Samantha Ling

This is uber late, but better late than never, right?

Way back in April, you remember April, back when the weather was still pleasant and you could go outside without fear of being burned alive. You know, April, like three months ago? Beginning of spring?

Well if you do remember April, you might remember that I was in Laguna Beach again for my work. Last year, we had a horrible experience with restaurants there. They were all horribly overpriced and totally snooty. This year’s experience was a little better, though some places were still hella snooty, but not all. There was a cute little coffee shop near the hotel that we went to with Jenn and Chris E. that was very friendly. Sadly, I didn’t get photos of that place. And totally don’t remember the name. But I’m getting sidetracked again.

We decided to go down a block and check out a place called Mozambique. The food was still a little bit pricey, but there was really nothing to be done about that. Our hotel was on the beach, so we were going to be gauged either way.

Surprisingly, the food was pretty decent. I had a curry dish and Chris had the burger. He said that the burger was too big. We ended up eating at the peri-peri bar, which was not a bar at all, but a hallway between the front door and the main dining area. The dining room had been rented out for the evening.

I know that sometimes I can be really critical of people who try too hard or are like a homogenous bunch. But this group of people wore the same clothes in different colors. The men all wore faded jeans, sandals, and a fancy button-down shirt. The women were all wearing strapless, tight mini-dresses. I think that had just one of them come in with any sort of individuality, I might not be so critical. This sort of different sameness makes me cringe. It makes me think of pod people and all those dystopic science fiction futures. I really can’t blame a restaurant for that. A restaurant for that.

peri-peri bar. It’s just the kitchen!

We went back for brunch a few days later. The prices were comparable to the Cheesecake Factory. I had their special, which came with too much food. This time we were seated up stairs in the covered patio section. I really enjoyed eating outdoors with the gentle ocean breezes caressing my skin.

I did not eat all this food.

All in all, I enjoyed Mozambique and would return again. Another restaurant l would suggest is La Ranchita. It’s a decently priced Mexican place. I have no photos, so I don’t remember what we had there. But I do remember that it was decently priced and the food was good.

They had maccaws outside and this one really liked Chris. It kept following him around.

Crossposted to Samantha Ling, Dreamwidth and Livejournal

Way back in April, I had to go to Laguna Beach for work. (Don’t ask me about March, apparently I did nothing interesting.)

We got there a few days early so we could see the town. We stayed at the Surf and Sand Resort. It was a lovely place right on the beach. My room had huge sliding doors that opened out to the ocean.

I had splurged on room service for breakfast. They brought in tablecloth and fresh flowers to put on our table. You could choose to have it on the balcony, but we were lazy. I was still in my jammies. So we had it set up inside and opened the big sliding doors.

While I was there, we saw dolphins and whales right from the hotel pool.

The surf was so loud that the hotel supplied earplugs. I tried to sleep without them, but gave up and put them in.

The only problem is that there is absolutely nothing to do in that town. You can either shop at really expensive boutiques or go to the beach. But it was freezing when we were there, so there was no hanging out on the beach.

Laguna is supposed to be an artist community, but we didn’t see art galleries or studios. I think we were just staying on the far side of town though. It looks like downtown was interesting, but it all closed down before when we went down there for dinner.

I’m not sure that I’d go back to that particular town on my own. I didn’t find it interesting enough to want to spend that kind of money. I think I’d rather go elsewhere in Southern California.

Crossposted to Samantha Ling, Dreamwidth and Livejournal