I think it’s pretty evident that my friends and I are really obsessed with food. If that’s not totally obvious to you, it will become very obvious in 5 seconds.

Claudia and I basically spent the entire trip talking about food, sharing recipes, watching the food network. SO OBSESSED.

Tuesday night we got into LA around 7, and since we grabbed a bite to eat at the airport, we decided just to go to the grocery story to pick up some snacks for the evening.

I bought a bottle of Robert Mondavi in commemoration of Chads road trip “South” that he had some 10 years ago.

Looking back on it, this was clearly over kill considering we only ate half of it during the course of the week.
The pickles however, vanished in a minute.

Wednesday morning our appointments got all mixed around so we had the opportunity to have an early lunch in the Fashion District near the Cal Mart Centre.
Claudia took me to the Market.

Bananananananas

I felt like eating as healthy as possible this trip, so that basically involved seafood every day.
Ahi Tuna Salad!
So good, but soo filling. I loved the Couscous in it.

You can’t go to LA with out stopping at the Grove for a Pinkberry.
If we had them here I would be there every day.

Since we were at the Grove Wednesday afternoon, Claudia took me to the Brazilian BBQ place at the Farmers Market.
The Sausages were sooo good.
This was the most meat I had all week.

Such a classy take out dinner.

Thursday we decided to go to Claudia and the Boss’ favorite Japanese Noodle House.
Looking back, I don’t know that having a giant bowl of HOT soup was such a good idea on a HOT day.

Thankfully, LA tells you whether or not you are eating at the right place.

Giant bowl much!? Clearly I did not finish all of this.

Thursday night Claudia took me on a date to this really lovely Italian place on Beverly Blvd.
The food was amazing and the restaurant was absolutely beautiful.

Of course I would get the pasta dish with all the seafood.
Our waitress was also the sweetest lady ever. That was one thing that really impressed me in LA, every place we went to eat, the wait staff was absolutely amazing.

Friday lunch consisted of leftovers. I can’t let all that goodness go to waste!

So, speaking of the Food Network, I have, somehow, watch many episodes of that show Unwrapped, where they usually feature candy and or fun food items like that. Because of this show, I know a lot of American Candy. On one such episode not to long ago they featured this relatively new candy invention called Nerds Rope. The minute I saw it I HAD to have it. I checked out a couple local candy shops, but no such luck. Then, while wondering to Anthropologie, I saw this really cute candy shop and made Claudia come in with me. Low and behold…NERDS ROPE!

A gummie rope covered in nerds. GENIUS!!!

OMG it was so good! I’ve got Claudia addicted now.

Friday night we went to the most amazing Sushi place I have ever been to in my life, Katana. I didn’t take any photos because it was way to fancy and posh. It was better then Koi in both my opinion and Claudia’s. One of our suppliers suggested we try it out, so we made a reservation and headed over. We were clearly under dressed because every girl was half naked in a skin tight dress with killer heels. Welcome to West Hollywood. This was when Claudia and I confirmed ‘Money CAN’T buy you class’. We felt totally out of place, and were actually considering not waiting around for our reservation to kick in. Thankfully we stuck it out and had the experience of a lifetime!

We were lucky enough to get a table out on the patio, which was amazing. Our waiter was super awesome and we had the best Japanese Tapas of our life. EVER. SO GOOD. AHHHHH.

I effing love Japanese food.

Saturday morning we headed out to Malibu to check out the beach, and this little out door mall they have. As soon as we got there we saw the cutest cupcake shop EVER!

Do those not look amazing!?

So we bought these, with the impression that we were going to eat them right away. I was wrong. Claudia wanted to save them until after lunch. Well, after lunch turned into just before dinner, which turned into after dinner, which turned into tomorrow for breakfast, and by the time we remembered them we have to leave for the airport and we couldn’t bring them with us. UGH. SUCH A WASTE OF AMAZINGNESS. It saddens me greatly to look at these pictures. :(

The good part of Malibu was that we actually DID get to eat somewhere. The boss has this little book all about places to eat in LA (re: obsessed with food just like us), and Claudia and I wanted to pick something new to try, so part of the reason we wanted to drive out to Malibu was just to come to Malibu Seafood!

It’s like our own little version of Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives.

This is me re-enacting a scene from the Planet Earth style documentary LIFE when the crabs are molting. Claudia was in hysterics.

Claudia’s Fish Tacos.

SQUID SAMMICH! Nom nom nom

We ended our trip, Saturday night, with yet another mind blowing Japanese experience. Also recommended to us by one of our suppliers. Katana and Sushi Roku have the same owners so the food is very similar. Score for us!

I’ve never had my own personal Sushi Chef before. The most amazing part was when the Mexican servers spoke Japanese to the Sushi chefs. MIND BLOWING.

Hot Table for TWO.

Edamame

Some 16 doll hair sushi roll of amazingness . I can’t remember what it was, but it is there number one most popular roll. Now we know why. Nom nom nom.

Crab Dynamite roll. Obvs amazing. I don’t know what is on top of them but it was creamy and warm and fit perfectly with the roll.

Seared Albacore with fried onions. I picked out this one and it was a WINNER.

We had these at Katana the night before and we were beyond obsessed. Spicy Tuna on a Deep Fried Rice Cake. HOLY CRAP. You have to have this if you love Japanese.

Looking at all this food is too much. I just want to go back to LA and eat Japanese every day of my life.

Chad is not very happy about this because he thinks I am going to give up my Italian culture to become Japanese (UMM, yea right Chad!). Just because I love Japanese food time a million doesn’t mean I’m about to ditch my heritage!

I love sharing a passion for food with Claudia. It makes the LA trips that much more amazing. I also love that we plan everything we are going to do each day around our meals and where we are going to eat. It’s amazing we aren’t both 300lbs.

I love LA food.

Damn this busy life and busy work schedule. I mean, I like being busy, but there are too many damn things to do lately. Work has been exploding, which is nice, but you know that leaves me running around like crazy. I’ve been in a rut, trying to dig myself out of this hole that is filled with things I should do instead of things I want to do. The ‘ME’ time seems to be fading.

I need to cut back on my elaborate dinners (sorry Chad), not stuff myself silly so I need an hour to digest, and take some time each night to do what I want to do. This whole fashion blog takes up a lot of time, and the result isn’t even that amazing. I just don’t have enough time to give it these days.

I finally got together with Matt for some birthday Sushi. We went to Shiro, which I have never been to before. Matt says he use to go there all the time as a kid. I was definitely up for the experience!

It’s super cute inside, and I always love to watch them make the sushi.

Ebi Sunomono

This is one of my favorite dishes ever, so I have become somewhat of a conusor. Every place we go that has it, I try it. This is one was very good; definitely one of my favorites. You can tell when it is REALLY done wrong because they put lettuce in it and it’s the most bizarre thing ever.

Sushi Explosion!

Special Crab Roll – Super good but holy Spicy Alert!
Negitoro Maki – One of my favorite ‘of the moment’ sushi. This one was good but they stuck Wasabi in it and I died. I can’t handle wasabi in any amount.
Dynamite Roll – Can’t go wrong with that!
Scallop Roll – I’ve always been scared of them because they look so gooey, but when I stopped to think about it, I adore Scallops so why not scallop rolls!? This was very good!

BBQ Squid Legs with Garlic Butter

The sauce was amazingly tasty, the squid was squish, but then it always is. This one as good!

Chicken Karaage

I’ve had this before at other places and it’s been better. It’s hard to go wrong with deep fried chicken, but there was barely any meat on these bones which was disappointing.

BBQ Salman with Salt

Tasty, but such a weirdly shaped piece of fish! The way it was cut with the fins on made it look like it had wings!

Over all a good dinner. I was so full and the green tea was soo good. I could have sat there all night drinking it.

We went back to Matts house for MTV and Ice Cream which was epic. The Hills is so amazing right now.

I think I will spend the rest of the day dreaming about Ebi Sunomono.

I was going to write a lengthy post about Dine Out Vancouver, but life got in the way and I decided to give myself 17 extra jobs instead of just playing it cool. But anyways.

Friday night we went to Coza! Tuscan Grill in Langley. Based on the menu alone, this place has been on our radar for two years now. We always read what they were offering for DOV, drooled, then realized it was in Langley and nix it from our list of possible dining venues. This year we decided to finally bite the bullet and check it out while inviting Ryan and Elise, since they live around the corner. I was very much looking forward to this date.

I guess I first knew something was wrong when I saw them try to pass off chicken wings as an Italian dish. As someone who spent a month dining in Italy, I never saw chicken wings on any menu, ever. Second thing that threw me off – they have a very open kitchen where you can see them do everything. A large section of it was for food prep in which they had 10 Caesar salads laid out ready to go. They were the most pathetic Caesar salads I had ever seen.

The menus came, looked just as delicious as the first time we saw them, we ordered, we ate, and this one girl left disappointed. The only thing that saved the night was the conversation. We had an amazing time with Ryan and Elise that I didn’t even realize how uninspiring the food was until after we left and Chad and I started to talk about it.

Now, this is where the Italian Food Snob in me comes out. While I will come across as a snob, I will say this. After 25 years of eating, cooking, and loving Italian food, I think I have enough street cred to give my opinion on Italian dishes.

It wasn’t that all the food was horrible. I tasted Chads and it was quite good, but my pasta (Angle Hair pasta with Shrimp in a rose sauce) left me wanting more. There was no real flavour. The overall mood to the food was very blah, not to mention the fact that half way through it I just decided to stop eating. Not because I was full, but because I just didn’t even want to bother with it anymore.

My appetizer was actually worse. Grill squid which I usually love, I could barely eat. I’m pretty sure it was partially raw, and it had zero flavour other then a small amount of dipping sauce in the corner. Totally and utterly LAME.

Chad and I both agreed that had we gone there as just the two of us, the meal would have probably been ruined because we would have sat there and realized what we were eating. Thankfully Ryan and Elise distracted us from doing so that night and actually allowed us to enjoy our evening.

Its not that Chad and I dine out at fancy restaurants all the time, but we have been to some really nice ones, and we do know our Italian food. We spend a lot of time talking about Italian food.

And there is something to be said about dining in Vancouver and not the Fraser Valley. Yes, I am going to become a ‘this side of the bridge’ snob, but it`s true. If you want amazing food, you need to come to the city, THIS side of the bridge. Granted, I don`t know Surrey and Langley all that well, but what I do know, is I see a lot of big box and chain restaurants *cough East Side Marios cough *. And this whole Dine Out Vancouver experience just proved Chad and my theory on it.

Sunday night we went to Quattro on 4th. Fancier, more expensive, in VANCOUVER, and absolutely to die for. I told Chad that if I was a food critic, I would write an article about both dining experiences and say ‘Quattro on 4th restored my faith in Italian food’.

The portion sizes weren’t huge, but the amount of flavour in them was mind blowing. Chad and I could not stop talking about it and comparing it to Cozas. Maybe it’s not a fair comparison, but it`s what we had. There is something to be truly said about spending a little more money, and getting something amazing out of it. Whats the point of spending 20 bucks and getting an OK meal, when you can spend 40 and talk about it for weeks.

Trying new things is a part of life, but I think we’ll stick to what we know next year.

And now for my male readers…an over load of BBQ and Meat pictures!

This is Darios pride and joy. A brand new Baby Webber.

Oh the proud Papa!

Dario invited us over for the christening of his new BBQ and to start of the BBQ season. Chad and I were asked to be Godparents. We graciously accepted.

The men talked specs while I admired the back yard. I want a gaaaaarden.

And MEAT touches the GRILL!

Pork Loin, Flank Steak, and Veggie Kabobs.

Table for 3 please.

Hello Giant Bang Head.

FOOOOOOOOD.

Webcamming it with Mr. Jew. Yes, we miss him that much. We watched the hockey game together.

Then Dario and I fell asleep on the couch while Chad talked to himself. Classic.

It was an excellent first BBQ at Mr. Perizzolos. That machine is a beauty, even for a girl who knows nothing about BBQs.

I love BBQs not only because meat and fire taste good, but it’s one less thing I have to do in the kitchen!

We went on a date Friday night.

Chad kept moping around the apartment all week and it was pretty much the week of hell for both of us, so I felt it was only right that we got out of the house to relax, enjoy food, and people watch. Not to mention the fact that I knew Chad was going stir crazy.

You can clearly tell the pure joy that is on Chads face in all these pictures.

Some old guy kept staring at me.

Chad has finally convinced me to like Hot Chicken Wings. I am very weak when it comes to spice, but I think I’ve finally built up some tolerance. These were soo  good.

Earls West Cost Salad. I love you. Yes, I love you.

My thoughts exactly.

Speaking of eating out…

Dine Out Vancouver is way late this year all due to the Olympics, but its ok because we snagged reservations for TWO restaurants this year, which I am REALLY excited about!

We are double dating it with Ryan and Elise next Friday night, and are heading out to Langley to enjoy a feast at Coza! Tuscan Grill. The menu looks amazing and I am super excited about our dinner double date, that as Elise puts it, is a classier double date that involves drinking wine instead of beer! I fully agree with her.

Then next Saturday is Marlee’s hair show and subsequent hair show AFTER PARTY which I am very much looking forward to! I can’t wait for pink hair and up dos and beers at the Cambie.

Sunday we continue the whirlwind with dinner for two at Quattro on 4th; yet another classy Italian establishment. You know Chad, he doesn’t stray away from what he knows.

I love eating out. I love that Dine Out Vancouver gives me an excuse to eat out. I love that we try new restaurants.

I love April and May this year.

I love Birthday trips, dinners out, so many accessories on my holds rack, chunky necklaces, sunny days, the boss on vacation.

I LOVE SPRING!

THERE IS SO MUCH LOVE.

Went out for dinner with Matt last night. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him. Clearly.

We went to Lombardos on Commercial, which has good food, but just seems ghetto to me because its kind of in the foyer of a corner mall. It’s hard to explain, but it’s not like an enclosed restaurant, its partially open to the public, which for some reason, I just find weird.

Salad with Pesto Sauce. So gooood, who would have thought!?

Every time I order pasta it has seafood in it. Addicted!

Giant Scallop. Nom nom nom.

Matt was so colourful last night.

We went to the grocery store to pick up some food for Matts place and some ice cream for dessert. We also bought frozen raspberries which are going to become my Summer obsession. Tasty and health and ICE COLD!

Nom nom nom nom nom

Hello friends.

The shoe pile.

The weather has been the shits.

I love Matts apartment. I am so obsessed with it. Every time I’m there I tell him I’m going to move in with him. It’s so dreamy.

Matt got a new carpet and coffee table. He’s so classy.

We tried to find something good on TV but we were out of luck. Even Idol was crappy.

We ended up watching horrible shows on MTV.  Who decided to give a white trash 16 year old pregnant girl from Alabama a TV show? Le sigh. Car crash much?

We are in the works for a much needed fashion project. Well, technically it’s two years away, but I actually have faith that it will turn out. Matt is good at what he does, and that makes a difference.

Could you imagine if we worked together every day!?

So Friday night Chad had this great plan. He would stay up really late so that he could sleep all day Saturday in preparation for his night shift Saturday Night. The plan included going out to dinner in Surrey, with whomever wanted to join us, then head out to Dublins Crossing for drinks, where at some point the girls would leave to do girly things and the boys would go back to Ryans house to drink more, play games, and stay up all night.

And so, Ryan & Elise, Dario & Mike, Chad & I, along with Sarah Rose, all met up at Browns Social House in Walnut Grove for dinner. Turned out that my cousin Laura is now a waitress there, so we had a mini dinner family reunion.

Once dinner was over we headed out to Dublins Crossing, where Colin and Shazzi joined us.

We finally got the fancy cornor of the pub where Mike tried to close all the curtains around it and Dario played King for the evening.

Mike & Ryan have this on going joke with me, that all started when we went camping back in the Summer. Because I never had my flash on my camera I took hundreds of pictures with out their knowing, and subsequently, in every photo, they look totally spaced out. So now, they always make a point of commenting on me taking horrible photos of them when they aren’t paying attention. Above is a picture of Ryan trying to avoid such a photo, and Mike giving us an example of what he looked like in all those camping photos.

Boys.

Chad & Colin were shirt twins.

So here is the story. The boys ordered Jager Bombs for themselves, and the waitress brought them a tray with all the drinks. Mike was in charge of handing them all out, but while doing so he just happened to knock over a shot of Jager. So what did Dario do? Well, he poured the Jager right back into the shot glass! Not one drop was missed. Of course, Mike had to drink the dirty shot because he was the one who knocked it over.

Colin and Mike were harassing me via txt message, so I shot back with creepy thoughts.

Attempting to spin a felt.

Not getting caught staring into space.

Despite all the pictures of the boys, there WERE girls there.

Elise taking over the King Chair.

Captain Dario signing out.

At about 11:30 everyone hit the road. I went over to Elises house to sleep over since Saturday we had to go out shopping all day. We went back to her house and ended up watching ‘The Man in the Moon”, which is the first movie Reese Witherspoon ever did. It was pretty good, but somewhat depressing. SPOILER ALERT, it is not a happy ending. It also taught us a lesson. Appartenly pre marital sex in the 50s in the ‘Deep South’ leads to death by tractor.

Mental, Noted.