Since we went to Disneyland on Sunday instead of a Halloween Haunt. It gave us a free day to explore SoCal.
We headed to Nep Cafe for brunch.
Left: egg coffee w/ salted egg yolk
Right: egg coffee w/ mung bean
Left: yuzu lychee margarita
Uni Toast: uni, soft scrambled egg, toast. This was fantastic, eggs were perfectly cooked.
Crab Toast: lump crab, soft scrambled egg, toast.
Banh Mi Chao: eggs, cha lua (pork roll) pate, tomatoes, filet mignon w/ truffle peppercorn sauce, and added bone marrow. This was also very good, but I couldn't taste the truffle in the peppercorn sauce though.
Bone Marrow Pasta: orecchiette pasta, roasted bone marrow
Szechuan Spicy Noodles: Szechuan spicy sauce, oriental fettuccini, scallion
After brunch, most of the group headed to Trader Sams I did a quick stop at Amber Waves so I can get a souvenir shot glass as I normally do every year.
Unfortunately, they didn't do the souvenir shot glass this year, which was a bummer, cause I already missed out on the year before.
Met up with the rest of the group at Trader Sams for some cocktails.
New to the menu was
Sea Monster's Embrace: the real McCoy and plantation dark rum, new Amsterdam gin, E&J brandy, passion fruit, falernum, and juices of lime, orange, and pineapple.
I put my name on the waiting list for a table inside at the bar since Viet and Anna have never been to Trader Sams before.
Mosquito Mojito: Bacardi Dragon Berry Rum, agave nectar, falernum mint, and fresh lime, topped with soda water.
Jaylyn loves cherries and our server was nice enough to get her a whole cup's worth.
In the evening we headed out to meet with our friends for dinner at Cucina Enoteca.
Giant Meatball: marinara, mozzarella, polenta. This was delicious.
Chicken liver pate: apricot mostarda, artisan bread. I'm a sucker for pate.
Margherita pizza.
Short rib pappardelle, cremini mushroom, carrot, parmesan
Octopus, fennel, cucumber, peppadew pepper gazpacho, olive caper relish. I'm not a fan of Octopus or squid due to the texture, but OMG this dish was so good. The Octopus was so tender, it didn't have that chewy texture that I dislike.
After dinner, we headed back to our rental ate, and drank our night away. My friend wanted to try Howlin Ray's Hot Chicken but we didn't have the time to head to LA so instead, we tried Clyde's Hot chicken. Which I thought was okay.
The next morning we packed our things and check out. We headed to downtown Disney to do some shopping.
Fried Pickle Corn Dog with peanut butter sauce. I didn't try it but my friends said it was okay and tasted as one would have expected it to. They were being made to order, so it was super fresh.
After shopping, we headed to Trade Marketplace since it's so close to the airport and there are several food options.
Strawberry Match from Krisp Fresh Living.
Chicken Katsu Curry from Champion's Curry.
Chimichanga from Tavo's Cocina.
I took a bite of the Chicken Katsu Curry and it was good, but my stomach was such a wreck that I couldn't even smell food without it making me sick. I ended up not really eating anything and just yacked up liquids all day. It was a terrible way to end the trip, LOL.
That ends this trip.
Where to next?
We're heading up north to a spa retreat. Really looking forward to it. Stay tuned.
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