Getty Villa --> I'm not Worthy

For a September day, it was sadly overcast and drizzly. (It reminded me of the drive to CB.)  Surprisingly, it only took us like 45 mins to get there so we arrived well before our 12 pm reservation.  Thankfully, AK had a coupon so we saved on the $15 parking. OMG!!

The first few images of the Getty were beautiful.  The building was very spectacular and the gardens were very serene and beautiful.

Getty Villa Front Entrance

Getty Villa driving back from Malibu Seafood

However, we got bored after like 2 hours.  It wasn't like I didn't want to learn about culture.  It was just that I was B-O-R-E-D.  It wasn't interesting to me.  I guess reading all the romantic books about larger than life heroes made the reality of all of the relics so bland to me.  Of course some of the art was beautiful but it was just not as spectacular as I had expected.  I guess I had built the Getty Villa so much in my mind that by the time I actually went it was like: Meh! What would happen if I broke something.  Uggh! or Dayum! That's old!

The highlights:

Medusa Mosaic

 

Gold Jewelry



Fountain near the entrance of the Villa



Studio near the Getty Villa

Afterwards we went to the Malibu Seafood which was about 10 miles from the Getty Villa.  From the Yelp reviews, it sounded like an awesome place.  Maybe it was the overcast skies but it was very crowded.  Our expections were maybe too high because I think the bees and the flies were more excited by our meal than we were.  We had the large shrimp plate, clam chowder and the squid steak sandwich and fries.  It was very generic. Almost wished we had gone further to The Sunset Restaurant BUT after the experience at Raya, I think we were still a bit flustered about snotty people.  At least the drive back reminded me of the view from Raya.  Overall, I figure one day, I'll be "mature" enough to appreciate art and culture...Sadly yesterday was NOT that day.  Wish the weather had been nicer but it was a nice day trip.



Lunch at Malibu Seafood



Malibu: View from the car

   

My food isn't cooked aka... C'mon now!!!

So I'm on vacation otherwise known as NOT AT WORK so AK and I decided to do a one day excursion to Carlsbad.  Along the way, we decided to try Raya at the Ritz Carlton Hotel.  The drive down was pretty uneventful.  I had made reservations for 11:30 am because I wasn't sure if it would be busy.  Because of traffic possibilities and a woefully out of date toll road rate online (it said 3.00 off peak but in actuality it was $5), we took the 73 toll.  It was a nice peaceful drive for that stretch and it was like a good 25 minutes.

When we arrived, Dana Point was overcast and dreary.  The Ritz Carlton is set overlooking the cliff and we had to valet park.  If you eat at the restaurants, it costs $5.  When we arrived, we were greeted by the concierge and she informed us that the wonderful floral arrangements are changed every four to five days:

Because of the overcast skies, we were able to look outside and see a pretty nice view from our table.  The restaurant didn't have that many people and there is a walkway leading down to the beach where there were surfers and joggers taking advantage of the milder weather.

Because we had a drive ahead to Carlsbad, we decided to do the small plates and share.  In the past, I've had hits and misses with small plates.  They are either really, really small or just right.  I was worried about feeling hungry but at the same time being sleepy since I was driving.  We had a nice little selection of bread with a creamy ricotta like spread, a salsa of sorts and butter to munch on before our plates arrived.  We settled on three plates to share: Ceviche Mixto, Wagyu Beef Churrasco and Rock Shrimp Quesidilla. 

The Ceviche Mixto had the rock shrimp, calamari, octopus, corn, mandarin and heart of palm with a thick anji panca sauce.  It had a side of plantain chips that were very oily but thinly sliced like they didn't have time to drain properly. Personally, I liked the hardier, thicker plantains chips from Porto's.  The sauce was like a thick orange concentrated juice reduction but quite tangy.  However, I did feel like I needed to add salt to it. 

The Waygu Beef Churrasco was cooked medium rare which I was shocked about since AK does NOT eat.  She would eat WELL DONE but she ordered.  It came with the yuca fries and again, the fries came greasy.  It's like they didn't take the time to use a paper towel or a drainer to drain the food.  I'm sort of glad I didn't get the side of fries (which if you've read this blog know I love).  The beef was very tender but I guess I had higher expectations for Waygu beef.  I expected it to be like "buttah".  As expected, AK sort of gnawed the edges off the second slice of beef and even with the chipotle hollindaise and seasoning, it still felt like it was missing something, like a flavor or spice.

The final dish was the rock shrimp quesadillas.  I have to say this:  they look so cute.  I'm sorry but who makes flour tortillas that small nowadays except for restaurant service.  LOL  The quesadillas were light and had nice pieces of shrimp and just enough cheese.  They were so petite that it was difficult to really get a lot of the tomatillo-chipotle salsa and avocado crema on them.  However, it was nicely down.



Our experience was tempered by a rather demanding couple sitting next to us.  I felt so bad for the servers and ultimately the restaurant manager who had to deal with them.  I believed they ordered a calamari dish and split it between themselves.  She had eaten her portion and halfway through he decided he didn't like it and sent it back.  Then they order the Pan Seared Sea Scallops and the drama began.  I believe they must have sent it back at least three times and again, he did the same thing of eating halfway and sending it back.  The restaurant manager got so exasperated that she ultimately gave them something else to try after redo his plate YET again and him wanting to send it back AGAIN.  While I was waiting for AK, she kept glancing over to our table giving me a dirty look like I didn't belong there.  Just because she was a Chanel toting, sunglass wearing woman doesn't mean she was better than me! :P

The Raya was a very nice place to go to but I don't know if I would go back if the patrons are as rude as the experience I had yesterday.  Just because you are over 50 doesn't mean you have class or money.   

Had Enough Sugar Yet?

Today I went to the Boiling Crab with AK, Donna and Jeannette. Afterwards, we decided to go to Tebo Tebo Tea Lounge, a new tea hangout by T place. When we got there, it was so busy. The decor is bright and loud like a typical yogurt or tea bar. The drinks are given fancy names THE STICKY MESS for the Avocado in sweet condensed milk.  We got Choco Choco (Me: Chocolate, Cappuccino and Oreo in non-fat frozen yogurt), J and D got Acai (Acai, Straberry, Cherry, Peach and Banana w/frozen yogurt) and AK got the Tropical Twister ( Strawberry and Lychee w/Lychee bits and Basil Seeds).  We put it in to-go cups instead of their carafes.  We weren't sure if we were going to finish them.  The flavored tea bottle looked like a Gatorade bottle but is actually their bottle that has Tebo Tebo embossed on it.  We actually thought it was a recycled Gatorade bottle at first glance.  We did a double take and saw that it was sealed.  Pretty neat.



Acai, Choco Choco, Tropical Twister, Acai w/Boba



Mango 101 w/Red Bean, Taro and Mango Pudding

We also decided to share The Grinch (Green Tea Snow Ice Topped with Sweet Red Bean and Chewy Mochi) with  Taro and Mango pudding.  However, they ran out and we settled for the Mango 101 (Mango Flavored Snow Ice Topped with Mountain of Fresh Cut Mango) with Taro and Red Bean, Taro and Mango Pudding.  So it was a partial disappointment because the mango was so sour.  Although yellow, it was unripened.  Yucky... I think there was the mango pudding but not sure.  We got HUGE spoons that were like shovels but the other spoon was a teaspoon.  I guess they figured we wouldn't get 2nds. :P

B Mine --> Before

The main event was for the Toast in the Box.  This is called B MINE. Sweet condensed milk toast, custard cream, fresh strawberry, peach and vanilla ice cream.  It took a while for it to come out but that was okay since we had the Mango 101 and drinks.  When the box came out, we had NO idea how to cut this--> middle, side, diagonally?  In the end, the waiter said to cut the "door"... however, the damage was done.  It didn't cascade down like a waterfall but sort of went kerplop.




B Mine --> After

 The inside was pieces of toasted bread that was mixed in with the evaporated milk and cream.  There was only a few pieces of strawberries and it was canned peaches with only one scoop of vanilla ice cream.  The toasted pieces reminded me of the maple toast from 85 Degrees.  They were soaking in the cream and milk and I think we were so overloaded on sugar that it got to be to be a bit too much for us.  A good cup of decaf, unsweetened coffee may have been in order. 



A word of caution though:  per Yelp, Tebo Tebo has been known to have a surcharge of $3.00 per person for those who don't order.  Whether that is true or not, I'm not sure.  Their service is so-so.  Although the waiter repeated our order, the four of us couldn't understand him and we work CS.  I would definitely check the bill and be 100% careful about what you order.  Would I come back?  Not sure.