I am traveling for work yet again -- this time in Dallas -- and it seems burgers are now officially my food of choice to quell my mama-missing-baby feelings. When I was in LA a few weeks ago I had an In-N-Out burger but wasn't really feeling it. It was aight, but didn't live up to the hype.

Now THIS was an excellent meal. And now I'm ready to head to the airport and go back to baby K. Baby K who learned to point to her nariz while I was away :( You'd drown your sorrows in a Whataburger too.

And it was goooooood!

This is my older brother's DREAM come true. He can literally eat pan dulce like Cookie Monster gets down with cookies. I literally raided Xochico's online store when I saw this collection. I couldn't wait for my order to come in--and it finally did on Saturday.

First, I gotta say, the packaging these products come in is amazing. It's better than wrapped presents. It's authentic. Everything comes in pink boxes--just like it's fresh from the panaderia. I love that attention to detail.

The one thing I wanted the most was the massive concha cushion for baby K's crib. Sweet--check out the pic of Raggedy Ann testing it out. No calories, she said. I love what the tag on it said:

"Pan Dulce"

Mexican "sweet bread" comes in many different shapes, colors and tastes. These pastries often take natural forms like Conchas (sea shells), Cochinitos (piglets), Cuernos (horns), and Orejas (ears). Even basic forms like Empanadas (turnovers) often use native ingredients, like piloncillo, making them distinctly Mexican. Pan Dulce is part of Mexican culture and we hope you enjoy our whimsical interpretation of these Mexican favorite. 

I also got a coin purse for myself and some fuzzies for our ride. Yeah, I drive a mini-van, a V-Dub and I LOVE IT. It's the only thing that fits me, husband, baby, mom and "the girls" (our doggas).

Xochico also has an oversized empanada cushion and a concha backpack, too. The prices for their products run from $4 to $18. These products are carried in stores in Cali, Arizona, Texas, New York, etc. Here's the list.

I've been in LA for past two days for work, and I miss baby K so much. I'm at LAX right now and gonna get on a red eye. Every time I hear a baby cry or child babble my heart beats faster. I mean, even Shrek 3 and the sight of little green Shrek babies with big eyes on the flight over made my eyes well up. I totally see why guilty parents take back armfuls of gifts for their children when they travel for work.

The upside to this trip is that during the little down time I had, I made use of it and hit up some targeted shopping spots (thanks, Mayra B., my East Los homegirl). I had some excellent tacos too. And I got drunk on horchatas and homemade salsa. Mmmmm.

I took lots of pics and made some good buys and I'll post next week. I love doing this product hunting thing--it's an awesome excuse to strike up conversations with shop-keepers. And shop for baby K.

But this pic I posted--well, its the only one I took with my iphone. I don't eat chicken anymore, and I rarely eat meat thanks to Jonathan Safran-Foer's book, Michael Pollen's books, and Food, Inc. I occassionally eat beef or pork, but rarely. Today was a rare day. I just had to have an In-N-Out burger because all my Cali friends swear they are better than Whataburger--what we have in Texas.

I got two words: HELL NO!

And to back that up, while I was eating at this place a homeless dude with crazy curly hair and some girth on him finally emerged from the women's bathroom (I was eyeing it--I needed to go bad after all those horchatas) and stormed passed this UCLA chick who screamed after him when she saw what he had done in the bathroom. He apparently bathed the walls and floor in In-N-Out food.

He didn't like it either. Ha! Whataburger wins! I should tell him to cast his vote on this Facebook page (damn, there's a page for everything).