FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Hello Santa Monica!

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This trip has been a bit of a whirlwind tour of LA county. After my final day in conference land, I hopped in a cab and headed to Santa Monica.

I met Callahan at his office where we did a quick exchange of hugs for keys. I downloaded the mapquest app, looked for a lunch spot on Urban Spoon, and was on my way – true iTourist style.

I had been meaning to try Real Food Daily for quite some time and, by chance, it was the first restaurant that Urban Spoon suggested. Fate? I think so!

I ordered the VLT wrap sans T with a pressed salad and a Russian tea cookie for dessert. Everything was stellar, including the location. I’m totally crushing on Santa Monica right now!

Overdue Introduction

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Ariel.  Baily.  This is your introduction.

When Baily moved from Tampa to LA in January, I introduced her to Ariel via Facebook.  But a big city, conflicting schedules, and a missing link (me!) made it tough for an official introduction.

The three of us finally met up last night for dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant near my downtown hotel.  A fancy shmancy Water Grill with a 50 percent discount since Baily is a supervisor at Ocean Avenue (a relative of Water Grill).

We let Baily do her expert ordering thing and ended up with quite the spread: The Grand Iced Shellfish Platter, Diver Scallops, Rock Fish, and Fromage Blanc Cheesecake.

The platter allowed us to sample a huge portion of the raw bar menu, which was phenomenal.  I have a whole new appreciation for oysters with stats beyond the traditional oysters on the half shell that I order at local dives back home.  And both main course dishes were loaded with exotic mushrooms, making the entire table pleased with our selections.

And the cheesecake?  Yum.  The dessert, in its entirety, was prepared in-house and you could totally tell.  The vanilla bean ice cream was the best ice cream I have ever had the pleasure of trying.  No joke.

Even though I’m looking forward to being home and getting back into my routine… I’m really enjoying being the total foodie that I used to be, even if it’s only a temporary thing.

Post-Weekend Recovery

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After a weekend full of splurging in every arena possible, I was in dire need of Runyon and some healthy eats.

Nathan and I hiked the canyon in the foggiest (smoggiest?) weather ever and then headed to M Cafe for the healthy eats.

I started with a juice made of lemon, wheat grass, ginger, and another ingredient that escapes my mind.  I really enjoyed the tartness of the lemon and the ridiculous amounts of nutrients I knew I was getting with the wheat grass.

Then I moved on to the wild salmon and asparagus sandwich on multi-grain toast with a side of kale with spicy peanut dressing.  I loved how thin the toast was and how they added asparagus to a sammy.  It was a perfect, post-hike meal.

And look at that!  My sandwich and I even smiled at each other before I took my first bite.

I’ll be in downtown LA til Friday if you have any metro accessible restaurant suggestions!

La La Brunch

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Good Morning LA!  Good morning Boxwood Cafe!

Walking downstairs from a flawless hotel room to a flawless brunch is by definition a perfect morning.  We oohed and ahhh-ed at the decor as we made our way to the most immaculate continental setup we’d ever encountered.

A smorgasbord of pastries, quiche, yogurt parfaits, lox, cheeses, and olives? OH-EM-GEE heaven?

Ah, heaven…

Clearly I left dairy-free, meat-free Kristin behind in Tampa.  Clearly.  But the second I found out that Nathan and company were flying in from Dallas to join me in LA this weekend, well, I knew I’d be indulging without hesitation.