California Love

Had an ridiculously fun time in California! Over 5 days, I saw old friends, partied, enjoyed delicious foods, considered great works of art and did so much exploring.  Sadly, ended up not bringing my DSLR because I wasn't sure how much of a chance I would have to run around playing photog. Huge mistake.

New friends, new experiences; what more could one ask for?

Food-wise, we had some amazing stuff. On night, I had dinner with my college friends Norman & Aida. We tried this new Japanese-Korean BBQ place and ordered among other meats, Kobe Kalbi. Dat marble.  It might have cost $4 per bite, but it was a heavenly experience.

Later that night, I finally got my first K-Town experience at Gaam, partying with USC frat brothers and sisters through a mutual friend.  There were no Koreans in the group, so I was the next closest.  Of course, the show K-Town on Youtube was my trashy reality tv fix back in the day, so I set up a couple of "Seoul Trains" and was instantly accepted into the group :D

The weekend was then spent driving to and from San Francisco for Bay to Breakers on Sunday morning.  We piled into my ex-fiance's apartment (April Fool's engagement) and were able to fit 10 people onto two beds, a few air mattresses and a futon. The event itself was amazing. There were so many people dressed up in costumes or dressed down to their birthday suits. Our group didn't really have a costume theme, just absurd.

Lunch was at the famed Ike's Place. 4.5 rating on Yelp, Ike's is rated by many to be the best sandwich shop in the United States.  I never heard of it before, but my foodie friends maintain that it was definitely not overrated.  It was a really good...haha

Finally, on the last day in LA, I explored on my own. Checked out the LA County Museum of Art and Santa Monica. Spending 4.5hrs at the LACMA, I visited every exhibit and painting created after 1950. Below is one of my favorites, since it was one of my own creations - it is currently hanging from my refrigerator.

Can't wait to go back <3

Food & First

It'd been a while since I cooked anything. I'm basically addicted to peppers in general, so I decided to make some pan-seared black pepper sole fish, complete with bell peppers and green onion. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the actual finished product...haha oops. Next time, I promise!

I also made HK Coffee Milktea (Yinyeung). It's essentially 1/2 coffee, 1/2 milktea. I use Earl Grey + evaporated milk to make the milktea base, then add sugar and a morning coffee to taste. Recipe tutorial will be posted later.

Note to self and to my readers: do not touch your eye / eye-area after handing jalapenos or any other type of peppers.  Just don't.

Then last night, I was taken to Cowboys Dancehall for some two-step (first time country dancing). Got a crash course and had a great time, but this experience gave me two realizations: (1) I need to practice a bit at home / at the gym studio before next time (it's so difficult being a guy haha) and (2) I really need invest in a pair of boots. How do I have a Battle of Gonzales flag but not boots? Unacceptable.

Goal for next time:

Finally got a filter pitcher! Less bottled water for me. #captplanet