Five Feet Restaurant in Laguna Beach, CA

Starters:

Kung Pao Calamari

Main:

Hoison BBQ Braised Prime Boneless Beef Short Rib with a Mango                   Chutney Sauce

Beyond Sushi - Nova Scotia Fatty Blue Fin Tuna

My Thoughts:

The design of this restaurant is super cool. It looks like a contemporary art gallery. However, this is a Chinese restaurant. The menu items are all very unique and fresh. The Mango Chutney Sauce was fantastic...I almost wanted to eat it alone. The Blue Fin Tuna was really thick and fresh. This is definitely nothing like any Chinese restaurant I have ever been to but its definitely worth breaking tradition. The only thing I do not like about this restaurant is that they only serve wine. After seeing the decor of this restaurant I was expecting some really creative cocktail options but you will have to go elsewhere for that. 

La Sirena Grill in Laguna Beach, CA

Main:

Carne Asada Burrito with Rice but NO Beans

My Thoughts:

First of all if you blink you will miss this quaint walk up restaurant. Its located on the back streets of Laguna Beach Village. It is completely reminiscent of something you will find in New England. I wouldn't say this was the best burrito I have ever had. I am born and raised in San Diego, CA so I tend to like the burritos that are dripping with grease and come from places that the Health Department would close down in 5 minutes if they were actually licensed restaurants. However, the burrito I had from La Sirena Grill was by far the FRESHEST burrito I have ever had. On the back of their to go menu it says that everything is made from scratch, they use trans-fat free fry oil, vegetable stock for their rice and sauces, and their beans are not made with lard or any oils. Their "plastic" bags and containers are made from corn and their utensils are made from potato starch. I can seriously keep going....how about instead you just try the restaurant for yourself! 

Lilla's Feast by Frances Osborne

"You would expect from a wartime recipe book - all rations and digging for victory, or subsistence on rotting vegetables and donkey meat in a Japanese internment camp. However, this is a book written as if the war wasn't there at all. As if everyone was back in their warm, safe homes with their families and friends, the larder full and the table heaving with fresh, just-cooked food. It gives advice on how to make good things last longer, how to live and eat to the fullest. The pages are jam-packed with recipes with old-fashioned names: cream puffs and popovers, butterscotch and blancmange, galantine of beef and anchovy toast, jugged hare and ulligatawny soup. There are dinner-party menus, children's menus, cocktails, ice creams, sweets. Its a book for making the best of times in the worst of times, a book that makes you believe that if you could fill your mind with cream cake or anything delicious, then you could transform the bitterest experience into something sweet and shut out the things that you need to forget."

I picked up this book at the Laguna Beach library with no expectations or insight as to what the book was about. I just had a little curiosity. The insert above is found on the first page of the prologue, paragraph 3. I read these words and wasn't even able to continue to page 3 but for entirely a good reason! To be able to document recipes and give advice on how to enjoy life while living in an internment camp during WWII is truly inspiring. I had to set the book down and think for a moment. I admit one of the reasons I participate in blogging is for professional gain and I am currently on the quest to branding myself. Sometimes I drag my feet before writing a post because at that moment I would rather by lazy and let success find me instead. However, after reading what Lilla was able to do, I realized that my blog posts keep me searching for inspiration within the travel industry. As long as I am inspired and hopeful I am able to continue to happily (key word) work towards my goals. 

Mastro's OceanClub in Newport Coast, CA

Cocktail: 

Cabernet Sauvignon (California of course)

Starters: 

Mastro's Wedge salad with a red wine vinaigrette 

Main Course: 

Nice big, plump Oysters on the half shell

Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail with "atomic horseradish sauce"

Garlic Mashed Potatoes (yes, weird combination but I tend to that) 

Dessert:

Warm Butter Cake

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

A Delicious Chocolate Cake

My Thoughts:

Mastro's is a favorite for many people. Its a chain and I don't usually favor chain restaurants. However, each Mastro's is unique and serves a different menu. Mastro's OceanClub is their seafood gem. The service is excellent, my oysters were excellent, and the location is excellent. I wasn't starving so I didn't go all out and order a big meal like I usually do. However, I am really excited to go back to try the scallops.

My Meal Recap:

Dessert Recap and Kate's Birthday Dessert: (I don't have the energy right now to figure out how to combine these two videos in order to make one =)) 

L.A.M.B Oxford Pumps

I recently found these super cute/funky heels 70% off on Amazon.com of all places. They are by the brand L.A.M.B. which is the clothing brand behind Gwen Stefani. I am sure they are extremely painful and do not match many outfits but when has that ever stopped me? I thought they were a unique style, fun and flirty, and yet not too flashy. 

Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

"We look at the young Bill Gates and marvel that our world allowed that thirteen-year-old to become a fabulously successful entrepreneur. But that's the wrong lesson. Our world only allowed one thirteen-year-old unlimited access to a time-sharing terminal in 1968. If a million teenagers had been given the same opportunity, how many more Microsofts would we have today? To build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success - the fortunate birth dates and the happy accidents of history - with a society that provides opportunities for all. If Canada had a second hockey league for those children born in the last half of the year, it would today have twice as many adult hockey stars. Now multiply that sudden flowering of talent by every field and profession. The world could be so much richer than the world we have settled for."

Please do not consider the following thoughts as criticism of this book. I loved this book; mainly for the reason it intrigued me and made me think. 

How many Microsofts would we have today? My question is how many Microsofts can we have...is their room for more than one, two, or three? That is a tough question to answer because it is hard to grasp was has not been invented and what had the potential to be invented but never came to fruition. If there were more than one Microsoft is there the potential of not having one be as successful as Microsoft?

I agree with opportunity for all, especially from an educational standpoint. I believe that everyone should have access to the same/best education. However, I believe in having a variety of resources (translated: enough different resources so that everyone can find something that suits them) but that each resource be somewhat limited as to weed out the try-ers and the passerby-ers. A second hockey league may result in twice as many adult hockey PLAYERS...but stars? Isn't it already tough enough to make it to a professional level? There would have to be multiple professional leagues to accommodate all these young hopefuls. But is it possible to have two professional leagues that are equally successful?

I think that the solution explained in the quoted paragraph could, in the extreme circumstances, result in one of two situations: communism or cannibalism. By communisim I mean that everyone will have a piece of the pie i.e. there will be multiple Microsofts but not one as successful as Microsoft. By cannibalism I mean competition will be so intense that it will turn into "kill or be killed" i.e. twice as many adult hockey stars and one professional league.

Oysters in Corona del Mar, CA

Cocktail:

Effen Up - Black Cherry Vodka, lime juice, vanilla and maybe something else 

Starters:

Tobiko Oysters with wasabi infused caviar

Thai Spiced Crab Cakes

Sashimi Tower 

Wedge salad with some sort of ginger/ranch dressing

Main:

Swordfish with some sweet tasting rice 

My Thoughts:

The oysters were too small and the avocado was not ripe enough for the sashimi tower. I was so obsessed with how tasty the rice was that I barely noticed the swordfish. My Effen Up was pretty good. 

Stella's Cafe in Corona del Mar, CA

Starters:

Garlic Bread - the flatbread kind with olive oil and fresh parmesan cheese

Salad: 

Raspberry Salad - super fresh raspberries, goat cheese, and an amazing raspberry vinaigrette

Main:

Margherita Calzone - tomato, basil, olive oil, and fresh mozzarella wrapped in homemade dough

My Thoughts:

Love it, love it, want it, want it...going back back for more. I need to remember to call ahead and order their salad dressings to go (by the pint.) Everything is homemade and organic at this tiny little cafe. I hear there is a larger Stella's with a lounge down in Monarch Beach. 

Polina Solernos Restaurant in Laguna Beach, CA

Cocktail:

Too much red wine (you will soon see the result)

Starter:

Green salad with homemade Italian Dressing

Main:

Orange Chicken Marsala

My Thoughts:

This is a great hole in the wall-ish Italian joint. I was very hesitant to order the marsala because I hate mushrooms. However, I was very curious to taste their unique version of chicken marsala. After the waitress gave it some rave reviews, I said...when in Rome. The Orange Chicken Marsala was fantastic. It was so good I ate more than I ever have of one dish (as I will prove to you in the below video...I apologize for my nasally voice and really bad hair day.)

 

Hush in Laguna Beach, CA

Starters:

Oysters on the Half Shell

Maine Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

Main:

"Georges Bank" Day Boat Scallops with stir-fry rice noodles

Dessert:

Chocolate Molten Cake

My Thoughts:

My favorite (other than the oysters) was the Main Lobster Macaroni and Cheese....it was so rich but not too rich. A very good restaurant...the bread they gave you with drinks was sooo good. I am looking forward to going back but sitting on their patio overlooking the ocean. I had a great martini (probably the best I have had in Laguna Beach) but I can't remember what it was. 

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

"The first thing to understand about nutritionism is that it is not the same thing as nutrition. As the "-ism" suggests, it is not a scientific subject but an ideology. Ideologies are ways of organizing large swaths of life and experience under a set of shared but unexamined assumptions. This quality makes an ideology particularly hard to see, at least while it's still exerting its hold on your culture. In the case of nutritionism, the widely shared but unexamined assumption is that the key to understanding food is indeed the nutrient. Put in another way: Foods are essentially the sum of their nutrient parts. 

This brings us to another unexamined assumption of nutritionism: that the whole point of eating is to maintain and promote bodily health. [This assumption] is not shared by all cultures and, further, that the experience of these other cultures suggests that, paradoxically, regarding food as being about things other than bodily health - like pleasure, say, or sociality or identity - makes people no less healthy; indeed, there's some reason to believe it may make them more healthy." - Page 28

I couldn't agree more