Craving a Mean Grilled Cheese?!?

The Oaks Gourmet Market

One of the reasons I love Los Angeles so much is because the city is flooded with specialty cafes. These small discreet dining establishments are always a treat to the palette. One of my favorites located just a mile from my house is The Oaks Gourmet Market. This adorable wine and cheese shop has a limited menu ranging from salads, pizzas and sandwiches. Around the shop are unique candies, sodas, and gifts with a Barista making  specialty coffee and serving cupcakes and assorted pastries.

Case of Yummy Treats

Each day at The Oaks Market you will find a section of their menu being featured. Mondays they feature soups, Tuesday on the menu is sausages in a pretzel roll, Wednesday is my personal favorite - grilled cheese with tomato bisque, Friday is tacos and quesadillas and lastly, on Sunday, they feature pizza.

I have become a regular for Grilled Cheese on Wednesdays. The specials menu changes each week with new innovative grilled cheeses coming to life. There are only two sandwiches that are always on the Grilled Cheese Specials menu as they have won the Grilled Cheese Invitational. In 2010 the Grilled Black Forest Bacon & English Cotwald won while recently the Lavender Goat Cheese & Strawberry Thyme Compote won the invitational for 2011.

The grilled cheese on the regular menu..DELICIOUS!

The 2011 Grilled Cheese Invitational Trophy

I usually go to Grilled Cheese Night with a  group of friends so as a precaution: dining with a large group can become difficult as they have a communal table in the middle of the restaurant with around 10 chairs and outside dining consists of a few small tables overlooking Franklin Blvd. 

I highly recommend The Oaks Gourmet Market if you just want to get a quick fresh bite to eat or even have a new dining experience.

 

Wall of Coffee Grinders

Cheese Display, so many types displayed daily

Free Wine Chilling Service

http://www.theoaksgourmet.com/

Eostre, Goddess of Spring and Fertility

While my Spring holiday is Passover, Brandon celebrates Easter which gives me another excuse to spoil my man.

The traditional egg hunt & basket ordeal has been done way too many times in my opinion. I needed to think of  a new way of combining the two customs while adding a witty twist.

"The Gift Hunt"

Most Americans have partaken in an amusing scavenger hunt in their day. I wanted to combine the fun of a scavenger hunt with the typical Easter Egg Hunt in order to create a special experience for Brandon.

First and foremost, I knew I wanted to get him a large gift while adding in smaller presents to make it more comical. I chose to get him Amazing Spiderman Comic Book No. 121 which is a very famous and expensive issue. The smaller gifts included: an Itunes giftcard, homemade coupon for video game playing time, homemade coupon for batting practice at the batting cages, tour of Dodger Stadium, and Baseball cards.

Brandon's Easter Basket

For each item purchased, make the hints for the scavenger hunt in the corresponding theme as the ultimate prize. For instance, the Spiderman Comic Book gift clues were hidden in graphic novels, Comic Con paraphernalia, Clone Wars painting, etc. Another example, the Itunes gift card clues were title of songs with a hint to make it a little easier ("Beat it!" Hint: Best video game ever!). Of course he knew my favorite video game is Wii Michael Jackson!! To make it even more fun, the look of the hints can also be themed. The tour of Dodger Stadium hints had the Dodger Logo (LA) in the background while the batting cage hints were supplies needed to go play baseball such as a bat, helmet and uniform.

His first clue for the Video Game Coupon

In the Michael Jackson Wii case

Another clue in our 2 year anniversary scrapbook (It was for the ITunes gift card - Hint: "Love Story by Taylor Swift"

He is so happy..he found the ITunes giftcard (it was hidden behind my IHome)

Baseball cage hint (The other side is a batting helmet)

The location was in onion (It's a really good topping on Dodger Dogs)

Spiderman Prize Hint..was in Comic Con Scrapbook page (Do you see the golden egg)

Another hint in Watchmen

The egg was hidden in the white box on the left (It was placed in a Spiderman Easter Egg)

The first clue I put in a plastic egg in his easter basket. Some plastic eggs had candy while others had clues. I told him  he had to open each egg one at a time. He grunted  a little :)

This hunt requires a lot of planning. You can always make it more simple by not going with themes but it makes the person hunting per determined to find the prize.

I suggest when planning this hunt to write down the following:
- What is the prize?
- Where will it ultimately be hidden?
- Theme or no theme?
- What are the hiding places for the clues?
- Themed clues or just hints on where the next clue is?

While this may take some work and thought it is a lot of fun. Brandon really enjoyed himself which was so nice to see. If you have any questions about this project, please leave a comment.

Look at the mess we made :)

Let's Make Life Fun Again!

I am not a writer. I am not a foodie. I am not a critic. I am not an expert.

I am just a working professional who enjoys traveling, being creative and good food. Reading through numerous blogs recently has made me realize I have just as much to offer to the general public as the average Joe. Even though I spend 60 plus hours at work each week, I make it a point to take advantage of my weekends and try new restaurants, see new things and let my creative bone run free.

My goal in starting a blog and writing to all of you is to share fun new things I have done in Los Angeles or even worldwide, introduce new recipes and restaurants, show you how to turn normal ordinary things into a crafts project.

The "cooking your way through a cookbook", "countdown of things to do in various cities" blogs have already been done. This blog is a broad spectrum of all things travel, food, and creativity. Let's make life fun again.

Boxwood Cafe by Gordon Ramsay

Orange Tree in Los Feliz, CA

Downtown Los Angeles