Halloween Ideas

Last Halloween, we were invited to a friend's super awesome Halloween Party. It's the only time of the year we get to play dress up and not look silly! It was unfortunate that we had a freak snowstorm that very night that caused power outages for many residential areas in MA, and we were one of them. Anyway, since we were already prepared for the party, we braved the storm (this wasn't our smartest move) drove ever to slowly and carefully to our friend's place. Branches and power lines were down in some parts of town; it was surely spooky. We didn't stay too long as the snow was coming down heavier, so we practically dropped off the food, hung around for a couple minutes and sneaked out to make the hellish drive back home.

This was what I made for the party. Ideas are not mine; it's all thanks to the world of googling. For appetizers, I made "Spider Eggs". It's basically your regular deviled eggs, topped with cut up black olives.

And for dessert, I made "Witches Fingers". Thanks to chocolate mold I got from Michael's, some Wilton candy melts and pretzel sticks. I think these witches fingers looked creepy. =)

What are your plans for this Halloween? 

Simply June 

Must Love SPAM - Hawaiian Inspired Loco Moco, My Version

I've never had Loco Moco until I moved to California. And in the 5 months, we've been here... I've eaten/tasted it 3 times and fairly enjoyed it. The first time I tasted it was at a Japanese restaurant in LA, when the husband ordered a Hamburg Curry Loco Moco Style. It thought it was a weird name and dish...but it was interestingly good.  A couple weeks after that, we scored tickets to the LA Food and Wine festival and one of the best dishes I ate was Sam Choy's Loco Moco. Honestly, I did not know what I ate (at first) but I knew it was SOOOO GOOD.. my friends agreed with me too.... That Loco Moco, came with fried rice, delicious hamburger patty, sunny side up egg with luscious runny yolk and to die to sauce. We tried to go for seconds, and they ran out already. Boo! If only Mr. Sam has a restaurant in the LA area! Anyway, the third time I tried some Loco Moco was at a Hawaiian food chain restaurant; L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. That one looked a bit greasy and tasted ok.

If you are new to Loco Moco, I guess it's basically, rice with burger patties, sunny side up eggs and gravy. It's sort of a Hawaiian comfort food. Not sure what Loco Moco meant, but  don't mind eating more Loco Mocos!

Anyway, with a package of ground pork in the freezer and some SPAM meat (get over it, I love SPAM!) in the fridge, I decided to make my own version of loco moco. There weren't enough SPAM for me to just pan fry it for the husband and I, so I decided to incorporate it into the burger patties. If I had more SPAM, I would have added more. Lol!

Here's my version of Loco Moco... don't be afraid of SPAM!  The recipe is just for the burger patty and gravy. Prepare about 5 servings of steamed white rice and sunny side up eggs (1 or 2  eggs per serving) to go with the burger and gravy! Can't get more Hawaiian that this, Spam & Loco Moco! All I need is my hula skirt and ukelele!

SPAM (PORK) BURGER PATTIES & GRAVY RECIPE
*Makes 10 patties (5 servings)

Spam Burger Patties Ingredients

• 1 lb Ground Pork (not too lean)
• 3-4 Oz Spam, Finely Chopped
• 1 Stalk Green Onion, Finely Chopped
• 1/2 Medium Onion, Grated
• 2 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1/4 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Oil

Gravy Ingredients

• 3/4 Cup Low Sodium Chicken Stock (or More if needed )
• 4 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 2 Tsp Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Ketchup
• Ground Pepper

Method

Mix all the ingredients except the oil in a bowl. Divide the mixture into about 10 portions and shape them into a ball then slightly flatten them in a 2" diameter disc, keeping the edges smooth. Make a little dent in the middle of the patties so that the burgers will cook evenly.

Heat 1-1/2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot, place the burger patties onto the pan and let the patties cook for about 3-4 minutes then flip to continue cooking the other side for another 3-4 minutes or until patties are brown and cooked through. The patties should feel somewhat firm when done. Remove the patties and set aside. Do not discard the oil/drippings as you'll use it for the gravy. 

Sieve the oil/drippings into a sauce pan over medium heat. Add flour and stir to let mixture combine. Then whisk in 3/4 Cup of chicken stock, soy sauce, ketchup and sugar. Whisk and let the gravy simmer over medium heat. If the gravy is too thick, add a little more chicken stock or water. Ground some black pepper and the sauce is ready.

Assemble your Loco Moco

Prepare 5 servings of steamed white rice and 5 (or 10) sunny side up eggs. Place 2 spam burger patties and desired amount of eggs on each serving of rice. Drizzle with the gravy and enjoy immediately!

Enjoy!

Simply June 

2 Rotis for Lunch

Frozen roti canai/ roti pratha is probably one of the easiest Malaysian food I can get in the US and I'm very thankful for that. I can't imagine myself trying to make roti canai; twirling and tossing the dough (almost like making a pizza I guess) and make a couple Malaysian pancake/crepe just to satisfy cravings. So, I'm very thankful to be able to get them at most Asian grocery stores and even Trader Joe's; just look for them at the frozen food sections. Some brands are no doubt better than others. Trader Joe's roti pratha are pre-cooked and not as flaky as I liked it to be......but it's inexpensive and is the most convenient option for me.. I can just walk down the street to get it. I think my favorite is Kawan brand, which comes in 5 frozen (flatten) dough that you need to cook until golden brown and will give you a nice crisp flaky delicious  result. No oil required to cooked these roti canais since they are already laden with grease.

Anyway, I "made" lunch one day and decided to fry up some Roti Canai. I was craving for some smoke salmon cream cheese with bread, and decided to spread it over roti canai instead. It was a pretty delicious choice for my limited pantry. I like this combination! I wonder what it would taste if I added some smoked salmon over the cheese? Mmmmm....

After I devoured my "entree", I decided to make dessert; Roti Kaya. No rocket science to making this, just again cook the roti canai/roti pratha per instruction and spread a thin layer of kaya (coconut egg jam). I could make my own kaya if I wanted, but since I had a store bought one in the pantry, I used that instead....and voila, dessert!

Have fun trying!

Simply June 

Curried Pumpkin Soup

I bought a can of pureed pumpkin from the grocery store recently to make Pumpkin Cake but then, I had a craving for some kind of curried pumpkin soup and decided to forgo the idea of making a pumpkin cake. I can just head to the store to get another can of pumpkin or perhaps try to use the squash my neighbor gave me and tweak the pumpkin cake recipe instead!

Anyway, armed with a can of pumpkin puree and a hungry tummy....I whipped up some spiced pumpkin soup. Of course fresh garlic and onion would taste better but I used garlic and onion powder instead as I did not want to make a big mess in the kitchen, and use my kitchen blender to puree my soup.  I used some (no salt/sodium) chicken broth in the soup but if you want to make the soup vegetarian friendly, use vegetable broth/stock. For this recipe, I used a Jamaican style curry powder and added some ground cumin. I'm sure any style (mild?) of curry powder will work with this recipe as well.

CURRIED PUMPKIN SOUP
*Serves 2-3

Ingredients

• 1 15 Oz Can Pumpkin
• 1-1/2 Tbsp Butter
• 1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour
• 1-1/2 Tsp Curry Powder
• 1-1/2 Tsp Ground Cumin
• 1 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1 Tsp Onion Powder
• 1-1/3 Cup Chicken Broth 
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Milk
• 1/4 Cup Heavy Cream (Plus more, if desired)
• Salt (Season to taste)
• Ground black pepper (Optional, season to taste)

Method

In a saucepan over medium heat, add butter, curry powder, ground cumin, garlic powder and heat until spices are fragrant. Then stir in flour and mix well. Then pour in chicken stock and coconut milk and let the mixture simmer. Stir in pumpkin and let mixture simmer. Finally stir in cream, season to taste and serve! If you find the soup too thick for your preference, dilute the soup with optional 1-2 tbsp of heavy cream.

Simply June 

Baking Ingredient Substitution

I'm not sure about you, but there are times when I want to bake something and realized that I'm short of a certain ingredient......and I'm too lazy to head out to the store to get that missing ingredient. Or sometimes, I do not want to get a big bag of a certain ingredient only to use a little bit of it in the recipe. Or you just can't seem to find that ingredient at your local store and you just need to try out that recipe!!  Well, I often find myself in those situation and often turn to googling to see what substitutions can I do so that I can satisfy my urge to bake.

Anyway, I found this useful link for baking ingredient substitution recently on Joy Of Baking and thought it would be great to share it! Hope this link will be helpful to you too!

Have fun baking!

PS: I'm not affiliated with Joy of Baking, just merely sharing a useful link to fellow readers!

Simply June 

Avocado Egg Salad

I've not been a big fan of avocado (or tomatoes) and will never eat it as is like some of my friends would. A couple months ago I fell in love with a sandwich combination at my previous work place. I forgot how I came across the combination of avocado in my chicken salad sandwich (with either croissant or baguette, extra mayo, bacon, provolone cheese and lettuce..and toasted!); perhaps it was one of the specials they had one day... or.. I saw someone ordering that combination. Since the first time I had it, it had been my go to option for sandwiches and it's the only way I'll eat avocados!

For the reason of being not a big fan of avocados, I don't buy them. However, I found one in my fridge the other day; leftover from when the husband's family was visiting. I think my SIL got some to feed her kids. I used a bit of it as a condiment for my pork burger and it was surely a delicious combination! I guess from now on, I will eat more avocados..... only if they were snuck into my sandwiches/burgers.

With almost one avocado left (since I only used a small slice for my burger), I decided to make some healthy(?) salad out of one of the half I cut into. I kept the other half for another use, another day. Combining a hard boiled egg and some artificial crab meat with the avocado, this is my attempt to eat a little healthy! Just to make things a little easier, I doubled my original recipe! Here's the recipe.

AVOCADO EGG SALAD RECIPE
*Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 Ripe Avocado, Cut into Cubes (Refer HERE)
• 2 Hard Boiled Eggs, Peeled and Chopped
• 3-4 Oz Artificial Crab Meat (Chunk Style), Chopped
• 4 Tsp Ranch Dressing
• 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
• 1 Basil Leaf, Julienned 
• Pinch of Salt
• Ground Black Pepper (To Taste)

Method
In a medium bowl, mix together all ingredients except basil, salt and black pepper. When all the ingredients are mixed well, toss in basil leaf, pinch of salt and ground pepper. Refrigerate before serving or serve immediately!

Enjoy!

June's Notes: Save the shell of the avocado, and you can use it as a serving "bowl".

Simply June 

Fresh Strawberry Crepe

I love crepe but I've never made them before. I would usually get a dessert crepe or a savory one if I see it on the menu. With a pint of fresh strawberry in the fridge, I decided to look up a crepe recipe online and make some for breakfast. I went with a basic crepe recipe I found on all recipes.com and added some strawberry jam, fresh strawberries and kept it simple. 

The crepe recipe was very easy and turn out pretty good. I had a little hard time trying to mix the batter, so maybe next time I'll blend all the ingredients in a blender. I used a crepe pan I had gotten as a X'mas present and it gave me perfectly cooked crepes. The combination of strawberry jam and fresh strawberries were just perfect; light, simple and not overly sweet. Here's the recipe for Fresh Stawberry Crepe, with the basic crepe recipe adapted from all recipes.com

FRESH STRAWBERRY CREPE RECIPE
*Makes 6-8 crepes

Ingredients

• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 2 Large Eggs, Lightly Beaten
• 1/2 Cup Milk
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 2 Tbsp Melted Butter
• Oil for cooking crepe
• 2 Tsp Sugar
• 10-12 Fresh Strawberries, Quartered 
• Strawberry Jam

Method
In a large mixing bowl, which together the loud and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter and beat until smooth. Sieve the mixture to remove lumps and set aside.

In another bowl, add sugar to the strawberries and let the berries macerate. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour about 1/4 - 1/3 cup of batter for each crepe. Tilt the pan in a circular motion so that the batter coasts the surface evenly.

Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottle is light brown. Loosen with a spatula. Turn and cook the other side for a couple seconds.

Spread a thin layer of strawberry jam onto the crepes, and fold them into quarters. Arrange them onto the plates and top with the fresh strawberries. Enjoy immediately!

Simply June 

Baked Eggs & Roti Canai = Pretty Awesome Combination!

I was in the mood for baked eggs a couple days ago after I saw a recipe from a cookbook I bought from Williams Sonoma. I made a couple changes to the recipe including adding more eggs coz I used a pretty huge ramekin. Those extra eggs was probably one of the mistake of the day, as it took longer to bake. I got impatient (mistake number 2) and hungry (since Hubby's simple 3 eggs sunny side up was already done), and decided to pull the eggs out of the oven. The eggs were quite uncooked overall, so I decided to stick them in the microwave (mistake number 3). I forgot how long I stuck it in for (probably a couple seconds), but it was a couple second too long for the fragile eggs. My baked eggs were very over done. I was anticipating luscious runny yolks, and was left staring at overly done yolks and a extremely messy looking ramekin. The baked eggs were still good..... but it was not what I had anticipated good. I ate it all up anyway as I liked the different elements I pulled together.

With this runny yolk craving that I've been having, I decided to make bake eggs again. Learning from the mistakes I made a few days ago, I scaled down a little by using 2 eggs instead of one, waited patiently and let the oven work it's magic. This time, I got delicious runny eggs and absolute satisfaction. The baked eggs was delicious! As I don't have bread at home, I decided to reheat a frozen roti canai/roti prata and dip my "roti" into the runny yolk, catching pieces of spinach and sausages in between dips. Mmmm..... this combination is pretty awesome!!! I paired my lunch with a Vietnamese Ice Coffee and for a couple seconds, it felt like I was transported to somewhere exotic and not my living room. You could certainly pair with with some toast, baguettes or whatever bread you have!

Here's the recipe for baked eggs, adapted from Georgeann Brennan's Brunch cookbook with my changes.

FRENCH BAKED EGGS WITH SPINACH AND SAUSAGE RECIPE
*Serves 2

Ingredients

• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 Fresh Bratwurst (or fresh sausage of choice), casing removed
• 2 Cups Fresh (Young) Spinach Leaves, Packed
• 2 Tsp Heavy Cream
• 1 Tsp Oil
• 1-1/2 Tsp Butter
• Ground Black Pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 2 (4 oz) ramekins with butter. Prepare a ice bath; bowl of cold water with ice. Boil a pot of water and once the water starts to boil, add spinach leaves. Blanch the leaves for about 1 minute and quickly remove and place into the ice bath for about 1 minute. Remove blanched spinach leaves from ice bath, squeeze the spinach firmly to remove water. Coarsely chop the spinach and divide the chop spinach into the 2 ramekins. Spread the chop spinach evenly. 

Heat 1 Tsp of oil in the frying pan over medium heat. Add the fresh bratwurst and cook it while breaking it into pieces. Continue to cook the bratwurst until they are slightly brown. Remove cooked bratwurst and evenly divide them into the ramekins over the chopped spinach. 

Break 2 eggs into each ramekin and drizzle with 1 tsp of heavy cream each. Place ramekins onto a baking sheet and bake the eggs for about 15-17 minutes or until the egg whites are firm and the egg yolks are still runny. Remove the ramekins from the oven, crack some black pepper onto the eggs and serve immediately with your favorite toast.

Enjoy!

Simply June 

The Challenge: Chocolate Marble Pound Cake

The husband loves marble cake. One day after a visit to Starbucks and looking at their array of cakes, I found myself being challenged by the husband to make chocolate marble cake. Maybe it was due to my big mouth to declare that, marble cake is easy to make! Anyway, I'm not complaining as I love challenges and I love baking! After googling for some recipes, I decided to go with one from Food & Wine. I've used their recipe in the past and have always had excellent success with them. One of the recipes that I've tried is my very well liked tiramisu; which gained approvals from many friends. Some of my toughest critiques include my husband (he doesn't sugar coat things and tell me straight if something is good or bad....I choose to ignore if I disagree!), an Italian couple and a French guy. You know it's good when the Italian and the French (who's very picky with their desserts) tells you so! =)

Anyway, back to the chocolate marble cake recipe..... the cake took a little longer than I expected to cook through... I blame this on my crappy oven (I miss the oven at my old place).  The husband thought it lacked something, but couldn't tell me what it was...I suspect he did it on purpose so that I'll bake more to "improve"! Maybe we need to get Starbuck's cake and compare side by side. Although it's not as light as Starbuck's marble pound cake,  I thought the flavors were pretty good and rich. I would continue to use this recipe, but maybe substituting regular all purpose flour with cake flour might give the cake a little lift. I used heavy cream in the recipe, but next time milk might be a better choice. The original recipe uses a food processor; I used the good old hand mixer. Lots of possibilities for the next time I use this recipe.

Until then, here's the recipe for a chocolate marble pound cake adapted directly from Food & Wine. Original recipe is HERE. This is great breakfast item with coffee or afternoon snack with your favorite tea! And why bake one for your neighbor or friends?

CHOCOLATE MARBLE POUND CAKE RECIPE
*Makes a 8" x 4" loaf

Ingredients

• 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 3/4 Cup Butter, Softened
• 3 Tbsp Butter Melted
• 2 Tsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (Dutch Process)
• 1-1/3 Cups Granulated Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
• Vegetable Oil Cooking Spray

Method

Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray an 8" x 4" loaf pan with cooking spray and line it with parchment paper. Spray the paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour with the baking powder and salt. In another medium bowl, combine the melted butter with cocoa until smooth. 

With a stand or hand mixer, combine the softened butter with granulated sugar at medium speed. Add eggs and vanilla and combine until well mixed. Lower down the speed, and gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add the heavy cream and combine until smooth. Transfer 1 cup of the batter to the bowl with the cocoa mixture and stir until smooth. 

Spoon half of the remaining batter into the prepared pan and smooth the surface. Spread the chocolate batter in the pan, then cover with the remaining plain batter. Using a table knife, cut 5 swirls in the batter. Bake the pound cake for 25 minutes. Reduce temperature to 325F and bake for another 25 minutes. Cover loosely with foil and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the cake is lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Let the pound cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then unfold and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Cut into slices and serve! Enjoy!

Simply June 

Pork Burger Tuesdays & a Mini Pork Burger Recipe

A friend of mine is always excited come Tuesday as it's her Pork Burger Tuesday and I can always see her excitement through her FB post every Tuesday or even the night before. To be honest, I'm jealous that I'm thousand of miles away and is not able to try this spectacular pork burger which I suspect is only sold once a week at a night market or something.

Pork burger is not something that you can get very easily at restaurants even in the US; unlike hamburgers. So, I decided to satisfy my curiosity, subdue my jealousy and make my own version of pork burger. I had just chopped up some pork to make my own ground pork so I'm all set with the main ingredient. Making my own ground pork is not something I do often, but the 2 grocery stores nearest to me do not have them. Well, one of them do have ground pork but it's extra lean ground pork which I've tried in the past and did not appreciate the leanness and thought it lacked flavors. With the pork at the grocery store going on sale, I decided to grab a package and chopped them up to make my own ground pork! Anyway, rummaging through the fridge and the pantry to see what I can do; I decided to make cute mini pork burgers. I didn't have any mini burger buns, so I cut out some english muffins and improvised. I found a bag of baby spinach and avocado (love avocados in sandwiches!!) in the fridge, and added those as condiments to my burger. A slice of tomato for color (not a big fan of raw tomato but it gives great color to food...) and voila; a pretty delicious mini pork burger! Here's the recipe!

MINI PORK BURGER / SLIDER RECIPE
*Makes 2 mini burgers

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Ground Pork
• 1/2 Small Yellow Onion, Chopped ( About 3 Tbsp)
• 2 Cloves Garlic, Chopped (About 2 Tsp)
• 1/8 Tsp Ground Black Pepper
• 1/8 Tsp Garlic Powder
• 1/8 Tsp Salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 Tsp Ground Cumin 
• 1 Stalk Green Onions, Chopped
• 2 Slider Buns / Mini Burger Buns, Toasted
• 2 Tbsp Oil
• 1/2 Tbsp Butter (Optional)
• Spinach Leaves (Condiments for burger, optional)
• Sliced Tomatoes (Condiments for burger, optional)
• Thinly Sliced Avocado (Condiments for burger, optional)

Method
Heat about 1 tbsp of boil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Sautee chopped onions until soft, then add chop garlic. Continue sautéing until the onions are brown. Transfer entire mixture into a bowl and add the ground pork, black pepper, garlic powder, salt, cumin and green onions. Combine the mixture and ensure that the ingredients are well mixed. Divide the pork mixture into 2 and shape them into a ball. Then slightly flatten them into a disc (roughly the size of your buns), keeping the edges smooth. Make a little dent in the middle of the burger patties so that the burgers cook evenly.

Heat remaining 1 tbsp of oil and the optional 1/2 Tbsp of butter in the same pan over medium heat. Once oil is hot, place the patties onto the frying pan and let the patties cook for about 3 minutes then flip to continue cooking the other side for another 3 minutes or until the patties are brown and are cooked through. The patties should feel somewhat firm when done.

Sandwich the patties with the toasted mini burger buns and accompany with the optional condiments. Serve immediately!

June's Comments: Some chopped fried bacon in the burger patties would also be yummilicious! Bacon makes everything better!!

Simply June 

Anacapa Island

Being in California, we're blessed with beautiful sceneries and attractions not too far from us. There's always something to do, somewhere. With the inlaws in town, the husband decided to visit Anacapa Island. Thankfully, the harbor for us to take the ferry is just less than an hour from us. There's only one way to get to the island; via ferry which is only operated by Island Packers. They are the only licensed ferry operator (as well as some other water sports) for the Channel Islands. Ticket cost us $56 for round trip to and from the Island. Senior citizens get a little bit of discounts. There's only one pick up time for both to and from the island; so you have to be punctual or you'll miss the boat!

The boat ride departed from the Oxnard harbor at around 9.30am and it took a little over an hour to get to Anacapa Island. To prepare ourselves from getting motion sickness, we took some ginger pills (a more natural alternative) and had some delicious chewy ginger candy. We had a pretty heavy marine layer that morning, and apparently that's a good thing, as it kept the waves down, hence a smooth boat ride. Yay! We kept our eyes wide open hoping to spot some dolphins or whales, but did not manage to see any on our way to the island. As a consolation, we were rewarded by the view of the beautiful ocean and as we approach the island; views of the beautiful island.

Upon arrival, we were greeted by the park ranger and a volunteer and were given some introduction about the island including what not to do. To help keep the island in pristine condition, visitors must bring out whatever trash they brought in. No pets allowed as well. This is pretty much a back to basics island where there're minimal pit toilets (no flush toilets) and no water available. So, you must bring enough drinking water for your own. If you're camping, you have to bring everything in and out of the island. No campfires allowed, so forget about brining fire wood. As you can swim/snorkel/kayak around the island, bringing those water sport equipments would be a fun way to explore the island.

The island itself is bare... you don't have much shade to hide from the scorching heat. The view from the tiny island is spectacular! The walk is quite easy.... especially for someone like me...who don't like extreme hikes.

Every part of the island offers different views. As we brought our own food to the island, we sat at benches provided to enjoy a bite and take in the beautiful scenery. There're plenty of sea lions around the island, just keep your ears open and it you hear "barks" nearby, chances are there are sea lions at the bottom of the cliffs. If you do want to look down, BE CAREFUL!! These cliffs are very dangerous and can crumble anytime. The cliffs are high so a fall can be deadly!! 

The view from Inspiration Point; inspiring indeed! So breathtaking!

Views of the lighthouse on Anacapa Island.

We are pretty much done with the island at about 1.30pm as it was getting too hot. We gathered near the information centre where's there's some shade and waited for time to head to the dock. I secretly wished they come and pick us up sooner. At 3pm, we gathered at the dock to take the only boat back to Oxnard. During the boat ride back, the captain brought us around the Arch Rock and also got us a closer views of the sea lions. We were also praying real hard to be able to catch a glimpse of dolphins and whales but after more than an hour of "eye-straining" we were left a little disappointed again. Catching a glimpse of these mammals would have made the boat ride so worth it!! It was still overall a good trip away from civilization and to be able to enjoy mother nature.

So, what are you waiting for? Plan a day trip to Anacapa Island. Don't forget to pack some lunch and plenty of water to hydrate! And take your trash home with you!

Simply June