Posts Tagged‘Big Sur’

California Central Coasting

by KitchenRebel on March 14, 2016

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We just got back from a week-long road trip exploring the California Central Coast. It was glorious.

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My favourite hotel room was a suite in Monterey. I didn’t realize that he booked a huge suite with fireplace, balcony, and a gorgeous spa bathroom. I would have been happy if all I got was that bathroom. The bed was amazing, bedding was luxurious, with soft plush blankets and robes. We were supposed to go out to dinner but we didn’t want to leave the bed. We had M&M’s and coffee for dinner that night.

I wish I took a more, and better pics, of this lovely suite and not just this pic I snapped as soon as we put our bags down.. and yes that my undies on the floor… don’t you (or your companion) rip your clothes off as soon as you enter a hotel room?

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Of course, for me the highlight of any holiday is always the food. Oh my goodness the food. Fresh seafood for days. Quite literally.

Grilled Seafood platter in Monterey, Shrimp, salmon, sand dabs and scallops with a beurre blanc sauce, couscous and grilled veggies. The seafood was good, salmon and sea dabs were my favourite. And the couscous was really amazing.

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Crispy fried calamari. When I mentioned to him that some of them look like spiders, he didnt want to eat it. I had no such problem. I’ve never met a sea creature I didn’t like eating.

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My favourite place we visited on our trip was Morro Bay. Such a charming little fishing town. It reminded me so much of home, I want/ed to live there.  We were there on a week day, it was quiet, mostly locals around. And everyone we walked by, or talked to was so friendly. I loved it so much on the way back we stopped there for the weekend. I much preferred quieter weekdays with less visitors.

And the food.. omg the seafood was amazing. This seafood salad with huge shrimp, crab and lobster was probably the best salad, and the best shrimp I have had since I’ve been in the US.  So funny to me that they call it shrimp when its so big. We’d call them prawns, shrimp being the smaller ones, but in US it seems they’re all shrimp. And these shrimp were giant shrimp.

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Oysters Rockerfella. I think the reason oysters are an aphrodisiac for me is that if he’s buying me oysters, theres usually drinks and more exquisite food to follow. And we both know which side of the menu I’m ordering from – the expensive side. And thats a turn on.

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Oh the lobster. I ate so much lobster. This was probably the highlight of the trip for me.
The last time I ate so much lobster was in my teens when I spent summers at a fishing village called Paternoster, during lobster season. Lobsters were literally walking out of the water, and for about 3 weeks I ate nothing but lobster. Lobster for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
There is just nothing like lobster straight of the ocean, cooked in sea water. And theres just nothing like having so much lobster you get sick of it. Its like complaining about having too much happiness and joy.
While I didn’t have that much lobster on this trip, I will remember this as the Lobster Road Trip.

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I’ve never been a fan of Surf and Turfs. I’m a seafood lover, I don’t need meat with it. But this bacon wrapped fillet mignon was a thing of beauty and may have turned me on to the dark side, or should that be red side.  It was so good we went back to have it a second time.

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Of course I had fish and chips everywhere. This best fish and chips of the trip was the Halibut and Chips from Giovannis in Morro Bay. You can order seafood online from Giovannis! I’ve ordered from them in the past. Fresh seafood delivered to my door, without the huge shipping cost that usually comes with ordering refrigerated foods online.
This was the best fish and chips I’ve had outside Cape Town. And anyone who’s had the fish and chips in Cape Town will tell you its the best in the world.

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Buffalo Calamari. They said, “if you like Buffalo wings and you like fried calamari, you’ll love this” I wasn’t so sure. Sometimes combining two good dishes don’t always make a great dish, but they were right, buffalo calamari was yummy.

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On our way back I saw an ad for a Nike Factory Store, and I couldn’t resist. Not only is Nike my favourite running gear, but after a week of feasting I was going to have to put in some serious miles to work off all this glorious food.

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The view from our room in Pismo Beach. A private balcony and this view had us staying here an extra night. We were sad to leave.

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The Lobster Road Trip of 2016 was simply sublime. The California Coast is stunning. I’m already planning the next trip.

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