Exploring and Eating

WARNING: This is going to be a long post but it's two days in one.

After spending some time with an old friend and making new ones DH and our furry kids drove down to LA for my sister's graduation from CSUN, receiving her master's in Public Administration.  She said she wants to work for the CDC, she's currently a public health nurse.

The very next day we drove to Grand Canyon.  It was a long trip but it was worth it.

 It was amazing and beautiful, great just for an over night trip but DH was scouting it for future camping site for him and his friends.

Then on Saturday DH and I did what we always do when we're in LA, explore and eat. We were on our way to try a new restaurant called Pizzeria Mozza until we found out that it's owned by Mario Batali who is a celebrity chef, featured on Iron Chef.  We don't really have anything against Mario Batali or Iron Chef but in our experience with other establishments that carries a celebrity chef's name is not positive.  Except for David Chang of Momofuku in New York.  He's never been on Iron Chef but he is pretty popular and rightfully so.  Our experience eating at Momofuku was memorable.  We'll definitely dine there again when in New York.  But for the rest of the other restaurants we've dined at we find that it can all be hype and salty so we ended up eating at a little hamburger joint we've been to once before called The Golden State.

I opted for their burger and fried sweet potato fries

DH ordered the BLTA side of salad

For dessert we had gelato, strawberry balsamic vinegar and salted oreo.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of them but everything was de-lish.

OOTD: Dress Anthropologie

Original price $168 

Sale price $50

_________________

Savings: $118

After moving the car near the Grove, an outside shopping area we decided to walk to La Brea Tar Pit which was about 25 minute walk which we didn't mind, we had to walk off brunch.

Outside the Ahmanson Building on the LACMA, (Los Angeles Country Museum of Art), campus The Jesus Rafael Soto sculpture, Penetrable

 This sculpture consists of suspended plastic hoses for visitors to walk through

Vintage belt

Sunglasses Tom Ford

After some exploring we got kind of hungry and spotted some food trucks parked across the street

Kalbi and spicy pork buns with duck fat french fries

After our snack we walked back to our car and drove to Bottega Louie which was about 25 minutes drive located in downtown LA, one of our favorite restaurants.

They don't take reservations and it was packed and we were told 30-40 minutes wait but we didn't mind considering we just had a snack less than an hour ago.  

We had major eye candy while waiting, plenty of dessert to drool over.

These are not even half of their selections. 

Assorted flavors of macaroons

Cupcakes

Different cheesecake macaroons 

It didn't take that long to be seated and we looked over the menu while waiting so once we sat down we ordered.  These are their famous mushroom fries. We also had a salad but I forgot to take a picture of it.

I ordered a small plate of lamb porterhouse that came with potatoes

DH ordered the seared ahi tuna over tomatoes

The ahí tuna was my favorite out of the two

For desert we had the creme brûlée with berries and I must say DH's creme brûlée tastes exactly the same.

Then we drove back to my Mom's and called it a night.  This must seem like we're just pigs but food is something we don't skimp on while on vacation and of course I did do some shopping right before leaving for Arizona.  I picked up two Milly dresses at Nordstrom Rack in Woodland Hills both under $70 that I will post for this Savvy Thursday edition.  I am so behind on those but hopefully I can catch up sooner than later.

This is going to be another busy week.  I had to drive DH back home and then drive back to my Mom's then have lunch with an old childhood friend I haven't seen for 20+ years, have dinner and catch a movie with some other friends and to top it off my cousin's baby shower this Saturday then drive home on Sunday.  I left our furry kiddies at my Mom's which means DH is going to be all alone for the entire week.  He said that he'll be so lonely that I shouldn't be surprise to see cutout pictures of me and the dogs around the apartment when we get back.  He is taking this time alone to eat what I normally wouldn't care for so he's excited to have a chance to eat whatever he wants for the whole week.

Hope everyone had a fantastic holiday!

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