Anepalco’s Cafe

 I was definitely eating out of control this past weekend.  Part of my epicurean adventure was hitting up my favorite Mexican brunch spot – Anepalco’s Cafe in Orange.  It is a MUST try if you are ever in Orange County.  They are known to have the BEST chilaquiles in town!  This has to be my favorite brunch spot in the area.  Luckily, there are two locations in Orange – one on Chapman Ave. and  the other on Main St.  I like to order my chilaquiles with chicken.  I hear the carnitas are juicy, tender, and pretty awesome as well.  There’s something about the sauce that gives this dish an extra kick.   Just looking at the pictures, already makes me crave it again! I would also recommend the guava french toast for a sweet delight.  Yummm-O

Pattern Play

Dress: Brandy Melville + Boots: Steve Madden + Purse: Rebecca Minkoff + Necklace: H&M 

When you browse through my closest, you will quickly learn that I own a lot of stripes.  It’s just easy, effortless, and such a classic pattern.  What I also love about it is the fact that you can totally do some pattern play with it.  Plaid is another pattern that I do adore.  Black & white stripes, in particular, and plaid compliment each other very well.  The key here is to make sure one pattern is more subdued than the other.  The last thing you want to do is mix a thick stripe ensemble with huge plaid patterns.

This Brandy Melville striped dress was a must-have the minute I laid eyes on it.  So comfy and chill.  Definitely a day to night dress.  The stripes were thin enough to easily pair it with my plaid top.  For a different pattern play, this would also look good with a camouflage jacket.  With summer slowly coming to an end, try incorporating new patterns to mix and match with in the fall.

Best pick-me-upper? BOBA! We LOVE boba.  If you are ever craving some and in the Millbrae area, check out Eggettes!

Good Eats

There’s no doubt that we love to grub! We are most def foodies and will go to lengths to try new food spots or new type of cuisine. When I visited my sister for the last time in Kansas, we went to a cute little area called West Port. We strolled around the area and ate at this cute restaurant called McCoy’s. I would say my favorite dish was the mac and cheese! It had bacon and jalapenos in it, ah-mazing!

My sister was craving root beer float badly, and they were known to make their own root beer. Unfortunately, they ran out. We were so bummed and still really craving root beer float. So we went on yelp and stumbled upon this cool ice cream store called Glace. It was the best idea ever! Their ice cream selection was impeccable and made out of natural ingredients.   What I loved about this place the most is the unusual flavors they had. My favorite by far was the Salted Pretzel ice cream. And of course, we order the root beer float and they used the salted pretzel ice cream for the drink.  It was heaven is our mouths! If you are ever in Kansas City, you must hit up Glace!

Happy Hump Day!

Woodsy- Arrow Theme Baby Shower

Christy: This past weekend we celebrated sister’s baby shower and after all the planning and DIY projects we did, I must say, it was a success!!  Yeah!  Here are some shots of the details that went behind the woodsy/arrow theme baby shower. 
Leah:  These arrows were fun to make.  I got dowels and painted them.  I also used printed tape sporadically to add more color and design.  Then I cut two arrows with colored paper and glued them on top – one on each side.  These arrows added a pop of color to the decor.  My sister and I also decided to create our own woodsy baby shower invitation.  We searched all over the web for a design that we liked and fit our theme, but at the end of the day, we decided to design one our own using Photoshop and walaaa!

Christy:  We spent the night before the baby shower getting down in the kitchen.  Meaning, we rolled up our sleeves and baked all these goodies you see in our dessert table.  We made rice crispy treats, nutella croissants, and smores cupcakes   For the smores cupcakes, we also made our own marshmallow-like frosting.  The frosting is really made up of whipped egg whites and sugar.  To tie in our woodsy theme, we also decided to add lil trail mix cups.

Leah:  The triangle garlands you see on the left were made up of triangles I cut out from colored paper.  I then randomly placed them together and then sewed them all together.  We hung these triangle garlands all against our white walls to make our space feel more festive.

Christy:  Our giveaways were Smores packages! I LOVE me some smores, and the fact we were having a woodsy theme party, it was only appropriate to have Smores! It was really fun making these giveaways too.  Overall, I had sooo much fun planning this baby shower for my sister.

Leah: It’s good to be home on the west coast!  We had our baby shower over this past weekend here in So Cal that was hosted by Christy.  She did such a great job with everything.  We decided to go with the woodsy arrow theme.  It was hard trying to choose a theme..thank God for Pinterest!  Living in the midwest, we thought that this theme fit perfectly.

Get In My Belly!

If you didn’t know, I love food!  I think about food all of the time and now that I’m pregnant it’s even worse.  One bummer is that I don’t live in CA anymore and I crave everything there.   If I crave something…then I would have to make it.  If I did live in CA, I would probably gain more weight, so maybe it’s a good thing?  One dish I was craving was NYC’s halal chicken and rice.  It’s the carne asada fries of NYC.  So I googled and found this recipe.  Tried it and loved it!  However, I would tweak the white sauce a bit.  I boiled garlic and added it to the sauce.  I would also recommend to use the best mayo out there, don’t use the cheap ones!  For a healthier version of the white sauce I would just use greek yogurt with boiled smashed garlic, salt and pepper.  I must say it was pretty close to the version in NYC. Yummy in my tummy!

Red, White, & Blue

Hoping everyone had a fabulous and safe 4^th of July weekend!  Saw this backdrop of Jay-Z in Venice Beach and immediately knew I had to take a picture in front of it.  Hova!  Plus, I am a sucker for street art/graphics.

As you can see, I was very Patriotic on the 4th.  Denim shorts are from Zara, USA tank top is from UO.

These are most def my current favorite summertime-fun sunglasses.

My acai bowl was also very festive with its own version or red, white, and blue.  I am obsessed with these acai bowls because they are so refreshing and filling.  It’s a great breakfast or lunch if you want something cool and good for you.  My favorite spot is Bonzai Bowl in Costa Mesa or Huntington Beach.  This bowl above is from Nektar in Long Beach.

Philippines Getaway

Danao Beach Resort

Sea Parade

Fiesta Fiesta!

A dance by the local children

Food Galore!  Seafood and coke in a bottle

Coconut Juice!

More seafood!

Danao Island Park

Bukilit Cave

Amazing Sunset

Back in April I made a spontaneous trip to the Philippines.  I literally called the travel agency on a Friday, flew to LA on a Monday and left for the Philippines on Tuesday.  I just got a new job and decided to take a 2.5 week vacation to visit my parents because you know when you start a new job… you don’t have any PTOs!  So why not?  I get to see my parents, visit white sand – clear blue beaches, and eat all the tropical food!

The 2.5 weeks I spent there flew by so quickly.  Here are some shots of Danao Island.  My parents and I went on this tour that explored the island.  The Philippines has sooo many islands that you can visit.  Since the Philippines is an archipelago, it comprises of over 7,107 islands.    Thus, there are numerous island-hopping tours you can try out.   We stayed at the Danao Beach Resort.  The beach was beautiful, gorgeous, and simply breathtaking!  White fine sands and crystal clear blue water, what else could you ask for?  I was in paradise fasho.  I could stay there the whole day, but it was soooo hot and humid.  I only lasted about 2 hours on the beach in the morning.

We also visited Danao Island Park where the local children greeted us with a cultural dance show, ate lots of seafood, and I rode a horse!  Really random, but hey I’m in the Philippines!  A day later we visited the Bukilit Cave.  It was beautiful as you can tell by the pictures.  The water was untouched and crystal clear.  Nature amazes me.  I love visiting the Philippines because I always get in touch with nature and appreciate everything it has to offer.  Besides all the tourist things I did in the Philippines… I ate a lot!  I love all the different types of fruits!  I love all the desserts!  Basically it was carbs and sweets all day for 2.5 weeks!  Hey, I was on vacation!  What summer vacation getaways do you have in store?

The Almighty Carne Asada Fries

This is my ode to the Carne Asada Fries. Since I moved to the midwest, I have really, really, really, and really, oh yea, really missed all the diverse cuisines you can eat in California. One dish I miss is the Carne Asada Fries. You can find the best one at Albertacos in Cypress. Let me tell you… this is an amazing concoction of french fries, carne asada, sour cream, cheese and guacamole. I used to eat this with my boyfriend now husband since highschool. My sister and I can eat this whole thing in less than 5 minutes. It is quite an amazing scene to watch us devour this so quickly.

All I do now is gawk at this picture and reminisce about all the times I’ve stuffed my face with carne asada fries. Since I know this is full of calories, I’ve been thinking about how to create a healthy alternative. What about sweet potato fries instead of french fries, grilled chicken breast instead of carne asada, garlic infused greek yogurt instead of sour cream, lowfat cheese, and guacamole. I’ll try that recipe and give an update later. I know it doesn’t sound as amazing as the real carne asada fries, but I’m thousands of miles away and I need to eat healthier. Maybe it’s better that I’m thousands of miles away from the almighty carne asada fries. Yes, I just wrote about carne asada fries. Don’t judge me.

Good Eats

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit my sister in Kansas City.  Being a Californian, I really didn’t know what to expect in the Midwest.  To my pleasant surprise, it was actually a really fun and an enjoyable experience.  Being the foodie that I am, Kansas City is known to have the best barbeque in the U.S!  According to Anthony Bourdain, Oklahoma Joe’s Barbecue was a definite must try when visiting Kansas City.   I love hole-in-the-wall food joints.  I feel like they have the best, most authentic food than the big-chain restaurants.  Oklahoma Joe’s was definitely unique since it was located in a gas station!  Below is the pulled pork sandwich I ordered.  Nomz!

Oklahoma Joe’s is also known for their burnt ends, pictured above.  Get there early, once they are out of brunt ends, they no longer will serve them for the rest of the day.

After a long day of sightseeing, we stumbled upon a cute little neighborhood which really reminded me of San Francisco.  They had fun little boutiques and coffee shops in that area.  We decided to grab some afternoon snacks at Mud Pie Vegan Bakery & Coffeehouse.   I personally love vegan good, so when we found this cute spot, I was super excited.  I had a latte and a delicious pineapple glaze Bundt cake.

I wanted to randomly add this picture in to give you guys an idea of how my sister’s neighborhood looked like.  This is a field right next door to her neighborhood.  In Kansas City, everything is wide, open, and green.  Lots of fields everywhere.  There are also numerous horses and deer’s roaming around all over the place.  I definitely look forward to visiting this lovely city again soon!!

21 Choices

Right: Chocolate yogurt + waffle cone + almonds + coconut + chocolate chips

Left: Vanilla yogurt + nutella + strawberries

With the rain behind us and only sunshine on our horizon here in SoCal, it’s only inevitable that 21 Choices frozen yogurt crosses my mind.   I know this upcoming weekend is going beautiful and warm and I’ve definitely been craving delicious yogurt from 21 choices in Old Town Pasadena.  If you are ever in the area, it is a must have.  For those of you trying to maintain your summer physique, most of the frozen yogurt that they serve is non-fat or low fat.   This place is perfect to satisfy any sweet tooth craving!  Plus it is located in the midst of amazing stores.  Shopping + 21 Choices yogurt = A Good Day!

Hope everyone is have a great week!

XOXO