Twenty-Something

It's official, I no longer have 20/20 vision. I was a little sad about it, but when I chose these cute Kate Spade frames at The Eye Shop, I thought...this isn't so bad. The glasses was pretty and it made me look smarter.

My eye exam with Dr. Anh was the first exam I had in probably over ten years. She was very thorough and explained exactly what and why she was doing what she was doing. She was very patient and was always smiling. What was most important was that she didn't rush through my exam. I hate it when doctors do that, don't you? It makes you feel like you're interrupting their busy schedule and causing a big inconvenience. I am definitely coming back to see her again for my next eye exam.

I thought it was kind of cool when the assistants at The Eye Shop offered me a beverage right when I walked in. It's a very minor gesture, but seriously, most doctors don't offer you anything. The assistants were great at helping me find the right frame. They didn't show me anything that made me want to say "WTF are you thinking?"

Ooh...and the decor is awesome. I'm going to recommend Dr. Anh to all my friends. :)

Finally Jazz Cat has reopened. The new location is in San Gabriel, right across from the ghetto Hawaiian Supermarket. The mini hot pots are little larger now, there are more soup bases to choose from, you get more meat, and the restaurant now serves alcohol, but it's also itsy bit more expensive. What is a dollar here or there for yummy hot pot right? The restaurant itself is more spacious than the old location, they have the electric burner now versus the pink gel, and the staff is way more attentive and nice.

The fun is back but so is the long wait to get seated. If you're planning on eating at Jazz Cat, I highly suggest getting here before 7 or after 10 to avoid the line. The wait at the old restaurant was long and it's not any different at the new location. I guess if you want to eat your dessert before dinner, you can grab some frozen yogurt at the Yogurtland next door while you wait. I also don't recommend bringing the kids along. The new tables are a little high. So if you are seated in one of the booths and you're not at least 5'4 or something you might have trouble reaching your hot pot. I'm not joking.

I was given a work out journal when I signed up for the personal training sessions at the gym. I am suppose to bring the journal with me for every session so the trainer can keep a record of my progress and also to mark down the type of exercises I'm doing. I had forgotten to bring the journal the for the first two sessions, but I remembered  yesterday. The trainer took my measurements and weight. When I looked at the numbers I thought "OMG! I'm fat!" Although I'm really not according to the charts in the journal. Still, I would like to lose 20lbs and have leaner arms and legs. I was quite happy when my trainer said that I didn't really have to work on hips, but not so much when he said that he can definitely help me slim down my waist line. Argh! I guess I'm going to have to utilize that 5lb hoola hoop that I have at home more often now too. Would 30 minutes every other day help? I sure hope so.

Again, this session was extremely exhausting. I did a number of back step lunges while lifting a 6lb medicine ball over my head. When I was going at a normal pace, it was pretty easy. However, when he told me to do 20 more reps in slow motion I thought I was going to fall over and collapse. I thought that was going to be hard part of this session, I was so wrong. Afterwards we walked down to the first floor to one those weight machines where you have to push up with your legs. OMG! After the 10 reps, I thought my legs were going to fall off. I had to stop and asked my trainer "are you sure my legs are not going to break or something?" Last time he made me walk on the tread mill at 2.5 speed at elevation 15, with 5lbs weights in each hand held straight up. Afterwards, my arms were sore for probably three days. It was the same kind of soreness that I felt after the first time I went snowboarding at Mountain High. Painful! I couldn't lift my arms to wash my hair. Of course he stood over me, chuckled a little, and assured me that my legs would not break. When the session was over, I made sure I stretched again. I was determined not to feel sore all weekend again. Unfortunately, the stretching only helped a little bit. I woke up this morning feeling unsure about being able to get out of bed. I knew I still could, so I crawled out and put on a couple of patches of Salonpas stickies to help relieve some of the soreness. Well it looks like I'm going to be spending quite a few dollars on these menthol infused stickies before these sessions end.

Where is Nemo? Two huge fish tanks in the middle of the restaurant and not a Nemo in sight. I was disappointed.

I noticed Naga Naga Ramen a few weeks ago while I was driving on Valley so my friend Emily and I decided to try it out for dinner tonight. The ramen was okay. I went for the non traditional ramen and ordered the kimchi and beef ramen. I can't say I'm a fan. There was a bit of sweetness to the broth which I can't say I can appreciate. Emily went the more traditional route and ordered a beef and corn ramen? I didn't eat any of hers but I believe she said the broth was a little bland but the noodles were okay. We also ordered the Naga Naga tofu. I'm sorry to say it but this is one tofu dish that I don't care for. It was like pan fried tofu over egg with some fishy flaky stuff (I don't know what it's called) over the top. I think this dish would work a lot better with soft tofu and some sesame dressing over the top. I really do.

The restaurant itself is really clean. The service is really good which probably would earn points with the customers considering the service everywhere else on Valley is just kinda ma ma hu hu. It's a definite upgrade from when this place used to be Noodle World.

If Nemo finds his way to the fish tanks, I might come back to try the ramen again.

Since I work in Westwood, most people expect me to be familiar with the west side. I really am not, since I don't hang around there very often. My friends were quite surprised that I've never ate at FuRaiBo on Sawtelle. After having a semi-tasty dinner there, I don't think I really missed out too much. Their chicken wings, fried fish cake w/cheese, and pork in miso soup is good, but everything else was just okay. The yakitori was not nearly as good as the ones I had at ToriHei or Shin Sen-Gumi and even the kimchee buta was lacking in flavor. The service was extremely fast though, I was kinda surprised that all of our dishes came out so quickly. The staff were really friendly and attentive. We arrived at the restaurant right when it opened, but before our meal was over there was a line going out the door. I would eat here again, but I don't think the food was impressive enough for me to actually want to wait for it.

Here are some pics of our food:

My work is approximately 25 miles from my house. Driving in the morning takes about 20 minutes but that's because I'm usually on the road by 5:30am. In the afternoon, it takes about more than an hour to get home and this at about 2:30pm. If I leave work after 3:00pm, it'll take me almost 2 hours to get home. So usually when my coworkers invite me to happy hour, I decline. Seriously, 1-2 hours of drinking in the afternoon and then sitting in traffic for another 2 hours really does not appeal to me. I don't have the tolerance or the patience to participate. Last Wednesday was a different story though. My company hosted an happy hour event, so as an employee I felt obligated to go. Well mostly because one of the management personnel/friend told me "you're going and you're sleeping over afterwards." So I said "okay." I thought cool, I won't have to wake up so early the next morning and I can sleep in the car while she drives me to work. Well she did drive me to work the following morning, but her house was so far away. OMG! Thank god she had the most comfortable guest bed (priced at about $3000) ever and her cute little daughter was still up to play for a little bit to make up for it. Did you know that Palos Verdes is like 20 minute drive to the nearest fwy? I don't go there very often but I don't remember it being so far. Geez!

Ooh...now as for the food at Tin Roof in Manhattan Beach. It was okay. I wasn't too impressed. Maybe it's because I didn't get to each much. The restaurant did have a nice atmosphere though. The owner seemed friendly and the staff was quick to serve. There really isn't much to complain about. Since it was a company shindig, I didn't pull out my camera to snap pics of the food. Not that anyone would be missing much anyways.

Today my girlfriends and I were out and about in LA. The day started with an HK style breakfast at Baccali with my long time friend Emily. Then we proceeded to drive around in circles to Susina's Bakery & Cafe in the Miracle Mile area to meet up with a bunch of my other girlfriends for some cakes and pastries. F***ing La Brea near the 10 East was closed and a whole bunch of other streets were blocked off too.

Susina's was cute, welcoming, and deliciously yummy. Ooh and before I forget, they had one of the cutest, cleanest public restroom I've been to in LA. FYI. The cakes and tarts were luscious. I'm a big fan of the cheesecake, the peanut butter frosting on the chocolate mousse cake, the almond cherry tart and this one other tart that I forgot the name of. The cheesecake was my choice and OMG it was heavenly. Probably so fattening and bad for my diet, but so fluffy. It wasn't too thick and rich like your normal cheesecake. I think it was leaning more toward that Japanese baked cheesecake taste (but not quite there yet). I don't know how to describe it, it was just so damn good. Margie and Chris ordered the peanut butter chocolate mousse cake. I can't even begin to tell you how much I love peanut butter frosting. Usually when I order anything with peanut butter frosting I worry that it might be too thick and sticky. The frosting was perfect and it went so well with the chocolate (dark) mousse cake. Although, I think it could do without the walnuts sprinkled on top. Didn't really care for it. The almond cherry tart was also very good. I can't say it's delicious because I don't like almond flavored food in general, but this almond tart was good. Emily ordered this chocolate tart thing that was very yummy. Just look at the pic below.

After Susina's, we went to the Arclight in Hollywood to watch "Coco Before Chanel." I expected to see awesome clothes right from the beginning, but OMG, everything Audrey Tautou was wearing was so plain. I really didn't know what to expect from the movie, the previews were good, but I had no ideal what Coco Chanel's life was like so it wasn't like I could tell if the movie followed her real life or not. All in all, I liked the movie. Audrey Tautou was great as usual. She never disappoints. "Boy" the man she falls in love with was hot. However, I did come home and Google him and he wasn't as hot in modern hair and attire as he was in the movie. Oh well. I think everyone should rent this movie when it comes out in DVD, because this movie is only showing in selected theaters.

Here are the pics of the other three cakes that we ordered:

Last night, I went with a bunch of friends to Torrance to have dinner at Torihei. I have noticed Torihei from my previous visits to its neighbor Musha but never thought to try the food there. Well I'm glad that one of my friends thought to have a little dinner gathering there, otherwise, I would have been missing out on some great Japanese food. Although my taste buds were quite delighted at most of the dishes, there were a few that just wasn't my cup of milk tea. For example, there was the pickle cucumber and radish (or turnip?) dish. Fully pickled they were not. It is just wrong to do the whole half @$$ pickled thing (不酸不淡，都不知道這道菜應該是什麽味道）. I've never been a fan of the Japanese fish cake. Never. I don't know why, I can't explain it. It just doesn't appeal to me. Therefore I can't really rave about how great the fish cake in oden soup was like the other people. I liked the soup though. The chicken cartilage, fried and not fried, was also kinda bleh. Bland. In my not so humble opinion, the fried cartilage not only needed to be fried an itsy bit longer, it also need more seasoning. The fried turnip cake in oden soup was also kinda bleh. Maybe it's the Cantonese pride in me talking but I really do believe that we make the best turnip cake. I've had turnip cake made in many different ways and well I still prefer the Cantonese style better. I really just think that dunking small chunks of turnip cake in soup is a bad idea, it just ends up tasting a little mushy.

Now on to the good stuff. Yakitori...OMG...so good. I think Torihei has taken over Shin-sen gumi as my favorite yakitori place. The prices are cheaper but the proportions are bigger. The gizzards that we ordered were twice the size of the ones served at Shin-sen gumi. The grilled at avocado with the salty vinegar sauce, grilled cherry tomatoes, chicken thigh, torihei meatballs, bacon wrapped okra and asparagus...yummy. I'm still thinking about it right now. Probably because I had nothing good to eat today. I also really liked the oden soup dishes, well except the turnip cake, mochi, and fish cake. Those I can live without. I did enjoy was the big tomato with mozarella cheese, the broth came out tasting like tomato bisque, at least that was how my friend described it. Oh and the semi-boiled egg filled with smelt roe. The semi-hard boiled egg was sliced in half and the yolk was mixed with smelt roe. OMG! It was amazing. I have to show you guys the pics. :) Dinner was awesome.

I have been to Liang's Kitchen a few times now since it opened this summer and have not once been disappointed with the food I ordered. Well maybe just once when I ordered the 紅操肉, but that is just one thing out of the many that I've tried. Their noodles, dried or with soup, is either great or good. They have yet to disappoint, especially since I've had the chance to taste most of them in one sitting before when I went with a bunch of my cousins who all decided to order noodles. The 牛肉卷餅 and the 滷油豆腐 are my two favorite dishes. If your taste buds can handle it, I also highly recommend their house 辣香腸 (too be eaten with a bowl of rice of course). The pancake that is wrapped around the sliced beef from the 牛肉卷餅 is very flaky and taste great with a little chili sauce.

The decor at Liang's is very typical Chinese. The walls are painted a light shade of yellow lined with Chinese 山水畫 and the tables and chairs are made of red wood. The interesting thing is that there are little fighter jet figures hanging from the ceiling all over the restaurants, which gives you something to look at if you're ever stuck eating here with someone that you're not very fond of and don't really want to talk to. You can pretend to look intensely at the planes like you really care where they came from. It might work...for maybe 30 seconds. The restaurant is also very clean which is always a plus and the staff is attentive and nice. No rude Chinese waiters here. Thank god.

Warning! Do not order this 紅操肉。

This morning was my first attempt at making my own steamed custard buns. I consulted my dad awhile ago on the process but had long forgotten what he said. So I had to look up the recipe on the internet (thanks Google). I looked at a few websites and most said that it is the same process as steaming 曼頭 (man tou) plus the custard.

The Custard Part: 

Since I didn't feel like converting kg to the regular tsp,tbsp,cup measurements that I am used to, I decided to create my own custard recipe.

1. Mix 2 whole eggs plus 1 egg yolk to 3 tbsp of vanilla pudding

2. On medium heat, stir 1 1/2 cups of whole milk (none of that 1/2 & 1/2 of skim milk business) until warm. On low heat, stir in 1/2 cup of sugar and melt in 1/2 stick of butter.

3. After everything in #2 is melted, turn the heat back to medium, and stir in #1.

4. When it starts to bubble, turn off the heat and let sit for about 45 minutes. It needs to be cooled down before you fill in the buns.

The Bun Part:

1. Add 1/4 cup of warm water to one packet of yeast. Stir and let sit for about 5 minutes.

2. Add the yeast to 2 1/2 cups of sifted all purpose flour.

3. Then slowly add about 1 1/4 cup of warm water and mix well.

4. Put saran wrap over the bowl and wait for the dough to rise to about double the size.

5. After the dough rises, take it out of the bowl and start to knead the dough to push all the air pockets out. 

Now depending on how big you want your custard buns to be, rip a medium size chunk of dough and knead it flat into a 4 inch diameter circle. Place however much custard you want inside and then fold the sides of the dough to the center. If you can't fold the sides together without the custard staying inside than you either scoop in too much custard or your dough was not big enough in diameter. If you can keep the custard inside than proceed to make your next 3,4, 5...10...whatever. Place the almost custard bun into the steamer for about 20-25 minutes. Remove from heat and take the cover off of the steamer. Then you have your very own steamed custard bun.

For my first attempt at this, I think I did pretty well. The bun tasted fine and the custard was surprisingly good. It didn't exactly look the way I had pictured it to look, but it was good.

My 奶黃包 will look better next time.