California Grubbin'

Say what? A  California Livin'  post that's actually in  California? I know, I know. What can I say, I'm well-traveled. The Venice Beach boardwalk. It's definitely its own scene, to be found nowhere else in the world. You will never be bored on the boardwalk. There is always some crazy person walking around. At least one. And usually a stray dog that's actually not a stray but has some crazy owner who isn't afraid of some other crazy person picking up that dog and running with it. Speaking of boring, you know what makes everything infinitely more entertaining? Weed. And you can get your medical card at more than one location here on the boardwalk. And you know what's really fun to do when you're high? Get a massage. They have two massage stations within a few meters of each other and they're both cheap as hell. Treat yo'self. Music also sounds better when you're high and there's bound to be at least one musician p...

food: 4.5/5 experience: 5/5 overall: 4.5/5 Wow, it's been a bit, Queen Sheba. Queen Sheba is Sac's main source of Ethiopian food, located in Land Park down the street from Tower Cafe. If you've never had Ethiopian food, it's an experience in itself. Upon ordering, you will be served with a basket full of what appears to be spongey rolled-up dish rags. These are edible, and they are called injera. They are also delicious. This is what you'll be eating your food with, not forks. Bonus: it's gluten free. The last time I came here was when I was vegan; in other words, another lifetime ago. I ordered the vegetarian combo. Ethiopian food doesn't have dairy so vegetarian is also vegan. Be forewarned: like Indian food, you eat this for the flavor, not its visual appeal. This is their signature vegetarian dish. Yes, it looks like baby food. Definitely don't give this to your baby though because it can be spicy. The veg combo comes with red lenti...

food: 5/5 experience: 5/5 overall: 5/5 Taste of Thai is Chada Thai 's rival on Broadway, just a couple doors down. How they both stay in business is beyond me. They both must have their own loyal fanbases. They don't seem to offer much different. I wonder if they have a truce. Hm. My favorite thing here is the pumpkin curry. It's really kabocha squash but that's even better in my opinion. Their servings are pretty big compared to Chada. This is a special so they might not always have it. They also have very decent-sized salads, including a green papaya salad. Tom kha is my favorite kind of Thai soup so I had to try theirs. It's decent. It's described as a hot and sour coconut but it's more on the sweet side, with white and green onions, lemongrass, mushrooms, meat (I got beef), and some other thing in there I couldn't identify so I avoided heh. Also on the coconut menu is the gai yang, which is chicken marinated in coconut milk. ...

 food: 4/5 experience: 5/5 overall: 4.5/5 When the quarantine blues were getting me down and I was housebound with a high temperature of Cabin Fever, my mom and I decided to venture out a little bit and try a bakery out of town. I had this one down as a place of interest and figured now was as good as ever to try some interesting new carb concoctions. So off we went to Davis, only to land in this little patisserie-cafe which has a whole lot to offer. They have a restaurant menu but I'm gonna focus on the baked goodies since that was what was available at the time (and yes, we partook... even after the quarantine was over). First, cookies. Cookies are like my signature junk food. They're so easy to just pick one up and pop in your mouth. And then another and another and yeah. We tried most of their cookie specialties, namely the baggie of snickerdoodles and the sampler pack. Snickerdoodles: 4.5/5 These are more like crackers than cookies to be honest. They're sma...