summer show @ the fountains

bo and i have always liked california pizza kitchen. we love their salads, and are constantly baffled by how their "half" salad is way larger than any salads we would make for ourselves at home. we enjoy their pizzas sometimes too, the crust is just the right thickness. and the chicken tequila fettuccine is one of my personal favorites.

this time, i tried their new baby clam linguini with the red sauce. i was initially wanting the white sauce, then remembered i am supposedly trying to eat healthier, so i canned that idea. it was better than i expected! very generous with the clams, and with a spatter of red pepper flakes that added just the right amount of kick. raffy enjoyed his usual, fusilli with meat sauce, and bo had the thai crunch salad, which we've had before. this salad is a great dish if you're a fan of thai food, which i've found often combines peanut + sweet.

then, bo had the bright idea of ordering dessert. enter the butter cake with vanilla ice cream. bo has a weakness for caramel and any similar flavor. i am a chocolate person myself, but enjoy all desserts anyway. needless to say, bo had 3/4 of it!! though raffy ate most of the ice cream.

 

the butter cake, in the process of getting demolished.

after dinner, we strolled through the fountains, and raffy discovered a real treat... the major mist effects put on at the central fountain. awesome way to cool down in the summer heat! at first sight, i mistook it for dry ice. the fine mist would rise and lay heavily over the water feature like a fog, then spill over one side after the other, enveloping passersby almost completely. having always been fascinated by water, steam, and anything in between, you can imagine how this enthralled our 3-year-old. he ran back and forth, chasing the mist where it spilled over,  laughing happily as he was immersed in it.

 

raffy and bo marvel at the fountain's summer mist.

our favorite part of the evening had to be the summer show by
one headlight, a local 90's cover band.

of course, a free show at the fountains is not exactly as exciting as the concerts we so loved, back in the days of no kids, when we could plan a night out without a second thought! so i wasn't expecting much, especially since i wasn't blown away by other bands we'd seen at the fountains before. but one headlight was a genuine surprise... great vocals, great instruments, and just the most amazing set list! (they kicked off with better than ezra. nuff said.) most importantly, the band paid attention to their sound engineering, so even in the open air the music was on point and balanced. i've heard great bands play with lousy sound engineering, it can really ruin the show, so kudos to these guys for caring.

this was raffy's first live band experience, and for at least five songs he was watching the band intently and clapping at the right moments. for a kid with such short attention span, this was a major achievement! but it was no real surprise, since he's shown great interest in anything to do with music. how cool would it be if he grows up to have a future in music? goodness knows i had such ambitions when i was growing up!

raffy bangs a drum.