Santa Barbara

So much for all things October, it’s already over?!?! Can you believe it? I really can’t. Well, I hope everyone had a delicious and sinfully sweet holiday over the whole weekend. Mine was spent with my family, including my little niece, and unfortunately, a horrible headache on Monday evening. But I’m back in action and ready for the rest of the week. I wanted to recap a couple of things that seem to have escaped me during this last month. I took a beautiful trip to Santa Barbara, filled with gorgeous elements of fall and fun, to see my best friend from high school, Michelle. I catered Michelle’s going away party here, when she was accepted to grad school at University of California at Santa Barbara, and I felt that it was an opportune time for me to visit.

We started out our afternoon by hanging around talking and getting a quick bite to eat. We managed to find a place to have a light lunch called Silvergreen . I ordered a chopped steak salad and Michelle had an Ahi tuna salad. The restaurant was very cozy, kind of like a café  place where you order at the front and you’re given a number, then when your food is ready, you go and pick it up. My salad was fresh, but nothing mind blowing, just a decent lunch for a budget price, which, in Santa Barbara, all the students are looking for. We were down in the central part of college life: Isla Vista. Thousands of bikes, students and looky loo’s lined the streets cruising to their next meeting, friend’s house or beach activity.

Though the skies were pretty gray, there was plenty happening as we sat out on the patio and watched the activities. After lunch, we took a stroll down to the beach and watched the silver sky dance among the glittering waters. It was beautiful, but pretty cold, so we took a quick peek and then headed back. The beach is about a 15 minute walk from Michelle’s apartment—talk about luxury—no wonder people want to go to school there.

As we were walking, Michelle stopped into  IV Drip for an ice cream cookie sandwich. She chose espresso ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. They were sandwiched with lovely rich espresso filled deliciousness and the cookies were crunchy and full of chocolate. I took a couple bites off hers because I was way to full. The café was simple and had coffee, tea, and ice cream and fresh baked good offerings for good prices. I’d definitely stop in again for coffee and cookies.

We walked back to the apartment and lazed around for a bit before we went pumpkin picking at a Lane Farms Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze.  I can’t remember the last time I went pumpkin picking at a real pumpkin patch. Growing up in the city doesn’t really make for too many farm picked pumpkins and also doesn’t make for very affordable pumpkins either. But I like the experience of pumpkin patches and I love farms. So we get to this gorgeous pumpkin patch with perfect pumpkins still growing in the soil, and I picked out a nice one for Michelle while she met up with some of her colleagues. We ran through the corn maze and saw the live animals and even for a grownup, it was a perfect evening. We finally left the pumpkin patch with a perfect pumpkin, a delicious little bag of pumpkin spice, pumpkin seed brittle, which tasted like pumpkin spice heave—probably one of the best brittles I’ve ever had. I’m going to have to try my hand at making some sometime soon.

So here I’ll stop for the evening and I’ll pick back up with my adventures in Santa Barbara tomorrow. I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween. Had lots of sweets and fun with family and friends. Here’s my home depot pumpkin that cost me 4.45 instead of 20 dollars it would of been at the pumpkin patch. 🙂

Me and my sister  are carving pumpkins like we have for our whole lives together, my dad made one too. Here’s a little picture of my beautiful niece, Happy first Halloween Monk Monk!

Lastly I’d like to thanks Nancy from Spiciefoodie.com for hosting this months Your Best Recipe featuring bloggers from around the worlds choice recipe from their blogs for that month. Please check out her monthly round up by clicking the Banner below. Your blog is welcomed to the round up as well check out the information for future months.

link to my featured recipe for saffron rice, corn and goat cheese peppers here and thank you everyone for voting these peppers to foodbuzz Top 9 on 10/30!

Cheers

-Unrivaledkitch