Category: Orange County

Travel, Mary, Orange County, Orange

civil war in huntington beach + johnny reb’s bbq in orange, ca

It’s no longer a secret that I like Civil War stuff.

Well, it was never really a secret to begin with. But it’s kind of one of those things I’m shy to share about myself – seems like kind of a nerdy, geeky thing to like. I’m a nerdy, geeky kind of girl though. History is neat.

[signs to camps]

The Civil War Reenactment in Huntington Beach, CA is a very impressive event to attend. There’s two separate camps, a small town called Reedsberg and an impressive battle filled with troops and lots of canon fire. There’s also tons of people to talk to who are more than happy to share a little bit of history and knowledge with you.

I just love walking around the camps, seeing the uniforms and getting a feel for the place.

[the confederate camp tents]

There were people set up and cooking and people just doing their “day to day” thing within the camps.

[the undertaker was in]

We also visited the undertaker.

[my poor baby, ready for viewing]

Jake stuffed himself in a coffin and I photographed it. I refused to get in myself. But I’ll happily take photos of others in the coffin.

[more tents in the confederate camp]
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Cheap Eats, Huntington Beach, Mary, Orange County

kelly’s donuts and burgers / huntington beach – orange county, ca

Over Labor Day weekend this year, Jake, the kids and I headed up to Huntington Beach for the Civil War Reenactment that weekend. I got really interested in Civil War history after taking a few history classes in college at Boston University – I started liking history so much that it was my concentration (I was a little too lazy to actually minor in it though).

For the past two years, Jake and I have gone up to Calico for their Civil War weekend over President’s Day. I want to go to another one a little closer to home and this one was the winner.

Before we headed over to the camps though, we needed a little something to fill our bellies. We made a quick pit stop not too far from the Huntington Beach library to check out Kelly’s Donuts and Burgers.

[kind of empty looking donut case]

I started getting a little worried when we walked in and this was their donut selection.

All of the donuts mixed together just on a few trays. Say what? This was a donut shop wasn’t it?

[partial menu at kelly’s donuts and burgers]

Yes, it is definitely a donut shop but they also have other offerings for breakfast and lunch – including deli sandwiches and of course, burgers.

I put my skepticism aside as best I could after seeing the sad donut case. The kids and I each got a donut and Jake and I shared a breakfast burrito.

[polish sausage, egg, hash browns and cheese breakfast burrito – $3.75]

The burritos normally come with salsa, but I asked for it without since I don’t really like salsa inside of my food all that much.

[burrito closeup]

This was a fairly simple burrito. The polish sausage gave the burrito a good overall taste and the eggs were done well (maybe slightly overcooked but still solid). The hash browns were nice and crisp, too. I didn’t really taste a whole lot of cheese in it, so that could have been improved a little. Jake got a cup of salsa on the side and liked it better with some salsa. All in all it was a pretty decent breakfast burrito. Jake liked it a lot more than I did. The price sure is right though.

[donuts]

The kids were luckily able to easily pick out donuts for themselves, S. choosing the jelly donut and A. picking the chocolate and peanut cake donut. Jake skipped out on donuts while I got a blueberry donut.

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Mary, Orange County, Irvine

101 noodles express / irvine – orange county, ca

I had a quick trip up to Orange County recently and my dad let me pick a place for us to have lunch at. I love when people let me pick the place (and the food) and I wanted to try something that we couldn’t get a whole lot of down here in San Diego – namely, delicious dumplings! I scouted around on Yelp and on a few other food blogger’s sites and ended up reading Kirbie’s post about 101 Noodles Express and decided that’s where I wanted to go for lunch.

This place is pretty conveniently located right off of I-5. The restaurant is small and tucked into the corner of a pretty packed shopping center with a few other Asian restaurants and shops. There’s a clipboard outside that serves as the waiting list and you just write your name in and wait to be called. We didn’t have to wait too long before being seated.

[beef roll – $7.45]

I made sure to order the beef roll that Kirbie had so raved about in her post. You get two pretty hefty looking rolls that sort of look like a burrito but cut into manageable, quartered pieces. It’s got slices of beef with tons of onion, cilantro and other goodies tucked into it and all wrapped together to form a pretty pinwheel-like package. This tasted very fresh and bright from all of the seasonings packed into it and the beef had a nice flavor to it as well. I dug it!

[cilantro-jalapeno side condiment]

This little jar of stuff is on all of the tables. It’s a condiment made with cilantro and jalapeno. I put a little daub onto my beef roll and it did kind of kick up the flavor a bit. I consider it to be for “oomphing” purposes. Did I really just say “oomphing purposes?

Yeah, I guess I did.

I didn’t think the beef roll really needed the condiment and while I didn’t dislike it, I did kind of prefer it without. To each their own!

[dan dan (minced pork) with hand torn noodles $6.99 / regular noodles – $5.99]

My dad and I were sitting at a long table shared by another group and my dad noticed this dish and he asked them what it was. We decided it was tasty looking enough that we ought to order it, too. You can get either regular noodles or hand torn noodles for a dollar more. I’ve never seen “hard torn noodles” on a menu before so I had to try it!

[hand torn noodles closeup]

These noodles had a very distinctive chew that I really, really enjoyed. The minced pork was delicious. My dad thought it needed a dollop of soy sauce but I liked it as-is. It was so simple but so delicious. The pork covered the noodles and coated them really well – I think I could eat this all of the time.

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