9/25/14: The Sardine Factory (Birthday Trip Part Nine)

It was already dinner time when we finished exploring Cannery Row. Q Yelped the places around and found the reviews for The Sardine Factory quite encouraging so we walked towards it.

The exterior of the restaurant looks like it was a fun family restaurant but when I saw the menu displayed outside, I found out that the price range was around $30-75. However, after being so disappointed with the food place we formerly visited, Q insisted that he wanted something really nice before we leave. 

Upon entering the restaurant, the price range suddenly made sense. The setup was fancy; there was a live performer playing songs for everyone, the servers were dressed prim and properly and the service was magnificent. The receptionist greeted us with a friendly smile, not with judging eyes and doubtful, arrogant voice that we usually get in other fancy places ( I guess, we look a bit young for these places and people sometimes doubt if we could afford such a luxury). The receptionist asked us if we had a reservation and despite answering with a no, he politely asked us to wait as he looks for a place to sit us. The place was packed but he still found us a spot and politely asked us again if that area would be acceptable. After being seated, he introduced us to our server who then took over. We had two servers assisting us and both were very cheerful and friendly people. They were both very polite and they treated us with respect.

We started our dinner by having some freshly baked dinner rolls.

They also provided us some spread which was well-organized in this stainless dish.

 Q said that I might as well treat this as my third birthday dinner so he ordered some Pinot Noir that was recommended to us by our server.

We both ordered their 6oz. USDA Filet Mignon steak and enjoyed it a lot. It was very rich without being overwhelming. We felt full but not bloated and in fact, we even had some room for dessert.

I really wanted to try their Legendary Chocolate Sardines but I thought it would be too much so Q and I decided to share The Sardine Factory's Baked Alaska. It's layers of strawberry sorbet, sponge cake and vanilla ice cream in meringue served on raspberry coulis and chocolate sauce.

It was wonderful. It definitely ended our Sardine Factory experience beautifully and if ever we stop by the area again, we would love to eat there again. Our experience was perfect and given that our day went by perfectly as well, that day couldn't have been more magnificent. 

September 11, 2014: Getting Old

September started really rough for me. I felt extremely burned out, From May to August, I had my Spring semester finals, Anime Expo Artist Table preparation, Anime Expo and a 5-week sudden trip to the Philippines, a week of spending time with friends leaving U.S. to study abroad and then Fall semester. The school workload kicked in immediately. On top of that, my summer ventures left my budget in a total mess. I also found out that an important event of an extracurricular association I'm part of in school falls on my birthday. No one could also tell me when it'll end so it made it impossible for us to plan for a birthday dinner. Pretty much, everything strayed away from my original plans leaving me feeling trolled and insulted.

Despite sleeping at 3AM, I still woke up three hours later to get ready and give myself the luxury of taking my time. I even made myself coffee and drank it at home, something that I used to do which I don't get to do anymore thanks to my busy schedule.

I found a very good friend of mine coincidentally in the parking lot and she immediately greeted me with this massive cupcake. It was perfect. She knew exactly what I wanted.

The day continued and around noon, I received a call from a flower shop informing me that there's a delivery for me but they couldn't leave it out in the heat. There's only one person that would send me flowers and despite the fact that he sends me flowers for almost every occasion, it always catches me off-guard. Good thing, my landlord was around later that afternoon to receive it for me so I didn't have to think about driving back home in the middle of my meeting to receive it. Since we're on topic, here are some photos of it I took later on.

After my second class ended around the afternoon, I met up with my other very good friend Ray who gave me the Persona 4 book I've always wanted but never got to buying it and some silly Cateye sunnies.

I proceeded to my meeting and since we had a couple of Early September celebrants, our advisor got us cakes and made the whole room sing us happy birthday. It was very sweet of him, really.

After the meeting, I immediately packed for the weekend and headed to Q's place. It was still pretty early when I got there and we could have gone to Tam O' Shanter and other places we ruled out because we were expecting I'd be late but we weren't feeling very hungry. Of course, I suggested Shin-Sen-Gumi but I guess Q shot it down because it's my birthday dinner and that place isn't fancy enough. (Cheapest ramen, to be honest. But best though, in our opinion. Haha.)

After another session of

we ended up going to The Luggage Room in Pasadena.

We chose to sit outside. Since winter will never be coming to California, it's not freezing and the breeze actually felt nice and refreshing, especially after a day of burning heat. I felt really nice being outside too. I feel like school and life itself is caging me in a box that I just want to feel free as much as I could.

We ordered some Bacon-wrapped Dates and a Margherita Pizza which were both fantastic. Especially the dates. That's really why we were there for. Haha.

Q also ordered me a glass of Merlot wine and our server checked my ID and found out that it's my birthday. She was very friendly and I wished I remembered her name because she was very great. In fact, she even gave me a complimentary scoop of Pistachio Ice Cream.

I always like getting dinners with Q outside. Sometimes we take it back home and watch something while we eat but I really love it when we get to just sit down and talk. It's like a date. Like we're getting to know our each other all over again. I feel bad that I talk a lot more than he does but then again, my love is a man of few words. But when he speaks, it counts. And that's all that matters. 

On our way back home, I made a joke about him forgetting my candles and he actually did. But it was no big deal. We stopped by at a grocery store to get some and there was actually a charm to it. Shopping together. Seeing my significant other stare at the birthday candle rack successfully decide that I rather have the flashier candles than the regular ones.

When we got home, he took out my birthday cake and lit it up. Colored flames adorned my chocolate strawberry cake.

He bought it from this family-owned bakery, La Joconde Bakery. We frequent that place and we've always loved their cakes. It's always just right. Not too sweet or strong. Also, for it's location, we really think that it's a gem.

Q said that he had to wake up at 8 to pick it up, take it back home to refrigerate it and go to work. He has a hard time waking up early so going through that effort really amazed me. Haha.

I spared ourselves from the happy birthday song since we weren't alone in the house. I just stared at him in a manner of thanks and he greeted me "Happy Birthday", said "I love you" and gave me a kiss. I made a wish and blew my candles and just like in movies, the day ended once the candles were out.