SoCal Escapades Day 4: SD, Long Beach, to LA

Time flies when you are having way too much fun. This morning, we packed up our stuff and headed to downtown La Jolla for a last big group dinner. We headed to Bernini’s Bistro, which was extremely delicious, not to mention extremely chic and artfully decorated. Elena, Alan, Farrah, Brian, Dun and I were joined by Brian, Grace, and Kevin for lunch. I haven’t seen Brian or Grace since high school, so it felt so nice to catch up. My lemon ricotta pancakes, a Bernini Bistro signature, were a tad sweet but still delectable.

Goodbyes are always bittersweet. After a lovely lunch, we hugged goodbye and hopped into our car (decorated with yet another parking warning…fail). I pulled out the parking lot, and started our 2 hour journey to Long Beach.

Or…a little shorter than that, thanks to my Asian style speeding. Oops. We arrived in Long Beach by 3, and decided to stroll by the Queen Mary.

Shortly after, we met up with Patrick, Kiwa, Nana, and Chloe at The Pike. We took a ferris wheel, which provided us with spectacular views of the city and the coast. Then, we headed toward a beach. Long Beach is the epitome of a Californian beach town, and I think everyone definitely had a great time. The highlight was definitely our team effort to build two busty sand boobies. Yes…real classy.

Dinner was a heart attack, literally in the number of calories consumed and the epic deliciousness that was Libra Brazilian Steak House in Culver City. Heavily reminiscent of my Fogo de Chao date with Andrea in Philadelphia, the all-you-can-eat Brazilian BBQ meat just kept coming. Their skirt steak, lamp chop, and sirloin were particularly tender and rich when paired with their signature onion vinaigrette. The salad bar was impressive, while the complementary cheese puff bottomless appetizers were to die for.

We followed up our dinner with Sprinkles Cupcakes and Ice Cream back in Beverly Hills. The coffee ice cream paired with the red velvet cone are a match made in heaven.

And of course. What do a good-sized group of Asians do in San Gabriel Valley on a Sunday night? Karaoke. Energy Karaoke of Alhambra was the chosen spot, and off we went.

Our SoCal road trip has been such a blast. Every day has been packed with adventure, and while I find myself constantly sleepy, I love the SoCal vibe, people and food.

Excited for Cabo tomorrow!

M

SoCal Escapades Day 3: Sunny SD, Coronado Island, and Downtown La Jolla

I love San Diego – the weather, the people, the mellow vibe, the diversity….enough said. It is now 3:56am and I am exhausted beyond words. I’m sticking to my Project 365 regardless, so I will recap with pictures for now. They say a picture is worth a 1000 words. Well, here are 9 to chronicle my day. That’s 9000 words. Kind of 🙂

Group Lunch @ Tofu House

DunDun & I with our Mootime ice creams on Coronado Island!

Farrah & I @ the Coronado Beach!

Funny Picture

Group pic! Dun, Elena, Farrah, Moi, and Manish.

Humongous Sushi Boat.

Group DinDin @ Tadashi Sushi

@ Min Suk Chon 😀

Group Pic @ the end of the night 🙂

Will add in words later. Time to knock out.

M

SoCal Escapades Day 2: The Feast Continues

We woke up, gobbled up Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffle leftovers, were greeted by a parking ticket (damn you Friday morning street cleaning!), and headed out to commence our food journey.

First stop – Sprinkles cupcakes, after Waze led us on a wild goose chase around Rodeo Drive. I was so excited to try out their Sprinkles cupcake ATM machine, and despite Yelp complaints about cards getting declined I had no problem and received my cute Chai Latte Cupcake with one swipe. Very original and creative concept!

Sprinkles Cupcakes ATM!

We walked a bit around Beverly Hills, and then headed to The Milk Shop. Thai tea ice cream macaroons….enough said. Top that with a mint chocolate crunch shake and I was in sugar heaven. I will definitely be back.

MILK!

Delicious!!

Thai Tea Ice Cream Macaroon!

Farrah & I!

Craving some salty foods, we decided to make the 45 minute drive to the White Rabbit Fusion Cafe in Canoga Park. White Rabbit is one of my must-go food places in LA, and since we couldn’t find the White Rabbit Food Truck, Fusion Cafe it was. LA traffic was horrible as usual, but one bite into that delicious, hearty, fatty Pork Tocino (Chicken Adobo for Farrah) with garlic rice, egg cooked just a bit melty, cheese made it all worth it. I paired my burrito with Boba Truck’s Osmanthus Oolong Milk Tea. Soooooo good. Last summer when K & I had our epic SoCal road trip, we stopped by White Rabbit on our way up and ordered every single burrito off the menu. Holy cow they were so good.

White Rabbit. Heavenly Phillipino-Mexican Fusion.

The drive back through 101 and 405 to meet my dear friend George for dinner was not so good. There seemed to be major accidents every few miles, and we were often in a complete standstill. Wonderful. 25 minutes late, we finally arrived at the famous Father’s Office. They carded us at the door, and we were greeted by George . Dinner was tons of fun, with delicious burgers, shoestring fries with garlic ranch, and Magic Hat #9 – a fruity tasting beer from Burlington, Vermont. And of course, George being George. Its nice to see that after 2+ years of not seeing each other, some things never change. 🙂

Group pic @ Father’s Office with ‘Papa George”!

Old Man Wu & I!

After dinner, we made the relatively smooth (despite my horrible navigation skills and Waze going crazy multiple times) 2 hour drive down to San Diego. We met up with my high school friend Alan for drinks and some delicious sushi at Bluefin Sushi. The ex-boyfriend roll was some good stuff! Alan and I have not really hung out since high school, so it was pretty awesome catching up, reminiscing, and chatting about how everyone has evolved since high school. Time flew, and before we knew it was already midnight. We headed together toward UCSD to find my bestie Elena.

Alan & Elena being sweeties carrying our luggage.

Here we are now, camping out in Elena’s new living room. Its been a long, but happy and fatty day.

M