Okonomiyaki, in LA?

Apparently so! I didn't realize, but there are actually okonomiyaki bars here! Not only are there places that serve okonomiyaki, but there are places that let you cook your own! Like Gaja Okonomiyaki in Torrance. Blog with yummy pictures here.

So Proud!

Lawrence was so excited this week. He made a sale for I think it was, $30,000 over sticker price. The father & son buyers were Chinese and the father only spoke Cantonese. They would not have sold the car if he didn't work there. This sale validated his position at the dealership as a valuable asset. Plus, it's the first time they beat the Beverly Hills dealership! That's pretty awesome, considering you've got tons of famous people (like Avril Lavigne!) who would probably go to the Beverly Hills dealership first. All he could think about last night was whether or not he should ask for a change to his pay.

Nightwish

The concert was pretty cool...and they even played some of their old songs!

A British goth metal group called Paradise Lost opened. It looks like they've actually been around for a long time, but they didn't seem to have enough energy. They played a lot of music from their new album, "In Requiem," which incidentally was produced by Rhys Fulber (of Delerium & Conjure One). They have a male singer, and his style reminded me of Metallica, who they do mention on their website.

Nightwish actually opened with Bye Bye Beautiful, and then Amaranth. That surprised me because they are two of their three new singles featuring the new singer, Anette. I thought bands typically saved their most famous songs for the end. It was a great way to hype up the crowd as I'm sure everyone recognized them. Perhaps it wasn't so strange because Nightwish has been around for so long they have many other hits. At the end, they did play Nemo, Wishmaster, and Wish I Had An Angel, which the crowd went crazy over. I think Anette did a good job for having Tarja to live up to. She definitely doesn't have the range or depth, but she has a lot of energy and has a lively stage presence.

The only thing to spoil the night was when I ::gulp:: yelled into Lawrence's ear during the concert. Both of us weren't able to enjoy the next 3-4 songs, and i felt SO bad. >_<

Goth Rock Concerts

I'm so excited! The Nightwish concert is Sunday Nov. 4 and the Evanescence concert is Saturday Nov. 10. I've got 2 of Nightwish's new songs stuck in my head - "Amaranth" and "Bye Bye Beautiful."

At first I couldn't get over how the new singer is no Tarja. Her voice is very nice, very clear, but at first it felt too plainly like any other female vocalist. The more I listened to the music, though, the more I really like it. Her voice may not have the distinctive qualities Tarja's had, but it still works with the music, and the band makes GREAT music. I wish I had the songs on my iPod.

Blast it all, foiled again!

Well. Last weekend we went to South Coast Plaza to go shopping because it's nice there. I wanted to buy some facial lotion and my mom's Christmas present and Lawrence wanted to buy some more dress shirts for work. I also wanted to use my 20% off-all-day Macy's coupon. Since we would be near Irvine, I wanted to try one of those yakiniku places. I called up my bro to see if he'd be free. Unfortunately he was already busy...but, no biggie. It was a spur of the moment thing and I agreed to notify him a week in advance if I wanted to take him out for dinner.

At Macy's, while Lawrence was buying shoes, we found out that my 20% off coupon wasn't actually valid until Oct. 24th! The guy was really nice because he didn't realize either when we asked him about it earlier, and he gave us the 20% off discount anyway. This meant I didn't buy anything at Macy's, and then because it would have been just us 2, we decided not to go eat the yakiniku. We ended up eating at Claim Jumper instead.

Lawrence and I agreed to go back to South Coast Plaza the next weekend (i.e. today). I gave my bro advanced notice so he'd be free. Today, we were all ready to go out, eating lunch in Monterey Park, when Lawrence's mom calls. Apparently Josh was flying back down to LA today and we had to go home and clean up the apartment. So, our plans were screwed, Lawrence was pissed, and yet AGAIN I do not get to take my brother out for dinner. It is now 12:20 am and Josh is still not in the apartment. Apparently his flight was delayed.

The only good thing to come out of today is that the living room, kitchen, and the car are all clean. The bad thing is that it was a unnecessarily stressful way to end the weekend. Lawrence has to go in to work half-day Mon & Tues as well because his boss will be late coming back from a wedding. Thus, he only had a one-day weekend (today), and it was hardly relaxing. This next month will be the LA Auto show and that means 11 straight days of work - some of them 13 hour days, running straight through Thanksgiving weekend. Here are some photos he took of the cars at the dealership.


The Ariel Atom.

The new Maserati car, the Quattroporte.

Yakiniku in LA

My first experience with Yakiniku (Japanese to-it-yourself BBQ) was at the Pasadena Gyu-Kaku 3 blocks from my apartment on July 4th with Lawrence and his brother. Josh loves the place and frequents the one in New York. Lawrence and I were both instantly enamored as well. Then I took my aunt here and she totally loved it, but a friend of hers told her there was a better yakiniku restaurant in Orange County. He was talking about a place called Anjin. Looking on Yelp, I found that there were actually several yakiniku restaurants in Orange County that are supposed to be very good. I must convince Lawrence to go try these places, and we can pick up my brother on the way! I never did get a chance to take him to eat ramen.

Anjin
3033 Bristol St Ste N
Costa Mesa, CA, 92626
(714) 979-6700

Manpuku

891 Baker St

Costa Mesa, CA, 92628

(714) 708-3290

Tsuruhashi

18798 Brookhurst St

Fountain Valley, CA, 92708

(714) 593-8393

Awwww

Lawrence thought I was upset at him because of my previous post. I was just ranting... :) I know I'm just as much to blame for staying up that late. Having the TV on usually keeps me up real late too. Add to that the fact that I've been nutso about finishing my Butterfly Wrap, and he had work the next day...oh well.

Fricken 4:30am

That's when Lawrence got home last night. Fricken 4:30am. And he has work today. After work yesterday he went to go hang out with his cousins in Rowland Heights. I told him not to come home too late. He expected me to be asleep when he came back. Sometimes I do end up falling asleep but that's only when I'm dead beat. I was getting really sleepy and tired but I never did fall asleep. Maybe it was because the TV was on, or maybe it was because I was like a zombie maniacally trying to complete just 1 more stitch on my crocheting.

Maybe if I stay up enough times and he comes home seeing me ready to keel over, he'll think twice about staying out so late. Or, maybe after I complain about how tired I am he'll say it's my own fault for not going to sleep. lol.

Live Jazz outside my window

There's a live jazz band playing outside my window right now. Well, they're down on the terrace with the restaurants and stores. It must be some event because they've got catering down there and there's a lot of people. This is pretty cool. The jazz band played the Star Wars theme, and then the Super Mario Bros. music.

Lala's Argentine Grill in Studio City

Since I wanted to take me to a yarn store in North Hollywood yesterday after work, I figured we might as well make a trip out of it and have dinner there. Having previously looked up restaurants that serve Latin American grilled steaks through Yelp, I knew that there was a Lala's in the vicinity.

We've gone to the Lala's on Melrose Ave. 3 times already because we love the steak there. Okay, I must admit that I actually haven't tried a huge variety of Argentinian steaks, but I know I enjoyed it. The Lala's on Melrose doesn't have any parking, but there are side streets that we usually park on. It's in a corner spot, and the restaurant itself looks really cute. It has a nice big covered patio area on the side that comprises probably half the restaurant's seating capacity. Inside, there's a bar.

The Lala's in Studio City looked much more like a restaurant. There was a patio section, but from what I could see it was just a few tables out in front. Lawrence commented that it looked like a tacqueria, a la Tacqueria Vallarta in Santa Cruz. I could see the resemblance, but this place was undoubtedly nicer. The decor was nice, the lights were dimmed, and there was a small bar area. The one thing we both agreed we didn't like was its location. It was in one of those mini-plazas - with a pet grooming center, cheap Japanese restaurant, etc. The parking lot was tiny, and they offered "valet" parking so they could stack the cars. We opted not to - it was a $3.50 fee and Lawrence didn't trust them with his manual car anyway. We parked on a side street, where the CBS studio was.

Service was friendly, and there were many tables of people, although it was by no means busy. We were greeted and seated immediately upon entering. One of the things I love the most about Lala's is the chimichurri sauce they give you with the bread. The bread itself could use some work, but it does its job as a medium to consume the chimichurri. :) We ordered our typical fare - Lawrence had the Entraña and I had the Entraña al Ajo ($13.95 & $14.95 respectively).

These are just your basic Argentinian grilled skirt steaks. The Entraña al Ajo comes with grilled garlic and parsley on top. All the entrees come with your side of choice: fries, rice, mashed potatoes, or salad. We always take the mashed potatoes! They're delicious and a nice soft creamy consistency. The steaks also come with what looks like a sort of diced tomato salsa thing on the side. I have no idea if it has a name or if it's just salsa. It's just tomatoes and some herbs; adds a bit of tangy flavor to the steak if you eat it together.

Overall, we were very satisfied with the meal. The steaks were cooked a delicious medium-rare by default. The one thing about the steak that I would note, is that it was a little on the oily side, although I wouldn't say the meal was heavy by any means. I don't know if this is specific to Lala's, or if this is a standard feature of Argentinian grilled steaks. Since it was a flat steak and there weren't any huge chunks of fat I didn't mind so much while I was eating. Eating all that chimichurri (it uses an olive oil base) probably did not help. I probably should have gotten some hot tea or coffee to drink afterwards.

Screensavers

When I think of screensavers, what comes to mind are those old default screensavers that come with windows: the star field, the geometric lines, squiggly pipes, etc. It hearkens to a time when I was excited about being able to modify every aspect of my windows experience. I'd change all the windows colors, add picture backgrounds to the explorer (I don't know if you can even still do that). I'd download and install all manner of desktop gadgets and sound themes. This was also when I created my own Zelgadis WinAmp skin.

Enter today's post on Smashing Magazine (a daily online blog on design). They're exceptional at creating long lists of cool things for designers to check out and today's subject was screensavers! They listed some really cool screensavers. Here are 3 screensavers that really caught my eye, and they're all free!

System47 - Simulates various screens from the Start Trek system control displays (LCARS - Library Computer Access and Retrieval System). Totally awesome - now when I'm not at my desk, my cubicle becomes an extension of the Star Trek starfleet!


PolarClock - Displays the time as growing concentric arcs. Cool concept without being too outlandish.


Electric Sheep - Generates digital imagery from the collective of users running this screensaver. You can even vote for displays to affect their evolution. The concept is a homage to Phillip K. Dick's novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? I haven't installed this one yet, but the screenshots are beautiful!

geeky to the max

Over on my crafting blog, I mentioned Ravelry.com - a new website being developed by a knitter-programmer couple to address the needs of knitters and crocheters around the world! It's still in its beta stages so they're only letting in a few hundred people each day. When I first put my name on the waitlist, there were over 19,000 people in front of me. They've since added better servers and so have upped the rate at which they're letting people in. Some others mentioned in the blog comments at Ravelry that they've been refreshing the page every few hours and writing down the changes in their place in line. Now why didn't I think of doing that?

Seeing an opportunity to exercise my geeky skills, I made a spreadsheet on Google Documents to track my progress and dynamically predict which day I will finally get my Ravelry invite. Sure, it's only basic algebra and not even real programming, but I'm still proud of myself. Here are some screenshots I chopped together:

laughably pretentious

We went to this random HK cafe in San Gabriel for dinner with Philip, Carmel, and Caroline. It was so sadly and laughably pretentious, with items on its menu like "Filet Mignon Royale," "Cowboy Steak," "Filet Mignon Oscar, and "Filet Mignon Napolean." Of course, none of these items had any sort of description regarding what they actually were. Our waitress barely spoke any English, and only passable Mandarin and Cantonese. Our favorite item on the menu was the "broiled baby lamb with grilled cattle fish." When is a lamb not a baby [sheep], and what the hell is a "cattle fish"?

The food itself wasn't bad, but it certainly did not live up to the naming. Plating was pretty bad. Lawrence ordered the Filet Mignon Oscar, and their sad attempt at plating consisted of the meat sitting on top of a couple slices of a french roll, smothered in a basic Bechamel sauce (aka flour, butter, & milk), with a lump of mashed potatoes sitting on the side. The sauce was way too thick to look nice drizzled over the plate, and it had chunks of green bean in it. Timing was pretty bad too...all our dishes came at different times within a 10 minute period. Ok, maybe it wasn't that long, but it felt like it. Caroline was half done with her food by the time mine came. The only redeeming factor was the free dessert - a Chinese tapioca, taro, and coconut milk dessert soup.

cuteness in the form of coin banks

Lawrence found these two at a store in Santa Cruz and took a picture of them on his phone to show me. I promptly sent him back to buy them. They are made by a company based in New York, called Streamline.

The CrepeVine [Pasadena]

Wednesday night I went to the CrepeVine with Lawrence for dinner. They're a little Parisian Bistro on a side street off of Colorado Ave. in Old Town Pasadena. Not only is this place only 3.5 blocks away from our apartment, it is worth 1,000 points on OpenTable.com!

OpenTable
Time for me to launch into commercial mode: OpenTable is an online restaurant reservation service that awards you points for each reservation you make through their website. At 2,000 points they give you a $20 dining cheque (5,000 points will get you $50 and 10,000 points gets you $100). That's only 2 meals at a 1,000-point restaurant for a free $20 back (reservations usually get you just 100 points)! If you're the type that likes to eat out at nice restaurants all the time, this is a great little bonus - and all just for making a reservation!

Although they only have a limited number of restaurants signed on to their service, many of these places are very good restaurants. My theory is that since they need to have a computer system at the restaurant, only restaurants with enough money can offer this online reservation service. If they have enough money, they're likely to be at least decently good. Unfortunately that doesn't work the other way around and there are a lot of good restaurants that aren't on OpenTable. Note: when you get to the restaurant, make sure they acknowledge that you made a reservation so that they verify to OpenTable that you actually showed up to your reservation. Otherwise, you won't get credit (no points!) and the reservation will be counted as a no-show. Your account will be deactivated if you have 4 no-shows in any given 12 month period.

The CrepeVine
Going back to the original subject of this post, here's my review of the restaurant.

It's really easy to miss this place. Even though I live 3 blocks away and I've walked up and down Colorado many times, I have never even noticed it was there! I suppose that gives it a certain appeal as this secret little French hole-in-the-wall place that only you and the other diners know about. They have a few outdoor tables, which is nice. Lawrence and I sat inside.

When we arrived, I told the hostess we had a reservation for 2. She was very nice but I was a little thrown off when she responded with, "Yes, you do!" She didn't ask me for my name which obviously meant that there were no other reservations. The restaurant wasn't empty but I guess it was never full enough to necessitate making a reservation. That's fine and all but I still felt silly. I hoped she knew the reservation was worth 1,000 points! There was a reason I made a reservation, even if it was only 2 hours beforehand! She gave us the choice of our reserved table (a tiny table that was sandwiched between two other tiny occupied tables) or another tiny table in the back that was empty in its surrounding seats. We appreciated the gesture and took the seat in the back. It was a corner spot that had booth seats. It was cool because instead of sitting across from eachother, we got to sit at a right angle from each other. Here are the dishes we shared:

Garlic Fries [$5] - There were a few Yelp reviews that mentioned the garlic fries. I love garlic, I love fries, and I love garlic fries so we ordered this appetizer. It was cheap compared to the other appetizers (which ranged from $7-$16) and it came in a big bowl with 2 dipping sauces. This was a nicely sized appetizer that could easily feed 4 people. They were fried excellently - nice and crisp the way I like them, but also full of potato-y flavor the way Lawrence likes them. Our taste in fries doesn't usually coincide, but we both liked these fries!

French Onion Soup [$5] - Lawrence wanted the soup. I was a little iffy about this but it's his decision. I never order French onion soup because it's usually so salty that I get sick of it after two spoonfuls. I was happily surprised that it was not so for this soup! There was plenty of cheese and bread covering the top without being overwhelming. The soup was not overly salty, just flavorful - beef flavor I suppose.

Paella [~$25] - Following the trend, this dish was delicious. We opted to have a sweet crepe for dessert and a non-crepe dish for the entree. A lot of the dishes sounded good, but this was listed as a special that night so we had the paella. There was plenty of seafood - salmon, shrimp, clams, mussels, scallops - tender and not overcooked. It was made with basmati rice, which I know isn't the traditional choice. It was still pretty good but I don't think I've had enough paellas to know what counts as really good paella. We were happy with the quality and that's what counts to us. :) They provided a bowl for us to toss the shells in - another nice little detail that added to the experience.

Crepe Suzette [$9] - Neither of us has ever had a crepe suzette before but it sounded like a traditional dessert that we should try. It was basically a french crepe with fresh warm oranges in a Grand Marnier (an orange liqueur) sauce. We ordered it a la mode (a scoop of ice cream) on the side. It was a nice balance of warm crepe with cold ice cream, heavy orange flavored sauce with a neutral sweet vanilla.

The food was definitely good, although a bit pricey for just a regular night out. If we had ordered 2 entrees and drinks it would have been around $100. As it was, our dinner came out to about $60 including tax and tip. They do have live music at night - there was a guy playing the guitar. It added a nice atmosphere. I loved his guitar playing but his singing was...less than ideal. At least it gave us something to laugh about. :)

The one thing that did bother me was the smoke. I don't know if they had just accidentally burned something or the kitchen ventilation wasn't working, or what, but halfway through dinner I noticed that the room was getting kind of hazy. My eyes got watery and I felt like I was breathing in smoke. It cleared up a bit later on so I'm guessing it was just a one time incident.

cosplay in Taiwan

Japanese 'cosplay' draws huge following in Taiwan

Apparently it's big in Taiwan too - and they call themselves "cosers". For some reason I never thought it would have been. I don't know why since manga is way more widespread in Taiwan, and stuff from Japan probably hits Taiwan first (officially, not through fandom) before it ever gets to the U.S.

scaredy-cat

More than just being a cat person, I feel that I am like a cat in many ways. One way is that I've always been a scaredy-cat. Specifically, as a child I never got my ears pierced. I remember my mom asking me if I wanted to get my ears pierced - No! I was asked in the elementary school lunch line - No! Being able to wear earrings just didn't seem to be worth the pain of poking holes into my ears.

My cousin got married this year, which was really exciting for me. She's always been the older sibling I never had - patient, graceful, smart, always the mediator. My aunt gave me her jewelry to wear with my bridesmaid dress, since I didn't have anything classy enough. I started to feel a want for cool classy earrings to go with it all. I felt bold and actually wanted to get my ears pierced! Then, I found out I had to leave the initial studs in for at least 6 weeks. I didn't have 6 weeks before the wedding. So, I thought...that's that! I'll have to wait till after the wedding. Maybe I'd forget, maybe I wouldn't feel the need to after the wedding was over. I felt a little disappointed that I inadvertently had a way to back out of my sudden decision.

Come 2 weeks before the wedding and I was at my aunt's house working on our website. We had breakfast at a pancake place near the mall. I mentioned something about how I had wanted to get my ears pierced and my aunt - a much more impulsive person than I am - instantly suggested we go get my ears pierced right then and there. We were next to the mall anyway, and they opened in 15 minutes. I felt giddy and nervous in anticipation - pierced ears! Who would have thought?

I picked out cubic zirconia studs with silver-colored backing to match the jewelry I was wearing for the wedding. The lady at Claire's measured my ears and marked the positions. Two quick needle-pokes, and it was over. My ears throbbed a little and I was afraid to touch them, but it was done. I was struck by how they instantly made me look more feminine. As small of an accessory as they are, earrings are a subtle addition to your face that can convey a lot. Like a small bit of tattoo peeking out, your choice of earrings can make a statement.

In conclusion - I have 2 more weeks before I get to take these studs out and put in REAL earrings! w00t! I need to buy cool earrings! I still have a coupon for Macy's. It's either that or Etsy.com

people with a death wish

For the 2nd time in 2 weeks, an idiot has tried to drive across the rail tracks while the crossing lights are flashing and has consequently been plowed through by the Metro light rail train. In the 2nd incident, the arms were even down! The driver consciously drove around the arms, while the lights were flashing, to try to cross the tracks. Six people were injured, hundreds (thousands?) were delayed in getting where they needed to go, and millions were lost on a now severely damaged train. What the hell are these people thinking?