Monday, December 26, 2011

Christmas Eve 2011

Our Christmas Eve celebration started with Scott and I heading to Malibu. We needed some sunny weather and some good food in our tummies to start our adventure filled weekend. Welcome, Paradise Cove.

Scott ordered the Huevos Rancheros and it was a mound of food. I was a little jealous of his order. I love runny yolks!

This is what Paradise Cove likes to call "Sandwich-In-Soup". Quartered Dungeness crab and shrimp melt on grilled sourdough served on the sides of clam chowder. It is a bit messy but dunking the sandwiches in the soup was delightful. I always get worried when a restaurant claims their chowder is "award winning" but they did not disappoint. Just too much food! 

Our next stop was the Getty Villa. A beautiful stop on our way down to Santa Monica.

My favorite museum piece was "Cupid" - How cute is he?!

Back on the road, cruising the coast.

We made it! Hello Casa Del Mar! We will be calling this room home for a couple days... I loved the bed!

What do you think of our view? Not too shabby right? The Santa Monica Pier in the background!

Since we were on a beach vacation we got in the mood for something tropical - Mai Tai for me and a Gaviotta for Scott.

Cheese please! We are suckers for cheese, fruit and nuts! It was perfect.

After a nap and freshening up we wandered back downstairs for dinner at the hotel restaurant, Catch.

Chestnut Soup with Gingerbread croutons caught our eye and both had it to start. it was the best part of our meal.

Scott ordered the Filet of Beef with parsnip potato puree, rosemary carrots and red wine reduction. He was very underwhelmed. It was one of his least favorite steaks of the year. Oh my!

I ordered the Striped Bass and was also a bit disappointed. The leek fondue was baby food and the chanterelles made me shiver. The crispy skin on the fish was the best part.

The Chocolate Lava Cake was very good - extremely rich but pair nicely with our red wine.

Last but not least was the Roasted Pineapple Upside Down Cake the toasted almond gelato and rum caramel sauce was a real treat.

Totally stuffed we wandered into the lobby and enjoyed a game of Checkers. After Scott beat me, we floated upstairs and drifted to sleep to prepare for our next day of Christmas Vacation.

2 comments:

AllThingsYummy said...

Looks like so much fun and lots of delicious food. I love Casa Del Mar. I went to a wedding there and it was so beautiful.

Eddie Lin said...

Too bad about your meal at Catch. There are definitely better and cheaper alternatives in the area. I would've recommended Chaya Venice which is a quick drive or the new Larry's in Venica also.

Happy New Year!