dineLA: Ketchup & Koi Restaurant

I’ve tired two dineLA locations so far, at Ketchup on the busy strip of Sunset, and at Koi Restaurant on La Cienega near the Bev Center.  Two very different restaurants but both pretty good experiences.

For a fixed menu of $25 at Ketchup I got their assortment of fries with 3 different ketchup-flavored dipping sauces for the appetizer, a vegetable lasagna for the entree, and chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert.  The vegetable lasagna was suggested by the waitress as being the best choice of the entrees listed, and it was.  The restaurant was very red inside, so all the pictures turned out so on my phone.

At Koi, for a fixed menu of $44, I had .. a bunch of fish I don’t remember the name of, cooked in different ways both as appetizer and entree. I don’t usually eat fish at non-Asian restaurants since I’m so use to eating them all the time at Asian places with family so I don’t appreciate the delicacy of it, but they were very uniquely cooked and pretty good – definitely a different kind of taste I’d never find at a Hop Li. The food was reflective of the restaurant class and environment – small portions and nicely decorated.  For dessert, we had a New York Cheesecake, which tasted like a NY cheesecake but didn’t look like one at all, and a chocolate souffle – both very very good! With tax & tip it came out to about $56.. I wouldn’t say it was really worth it for the price.. but it was good nonetheless. I was so hungry when the food came out I only took pictures of the dessert…

Why I Like Black People

I usually don’t like to depend on or am receptive to people for general help/assistance, especially from random strangers in an unfamiliar and sketchy neighborhood.  The other day as I finished unloading my groceries from the shopping cart into my trunk, a Mexican guy getting into his car asked if I wanted him to take my cart for me – no thanks, I got it.

But when it’s 3:30PM on a very rainy afternoon with no umbrella, wearing a suit and heels, carrying a cardboard box of eight enormous textbooks, walking painstakingly out the bookstore, I couldn’t wish for MORE than for someone, anyone, to feel compassion towards the sight of my pathetic struggle, to offer a helping hand so I don’t collapse  or make a million rest stops before making it to the trunk of my car.

Spotted at a distance right in front of me passing by, a gift from God – a solo black male figure walking by, looks over my way while putting on his hoody  to shelter from the rain, sees my disposition, and shouts over to offer his helping hand – can you please? that would be great.

A very very simple act of kindness, made me more than grateful.  It got me thinking, had there been an Asian guy walking by instead, would the situation have played out the same way? A Caucasian? In either situation, probably not.

I have found that an attractive aspect often reflective of many black males over the age of 20 is their confidence, manliness, and suaveness at being a gentleman.  I suppose that’s three.  Confidence in their ability to speak their mind firmly and coherently without reservation, manliness in composure and the sense of security they exude, and suaveness at being a gentleman in showing genuine concern to help as if it’s built into their morals and not so much out of ulterior motives, gratification, making an impression or anticipation for something in return. This explains why 60% of high school boys go through a phase of “being cool” and trying to act like they’re black (or so was the case at my high school). Are black people attractive? Definitely. Would I ever date one? Probably not. Unless he resembled Will Smith.

Anyway after a busy day running around in the rain, I settled upon some dessert to wind down the night.

The atmosphere of the place is pretty nice, the crepe on the left was pretty good, the red velvet cupcake in the middle was alright, the belgium waffle on the right was bitter, nasty and disappointing.  Either that’s how true belgium waffles taste, or they just suck at making waffles.

Time to hit the treadmill.

making a list

My current list of to-dos that I’ve managed to postpone for several months..

Perhaps this new application will keep me on track.. something about getting to check things off a list makes doing it that much more appealing.

Cravings & Frustrations

These are the two topics that have been transpiring through my mind for the past few hours. Since my frustrations are currently empowering my thoughts on cravings, I’ll talk about the former first.

I was standing at the window of some burrito joint waiting for the cashier to return my credit card.  I continued holding my wallet out until I received the card back to ensure that it makes its way back into the slot next to my license.  I actually consciously thought about this as I was standing there waiting.  Usually when I preventatively think about something, it doesn’t end up happening.  In this case, I was consciously thinking about the possibility of forgetting my credit card, and I actually did.  That makes it the second time within these past two months. Generally, frustrations are driven by situations that appear to be out of one’s control.   I felt that I had total control over this situation in preventing it from happening, yet as aware of the situation as I was, ironically I completely fell into the land mine of my own creation.  The worst part about all this is I’ll have to wait another 7-10 days to receive a replacement card, which means in the meantime I have nothing to charge my christmas shopping and nor-cal trip expenses to… SIGHHHH.  Forgetfulness and carelessness are my own. worse. enemies.

For about the past year or so, I completely gave up beef.  It was actually not difficult to give do at all.  After a while, I neither ever craved it, nor wanted to eat it when I saw it.  In fact, I became pretty disgusted by it.  Recently I kind of just stopped giving a shit and started eating it again, though very minimally at most.  I parallel this with my desire to want to and my effort to try to give up sugar.  Which, I have sadly discovered, is nearly impossible for me to achieve.  For some reason, sweets is the one thing that I’m always craving, and the one craving I always end up giving into.  At the moment, I don’t have a corrective plan of action nor am I very motivated to act upon it.  Perhaps I’ll just let a hike in poundage push me over the edge.  But in all honesty, I don’t think life is half as pleasurable without all the candy and desserts to sweeten it up!  In fact, after I realized I’d lost my credit card, the first thing I wanted to do was plunder into some cupcakes to drown out the frustrations of my stupidity.  I found some chocolate covered star cookies in my car, and munched on those instead.

She wants style. He wants substance.

And so began the what then seemed like a never-ending cycle of arguments between my parents regarding remodeling the house.  For years renovation has persistently remained number one on her list of unattainable wishes, while comfort and reluctance to change have continuously driven his opposition to oblige.  To her, the ideal exists where design meets functionality, to him, all that really mattered was reality and practicality.

After a few weeks of pretty intense arguments (and me being annoyed from having to hear all of it), they both finally decided to move forward with the remodeling.  We are in the beginning stages of what appears to be a few weeks or month(s) of an unpleasant living situation, as depicted in exhibit A.

On the bright side, I am excited to break into a newly renovated bathroom and closet.  I use to think that I would love interior design, but after having to make selections on floor/wall tiles, cabinets, colors, etc, all I can think about when shopping for all the parts is how nice it would be to just pay someone talented $$$$ to make all the decisions for me and just  make me a nice, contemporary bathroom/closet. Is that so much to ask?

On a completely different note, the weather is freekin freezing. My car was beeping this morning when I noticed the temperature on the dashboard started flashing.

34 freakin degrees.  It hasn’t been this cold in a long time.  I find comfort from snuggling in my bed, but it also makes having to wake up in the mornings a complete bitch.  My morning wake-ups are generally delayed by five snoozes followed by five counts of giving myself a few extra minutes…

I should really go brush my teeth right now before going to bed, but it’s warm under my blanket… and I just ate an apple which could technically serve as and replace a teeth cleaning, right? Sounds good to me, goodnight.

How Chinese People Do It – Thanksgiving Recap

a solid mix of chinese and american..

thankful, thankful for you

a few people to be thankful for this 2009…

in particular,

sister – thank you for always being there. though we’ve been thousands of miles apart these past two years, you’ve always remained a phone call, txt, msn or e-mail away. while the rest of us may seem to hold friends before family, you’ve always made evident where we stand in your life. you are by far the best older sister a younger sibling could ever wish for, a parent can ever hope for.

ed – you’ve always been a punk, but underneath it all there’s no doubt that you are and have always been a good and sincere kid. being expressive may be one of your weaknesses, but despite being the youngest, your ideas and opinions are always highly regarded.  i know that no matter what happens, you will always be at the front lines to support.

cheryl – aside from my diary, you are probably the one person i can tell anything and everything to and not feel that i’m being judged.  you’re my go-to person for pretty much anything that happens in life.  i’m grateful and thankful for your being and can not ask for anyone better to fill the position.

j.j.e – we all know we’ve had our fair share of problems, but at the root of it all, you are to me the definition of what one would consider true friends and together, what we have, true friendship.  know that despite all our past shortcomings, our present faults and whatever our future issues may bring us, I am utterly grateful to have you in my life, hold each one of you dear to me, and will never let anything or anyone come in the way of our friendship.

116 – as andrea wrote on the picture frame she gave me – “pbs for a quarter, roommates for 2 years, friends forever.”  couldn’t have stated it better myself.  you girls helped define my college experience and contributed to creating wonderful memories that i value and will cherish in my lifetime. i couldn’t have met a better group of girls to live with.  i can probably say that i clique better with you guys in the short period of time we’ve met than anyone i’ve met in the years of friendships i’ve had with people throughout childhood.  i miss you girls every day and can’t wait to see you all again.

there is so much more to be thankful for that i’m leaving out, but just because it’s not expressed, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. to all who know me well, i am not a very expressive person myself..aside from birthday cards, this is probably the cheesiest and most sincere words you’ll ever get out of me.

cheers to family, friends and good food. happy thanksgiving everyone.

Putting It In Words

Recently I’ve been fluctuating between two different types of moods. I feel myself convoluted between two states of being – either feeling very motivated, ambitious and confident in my abilities (of achieving nothing short of conquering the world, singlehandedly.. end ridiculous digression) or feeling like I’m being bought into the worldly definitions of success, happiness, purpose…life.  Or to sum up the latter  simply – fuck it.

These feelings are by no means driven by random thoughts.  Work and my plans and hopes for the future help drive my motivation, ambition, and confidence.  Outside influences through media, movies, shows, stories, and maybe even just taking a step back to breath and ponder makes me stop for a minute and think… why?

Maybe I still haven’t fully adjusted to work life, or maybe I just miss the freedom of college life, who knows. But ever since I started working (which hasn’t been that long, which in turn kind of scares me that I already feel all these things from being in the workforce for a period amounting to <.01% of the average work life of the average joe) I have days where work is great and I feel great, and days where literally I feel like fuck this man I wanna go home, snuggle in my blanket, watch sex and the city, and eat sour patch kids.

Of course society pushes us towards achieving, it’s really only the laziness within each of us that makes us question and think twice about our actions and our ambitions..

And it seems that by writing this post I have cleared the smog on my windshield…thank you, wordpress.

Colorsplash

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A World Without Expectations

[image courtesy of google images]

One of the single most difficult aspects about life is the constant need to meet or exceed expectations.  One of the single most upsetting aspects about life is the disappointment precipitated by expectations unmet. From that, I deduce that in a perfect world, expectations do not exist – expectations both externally, imparted from society, and internally, from what individuals themselves expect of others.  It is only without expectations are we truly free to wander, think, and act as we so wish.  It is only without expectations are we truly constantly content with our friends, our family, ourselves.  How much of who you are is actually driven by who you want to be and not what is expected of you?  Do we even know how to be, independent of what is expected of us, to simply just be?  How often is your anger/frustration/disappointment met by expectations unmet?

This all sounds very confusing, but it’s really not.  And to this, I conclude that to live happily is to live without expectations.