California Eatin'

While we were in California for our family reunion, we did a lot of eating. I don't know how California manages to have a health conscious reputation with all this good food around. I swear, I lived in Cali (again) I'd be eating myself silly. Let's start at the very beginning shall we?

We flew into Long Beach Airport and oddly enough, s often as I visit California I had never been to this airport. The interesting thing about this airport is that they don't have sky walks. So, when you deboard the plane you go via stairs straight outside. It kind of reminded me of flying somewhere tropical! Also, the airport itself is partially outdoors which also added to the tropical vibe.

Jill posing in front of Sweet Jill's in the airport. Although I heard great things about it, we never ate there just took a picture in front of it. ;)

Our first stop in California was Roscoe's House of Chicken and Waffles. I thought they only had locations in LA, but they had one in Long Beach so we had to hit it up! Here's Justin about to dive in and and a shot of my plate. The waffles were awesome! They had the perfect bit of sweetness and cinnamon in the waffle mix you almost didn't need the syrup...almost. :)

Look who else ate here--Barack Obama.

Despite our usual complaints of eating mostly Filipino food while we're in Cali the only Filipino restaurant we went to was here, the Salo Salo Grill. We didn't even hit up a Goldilocks or Jollibee which was surprising. Don't know exactly what my sisters are doing in this picture...

One night when we were craving Italian we went to Lupo D'Abruzzo in Cypress. It is a local, family owned spot that served up huge, tasty portions! Judy got this combination platter that offered up a little bit of everything while I ordered the lobster ravioli with cream sauce! Yummy!

 

After chowing down in the OC, we headed down to San Diego's Pacific Beach to do some grubbing there as well. We originally planned on hanging out on the beach, but it was so overcast we decided to do some shopping (and eating of course!) instead.

Here's a picture of Justin and I during our cloudy day at the beach...the sun was finally starting to pop up, but it was already the toward the end of the day...

Here is the shot of the yummy gyro I had at Vanoos Grillette.

Right next door Justin got himself a haircut at West Coast Cuts...

As a shopping snack we went to The Baked Bear, an ice cream sandwich shop. On the left is Justin's chocolate chip cookie with mint chocolate chip ice cream. I opted to get one snickerdoodle cookie and one red velvet cookie with cheesecake ice cream. I really like how you can customize your ice cream sandwich, however, I wish the ingredients were of a high quality. Not to reveal my hidden fat girl status, but I can tell if the ice cream has a lower milkfat quality (as compared to higher fat ice creams such as Haagen Daaz) and the cookies were just so-so (definitely no Mrs. Fields here). I know the prices are reasonable as they are now, but I would actually pay more if it were more high quality, know what I mean?

Our eating adventures didn't stop there! While on vacation we spent sometime in Temecula and got to discover Old Town Temecula! First stop in Temecula, Aztek Tacos for some tasty authentic Mexican food! The taco on your left is a Mexican style carne asada taco. On your right is their quesataco, where the filling is enveloped in crunchy cheese, yum!

Of course we had to get carne asada fries!

Justin and his huge carne asada burrito. California knows its Mexican food!

On another day after a good, long workout my family and I were trying to find a bite to eat. We looked up Havana Kitchen and saw the great Yelp reviews! This place is amazing! I knew I could count on my fellow Yelpers not to lead me wrong!

I had the Cuban sloppy joe which was the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. It's pairing with salted kettle cooked chips worked out well as I used my chips to scoop up the excess sloppy joe as "chip dip." Yum!

Both the sister and the hubs got Cuban sandwiches which were delicious. The right amount of meat and condiments--mayo and pickles and whatnot. The bread was excellent and must be authentic bread used for Cuban sandwiches because it had the right consistency of hard on the outside and soft on the inside.

The sides were also good. The empanadas were super flaky and delicious. The plantains and the beans and rice were devoured!

But wait, our meal doesn't end there! My sister got the guava pastry, thinking that she would save it for later, but we ended up eating it on the spot. Just like a cheese blintz with some tropical flavor. Lastly, I had the iced salted latte which totally hit the spot on a hot day. It had the perfect hint of salt, not overpowering. Next time, I'm in Temecula I would love to visit this place again!

Whew! That's a lot of food! After getting back from California Justin and I knew that we had do some damage control, however, with three out-of-state weddings on the horizon I hope it won't be difficult for me to get back on the right track!