Going Out With Work

Finally, my work has hired more people to help my campaign.  I was getting very frustrated being a three man band.  With a bigger team, I get invited out more! YAY.  The perks of my labor return.

January 13
Pub Crawl.  Conveniently along the street in front of my work place

January 20
Nic's Vodka Tasting
Russian coats, giant freezer, try different vodkas.  Did this with the old team, finally got to do it with the new team.

First dinner, when they brought out the gnochi I started to laugh uncontrollably.  WHY USE SUCH A LARGE PLATE FOR 5 PIECES!?!?! I don't get it.  The flame-n-yawn had cranberry sauce on it.. strange, but with a little salt it was delicious.

Freezer funnnn.  I forgot which ones I tried, but they were all delicious...except for banana vodka.

January 26
My field supervisor finally came to LA.  We have a tradition of going out Karaoke until 3AM.  

But first a limo ride, a meal at Michael Mina's XIV... AND THEN karaoke.

This is when I started getting chronic heart burn.  I'm going to blame the truffle mac and cheese and cod with hollandaise sauce.  Really Michale Mina?  The cucumber mint drink sort of brought down the acid, but the screaming into the mic in the early AM did not.

Clubbing Pics in January

Quick Clubbing Photos:

January 4: WeHo
Fancy seeing you here again honorable Evan

January 16
MJ's Dirty Pop on Sundays.. Open bar...trouble

Bottom Left: David always seems to be making VERY important texts when we go out.
Bottom Right: Ed is introducing photobombing... in the foreground.

Eric's 5 step guide to getting $50s worth of free drinks from the bar:


1. Go on stage
2. Take off your shirt
3. Take off your shoe and dance next to someone whose body does not compare to yours
4. Raise the roof with your grandpa boxers
5. Collect prize

Eric won the hottest body competition.  Woot!
When Eric threw his shoe to the audience, it flew into my face.  I basically got kicked in the face.

Above the Clouds

January 9
Alysia and I drove above the clouds to Snow Valley.  Our skis were jammed in her trunk with her backseat folded down.  Like a gym membership, I was convinced that I would use these skis enough to get the complete value.

The ski jacket that I scored during my thrift shopping madness came in handy.  This time I was wearing something that was waterproof.

Alysia's a pro.  She was excited to try out some humps.  Me, on the other hand, found myself eating it quite often.  The skis boats that I had purchased were too big for me and I couldn't carve correctly.  The blue squares proved to be a ridiculous challenge, but I was determined.

We make a cute ski couple. 

The view was the same when we left.  We drove down the mountain, through the clouds to arrive back home.

Need to go about 3 times more to get my money's worth!  But the snow keeps melting.  Next time I'm doubling my socks.  Missing Snow Bunnies again this year, but it's so difficult to get to Tahoe.

Runyon Canyon

January 8

Went to Runyon Canyon for a quick hike.  This trail is infamous for having a lot of shirtless hot guys, but all we saw were tourists and this youtube character.  Interestingly enough, he's a mirror twin.  His twin brother is the opposite of him, left handed, mole on opposite side, straight.  Sort of trippy, but I'm not a fan so I didn't ask for a picture, plus he looked busy trying to get a west hollywood body by jogging.

At the beginning of the trail was this station with food and water and a collection slot.  It was based on an honor system that I was pretty impressed by.

Thai Boat Noodle

I've added Thai Boat Noodles to my list of favorite foods.

Vietnamese - Pho
Japanese - Ramen & Udon
Korean - Chap Chae
Thai - Boat Noodles... but I'm sure there's a better name

Am I missing other noodle dishes?  If I had a choice between noodles and rice, noodles beats rice by far.  So far I've had Thai Boat Noodles in three different places in LA:

Sapp Cafe in Hollywood
Wat Dong Moon Lek in Silver Lake
At Wat Thai Temple during their Festivals

Flavors are amazing!  Put it on your todo list!

Beautiful People

January 6
Aram and his homegirl Caitlin came to visit me in LA for a hot second.

They visited on a weekday - the best time to visit.  If you really want to see LA, come on a weekday and I'll take you to good places... anyway.  I took him on a gay tour - fancy pants lounge Obar, cruise spot Fu Bar and finally everyone's favorite - The Abbey.

"Everyone is so beautiful Chris!"  I caught Aram in silent awe at how "attractive" his new surroundings were.  Aram lives in San Francisco, I guess he wasn't used to everyone so done up on a random Thursday.

Even this Jewish guy on a segway was cute.  "Don't step on my platform!"  he pleaded.  We could have accidentally sent him flying across the room.  Why he brought a segway into the Abbey, I am unsure, but it could have been a medicinal segway.

Caitlin left her boot at the house as thank you and they were off to San Diego the next day.  Quick love.

God, I Can't Stop Eating

Feeling a little chunky.  Time to go to the pool.

Tasty Garden -  Hong Kong food (1/5/2011)
Lamb Brisket, Brocoli with Mushroom, Shrimp with Egg and Chowfun
Why is everything so glossy?!

Starry Kitchen - Asian Fusion (1/6/11)
 The owner is fabulous his passion for the restaurant really shows and the dishes are pretty amazing.  Such the spunky Vietnamese ontra-manure

Garden Cafe - Hong Kong Style
Sooo aparently, Hong Kong style also includes Hong Kong interpretations of western foods like steak and spaghetti.. but yet again, everything is glossy! And corn.. Corn on everything.

Gaam Lounge (1/8/11)
We hit up one of K-town's night life hot spots.  I think this place experiences at least 3 gallons of vomit a night.  This is the setting one of the episodes of that reality show that's supposed to air some time.  The room was permeated with Korean machismo from the guys and mega sluttism from the girls.

These skewers were pretty amazing.  But I really don't understand how they manage valet here.  We were stuck for like half an hour, but at least our surrounding was interesting.  The Korean community took over the historic Chapman Market plaza. 

What's next?  San Gabriel Valley has a tons and tons of cheap food.  Must explore, must explore.  Luscious Dumplings, Jazz Cat Restaurant, Ko Hyang Tofu House nom nom nom. (There goes my cooking in more resolution)