[Laguna Niguel] [Buffet] Souplantation

Souplantation
23870 Aliso Creek Road
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(949) 831-6055
http://www.souplantation.com

I get vegetable craving once in a while.  When I do, I always head to Souplantation.  We've been to Laguna Niguel's Souplantation three times now.  The food and service is always good there.  It was never really crowded.  We like this mellow Souplantation better than the crazy one in Irvine, where we always feel like in a war zone fighting to get soup and bread.


Lunch ($7.59/person)

We always go to Souplantation with coupon.  The coupon price for lunch is $7.59 per person.  I think we saved about $1.50/person with the coupon.  When I create my own salad, I go for food with different colors. But I don't get too much, because I gotta save room for other yummy food.

[Newport Beach] [Seafood] Rockin' Baja Coastal Cantina

Rockin' Baja Coastal Cantina
2104 W Oceanfront
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 723-0606
http://www.rockinbaja.com

Yesterday was first of Newport Beach Restaurant Week.  After looking over all the menus, I was very interested in trying Rockin' Baja Coastal Cantina's seafood bucket.  After appetizers and wines at Versai, we headed to Newport Beach Balboa Peninsula for dinner.



The restaurant is a lot smaller than it looked from outside.  There's a very long bar on the first floor, and only about 7 tables on the second floor.

[Yorba Linda] [Wine Bar] Versai The Wine Bar

Versai The Wine Bar
18248 Imperial Hwy
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
(714) 993-5421
http://www.versaithewinebar.com

I have a $40 Groupon from Versai The Wine Bar that was about to expire.  I don't think I've ever been to a wine bar before.  We thought it would be fun to stop by to have a little pre-dinner drinks.



The inside decor was beautiful!  We grabbed two seats at the inside long table.  The place filled up fairly quick.

[Bread Machine] Cranberry-Raisin Bread with Nutmeg

The recipe from the book was Cranberry-Golden Raisin Bread with Cardamon. I didn't have golden raisin nor cardamon at http://www.eileenlikestoeat.com. So I substituted regular raisin for the golden raisin, and nutmeg for Cardamon. It turned out to be delicious!


Cranberry-Raisin Bread with Nutmeg

For 1.5 Pound Loaf: 1-1/4 C water, 2 T butter, 2 T brown sugar, 3 C bread flour, 1/4 C dry milk, 1 T gluten, 1-1/2 t salt, 1 t ground nutmeg, 2 t SAF yeast.  Set bread machine on sweet bread cycle and crust on light.  When the machine beeps, add 2/3 C raisins and 2/3 C dried cranberries.

[Shopping] Handbag by Olivia+Joy & iHome Charging Station

I love the segment "Jill's Deals and Steals" on Today's Show! Out of the 5 discounted deals on January 11th show, I bought 3 items.


Knightlife Hobo by Olivia+Joy ($98.00 $19.00)

First item is a purse from Olivia+Joy.  This is such a cute bag!  It's a lot bigger than I expected, too.

[Teddy & Twinkle] We're Sleepy

Puppies sure sleep a lot. They play like crazy for 1 or 2 hours, then they'll just pass out for 3 or 4 hours.



After playing at my sister's house, they got sleepy.  They jumped on the couch to take a nap.

[Arcadia] [American] Cheesecake Factory

Cheesecake Factory
400 S Baldwin Ave
Arcadia, CA 91007
(626) 447-2800
http://www.thecheesecakefactory.com

At the end of every year, I will exchange the points I accumulated from credit cards into gift cards.  And those gift cards are usually restaurant gift cards because, yup you know it, I like to EAT!  haha....  I have a $50 gift card from Cheesecake Factory, and sister felt like some yummy cheesecake.  So we headed to Arcadia mall for dinner & cheesecake.


Bread

I always like Cheesecake Factory's bread, and always ended up eating too much of it.  By the way, why is Cheesecake Factory always so dark?  I thought it was supposed to be a family friendly type of restaurant.  But they make it so dark in there that we couldn't even see the food that well.  Are they trying to make Cheesecake Factory into a romantic type of restaurant?