LA mini vaca

Jon and I drove to Pasadena on Sunday for the Rose Bowl Flea Market, an amazingly large swap meet held on the second Sunday of every month. A plethora of wondrous vendors that sell everything from handmade items to vintage treasures, excellent pieces of furniture, knick-knacks and clothing.



We bought a few books and I got this really awesome canvas tote bag:



For those of you interested, admission is $8 per person and regular hours are from 9am-3pm.



There are some food booths as well (duh!), so make sure to come with an empty belly! We got some garlic fries with BIG chunks of garlic and a mixed berry lemonade. I ended up eating the chunks of garlic with ketchup when all the fries were gone, oops!


[garlic + ketchup]

We wanted a snack after the flea market and opted to drive to Melrose and get veggie dogs from Astro Burger. This fast food establishment offers a lot of vegetarian options, as well as greek, pizza, burgers, mexican, breakfast foods and sandwiches.


[also seen on Californication]

It was time to head to our hotel in Venice Beach. Since a friend suggested we try Seed, Jon booked us a hotel room on the boardwalk within walking distance. We met some friends for dinner and had a fabulous time. Seed only serves vegan, macrobiotic organic cuisine, which is fine by me! It was pretty flavorful and healthy to boot!



I had the Seitan Sirloin Burger on ciabatta bun with caramelized onions, red pepper aioli and soy blue cheese and of course the pomme frittes!



Jon had the BBQ Tempeh Burger on ciabatta bun with tomatoes and vegenaise and a side of the sweet potato fries.

I've never cared for Venice, it's a dump with sketchy, dirty weirdos everywhere. I suppose it's a good place to people watch, but after this trip I have no desire to go back.


[welcome to the future home of Planet Earth]

Our hotel, The Cadillac, was sleazy and nothing like the pictures. Neither of us were very impressed when we got there. And as the night progressed, it got worse. From about 1am-6am there was a couple in the room next to ours yelling at each other and throwing things. Luckily (if you want to call it that) they stopped for about an hour somewhere in that time after I had to call the front desk thinking someone was legitimately going to get shot. At least I took away memories that I can laugh about now.


[view from our hotel room]

After a long night, we got up and ready. One last stop in Echo Park to Brite Spot. This place is TOO CUTE. The menu, the decor, every piece of art, the tableware... I absolutely loved it all!







I had the vegetarian chicken n gravy with mashed potatoes and some raw broccoli. Yum!



Jon had the vegetarian chicken and waffles. Gotta love it!

Once we were all finished up at my new favorite breakfast spot, we took off to Disneyland!




[courtesy of Jon]

We actually only rode Space Mountain, Astro Blasters and Pirates of the Caribbean then hopped back on the train to the car so we could travel down to Cafe Rio!



I introduced Jon to Cafe Rio in Salt Lake City last year; somewhere I ate on a regular basis and now desire all of the time. Since then it's a household craving and sometimes we have to drive an hour plus north to indulge.



It's always a toss up between the veggie salad or bean, rice and cheese burrito smothered in mild sauce.



Well there you have it, what one of our mini vacations consists of!