MAKING THE ROUNDS

In honor of U Mini opening in Westwood today, a review of a totally different burger chain -- Rounds... Or basically a review of the one burger place that I snapped photos of in my foodie adventures (so far). 

Because I definitely also had the original Umami burger at Umami for the first time (a month ago) and a #3 at 25 Degrees, the burger joint in the Roosevelt Hotel (a week ago). I also really wanted to grab Hole in the Wall last night, since the rumor mill's been churning that the Santa Monica location is about to close down.

THE FIRST MESS

How do you measure a life? In Trader Joe bags.

Especially useful when you're a tiny little Asian girl, and you've got two days to move out and move into your new place (because life looked at your planner and laughed).

But many, many, many Trader Joe bags later (and my roommate cooking me bombass barbecue beer chicken one night), I am finally all unpacked and able to cook! So what do I try? 

The recipe originally comes from White on Rice Couple, a blog I love and adore. I didn't really try to make it my own, besides going lighter on the fish sauce and heavier on the sriracha (which was also not homemade).

CAMERA STALKING

Remember how I said that I was bad at taking photos? I really am bad at / shy about it! Even if I did come back from NorCal with only photos of food... So what's a girl to do? Doodle!

Because I had to capture those food places in NorCal that I didn't snap photos of, like...

• The Tropisueño margarita at Il Tropisueño (San Francisco, CA)
  A margarita with the bright flavor of ginger? Delish. Perfect for those of you who don't like sweet drinks, but would like a little more flavor than straight-up triple sec, tequila and lime. Also amazing there? The chips and salsas that they brought out, as well as their mole. (P.S. I loved their mole, but it overwhelmed the meats on my taco... to the point of where I couldn't tell which meat was which.)
• The vegetarian eggs benedict at Bill of Fare (San Jose, CA)
  A diner with the tiniest of signs next to a gas station? Totally sketchtastic. Not so sketchtastic? The delicious food there... But it is diner food, so expect a little a lot of grease. My vegetarian eggs benedict were delish, piled high with spinach, but the amount of hollandaise definitely killed the health factor. I should've just gone with my friend's French toast, which was to die for! Plus, a place that pays tribute to my childhood dish of soy sauce and rice? Approved!
• The Siciliano pizza at Amici's East Coast Pizzeria (Mountain View, CA)
  Even without much of an appetite, I really enjoyed the combo of salty meats and sweetly roasted vegetables (broccoli and garlic). Really, the whole cloves of garlic on top did me in. I also barely noticed the tomato sauce that I had requested, so I might skip that the next time around.

Next time around?! I left my heart up in NorCal, so I gotta go back for it.

MONDAYS, BLEGH

Going to need some coffee tonight, since my accounting test will prolly start around 7:30 p.m., after I've been up since 5 a.m. (thanks, weird daylight savings time) and probably after my professor bores - I mean, regales - us with more stories of accounting. 

Clearly, I should fly back to San Francisco to pick up a cup of coffee from Blue Bottle Coffee... But since that's not possible, a return back through pictures. Speaking of which, I took ZERO photos of people on my trip the other weekend. Apparently, my trip could be visualized in food.

The rec came from a friend. She had a list of things to do, and I didn't do them. (Sorry, girlie!) Except for this. Thank goodness I listened.

CHECK IN

I've been on a bit of a soul-journ the last few months. Literally. I've been up and down California, checking out San Jose, San Francisco, San Diego, LA and Orange County. It's been no Eat, Pray, Love experience -- but it gets me pretty darn close.

I love it here. Oh, sure, there's friends and family and UCLA and USC, but really there's this diversity of experiences and people and languages and cultures and events. There's always something going on, or if there's not, there's someone trying to get something going on.

In the past week, I've had buffalo sausages, and El Salvadorean food, and pumpkin yogurt, and curry, and New Orleans coffee, and diner food, and all sorts of nom-noms. My mouth and my heart have been opened up to some delicious foods, and you know what?

That's the beauty of being a Californian. There's no way that I could live here and be close-minded, close-hearted. I would end up missing out on so much, if I were dead set on doing this and that and being one way or another.

And that's really the only thing that I am 100%, dead-set sure of... I want to constantly grow and learn and challenge myself. No more settling. If I'm unhappy, if I'm unsure, I'm going to do something. I'm going to be happy... or at the very least, fulfilled.