Last weekend I got a chance to drive down to Southern Cali to spend time with my parents in the Anaheim area. Coincidentally, my hubby and I had flown out of New Jersey on the Sunday after Christmas, and my parents flew into L.A. that Tuesday for my dad's work. He's a football coach and was one of the coaches for a football game sponsored by the Marines Corps, called the Semper Fidelis All-American Bowl. Since my dad was busy during the days with game preparations, my mom and I did some exploring of the area together. One day we went to Disneyland to walk around and check it out. I've been to Disney World a bunch of times, but this was my first time to Disneyland. They still had the park all decked out for the holidays, which naturally, I loved. We both love the It's a Small World ... [Read More]
California travel index
One of My favorite SoCal Italian Eateries: Hillcrest’s Arrivederci Ristorante
When I was in San Diego last week, I made sure to hit a few of my top restaurants in the area. We had a lot of social plans so that we could see all of our friends in town, but one night Adam and I had a cozy dinner date just the two of us at our favorite little Italian restaurant in the city -- Arrivederci Ristorante. It's the kind of Italian eatery where the man who answers the phone when you call to make reservations says things like, "bellissimo" and "ciao bella." It's an old school, authentic kind of place... one where their website is always displaying internal errors, which probably doesn't bother them much because their food speaks for itself. It's a restaurant located in a quaint space that's constantly bustling with happy diners, their bellies full of pasta and ... [Read More]
My First PGA Event & Dining at Gracias Madre, San Francisco’s Vegan Mexican Joint
Last Saturday marked my first time attending a pro golf event. My hubby is a golf fan, so I got us a few tickets to see the Charles Schwab Cup at Harding Park in San Francisco. I don't think I've ever had a bad time at a pro sporting event, even if I have little idea who the athletes are and how the sport works, like in golf! We walked around a lot following a few of the top players as they moved from hole to hole. I'm not sure if it's usually like this since this was my first golfing event, but I didn't realize that the golfers move so quickly from one hole to the next. They were booking it! After spending the afternoon at the event and working up an appetite walking a bunch of miles, Adam and I were starving for an early dinner. Protein bars can only hold you over for so ... [Read More]
A Visit to Livermore Valley Wine Country
October 2nd was a special day in my household - my 4th anniversary! While Adam and I haven't made our anniversary a huge deal thus far, we definitely like to celebrate the occasion and spend time together. I planned on making my spaghetti squash casserole for dinner and having a low-key, relaxing night together. I happened to be coming back from Seattle in the afternoon, and wound up hitting crazy traffic on my way back from the airport due to a horrendous accident. Running late, I wound up nixing the spaghetti squash idea and making a quicker dish - spinach & ricotta stuffed shells. I also decided to make an oreo ice cream cake for dessert, because for some oddball reason, I was craving oreo cookies (I hadn't had an oreo in probably 10 years!). Since I was short on time, I needed to ... [Read More]
Sailboating in Monterey
Hi there! It's Sunday night and I'm sitting here watching the first football of the season. Between having the NFL package with my satellite TV where I can watch any game I want every weekend (I can finally watch every Giants game!), and being in my co-worker's Fantasy League again, I'm pretty excited for the NFL season to begin. YAY for football! Last night my hubby and I had a date night to celebrate his birthday. We headed to Monterey in the early evening to first grab a drink and a bite to eat on Fisherman's Wharf. I tried a pear cocktail that was yummy. It had pear flavored vodka, lemon juice and lemon lime soda. I'd like to recreate it at home - perhaps subbing the soda for a heathy lemonade mix or something? Hmmmm. For my appetizer, I couldn't resist getting crispy ... [Read More]
Experiencing The Gilroy Garlic Festival
Yesterday I spent a big chunk of my day attending the Gilroy Garlic Festival. Gilroy is known as the garlic capital of the world, and the festival is quite a big deal around here. It started in 1979, and the event has raised over $9.7 million for local charities since it started. They anticipated 100,000 people to attend the 3-day event this weekend - which is over double the population of the town! I had already planned on checking the festival out with my hubby to see what all the buzz is about, but I also had another reason for going: A couple of days ago, I was given an assignment at the event for the newspaper I've been doing some freelance writing for. I was very official with my press badge! I wore a long skirt in hopes of minimizing any attention drawn to my boot. It was kind of ... [Read More]