Happy 34th to me!

For the past week, everyone's been reminding me of how old I'll be getting. I still say that I don't feel old. But I still love to celebrate :) I've been trying to guess what plans hubby had for my birthday this past Friday the 16th. My only request was for him to take me some place for carnivores. lol! I mentioned a few places, like my favorite Argentinian place, Buenos Aires Grill, or perhaps try a new place called Fogo de Chao, which is a Brazillian Churrascaria in Beverly Hills that I've been dying to go to.

Hubby surprised me by taking me to another Brazillian Churrascaria in LA - M Grill. I was so proud to hear that he got this recommendation from Yelp, which is my go-to website when I need to find reviews on certain places, particularly restaurants. I was happy to hear that hubby is becoming a "foodie" like me.

Hubby confessed that he did plan on taking me to Fogo de Chao until he learned that it cost $56 per person. So he went on Yelp and found that M Grill was comparable to, if not better than, Fogo de Chao, based on everyone's reviews. I don't know how Fogo de Chao is, but M Grill was an awesome place. Its easy to miss this restaurant among the many Korean BBQ restaurants its surrounded by - being that its in "Koreatown."

If you're familiar with a Brazillian Churrascaria, you know that its an all-you-can-eat meat menu, perfect for carnivores. Your table is equipped with some type of device or card that signals the servers to keep piling on the meat when they come around you, or stop serving you the meat. Aside from that, they also have a buffet of other side dishes that compliment the meat they serve you, such as rice, fried yucca or plantains, pastas, salads and salsas.

Our meal started with a basket of cheese-stuffed bread that was to-die-for. My daughter couldn't get enough of it and neither could we.

At the buffet, I started off with a salad and some potato salad.

Then the meat started rolling in.......

I was too busy eating and enjoying my food and my company that I couldn't keep up in photographing all the meats they served - skirt steak, ribeye steak, sausages, lamb. The only thing they didn't have was chicken.

The also served us a grilled pineapple wit a hint of cinnamon. All that was missing was ice cream.

And to wash it all down, hubby and I shared a Caipirinha, which is the Brazillian equivalent to a Mojito.

Hubby and I "shared" this drink, meaning I took a few sips and he took the rest. I have very low tolerance for alcohol, but still enjoy the flavors of certain drinks like this one.

It was a great night to mark my 34th birthday. Hubby did a great job surprising me ♥

The next day, my parents and siblings surprised us by taking us to dinner at yet ANOTHER buffet - Cafe Sierra at the Universal Hilton. This is a favorite of my family's. They serve an awesome array of foods from around the world - Chinese, Japanese, Korean, American, Mexican and Italian.

But better yet, they have a great dessert bar.

Even complete with a chocolate fountain

and cotton candy which my daughter LOVED.


All in all, this was a great birthday. I even got some nice gifts to go with it :) But it was great to spend this special event with the ones that I love ♥ Now its time to plan for hubby's birthday in a little over a week.