SD Fooding

Let me explain this picture. I was cranky from extraORDINARY Desserts, and I was tired so on the way back to the hotel room the worker opens the door for me. Except for some reason I kept walking and walked straight into the glass. Ouch! I usually get tunnel vision when I'm upset or cranky. Anyways I was hurt/embarrassed but Jer was highly amused. The next morning he made me reenact it so he could take a picture.
Okay, so for part 3 of his bday, we went to SD. Basically to eat. Oh and we went to Balboa Park and the Carlsbad Flower Fields. But mostly we ate.

Seared ahi tuna

Swordfish? I don't remember

Fries were good!
I would definitely recommend this place! Check their hours before you go though...sometimes they open later than posted.
Blue Water Seafood Market and Grill
3667 India St
San Diego, CA 92103
619.497.0914

We also ate at Saffron Chicken. It was okay.
For dinner we had Japanese. After Joshua Tree I swore I wouldn't eat another kebab for a year...but oh well. Things I do to appease the bday boy. :)

L to R, each row: Shu mai (sour for some reason), chicken hearts (yummy!), panko oyster (ewwww, after eating this I think I prefer raw oysters)
Bacon wrapped asparagus (tasty!), chicken meatball (I like!), shittake mushrooms with bonito flakes (ewww, but Jer liked it)
Pork shiso (apparently popular but I thought it tasted okay), the cooks/grillers, finished!

I would come back here, but not for a long time. I still don't crave grilled foods. Korean bbq doesn't count. :P
Yakitori Yakyudori
3739 6th Ave
(between Evans Pl & Pennsylvania Ave)
San Diego, CA 92103
619.692.4189

For dessert we went to Extraordinary Desserts. There is nothing extraordinary about this place! In fact I hate this place and I should have listened to Jer when he said it wasn't that good. But I wanted to see for myself. First, I don't mind the that the line is long, but it's not well executed. You stand in line forever, but then you get like 30 seconds to decide what you want b/c the register is BEFORE the cakes. What? Poor design! And the area around the cakes and register is hella crowded. Okay so we order. Then I went to pee. Turns out the restroom is back in the alley area next to the kitchen where the dishes were being washed, NEXT TO the trashcans. So I had to stand in a line...smelling the lovely trash while listening to the banging of dishes and water. I have no problem with this if the food has a C rating and dirt cheap (like Chinese places). But uh...the owner charges 10 bucks for a slice of cake and this is how she treats her customers? Okay, so the bathroom is really dirty too, but whatever. I go pee. Then I come back to our table and proceed to eat. Disappointment from first bite! This is not tiramisu. Way too sweet, way too dense, way too much chocolate. Don't call it tiramisu if you don't use mascarpone cheese, espresso, or ladyfingers! Ugh!! Okay this was over 2 weeks ago but I'm still mad. Whatever.

"tiramisu" (NOT)
I am not going to go back here ever again.

Okay, so next day we had brunch at the Broken Yolk Cafe. It was okay.
Later we finally went to Brodard. It was yummy!

Their spring rolls with the special sauce. Wandering Chopsticks talks about their spring rolls here.

La Jolla.

Fun wknd!

Chung Kiwa Restaurant

Ahh how did it become the end of April already! This month has flown by.

For Jer's bday part 1 and 2, I made him a special dinner- fresh italian sausage with truffle pesto and radiatore shaped pasta. For dessert I made him tiramisu!

Homeboy is one lucky dude b/c I woke up at 6:30am, drove to Coffee Bean for a "red eye" (to dip the ladyfingers in), and then to Sorrentos on Sepulveda, picked up all the ingredients, came back, and made the tiramisu in 1.5 hours of so, including clean up. It actually took me longer b/c the mascarpone cheese was FROZEN. IN THE ROCK SOLID TUB. So I had to carefully defrost that, i.e. nuke it in the microwave, and then proceeded on. Then I hightailed it to work, went to a couple of meetings and took care of biz, and then hightailed it back to my place and then to his place. Halfway there I realized that I forgot the tiramisu at my place, so I had to drive back. It took me longer to drive 405N halfway than it did to drive 405S the whole way! Whew! But all in all the tiramisu turned out well. Well maybe a little soggy. But whatever. Happy birthday!!!

Okay, then the next day I planned a semi surprise dinner with all his friends. They got to vote: Shakeys or Chung Kiwa Korean BBQ Restaurant (on Wandering Chopsticks' recommendation). The vote was actually kind of close believe it or not. It seemed like all the norcal ppl wanted Shakeys and So Cal ppl wanted Korean. Anywayssss, he knew we were having dinner with friends, he didn't know where. But then my big mouth gave it away the night before. "Oh yeah Hyobin's coming too. It's her peoples food!" "We're eating Korean BBQ!" "Oh shit."

The group

The food

Chung Kiwa Korean BBQ Restaurant
3545 W. Olympic Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90019
323.737.0809

I would definitely recommend this place! The meat is yummy, the dduk bo ssam is freaking delicious and the panchan was tasty. In fact, we're going here on Friday again for bridal party dinner, haha.

Little Random Things

I was sitting in class today, feeling miserable about school and work. Jer told me that the stress is small peanuts and not worth it. Then I started thinking about little random things/thoughts that make me happy and how I shouldn't let other big things stress me out so much.

The tops of ginormous muffins. It's so fun to peel off!
Candy, esp these. I have a fondness for anything gummy like Black Forest Bears and Coke Bottles and these hi-chew like candies have bits of gummy in them!
Magazines in the mail. I subscribe to Allure, Lucky, Ready Made, Nylon and Professional Photographer, and Jer gets Domino and ESPN magazine so I look forward to all those every month.
Shooting in RAW. The Nikon software is amazing.
The food court at Marukai Pacific Market. Jer's goal is to try every stall there! I always get the citrus french toast and egg salad sandwich from MamMoth Bakery to supplement whatever bento/udon/ramen that he ends up with.
Scrabble. We have so much fun talking smack when we play.
Spooning. Except it's too hot now, haha.
Trying out new recipes like crepes and miso soup from scratch!
The thought of being Susan's MOH this wknd! Lots of work, but it's going to be worth it!
The thought of graduating in 1 year and 7 weeks.
The thought of planning trips like to Zion, Greece, Alaska, Seattle/Vancouver, etc etc. Sadly, no photokina for another 2 years but that's okay, I'd much rather have the D300.
The thought of owning our home someday and me being able to decorate to my heart's content! Besides photography, designing is something else I'd want to do when I have more free time. I love this site! For sure I will combine both!
The thought of evil twin sister going to grad sch here this fall! You don't sit next to someone for 2 years and not miss the smell of kimchi. Hehe. :P
The thoughts of what I'm going to cook/bake/experiment next. For dinner tomorrow, I'm contemplating mapo tofu with fatty pork, yum! Usually I put ground beef or pork. Mmm and maybe a watercress salad.

Okay, time to get my rest in before another long work/school day. Somehow, I don't think I'll feel as crappy, knowing that the little random things really do make a difference in my day. =)

OMG OMG OMG

8am

OMG we have a D300!!

Update to come. No lens yet, Jer just bought the body only.

AHHHHHH WE HAVE A D300!!!

Seriously, I'm the luckiest girl on this planet. Thanks bf!!!

*edit* 3:02pm

We have a lens now! 17-55mm F/2.8 DX.

Must sell XTi ASAP.

*edit* 4:30pm

Tamron lens sold!

Body, anyone?

*edit* 8:45pm

Body sold!

Jer bought and sold everything so efficiently in one day. He is so getting laid in the very near future.