Mom may not eat a lot of milk but she likes dairy products.

We made a few stops in downtown Santa Ana where we had coffee at Gypsy Den. They have two locations nearby decorated in an old style, according to my mom. I had coffee. The place reminded me of Asheville.

Then we trekked around to a nearby bookstore, Martinez. Their logo attracted me. The rest of the hour was spent walking around the area where we encountered lots of stores selling quincinera dresses with huge hoop wiring to accentuate the bottom of the dresses. Though I read about the artists' village in Sunset Magazine, the Mexican American presence largely overshadowed it.

I got hungry. Yesterday I made my mom try vegetarian fare; today, she was happier with the food in downtown Orange. We headed over to Haven Gastropub where I was dying to try their "cafe y cigaro," an espresso chocolate chip coffee holding tobacco ice cream. First, we had happy hour dinner consisting of a humongous Haven burger rare like I like my burgers with pomme frites and mac and cheese with fancy black truffles (the photo disappeared from my phone; the new Android update sucks by the way).

Both dishes fascinated me. Most people ordered off the happy hour menu that includes all their signature foods.

I ate lightly in anticipation of the cafe y cigaro. Guess what? They no longer have it. :( So no dessert because I found out that the only other dessert I wanted, the strawberry shortcake, is posted online. It seems difficult to make with many parts, but I'm up for a challenge when I get back home.