Stuff

Monday, March 22, 2010


If you haven't noticed, I've been super lazy about blogging. Briefly, here are some random things I've been up to.

I made homemade pizza this weekend with Monkey's pizza crust recipe, a ridiculously easy tomato sauce recipe, and reduced moisture mozzarella cheese. Yum!




I spent a good portion of the weekend gardening. There was LOTS of work to be done. Still not quite finished but I'm getting close. Here's a look at the little peaches growing on the Japanese peach tree my mom gave me last year. Can't wait to consume.


Yoga has gone into overtime. Yesterday, I did viparita shalabasana for the first time. I had a little blanket under my chest to help me get into it. Amazingly, my legs stayed straight up pretty comfortably. Then I bent my legs into scorpion style and touched my feet to my head. Yay!



Also, last Thursday, I was able to grab my ankles in urdvha dhanurasana with the teacher's help. Unfortunately, I couldn't hold longer than a couple seconds since I felt like my back was going to break. Looking forward to trying it again.


This Wed, I'll probably skip class since they're planning to do 108 sun salutations to welcome spring (it's tradition). Aside from the fact that it sound incredibly painful, my right wrist has been bothering me a lot and I don't want to risk an injury. Instead, I'll do my own practice at home and hopefully revisit some of the fun advanced poses I've been learning! Go yoga!

Clowns and Poker

Monday, March 15, 2010

My goodness. I've fallen behind with the posts.

Well, there's been a lot to discuss. There's also been an equal amount of laziness to blog. I have just enough energy tonight to give a quick low down on recent events.

Thurs: Kimbo got free tickets to Kooza from work and invited me to join her. It was my first Cirque de Soleil show and I absolutely LOVED it. Those people are simply amazing. My favorite act was definitely the three most flexible women in the world. Their backbends and arm balances were unreal. Freakishly bend-y and strong. There were also some very entertaining clown acts but I could have lived without them. Must plan to see O in Vegas asap!


Fri: We went to Erik's birthday party at El Camino. The wait was ridiculously long for a table (they don't take reservations). The first table we could snag was in the outdoor space which is actually a cool set up, except for the fact that airplanes are passing directly above you every 15 minutes. I was excited to get the chile rellenos again but of course they weren't serving it that night. Instead I got tacos which were dry and overcooked. The side of corn was not nearly as tasty as the first time I got it either. All in all, El Camino has completely lost it's appeal to me. I told Badge I would not be returning to that establishment. Aside from being peeved by the restaurant, I still had a great time. Always fun to get together with everyone.

Sat: Went to yoga. Not really sure what I did during the day (I'm sure it wasn't anything exciting). That night we went downtown to Namita's and Kal's new apartment for poker night with two of their friends. Namita made a delicious dinner of veggie lasagna with salad. Of course we also pigged out on cheese and crackers and lots of wine. For dessert, our hostess made brownies and Badge and I picked up lemon bars from Extraordinary Desserts. Yum-o. Poker was a riot. Lots of laughs and general silliness. I was down to my last 3 chips when I made a miraculous comeback (of course this never happens in Vegas). Will definitely have to hold poker night more regularly.

Sun: I had an invigorating yoga class. Inspired by the three freakishly flexible women, I requested the handstand version of scorpion which was intense (photo courtesy of absolutelyashtanga.com). Can only do it with the assistance of wall. Or the assistance of the teacher who came over and pried my feet to my ears. Yikes! Someone tell the man I have bones...


Afterwards, I went to Whole Foods, came home, and cooked up a delicious chicken enchilada casserole which I haven't made in a while. Very tasty and relatively quick to throw together.


This picture doesn't look too appetizing, more like a blob, but I'll still post for posterity.


Once full, I hit the garden for some long overdue cleaning and maintenance. I cleared out all the dead leaves and debris, gave the ol' compost a turn (stinky), and planted some seeds. This year I'm trying to grow: heirloom tomatoes, cilantro, basil, cucumber, peas, and zucchini. Will have more detailed post next weekend.


Mon: Tonight, I came home and cooked a simple comforting meal of creamy mushroom pasta with salad on the side (simple balsamic vinaigrette). The recipe was loosely adapted from Pioneer Woman. Cream sauces are so deliciously rich. I could eat them every day. Except I'd be fat...so fat... Sadly after dinner I had to take Badge to the airport. He's going to NYC and will not be returning until Thurs. At least I have a lot of leftovers to nibble on in his absence. It does bring me some comfort.


Where's Fred?

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

There we were, eating dinner, minding our own business.

Then we found this:


Sneaky little cat...

Restaurant Review: Mama Testa Tacqueria and Surati Farsan Mart

Friday, March 5, 2010


Last night, I picked up Badge from the airport and we stopped at Mama Testa Tacqueria in Hillcrest for dinner. Badge originally heard about this restaurant from one of his band mates. Apparently, the owner was on Throwdown with Bobby Flay (Food Network show) and his fish tacos won. We were intrigued.

Surprisingly, parking was no problem. The restaurant was cute - bright colors and festive decorations. Badge ordered the Mividita tacos (catfish) and I had La Tuya Tinga tacos (shredded stewed pork). Both came with beans and rice. Both were quite tasty and well priced. We also ordered micheladas (of course) which were much better than I expected. Definitely on par with the micheladas we recently had at Cantina Mayahuel. As a bonus, there were many salsas to sample at the salsa bar. Certainly as many combinations of tomato, chile, tomatillo, and cilantro as you could ever desire. I especially liked the tomato mango salsa. Very refreshing. All in all, a great spot for mid tier Mexican food. Will definitely be back.


Today, I was resolved to cook a healthy dinner at home, but after a long day at work, I had no will power to follow through. Once Badge come home, I convinced him to go to Surati Farsan Mart, an Indian quick spot on Black Mountain Road (conveniently located next to our favorite Indian sit down restaurant Ashoka the Great). When we arrived there were many people, both dining in and taking out. Badge and I split an order of pav vada and dahi sev puri. Pav vada are spiced fried potato patties served between buns, almost like a hamburger. Very good. Something I can imagine eating at a food cart on the streets of India. Dahi sev puri are hollow puffy shells filled with beans and topped with yogurt. It was ok but didn't send my taste buds into a frenzy. It was reminiscent of a snack I had at Monica's wedding. The snack was a hollow puffy shell dipped in cold broth water, which to me tasted like rank rainwater. Bad memories.


And because we LOVE our dosas, we each had a masala dosa. If you've never had a dosa, they are delicious. It's like a stuffed crepe accompanied by lentil soup and dipping sauces. These were quite yummy. The crepe was thin and crispy, the lentil soup hearty and very spicy. Perhaps not as good as our old favorite dosa spot Saravannas in New York, but definitely up there. Overall, Surati Farsan Mart is a great find. Many things to try at cheap cheap prices. Everything is vegetarian. Can't wait to go back.

Robot Unicorn

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Latest obsession du jour: Robot Unicorn Attack


This game is pretty spectacular for the following reasons:

a) The theme song is Always by Erasure. I used to love this song (in the 90's).
b) When you mess up, you see a decapitated unicorn head. Note: it's only funny because it's a robot unicorn, not a real unicorn. A real unicorn head is funny under NO circumstances
c) When you do well, dolphins appear and run with you.

So far my top score is 32,724.

Play it. Play it now.

Special thanks (or maybe curse) to Riley for introducing me to another mindless addicting game

SmelLA and More Eats




On Saturday morning, I drove up to LA to see my mom, who just returned from a four month trip to Taiwan. It was raining cats and dogs, which made driving very precarious, but I arrived in one piece. It was nice to see my mom in person after so long. We did what we usually do together: chat, eat, and go to Costco. The next morning, I was hoping to hit up a yoga studio in Manhattan Beach (since I was skipping yoga both Sat and Sun) but of course we went to bed late and I couldn't wake up for the 8am class. Boo. Instead, I snooped around garden (see exploding lemon tree above) and waited for my mom to come back from church. She surprised me by bringing back some delicious eats from Seafood Port, my favorite chinese restaurant. Yum!

Note: I'm known amongst the Huang family for once eating an entire plate of the pork spare ribs pictures below on the right.


That afternoon, I drove back to SD. For dinner, Badge and I decided to check out 30th on 30th (though this month it was on the 28th). We managed to hit up 4 spots.

Linkery: half pint of pale ale, mini links and slice of bacon with mustard
Urban Solace: half glass of wine, cheese biscuits with butter
Jayne's Gastropub: glass of pilsner, mini burger with fries
Cantina Mayahuel: michelada (this was SO good), carnitas tacos (pic below)


This turned out to be quite a lot of food and alcohol. Stuffed, we rolled home. Now if we can just try to eat healthy for the next two weeks before our Austin trip...