LA Day (Part 1 of 2)

So I've had a bunch of blog's set up, just waiting to be written and since it's the last day of 2010, I thought I better get on it if I want to attempt a 2010 "reflective" post. So enjoy the next few posts as I attempt to catch myself up with the end of 2010... which I cant believe is here. To begin, a while ago, my friend Jenn and I decided to take a quick day trip to LA. First stop for lunch at a vegan and macrobiotic (I don't know what that means, someone explained it to me but I sort of forgot) place in Little Tokyo, Shojin.
Neither of us are vegan, but I do have an interest in eating vegan. Too bad I can't give up a yummy steak. Shojin has great reviews on Yelp and you really don't have to be vegan to enjoy this place.
First up, miso soup and a side salad. Dressing was AMAZING. I could eat salad all day if it had this dressing on it.. And who doesn't enjoy a bowl of hot miso soup.
We ordered the lunch bentos which included the wasabi avocado rolls (which I thought were eh), tofu (yummy!), a sort of inari rice ball (I happen to really like inari, so yummy as well!), and an entree of choice. I went with the fried tempeh. As I'm convinced you can pretty much fry anything and it's fabulous, I so went with it and it didn't disappoint me. I'm still a little unsure what tempeh is but fried and then in a garlic scallion sauce and I'm happy.
Jenn went with the pumpkin croquette and it was super yummy also. The pumpkin croquette was sort of my first choice but she called it first and I'm not a believer in getting the same thing but she generously let me try some and being a pumpkin lover, I really enjoyed it.

From Russia with Love

Theme for the weekend was trying new things. So after a day in LA, we decided to end the evening with more LA. Late night dinner in Beverly Hills at Nic's. Nic's had this sort of 70's glamour going that I absolutely adored. I wasn't aware of any Vod Box's in the states, I've only encountered one in HK, but sure enough, if fur and vodka tasting are of interest, Nic's is a must. Sadly, we didn't participate since I was put well over by the martini, but next time. It'll happen.
They have quite the extensive martini selection with some of your usuals, and some of your not so usuals. Plus they had fantastic names. I went with the from russia with love (right) that had russian vodka with strawberries and champagne. Boyfriend's pink drink is the ocean's eleven with ocean hawaiian vodka, pomegranate and coconut. We also enjoyed some grilled artichoke. mac and cheese, and oysters on the half shell. Unfortunately, we did not enjoy the quesadilla, horribly salty. Overall, a definite return, hopefully soon.

Going to the Office

It finally happened, we made a trip to Father's Office for lunch. We went to the one in Santa Monica after spending a morning at the Getty Villa. After a night out with the girls, three hours of sleep, and a field trip to antiquity, a delicious burger was in order. And it did not disappoint.
I almost don't know why you would come here for anything else besides the office burger. Always with a side of fries. And yes the extra order of sweet potato fries are necessary. No you can't make any substitutions to the burger, but barring allergies, why would you want to?

Hawaii (Part 2)

This post is on Hawaii: What I ate. To begin with, I definitely ate more than what I'm showing, but this was the good stuff (for the most part, at least when I remembered to take a picture.) My family and I had quite the sushi craving and after a few days, we were finally going to leave the lunch plates and find a place for sushi. Someone recommended to us a place with a late night happy hour so we figured we'd put the little ones who don't eat raw fish anyways to sleep and head out for some pupus (appetizers) and sushi. One of the dishes we had a salmon sashimi with maui onion... reallllly good.
Then we introduced my younger cousin (I suppose he's really my nephew) to the good stuff. We started with uni. I'm actually not a huge uni fan. I suppose it's acquired. I don't not like it but I'm not obsessed with it. This uni was ok. Everyone else said they've had better... for not the market price it was at. But the real winner was definitely this otoro. The person who took us to sushi (family friend) made sure to clarify it's from Japan and not Hawaii before we were allowed to order it. And my god, it was the most amazing piece of fish I've ever had in this world. I've had plenty of toro. And much of that toro was fairly good. But this one, I couldn't even get it off the rice to dab in some soy sauce. That's how soft and fatty it was.
My family and I are avid travel channel/food network fans. So of course, we had to try everything Adam from Man vs. Food had. To begin, the challenge: the macadamia nut pancakes from Mac 24/7. Ohhh my goodness it was huge. Definitely bigger than the baby (ps, isn't he adorable?) There were 9 of us, and I think we didn't even eat half of it.
Next we went to Helena's for the Pipikaula short ribs. They were pretty yummy and not the same as your traditional asian short ribs. Also pictured is the Kalua pig which was ok and the luau squid which was really yummy. It was a taste we couldn't really describe, but essentially pretty good. We even saw Helena herself!
And finally we finished up the Man vs. Food Honolulu episode with the Hokilau Cafe over on the other side of the island. Up until now, the only people eating were "the kids" even though we range from the bebe, to 10 all the way to 42. You're pretty much a kid as long as you don't have a kid on the trip over the age of 10. (hence you can be 42 and still part of the kids group because bebe is only 20 months. ) But since we were heading to the other side of the island for the tour, the grown ups had to come along to Hokilau Cafe. Our family of 25 took up the entire place. And yes, the burger is fantastic. The other stuff isn't bad, but not worth the drive. The burger is worth the drive.
And when in Hawaii, you must have shaved ice. This was recommended by the big sis as well as everyone else. So it must be good right? It was quite good. Wish there was natural fruit toppings but other than that, it was pretty good. The shaved ice itself was extremely fine and you could add topping such as red bean, ice cream, mochi, and flavored syrup.
Finally, one of the things our family could not get enough of were malasadas. They're essentially fried dough balls. Sometimes they come filled. We started off with the filled ones and I thought they were pretty good but then I got them not filled and found a better love for them. Best when fresh out of the fryer and simply covered in sugar... yum.
We also went to Puka Dog on Anthony Bourdain's recommendation (forgot to take a picture) and for a hot dog, really good. I had a polish sausage with jalapeno lemon garlic sauce, mango relish, and lilikoi mustard. Soooo good.

I have never had a huge desire to visit Hawaii, but now I really can't wait to go back to Hawaii again... and eat. and maybe layout a little. I did start getting a nice tan.

SF/Sonoma Wedding Weekend (Part 2) - What I Ate

One of the best things about vacations, and just life in general, is eating. Sometimes I look at my pup who constantly wants to eat and I wonder how it is that she is always at my feet flashing those sad puppy dog eyes at me hoping I'll give in and share. And then I realize maybe she gets it from me since I feel like I'm always hungry or at least down to eat. Anyway, the morning after the amazing rehearsal dinner (wish I had gotten pictures), we decided to go to a cute little cafe in Santa Rosa that we had found on yelp, Dierk's Parkside Cafe. It definitely lived up to its four star rating. We got there around 10am and it was crowded but getting a table for six only took about ten minutes which was really great. We sat down and started with waters, coffees, and soju bloody mary's. Boyfriend got the smoked salmon egg tart pictured below with smoked salmon, mushrooms, tomatoes, and herbs in puff pastry shell. Totally delish and not as heavy as I thought it would be when I sampled a bit (this is why I stay in a relationship[jk babe!], the sharing of dishes).
I got the country benedict. I love a good eggs benedict and it's really hard for me to resist ordering it when I come across it on a menu. The benedict consisted of a warm crispy baguette covered with scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, spinach, oven-dried tomatoes, hash browns and hollandaise sauce. Sooo good and a bit heavy but totally worth it. And the strawberry was huge and amazingly sweet.
After brunch we went wine tasting and then to downtown Healdsburg to wander about. We decided to get a bit of lunch before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. It was such a beautiful day we decided on Healdsburg Bar and Grill since it had a patio for us to enjoy the sun (hence the dark shadowy pictures). We weren't too hungry so Boyfriend said he'd share with me. We went with the "very adult" mac n’ cheese with fiscalini cheddar, parmigiano-reggiano, bacon, dijon and chives and mixed greens. Umm I think I almost died it was sooo good.
We also ordered a basket of fries with truffle oil and parmigiano-reggiano and a side of horseradish. I'm not too huge on horseradish but this was very mild. Everyone else thought they could go step it up on the horseradish but they're bigger fans of it than me. And well truffle oil goes amazing on everything. The fries themselves were perfectly crispy... mmMm...
I failed to get pictures of the rest of the Sonoma trip but back in SF my big sis and I decided to try some Burmese food since it was on 7X7's 100 things to eat before you die list. I was a little hesitant at first seeing as how I barely know where Burma (Myanmar?) even is. But how glad was I? Answer: really glad. We went for lunch as I hear it gets ridiculously busy for dinner. We had the server recommend a few things and tried their famous dish. To start we had the tea leaf salad. It was sooo delicious with amazing flavors. Definitely my favorite of the day.
Next up was the infamous Samusa soup. It's vegetarian but was still very hearty and yummy.
Finally, we went with the Nan Gyi Gok which was a mild coconut chicken curry noodle dish. Yummy but not as curry coconut-ty as I had hoped.

Easter Weekend!

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Boyfriend flew in from Philly. He's been working there for a few days and will be there this week too. So for the weekend his company lets him travel wherever so he decided to make a trip home since he hasn't been back since the big move. So Friday night I went to LAX to pick him up. His plan was a few minute delayed so I got acquainted with circling the airport. After he got his stuff and we went to his parents house in LA and then to a late night dinner. After we came back and hung out a bit before bed. The next morning we had coffee with his parents and then came back to the house where he helped with parents with some stuff while I worked on my sketchbook projects for class. After we went to get dumplings at Din Tai Fung. Ughhh sooo good and since we went with his parents, that meant ordering like 5 additional dishes beyond what we'd order just for me and him. Everything was so good and I was sooo full by the end of the meal. Then we headed down to OC for the night. It was just a relaxing evening. The dog went nutso over him being back. He rested while I finished up the sketchbook. Then we went to sleep. Sunday we were planning on stopping at South Coast Plaza before Urban family brunch but since it was Easter, most things were closed. So we headed to starbucks and waited for a few stores at Metro Pointe across the street to open. After browsing a bit we headed to brunch at Break of Dawn in Laguna. I had heard tons of good things about this and all the stories were true. Sooo goood. I love breakfast but I have been finding it hard to find a decent place for a unique breakfast. I've been a bit tired over Plums Cafe so this was very refreshing. I had the creme brulee french toast. Usually I don't go for the sweets but I felt like I couldn't pass this up. I happen to love creme brulee so this made it extra delicious. It was a cinnamon raisin brioche with caramel-chocolate sauce on top of mexican chocolate and coconut custard with brulee-d sugar on top. OMG so good. The combination of soft-eggy bread with the crunchiness of the creme brulee was soo amazing.
Boyfriend had the eggs benedict. He thought it was pretty good. Not the best ever (I think Plum's still wins in this category) but it was still yummy.
Two poached eggs on potato bread with smoked ham and an asian pesto hollandaise. Soooo delish. The potatoes were cooked so perfectly and had a great seasoning. The rest of the family got yummys also including the mac and cheese and vietnamese meatloaf. All delicious. Can't wait to come back.
After brunch we headed to Trader Joe's to do some family shopping. I've been living off the cookies and chocolate powerberries I bought. Sooo addicting. Plus I've been having this awful sweet tooth lately that I've been finding the need to satisfy. We then headed to the Irvine Spectrum to check out the few open stores and enjoy the sunny mild day. I ended up stocking up on a bunch of colorful basics at F21. It's nice to walk out of a store with 10 things for about $60. Then we headed back to my house, rested, and headed back to his parents house to go out to dinner. We had shabu shabu and amazing sashimi and a nearby Japanese restaurant. It was quite amazing. I think I really should had titled this Eating Weekend instead of Easter Weekend. After I dropped boyfriend back off at LAX for his red eye to Philly. He'll be back this weekend so I'm excited for this week to go by.

Week/Weekend Recap

Sadly, I'm dragging myself to do this post. If I'm going to continue to procrastinate writing my paper, I might as well update my blog. I could this as being productive. So to recap my week I finished that design project with the magazine image. Here's the final product:

Not too bad. I was feeling really eh about it going into class. The drive up all I could think about was how much work it needed more and even if I had the time I feel like I couldn't do it. I just had a huge debbie downer moment over it. I was really happy with how some parts went but really unhappy with other parts. The point of the project wasn't to perfectly draw the image but more the get the graphite tones that correspond to the image correctl so that the colored image became a black and white photo (not drawing because those are 2D and we still wanted that 3D quality) which I guess I felt I did for the most part. So before critiques started my classmates were extremely impressed by my art work and even asked if I had art experience which really turned the night around. My critique wasn't too bad and I suppose I fared better than a lot of the class who had fabulous drawings but needed to majorly work on darkening their shading to give areas more of a 3D look, etc. I felt emotionally drained over this project so the rest of the week went really slow.

But last night was pretty much the highlight of my week. Urban Family dinner! Minus boyfriend for the first time. So once a month a few of us get together for dinner. It's always been with boyfriend, his old female dormmate and her boyfriend now fiance (!), his old female roommate, and various other guests we would bring along. Tonight's guest was fiance's friend! He was a fun addition and I hope he comes to more dinners... provided the girlies didn't scare him away. This was my first family dinner without boyfriend and first for the officially engaged couple which mad me a bit sad and made me miss boyfriend that much more. Weekends are hard with him being gone and I somehow manage to sadden myself each week and get just a bit teary-eyed (or more), but I know how important this is for him and want him to be there. Just wish it didn't involve him being in foreign countries, lying on beaches and sightseeing without me. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK? =) Anyway, on to our yummy dinner!
Kimchi pork, side dishes, and sauces galore! So delish!
Cooking the meat ourselves! Korean barbeque may be my most favorite food ever, but it's even better when you're eating with family. Because of the love and joy experienced? Yes, I suppose but really it's because we can then order more things (I'm a horrible person sometimes).

After we decided to do a little drinking at home and that meant also playing some video games so that the boys could have fun too... OK I had fun too (except when I'd lose). =)

Boyfriend's old roommate is one of the most amazing bakers ever! And I'm so glad to know her because then I get yummy treats when I see her. Like these:

Pumpkin scones! So delish. The glaze.. yummmmm and the scone... *drool*. I happen to love scones and these were exceptionally fabulous, very moist (for scones at least)! They even came in the most adorable box too. I'm going to be so fat after this weekend.

What's on the agenda for next week? My fundamentals paper on good design/bad design. Beginning Project 5 for design. I started it a bit since it involves looking for patterns but I will have to a little more work before any sneak previews.

One thing I'm looking forward to are boyfriend's next project is in the states! Things can always change last minute and he doesn't have specific instructions but hopefully they'll land him in norcal and that will be a super easy visit for both of us! Also, his PTO days in April were approved so we'll be in Sonoma one weekend and hopefully somewhere else (but maybe just Chicago) the last week for our 4 year!

So Wednesday is the new Tuesday

because well, Tuesday is the new Monday. At least for this week.

Monday night I got back from my first of many weekends in Chicago. Friday morning, I left for the Long beach airport and thankfully there wasn't a horrific tornado outside waiting to ruin my trip. On the contrary, there was a lovely rainbow that appeared on the drive.
The flight itself was good as I was flying JetBlue. I really have nothing negative to say about the airline but I do hope they'll start flying out of John Wayne Airport though I understand it's probably way cheaper for them to fly out of Long Beach. Darn John Wayne Airport and their high fees to airlines. Or, I could also enjoy it more if they had more flights from LGB and from ORD going back. It's the same plane servicing that route so once it gets into Chicago, the plane is cleaned and it goes back to LGB. Anywho, back to my trip.

The flight was nice and I got into ORD and found my baggage. The boyfriend picked me up in his new car! How exciting, he now has a backseat and a trunk (he used to drive a truck)! We went to his temporary place at his aunt's about 30 minutes outside of the city. It was so exciting to see snow on the ground. I've seen snow before but it's still exciting. So we had dinner with the fam and then his aunt dropped us off at our hotel in the city because parking is ridiculously expensive.

Saturday we woke up a bit late and headed to Hot Doug's. We took a taxi there because it was a bit far and not near any of the train lines. When we got there the line was ridiculous. It was a bit cold but we braved the 2 hour line with plenty of other first timers. Finally we got in and I had to contain myself. But we did gorge ourselves on duck fat fries, a foie gras dog, a lamb and beef dog, a chicago dog, and a corn dog. Fatties... we weren't hungry the rest of the day (that didn't mean we didn't eat... like I said... fatties). The foie gras dog was the most amazing thing I've ever eaten in regards to a hot dog. Boyfriend wasn't that exciting over the infamous duck fat fries but I felt like there was a little something different to them. I couldn't stop eating them so they must have been delicious. I almost forgot to take pictures but here's a few pics of what we enjoyed (don't mind the bites we took before remembering to take pictures):
The foie gras dog
Duck fat fries
Chicago dog with everything
The lamb and beef gyro dog and the corn dog

After we met up with his cousin who's studying in Chicago. After some coffee, tea, and good conversation, we went out seperate ways. The boyfriend and I headed back towards out hotel on North Michigan. Along the way we did a little shopping. I found the trench I've been wanting since Fall at Banana Republic in my size AND petites for an additional 40% of the sale price! Boyfriend bought it for me and I got him a cute sweater that was also 40% off the sale price. I tried not to look at too many more things for fear of what I'd buy so we walked out successful and stopped off for a cupcake. It was almost closing so there wasn't much to choose from. I went with a smore's cupcake and oh my was it delish! It wasn't too sweet and the cake was very moist.
Chocolate smore's cupcake with frosting in the middle? Yes, please!

We headed back to the hotel to rest up for a bit and then headed out again to the Billy Goat Tavern. Great little infamous bar with good drinks and cheezborgers. We got a double to share because we weren't too hungry and had a few drinks. Then we decided to get a little late night sushi around the corner. After we called it a night so that we could get up early the next day.

Sunday we got some dunkin' donuts and then headed to get Intelligensia for some coffee. After our morning coffee we headed to Millennium Park and I finally got to see the bean.
Us! The Bean was a bit wet from the rain. But how cute are the earmuffs boyfriend got me!

After, we scoped out living spaces for the boyfriend. I'd say apartment but I feel like that would make you think he'd be getting a place you could walk around in. Hah. In reality he just needs a small studio because he'll be traveling a lot for work and won't really need much space and it will be cheaper. Pretty much just a place to store his things. We got a good idea of what he'll probably be getting but hopefully we find something better when he gets back from his first business trip. That evening we had dinner with his aunts, uncle, cousin and cousin's girlfriend. We got Malaysian food and oh goodness was it yum. Now I need to find a place near home. After we headed back to pick up some stuff and then head back to the city for our last night together before I left.

Monday, the boyfriend left for work and I had the day to myself before my 5:50pm flight. So I decided to get some tea and figure out what to do the rest of the day (well for like 3 hours). I decided to head to the Shedd Aquarium because they were having their community discount day where part of the Aquarium is free and since I knew I wouldn't be able to spend too much time there, doing something free was good. Also I didn't feel like walking around in the cold snow flurries. The aquarium was great but I do wish boyfriend had gone with me. I don't like doing things too much on my own but it was still fun.
I love ducks.

Hello Mr. Turtle Hello fishy. Sorry you're blurry, I didn't want to blind you with my flash.

Monkey! So this is the amazon rainforest eh?
From the Amazon to the Caribbean Reef! So pretty. There was a turtle and a fish that liked to swim together. hehe.

After an hour I got bored being on my own and it was time to go anyway. Headed back to pick up my luggage and then off to O'hare! A few hours later I was back in Long Beach and ready to get to bed.

Tuesday I was absolutely lazy and my internet decided it did not want to work. So instead of fixing it I did nothing. But I did work on my art projects... more on those later!