SLO 2019.

We finally got to take Vivi to San Luis Obispo!  I'd been looking forward to this trip all year, especially since we skipped last year.  And while it wasn't as relaxing as I hoped it would be (kids), it was still a great trip.

The kids did so well in the car.  Like, miraculously well.  Day one was an 11+ hour drive, and they rocked it.  We already knew that Theo would be fine, he's done well on long trips his entire life.  We weren't so sure about how Vivi would do, but she also did amazing.  Didn't even need a screen until the last two hours!  I don't do much public bragging about my children, but I'm always tempted to gush how well they do on road trips, haha.

Theo wanted to go to the beach so badly.  He'd been talking about it for over a week leading up to the trip, so we knew we had to deliver pretty early on in the visit.  We stopped at our favorite spot in Cambria (after picking our our favorite donuts at SloDoCo), and it was not what Theo was expecting.  He was like, "where's the beach?!" and we had to explain that this place just had the rocks and the ocean but we promised beach the next day.

And the end result of our beach day was probably the best that we could have gotten.  He loved the beach and had a complete blast, but was also totally satisfied and did not need to return for the rest of our trip.  Yay!!

I think I might have been most excited to revisit our favorite places to get some video footage for our vacation video.  Our video from 2016's trip to SLO is one of our favorites and probably our most rewatched.

So here is this year's!  Yay for SLO and yay for happy and patient kids in long car rides.

SLO 2016. (where we ate)

Most of our eats happened in downtown San Luis Obispo, and one was in Morro Bay.  There are a couple of repeats from last year, and pictures this time!


Hofbrau, a repeat, and located in Morro Bay.  We visit this place every year, and with good reason.  The French Dip Roast Beef Sandwich is to die for.

Looks humble, tastes amazing.

After the meat slices and your choice of cheese are put on the bottom half of the roll, the top half is dipped into the jus before it's placed on top and then the sandwich is pressed for a couple of minutes. It is a miracle of meat and the best roast beef sandwich you'll ever have!


SLO Donut Co, our other repeat, and home of our first round draft pick for Maple-Bacon Donuts.  As was the case with Lamar's and the glazed donut, our search for the best maple-bacon donut started and ended here.  It's a little insanely priced at $3 a bar, but because we only get to eat them once a year, everything was justified.

And now, our downtown SLO eats for this year:

Old San Luis Barbecue Company: Normally for barbecue we go to F.McLintock's during Farmer's Market Thursdays, but we were not there on a Thursday this year and we wanted to try something new.  Old SLO BBQ is a walk-up window joint just a few doors down from McLintock's.  And it does NOT disappoint.  Without a doubt, order the Tri-Tip Sandwich.  We ordered one to share and I think secretly we both regretted only getting one right after we each took our first bite.  It is an amazing steak sandwich, and it was so good I didn't even think to take a picture.  We also ordered their french fries and garlic bread - good accompaniments to the sandwich.

El Matador: Good Mexican food, and their bottomless chips and toppings bar is a nice feature (don't assume all of the green sauces are non-spicy guacamoles though, poor Theo had his first negative experience with too-spicy foods.  the tears were silent, but big and fat.)  I ordered two carne asada tacos and they were delicious, non-greasy, and didn't leave me feeling twenty pounds heavier or sluggish.

Splash Cafe: This little place is right in between Pizza Solo (which we visited last year and enjoyed) and the Barnes and Noble (which we frequent heavily on our trips).  We ordered a cup of their chowder and their fish tacos (Baja style!) and both were very good!

But as I passed the other diners, I kept seeing all of these amazing sandwiches that people had ordered and suddenly regretted that I had somehow become completely blind to the sandwich portion of the menu.  So!  We went back another night and I ordered the Smoked Salmon Panini and it.was.so.delicious.  Regret instantly eliminated!!


And so, I officially bring our 2016 trip to SLO to a close.  Fin!

SLO 2016.

We spent the 4th of July weekend in our tried-and-true escape destination of San Luis Obispo, California.  Every time we visit we feel so lucky to be there, it's just the best place ever!  Here are some pictures:

Top: peeking into the closed Growing Grounds Downtown, a place I have passed by and admired from the outside for years but have never gone in.  Maybe next year!
Bottom: greens for sale at a little farmer's market in Morro Bay.  FANG!

A new-ish establishment in Downtown SLO, the Celadon House.  It is the most beautiful home goods store I have ever been in.  I couldn't not walk in and admire everything each time we walked by (which was a lot, we went downtown at least once a day each day of our trip!)

And of course, a visit to our favorite spot on the coast in Cambria.  It might just be the most photogenic spot ever, I take a bunch of pictures each time we go!

Lastly, a little video I made of Theo roaming one of our favorite parts of the country:

Until next time, SLO!!  We just love you.


UPDATE: I totally spaced and forgot a huge chunk of pictures I wanted to post.  Whoops!

This could be one of my favorite pictures of Theo.  He's got both of his favorite things in each of his hands: his dad and his own fast food cup of water.

A wall we passed in Morro Bay.  Fashion bloggers take note: this is the hottest pose nowadays.

Theo's first encounter with the ocean.  We weren't expecting to stop at a beach so we were not dressed to get wet.  Luckily, Theo mostly ran away from the water (colddd!!!) on this occasion.

And then the next day, he was TOTALLY into it.  Hopefully one day I get to take him to the beaches we loved in Maui where the water temperature is perfect!

And here's evidence proving that I was, in fact, on the trip.  Theo wasn't really interested in taking a nice picture with me.  Also I absolutely photoshopped my legs in the bottom picture because they were blindingly white, and I don't want anyone to think I'm part ghost.

disneyland 2016.

We spent last weekend with my family at Disneyland as a this-is-the-last-time-we'll-all-be-together-for-two-years trip.  It was such a fun time, as Disneyland usually is, and taking a kid there for the first time was a new experience.  (I was quite nervous.)

There were a few tough moments, but they were redeemed when it turned out Theo enjoyed the tea cups:

"i think i want to get out now!"

But Theo's all-time favorite Disney experience was watching and following the ducks.

my highlights:

• the Paint the Night parade.  Jon and Theo went home early the first night and missed the evening parade, but I convinced them that we should go back to Disneyland the second day (instead of California Adventure) so they could see it.  We staked our claim to awesome "seats" (a curb) three hours before the show and in my mind it was totally worth it.  When we got home I found a video of the parade online and watched it again.  I think my dream job might be to be a dancer in that parade.  Probably realized that 20 years too late.
• the three Rey costumes I saw worn by little girls and the BB-8 water bottles I spied people carrying.  I finally saw The Force Awakens a couple of weeks ago, and I'm pretty sure that if I was a teenager in the 70s I would have been a through-and-through Star Wars nerd.
• the mesmerizing lights show at the Pixie Hollow pond.  While we were defending our territory for our parade views, we walked the short distance to the pond with Theo to see the mini show.  We probably appreciated it more than he did.
• the edible garden next to Star Tours that I'd never noticed before

Disneyland, I still love you.  Especially when you knock my kid out and he sleeps in.

orange county. (where we ate)

We ate like kings while we were in California last month, and honestly that was all I asked.  Here's where we ate, what we ate, and our recommendations for anyone in the area who's hungry.




University Center at UC Irvine
First off, this area was amazing.  So many cool places to eat and hang for those students.  (If only Mill Ave at ASU was a center instead of a dirty street with questionables lurking and waiting for a good grope)(still recovering from that)  There are lots of different kinds of offerings, and pretty much any cuisine you could possibly be in the mood for is here.  Especially abundant were various Asian cuisines, the need for which is obvious as soon as you look around at who is at the center, too.  We visited three places:

• Slapfish Seafood: I ordered the lobster roll, and Jon had their clam chowder.  Both were so incredibly delicious.  The lobster roll was fresh and lemony and Jon couldn't stop thinking about the clam chowder pretty much for the rest of our trip.

• California Gogi Korean Grill: I was craving some Korean food and ordered the beef bulgogi bibimbap.  It hit the spot just right, and I have to admit that I was disappointed to have to share some with Theo.  The establishment is set up Chipotle-style (is Chipotle the precedent here??), like many new restaurants seem to be nowadays, so it's easy to pick out what you want.  Much to my delight, they had both cucumber kimchi and classic kimchi.  Kimchi is creeping its way into the mainstream so it's less daring, but it's never a bad idea to order both kinds.  Never.

• Mendocino Farms sandwich market: Jon ordered here while I tried to keep Theo away from my bibimbap, and then when I was done we joined him here.  It was a fun place with lots of seating and even a corn hole game set up.  There was also a large, comfortable couch in the center of the place where a few students were set up.  If we had another day to stay, I would have liked to come back here to order something for myself.

Irvine Spectrum

We went to this outdoor mall area when we were bored, when Theo needed to get out of the hotel room, when we just wanted to walk around and avoid going back to the hotel room.  It was a fun place with a ferris wheel, carousel, and a train for the kiddies.  Theo loved to stare at the carousel.

• The Melt: This place was honestly a disappointment.  We went twice to give it another shot, but we weren't really wowed.  We did like the "well dressed" fries with cheese and bacon, but both of the sandwiches we ordered during the two trips (the mac daddy grilled cheese and the cheesesteak grilled cheese) were too one-note.  Nothing stood out flavor-wise, and it just was just boring.  Definitely a bummer.
• Umami Burger: Okay, to say I loved this place probably doesn't really convey anything, but I loved it.  Honestly, now I'm a disappointed that Scottsdale is getting a Shake Shack instead of an Umami Burger.  I just want to eat Umami Burger for the rest of my life.  We visited twice (!!) because towards the end of the trip I was just like, "we have to go back."  We ordered: Ahi Poke, Truffle Fries, the Umami Burger, the Throwback Burger, and the Manly Burger.  Both of the sides were perfect, and Theo 100% recommends the Truffle Fries.  (Also, I was in love with their special ketchup.)  The Umami Burger is good - it's got a big ole shiitake mushroom in the middle and when I bit into it, it was an explosion of juices.  The Throwback Burger was the first double patty burger I've ever eaten, and it was probably the best one to lose your double-patty virginity with.  It had miso mustard and soy pickles, and though the miso and soy flavors were slight, the burger wouldn't have been as good without them.  But easily the best burger we ordered (twice) was the Manly Burger.  It is soooooooo so so much better than the others.  Honestly, if you order multiple burgers that you're sharing with someone else (as we did), eat the Manly Burger last.  The other burgers are definitely good, but once you eat the Manly Burger you won't want to eat anything else.  The onions strings and the bacon lardons just take it to a whole other level.  And if you think well I've had burgers with onion rings and bacon strips before, I say to you: NOT THE SAME THING.  Order the Manly Burger.  Twice.  Eating it is the least ladylike thing I have ever done, and I don't even care.  If you can, go to Umami Burger before it becomes a full-on national chain.  That doesn't necessarily ensure the quality or taste diminished per se, but why take the risk?

4th Street Market in Santa Ana

Another thing Phoenix needs: a food hall.  LA has Grand Central Market, Orange County has 4th Street Market.  Inside there are 16 different places to eat and it's a cool space to hang.  We ate an entire day's worth of meals here (breakfast and dinner), and we didn't love everything we ate, but it was still such a fun place to be.  I only wish we could have eaten at every place there!

• KTCHN DTSA: We ate here for breakfast and ordered the breakfast sandwich and the BLT-E (me).  My sandwich was probably the hardest thing to eat because it was so tall and my jaw can only open so wide.  But it was delicious.  The pork belly was perfectly crisp and chewy, and now I need to figure out how to get pork belly into every single breakfast item I ever eat.

• Waffles Inc: Every food item on the menu here had a waffle incorporated somewhere.  Jon ordered a waffle empanada - a "wafflenada."  All I have to say is: thank you, Leslie Knope, for making the waffle super cool.
• Noodle Tramp: I ordered the Khao Soi, a Thai noodle bowl.  I ordered the smallest size - a Regular - and it was a little too large for my liking.  The bowl was good, but I finished feeling like I would have liked it much better if it had been smaller.  And had more sprouts.
• Torch S'more Co: We were pretty excited for this.  A friend of mine told me that she had an idea for a s'mores bar business (which is an amazing idea), and after hearing about this place we were like, "awesome!  let's see how this would play out!"  Sadly, the execution just wasn't up to our expectations here.  But the idea is still awesome, so we will be on the lookout for the perfect manifestation of it.

South Coast Plaza
A restaurant I wanted to visit was in the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa (right across the street from where we missed Ina by a week!!!)(insert crying emoji).  Walking through the mall to the restaurant was hilarious because we kept passing stores like Balenciaga, Harry Winston, David Yurman, Prada... All during that walk my mind flashed back to all of their ads from the mid-2000s that I always saw in Vogue magazine.  But I kept asking Jon, where are all the stores for us poorsies?!  We kept seeing people carrying bags from the affordable stores, but we just didn't see them in the area of the mall we were in.  I did find it interesting that most of the high-end stores had their doors wide open.  In the mall I went to growing up, the high-end stores always had their doors closed.  To me the message was, you've got to be rich enough to open this door.  I guess the difference is that most of the people who go to South Coast Plaza are, in fact, rich enough to open the doors, so why not have them already open?  Anyway, we are talking about food.

• Marché Moderne: I was most excited to go here, if only to try to baptize Theo (and Jon) into the wonderful worship of good cheese.  Our cheese plate had Pecorino Ginepro, Bayley Hazen Blue, Chaource Aoc (a soft cow's cheese), and a fourth kind whose name I don't recall, but it was an off-menu cheese that our waiter suggested and by far the stinkiest cheese I have ever eaten.  The blue cheese was our favorite, and Theo was significantly less enthusiastic about it than us (please appreciate his face below as it morphs from happiness from getting food, to realizing a mistake was surely made).  Then I ordered a charcuterie plate which was amazing and really hard to share, and Jon ordered a steak with potatoes (basically his favorite meal ever, but probably the fanciest form of it) with the most delicious Armagnac jus that I kept reaching across the table to steal with my bread.  This was easily my favorite meal of the trip, and probably the best lunch I've ever had in my life.

Other places we ate

• Pokinometry: I was bonkers excited to try this place out.  The world is going poke-crazy, and I am okay with it.  The first time I had some poke salad was when we were in Hawaii, and I only got a little bit because I was pregnant, but I think I regret not getting more.  Anyway, if you have an aversion to raw fish: GET OVER IT.  I mean that in the nicest way possible, because you are seriously missing out!  Anyway, Pokinometry is also set up Chipotle-style, but don't let that deter you.  And don't let the long lines and lack of seating and hard to find parking scare you off either.  It's worth it!  I recommend filling your order with everything but the onions, wasabi and ginger (last two can be on the side if you want).  The happiness you get from your meal will fill the sadness and longing that comes when you drive to Pokinometry and see the top of the Matterhorn on your way there.
• Paris Baguette: This bakery is actually inside Zion Market, which is a Korean market.  It is confusing, but also hilarious because you have to walk past an entire aisle of just kimchi to get to the French pastries.  I came here only a million times and loved to see the cute Korean girls behind the glass perfectly frosting the perfect cakes that perfect people buy for their perfect child's perfect birthday parties.  Our favorite treat was the pain au chocolat, obviously.  We ordered many many many of them.
• Manassero Farms Market: We signed up for a lunch and cooking demonstration at this cute farmstand in Irvine.  The setting was super cute and the food was amazing.  To start we had toasts with sliced radishes.  Then the main course which included a salad of kale, butternut squash, red potatoes, and vinaigrette and sandwiches with caramelized onions, smoked gouda, pork confit, and mustard.  And finally, the dessert was this crème brûlée served in the cutest way - in a tiny hollowed out pumpkin with a ghost cookie coming out the top.  The entire lunch was so delightful and delicious.  Again, we wish we had something like this nearby.

• First Class Pizza: This was a place I wish we'd visited twice (instead of visiting the Melt for a second time!).  We ordered two pizzas: The Porker and Ultimate Thin Crust.  The Ultimate Thin Crust had pepperoni, parmesan, sliced pepperoncini, and FCP's special seasoning.  It had the perfect amount of spice and heat, and the level crunchiness was just right.  The Porker was a doozy with pepperoni, bacon, canadian bacon, sausage, and meatballs.  We liked this pizza, but after we fed Theo some of the meatballs and ate parts of the pizza without them, we decided that the whole pizza would have been so much better sans meatballs.  They just didn't seem to fit with the texture and taste of the other ingredients.

Orange County, we love to eat you.  And we'd love to eat some more of you another time.

SLO 2015. (where we ate)

in San Luis Obispo:

• Pizza Solo: We shared the Valentina Pizza, which had sriracha, ranch, bell peppers, mozzarella, onions, and carnitas.  We really liked it, and if they add it to their regular menu (it was a special) I'd highly recommend it.  It definitely has heat, but it's not overwhelming.  It leaves your mouth very warm afterwards, so have lots of water on hand to temper that.
• Linnaea's Cafe: We stopped here because it was the easiest for us to stop right at the busy lunch hour with a baby in a stroller that wouldn't fit nicely anywhere else.  We had breakfast burritos, which weren't anything special, but they were good and easy in that moment.  I'm sure there's more to this place for coffee drinkers, so I wouldn't rule it out for those folks.
• Cowboy Cookies: Holy. Giant. Cookie. Ice. Cream. Sandwich.  It was huge, even for two (and a half) people.  It was certainly delicious, but we couldn't eat it as a sandwich, we had to dismantle it first.
• F. McLintocks: A favorite, we ordered the Thursday night Farmer's Market special.  Two different kinds of ribs, a meat kebab, two sides, and a piece of bread.  We eat it all and feel so full afterwards, but it is so worth it.
• Cattaneo Bros: A Hood family necessity, this is the only beef jerky we will ever eat.  We recommend the beef jerky end piece package and the beef stick end package!
• SLO Donut Co: We have been on a donut adventure as of late, and we've been trying out different places to compare to our current favorite donut shop, Lamar's.  This place's glazed donut and old fashioned didn't measure up to good old Lamar's, but we really liked their Maple-Bacon Bar.  The bacon was perfect, and although I felt there could have been a stronger maple flavor, we went back to pick up some more for our trip back to Phoenix.

in Morro Bay:

• Hofbrau: Their signature dish is the French Dip Sandwich, and it is perfect.  The Calamari Steak Sandwich is also delicious.  (This place is also where we gave Theo his first taste of lemon.  His sour face is amazing.)
• the Great American Fish Company: Get their Fish Tacos, and get them Cajun-style!

in Cayucos:

• Brown Butter Cookie Company: This was the biggest disappointment of the trip for me.  We got almost one of everything: The Original, Cocoa, Espresso, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Raisin, Snickerdoodle, and Lemon.  If I had to eat another cookie it would be the Original, but I'd never choose to eat one of their cookies again.  The flavors were just too dull for me.

in Cambria:

• French Corner Bakery: I ordered a Hot Chocolate, just because it had been months since I last felt chilly, and it will probably be a few more months before I feel chilly enough for one again. Jon bought a little flan which he enjoyed.  They had lots of cute little desserts and tarts in their display, and the space, though small, was very warm and welcoming.

SLO 2015.

Visiting San Luis Obispo (SLO) every August has become a sort of accidental tradition for us, and I am not complaining.  It was fun to take Theo for his first visit, and he got to meet his tai gung gung and tai nai nai (my mother's parents) finally!

One of the great things about SLO is that it isn't technically a coastal town, but the ocean is 15 minutes away.  It benefits from being crazy close to the ocean, but also from not being too close.  We introduced Theo to the ocean from three different places: Morro Bay, Cambria (both of which have been featured here before) and Avila Beach.


Morro Bay:

morro rock at sunset

Cambria:

our favorite place to watch (get soaked by) waves!

this year i noticed a ton of kelp deposited further in.  was it always there??

you can't tell because theo's sweater is covering his shirt, but we are all matching in this photo

Avila Beach:

family selfies.  famfies?

the sweetest face, he couldn't take his eyes off the water

The visit was, as always, a welcome reprieve from the heat (though I wish our current heat wave had happened while we were gone).  It's been tough unpacking cool weather clothes that I know I probably won't be able to wear comfortably for another three months... and so I've basically put it off.  (Somehow it always take me weeks to unpack after a trip)

Theo probably won't get to visit SLO as many times as I have, but hopefully he will get to go enough times to appreciate it like I do.  See you again next year (hopefully)!!