Caps

Lots of caps, shirts, photos and other Angels memorabilia...

Memorial

Nick Adenhart memorial going strong at Angel Stadium.

Dine

Perfect food for an Angels game? Panda Express!

Snack

Yum. Taiwanese style oyster pancake. Wish I were there...

Lights

Fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl

Reunion

Friends from high school, 10 years later.

Santouka

LOVE the shio ramen at Santouka. The Costa Mesa location is definitely the best.

Beach

This was the setting for Karen and Andrew's wedding. Gorgeous, right?

Sunset

What a view!

Oatmeal

A "healthy cookie." Oatmeal, raisins, walnuts, chocolate, and lots of butter and sugar.

Chocolate

Chocolate chip cookies. Almost 3 dozen. Done.

Food

My victory garden

Progress

California Adventure is under construction.

Park

Disneyland trip with Mom.

Andrew

Kary and Daniel welcomed their new baby with a red egg and ginger party. Andrew is a little over 2 months old!

Test

I got a sample of the new Via Instant Coffee from Starbucks. We compared the Italian Roast to a regular cup of Pike's Peak (I know, different type) to see how it would hold up.

Black - Pike's Peak is better
With milk - Via is better

Conclusion - Not bad!

Two

Isabella is TWO!

Hollywood

50 minute hike. Beautiful view.

Santouka

I finally tried Santouka's shio ramen. Wow. Excellent broth, firm noodles and buttery pork! I can't wait to go back there again.

As far as I know, there are 3 Santouka restaurants in the LA area. They're all fast-food like shops inside a Mitsuwa Marketplace. There's one in Los Angeles, Torrance and Costa Mesa. I went to the one in Los Angeles at Centinela and Venice.

View

Had dinner at Yamashiro a few weeks ago. The restaurant and view were beautiful. The food was good.

BBALL

Saw the Clippers play the Bulls. Clippers lost - again - 95-75.

Sushi combo

Dinner at Akasaka in Walnut. Unfortunately, the food was not as good as it looked. The crab handroll was all right. (But how can you mess up on mayo and imitation crab?) The fish was fairly fresh but not the best quality. The worst part was the sushi rice. It was dry and didn't stick together well.

Daniel

Hawaiian artist Daniel Ho came to campus to perform. He was amazing. His music made me forget about my worries and I felt like I was far, far away.

Practice

Passed by the University Theatre at Cal Poly Pomona one evening and saw these students dancing. They're part of some dance group/club, but I don't remember the name.

Tofu

And this too.

(From Myung Dong Tofu House in West Covina.)

Sadly, the Hong Kong Supermarket in the plaza shut down a few months ago. Now, it's just a bunch of Asian restaurants and a couple of shops without an anchor store. I hope the restaurants don't follow suit and fold, too.

Bibimbop

I'm hungry. I want to eat this.

Toy

Is this not the cutest puppy ever?

Norm's

If you like butter, go to Norm's. If you want to live a long life, don't eat there regularly. Everything on my plate - the mealoaf, vegetables and mashed potatoes -- were drizzled (drenched?) with liquid butter. Pools of butter covered the bottom of my place. To top it off, the meat loaf came with two slices of bacon.

Everything tasted pretty good. It's what you expect from a family restaurant/diner. The value is pretty good, considering you get soup and salad with your entree.

For my heart's sake, however, I don't think I should make a return visit to Norm's.

Decided

For the first night of Dine LA Restaurant Week, we tried the Chaya Brasserie Restaurant in Beverly Hills.

For the first course, I ordered the cured salmon with dill. It was super yummy. The plate came with three super thin slices of salmon and I wish there were more.

My entree was orange roughy wrapped in a vegetable (kind of like napa cabbage) with balsamic vinegar. The fish was perfectly cooked. I didn't really like the balsamic vinegar. It was a little too much for me.

For dessert, I got the dulce de leche flan. I was a disappointed. The flan was very heavy and dense, having the texture of cheesecake. The flavors were nice, but it was definitely too rich and heavy for me to finish.

Sweets

When in Vegas, stop at Bouchon at the Venetian. It's Thomas Keller's restaurant, and you don't need a reservation to have breakfast there.

I strayed from my usual breakfast order and got the French toast: Stacked brioche, custard, apples and maple syrup. It was super sweet, and I couldn't even finish half of it.

My friend ordered the omelet, which had broccoli raab and bacon. The egg was cooked perfectly and the flavors were so well balanced. Next time (and there will be a next time!), I'm going for a savory breakfast.

Dinner

I flew Korean Air from NRT to LAX. For dinner service, one of the options was bibimbop. I was curious to see how they would pull this off. To my surprise, it was quite easy!

The food tray came with real metal utensils and a ceramic bowl that had an assortment of vegetables and meat. The pre-made rice came in one of those vacuum seal packs, and it was hot and fresh. The hot sauce came in a small tube, like what toothpaste comes in. There was even a small packet of sesame oil.

On the side, there were some pickled cucumbers and a bowl of seaweed soup.

YUM.

Good

Best burger in town? If you believe the various blogs and web reviews, some will say that Father's Office in Santa Monica serves up the best burger.

A bunch of us stopped by for lunch one Saturday. From the outside, you really can't tell that it's a restaurant or a bar. In fact, you could miss it entirely if you weren't specifically looking for it. Inside, it's a small, casual bar with a wide selection of beer on tap. We ordered burgers, fries (potato and sweet potato) and root beers.

The burgers are huge. They're heavy and dense. You certainly get your fill of beef. Juicy and flavorful, the patties don't disappoint. They taste homemade and gourmet. I don't remember what kind of cheese was used, but it was very tasty and melty. The arugula is a wonderful, peppery complement to the meat and especially the caramelized onions. Actually, the onions were my least favorite. I know it takes a lot of time and some watchfulness to get the onions so soft and sweet, but it was too much for me. The burger was too sweet and didn't have enough acidity anywhere. I'm used to the vinegar-y mustard and sweet ketchup combo, so this was quite a change.

Best burger in LA? Maybe not, but it is pretty darn good.

Cuteness Overload

Live webcam of Shiba Inu puppies


Free TV : Ustream

Gone?

Is my allergy season over?

Allergies

Recent bad news - I have seasonal allergies.
Recent good news - Claritin seems to work.

Cake

Mango and strawberry wedding cake. Those are mango slices arranged as flowers! So tasty.

Eat

Gyoza eating competition
Originally uploaded by esthereggy

Saw Joey Chestnut, the world's No. 1 competitive eater, gulp down 231 gyoza in 10 minutes!

Orochon

He finished the Special No. 2 ramen in under 30 minutes at Orochon in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. And he's still alive.

Isabella

She's so grown up! (That's my bag she's holding.)

Journey

If you were wondering, I am getting better. I started with a sore throat. Then a dry cough. Lost my voice. Moved into a productive cough. Lost the sore throat. Got a stuffy nose. Added a cold.

Now, I have a cold, slight cough, occasional stuffy nose and somewhat cracked voice.

Sick

I'm sick.

I don't know how I managed this feat in the blazing summer heat. But yes, I'm sick.

Portions

TGI Friday's has a Right Portion, Right Price menu -- slightly smaller portion and a not too expensive. Frankly, it feels like a lunch menu that's served all day. It's a good start. Portion sizes at chain restaurants are way too big, and it's difficult for a restaurant to suddenly dish out smaller portions. Under a healthy eating marketing campaign, this works.

I ordered the chicken and sausage penne and it was wasn't terrible. The portion was good. Definitely big enough for dinner, and very filling for lunch.

Wildlife

There's a Japanese garden behind the building where I work. The other day, I saw little ducklings in the pond. Very cute!

Decorate

This is the plant that's now living in my office. Beautiful!

Ouch

Here's a pair of shoes I won't be wearing anymore. I've worn them twice now, and they've really really hurt my feet. I'm sad to have to let them go because they're so cute. Still, I think pain overrules fashion, at least for me.

I'm going to try selling them on ebay. Anyone wear a 7 1/2?