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. 

9/27/14: Cannery Row (Birthday Trip Part Eight)

Our day did not end after exploring the aquarium. Around 5:30, we left and explored Cannery Row.

I really enjoyed the buildings here. 

I was expecting some defunct cannery buildings but most of what we've seen looked new. It was very touristy but I enjoyed the sights nonetheless.

We weren't very hungry but we felt that we could grab some snack. We ended up in a the Ghirardelli Ice Cream and Chocolate Shop. 

I'm down to try the crazier ones but I know I couldn't finish it so I had to compromise and pick one that Q and I could share. This is one of their "lighter" selections, a Mango Sorbet with hot fudge. 

Yup, it was pretty big.

I like eating out even though I can't eat a lot. (I'm not on a diet or anything. It's just that my stomach can handle only so much food and forcing myself to eat more makes me sick.) One of my favorite things about dining out though is how Q and I just get to sit there and talk. I like talking (and if making videos didn't take a lot more effort, you'll probably be in my channel instead of reading these walls of texts). When we're at home, we watch something while we eat which is perfectly fine too but I really enjoy just talking to Q as well. It's like a first date all over again. Just talking, getting to know each other... looking at some nice view...

After that, we explored all the shopping areas in Cannery Row. To my delight, most of them are candy stores! However, I've never seen a candy store so packed that I was as overwhelmed as Q was.

Good thing, I admitted to myself that I still a truckload of candy at home to finish and spending $50-100 more on just candy is not a very smart idea.

There's this other candy store there IT'SUGAR that carried brandname candies and some SNL humor ones. They had fun merchandise and a great selection but it's a little bit too commercialized for me.

Couple of years ago, I remember getting excited when I see gummy candies this big but now that I've actually mellowed down on my consumption of sweets, I didn't even know what to feel. 

I was trying to include myself in the picture to emphasize the scale of these boxes but it's really hard to selfie with a huge phone. They're much bigger than the usual size.

I hope this photo shows what I meant a little bit clearer.

More candy stores.

More taffies.

More Pop Rocks.

And more oversized things. That or maybe I'm just really small. 

At this point, I've realized that I looked sugar high. Q recognized that, despite my enthusiasm, I was getting tired. So he gently pulled me away and we walked out the building to go find a nice place to sit down and have dinner.

9/27/14: Monterey Bay Aquarium, Gift Shop Haul (Birthday Trip Part Eight)

Usually, gift shops have tacky, overpriced items. There were women's shirts but the designs are the usual cheap-looking souvenir shirts. However, the men's section has better stuff. I got this shirt in small. It's still a little big but I was thinking that I could just modify it like I did to the men's Pulp Fiction shirt that I own.  There were more designs but this is the one that Q and I both like.

Now that I look at it, I'm not very sure if I still want to cut it up so that I could wear it. I'm thinking of just giving it to Q. I really love the freedom of both being able to wear men's small shirts bring us.

This is another thing I got from the aquarium. It's not unique to the Monterey Bay Aquarium but I've always liked papercraft, cards and postcards. Most of the time, I buy myself postcards from places I visit and if I have the chance, I send it to myself from there. So I bought this card, wrote myself a cheerful message and sent it before we headed to the freeway that will take us to L.A. I would have preferred to send it in the post office of Monterey Bay but it was the weekend when we went and they were closed already by the time we got out of the aquarium.

9/27/14: Monterey Bay Aquarium, Tentacles Exhibit (Birthday Trip Part Seven)

What's another marine creature I'm in-love with? Octopuses. Of course, the aquarium did not disappoint. Here's the Tentacles Exhibit. Before the octopuses though, here are more impressive marine creatures.

Bigfin Reef Squid

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Can you believe that the dark-brown ink of this Common Cuttlefish was the same sepia ink onced used for writing and drawing?

Also, my friend said it looks like Benedict Cumberbatch. #accurate

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Again, with another help from the Aquarium's twitter, I have confirmed what octopuses are in these next two photos. They even provided the links to the animal guide! How extremely helpful!

This Day Octopus looks different from the ones they have on their Animal Guide so I'm guessing this might be an albino one. They boast that these octopuses are really active and might be the most entertaining to see but this octopus was just chilling in that rock for the couple of minutes we stared at it. I wish I could've seen it in action but it's all good. Still looked amazing!

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This cutie in a jar is a Veined Octopus. And this octopus was from the Philippines. Just like me!

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Last but definitely not the least is the Giant Pacific Octopus. This octopus wasn't part of the Tentacles exhibit but I decided to put it under this post anyways. It was really really stunning. I wanted to keep watching and recording but I didn't want to hog the space. There were a lot of visitors wanting to see it so we decided to move along after adoring it for a couple of minutes.

There were still a lot of interesting things in the Aquarium but these are what personally appealed to me. I also want to encourage you all to check it out for yourself! There were so much to see and these photos and videos will never ever be able to give justice to the experience I had there. We spent the whole afternoon there which wasn't very hard to do considering how magnificent everything there is. I thought that it would be one of those places that I wouldn't care for in the next couple of years but I couldn't wait to go back. I want to go back.

9/27/14: Monterey Bay Aquarium (Birthday Trip Part Five)

I was most excited about this part of our trip. I heard from Q that the Monterey Bay Aquarium is impressive and he doesn't exaggerate so I looked forward to it enough to skip a trip to the Manila Bay Aquarium when I was visiting the Philippines.

The entrance itself was already pretty satisfying. Cannery Row was just right outside but the Aquarium still made an effort to incorporate its aesthetic in the interior.

The first thing we saw was the Sandy Shore and Aviary.

It astounded me how much effort they put in recreating the natural habitat for these animals. I've always liked going to zoos and animal exhibits to see the animals, but I never liked the feeling that most zoos and exhibits just seem to provide another kind of prison for the animal. Sure, it saves that species from hunters and natural predators but most zoo setups are evidently cages and closed spaces. I think, the Monterey Bay Aquarium did an excellent job in designing their exhibits in a way that emulates an open space and encourages the feeling of freedom. 

The next couple of photographs are just other things we saw in the aquarium. I actually have much more than these but I had to pick only a few.

We saw some pretty interesting things that we found hilarious.

Like these tempura looking things.

There are these fishes who are just very happy to see us...

And these fishes who don't want to deal with visitors at all.

"I'm not here, go home."

Of course, they took advantage of the Finding Nemo fandom too. The kids were very amused~

(Finding Dory)

(Finding Nemo)

Another impressive thing we found in the aquarium was the Kelp Forest. Take notice of the school of fishes in the background. I couldn't remember exactly if they were Pacific Sardines or Northern Anchovies and I regret that I don't have a close-up photograph that would help me recall. 

I've always seen it on TV or books but I never saw it in person. My year of Marine Biology in high school didn't teach me how fishes know what formation to take but watching it happen was so mesmerizingly incredible. In the photo below, they broke their former formation, headed lower into the Kelp Forest and started forming a tornado-like shape.

(Fishnado!)

(Swimming in circles.)

I found this fish particularly amusing as well. I wish I took a video because this photo cannot show it but this fish was just bobbing up and down the water like it's trying to swim upwards but it can't. Haha. You can also still see the school of fish in the background.

Another thing I enjoyed so much are the sea anemones. I really appreciate how the exhibits in this aquarium do its best to compliment the wonderful things in it. They make sure that the lighting and arrangement of each and every exhibit displays the creature inside it in the most appealing way.

(Barbie colors.)

Aren't they beautiful?

I might be biased but those aren't even the most gorgeous things I've seen there. On my next post will be my most favorite marine creatures in this world. Jellyfishes!