Food options across the ocean... Emily's- 2

We were driving down towards Santa Cruz beach on the cool Sunday afternoon. There was crazy traffic, so we had music playing with the kids taking turns to choose from their favourite songs...

And voila, what did we spot along the way- we spotted the name - Emily's which belonged to Emily's bakery, known as "Emily's Good things to eat".

My nephew and cousin went "hey, look, its Emily".. his best friend's name is Emily. 

We decided to stop by on our way back to click picture of the place so he could show it to her :D 

............... Fast forward to a few hours and we were back on the road headed home. This time it involved two stops, one was at Emily's [ofcourse] and another at an Ice cream store. 

The stop at Emily's was meant only to take a quick picture of the name board. But then it turned into a longer stop, with almost all of us hopping out of the car to explore the bakery. The name board had a cute doggy with a butterfly on its nose. But then you enter the main bakery and it is filled with zebras... A zebra toy, a display of zebra based paraphernalia, zebra sitting atop the fridge, zebra rocking toy, zebra prints here and there and some more... My nephew and I tried to see how many Zebra's we could spot while my broinlaw and niece went about trying to pick up some eats from their wide range of dishes.

They had everything from Muffins, breads, croissants, sandwiches, drinks, cakes and few other interesting looking stuff. We could also smell the freshly baked bread coming out of the own beyond the counter.

We grabbed a few eats- brownie, chocolate muffin and I was arm twisted into picking one for myself- apple pie muffin and boy oh boy was it sinfully yumm.... The muffins were quite big in size, and so we took our time devouring them all as we drove back home.... 

With every passing day I have come to realise food is more than just food. It is about the experience, it is the moment, the little stories that come with it and of course the time & place as well.  Today, as I write this post, I remember how the kids were giggling away, we were all generally high and upbeat through the trip. Randomly reading out sign boards, trying to spot buildings, identify songs that were being played and enjoying the drive.. I for one, loved the company and the trip.. more than words can describe!! 

Address:

Emily's Good Things to Eat
1129 Mission St. Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 429-YUMM
(800) 461-2976

Souplantation, Los Angeles

Souplantation, one of the few places that I fell in love when in USA.. It was the day before the wedding, us girls were all being heralded towards the car to go for the rehearsal.. It was the 1st time, we were told what our role was, where we had to stand, what we had to do etc.. And well, once that was done, it was time to go dig into some amazemax food - salad and soup, plus pasta and desserts.. 

It was decided we would head to Souplantation, now that is a name I was fascinated and curious about. Once I walked in, I saw a long row that was the Salad bar, it had veg, non veg, condiments and just about everything else you can think about. Oh, it had fruits as well.

All you do is grab a bowl and pile on whatever you want and then grab a drink, maybe a bowl of pasta or soup and finally bill em all. It is a self service place and quite a large one at that. There is a separate section for beverages, even if it is just water you need with a separate dispenser for ice cubes. 

I was fascinated and well, enjoyed the food as well. There were two tiny tots with us -5yr olds, one chose a bowl of soup while the other took some fruits and a pasta [mac n cheese]. We chose the long community style table with high chairs and spent nearly two hours chomping down food and yapping away dime a dozen. The day was long for a few of us, and others were headed home to chill for a while... 

The salad and soup combination costed about $12-14 [of course it depends on what you take]

Food options across the ocean... 1

  Blackberries

 Blueberries

Raspberries

 Clementines [ Baby size]

 Granny Smith Apples

Strawberries

The day after I landed, morning breakfast was a party of sorts. Not just because we were one big happy gang, but the food on the table was equally enticing. There was no boring cornflakes or toast.. We had a giant bowl of fruits [ mixed berries], french toast, Hash browns, Burger patty that were eaten with cheese and bread, and a whole host of juices plus coffee as well.  I was in some kinda of heaven during my recent holiday in USA. While almost all products are available in our country, we still dont get to see a range of berries, atleast not in Chennai [give the weather and the fact that most of these are grown outside, thereby imported ].. Off late we have been getting blueberries and raspberries, but in frozen format. Strawberries we do get, but they are seasonal. 

The range of options, the way these fruits were all packaged, they all looked so plump fresh and juicy, I was happily digging into them for every meal... Oh I could have lived off just these forever and ever... Everywhere I went, there were fresh fruits in the fridge, in Boston there were the added Apples the town is famous for...  Another cool thing about fruits here was that since the weather was cool/cold, they lasted longer as well. Every morning as I would pack my backpack to head out to expire the city, I would carry a box of these fruits along to nibble on every time hunger pang hit. They made such wonderful snacks. Sometimes I would grab a hot chocolate and sit on a bench, enjoying it with a clementine or an apple. 

In Costco which is like a warehouse size version of our grocery stores, there is an entire section dedicated to fresh produce where temperatures are near zero and products are all super fresh. It is such a treat to just walk around here and feast on the produce. That apart, there would be rows of freezers with cheese, milk, fruits and much more across other sections. 

A juice brand that I got hooked on was "Naked". Yes, you read it right. Infact, within an hour of landing in LA we went to grab a bite and there i saw a guy in line holding a bottle that said "Naked" on it. I chuckled but soon discovered this was a brand that made some sinful juices.  During the time i was in the country, would have had atleast 2-3 litres of this juice.... We tried their Orange, Orange carrot, Mango, Orange Mango, Green Machine [which tasted far better than it looked] .. My all-time fav was the plain orange and Green machine!! they come in nice small containers that are perfect for travel. 

[Image source: https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/naked-smoothies-18-most-popular-flavors]

While I see a number of ready to eat food and juices hit the shelves back home, America is a country that leaves you spoilt for choice. You name it, heck you think of it, they have it in the shelves. Across price ranges that too ~ So nothing is uber expensive or unaffordable, there is always something that fits your budget... 

Stay tuned for more on this...