K'ya Bistro Bar in Laguna Beach, CA

June 20, 2013. Here I go, having drinks again... the person who drinks maybe once year has had 2 drinks in the span of a couple days. This is a record for me you guys! I also must have sign on my forehead that reads "She doesn't drink, let's make it extremely strong for her" because again, my drink was extremely strong. Later, when we went up to the roof top, Jenny ordered the same exact drink and her drink looked a whole lot different then mine. *sigh* I have decided that I do not like mint. Actually, I detest the taste unless it's in candy, gum, ice cream... anything but the leaves in the bottom of my drink. While taking out the lime and mint I discovered a loooooong strand of hair, so that ended my drinking for the day.



We came specifically for the view (The Roof Top) and for their happy hour menu and let me just say... these filet mignon tips with horseradish sauce? BOMB.COM We were tempted to order another plate, but I was already full and had a pretty late lunch to boot. Seriously, if you go, I highly recommend ordering these. We started with chicken empanadas (not pictured) which were really delicious!



Mmmm their caprese skewers with pesto and sundried tomato toast was so refreshing after stuffing our faces with nothing but meat.



Jenny was still hungry, so she ordered Thai chicken drumettes with a coconut dipping sauce. The drumettes were delicious... a little spicy, but delicious. I didn't discover the sauce til after I ate the whole thing, but the sauce was to die for!



After a delicious snack we went to check out the beach scene.... people were surfing and we met the cutest puppy. Jenny went and frolicked in the ocean while I played paparazzi. Gorgeous! I wish we could of just sat there with a packed picnic and just hung out. We were both pretty exhausted and cranky and ended up going to her beloved Pho Tastee after a quick Target run.



K'ya Bistro Bar
La Casa del Camino Hotel
1287 S Coast Hwy
Laguna Beach, CA 92651 | 949.376.9718
Website

Hanging With the Bride to Be

I haven't seen the bride to be in almost a year so we made sure to set aside a day just for us. Hang out, catch up, EAT and of course do wedding stuff. We decided to head out to Fashion Island to shop around and I really wanted to go to True Food Kitchen. One of our stops was 'lette macarons and it was so delicious! Jeannie bought a dozen and shared 4 of them with me... I got the coffee one (seriously amazing!), caramel, raspberry and earl grey. Was a little disappointed in the earl grey though. Maybe I'm just unfamiliar with earl grey in general.



One of my current foodie pet peeves? People who keep calling them macaroons. *roll eyes* I'm sorry, I've become one of those people now.



After some sweets, I was hungrrrry and the crankiness was coming out. On top of that, it was another hot day in Southern California. True food kitchen was so COOL! Everything from the tables, to the decor to the open kitchen... Even the food was delicious. I started off with their kale aid which has kale, apple, cucumber, celery, lemon and ginger. I skipped the ginger. I ordered their chicken chopped salad with the chicken on the side. Best salad I've ate in awhile. It has the salad part with manchego cheese (first time having it and i love it), dates, dried cranberries, jicama, marcona almonds, farro and champagne vinaigrette. Jeannie wanted to come here because she's trying to eat "light", but she ended up ordering their bison burger with a side of kale salad and sweet potatoes.



Since we were sort of in the area, we went and checked out Sweet and Saucy Shop in Laguna. What a sweet shop it is! Jeannie tried their strawberry shortcake in a shot glass and OMG this trumped both of my desserts. It was light and the strawberries were so fresh. It was that good where she ate another one. I, on the other hand chose passion fruit panna cotta mainly because I've never had it before and it was extremely tart! Tart to the very last bite. I chose the mini s'more cupcake... mainly for show. Plus, if you 'like' them on facebook, you get a cupcake for free. The cupcake was okay. Loved the marshmallow goodness on top. This cupcake shop is extremely far, but we're glad we came by to try out their sweets.



After all the eating, we went back home to pick up her cousin and do some wedding stuff. I think I was there til about 1:30am decorating tumblers for out of town guests. KPOP + Wedding duties makes the time go by a whole lot faster that's for sure.

True Food Kitchen
451 Newport Center Dr
Newport Beach, CA 92660 | 949.644.2400
Website

Sweet & Saucy Shop
7922 E Pacific Coast Hwy
Newport Coast, CA 92657 | 949.715.0920
Website

Man, It's Good to Be Home

Did I tell you guys I was leaving? My best friend is got married and I flew back to Southern California for 6 days. 6 hot, beautiful, delicious and stressful days, but it was totally worth it. I've been stressing myself out prior to my trip... flying (it's been awhile), how to do my hair, what to eat, where to shop. You know, important stuff.

The flight was a cinch. I didn't even have to do my own hair for the wedding, I saw things, ate lots of delicious things and I'm kinda glad to be back. Except, it feels like Spring here, not Summer. Hopefully the sun will come out to play this summer and let the rain take a back seat. Seriously.



Man, it was so hot! Coming from the Pacific Northwest, I started to sweat the minute I stepped out of the nicely air conditioned airport. I was so excited when I saw my friend Jenny, who was about to get the airport people to page me because my flight was late and she forgot her phone. First stop, Irvine Spectrum. My friend Noel recently got back from visiting Korea and I had asked her to purchase some Skinfood products, but so glad I told her not to. I found the product in store and it smelled terrible. This shop was pretty tiny, but they didn't really have the products I wanted, but I did end up picking up a couple other things which will eventually be posted over at the beauty blog. Since I was starting to get cranky from waking up so early, tired, hungry and hot, we made a quick stop at Casey's Cupcakes and Milk + Honey before heading back to Jenny's house so I can rest.





After resting for a couple hours, my crankiness subsided and I was hungry. When I'm back home, there's an endless options of eateries, so choosing just one was near impossible. We ended up choosing Sushi on Fire down Main St. I have walked and driven by this place countless times, but have never ventured in. The thought of trying to find parking alone makes me not what to go. So glad we went! My favorite dish of the night was "Halloween" (pictured below) which has shrimp tempura and crab salad, topped with tuna, avocado, spicy crab mix and eel sauce. The one pictured above is "76" which has shrimp salad topped with yellowtail, salmon, avocado and spicy sauce. After dinner, we walked around a bit and ended up going to 2nd Floor Food Art Drinks for a drink. This place was AMAZING! The art works were on the walls to the tables. The drink I had was incredibly strong... well, technically, I never drink. Seriously. Never. When I told my dad I went to have a drink, he too was incredibly surprised. Hell, everyone I told was surprised. Anyways, the drink was very strong in my opinion and by the time 9pm rolled around... not only was I slowly crashing from a long day of traveling, but the booze helped me get sleepier and sleepier.



Day 1 out of 6 days of my trip. Hopefully I remember what I did out there because I was viewing some wedding photos taken in one of the booths and I don't even remember being in these people's photos! haha AND! I was completely sober.

Portillo's Hot Dog

I was surfing the internet one day and came across a site listing "OC's 10 best restaurants". Portillos was one of them and i was instantly hooked by all the reviews on Yelp! Originally, i was suppose to go with my friend to Portillo's for dinner, but he forgot he was suppose to attend a friend's BBQ. I've been looking forward to eating there the last few days and decided that i might as well go by myself. After all, its raining and they have a drive-thru :) There was this poor guy standing in the rain taking orders and he was very helpful in letting me know whats good, whats not and what is his personal favorites. After taking up a lot of his time (thank god there was no one behind me!), I've decided to order onion rings, italian beef sandwich with mozzarella and sweet peppers- extra gravy, a Chicago dog and a Chocolate Cake Shake. Pulled up to pay and again, there was this poor girl standing there collecting my money, in the rain! Pulled up to the next window, collected my food and found a spot in their parking lot to take pictures and grub.

The Onion Rings was like no other onion rings i've ever personally had. They were so freakin' good! Oh dear. It had this amazing crunch to it when i bit it and you know how usually when you bite into an onion ring and the breading falls off and you're left with onion. Worse, still raw-like onion on the inside? Oh, no. Portillo's onion rings were cooked to perfection!! Best of all, they taste good after a hour!! Still has the crunch.



Moving on, Italian beef sandwich with mozzarella and sweet peppers- extra gravy. Yelp reviewers raved about their Italian sandwich, but my first 5 bites, I was slightly disappointed. I was expecting my eyes to bulge out and say "omg wow that is so freakin' good" and fireworks should be shooting out all around me. I got nothing. As I started to make my way through the halfway mark, it started to get better and in the end it was actually pretty good. Next time I would order more sweet peppers though.



Next up, their Chicago Dog. When we were driving from New York to California, i really wanted to stop in Chicago to get a Chicago Dog, but it was sooooo out of our way and the weather was freezing, that i never did get my Chicago dog. I suppose Portillo's is the next best thing. I did read a review from a girl whose born and raised in Chicago and she went to Portillo's and exclaimed that it tasted just as amazing as a real Chicago dog. So, of course i had to try it and it was not that bad. I do love love love the poppyseed bun and the giant slice of pickle, but I also did only take 1 bite so far (the half eaten Italian sandwich really filled me up).

And of course, I saved the best for last, their CHOCOLATE CAKE SHAKE. Yes, i needed to type it all out in capital letters. Again, this shake had so many positive reviews and the guy who took my order swore its like the best thing in the world! And it is! I guess most people who eat a slice of chocolate cake, would most likely drink a glass of milk with it right? Its just the right thing to do. Well, Portillo's went a step further and just threw it all together in a blender and serves it to customers. My first sip, I got a small chunk of cake. Weird. After awhile, i can taste the frosting on the cake and everything. Still kinda weird to me. One of the best things about the shake is that its not so sweet where you feel like you just might keel over, but sweet enough to satisfy that sweet tooth.

Portillo's Hot Dogs
8390 La Palma Ave.
Buena Park CA 90620
714-220-6400

http://www.portillos.com/portillos/