ARCADIA, San Jose - Friday, September 24

On Friday night, Jeff and I had a date night! We went to ARCADIA in downtown San Jose at the Marriott hotel for dinner and Burn the Floor afterwards.
http://www.sanjosemarriott.com/arcadia.php

Our reservation at ARCADIA was at 6:00, but Jeff didn't even get home until after 6. When I called to let the restaurant know we were running late, they made it simple and said it wasn't a problem. We were seated by 6:30 at a table by the window and let our server know we had a show down the street at 8:00. He assured us it wouldn't be a problem.

ARCADIA had been recommended to me by a few different people, so I was looking forward to a delicious dinner. We started with the Lobster Corn Dogs and Foie Gras Slider. I knew it was going to be a good night!
The Lobster Corn Dogs were delicious. There were four mini corn dogs on the plate with whole grain mustard under each dog. There was a little fennel salad on the side. They had the texture of a regular corn dog but seemed a lot lighter. Both of us wished there had been little chunks of lobster in it, but it was completely smooth. We were happy even without the chunks.

The Foie Gras Slider was also amazing. It was exactly how you're imagining it - a thick slice of foie gras on a little toasted hamburger bun. There were also raisins on the bun. On the side, there was a dipping sauce. The dish made me think of a French Dip sandwich, but a million times better. Although, the four bites I had were plenty because it was so rich.

Next, I had the Burrata Cheese salad and Jeff had the Mushroom Bisque. My salad was the only thing I didn't love in the whole meal. It had the Burrata cheese, heirloom tomatoes, and balsamic. The tomatoes were great, but the cheese was a bit drier than I would expect from a Burrata. The dryness took away from the dish. Not being a mushroom fan, I only took a small taste of Jeff's bisque. I thought it was pretty good, and he loved it. It was light and smooth with a cognac cream and crunchy truffled croutons. "Truffle" is pretty much a food buzz word, and I doubt it added anything to the dish.

For entrees, I had the Grilled Colorado Lamb Chop and Jeff's had the Dry Aged New York with bernaise sauce and a side of Classic Whipped Potatoes. The lamb chop was four chops on top of a corona bean (like large fava beans but grainier) and asparagus cassoulet (was really just a salad) with port macerated currants and mint oil. My meat was cooked a perfect medium-rare. I typically don't order lamb in restaurants, but it just sounded right for the night. I was worried the mint oil would be over-powering, but in reality, I barely even tasted it in the dish. If you like lamb chops, this is the dish for you. Jeff said his New York cooked rare was pretty good. He watched something recently about dry aged meat and was looking forward to his steak. He only ate half of the steak (still on a diet) and a few bites of mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were ok. They were completely smooth and kind of reminded me of potato buds... I prefer more chunks in my mashed potatoes.

By this time, it was 7:30, and I was craving dessert. Something chocolate... When I saw the dessert menu, I knew I had to have the Chocolate Pot de Creme. This was the dessert we had at our wedding, so I had to see how ARCADIA's stood up. Wow! It was amazing!!! Definitely worth being rushed before the show. The pot de creme seemed to have two layers - a thicker layer on top, and a mousse-like layer on the bottom. On top of the pot de creme were four perfectly cooked beignets. Sometimes, restaurant beignets are overcooked or heavy. Not these. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. They were light and still slightly warm. A perfect way to end the meal!

We were out of there by 7:40 and made it to the show in plenty of time. Burn the Floor is one of my favorite shows, and this time was extra fun because some dancers from So You Think You Can Dance were in it - Mary Murphy, Pasha, Anya, and Ryan & Ashleigh. I don't think the show was as good as it was the first time I saw it, but I still loved it.

Day 9 - Isla Vista and Los Alamos - Friday, September 10th

Ahhhh.... Finally starting the drive back home!

We decided to make a quick stop in Isla Vista before we went to Los Alamos to stay the night at my cousins'.

Del Playa - How I've missed you! Although, you are much cleaner than I remember.

6619 DP #8. Beautiful things happened here. I heart DP.

6625 DP #5. This is where Jeff lived with Mike Schaiman, Brian Jensen, Eric Giessler, Paul Nyugen, and a few others. He moved out two weeks before I moved in. The girls at 6619 became great friends with the boys at 6625. I love you all!!!

Here's the view off our balcony to the East. Beautiful.

Here's the view off our balcony to the West. Absolutely amazing sunsets.

A lot of the restaurants have changed, but Domino's is still there. TA's is gone :(  I probably wouldn't eat the sushi from a restaurant in IV...

De'ja vu had the best jalapeno poppers! Great for late night delivery!!!

For a snack, we went to Giovanni's. It was a beautiful day, and a lot of students were hanging out on the patio, eating pizza and drinking beer. I miss Isla Vista!

And then, off to my cousin Kelley's in Los Alamos to play with her and her beautiful daughter Mia. Eliana and Mia are three months apart and are going to have so much fun growing up together as cousins, along with one other boy cousin and two other girl cousins.

Day 8 - Broken Yolk, Proper Pub, Giants-Pads - Thursday, September 9th

Today was going to be a big day. Going in, the Giants were two games behind the Padres and going to be playing them in a 4 game series. We were excited!

We started the day by going to Broken Yolk Cafe for breakfast. Jeff picked it because of the Man vs. Food Challenge - a dozen egg omelet with mushrooms, onions, and American cheese, covered in chili and more cheese with two biscuits and a lot of homefries. Jeff keeps saying he would have done the challenge, but he's not eating french fries for all of 2010. Maybe next year!
http://www.thebrokenyolkcafe.com/

We were able to walk to the restaurant from where we were staying. It had a beachy feel and wasn't crowded on a Thursday morning. I'd been to the one in Pacific Beach before, and that one seems to always be packed.

I ordered the California Breakfast Burrito (it came highly recommended) from the "South of the Border" portion of the menu... Hmmm... It was scrambled eggs with bacon, cheddar cheese, home fries, avocado, and beans. The tortilla wasn't very soft, but other than that, it was delicious. They were generous with the avocado, and Eliana ate all of it. The eggs were cooked perfectly. I would have liked more bacon, but don't we all???

Jeff ordered the John Wayne omelet with mushrooms, onions, and American cheese with chili and more cheese on top. Sound familiar? While writing this, I'm realizing he chose the omelet most similar to the Challenge. Maybe he's preparing for a future visit??? He didn't have much of an opportunity to prepare. Eliana ended up not wanting to be at breakfast, so we had a quick meal. Jeff didn't even get to finish. And walked back to our place in the rain. Yes, rain in San Diego. In September.

We relaxed for the rest of the day until it was time to go to the ballgame. We were going to the game with some friends (Sara & Mike Pratt, Jim Clarke, Tim & Casey), and some other friends from San Jose were in town (Alfred Viola!), so we all met up at Proper Pub beforehand.
http://www.propergastropub.com/

I loved this place! It's a self-proclaimed gastro pub. Yummy! A feel of a pub but with better food. Proper Pub has a second floor patio with views into Petco Park. It was beautiful. Because of our group size, we had to sit inside downstairs, but in the future, I would sit on the patio.

Proper Pub has a wallet-friendly Happy Hour menu. We started our meal with Mac n Cheese Balls and the Hummus Board. The Mac n Cheese Balls were amazing - macaroni, smoked cheddar and gruyere cheeses, applewood smoked bacon, and panko, FRIED. Delicious!!! I didn't like the hummus too much (and I usually do!). It was too lemony and had a thicker texture than I typically like.

One of the best parts about Proper Pub is that next door is a wine bar called Wine Steals. Wine Steals does fruit, salami, and cheese plates that you can order at Proper Pub. We ordered the half Artisan Cheese Board. It came with four cheeses, fruit, and crackers. The size of it was a little embarrassing. It was huge. And delicious.
http://www.winestealssd.com/

And now, time for the ballgame! Petco Park has been one of my favorites since it opened. Nice park, good friends, great series. We were ready! Go Giants! In our group, everyone was a Giants fan, except Sara. Other friends from the Bay Area were also there - Jen, Adam, Noah, and Tyler Tschop - and we were able to hang out with more Giants fans. The Giants ended up kicking butt 7-3, and were only 1 game back behind the Pads. Woo hoo! And, Eliana got to see a Buster Posey homerun. One of the most fun parts of the evening was leaving the stadium. For anyone who follows the NL West, you know that the Padres fans do not come out in full force. At least 30% of the fans there were Giants fans. As we were leaving, there was lots of cheering, chanting, and high-fives. The G-fans were excited!

Eliana and Casey, hoping Panda didn't hit into a double-play.

Road Trip - Day 7 - SD Zoo and Sushi - Wednesday, September 8

Ahhh.... Finally a day to just hang out! All three of us were looking forward to it. After Eliana's morning nap, we went to the San Diego Zoo. That place is more amazing than I remember it being!
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/

One nice thing about where we were staying is that it was less than a mile to the zoo. We could walk there! But we decided not to because we didn't want Eliana to be in her stroller any longer than necessary. She doesn't like the car and she doesn't love the stroller. Crazy kid! :)

The zoo is at one end of Balboa Park. If you're in San Diego, and have the time, make sure to spend some of it exploring Balboa Park.
http://www.balboapark.org/
There are great restaurants, great museums, and lots of luscious green grass to hang out on. We want to go back!

Once we got to the zoo, it was time to eat lunch. If you end up going, I'd recommend to eat beforehand or to bring your own. I had chicken tacos and Jeff had fish tacos. The food was mediocre and expensive. The rice and beans on the side were cold. It fit into our schedule to do it this way, but in the future, I'd have a different plan. It wasn't worth it!

First we went to see the monkeys. One of the orangutans came right up to the window and just sat there, like he had been waiting for us to show up. At first she was scared, but Eliana ended up thinking this was great. Then we went to see the other crazy monkeys. All were very active and fun to watch. Eliana also really liked the ducks floating in the hippo exhibit. In the hippo exhibit, you can go down below so you can see them under the water. It's a perfect place to watch the ducks because you can see them above and below the water through the glass. Eliana kept banging on the glass at them. The final favorite exhibit was the elephants, Elephant Odyssey. This was amazing!!! The exhibit is huge! The elephants are huge! Wow!!! Eliana made elephant noises at them, and we ended up buying her a stuffed elephant that we named Horton (after the movie she had watched 7 times in the car).

Being in the stroller was tough for Eliana, so we carried her most of the time. She was worn out after a couple of hours, so we ended up leaving earlier than we would have liked. We missed the giraffe and the big cats exhibits and had to rush through many others, including the elephants. The zoo was fantastic and I can't wait to go back.

This night was my night off! Sara and I were going to sushi for dinner. For those of you who don't know Sara, she was my roommate freshman year at UCSB and my maid of honor. A few years ago, I introduced her to her now-husband Mike Pratt, and celebrated their wedding with them in Hawaii as a bridesmaid this past April. I was so excited to have a free evening and catch up with Sara!!! After a Yelp search, we decided on Azuki Sushi in Banker's Hill. It felt like a neighborhood sushi place. The sushi chefs knew the names of most of the people who walked in. Everyone was very nice. They were having a party on the back patio. I knew Yelp had led us in the right direction.
http://www.azukisushi.com/

They had a good selection of Happy Hour Specials. We decided to start with the Atsu-age Tofu. I don't know how it was different from Age Dashi Tofu, but it was yummy (and cheap during Happy Hour).

I love Age Dashi Tofu, and this was just as delicious.

Next, we had the Super Dragon roll - a rock shrimp mix with shrimp tempura, topped with unagi, avocado, and eel sauce. I wasn't impressed. I didn't think it was super. It was fine. I would eat it again if someone else ordered it, but I wouldn't order it myself. There were too many other delicious items on the menu!



Then, we had the By the Border roll. This was much more "super". It was spicy tuna and avocado topped with seared albacore, sliced jalapeno, and a spicy mayo. Yummy! The jalapeno added just the right amount of spiciness. This one made me much happier than the Super Dragon roll.

The final sushi roll we ordered was the R U Kidding Me? roll. We loved this one! The name was appropriate. Very fancy and unexpected. It was made with diver scallops, krab, and tempura asparagus and topped with seared tuna and white truffle oil. On top was mixed greens in ponzu and flash fried chives. Wow! Not only did this dish look amazing, but it also tasted great. I wanted more!

Even though I was full, I didn't want our evening to end. The dessert menu didn't look great, so Sara and I just hung out and chatted for a bit.

Two things I really liked about this restaurant:
1) The sushi was perfect bite-sized pieces. Biting into a piece from a big sushi roll is one of the least sexy things someone can do. It's messy, it falls apart, it sticks in your teeth, it gets on your chin. This didn't happen at all at Azuki Sushi. Perfect sized bites!
2) The sushi rolls came out in a timely fashion. Often, when you order sushi, everything will come all at once, out of order, or so far apart, you're full before the last rolls make it to the table. At Azuki Sushi, it was timed perfectly.

Sara and I had a great time catching up while we were on our date. This was a delicious sushi place, and I look forward to going back next time I'm in San Diego.

Road Trip - Day 6 - Arizona to SD - Tuesday, September 7th

Less than 48 hours in Arizona, and it was time to sit in the car again for another LONG drive. This time to San Diego! One of my favorite cities! The nice thing about driving from Arizona to San Diego is the speed limit is 75 most of the way and no one is on the road. It took us a little less than 7 hours, and we stopped twice, not bad! Eliana was pretty good. Thanks again to the Aguilars for letting us borrow their DVD player!!! Total life saver!!!

We were so excited when we got to San Diego! The place we were staying at was just off the freeway in the Gaslamp District in downtown SD, seemed like a great location. Turns out, we were one block from the homeless mecca of California. Wow! We quickly realized we didn't want to be walking around after dark. Jeff even took off his watch on our walk to dinner. Pluses - the place was great, friendly staff, nice room, parking lot, can walk downtown, work out facility, close to Balboa Park. Minuses - not the best location.

Once we were settled in the room, we walked to 5th Avenue, where all the action is. There were lots of restaurants in a row, each with an attractive woman at the front who would try to get you to go to their restaurant by explaining the menu and specials. Kind of like a European vibe, but totally different. The Gaslamp District has a young-beachy-going-out feel to it. It's one step above Pacific Beach in San Diego, which is one step above Isla Vista. And I love it!

After looking at a few different menus, we settled on Panevino, an Italian restaurant that makes their own pasta. I'm a sucker for homemade pasta!
http://www.osteriapanevino.com/

Our server was great. He was from Italy and has a daughter named Eliana. Crazy! He was very helpful and friendly, and immediately brought out bread and avocado for Eliana so she could start her dinner. When I went to put Eliana into her high chair, I bonked her head on the table. She started screaming. This set the mood for the rest of our meal.

Even though almost every appetizer contained mozzarella, Jeff elected for us to share the Bruschetta con Pomodoro - bruschetta with tomatoes and capers. I wasn't impressed. Instead of being done on crustinis, it was done on a grilled flatbread. The bruschetta mixture didn't have a lot of flavor. As bruschetta usually is, it was messy, but because of the large flatbread pieces, it was messier than usual. Why didn't we get a mozzarella appetizer??? Those sounded great.

For my entree, I had Papperdelle con Speck. Speck is a type of pig product, mostly like prosciutto but harder. At least, that's how it was in this dish. There were also artichokes and peas, and it was done in a cream sauce. My dish was good, but it was WAY TOO RICH for me. I ate a third of it, and physically couldn't eat anymore.

Jeff ordered the Lasagna Bolognese. When it came out, it was very plain - just a small piece of lasagna on an otherwise empty plate. It wasn't as thick as I was expecting. I didn't try any, but Jeff thought it was good, much lighter than a traditional lasagna. He unfortunately had to quickly finish his dinner (again) because Eliana was sick and tired of sitting. This actually ended up being our worst night out at dinner for her :(  Lots of crying and fussing. I think after the long car ride, she was done.

After dinner, we decided to go to Ghirardelli to give Eliana a treat after all her hard work (and we needed a treat too!!!). Now, we were talking the right language! An unsuccessful dinner turned into a very successful dessert :)  When we walked in, they gave me their new flavor of salted caramel chocolate square to try. I recommend it. For ice cream, I had vanilla with dark chocolate fudge - Yum! Eliana had plain vanilla - Yum! Jeff had Rocky Road - Yum! Good ice cream can make everything better. The women who weren't working there weren't overly friendly, but we didn't care. Our evening had taken a turn for the better.

Road Trip - Day 5 - Giants-D'backs and Tommy Bahamas - Monday, September 6th

This morning when Jeff woke up at 6:30 to work out in Arizona, it was already 90 degrees out! Woo-eee!!! Once Eliana and I were up, we took her swimming in the salt water pool for the first time.



She was unsure at first, but ended up loving it. I think her favorite part was having both parents' undivided attention the whole time. She was great. I want to sign her up for real swim lessons soon so she gets used to the pool.

This day was our trip to Chase Field. I was worried about the heat and Eliana's fair skin. She easily gets heat rash :(  But, Guess What??? Chase Field has a retractable roof! I'd never been in a stadium like that and was looking forward to it. We didn't have tickets to this game and were planning on getting the best available when we arrived.

When we got to the ballpark, a sketchy scalper offered us two tickets for $30 each, the "best tickets in the house", regularly $50. After a little chat, Jeff agreed to the tickets. When we walked into the stadium, I was very impressed. The roof was closed, and it was a nice 75ish degrees (the kids who ended up sitting behind us were complaining it was too cold). This place was gorgeous. It looked brand-new and felt like a night game. I was immediately in love. You walk into the stadium above the lower section of seats, so we had to walk down to our seats. The sketchy scalper guy was right, they were great seats! Especially for $30! I was a happy girl. The guy sitting two rows behind us said the stadium is even nicer when the roof is open. We'll have to go back some year in April.

I had a meatball sandwich for lunch, and Jeff had sausage with onions. Great ballpark food. It reminded me of a recent episode of Top Chef :)

This ended up being a great game: 0-0 through 10 innings. Some people may find that boring, but I love a good pitching duel. Eliana was getting worried.

Finally, in the 11th, Schierholtz hit a two-run triple. Woo hoo! The Giants were up 2-0! Brian Wilson came in a finished it up for a Giants win!!! We were now 1-1 on our road trip.

Eliana and I were pretty excited about the win.

For dinner, we decided to go to Tommy Bahama. We'd never been there before, but thought it would be adult enough to make us happy but also family-friendly. We were right!
http://www.tommybahama.com/TBG/Stores_Restaurants/Restaurants.jsp

Tommy Bahama restaurant is at a fancy outdoor mall. It felt a little like Santana Row with nice shops and apartments over the stores. The downstairs of the restaurant is a bar and patio area. Upstairs has a large bar and the dining area. We were seated upstairs. It was a little dark, which could have made it feel romantic, but we already had a fussy baby on our hands. There were palapa ceiling fans to give the restaurant a tropical feel. Usually, Eliana is impressed with ceiling fans, but not this night.

We started our meal with regular bread and butter, but the butter was amazing! It was blended with brown sugar and honey and tasted like something you would have at Sunday brunch. I loved it! We ordered Coconut Shrimp and Chicken Wings for appetizers. The wings were pretty good, but a little on the spicy side. The coconut shrimp were ok. I like different textures in my coconut shrimp, but all this had was a dense mushy texture, like it had been fried earlier in the day and had simply been heated up before being served. The papaya-mango chutney dipping sauce was great, but I wouldn't order the dish again.

Jeff ordered the flat-iron steak with mashed potatoes for his entree. Both he and Eliana were very happy. The meat was prepared perfectly, raw... I mean, rare. And the garlic mashed potatoes were chunky and delicious. I had the ahi tuna with bok choy and Island rice. Wow, incredible! I would eat this dish again! Instead of feeling like we were in 95 degree Arizona, I felt like we were in 85 degree Hawaii. I was happy with my little family.

Eliana wasn't so happy. She had stopped eating baby food a few days earlier in our trip and only wanted our food. This was fine, we were willing to share. But, once she finished eating her dinner, she was done. She did not want to sit at the table anymore. Since Jeff is a much faster eater than I am, he finished his food and walked around with her while I was able to finish my dinner in silence. What a great guy :)

Road Trip - Day 4 - Long Beach to Scottsdale - Sunday, September 5

This was the longest driving day of our whole trip - Long Beach to Scottsdale. The navigation said it was 7.5 hours. Ugh! Eliana had been miserable in the car even on drives less than an hour. We were worried. Thankfully, the wonderful and beautiful Aguilars let us borrow their car DVD player. We strapped it around the back of the headrest, and Eliana was able to watch Horton Hears a Who over and over. It cut down on her unhappiness by at least 75%. Yay!!!

I started off driving and made it to Indio, where we stopped to feed Eliana and for lunch. We stopped at what seemed to be an authentic Mexican restaurant. We went south off the Monroe exit off Highway 10. It was about a block down. After doing a search on Google, I believe the restaurant was El Mexicali Cafe II. Everything in the restaurant was in Spanish, and we were the only people I heard speaking English.
http://elmexicalicafe.com/default.aspx

I had a traditional American chicken burrito - chicken, rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, avocado. Jeff made fun of me for ordering it. That's ok, I liked it. So did Eliana. The beans were refried, which I normally wouldn't order, but I didn't have an option, and they tasted good. Jeff ordered the tacos al pastor (his favorite thing to order at a Mexican restaurant). He said they were delicious, even better than the ones from Carmelita's the night before. It was a great quick place to stop.

Jeff took the next leg of the drive. We had the intentions of stopping at a reststop a ways down the road, but when we got there, the reststop was closed. So, we took the next exit and made our own reststop. It was in the middle of nowhere, we both thought we may have been entering a horror movie. But we made it out safe!

Next, my turn to drive. We were hoping I could make it all the way to Scottsdale. Eliana ended up losing it just outside of Phoenix (only 20 minutes from our destination!), so we had to stop to feed her in a gas station parking lot (again!). And then, to Scottsdale!

We stayed in a friend's two bedroom condo. It was absolutely perfect for us! Two bedroom, two bath, soft carpet for Eliana to crawl on, and a saltwater pool. We took Eliana in the pool for her first swimming experience. She was unsure at first, but ended up loving it.

Because of the tough drive with Eliana, we wanted to go to a low-key dinner. We finally decided on Yard House in Scottsdale. The two hostesses in front weren't friendly, but it was perfect for what we wanted. Not too crowded. Playing the Giants game. Good food. Our server was nice and attentive (this is important to me, especially with Eliana).
http://www.yardhouse.com/default.aspx

We started with the Lobster, Crab, and Artichoke Dip and the Firecracker Wings. The dip was served with pita bread and chips. It was delicious but very heavy. We could only have a few bites of it, but they were yummy bites! The wings were on the spicy side. Good, but I could only have one. Jeff loved them and ate the rest.

After the big appetizers, we didn't want a big dinner. Jeff had the Hawaiian Poke Stack. It was delicious, just what I like with a Poke appetizer. Lots of tuna and avocado. And crispy wontons for scooping. I had the Spicy Tuna Roll. It wasn't what I was expecting. It wasn't a roll at all, there wasn't even any rice with it. It was more like a spicy tuna pie, without a crust. There was a ton of tuna and underneath it was avocado, edamame, and cucumber. Around the plate, there was a wasabi soy sauce. I would order this dish again! It would be great as an appetizer to share. Eliana had mac n cheese and fruit. It was good and she was happy.

Two interesting things (to me) about the Yard House: 1) a Yard House is opening at Santana Row in February 2011. I'm looking forward to it because it's family-friendly but still fun for adults, and 2) they use an item called Gardein as a meat substitute. It looked like they can replace any meat item on the menu with Gardein. I have no idea if it's any good, but it's worth a try.

Road Trip - Day 3 - Long Beach, Friends, Annie's b-day - September 4th, 2010

At 6:20, Jeff woke up and went to the gym. Ugh! How does he have the energy for that??? As soon as Evan heard Jeff up, and came into the living room and climbed into bed with me. I didn't know what to do with him, so I showed him how to "read" Dr. Seuss' ABCs on the iPad and hoped he would be entertained enough so I could go back to sleep. That wasn't the case, Erik and Vicky both woke up. Erik went to the gym with Jeff, and Vicky hung out with me. Oh well, there went my morning of sleeping in. At least Eliana was able to stay in bed until 9am.

We just relaxed with the kids and waited for the boys to get back from the gym with our breakfast. They brought us omelettes from Polly's in Long Beach.
http://www.pollyspies.com/pollyshomestylemenu.html

For some reason, Jeff got me a veggie omelette. I'm not really a veggie kinda girl. In fact, I mentioned to Vicky that whatever the boys brought back would be fine, as long as it didn't have mushrooms. My omelette had mushrooms, squash, and tomatoes. All which are on my Least Favorite list. There were also hash browns on the side. The whole meal ended up being delicious (but I had to pull out the mushrooms). Eliana loved the squash and the hash browns. I definitely recommend Polly's for breakfast. It was yummy!

After breakfast, we had to get ready because Gabby, Stacey, and Baby Harrison were coming over to hang out! It was great to catch up with Gabby and Stacey and to have a little playdate with the kids. Fun times! (I tried to upload a picture of all of us, but it isn't working. In the picture, it's Vicky & Evan, Stacey & Harrison, Me & Eliana, and Gabby & Liliana. Yo Gabba Gabba is on the TV in the background. I'll try to upload it again later.)

After the kids took their afternoon naps, it was time to go to Rancho Santa Margarita for Annie's birthday fiesta! First, we went to their new home. It was perfect! I loved all of their engagement and wedding photos around the house. Audrey was there, and we were able to catch up quite a bit. Then, we went to dinner at Carmelita's, a super cute and delicious Mexican restaurant, and it's right on the lake.
http://carmelitas.homestead.com/index.html
For some reason, the RSM location isn't on the website, but it's the same restaurant as the Roseville and Fair Oaks locations.

We sat outside. It was really HOT out, but was great. There were over 20 of us, and the service was perfect. We had guacamole to start. It was a little spicy and had big chunks of avocado. Yummy! Eliana loved it also. I ordered the chile relleno special stuffed with lobster and shrimp. It was amazing. Instead of the pepper being stuffed and fried, like a traditional chile relleno, it was an "open-face" chile relleno. It was cut open and the lobster and shrimp were on top. Absolutely delicious! Jeff had tacos al pastor. He liked them, but said he had had better.

Halfway through dinner, Eliana was dancing on the table and eating baby cheetos. She shoved one too far into her mouth and started choking! Jeff started patting her back, and my infant CPR instruction kicked in. I immediately laid her facedown on my left arm and started pounding on her back. Within a few seconds, she was screaming. It was music to my ears. We walked around a bit to calm her down. Lesson learned: No dancing and eating cheetos at the same time!

Unfortunately, we had to leave dinner early because Eliana started getting fussy. We did stop at the lake to watch the ducks, geese, turtles, and fish. It's a cool little place. Eliana especially liked the ducks. I wasn't expecting such a pleasant night in Rancho Santa Margarita.

Happy Birthday, Annie!

Road Trip - Day 2 - Beachside Cafe, SB-LA, and Dodgers game - September 3

When we got up this morning, we were all exhausted, at least Jeff and I were. Eliana seemed fine. She was ready to crawl around and explore. She got to play with her Cousin Jake and Aunt Karen. She showed them all her tricks: Touchdown, High-Five, Kisses, Meow, and Kissie Face. After being awake for 1 hour, she was ready to go back to bed. She napped for an hour and a half, and then it was time to go meet Marianne for lunch at Beachside in Goleta.
http://www.beachside-barcafe.com/

This is the "fancy" restaurant we used to go to in college. It's right next to UCSB, but not in Isla Vista. It's on the water and has outdoor seating for beautiful views of the ocean. As we took the freeway exit for the restaurant, the fish smell of the ocean was overwhelming. We were ready for a stinky lunch. Somehow, the smell was totally gone by the time we reached the restaurant, even though we were closer to the ocean. Marianne was already there, and we were able to get a perfect table outside.

I ordered the Chowder Boat, New England clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl. It was good, really good. But not excellent. Jeff had the fish tacos, made with dorado. Very tasty. Marianne had the crab and shrimp pasta with sundried tomatoes and artichokes. It looked and smelled delicious. The service was slow, really slow, and our server forgot to bring out my order, but this was made up for with good food, a great atmosphere, and catching up with an old friend.

After lunch, we had to head back to my aunt's so Eliana could have another nap before our drive down to Simi Valley and then to the Dodgers game. We left for Simi at 3:45 and got there at 5:30. There was a little Friday holiday traffic, but it wasn't too bad. We went to Simi to meet Jim, Leanna, and Lucas before the Dodgers game. We were greeted by all three of them dressed in Dodger blue. Yuck! They have a cute house in Simi that they just finished revamping. Nice work!

Then, it was off to the Dodgers-Giants game. I was ready for the LA traffic we always hear about. And also ready for the slow drive into Chavez Ravine. It took us 45 minutes total. Awesome! That's better than the drive to AT&T Park! Turns out, LA isn't that bad.

I was nervous to wear my Giants gear. I'd heard too many stories about Dodger fans. None good. Jeff wore a Giants shirt and Eliana wore her black and orange beads. When we got closer to the stadium, I put on my Giants visor. Although there were a few hecklers, the Dodger fans were much calmer than I had prepared for. We had great seats, Section 130 Loge. We were between home and first, in the second level, 7 rows up. Within an inning of sitting down, top of the second, a foul ball off Buster Posey's bat came our way! Jim and Jeff stood up. Leanna and I stayed seated and protected our babies' heads and bodies. The ball bounced out of Jim's right hand, off my left arm, and then we couldn't find it! Jeff finally found it sitting in Eliana's bag, just as a little boy saw it. But Jeff was quicker. Eliana's first foul ball! From Buster Posey! Nice work, Booskie!!!

The rest of the game was fairly uneventful. Eliana blew a lot of kisses to the little boy sitting behind us and a Giants fan next to him. Jeff and I both had Dodger Dogs for dinner. Kruk and Kuip always talk about how good the Dodger Dogs are, and I have to agree. Not as good as a Sheboygan, but better than a regular hot dog.

We left in the middle of the 8th. The Giants were losing and didn't end up coming back for a win :(  After the game, we drove to Long Beach to stay two nights with the Aguilars. The drive only took 25 minutes, and again, no traffic. Vicky and I were roommates for two years in college, and I couldn't wait to spend the weekend with her, her husband, and two cutie patootey kids. Evan, 2-years-old, and Liliana, 5-months-old.

We were all tired when we got there. Eliana went to bed in Lili's crib, and Jeff and I slept on an Aerobed in the living room. After the late night the night before, I was looking forward to a good night of sleep!

Road Trip - Day 1 - September 2 - SJ-SB

Our road trip has begun! We're following the Giants to LA, Phoenix, and San Diego. We'll see a game at each stop.

We left San Jose at 5:30pm to spend the night in Santa Barbara before going to a Giants-Dodgers game in LA. My aunt lives in SB, so it's a perfect place to stop - I can visit my old stomping grounds and see family in one shot.

Eliana screamed for the first hour of the trip and cried for the next half hour. Jeff sat with her in the backseat and tried to feed her dinner. She refused to eat anything except baby cheetos and would cry if Jeff didn't feed her them. Any toy she had, she immediately threw between the door and her car seat. Wow, what a way to start the trip!

We stopped at a gas station in Gonzalez and she happily finished her dinner while crawling around the backseat. As soon as she was back in her car seat, she started screaming again. Initially, Jeff wanted to eat on the road, but at this point, he decided that stopping at the Taco Bell in King City wasn't a bad idea. Anything to get the baby out of the car! For the next 12 miles to King City, Eliana was still unhappy :(  In case you're wondering, the Taco Bell in King City is just as good as it's always been! And, it's been remodeled, so it's clean and kinda fancy. Way to go, King City! At this point, it was 7:30, so we gave Eliana her bedtime bottle in the parking lot of Taco Bell and hoped the rest of the drive would go smoother.

Once we started driving again, she fell asleep after 30 minutes. At least there wasn't any screaming this time!!! At ~10:15, Jeff decided he was too tired to keep driving, so we pulled over at a rest stop and quickly switched seats. Eliana woke up and squawked the rest of the 20 minutes of the drive. Poor thing.

My aunt lives at the top of a hill in Goleta. It's an absolutely beautiful property. When we got there, everyone was already in bed. At this point, Eliana had no desire to go to bed. She was wired after her nap. We let her play for a little while. It was probably 11:30 by now. When she started rubbing her eyes, we decided it was time for bed. She didn't agree. Every time we put her in her pack n play, she'd scream, like someone was trying to hurt her. After numerous attempts to try to calm her down, we brought her into bed with us. Into my cousin's double bed. Jeff, Eliana, and me, in a double bed. Awesome! At least, Eliana thought it was awesome. She'd kick Jeff and then reach over, pull my hair and laugh. Both Jeff and I pretended to be asleep. She didn't care. She thought the whole thing was hilarious.

Finally, she calmed down enough for me to move her back into the pack n play, but I had to bring it next to the bed, and keep my hand on her for her to not scream. It was after 1am. Ugh! What a night! At least, once she fell asleep, she stayed in bed until 9am. Yay!

Vegas, Baby, Vegas - Day 3, Going Home - Sunday, August 22nd

When we woke up Sunday morning, I knew I had to eat. As soon as possible. I was starving and wanted a yummy Sunday brunch. This was the first time all weekend I was disappointed by our food. We went to Tintoretto at the Venetian. The service was quick, although it seemed our server was also the hostess and busser. She was busy. Maybe she also cooked the food.

I ordered Eggs Benedict. One of my all time favorites. My eggs weren't cooked right, one was overcooked and the other had a funny texture. The sauce was ok, but there wasn't enough to smear over my side of hashbrowns. The English muffin was thin and dry. I was bummed out by this.

Jeff ordered eggs and sausage. Nothing fancy. Nothing delicious. He didn't finish it.

Other than the speedy service, I really don't have anything good to say :(  We should have gone to a buffet.

I'm guessing some people didn't show up to work that day. The restaurant was packed, and everyone who was working was racing around like crazy. The restaurant is usually only a bakery. Maybe that explains the bad eggs...

At the airport, I got a pretzel from Auntie Anne's. Regular pretzel and a side of cheese. It was also disappointing. The pretzel was too buttery (?). And the cheese was cold. It was a tough food day.

When we got home, we had Willow Street Pizza and everything was better :)

Vegas, Baby, Vegas - Day 2, Part 3, Joel Rubichon - Saturday, August 21st

Omg! Joel Rubichon time! We had been looking forward to this for over a year and a half! When we went to Vegas in March 2009, we were supposed to go here for dinner, but had to cancel because I was pregnant and wasn't feeling up to it. Then, my mom and Ray told us it was their favorite restaurant. Ever. We had to try it!
http://www.mgmgrand.com/restaurants/joel-robuchon-french-restaurant.aspx

Joel Rubichon is next to the Ka Theatre at the MGM Grand. It's the only 3 Star Michelin Guide Winner in Las Vegas. And, Joel Rubichon was named Chef of the Century. I'm not sure who decided this or what it means, but it sounds like a big deal. When you walk in, it's like you've completely left the Vegas scene and are in a fancy schmancy restaurant. The noise and hub-bub from the casino disappears. When we were seated, I was slightly concerned because the tables were close together and there were couples on either side of us. This ended up not mattering at all. In fact, even though we were close, we couldn't hear their conversations.

The decor was unexpected. It was kinda like an underwater scene with a gold gauze-like table runner and gold shells and starfish (see below for a partial picture of our table). There were blue coral in flower pots around the restaurant. I thought maybe it was a French fish restaurant, but it wasn't. It's just French. There were large purple curtains separating the dining rooms. Around the restaurant, there were framed pictures of "famous" people, including Jeff Gordon, Alan Thicke, and Emeril Lagasse. Pretty random. It was hard to get a feel of what they were going for.

Once we were seated, the server asked if we would like Brut or Rose Champagne. Yes, please. Don't mind if I do :)  We both chose Brut. It was delicious. I didn't care what the decor was anymore. I was happy.

The server explained the menu. There were five menus to choose from: two two-course menus, a four-course menu, a six-course menu, and and sixteen-course tasting menu. With the two, four, and six course menus, you were able to choose what you'd like from different parts of the a la carte menu. For example, four courses - an appetizer, a soup, an entree, and a dessert. Surprise, surprise, we decided on the sixteen-course tasting menu. Looking back, I would make the same choice again.

While we purused the menu, a guy came around with a bread cart. Huh? I'd never seen this before. He had at least 15 types of breads to choose from. Jeff asked for Bacon Bread and Milk Bread. I had Gruyere Bread and Puff Pastry Bread. Once we chose the types we wanted, he told us, "I'm going to go heat these up, and I'll bring them back to you." Wow! And when he brought them back, he had a huge block of butter that was ancient French churned butter (or something like that), and he delicately shaved off a chunk for us. It was delicious.

Course 1 - Le Cavier - Cavier on a fennel cream served as a surprise. This was a little jar of crab and gelee with cavier on top. A great way to start off the meal.

Courses 2, 3, 4 - Palette aux Saveurs Estivales - Tomato mozzarella gelee, basil and olive oil, almond blancmange with vegetable medley, chilled cilantro gazpacho. This was three separate dishes on one plate. All small. All yummy. The gazpacho was done in one quick shot.

Course 5 - L'Oeuf - Egg yolk and herb ravioli with spinach sprouts and chanterelles. One of my favorite dishes of the night. Beautiful presentation with a robin's egg (decoration) and a ravioli. Perfectly prepared.

Course 6 - La Grenouille - Crispy frog leg, garlic and parsley puree. This was a frog leg lollipop. Just one bite, and it came clean off the bone. Nice and crispy.

Courses 7, 8, 9 - Les Crustaces - Roasted lobster on cauliflower with green curry, herb flavored coral broth, delicate flan of sea urchin with mocha foam. The lobster was pretty good. The coral broth was different and fun. I couldn't eat the sea urchin. I had one bite and didn't like it. I tried it again and liked it even less. Of the whole meal, this was one of two dishes I didn't finish.

Course 10 - Les Petits Pois - Light green pea cream with a hint of peppermint, sweet onion cloud. A yummy soup.

Course 11 - Le Foie Gras - Duck foie gras in cabbage, bacon and spicy jus. I'd never had foie gras with cabbage before and was surprised I hadn't because the flavors went together so well. Mmm... Foie gras... Delicious.

Course 12 - Le Turbot - Pan-fried turbot with a lemon grass emulsion and stewed baby leeks. Yum.

Course 13 - Le Veau - Sauteed veal chop with natural jus and vegetable taglierinis flavored with pesto. As some of you know, I don't eat veal... unless it is part of the tasting menu at a fancy restaurant... Omg! This was absolutely amazingly delicious! Why don't I eat veal?!?!?! It's fantastic!!! This was my favorite dish of the evening.

Course 14 - Les Racines et Pousses d'lci - Spring root and sprout vegetables with Argan oil. When we initially saw the tasting menu, Jeff immediately pointed out there was not a cheese course. He was willing to make a deal with our server to get one. The deal was to give up this course and the next course and to replace them with the cheese course. The server said he would just add on the cheese course, and we wouldn't have to give up anything. Wow, I'm glad that's the way it worked out! These vegetables were amazing! If veggies always tasted this good, I would eat them everyday!!! There were baby carrots, baby radishes, brussel sprouts, and a few others. They tasted like they had been bathing in butter for days. Fantastic!!!

Cheese Course!!! Wow, do they know how to do a cheese course! I don't remember what any of the cheeses were, but there were approximately 20 to choose from. The guy put together a plate of 6 different cheeses we chose (I had done most of the talking about the kinds I like). We were shocked at the quantity, it was more than enough for the two of us. He put the plate in front of me and then asked Jeff what he wanted. There was no skimping on cheese. My favorite!!!

Course 15 - La Framboise - Pistachio cream, raspberries infused with Lillet and rose sabayon. The other dish we would have given up for cheese. I'm glad we didn't have to. It was good.

Course 16 - Le Caramel - Caramel parfait, chocolate poppy sable, light coffee mousse. This was the other dish I didn't finish. It was good, but just didn't excite me enough. By this time, I had seen the trolley of dessert treats go by numerous times and knew I wanted to try at least 10 different items.

Jeff's ice cream birthday cake course!!! Totally unexpected! It was a pitachio and strawberry ice cream cake with a hard meringue crust and a soft meringue top. It was big enough to serve 8 people. They brought it out and served us 2 pieces. I'm guessing they ate the rest in the back. It was unexpected, fun, and yummy.

Le Moka - Le The - Assortment of sweets and teas. We did it! The final course!!! I contained myself, I only chose 7 items off the trolley. They had chocolate mixed with everything imaginable. Starting in the back left of the picture, chocolate hazelnut ball (my favorite), crunchy chocolate dipped in gold leaf (yum), chocolate truffle (rich), hard chocolate macaroon dipped in chocolate with a chocolate crust (my second favorite), chocolate cream puff (also my second favorite), tropical soft macaroon, (my third favorite), and a passionfruit marshmellow (yum). It was all delicious. My mouth is watering as I type this because I want more.

After the dessert trolley, we thought we were finished, and we were. At least, at the restaurant we were. With our check, they also gave us a loaf of pistachio raspberry bread. In case we needed a midnight snack after our four hour dining experience. I ended up eating it for breakfast for the next 3 days. Shockingly, it was also yummy.

Joel Rubichon is officially on my Top 5 Favorite Restaurants list. I'm already trying to figure out when we can go back.

Vegas, Baby, Vegas - Day 2, Part 2, Lunch - August 21st, 2010

After I finished my morning at the amazing spa, Jeff and I decided to wander around the Palazzo/Venetian shopping area to see what kinds of restaurants were open for lunch. We found a mini version of San Marco Square that was designed to look like outside, although it's all indoors, and thought it would be perfect for lunch and chose Wolfgang Puck's Postrio. We were immediately sat "outside" at a perfect table where we could watch the happenings in San Marco Square. Our server was sweet and prompt and anticipated our needs. I was hungry and thirsty!
http://www.venetian.com/Pages.aspx?id=870

We started with the Salt & Pepper Calamari and Rock Shrimp, Fresno Chillies, and Sweet Thai Chili Sauce. It was perfectly cooked, not too much fried, but just enough to let you know it was not low calorie. I enjoyed the Sweet Thai Chili dipping sauce. It was nice to have something other than the usual cocktail sauce and made me feel fancy. Even though Jeff had said he wasn't going to eat any (remember, he's on a diet...), he still ate at least half. Yummy!

For an entree, I had the Prosciutto Panini with Roasted Peppers, Wild Arugula, Fresh Mozzarella, and Basil Aioli. Wolfgang Puck knows how to make a panini right! I was expecting only a few slices of prosciutto, and had already prepared myself for potential disappointment at the lack of meat. I was wrong! There was so much prosciutto on it, I contemplated taking some off, but immediately changed my mind. There was also a small side salad on the plate I hadn't been expecting. As many of you know, salad is not my thing, but it was still pretty good. I quickly finished my panini and had a few bites of the salad. A perfect lunch.

Jeff had the Grilled Prime Blue Cheese and Bacon Burger with Garlic Aioli, and Buttermilk Onion Rings cooked rare. The burger and onion rings looked amazing! Jeff dressed his burger and immediately cut it in half because of his diet, and the big fancy dinner we were going to have that evening. Watching him eat the burger was like watching a Carl's Jr. commercial, but better. Although my panini was fantastic, I would probably order the burger in the future. I had one of the onion rings and loved it. Onion rings are on my Top 5 list for favorite fried foods. Jeff didn't like them as much. He said there was too much batter and they seemed too fried (is this my husband???...). He's actually more of an onion string kinda guy. And, he stuck to his guns and only ate half the burger.

While we were eating lunch, there was action in San Marco Square. There was a man acting as a statue the whole time, covered in a gray sheet and gray makeup. He was interesting to watch, for about 8 seconds. People would give him money and take pictures with him, and he wouldn't move at all. Fascinating. Glad that isn't my job. There was also a show that lasted about 10 minutes. This was a little more exciting. There was a juggler (one of Jeff's favorite kinds of entertainment, not mine), and women singing opera. All in all, the performance gave Jeff and me something to talk about, other than Eliana. She probably would have enjoyed the show more than we did.

There was a gelatto stand in the middle of San Marco Square. We didn't try any (had to save room for dinner), but the line was at least 10 people long throughout our lunch. We passed it on our way out, and there were over 15 different flavors to choose from. I heart gelatto.

Stay tuned for our big night out at Joel Rubichon.

Vegas, Baby, Vegas - Day 2, Part 1, The Spa - Saturday, August 21st

Saturday morning, I went to the Canyon Ranch Day Spa. It spans the Palazzo and Venetian and is the most amazing spa I've ever been to!!! It's approximately 140,000 square feet and is the largest spa in the world.
http://www.canyonranchspaclub.com/las_vegas_nv/

If you ever have the opportunity to go, make sure to save a LOT of extra time for all of the different extras the facility provides. They call the extras the Aquavana Experience, which is European inspired. Fancy! It's free once you get in. The highlights (from the brochure):

Crystal Steam Room - A large natural natural crystal and optical effects provide a meditative focus as you soak up steam enhanced essential oils.

Experiential Rains - Invigorating, multisensory cooling rains - select from Polar Mist, Atlantic Storm or Caribbean Monsoon with thunder and lightning effects. This looked fun and relaxing. There were separate shower-type rooms for each one.

Finnish Sauna - A classic, wood-lined dry-heat sauna. The usual fancy spa sauna area.

Herbal Laconium - A warm, misty ceramic-tiled room with heated individual seating thrones and a color-changing fiber optic ceiling. Everyone looked so relaxed in here.

HydroSpa - A variety of body jets provide gentle massage to the body at the optimal temperature for rebalancing and release. Ahhh... soothing...

Igloo - Cool air and three Arctic Mist experiences - your choice of menthol, mint or eucalyptus - enhanced by twinkling fiber optics. Brrr... but interesting.

Thermal Heated Loungers - Keep your muscles warm and relaxed as you lie back between thermal experiences.

There was a co-ed conservatory with lots of cushy chairs that had a wave room and salt grotto. If I had had the time and could only do two things, I would have hung out in the wave room for hours and would have tried the experiential rains. Those are two things (of many) I hadn't seen at spas previously and both looked incredibly relaxing. Being away from Eliana for the weekend, relaxation was what I needed!

I had an 80-minute deep tissue massage, including a peppermint head and scalp massage - fantastic! This guy was great! My only complaint was he didn't spend enough time on my legs and feet. I guess that's my fault for not requesting it at the beginning. At the salon, I had an ice cream pedicure (you get to choose your own flavor - chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry) with a parrafin dip (done in booties, not where you dip your foot into a tub of hot wax). They put an "ice cream scoop" in the water that immediately fizzed up. There was a vanilla salt scrub used to exfoliate and a chocolate lotion and leg & foot massage after (yay!). The salon was in it's own area at the spa, where you pay separately for your services. I unfortunately only had time for the massage, a quick shower (also fantastic), and the pedicure.

Two important things to know:
1) Even though you pay for your spa service before you start, and there are no pockets in the provided robe, tip is not included. If you want to tip, you need to bring cash to the service.
2) There are many ways to relax at the Canyon Ranch Spa. Make sure to save enough time to use the included "free" services. You more than paid for it in what you paid for your services.

It was a quick trip! I had to meet Jeff for lunch!

Vegas, Baby, Vegas - Day 1 - Friday, August 20th

Wow! What a great weekend in Vegas! My time was spent almost exclusively sleeping and eating. And I loved it! I also was able to spend a few hours at the spa while Jeff slept off his gambling hangover. We dropped Eliana off at my mom's house on Friday at 3pm with a cold and teething. There was a lot of snot and drool! I knew I was going to miss her, but at the same time, I was thrilled to leave her for the weekend! After emptying bags of Eliana's favorite foods and toys and many instructions, it was off to the airport.

Once we went through security and sat at the bar, I was ready to go! The new terminal at SJC is great. Lots of options to choose from. Even a wine bar! We started at the Sharks Grill with a chicken quesadilla with guacamole. Surprisingly, it was one of the best quesadillas I'd had in a long time. Perfectly crispy on the outside. Just the right amount of cheese. Delicious guacamole. Jeff did his usual pre-flight ritual of "drink as much as possible before getting on the plane." After this, he was ready to go! Even though he knows the flight is always bumpy in and out of Vegas, his sweaty palms told a different story. Poor guy!

Once we landed, things were great! 106 degrees in Vegas. Hello, Summer!!! I hadn't planned on this when leaving San Jose and was wearing jeans. I think I was the only one in the taxi line in jeans. By the time we took a cab to the hotel and checked into the Palazzo, it was 7:30pm. Our suite was on the 42 floor and overlooked The Strip. Perfect! I love the Palazzo!!! We unpacked and got ready to go to dinner. Since we were in Vegas, I felt it was appropriate to wear a dress which showed off my largest assets (my eyes), and we went to Sushi Samba for dinner. Jeff and I had previously gone to Sushi Samba in March 2009 and loved it.

Sushi Samba was great, but probably not as much fun as last time. We started off at the bar and I had a strawberry coconut mojito. Yummy! Jeff hadn't been drinking since Father's Day and had been watching what he ate, so he wasn't as willing to order tons of food like last time. But, he was willing to drink lots of beer. When in Rome... The first time we went to Sushi Samba, we had our server bring out her favorites. It was incredible! This time, we picked our choices off the menu.
http://www.palazzolasvegas.com/sushisamba.aspx

Jeff started with flash-fried Japanese river crabs. I couldn't bear to eat them. They still had faces!!! (and claws) He said they were good and crunchy. Next was tuna tiradito (the waitress described tiradito as a Peruvian ceviche) with granny smith apple, serano, and lime. I thought this was fantastic! But, my first bite was much spicier than I had anticipated. The tiny serano pepper slice caught me off guard. Jeff didn't like this dish as much as I did because he thought all the strong flavors overpowered the tuna. Next, we had tempura wild mushrooms. It was good, but I probably wouldn't order it again. There are so many delicious items on the menu to try. Next was the seabass and miso anticucho (skewers cooked over wood creating a smoky flavor) and Peruvian corn. This was amazing! I could have had 10 servings of this!!! The seabass had a little bit of a carmelized flavor. The Peruvian corn is much different from what we're used to. Bigger kernals and much chewier. Finally, a little sushi. The Samba Strip roll was a lobster peanut sushi roll. It was pretty good. A little spicier than I anticipated. Jeff didn't like this one too much. I thought it tasted like a Thai springroll. I wouldn't order it again. Jeff's big pick of the meal was the three type meat churrasco with dipping sauces (ribeye, hanger steak, and linguica), all cooked less than medium-rare (for my husband). Surprisingly, the hanger steak was my favorite. I didn't try the linguica because I couldn't bear the thought of heartburn. Since it was Jeff's b-day, they brought out a special pot de creme chocolate dessert with two layers of chocolate and crispy chocolate balls on top. It was amazing! Try it!!!

Last time we went to Sushi Samba, we also ordered the Kobe Beef Ishi Yaki dish. They brought out a hot stone and thin slices of Kobe beef. Fantastic presentation! We cooked the Kobe ourselves on the hot stone and had different dipping sauces to choose from. This was fabulous! If we had ordered this again, it definitely would have added to the fun.

Something I noticed last time and this time at Sushi Samba was both times we were seated about 20 minutes after showing up for our reservation. Be prepared to be sent to the bar for a drink while waiting for your table.

After dinner, Jeff hit the tables and I went to bed. It was a great first night in Vegas!!!

Sorry for the lack of pictures. I only took one the whole trip :(