Memorial Day Weekend - things I did aside from the Laguna Hills 1/2 Marathon

So it is Tuesday today and even though I didn't feel sore yesterday, I sure am feeling it today. I guess it has been a long while since I've been sore enough to feel it. I decided against going into the gym this morning. Yes I had planned to go in but mostly to stretch out, use the foam roller, do some abs and maybe some arms but when I woke up this morning, I felt how sore I was and decided to sleep in. I really need to focus on recovery this week so that I am ready to go next Sunday in San Diego. I am really excited and cannot wait to get down there.

It was so nice to have a three day weekend. I started the weekend right with breakfast at the Original Pancake House and I ordered one of my favorite things there...waffles! They have the regular waffles that I love, instead of the Belgian kind. I also like the waffles at Rosco's Chicken and Waffles, but that's another story. I also ordered a side of corned beef hash which turned out to be a very large side order. It was just ok. Strangely enough they have some really good oatmeal here, even though I didn't order any this time around.


The Friday before the Memorial Day weekend, I decided that I wanted ramen for lunch so I headed over to Santouka. That place is just crowded. It just seems to get more and more crowded every year. So I was sitting there in the food count eating my ramen when I noticed that the area where Maestro's use to be was occupied by some either new or squatting ramen establishment. I didn't think anything of this until I got back to the office and Googled it up. Turns out that a popular ramen chef from NY (Ippudo Ramen) was in town for only 4 days serving up his famous ramen. So you know that I had to go back and get me some. So I did just that. I went back on Saturday and got in line to try this famous ramen. There I sat with my piping hot ramen and I gotta say that it was not as good as I had hoped. The broth was not that flavorful and I didn't care for the thin noodle. The sliced pork on the other hand was amazing but not good enough to save this bowl of noodles. In fact, I think Santouka is so much better. I am glad that I can get a bowl of Santouka whenever I want. I would be pretty sad if they were just visiting. Here's a different perceptive on this ramen.


The Mitsuwa Market Food Festival was also happening this past weekend. I've somehow accidently managed to catch the last two food festivals and I love the different foods they sell during the festival and there is always something new and different. I ended up buying a box of Takoyaki (little batter balls with octopus in the center) and some sort of baked sweet potato dessert concoction. I liked those! I did not like the Takoyaki, it was pretty gross. It had a really strong ginger flavor which I do not care for and they put so much of the heavy sauce on it that it was really soggy and nasty. I will never get this again from this vendor.