Leading up to the 4th of July i really didn’t have any plans since i’ve just been busy with work. With my parents heading out of town, and no friends really doing anything i checked into our SPG account to see if we could go anywhere and was able to get a free room using our points at the US Grant in San Diego. They place is a fancier hotel than the Westin, and the best thing about it was all the water they gave us. The hotel, room, and staff were of course excellent, but the free water in the room and every time we got our car from the valet they gave us cold bottles of water for us.

We drove down Saturday morning and met up with Dr. Nomo for lunch in Little Italy and Pappalecco gelato for dessert.

For dinner we opted for some seafood at Spike Africe’s which was just across the street from our hotel. Decided that i wanted some seafood for dinner tonight so Spike seemed like a decent place to bring a baby to. Pretty casual, loud place, with plenty of space.

We stuck with the appetizer menu and some fresh oysters instead of getting any main courses.

Oysters were good.
Mussels were good.
Clam chowder was good and buttery
Poke was good.
Butterscotch dessert was great.

Sunday morning after breakfast at Influx we headed to the San Diego Zoo. The weather was really nice, and most of the important animals were still awake (i’m looking at you pandas!) which Alice loved.

To end the day we took the Skyfari back and forth to get a bird’s eye view of the entire zoo. Our little dare devil seemed to enjoy it too.

With the 4th coming around i volunteered myself to make some faux kalua pork for a get together with Joy’s friends. Since i don’t have an imu i had to go with the crockpot method. The recipe from Pinapple & Coconut seemed pretty simple with just a couple ingredients (none that i had) and thankfully my dad has a banana tree in the backyard. I cooked the sucker over night and it turned out pretty good.

I went with tacos since it needs less utensils, and of course needed some roasted salsa and mango pico de gallo.

Put all together it was delicious.

The past week i’ve been making batches of salsa because we had some tomatoes that were getting soft and wanted to give it a shot.

Roasted Salsa

• 5 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic head
• 1 handful of cilantro
• 1/2 jalapeño diced
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°

Cut tomatoes in half, and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt. Cut top off head of garlic and drizzle with olive oil. Slice onions into chunks. Place all on a baking sheet and cook for 20 minutes.

Place all ingredients into a blender and pulse until well blended, and season to taste.

During Joy’s maternity leave we discussed her changing jobs. Her current job has worked out so well for us with Alice’s drop off schedule and relative ease of her current position it was more of just a thought than reality. That was until about two weeks ago when a directors position at another hospital opened up where someone else she knew worked at. She got recommend, went for an interview and a week later was offered a position there. So now she’ll be heading up the social services department of a hospital in Culver City.

We’re both pretty excited and nervous about the change since now we’ll have to do a bit of maneuvering of our routine to hand Alice off to my parents which will include a mix of them coming to pick her up, and me dropping her off in the morning and taking the train back to work. On a side note i’ve also been accepted become an adjunct professor at Santa Monica College so that Jonathan and I can teach a web design class in the fall, more on that later.

To celebrate with took my parents to get some Prime Rib at Lawry’s. Its been almost a year since the last time we were here so it was like seeing an old friend after time apart. Everything was still just as tasty, although a bit more difficult now with Alice in tow.

It was still bright out after dinner we so drove down the street to the Grove to take a walk around, get some ice cream, and do a little shopping. Alice liked the water show, and all the people to stare at.

Saturday marked the first day of summer, and it just so happened to be Joy and my first real date night since Alice came into our lives. My mother was kind enough to spend the night at our house to watch over little Alice while we got to head out sans diaper bag.

A month ago Jonathan Gold released his 101 Best Restaurants of LA and had Providence as its #1 restaurant. A few weeks later Providence announced the reopening  and a special nine year anniversary four course dinner special for the month of June so i jumped online and made RSVP for the 21st.

We got up to LA with a little time to kill so we started off by getting a drink at Mozza Pizzeria, but unbeknownst to me, they serve wine in little carafes at a glass and a half, which we had to finish in a half hour. We were pretty toasty to say the least.

Having a 5:30 RSVP made us have restaurant almost to ourselves, but filled up once we finished. We looked over the menu and besides the 4 course menu, we could’ve gone with the other menus that ranged from 8-12 dishes with the longest being around 3 hour ordeal. We decided to keep to the 4 course, and add in an Uni Egg, and i ordered the supplemental a5 Wagyu Beef. It was my delayed father’s day dinner so why not splurge a little.

Along with the four courses it started off with a bunch of amuse bouches from a Dark and Stormy jello shot, to a really good smoked halibut soup. The Uni Egg was delicious and this coming from two people that don’t typically eat it.  The wagyu beef was super buttery and i’m glad i tried it, but it really made me miss having some actual beef beef. The dinner took about 2 hours to finish, and was a great experience.

After dinner we took a walk around Hollywood and Highland

My father’s day started off early when my mom accidentally informed me in a group text that my gift had arrived on Friday, which made my day for the rest of the day. That evening i got to open my present to find my very own GoPro Camera. Of course i spent the next few hours on amazon looking at all the different things i could buy for it.

Sunday morning we went to go see the fish at the California Science Center since its cheaper than the Aquarium of the Pacific. The difference between paying $20-30 per adult vs. any donation amount is a no brainer.

Now that she can lean onto things it makes these trips funner to go. We can let her out of her seat and let her kind of explore on her own accord. She was more interested in the host on the mic and the kids around her than the big fish in the tank.

The rest of day was business as usual with my Huntington Beach Basketball League, and KFC for dinner with my dad.

I still try to get my hands dirty when ever i have a little extra time on my hands and wanted to share some of the recipes that i’ve tried and have been happy with. Most of these recipe i halved because i’m not looking to feed an entire family.

Braised Short Ribs and Mashed Potatoes

Short ribs are a pretty easy dish to do as long as you have a dutch oven and time. This short rib recipe works pretty well even if you don’t use pancetta, or thyme.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/11/braised-short-ribs-heaven-on-a-plate/

Canned Apricots

I’m always bugging friends with backyard gardens for any excess fruits or vegetables. This year Robin’s apricot tree was popping off dozen upon dozens of apricot so i rolled over there to pick up a grocery bag full of them. I kept the skin on and they do break down enough where you don’t realize they’re there when spreading it on toast.

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2009/08/apricot-jam/

Carne Asada

Some carne asada recipes require 20 ingredients but i think this recipe does it well enough with more of the basic spices and herbs that should be in your cupboard already.

http://www.closetcooking.com/2013/05/carne-asada-grilled-marinated-steak.html

Branzino

I picked up some branzino at the farmers market one weekend and tried out a recipe out of the Frenchie Cook book i had recently bought. It was the first time it basted a fish, and boy that butter oil can really splash on your hand a lot if you’re not careful about it. Too bad my vin jaune sauce didn’t come together and was just a oniony chunky relish instead of an actual sauce.

http://www.amazon.com/Frenchie-Bistro-Cooking-Greg-Marchand/dp/1579655343

Monday afternoon i participated in my first charity golf scramble event for the New Hope Grief Charity group. On of our business partners John Matlock is a board member and invited me to come out for a good cause (and to do a little networking). The event was held at the Recreation Park Golf Course in Long Beach, a course i’m quite familiar with.

This was the first time that i played in a scramble format which is a best ball format. Our team was comprised of myself, Matlock and two of his friends with a range of skills that worked out quite well in this format. I was a little nervous having to work as a team, but i’m glad my driving skills were turned on because i was crushing the ball, but my midrange game was lacking, and my close game was spotty. At the end of the day we ended up at a score of 4 under which was respectable but nowhere close to the 18 under winning score.

The day was definitely different because we started on the 5th hole, where we could challenge a pro to get closest to the pin to win a prize. The next hole was sponsored by Bubba Gump offering ceviche, a Benz dealership offering a car for a hole in one, a massage therapist on another, and beer on the 1st hole.

Saturday afternoon we went out to La Palma to celebrate Dani’s 1st birthday. It was a nice day to be outside and enjoy some tacos and cake.

We got to meet Jacob for the first time after being born just two month ago.

Sunday we woke up early and headed out to do some shopping at the Pasadena City College Flea Market (every 1st Sunday of the month). I got to meet up with my old Disneyland co-worker Esme as she shopped for her Etsy store.

Shopping under the shade of the parking structure is a luxury you can’t understand until you’ve walked up and down endless rows of hot asphalt. Alice got to enjoy getting out of the stroller and being strapped on as she cooed and stared at everything around her. I walked away with a trifle stand, a couple of metal trashbins and a old drink cart that i’m going to try to restore.

Ever since my brunch at Bruxie, Jeremy and I have been in a ongoing conversation about making our own Chicken and Waffles and we eventually settled on having a Southern Luau on Sunday afternoon. I spent the entire week purchasing a new waffle iron, researching recipes and testing out different recipes. Jeremy spent his time getting the fried chicken ready and we joined forces at his house to combine what we learned. I eventually setteled on the Belgium Waffle Recipe from The Kitchn. The only adjustments i made to the recipe was to add half of the sugar to the water before adding in the yeast, and adding a little Vanilla Extract to the batter as well. Every party needs to start out with some refreshment and there was plenty of white and red sangria to go around for eight adults. The eating was a progressive meal as we were making waffles and frying chicken on a constant cycle to get everything as fresh as possible. Jeremy’s chicken was golden and crispy and with a touch of Louisiana Hot Sauce was prefect. I also made some cole slaw and did make my own chicken sandwich. Nothing better with a touch of sweet, salty, sour, chewy, and crunch. Definitely a success on both of our parts. We eventually finished eating and had some left over batter, so we decided to dip some strawberries in the waffle batter and give them a little bath in the frying oil. Actually tasted pretty good, since its basically like funnel cake.

Saturday we redeemed the second day of our Southern California ticket and visited Disney’s California Adventures. With the Rock Your Disney Side: 24-Hours happening the day/night/morning before i planned that a lot of the Disney fanatics wouldn’t be there Saturday.

Radiator Springs Racers Queue

We arrived at rope drop and made our way through Starbucks (who accepts the Starbucks gift cards) and picked up a Fast Pass for Radiator Springs Racers for a reasonable time of 11:50am. My mom insisted that we still take advantage of the short single rider line and go on the ride anyways.

Monsters Inc.

Next it was time to have some fun with Alice where we took her to a Bugs Land and went on Flick’s Flyer which was like Dumbo but seriously gets everyone dizzy. Then we went on the Monsters Inc. ride which was her first dark ride and she was holding on pretty tight to Grandma but didn’t cry.

Tigger

I was really wanted to try some things that i’ve never done before so we went to The Disney Animation Building and learned how to draw Tigger, and do Turtle Talk with Crush. The rest of the day was spent roaming around the park, eating lunch at Taste Pilots’ Grill, and we finished up the day watching the Pixar Parade. It was a fun day, and it was nice to get out of there before nightfall.

Tuesday night i kissed Alice good night and headed out to celebrate Nelson’s 40th birthday. We all met up at BO-beau in Downtown Long Beach. I don’t even remember the last time i was out on a Tuesday night, but it was fun to get together to have some drinks and celebrate such a big event.

I had dinner at home already so i didn’t try any of the French fare, but enjoyed a couple nice glasses of Hangar One Vodka Tonics. We enjoyed some cupcakes and some complimentary champagne which i thought was the end of the night, but we finished up the night on the rooftop bar.

There was a ping pong table where we played some multi-ball doubles. Alcohol, dim lighting, and multiple balls really make for a lack of coordination.

By 11pm it was time for the parents of the group to wrap it up and head home.

Sunday morning we drove out to Old Towne Orange to meet up with Jen, Andy, and Leilani for brunch at Bruxie, the modern day waffle house.

Last month Andy called me and told me they were expecting again, but what was really surprising was that it was going to be triplets. Its a rare natural triplets with twin boys and a girl, and just like that they’re going from one kid to four.

Bruxie has been on Joy and my eating list for a while and just never found a reason to go since they’re only in Orange County. Joy and I shared a sausage, egg, and cheddar sandwich, and an order of chicken and waffles. Pretty tasty stuff.