We made it to our hotel in Carmel tonight by 8pm. Not too shabby. We stopped about an hour North of Carmel for dinner in Morgan Hill, CA. We found Las Palmas with the help of our Garmin GPS. As we drove up, one restaurant sign said "Fine Mexican Dining" and another said "Mexican Dining -and- Miniature Golf". It looked really nice inside and we were immediately seated. The salsa was good and spicy hot. I really liked it. But, we were only mildly satisfied with the rest of our meal. 
First of all, the margaritas that we ordered were filled with too much margarita mix and not enough tequila. So, that was disappointing. You would think a Mexican restaurant in California would be able to get that right. And then the food... Ben and Spencer ordered enchiladas. They were fine, but lacked flavor. I ordered a cheese quesadilla, which I planned on sharing with Katie, and tortilla soup. The quesadilla was just not cooked enough. And the soup was broth based and really didn't have any flavor either. It had beans and carrots in it, which I have never seen in a tortilla soup before. And, strangely enough, it didn't have avocado in it. Tortilla soup always has avocado in it in the Seattle area. Katie ate some of my beans and tons of black olives. She wanted nothing to do with the quesadilla. Jennifer had a chicken tostada. She thought it was good. Anyway, we didn't really think it was "fine" dining. The atmosphere was fine, but overall, the food... not so much. 
Ben and Spencer tried to go get us a bottle of wine to share at the hotel, but found out that the stores that sell wine all close by 8pm. Oh well.
Happy Vacation to us! We are officially on vacation today. We are headed to Carmel, CA, for the wedding of our friends Lauren and Tim. Ben's mom and brother are on the road with the three of us. Our goal was to make it to Medford, OR, for dinner tonight. But, we didn't make it that far. We stopped for pizza at Abby's in Sutherlin, OR. We split a delicious pepperoni and sausage pizza. Katie was super entertaining while we were waiting for the pizza to bake. After being cooped up in the car all day, she enjoyed walking around and playing with the highchair straps.
Tomorrow, we head to Carmel.
We had Caribbean Pork Bowls tonight. I don't have time to type up the recipe today, but will definitely be making it again. So, the recipe will come to those who continue to follow this blog:)Basically, it is pork tenderloin, tossed in chili powder, brown sugar, salt and pepper, pan fried in olive oil. Kielbasa and minced garlic are added to the pan and eventually deglazed with fresh lime juice. It boils until syrupy. We served it with white rice and a delicious tomatillo salsa. I actually made up the salsa months ago and froze it in an ice cube tray. Now, each time we fix this dish, I just defrost one cube and I'm good to go!
I was going to make Caribbean Pork Bowls tonight, but our afternoon and early evening got away from us. I had a chiropractor appointment in Redmond at 2pm and then stayed on the East side to do some shopping. By the time I got back over to Seattle, picked up Ben, stopped at the grocery store to get some food for my sick friends (hope you are feeling better soon!), and then dropped off their food, we weren't about to go home and wait another 1/2 hour + to eat. So we called in an order to Buddha Ruksa, our favorite Thai restaurant in Seattle. We got our standard dishes:
Phad Prik Khing (green beans, bell peppers, and tofu with kaffir lime leaves in
curry paste.)
Crispy Garlic Chicken (sautéed in a rich garlic sauce, served on the top of crispy
Basil.)
The green bean dish was wonderful, lots of good sauce with it. The crispy chicken was not as great last night as it usually is. Quite a bit of it was over cooked and dry. If this had been my first experience with it, I don't think I would reorder it. Katie was not hungry for dinner tonight. Perhaps it's because she ate a big breakfast, wouldn't eat much for lunch, and then snacked all afternoon on crackers and cheese. Surprisingly, after she was done with dinner and while Ben and I finished, Katie was willing to come over to my chair to get a couple bits of sautéed red pepper:)
We finished off our left over grilled chicken breasts tonight. I fixed a spinach, strawberry, and pear salad, with a balsamic vinaigrette. Katie was a super fan of strawberries today. She had some with each meal. Nothing more to share about this meal:)
Happy Birthday to my husband Ben! We celebrated Ben's birthday tonight with our friends Ryan and Vanessa. I wanted to meet somewhere near Tacoma, half-way between our homes, so that none of us had to drive too far. I did lots of internet searching and finally found the Adriatic Grill. The restaurant's website was really nice, easy to navigate and full of great information. I don't know about you, but I have a hard time getting excited about an unfamiliar restaurant if it's website is poorly designed. Anyway, the menu had a lot of variety, the entree prices looked reasonable, and they advertised 1/2 priced bottles of wine on Sundays. Also, I was thrilled when Google Maps showed me a photo of the restaurant and it had a parking lot. Sweet! No street parking!I made my reservation online and was pleased to receive a call a couple days ago to confirm. They had our table prepared for us when we arrived, complete with our requested high chair for Katie. They gave her some crayons and she actually used them to scribble with! Ok, she did try to eat them later on, but the nice waitress let us know they were soy based. We took advantage of the 1/2 price wine and shared a bottle of chianti. We toasted Ben for his birthday. Katie took notice and insisted on clinking (or clunking) her sippy cup into our glasses too. SO CUTE!!!Ben ordered Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo. I had Steelhead Salmon with Fresh Pesto off of their Fresh Sheet menu. Vanessa enjoyed the Pesto Shrimp pizza. Ryan tested the lasanga, and Katie had a cheese pizza. For dessert, Ben got a complimentary cup of ice cream with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. He shared that with Katie, who showed, once again, that she loved ice cream! Vanessa and I each had a chocolate amaretto cake with amaretto ice cream. Whoa, sooo rich and delicious. Neither one of us could finish our dessert even though we wanted to. Ben had Affogato Al Cafe- a white chocolate ice cream drizzled with espresso and topped with whipped sweet cream and chocolate covered espresso beans. Ryan enjoyed a dish of spumoni. Bottom line: I would HIGHLY recommend visiting this restaurant if you live anywhere near Tacoma.
I sang in a benefit concert this evening, so we had dinner a bit early. We got Chinese food from the Safeway deli counter. In addition to fried rice and chow mein, we had Mongolian beef, General Tso's chicken, and a few pot stickers. I am always amazed at how much food gets packed into those small take-out boxes. The food was ok, but definitely was not as good as going to a Chinese restaurant. It just loses something when it is not served immediately after cooking.Katie was not very thrilled with our dinner choice. She had a couple tiny bites of chicken and noodles with us, but then waited to eat an apple and cheese with her babysitter.
