So, coming from a family that loves to celebrate almost every holiday to the fullest,  my family has a tradition of celebrating Easter every year by not just gathering together, but by trying to find the best Brunch spots and festivities we can for the occasion!

EASTER BRUNCH SPOT

This year, for Sunday Morning brunch, we decided to dine with Vintana Wine and Dine in Escondido, CA.

This is not our first time dining with Vintana with it becoming one of our top favorite Cohn Restaurants within the past 3 years or so. This restaurant doesn’t just make one of our top because its conveniently located right off the I-15 freeway or sits above a beautiful Lexus dealership or that’s its in my neighborhood. However, this restaurant makes one of my personal top favorites because the service and the food never seem to disappoint with anything less than above satisfactory.

This is what was on their special Easter Prix-Fix Menu for 2017:

I was informed that the items they had included on this special menu that wasn’t on any previous or current menu were the following: Smoked Salmon Carpaccio (starter), Crab Cake Benedict Ranchero (Entreé), and Blueberry & Peach Crisp (Dessert).

So, of course, with me being my foodie self of always wanting to try new dishes, I’m sure you could already assume or guess which three I choose for my main courses.

To start off, each one of us got unique drinks off their specialty palmers & lemonade drink menu.

These were so yummy, colorful, and sweet. Very savvy to say the least!

However, I would have to say out of these 3, my favorite by far was the prickly pear lemonade not just because of how pretty it aesthetically is, but the sweetness of the lemonade paired perfectly with the mild tartness of the pear.

As for my 3 courses, I had a different take on each one!

 

The starter I ordered definitely came out different than I envisioned it to be as I initially at thought it was going to be somewhat similar to lox and bagels minus the bagels. However, it definitely reminded me of a somewhat healthier twist on it with the celery root, slices of green apple, watercress salad & dill yogurt dressing to provide a refreshing taste. On my heavier days, this would probably be an option of choice.

As for my main entreé, these were absolutely what I thought they were going to be. The natural flavor of the potatoes and the semi over easy/hard eggs on top of biscuits needed no sauce. Plus the two pieces of steamed asparagus added a nice touch as well. Overall this dish as a main course was very flavorful and filling. So, I would definitely get this again on my hungrier days.

Finally, for the dessert. Now, I’m pretty picky when it comes to treats considering sweets are usually my forte when it comes to depicting flavors and balances of too sweet versus savvy. This dessert actually paired the blueberries and peaches quite nicely. There definitely could’ve been a bit more flavor in the sauce as it was a tad bit too tart, but overall it paired nicely along with the vanilla ice cream!

Here are some pictures of the dishes from the menu my family ordered:

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Overall, the experience, service and food were great. I do think the pricing on the Prix-Fix menu is a tad bit pricey, but for the above satisfactory service and food, I would say the dining experience is worth time and money spent for a Holiday brunch. PS, if you ever come here to dine in the future, I would definitely recommend ordering the Lobster Mashed Potatoes or filet mignon. Also, don’t forget to get those amazing popovers! Those dishes are most certainly worth every bite. Your stomach will thank you!

EASTER FESTIVITIES

After brunch, we decided to continue our Easter Celebration in Carlsbad, California at the Flower Fields next to the Carlsbad outlet shops right off the I-5 freeway.

The Carlsbad Flower Fields are absolutely gorgeous. This is a landscape of over 50 acres where Giant Ranunculus flowers bloom from March 1-May 14th. Tickets are $14.00 for general adult admission, $13 for senior citizens, $7 for children 3-10 years of age, and 2 and under are free.

This is a great place to go on an outing with family, friends, significant other on a day date or just to come enjoy the scenery and take pictures. They also provide a few food stands such as their signature strawberries and shortcake. Also, there is an ice cream stand as well.

Here is a picture of me below from last year at the flower fields around March with an Ice Cream cone from their main ice cream stand.

However, if you do happen to choose to come here before it ends in May or come next year, I would highly recommend several suggestions.

1. Plan to visit the Flower Fields in the beginning of March as it can get very crowded later in April into May
2. Visit on a week day if possible or if coming on a weekend, arrive as early as you can since parking can overflow fairly quickly
3. Bring a high quality camera to take beautiful scenic photos! You never know. You might capture that perfect Easter family perfect for the next holiday or Christmas card!
4. Lastly, dress cute, comfortably and bring sunscreen! These flowers are on the side of hills. So, I would definitely wear comfortable shoes or something that you’re okay with getting covered in dirt to clean off for later. Have fun!

During this visit to Flower Fields with my family for the first time, I would say we definitely had fun with the live folk music playing in the background, beautiful weather, scenery & signature snacks, we’ll probably come back next year if we can. However, we’ll probably come earlier in March rather than April since we parked pretty far away.

Nonetheless, here are some photos I took while visiting:

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If you’re planning on getting any photos like mine above, I would highly advise to arrive early as lines can tend to form at pathways into different colors and sections of the fields for shots to appear as if standing in the fields.

Anywho, overall, my family and I had a great time visiting the flower fields for the first time in a very long time. However, we all agreed that next time it’s probably best if we came possibly not on Easter Day. Sad I missed my little cousins egg hunting. Nonetheless, it was still great! Hope everyone had a great and blessed day with their loved ones as well!

Let me know below how your Easter Day went and if you happened to brunch out and go anywhere egg-citing for the holiday?!

Don’t forget, keep it Savvy, Guys!

Cheers,

~Savanah(:

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