Belmont Shore, Babies Galore, Meat and More

Unexpectedly packed day today. I thought all I had on tap was brunch with friends. Boy, was I mistaken!

I made a short journey with Amber to Long Beach to the reliable Belmont Brewing Company, where we met Wan, tater, Ashley, and ssinca. The objective was to spend some quality time with ssinca before she moves to the land of cowboys.

ssinca had the Grilled Salmon Salad ($9.95) with goat cheese, pine nuts, berries, and raspberry vinaigrette.

Amber dined on a Veggie Scramble ($9.95), which consisted of egg whites, asparagus, tomato, zucchini, basil, avocado, and cheddar cheese.

Ashley opted for the Fiesta Scramble ($9.95) with spicy ground beef, tomatoes, green onions, ortega chiles, cheddar cheese, and sour cream.

tater chose the Combination Plate ($7.45) with French toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon.

I got Dave's Favorite Costa Rican Breakfast ($8.95), which included two fried eggs over a mixture of black beans, rice, diced ham, peppers, onion, and cilantro. It sounded more promising than it actually was. Even so, it was good enough for me to eat it all.

Wan sat too far away for me to photograph her meal, but she ate the Lobster, Scallop, and Shrimp Crepes, which I ordered the last time I came here.

Lest you think we fried in the scalding summer sun, we had the good fortune of sitting inside, where we chatted and laughed and, for once, managed not to get shushed.

Amber and I were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the Bean when we dropped Wan off at the Aquarium of the Pacific, where the Bean and her dad had been hanging out while we brunched.

When I got home, I had barely kicked off my sandals before Mr. Monkey informed me that we were going to his cousin's barbecue. It turns out that this barbecue was, in fact, a post-christening barbecue, and we went empty-handed. And we were two hours late. Ugh. These are times when I wish we wouldn't show up at all. So uncouth. Not my idea.

We ended up huddled inside the air-conditioned living room, watching Little Monkey Niece play.

Cute, but, when we left, I was definitely ready to leave. I was, however, super-duper excited to get my computer back from Mr. Monkey's brother, who had very kindly fixed it after Mr. Monkey got some virus on it. Mr. Monkey's brother even added more memory to my computer! Love him!

When we got home, Mr. Monkey told me we were going to go to dinner with his friends. It is a non-stop adventure being married to this man. I never know what I have to do or where I have to go next. And I sure love meeting new people when I'm a sweaty beast.

We headed to Cham Sut Gol, where 10 of us had dinner together. The food was quite good and the service friendly. I would definitely go back.










Everybody was really cool, and I had a good time. I did know Mr. and Mrs. Vegas, but this was the first time I met Baby Vegas and Toddler Vegas.

Toddler Vegas was such a crack-up!



Mr. and Mrs. Vegas said that Toddler Vegas rarely takes a normal picture, but, with a little coaxing, we got her to do a less crazy pose.

After the meatfest, we stopped to get a much needed sweet icy treat.

So cleansing. It tasted creamier than the last time I had it. Some say that the recipe has changed, perhaps in an effort to approximate the mouthfeel of rival Red Mango. Maybe it was just more melted today because of the heat. Who knows?