In honor of Kyle making it through finals without losing his marbles finishing the quarter, we decided to take a weekend getaway together. Neither of us had ever been to Palm Springs before so it seemed like a nice destination.
I really didn’t do too much research before heading to the desert, but I’m a very simple girl. On vacation, all I need to be happy is sunshine, Starbucks, and sleep. Ok, good food, too.
Check.
Check.
And check.
We arrived Friday evening and checked into our hotel before strolling the downtown area. Thanks to our honeymoon hotel points, we were able to stay at the Hyatt without spending any $$$ (always a plus). The Hyatt always impresses me with their friendly staff, spacious rooms, and top of the line amenities. The pool and hot tub were so relaxing, the bar was one of the nicest I saw in all of Palm Springs, and the gym was clean and well stocked with new machines and big screen TVs. Happy hippie.
Seasons are overrated.
I don’t care about experiencing a white Christmas. Eff that. I’m a West Coaster now and I love it.
Dinner was mellow. We simply popped into the first restaurant that caught our eye as we were wandering on South Palm Canyon Drive.
This happened to be a sushi restaurant called Okura.
Dumplings.
Seaweed salad.
Rollz x3.
Red Spider roll
Pink Lady
Rainbow roll
On the way home, Kyle stepped in the hugest dog dump on the planet. I could hardly breathe I was laughing so hard. He was not pleased. Despite being doubled over, cackling like an unsympathetic wife, I still tried to get it on film.
He was cursing like a sailor, trying to scrape the poop off on the gravel, but as soon as I got the camera out, he was all smiles.
Someone doesn’t wanna be on the blog…
Not amused. [That makes one of us]
The next day we slept in, hit up Starbucks, lounged by the pool, worked out, showered, and found our way to Native Foods for lunch.
After getting a few recommendations for this place (thanks Tiff, Deb, Lynn, and Jess), I can’t even tell you how excited I was to try Chef Tanya’s food.
I even went in “knowing” what I wanted to order, and still wound up changing my mind 4 times before re-settling on my original choice. I love/hate when that happens. You know when you want everything on the menu and you are afraid you’ll order something and then wish you got something else? Well, I should have trusted my gut, because it was soooooo good.
Ladies and gents…the Scorpion Burger.
This is Chef Tanya’s original burger with homemade tempeh blackened with chipotle sauce, lettuce, carrots, avocado and onions. I also added (vegan) cheddar cheese on top.
Heaven. On. Earth.
I truly savored each bite like it was my last on this planet. I can’t seem to ever make tempeh without that bitter taste, but this was nothing like the tempeh I’m used to. It was crispy on the outside, with awesome seasoning. The inside was soft with a good texture. The cheese was pretty greasy looking, but didn’t taste at all oily. Kyle got the same dish (with sweet potato fries on the side) and said it was the best faux cheese he had ever had. Let it be known, this meal more than satisfied his non-vegan appetite. I was stuffed to the gills too and I didn’t even have any fries. So so so delicious.
Oh and I’m a card holder now.
I am beyond thrilled that there is a Native Foods in Westwood, too. I work blocks away from it, so I have no excuse to not try every single thing on the menu. That may be my New Year’s resolution. Haha.
After lunch, we vegged out at the hotel and eventually made our way to the spa for deep tissue massages. Ahhhhhhh. Hurts so good. She really rubbed the knots out of my neck and back, and although it kinda made me want to cry at times, the end result was so worth it. Loosey goosey.
Since we were dripping with massage oils (not in a sexy way…it made my hair look like There’s Something About Mary), we showered again before dinner.
The Falls was good. Not exactly blogworthy and definitely nothing in comparison to lunch. Since Kyle had tempeh with me for lunch, I figured I could suck it up and have dinner at a steakhouse. Love means making such compromises.
I drank an entire bottle of sparkling water before our meals even arrived (aren’t you supposed to flush your system after you get massages?). And then had two pieces of bread. They were crazy dill-y so I tried to pick them off. No such luck.
Kyle’s house salad.
Kyle’s dinner. Admittedly, the lighting of this photo is awful, but I didn’t really care since it was meaty.
My dinner.
Meh. Is it really horrible that I think the ginger may have been the best part? Ok, that’s going a bit too far. The salad under the seared ahi was good, but I was praying the noodles weren’t MSG-filled ramen. The ahi was seasoned perfectly, but it was cold (not room temp, COLD) when it arrived. I like seared ahi, but not when it was seared and then sat for 25 minutes. Oh well.
After dinner we went to Starbucks where my soy misto made me forget about my fishy dinner.
If you had to venture a guess, how many times do you think Kyle and I went to Starbucks over the weekend (hint: we were there less than 48 hours)?
To be continued…
looks like you had a beautiful time!
4 starbucks trips?
Native foods looks so good! I’ve never had a tempeh burger before…Looks like a fun trip!
I cannot even get over how delicious that vegan cafe sounds!!!!
Ahhh I’ve seen Native Foods on a few blogs now and it always looks AMAZING. Oh my God that burger looks so good…having vegan dreams now…
I’m so glad that you had a great weekend! I’m dying to know what you ate the second day you went to Native? How was the Boogie Bar? The other day, I had the turkey seitan with stuffing and it was amazing. I ordered the peanut butter parfait and didn’t love it.
It’s criminal that I’m 4.5 minutes from there and go there so rarely! FYI, the one in Westwood is TINY but the food’s good still.
I’ve never been to Okura nor the Falls. I just remembered another tiny health food store with a cafe that is always packed- it’s in Palm Desert, can’t remember the name- if you go to PS again, let me know and I’ll give you the info 🙂 I might bird-dog it today.
fun fun fun! i am so glad you love native foods as much as i do. we should become their spokespeople with our frequent eater cards!
I’ll guess 4!
That burger looks AMAZING.
And though I’m from the midwest and say I love having seasons, I think I’m lying. I don’t like being freezing, slipping on snow, and not be able to run outside year round.
yall seriously make me want to travel!
i want to come visit you on the west coast!!! its too cold here
HAH! oh my god, poor kyle! i just laughed out loud though, sorry :)! and ugh — SO jealous of that sunshine! it’s so dreary in northern california right now 🙁
Nice trip, except for the dog poo – poor Kyle! The Scorpion Burger sounds awesome, wish we had a Native Foods here!
awww i’m glad kyle’s first semester went so well! i think someone should take me away when i finish this semester haha 🙂
don’t you just LOVE when foodie recommendations end up hitting the mark!
“Thanks to our honeymoon hotel points, we were able to stay at the Hyatt without spending any $$$ (always a plus). The Hyatt always impresses me with their friendly staff, spacious rooms, and top of the line amenities.”
The last time Scott and I stayed at a Hyatt it was in Aruba. We checked out after 5 days and had spent 5 grand. Yep. Between food, drink, the room itself, money went real quick. I am beyond impressed you stayed FREE??!!! Nice!
That tempeh burger..sweet!
The whole trip looks awesome, inclu the sushi. So pretty!
Ah man, Native Foods Cafe sounds like heaven! It’s so rare that I go to a restaurant and want to order everything on the menu:)
Oh mah gosh, I want to dive into that veggie burger. Looks increíble!
Sunshiney weather and palm trees sounds mighty appealing right now…must try to embrace the snow and howling winds…
Five trips to the Starbs?
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Wow! That tempeh burger looks freakin’ amazing! That sucks about the ahi…ewww! 🙁
five.
i feel good about that guess.
i also feel really good about that tempeh burger, because while i like tempeh too, i find that bitter taste is hard to get out. but i trust you with the burger. because we’re friends now, and i am going with your family to spain this year.
yeah, i said it.
yesssssssssssssssss
five. i feel good about that guess. i also feel really good about that tempeh burger, because while i like tempeh too, i find that bitter taste is hard to get out. but i trust you with the burger. because we’re friends now, and i am going with your family to spain this year. yeah, i said it.
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