Santa Barbara: Day 3 of California

Today, we moved from LA to Santa Barbara, a small beach town. I'll admit, it doesn't have the same glamour, but it is still just as enjoyable.

First, however, we stopped by in Beverly Hills! We roamed on Rodeo Drive, California's version of 5th Ave. All shopping was window shopping, without so much as a glance at price tags. Breakfast was at a small French café called Chaumont Bakery and Cafe. That was a wonderful little shop, complete with coffee and pastries. The brioche was soft and sweet, while the croissant was like eating a stick of butter. The almond cake was most impressive, sweet, buttery, soft and garnished with crunchy almonds. To add on to the delicious food, we also happened to see actor John Lithgow! Lithgow is an Emmy winner, though most of us in the younger generation know him for being Lord Farquaad in Shrek. That was the closest brush I'll ever get to stardom! XD

We also stopped by at the Reagan National Library. The museum contained the old Air Force One, which was surprisingly small. I must say, President Reagan was a VERY charismatic man. I guess that's what comes with being an actor... He did a lot of great things for our country, especially with fixing up relations with the Soviet Union. :D 

There isn't much to do here. By the time we settled down, it was around 4 already. We stopped at St. Barbara's Mission, which was beautiful. The chapel was huge, painted with the classic Spanish pink tint. The buildings all had that Spanish style, which made it seem like a small colonial town. We were a little late to get a tour of the mission's inside, so the visit was fairly short. Luckily, the garden outside was still open, so we got to enjoy the multitude of flowers. 

I'm afraid there wasn't much good food to blog about. We went to a restaurant called Toma for dinner. The food was alright, though not exceptionally good. The fried artichokes were seasoned well, but there was a little too much cornmeal coating for my liking. The grilled octopus was quite good, cooked and garnished nicely. I had the gnocchi, which was alright. The shrimp was tender, and the favs beans (I'm a sucker for those) were flavorful with the truffle butter sauce. The pasta, however, was mushy and sticky, with no texture. Oh well. Their bread was delicious, homemade and paired nicely with butter and Hawaiian salt. 

After all that long drive, it's time to sleep. So the night ends now, with me writing another blog post. Until next time, this is Rachel Ma, and, in the words if Alton Brown, I bid you good eating. 

Song I'm humming tonight: Maybe They're Really Magic from "Into the Woods"