Lu Din Gee

Met some friends for dinner yesterday at Lu Din Gee. None of us had ever been, but we were looking forward to the Peking duck. The food was just okay, but not expensive at $15 a head for a very filling dinner. What was really irritating was the service. We called for a reservation at 7:30 and were told we would have to do 6:30 or 9:00. Fine, we took the 6:30. Later, the guy called back and said we'd have to clear out by 8:00. Okay...but then doesn't that mean there was an 8:00 slot that he didn't tell me about when I asked for 7:30? Whatever. We showed up, service was bleh even though the restaurant wasn't full, and we were reminded a few times that we needed to leave by 8:00. Jeezus. There wasn't even anyone beating down the door for our seats when we left (before 8:00).

These are the mung bean noodles. High on color, great texture, not much flavor in the sauce. The duck was okay, but I prefer when there's a little meat connected to the skin and the skin is fattier and crispier. The other dishes were just kind of uninspired so I didn't take photos. Lu Din Gee's food is really beautiful--colorful and fresh looking. But when I put it in my mouth, it was all just okay. Still, a nice time was had by all and no wallets were saddened at the end of the meal.

Note: Volcano Tea across the street has the most interesting shaved ice. I think their grass jelly is homemade. It's really soft and flavorful. And instead of lightly golden sugar syrup, they use a dark caramel-ish syrup. It's really delicious, even though I think they put too much.

Bridesmaids Dress...The End

Woo hoo! The order has been placed, the dresses are on their way from NYC, and I have one less thing to think about.

Dress: ABS pleat front, low back satin dress. My bridesmaids are shorter and not anorexic like this model. Also, the dresses will not be black.

They will be in this type of red. ABS calls it "new red." I think it's really in this year. I see a lot of girls in commercials wearing the color, and it's popping up in some stores already. By the end of the year it'll probably be passe. Oh well.

As requested, a shot of the back (and actual color, though blurry, in funny lighting, and two sizes too big). I liked it so much I didn't ask my mom or sisters what they think, except for one sister who lucked out by being on line at midnight. Ha. You'll get it taken in, you'll wear it--and you'll LIKE it. That's what I plan to say. Verbatim.

Peaches From Outer Space?

It's the season for all kinds of fruit!


I remember when these hit the market several years ago. Chinese people went crazy for the flattened peach shape. The inside, to me at least, tastes just like the big round white peaches I'd been eating since childhood, except back then "UFO (aka doughnut)" were very small. Now, they're enormous. Easily three or four inches in diameter. Works for me!

The Crepe Vine, Pasadena

I had an amazing lunch at The Crepe Vine Bistro & Wine Bar in Oldtown Pasadena today. The stroganoff crepe was incredible! A thin, tender buckwheat crepe filled with cubes of seared tenderloin steak and cheese, all smothered in a creamy sherry sauce and topped with more beef cubes. The sauce, of course, was what put this over the top for me--a perfect balance of sweet sherry and meaty graviness. The server suggested a half glass of Trefethen Double T Bourdeaux Table Wine. It was one of those rare pairings that made even my relatively untrained palate dance.

Here's the reason I was in Pasadena--bridal hair and makeup trial. I'm not loving this hair. The general style and height is okay, but it's too busy and borderline promy. I thought I wanted this 'do, but maybe I need to opt for a more grownup style. I also need to grow out my hair. My bangs paired with this up-do is ridiculous.

Coincidentally, I saw this dress at FCUK and bought it for my sisters to try on as bridesmaid dresses. It's exactly the shade that they've been telling me they want, the ugly brown beads are very loosely sewn on and can be removed to reveal a pretty pleated satin band, and the dress is made out of a very nice silk. The wide sheer straps dangle down the back, can be tied straight or halter style, and can be pulled down over the arms to look like a kimono top. It's a fun piece they could certainly wear out and not scream "bridesmaid." I also lucked out at ABS with a trendy little red reception dress for myself, but it needs to be taken in and it's a SECRET! :)

Back to Food

Basic weeknight dinner today, paired with rice.

Stir fried baby bok choy.

I totally butchered J's instructions about how to make a cold dish of his grandmother's. He said "matchstick sized;" I heard "matchstick shaped." Oops.

Losing My Mind?

It's not really a question. I really am losing my mind. I thought I could juggle my preferences, my sisters preferences, and my mom's preferences at least for finding the bridesmaids' dresess. Er...I was wrong. So now, I'm actually considering this bubblicious number:

I know it's not traditional. But I think it's really contemporary, very fun, unique, and actually has quite a flattering shape on a small Asian person. It's BCBG, so the materials and detail work are stellar. The skirt is also a little less full in real life. Consensus so far has been evenly divided between "I love it" and "I want to vomit."

I'm not a fan of bridesmaids being completely clad in black or white, but I think with some bright flowers and shoes the dress could really work, like in this photo.

And since it'll be January, each girl will have something like this. This dress is high on the list right now. The more I look at it the more I like it. Both my sisters like it; one is concerned that it's not "bridesmaidsy" enough. But I reminded her that I actually am not the kind of girl that needs to be a big ball of white surrounded by (insert number of bridesmaids) points color around her. I just want everyone to look nice, and preferably for them to have nice dresses that they honestly like and would wear again to parties.

Daikon Pastry

A lovely Monday surprise! J bought me a turnip pastry. Actually, he bought me four but I ate three before getting the camera out. "How did you know I love daikon pastries?" I asked. He just rolled his eyes at me.

These are one of my favorite dim sum type snacks. The outside is layers of flakey slightly salty pastry dough, and the inside is a soft mix of shredded daikon, flour, salt, and white pepper.

J&J Restaurant

We went to Mei Long Village last time and felt it was only fair to give their neighbors J&J a chance to strut their stuff in the ongoing xiao long bao battle. I can't remember Mei Long's in detail enough to say if one is clearly superior. They're both good, but the wait at J&J always seems to be longer, the staff is more frazzled and gruff, and there's definitely the feeling that you should under no circumstances feel entitled to sit and linger after a meal.

We got one tray each of pork and crab dumplings. I'll forever be a pork dumpling devotee. J&J's were nicely constructed. The skins were thin, but not a single one broke during handling.

Plenty of broth packed in each dumpling, which is a must.

Slow cooked pork hock with dark soy sauced aspic (gelee) attached.

The most interestind drunken chicken either of us has ever tasted. It was like a cross between drunken chicken and saltwater duck. Not bad, just unexpected.

I like it more and more...but I'm sure more changes are coming.

Pastina

That's Pastina (a small local restaurant), not the more famous Patina (a restaurant group in LA), We loved it! I'd been wanting to find a good no frills Italian place nearby for awhile now, so today we went with my sister and her boyfriend.

A note on the service: incredible! If you are looking for a low key local spot where the owners hug their gray-haired regulars and career waiters view their jobs more as a craft than a stepping stone to a Hollywood career, this is your place. Not since Galatoire's in New Orleans have I felt this kind of vibe in a small, semi-casual establishment.

My sister's salmon farfalle was intensely salmony. Order it if you love the smell of fatty slabs of salmon!

J's linguine and clams was the only dish that could even come close to being called light. They are not skimping on the cream and butter here. The pastas came relatively lightly sauced, but the sauce that was used was rich and full. I actually prefer less of a fantastic sauce than a ton of "low fat" or otherwise dumbed down sauce.

My shrimp and cognac spaghetti in a pink sauce was possibly the table favorite. The cognac gave the dish a pleasantly sweet fragrance and aftertaste, and the shrimp were fine and crunchy if not amazing. This went amazingly well with the sangiovese that our waiter highly recommended, which surprised everyone.

M had the seafood risotto, a special for tonight. Nicely done--a good introduction to risotto for him.

We shared the tiramisu for dessert. It was tangier than I'm used to (citrus? Tangy mascarpone?) and very airy. I think I like the school of mascarpone that's slightly denser with just a little more ladyfingers, and a dash more booze. All in all, an incredibly good meal for under $20 each.

I also visited CDM today to see the hotel's ballroom set up for a wedding. Coincidentally, the bride also used pink. The room looked lovely, but after seeing her arrangements I've made up my mind about a few things. First, I definitely want darker pink/fuschsia flowers. When every table is covered in white from top to floor, the room needs some colors to keep it from looking monochromatic. Second, I want an arrangement that's more structured than this. Some people appreciate the loose garden-like look--it just depends on personality. I want tighter construction because it looks more modern to me. I'm also leaning towards no scattered petals.

I was happy to see that the room looked gorgeous even though this bride was very conservative with decorations and flowers. Makes my life easier! I was also happy to see that CDM's linens, glasses, plates, and silverware were all a notch above normal hotel fare. An excellent scouting mission!

Grace Restaurant

Our current best friend, Cat, treated us to a fantastic dinner at Grace tonight. None of us had ever been, so it was one of those Los Angeles milestone meals for everyone.

Cat ordered the butter lettuce salad. We were a little disappointed by the iceberg-like appearance of the butter lettuce, but impressed by the smokiness of the large chunks of bacon.

Jimmy got the red wattle pork belly with dates and black rice. Isn't that just a fun name? His appetizer was enormous; the size I would expect an entree to be. This smelled so much like Chinese style braised pork belly that we were all drooling.

I had short ribs with snails. I thought it was hilarious that they use words like haricot verts on the menu, but just called them plain snails instead of escargots. The sauces on this dish were amazing. One white creamy sauce, another clear citrusy sauce, and a beefy thick pan sauce. Beef cubes, snails, and mushrooms were piled into the biggest hollowed out artichoke heart I've ever seen. It was pretty impressive, about the size of my fist.

Cat's entree was hilariously enormous. She got an entire pork shank, smokey roasted potatoes, and broccolini. I said it looked like a cave man's TV dinner.

J's plate of food was also huge. Cat and I split one chunk and he got through one more and all the polenta before crying uncle. After the pork belly entree there was no way he could have eaten all this.

I had the rare wild boar tenderloin on a bed of spatzle. I found it very interesting that the dish was covered in dill, which I associate with salmon. This is super delicious if you like something like thin sliced flank steak. Again, the sauce was fantastic

We were so stuffed we each took about half an entree home and shared the peanut butter cup dessert. I see why Grace's dessert menu gets huge kudos from the Los Angeles dining community. It wasn't too sweet, the peanut butter mousse inside tasted like lightly sweetened fresh ground peanuts (not like peanut butter!), the caramelized bananas were just barely crisped on top, and the presentation was whimsical but not fussy.

Lesson to self: Grace has some of the biggest portions I have seen in a long time. If most LA restaurants are like this, I fully understand why entree prices tend to be higher than in SF. We would all have been very happy with one appetizer and one dessert each plus a shared entree for the table, or two of each course for our table of three.

At just above $50 a head after tax but before tip, this was a fantastic meal. We all have lunch packed away for tomorrow, too! Jimmy and I contributed to the meal by choosing a 2001 Barolo off the wine list. It was quite lovely, but not as lovely as a Barolo I had that was hand selected by an Italian ex-pat (you know who you are, if you're reading!). Anyhow, it's time for bed, but much thanks to Cat!

Invites, again

I am tired after watching The Fountain, but how about like this?

Imagine the dark pink sheet is the envelope, the one to the right of it is the invite, and the others just come stacked behind it (RSVP, directions, etc).

I agree that it's not particularly weddingy, but I'm not particularly bridesy. And the stamp is supposedly a peony, which is a lucky Chinese flower. I dunno. It might work.

Don't abandon me. Tomorrow there will be a long Grace Restaurant post!

Invitations Galore

I never thought I'd want to make my own wedding invitations. I mean, it seems like the kind of occassion where you'd want to go all out and get a professional set of letterpress stationery made, right? Not the time to get all Martha Stewart on yourself. Then I ran into this set of problems:

• my mother ADAMANTLY refuses to pass out plain white or ivory invitations with black print. She says they look depressing and funereal. Okay, she's not totally off base on this one. White is a Chinese funeral color, so it would be akin to making your wedding invitations on black paper with gray ink. And I like colors too, so fine. Colors. Ha. Impossible in the States.
• expense. People spend $1000 for a set of 50 invitations! WTF? If I found $1000 on the ground I wouldn't pay that much for a stack of paper that people are going to throw into the trash.
• quality. On the other end of the spectrum, cheap invitations are of poorer paper quality than 99 cent greeting cards from Walgreen's. Also not suitable.

So, homemade. At least for a few hundred dollars I can make my invitations in heavy, high quality paper in the colors that I need. They won't be fancy, but I'm at my wit's end. So here we go. Feel free to vote, or to tell me to shut up and pay the $1000 like one friend did. I quote "One thousand's not that much!"

Wedding Planning Leaps and Bounds

I feel like I've accomplished a lot in the last few weeks in terms of planning. Yay!

But most exciting is what I found today at Marshall's: vintage-style candy jars! I was tossing around the idea of a candy buffet at the wedding, but unsure because of the extra work and cost involved. But I saw these at Marshall's, and after a return I had to make I basicaly paid a few dollars for them, so I thought I'd at least bring them home and think about it.

So here's the idea: for a long table bigger than my dining room table, I would spread these out and probably take out one or two and add some flat trays of chocolate truffles and confections. I would put small, un-wrapped candy (m&ms, Jelly Bellies) in the bowls along with metal bar scoops, and wrapped candy (Ferrer Rocher, pastel Asian candy) in the tall thin containers. Then I'd have some kind of opaque container for clear bags and ribbons.

And, just to sum things up, on the done list we have:

• Location and catering
• Cake
• Band
• Save the Date Cards (being shipped to me this week)
• Photographer (chosen but no deposit down yet)
• Lighting (selected, quoted, just don't know if I'm actually going to use him at all)

That covers all the big basics. Still on the to do list:

• Florist (I have five or six potentials)
• Invitations (appointment next week)
• Favors (but now it's looking like that will be the candy buffet)
• Dress (scheduled to be done in July)
• Bridesmaid dresses (my sisters promised to go shopping this weekend)
• Groomsmen's tuxes and accessories for groom (no rush)
• Relatives' outfits (parents, grandparents--not my problem but I should check on them)
• Other paper (placecards, table numbers, programs and menus if any)
• Logistics and assignments for the day
• Hotel recommendations
• Pre-wedding events for out of town guests
• a bunch of other stuff that I'm probably blanking on right now

Green Papaya Salad

The first time I tried to make green papaya salad it was a total disaster, so I'm happy to report better results this time.

First, you have to find a very firm green papaya beceause they taste more like a cucumber than a fruit. If you don't, it'll be this in between thing that tastes sort of like fruit and sort of like vegetable. Peel the papaya, then cut it in half and hollow out the seeds. With a very sharp vegetable peeler. shave off paper thin ribbons of the papaya. You can leave the stripes wide, or stack them and cut them into strings. I like a little of both.

For the sauce, I used an eight of a cup of a fish sauce that has chili flakes in it, a teaspoon of sugar, a crushed garlic clove, and the juice of half a lime. There should also be carrot slivers and crushed peanuts. Sometimes, less is all I have in the kitchen!

And, a pretty pretty picture. A florist showed me this amaryllis bouquet. I really like it and I think it would actualy complement my dress very well, but part of me still thinks a big white bouquet is super boring, especially when I'm already wearing a big white dress. Also, I'm a little scared the blossoms will be so big they'll overwhelm me. I don't want to look like a little kid carrying a giant bouquet!

Beautiful San Francisco

San Francisco really is a beautiful place.

Classic tourist shot of the road up to Fort Point, underneath the south end of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Looking back at the city from Fort Point. The dome is The Palace of Fine Arts, where a lot of people go to see the swan pond and take pictures.

San Francisco is also full of surprises. We always knew there was a series of above ground walkways connecting the Embarcadero business and shopping centers, but we didn't know how far the walkways extended out to residential areas. Basically, you could live entire weeks above ground. We saw restaurants, homes, a gym, a dentist's office, and even a Safeway could be reached from above ground even though it was on ground level.

The ever-present fog, rolling in above the Transamerica pyramid.

J calls this the prison building and is convinced evil robots work inside. I just like the fountain.

A set of stairs from the above ground world down into the regular world.

The Ferry Building in the distance, filled with culinary delights.

I found this Kate Spade stationery during my trip. I really like how simple but cheerful it is. But I'm not avant garde enough to go for green wedding invitations, so I'll have to pass.

An Ode to SF: the Longest Post--Ever!

Get out your keyboard slobber guards, readers! This is going to be possibly the longest post I've ever written. J and I took a last minute long weekend trip up to SF, and boy was a lot of food eaten.

Day 1: I had myself a $4 breakfast while sitting behind the Ferry Building, looking out over the bay and Bay Bridge on a sunny morning. An unusually large apricot and unusually small peach were both perfectly ripe and sweet; the ACME baguette was flawless as usual, and a Calvin Trillin anecdotal book about eating was the perfect easy read. People complain about how expensive the Ferry Building is, but for $4 I had a very filling breakfast that was cheaper and healthier than any fast food breakfast.

An afternoon snack of formage blanc and a free pamphlet about Bay Area agriculture.

Met my friend Nancy for lunch at the OSHA Thai in the Embarcadero center. I'm happy to see OSHA Thai doing so well; their newer branhes are very swanky business lunch type places. The eggplant and beef was spicy and tender.

The green papaya salad had some big shrimp and plenty of fish sauce. Always a favorite.

I met up with J later and he hadn't eaten yet, so we went to Spices I and he had pork chop over rice. I think theirs is the best rendition of Taiwanese pork chop over rice in SF.

I helped J polish off a plate of stinky deep fried tofu

We met Lisa for drinks at The Four Seasons. I had a passionfruit drink that I enjoyed but L and J both found too sour. L had what is still my favorite: The Frost Bite with Inniskillin ice wine and a bowl of grapes. Always classy, Four Seasons' drinks came complete with a dish of wasabi peanuts and black olive and embroidered cloth napkins and coasters.

Dinner with N at Pearl's Burgers followed. Mmmm...buffalo. I don't care that a meal for three cost less than two drinks at The Four Seasons--they were each worth it in their own way.

SHOUT OUT TO THE HIDDEN VINE! Angela and Dave's little business seems to be thriving, and the two of them are as lovely and helpful as always. I've said it before and I'll say it again--Angela has a gift for describing wine in laymen's terms, and for recommending the perfect wine based on what you tell her you're in the mood for. A bunch of us met for wine tasting and had a blast. I don't think there's any wine bar in the city with such reasonable prices.

The next morning, we had a little dim sum to go for breakfast, just for old time's sake.

I wandered over to Delessio for breakfast. Look at those adorable mini cupcakes! I love that they make really unique flavor combinations. It reminds me how much more worth it Delsssio is than Sprinkles, which has giant dry cupcakes with tons of gritty overly sugary frosting. I call that too much of a bad thing. Delessio's cupcakes are small and expensive, but every bite is delicious. I was especially impressed by the sight of frosting with real mint bits in it. I'm going to try that some time.

I had a latte and an eclair. The eclair was good but not the best thing I've had at Delessio. Bread pudding, tarts, and any of their cakes are easily better than the eclair. The latte is still pretty darned good.

I couldn't resist a shot of this table of tower cakes being prepared for the day. I can't believe they sell this many in one day. The chocolate tower cake is one of my favorites in SF--incredibly dense chocolate cake filled and topped with ganache, and decorated with bendy shards of dark chocolate. It's a masterpiece, but so moise and intensely flavored I'd love it even if it weren't beautiful. They come in triangles, squares, and rectangles depending on how big you want it.

I wandered around and found myself having not eaten lunch at 2:00, and I had wandered surprisingly close to Jeanty at Jack's so I stopped in there for some steak tartare and frites. I love that Jeanty is open all day (no break for lunch) so it's always an option if I'm near the financial district or Chinatown. My server was nice enough to bring me a taste of wine even though I declined a full glass because I can't drink more than half a glass of wine at lunch without getting sloshed. This little bit was just enough to make my lunch special.

I ordered a creme caramel for dessert but didn't like it at all. There was a thick skin over the top which made me suspect it was less than fresh. When my server asked me how I liked it I mentioned it to him and he whisked it away and took it off the bill. Along with the wine, this type of service is what I love about SF. I didn't have to complain, I didn't have to make a big deal, I was asked how I liked something and my response was immediately respected and I was taken care of as a customer. Naturally, his tip was larger than usual, but I still came out more ahead than if he had charged me for something I truly didn't enjoy.

J wanted to go to Spices I--AGAIN. We just got some steamed stinky tofu to snack on in the car. I also picked up some princess cake from Schubert's to take to our friend's house. Delicious, as always! They were mangled in the car, so no photos.

Dinner was at Lucky River: It was a hectic dinner with non f00dies and frankly a little disappointing, so I didn't whip out the camera. A bunch of Chowhounds went to this restaurant and gave it glowing reviews, but a few things went wrong for us. Service was terrible; normally I don't care but my dinner guests make a big deal of such things so it sort of created tension all around. We didn't have enough people to order a set menu for 10, so we didn't get to try the same menu as posted on CH. And people had their own ideas of what they wanted to eat, so by the time everyone had input there really wasn't a way for me to add the five or so dishes I really wanted without way over ordering. So final consensus was that there was some good and some bad, but not great.

Car snacks. I picked up a bag of lychees in the Richmond and ate them during long rides in the car. I'm like a child--I need to be entertained so I don't ask "are we there yet?"

Lunch at Zuni. We started out with littleneck and Manila clams. The littlenecks are better raw.

Possibly the best bloody mary in town. The bartender disclosed that the base is a blend of Knudsen's tomato juice and boiled down tomatoes for texture.

Roast chicken, of course. The bread salad wasn't as moist this time, but the chicken was outstanding as usual.

We had this funny pasta. It's like a rolled up square. The duck sugo was nice, but totally overpowered by our other dishes. We should have had it come out first.

The pork chop was also a crowd pleaser. A nice thick cut, cooked just right.

In the interest of hitting more places in one day, we skipped dessert at Zuni and headed to Citizen Cake. Some might say that was a bad idea, but oh well. The latte was pretty uninspired. No foam or crema to speak of.

Root beer was fine but their vanilla gelato is a little too sweet for me.

Our cakes, waiting to be served. T got the Love Letter which tasted like a strawberry shortcake. I got something "Provence," which had lavendar chocolate mousse, chocolate cake, and a layer of citrus marmalade. Interesting flavor combination, but not strong enough for me. The only time I've been wowed by a Citizen Cake was at a birthday party. They had this really fluffy, lightly lemony cake with fresh strawberry filling. Maybe Citizen Cake's a one trick pony.

T, Diet Coke Queen, made a snack of the new Diet Coke Plus. I'd never heard of it before. It's vitamin fortified, of all gimmicks. I had a coconut green tea at TeazMe.

Dinner for 10 at Pesce somehow ballooned out to 12. I forgot to add someone's fiance, and D said "What do you mean I didn't RSVP? When you send me an invitation, I would never dream of declining." Nice save, buddy. Food was good, as usual. Arugula and fennel salae, a surprisingly good Dungeness risotto rice cake, the famous octopus salad, and some smoked salmon.

A round of Hama Hama and Miyagi oysters.

A round of oyster shooters. How could these not be alcoholic? Grrr...

A surprise favorite. Polenta with gorgonzola, and bits of potatoes and crispy pancetta. The polenta varied in texture from soupy to firm, which was actually wonderful.

Shrimp and vegetables. Good, but nothing unique.

Lamb shanks. I do enjoy my lamb shanks completely falling off the bone, but I appreciated that they were able to retain some of the lamb shank's texture while achieving fork tenderness. We had a bunch of other dishes, but with 12 people all gunning for food it was dangerous for me to force them to wait while I clicked. Olive gnocchi had an intense black olive flavor but was a little too gummy for me, the salmon over arugula was a huge hit (see, people, wild IS better), and the whole snapper disappeared in no time flat.

Disappointingly, there was no tiramisu for dessert. Most of us got the millefoglie, which was puff pastry filled with strawberries, whipped cream, and zabaglione. Light, not too sweet, and refreshing.

The coppa valentino was the second most popular dessert. A standard, makes-you-yearn-for-your-childhood sundae, topped with almonds and wafers.

The surprise dessert winner for the night was the budino and caramel. It was a delicious bread puding covered in vanilla gelato. Yum.

Service was phenomenal at Pesce. Our servers juggled our double orders (two of everything, please!) and later additions (we want lamb shank too!). Additionally, one of our party made the terrible mistake of ordering what was called a Hemingway Daiquiri--does Hemingway seem to you the type of a man who would ever have publicly ordered something called a daiquiri? It tasted like vodka watered down with cough syrup. Our waitress took it away and brought back something else, all smiles. My friend, a New Yorker, looked at me with awe. "I would never have thought of doing that" she said. I actually wouldn't normally do it either, but she really did look miserable and a few others took sips and agreed it was vile. When you drop $60 a head in San Francisco, you are allowed at least one drink substitute for your table of 12. Like I said, it's classy town.

We stopped in Van Nuys on the way home for some groceries and had dinner at Pho So1. Not a bad combination pho at all, and a delicious frozen durian shake. I had the preserved lemon soda.

Layers Design Studio and Cake Divas

Second deposit down! First was the hotel, today was the band. The florist, photographer, lighting company, bakery, invitations, favors, and little odds and ends all seem like small potatoes in comparison to those biggies. Some fun today came in the form of free cake!

I picked up tasting boxes from Layers Design Studio in Sherman Oaks and Cake Divas in Culver City (yes, of Food Network fame). Display cakes were equally beautiful at both places, but I forgot my camera! Layers wins for presentation of sample boxes.

The cakes, however, were much too sweet for me. The only one that was not too sugary was the white cake with berry jam filling. I actually really loved the spice cake and banana cake, but to me those are breakfast foods rather than for after dinner at a party.

I think I like the cake at Cake Divas better. I'm going to take a break and compare them again later with a fresh palate, but so far I LOVE the lemon cake with passion fruit mousse filling. Isn't it fun how they have a few cubes of each flavor and the frosting separate so you can mix and match? The owner also said that since I don't have much of a sweet tooth, she suggests the almond cake with an almond mousse. Less sugar, with intense almond flavor. I think with a raspberry filling, that would come close to princess cake--my favorite!

So so far, Cake Divas is the front runner for cakes. Great flavors, not too sweet for a non-Asian bakery, generous portions (their 100 person cake looks like other people's 125 person cakes), super nice staff, beautiful designs, plus they're on Casa Del Mar's official vendor list so working with them should be easy.

Okra Curry, Two Ways

I made a simple vegetarian curry today for dinner. Served over rice, it's a meal by itself. We had some chicken as well.


The dish starts off vegan:

• 15 or so baby potatoes, or one large russet cubed, cooked and drained
• 2 cups of garbanzo beans, cooked and drained
• a quart of okra (about 2 lbs? It's very flexible)
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 3 tablespoons garam masala
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne, or more if you like the heat
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• black pepper
• salt
• heavy cream (optional

Tip: cook the garbanzo beand until almost done, add salt, and throw the potatoes into the same pot. That way the beans and potatoes are cooked in only one pot, and they come out lightly salted.

Sautee the garam masala, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, onions and garlic in a little oil, then add the okra and sautee until the okra is a little crisp and brown around the edges. Add the garbanzo beans, potatoes, and just enough water to almost cover everything (less is better here). Stir together and bring to a boil. Taste for salt and pepper, then let simmer for ten minutes covered. Un-cover and cook until the consistency is what you want. Taste for seasoning.

Add half a cup of heavy cream if you want a creamy version. Diced chicken is good too! Serve either over rice.

Of Birds and Fish

Today we went to Sea Harbor (again!) for J's grandparents' anniversary. For once, we were able to convince the adults not to order a million seafood items! Shocking that we wouldn't want seafood, isn't it? But in all honesty, we've been to the restaurant over 10 times now and almost alwys eaten the same things. It was time for a change.

And change we did! I loved the tray of quails we had. I forgot to take a photo before I bit off a piece (on the left of the body). The kung pao something or other in the background has nothing to do with the quail. I don't know who ordered it but I had one bite and moved on to bigger and better dishes.

Deep-fried to a crisp and served with a cluster of heads in the center of the platter. For those who haven't had the pleasure, quail head that's been fried to a crisp can be eaten whole, sans beak. The brain is creamy and flavorful, almost like a mouthful of pate. If you hate liver, don't try this.

Dinner after the huge lunch was necessarily light. We poached chunks of monkfish in water and chicken stock, along with gojiberries, dried jujubes, and lots of ginger.

Summertime Libations

Summer is for drinking, and we've made a few interesting new drinks this week that I thought I'd share.

This is a classic mojito. Tear up six or seven large mint leaves, and crush with a teaspoon of sugar. Add the juice of one lime, a shot of good white rum, pour over a glass of ice, and top off with club soda to taste.

I hate to admit I stole this idea from Martha Stewart, but cherries are cheap and delicious right now so I tried it. Pit seven or so cherries and let sit in a shot of vodka for at least ten minutes. Flavored vodka is fine; I used ginger. Add a teaspoon of simple syrup or sugar, juice of half a lime, and top off with club soda.

Ah, an adult chocolate mint milkshake. One shot of Godiva dark chocolate liquer, a few drops of peppermint oil, and two shots of half and half (nonfat is a great thing to use here). It looks fun layered, but remember to stir before drinking!

And, J's new pride and joy: absinthe. No, we didn't have someone smuggle it in from Europe. This is an American version that doesn't use the type of wormwood that is banned in the US for its unproven hallucinogenic qualities. You mix the absinthe with some ice water and sugar and it becomes a creamy green color instead of clear like it is here. It does have a pleasant aroma, and the flavor isn't as objectionable as I'd thought it'd be. But I just don't like the taste of black licorice.

Random Photos

Here's a plate of escolar (aka. white tuna) from Daichan Kaiten.

I love escolar. It's an intensely creamy, silky fish with a fresh oceany flavor. It's definitely one of my favorite kinds of sashimi. Don't eat too much though! Because of the high fat content, you will get the runs.

But it's not always conveyor belt sushi and ice cream sundaes for us. Usually we eat like normal people. I ate cabbage, fermented tofu, and porridge at least three times this week.

One night, we just had some Chinese mustard greens...

...and the last of our Korean style marinated ribs, cut into slices and sauteed with onions and green onions to use up the stuff left in our fridge.

Decisions, Decisions (Van's Bakery)

Today we had a fun OC day (more photos later). We ended up at the Westminster branch of Van's Bakery, and I saw this cake:

This is not to say I love it and it's my idea of perfect, but I do like it a lot. So I'm thinking if I got one without the lowest layer, no little silver balls, a solid ribbon, and about half as many flowers, I could be really happy with this cake. And even after the hotel's service charge for outside bakeries, it's about the same price as the hotel's vendor for about two or three times as much cake.

So what do you think, readers? Obviously I have to try the cake, but if both places have relatively delicious cake, wouldn't it be more fun to have a giant cake? I think the cake from Cake Divas (ordered through the hotel) would be like the second, third, and fourth layers on this cake or a little smaller.

Anyone Need a Band?

Cherries are great this year, and $5 for two sacks is even better. I think it was easily three pounds. But skip this post if you're only interested in food. It's a selfish ploy to save money on my part.

After much research, I've decided my favorite wedding band choice is Fifth Avenue Music (aka. Fifth Avenue Orchestras). These are the reasons:

• Their musicians are fantastic. By that, I mean they have both stellar singers and amazing instrumentalists. A lot of bands will at least try to have good singers because most people can tell between a good and bad singer, but taking the extra step to have musicians who really know their instruments takes it to a whole other level for me. The saxophonist at 5th Avenue really blew me away.


• They have singers that can cover the styles I really care about, which would be old standards, contemporary indie rock type music, classic old school rock, and some latin salsa type music just for fun. They have singers that can cover reggae, rap, and all the decades starting from the 30s.


• They have many sized bands to choose from: anywhere from five to twelve pieces, at give or take $700 a piece. Prices go up during busy season and down during slow season, so don't hold me to that number.


• They provide reasonably priced cocktail hour music, a master of ceremonies to make basic announcements throughout the night, and a DJ to play during the band's breaks so that at no point will there be just a plain old CD popped in to play for fifteen minutes.


• A couple of stellar reviews. The first was from a theknot.com user, the other is from a Chowhound Angeleno. Both said the band was really easy to work with and received many compliments from the guests. More importantly, the band and MC were able to get guests up and moving.


• The owner of Fifth Avenue, Jack Bielan, was incredibly helpful during our first interview. He used to work in the recording industry, and was also a musician. Therefore, he not only knows how to manage a band, he also knows his music theory. He was able to clearly explain what makes a band great, how he assembles his bands, what works and what doesn't, and to offer suggestions for cost saving without sacrificing quality. At the same time, he was not overly salesmanly in any way, and truly seemed enthusiastic about his work.

But the point of all this is this: if anyone needs a band in the upcoming year, give Fifth Avenue a try and tell them I referred you! I've been promised a referral discount, so I'm putting it out there. Some other bands I've researched and rejected are: Chuck Wansley Band, West Coast Music, Good Vibrations, The Vibe, Dwight Kennedy, and Bob Gail Productions. The reasons vary, but are probably one of the following: too expensive, only had very large bands available, poor quality of musicians, or did not do a good job of getting back to me. Rembrandt and Evening Entertainment are still in the running, but we'll see what happens in terms of bargaining between the three places. Thank you, as always, for indulging me.

Kaiten-Sushi Daichan

Last night we went with my sister and her boyfriend to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant on the second floor of The Olympic Collection on Sawtelle.

Fun huh? The belt moves quickly, and you have to too!

The menu says it all: look, like, and take! You can also order items off the menu if they're not coming around on the conveyor belt. Consenses: not too shabby for cheap sushi! I think it's the kind of place where if you go a few times, you'll figure out what's the best bang for your buck. As first timers, we spent about $18 each. But I think with more careful eating, we could easily eat for $10-15.

The funny thing about Daichan is that price seems to be determined by labor involved rather than cost of ingredients. So our favorite dish of the night, escolar nigiri (not pictured), was only $2 a plate. However, a California roll with avocadoes and unagi on top was $4.50 because it obviously involves more labor to make. Guess what I'm going to eat more of next time?

And some bragging. Claire put me on a bicep regimen for this month. I admit I could have been better about hitting the gym this month, but there's still some improvement. Look at that cut coming in between my deltoid and bicep! The weather's just been so nice I've been enjoying running outside instead.

It's HERE!

It's here!

I don't even know why I'm so excited. I've never loved video games, and I'm probably the only person I know who never owned any kind of video game console growing up. But still, it's so pretty.

Anyhow, since this is a short post, I'll also post a question. I'm starting a little project, and I need to remind myself both what my favorite recipes are, and what other people have loved from this site. So, dear readers, what homemade dishes from this site have you found the most interesting, memorable, unique, or delicious looking? Thanks in advance!

Busy Wednesday

My Bridesmaid #1 (she prefers that title to maid of honor) showed up with a handful of magnolias yesterday. She picked them at her friend's house. I love magnolias. So big and buttery looking! Bridesmaid #1 joined me today for a flurry of activity. We met the person who's making my dress downtown to shop for dress supplies, then stopped at Orochon for lunch.

The tofu was just okay, not silken enough to be mistaken for fresh made.

Orochon is definitely not as good as it was a year ago. Their noodles are more like spaghetti noodles now, the broth is murky and has muddled flavors, and they put green bell peppers in it. The fried rice today was wetter than usual. Overall, an okay meal but nothing to return for when Daikokuya is just across the way. We got take out for my sister's boyfriend and dropped it off a his office.

Then we went to MILK without him and had a banana split. They sub out the strawberry for banana ice cream, but I love MILK's homemade banana ice cream so it was great. I think next time I'd want chocolate/strawberry/banana though, and forego the vanilla because it's overpowered by the other flavors anyway.

Then, we accomplished the biggest task of the day: we found fabric for my dress! I wanted an off-white dupioni silk or silk taffeta, and I've been having a hard time getting the exact shade, texture, and thickness. Last week I thought I'd found it, but when I took home a sample piece I realized it looks gray in artifial light. So this time, I took pictures of the dress in the sun, in the shade, in a dark corner of the store, with and without flash. All the photos look great! It's got a nice shine to it, and a little texture without being too coarse.

Here's my lovely sister, modeling the fabric with a little drape. It's very wrinkly but that's because we were playing with it a lot. We both agreed after looking around the mall later that the wedding dresses at department stores are made out of inferior fabric.

We wandered around the mall a little after that, looking for wedding inspiration but getting distracted by summer sales. This wall of bowls at Anthropologie caught my kitchen-loving eye. Claire, your mom would love this (she collects these). Does she have all these colors yet?

Racking the Beer

I finished the second step of brewing today: racking the beer. Basically, the wort (unfermented mixture of grains, malt, hops, and yeast) has sat for a week and turned into baby beer. You can tell here that the beer is still opaque, but it should clear up more in another two weeks during the secondary fermentation. I also made the mistake of not putting the hose under the level of the beer to avoid too much aeration. I don't know how much that will affect my final product, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. The beer was dribbling down the side, not splashing directly in, so let's hope for the best.

You can see yeast crusted around the edges here while I use an auto siphon to direct the beer into the glass container. It looks disgusting, but it actually smelled pretty good! It smells like a medium bodied wheat beer, but extra sharp because it needs to ferment and mellow more.

This is the crust of yeast left at the bottom of the bucket. It was pretty gross, but not at all hard to wash off.

In under two weeks, we will be bottling!

Sweet Pupusas

I don't know the real name of these things, but they were delicious.

There's a rather locally renown food cart that sits outside of California Market on Oxford in Koreatown. They only sell one flavor of one item, and it's a dough filled with cinnamon, brown sugar, and crushed peanuts. The effect is rather like a dessert pupusa filled with hot syrupy melted brown sugar. Today they were just finishing frying the outside when we got in line, so they were actually too hot to eat and very crisp around the edges and tender on the inside. I actually almost got burnt by melted brown sugar. I wonder if it thickens up to more of a dense filling when it cools; I gobbled it up too quickly to find out.

In wedding news, my sister gave me her second draft of a possible design to use on a wedding invitation. She picked the flower on her own based on the color I wanted, but she coincidentally chose one of my favorite flowers of all time: the dahlia. I took this photo before she finished coloring the leaves a sage (slightly gray) green.

And, a moment of bragging. I am the happy new owner of a Kipling Emma shoulder bag in cream. It was my birthday present from my mom. She knows I love big ol' bags, and this one easily has enough room for shoes and a change of clothes. That means it's a great overnight bag but also good for lugging around my usual water bottle and sweater. It also has three compartments and is lined in a lavendar pattern. So pretty!

I'm now eagerly awaiting J's present. It's not like he forgot. For those who don't know our funny rules, arbitrary events don't deserve gifts in our book. We don't shop for each other for birthdays, Christmas, or Valentine's day because those are arbitrary events forced upon people by society. Celebrating for the sake of being like everyone else always seems silly. Non-arbitrary events that are worth celebrating include graduations, weddings, anniversaries, promotions, and other times when you're actually celebrating someone's choices or accomplishments. Presents can also be bought for reason other than "I thought this was awesome and that you would want it." So to make a long story short, we found something awesome that we both want, and it happened right after my birthday, so this year I get a really cool present. I can't wait for it to arrive!

Mysterious Bubbles...

Some of you already know what this is, but can anyone guess?

Youtube's retarded and won't give me the right html code to publish the video here, so click here to watch!