Ord Noodle

It's places like Ord Noodle in Thai Town that makes me wish it didn't take me 4 freeways to get there. Granted, I'm only on the 405 for about a minute before I transition to 105. But sympathize with me for a moment.


It's a good sign when the majority of patrons are Thai. Natalee Thai, your customers are white. Take note.


Quite possibly one of the most memorable first bites I've ever had. Succulent yet crispy pork accompanied by fragrant basil and perfectly fried green beans.


The broth had a deep richness to it and the portion included plenty of duck. Now that's how you serve a duck noodle soup.

Ord Noodle
5401 Hollywood Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90027
(323) 468-9302

I want go to back already. Like last week.

Throw/Sink/Hug Pillows

Our sofa has been in need of pillows- specifically, or unspecifically, the kind that can be thrown around, sunk into, or hugged to the chest when in need of comfort or during a scary movie. And the kind that accompanies a nap on the couch.


Pillows, IKEA for $2.99 ea. Fabric, $2/lb at Michael Levine loft (across the street from the actual Michael Levine store)


Fabric with lines in the design makes hemming so much easier


Just a peek through


I pretty much freehanded this. I roughly measured how big the pillow was, allowed a couple inches for the puffiness and then hemmed the shorter edges. I folded over edges and sewed the sides.


I had less pink fabric than blue fabric, so the overlap is not as deep as I would have liked.


You can tell what a difference it was here. I also made a boo-boo on the blue one and put the longer flap on the outside. But I was too lazy to rip off my seams, and they're just pillows. No one will notice except for me.

I deliberately made it easy to take the pillows out so we could wash the cases every once in a while. I forgot to preshrink the fabric so we may have to air dry them.

They have made TV watching more coma-inducing than ever.

Wedding Catering Part 1

Memories of weddings past have always conjured up images of good, hearty Chinese food. I've been to dozens of weddings and nearly all of them have at a Chinese restaurant. That's all I've really ever known, and I knew that that's what I wanted. But I also wanted an outdoor reception- dragons on red velvet walls didn't quite do it for me. Although as kids I do have great memories of hanging out with my cousins at the fish and lobster tank during the boring parts of the wedding. Anyways...

When we first started planning this shindig, we had no idea if Chinese food could be served outdoors. I mean, how is a real Chinese chef supposed to operate away from his 100,000+ btu stove and his woks??

So we set out to google every single combination of the terms "catered" "chinese" "10 course meal" "wedding" "chowhound" etc in every search engine of Google, theknot, weddingbee, project wedding, etc, and we came up with a few hits.

1. Furiwa
2. Grace Catering
3. Pearl Catering

Furiwa didn't have an updated website, but quite a few people had reviewed about it here, here, here, and here.

I thought that Grace Catering was funny in that they are also known as Hotel Banquet and Dragon Catering. There is another domain that he bought but I forgot the name. The reviews were not as extensive, but I did find some stuff here and here.

Finally I didn't find much on Pearl Catering. Their menu was in Chinese but all my friends and I seemed to have forgotten how to read despite years, nay, decades, of Chinese school.

Even though most of the reviews indicated that it would be possible to cater a 10 course chinese meal off site, Jerry and I knew that we had to at least taste the food in order to be sure. Luckily, I found out about a tasting that Hotel Banquet was holding. And off we went.


We were kinda taken aback by this store front.


It was a busy tasting! All you need to reserve a seat for the tasting is to send in a refundable check for 100 bucks. At the tasting, he promptly gave us back the check. The bride and groom are free, and each additional person is $40.


Jerry thought it was good...I thought it was just okay. But maybe b/c this is one of my favorite dishes and I have higher expectations.


I liked it! Jerry had a minor complaint...but I forgot what it was. Oh yeah, too much cilantro. Well, I love cilantro. Haha.


Exceeded our expectations for fried food.


Very good and acceptable. I would have liked just a touch more mayo.


Way too garlicky, but then again I'm not a garlic person (do you see those whole cloves?!). The beef was very tender though!


Tasty! Real abalone!


FAIL. This dish was just made of fail. I have never ever seen cherry tomatoes at a chinese restaurant. I dunno what went wrong here.


Nicely seasoned and great presentation.


Fine with me. Jerry is the fried rice expert so he thought it was good enough.


It's nicer than the sliced oranges, but I didn't really care either way.


Nothing special (it's not included anyway)


We were the only couple who took notes. We like to be prepared :)

Afterwards we were sooooooo full. Like, tummy hurts full. But it was a really good experience to have. We both agreed that while some dishes needed help, for the most part we couldn't go wrong with Grace Catering if that was our only option for off site Chinese catering. But before we made any decisions, we still had another catering consultation to attend. Stay tuned for the next post!

Free Friday

I took today off to run some errands. It was my first free Friday since April and while I didn't get to relax, I got a huge sense of accomplishment.

Our original plan was:

1. Wait for cable guy to come
2. Do house deed stuff for my mom in Norwalk
3. Visit Clarke Estate to get some ideas
4. Sign our catering contract in GG
5. Ring stuff in Irvine
6. Meet with potential photog in SD

We only managed 4 out of 6, so now:

1. We have DVR (renter took the tivo with him)
2. I have 50% interest in my mom's house (it's weird that I own half a house now). I am well versed on how to transfer and record a deed. More on that next time.
3. My ring fits me so much better- I had it resized from 4.75 to 5. We also had this one wonky diamond in my halo setting fixed.
4. We put down a deposit on a photographer. But not the one in SD...more on that to come later. Yes, I know we drove 2 hours each way to meet with someone for 45 min, only to not hire them.

On Sunday we'll be checking out Clarke Estate and then signing our catering contract, and on Monday I'll be putting a deposit on the hair and make up team...so that should be it vendor wise!

...Until it's time to find an officiant and videographer (if we go that route).

I am going to snuggle in bed with some magazines now. Manhattan Beach 10k tomorrow.

Parking

It was an ordinary workday today, but what made it out of the ordinary was that I finally got assigned to a new parking lot! Cedars-Sinai is ever-expanding, but unfortunately the parking spaces don't increase at the same rate. Because I actually work a mile away off site, many employees such as myself have to still park on campus and get shuttled to our various bldgs. The shuttles are not always consistent so many times I find myself waiting 20 minutes for a shuttle and another another 10-15 min for the ride. On top of that, I still have to walk to my car since the shuttle doesn't drop me off at my particular lot. So it kinda sucks b/c in order to get to work on time, I leave while everyone is still sleeping, and I'm the last to come home. Our soon to be former roommate manages to go to the gym after work AND still comes home before me. But I sucked it up b/c I was glad to have a job. At all.

My supervisor found out that some employees park at this other lot that is much closer to the office, it's about a 5 min walk so she got me on the waiting list. How come she didn't get me on the waiting list for my bldg? It's a 2 year wait. Yeahhhh. (My supervisor and coworkers got parking b/c they have seniority...having worked there 2 dozen years btwn the 3 of them)

So anyways I love this lot so much more than my old lot! 1. There's only 3 levels as opposed to 8 so no more driving around and around and around and around looking for a dumb spot 2. There's waaaay less cars coming in and out so I don't have to worry about getting hit (the old lot ppl turned corners w/o even bothered to look) 3. There are no compact spots- each spot is HUGE!!! In my old lot, even stupid Minis and Bugs still managed to park over the lines, so for every 5 spots, only about 4 cars actually fit. 4. No speed bumps! In my old lot I'd go through at least 3 speed bumps for every level higher that I had to find parking 5. The lot is actually on my way to the office, so I'm not backtracking. Before, I had to drive a mile north past my bldg and then I'd have to shuttle it a mile backwards. Now, I reach my lot first, I walk a quarter mile or so, and I'm at my office. Easy peasy!! 6. This lot is closer to Fairfax/Crescent Heights where the traffic is soooo much better. La Cienega and Robertson gets so congested and La Cienega esp has the worst road maint. Today from closing down my comp to entering my garage, it took 40 minutes! Only 40 minutes! Usually it takes me at least an hour. I know people out there have crappier commutes so I'm not complaining that mine is the worst. I also know that many ppl have terrible parking situations. Neither are really enviable contests to win. Anyways this is a lot of rambling about a parking spot.

I know it's just a parking spot, but every little thing makes a difference!

My First Time

So I saw Star Wars for the first time ever. About time, I know!

It was very good, now I know why everyone goes bat crazy over it. I will be watching 5 and 6...eventually. And maybe 1, 2, and 3 even though everyone says they suck.

And someday, I will get around to watching the series of LOTR, the Matrix, Rocky, Star Trek, etc.

...or let's not get too ambitious.

What are must see movie series in your book?

Where It Will All Happen

Clarke Estate, September 18, 2010

Where we will eat, drink, and be married.

First Wedding Setback

I guess there is never smooth sailing when organizing this kind of shindig.

Today we had our first wrinkle in our plans.

I had been browsing wedding photography blogs long before I ever met Jerry. I knew what shooting styles I liked. So by the time we got engaged, I was pretty well versed in what I wanted. Over this past summer, I found a photographer that I loved and more importantly, that Jerry loved as well. We decided to go with her, and so we stopped looking.

Bad idea.

Because we had committed to the "idea" of that photographer, we decided that a verbal understanding was enough. Our photographer didn't want to meet with us until we had booked our site, and we couldn't do so until 9/1 (more on that later). In the meantime, she would let us know if someone else wanted her for 9/18. Once we had the date set in place, we set an appt to meet with her. All this time, her calendar was clear for 9/18 (she was booked for 9/25 ,which is why we specifically booked for 9/18). Then I get this email today saying that one of her clients changed their wedding date from 9/11 to 9/18. Because they had placed a deposit, the couple had priority over us. Business is business.

I'm more annoyed b/c I just wasted nearly 2 months of not looking for another photog. Nowadays the best budget ones book more than 13 months in advance, so seeing that we're about 12 months and 4 days away, the pool to choose from had gotten a lot smaller. It's not really the end of the world, but I would have preferred to have locked down the photo vendor sooner than later and focused my time and energy on something else. Now we'll have to put our other DIY plans on the back burner for a while.

I am positive that we will find somebody else that matches our photography aesthetic. And I know that when we get our proofs back from that future wedding photographer, we'll look at each other and say, "it totally worked out for the best." This isn't something to go bridezilla over (although Jerry is REALLY pissed off right now) since wedding photogs are a dime a dozen, but for now, I'm going to be a little bit sad b/c I'll have to find another "the one". I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason, so back to the drawing board it is.

What wedding setbacks did you encounter? How would you have felt in my situation?

NameThat Song

This is how I operate sometimes:

1. I think of how I want things to start.
2. Then I envision the ending.
3. Then I roll my sleeves up and figure out how to transition the in-betweens.

I find it much easier to do it in that order, I don't know why. Maybe b/c having an end in sight will be more directive for me. I kind of like to know where I'm going.

So the music we choose will really help us set the tone for the wedding. Jerry really likes Tupac. I heart Ingrid Michaelson. We both like Linkin Park. This should be interesting.

But we've agreed on three things so far: what my "walk-down-the-aisle" music will be (it's a secret :P), the first song to start off the dancing will be Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling", and we will end with "Closing Time" by Semisonic. We love all of those songs!

One of my BMs will help me with music- she has introduced me to so many great indie artists and songs over the years. I want to avoid the KOST 103.5 cheesy stuff and incorporate some indie into the mix, and she is the perfect person to help me! We'll need to choose the ceremony music since it'll be mostly be instrumental, have her help with the cocktail hour/background reception music (Yeah Yeah Yeahs "Hysteric" and some stuff from DCFC will definitely be in rotation), the bridal party will choose their own entrance music, and Jerry will mostly be in charge of the dance music. I think I want the dance music to be more recognizable since ppl dance to what they know, and have the cocktail/reception lull music be more varied. And somewhere in all that will be some 80s fun with The Cure, Journey, Bon Jovi and Modern English hehe. And maybe I can sneak in some fobby chinese songs. We have a ways to go, but it's a start!

What are songs/types of that you like to hear at weddings? And what are no-nos, if any?

Seafood Feast

Who doesn't love a seafood feast?

A couple months ago we had our spider crab virginity taken away courtesy of Liz.

We bought 4. No one was sharing.

As if 4 spider crabs weren't enough, we also got oysters and clams. That is John. Liz has known him since since she was 8. Crazy! Liz has a Quality Seafood frequent customer card. Crazy!


And uni.

These were all delicious. I was slurping them up.

Whoops Leo's eyes were closed. I was too hungry to re-take the picture though.

Uni "spooners"

Jerry had his uni virginity taken away. He did not quite enjoy it, but that's because this particular sea urchin was not as good. Next time!

Instead he ate all the spider crab.

Doesn't that look like a face??

Quality Seafood
Redondo Beach Pier

What's your idea of a seafood feast?