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...