“Romance On the Road”

A Taste of Orange County

by Marilyn Anderson

What a fantastic time we had at all the places we went!  The Fairmont, Newport Beach was excellent: we loved the Gold Floor, and especially the Gold Lounge with their beautiful and delicious treats for breakfast and happy hour!  Going for “the Gold” gets you so much more at the Fairmont and is really worth the extra $80 during the week—or only $50 extra on the weekend.  You get free Internet, a gourmet breakfast in the Gold Lounge, beautiful and scrumptious hors d’oeuvres in the afternoon; and in the evening, the most exquisite and melt-in-your-mouth pastries.  Mmmmm…lemon-pomegranate mousse cake, tiramisu pastry, chocolate-raspberry tarts, and other decadent delights.

The restaurants we dined at were fabulous.  21 Oceanfront is a beautiful place, and we thoroughly enjoyed our dinner of surf and turf—i.e., I had the Cioppino, and Dennis had the rack of lamb.  Both were delicious!

Friday was fun at Disneyland—and Friday night was Nirvana!  The ambiance and meal at Catal Restaurant were both amazing.  They took such good care of us!   I loved the unusual selection on the menu—such a nice change from the typical.  We had an assortment of luscious appetizers and entrees.   Instead of “from soup to nuts,” it was “from escargots to oysters.”  And that’s just the starters.

My main course was an amazing combination of Russian scallops, agnoletti with braised pork, and brussel sprouts from heaven.  Dennis had paella, and the only thing that wasn’t perfect was that it was such a huge portion he couldn’t begin to finish it!  For dessert, we shared a trio of gelato and sorbet.  We were simply too full to try any of their other scrumptious-sounding treats.  I’ll just say it was all so good that I sent a party of 10 to dine there on Saturday night!

After the meal was our exciting and romantic flight with Gary Reeves in a single engine, four-seater plane at Sunset Flying. He was soooooo nice…and a great pilot.  The visibility was a little low before we went up.   In fact, I almost chickened out.  But I believe in the old saying, “Carpe Diem,” so I forgot my fear, and went up, up, and away in the plane.  It was incredible.  Gary was the best, explaining everything and being both so kind and so enthusiastic about flying.  We couldn’t go as far or as high as when visibility is good, but we did get to see the Disneyland fireworks from the window of the plane, as well as amazing views of the city below.  And guess what?  He even let me fly the plane a bit!  Whoooo-eee!

Oh, and on Saturday – we had massages at the Spa at The Island Hotel. D-I-V-I-N-E!   No other word describes it.  Both Dennis and I had masseuses with magic hands; and at the end of our massages, they served us champagne and chocolate-covered strawberries, dressed in little dark and white chocolate tuxedos!  (That’s going to be called a “Magical Moment” in our book!)

It was a grand little getaway that we will remember with joy.

This is all just a little taste of what we’ll be writing about Orange County in our book and blog, “Romance on the Road.”

Hug your honey on the holidays! xoxo — Marilyn

Marilyn & Dennis’s – RomanceOnTheRoad.com – to be launched in January 2007