Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ Now Open at Main Place Mall in Santa Ana #LucillesBBQ @LucillesBBQ

Posted on April 12, 2016 by Erin

Lucille’s Smokehouse BBQ Now Open in Santa Ana

By Erin

*I was invited to come and try the new Lucille’s. All thoughts and opinions remain my own*

A few weeks ago I went with a few good friends to go try the NEW Lucille’s Smokehouse Barbeque in Santa Ana. This brand new location is in a prime spot at the Santa Ana Main Place Mall. Lucille’s offers delicious home-style smoked and barbeque dishes to satisfy the hungriest of appetites. A beautifully decorated location with lots of color, large comfy bar stools and lots of booth seating all throughout. The tables are larger than you will usually find which is great for larger parties (or if you’re like us, just to fit all the food we order). Large flat screen TV’s can be seen throughout so you can catch all the latest sporting events her while enjoying some great food and drinks. The atmosphere is very warm and welcoming, and the staff will make you feel like you’re right at home.

We were here on a Sunday afternoon, so we all started off with some drinks. A couple of my friends chose the Beer Flight. Choose between the Hop Lover’s Beer Flight featuring 4 Pale & IPA brews or try the BBQ Beer Flight which features 4 select ales & lagers that pair beautifully with the hickory smoked BBQ. They drank it all up, so I think to it’s safe to say it’s very enjoyable!

I chose to have the Sweet Georgia Peach, which consists of Absolut Peach Vodka, Peach Schnapps and Peach Lemonade. Served in a 22 oz mug and topped with white ale. This was a very refreshing choice, and very yummy.

We needed something to go with our drinks and we could not decide what we should try first so we just went and got a little of everything with this one! The Lucille’s Appetizer Platter is perfect for folks like us who can’t decide! A huge platter of their most popular items: Pork rib tips, fried dill pickles, sweet potato fries, fried green tomatoes, Dixie egg rolls, fried okra, chicken strips and spicy hot links. This was the perfect choice for us. We got to try a little of everything and it was amazing! I loved the fried okra!

Next, we tried a little bit of the New Orleans Gumbo. It was pretty good and it’s very filling!

Before we got our meals, I ordered one more drink. The Back Porch Strawberry Lemonade: Skyy Infusions Wild Strawberry Vodka, Hiram Walker Triple Sec, Lucille’s Fresh Strawberry Lemonade and a splash of soda. Served over ice in a 22 oz. mug. This is a perfect Sunday afternoon drink to sip and savor.

Finding Dory at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! #FindingDoryEvent

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Erin

Finding Dory at the Monterey Bay Aquarium!

By Erin

*I was invited by Disney on a press trip for Finding Dory. All thoughts and opinions remain my own.*

Last month myself and 24 other amazing writers went on an adventure of a lifetime with the quest of Finding Dory. This trip landed us in Monterey Bay, California at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We were free to wander around as we wished to try to find her. Have you seen her? Finding Dory will be swimming into theaters everywhere on June 17th.

The mission of the nonprofit Monterey Bay Aquarium is to inspire conservation of the ocean. For over 30 years, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has worked to protect ocean life for future generations by inspiring young and old with the beauty and wonder of the ocean. So come along with us and let’s take a tour of the aquarium and see if we can find Dory!

Sea Otters

The first thing that caught our eye after entering the aquarium were these adorable otters! These playful California sea otters make their home in a two-story exhibit that they share with coastal marine life. These gals are super fun to watch. Very playful, they were given toys to play with and chunks of ice that they would find creative ways to break apart to find some yummy treats to eat inside. I could have very easily stayed here all day watching these amazing animals, but we needed to find Dory!

The Otters are so cute @MontereyAq! #FindingDoryEvent pic.twitter.com/xwirDdqeV3

— Erin (@HorsingAroundLA) March 7, 2016

Before moving on though, we had to check out the special delivery that had arrived just two days before. Outside, in front of the aquarium a wild sea otter had given birth to an adorable little pup on the rocks. Guests were all standing out on the overlook watching the mother and her baby. If you look closely, you can see her below on the left side, on the second rock sticking out. Yep, that little brown blob is her. Then you can also see a closer up shot I was able to get of her. She swam off into the ocean with her pup the same day we had to leave. 🙂

Touch Pools

Next we made our way over to the Touch Pools! Here you can get up close and personal to Mr. Ray’s cousins, the bat rays, sea stars (like Peach!), and other friends of Nemo and Dory at this interactive exhibit. There is also a very cool Wave Crash gallery nearby here that pumps about 600 gallons of water and “crashes” every 30 seconds! The walk-through tunnel in the wave crash exhibit is one of the most popular family photo spots in the Aquarium.

Kelp Forest

Our next stop on our journey to find Dory, was to the magical kelp forest! This three-story exhibit is the first and largest living kelp forest community created at any aquarium. Pixar animators studied the water movement and play of light here at this very exhibit! How cool is that?

Spring Has Sprung at Stacked! |@Foodwellbuilt #Foodwellbuilt

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Erin

Spring Has Sprung at Stacked!

By Erin

Spring has arrived at Stacked! Stacked has some new delicious spring inspired items featuring wild arugula and pesto! This is a great restaurant for families, friends, dates, whoever you feel like having a great meal with! If you’ve been following my foodie adventures for a while, you know this place pretty well by now and that you can find new and amazing creations here all the time. If you’re new here, make sure to check out some of my other posts about Stacked and the other tasty options that you can find here at the bottom of this post. When Stacked asked if I’d like to come in to try the new items on the Spring Menu, I just had to come check it out.

Stacked: Food Well Built in Cerritos.

To start out our evening, we had some cocktails. Stacked has so many delicious choices to choose from, and we were starting off spring break, so my friend and I both opted for some refreshing martinis. I had the Peachy Martini shown on the left here; Malibu Pineapple Rum, Peach Schnapps, Cranberry Juice and Pineapple Juice. My friend had the Raspberry Lemon Drop shown on the right, Absolut Raspberri and Lemon Juice. We both ended up loving the Peachy Martini drink. It was like drinking liquid candy and I love peaches!

If you come to Stacked, then you have to order the candied bacon... it just wouldn’t be the same without it!! 😉

The Wild Arugula Mediterranean Salad: Wild Arugula and spring lettuce mix with artichoke hearts, green and red peppers, grape tomatoes, toasted almonds, and feta cheese. Tossed with a light champagne vinaigrette. We added shrimp to the salad, which made for a wonderful and delicious spring salad. I totally want to order this again.

Next we tried the Basil Pesto and Wild Arugula Pizza: Basil pesto, grape tomatoes, red onion, wild arugula and Mozzarella cheese. This was a very tasty pizza, very light and probably a better option than loading up your pizza with all the different meat options. 😛