Sora is hurt

Sora hurt his leg on the golf course. So he had to soak it in epsom salt and bandage it up.

Get well soon Sora.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Can I be like Rafael Nadal?

Never.

I finally bought a new raquet. I'ts Rafael Nadal's raquet. After demo-ing 3 yonex raquets, some other one that was orange and this Babolat Aero Pro, I chose the babolat. Why? I have no clue. It was brite yellow and called my name. I liked it cause it felt good in my hands. The babolat website says this is an expert's raquet. HAHAHAHA. I am NO WAY near expert status. I won't say I'm a beginner because I've been playing tennis since I was maybe 11. I've had tons of lessons. But...I just suck. There's no other way to put it. My backhand is WEAK. With full CAPS ON WEAK. My forehand is pretty decent, but with no speed at all. My serves are 50/50. Either it's in the box or it's hitting someone in the head. I definitely can't play the net. But why do I continue to love tennis? Um...probably because it is the only sport I CAN somewhat play.

I paid way too much for this raquet. I could have bought it online for 40% less. But the lady at the tennis shop was so helpful and nice and so I've decided to support more small businesses in this horrible economy. If I'm going to buy it anyway, might as well buy it from someone who really needs the business that I can see face to face.

Ok new Babolat Raquet - help me hit some winning shots!

Happy. Birthday Ruth!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

What happens when you're in a hurry?

THIS?!
WHAT is wrong with me!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Haus Dessert Boutique

3826 W 6th StLos Angeles, CA 90020

Rating:
For desserts: LEVI's
For ambiance: TRUE RELIGION

We went to kyochon on tuesday night followed by some desserts at the Haus Dessert Boutique accross the street. The desserts were ok. There isn't a big selection at all. I don't know how they call themselves a dessert boutique. It should be called a cafe. They have food there too. The inside seating consists of couches. They are really comfy. We sat there all night just loungin'. There is an outside patio as well. It's pretty big for a little cafe type place. I would go there again because I like the environment. But I wouldn't go there for great desserts.

Banana foster: it was good. Not mouth watering.

tastes like any other tiramusu. Probably store bought.

Bingsoo: The bowl was odd. You couldn't really dig to the bottom until you ate at least half the fruit at the top. But the Fruit was great! Really fresh and they give you a lot! And they gave you huge chunks of dduk wich is my favorite! (dduk=ricecake)

See the fruit? AWESOME!

I LOVE how korean places have the call button, but this one was the best i've seen! you can press the button for the bill, water, or for the waiter to come for something else. Well, obviously you can see by the picture. This is the next wave of call buttons!

Will pimpin HY and Ruth.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Missing Home

Cherry Dot

I got a nice surprise in the mail yesterday. THANKS MICHI! Michi sent me a strawberry macaroon keychain! She asked me if I wanted some macaroon earrings and I asked her if she could make it a keychain. I will be visiting her in SF in August so I thought I would get to have it then, BUT she actually mailed it to me! How in the world did she get my address? I don't remember her ever asking for it. It is absolutely adorable! It's already on my keys. Michi started an internet food jewelry business. Her products are totally cute cute cute! When she first started she sent me a hostess cupcake necklace! This picture is from her website.

I still have it of course, but honestly, I don't wear it. I think I will have to add it onto my macaroon keychain! But I don't have the tools to do it. I will bring it to SF with me in August and ask Michi to do it for me. I am so intrigued by this clay macaroon that I can't stop staring at it. I think when I go to SF I will have to raid Michi's clay collection and make myself a charm bracelet keychain thing. I LOVE these little things. I want to eat them. =D

I am actually VERY impressed by Michi's clay skills! I don't know when she became so crafty. I remember in college we were making paddles for our big sis'. And I remember hers being um...'not so perfect' (to be nice =P). Now she is making these little clay food things with so much detail! She even started doing wedding cakes. You can visit her blog http://cupcakie.blogspot.com/ to see her wedding cake attempt.

And to end with a nice plug for Cherry Dot. Please visit www.cherrydot.com to see all of michi's collections!

Little Tokyo

I finally got to explore little tokyo on Sunday. The first thing I noticed was that there was a yogurtland, pinkberry, and fiore within 100 yards of each other. I wonder which yogurt place gets the best business. If you love korean tart yogurt, check out this article. The beignning is boring, but towards the end they talk about the 'yogurt wars'. It's highly entertaining. http://www.eastwestmagazine.com/content/view/101/101/

Out of the three, I have yet to try fiore. I could not try it in Little Tokyo because they were FILMING! HY and I couldn't tell what they were filming, but they had a lot of equipment and a good amount of crew all over the place. Too bad we didn't see any celebs.

I was excited when HY told me about this mochi ice cream place. But I was a little disappointed when I saw that it looked like the same mochi ice cream you can buy at the grocery. So I didn't try one. But they also had other japanese treats.

Then HY introduced me to Imagawayaki! They are SO GOOD. They are little red bean pancakes from Mitsuru Cafe.

This is a picture of them making this great snack! They squirt batter on one side. then put a dollup of sweet redbean. On the other side (where it is empty) they put another squirt of batter. Then they take the side with the redbean out with a spatula and flip it on top of the other side of just batter which creates this delicious redbean snack you see in the front!

SO TASTY!

Then we checked out some cute japanese stores. This picture below is for Michi because she just loves erasures (from what I remember.)

I bought this orgami paper to make boxes. They are SO CUTE! I don't know what I will put in them, but I just had to buy it. I opened up the packages yesterday to check out the directions and it looked a little complicated. I will try it out tonight.

AND I bought this cute purse! This picture doesn't do it justice. I know it looks like it was made out of a japanese placemat. It basically was. But I LOVE IT!

All in all, I liked Little Tokyo. Chinatown has nothing at all. If you're in the neighborhood, go check out the shops and get a Imagawayaki!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Flavored tofu?

Please tell me no one eats this. Ew?
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Squaw Bread

I am obsessed with squaw bread. Please try it.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Anjin:Japanese BBQ. Better than Korean BBQ?

Answer: NO WAY!
Rating for Anjin: LEVI'S

Yesterday was Dorothy's birthday. Happy Birthday DOTORI! Lisette and Anna were still in town so we decided to meet in the middle, Orange County. I yelped all day yesterday and finally decided on Anjin for Japanese BBQ in Costa Mesa. I have never had it before and have never even heard of it before moving to LA. I thought it was a good choice for Lisette and Anna to try something different as well.

Here are the grills

My favorite part was the menu with colored soju drinks. Which is hilarious because you do not put ice in soju. and it should be soju not sochu.

This kimchi medoly was $6.50. uh....probably costs about $.10

We had a short rib (galbi style) and rib eye (chadolbaegee style) These plates have one serving on them. RIP OFF, right? Definitely RIP OFF! We each ate 4 pieces of meat. I could actually count how many pieces I ate. FOUR!

We also got 'fried rice hot pot' which came with seaweed soup. Basically dol sot bibimbap with miyukgook.

Lisette secretly went to the BR to get a birthday song for Doro. They brought green tea ice cream with a candle.

The best part was this snapshot they gave Doro. I love the heart picture holder. I love how japanese restaurants all do this!

So my review: Is this a japanese place or what? It was basically wanna-be korean bbq! I was very disappointed. The difference was that you dip the meat in a sauce. Kind of like the ginger sauce that you get at teppanyaki places. And you just eat the meat. I can't believe they even had bibimbap. Everything was basically korean food but a little blander. Because japanese food is bland and korean food is salty and spicy. I read on yelp that it was sooo good. great quality. and it was better than korean bbq! YEAH RIGHT! give me some samgyupsal and soju ANY DAY! I really did not understand this place at all! It was japanese, with all japanese staff, but the food seemed korean. Very odd. Why didn't they have saki instead of soju? Sorry Dorothy...we should have had some all you can eat korean bbq! There is an all you can eat japanese BBQ place in LA. I will go and try that. But unless it is really good, that will be the end to my japanese BBQ dines...because I am still asking the question...what is japanese BBQ?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Rock and Roll Marathon San Diego

On Saturday, HY and I drove down to San Diego to see Lisette and Anna who visited from VA. AND to cheer on Dorothy and Anna in the Rock and Roll Marathon! Their first full marathon!! 26.2 miles! When will I be able to do that? Um...NEVER! That night we headed out to eat Italian so they could carb load before their race. There were 25,000 runners in SD that weekend. Wow! FYI: Only 13,000 finished the race.

So to be the best cheerleaders that we could be, Lisette, HY, and I headed over to target after dinner for some supplies. First we marked Doro's car! HWAITING!

(I know I am a total FOB because I forgot to write THE!)

Then we made three signs for the runners! Yes, HY decided that she had to write in korean and embarress all of us. Aren't the signs awesome!?

We even bought supplies to make ice cold lavender towels for after the race. I woke up early on sunday morning and prepared these while Lisette and HY were fast asleep. You drop some lavender oil into an ice bath, then soak the towels in there for about an hour. Then you must keep them nice and wet and cold till use.

It took us an hour and a half to get from Doro's house to the finish line with traffice and walking to the area. The finish line was inside the Marine Depot (whatever that is) so they checked EVERY spectators bag and used the hand held metal detector thing. It was a long wait.

THE CHAMPIONS did a great job! They didn't even look phased after running 26.2 miles. You guys inspire me! JAL HAE SUH!!!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Summer Schedule

I love when I have packed weekends. =D When I first moved to LA I spent a lot of time in my living room watching TV. Recently, I have been busy every weekend with visitors. I thought my summer would be very boring, but finally, my social calendar is filling up more and more =D Or rather, my traveling calendar.

My summer weekend schedule:
June 5: Annie and Linn leave for VA =( What will I do?! VEG OUT!
June 11: Should I go to San Diego?
June 19: BBQ. Lay Low.
June 25: Arizona
July 3: 4th of July - Need to find where da partay at!
July 9: VA for Miriam's Wedding
July 18: Maybe go to APhiG Sisterhood dinner. Rest! Unpack and pack again.
July 24: Lisette arrives in LA. Miriam and Jun are in LA
July 25: Mari arrives in LA
July 27-Aug 6: Hawaii! And Annie and Linn's wedding
August 9: Lisette and Mari leave LA =*(
August 14: Dina arrives in LA
August 21: San Francisco to visit Michi with Dina
August 27: REST weekend?!
September 4: Labor Day weekend - Maybe Arizona


This summer is going to Fly By. What do you have planned this summer?

review of Honolulu

I posted a while ago that I was reading Honolulu. I finally finished it last night. Obviously it wasn't one of those books that 'you just can't put down.' So here is my review:

• The cover sucks. Don't judge a book by it's cover. For real. I don't mean the actual cover is bad (I like the cover, that's why I bought it). I mean the cover has nothing to do with the book. This book was about a life of a picture bride from korea in the late 1800s. I KNOW they didn't wear this kind of make up and did not have mascara to make their lashes like that. And they most definitely did NOT show cleavage. Haha.
• I did get a good glimpse of what life in hawaii was like during those times when America first took over Hawaii and when the japanese, chinese, koreans, filipinos were all moving to Hawaii. It was pretty interesting. I believe the author took real people's stories to write this book. In the end there is a long list of sources he used.
• The book however did not really draw me in. I wasn't 'in love' with the character named Jin. I liked reading how she overcame certain struggles in life, but she didn't intrigue me that much. I was more entertained by the descriptions of the Hawaiian scenery than the character. I wish the book went a little more in depth about the history of hawaii and korea. I wish I could have read more about what was deep down in Jin's thoughts. The way I read it, it seemed like any life of an immigrant struggling to 'make it'...which includes most of our parents who immigrated to the United States.
• The book also had 4 other characters that I wish were built up more. There were 3 other korean picture brides. The 3 of them and Jin made a 'sisterhood' that was referenced many times in the book. There was also a japanese picture bride. I was very interested in knowing more about her character, but was left with very little. I wanted to know about each of thier lives. But the book was only in Jin's perspective, and it just left me wanting more.
• the beginning of the book was good. I was waiting for it to get REALLY good, but it never did.

This is a very casual read. It took me weeks to finish it. If you want to read it, I have it. Don't buy it.

Rating=GAP/LEVI's (Kind of like 2 1/2 stars)

South Beach Bar and Grille

In San Diego.
Rating=TRUE RELIGION!
Amazing grilled mahi mahi tacos. This place is always packed.
Their wahoo taco was too plain. Get the Mahi Mahi. YUM!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry