Puerto Vallarta

As the taxi approached our hotel, Sunset Plaza, the man at the gate checked off our names and quietly instructed the driver to slowly approach the front of the hotel so we can be greeted by an employee of the hotel.  As we opened the door we were greeted by cold towels for our faces by a friendly employee of the hotel.  As we check into the hotel, glasses of Champagne began to flow... I thought to myself, "wow, is this how it feels to be a VIP and pampered?" The bell boy brought us up to our room and informed us that our personal butler will be up in the morning to introduce himself.  Was this a dream? No, it was Puerto Vallarta.

This is what I wrote to myself while on we were still on vacation in Puerto Vallarta.  I actually giggled while re-typing it onto the blog post... because even though the trip started off very luxurious with the flowing glasses of Champagne and personal butlers...  the majority of the trip was anything but luxurious.  Don't get me wrong, the hotel was beautiful and the staff did a great job of making sure we were taken care of.  But we weren't there for all the luxurious things... we wanted to soak in the culture and explore Puerto Vallarta outside of the confines of the tourist traps.  The entire experience was amazing and eye opening.  We explored the touristy areas of Puerto Vallarta like the Marina and the downtown areas, but we were also able to venture into the county sides where we did see very skinny animals and children walking around without any shoes.  I must say though that the consistent thing I did observe was that the people in Puerto Vallarta are extremely hard working and their hospitality is top notch.  Below are some highlights of the trip and of course... food photos because the food was amazing...

our view from our balcony 

a little something we found on our bed

view from the hallway.. if you look closely.. on the right hand side you can see the birthday girls shadow

the beer of choice for the weekend

beach side

the hotel gave us wristbands, we felt like super heros!  

the most amazing salsas from El Arrayan! A MUST stop in PV. A smoky chipotle, spicy red and mild green salsas.  

Beef Barbacoa from El Arrayan

Duck Carnitas... my favorite of the whole trip!!! Duck had crispy skin, moist meat and an amazing mole sauce! 

one of the national landmarks in PV, the caves.  Our guide informed us that you would be able to kayak to the cave! 

View from the Botanical Garden

flat tire while ATVing

yay! going through the water! 

the rest of the ATV crew 

Agave plants! 

very smooth and delicious tequila!  

ceviche from Ochos Tostados: not what we expected but not too bad

Seafood Stew from Ochos Tostados: exactly what you expect seafood stew to taste like.. sooo yummy!

Salmon 

Sangria from Buenos Aires Argentinean Restauarnt

Caprese Salad

Flank Steak  

Prime Rib

Steak Salad

Continental Breakfast before a long day of Ziplining 

The photo that caused 3 people pain.. literally 3 people, including myself, wiped out on this very slipper rock! You can't see it, but their is pain in our eyes. :D BUT on the upside... this day was filled with amazing Ziplining considered to be one of THE best moments in my life.

Much needed drink and food after Zipling and getting abused by a rock

nursing my wounds... notice the empty drink... 

complementary Guacamole from Pipi's 

everything is big here at Pipi's, including the margaritas! 

queso con chorizo 

complementary quesadilla filled with sauteed vegetables and gooey cheese

I wasn't kidding about the portions.. this is ONE order..  

he ordered the Macho Combo... but when it arrived.. he didn't feel that macho anymore

shrimp fajitas 

chicken tostada salad

finally started clearing up on the day we were leaving!

Laksa

I have been inspired to make various foods I love to eat out.  One of them is Laksa, a popular Singaporean noodle dish.  I was introduced to Laksa by my love when we went to his favorite place to get Laksa, Litz Restaurant in Monterey Park.  Since I will be making the big move in a few months, I decided to look up various recipes on Laksa and try to make it at home.  That way when the craving kicks in, I can whip up a batch! I googled Laksa, and discovered it is a very long process to make the stock from scratch.  So I did the Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade thing and went to a local Asian Supermarket to buy Laksa sauce packets.   From there, it was not difficult to make! Added water to a pot, boil the water, add the Laksa sauce packet, coconut milk and various proteins such as chicken and shrimp then simmer.  After about 20 minutes, I poured the creamy broth over a bed of vermicelli noodles and topped with fresh mint (courtesy of mama's garden)  What I ended up with was a curry like broth that was a bit spicy and very flavorful.  I will definitely be making this again, especially since it was a lot easier than I thought!

The final product: Homemade Laksa :)

Earthen Restaurant

In my quest to consume as much Asian food as possible before making the big move, my friends and I got together at Earthen Restaurant in Hacienda Heights.  It was a cute little restaurant that cranked out some seriously good food and this place definitely satisfied my Asian food craving for the day.  Also, it was very nice to get together with my fraternal family from college and reminisce of the times of when we were young and wild.  Enjoy the photos!!! Shout out to my dear friend, photog mentor and lil bro, Warren Li for being the photographer while I enjoyed my food! :) Check out his blog! He has amazing photos!

House Chicken: crispy soy sauce goodness... hiding is a bed of sliced cucumbers which made the dish amazing!

Keeping my eyes on the prize

Beef Noodle Soup: a little spicy and filled with flavor.. super yummy!

Green Onion Pancake: one of my favorite discoveries! I started dating my Taiwanese Love almost 4.5 years ago, and one day while having dinner with his family, they ordered this and I fell in love. Earthen's was crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  Just the way I like it! Amazing! 

Everyone enjoyin' the yummy goodness

Mushroom and BokChoy: of course we needed to order a veggie dish.. it wouldn't be a complete chinese meal if there wasn't a plate of vegetables on our table.  These shiitake mushrooms soaked in a gooey sauce was wonderful!

Sweet Surrender

A few months back I was watching the Food Networks' Best Thing I Ever Ate where Giada De Laurentiis mentioned a small dessert shop called Sweet Surrender in Bakersfield.  Of course, my ears perked up when I heard Bakersfield!  I couldn't believe it! Since My Love moved here I have been looking for places to check out around the area, and since I will be making the move in the near future for Grad School I am determined to find some good spots in Bako.  So when a fellow sweets lover came to Bako to visit, I casually mentioned cupcakes, cookies, cakes and with smiles on our faces we made our way to Sweet Surrender.  Upon arriving, it was a little difficult to find because it's hidden behind a hardware store, but good thing we were patient.  Sweet Surrender is a cute little shop filled with candy, cookies, cakes, cupcakes, shoes and small girlie decorations.  It was definitely an experience and we spent a good 30 minutes in the shop trying to figure out what we were willing to pay for (everything looked too good!)  I finally decided on the following: Matterhorn Cupcake, slice of Red Velvet Cake and White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Carmel Sauce topping.  Below are the photos and my thoughts.  :)

Matterhorn Cupcake: the cupcake version of the Matterhorn Cake that Giada featured on the show.  I had read several reviews on Yelp about this cupcake mentioning it was dry or not as good, but I wanted to try it myself.  Well.... it really was just o.k. unfortunately it didn't live up to my expectations.  Hopefully the cake version is a lot better.  

Red Velvet Cake: SO YUMMMMMMMERS! It was moist , fluffy and wasn't overpowered by the cream cheese frosting. I thought this was great and wouldn't mind ordering a whole Red Velvet Cake in the near future.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Carmel Sauce topping: it wasn't the most visually appealing dessert at Sweet Surrender but they had samples out and I couldn't say no to a free sample! Once I took a bite, I knew... I HAD TO HAVE ONE.  This is a pretty dense dessert and can be overpowering at times, so it is best to be shared or eaten in small doses.  I got this dessert for My Love.  I knew he would go bananas for it.  When I gave it to him after dinner, he had reservations about it and even made fun of how ugly it looked.  Once he took a bite... he quickly stopped taking and continued to devour the bread pudding in the corner of the room so he didn't have to share with anyone.  That just shows ya, don't judge a book by it's cover... or in this case.. don't judge a dessert by the way it looks! There might be something beautifully delicious inside for you! If you are ever in Bako and stop by Sweet Surrender... GET THE BREAD PUDDING.. you won't regret it! 

Lazy Ox Canteen

As promised, I am trying to blog more often and I was lucky enough to go on a foodie adventure last night.!! I am sad to say that my foodie adventures are going to be decreasing in the upcoming months because I need to start saving dramatically due to the fact that I GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!!! Yiippppeee!!! I am very excited for the next chapter in my life! Unfortunately, my foodie adventures will be taking a hit BUT that just means I will be making more meals at home... hm....maybe I can write a couple of posts on how to jazz up ramen noodles... sounds like a good idea to me!

Anywho, to celebrate the news and to catch up, 2 of my favorite people took me out to Lazy Ox Canteen, a small gastropub located in Little Tokyo.  It had a fun and lively atmosphere and the only thing that was a little off putting for me was our waiter.  He would occasionally walk over to our table to check on us without saying a word. One time I even said hello to him as he awkwardly stood by our table.  BUT the food was sooooooo delicious and flavorful. I loved all the dishes we ordered and it was wayyy too hard to pick a favorite!  Food is served Tapas style which is great for sharing.  I will definitely come back to the Lazy Ox.

Lazy Ox Canteen  

flying dog schwarz beer and Prosecco 

the blushing bride to be!

iberico Ham with dense grilled bread... I LOVE CURED MEATS

blistered shishito peppers with mojama- not too spicy!!

yellow tail crudo with scallion, grapefruit and papaya salad- super super good!

anson mills polenta with creamed mushrooms and curry- so creamy and the texture was amazing! 

jerusalem artichoke with roasted apples and aged balsamic

our spread