Finally, I wasn't left behind!

Yes, she finally remembered to take me to New York City; her favorite city in the world. We took an exhausting red eye and sat in front of an obnoxious woman who claimed she had "bad knees" therefore needed to stretch (kick) me every 10 minutes of the 5 hour flight. Not only did she make the flight physically uncomfortable but she also had two (yes that's 2) cats with her. To make matters worse, she strikes up an extremely loud conversation with her aisle-mates; a photographer and a model-Page Six columnist-Puma fashion designer (yeah, no joke). Their loud conversation then turned into a ridiculous photo session (with the model and two cats of course!); it was flashing, directing madness! Now, that's a red eye.

Happy Birthday Mari!

We celebrated Mari's birthday at Cobras and Matadors Monday (October 15th) night. Wine flowed as we dined on delicious small plates and chatted in the candlelight. Romantico! And then there was cake. A princess cake! I knew this one of Mari's favorites, man was I nervous! Especially since I've never made one before and have only had this cake a couple of times. It's basically a couple layers of a genoise with raspberry and custard, encased in fresh whipped cream and marzipan. Of course I had to make a marzipan Humphrey (her adorable bulldog) which I've heard is now living in the freezer. Humphrey forever!!! And of course, after I had already assembled the cake, I realized I was supposed to mix some of the custard with whipped cream. Live and learn. But it didn't turn out so bad afterall and was actually easier then some of the french buttercream cakes I've done in the past. Happy Birthday Mari! Also a quick shout out to Megan (October 10th), Leila (October 13th) and Todd (October 19th). October babies rule!

GRUB

I recently discovered Grub after searching on Yelp for a Los Angeles restaurant that serves a good bowl of tomato soup - a recent, but still unsatisfied, craving. I didn't make it to Grub for lunch but enjoyed an early Sunday morning breakfast there last week. It's in a completely random location and looks like a house serving breakfast on the corner. Actually it reminded me a lot of the Glenwood in Eugene, Oregon. The entire staff was friendly and welcoming, including the owners who took time to visit every table. Betty Fraser, one of the owners was on Season 2 of TOP CHEF. Unfortunately, I've never watched this season but am addicted to this Season's. Anyway, I struggled with deciding between the bacon, cheddar and tomato scramble and the Friggin' Amazin' French Toast...I went with the scramble. It was truly one of the better egg dishes I've had in Los Angeles, although I think it was mostly due to the bacon. Mmmmmm, this bacon was sweet and slightly salty. And the dish came with roasted potatoes that were seasoned to perfection. They didn't even need any additional salt or ketchup (which I ALWAYS tend to reach for). Grub has definitely made it to my list of favorites in Los Angeles. On my next visit, I'm ordering the Afterschool Special.

GO DUCKS!

Duck, Duck...Sheep!

We had (a bit sporadically) decided to visit Eugene after watching ESPN commentary on how strong Oregon was looking this year. I typically don't like to believe the hype, especially since the Ducks have let me down in the past, but my mama wanted to take me to her old stomping grounds at the University of Oregon. We drove down from Portland along the Oregon coast, to take in all the beauty Oregon has to offer. After yet, another long drive, we arrived in Eugene which is a ghost town (typical of college towns) when school's not in session. However, Marlene was happily filled with nostalgia of her good 'ol college days. The next morning we enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the garden at The Glenwood, it's also priced for students which sweetens the deal! Although Eugene was a ghost town when we arrived the night before, the town was suddenly filled with Duck fans everywhere! Exciting! We explored the campus and loaded up on Duck gear for the game, which we still didn't have tickets for. However, we luckily scored tickets right outside of Autzen stadium and had the opportunity to enjoy half of the game. Sadly, we had to jump in the car for the long haul up to Seattle. But of course we couldn't leave Eugene without having a slice of Track Town Pizza on game day! Some of the best pizza I've ever had...

The City of Roses

After a long drive down from Vancouver, we were greeted at Portland with HOT summer weather. We checked into The Benson Hotel which I'd recommend to fellow travelers, mostly because they have free wine tastings and live jazz! Our first destination was Powell's (amazing) bookstore where I probably spent an hour in awe, especially in the cookbook section! We finally settled on dinner at the Thai Peacock where I enjoyed one of the most delicious vegetarian meals I've ever had. The next morning we walked to the Pearl Bakery where we engulfed scrumptious danishes which I highly recommend you try if you're in town. Dreamy. In order to burn off some of our mass cosumption, we walked around the trendy 23rd street (take advantage of no sales tax!) and drove up to the Rose Garden...I'm aware I'm glowing and in need of a tan, but check out the scenery behind me! Oregon is absolutely gorgeous in the summer! After stopping to smell the roses, we took a short drive to Beaverton to meet with brand new mommy, Kristen and little baby Audrey Cox! And ended the day catching up with one of my mama's old college friends, Heather. So fun!

Oh! Canada

What is there to say about Canada? Ohhhh! Canada! Well, the ride up from Seattle was nice and easy. We stopped in Richmond for dim sum - thanks to cousins Tracy and Matt for the recommendation. And then we were off to the big city, or so we thought. Our directions told us to get off in the suburbs...I couldn't even see the city from the exit! We tried to laugh it off, but on the inside we were all worried. It seemed like an eternity, mostly because they were doing construction the ENTIRE way (no joke)!
Fortunately, once we arrived at our hotel we realized it was just a bridge away from the city. In my personal opinion, Vancouver is like a sleepy Sydney. A REALLY sleepy city. The people seemed to take awhile to warm up to, but once they opened up they were quite nice. The next day we drove up to Mount Whistler, again an extremely long (but breathtaking) drive thanks to construction. Talk about preparing for the 2010 Olympics! Golly gee. We finally made it to the top about 3 hours later and enjoyed Poutine - thanks to Sho's recommendation. It sounded pretty nasty, french fries with cheese curds and gravy. It looked nasty. But we loved it! Maybe because it was cold and we were hungry but they were awesome. Definitely a must have if you're visiting. We made our way back into the city and enjoyed our last meal at a Greek restaurant, Kalamata Greek Taverna. It was, quite possibly, the best Greek food I've ever had. I would go back just to eat there. Every bite was better than the last. And the Greek salad was simple - tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olive oil and feta, but that was by far, the best feta I've ever had. They also served gigantic pita bread, I believe they were whole wheat, warm, crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I'll leave you with that thought...

Kalamata Greek Taverna
478 Broadway W
Vancouver, BC V5Y 1R3
604-872-7050

Sam The Little Man

Sam clearly took a liking to me! Sam is hilarious and quite the entertainer. He gives out the "knukles" to greet you, absolutely LOVES Beckham...although I think it's mostly because he can say his name. Beck-em. Beck-em. Beck-em. His "please" comes out as "ssssssssssee" and he loves to dance! He must get that from his Aunty Marlene. As soon as he hears any type of music, his foot starts tapping and his head starts bobbing. It's quite the site to see. Beck-em. Check out some of his faces below...

Seattle

After a long day of traveling, with a stop and delayed flight in Utah, this Sheep landed in Seattle. We started off visiting the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks to see the salmon ladder. Unfortunately, it was rather uneventful. I'm assuming the salmon (like humans) like to relax on Sundays because we didn't see one salmon make it up the ladder. Although, once we made it down to the viewing room (as you'll see in the first picture) a bunch of salmon were just enjoying the lazy Sunday summer morning. Sheepy!
We then drove over to Pike's Place and enjoyed the Summer Sunday market where we saw amazing chili wreaths, beautiful flower bouquets (cheap too!), tasted fresh peaches and of course enjoyed the famous Pike's Market. The flying seafood and singing fishermen were kind of scary. Moving onto one of my favorite finds in downtown Seattle were the pigs, my homies from the farm. There are a ton of pigs just hanging out on the sidewalks. They looked a bit lonely, so I found a brief summer fling (pictures not included) and also befriended the Money Pig, his fancy threads were made of pretty pennies and he took in the fabulous sheep vision before him with dollar bill eyes. We then took a walk down to Pioneer Square where I think I saw a bunch of my old relatives stacked on a pole? By this time we were pretty wiped out. It's a lot of action for a little thing like me. Off we went to meet the extended Arakaki family for dinner. We met at Ray's Boathouse Restaurant for an early munching session. I began with the Chilled Sungold Tomato Soup with dungeness crab. I moved onto the Grilled Southeast Alaskan Halibut as the main entree. And of course, I couldn't say no to dessert - Chilled Peaches & Cream. Everything was fantastic! As always, I enjoyed catching up with the Arakaki's, but I still didn't get enough quality time with the newest addition, Sam. Sam is the man!

The Next Journey

I'm leaving sunny Los Angeles in two days and traveling north to Seattle, Vancouver and Oregon. So many things to see!!! Stay tuned!

Pinkberry

Pinkberry was (perhaps still is) all the craze in Los Angeles. People love it, people hate it. My old co-worker lived on the street of the original Pinkberry, and if that means nothing to you, you need to read this LA Times article. I have another friend who simply refuses to even try Pinkberry because she's afraid of getting addicted and having to stand in the notorious long lines. However, when I first discovered Pinkberry there were no lines. I was lucky, I know. And really, it's nothing new to me either. I grew up in Hawaii on a product that tastes similiar called, Yami Yogurt. I love Yami so I was pretty ecstatic when I found Pinkberry. However, I truly thought I was the only one who enjoyed the natural yogurt flavor. Who gets natural?! Most of my friends prefer vanilla or chocolate not natural! Well, I can confidently say I am no longer alone in my enjoyment of natural flavored yogurt (or whatever it is, who cares really?). I've been meaning to write this post forever but then there was Pinkberry drama after Pinkberry drama, exhausting. Anyway, tonight I went to one their imposters for dinner. Yes, I wrote dinner. And yes, I wrote imposter. The imposters mostly tastes the same (except for Cantaloop, not so good sorry!). And the imposters have all of the same toppings and the same white cardboard cup. Can't they atleast get a different colored cup? So anyway, here are a few of my favorite imposters (notice how all the websites look similiar too)....

Kiwiberri
Yogotango (they have a strange tomato flavor I'm slightly and I mean slightly intrigued by)
Bare Naked Yogurt (Century City food court)

And there's also Red Mango which I haven't been too but it's supposedly the "real" originial. Ha! No, really it was Yami Yogurt! Ugh. This is what happens when you grow up on an island.

Oh and although I occasionally enjoy the nude yogurt (sans toppings), my favorite toppings are mango, blueberries, kiwi, captain crunch, mochi balls and cocoa pebbles. Not all at once and also pending how bad my sweet tooth is fighting for control.

August Birthdays

When I think of August I think of Birthday season. With that said, a quick shout out to Lauren (August 4th), Monte and Lynn (August 6th)! Happy Birthday to all! We celebrated Monte's birthday this year at the old school (think Korean style Denny's), Dong Il Jang. The waitresses are decked out in awesome brown and white uniforms, there are booths for families, a big party room where you sit on the floor and even a little koi pond to greet you at the entrence. The tables have built-in bbq grills and service tends to be fast and furious. We discovered this restaurant about a month ago, and I read that if you get the Roast Gui you get the "leftover" kim chee fried rice. I've been there several times but we always ordered the Bulgogi instead. Since we had a big party this time, I FINALLY got to order the Roast Gui. And unfortunately, I'd recommend sticking to the Bulgogi. The Roast Gui isn't marinated and the meat is a little tougher. And although the fried rice at the end was tasty, it wasn't worth giving up the thin slices of marinated beef that melts in your mouth. We also ordered the Kalbi and pork which were both hits. As you'll see Baby Noah graced us with his presence and he obviously did NOT take a liking to me. Sad day. Don't worry Noah, you'll learn to love me!

Dong Il Jang Restaurant
3455 W 8TH St
Los Angeles, CA 90005-2517

YUMMY!!!

I Was Forgotten!

This is the very first trip since I was adopted that I was forgotten...it was a very sad Thursday morning. However, my mom took pictures and promised to take me to New York next time. We'll start with the good then move to the ugly. She arrived in NYC Thursday evening and met friends (old and new) at a Tapas restaurant, Pipa in the Flatiron District to celebrate Renee's birthday. It was absolutely packed with people and the photos from its Citysearch review didn't do it much justice. Prior to the trip we were trying to figure out what this place was about, since its website goes to some sort of random carpet site. Anyway, Bryan explained that you can buy the chandeliers in the restaurant (all gorgeous!) and the chocolate shop, (also listed on the carpet site) Chocolat Michel Cluizel, apparently gave away $2 Million worth in chocolate. Hmmmm. Anyway, Pipa is Spanish slang to have a good time. And a good time, they had indeed! Celebrating with loads of sangria, chorizo, stuffed dates, calamari, shrimp and paella. A great time, great company and a Happy Birthday for Renee! The next day, mom took her mom out for a walk around town. They visited Chinatown, shopped in SoHo and discovered the wonders of Dean & Deluca! Fay went crazy and they had to hold each other back from gluttony. They settled for a snack - two ginormous scallops and one even bigger crab cake. That night they joined for a girls night Indian feast at Yuva. Where they dinned on roasted lamb, chicken korma, saag paneer, naan and some sort of grilled chicken. Everything was delicious and healthy! It was the perfect start to a Friday evening in New York city. After dinner they caught a cab uptown for the "First Friday" event at the Guggenheim Museum. This was the first time she visited any Guggenheim, and as beautiful as it was there were two not so great things about it. It was so crowed that you could barely walk anywhere on the floor. And she was wearing heels (stupid!) and in so much pain from walking around...not to mention she got her heel stuck in floor grates (that must've been pretty awesome, too bad I wasn't there to witness it myself). The girls all seemed to think they were living a fabulous night in New York right out of Sex and The City. I'm going to skip Saturday events for the next posting after this, as it's too important. On Sunday they packed their bags and headed to Joe's Shanghai for soup dumplings. What exactly is a soup dumpling? Well, they are delightful little gems of dumplings containing soup. Definitely worth it if you're looking for something different! Now comes the ugly...so we headed to JFK airport to catch our flights. Marlene boarded the plane only to sit on the JFK runway for 1.5 hours, not moving. Yes, that's right not moving. But to make things worse, she was also in the last row next to the fabulous bathrooms and squeezed into a seat overflowing with Italian newlyweds (quite irritating as they made everyone around change seats). She arrived in Los Angeles only to find that her luggage looked like it was mauled by coyotes on a wild rampage which was then kidnapped by some sort of mad robot with a hate for plastic. And finally, 3 hours after she landed she made it home...thanks to the extremely slow Lot B busses and retarded parking lot pay system at LAX. Delta sort of blows too. Keep that in mind next time you fly. Sadly, they also forgot about serving snacks to those lucky people sitting next to the bathrooms.

Salty Pies

Yes, I have a "day job" and one of the owners of this company is French. I've always loved French, in fact I took French in college but truly sucked at it, because I always wanted to answer in Japanese (the first language I learned). Anyway, I was speaking to Val, the French lady, and she told me she absolutely adores "salty pies" - or to the rest of us, the quiche. We looked up quiche recipes (in French) together and I realized the quiche recipes didn't use eggs, which is what I thought a quiche was. A little puzzled, and a lot intrigued by these eggless salty pies, I decided to search for a recipe that sounded good to me. I didn't search long because I found a fabulous recipe (again) in that French cookbook I purchased. This recipe is called "Tartelette Au Saumon Fume, Poireaux, Et Citron" and translates to Smoked Salmon, Leek and Lemon Tartlettes. The recipe is actually for 6 mini tarts but I decided to go big (ummm, I didn't have the tartlette pans). I've made it a couple of times but today, I created one especially for Ogy...my hilariously fun co-worker who can't eat much, but loves these salty pies (she grew up in France too).

In Full Bloom

A couple months ago I drove by Posh on Pico and noticed that they, sadly, closed their doors. When Bloom Cafe opened I was a little skeptical, however I kept hearing good things about it. So on Sunday afternoon I met Miki, Melanie and Baby Noah for a lunch date and was pleasantly surprised. First of all they had fresh coconut juice on the menu (love for Miki and I!). As I learned recently, coconut juice is loaded with electrolytes and contains more potassium than a banana plus it's low in calories and of course, all natural! It just makes me happy. Google the benefits of coconut juice then find some coconuts and make yourself happy. Good times.

Anyway, after analyzing the menu and wanting everything, I decided to order the Fresh California Mozzarella & Tapenade Tartine. It was amazing and perfectly seasoned. Melanie ordered the Fish Tacos and Miki got Huevos Rancheros (see pic)...as the waiters were walking by serving this dish, we watched in awe. I had one bite and it was delicious. We then discussed how Earl and Ivan would both enjoy this dish.

Melanie also got a lemonade, but the French waiter brought a mint lemonade instead (which she didn't want so I gulped it up instead). It's probably not for everyone or for anyone that likes their lemonade sweet. But I loved it, refreshing and a bit tart. Perfect and somewhat similiar to the crazy green drink (have no clue what it's called probably because it's in Hebrew, but everyone at my work place loves it) they serve at Aroma Cafe in Encino. Oh, and I can't end without including a picture of Baby Noah. He's filling out and has the most adorable belly that screams "gotta love me!"

Bloom Cafe
http://www.go2bloom.com/
5544 W Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
323.934.6900
P.S. They are organic AND green (meaning environmentally friendly)!

Canneles - A Crazy Confection!

Last week I visited my favorite cafe in Pasadena, EuroPane. As I ordered my usual chicken salad sandwich, I (of course) couldn't help myself from eying the desserts...I noticed a familiar treat, canneles, that I've been wanting to try but haven't seen at any of the other bakeries I've recently visited. I first saw a picture of canneles in the new cookbook I purchased and have been thinking about making EXCEPT you need to purchase these crazy pans and find some beeswax, which intrigued me even more. Once I bit into these scrumptious tiny things, I was in love. Heaven for me really. They are crisp on the outside, from the beeswax and no they don't taste waxy at all...the middle contains a fluffy custard, with an almost cake-like consistency but softer. Sort of like a custard cloud? Okay, I can't find the words but they are phenomenal! One day soon I will find these ridiculously priced pans (perhaps I need to go back to France?) and beeswax. Will keep you all updated, but in the meantime try to find some and enjoy!

Oxnard Strawberry Festival

Last Sunday we all drove up to Oxnard, CA (about an hour north of Los Angeles) to help support PabloSurf.com at the annual Strawberry Festival. It's massive is all I can say...although it made me happy so many people (rumor has it that 65,000 people attended) came to celebrate one of my favorite succulent fruits! They have everything from Strawberry Pizza to Strawberry Nachos and in all seriousness, I've never had such sweet strawberries in my life! These strawberries, as you can see, are very photogenic but they taste even better. Such sweet memories. Anyway, the festival also has food booths from all over town, a major dilemma for us because we can't ever decide where or what to eat. There's BBQ smoke in the air, people munching on corn, candied almonds, thai food and strawberries everywhere. We finally settled on BBQ from a local shop in Ventura, one of our favorites, CJ's BBQ. These guys are from Wharton, Texas so we know they know what they're doing. Good stuff!

CJ's BBQ
480 S. Victoria Ave, Oxnard
Phone: 805-815-3024

http://www.strawberry-fest.org/

Tart Au Chevre Avec Des Poires

Otherwise know as a Goat Cheese Tart with Pears. The other week while browsing on Amazon.com I spontaneously purchased (and perhaps overpaid although I think this is rather hard find) cookbook, The American Boulangerie: French Pastries and Breads for the Home Kitchen by Pascal Rigo. So far I've made Madeleines, which came out beautifully (I forgot to take a pictures) and last week I tried a goat chese tart. It was actually quite simple. The tart is similar to a cheesecake, but lighter in texture as it uses a mixture of goat cheese and cream chesse. The recipe also calls for huckleberries (which I couldn't find) so I used fresh cranberries instead and sprinkled some sugar on them to tone down the tartness.

4 oz firmly packed goat cheese, at room temperature
6 oz. firmly packed cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 C + 4 t. sugar
2 t. heavy whipping cream
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/2 t. freshly grated orange zest (I used lemon)
1 extra large egg, separated
9-inch Pate Sucree tart shell
1 Anjou pear, quartered, cored and thinly sliced
1/4 C fresh huckleberries

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Combine goat cheese and cream cheese on medium speed until free of lumps. Add 1/4 C. sugar and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the heavy cream, vanilla and orange zest. Increase to medium speed and continue to mix for 1 minute, scraping down the sides. Add the egg yolk and beat until completely incorporated. Set aside.

2. In a clean bowl, whip the egg white until foamy. Incrase speed to high and gradually add the 4 t. sugar. Continue to whip to stiff peaks (firm and shiny). Gently fold the whipped egg white into the cheese mixture. Transfer the cheese mixture into the tart shell. Evenly space the pear slices around the edge of the tart and decorate with huckleberries.

3. Bake for 25 mintues or until the surface looks dry and filling is slightly puffed.

Noah Augustus Priddy

Whoooohooooooo! He has arrived!!! Baby Noah made his way out into the big world on Friday, April 27th. Isn't he adorable? I'm anxiously awaiting our meals together...