I just had to tell you guys this story because it was just so incredibly funny. Now if you live in Los Angeles and have had an opportunity to go have brunch at the Rooftop at Waldorf Astoria you’ll know that it is absolutely delicious! And if you’re lucky enough to get a smog free day the downtown Los Angeles skyline is incredible.
These were some glorious Eggs Benedict.
So I said I had a funny story so let me actually get to that. We were having breakfast and having a grand ol’ time talking and being silly. Once I finished eating I noticed that I had a bunch of bugs on my blouse. I knocked them off my blouse not thinking anything of it.
Few minutes pass by and everyone starts noticing all these bugs on my blouse! Now, I’m the only one wearing a bright color everyone else is in black so either you couldn’t see the bugs on them or they just were attracted to my blouse.
We leave the table to go take some pictures on the other end of the rooftop but the bugs have followed me. They are actually swarming around my head and just all over me blouse and my pants. I must have looked crazy swatting these bugs and being unsuccesful in getting rid of them.
My sister had taken her leftover pancakes in a to go box that was absolutely adorable! She left it on the coffee table while she was taking photographs. Was super excited to eat them the next day for breakfast. She calls me and my mom the next day to tell us that the bugs had gotten into her pancakes!!!! The poor thing!
Aside from being a funny story, I definitely recommend going to The Rooftop at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills. It’s absolutely gorgeous and delicious!
It’s been a minute since the days where our family would spend every weekend in Los Angeles. We would spend the weekend to visit my aunt at her gallery and eat at the best restaurants LA has to offer.
This weekend we decided to do just that and relive some great memories at some of our favorite places.
If you don’t care to read the full post and just want my recs scroll down to the bottom!
We deviated a little from our usual stays in Beverly Hills to stay closer to my sister who goes to school at Pepperdine in Malibu. The Four Seasons Westlake is a hidden oasis in the middle of the hills near Calabazas and Hidden Hills. They’ve been remodeling so not all the rooms look like they’re out of an elegant 1950’s hotel anymore but we stayed in one of the more “historic” suites. Bright yellow walls with white crown molding and gorgeous oak furniture. The bathroom has a shower and bathtub both marble. For those of you who know me, I am a sucker for marble.
The hotel has a beautiful views of Malibu/Topanga canyons and the facilities are gorgeous. I wish I had time to take some cute pictures in front of their waterfall. Those pictures would have been precious!
For dinner we went to the Palm Restaurant. Getting there was a pretty hilarious ordeal. We were worried about being late for our reservation and were zipping through LA traffic to get there even though it was about 9 pm! Once we drove past it to find parking my grandma stated “Where did you bring me this isn’t the Palm!”
Now I’ve been to this specific Palm location with her sometime over 12 years ago and granted it was slightly different then since Beverly Hills is always changing. But anyway we got there and my grandma just had to ask if this was indeed the Palm where she would spend almost every weekend about 30 years ago. They told her that this particular restaurant had originally been on Sunset but parts of the original building and it’s celebrity drawings were in this new location.
Anyway we were there because my grandma just could not get the thought of their famous Veal Chop out of her mind. And at 16 ounces it’s a huge cut! My grandma can’t eat that much anymore so you better believe that I ate mine and what she left of hers which was quite a lot! Despite her having eaten almost 3/4 of it!
How juicy does this veal chop look!?
We had tiramisu for dessert and I can tell you that it is incredible! The mascarpone is delicate and the taste isn’t overpoweringly sweet. No good picture of it because we just devoured it!
The next day we had breakfast at another Beverly Hills icon. The Ivy! Both old and new Hollywood stars are known to hang out here and why wouldn’t they when the food is absolutely incredible. Sipping champagne while you wait for your table is simply a luxe extra that makes anyone feel like a celebrity. Don’t even get me started on the scones! Are you a lover of the breadbasket before a meal? Well you will never think of those the same after having these scones, they are to die for! I know I went for breakfast but I always get the spaghetti and meatballs. I am a creature of habit and what can I say I absolutely love theirs.
Sultana scones with raspberry jam and butter.
After breakfast we went down to Rodeo Drive so I could pick up some things from Saint Laurent Rive Droite for our works white elephant. Not going to do any spoilers in case anyone from work reads this but just know that you all will be fighting over these gifts!
Last item on our mini vacation in memory lane was the iconic Beverlywood Bakery. This is your corner Russian/Jewish bakery for all your challah, bear claw, babka and black white cookie needs. I am of course biased but it’s only because I have been coming here for 20 something years now. Wow does that statement make me feel old! Anyway this black and white cookie is to die for and no matter where I go and try new cookes, this will hands down always be my favorite.
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I finally did something notable this weekend that I can share with you guys! Honestly how real time bloggers find the time and energy to do stuff consistently even though they sometimes have days worth of content is mind boggling to me.
I can’t even find the energy to do my makeup most days! This weekend was my uncles birthday and we were going to go out and celebrate. So I dressed up all cute, makeup all done up (even my hair was freshly washed and styled!) only to have plans cancelled!
Now I wasn’t going to waste a cute outfit and makeup by washing it off and getting back into my jammies! I was committed to doing something!
Ok I’ll get to the point now. No need to annoy you guys with my ranting. We went out to do some errands and decided to have lunch at Dumpling Inn / Shanghai Saloon. This spot is OG and it’s so good. I’ve been going there since before it became this happening spot. It used to be a tiny restaurant with only four or five tables! I didn’t take any pictures so sorry about that but take my word for it this place is amazing!
For dessert we went to MNGO Cafe! It is so cute on the inside, and they even have an adorable mange tree in the middle with seating which makes for a perfect instagram shot!
But what about the dessert! Did it meet my expectations! Well I had no idea what to expect because I have never had a Kakirogi before but you better believe it was incredible!
If you’re going to order one it is definitely something to split! Especially after just having eaten. It was a huge dessert!
Bottom layer of mango jelly topped with mango shaved ice, mango chunks. Cream to top it off and mango custard and mango syrup to add on as well! It was a glorious explosion of mango! Definitely worth every single sugary bite!
hj
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It sounds like the worst yet best Sci Fi eighties film. And it’s not completely wrong! This pizza shop in Oceanside looks like it is straight out of the eighties and it is absolutely incredible?
This place seems so out of place in this strip mall in Oceanside but let me tell you it is an absolute experience!
It’s alien theme transports you to Route 66, Area 51 or Roswell! The place is amazing and looks straight out of an eighties Sci Fi movie, old school arcade games included!
But is the pizza killer? OH MY GOD you bet! This is definitely not a fancy place by any means and you won’t find anything but your basics when it comes to pizza but it’s just so good you can’t
How did I come across this place? Well my boyfriend is originally from Oceanside and apparently this was one of his childhood favorites. And I can definitely see why! The decor is a nerdy dream and who doesn’t love pizza!help but gobble up every single slice.
If you’re ever in San Diego and happen to hang out in Oceanside Killer Pizza from Mars is the ish!
Sorry there’s no good pictures but like it was so good that I honestly couldn’t even remember to get a shot of it!
This has been a long time coming but I am finally pulling the trigger on this. We’re renting our apartment so I can’t go overboard….but it’s finally going to happen. This whole makeover probably won’t cost me a fortune either because I’ll be going to Ikea and buying some things from amazon.
Now, my mom was an interior designer so a lot of my design eye I learned from her. And I like to be a little more meticulous about how I’m going to organize things! Nobody likes buying furniture only to find out that it won’t fit in the space!
So first things first. I take some measurements and write them down. Graph paper will be ideal for drawing out your space but I didn’t have any around the house so I just used printer paper. You already have your measurements so putting them to scale won’t be difficult because you can just use 10” as your scale.
Now that we have drawn out our space look up different furniture that you would feel can work in your space! I had originally thought that putting this Ikea bookcase standing was going to be the way to go, but the truth of the matter was that I just had too many items to hang and not a lot was going to be folded in the shelves.
This ended up working much better not only for the space I had but as it turns out all of my foldables are in the same color palette so it looked like I designed it purposely. I used to have a dresser inside the space but the drawers were simply too packed was breaking down and it just didn’t work in the space. The drawers were always hitting the sliding door.
I haven’t bought the LED lights for the closet yet but I am definitely going to pull the trigger on them because I can never see what I have in my closet! And like it elevates the space!
After taking everything out to put the new furniture inside the closet I started noticing so many things that I’ve only ever worn once or twice that I am never going to wear ever again! So I decided that I’m going to go ahead sell them. Most of the items are medium range designers like Parker, McQ, Clover Canyon etc. Stay tuned for the shop page on my site pretty soon!
I’ve been to Mexico City several times now and each time I go I discover something new and incredible. The first time I landed in this magical city we hired a driver to get us around the city and take us to the main important things. We only had three days so we were on a bit of a time crunch. I wish I could remember well our full itinerary but I will try and update this as soon as I can get a chance to look at my pictures from our first time.
The second time I came I was on a layover to Oaxaca with my sister. We had only a few hours to kill but thankfully it was early morning and this busy city was still sleepy and quiet. We went to breakfast at an incredibly beautiful place whose name slips my mind currently however, I will update this as soon as I can look back at the pictures.
Fast forward to this week. Again I only had about 36 hours in Mexico City, but I managed to see and experience so much just like the first time.
Monday: We landed relatively early, about 3 p.m. local time. We headed straight to the hotel which was about an hour and a half away from the airport. This sounds like it is really far, but trust me it really isn’t… It’s just the Mexico City traffic. Expect to be sitting in an uber for at least twenty minutes depending on your destination of course, Normally, tourists stay in the hotels close to the city center, however, I was lucky enough to snag a room at the Hilton MexIco City Santa Fe for the 60th anniversary of Barbie (TM). Click here to see the blog post just for the hotel. Later that night we went out to dinner. I’ll name the place but I wouldn’t give it my stamp of approval nor would i recommend going there. Tori Tori is a Japanese restaurant with strong cocktails and a beautiful atmosphere (which I do approve of) but the food was subpar and you could go to any corner sushi shop and eat better for cheaper.
Tuesday: We were up early this morning to get to Toetihuacan which is where the pyramids are. This archaeological site is about an hour and a half away from the hotel we were in at Santa Fe, however if you’re staying in the city center it will only be about an hour. Entrance fee is 75 MXN ($3.85 USD). There are five entrances, we went to gate 5, simply because it was the entrance closest to the restaurant we were going to have dinner at once we climbed the pyramids. There are two pyramids which you can climb, the sun and the moon pyramid, and a third palace structure for the god Quetzacoatl, this was a recent discovery and tours to this portion aren’t ready yet since archaeologists are still diggin up the site! A great reason to come back and visit! Climbing the pyramids is a feat but it is so worth it when you reach the top.
12:30 p.m.: Lunch time! You all know how much I love eating! I have known about this particular restaurant for a few years now, but I wasn’t able to go since we had limited time on the previous trips. The restaurant is La Gruta, it is in an underground cave. It is a spiritual experience having lunch inside this cave. Once you are done eating you can have your waiter light your candle and you are welcome to climb up the stairwell to place your candle in an inner portion of the cave. Lunch here won’t set you back much (approx. $40 USD, for lunch for two people) and you even get to experience a spiritual cleansing ritual!
7:00 p.m.: Once we got back to the hotel we decided to go to the movies. This is by no means a Mexican experience unless you consider spending $15 USD for two people to watch a movie at the Cinepolis VIP a true Mexican experience.
Wednesday: Last day in Mexico City! Always bittersweet leaving but there are always so many reasons to come back and explore. We headed out after breakfast to go check out the Jeff Koons & Marcel Duchamp exhibit that was at the Jumex Museum.It was just as spectacular as you could imagine. Jeff Koons can make bronze look like plastic which is just wow.
This restaurant was incredible and definitely gained its spot as #13 of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants. There is a seperate post just for this restaurant because it deserves it. I even had a celebrity sighting while I was there! Salma Hayek! She was so nice and absolutely stunning! This experience lasts about 3-4 hours since it was a 7 course menu so if you go make sure to keep some time open between any other things you may want to do.
After lunch we headed to the hotel to grab our things and head to the airport. This experience was incredible and there is always something new to explore in this beautiful city.
Hey Guys!! Thank you so much for visiting the blog. If you’re new here. I’m Alexandra. San Diego native!
I’m obsessed with all things fashion, lifestyle and travel. So is everyone though right? But that sums me up.
I started The Weekender Files on Instragram and officially moved into making a blog out of it in 2019.
The Weekender Files is my place to just be me, share what I have learned about traveling over the years and all the other things I’m into which I know a lot of you out there are into too!
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The Weekender Files 