The Georgian…The End

Figure I’ve bored you enough with the Santa Monica stories this week so I promise, this will be the last one.
But I had to show you our hotel…
And the food we ate at that hotel.
And some scenes from the Santa Monica Pier (where I ate cotton candy. There is no proof of that though.)

(oatmeal)

(french toast souffle. seriously. french toast, as a souffle.)

And just think, this is how we started our day, everyday. (Tell me again why I had to go home?)

Especially when the views were exactly like this…everywhere you looked. Ugh…

And because I took something like 400 pictures of the ferris wheel on the Santa Monica Pier, I’m making you suffer through these next few…

Thanks for indulging me this week in my futile attempt to mentally remain on vacation. It’s been far more entertaining than acknowledging the obvious fact that I’ve been back in reality this whole time…
ps. T-8 days until my next out of town adventure.

C&O Trattoria, Venice

I give up. I’ve been fighting the back to reality, reality since Sunday night. As Ali from three baking sheets to the wind put it, “keep the daydreamy vacation bubble floating”…and that’s exactly what I’m going to do.

Because, to quote Ben Stiller, reality bites.

So I’m going with it…I’m reliving my mini-vacation through this here blog…photos, foods, and all.

Our second to last night out West we went to C&O Trattoria over in Venice. It’s just one of those places that makes you happy to be there. The atmosphere, the food, the environment make the restaurant what it is.
Well, that and the garlic knots.

The plate, after plate, after plate…of garlic knots. No, seriously. It’s like they keep an endless supply of “butter balls” in the kitchen. It’s just not right.

And the rigatoni al forno, which I attempted to recreate tonight (attempted being the operative word)…

And the sausage penne in cream sauce…

Can I just stay in this vacation bubble forever?

It’s much prettier here.
Promise I’ll write and tell you all about it.

It’s About Thyme

No, really. This blog post is about a quaint little cafe and market in Santa Monica called Thyme. But don’t kid yourself, that title up there totally wrote itself in just about the lamest way possible.

Hey, I can admit it.

Well, if you hadn’t guessed from my previous post, I was on vacation.
In Southern California.

Forgetting about all things remotely related to my real world life. And it was freaking fantastic.
But I’m home now and reality is sinking in. You know…those fun things like work, cubicles, commuting, bills. So while I’m still in complete denial vacation mode, I’ll throw some photos from my trip up here…

These are from that seriously adorable cafe I was referring to up there called Thyme. And unlike some other cute little bakery/cafe/market, these guys were nice enough to let me take some photos inside their place of  business.  (You know who you are Miss Bakery lady.)  And I’m glad Thyme was so gracious, because I really wanted to share these photos.  Beside the obvious fact that the food was incredibly tasty (that would be my grilled cheese with bacon falling out of it), the store itself was adorable.  And packed.  And I’d bet money that this time next year, you will have heard of it.

So see, I wasn’t lying.  It was about Thyme.

More from my trip to Santa Monica coming over the next few days.  That’s right. Suck it up. I’m not leaving my little vacation mentality bubble for quite a while.  Buckle in.

now this is what i’m talking about

The other night we decided to take a break from my average at best cooking to enjoy one of our all-time favorite Atlanta restaurants, OK Cafe.

If you want to know what good home cooked meals taste like, then this is the place to go.

As you can tell, I didn’t hold back. I threw caution to the wind and ordered pot roast with gravy with a side of mashed potatoes with gravy and black-eyed peas.

It’s a shame I didn’t order the black-eyed peas with gravy. I could have had a full on gravy trifecta.

best bbq. ever.

It’s no secret I love food. I love fast food, gourmet food, cheap food, any kind of food really. And when I go back home to Tuscaloosa, I have to eat one of two things. Tacos at Taco Casa or barbecue at Dreamland.

The thing is, Atlanta actually has a few Dreamlands of its own, but it’s just not the same. I’m no connoisseur of the stuff, but trust me on this one, Dreamland of Tuscaloosa is the mecca of barbecue. Maybe it’s the sauce they serve in styrofoam cups or maybe it’s the laof of Sunbeam bread that push this place over the top. I can’t quite put my finger on it exactly. All I know is that it’s like “Big Daddy” says… “ain’t nothin’ like ’em nowhere”.

And boy is he right.