Santa Barbara

I had seen some of California, but had never seen Santa Barbara. I had only seen pictures and heard stories of what is known as the American Riviera. I am always looking for a cheap ticket and a spontaneous trip. I found it and it made me love the west coast all over again. I saw dolphins and seals. I kayaked and snorkeled. I ate good food and fed off the sunshine. It was simple and easy - oh, and I bought some really good wine :) It made the perfect end to a summer that has been kind to me. It was the summer I learned how to take things slow. It's actually been a year of taking things slow. And I couldn't be happier.

Let's Eat!

Striphouse - 13 e 12th street

Remember the Italian restaurant that Tom Hanks ate at in the movie Big? Since the year 2000 it has been a steakhouse. Julia Roberts has even been spotted there. But that's not why I went. A couple of good friends got together (one of them works there) and had a meal. I had the mac n cheese. I wasn't impressed. But the steak was a hit. And for dessert? A piece of a 24 layer chocolate cake. It might be the best chocolate cake I ever had.


Cafe Cluny - 284 W 12th street

I took myself to breakfast. I like to do that. I ordered the brioche french toast. I love me some french toast. The deal breaker for me in regards to french toast is the bread itself. I don't put up with any wonder bread. This french toast was delicious. It was thick and soft in the middle. And the outside was crispy. I didn't even need syrup, but of course I had some butter. I agree with Julia Child - butter is everything.


Cookshop - 156 10th Ave

I went to brunch with Henry in his neighborhood. We both had burgers and fries. Who can pass that up? The building really was ahead of it's time. It's worth going just to walk down 20th street between 10th and 9th avenue. That is one of my favorite blocks in the city. But the burger doesn't disappoint. And neither do the fries.

ALOHA! Maholo for reading!!

It all began with a car ride to the bus station, a bus ride to the airport, a 6 hour flight to Phoenix, AZ and finally a 7 hour flight to Oahu, Hawaii. That was the journey to paradise. It was tiring, and headache inducing (screaming children behind me.) On the flight from Phoenix - AZ I watched the movie "Arthur" starring Russel Brand. It was better than I thought it would be. Then they played the movie "The Family Stone" which I love so I listened to it while reading Jaycee Dugard's book, which was poorly written (what can you expect from someone who wasn't educated) and crazy to believe that what happened to her truly happened. It wasn't a fictional story. Brought me to tears.

Anyway, back to the trip. We arrived in Honolulu International Airport and took a shuttle bus to our hotel - the Aston Waikiki Beach Hotel. It was beautiful! Right across the street from the beach and close to shopping and the Zoo. Our room was located on the sixth floor - room 616. The elevators were very different and something I had never seen before. Instead of pressing an up or down arrow and then pressing the floor number inside the elevator, you had to scan your key card against a pad outside the elevators and then press the floor number that was located above the scan pad and it would assign you an elevator. So weird, but very cool.

We were extremely tired (what with the long 14 hour traveling day, and our bodies being 6 hours ahead - 7pm was actually 1am)...so we just went to our room and went to sleep.

The next day my mom was up at 4am and walked around, and told me later that day that even at 4am the streets were bustling with people, already a line for Starbucks. I woke up at 7:30 and we went to the beach for the day. it was beautiful. The sun was shining, the water was clear as ice and so refreshing after laying in the hot sun for a while. We ate lunch and went back to the beach. For dinner that night we ate at Wolfgang Puck express. It was delicious. Then we went back to our room and watched Soul Surfer on demand. It was eh. The acting was terrible...and shockingly Carrie Underwood was the best one in it! I KNOW RIGHT!? Helen Hunt wasn't soo bad either.

Then we went to sleep.

The next day we went to the Honolulu Zoo and saw all the crazy animals. It's a zoo, what else is there to say? I had dippin dots. yum. After the zoo we went to the beach again, we tried further down than we were the day before but the tide was too high and the beach area wasn't conducive to our beach float we used for lounges hah. So we went back to our beach. Ate dinner at a place called "Cheeseburger in Paradise" I had a chinese chicken salad. It was good. Then watched the sunset, and walked the streets. We did a little shopping in the marketplace and watched a few street performers, including two young girls Tori and Tia who were about 12 and 10 years old, who each sang a few songs a piece. They were AMAZING! We then stopped off at some Japanese festival, where Japanese people were singing this song and doing this dance. It was fun to watch them.

Then it was 9:30pm and way past our bedtime so we went back to the hotel and snoozed for the night.

The third day we asked how far Diamond Head Crater was so we could hike it on Sunday. The lady said it was a 15 minute walk from the hotel. Then we went to the beach. At 1:00pm that day (Saturday July 30th) our first LOST tour began. Our tour guide - Gregory Berquist picked us up. Along with us on the tour were two young kids from Switzerland, they spoke very little english, mostly french. That was a pain, because our tour guide kept trying to speak french and I was getting annoyed. He also told us he played Leonard (the guy who says the numbers over and over again)...btw he did not. He was in the background as an extra...so who knows what he was talking about. But he was a good guide and funny. We traveled to Kuala Ranch (sp?) and on the way saw Anthony Cooper's house, and a few jungle areas that filming took place.

At the ranch we saw Richard's cabin, the others campsite, Hurley's golfcourse, a few areas where movies were filmed and a bunch of other places. It was a lot of fun. My mom and I re-created the scene where Ana Lucia (me) killed Goodwin (my mom), a scene where Jacob (me) and Man in Black (my mom) had a conversation and some other fun things.

That tour lasted 5 hours and was a lot of fun. We went home, ate dinner and slept. The next morning we woke up and started our FIFTEEN MINUTE walk to Diamond Head. Yeah...15 minutes my ass! It turned out to be 45 minutes to the entrance, then took 45 minutes to hike up (my mom had to stop after 1/4 of the way and then I continued on my own) and I spent about 10 minutes just basking in the absolute gorgeous views of Oahu! Then 45 minutes to walk down and 40 minutes to walk back to the hotel. It was a lot of walking but totally worth it and I got shaved ice after the hike! :) YUMMMY IN MY TUMMY!

After Diamond Head we went to the beach again and then had dinner and went to bed. It was a nice relaxing trip!

Monday August 1, 2011 we woke up early and met our second LOST tour guide Scotty at 8am outside the hotel. This time we had two women on our tour who were english speaking lol. They were very nice and one of them was as into the show as I am. And Scotty was totally into the show...maybe even more than me (which is saying a lot). First let me say that Scotty is very cute and he was awesome!

We saw SO many filming locations on this 10 hour tour...The Orchid, the Bear Cages, The Temple, Dharmaville, The BEACH, The plane crash site, The beach used for Thailand, some rocks used for traveling scenes, Penny's boat and SOOO MUCH MORE! There is just too much to describe. But it was an incredible day. We ate lunch at a shrimp place, which was at the location where Sawyer shot the man who he believed to be the real Sawyer but actually wasn't. AMAZING!!!

When we returned back, we ate dinner and went to bed.

Tuesday and Wednesday were spent at the pool and then the trip back home to work and boringness.

One of the best trips. So much fun. !

Food Crawl

Food Crawl

Fat Witch Bakery - 75 Ninth Avenue

The best brownie. The best brownie I have had in some time. I admit to only trying the caramel witch. I gave my niece the original chocolate one. Chocolate is her favorite. I think half of America would agree with her. But that is just more reason to go back. It is located in Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market will remind you of an upscale Faneuil Hall if you have ever been there. If not, take a trip to Boston. I grew up around Boston - well a half hour or so from the city. You can order these brownies online if you can not make it to the city.




Good Restaurant - 89 Greenwich Ave

I went with my friend Tammi to this West Village location. It looked fairly new. I had never seen it before, and I, like so many others, enjoy walking around the West Village. I got a burger. Simple right? I needed iron. If you wanted a deluxe burger it looked like this place will put out all the stops (they offer pulled pork as a topping). I indulged in their hand cut fries. Tammi went healthy - she is an athlete and always eating well. I believe she got vegetables and fish.


Ninos - 1354 First Ave

I love Nino. Yes, we met. The service is so good here I think I would go back anyway. But the pasta was incredible. And then the dessert was - gelato. Why get excited you may ask? This was gelato in a chocolate casing. Remember, half of America loves chocolate (maybe even more than that). And to top it off there was a cherry or two frozen in the middle. To die for. Tami (always on the look out for good food was my date , along with Sarah). Yes, another friend. We do not dine with strangers. The only negative is the Upper East Side atmosphere. We came from a day at the park. It was just too stuffy.

What am I eating tonight? Give me suggestions! What are you eating?