Panera Bread

For a quick, easy, and pretty healthy lunch, I like to have a soup and salad sometimes. Panera, similar to Corner Bakery and Boudin type places, offers such combos.

Vegetarian CreamyTomato Soup and Classic Salad

I love a tomato soup, so ordered their Vegetarian Creamy Tomato soup. They also have a couple of other vegetarian friendly soups...the Garden Vegetable Soup with Pesto and Low-Fat Vegetarian Black Bean soup. I like that this tomato soup is creamier tasting rather than sour tasting as with many tomato soups. I like both types...so both are tasty to me. The Classic Salad has mixed greens, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions tosseded with their reduced fat balsamic vinaigrette. I like that this is simple, not overly processed, and therefore pretty good for you. It comes with white bread...which is the not so healthy part...but I give that to someone else to eat and now I've got a pretty healthy meal. =)

Panera Bread

http://www.panerabread.com

Anjin - Costa Mesa, CA : What This Vegetarian Eats At This Yakiniku Place

So one time (should be usually) the meat eaters around me wanted to eat at this Japanese grilled meat place and assured me there were some veggie things I could eat. Okay...let's go. A vegetarian eating yakiniku? Is that possible? The food, as with most places, is limited but yes it is possible.

Vegetable Soup

Anjin's vegetable soup is quite tasty. It is light, filled with different vegetables and flavors from them all blend well together. The above picture is after the soup has been distributed into smaller bowls. I prefer a thin soup like this instead of a thicker creamier soup (generally speaking)...so that's why I liked this.

Vegetable Soup

The second time I went I just drank the whole humongous bowl by myself. Grilled what? This is enough for me! =) I can't even tell what all the ingredients are in there, but it looks like scallions, bean sprouts (two different kinds), spinach, carrots, some kind of daikon, and some Asian vegetables...I can't tell since the greens were all chopped up...but it was good.

Vegetable Plate

They did have a vegetable plate for grilling. The corn and some mushrooms are already on the grill. There's different mushrooms, carrots, yam, onions, and peppers. Sometimes the plate is a little different.

Grilling Veggies on the side

I made sure to keep just the veggies on 1/3 of the grill. The meat eaters can eat the veggies that have touched the meat. =) If you go with 6 people, I think those tables have 2 grills, so then you can have one veggie grill and one meat grill. The meat cooks pretty quickly so they shouldn't mind doing that. =) Either way, grilled veggies are always yummy.

This place usually has a wait, so if you want to get in and eat at 5:00PM, you should get there before 5:00PM for their first round. Otherwise you can probably get in about an hour or so later for their second round...but still put your name in early. I don't know what happens later on...but people have waited two hours if you go later in the evening! So try to get there early! Unless you don't mind waiting.

Anjin
3033 Bristol Street, Ste N
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 979-6700
Mon-Sun 5:00PM - 1:00AM

OC Fair 2011 - Orange County Fairgrounds, Costa Mesa, CA

So as a vegetarian that's trying to be kind of healthy, I ate something before I went to the OC Fair. There are the options of pizza and fried vegetables, but I didn't really want to eat that. I just had a couple of snacks along the way.

BBQ Corn

This corn was yummy, sweet and good for me plain like this. It's barbecued out in the open, not roasted in its husk. Both varieties are good. If the corn is good, it's nice and sweet...yum.

Fruit and Pretzel Mix (with Chocolate)

Now I didn't eat these, but they looked so good. Wasn't hungry enough to eat a plate of fruit, pretzels and chocolate.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries.

On the bottom shelf were plates of chocolate covered strawberries....yum...nom nom nom. Oh, I didn't eat these either. Instead I took pictures of the above food while waiting for...

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

My strawberry banana smoothie. This was good. Yummmm! All these fruits were at this fruit stand with caramel apples and chocolate strawberries and all things fruit. This was my favorite stand because I love fruit! Good smoothie...better than any chain smoothie place I've been at.

Funnel Cake

Last thing on this blog is funnel cake! Well I didn't eat this either, The Meat-eater did. If I were to pick something fried, I would've tried the Australian potatoes...those looked good...and heard they were good too. And something I was curious about would've been the fried Klondike bar. How to do that? Although I've tried Tempura Ice-Cream so...it's probably similar. Either way...oh so bad for you so I stayed away. Fried foods no longer sit too well in my tummy. (Well a little is ok.) ;-)

Guppy House - Irvine, CA : Shaved Ice & Boba Milk Tea

So we were at Diamond Jamboree again and I wanted some shaved ice. Hadn't had shaved ice in a long long time. So we headed over to Guppy Tea House and got the "to go" shaved ice. The ones you eat there are HUGE, so I thought "to go" would be enough for me.

Taro and Red Bean Shaved Ice (to go)

I remember they used to come in a wide cup with a lid type of container (kind of like Yogurtland cups) but I guess it's been a while and now it's in a big drinking cup. Kind of inconvenient for getting to the goodies on the bottom. I ordered the red bean and taro shaved ice, which comes with condensed milk as well. The red bean is the bottom most layer...looks like some condense milk and then a layer of taro, some more condensed milk and ice...and some more condensed milk. So I guess it's been a while since I've had shaved ice...but this was soooooo sweet to me. Actually I don't usually like condensed milk...perhaps without it it would be less sweet...or more ice wouldn't hurt. Stuff in Asia didn't seem so sweet...I guess this is Americanized shaved ice? Do people really like stuff this sweet? I guess you have to like condensed milk...which I don't really care for so that's probably why I didn't like it so much. (I didn't ask if you can get it without the condensed milk...that would help.)

Boba Milk Tea

Also tried someone's boba milk tea....even though Lollicup was in the same plaza...we were already at Guppy getting shaved ice so here it is. I tried it and...the boba was really mushy and small. Like it was sitting in the sugar syrup too long and it eroded, shrunk, was super sweet and mushy. Smaller than boba but bigger than pearl sized. The tea itself was...really milky. I've heard that the milk tea here isn't as good as at their original location in Cerritos so I don't usually come here to get milk tea....now I know. Now if you have a sweet tooth and want to get your sugar fix, this is the place!

Guppy House
http://www.myguppyteahouse.com/
2730 Alton Parkway, Suite 101
Irvine, CA 92614
(949) 851-9788

BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse : Veggie Burger

So I don't usually go to BJ's but they do have a variety of food and beer. For vegetarians you can get pizza (they're known for their deep dish and they now have whole wheat), pasta, giant potatoes, veggie burgers, salads...you get the picture.

BJ's Handcrafted Root Beer

For a beverage I usually get their Handcrafted Root Beer. It is so good. They use beet sugar instead of plain white sugar, and it just tastes better. It is sweet...but it's not the sweet that bothers me for some reason. And of course...free refills! Yay! *gulp* *gulp* *gulp*

Side Salad

I ordered the veggie burger and substituted the fries with a spring salad. They brought this out before the burger. So it's mixed greens, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and croutons. I'm glad they have mixed greens. So many restaurants offer you their house salad with just plain lettuce as their green. =P So this part is pretty healthy.

Veggie Burger

My veggie burger came on a wheat bun (I asked for that or else it's plain white) with lettuce tomatoes and pickles. The menu says it comes with red onions, but mine didn't, which is fine because I would have removed them anyway. I consider this semi-healthy because the patty is processed and the lettuce is just iceberg lettuce...but it's on a wheat bun and the spring salad before makes this a semi-healthy meal. I added ketchup onto the burger for flavor. I would say it's a simple burger. Nothing fancy, not terrible tasting, but not great either. It's good for sustenance and it doesn't taste bad....which is why I don't usually like to come here. I mean yes there is food for vegetarians, but it's not really good. The pasta isn't great either (to me) and I don't like deep dish pizza...so it pretty much doesn't suit my taste. On the occasion that a vegetarian does come here with their meat eater friends...there are options...I'm just saying it's ok food (in my opinion). The Meat-eater doesn't think their food is that great either. Some people say Naples is expensive, but if you come here it's similar pricing and I think Naples is better quality food...in my opinion anyway.

BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse
http://www.bjsbrewhouse.com/
Location this was consumed:
13130 Jamboree Road
Irvine, CA 92602
(714) 665-8595

Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria - Anaheim, CA

Pizza is one of my favorite foods. I used to love New York style (since I grew up in New York), but I can't find good NY style pizza here in Orange County. Also my tastes have changed and I do find it kind of greasy now. However, I do enjoy a good thin crust pizza once in a while. The closest one I found to NY style was Slice of New York Pizza in Seal Beach. Here is their Yelp review. But that's not what I'm writing about. The other pizza place I like is Naples Ristorante in Downtown Disney, Neopolitan style pizza.

Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria Exterior

If you're walking through Downtown Disney and want pizza, look for this sign. They do have a Napolini next door which is smaller but I think it's similar food. I've never actually been there so I'm not completely sure...just what I've heard.

Free Starter Bread

Before your meal begins, they will bring you some free bread. I don't love bread, but I do like this one. The holes show that this is an airier bread...which I like. You dip it in olive oil mixed with balsamic vinegar (not pictured).

Traditional Italian Soda (Strawberry)

One time I had to try their Traditional Italian Soda. It's just seltzer water with your choice of either strawberry, chocolate milano, or french vanilla flavor with a bit of cream on top. I tried it before I mixed the cream and after. Both were good....light soda...not too sugary. Too bad it isn't free refills though. =( But I liked this...both ways were good.

Insalata della Casa

We started off with some house salad consisting of mixed field greens, house dressing, and tomatoes. The dressing was very light flavor...like an oil and vinegar type dressing. This is the healthy part of the meal. Some people may not like this because you can taste the natural bitterness in some of the greens.

Margherita

My favorite...plain cheese Margherita pizza. To me, it's the best way to tell if a pizza is good. You can taste the tomato sauce, cheese, and dough better this way. This pizza is very light in flavor and not too greasy. I noticed that the Yelp reviews weren't very high and many people said the food tasted bland...so it depends on your own taste buds. If you like a lighter flavor like myself, then you may think this is good. I don't like a salty cheese...and this mozzarella isn't. So for me this is one of my favorite pizzas. The dough itself is a good chewy consistency, but not tasty (salty) so maybe this is also where people feel it makes the food bland. The pizza pictured on top is from a month ago and the bottom one from a few months ago. Notice that the bottom pizza is not as well done...but it still tastes pretty darn good to me. So with any food, it depends on the chef, the day and time you go, your mood...all these factors change the outcome of your food and how you may feel about it.

Tiramisu

So we don't often get dessert but we made room this time. We tried their tiramisu which consisted of mascarpone cream, espresso coffee, cocoa, and whipped cream on the side. Let me just say I may not be the best judge of this because these types of desserts are not my favorite....but I think it was too sweet for my taste. We'll just end that there. =)

Americana

So these next two are not vegetarian...but thought I'd write about it since I usually go with meat-eaters anyway...so maybe you're a meat-eater or your friend might want to know. The Meat-eater said the Americana had too much stuff on it and it fell apart more easily because it was too much weight/stuff for the thin crust. The taste was ok, but it seemed to defeat the purpose of eating a thin crust pizza. Maybe that's why it's called Americana....the Americanized version of it. =D

Prosciutto and Arugula

The Meat-eater said this was good, but I don't see this on the menu anywhere. Looks like the Prosciutto e Melone without the melon and on red sauce instead of white. Fresh Parmesan was grated on top at the table.

So if you like thin crust pizzas and you prefer to eat lighter flavored food, then try Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria. I haven't ever tried the pastas though, only the pizza. They import their Caputo flour from Italy! =)

Naples Ristorante e Pizzeria
http://www.patinagroup.com/restaurant.php?restaurants_id=43
1550 Disneyland Dr.
Anaheim, CA 92802
(714) 776-6200 (For reservations)
Sun-Thurs: 11:00AM - 10:00PM
Fri-Sat: 11:00AM - 11:00PM

Daphne's California Greek - Classic Greek Salad w/ Gardenburger

Is Daphne's considered fast food? It does say it's a fast food chain...but I think it's better than the typical fast food. It's kind of like a Chipotle where they use fresh ingredients...but it's just a bit slower (because they don't make it in front of you)...especially if there's a long line.

Classic Greek Salad w/ Gardenburger

I usually order the Classic Greek Salad with a Gardenburger instead of meat. This used to be a choice on their menu, but after the logo/menu change earlier this year...it's no longer there. But I still ask for it and they can still make it. It is served with pita and Tzatziki sauce. You can ask for whole wheat pita here. I don't usually eat the pita so it didn't matter to me. =p

The salad comes with romaine lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions, cucumbers, feta cheese, and topped off with their Classic Greek dressing and the Gardenburger. Their website says a bed of mixed greens...but it's just romaine lettuce if you look closely at the picture. Maybe there's some other kind of green, but it's mostly romaine. The dressing makes the salad a bit sour...kind of like an Italian dressing, and the feta makes the dressing less sour. It all goes well together and I like these kind of flavors. The ingredients are all really fresh as you can see in the close-up...no wilted greens (that's a plus)! I've eaten here several times and I haven't gotten wilted greens. There was one time I got less green and more...white parts of the green...but that's it. So if you want something better quality than "regular" fast food, but quicker and less expensive than a sit down restaurant, try a Daphne's...and it's pretty healthy too!

Daphne's California Greek
http://www.daphnesgreekcafe.com/
Location this was devoured:
13250 Jamboree Rd. Suite 113
Irvine, CA 92620
(714) 832-5855

Yogurtland - 4 Flavors

It is so warm out and having something cold seems like key during the day. Ice-cream! Well not exactly if you go to Yogurtland. There's practically no fat in your frozen yogurt ice-cream...excluding toppings of course.

Sanrio Characters Cup w/ Hello Kitty spoon

Apparently Yogurtland got a Sanrio license and now have Hello Kitty, Keroppi, Chococat, and My Melody on their cups. They also have Hello Kitty (red) and Chococat (blue) spoons. Neato! Some of us think this stuff is cute...there is no age limit on when to stop liking Sanrio and other cute items. Cool, now I can use these cups to grow seeds in my garden and it'll be colorful and cheery...hee hee hee. (Insert cheesy smile and V sign followed by "Yatta")  =)

Four Flavors

Okay, now back to the food. I chose 2 flavors I liked and 2 that I haven't tried. Starting clockwise from the bottom is Peanut Butter Cookie (whitish), Caramel Almond Bar, Taro, and Double Cookies & Cream. The two flavors I normally like are Cookies & Cream and Taro. I normally get the Chocolate Mint Cookies since the mint chocolate type is my favorite, but on that day they didn't have any. #!%$!*&#@! Remember, the yogurt is a bit sour so it affects the taste of the final product. Anyway, the taro doesn't really taste like taro ice-cream so if you're looking for that, don't get this...but it is an alternative...something a little bit sour and sweet. Cookies and cream is not really sour...it's like blended Oreo cookies and some ice-cream...just not as sweet...very light flavor. The new flavor, Caramel Almond Bar, was not enjoyable to me. It was salty and sweet and I think too much on the salt and sugar for my taste. I didn't taste the almond or chocolate or caramel really. I just remember it being really salty and sweet. (Ok, I've said it twice now.) So not for my taste buds I guess. The Peanut Butter Cookie wasn't bad...I could taste the peanut butter cookie in it....so not too bad in my opinion.

There are many Yogurtland locations throughout. So if you want a low fat icy cold treat with a wide variety of flavors to try, stop by one of their stores...or any other frozen yogurt shop (as there are soo many now).

Yogurtland
http://www.yogurt-land.com/

JT Schmid's Restaurant & Brewery - Tustin, CA : Veggie Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

Although there are not too many vegetarian choices here, there is the veggie burger (that is showing up on most menus I see). The other choice is some type of salad without the meat. American style restaurants are not my favorite type of food because of the lack of options for vegetarians. At least I have something to eat though. On this day I flipped a coin and got the veggie burger. Ok no I didn't, but I really only had two choices.

Free Bread

The last time I visited this place was several month ago and we got free bread. Last week however, no free bread. =(  Ok, I don't like bread that much, but I do like that flat thin crispy bread on the left....yummy! Hopefully the waitress just messed up...or is there really no more free bread? Economy?

Veggie Burger with Sweet Potato Fries

The veggie burger comes with arugula, feta cheese, cucumber, tomato, hummus, and the veggie burger on a wheat bun. That doesn't sound too bad right? It's very filling....I can never finish the whole thing. I usually pre-cut the burger and only eat half of it. The taste is pretty good I think. I don't think you can really mess up a veggie burger too much...but the arugula, feta cheese, and hummus make it a bit "fancier" than just a plain old lettuce, tomato, and cheese veggie burger. I also like sweet potato fries as opposed to regular fries. I know there's word that it's a bit healthier than regular fries...but let's face it...fried food is ALL bad for you...so you still have to eat in moderation. So for a "fancier" veggie burger...JT Schmid's has one!

JT Schmid's Restaurant & Brewery
http://jtschmidsrestaurants.com/
Location food was consumed:
The District at Tustin Legacy
2415 Park Ave.
Tustin, CA 92782
(714) 258-0333
Mon-Thur: 11AM - 10PM (Food ends 10PM) or later
Fri & Sat: 11AM - 12AM (Food ends 11:30PM) or later
Sun: 11AM - 9PM (Food ends 9PM) or later

Romano's Macaroni Grill - Tustin/Irvine, CA : Mozzarella Fritta & Mushroom Ravioli

I haven't been to a Macaroni Grill in a while. I used to think it was only a little better than Olive Garden. (Sorry Olive Garden lovers...I used to like to eat there too. Taste buds changed.) But now on another visit...I think it's pretty good again. Strange how our tastes change over time. Sorry the pictures are a little fuzzy...I blame the poor lighting and my inability to hold the camera perfectly still while using the indoor light setting. Maybe I should bring my Joby everywhere with me...those things rock! (I was not paid to say that....I really do like them!)

Fresh Mozzarella Fritta

We started out with somel Fresh Mozzarella Fritta. Their menu describes it as "fresh mozzarella with a delicate garlic-herb crust, served with arrabbiata sauce." I didn't know what arrabbiata sauce was...but it is as it looks...a type of tomato sauce. The crust was nice and crunchy. I want to say it's similar to a panko type crust as it was flakier and airier than regular breadcrumbs. Together with the sauce and herbs in the crust, the flavors went well together. The picture is of half eaten fritta...as we had already eaten three. So good!

Mushroom Ravioli

My vegetarian entree was the Mushroom Ravioli. From their menu it's "porcini-filled pasta sauteed with a Marsala cream sauce and fresh mushrooms." There's also some caramelized onions on top if you can tell. I am not a good judge of the sauce because my preference is for tomato sauces...but I like mushrooms so much that I got this dish with the cream sauce anyway. So the cream sauce was not my favorite...but the caramelized onions went really well with the whole dish. It was still pretty good to me!

Romano's Macaroni Grill
http://www.macaronigrill.com/Home/Home.aspx
Location this was eaten at listed on their website as Tustin:
13652 Jamboree Road
Irvine, CA 92602
714-508-7990

Gone Sailing Again...

Lack of posts again because I was not in front of a computer and also because I was sick. =(  I was able to get a pic of some of our class sailing though since I didn't go one day.

There were 6 boats out in our class that day. Still a beginner class because we wanted it to sink in and you still learn a lot your second time around. The previous instructor advised us all to take it again...especially after a month without sailling. So we did and everything clicked together a lot more than last time. It's pretty tiring though...even young 17 year old think so! Ok, time to rest some more and post food soon...hopefully.

OCC School of Sailling and Seamanship
http://www.occsailing.com/
1801 W. Coast Highway
Newport Beach, CA 92663
(949) 645-9412