We've arrived! (in LA)

Maple salmon salad

stuffed brioche french toast

Our first breakfast stop here in L.A. at T Farm

We're here!!

Walking down Rodeo Drive

Wilshire Hotel where they filmed Pretty Woman

Sprinkles cupcakes=long line=no bueno!

My friend Cassandra and I @ Beverly Centre Mall food court 

Trip to In n Out burger joint

Red velvet pancakes

"Some like it hot!" breakfast scramble

California dreamin

If you want to bake something super easy, decadent, and filled with peanut butter flavor, I would highly recommend making this recipe from BabyGizmo: http://blog.babygizmo.com/2012/02/ultimate-pretzel-crusted-peanut-butter-cookie-candy-brownie-bars/. 

buttered pretzel crust

peanut butter cookie layer on top of crust

reeses cups layer then brownie fudge mix on top

 

Despite being slightly overcooked, it was delicious! 

We recently had this Bird's Eye Chicken Florentine for dinner and it wasn't as good as the other packaged meals that we've been eating lately like Bertolli's. It was a bit veggie heavy, which I usually like but there's something about a super healthy tasting meal that doesn't satisfy. Oh well!

Burgers and corn for lunch. Can you guess which one of us had the double stacker? Eek!

This afternoon, I was in the mood for a good bowl of Asian noodle soup so I suggested going to the Belly Shack without really knowing that they would have what I was looking for. We've been to owner Bill Kim's sister restaurant Urban Belly that has soup on the menu so I only assumed this one would too but I was WRONG!!

T ordered from the specials board this shrimp bowl with bok choy, mushrooms, organic brown rice, kimchi, and Korean spices.

I had a similar type bowl with chicken instead. Yum!

Togarashi spiced fries with a delicious curry mayo dip

Now I'm looking forward to a lazy Friday night in prep for our upcoming "Babymoon" to L.A. Neither t and I have been to L.A. and we're really excited about our last vacation before baby arrives. We leave early Sunday morning!!

I'll be California dreaming :-)

Our latest toy arrived today!! I've always wanted a Kitchen Aid mixer for as long as I can remember so I'm super stoked to finally have one in our home.

Finishing touches to the nursery

http://www.amazon.com/Stork-Craft-Glider-Ottoman-Cherry/dp/B000F78UAU

The last piece to the puzzle of a nursery room came two nights ago when my ottoman, and glider arrived from Amazon.com.  I woke up to a pleasant surprise yesterday morning when T had this assembled while I was sleeping. It's perfect, comfortable, and a bit smaller than I thought but I can see it being really useful when the baby comes.

We pulled this out of our freezer for a quick and simple "all inclusive" TGIF lunch.

Step 1: pull frozen ingredients out of bag
Step 2: Heat tablespoon oil on skillet until hot
Step 3: Add frozen ingredients and stir occasionally while it defrosts and heats thoroughly
Step 4: Put tortillas in microwave
Step 5: Optional: Chop up lettuce and put out additional salsa, sour cream, mexican cheese
Step 6: Devour!

After lunch, we made the most out of a day that felt like Spring and took Sonoma to the doggie park! She had the time of her life running around trying to chase other dogs balls for over an hour. Sigh.. the simplicities of life :-)

I can't believe how long I waited to finally bring her inside the gates! She gets along with most of the dogs and has gotten into only a couple minor altercations.

She had a couple interested dogs sniff hello but none that were too taken with her.

I tried their Pistachio for the first time and loved it!

Afterwards, I made sure to stop by Forever Yogurt since we were halfway there anyways and I couldn't help crave it on such a beautiful, sunny day!

 

Back to Babylon for dinner, starting with their delicious lentil soup. 

Appetizer sampler of falafel, baba ghanouj, hummus, tabbouli and dolmeh. The baba ghanouj had a lovely smokey flavor that wasn't overpowering like most I've tasted; it was really delicious!

I ordered the salmon platter after having an afternoon realization that I haven't been meeting my weekly target of omega-3's!

We also got a pleasant surprise in the mail today from my dear friend: the baby's first toy! He's going to love it!

Ken Kees chinese

Downtown to China town...

where T and I indulged in some really good Hong Kong style Chinese food. Even these egg rolls, which weren't exactly the flavor profile I was looking for (they had cinnamon it them) were super delicious!! 

We ordered way to much food, per usual, but I ended up making sure to pace myself and not eat all the noodles in this shrimp wonton soup appetizer. They have HUGE portions here at Ken Kee's.

shrimp and egg over rice- glutenous and amazing with a bit of soy sauce and hot chili sauce.

 

chinese broccoli with "oil"- T had asked the waiter if they had this type of broccoli in brown sauce and the guy recommended this dish which was lightly seasoned and very tasty!

lightly battered fish with sweet chili sauce- YUM! Doing this post is seriously making me want to eat again.

 

fried rice with scallops, asparagus, and shrimp.

I was in a serious dessert mood last night so the hubby indulged me and brought back a mixed berry muffin and choco fudge brownie ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. Definitely. hit. the. spot!

Today was my 28 week check up appointment and I had to do the dreaded glucose drink test. Okay, so I'm not sure why its so dreaded, but I always heard from people and pregnant bloggers alike that it isn't that much fun to do. So the deal is, they make you a drink a sugary orange drink within 5 minutes, which isn't that bad BTW, and you wait an hour with no food or drink and then have your blood drawn. I almost forgot after a minute that I couldn't even drink water! No bueno :( Here's more info on why this is done: http://www.babycenter.com/0_glucose-screening-and-glucose-tolerance-tests_1483.bc

Thankfully my hour passed quickly with the help of a couple magazines and some face time with my doctor who gave me info on what will happen in the next couple of weeks. I left the office armed with information on recommended pediatricians, expectant parent classes, and registration for the hospital we'll be delivering at. After this 28 week mark (hello 3rd trimester!), I'll be seeing my doctor every 2 weeks as opposed to every few months in the beginning trimesters. It won't be too long now!

The best part of a long morning doctor's appointment: Chick Fil A. Spicy Chicken sandwich, waffles, and tortilla soup. Best lunch ever!

Dog park heaven

This morning, we took Sonoma to the dog park, with me being reluctant the entire time. It’s not that I don’t want her to socialize with other dogs; I get nervous about how she’ll react with them. While we were in London, she became extremely aggressive, growling and trying to bite other dogs when they would typically just want to approach her to say hello. Anyways, since then, I haven’t wanted to take her to our nearby dog park. I usually walk right past it, stopping only occasionally to wistfully look in. Today I felt a tad bit more emboldened because T had taken her in while jogging yesterday and she had *surprisingly!* gotten along with most of the dogs. Hearing this story, I was filled with so much hope and joy that I wanted to take her again today to see for my own eyes. I seriously love my pup too much!

You can't see her but she did so well! We only had to pull her away once when she started becoming too aggressive. T suggested that she did so much much better because she didn’t need to display her dominance over this pack since there were so many other bigger (and badder) dogs to contend with. She rightfully knew her place and went about her business of trying to get other dogs to play with her. I did feel kinda bad since no doggy friend seemed to take much interest in her; of course, I want my lil girl to have friends!! :-)

Anyways, back to recent eats!

We've been on a roll lately- eating in, not feeling the need to eat out as much aka saving some cash, and eating a good balance of homecooked meals/frozen already prepared meals. Yum.. who can resist a bit of chili cheese velveeta.

I had spoken up about my desire to eat some more meat, so T made us steak sandwiches for dinner the other night. Ingredients: rib eye steak, mushrooms sauteed in Italian seasonings, lettuce, cheese, and ketchup.

Shhhh... I ate "real" sushi for the first time during my pregnancy and it was oooohh so good, but I felt really guilty afterwards so I don't think I'll be doing it again until the babes is out.

Back to Sublime sushi it is!

We tried getting into Coast for dinner but it was SO packed and the wait would have been over an hour. Wah wah waaaaaah!!! We'll definitely have to come back again since its right around the corner from our place and its BYOB... sweet! https://ssl5.secure-svr.com/coastsushibar-com/v2/default.asp

Dinner and a movie last night was Bertolli's shrimp penne and a margarita frozen pizza. The movie was Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz- funny, but pretty crass!