seafood – thosecoolkims

Summer Fun Day

Today was wide open and we had an itch to get on the road – Ed sold his beloved Mini this week, but it was happily replaced by his favorite car, a VW Jetta SportWagen! We decided it was a good day to break it in. We decided to head south down PCH and see where the day would take us. Too bad the sun never came out today – but the drive was gorgeous nonetheless …

We were hungry for lunch, so we hit up Yelp to find a new good place to try. We stumbled upon Crab Zone in Laguna Beach. Don’t be fooled by the cheesy name, this place really delivered! It is a seafood restaurant offering traditional type items like Clam Chowder and Seafood Gumbo, but they also have an interesting Asian Fusion twist, too. There was definitely a lot to choose from.

The 5-star ratings were pretty hard to ignore, and everyone seemed to be raving over the Dungeness Crab with Garlic and Pepper Butter Sauce, so Ed went ahead and ordered it. They really weren’t messing around – look at the size of that thing! Although he said it was probably the messiset meal he’s ever eaten, Ed swears it was worth the mess. They actually chop the legs off and cook everything in a wok, and then they “assemble” the crab back on to the plate. You get a lot of attention when its brought out to the table!

I decided to order a cup of the gumbo and get some steamed King Crab Legs. Wow – those did not disappoint either! Everything was delicious! Once again, big thanks to the Yelpers for getting us to a new destination!

After our awesome lunch, we decided to head over to OCMA (Orange County Museum of Art) for their 15 Minutes of Fame: Portraits from Ansel Adams to Andy Warhol exhibition. From OCMA’s website:

15 Minutes of Fame: Portraits from Ansel Adams to Andy Warhol explores a diverse range of photographic portraits from early modernism, to photographs of celebrities from the 1930s to 1960s, photojournalistic street photography from the 1960s, and contemporary portraiture.

All of the photos were fantastic! This photo taken by Lawrence Schiller in 1962 was one of our favorites. See Alfred Hitchcock in the rearview mirror of the car?

They also had a pretty cool photo booth in the exhibit so that you could capture your own 15 minutes of fame. Here we are with our best attempts at celebrity!

We also love OCMA because of its beautifully designed modern space.
Here’s Ed looking dapper in the tulip chair …

And me … looking pregnant!

The Day of Love

This year we decided to skip the crowded restaurants and just enjoy a home-cooked meal for Valentine’s Day. We were shopping at Sprouts on Friday night and discovered they were selling Lobster Tails for $4.99 each, and it inspired us to cook up a Seafood Feast!

We were pretty excited that we actually pulled this off! One of our favorite meals ever was a “Seafood Feast for Two” at an incredible restaurant in Seattle. We tried to replicate it in this meal. Basically, we got two mini-lobster tails, 4 crab legs, a dozen shrimp and a tilapia fillet to share. Add fresh asparagus and a baked potato and – voila! – that’s a serious seafood restaurant classic!

One thing that was kinda funny was that once we got the Lobster Tails home, we realized we didn’t know how to cook them. Thanks to the FoodNetwork.com, Ed grilled ’em up just like a pro.

And finally, it just wouldn’t be Valentine’s Day without a sweet ending. We got these Petits Fours from The Great Dane Baking Company, the same place we got our wedding cake. Awww!

Lobsterfest ’08!

We braved the crowds today and headed down to Ports o’ Call in San Pedro for Lobsterfest 2008. We love a good Lobster and we were anxious to check it out.

We decided to go for the “two-on-a-plate”. One for him, one for her.

Ed got pretty excited once he saw those lobsters, and he just couldn’t contain himself.

Carrie was pretty enthusiastic as well …

Unfortunately, the inside of those lobsters were a little more than we’d bargained for! It was pretty messy, and um … pretty gross! Ed was determined though, and he ended up polishing them right off!

Carrie decided to opt for something equally as delicious for a substitute – kettle korn.

Although we enjoyed the experience, we both agreed we prefer just the lobster tails – expertly cleaned and dissected by a professional!

SF, Day 3.

So much today – where to begin?!? We got up early with yummy breakfast in mind. We tried to hit up the local spot we kept reading about, Dottie’s True Blue Cafe, but much to our disappointment, there was a line around the block! So, we decided to keep the splurge alive and head over to The Clift Hotel, which was designed by Phillippe Starck. Ed stayed there last time he was in SF on business (lucky guy!) and he said I had to see it. Boy, was he right! It was a grand place and very exciting. Unfortunately, I was too intimidated to take pics in such a fancy place, but I have to say that it was the best breakfast we’ve ever had! We’re still salivating.

Today was also “Bay to Breakers” here in SF, which is a BIG DEAL. Ed coined it as “Burning Man, the Marathon”. There were people everywhere, in all kinds of outfits, with all kinds of alcohol and various other things that were making the 7+ mile trek across town. It was pretty cool, but pretty overwhelming – it was already pretty busy in town being a Sunday and all. But with this giant event, we figured we’d skip the sightseeing and take the road trip we wanted to go on to Bodega Bay. Of course, aside from thinking it would be a pretty drive with excellent seafood, this was the major source of inspiration:

(Yup, the spot of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds!)

The drive didn’t disappoint, it only took a little over an hour and we had the chance to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. So pretty!

Ed was hungry….

but Carrie squashed the thought…

heh.

Here we are!

Then it was off to Bodega bay where we had great scenery and awesome Dungeness Crab and Chowder at a great Restaurant!

We looked all over though and we couldn’t find the schoolhouse and the playground in the teeny-tiny town! But it was definitely a nice time getting out of the city and it really felt like we were on vacation today. Now, we’re getting all settled in at our new home for the evening, The Phoenix, and we are gonna get drinks at the Tonga Room, a Tiki Bar that has a live band doing cheesy covers on a raft that floats through the indoor lagoon. Sweeeet!!!!