Food - A Cheaper Way to Travel

They say that books can take you on adventures to far off lands - and I have more good news: So does food!
 Jordi and I love watching Travel Channel's Anthony Bourdain, the globe galavanting foodie, as he makes his way through both popular and unknown places around the world trying their food and discovering their culture. Recently we've watched his shows about Miami and Puerto Rico, peeking my interest in that area. Then we got our most recent issue of Conde Naste Traveler, (a thoughtful Christmas present from my cousin) and they featured a whole spread on the best places to eat in the Caribbean.
Since we've already used more than our allotted vacation time for the year, the odds of making it to the warm waters and crispy food of the West Indies anytime soon were slim - until Groupon came down from the heavens and offered me a great deal on Eva's Caribbean Kitchen.
Located just a few miles up the coast in South Laguna Beach, Eva's is a cute and authentic piece of the Caribbean.
Pineapple, plantains, curries, peppers, and seafood galore! An extremely bright and open tiny restaurant complete with an extensive rum list and mouth blazing cajun prawns - add a warm summer night, and I did almost feel like I was in another world. Of course, neither reading nor eating are quite as good as actually being there - I have never finished a book taking place in China feeling jet lagged, full of dumplings, and a souvenir of my name in calligraphy in my bag. But reading about places gives you knowledge and an appreciation for different places and cultures. Likewise, eating something completely new and interesting in an authentic setting, while not the same as actually going to the islands, gave me knowledge and insight into that world - in a most wonderfully fun and delicious way!
Southern California is one of the most diverse places in the world, and there is abundant interesting food as a result. We are blessed to be able to sample very authentic versions of Thai, Vietnamese, Mexican, Cuban, Peruvian, Mediterranean, Italian, Chinese, Indian and more. It's up to us to find the ones that are authentic and enjoy the different places and cultures through the dishes they offer - right in our back yard!
Where is your favorite restaurant that whisks you off to a different land?? Please share!

Small Town Bliss

Cayucos Creek Barn - where we got married

Cayucos Beach

Where?
Cayucos!
Where is that?
On the Central Coast.
Central Coast?
Yes, California has a Central Coast....just north of Morro Bay.
Oh. How do you even spell that?

I thought being from Guatemala was hard to explain, but folks hailing from the small coastal town of Cayucos probably have just as hard of a time explaining, to anyone in the SoCal bubble, where they are from. Not many people have heard of Cayucos - even our family didn't discover it until my mom and aunt took a road trip up the coast scoping out possible family vacation spots about 10 years ago. They came across Cayucos, about two hours north of Santa Barbara, and it's been a steady vacation spot for our family ever since. And for Jord and I it's doubly special because that's where we got married!
With a population not quite reaching 3,000 and a cozy spot on the beautiful coastline, Cayucos is easy to miss, but hard to leave - if you do find it, you might just fall in love.
I was pleasantly surprised this trip to find that Cayucos has made itself even more cute and inviting in recent years, with the addition of a few key elements:

Renovated Skate Park
Jordi loves skate boarding, and especially loved the new ramps and uncrowded conditions (if you go during school hours) of the improved park, located behind the Clam Chowder restaurant next to the pier.






Brown Butter Cookie Company
How do I even begin describing these fall-apart-in-your-mouth pieces of goodness in the form of butter cookies topped with sea salt? Every morning these fat little cookies are hand-rolled in the ever so cute little "factory" in downtown near the pier. They offer free samples of their distinct cookies - ranging from original brown butter to bourbon, gluten-free cocoa mint, and my sister's favorite: chewy honey - all made with browned butter and topped with a pinch of sea salt.

We definitely got addicted to these, but luckily we found out that they ship them all over the country - one of the places being the Cellar in downtown San Clemente! Lucky me :)



Cayucos Candy Counter

Every beach town needs a good candy store, in my opinion, and this one is perfect. Cayucos Pier is an ideal location to be selling huge ice cream cones and bags of salt water taffy and candy. There is also a cute little coffee/ espresso counter that opens onto the sidewalk for those cold, foggy mornings.




Renovated Duckie's Clam Chowder
Also right next to the pier, skate park and downtown is the newly cute Duckie's. A fixture in Cayucos, now it's actually tourist friendly, with a bar and stools out front to eat chowder bowls or fish and chips, and an inviting airy interior with bright red booths. New England and Manhattan chowders were both delicious! (Although my foodie brother-in-law thought the tomato-based Manhattan version to be salty...)



Aside from these new and exciting additions, we had a fun time enjoying typical favorites:
Beach
Miles of gorgeous and practically empty beaches are just calling to be enjoyed. As a family we surfed, boogie-boarded, ran or walked, napped, played frisbee, football, and lots and lots of bocce ball!
Downtown
Most of the residences in Cayucos are within walking distance to downtown or the beach. We were fortunate to be close to both, and as mentioned above, downtown is a fun little outing. The Cayucos Pier is located downtown, as well as the skate park and most of the shops and restaurants. Another restaurant I've heard good things about but didn't have a chance to try is Hoppe's. Also, there is a new wine tasting room downtown, with $5 tastings of local wine - a good deal!
More of our favorite stops included the town pharmacy which was more like a card store - lots of fun stuff :) Also, Cayucos Surf Company and Good Clean Fun are both great for rentals, wetsuit deals, and affordable sweatshirts.
Elephant Seals
A short and scenic drive up the One leads you through San Simeon, home to the famous elephant seals, which are pretty entertaining to watch. In the same area is a secluded beach and pier, and Hearst Castle.
Montana de Oro
South of Morro Bay lies the 'golden mountains' of Montana de Oro State Park - rolling hills covered in wildflowers along the cliffy coast. We used to surf here a lot during college - beautiful hiking, biking and horse back riding found here as well.
SLO Farmers' Market
Definitely a fun outing after a week of slow Cayucos life, San Louis Obispo Farmers' Market is like going to the fair! An incredible amount of fruit and vegetable vendors and blocks of local restaurants have booths along both sides of the road. Street performers, activists and musicians also abound.
Taco Temple
A trip to the central coast is not complete without a stop to this shrine. In fact, according to my Dad, a trip anywhere within 100 miles of the unassuming taco fusion restaurant requires a detour. The massive servings, freshest ingredients, and Temple-Ade (pink lemonade with sugar on the rims) are all just part of what makes the beachfront shack a legitimate Temple to Tacos.
Hiking
Hiking isn't hard to come by in this area, but one day we drove out highway 41 to hike to the top of a mountain instead of just along the hills. Climbing Cerro Alto would have been a beautiful hike if it weren't for the hundreds of bugs attacking us the entire time! Jordi had devout following of about 20 bugs that formed a halo around his head the entire time as I was being mercilessly bitten by some sort of fly. All five of us that went on the hike were miserable from the flies, gnats, and bugs constantly buzzing and biting around us. We ended up not making it to the top, and running back down the mountain straight into the car and booking it back to the overcast and mosquito-less coast.
I'm not sure if we were there at a bad time of year, or if hiking early in the morning would have made a difference. I'm not sure I want to go back to find out though!

So if you think small towns are boring - think again! And if you have time, I definitely recommend Cayucos as a stop (or final destination) on your next car trip! :) 

Family Photography

This week my family was up in Cayucos, a small beach town on the Central Coast of California, for a family vacation. We hadn't all been together in about three years, so we were very excited to see each other and have a good, fun and relaxing time.
My sweet mother really wanted actual evidence that we were all in the same spot at the same time, and she wanted to hang this evidence in the house for all to see. No one really considers posing for family photos as fun or relaxing, but if we were going to do "Family Pictures" we might as well do them right. Instead of asking a passerby or relative to do the job, we started searching online for actual photographers. I remembered an old friend from Cal Poly who I heard was still in the photography business in the area - everyone liked his website, and he gave us a great deal, so we went with Jay C. Winter Photography.
Jay came over and okay-ed our outfits (similar colors but Not Matching!) We walked down to the beach and he helped us get comfortable and took a whole bunch of our whole family, just the kids, just the girls/boys, etc...
Our family has never had an expert take our pictures, and it was fun to know that we were going to get some good pictures for my parents to have for a long time to come.
Taking pictures is never the fun part - after our wedding the last thing I wanted to do was take pictures - I was envious of everyone else playing volleyball and horseshoes while eating cheese and drinking wine. But as fun as our wedding was, it's the pictures that help me remember, and it's the pictures that are hanging on our wall.
While it was hard to stop playing frisbee at beach, put down our cookies, get out of the jacuzzi and get ready for  pictures, I'm glad my mom motivated us to take a couple hours out of the day to capture the vacation as a whole! And we were so blessed to know someone nearby to take beautiful and creative photos.
Do you know someone interested and talented in photography? Next time the family is all together, give your photographer friend a chance to exercise their skills and capture your memories better than a local passer-by by might.
Here are some more friend photographers... who do you know and where are they located?
Lauren Ristow - Arizona
Jay Winter - Central Coast, California
Sissel Byington  - Southern Californa

Your Suggestions are Linked!

Jason Glenn - Texas
Daniel Beckham - Orange County, California
Allison Jean - Texas

What Wonders Await the Waddling Ones?

Unfortunately these days I have a full time inside office job. This makes it hard sometimes to be exploring, and easy to be sitting in a cold, dark air conditioned room for eight hours a day eating trays of someone's birthday cake or plates of goldfish crackers lying around. Needless to say, I feel much more waddly than wandery. During my breaks I try to be outside to get some sun and fresh air, but sitting in an office all day is not easy. However, because I'm inside and sitting down for much of the day, I have a great new appreciation for walking. Whereas before Jordi and I might venture out on a nice night or to get ice cream downtown, I now relish and demand these walks daily. Whether I'm by myself or have company, I've discovered how nice it is to walk in the evenings. It's the time after dinner where I can talk with Jordi about our days - or if I'm by myself, I can catch up on phone calls or just relax while walking. It helps you digest,  gets jitters out so you can sleep better, and the best news for those with a companion - you also have a captive audience! :)

Try going for a walk this week after dinner - even a short one. I'm hoping that with enough walking, my waddling will turn back into wandering...

Stay-cation

In our not-so-fabulous economy, the so called "stay-cation", or a vacation close to home, has recently gained more popularity. I can appreciate this living in San Clemente - a small, fun beach town in Southern California - why leave?
Jordi and I got married on Memorial Day Weekend three years ago, and were racking our brains trying to figure out what to do for our anniversary this year. Road trips and camping are affordable, but not always romantic. But we also didn't want to spend $100-$200 a night on a hotel - not to mention gas, food, and everything else that comes along with leaving town.
We were planning on spending the night at our friend's apartment in Laguna since she thought she would be gone, but when her plans fell through, we ended up staying at our own apartment in San Clemente. And we had a really nice, perfect, relaxing and romantic weekend "getaway".
While you may think you could never have a vacation in your everyday surroundings, I found that much of vacation is a state of mind. Also, just making a few changes around the house and adjusting your perspective can shift your focus from "work day" to "vacation". This is the perfect opportunity to go, see, or do all those things in your area you've always wanted to but have never had the chance.
First of all, inform everyone that needs to know that you are going on vacation and won't be available. You don't need to mention that you will actually still be in town.
Clean your house like someone really important is coming over.
Pack your suitcase and get ready to go.
Then go somewhere for the whole day. California is full of towns, beaches or mountains that are easy to spend the entire day enjoying. The idea is to drive under an hour and be able to spend all day walking, eating, exploring somewhere new and spending time together as if on vacation. Get far enough away so that you have to stop and buy lunch, not go home for a sandwich!
For us, this was going to Laguna Beach for the whole day. We had breakfast somewhere we had never been, and walked all up and down the town and beach, stopping at a cheese shop along the way for fresh sandwiches and homemade macarons - amazing! After more walking, we got some of the best gelato in town before heading back to the hotel, I mean home...
For a fancy dinner we got supplies from Gelson's, an upscale super market, and bought fresh lobster they sell for $10 a pound - they come live, but they'll steam and clean them free of charge!
The next morning we had breakfast on our balcony and went through our "marriage packet" - all the questions and issues we had to discuss before we got married, and is good to do every year or so.
After an afternoon at the beach, we went to Massage Envy  - not spending money on gas or a hotel left us resources to splurge for some massages!
In the evening we went surfing at San O, where neither of us have been in years. The waves were super fun, and it was a beautiful evening.
We were starving by the time we got to La Rocco's - a pizza parlor downtown where we've walked by  a dozen times, and always wanted to try.
The rest of the evening was spent going over our new budget for the year - one of those things we never have time to do during the year, so it becomes an anniversary routine - woohoo!
AAAALLLLLL that to say - by purposefully not using our computers, cell phones, or watching TV, and by cleaning the house, eating special things or in special locations, doing everything we've wanted to do but have never done made it feel completely like a vacation. Most of the places we went or things we did were firsts - massages, state beach, new restaurants, lobster dinners - all of these were new experiences and made us feel like we were on vacation. Also, just taking the time to have good converstaions is half of what makes a good and relaxing vacation.

Beach Trail

Probably the best idea San Clemente ever had was to make the Beach Trail. Before the trail, the town along the coast was not connected at all, and the only way to walk along the beach was during low tide or along the train tracks. The trail connects 'North Beach' at the North San Clemente train station, down past the pier and all the way to 'State Beach' next to the Calafia campgrounds.  The Coastal Trail is 2.3 miles long, with dirt paths and whitewater views the whole way.
So why would I not take advantage of this every day?
Usually when I go running, I try to get over with as quickly as possible, starting and ending my run at the bottom of our stairs. I start by plugging in my ipod earphones to drown out the assortment of loud and obnoxious noises in our neighborhood, including the omnipresent beastly trash trucks, leaf blowers, cars, street sweeping trucks, construction cranes two blocks over, and tractors at the hardware store across the street. It's actually a bit chaotic in our neighborhood, and sometimes I get the feeling my jog has turned in to a dance of dodging moving vehicles. In fact, one time as I crossed the street I got ran into by a car that didn't come to a complete stop.
But still I kept pounding the pavement.
Then our new roommate, Laura, came to live with us, and we decided to go running together in the mornings. She wanted to utilize the bit of time she had to run along the ocean. You mean DRIVE in order to RUN? It was a bit of a foreign concept to me, but I agreed.
We had fantastic mornings getting exercise and chatting along the quiet beach trail, and I noticed I wasn't thinking about getting run over. Also, it only took about two minutes to drive from our house to North Beach, so I found it wasn't too much time "wasted" driving.
When Laura moved out to her own apartment in Laguna Beach, I forgot my motivation to drive to the beach in order to run. Then one especially loud "Busy Town" morning I decided I would give it another try, even without my morning partner.
This time I had no one to talk to, so I brought my ipod. But when I got there and heard the birds chirping and the ocean crashing, realized I wanted to hear the sounds, not drown them out. I spent the whole jog listening to the peaceful morning sounds, and found myself thinking, mentally organizing, and just being peaceful in my head. In Spanish there is word, 'quieta' which means 'still', and connotes calm and quiet. This is the word that comes to my head when I think about running along the beach trail. It's nice exercise, but perhaps even more valuable is the 'quieta' that comes along with it.  Unfortunately, our busy world includes constantly listening to music, watching TV, seeing or hearing advertisements, driving or being around cars, talking or being talked to - and we forget how delicious it feels to simply just be. So yes, I'll run to that ;)

Temecula

I have always been slightly curious about wine tasting in Temecula and this weekend Jordi and I got the opportunity to check it out for ourselves. A good friend of mine recently graduated from her Masters program in San Diego and invited a group of friends to go wine tasting in Temecula.  I think the success of Temecula as a wine tasting region is largely based on it's proximity to San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles and Riverside - over 30 million California residents have only to drive about an hour to get into the pretty hills and vineyards in southwest Riverside County.

However, if you are actually "into" wine, I wouldn't suggest going to Temecula. Although it's proximity to SoCal residents and the beauty of the hills are great, wine tasting itself is a bit overdone and merchandised. On  the other hand, if you like Las Vegas or Disneyland versions of things, then maybe Temecula is for you. As I wandered around the gigantic tasting rooms looking at countryside murals on the wall, racks of retail and the hundreds of people crowded around, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was at "Paso Robles, SLO County" located on the Vegas Strip.
Where was the vintner with his stained hands from field work, pouring his latest and greatest creation to a few people packed inside the shed doubling as a tasting room?
Where were all the middle aged moms (since Tasting Room Attendants are the only jobs in that area) who have been working there for years and know the names of the field worker's kids?
Where are all the Cal Poly Viticulture majors who have memorized every type of grape in every bottled blend, and love to spout it off to you?
Or the tasting rooms which are actually (gasp) empty when you walk in?
That is what I love about wine tasting - getting out into the country, seeing a slow pace and hard work, learning to appreciate every aspect that goes into creating something to be proud of. And this is what you discover as you meet, sip and talk with the people.
It's almost sad to see wine tasting so commercialized. When you take the relationships out of it, basically it's just drinking little tastes of random so-so wine from some guy at the counter that has a million other people he's pouring for and little time to chat. Like a massive bar in the middle of the hills where everyone feels sophisticated as they pay $20 for a tasting.

Yes, we had a great time with our friends, and I was pleasantly surprised how beautiful the countryside was. Wine tasting in Temecula is a fun event if you are prepared for it - like getting pizza at "New York, New York" or BBQ shrimp from the Blue Bayou at Disneyland. Not exactly the real deal, but if you don't mind paying a wad, you get a fun time with your friends somewhere more exciting than Chili's.

Have you been to Temecula, and what did you think? Have you been wine tasting anywhere else, and what is that like?