Kasey's 25th Birthday February 09

Kathy's cousin and her husband, Kasey and Ben, decided to come and spend Kasey's 25th birthday with us in Arizona! We wanted to make this a very memorable trip and planned a lot of fun things for while they were here.

They started their vacation on Kasey's birthday with a trip to the Phoenix Zoo, where they spent the day alone exploring and admiring all of the creatures the zoo has to offer. That evening we had a nice dinner of Strawberry Champagne soup, Filet Mignon with a Bleu Cheese and Merlot reduction, grilled asparagus and baby red potatoes with Chocolate souffles for dessert.


On Saturday morning we hit the road for a couple of days in Rocky Point, Mexico which happens to be the closest ocean to Phoenix at 240 miles! We had to stop in Ajo, AZ to get our Mexican car insurance which we found to be a good thing because we seemed to be driving one of the nicer cars we saw and we were in our Kia Spectra.


We stayed at the Penasco del Sol right on the beach at the very top of the Sea of Cortez. The views were beautiful and they had small cabanas that we could hang out in which we took full advantage of.

On our first day in Mexico, Chris did some exploring while Kathy, Kasey and Ben hung around at the resort and he found different shops, a couple of Cantinas and some of the best looking and freshest seafood ever! The next time we go we are bringing empty coolers with us to bring as much of it back with us as possible, they had shrimp as big as a baby's hand, scallops in and out of the shell, mussels, clams and fish all for between $5 and $10 per pound (we will take orders). Unfortunately we were not able to cook at our resort so we figured 'Heck, we are in Mexico where should we eat?' Of course, a small hole in the wall ........wait for it ........ ITALIAN restaurant! Sounds strange but they had $1 shots and half price pizzas and it was a ton of fun!

Next we got back on the road and headed toward Temecula, California to enjoy wine country again and to show Kasey and Ben some of the beauty of SoCal. We tried to do some border shopping on the way out of Mexico and that did not work out so well although we did get to see some lesser traveled areas of Mexico. Oh well next trip, right?

While we were at the Great American Beer Fest last year we came across the San Diego Brewing Company which had some very interesting and unique beers that we thought we would like to try with Kasey and Ben and also enjoy some dinner. The beers that we were looking for were not available and the food/service was marginal at best but their Stout and the Beer Sampler were excellent.

Next we took a wine shuttle to 6 different wineries throughout Temecula. We got to make friends with some other people from around the country and it sure was funny how after each stop everybody became more and more friendly.

We then drove up to Los Angeles through Oceanside (where we stopped at a Farmers Market), Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Seal Beach and Huntington Beach although I am sure there were others but there are so many beaches.

Wild Mushroom Veloute w/sauteed mush- Rabbit & Smoked Bacon Ballottine, Vegetable

rooms and chive cream piccadilli and toasted brioche
Jerusalem Artichoke Risotto

with Artichoke chips, black

truffle, sherry carmel reduct

Cripsy pave of Sea Trout, white cabbage and Braised Ox Cheek with port wine, horseradish

pickled ginger, kohlrabi, celeriac cream sauce creamed potatoes, glazed turnips, braising jus

Creme Fraiche Panna Cotta w/

quince, gingerbread ice cream &

ginger madeleine

Valrhona chocolate fondant with brown Vanilla ice cream Chilled coconut tapioca with candied

butter caramel ginger, passion fruit, milk chocloate

star anise ice cream

The one thing that Kasey really wanted to do was to go to lunch at Gordon Ramsay's London Restaurant! During the week that we were there it was Los Angeles Restaurant Week so that meant that we were able to have a Prie Fix 3-course menu with wine pairings for each course for a very reasonable $48 per person. The restaurant was beautiful, the view was spectaular and the food was truly amazing. And as it turns out this was only half of the experience. As we were leaving we asked if this restaurant is the one that Kristen (Season 2 Hell's Kitchen Winner) worked at, and it was! As we were discussing this the Manager asked us if we would like to tour the Kitchen and possibly meet Kristen! After about, I don't know about 1/100th of a second thinking about it, we accepted. The Kitchen was huge and we although we were not able to meet Kristen we were able to see her in action.

After this the Manager asked us if we would like to see their roof top pool and cabana area! While we were on the roof we were able to see where all of the Oscar parties were going to be held two nights later.

After lunch we took a drive around Bel Air, Hollywood and Rodeo Drive. With the Oscars so close we thought that we may seem some film stars but unfortunately we did not. We did do some shopping and Ben bought Kasey a ring from Tiffany's for her Birthday and Valentines day!

With the Oscars being just a couple of days away we decided to go to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Mann's Theater and the Kodak Theater. On the Walk of Fame we found a star named after Ben! The Kodak Theater was all set up for the Academy Awards with the golden statues and all the lights and glitz everywhere. The Red Carpet was covered with plastic so I suppose that it would not get ruined but we were able to find a spot where the plastic was torn so we were able to 'walk the red carpet'!

On our last day together we could not let our trip go by without going to another restaurant from Food Networks 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives'. This one is called Schooner Or Later and the item that was featured on the show was The Mess which was shredded hashbrowns, diced ham, onions, green peppers and cheddar cheese mixed together with scrambled eggs and toast. It was a huge plate of food that Kathy, Chris and Ben all ordered. Kathy had hers topped with avocado, Ben had his topped with sour cream and Chris had his topped with chili. Kasey was on a guacamole trip (if we had 20 meals while they were here on vacation, Kasey had guacamole on 18 of them) so she had a cheese omelette topped with, you guessed it, guacamole. This is where Kathy and Chris left Los Angeles and headed back to Phoenix and Ben and Kasey stayed alone one more day before going back to Minneapolis.

Great trip!