Napa Rose Birthday dinner.

Let's be honest. I have celebrated at least 6 birthdays at Disneyland that I can remember. Including my 21st!



Friday night, Andy and I drove to the Paradise Pier hotel for the night. They greeted me with balloons and a Disney birthday button to wear. Yay!



After putting our stuff away, we walked to the Hearthstone Lounge inside of the Grand Californian hotel for some drinks.



I had a sangria and Andy had a whiskey sour. The sangria here is really excellent. I get it everytime!



BFFs Tiffany and Gary came over and got drinks too. Tiffany got a ginger lemonade thing. And I ate too many mixed nuts.



That face says it all, I ate way too many mixed nuts.



Dinner was at Napa Rose. Napa Rose is inside of the Grand Californian hotel.



Andy started with the Smiling Tiger salad. It had tempura lobster, teriyaki beef and all sorts of wonderful flavors. I stole a bite.



Tiffany and I split some truffled mac and cheese. I love how it's served in a copper measuring cup.



The chef sent out some amuse bouche. Mushroom cappucinos! (It's like a creamy mushroom soup.)



Then came entrees, this is Brett's short rib with root veggies.



Maggie, Gary and I ordered the veal. It came with agnolotti, okra and cauliflower. I didn't love it. I wish I had but I was too full.



Tiffany ordered the Smiling Tiger salad as an entree.



and some roasted golden beets.





I ordered a side of brussels sprouts, butternut squash and parsnips but was WAY too full.



For some reason the chef sent out a salad. I took a bite despite being full. It was delicious. And full of leafy greens!



Andy ordered quail and pheasent sausage. I did not try any but he raved about his dish.



Despite being full, I managed to enjoy my birthday creme brulee. It's served in a sugar cookie cup with fresh raspberries on the bottom.



I could have just ordered this and been happy.



Brett ordered a chocolate lava cake with a dark chocolate ice cream scoop. It looked like heaven.



Andy ordered just a scoop of ice cream.



We stumbled into the hotel at midnight, only to find these. I took them home to enjoy later.

Moral of this story: Turning 27 means I have a smaller appetite. At least I know for next time.

Alternate moral: There is always room for creme brulee.

Beer Monday: San Diego Edition

To celebrate my beloved San Diego Padres choking away the playoffs, beer Monday is all about San Diego. I guess a lot of my posts thus far have been, but San Diego has some amazing breweries that need to be heard.

I am recently realized I am an ale man. Any and every type of ale I love. Seems like San Diego is an ale town. A match made in heaven.

We start with my all time favorite brewery ever times 10: Stone. We go there whenever we go to San Diego. It is amazing (PS, we went 2 weekends ago and have yet to post about it. Stay tuned!). The brew for today is the Stone 14th Anniversary Emperial IPA.



I sort of botched the pour, but this is a pretty amazing beer! I guess the best way to describe an Imperial IPA is an extra hoppy and extra alcoholic IPA. This beer has a pretty robust 8.9% Alcohol Content by Volume, which is pretty awesome. It is made in limited batched. You actually can't find it anymore. I bought a bottle right after it was released, about a month ago. Stone makes amazing IPAs. I am drinking this one as a write. I hope it makes sense. Should you be interested in more, check out Stone's site.

Additional, Amanda and I and a bunch of friends and family went to Disneyland over the weekend to celebrate Amanda's Birthday. More on that later. But at California Adventure they have a beer garden of sorts that sells Karl Strauss, another San Diego favorite. I went with the Red Trolley Ale.



As you can see, it was good.

Happy, beer drinking, birthday celebrating folks.



Until next time. More on Stone and Disneyland soon.