My Kind of Halloween

So Halloween has never been a big deal for me due to my mom depriving me of dressing up and trick or treating as a kid. I don't even remember if I dressed up for school. Heck I have never even carved my own pumpkin. Hmm, maybe something else to add to my list.

The past Halloweens that come to mind are:
1. In college when my friends threw this crazy joint apartment roof party (a bunch of friends lived in diff apartments in the same bldg so they all got together to throw one huge party on the roof). I got so drunk that when the police came I thought they were in costume. =X
2. At AADAP when our team dressed up in 80s costumes. We also had a corn eating contest. That was so much fun! I miss celebrating holidays at AADAP.
3. In grad school I half assed dressed as a ladybug and went around downtown San Diego. Finally got into this coveted club called On Broadway, paid $20 cover, and then everyone got kicked out 15 minutes later. How fun. Then I spent the rest of the night in a hotel room with like 12 other people, watching ppl get increasingly drunk, gropey, and belligerent. Really classy. I couldn't WAIT to get home, I was so miserable.

So this past Halloween was memorable as well...and in a good way! I gathered a group of friends to go to Pierce College's Halloween Harvest and Fright Fair. For $25, we were able to do the regular corn maze, Creatures of the Corn (maze), and the Factory of Nightmares. The $25 included admission to the rest of grounds with ubiquitous attractions such as a pumpkin patch, petting zoo, food stands, games, and giant slides/moonbouncers etc. Jerry and I might turn it into an annual thing, we had such a good time!

The regular lot was full so we parked further and took a wagon/shuttle thingy.


Line was loooooong just to buy tix





Hehe. They are such a funny couple!

Creature of the Corn (maze). This was so scary and fun!!!

Non scary corn maze

It was sooo dark. Good thing there was a full moon!

That's Factory of Nightmares to the right. That was really well done!!

We couldn't get a pick at the top b/c other ppl were hogging it.



The Tongs eating corn and playing in the pumpkin patch


Hehe, this was so cute!

All in all, a really fun night out. Makes me rethink this Halloween thing...

Goldilocks Venue Hunt part 3

What we wanted in a venue:

Outdoors but still cozy (backyard wedding vibe)
Private (no multiple events going on at the same time)
Plenty of FREE parking (you think this would have been a given but surprisingly not all sites have this)
Not many rules (like forcing us to buy our own insurance, etc)
Separate bride and groom room for getting ready (again not all sites have this)
Cheap to rent but not cheap to look at
Nothing too fancy (no gazebos or fake waterfalls)
A clean slate in which to decorate
A variety of textures/backgrounds for pictures
Allows for our own catering (no, I don't not want to be forced into serving over-done beef over a bed of gluey mashed potatoes flanked by limpy asparagus)
Central-ish location
There's probably more things I forgot to mention by I think that's being pretty picky enough :)

Anyhoo...so now that you know what we were looking for, look what we stumbled upon day 2 of the venue hunt:

Clarke Estate in the city Santa Fe Springs!

When we walked onto the grounds, we got a really good vibe about the place. It was exactly what we were looking for, and more! It also fit in our budget (oh so important) and was available for our date. But I'll get more into that later.

Here's a Cliff's notes version about Clarke Estate: rich Clarke family built it. Everyone died. Unoccupied. City bought it. City now makes revenue off renting it for events such as weddings.

Okay, here are some pictures now. We are filled to the brim with ideas on how to utilize the space!!!

Behind me is where vendors/bridal party would park. Any equipment/materials could be dropped off closer to the house/grounds using the driveway in front of me.

Bridal party enters through here

Cute courtyard for maybe cocktail hour or for a super small wedding (under 100 ppl). The getting ready rooms are to the right. Restrooms to the left.

Groom room

Our venue actually has two stories, so our photographers can get all sorts of fun angles! Guests are not allowed inside the house or on the second floor balconies though. I think.


The grass looks burnt, but every Labor Day weekend they completely redo the lawn, so we'll have nice grass for our wedding! Also, we are building an arch, so I'll need to come up with some decorating ideas.

We might set up a drink station in this area

The back of the house

Roomy kitchen for prep and whatnot

Where the reception will be. That curvy strip in the top left side? Dancing. The area behind it? DJ set up. (Aerial shot- we were on the second story balcony)

Another random grassy area. Maybe set up kids art corner and photobooth here. Also an aerial shot.

Where bridal party would walk out for the ceremony


Smallish pool. Maybe do something with it.

Where the guests enter. They park by the aquatic center. Our site is located adjacent to a community garden, post office, community center, town hall, library, etc. There is no way ppl can get lost.

They follow this path and it leads them to the ceremony area first.

Another random view.

This venue is just right for our vision, our guests, and our pocketbooks. We are so excited and happy to get married here, so can 9.18.10 come any sooner?!

Dine LA: Johnny Rebs

Taking a break from the wedding posts to bring you some Southern gluttony in da LBC

Thanks to Dine LA, we were able to try out Johnny Rebs in Long Beach. I had never heard of the restaurant until I saw it on the website.

I know it's probably not authentic but it's one of the best sweet teas that I've ever had. Other places use so much sugar it becomes syrup juice and you can't taste the tea at all. This version was not too cloyingly sweet but still very refreshing. We liked it so much we're going to order gallons of it for our cocktail reception.

Fried green tomatoes. I have heard of these but had never tried it. I'm definitely a fan! Can't wait to order it at the next place that has it.

Jerry had the full rack of baby back ribs, fries, cajun rice and corn bread. Ribs were decent, cornbread too dry, and cajun rice was yummy.

I had brisket (too dry, but I'm spoiled by Jer's brisket), hot links (spicy!), bbq baked beans (average), corn bread and sweet potato fries (they were $2 to upgrade from regular fries- well worth it). This is why America is fat.

For dessert we all chose diff things- this was apple cobbler. The crust was so yummy, dusted in cinnamon sugar.

My key lime pie. It was alright. Prolly not the best there is, but good enough for my newbie Southern palate. :) My favorite dessert was the pecan pie but no picture of it. We also tried the peach cobbler. Good, but doesn't beat the Cobbler Lady!

There was so much food that I was able to use the leftover meat to pack 5 lunches for us (total not each). I make rice ahead of time, portion them into glass pyrexes, and then I add whatever prepared/leftover protein/veggies we have lying around. I've been making a habit of spending an hour or two on the weekend to make all our lunches for the week- that way before work we just grab and go. So it's easier on wknds when we go out to eat, b/c then I just repack the dinner as lunches.

I think the food was just okay, although some things stood out. Even though it was kind of pricey ($63 for the two of us) the fact that we were able to spread it over 2 dinners, 5 lunches, and one late night snacking session (while I was packing the lunches we got hungry and decided to eat what was leftover haha) made it worth going. If I ever were to come back, it'd be for the sweet potato fries (although you can't really mess it up, can you?), cajun rice, pecan pie, and refills of the sweet tea.

Johnny Rebs

4663 Long Beach Blvd
Long Beach, CA 90805

(562) 423-7327

www.johnnyrebs.com

Anyone else try out a Dine LA restaurant? I had a friend that went to 6 of them! Yikes!

Goldilocks Venue Hunt part 2

In addition to visiting sites such as the Torrance Cultural Arts Center and the Lindley Scott House, we thought we'd stop by some Chinese restaurants in SGV. I already mentioned how I felt about Chinese restaurant decor, but I was quite surprised to see some of the overly Chinesey decor be toned down quite a bit from what I remember as a kid. Though we mainly wanted to get pricing and menus (to compare with Chinese caterers) the more modern decor gave me some second thoughts about being more open minded. We visited 888 and New Catipal ahem I mean New Capital (when are they ever going to fix their sign!?).

(actually taken in Feb 2008, as of Aug 2009, sign not yet changed)

Finally, the last place of the day that we went to was Almansor Park in Alhambra. I had forgotten about this place until my mom reminded me. On our way to dinner with my parents, we stopped by and barely just made it before they closed for the day. We got the sales pitch blah blah. Weddings take place at Almansor Court. There are 3 ceremony time options. Here's the kind of food you can get for your reception (but Chinese food only on Sundays). You get x number of chairs. Blah blah blah.

But why had I forgotten about this place?
While I don't remember every single one of the nice weddings that I've been to, I sure remember the bad ones! Maybe about 10 years ago, I attended a family friend's wedding at Almansor Court with my mom. It was our first time eating non Asian food at an Asian wedding. And it was terrible. We left hungry. Now, don't you HATE leaving weddings hungry? I feel the same way now as I did 10 years ago. Now, I know a lot has changed in 10 years, but there was no way I was going to find out by using my wedding as a guinea pig! :P

Since Almansor Court offers 3 different times for the ceremony, we toyed with the idea of doing a ceremony only there, and then having everyone make the short drive to a nearby restaurant b/c of the abundance of Chinese restaurants in the area (besides 888 and New Catipal, there's also Elite, NBC, Lunaisa (formerly Triumphal Palace), Ocean Star, Empress Harbour, Empress Pavilion (not quite SGV, but Chinatown is a hop and a skip away). Mission 261 was out of the picture b/c they are closed for renovations through 2010. (One of my bridesmaids (hi Susan!) got married there, food is delish)

Almansor Court + fobby Chinese restaurant would have been a nice idea if...
1. The ceremony grass wasn't astroturf (didn't rub Jer the right way)
2. The lake behind the ceremony site wasn't full of trash and algae (although they promised that it was temporary and they were going to drain/clean/refill with water)
3. It wasn't so expensive for a freaking 2 hour dealy (and they didn't even provide much)
4. We had felt right about it

So back to the drawing board we went...

Luckily we only had to wait 18 more hours.

2009 TV

TV is one of those things that can be highly useful but also a big fat waste of time.

Useful:
I increase my knowledge of pop culture (mundane and unintelligent as pop culture can be, it's needed in our society to communicate with others)
It makes me hungry (Top Chef), gives me sparks of creativity (Project Runway), and increases my thirst for travel (Amazing Race).
It gives me something to read about on the internet the next day (twop, tvsquad)
It is plain entertaining (Glee, HIMYM)
Some TV shows have nice eye candy (Demitri (FF), Pacey aka Peter (Fringe), the doctor from Survivor, Voltaggio brothers on Top Chef, etc)

Big fat waste of time:
I already spend too much time on the internet
I feel really numb and dumb if I spend the entire night watching TV
More but I'm lazy to write it out

I present to you the shows that have been clogging up the DVR and killing my brain cells:
Monday: How I Met Your Mother, Gossip Girl, Big Bang Theory
Tuesday: Hell's Kitchen (at least it finally ended!), The Good Wife, The Hills, The City, Deadliest Catch (will start up again soon)
Wednesday: Glee, Top Chef, Modern Family
Thursday: Flash Forward, The Office, Fringe, Grey's Anatomy, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Project Runway
Friday: Numb3rs
Saturday: Usually reruns of Say Yes to the Dress
Sunday: The Amazing Race
There are probably more but I don't remember.

Luckily some shows are re-running already thanks to baseball so I'll be able to catch up on them in the next few weeks. I pretty much will watch one or two shows the night they air and the rest I catch up on weekends or re-run/bye nights.

What are your must-watch shows? Does anyone feel the same way that I do?

Goldilocks Venue Hunt part 1

This is how the wedding venue hunt started:
"It's too expensive."
"It's too far."
"It's too small."
"It's too big."
"It's not us."
"It's too ghetto."
"It's too fancy."
"It's too 1800s."
(Btw, why isn't there ever an "It's too cheap?")

With stacks of books and magazines, a whole folder of bookmarked websites (which I had been compiling before I met Jer lol), and this AMAZING spreadsheet courtesy of Brandon from Mission Impossible: Budget Wedding in LA, we set out to find our just right venue.

Note: Don't go venue hunting on a hot day. Or when gas is expensive.

The first place we checked out was the Torrance Cultural Arts Center. It sounded nice in the description but when we went to visit it was just okay. I didn't get the vibe.

The reception area. Felt like a more fancy MPR. Which it is.

One of the choices for ceremonies. Not digging the high school campus vibe.

The next place was the Lindley Scott House in Azusa. It had the distinction of not being noticeable from the main road (can be a good thing, but also bad b/c we completely missed it and had to backtrack), but yet, it was flanked by another road that had noticeable car traffic noise.

Behind that ledge in the back is a popular road that feeds to a main road.

I'm not a fan of gazebos personally, but they do make for nice pictures. I have seen very nice wedding photography done at LS House.

The reception place was okay, but I didn't like that we had to use their caterer. Who had a very strict menu. You all know how I feel about Chinese food.

The outside is nice, the inside is very vintage, but not my style. I'm not a fan of old style wallpapering. That aesthetic works for other brides, but not me. Moving on...

Stay tuned for part 2!

Voluntary versus Have-To

This topic comes up when Jer and I have random conversations- how people treat their volunteerism of their own time as have-tos.

For example, blogging. Unless you do it for a living (dooce, pioneer woman) and you make your sole income off revenue from the site, why should you apologize to readers for not blogging? You don't owe the public anything. Why should there be expectations that you must blog x amt? Sometimes I feel this way though. In my mind there are tons of topics that I'd like to talk about, but I never get around to it. It becomes part of my real to-do list...but why should it be real? I blog b/c I want to, not because I feel obligated to my readers out there that I have to. So, I shouldn't feel like I have to blog, and if I don't, I shouldn't feel guilty for not doing so. But I like to blog so I'll keep doing it...albeit sporadically and un-apologetically. Am I making any sense? Probably not. But my stupid internal alarm clock woke me up way too early on a Sunday morning. *Yawn*

Another example- meetup.com. I joined a cooking/eating group, but I've yet to go to events b/c I've been busy, or the RSVPs fill up before I'm able to commit. So I have never met any of the organizers, and while I'm sure they are nice people, anal much?

(verbatim from email)
RSVP: Please do not RSVP “yes” unless you are certain you can attend. A few members of our group seem to RSVP “yes” or “maybe” for just about every event, but I/we have yet to meet them because they invariably pull out for one reason or another closer to the event date. In fact, their withdrawal has become predictable. Please use common sense and common courtesy. If you are unsure whether you can commit to the event, do not RSVP. But if you definitely can commit, please specify what chocolate dish you plan to bring.

WHAT TO BRING: Please bring enough food for ALL participants. That means if there are 8 participants, you should bring enough food for all 8 people. In other words, a skimpy dish that serves only 1-2 people will not suffice. Since we cannot possibly eat all the fabulous chocolate desserts in one sitting, participants should also bring containers (e.g., Tupperware); this way, participants have ready containers to store and take home various chocolate desserts.

GUESTS: Participant guests are usually not permitted for two reasons: 1) lack of space; and 2) the problem with free-riders, who are people who consume services or products (in this case, they consume food and drinks) without contributing anything in return.

No Shows and Last-Minute Cancellations: A Three-Strikes Policy:

With these meet-up events--and it is not exclusive to the South Bay + Long Beach Cooking Meet-Up--there is a curious tendency for people to pull out of events without considering how their non-participation, non-action, and non-communication affect others. Pulling out of an event at the last minute or failing to give the event organizer timely notice of non-participation is most ungracious. The event organizers spend a great deal of time and effort into organizing the events, and some may travel quite a distance to organize events. Please be courteous to all the event organizers and to your fellow meetup participants.

In order to minimize the no-shows and last-minute cancellations, I will keep track of the no-shows and who pulled out of the event at the last minute. For THIS event, last minute means 5 days or less. This is because all participants need an accurate head count in order to be able to assess the amount of ingredients they need to purchase for their potluck dish. An "X" will be denoted next to a member who completely flaked or who withdrew from the event within the 5-day timeframe. An X signifies a "strike" (not a smooch), and upon the third strike, the member promptly will be removed from the group.
(the email is much longer but I only c&p-ed the whiny parts)

The thing is, being an organizer in meetup is voluntary. No one is holding a gun to your head forcing you to do it. If you don't like the way people act, don't do it. If you have to come from soooooo far to organize an event and it's such a burden to you, don't do it. If it's such hard work and effort that you feel like people aren't appreciating it, don't do it. Organize things with your own friends. But don't go all Nazi on strangers- makes me feel like I don't want to participate in events with a bunch of uptight people. Instead of sending out a verbal berating of how to not be a flake, or the punishment for being a flake, they should just take Jer's suggestion: request a security deposit for events. When people show up, give them their money back. If they no-show, use the money to offset the cost of the event. But maybe I should give it a try before I knock it. The tone of the email just gives me a really bad vibe though. Or maybe b/c it's way too early on a Sunday morning and I'm grumpy b/c I can't sleep in.

Love at First Slurp- JTYH Restaurant

What does JTYH stand for? No one knows. But if the owners are going to stick with the acronym-that-doesn't-make-sense theme, how about L@FS, or Love at First Slurp? For now, I remember it by "Just the Young Hos, courtesy of Louise at LA Food Blogging.


Celery appetizer. Crunchy, flavorful. What a great way to get my daily doses of veggies.


The dumplings are plump and juicy. They sell a bag of 50 frozen ones for about $15. I would have bought some but our freezer is completely full to capacity. I need a second fridge.


The star of the restaurant- Niu Rou Mian (beef noodle). This is the real deal- knife shaved noodles, flavorful broth and beef so tender it melts in your mouth. I wanted to lick the bowl when I was done. Oh wait, I did.

JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd.
Rosemead, CA 91770
(626) 442-8999

And yes, Jonathon Gold has eaten here.