Class 302 Cafe, Irvine

Still in the same stripmall but just a few doors down was this...

A Taiwanese dessert place modeled after a Taiwanese classroom...

Mag's Donuts & Bakery

Because this is a "short" post, this one is being put up "out of order"...

Normally anal me is actually posting OUT OF ORDER!

What has the world come to?  But seriously...

Wholesome Choice

After our breakfast bites at Bon Epi, I thought we could check out a nearby donut place located in this stripmall on Culver Drive...

In retrospect, I didn't even notice that it had "Wholesome Choice" an international grocery store I'd been meaning to check out....

We actually had to go to Rite Aid first for some dramamine so that TC wouldn't get car sick...

Breakfast at Bon Epi

This past Saturday we had to attend Bert's neice's baby shower. This is the same young lady whose elegant wedding reception we attended three years ago and whose son's 2nd bday party we attended earlier this spring. Now she (noticed I said "she", not that "we" crap since we all know the WOMAN carries the baby), is expecting again and the shower would also serve as a "gender reveal".

To me, this baby shower was as good an excuse as any to have a FOOD ROAD TRIP...

Our first stop of that morning would be here, in the Diamond Jamboree stripmall...the same one with 85C Bakery, some revolving sushi place, H-Mart and a slew of other Asian businesses and restaurants...

Bon Epi yet again

This will be a quick and dirty post...

Bon Epi was our next stop. A first for my SIL but a welcome revisit for me...

It was time to try out a few other flavors...

Bon Epi revisit

Within the same shoping center (in which EVERY business is Asian,) is yet another bakery across the parking lot...

While Bon Epi may not be as crowded as 85C, it was still a place we had to visit...

The long way to "The Adobo Road" book signing- Stop 1: 85C with Cathy

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of going on a mini road trip (which of course, turned into a Food Crawl) with my good friend, the ever knowledgeable Cathy of Mmm-Yoso.

The occasion? We were on our way up to Pasadena for foodblogger turned author, Marvin Gapulto's publication of "The Adobo Road", a Filipino cookbook.

Our first stop was a place I'd been to many times before, but Cathy hadn't. As you can see, NO LINE!

Return to Bon Epi Patisserie

We were still in the same shopping complex, Diamond Jamboree...

We wanted to check out another bakery just across the parking lot...

Epic Birthday Food Crawl with the Educator GF's - First Stop, 85c!

The hat says it all....

Even though my birthday was over two weeks ago, ha ha! That didn't stop me from stretching out the weekends in April to be fun filled culinary adventures....

My very dear friends, the Educator GF's (D, KD and TORC) told me they would be taking me on a food crawl. I assumed it would be in San Diego, but was told Friday afternoon to be ready to leave my house at 8 am! Wut?

Fee Tines a Mady...

"You're unce...tice...fee tines a mady..."

Unfortunately I had to delete the video link because it wouldn't play, but here's the video link that explains the reference above...(If you're an early Eddie Murphy fan, you'll get it)

Yes sirree. Three time's a charm.

How I wish there were a bakery as good as 85C back in San Diego...

The Balcony

The night was still young and we were not in a hurry to get back to San Diego.

Here's the view from the second floor right above 85C. Bon Epi and Chae Banh are on the other side of this complex. 

Chae Banh Korean Cuisine

This was the next leg of our trip. Can you believe D and I spent nearly 14 hours together without strangling each other?

As much good friends that we are, we've never spent that much time together for anything!  Luckily the radio station we were listening to was playing all 80's that weekend. D's charger for her iPod was broken, so the radio it was.

H-Mart - Irvine

I don't know about you, but I love going to ethnic grocery stores.

I'd only been to the Super H-Mart in Niles (near Chicago). It was like a foodie amusement park in there. Let's see if this H-Mart measures up...

Bon Epi Patisserie

Hey now...

I'm back to my food road trip with my good friend D....

After our awesome breakfast at 85C Bakery, we moved over to the other side of the parking lot

Another bakery? Yah-huh!

Return to 85C

A few weekends ago, D and I made a food-centered road trip. We celebrated her birthday earlier in the month and wanted to extend it further with a day of eating checking out different places at points up north..

Were we in the right place? Where was the line? Turns out, the food gods were smiling upon us the entire day. No lines = no waiting!

85C Bakery and Cafe

Although we were originally going to do room service for breakfast, our less than stellar dinner the night before crushed that possibility. No, we wanted to GTFO and go somewhere else! Since we were in the area, it was about time we visit this bakery that I'd been hearing about and reading about, 85C Bakery Cafe in Irvine.  It was already getting hot and it wasn't even 9:30 am yet. The line was also long (you can't see it here) but moved quickly. We spent about 20 minutes from standing in line to getting our breads and leaving.

Mochilato

[Marathon posting session - 3 new ones]

Having seen Kirbie's post last week on Mochilato in Irvine, I was excited since we were going to be in the area. I told my husband, we HAVE to check this place out! Mochi and Gelato together! The same kind by Mikawaya in Little Tokyo too!

Too bad we didn't get this, the Mochilato Shaved Ice. Looks so good but we already had the mung bean ice dessert at Warung Pojok. We wanted to just get a few pieces of Mochilato and call it a night. We saw other people at nearby tables sharing big ass square bowls of these. It's worth it if you come in  large group, but if you're just a couple, like we were, it would have been overkill. Plus we didn't want to look like gluttonous pigs!

It's pretty clean inside. Very modern with romantic touches. Love the dark wooden tables and chairs. Seems like it would be more fun if you came here in large groups. There was a group of 6 six women next to us, all sharing a big bowl of the mochilato shaved ice with fresh fruits. It looked so pretty but they were going at it like moths to a flame!

This corner had all kinds of bridal gift ideas with bags, boxes and little Japanese treats (like French style cookies but with Japanese writing on the boxes). Kind of expensive though! The Asians here must make bank if they can swing these giveaways for a whole wedding reception.

Gelato!!!!

Mochilatos - mochis filled with gelato! A winning combination!

More mochi...if you look closely, you can see the names of the flavors. Blind yet?

Different sizes of containers on display on their counter. They should rename that "family" size one the "trough" instead. That's insane!

Our dessert for the night....

Bert's coffee drink. Aww, there's a heart on top of the foam!

We got pistachio and chocolate mint (the green one), as well as peach and chocolate hazelnut mochilatos:

The innards of our chocolate mint Mochilato. Eat these fast since they melt pretty quickly! My favorite was the chocolate hazelnut while Bert's was the pistachio.

Here's one half of their cute window display...there were artificial flowers nestled in these thin handblown glass globes dripping on branches...

Here's the other  half of their cute window display, fake birds in cages...

Hey! Someone carved a heart on our table:

Cute wallpaper

Other bloggers who posted on Mochilato include: Elmo, and Kirbie! Tomorrow, we go to the city of Snoop Dogg!!!