San Clemente Chillin...

San Clemente is such a special place for me.  I'm sure I've mentioned this every time I write a San Clemente blog.  I'm so thrilled when I can get down here the week my mom is staying at her yearly visit to her timeshare.  This year was another perfect mini get-a-way!

Mom had her week down there.  I didn't have any vacation time to join her, but I came down Friday night.  She had said Pat and I could have the weekend!  I was so excited to get at least one night with her and then a little bit of time with my man.  It worked out to be a perfect weekend away.

Friday night Pat and I headed down early evening ( I seriously ran out of work, had packed my bag the night before and we hit the road as soon as Pat pulled up.)  Traffic wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been on a Friday early evening and we rolled in around 5.

Pat got the rundown of how it works - "What do you guys do down here?"  "Nothing.  Absolutely nothing."  One of the best things about these little getaways is you just relax.  I love vacations and adventures so very much and want to do so many more, but - when you vacay to a new place you want to see everything.  You make plans to do this and go here and see this and oh we have to make sure we eat at that place.  Which is amazing yes, but sometimes it's nice to just do nothing.  I'm super familiar with San Clemente and there's nothing I haven't seen, so we can just do whatever.  Eat, drink, watch the sunsets, listen to the ocean, take walks, anything we want.  It's truly one of the very few times I can come somewhere and completely relax.

So - we hit Fishermans Restaurant for Dinner which was delish then walked the pier a bit. 

Yeah, that's alright

Love my mama!

Love my sweetie!

Now - mom and I had tried to find a cache that was on the Pier last year, but the dude at the store actually said "Oh it's gone, the city took it".  Well, for funners I looked it up and it seemed to be back!  So I was able to turn my sad face log into a happy face log!!!

Mom was stoked to find this one!

Had to leave a little swag

We got back to the timeshare for the sunset and it did not disappoint!

My heaven

No filter

We said goodbye to mom and began the little mini romantic weekend by playing cards of course!

Love this game!

Don't you fret...there was some romance...but no need for details there.  Tee hee!!

Saturday morning I awoke way earlier than intended, but took that time to wander out on the balcony and take in the beautiful salt air filled morning.  The awesome thing, was during the night the waves were crashing loud enough to hear in the back bedroom.  I can't say enough how much I love falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves.  The morning was beautiful and silent except for the now quieter waves crashing.  I watched early morning runners, dog walkers and strollers.  Then the scent of coffee wafted up from below.  We planned on meeting my friend Carol for breakfast but that coffee....mmmmmm!  I ran downstairs and got Pat and I some yummy fresh brewed coffee from the Bear Coast Coffee that's a new addition to the area.  After coffee on the balcony we headed out and walked up Del Mar to meet Carol at The Cellar for breakfast!  Um...brekkie at a wine bar?!  Hell yes!

It was so good!  I had something called The Works Toast and of course a bit of bubbly.  I mean I'm on vacay!  I was so excited when my Hibiscus Drink had a flower in it!  How cute is that!?

Yes please

A flower!!!

It's the little things that bring me joy

It was a lovely morning, chatting with Carol and enjoying the really great ambience of The Cellar.  Afterwards we walked back to our condo and decided to take a beach stroll.  I wanted to look for some caches to the left since I had gone to the right the year before.  Unfortunately I was having cellphone service issues and it got really really hot!  Walking along the beach was nice, but then the trail crosses inland a smidge and that made a huge difference.  So we did find one cache but then decided to screw it after that and walk back along the water.  It was so nice!!!

Good find baby!

Beach walkin

I love him

We grabbed a sandwich to share and chilled back at the condo.

Pat said he never really naps.  MmmmHmmm.  You do here my love ;)

Later on in the early eve Pat suggested we walk Del Mar again and maybe grab a drink or two and maybe some snacks.  Sounded delightful to me!  We hit the Cellar up again because they had a Rose Slushy I wanted to try!

Beer that came with a matching glass!

Rose Slushie!!!

We then wandered quite far and landed at a new sushi place!  Holy crap was that delicious!!!!  The place is called Sushi & Co and it was a hidden gem for sure!

Buy me sushi and tell me I'm pretty

After this we wandered back down in time for the last sunset.  None of these have a filter - it's that gorgeous.

I mean...

Can you even...

So peaceful...

Sunsets are my favorite color

The next morning we had breakfast at a little place below the condo then headed out.  I am so grateful that I'm able to usually do this at least once a year.

It was a lovely little escape in one of my favorite places with people I love!

 

Taylor turns the big 3.0....

So ya'll know Taylor is one of my best friends.

He probably appears in this blogspot more than anyone since he's my adventure buddy and we're always doing fun/unique stuff.  I have so much fun with this guy and love him to pieces!

Well he just turned 30.  Yup still a pup!  But 30 is a big deal and he went all out!

He had 2 soiree's.

The first one was the more broad/public party.  He reserved The Good Beer Brewery on a Tuesday night and had a 1930's (of course - cuz he's 30) themed gathering.  There were apps, wine and beer for purchase and Roulette and Craps!  Just like a 1930's SpeakEasy.  Patrick and I rolled in a bit late but ended up staying until we closed it out.  It was so much fun!  I watched Pat play Craps most of the evening, trying to learn how it all works (Still don't totally get it) but it was super fun of course because it wasn't real money.  Ha!  I did call out a snake eyes one roll that got a bunch of people lots of chips, so I did have my one moment of luck.  Super fun evening and of course there was a photo booth:

In a Taylor/Kerry Sandwich

Bestie

Taylor in a Pat/Jami Sandwich

Taylor and Best Friend Amanda!

The second party was the fancy one.  Taylor's mom treated some of Taylor's closest friends to dinner at The Hobbit!!!  I HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO GO THERE!!!!  This has been one of those bucket list items that I keep hearing about and have always wanted to try.  So many people have said "I'm so surprised you haven't been yet!"  RIGHT?!  Well - I got to experience it Sunday night!  And what an epic evening.  I don't think I've ever eaten that much food for that long in my damn life!

It's a fancy place, and they enforce a dress code.  So - I threw on one of my fancier dresses and arrived at 6pm. 

The dinner experience (Yes experience) starts at 7pm, but they have an hour of pre-dinner cocktails.  I got an Apricot Bellini and we all gathered in a comfy room as everyone arrived.  Our party was a total of 16 I believe.  There was also a patio area but it was pretty warm out so we stayed inside. 

Birthday Boy's 1st Drink!

Being Fancy

At 7pm on the nose they ask you to come down to the wine cellar for Champagne and hors d' oeuvres.  There were so many of them!  We were handed a menu and a glass of champagne as we entered the cellar.  I thought the 1st list of food was the hors d' oeuvres.  Nope.  So honestly I can't tell you what I ate, but I certainly tried everything!  I would say there was a total of about 30 people or so.  They only have two rooms upstairs for dining (It's a house it seems).  Our group was actually going to be eating in the Cellar.  For probably about 30-45 min we wandered around the cellar and noshed on apps while drinking our bubbly.  Also during this time Taylor's mom was picking out the wine we were going to be paired with our dinner later.  I hovered behind her wanting to hear all about the wines the Wine Guy was telling her.  Talk about fancy wine!  I saw one bottle for $3500!  Eeesh!  I would say the average price was $150-200 a bottle it seemed.  Wowzer.

Wine Wine Wonderful Wine

Holy Crap there's a lot of apps!

Lots of peeps!

There was some kind of delicious lemon thing in those cups!

Kerry and Wine Dude picking out amazing wine for dinner

Think they'd notice if I slipped one in my bra...?

After this we got the announcement that everyone was to go upstairs to start dinner.  Except our group.  We stayed and just stepped to the side as they set up our table.  PS - some woman totally grabbed an empty plate and took a bunch of apps with her upstairs!  Ummm...I don't think you're supposed to do that lady!  Ha ha!

I had to ask which fork to use...

Ready to eat!

All the food we're about to eat!

And then it began.  OMG.  First they brought little delicious bread muffins. 

THE BUTTER IS A FLOWER!

First course was Milk Poached Alaskan Halibut, Fingerling Potatoes in a Chervil & Creme Fraiche.  I already knew I was going to pay dearly the next day for what I'm about to eat - but Fuck it.  I may never get this chance again.  It was so damn good!!!  I would actually say this was probably my favorite course!

This was so goddamn good I almost cried

We had an amazingly smooth Blanc paired with it.  I unfortunately never got to see the bottles of wine.  I really wanted to snap photos of them but also didn't want to be the super unclassy dork being overly excited.  But man - probably one of the best whites I've ever had!  I didn't catch the prices of any of the wines Kerry got but I'm pretty sure they are way the hell out of my budget! Ha!  So I was super grateful to get to partake in the delicousness while I could!

The next course was Grilled Quail w/Confit of Quail Leg, creamy Polenta & root vegetables in a Marsala Reduction.  It was a little unnerving to see the little Quail legs and the sweet gal next to me had to have her hubs break it up for her but it was pretty good!  I've never had Quail before.  The Polenta was the friggin bomb!  They also brought out an amazing Pinot Noir for this course.  Holy shit you guys - so smooth and light!! 

Eeek.  Tiny Quail!

Third up was a California Brown Fig w/Gorgonzola, Frisee with Pineapple Vinaigrette and a Prosciutto Crisp.  This was my least favorite.  I guess I'm not a fig fan because it was way too sweet for me.  The Frisee was kind of weird and the Crisp seemed to me like overcooked bacon. LOL. I handed my fig off to Taylor. 

Fancy Salad

Now was Intermission.  Yup - Intermission.  We have a goddamn Intermission from dinner!  I'm told this is how they do it in Europe and I guess it makes sense.  You think of movies like Downtown Abbey and what not and they always seem to be eating forever and have many courses, etc.  I felt so fancy.  Ha!  At this time we were welcome to wander the property and even go in the kitchen!  I wandered into the kitchen and really wanted to talk to the chef, but I got kind of intimidated since I always feel out of place somewhere fancy and didn't want to act like a giddy nerd, so I just headed outside.  I wanted to snap a picture of the cool stained glass out front anyway.  Taylor ended up opening some of his presents out here as well.  He opened mine upstairs before intermission and I hope he liked it!  I made a super fun photo book of all our adventures!

Yay!

So pretty at night!

All his friends (not me...odd man out) got him a box of all kinds of fun stuff to do!

The other dining folks were also wandering around and I totally saw the appetizer thief!  Tee hee!  We were then called back for the final phase of our dining experience.  So back down to the Cellar we go!  We got a palette cleanser - a yummy raspberry sorbet!

The sugar was rainbow!!!!!!

Our main course was (mind you it was almost 10pm!!) a Wild Mushroom Stuffed Filet Mignon.  Or you could order an Alternate Entree which was apparently extra $$$ that was a Spice Crusted King Salmon.  I almost went for that since I'm not a huge mushroom fan but I didn't and I'm so glad I didn't - because Oh. My. God.  It was amazeballs!  The mushrooms were almost minced so it wasn't that weird texture and the flavor was fantastic!!!  The problem was  - I was stuffed!  I wanted so bad to eat it all, but I couldn't.  But it was too good - so I leaned over to Taylor and his mom and asked if it was totally un-cool to ask for a box.  They said not at all so when the super nice waitress came around I sheepishly asked for a to go box and she was so nice saying "No worries! It's alot of food and it's totally normal to not be able to finish!".  I felt much better so I got to have the rest of that the next day as a lovely evening snack!  We also got brought out our 3rd wine for the night - a pretty damn good Cab!

Dude.  So. Good.

My neighbor got the alternate Salmon...if I knew her better I would have totally asked for a bite!

Then came dessert.  My God...there's more.  Blackberry Custard Pastry Cups with fresh summer berries and Ghiradelli Chocolate.  I wanted to die but damn if I didn't finish it.  So good!!!!!

I almost licked the chocolate off

There was a lovely tearful speech from his mom followed by a sweet speech from the Birthday boy himself.

Speech!  Speech!!

It was 11pm by the time we got out of there.  I couldn't believe it. 

 I may or may not have paid for it the next day - but I tell you what - it was damn worth it!!! 




 Talk about an epic night of eating and drinking and being fancy!  It was a lot, but I had a great time.  The food and wine was so delicious!  All Taylors friends (at least the ones on my end of the table) were great company.  The wait staff was rad.  Taylor seemed to enjoy himself for sure and as he should cuz he deserves the bestest!!!  A huge Thank You to Kerry for including me in this fantastic adventure in Dining and celebrating one of my most favorite humans!!!  I'm so very grateful to have had the chance to experience this kind of thing!   Happy Birthday Taylor!!!!

Happiest of Birthdays my Dear Friend!!