Big Foot Lodge

After the beach we all headed back to the apartment in Glendale. On the way home we stopped at Fresh and Easy. We grabbed a frozen pizza and some ingredients to kick it up a little bit and make it special.

Once we got home, everyone prepared for a night out and I prepared dinner!

Cooking mayhem, as per the usual.

I added salt. pepper, garlic salt and prosciutto to the pizza:

It turned out pretty good! The little added punch really made it so much better than your typical store bought pizza.

After dinner my friends and I went to the Big Foot Lodge. As you can tell from the name, we were working a wilderness theme.

Yep, there was a mechanical bear peeking his head out of a log. It was amazing. Love love love a theme bar.

There was more taxidermy on the walls and smokey the bear signs. There was a fire place and lots of seating. Overall, it had possibly the perfect bar layout. Lots of space, places to sit and not too large. Plus, I’ve been to three bars this week with taxidermy on the walls. Apparently I have a thing for it.

We had heard about the toasted marshmallow cocktail and we knew that we had to try it.  It featured vanilla vodka, butterscotch liqueur, Frangelico, and Bailey’s. The crowning glory is a toasted marshmallow which they torch in front of you.

Finished product:

It was pretty good, although very sweet. The Bailey’s was the main flavor that came through. I could also sense the vanilla. The marshmallow was like wise good but very sweet. It was also pretty affordable, in my opinion, for a specialty cocktails ($10). I couldn’t have more than one of these.

My second drink was St. Germain, gin and lime. It was light and delicious. Having St. Germain is major points in favor of the Big Foot Lodge in my opinion. I like a bar that appears dive-ey but in reality can mix a killer drink.

BFL also gets major points for playing good music. Lots of oldies. I danced and sang along. I was in a happy place.

Friends equal happiness. Hope you had a great long weekend!

Corona del Mar

Greetings from Orange County!

Yesterday I woke up bright and early to spend the day at the beach (and then the bar) with the Glendale girls, Catie, Leanna, and Emily. Catie always talked about the beaches at Corona del Mar so we headed south to the “O.C.”

Look at how blue the water is! Beautiful!

After we arrived Catie and I took a walk down the beach looking for photo ops

Houses!

Other activities at the beach included: giving children throwing sand dirty looks, gossiping, reading, eating, walking, and snacking.

More to come…

Posted in LA

Box Lunch

Hello long weekenders!I had class today, and I packed this to go along with it:

This salad was totally epic. Tortellini, goat cheese, prosciutto, pepper, sun dried tomato, and capers over a bed of lettuce. Who is impressed that I busted out the pasta at 8:00 am? I am! This was pretty delish and I got to avoid eating Lu Valle, which is the on campus dining facility near the law school. Its not my favorite but this salad is!

Tomorrow I am off to the beach and drinks. Sunday I have an 8 mile run planned. Have a great weekend everyone!

Thirsty Wednesdays

Last night Catie and I said goodbye to Kat by bringing her to one of our favorite bars, Thirsty Crow. The first time Catie and I went to “The Crow” we looked at each other and said, “Kat would love this place!” Of course she did.

Last time I got a whiskey cocktail, but this time I ordered a Violet Vapor.

The violet vapor is a combo of creme de violet and champagne. I know we were at a whiskey bar, but what can I say, I’m a champs girl. We had a great time reliving college memories. Lets just say I learned some interesting facts about my trash can last night. I got home late and woke up at 6 am today to go to court. Revelation of the day: I really, really want to be a litigator. Ah, we learn something new everyday. It’s nice to have some direction.

Back to reading and then a run. What is everyone doing for the long weekend?

Roasted Tomato Pasta

Dinner tonight was simple.

That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t delicious!

No pics of the process. All you have to do is take an heirloom tomato (or any other that you like) and roast with garlic for 30 mins at 425 degrees. While doing that cook spaghetti. I use whole wheat. Drain the pasta and put a dollop of EVO in the pasta pot. When the tomatoes and garlic are done cooking combine them with the pasta and a little S&P over a low heat and combine.

Place in a bowl and grate parm over. Viola!

Delicious and easy. Who says home made sauce has to be hard? Tonight I am off to meet up with Kat before she leaves town again 😦 Off to the bar I go!

Friends and Cupcakes and Cocktails, oh my!

There was no blog post yesterday because I was hanging out with Kat! Kat is one of my besties from Simmons. She and I met First Year during a program at Simmons called the “Emerging Leader Program”. We had to do an ice breaker together and she said that makes awesome home made pie crust. Is it any wonder we’re still friends? Then we lived together Sophomore year. She is a left coaster too, but a little further north. I was so excited to see her yesterday.

I grabbed her at the hotel and took her on a driving tour of LA. When we got to Beverly Hills we ditched the car to stretch our Boston legs.

To have a full LA experience we had to stop at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for ice teas!

We walked up, down, and all around Rodeo and then ended up at one of my favorite 90210 hot spots… Sprinkles Cupcakes.

So many choices and so little time.

Then there was a cupcake photo shoot, obviously.

Love Kat’s new cute hair cut!

We picked a good one: carrot cake!

I have to say that I really loved this cupcake! The frosting was not the traditional carrot cake frosting. It was like their other frosting but with coconut-ish flavor! The cake was also very moist and delicious. Overall, it is my favorite Sprinkles cupcake thus far!

We headed back to downtown and had a sushi dinner with Catie. 3/4 of the firm was reunited! Then we went to Seven Grand, where I went for birthday drinks earlier this month, for whiskey drinks.

For some reason my camera was super blurry during this part of the night. Not sure why…

I love the interior of Seven Grand.

Nothing is cozier than taxidermy:

Check out the fresh ingredients… the bartender even gave me a small cup of raspberries. They looked that good.

Having sampled several of their cocktails the last time I was there, I knew exactly what I wanted to order, a Whiskey Sour.Watching them make it was like watching a chemist.

Frothy!

My friends and I had a great time catching up. Its sad that we don’t live across the quad from each other anymore but I look forward to getting together, making new memories, and reliving old ones for years to come.

Love my ladies!