321 - Dry Spell and Kickbacks

After I told Andrew that I had no plans Friday night he declared that we should just have a kick back.  So I posted on facebook and gathered some random folks to just hang out in our attic space.

We ended up drinking beer and singing youtube karaoke until 3AM.  I told Steve to bring his ukulele and we had a jam session with Jimmy's electronic keyboard.  I love how talented my friends are.  Hmmm I feel like listing out their musical talents.

Jimmy - Piano
Ryan - Cello
Sean - Shamisen
Steve of course has a music degree and plays ALL instruments
And the Filipinos just sing... or at least just grab the mic.

We did Somewhere over the Rainbow, Amazing Grace, some musicals, diva songs and this gem by Lady: Pussy.


We've held so many themed parties that I feel like it's time to slow it down and just stick to kick backs and hang outs like this.  I need to find more games to be excited about.  The glow in the dark Halloween Party and the epic Christmas party will probably our last for a while.  I do miss having Summer BBQs when we had a functioning patio, but I guess we have parks for that now.

The last party party we had was back in July.  It took us a while to come up with a Summer Theme:  Dry Spell.  Thought it was clever because of the California drought and how thirsty our friends are.  The other options were Heat Stroke, Dehydrated and Parched.   If we have a summer party next year, I want a citrus theme:  Lemonade.  The decorations are a lot easier for that.  I bought this stupid cactus wall decoration for $7 what a rip!

Andrew and Jlo have been killing it with the photo back drop.  Last year's radioactive set and candy crush was simply jaw dropping, but they took creativity to another level with this desert scene.  I couldn't believe it.  Check out our collection of props!

They actually bought black fabric and glued it onto another, but decided it looked too arts and crafts and did a second backdrop attempting using cardboard that had been spray painted back.  The giraffes make me fall in love.  I refused to waste the fabric so we hang it up in the hallway.  The house is becoming quite the hodgepodge of theme party decorations.  I was amused at myself for leaving up the Chinese New Year decorations.

Ernesto was surprised with a birthday cake!  He celebrated his 30th in France which is amazing.  But we thought that it would be good to show him the love at the party with his return.  Cheers Ern!  He admitted that it was the first time he was actually surprised for his birthday!

It was a good comfortable turn out.  Nothing crazy and a lot of good energy.  Just the way I like it.  There were tons of photo booth pictures, but we're the stars!   Let's get out of that drought!

Eating Out August

A little late to the party.  This is what I consumed in August.

Green Zone (San Gabriel) - Mini Spicy Wontons.  I loved this dumplings, but the skin was too thick for my meal-mates.  I loved thick skin so I was pretty happy.
Homemade - Charles made this for Ern/Erik's pre-house warming party. Hiyashi chūka - really great summer dish and a winner at the party.  Pretty easy to make if you can find all the ingredients.
Kim Hua Hue (El Monte) - I made the guys drive all the way here for middle region Vietnamese food.  It wasn't worth the drive, but it was nice to see a place east of LA rather than going to the OC.  That's banh ram it and a sample platter.  More about it in my linked Yelp! review
Green Zone (San Gabriel) - Organic Hainan Chicken Rice.  The star of the show.  Jimmy felt that this dish was cleaner and less oily than Savoy who seems to own the market for Hainan chicken rice.
Auntie Em's Kitchen - (Eagle Rock) - After writing a lukewarm review, the owners reached out to me to give them another shot with a gift card!  This definitely made everything taste better.  The biscuits and gravy were solid... as in solid lard in your gut.  Guilty pleasure and please don't finish it in one sitting.
Teresa's Family Restaurant - I wanted to like this place, but for $10 we got a microwaved breakfast.  Look how sad those sausages are!
Bottega Louie (DTLA) - Burrata and roasted vine - I was blown away at how refined and delicious this simple dish was.  Highly recommend
Pizza Studio (DTLA) - I'm in love with the build your own pizza unlimited toppings revolution.  Always double garlic all the time
Mamita (Glendale) - Lomo saltado!  Yes yes yes.  A little pricey, but a great date spot.
Kim Hua Hue (El Monte) - This bun bo hue was confronting, but nothing to drive to
Bottega Louie (DTLA) - This eggplant parmesan was hard to eat.  Good, but it's aiiiight.
Jist Cafe (Little Toyko) - Chilaquiles.  Wasn't that great, stick to their amazing chashu hash skillet!
Mamita (Glendale) - This mixto ceviche was amazing.  They are very generous with the seafood and I was thrilled.  So happy!
Saap Cafe (Thai town) - Jade noodles.  Yes.  Order this.

I'm getting hungry.

XCIX Portland Trip - City Exploring

 Welcome to Portland.  I was creeping on this Zayn look-a-like after gay clubbing walking along the food carts.  So... Portland.

We've been meaning to take a trip and Portland became the destination.  It was Szeto's birthday and along with a local cake that I bought him, he indulged in artsy overpriced things that Portland has to offer like a wooden plunger.

We ended up at a full frontal gay club where Joe bought him a lap dance from someone who went by the name Aladdin.  We watched as Szeto grabbed the balcony rail for his life while he was getting jackhammered by the straight go-go boy.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  Though I think it was more entertaining for us than it was for him.

I stayed with Sandy and surprise! she lives in a really cute 2 bedroom.  She turned her extra bedroom into a craft room slash bike room.  Her pull out bed was really comfortable!

Joe was happy to try the food carts that Portland was known for.  Though we missed out on the pubs and biscuits... which made him pretty upset.  We should have invested in a car because we were pretty downtown'd out.

A little hike with Diana!!!

This Whiskey bar had an amazing library.  It was pretty bougie, but pretty awesome.

 Of course - the boutiques and long haired man with his long haired pet.

Szeto and I got haircuts!

Everyone is so cute here.

These aren't that great.

We ate a lot of terrible places which I coulllld recap... okay.. let me open up my apps.

Howthorne Hophouse - Bar
Swift Lounge - Bar
Bungalow Bar - Bar with Swings?
Lonesome's Pizza - Drunk pizza
Mother's Bistro & Bar - Not that good breakfast and mimosas were not strong enough
Blue Star Donuts - Runs out quickly
Powell's City of Books - A large collections
Scandals - Divey gay bar
Multnomah Whisk{e}y Library - MMM
Departure - Hotel rooftop bougie
Luc Lac Vietnamese Kitchen - Terrible.  Terrible
The Silverado - Gay Strip Club
Bishops Barbershop - got a haircut!
Irving Street Kitchen - Terrible and over priced
Frank's Noodle House - Asian fair
McMenamins Kennedy School - Second time here.
Teardrop Lounge - Expensive cocktails for yuppies
Ken's Artisan Bakery - Local bakery
Art in the Pearl - Art fair for old people

Sorry Joe.  Next time we're going to pubs and Pine State biscuits.  Promise.  But let's remember the trip for the nature trip we took!

XCIX - Portland Trip - Rooster Rock and Nature

Don't worry Chris and Szeto.  We're almost there!  Well not really.  We squeezed into a car and found ourselves in nature.

Portland has a lot of green that's worth seeing and we were lucky that we had a tour guide.  It was quite an adventure and the bottle(s) of wine definitely added to the fun.

I took a handful of amazing shots with lots of colors!

We got our tourist on at Multnomah falls.  But this was only the beginning of our adventure.    Our tour guide told us that we were going to get wet... I wasn't too sure how wet he meant.

We ended at a hike where we had to wade through chest level water.  It was cold, but manageable.  I risked dropping my phone to grab these pictures.

We made it!  It was refreshing and exciting and not that strenuous.  Bring water moccasins and waterproof all your gear.

Definitely worth a trip to Oneonta Falls!

Our next stop was calmer, but also very gorgeous:  Rooster Rock... which is also a gay beach... and by beach I mean sand island in the Columbia River.

The water was warm and the weather was perfect.  We had more wine and enjoyed the day.  It was spectacular.  Our tour guide flirted his way to getting on a speed boat with some new friends.

We took a walk to change scenes and found another part of the river that was extremely shallow.

You could walk across.  It was amazing.

On our way out during sun down.  Unforgettable colors!

Appreciating Fig and 7th

The Summer concert series at Fig and 7th is a fun line up.  We only got a chance to check out one evening, but it was a nice evening that started at the gourmet food court in downtown and ended with really cool live music.  We had an exceptional view on the grassy knoll until the water sprinklers went off.

Figging out

New-ish City Center

Artistic building photo

Great turn out

This hole will soon be the tallest building on the west coast

Freeway 110

Don's Superhero Bash

I got really excited when I was invited to Don's Superhero themed birthday party.  I was hunting for a costume and finally found a Green Lantern costume.  Yes!  Jimmy was also able to borrow a Robin costume that was a little small which was perfect for showing off his pecs.

 This was the first time I've attended one of Don's party and I was really impressed with the detail like this polaroid station at the entry.

And the comic book style guest book!  Oh yes - Joker Nurse outfit was amazing.

The bats in the bathroom caught my eye.

So many desserts!

When Don did his birthday speech he announced that he was dressed up as "Fatwoman" because he's old and fat now.  He also introduced his straight friend who is a virgin.

A lot of similar elements to 321 parties, but taken to the next level.  Don's place has real furniture, not stuff off the street.  So it felt less frat house more adult living space. The backyard is large and with a projector playing old super hero cartoons.  He also had real catering from a Thai place.  I rarely feed my guests. LOL - yall can feed yourselves!

Charles was freaking out about not having a costume, but woah - he forgot about his leather pull over and skull mask from our prop bin.  Work that whip!

They also up-ed their photobooth game with a remote timer, amazing comic props and a cityscape backdrop that probably took HOURS to make.  That's all tape and I have no idea how they achieved that.

Wilton wins as Sailor Mercury!  Nailed it!  Ryan also made his Nightwing costume.  Loved seeing variations of the same superhero costume.  My borrowed costume was nicely padded and my ring pop lit the way.

Spectacular party!