Happy 6th Birthday Kaden!

I cannot believe my son is six years old today.  The picture above is my son when he was three months old surrounded by my cookbooks:-) When I look at him now it is a reminder of how fast time moves. It seems like just yesterday when I carried him in my belly and was so sick during my pregnancy that even the Taco Bell logo and the commercials made me nauseous, LOL. Whenever I would eat foods Kaden liked, he would turn flips in my belly.

Fast forward six years later and he has grown into an amazing little boy. Since my son is visiting his Dad on his actual birthday, we celebrated on Thursday with dinner at one of his favorite restaurants, California Pizza Kitchen. During the early part of the day,I took cupcakes to my son's school so that he could celebrate his special day with all of his friends. 

I surprised him after dinner with a cake of one of his favorite characters: Angry Birds. He loves so many characters, but his two favorites are Angry Birds and Sponge Bob. He was thrilled with his cake and all of his presents. His favorite gift of the night was his robofish:-) I knew I had to get one because we can't seem to keep real goldfish alive in our house. I was so thrilled to see the happiness all over my son's face as we celebrated the day he was born.

My son is the apple of my eye:-)

Cupcakes at school and lots of happy children!

Throwback photo of Kaden and I. I gained close to 100 pounds when I was pregnant. On this photo I hadn't lost all of it yet. It took me close to 7 months to get it all off.  He was worth every bit of discomfort and a few extra pounds.

 Delicious bread and olive oil

Morrocan Salad

Field Greens, walnuts, pears and Gorgonzola cheese

The works pizza

Cheese Pizza

White pizza with spinach

Carribean Sangria

Kaden and his little cousin are all smiles:-)

Kaden and his little buddies had a great time. And the three of them together were a handful, LOL.

Angry Birds!

We lit the candles and sang happy birthday

My little guy wanted to have the bird:-)

Lots of presents

 

Kaden is so in love with with his Robofish. But I have a couple of surprises for him that he doesn't know about yet. he is going to be so excited!

Kaden is so happy! This photo is blurry because the camera battery started to die, but I kept snapping away:-)

 This cake was absolutely delicious

Happy Birthday to the most amazing son ever!

Paint the town Red!

 Hello loves. I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend. I am wearing the color red and for me bright colors are an instant mood booster. Loving the feeling of spring in the air. And I am thrilled at the $1.50 skirt I got in my favorite thrift shop:-)

I am not as chatty today because this week is starting off hectic already. So much to do.

 This week I get to celebrate my son's birthday and we get to do our family Easter traditions. It is going to be a busy week:-) Do you have any Easter traditions?

I really love Indian jewelry. When I discovered Little India, there was no turning back. Beautiful Sari's, amazing jewelry, gorgeous silk handbags and when you get tired of shopping, there are plenty of places to have Samosas and one of my favorites Chicken Tikka Masala.

I think maxi skirts and dresses are universally flattering. Every woman should have a couple of them in her closet. If you have a maxi dress, it is easy to wear it as a skirt and you can wear your maxi skirt as a dress. Remixing will make your wardrobe go a long way.

I have some fun stuff to share later this week. Until then...

 Have an amazing day!

Truxtons (LV's LA)

I love a great neighborhood restaurant. Truxton's is one of those casual dining establishments that offer comfort food and plenty of gourmet selections you won't find at Dennys. My little guy is addicted to the monkey bread they serve here, which comes to the table warm and bathed in cheese and garlic. I am hooked on the turkey burger, which is one of the best I have ever had.

 

This has the unique vibe of family restaurant meets sports bar. You will see a mix of young families, couples, and business professionals all there for the great food and amazing service. The menu is primarily great American food with some tasty gourmet selections. If there were ever a new millennium family version of "Cheers" this would be it. For those who are wondering what Cheers is, well, it is the name of a popular sitcom from the 80's with that catchy theme song:

 

 "Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name, and there always glad you came. You wanna be where you can see, our troubles are all the same. You wanna be where everybody knows your name"

 

Yep, the vibe here reminds me of Cheers and that's a good thing.

 

Traditional and sweet potato fries. Delish!

This is Truxton's Turkey burger "The Gobbler" Which has roasted tomatoes, grilled onions, lettuce, provolone and a pungent Dijon mustard.

This pull apart savory monkey bread is so moist and flavorful. I guarantee you will be addicted to it once you try it.

Mini me is a big fan of the  grilled thin crust cheese pizza. I always sneak a slice of his pizza:-)

This is a gratuitous french fry shot. Want some?

The shrimp tacos are so tasty. They remind me a lot of the ones I make at home. The fish tacos are quite satisfying too. The black beans are so perfectly seasoned. I have tried several dishes from the menu and  have not been disappointed yet.

I am absolutely addicted to iced tea. Isn't it the best thirst quencher? Ok, probably neck in neck with lemonade:-)

 

 The atmosphere here is very relaxing. Me and my son come here so often that we have our favorite booth:-)

Although the food here is really good. This white chocolate strawberry cheesecake. There are no words. Ok, maybe a few. Let's start with OMG!!!!!! I took one bite and sweet baby Jesus, the gates opened and angels sang. They weren't playing y'all. This was some good stuff. Toasted red walnuts, fresh whipped cream,.white chocolate cheesecake and a ribbon of strawberry folded into the batter and then a shortbread cookie walnut crust. ooooh Weeeh!

Look at this

And for the price, you get a mini cheesecake big enough to share, but you won't want to. TRUST

I knew I had to order this when I asked the server about it and she said: "it is soooooooooooo GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD" and then she just started shaking her head like, "girl I can't even tell you how good this is" and then what had happened was...

...

I got lost in it

I was intrigued by the red walnuts. I consider myself a food connoisseur and I had never heard of red walnuts until I had this cheesecake. They are very red naturally without any artificial coloring and so yummy.

 The next time you are in Westchester, give Truxton's a try. The restaurant is conveniently located near the airport and not to far from Playa Del Rey, Culver City and just a hop, skip and a jump from most LA attractions. The prices here are very economical and you will get great service and leave full and happy:-)

A word of caution, if you come during peak dinner hours or on Saturday, expect it to be noisy and crowded, but once you have a bite of cheesecake, you will forget everything else.

Truxtons American Bistro

8611 Truxton Avenue

Westchester, CA 90045

310-417-8789