There was no better way to mark Joe's last year as a 20-something than with lots of food and even a little surprise.
We One of us learned a lot about flying and did a great job piloting for much of the flight.
We started at All About the Bread, where we picked up lunch and played with their special Coca-Cola Freestyle soda machine. That machine is so much fun...there are lots of creative, not-sold-anywhere flavors that you can mix and match.
With our picnic and bubbly high fructose corn syrup in hand, we ventured over to Airport Park in Santa Monica. It's a cute and clean little gem in the middle of the Westside sprawl. Our sandwiches (especially the crusty bread) were awesome, and the face-sized cookie we had for dessert was deliciously chewy, sweet and buttery.
Airport Park was the perfect setup for our next stop -- J's birthday surprise.
The other just took a lot of pictures.
It was a beautiful, warm and clear day. We see the city from a plane all the time, but this flying experience was totally unique and afforded a far better view than LAX's usual flight patterns. It was truly a thrill.
Malibu and the valley
The Getty, the Hollywood sign and the Griffith Observatory
Where LoveFat lives (WeHo), works (Century City), shops (Beverly Center) and gets married (downtown LA)
It was such a high (literally) that we didn't want to come down...but a few scoops of our fave gelato made things better.
We continued with our Westside theme at Santa Monica beach. We scored a metered parking spot and decided to linger.
Dinner at Musha was another unique experience. We loved the modern izakaya fare and can't wait to go back.
Dinner started off innocently enough with a green bean salad and tofu fries
But things got fiery with our very own mini hibachi, brown rice risotto finished tableside inside a huge wedge of parmesan, and saba torched tableside
We ended our night with a nice walk around the Third Street Promenade and the new Santa Monica Place. It was there that we saw a glimpse of what J's birthday could be like in 50 years:
Getting senior citizen "bottle service" at the dining terrace
