Taste of Chicago

Taste of Chicago!

What a way to start my personal food quest in Chicago by going to the 35th Annual Taste of Chicago, a food festival where popular restaurants from all over Chicago come together to showcase their goods.  Its a free festival, but you have to purchase tickets in order to get food.  It cost $8.50 for 12 tickets, and each sample of food required anywhere from 4 to 5 tickets.

I traveled from one end to the other in search of the best food and I honestly am so happy with my choices.

Homemade Popsicles

Fried Catfish

Pierogi’s at Kasia’s

But the BEST food in the entire festival has to go to La Bomba, a Puerto Rican Restaurant for their Pork Shish Kabobs.  I meannnnn…..Hello! This was hands down the tastiest thing in the entire festival. It was so good we ordered 3 of them. OH, and their secret ingredient is such an odd one, (I saw them add it to the boiling pot), but it makes all the sense in the world. Sorry, can’t divulge that. You’ll just have to try them out whenever you get a chance. This is somewhere I would definitely seek out the next time I’m ever in Chicago.

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Indian treats on an Indian beach

One of my favorite parts of my trip to India was my visit to the beach.  It was like going to a carnival.  There’s tons of people scattered around, and so many food stands with typical carnival food like snow cones, cotton candy, and corn on the cob.  I only wish I had more pictures!

Me in my Indian getup

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Miami in a Night

The plan: Get to Miami. Rent a car. Party. Get back to the airport by 6 am. And yes, we did it.  We arrived at Miami, quickly rented out a car which was troublesome at first because a lot of the companies were sold out.  Got ready at the airport since we had to pick up our bags anyway.  Then had a fantastic dinner on the main strip.  Did the whole bar hopping at Nikki Beach. Then actually walked down to beach where some of us were actually daring enough to go in the water that late at night (not me).  Then back to the airport it was to catch our plane to Dominican Republic. No need to get a hotel either. Did the whole thing all over again on the way back. Now THAT’S how you do a layover lol.

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Punta Cana, Dominican Republic

After doing research to find an affordable Caribbean trip, I found that Punta Cana is the best way to get the most bang for your buck for a beachy vacation.  Basically for a $1000 we stayed at an all inclusive resort for a trip that lasted 9 days.  The itinerary is what made it so awesome….We landed in Miami, partied all night, got on a plane for Punta Cana, stayed there for 6 nights, flew back to Miami, partied all night again, then came back to Los Angeles.  I had the most amazing time with the most amazing people ever!!!!!!!  I did not want to come home at all!  The hotel we stayed at was pretty comfortable and nice.  There was food and drinks around the clock.  Fine dining at various restaurants.  Soooo worth it!  I will always do the all inclusive if possible.

I highly highly recommend the hotel we stayed at which was the Barcelo Dominican Beach…but beware, make sure you read all the reviews and pick the hotel with the best ones because there were a lot of hotels with similar names that had really horrible reviews.  Reading all the reviews also prepares you for the stuff that can go wrong, for example, them not being able to locate your reservation.  This had happened to people many times before, so I actually made the effort to call the hotel to confirm our reservation and whaddya know…..THEY HAD NO RECORDS OF MY RESERVATION!!!!  So I frantically called Priceline and made sure they sorted it out.  Thank god I had done that or else.  But the bad news is that they still did not have our reservations available when we got there!  So as you can see, there is a lot that can go wrong, so its really important to read as many reviews about a place before you go.  Despite all of that though, the rest of the trip was awesome, and I would still go back to that hotel.  I wish you all the best and hope that you’ll be able to experience somewhere awesome this summer!

Mr. Universe hoopla!

Club Imagine….a club in an actual cave…freakin amazing!

Traditional Dominican food

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Smoking Joes, Mumbai

The best pizza place to order from in Mumbai is Smoking Joes.  They had soo many varieties to choose from.  They were all very unique and new to me since I’ve never heard of Chicken Makhni pizza before.  They also had pita pizza pockets.  I was told to try the honey chicken pizza pocket. My first reaction was, “it’s good, but I probably would never order this myself.”  Sure enough the craving slowly crept up and that was all I could think about.  The best part is that they can actually stuff your crust with cheese or meat!  Also, you can get your pizza CGC style: CREAMY GOOEY CHEESY where they put an extra layer of cheese in the center of the dough.  Wish there was a Smoking Joe’s in LA!

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My trip to Oahu, Hawaii

Here are some pictures of my trip to Hawaii not too long ago.  I stayed at the Olomana Gardens doing a program similar to WWOOF’ing. If you’re not sure what that is, visit www.wwoof.org.  Its a great way for people to travel if you are on a budget, want to get into farming and organic living, or simply want to live with a family rather than on your own because you get to experience the true culture of the place you are visiting.  This was my second visit to the Olomana Gardens and I had a blast! Every night I ate like a KING because I was making fantastic meals for the whole gang and topping it off with a nice glass of wine or beer. Everyone would pitch in, whether it be side dishes, wine, freshly baked tortillas, etc.  I most definitely left the calorie counting back in LA!  I’m so happy and grateful for all the experiences and most importantly the friendships that I made.  I can’t wait to go back!

The Kitchen, and the great people at Olomana Gardens

My Bedroom, which really was converted from a Van lol

Gorgeous organic papaya freshly picked from the tree

Imagine having a picnic while enjoying this amazing view. Words cannot describe how it felt.

Potlucks are the best! You get a taste of everything!

Our "backyard"

The best spaghetti I've ever made in my life all because of the love and "aloha" that went in it as some called it, also the fresh oregano didn't hurt either ;)

Freshly caught Tilapia!

On the last day of my trip, I spent the whole day making chili guava peach jam :)

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Chandragupta, Mumbai

For a nice and elegant meal, Chandragupta is the place to go.  With its chic décor, well-conceived menu and courteous staff, you’ll be happy you went.  And while I usually recommend a particular dish or two, everything is so great you can’t go wrong.  What you can do is order one dish from the fish, chicken and lamb category like I did. Either way, you won’t be disappointed!

Fried Fish

Lamb Masala

Garlic Nan

Palak Paneer

Chicken Masala

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Tavaa, Mumbai

Another restaurant very local to me was this place called Tavaa.  The food was tasty, yes, but the overall quality was not exactly up to par. I order garlic prawns, noodles and a kabob plate that included lamb, chicken and chicken liver.  The garlic prawns were smothered in a delicious sauce, but the noodles were a little overcooked and lacked texture.  The chicken liver tasted good for chicken liver, but if you’re not used to it, it can be a little hard to swallow.  They also rushed us out of there because they had to close down at like 3 pm until their dinner hours began.  I was peeved.

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