After the beers at Moody Ales, we strolled over to the closest food truck, which ended up being BC Taco: 

The bright blue truck is hard to miss. We ordered the fish tacos and a pulled pork burrito bowl, and the total came to about $30. 

Molly probably would have enjoyed this more than I did. The fish used in the tacos were pretty crispy, but there wasn't actually much meat. The flavor was also not quite there, and after a few nibbles, I moved on to the burrito bowl. The burrito bowl was still not the best, but it was a step above the fish tacos, just because there was more sauce and cheese. What type of bozo could screw up with sprinkling processed shredded cheese on top of meat? 

This was overall an unsatisfying meal in terms of food quality, but being in good company with B&R and the beautiful Molly made the day feel complete. Even if I haven't checked off all the items on my To Do list for that day (and everyday, the list continues to grow as the wedding day looms nearer), spending time with friends and family might be all it takes for me to find meaning in that day. Especially as time becomes more valuable, and it's harder to find the time to meet with these special people, I don't want to waste efforts being around the people or doing things that aren't important to me. 

How do you fill your days with intention and meaning?

A romantic candlelit… taco?

I was exhausted from working and furniture shopping, but we couldn’t miss this chance to catch up with J, who was leaving in another week. We met up with J along Main Street, intending to go to Burgoo, but because of the 1.5 hour long wait, we went over to El Camino’s instead for a quick bite. I ordered their drink special, because ginger beer was in it. It was too sour for me, which really masked the alcohol.



Then, H and I shared the fish taco, the carnitas, and the pollo. The fish was crispy and the jalapenos in the taco added just the right level of spiciness. The carnitas and the pollo were flavorful, but there just wasn’t that melt in your mouth feel that I’d expect. Chipotle had better carnitas. It’s a cool place to hang out, but I don’t think I’d go out of my way to come back, even for the taco Tuesday deal of $6 for 2 tacos.

Where do people go for good tacos nowadays?

Other than tacos, I've eaten out at a bunch of places because of furniture shopping and preparing to move. There's no time to cook! I’m also starting to get chills down my back, a strong sign that I’m catching some type of illness. The workload at the office hasn’t helped, but I’m getting some great advice from my coworkers. Reminder to enjoy the process.

The Santa Barbara airport is full of character, with 5 gates packed under the adobe roof. Stepping outside into the sunshine and seeing the palm trees felt like I was walking into paradise! Too bad there was lots of work to do, and not much time for exploring…

Travelling for work means a lot of eating at restaurants, and sometimes, I have trouble keeping up with all the places we end up going to (just like I have troubles keeping up with all the emails this week). I landed at 10PM las night, and while things are still fresh in my mind, here’s the first meal in Goleta at Lilly’s Tacos:



They were $1.90USD each, I had 2, and the total in Canadian with the current exchange rate was just over $5.00CAD!!! I had the beef cheek, which wasn’t the most flavorful. The portions were not the largest. The salsa was fresh enough. Overall, average tacos for a great price. It’s a convenient spot for the offices in the area, especially for busy folks short on time. The tacos were ready before I had even finished punching in the pin for my VISA. We did also come by around 4PM and there were maybe 2 other customers, so the wait wasn’t long. Jack in the Box down the street was offering $1 tacos and Hollister Brewing also had tacos on their menu. Maybe try those out next time, and compare all of them!



Overall, less than mediocre tacos, but I was with an amazing group of ladies, so it made it more bearable.

On to dinner in Goleta…

The final part of this 1 week trip was spent in Orlando, Florida:

For our first meal, we had beer and tacos!

My excitement is mostly because the Yard House has a large selection of beers. It’s true. They had more beers than people in the restaurant, more beers than I had time to look through and read about. The place was packed! Food was OK, come for the beers, and for if you don’t want to hear whoever you’re with, because the music gets pretty loud inside.

This was the Vampire taco, which uses a shell made of cheese instead of regular flour.

Well, that’s basically it for this trip. I had a pretty good time at the conference, meeting new people, learning new things about this industry that I am a part of. I survived the hot water pipe blowing in my hotel room at the Marriott. It was unfortunate that they could only reimburse me $50 for all my troubles.

Go back to New York or Ohio…

Now that the whole wedding shenanigans are over, I thought I would have more time, but that’s just been replaced by other worrisome things (the sad weather, the company getting sold, gas prices going up, my hair needs a cut… the list goes on, but let’s try some positive thinking tonight).

38/52: Visited the Scandinave spa, went for tacos at La Cantina, and went to Garibaldi Lake.

Clockwise from top left: Scandinave spa; La Cantina decor; messy burrito topped with avocado and lots of sauce; wouldn’t be a food post without a flatlay – tacos and the same burrito drowning in sauce.

The burrito was soggy. The taco shell was too thick, but had pretty strong flavor (corn?). The toppings on the tacos were lacking. This ain’t Tacofino, but it’s pretty good for a small joint in Whistler. We were starving, so it was wolfed down pretty quickly.

We also visited this green juice shop called The Green Moustache:

Shots!

Healthy shots of green juice and something with ginger and tumeric. Apple slices to chase. This place felt very hipster and new age and organic/gluten free/vegan/whole/clean. Just full of good stuff. I get cravings for smoothies sometimes, so it’s nice to know there’s this place readily available in Whistler, after a day of whatever it is I’m doing there.

This wasn't even the whole weekend! I’m one week behind, and yikes, playing catch up sucks. I’ll have to post everyday to get up to date, with all the mini day trips and meals I’ve been having.