victoria gardens

my countdown continues. fifth day without cable. how am i surviving so far? let's just say that the customer service people at adelphia already know me on a first name basis.

my co-worker and i went on a road trip yesterday afternoon to rancho cucamonga to attend the opening of her a restaurant (her client) and for me to write about it. the trip was kinda long, we got stuck in traffic, even if we were on the car pool lane already. the place is about 50 miles from downtown los angeles.

it was kinda late (we were about to exit already) when i noticed that the mapquest printout i had did not reflect the actual place that we were going to but the center of the city (in this case, rancho cucamonga). anyway, to make a really long drive (story) short, it took us almost two and a half hours to finally reach our destination.

it turns out that the restaurant is inside victoria gardens, a $200 million project encompassing more than 150 acres. the place is huge, but it was very, very pretty. specially for a shopaholic like me. the mere size of the outdoor shopping center mesmerized me, and i liked the wide open spaces as well. it's like the grove, only 20 times bigger. that's how huge it is.

anyway, the reason why mapquest did not recognize the street was because of the fact that the "streets" were "streets" within victoria gardens. and they were "made" only a few months ago, so online maps probably do not have their updated copies yet.

anyway, i had my fill of sushi and sashimi (thank you kabuki!) and the asparagus wrapped in beef, and the dynamite, and the eel roll, and the soft shell crab roll, and the calamari-stuffed eggplant. this was worth the long trip. but then again, we need not drive that far next time since there's one in hollywood, another one in burbank and one in pasadena too.

i dunno when i will be back to victoria garden again, but i do hope it would be anytime soon, so i can walk along its pretty streets and shop in its cool stores. oh well, that is if i have enough money to spare. good luck.