Exploring Spring Street in DTLA

I planned a lunch at Grand Central Market to try Sticky's Rice's Hainese Chicken Rice dish that LA Weekly said was one of the best.  It was wonderful!  And recently we discovered that the garage next door is one hour free with validation.  Score!

But too late for this day, we parked on the street which allowed us to do a little exploring specifically on Spring Street

Grand Central Market is evolving with newer trendier places to eat which includes Sticky Rice, Horse Theft BBQ and Egg Slut which is getting a lot of hype.  My coworker from London says that Egg Slut does their bacon like in the UK and she loves it.  It seems like the original food stands don't seem shaken by the new competition ... if anything it brings in more people into the market.  Hopefully this market keeps its charm and continues to grow humbly.

Spring Street Park is also a new addition to DTLA.  It's nestled between tall buildings and offers a nice walk way and play area for children.

 

As we kept walking we noticed a surprise farmers market that was about two blocks long.  How pleasant.  This guy's socks caught my eye.

I've walked through the Last Bookstore, but I never explored the upstairs which was an awesome adventure complete with art, vintage goods, mazes and secret reading rooms.

I don't know if sorting the book by color is helpful.

Mony and Joe Surprise Visit

I came back to the house to find these punks waiting for me.  WHOA!  My boys from the bay are in town on an impromptu trip because they had miles... I guess I'll have to put something together for us to do.

LACMA!  There was a pie content and if you wore an apron you were able to get in for free.  This was what I was able to find for them.  I confused people though asking for the Pie Eating Contest .. which I think would be a more interesting event.

This is Joe observing the exhibits at LACMA.

This is the result of me making fun of joe and his efforts at taking some camera trick pictures.

We grabbed some potato balls from Portos (chicken is the best!) and took a nice nap at Echo Park... and they were off.

What a nice weekend.

Eating Out August

Enjoyed these Chicken Potpie like morsels at King Hua dim sum in Alhambra and of course my favorite - flakey taro crescents.  This place takes out the fun in dim sum carts and allows customers to select what they want to eat from a menu.  Less fun, but more fresh!

Stopped by Fosselman's Ice Cream which has a lot of history.  I'm not one to love or crave ice cream, but this was a lovely treat.

Found some boba at Bobaloca near my work.  They also served amazing sandwiches and a pretty solid milk tea for this area.  Oh look!  I match the silhouette!

Found a hidden gem in Monterey Park reading Gastronomy Blog.  This cute Burmese restaurant called Daw Yee Myanmar Cafe is worth checking for their fried dishes and tea salad.  Didn't like the noodle dishes too much, but this place definitely is unique.

Stopped by Tasty Garden for a Hong Kong style dinner.  Charles was hoping for Hong Kong Tea without milk.  Waitress said no.

This Silverlake Ramen gave me intense indigestion.  Probably because it was extra fatty, spicy and flavorful and my body was still adjusting from coming back from Asia.  Dab was moving out and gave us a couple of things to remind us of him like old cameras and books he never read.

Yu Chun probably serves the best Naeng Myun or Korean Cold Noodles in town.  I never really liked this dish because I felt like I was going to choke on the noodles.  But on a hot summer day (look how they're dressed) it was really good.  Their bibimbap is spectacular as well!  Huge portion and should be shared.   Our meal came with this soup that I swear tasted like KFC.  We concluded it was just a bowl of MSG.  Mmmmmmmmm.  My new fav!

Huan came to town so we stopped by BCD Tofu House.  Nothing much else to say about this very popular soondubu joint.

NOM NOM NOM AUGUST!

Am I Vegan Now? And Eating Out June

Above is my animal rights coworker's necklace.  I was really amused so I took a picture.  But she has the last laugh now as my gastro problems keep increasing with age.  Can I not be a self proclaimed foodie and enjoy a healthy life?

I went to the doctor yesterday because the cramps were killer.  My frequent visits to the restroom come with terrible pain and the release wasn't satisfying.  What is wrong with me?  My doctor confirmed that the Taco Bell adventure immediately after my return from Indonesia was not a good idea and that I should stay on liquids for 24 hours and then ease myself back into American processed food using the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast.)

I knew I was not myself when I was looking at vegan options of gelato.  OMG.

Not fun - when I finally was able to eat today, I had Vegetarian Japanese Curry... arguing that it was on a bed of rice.  I'm always cheating.   Thankfully I'm still okay!

I do feel skinnier, but man I need my intestines to strengthen, NOT weaken.  But I have my lactaid pills from Costco ready!

In the mean time this is what I ate in June:

Manila Sunset - This is the Filipino bibingka - cheesey, coconutty dessert.  It was better the first time, but definitely try it out!  I really crave Filipino food except maybe adobo and tocino.... drool
Chaya Downtown LA - This pheasant was a part of their Summer Happy Hour and it was good but so $$$$.  And no one was here!  This joint is definitely for the weekday business person
Good Girl Dinette - Amazing Chicken pot pie.  Not Vietnamese food!
Coco Laurent DTLA - Terrible, dont go here
Starling Diner in Long Beach - Very saucy... i love saucy
Beverly Chicken - Excited for Mediterranean Chicken, but it just didn't meet expectations!  Others disagree, but I would make the treck to Zankou for something better!
Starling Diner in Long Beach - Met up with my family here, this place is so cute
Ktown City Center Food Court - There's a hidden food court that's pretty good and cheap!   I ordered from Terikiss, but I recommend the bimbinbap from its neighbor
Korean Hotdog - Dealth, but no worries - the place is closed down.  That sweet roll tho
Office - I used left over condiments from our burger bar to make guac.  Success!!
Korean Hotdog - So this place is closed down, but this was a bulgogi dog!  YUM!
BCD Tofu - Fried Dumpling was pretty good!  Especially when you're buzzed
Beer Belly - Grilled Cheese.  This was amazing!!!  The best white food in Ktown!

Off to Indonesia

Written on the plane:

I’ve prepared myself for large pockets of down time by bringing my work laptop on my Indonesia trip 2013!  Though I told my boss 7 month advanced, the LA office is scrambling because other folks will be missing at the same time. At points there will be an out of office that will link to another out office until the client is frustrated and cancel our relationship. Since I brought my work laptop, I can still help out and peak in on my 50 accounts.  But the main reason for bringing such an inconvenience is to catch up on blogging between flights.

I have a list of events that I want to blog, but noticed that a lot of events happened in 2012 – the opportunity is gone; the stories are stale - thankfully I can "publish" the entry appropriately on the date the event happened; like filing a document in the right spot.  Below is what I've added!

Exploring San Francisco
Ignia 2012 Christmas Party
Bay to Breakers Part 2

Opening Ceremony
Chinatown Summer Nights
Race LA - Scavenger Hunt

I was a bit frustrated with Jimmy – everything felt last minute to me.  The vacation day approval, the ticket purchase, the plan; I was getting antsy.  But everything is working out.  A shared google document has kept me organized and calm, but the document also revealed how insane I am.  There’s a tab of points of interest with star rankings based on my personal interest level.  There’s a to-bring list tab, finance tab and contact info tab.  I am not a lazy traveler.  I can’t be when it happens only once a year at such a high cost.

I am already thinking about next year:  Europe.  Visit my cousin in Switzerland?  Visit romantic points of interest.  That should be very expensive, but worth the adventure.

This is the plan for today:

Jakarta for 5 days – hang out with Jimmy’s family, check out malls and attend Jimmy’s brother’s wedding as a guest.

Bali for 5 days – Have eat pray love moments;  I have to admit that I actually don’t know what that means.  Enjoy one night at a beach side 5 star hotel, enjoy two nights near gay clubs in Seminyak and enjoy one night in the jungles by rice terraces in Ubud.  Hopefully I am awakened by the dew of the morning.

This is what we have to see:

Tanah Lot.  Monkey forrest. Lake Temple. Bali Joe. Rice Terrace

And the rest of the time will be spent in a pool.  Definitely different from our Asia trip last year where we squeezed in Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand and Beijing.

16 Hours later

The first leg of the flight wasn’t too bad.  Though Jimmy and I sat separately, I was able to get a solid 8 hours of sleep with the help of ear plugs.  My neighbors with this disgusting man that kept me awake with his banshee-like snores… though at some points I thought he was dying because it looked like he was gasping for air… yes, he was dying as well as transforming into a zombie from Walking Dead.  His morning breath laced the air.  I ran the service bell twice and pleaded for ear plugs.  To my rescue, I serviced 13 hours which included 2 fair meals.

The Taipei airport was fun – the themed waiting rooms gave us something to look at and Jimmy suggested that I force myself to use the restroom because we don’t know what the situation will be like in Jakarta at his cousin’s condo.  We’re going to squeeze and I’ll be sleeping on the floor.  After feeling well rested on the previous flight, I felt like I could sleep any where, but using a squat toilet was another questions.

I spent hours researching squat toilets.  It just doesn't make sense; I imagine pooping the back pocket of my pants, I think about falling in my own soil because I did not properly train myself growing up.  Do you take off your pants… does everything get wet?  I know squat pooping is good for you, but I couldn't figure out the mechanics even after watching a handful of youtube videos.  We shall see.

Taipei airport had free wi-fi, I took a glimpse at my work email and became anxious.  Shit is quickly hitting

the fan.  My poor backup has no historic knowledge of my 50 accounts and his task seems impossible.  I’m worried that I will be coming back to a disaster.  But I can’t think of that, I’m on vacation.

Most of the trip is planned except for transportation in Bali and the last hotel which we’ve decided will be in Kuta.  Hopefully something between 20-30 with breakfast, but without bed bugs.  We can plan that later, I should learn to take relaxed vacations.

Taking Care of ChuChu

There’s something about watching Jimmy interact with dogs that I like.  He voice gets high and he gets affectionate.  “You’re such a good dog!!”  I find it adorable. The other day Jimmy found his dog ChuChu limping in the yard.  It turned out to be an intense gash on the top of his paw.  We cleaned and bandaged ChuChu.  Jimmy feed him sausages because he was sad that ChuChu was hurt.  Check out that work!  I could be a doctor!

Maybe one day I can care for a pet.

We enjoyed suburbia for the rest of the day.

Jimmy has this great hiking trail by his parent's house.

Asian Glow - Blacklight - Some Stories

I bought 4 blacklight tubes, 4 black light bulbs, body art, highlighters, Red Bull, Tonic water and enough glow sticks to a light a stadium for a Glow party this past Saturday.  I probably spent at least $250 on various things while raiding my office's party pantry, but it did not go unnoticed.  Work drains me of creativity and it's through these ridiculous parties where I open my house to 50+ gaysians for an evening that I find happiness.

Me buying party decorations and photobooth props is equivalent to people who invest a lot on the lastest fashion.  The fashion that I'm wearing was a giraffe T turned workout shirt with large holes on the size to sexify my look during the party.  "Lick Me Now"  was written on my back with a highlighter in tasteful font.

As I shopped for these things I wondered... will I ever grow out of this?  As I drove from Michaels to Walmart to the Thai Costco in DTLA I thought to myself, "what is my obsession?"  It wasn't until Andrew surprised me with a giant barrel that he found off craiglist that he painted in neon yellow for his "Radioactive Photobooth" that I felt like I wasn't crazy.
, Folks didn't leave until 2:30AM when I turned on the lights and told them to get tacos.  The neighbors didn't complain because the music was soft which was fine since guests were too distracted by the glow to need music to lighten the awkwardness of house parties.

Below are my instagram photos.  I asked my friends to hashtag #321GLOW, but it was so dark.


Charles was our bartender.  The drinks glowed with Tonic water.


Here is Jason trying to Hula hoop.  More will be posted later.

There were party crashers who I promptly scolded.  I heard the murmurs of my friends, "Who are those people?"  I quickly investigated and in a drunken stupor I put my arms around the shoulders of two guys, "who do you know here??  well I'm the host, I live here, my name is Chris and usually when people enter my house they introduce themselves to me... I'll let that simmer."  My condescending voice echoed through the halls.  They quickly left after finishing the drinks that they had swiped from my kitchen.

I learned later that the friendliest one, the one guy in the group that was trying to interact with the party was dating my friend.  Oops.  I later paraded around the room declaring that "I don't invite white people to my parties."  The drunk me, is racist.  Regardless, folks agreed with me actions.  I learned that my friend once had things stolen by party crashers.  This group of six strangers were NOT in neon, were NOT talking to other people.. they were just awkward and in the corner which fueled my rage.

We usually make out with handles of alcohol, but not this time.  Only a case of beer and some wine was left.  The new faces that were invited drank everything.  There were points in the evening where I would put random liquids in the punch bowl only to find it gone within 10 minutes.

A sneak peak from Jimmy's camera. I asked folks to dress neon or in white so that people could mark each other with highlighters. Those lasers is are actually lines of yarn strung across the walls and help together with push pins.  I bought 6 packs of glow in the dark stars and butterflies.

And now we have a lot of glow things that we are thinking of selling as a party kit on Craigslist.  I'm almost certain that someone from USC will buy it.