i am not a good gardener. and it doesn't help that my friends are always leaving beer caps and cigarette butts in my planters. how rude!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
here's a post about some plants that i have at my house
i am not a good gardener. and it doesn't help that my friends are always leaving beer caps and cigarette butts in my planters. how rude!
i am a super lazy blogger
i went to sea harbour in rosemead for some bomb ass dim sum last month. we were number 80. i got really stressed out that we weren't going to hear them call our number since the host kept forgetting to turn on her microphone when she announced the numbers. so we went inside and hovered around the podium with all the other impatient dim sum goers. and they finally called our name. this dim sum was exceptional although i kind of miss the carts. the hotness of the dishes kind of makes up for it. these pictures make me wish i was in a wong kar wai movie. i love me some tony leung.
edit: this is me in a wong kar wai movie. i am the girl. i don't think michael got the memo about wardrobe.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
at the park
An afternoon at Echo Park Lake on a summer's day is kind of the ultimate in chillaxing. We put our renegade beers in a cooler on wheels and walked down to the park to hang out with Rebecca and Dan, visiting from Brooklyn. It was absolutely gorgeous out!
Of course we had to get an elote. Damn, that lady was not stingy with the chile. My lips were on fire! And then one of the charred bits from a piece of corn got stuck all the way up my gums where you could see it through the pink gums, but I couldn't get in there to extract it. Cool!
Of course we had to get an elote. Damn, that lady was not stingy with the chile. My lips were on fire! And then one of the charred bits from a piece of corn got stuck all the way up my gums where you could see it through the pink gums, but I couldn't get in there to extract it. Cool!
Guelaguetza
A delicious Oaxacan restaurant in Los Angeles. I just love the colors from these pictures.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thursday, May 15, 2008
delivery pizza woo hoo
I highly recommend ordering delivery from LA pizza company. It is the best when on Friday night when you don't feel like cooking (or you don't feel like doing dishes in my case) but want something super delicious and not Thai food. Lots of Thai delivery options in Echo Park. Not so many other choices. Thank god for LA pizza company.
Get the Chavez Ravine. And the Kolfax salad. yum. yum.
Get the Chavez Ravine. And the Kolfax salad. yum. yum.
banh xeo, banh mi
Get yourself a package of banh xeo mix, it comes with turmeric, mix it together with coconut milk. Make a crepe, add shrimp and bean sprouts.
Eat.
I could eat banh mi everyday. I used this recipe from Wandering Chopsticks.
wow. that is all.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
mariscos in south la
Some very wonderful people took us to eat mariscos Nayarit style in South LA before we left for NYC. Those people are Sebastian and Rosa.
There were oysters (cheapest best oysters you'll get in LA, I GAR RON TEE it!). There was a LOT of ceviche.
There was an octopus and shrimp cocktail. Damn, that octopus was tender. TENDER!
There was an enormous molcajete of bubbling seafood goodness- prawns, shrimp, octopus, abalone, crab leg...
Unfortunately, I am not technically savvy (well, more so than my grandma but not enough to figure out how to upload a video from my camera without it being turned into a picture). So what would have been an awesome video of bubbling molcajete with fun music in the background is just a boring picture.
All that food plus bringing your own beer and roving tamborazo bands made us very happy campers!
There were oysters (cheapest best oysters you'll get in LA, I GAR RON TEE it!). There was a LOT of ceviche.
There was an octopus and shrimp cocktail. Damn, that octopus was tender. TENDER!
There was an enormous molcajete of bubbling seafood goodness- prawns, shrimp, octopus, abalone, crab leg...
Unfortunately, I am not technically savvy (well, more so than my grandma but not enough to figure out how to upload a video from my camera without it being turned into a picture). So what would have been an awesome video of bubbling molcajete with fun music in the background is just a boring picture.
All that food plus bringing your own beer and roving tamborazo bands made us very happy campers!
a sandwich and a new camera
My sweetie made me a bacon, peanut butter and banana sandwich, and I celebrated by taking a picture with my new camera. It was awesome.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Thursday, December 20, 2007
home for thanksgiving
I haven't been home for Thanksgiving since I left for college in 2000. OMG, that is a total travesty. I miss my mom's stuffing so much! So this year, I traveled back to Chapel Hill with Miguel to visit the fam and eat lots of my mom's cooking. But my brother has also invited his girlfriend, Katie, who is a vegetarian. So Mom changes the Thanksgiving menu to all veggie except for the turkey and apparently stuffing is no good without chicken broth, so no stuffing on the menu. Thank god we were celebrating Xmas two days later, so my mom ingenuously made turkey stock out of the Thanksgiving bird and used it to make the best stuffing ever.
The players:
My mom, the brilliant but sometimes absentminded chef. There was a lot of chard preparation on Thanksgiving and the caramelized onions didn't make in into the frittata.
But, there was homemade hard apple cider to enjoy with spiced nuts during the cocktail hour.
My dad does a mean grilled turkey.
Katie might be having second thoughts on vegetarianism after checking out the turkey.
My plate is looking supremely tasty. Starting with the cranberry sauce and moving clockwise: cranberry (my dad's recipe, best ever), garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized onion frittata with smoked tomato sauce, chard with pinenuts and raisins from the Cafe Pasqual cookbook (see picture of Miguel and cider), buttered carrots, cornbread, and turkey.
David and Katie are almost too into the Arkansas-LSU game (for good measure-how many overtimes! plus Katie is from Little Rock) to enjoy David's famous pumpkin pie. This year he made the crust from a Cook's Illustrated recipe which replaces 1/2 the water with vodka producing a flaky crust that is super easy to roll out.
The next day we visited David at work at the Federal in Durham, NC. They have a great selection of beers on tap, many of them locally brewed. They also have very tasty food like the Carolina style bbq pork sandwich.
YUM!
Two days later it was magically Christmas which we always celebrate with Xmas crackers.
We enjoyed fabulous brussel sprouts, Julia Child's roast pork loin (the end piece is the best!), wild rice pilaf, my favorite stuffing, and warm lentil salad with goat cheese. I wish I had taken a picture of the first course: salad with roasted beets with walnuts. Those were the best beets ever!
Surprise! It's also my birthday. I think there's a time/space continuum malfunction in Chapel Hill.
And, as we always say at my household "Tutti a tavola a mangiare!" Oh wait, that's Lidia Bastianich's family.
The players:
My mom, the brilliant but sometimes absentminded chef. There was a lot of chard preparation on Thanksgiving and the caramelized onions didn't make in into the frittata.
But, there was homemade hard apple cider to enjoy with spiced nuts during the cocktail hour.
My dad does a mean grilled turkey.
Katie might be having second thoughts on vegetarianism after checking out the turkey.
My plate is looking supremely tasty. Starting with the cranberry sauce and moving clockwise: cranberry (my dad's recipe, best ever), garlic mashed potatoes, caramelized onion frittata with smoked tomato sauce, chard with pinenuts and raisins from the Cafe Pasqual cookbook (see picture of Miguel and cider), buttered carrots, cornbread, and turkey.
David and Katie are almost too into the Arkansas-LSU game (for good measure-how many overtimes! plus Katie is from Little Rock) to enjoy David's famous pumpkin pie. This year he made the crust from a Cook's Illustrated recipe which replaces 1/2 the water with vodka producing a flaky crust that is super easy to roll out.
The next day we visited David at work at the Federal in Durham, NC. They have a great selection of beers on tap, many of them locally brewed. They also have very tasty food like the Carolina style bbq pork sandwich.
YUM!
Two days later it was magically Christmas which we always celebrate with Xmas crackers.
We enjoyed fabulous brussel sprouts, Julia Child's roast pork loin (the end piece is the best!), wild rice pilaf, my favorite stuffing, and warm lentil salad with goat cheese. I wish I had taken a picture of the first course: salad with roasted beets with walnuts. Those were the best beets ever!
Surprise! It's also my birthday. I think there's a time/space continuum malfunction in Chapel Hill.
And, as we always say at my household "Tutti a tavola a mangiare!" Oh wait, that's Lidia Bastianich's family.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
eat me
It's almost La Navidad and you know that means tamales! If you want to celebrate with tamales but aren't up to making them yourself (it's best with a crew of at least 3 people in my experience), read on for some Los Angeles recommendations...
Last month, Juan and I set out on the GRAND TAMALES TOUR OF 2007 featuring 5 shops located in Boyle Heights, East LA, and Echo Park.
Stop Numero Uno:
Lilliana's Tamales
This is clearly a tamal factory, producing large amounts of tamales per day. They have a big restaurant as well as a take out counter. The restaurant was packed on Sunday at noon, but unfortunately, that didn't translate into great tamales. We tried a red chile pork and green chile pork. Juan says that their biggest assets are that they are "big and popular". They were also dry and dense.
Stop Numero Dos:
Los Cinco Puntos
Well known for their carnitas and hand made tortillas, Cinco Puntos is also on someone's list of favorite tamales but I can't remember whose list, and I don't agree with him anyways. You can see the ladies mixing the masa and making the tortillas that are cooking on the griddle behind the counter.
The red chile pork tamal was just so so, but the fresh tortilla was so deliciously warm and corny.
Stop Numero Tres:
La Indiana Tamales
Ok, here we are at the holy grail of tamales. I had high hopes when we drove up to this little shop that specializes in tamales, and they did not disappoint. We could see a large mixer in the back churning away at the masa while we ordered a red chile beef and a queso con rajas.
This may look like a typical tamal, but believe me, it was the softest masa with a meaty core of delicious beef in red chile sauce. I almost died. The queso with rajas was just as good.
Apparently, I must have realized that we had already found the perfect tamales since I didn't take pictures of the two remaining tamales shops: La Mascota and Tamales Albertos. I don't have much to say about La Mascota except their tamales were some of the worst and you can watch the ladies making them through a window. Tamales Albertos was promising as they have a large menu of tamales, some of them Oaxaca style, but the couple red chile pork we had were sub-par compared those of La Indiana. I'll go back to try the fancier ones, especially since it's in the hood. Here's Juan with his booty.
Happy Eating!
Last month, Juan and I set out on the GRAND TAMALES TOUR OF 2007 featuring 5 shops located in Boyle Heights, East LA, and Echo Park.
Stop Numero Uno:
Lilliana's Tamales
This is clearly a tamal factory, producing large amounts of tamales per day. They have a big restaurant as well as a take out counter. The restaurant was packed on Sunday at noon, but unfortunately, that didn't translate into great tamales. We tried a red chile pork and green chile pork. Juan says that their biggest assets are that they are "big and popular". They were also dry and dense.
Stop Numero Dos:
Los Cinco Puntos
Well known for their carnitas and hand made tortillas, Cinco Puntos is also on someone's list of favorite tamales but I can't remember whose list, and I don't agree with him anyways. You can see the ladies mixing the masa and making the tortillas that are cooking on the griddle behind the counter.
The red chile pork tamal was just so so, but the fresh tortilla was so deliciously warm and corny.
Stop Numero Tres:
La Indiana Tamales
Ok, here we are at the holy grail of tamales. I had high hopes when we drove up to this little shop that specializes in tamales, and they did not disappoint. We could see a large mixer in the back churning away at the masa while we ordered a red chile beef and a queso con rajas.
This may look like a typical tamal, but believe me, it was the softest masa with a meaty core of delicious beef in red chile sauce. I almost died. The queso with rajas was just as good.
Apparently, I must have realized that we had already found the perfect tamales since I didn't take pictures of the two remaining tamales shops: La Mascota and Tamales Albertos. I don't have much to say about La Mascota except their tamales were some of the worst and you can watch the ladies making them through a window. Tamales Albertos was promising as they have a large menu of tamales, some of them Oaxaca style, but the couple red chile pork we had were sub-par compared those of La Indiana. I'll go back to try the fancier ones, especially since it's in the hood. Here's Juan with his booty.
Happy Eating!
Monday, October 15, 2007
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