California Vacation: Day 6

Farmers' Market, the Beach, and Lots of Food

Saturday morning, we started off the day at the Farmers' Market in Santa Monica, just down the road from where we were staying. We bought some citrus fruit, olive bread, and sun-dried apricots. Tornado was very proud of his apricots. It was the one thing he picked out, and he (with the help of his siblings) devoured them as soon as we got to the car. They WERE really good. I'm envious of the people who always get to shop at farmers' markets in California.
Next, we headed to Madeleine's Bistro in Tarzana. I think this was the restaurant I was looking forward to the most. We didn't go last time we were in CA because the boys were younger, and we were worried about their behavior in a more elegant establishment. (Ryan and I always seem to order the same type of sandwich; they're just so good. We're like Joey on Friends with our sandwiches.)
Tornado always orders mashed potatoes and gravy, any chance he gets. They were in love with getting to use the little serving pitchers.

Sissy had one, too, for her syrup.
I think everything we ordered was brown or white...yikes...we totally carb-ed out on this meal.
I ordered the crepes because I've never had them at a restaurant before. Two thumbs up.

We also ordered their version of beignets. (I am still not entirely certain how to pronounce that word; I just felt like I should order them because I've never had them, and I always read about people eating them.)

I wish we could have came back to Madeleine's for a later meal to try some of their other fancy vegetable dishes.

If you're just joining us (here on my blog) and wonder why on earth I'm posting pictures of the food I eat...well, I don't know. Vegetarians get really excited about vegetarian food at restaurants; it's just such a special treat. So, bear with me. Because we're getting ready to head to the beach, and that was lots of fun, too.

Ryan and I ordered fresh juice (his was apple, and mine was carrot/apple/kale/celery) to help us feel better about consuming all of the white and brown food.

We headed back to our apartment and spent the rest of the afternoon playing on the beach.

Dash kept running up excitedly with all of the "treasures" he found. He was particularly excited about finding seaweed.
Dash was, once again, the ocean man. He went out the furthest, and he got so mad at me for not going out past my knees. The water was COLD. Tornado was happy to just concentrate on the sand.
I forgot to mention this: as soon as we had gotten off the airplane and were getting our rental car, Dash had gasped, "LOOK! Palm trees!"

After we got cleaned up, we drove to Cruzer's Pizza in Los Feliz. I guess they started adding more vegan products, and their sales went up so much, they recently decided to become entirely vegan. I was pure giddy to try this place. It did not disappoint. I wish we could have went back another day (to try the calzones and other yummy-looking choices). Ryan picked the BBQ pizza.
Tornado chose pineapple and "ham." (I don't know if I had ever had pineapple on pizza before, and I am now a big fan of it.) Dash wanted those "round, red things" (pepperoni) on his half. Sissy and I just shared with everyone else. This pizza definitely lived up to the hype that I have been reading about. 10 thumbs up from our family.

Our plan was to take the pizza to the nearby Griffith Park Observatory. We got so lost trying to find the pizza place (I will NEVER go to a big city without GPS AGAIN.), that the little ones fell asleep in the car, it was dark by the time we made it up to the observatory, and it was sooo crowded up there. The only parking spots were probably a mile away, on this narrow, curvy road. We just couldn't imagine walking that road with the kids at night. We just got a 15 second glance at the stunning city view as we drove past, then headed back down the hill and ate our pizza in a random parking spot somewhere.