Weekend Recap: Coconut French Toast & Runyon Canyon

Me looking at Hollywood Sign off in the distance

This past Sunday was the first day since pre-Hawaii that we haven't had to be anywhere at any specific time, so we started off with a lazy breakfast at home. I was already missing the coconut french toast from Kaua'i, so I decided to recreate it:

Coconut French Toast with Coconut Syrup - my new fave!

The french toast came out delicious. It was just basic french toast except I added shredded coconut to the bread while cooking, and before serving I added more coconut on top, plus a little powdered sugar, and, of course, the magical ingredient: coconut syrup.

After a little more laziness, we got dressed and headed to Runyon Canyon to take advantage of the beautiful 70 degree LA weather with a hike. Neither of us had been to Runyon Canyon, but you always hear about famous people hiking there, so we decided to check it out. One thing we were warned about was the limited parking. The lot is tiny, and so are the windy residential streets surrounding the trails. We found a spot about two blocks away and had to hike uphill just to get to the trails. That was probably the hardest workout of the day. We also saw somebody getting towed, so park with caution.

It was an absolutely perfect day for hiking, we had really clear views of the Hollywood sign. They didn't come out that great in pictures, but you can see it here off in the distance:

Runyon Canyon - Hollywood Sign

The view of Los Angeles was a little more hazy:

Everyone else seemed to think it was a great day for a hike too, because the trails were packed. At one point a couple stopped to let us pass in a narrow, rocky section and the girl cheered me on: "You go, being pregnant!" We actually saw at least three other pregnant women hiking that day too. One of them was also taking bump pics (of her tiny little bump) and Joe heard her say she was 26 weeks. Only three weeks behind me and waaaayyy smaller. I think my stomach grew a lot in the last month, so I'll assume hers will too.

Yay, we made it to the top!

A few weird things about Runyon Canyon: 1) The trails take over residential streets at some points. We're not sure how the people who live there are able to get in and out of their driveways. 2) There are several trails, but there doesn't seem to be a real loop. Most of the trails just dead-end, or get to a really steep part that I wasn't comfortable hiking. So we walked on three different trails and then called it a day. I was already over 9,000 steps by the time we finished, and it wasn't quite noon yet.

By the time we got to the car I was starving. We wanted to try a vegan restaurant less than a mile away, but it turned out to be closes on Sundays. Instead, we hit up an old fave of mine: Chevys. Mmmm - warm, fresh tortillas.

Tableside Guac, Veggie Burrito for Joe, and Veggie Fajitas for me

After that it was time for errands and laundry. I'm very proud of us for going to Costco and stocking up on mostly healthy foods for less than $100. We also fit in two loads of laundry, I got slow-cooker veggie chili ready for Monday's dinner AND I cooked a healthy meal of sweet potato bean veggie patties and leftover twice-baked potatoes:

Both Costco and Fresco's did not have plain bread crumbs, so I wound up experimenting and using whole wheat matzo meal in the burgers. I was not a fan. The matzo meal had a very strong, nutty taste. The burgers were ok topped with cheese and salsa, but I won't be using that stuff again. Joe said it was good, but I think he was just being sweet.

Total steps: Almost 16,000. Pretty productive for a "lazy Sunday." Next hike, we plan to try out the Santa Monica mountains.