My Night at the Opera Went Like This...

7:15- Want to make a quick run to the ladies room. Was told that if I left my seat now, I wouldn't be allowed in for another 22 minutes. Blah.
7:18- Act I starts...and my jaw drops. "Dude, are they really naked?" Well, we were sitting in the nosebleeds; I couldn't tell!
7:19- Person in front of me has huge head. Can't see naked ppl!
7:31- So, are they gonna start singing yet? 'Cause the Venus sex scene is weirding me out...
7:42- There's subtitles? I gotta read? Wah.
8:10- 22 min intermission- I eat Phillipine Dried Mangos. Too lazy to wait in line to pee.


Act II
I took off my boots and propped my feet up. I stopped reading the subtitles. I really liked the scene when this guy was singing. Ate Yan Yan during 2nd intermission. It's already 10pm! I feel like I've been here for ages, haha. Still have yet to go pee.

Act III
I dozed off/stared at the ceiling/went ADD on Nikolaj. I already know how it ends, 'cause I read the nifty program.


The end.

Elia: "So, what did you think of it?"
me: "It was a bit long..."
Elia:"Oh? This is one of Wagner's shorter ones."


11:05- I take this pic
11:50- I finally answer nature's call!

Ok, so it wasn't that bad! I just have a horrible attn span and I am too uncultured to appreciate opera music. But great company really made a difference. I had fun because I got to try something new. Thanks Elia and Nikolaj!

Philippe's, finally!

Why is it that I've been to Chinatown hundreds of times and yet I've never eaten at Philippe The Original French Dipped Sandwiches until tonight?

Must be the same reason why I lived 4 blocks away from the Hammer museum and passed it everyday and yet never went there during the FOUR years I spent at UCLA.

Or the same reason why I've lived in El Monte for over 14 years and I didn't eat at King Taco until LAST YEAR.

Nah, I don't really know the reason. I'm just silly like that :D



Some tips:
1. Plenty of FREE parking: enter from Alameda, left on Ord, left or right into lots/enter from Spring, right on Ord, same deal.
2. Loooooooooooong lines inside. Definitely know what you want when it's your turn to order.
3. Look at my puny sweet pickle! It was yummy though.
4. I thought that mine had a bit too much meat. The guys wolfed down their sandwiches in like 2 min, so maybe it wasn't enough meat for them. The beef was okay, next time I want to try pork. I think I prefer The Hat's Pastrami Dip though.
5. Coffee was 9 cents! I don't drink coffee but to a coffee lover that must be quite a deal!
6. There's rooms upstairs too! (But we didn't get to go, next time I want to come back and explore.)

I want to go back! Mostly because we stood in line for over 15 min and ate in under 5 min so I didn't get to enjoy my meal. Also, there's some side dishes/desserts that I didn't get to try!

Fun Reads for February!

Let's get right to it:


Loose Balls by Jayson Williams with Steve Friedman
Really enjoyable. But then again, it's prolly b/c I'm a sports nut. The anecdotes are hilarious! There's not much else I can say about it. I think you'd prolly only find it entertaining if you were into basketball.


Bookends by Jane Green
I need my dose of chick-lit! This one was particularly enjoyable b/c the storylines revolved around food and books.


Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath
It took me FOREVER to finish this book. Mostly because I found myself re-reading some parts over again. Also, I'd stop after certain points to digest what the author had written. Because I'm lazy:

Why do some ideas thrive while others die? And how do we improve the chances of worthy ideas? In Made to Stick, accomplished educators and idea collectors Chip and Dan Heath tackle head-on these vexing questions. Inside, the brothers Heath reveal the anatomy of ideas that “stick” and explain sure-fire methods for making ideas stickier, such as violating schemas, using the Velcro Theory of Memory, and creating “curiosity gaps.”

Read it! It will definitely change the way you think, though in a subtle way.

Anastasia Again! by Lois Lowry


Anastasia, Absolutely by Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is one of my favorite authors. The Anastasia series rock! I've read every single book in the series at least dozens of times over the last 10 or so years. If I have a daughter, I am sooooo gonna have her read these books as well as watch the Brat Pack movies. :)

More to come next month!

My Date with Ann :)

Angel is old HS friend of mine and Ann's who goes to the Collins School of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona.

Because I'm lazy, I decided to do the 'ol c&p:

Overlooking the beautiful, rolling hills of Diamond Bar, The Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch at Cal Poly Pomona boasts one of the valley's most romantic & chic settings. The Restaurant at Kellogg Ranch is a student-operated restaurant, serving both lunch and dinner. The restaurant is part of the Hospitality Management curriculum at The Collins School of Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona.

In the restaurant, students rotate weekly through various positions, including management, in order to learn all aspects of a hospitality operation. Some of the finest professionals in the industry facilitate student learning. The faculty team includes Chef Ernie Briones, Lesley Butler, Barbara Jean Bruin, and Chef Scott Rudolph.

We were there that night to support her! It was her turn to manage this week and we think she did a fantastic job running ship. :) It almost reminded me of Hell's Kitchen! In fact, everyone was working really hard.



Appetizers

Pan Seared Diver Scallops with Assorted Mushrooms- served with mushroom vinaigrette, herb oil & topped with micro greens
Scallops were pretty tender except Ann and I are not fans of those kinds of mushrooms.


"Tapas" Trio- olive tapenade & duck confit and vegetable roulade & English cucumber encased in cured salmon and topped with spicy Crème Fraîche
I liked the tapenade, as always. I have no idea what duck confit is- Ann ate that one. Cured salmon was yummy. Ann is not a fan of raw fish.

Salad

House Salad- Mesclun mix with fresh Cal Poly's Oro Blanco grapefruit and navel oranges, dried cranberries, candied walnuts, and crumbled blue cheese dressed in creamy citrus Dijon vinaigrette.
Of course I got mine sans cheeeeese. We didn't really like the dressing. The salad was just okay.

Entrees

Braised Beef Short Ribs- beef short rib slowly cooked in a savory red wine, garlic and herb sauce accompanied by horseradish mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.
The first few heavenly bites melted in my mouth. After that it became kinda stringy and I got tired of trying to dislodge the meat from my braces.


Apple Glazed Grilled Pork Chop- a grilled center cut pork rib chop, glazed with an apple cider reduction & served with house glazed apple sauce accompanied by vegetable risotto and seasonal vegetables.
The pork wasn't really tender. I'm also not a huge fan of fruit cooked in a savory dish. Ann was so-so about it. The risotto was super soggy. Is it sposed to be that soggy? Hmm.

Dessert

Chocolate-Dipped Ice Cream Profiterole- soft and fluffy éclair dipped in warm chocolate fudge filled with your choice of Dr. Bob's vanilla, strawberry or chocolate ice cream.
The éclair wasn't soft and fluffy. It was hard and crunchy and as I was cutting up a piece it flew off my plate. Whoops. The dark chocolate ice cream was super creamy and hit the spot.


Chocolate Kahlúa Crème Brûlée- chocolate egg custard with a hint of Kahlúa coffee liqueur Topped with caramelized sugar and fresh strawberry.
This was YUMMY. But the chocolate egg custard tasted like dark chocolate ice cream to me, hmm...But it was still yummies!

So basically it was a 4-course meal for $31 bucks. Not too shabby. But we didn't know that our measly salad was the 4th course so we ended up paying $31 for everything instead of $25 for a 3-courser. They should have explained that to us. Not that we're super cheapos or anything but I think we could have lived without the salad. Besides, since the service was pretty great I wouldn't have minded putting the extra $ towards tip. Ann and I actually tried to tip this really nice guy separately but he said they aren't allowed to take the money. Also, we thought we had each ordered one glass of mineral water but they came out with TWO freaking huge bottles so basically we were chugging mineral water all freaking night. Us gals could have shared just one bottle easily. So with tax & tip it came out to be $90 even.

But the company was priceless. Ann and I had so much fun talking about EVERYTHING. What a memorable "date." :)


Going on 15 years of bestfriendship!

How to NOT get hired as my financial adviser

1. Tell me that "the silliest thing you could do at your age is put your money in a CD."

2. Repeatedly say that "You should have done something about my CD yesterday."

3. Make me feel like I have to make excuses/give explanations for how I choose to manage/save my money.

4. Expect me to take out my cell phone right then and there and give him names/numbers of my friends to partake in a future consultation.

5. Continue to press me when I said that I DON'T want to refer my family members. And then point out: "Don't you care about the financial future of your family?"

6. Say in a disparaging tone: "You definitely need our help."

Yeah, that's not how you do it.

So my good pal Johnny is starting off as a financial planner and he's trying to build his client base. His presentation was fine- I felt at ease and was comfortable in asking questions. Also, I didn't feel judged by him. But then his boss came in and it went downhill from there. He was pushy and made me feel defensive.

I left the consultation feeling like crap. In fact, I still felt cruddy this morning. Johnny is a very good friend and I'd throw down for him as well as for some of you guys anytime. I'd really like to help him out but at this moment I really can't. Even though I would love to have a financial adviser, I simply can't afford one at this time. I understand that in the long run I'll get that $500 back and then some. And I do foresee myself making this investment in the next couple years, but not right now. Even though I'm only 23 I think that I'm on the right track when it comes to saving $ for retirement. I just have to continue that track and take some risks here and there to build my nest egg. But I certainly don't think that I'm so hopeless to the point that I'm clueless. Doh.

Ugh. Well, I called Johnny and told him how he felt. He explained to me why his boss was like that. Still that doesn't change the way I feel. I'm not upset at you Johnny! Don't take it personal!

The positive thing is, this experience has motivated me to learn about other investment options that I can do on my own for now since I have some free time. Shoot, they shoulda taught you some of this stuff in college. Now I gotta go borrow "Investment for Dummies" from the library. :)

"No One Mourns the Wicked..."

No one ever notices the white part. Haha.

I've never been to a musical before so this was quite a treat!

Opening night was pretty neat. There was an exciting buzz in the air that enveloped us as we walked into the theater. Our seats were amazing. We sat in row RR 301-308. Try to get those seats if you go!

Some little things about Wicked that I didn't know prior to the show:
1. Winnie Holzman, the creator of My So Called Life, is the book writer for Wicked (adaptation of the novel by the same name by Gregory Maguire)
2. The actor for Nessarose (Elphaba's sister) was Libby on Sabrina the Teenage Witch (admit it, you guys used to watch that show!)
3. There is a lot of physical comedy that isn't conveyed through the music. G(a)linda had the best parts in this respect!
4. There are actual tie-ins/connections to the original "Wizard of Oz" (I don't want to give anything away)


Thanks Christina!

I want to go again! Who wants to take me?? :)

Finger fooding!

Pre-oven: I think Christina's friend's SLR totally did justice to my stuffed mushrooms.

Stuffed mushrooms were pretty easy to make. The recipe came out of a book so I don't really remember much.

Basically, I wiped the mushrooms down with a wet paper towel. Then I popped off the stems (quite easy) and chopped 'em up. Then I diced one link of sausage (habernero to give it a kick). I mixed the mushrooms stems, sausage bits, one egg, some bread crumbs, garlic, parmesan cheese all together. Next I added enough olive oil to make it all shiny. Finally I stuffed the mushrooms and stuck the pan in the olive at 400 degrees for 15 min. Sorry I don't remember the proportions! It's basically a free for all...dump whatever you want in the mix. It turns out yummy anyways.

Next time I want to experiment with different items like...bacon! Bacon anything is yummys!



Ingredients:
2 bags (1 pound size) fresh spinach
1/8 pound butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons minced onions
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 pint heavy cream
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce -- to taste
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 cup grated Monterey jack cheese
artichoke hearts -- coarsely diced

Directions:

Steam spinach; strain and squeeze through cheesecloth. Must be very dry. Chop finely and set aside.

In heavy saucepan, melt butter. Add garlic and onions and sauté about 3-5 minutes. Add flour to make a roux. Stir and cook about 1 minute. Slowly add heavy cream, stirring with a whisk to prevent lumping. Mixture will thicken at the boiling point. When it thickens, add lemon juice, Tabasco, salt and Parmesan cheese.

Remove from heat and let stand 5 minutes. Stir in sour cream. Fold in dry, chopped spinach, coarse diced artichoke hearts and jack cheese. Stir until cheese is melted. Serve immediately, or portion and microwave to order. Serve with salsa, sour cream and tortilla chips for dipping.

This is the recipe I used except I didn't put in the tabasco sauce or jack cheese 'cause we didn't have any on hand. The spinach part took the longest.

I didn't try this dip myself but everyone at the dinner party seem to like it, so I guess it tasted good! It is possible to make a cheeseless, garlicless, and onionless spinach artichoke dip??? Maybe I'll eat it then!

Tiramisu

Fun times with the best friend!

A while back, I decided to make tiramisu for Christina's birfday dinner party. I started researching some recipes online, and the more I looked, the more I got confused. All the recipes asked for a variety of things like heavy cream, whipping cream, milk, vanilla extract, butter, flour, and even gelatin. I didn't know what recipe to use because I didn't know what the difference would be if I used a recipe that had milk and flour versus having heavy cream and gelatin.

A trip to Claro's Italian Market quickly resolved any confusion. I love small markets, the people are so nice! I asked the store clerk if she could help me choose a recipe and she ended up taking me to the kitchen so I could talk to Lena, the cook! Lena proceeded to tell me how to make the tiramisu. Turns out the recipe is super simple, compared to the recipes that were googled.


The ingredients:
3 large eggs, yolks & whites separated (I used 2 big ones and 2 small ones)
2 cups espresso (Ann brewed 2 strong cups of coffee instead, espresso is $2 an ounce!)
1 package of ladyfingers (17.5 ounces)
1 tub of mascarpone cheese (16 ounces) (don't use cream cheese or any other substitutes!)
1 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon alkie of choice (marsala wine, rum, kahlua, amaretto, etc)
cocoa powder for dusting

The recipe can also be found on the tub of mascarpone cheese.


First, we beat the egg yolks, sugar, alkie (I used Amaretto), and 2 tsp of coffee for 2-3 minutes. (Recipe says 1 tsp but since we used coffee instead of espresso I doubled it for the heck of it)


Then we added the entire tub of cheese and beat for 3-5 minutes until smooth.


Next, we beat the egg whites with a pinch of sugar until the egg whites formed stiff peaks.


While Ann was beating the egg whites, I started prepping the ladyfingers. Turns out my glass dish was not long enough and so I had to break off the ends to make 'em fit.


Stiff peaks! Then we folded the cheese in and mixed by hand until it became a smooth and creamy custard. (Not pictured)


We dipped each ladyfinger into a bowl of coffee for literally seconds. The cookie gets super soggy if you leave it in too long! As we dipped, we layered the entire bottom with ladyfingers.


Next we spread a layer of the custard!


Ann used her nifty sieving skills and dusted the top with cocoa power. Then we repeated with another layer.


The final result, look at the layers!


Since I had all those ladyfinger ends, I decided to be experimental and do mini tiramisu cupcakes.


I just like this pic. :)


Yay done!

We refrigerated everything overnight. I wonder how it tastes! I won't find out until Saturday evening. Ann and I tried the cupcake ones an hour after being in the fridge but they were still a bit soft & soggy. I just hope it solidifies enough to cut cleanly by serving time.

Depending on how it tastes, next time I'll use espresso maybe. People say that tiramisu is not tiramisu unless you use marscapone cheese and espresso. We'll see.

Granny Ass

Christina and I went to Olympic Spa yesterday. What I thought was going to be a soothing, relaxing and an insert-your-stereotypical-spa-adjective experience turned out to be quite a naked, hilarious, and at times, painful one! Memorables:

1. We wandered into the hot tub/shower room and saw naked women standing in the open showers, sitting in the hot tub, and laying on the massage table. They were EVERYWHERE! Christina and I looked at each other, and we both agreed: "We're not there yet."

2. So we're sitting on a bench in front of the shoe lockers, waiting to be called for our treatments. I'm basically eye level with anything below the waist. This old Korean grandma walks by and I can see naked wrinkly tush! Yikes! I turned to Christina and said, "Hit me. Pinch me. Don't let me laugh!" Haha. Granny ass.

3. The facial had some painful moments...especially when she was going at my face WITH A NEEDLE. That's right, A FUCKING NEEDLE. So all I could say was "Owww. Owwww. OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW." The lady (who was Korean of course) just laughed and said "It hurts, eh? Heehee." Unbelieveable. Luckily, the pain was temporary in my case. Poor Christina's still hurt after we left!

If you decide to go there, here are some tips:

1. The towels are...not large. We wrapped ourselves in it...and it kept falling off even after we tightly tucked it in! Next time I would just wear the robe. Oh yeah, everything goes off, even undies!
2. Bring your own flip flops to walk around. Luckily I didn't have to use the restroom, but I wouldn't step barefoot there. Same for the shower stalls.
3. No swimsuits allowed. That's right. If you wanted to use the hot tub, be ready to face each other...completely naked...maybe with other strangers too...
4. It's super hot and humid in there. I would not wear heavy smelly lotion before going there. Since I rarely use lotion I didn't have a problem with this, but I am just thinking ahead for others. =)
5. You don't have to bring tip money to the treatment room. The ladies give you an envelope afterwards, and you just slip in the tip and leave it at the front desk.
6. Be careful what you sign up for: http://www.olympicspala.com/rituals.htm
If you pick Head to Toe...that involves needles. And for Christina, some magnetic shock therapy thing that I luckily did not have! (Even though we got the same treatment, when we swapped stories we discovered that some things were done differently)
7. Females only! Understandbly.

I think I will give this place another try...someday. With a different treatment! But maybe I should go to Glen Ivy next...hmm.

Happy xmas/bday Christina! At least we got some good stories out of this experience! :)

'Cause rolodexes are ugly

I collect business cards like kids collect pokemon cards. The oldest card I have is a Ten Ren Tea Station (Chinatown branch) card from 8th grade. For the last few years, I've been meaning to find a functional yet purty rolodex to house said cards but picky 'ole me hadn't found a design I liked.

Gross, huh?

Recently, Christina linked me to this one from Pottery Barn:

It's nice, eh? But not very functional. Plus it was $49 and sold out anyway.

So I decided to be proactive and make my own! Thanks for your ideas Christina!


Materials needed: biz cards, index cards, scissors, pen, sticky tabs, photo corners, silver rings


First, I cut the index cards (4X6) in half. Then I used photo corners to secure the the card to the bottom right side of the index card.
(Akane is an excellent sushi restaurant in Los Altos. I ate for free 'cause Josie's friend used to be a chef there. :P )


Next I hole-punched the opposite corner.
(The Thai desserts at Nana are yummy. Not as yummy as Regina's family's restaurant though!)


Then I stuck on tabs for easy reference. I separated my cards by various categories such as soul food, desserts/bakeries, vietnamese, south american, indonesian, etc.
(I googled La Belle Epoque after I finished this project. I found out that it's closing! Boo. But there's other brunch places in Los Feliz that I'd like to check out anyway, so no biggie.)


The finished product! Very nifty indeed. Now I have to repeat for my shopping/services/people biz cards. Combined, they don't even come close in number to my foodie cards though!

By the way, I dunno why the photos look blurry! My original photos are excellent quality! Then I upload them to flickr, and it seems fine there. But when I upload it to blogspot it comes out funky. Bleh. Anyone wanna help me troubleshoot?