In and Out Burger

Saturday I cleaned my messy room and left the house about 2pm to drive through Malibu Canyon then onto 101 to Thousand Oaks (T.O. to the locals). The whole purpose of the trip was to get out of Malibu (you get kind of stir crazy living in a beach town because Malibu is very secluded) and to find a universal remote. Surprisingly Best Buy was not hard to find at all, and en route I saw all the shops and stores that T.O. has to offer-which is EVERYTHING you can think of! Mervyn’s, Marshall’s, Ross, Starbucks, Del Taco (never been there but remember seeing it), Kohl’s…the list goes on and on. T.O. Boulevard is very similar to Texas Avenue-unlike the crazy freeways and side streets of LA and it runs right down the middle of the city. I found a remote that had my TV listed on the back so I just bought it-thankfully it works and I was able to figure out how to program it all on my own. While I was deciding which remote to get, I asked one of the sales ladies where the nearest Target was. It was only about a mile and a half North and seemed easy to get to. I had to return the laundry detergent I had bought and of course Ralph’s (right across the street) didn’t carry the same size bottle as the one I bought at Target a week earlier.

After Target, heading South on the 101 back towards Malibu, I spot an In and Out Burger and immediately pull over. I drive up and there is a Burger employee standing in the drive through line taking people’s orders and inputting the orders into a hand held computer that shoots the information to the line cookers inside-pretty cool, huh? So I tell the cute high school-aged girl that it is my first time here and she was very surprised. I told her I just moved from Texas and she said that she had met several other people visiting from Texas earlier that day in line.

I look up at the menu and they have three choices: a hamburger meal, a cheeseburger meal and a double cheeseburger meal…oh and shakes/malts. After our brief introduction, I casually say “so I’ve heard you can order things that are not on the menu-tell me about those” and she proceeds to tell me that they have a grilled cheese (my fav) and then this Adkins burger wrapped in lettuce leaves-no thanks. So I order a cheeseburger with grilled onions and jalapenos (I guess jalapenos are a Texas thing because they gave me peppers instead, which was fine). You pay and pick up your bag at separate windows and I had asked for it "to-go" instead of saying “yes I’m going to devour this in the parking lot” and I was on my merry way. Right before I pull away, I ask for more ketchup and the girl at the window says “there is some in the bag” and I didn’t want to argue with her, knowing that the four packets she gave me would not be near enough (for those of you who don’t know, ketchup is its own food group in my book) so I said “ok, thanks” and drove off.

So I’m thinking…man this is going to be really great when I get home and am able to enjoy this at a table. Yeah right. So I reach into the bag to grab a fry and realize that they (meaning In and Out Burger) do not cover the burger completely in paper, foil, whatever. Half of the burger was sticking out of the paper wrapping and leaking grease onto the paper bag, which was getting on my seat and I was kind of freaking out.

I pull over into this shopping center and justify eating it right then because I could tell the fries were getting cold and I forgot that I was going grocery shopping at Albertson’s in Calabasas before heading back to Malibu-which would be another hour before I would get to eat. It was soooo yummy! I only regret getting the “jalapenos” on there because the spiciness took away from the taste of the burger, so near the end I just took out the peppers to truly enjoy the taste of the burger. Now, I must tell you that they have a “special sauce” on their burgers that I knew deep down probably had mayonnaise in it (for those of you who don’t know-I HATE MAYO). Had I known beforehand, I probably would have ordered it dry but chalked it up to being a new food adventure and ate the entire thing without thinking twice about the sauce.

After enjoying the delicious burger that Californians crave-I headed to Albertson’s in Calabasas where a lot of Malibu residents shop on the weekends due to the prices being more reasonable than Ralph’s. Now I must confess-I made fun of my friend Amanda in College Station because she loved shopping at Albertson’s and I hardly ever went in there-but this one was pretty nice. I shopped around for a while getting the staples: diet soda, and peanut butter plus a few other items. I signed up for the Albertson’s reward card and it turned out that I saved $27 with my card!!! Can you believe that? At Kroger’s the most I have ever saved was about $18. I felt really good about my savvy shopping adventure.

The funny thing about moving out here-I immediately wanted to put a Texas A&M sticker on the back of my car (and I did). However, when I lived in College Station, I never had the urge to do this. I also, get so freaking excited when I can get a country station in my car and find myself looking at the license plates of every single car that I pass-hoping to see one from Texas-weird I know.

Because you asked…..

Things I specifically miss (besides friends and family)

• Knowing who/where my doctor is
• Tex-Mex (which to me, includes Freebirds and La Bodega)
• Cell phone service (rumor has it that a new Sprint tower will be on campus in June)
• Being able to stop by a friend’s house if they aren’t answering my phone calls
• When my mom IM’s me and says “you’re missing Boston Legal” I know which channel to turn to
• Paying under $3 for a gallon of gas
• Not having to fear getting bit by a rattle snake

Fun/Cool Things I have found out about Malibu

• Jeopardy comes on at 7pm here
• MTV 3 (latino) is channel 6-i truly wish I could speak/understand espanol
• Fox news is channel 10-this seems so odd to me
• Pamela Anderson’s kids are in the Malibu little league city team and she walks the campus around 10am almost every day. She wears the same white outfit every time so paparazzi don’t bother her-smart lady