CA Food: The Hits

By hits, I mean basically the most rapid-fire, condensed version possible of foods that embody California to me. There are some gross omissions, but thats due in part to my locking-myself-in-the-house-and-studying mode that I seem to always be in during spring break these days. I suppose this could be my suggested dining plan for someone who had only 1 day in CA and insisted on only eating 3 meals. Which is ridiculous when we all know there is second breakfast (fun fact, this is a real thing in Bavaria and Poland), mid-morning snack, mid-afternoon snack, lunner, linner, dessert, night cheese, midnight snack, late-night greasy food ect ect ect. But that more detailed dining list will have to come at a later date.

 Above are probably the two things that embody CA food the best. On the left, a berry-topped acai bowl from Backyard Bowls consumed by your stereotyped granola crunchy, goin' with the flow, health conscious (though hopefully scientific about it!), yogi/surfer/climber/runner-type. But, as I am only 30% that type of person, clearly the popularity of these types of fruit/smoothie bowls derives mainly from the fact that they're just flipping delicious. Plus, who wouldn't want to eat acai bowls every week if the weather was always sunshines and fresh fruit? Granted, your wallet might not like you a lot, but definitely worth at least a weekly visit!

On the right is the classic, the historic, the #vintage In-N-Out burger with a touch of intense LA #sunshine. Just look at that slightly charred, buttery bun, the gooey melted cheese, the slathering of "special sauce" at the bottom. Can you really say Shake Shack or Five Guys can beat this for only three dollars? No, I didn't think so. I mean, Shake Shack and Five Guys are great, but no one can beat In-N-Out for cost:quality ratio. Especially with that not so secret menu you guys all know about anyways thanks to buzzfeed.

Obviously no blitz summary of CA food is really complete unless something Mexican is included. In this case, a garlic-mushroom, avocado, cheddar quesadilla. Not really the classic queso-oozing to the brink of coronary bypass status of a quesadilla you'd probably find at a restaurant, but hey, part of the charm of a quesadilla is its flexibility. Breakfast quesadillas, dessert quesadillas, so many options! But obviously, any quesadilla (except for dessert I guess) is always infinitely better with a slathering of avocado and salsa when possible.

I should mention, Happy Pi Day! Gotta love 3.14. Sad fact about myself, I really only have pi memorized up to 3.14. I think there's a quiz game you can play to improve your memorization. Though honestly, memorizing pi was one of those nerd skills that only gave you cool points back in high school. Except, if you do know pi out to a large number of digits, you get gold stars from me if not cool points. And specifically on this year's pi day, 3.14.14, the Veronica Mars movie comes out! The one that made history in online crowd funding and broke Kickstarter's record for most money raised for a project! I mention all of this to you because if I had the time to bake, there probably would have been a marshmallow pie post instead for Pi day and Veronica Mars day. You know, since Veronica is really just an adorable marshmallow under all that tough crime-busting stuff she normally does. But seriously, for anyone who is just chilling during their spring break or wants a break from work/studying, check out Veronica Mars! Here are some links to the trailer and the opening scene  of the movie which gives a pretty quick and fast overview of the tv seasons. Not convinced? Kristen Bell (most recently, Anna in Frozen) is just straight up adorable.