My husband took me to one of my favorite restaurants, Tommy Bahama, in Newport Beach for my birthday. We are incredible spoiled and extremely blessed here on the West Coast, enjoying the temperature in the mid 80s in January, while friends on the Central and East Coasts are experiencing one of the harshest winters in years.  I wish there’s a way to balance out the two extremes for a comfortable temperature for all of us. Sending love and warm thoughts to Chiberia and other cities currently buried in snow.

Not to toot our own horn or anything, but my husband and I might just be the best kind of patron a restaurant can ask for. We make reservations in advance, arrive on time, order our appetizer and main dish in two minutes of arrival, and pay for our meal even before we are done. By the time one of us take the last bite, we’re pretty much ready to walk out the door. (And we always tip 20%.) It’s not that we don’t enjoy a nice, long meal out, but when you have an active 10-month-old baby sitting next to you in a high chair vying for your attention, you only have about 30- to 45-minute window to shove the food in your mouth before she starts screaming like a pterodactyl, scaring other poor diners!

My husband and I took turns feeding and entertaining Pon Pon while we chomped down Jumbo Lump Crab and Avocado Salad. Once she got out of the baby stroller and comfortably into the high chair, she started playing with her favorite book and let us enjoy lunch tear free! Yipee!

Tiger Shrimp Linguini (for him).

Grilled Steak Tenderloin Salad (for me). This has always been my all-time favorite steak salad (I order this every time) but I found the salad to be a little heavy-handed with salt this time.  I wanted to give Pon Pon a piece of the potato, but it was much too salty for her still-developing palate. That was a real bummer!

The complementary butterscotch pudding was amazing!

As we were driving home (after spending a few hours at Sur La Table and Bristol Farm, inside the same shopping center), we spotted a mysterious herd of quirky bunnies in a park so we stopped by.  The bunnies were in a park next to the Newport Beach City Hall.

Thank you for the wonderful birthday!