118 Degrees

It has been soo long since I've gotten my usual Starbucks drink. Venti ice coffee w/ sugar free hazelnut syrup. I forgot just how quickly I slurp these drinks down. I swear it always seems like ice coffee has more caffeine than regular coffee. Even though that doesn't really make sense, I always seem to get a buzz after drinking ice coffee whereas w/ regular hot coffee I don't. Weird.

Late last night as I browsed blogs I read about this restaurant 118 degrees on quarry girl, and I realized that it was the same restaurant I have seen a million times while eating at Native Foods and visiting the tattoo shop at The Camp in Costa Mesa. I have always admired the cool wood exterior but I had never ventured inside. I had to go check it out when I heard that it wall all organic, dairy-free, raw, and eco-friendly.

After picking my sis Isabella up from school we decided to venture out to Costa Mesa to check out 118 degrees. The three of us sat at the bar and were immediately impressed by the large selection of drinks ranging from fresh juices & smoothies to coffee & tea. Issy had the Mango Madness 6 with fresh mango, banana, maca root, bee pollen, and orange juice topped w/ a rasberry puree.

OMG this was delicious. It tasted like a tropical cocktail minus the alcohol and much healthier. My mom and I both had the electrolyte lemonade 5 which was reminiscent of the lemonade you drink during the master cleanse except much yummier. It was made w/ coconut water, lemon juice, and agave (you can have it w/ cayenne pepper too). So refreshing, I want to make my own version at home sometime.

We started out with fried avocado mini-tostada 6.

Crispy buckwheat shell, spicy peppita sauce, chopped spinach, cilantro, corn, and fried avocado. The fried avocado was deliciously breaded and the sauce was super creamy.

For my main I had the lemon pesto pasta 10 with lemon pesto sauce, grape tomatoes, mushrooms, and fresh basil. This was my first time every having zucchini pasta and once again I was surprised how creamy the sauce was. I really need to buy a spiraler so I can make some zucchini pasta of my own.

My mom had the baja burrito 12 with marinated mushrooms, spinach, corn, red bell pepper, cilantro, salsa and spicy cheese topped w/ sour cream, and guacamole. I stole a few bites & it was great (almost as good as my pasta!)

While the food tasted insane there were a few let downs. Firstly they forgot to bring out the appetizer and it didn't arrive until after our main courses. Secondly the service was really slow. Both of these first 2 issues were excusable because the food was so good, but the main problem was that both my mom and I have felt really sick all day long afterwards : ( My stomach has ben killing me, and is still grumbling as I write this (and we ate like 10 hours ago).

Trying to calm down my upset stomach I munched on a couple of simple carbs...

peanut butter filled pretzels & ...

a 100 calorie whole wheat roll.

My stomach stopped bugging me for a bit so I was able to enjoy some vegan margarita pizza from Z Pizza. This soy cheese is so deceiving it really tastes like the real deal.

I had this below pieces plus too many more pieces Just to give you an idea of how much pizza I ate my mom and I almost split this entire medium pizza! Ahh I could almost kill my friend Tara for introducing me to this pizza, it just tastes way to good.

I'm going to go much on a few Tums now and hopefully get rid of this stomachache!

Crash

On Sunday night I went to go use my macbook, only to find a big question mark staring back at me in the screen and my computer unable to start up. Yesterday I brought it into Mac and they told me that my hard drive had crashed, and of course NO I do not have an external hard drive that I had backed up my files on. This has been one of those things that I have been putting off and putting off. They replaced my hard drive for free because my macbook is still under warranty, but all of my computer settings, photos, songs, papers, etc... are gone : ( I'm not going to dwell on it, but it is a bummer.

I do have my pics from Sunday afternoon though because I hadn't uploaded them on my computer yet.

While packing my sister's lunches for the next day I snacked on some peanut butter filled pretzels.

No preservatives, no artificial colors or flavors- I'm sold, and I'm sure it has nothing to do w/ the fact that they are filled w/ creamy peanut butter and have a crunchy pretzel shell. Addiction.

For dinner I had a monster raw salad.

Mixed greens w/ raw corn, sugar plum tomatoes, & shredded carrots. Topped w/ hummus.

Post mixage- I added some BBQ in there. Hummus just calls for BBQ.

My sister snapped a pic of my drinking a glass of chardonnay while working on the computer. Busted.

Post dinner I nibbled on some KooLoos while watching Date Night w/ my sisters.

I had never tried these before and decided to pick them up from Costco. They are little soy nuts topped in a crunchy flax seed coating w/ a honey BBQ seasoning. They would be good to satisfy a BBQ chip craving as they taste like healthy junkfood. I love oxymorons and this one couldn't be more fitting.

On monday morning I woke up and had a big cup of coffee w/ vanilla, soy milk creamer while I read Ayn Rand's book The Fountainhead. My friend Dru has been bugging me to read this forever, and now I understand why. It is soo good I havenot been able to put it down.

With my coffee and book I had a TJ's apple, cranberry, fiber mini-muffins heated up & topped w/ a pat of light Smart Balance. These muffins are delicious, plus they have simple ingredients and are vegan and low-cal.

As I read and ate breakfast I enjoyed the view from my balcony...

and played w/ my puppy Bondi.

Later I went to the mall to get my macbook fixed, and do a quick shop. My mom and I ate at the food court, and stopped by this delicious little place that I cannot remember the name for the life of me.

First you pick out your fresh veggies and a sauce and they add noodles....

and then they cook it in front of you on a a big Mongolian grill.

I added more sriracha & sesame seeds. So yummy & filling. Unlike a lot of other Asian restaurants where the sauce is often really heavy and greasy, this one is quite light.

Later on as I packed my sister's lunches I snacked on some of TJ's Honey, Pass the Snack Mix.

Sometimes I love little kid food.

For dinner I decided to keep on snacking starting w/ a piece of baguette bread w/ hummus, roasted eggplant, and spicy mango chutney.

I had some self restraint and put down the carbage, and ate some more chutney and hummus paired w/ carrots and celery.