UCC Cafe

I gotta say, LA needs more casual cafes where one can get a quick bite that's either salty or sweet. UCC in Rowland, off Fairway in the Lee Hing Hwa plaza, is a lovely little spot. My mom stopped in for an afternoon snack after running some wedding errands (and getting facials!).

Masago over spaghetti with lightly cooked cuttlefish. This is the kind of thing that can be easily screwed up by un-fresh or overcooked cuttlefish, but UCC did a lovely job. It had a sweet seafood flavor without being too salty.

My mom had the Ceylon tea that came with the spaghetti, and I had some Sumiyama coffee. UCC has great coffee! They siphon drip everything, and this fragrant cup of joe was more sweet and smooth than even my beloved Peet's. My only complaint: $3.50 for a very small cup.

What's this for, you ask?

Dessert crepe! We asked for the strawberry sauce on the side. Their crepes were on the thick side, and it's not the season for fresh fruit, but I really can't complain about a blob of good vanilla ice cream and some fresh tasting strawberry topping.

A lovely afternoon snack for $22. Try getting that in West LA. Plus, the place is really chic and has free WiFi.

Oyster Pancakes and Chi Pao and Pearls...Oh My!

Today I went to a restaurant with a very funny name: Pa Pa Walk. In Chinese, it means "crawling" and kind of has a cutesy connotation like waddling along or wiggling like a baby does. It has nothing to do with food though, so who knows.

Who cares what the name of the place is when they have oyster pancakes! They also had great papaya milkshakes. I wanted to try a lot of their specialty items like stinky tofu, beef noodle soup, chicken strip rice, fried chicken rice, fried pork chop rice, and so on. But a girl's only got so much room (sadly).

Most girls would be horrified by the notion of chi pao shopping right after lunch. If ever there were an unforgiving dress shape, the chi pao's got it. But I really had no hopes of finding anything I liked after hating hundreds of chi pao in many many stores. Shockingly, this store had a handful that weren't hideous, and one that I truly loved.

It's impossible to tell in photos, but something about this chi pao just says "elegant evening wear" rather than "cheap polyester costume." The silk is softer and smoother, and there's a layer of very thin batting between the outer fabric and the lining so that the dress has a subtle cushy feeling. And the detail work along the collar is exquisite. It's true what they say: when you see it, you know.

I found my necklace too (NOT this one)! It's being adjusted by the jeweler and I forgot to take photos of it. It's from the same line as the necklace above, but with white and gold pearls because it's for my ivory gown. I love when jewelers do something with pearls other than single pendants and full strands, especially when they incorporate some diamonds for a little sparkle!

One Bowl Cupcakes

Unquestionably still one of my favorite recipes: Martha's one bowl chocolate cupcakes.


I mean, the recipe is near perfect. It's quick, easy, uses ingredients that are easy to keep on hand, and tastes divine. This time, I took photos of the cupcakes while they basked in the warmth of my oven. It just looks so homey and delicious.

My Black Friday (actually Saturday) find for the year: a lofty, plush comforter. It's fleece on one side and sueded microfiber on the other. I'm a big wimp when it comes to winter, so I'm gonna need it.

Iridesse, You May be It!

I've been considering a lot of different options for wedding jewelry: pearls, diamonds, faux, real, purchase, rental, new, heirloom...and nothing. Everything in my price range is all wrong. The pretty stuff is too plain for a bride, and the flashy things are hideously gaudy. Even very expensive diamonds aren't quite right, because a whole necklace of diamonds just seems very hard and cold. I much prefer the warmth and fluidity of freshwater pearls.

In came Iridesse. They're only four years old, and the baby sister of Tiffany & Co. Someone at Tiffany wanted to branch into pearls, and they decided to market a whole new company instead of selling the products in Tiffany stores. I love that they're doing something more interesting with pearls than pendants and strangs. This set in particular caught my eye.

The matching earrings were very short and not quite right, but the salesgirl said she'd try and find these in white gold. I think they're much better! Bear in mind that in real life all of these pieces are quite small and subtle, with a little flash from the diamond cut technique used on the hand woven white gold.

Battle of the Watches

After weeks of searching, we've narrowed down J's watch search to two models:

The Tag Heuer Carrera Twin Time was J's first choice. It has a fourth hand that marks a second time zone, has a clean classic face, and has a clear back through which he can admire the automatic movement.

Then, the more he talked to watch-loving friends, the more open he was to the idea of complications (those small circles all over the face). Tags with complications are chunky and heavy, but the Omega Speedmaster Day-Date is a great choice with a band almost identical to the one on the Tag. Most complications are, in my book, useless. The Omega's are actually reasonably functional: one marks the day of the week and the month, another acts as a stopwatch, and the third does something slightly more useless like tell you whether it's day or night. An extra hand also shows the time in a second time zone, so this watch has all of the Carrera's functions and then some.

Both are beautiful men's watches made by reputable companies. Does anyone have experience with either model or either brand? I am biased because Omega is a much more recognized brand in Asia, but I feel like the Omega looks like a more grownup watch that J can grow into. Tags tend to have a younger, sportier look (that doesn't always translate in photos but is pretty apparent in person). The Carrera also looks pretty much like his current Fossil, though it costs ten times more.

Ketchup Fried Rice

Mmmm, fried rice. Fast food of the Chinese.

Yes, I'm one of those disgustingly Americanized Chinese children who likes ketchup on her fried rice. I hadn't made fried rice in over a year. I wonder why. It's one of my favorite "meal in one pan" dinners, and it keeps well for a day or two. Must remember to make more fried rice. Note: ketchup is only served on fried rice that has sausages, peas, carrots, and eggs. Never on fancier fried rice (the kinds with fish or expensive vegetables).

Phoenix Bakery

I'm a big fan of Phoenix Bakery, even though I think "bakery" is a misnomer. It should be Phoenix Desserts, because they don't actually served many baked goods. Instead, they have a lot of other interesting Chinese desserts: interesting flavors of pudding and custards, shaved ice, layered dessert drinks, etc. This last trip I had black glutinous rice with young coconut chunks and coconut milk. Delicious, but a bit too sweet for my taste. My mom had a clear sweet soup with harsmar (you don't want to know), dried jujubes, and lotus seeds. I liked hers a lot; the harsmar were HUGE!

In (yet again) wedding related news, I found these cool corsage magnets (ignore the plastic rectangle). They're designed for ladies whose dresses are made out of material too delicate to subject to the jabbing of a corsage pin.

And (and this is an important one) we found J's mom and outfit! It's a classic St. John's suit, in what they call hydrangea with silver accents. I found the shoes today when I was out. I don't know if she'll like them, but Nordstrom was having its anniversary sale so I snatched them up while I could. What other color shoe would possibly match? I thought a medium/dark gray in satin would work.

Thanksgiving Countdown

Can you believe it's only a week until Thanksgiving?! I essentially have a month left to plan my wedding, and I feel like I have a lot of stuff left to nail down! Oh well, no time for that now, a meal has to be planned! We have a few close families with whom we celebrate most holidays, so a big food holiday like Thanksgiving is a big deal indeed. This year we are looking at:

• A Chinese style turkey from Sam Woo.
• An American style roast turkey, brined per Alton Brown's instructions.
• A slow roasted prime rib
• some kind of seafood (mussels, clams, crabs, or lobsters)
• Matzoh ball soup
• Cranberry sauce
• Turkey gravy
• Mashed potatoes
• Ham hock and garlic braised collard greens
• Glazed sweet potatoes
• Grilled asparagus (or some other green)
• Chocolate mousse
• Some kind of purchased cake
• A magnum of bubbly, hard cider, red wine, and assorted sodas

Fraiche and Some Other Stuff

After a grueling day of shopping, J's parents took us to Fraiche for dinner. Unfortunately, we didn't have reservations and had to eat at the bar, so we were restricted to the bar and appetizer menus. Food included both good and bad dishes, but both desserts were wonderful.

The Pear Tartine was the crowd favorite. Deliciously ripened pears baked on top of paper thin layers of crispy dough and paired with a mouth smackingly intense homemade butterscotch ice cream.

The flourless chocolate cake and chocolate mousse was deep and dark, and would have been even better on a more empty stomach.

Bling! I was supposed to be shopping for J's watch, but somehow got distracted by diamond necklaces instead. It's silly, but fun.

These are for real. A small beaded clutch and a faux pearl brooch. I'm taking both to my fitting tomorrow to see if they match my dress.

Fogo?

So as you might have guessed, I love to eat meat, especially beef. So naturally, when considering welcome dinner options for our Taiwanese wedding guests, this Beverly Hills restaurant came to mind:

One of the most memorable meat-intensive meals I've ever had was at Fogo de Chao Chicago. I was so impressed by the quality of the over a dozen types of meat, and blown away that a salad bar could have so many delicious fruits and high quality vegetables. It wasn't even a salad bar in the traditional sense. It was more like a "meat accompaniments" bar. We ate so much we walked over five miles home to our friend's apartment and didn't feel tired or hungry.

So even though I've never been, Fogo Beverly Hills is a top contender for a pre-wedding family get together for these reasons:

• they have a private room that seats 20-35 guests.
• the pace of eating can be as fast or slow as people like, leaving plenty of time for socializing. This is, after all, my time to catch up with my relatives as well as a chance for our two families to get to know each other before the wedding.
• the restaurant is large, spacious, relatively new, and beautiful.
• the food is unique and there's nothing like it in Taiwan, but it's mostly simply grilled meats so there won't be strange flavors or unfamiliar items.
• the quality of food and service, if it's like the Chicago branch's, is excellent.
• it's pricey, but the price per person is set going in and is in the middle range of Los Angeles possibilities.

Another possibility is always a Chinese banquet because the food is so delicious, but:

• it's just as expensive as Fogo if you want to order anything exciting and unusual.
• ambiance is bleh and the restaurants are always crowded and noisy.
• even if you have a private room, you feel rushed into eating as soon as each dish hits the table
• there's no concept of lingering over a meal or hanging out afterwards to enjoy each other's company (dessert? coffee? huh?).
• these people are coming from Taiwan. They've had better.

Hiatus

Sorry, dear readers! I'm probably going to be out of commission for the next week or so (or at least there won't be photos). But I do have some fabulous things to say about the K&L Bubbly Event shehulk and I went to yesterday! I'm so glad I squeezed out the time to enjoy the afternoon with her. The short list of our favorites from the classic champagne houses:

• 1999 Moet & Chandon Cuvee Dom Perignon Brut
• 1998 Perrier Jouet "Fleur de Champagne Belle Epoque"
• 1998 Veuve Clicquot "La Grande Dame"
• 2000 Roederer "Cristal" Brut (!)

And a few lovely wines at a more reasonable price point:

• Ayala Brut Zero
• Phillipe Gonet Rose

I still love my Piper Hiedsieck Extra Dry Brut for $26, but it was fantastic trying wines priced at $50, $100, $150, and $200+. The Cristal alone was a hoot to try. As shehulk says "It's so smooth I can see why people want to rap about it." LOL, that girl's a hoot. But actually, Cristal was not my favorite bubbly of the afternoon. Maybe I tried it too late in the day, maybe it was so smooth as to be less interesting than other wines, maybe knowing it cost $240 a bottle killed the experience for me. I'd rather have the Belle Epoque or Dom any day (preferably more than one!)

Plenty of food and sweets were catered by CUBE and Jin Patisserie. Note to bubbly lovers: Langres is a fantastic cow's milk cheese for bubbly. And I've been converted to more of a Jin fan after trying their lavendar macaroons and chocolate pudding.