dot in the bay below) to the top of Diamond Head. It was quite a trek but it was the perfect start to my last day on Oahu. I did everything on my list! Next stop Kauai!

Waimea Bay Beach

I'm having a fantastic time on Oahu. Wedding #1, at the Moana Surfrider, was like a fairy tale. We have been relaxing on Waikiki, but today we decided to have an early breakfast at Zippy's and hit the North Shore...its paradise!

Hello Hawaii

It could have been all of the free cocktails, but the view coming into Honolulu seemed so much better from first class. We used miles to upgrade our seats since the flight is more than 5 hours...it was worth it!

Harold & Kumar were on crack!

My neighborhood QFC had White Castle hamburgers on sale so I thought I would give them a try. Words cannot describe how nasty they were! Yuck! I think Harold and Kumar should have skipped White Castle and hit Wendy's instead!

Double take

The north end of the strip wasn't bad. The guys flicking the cards with the naked women on them don't go that far north, but the other signature "Vegas" sights and sounds are present. Important note: there is an ABC store at the Fashion Mall, it's the best place on the strip to buy liquor. The Wynn buffet was good, it was also free so perhaps that helped it taste better. We hit Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill for lunch which was decent, but expensive. Avoid the scallops.

Ballin'

We saw Jersey Boys tonight, and I have to say, it was quite impressive. We followed it up with dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Postrio which I enjoyed, good caesar...I won 17$ at wheel of fortune! Success!

Craft steak

Yes, we had 4 different kinds of kobe steak. It was amazing! The bar at times square was equally amazing! I requested lil'wayne for $40 but they couldn't pull it off :( they did play a mean brown eyed girl...

Rudy was robbed!

Mike Bibby didn't bring it, and Rudy was robbed...I hope the crap tables are more kind!

First stop in Vegas!

In N Out was delicious, and no, this wasn't all for me! NBA allstar action is heating up tonight! I will be in a VERY good mood if Mike Bibby brings it! I'm also excited to see if anyone can top my favorite dunk of all time (the birthday cake dunk)...FUN!