Feeling at Home at the Red Lantern

Thank goodness for broke foodaholics (like the girls and I) who demand two weeks where over 200 posh restaurants offer discounted suppers and lunches. Knowing that our people have done us a favor, we made a reservation at Asian infusion restaurant Red Lantern and hit the town for the night.

We were greeted by Buddhist statues and thrown into a time warp back to ancient China.

As the name suggests, the grand room was decorated with gorgeous red lanterns creating an ornamental glow in the room. We sat down to the song of one another "ooo"-ing and "ahhhh"-ing and immediately grabbed the menus to decide what to order.

 For appetizers, Sarah and Christine settled for the Crab Wontons in a lemongrass broth with watercress.

Sophia went for the Modern California Roll in which the crab, instead of normally rolled up inside, was stacked on top of the rolls and garnished with greens.

 While I, on the other hand, got brown rice House Spicy Salmon Rolls to which nearly knocked me out of my chair*.

 *No exaggeration.
The brown rice was perfectly glutenous and the sauce simply decidant...but the real show stopper was the salmon.
I had some of the world's best sushi in Japan and knew that I would never eat such exquisite sushi anywhere else.
Little did I know that I would find some equally as tender and all the more urban version of my favorite salmon rolls like the ones I had in Tokyo in my hometown of Boston.

Perfectly content with ending the meal right there, we sat and basked in our food delight until our entrees came.
I went for the house special Singapore Street Noodles (a huge portion of angel hair thin noodles with pork, shrimp and scallops).

 While Sarah went for the incredibly rich China Town Style Prime Rib (the best "bang for your buck" option on the dine out menu).

And Soph and Christine went for the Miso Glazed Salmon which was accompanied by roasted Japanese eggplant,  grilled bok choy and sake & soy.

Ending up sharing the dishes family style (except for the salmon dishes which were perfect for one person), we doggie bagged the remainder of my massive noodle dish and moved on to the last course.

We chose both the Coconut Sorbets topped with fresh tropical fruits and spiced macadamia nuts

And the apple rangoons drizzled with butterscotch sauce, cinnamon sugar and set atop a little river of butterscotch pudding.

Our check arrived along with four red velvet fortune cookies and a restaurant review sheet to which we absolutely raved about the food, ambiance, and incredible service!

I highly recommend checking out all that Restaurant Week has to offer and if you're torn as to where to go, Red Lantern comes highly highly recommended! The meal totaled to $33 and was worth every penny. This week is the perfect opportunity to treat yourself, your friends and/or your family to a great dinner for a fraction of the price. Go ahead, you know you want to.

All Hail In 'N Out Burger

Besides seeing my amazing family & friends, and visiting the amazing beaches, one of my favorite parts about going back to California is the amazing fast food chain that is In 'N Out Burger.

Now, to some of you In 'N Out is but a legend, for it only exists on the West Coast. So, this post is dedicated to you (poor) souls.

First, you go inside and order yourself one of the items on the menu....or if you're a local you order something from the (not so) secret menu. My usual order consists of animal fries, a protein burger and a Neapolitan shake. But for old times sake and the sake of everything classic, I got the double double cheeseburger with fries but kept the twist with my favourite Neapolitan shake (aka a mix of their vanilla, chocolate and strawberry milkshakes).

After patiently waiting for your food to be ready, you jump at the call of your number and run to grab your buns.

Due to it's enticing oozing cheese, secret dressing and juicy patties, my burger didn't last long enough to take too many pictures.

*This should tell you a little something about how incredible the food is because usually I'm able to hold off for a photo opp but...no....never could I ever for my In 'N Out burger.

My family, being the locals that they are (and used to have heaven a stone's throw away from their house) took more time to eat theirs. Thank goodness they did otherwise this would an even shorter post.

Next time I go, I'll be sure to beef up this post with photos. But for now, just take my word for it. You've gotta head out West to get your hands on animal fries, a double double and a Neapolitan shake.

Oh yeah, and the beaches as well. Those are pretty nice too...

B

B : banter
Nothing beats a good laugh. Your abs benefit, your brain benefits, and the spirits of you and those around you benefit as well! Banter - rowdiness - is my favorite "b" word because it plays such a big roll in my life.

I'm currently in California visiting my little cousins and boy am I getting a run for my money. Little kids are constantly being playful and silly and I love it. Us adults can get pretty serious at times and forget what it means to truly have a laugh. The fact that these two little boys find such enjoyment in butt jokes and seeing who can fart the loudest blows me away (couldn't help myself..). As nasty as they may be, I love how they make me laugh. Not saying I have a little boy's humor or anything but just seeing someone experience so much joy from something so stupid is funny in and of itself. We gotta laugh more, play more, and get silly!

The picture above is from my NYC trip with the girls over winter holiday. We all went to FAO Schwartz to show Isabel what childhood in the city is like. Eyes widened and Christine and I's memory jogged as we walked through the store. The giant teddy bears, massive candies and whimsiness of the whole store made us giggly with excitement. Nothing feels as fun as reverting back to childhood does sometimes.

Take some time to do something silly or stupid or reckless because the more laughs you have, the happier a life you'll lead! And that will help you deal with the boring stuff...like Accounting homework....