menu

Menu

close

Close

A Southern California Weekend

Every year for the past 24 years I’ve spent a week with my family in Laguna Beach, CA.   Because of my internship schedule I wasn’t able to stay for the entire week this year, but I tried my hardest to squeeze a weeks worth of perfect family time into a quick weekend.

Laguna 2015-6

I love being married and getting to live with Andrew, but even though I live in the same city as my parents and sisters, I don’t get to see them enough. This trip is a time when we all come together for a week.  It’s an important time for us, which is why I was so emotional about having to miss some of it.

I arrived early Saturday morning and started the trip off with Layne (my big sister) and me walking to our favorite bakery to pick out some pastries.

We stopped for a tea & coffee along the way.

Laguna 2015-7Laguna 2015-8Laguna 2015-9

We got back to the condo and walked in to my Dad making his famous breakfast tacos.  He crisps the tortilla in a skillet with some butter + olive oil.  Crispy tortilla topped with creamy eggs is the way to go.

He’s also coined his method of cooking eggs as the “decreased heat method.”  You scramble the eggs, pour them into a skillet over medium heat with some butter + olive oil, and then you use a wooden spatula to constantly stir the eggs over medium heat.  Just as you notice the eggs are starting to cook you decrease the heat to medium-low and once the eggs are 90% cooked you cut the heat completely and keep stirring until they are creamy and cooked through.  The perfect eggs.

 Laguna 2015-42

The rest of the morning was spent shopping around town.  We made a trip to Trader Joe’s for wine, chocolate and ingredients for Andrew and I to make dinner for the group.  Since we’ve gotten older my dad suggested that each of the couples pick a night to cook for everyone so all the pressure isn’t on my mom and him. 

Andrew and I picked Saturday night to cook because I already had another craving for Sunday night dinner.

Laguna 2015-2

Then my mom and I stopped for a smoothie lunch.

Our vacations tend to go big breakfast–>lighter lunch–>big dinner…with room left in between meals for Trader Joe’s goodies. 

Laguna 2015-17 Laguna 2015-15

Laguna 2015-33

We then went back to the condo. 

We watched a movie (Shrek lol) and then hit the jacuzzi…

Laguna 2015-43

…followed by some wine & cheese on the patio before Andrew and I got started on dinner.

Laguna 2015-18
On the dinner menu was baked asparagus topped with sweet potato gnocchi, seared scallops and sautéed shiitake mushrooms.  Served with a pecan + blue cheese + cranberry salad on the side.

Laguna 2015-20

 Sunday morning we woke up early for another family walk.  

So let’s discuss my dad’s outfit.  He loves the color green more than anyone I’ve ever met.  There were jokes made that if I would’ve turned on the flash for this picture my phone would have exploded from all the brightness.

Laguna 2015-21

We stopped for a photo op.  This was where we took our engagement picture 2 years ago so we’ve been taking the same picture every year since.

engagement Laguna 2015-22

 More pastries were bought.

Laguna 2015-3

Then we got working on breakfast.  Eggs + Whole Food’s black forest bacon (SO GOOD…and I’m not really a bacon person) + cheese on expertly buttered sourdough toast.

The perfectly buttered toast modeled by Quinn (my little sister)…

Laguna 2015-24

The breakfast…

Laguna 2015-26

 Breakfast always tends to be finished off with some pastries and a second cup of milky coffee.

Laguna 2015-27

 Then we hit the beach for the morning.

Laguna 2015-28 Laguna 2015-29

 My sister & Marco (aka that Italian/her fiance).

Laguna 2015-30

For lunch I wanted another smoothie bowl, so Andrew and I headed to Banzai Bowl.  Mine was made with bananas, strawberries, acai, dark chocolate and topped with coconut, granola, blueberries, kiwi and honey. I actually asked for no kiwi because sometimes it makes my tongue feel funny, but they missed the memo and I ate it and I was fine.

Laguna 2015-31 Laguna 2015-32

Then we walked back to the condo to hangout for the rest of the afternoon.  We did some snacking on queso + chips. 

Followed by wine a couple hours later.

Laguna 2015-11 Laguna 2015-4

Since it was my last night, my family let me pick our dinner spot…so BJ’s Pizza it was.  The wait was an hour so we sat outside and enjoyed the rest of the sunset and watched all the fancy cars drive by.

Laguna 2015-34 Laguna 2015-35

 We started dinner with an order of fried calamari.  Always made yummier with an ocean view!

Laguna 2015-36 

Then we ordered 3 pizzas to share (Sweet Pig and Mediterranean are my favorites).

Laguna 2015-37 Laguna 2015-41

…and then I talked everyone into ordering pizookies.

Laguna 2015-40

And just like that I caught a late night flight and balled my eyes out the entire way home.  I’m a crier for sure.  Even though it was quick, I’m glad I got to spend the weekend with everyone…and I don’t think I could have crammed in anymore fun.

10 comments

  1. So glad you had such an awesome weekend! Definitely my kind of weekend filled with family, the outdoors.. and of course great food! :)

  2. Looks like a fantastic weekend. I absolutely love Laguna…the small town atmosphere is perfect for a quaint, simple, relaxing vacation. I love that you spend quality time with your family. My family and I are actually planning a vacation…it’s been years since we have been able to escape and have some quality family time together! So looking forward to it :)

  3. Sounds like a perfectly wonderful weekend with your family. I crave the time I get to spend with my family and close relatives. I’ve always dreamed of visiting Laguna Beach…

  4. It’s great that you and your family take the time to get together like that. I also live fairly close to my family but it seems like we are all caught up in life and have a hard time spending quality time together!

  5. Your socal weekend just looks perfect and divine in every way :) Cheers!

  6. I live just a few minutes from Laguna Beach. I could have seen you :) haha Glad you had a fun time. That bakery is the best!

  7. Pingback: Laguna Beach 2020. – Yeah…Immaeatthat

  8. Pingback: Laguna Beach. – immaEATthat

  9. Pingback: Laguna Beach 2020. – immaEATthat

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *