Going back to Cali, Cali, Cali...

As I mentioned before I had to travel to CA in August through September for work.  Well as luck would have it I have been asked to go back again.  I just found this out not even an hour ago so I prepare mentally for my upcoming trip, I figured why not share some of the things I did on my downtime when I was there last...

The pool area looked so inviting from my room...too bad I didnt get to experience not any of it!  LOL  I worked pretty much from sun up to sun down so the little bit of downtime that I did have didnt allow me to lounge by the pool.  So close, yet so far...


I made serious use of Yelp while I was there.  I stayed in Commerce literally walking distance from The Citadel Outlet Mall but there is only so much food court I can do.  I did happen upon a pretty good Pho restaurant at the food court though.  YUM!  I had been wanting to try it for a while so I was rather excited about that.

I also was determined to have some shaved ice while there.  I first learned of this dessert via Xppinkxx's blog, which I love by the way, come to think of it I learned of Pho via her too - she is such the bad influence, in the best way possible!  So to Yelp I went and 30 minutes later I found myself in a little place called Class 302 and the only black girl for miles!  LOL  Can you imagine what the patrons and owners mustve been thinking when I walked in there?  I had on heels for one so my height was quite apparent, locs, and HUGE anti-socials (sunglasses in case you didnt know)  hilarity!  Thankfully they had pictures because the menu was totally not in English, all Taiwanese baby!  I made it work though and here is what I ordered...

 The infamous shaved ice and it was soooooo worth it!  And they gave you so much.  Mango, strawberry, condensed milk...joy in a Styrofoam cup I swear!  And yes the image is first because I ate some of this first.  As soon as I got back in the car actually.  Greedy...

 I think this was shrimp, and it was spicy, other than that I dont remember.  Not because it wasnt good but just that my memory sucks.

 My entree came in this cute little box - and there you have the address info and number in case you find yourself in the area.  Def worth it.

This was salmon, perfectly cooked, not overdone, salty, sweet, just yum.  Hands down one of the best meals I had in Cali.

While there my friend Kesh needed a mini-vacay so she came on out with the understanding that I couldn't hang out too much.  We did manage to have dinner though...we wanted guacamole desperately.  So I asked a co-worker and she gave me a suggestion.  Said it had the best food, etc, yada yada.  Come to find out she thought when I said my girlfriend was in town that I meant girlfriend+girlfriend.  So she pointed us in the direction of a gay-owned, gay-frequented restaurant!  LOL  And how about we didnt care?  LOL  The food was awesome, as were the beverages (read: STRONG!) so it was all for the good.

 This was my dinner, seafood enchiladas FTW!  So upset I cant think of the name of this place.  Have to check my Foursquare history because immediately after I checked in here I started to get followed on Twitter by a gay pride twitter account.  LOL  I love it!

Also while Kesh was there I checked Yelp again for a good brunch spot.  It just happened that it was right around the corner from People's Revolution!  I was extra amped about that especially since I had recently finished reading Kelly Cutrone's book, meanwhile Keisha had no idea what I was talking about.  LOL  Nevermind, Blu Jam Cafe is where we ended up and again Yelp can really do no wrong.  I am all about eggs benedict and they did not disappoint, see for yourself...

I mean come ON!!!!

I had one last Yelp adventure while in California.  I wanted to try Hortacha (a drink of Mexican culture the contains cinnamon, sugar and ground rice that is said to be a cure for hangover - no I didnt have a hangover) so I did a search and there was a place right around the corner from the office.  Once again I was a fish out of water being the only black girlie in the place but again it didnt matter to me!  I ended up ordering my drink along with the fish tacos...

 while it was yum, my stomach was not happy afterwards...I wont speak on that any further...

The tacos were very good.  Light and flavorful.  The peppers, eh, while on Yelp everyone raved I didn't really see what all the hoopla was about.  They weren't bad, they just weren't awesome.

So that was it for my food adventures.  I leave you with some random un-FOTD's.  I don't know if it was the water or what in CA but my skin dried out considerably.  Due to that I didn't really do too much in the way of makeup.  That's how the whole liner and a lip movement came about.