1,000

I can’t believe I missed it! I hit my 1,000th post this weekend!!  Looking back at my first post from October 2007 lets me see exactly how far I’ve come!!!  I can’t believe this year will mark 4 years of journaling my eats and adventures through work!  I hope you’ve enjoyed the journey as much as I have!

Anyhow, Happy (Late) Valentine’s Day! I’m sorry I missed it yesterday, but I was busy enjoying Japanese food with my boy and enjoying new areas that even though have been super close to me my entire life, I have never been there!  Welcome to Hermosa and Redondo Beach!

Whit and I spent most of Monday walking the beach boardwalks between the two beaches, hitting up surf shops and having me gawk over the lots of veggie and organic friendly eateries!  I love beach towns in CA because they’re always like that!

I did snack on a banana nut muffin and an apple earlier in the morning before heading out but after a bit Whit was hungry so we stopped by the hotel restaurant, Baleen, because with our Living Social hotel deal we also got a $25 voucher for their restaurant!  He ordered their Eggs Florentine that was topped on some crab, and although I got a fruit plate (for $5…holy crap!) I wasn’t hungry so I didn’t push it, ate the berries, and gave the rest to Whit.

He was happy with it to balance out the richness of his plate!

After that we headed to the other beach and purchased a few things…myself including a dress/long shirt that will be great to wear with a pair of crop jeans when it gets a tad warmer!  I can’t wait!  It makes me feel so girly!

I couldn’t tell if I was more hungry or thirsty from all the walking, so I figured the best bet for lunch would be a smoothie!  We found a small café call Planet Earth Eco Café with a nice/different list of smoothies so I decided to give one a shot!  It included Maca Powder which I know Gina loves, but was skeptical since the cashier said it was like maple, and I’m not a fan.  Thank goodness it is a backseat when it comes to flavor, but good for it’s nutrition!

More than anything it tasted like banana, but it sure did fill me up!  Oh, and by the way, something I forgot to mention about going Vegan for a Week was that the size of my stomach must have shrunk because I can barely eat what used to be a normal amount of food!  I’m easily full after a small amount of food, which I’m attributing to the greater amount of fiber I’m getting with the extra fruits and veggies.

Anyhow, we got back to the hotel and took some time to chill out before getting ready for our dinner!!!  It was something I had been kinda stressing over because of the dress I had to wear (spaghetti straps and I have a love hate relationship) but ended up of course, working out alright in the end!

While Whit napped and I blogged, I snacked on some cashews to keep me satisfied for dinner, which was going to be on a whim to the both of us because we were going to the Riviera and just going to pick a restaurant!

We arrived and right away before we even got to talking, I saw a small Japanese restaurant and suggested we go there!  Best decision ever!

You know you’re at an authentic Japanese restaurant when they all speak Japanese to each other!  I love listening to the language!  And to boot, they had their menu in both English and Japanese, with pictures if needed!

As much as I wanted the Tempura Vegetable Roll I knew the fact that it was fried would mess with my belly so I went with the normal veggie and a cucumber roll to tide me over.  We also got a bowl of miso soup to start off with…love me some green onion!

Whit went along with some baked oysters and a variety of fish topped sushi to keep him happy!  It was definitely prettier than mine!

We totally had room for dessert so we each got something different: peach sorbet and tempura fried green tea ice cream!

I loved the sorbet, and kept most of that to myself while Whit enjoyed his dessert alone…since I’m not a fan of green tea ice cream, or green tea to be exact.  I know, what kind of Japanese am I?!  Haha!

We ended the night with a movie before having to hit the hay early because we had an early morning to get through LA traffic and back home to work…vacation weekend over!

Today was no where near as interesting so I’ll just give you some photos…which doesn’t include everything because we were either on the road…or I didn’t know how to make chocolate covered macadamia nuts look pretty in a picture…

Now I’m bracing for the incoming winter storm and hoping it’ll spare me so I can get lots of work done tomorrow!  It’s gonna be a cold one!