wkend

Have a good weekend, everybody!
Yellow roses from the Chung's backyard and dusty pink ranunculus from the LA flower market.
Billy balls in above the fireplace.

elemental food

Sometimes when we cook something really good, we'll take pictures and share them with y'all. Most of the time, though, we eat pretty well and we just can't be bothered to photograph the delicious things we eat. Especially can't be bothered to take pictures of each step.

That's why I'm glad photographer Marina Aurora is out there, taking amazing pictures of food from it's simple roots to the final product. They look more like collections of a very organized food hoarder. And I like that.


I like the sticky buns the best. Cinnamon buns? Sticky buns? What is what?

found via

mama mia!

See that there? It is our pasta maker. That we got 3 months ago. With high hopes of making fresh pasta every week, topped with fresh marinara and meatballs. And Italian opera playing in the background. Eating al fresco. Instead, the machine just sat on top of our fridge.
Until Sunday, when we took it out for its maiden voyage. Paul and Alice came over, too! We tossed the fresh pasta in Jamie Oliver's creamy cheese sauce (recipe below) and added collard greens and homemade meatballs. Later, we reinstated the Queens of the Dominion, but that of course was expected.

this weekend: buckets of flowers and horse races

The LA Flower Market is open to trade and wholesale at dawn (5am) but stays open into the early afternoon for lookie-loos like us. It's down in the Warehouse District of LA, surrounded by tons of smaller flower shops and party supply stores. We got healthy orchids losing their blooms for $2 each and ones without blooms for ONE DOLLAR. And some cut flowers, too, because I love Ranunculus and Billy Balls are too cute to not buy. We had kaiten sushi for lunch with mom and dad Chung and Paul and Alice. Then we headed to Santa Anita Race Tracks in Arcadia for some good ol' horse racing and betting. Right behind the race tracks are the San Gabriel Mountains. We won only one of our bets, but we were so close with some of the others. That last few hundred yards is a total game changer!!

eating out with nancy

I recently took an exam to get licensed in CA. Afterward, Nancy suggested a mid-week celebration at Tantalum, a hip Asian fusion restaurant tucked into a corner of a strip mall. You walk through a dimly lit exhibition of old rickshaws and other Asian paraphernalia, and before you know it, there is a view of the Marina and a gorgeous sunset. The beer list was nice (although no Asian beers), and the food was delicious!Beef short rib sliders and saucy calamari.Spicy tuna tartar with avocado and housemade black sesame crackers.
Not pictured, but delicious, was the crispy tofu udon.

seattle: part III

This was a while ago, but here is the conclusion of our trip to Seattle:

For our last day, we headed south for a family trip to Mt Rainier. The weather was partly cloudy in Seattle, but snowing heavily when we arrived at Paradise. The road was flanked with snow walls taller than the cars!
It was snowing too much to go hiking very far, but my cousin Andrew and I went as far as we could. And returned to this:

Snow + Koreans + kimchi bowl noodles = best day ever.

More pictures from my cousin DAVID:


I left the next day while Tim and the gang explored some more, and took these beautiful photos of the sky and marina:

alex and adam come to town part v

This is the part where we drive to San Diego, motivated mostly by the legend of the California Burrito. We stopped in La Jolla to seal watch.

alex and adam come to town part iv

We walked off our french dips at Griffith Park. Hands down my favorite place in LA.
I thought we could hike to the Hollywood sign from here, but I was wrong. Well, I think you can, but it would involve more than following a trail (...crossing a highway, maybe). We did hike to the very tippity top, and the view was incredible. It was the clearest day I've seen in LA. We could see the ocean from Griffith Park!

Then we got science-y in the Observatory. Where I also hit my face on the glass wall surrounding the Tesla coil. Listen, the glass was very clean and also very sneaky.
We finished off our LA excursion in Koreatown. Soot Bull Jip for yummy Korean BBQ: Then some good ol' sweaty bathtime at Wi Spa.

alex and adam come to town part iii

Phillipe's. THE birth place of the French dip sandwich. Need I say more??
Cash only, with 9 cent coffees (a little inflated since it used to cost a nickel). Lamb and beef french dip sandwiches, pre-dipped, with a smear of Phillipe's house spicy mustard. A pickled egg. OH, AND THE PIE.

alex and adam come to town part ii

Every good day should start with a breakfast burrito, heavy on the chipotle mayo. Which is what we did on Saturday morning. Thus energized, we headed to the Getty Villa. If you were an oil tycoon with millions to spend on antiquities and amassed a collection too big to fit in your own house, you too may need to build a replica of an ancient Roman palace to accommodate all your pieces of art. Including two mummies!

alex and adam come to town part i

Friday afternoon we made our way to Palos Verdes, where, in a mere quarter hour, we traded Long Beach's sand and oil rigs for Abalone Cove's windy bluffs and pebble beaches. We'll have to go back to explore the tidepools and watch for whales on the horizon.

Give them rattlers some space and respect!
Those rocks were perfect skipping stones.
Pelicans in the sky and pelicans in the water. Dinner time.
Goodbye, Abalone Cove! Then, we took the scenic route around Palos Verdes Estates to Hermosa Beach for gelato and coffee.
Unique flavors at Paciugo Gelato and Caffe. My tops: pepe nero and the chocolate with chocolate nibs.
The Hermosa Beach Pier with hooligans.