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.

SWEET ESCAPE

Currently getting a much needed vacation in the Bay! Loving that I get to reset and restart in a really gorgeous, lovely area.

The only bummer? I grabbed some food at Mitsuwa, thinking that it'd be light and easy on my tummy. It wasn't. 

Instead, it made me miss last week's little trip to Little Tokyo with my fellow grad students. After our bowls of ramen at Men Oh, we went on a little foodie adventure!

CURRENTLY SNACKING ON 10.23

No, that's a lie... I'm not currently snacking on mochi... But I had an idea, and Sam was excited about a GIF in the making, so I executed.

I wish that I had mochi right now. More to come on our Little Tokyo foodie adventure later. (Also... We definitely had more than four.)

MEN OH MAN

Daikokuya might have some competition. Last week, a few friends and I went on a foodie tour of Little Tokyo, and our first stop? A brand new ramen shop: Men Oh. (So yes, more posts to come! I promise!)

SHANTIH

photo credit: carl abuan
I don't even know where to begin. The last few months have taken me up, up, up, and then crashing way down to the ground. But the story of it almost doesn't matter.

What matters is now, picking myself up and regaining my balance and finding peace in it all. Who am I? Who do I want to be? How do I get there?

For me, part of getting there has been getting out and doing things -- like yoga. Oh my goodness, yoga used to be the slowest, most painful thing ever... But I wanted to get fitter. I've always been small, but I've never felt strong, and I wanted to increase my flexibility, and yoga deals pop up all the time, so I snagged a deal and committed myself to a class at least once a week.

Yoga's been good to me. Yes, I feel fitter. I feel stronger and more flexible. I feel healthier! I want to run more than I've ever wanted to run before.

But more importantly, I'm finding my inner peace. I'm more in tune with who I am, and who I want to be. I used to feel so troll-ish in classes, but you know what? Everyone struggles. I've learned the wonders of taking things at my own pace, finding my breath, and focusing on me.

It's all still a work in progress... Because some days, I can't focus on me. I try and rush things along. I don't stop and breathe. I get self-conscious when I can't do a handstand, or the crow position. That's all okay. I'm learning still.

So that's all I'm sharing for today: Find your balance, your inner peace, your shantih. Move towards who you are and who you want to be.

I am an almost-foodie, an almost-designer, a lover of life and happiness and colors and brightness. I am who you want to avoid in yoga classes (because I will fall over and crash into you, and the person next to you, and the person next to that person).

But seriously, I want to be better (2% better) each and every single day. I want to get closer to myself, and to the people around me. I want to surround myself in love, so that even on the worst of days, I know that I'm gonna be okay.

Alrighty... Enough with the mush. You care about the food, and I love food. I love design. And where does that all come together? Right here. Expect to see me back here, peeps.

And if yoga doesn't do much for you, a series on the Avengers and what they can teach you about yourself! My faves?

• Tony Stark's Guide to Being Yourself / Tony Stark
• Captain America: The (Not Terribly) Flexible Avenger

A SIMPLE LIFE

After working for close to a month, I understand the value of little things, like your boyfriend watering the weed daily, or your roommate unloading the dishwasher. It's so easy to make life crazy busy and chaotic, but it's not so easy slowing down.

Something not so simple? Pie.

BITS AND BITES 05.07

[ thumb-sized "chocoatcan" cookies... without the oats ]

• Always nice coming home, coming back to my place...
• After a long day of work, home's one of two things I look forward to seeing.
• (The other thing's E... in case you couldn't guess.)
• And yesterday, I came home to no cookies.
• So clearly, E. had to come home to cookies. 
• Lots of cookies.
• Cookies for the next year roomie.
• Cookies for this year's roomies.
• Cookies for my work buddies.
• Cookies for E!
• And obvs, cookies for me.
• It's Monday! Monday mush. I mean, brain mush...

Clearly, lovely readers, you've got to write me something serious and thoughtful back... Like how does ink come out of pens?

TOUCH AND GO

Pardon the poor quality of the photo. I got home late last night, after being stuck in traffic to and from Woodland Hills. Sometimes it sucks living on the Westside.

But last night turned into a thing of beauty, as my dinner alone turned into a group of four, sharing a beautiful pot of spaghetti and meatballs. It was easy. All the meatball recipes, perfect pasta tips, and so on in my brain just melded together, and dinner - wonderfully chewy spaghetti and the tenderest of meatballs - came together with no recipe. 

Total 180 from last month.

So instead of an actual recipe, today's post consists of links to other recipes and the whisper of encouragement for you to just let go. 

• Pasta tips:
• The water that the pasta will cook in needs to be as salty as the sea.
• When the pasta is a minute away from being totally perfect (aka al dente), drain it and then poor it in with the marinara sauce, then let it simmer its way to perfection.
• Want to make your own? Here.
• Marinara recipes:
• Trader Joe's, your bounty of marinara sauces never ceases to amaze me. (Yes, I cheated.)
• But here, a roasted tomato marinara sauce, and a "regular" marinara sauce.
• Meatball recipes:
• Fish sauce (just a smidge, though) really accentuates the flavor of the meat. (White on Rice taught me that trick!)
• Cheese, as well as ground pork, helps lighten the heaviness of ground beef and makes meatballs super tender. (Last night's balls had a combination of mozzarella and parmesan.)
• No Recipes' spaghetti + meatballs recipe? The love of my live... Next to E.

Now, go! Cook.

BITS AND BITES 04.29

[ latte bowls from anthropologie ]

• week 2 of work? done!
• and I've been a UCLA alumna for FIVE weeks now? how did that happen?
• someone counted. UCLA's class of 2012 is less than 50 days away from walking.
• tick tock.
• time to bond with friends over food and wine.
• aka potlucks with fertilized duck eggs, chocolate covered strawberries, tri-tip, and other fancy things college students shouldn't know how to make.
• time to grow out of the college apartment.
• aka time to buy a coffee table (funny story), a bookcase (awesome story), and some beautiful bowls from Anthropologie.
• time to love, love, love every last bit of being a UCLA college student.
• even if it means waking up at 8am on a saturday morning to hit the gym, and then taking a bus to marina del rey to kayak for $5.
• had we but world enough, and time - andrew marvel, "to his coy mistress"

A FRESH LOOK AT FOOD

[ image originally from my new roots ]

When I started working, I feared for my diet. I definitely thought that it'd be difficult to prep a lunch for myself every day, that I'd wind up eating in the dorms with E. (since he's an R.A.) and so on.

Weirdly enough, though -- that hasn't been the situation.

  

Now it might be the number of potlucks that I've hosted since my balcony's lovely, and the weather's lovely (see here) -- but I've worked for two weeks, I've packed a lunch every day and I've only eaten out when for some reason or another, my company provides lunch (grand total: 3 times). Even for dinner, E and I have actually not gone out to eat in a while...

And that brings me to My New Roots, a fresh foodie find.

It's been my inspiration, as I head out to the farmers' market and dream of new dishes to cook up. Sarah makes eating healthy easy. Her recipes are simple but delicious and incredibly, incredibly colorful for "green" foods. 

Now if only I could break my pasta habit... 

SEA THESE NOM-NOMS?

Freshman year, E.'s parents took us to dinner on the beach. I got crab cakes. I wasn't impressed.

Fast-forward a few years. Gladstones is still one of E.'s favorite places to eat, and the restaurant pops up on BlackBoardEats. I'm not too thrilled, but E. insists and points to a few good Yelp reviews... (Nevermind all the nasty reviews too that have been written since Gladstones's change in ownership.)

Will I write a nastygram about this place too?

DREAMING... THE FARMER'S MARKET

header image / one / two / three / four

Getting through Monday was a toughie with the Brentwood Farmers' Market still on my mind.

My mind keeps drifting to how homey that market felt, and obviously to how I wished I had these vintage-y, farm-y items! Don't these items remind you of farms and markets?

BITS & BITES 04.15

[ caribbean chocolate macaroon from pasadena's lette ]

• Happy, happy tax day! Not...
• But thankfully, I'm worth nothing in the eyes of the government!
• Taxes filed easily and early, equally worthless friends and I spend the day before taxes are due in lovely Pasadena and enjoy foods from Bird Pick, Aux Delices, Cheesecake Factory, and Lette.
• Yes, I sometimes eat at everyday chain, suburban restaurants like Cheesecake Factory, especially when the view is gorgeous.
• We also do some shopping, and apartment-mate and I score a Rabbit wine toolkit (includes waiter's corkscrew, pourer/stopper and wine/champagne sealer) at Sur La Table for $8. Win!
• The inaugural use of this toolkit? To seal a bottle of $2 chardonnay from Whole Foods that had previously been sealed with plastic wrap. Classy, right?
• But there is a bottle of cabernet sauvignon from Bonterra Vineyards in our kitchen, and lots of goodies from the Brentwood Farmer's Market, like mozzarella balls and heirloom tomatoes and heirloom carrots. Clearly, a dinner party is in order.
• We've got a lot to celebrate... like taxes!... and the job that I start tomorrow!
• Oh my gosh, a job... nine-to-five! Excited but terrified about becoming a full-fledged adult...
• Gosh, being 21 has been all about growing up.
• Aka growing pains... A lot, a lot of growing pains.
• But eventually comes love and peace and happiness -- aka chocolate, raspberry and coffee macaroons. Yum.
• Er, not macaroons... But friends and families! Yes, families... Family family, Bruin family and work family...
• Aka the people who spend all night in the rain with you to score amazing seats to Spring Sing 2012.

Your turn. How was your week(end)? Hopefully, it was just as lovely as mine.

FIRST TASTE OF SUMMER + SUN

Rain's supposed to descend upon California tonight, but oh, the weather last week has been sunny, sunny, and sunnier... aka it was perfect weather to take advantage of our huge balcony and throw a nice little dinner.

E and I loved the quinoa + arugula salad from California Pizza Kitchen earlier this month, so we just tossed some arugula with one of our favorite quinoa recipes (which we had whipped up for our Super Tuesday super party). As if that weren't enough, we were inspired at Whole Foods to grab a few scallops too, which added that lovely touch of summer to our dinner.

Oh, rain -- I know that we need you, but we were also having such a lovely time with Mr. Sun. Please don't keep him away too long!

MMMMMMEZZE (and my recipe to job-hunting success)

Now that I have a full-time job, I can make this food porn a reality again. 

And yes, that's me bragging about finding a job within two weeks of graduating from college! My recipe? A lot, a lot of luck -- and an intense program of sending out at least five resumes every night, emailing alumni contacts (some randomly), hooking up to LinkedIn, etc. Also, I learned a lot, a lot about crafting my resume and catering to different employers.

All that said, the job market is so cruel. I can share my recipe for success, but you may find that there's more to it for you. Still, best wishes for anyone hunting for a job right now!

But rather than talk about the dismal job market, can I share with you some beautiful dishes from Mezze?

[ left: moroccan mint iced tea; right: farm egg shakshouka ]

[ left: hokkaido scallop; right: merguez sausage flatbread ]

[ left: hashweh risotto; right: chocolate mousse ]

I SEE D.C.

Two months later, I finally wrap up my trip to D.C.

D.C. was a blast for the weekend that I was there. I got cupcakes, crepes, chili and lots of drinks. My friend and I also hit up a ton of memorials at the National Mall and got some way gorgeous photos out of that.

But all that being said, I don't know about D.C. It'd be an adventure, but it wouldn't be home.

L.A., here's to another two years with you. I'm stoked.