Dog Day for Lulu

Today was a complete dog day for Lulu -- and she loved every minute of it! We started at Sugar Shack, a little breakfast joint in Huntington Beach. Unfortunately they didn't have a pet-friendly patio so we had to tie Lulu outside while we ate. We got the table right by the entrance though, so she stretched her leash as far as she could to get close to us.



It would have been a nice, peaceful brunch if it weren't for the amount of pigeons and other small birds flying around the patio. Lulu broke into a barking frenzy whenever she caught sight of a bird and I'm sure it started to annoy the other diners about the 3rd time around. We rushed to finish our breakfasts and went off to the park. (I should mention the OC is awesome -- my breakfast plate was only $5.50)

So we got to the dog beach just a little after noon and there were quite a few dogs running around. Lulu was so happy to be loose she started running off on her own. We coaxed her into the water by walking in the waves and she actually followed! She was good at keeping an eye out for incoming waves but hopped around when the water was low enough. Max brought her out to the deeper waves to force her to swim back to shore.



Afterwards we headed to Cerritos for Max to get a haircut. I don't remember any of this because I had to take a muscle relaxant to avoid a headache and I was knocked out almost the entire time. Apparently we went to his house, he got a hair cut, made some keys and we ended the afternoon with some Chick-Fil-A. I remember bits and pieces of consciousness but pretty much slept through and between the whole thing.

We headed to crowded Santa Monica for the Three Dog Bakery ice cream social. For $2 Lulu got a Lickety Spit ice cream in a waffle cone with all-you-can-eat toppings.



Max added some cookie crumbs, carob chips and crushed peanuts and Lulu ate the whole thing in 30 seconds.



We were so exhausted at the end of the day that we just decided to pick up some food to go to eat at home. Max was in the mood for some Korean BBQ but I didn't feel like Gushi's so we had some New Japan instead. And thus my realization that we ate Japanese food for dinner again.

Week in Review

Wow this week went by pretty fast! All in all it was a pretty productive week, interspersed with some very unhealthy eats.

Monday went by like usual -- I have a lot more going on at work this week so that's kept my workday pretty busy. After work I went to Jamba for a quick snack and then off to Westwood for my UX class. I'm actually enjoying going to class and look forward to the sessions. I can't get over how particular the other UX students are... I'm starting to not like the other people in my field. :P

On Tuesdays I normally have personal training at Equinox but Max convinced me to cancel by bribing me with Sasabune and dessert. Instead of the usual omakase, we decided to go a la carte to double up on the sushi we like the most. That night the bluefin tuna and blue crab roll were particularly good. We had double helpings of butterfish and at the end asked the chef to recommend a couple of pieces.

He had us try Kohada, Gizzard Shad Fish, which is uniquely fishy with the skin on. We were both very hesitant to try it (especially after the look on the waiter's face as he tried to describe the taste) but I didn't think it was too bad. It's not fishy in the way that bad sushi can be fishy but tastes more "cured".



We also had chilled toro for the first time which is half-frozen toro served with their sweet sauce on rice. It was so good -- like a toro sorbet. As promised, after dinner, we went to Sweet Lady Jane and picked up the sisters on the way. We split 3 desserts 4 ways and had lots and lots of tea.

On Wednesday we ate dinner at Sawtelle Kitchen with Max's friend Stephen. I contemplated going light and just ordering the chicken entree but went with my usual steak salad, chicken wings appetizer with a bowl of rice and fried yams. It was a lot of food.

Thursday nights is gym night so off to Santa Monica Equinox we went. About halfway through my training session I started to feel lightheaded and had to sit down a couple of times to avoid fainting. We ended our session early and I hung around the stretching mats to wait for Max to finish his session. We were done at about 9:15 and were both starving so we decided to eat a quick dinner at Blue Marlin. Stephen had mentioned the uni spaghetti the night before and I had to try it.



It was a modest serving but the heaviness of the cream made up for it. It was a bunch of creamy goodness packed with little pieces of uni.

It was right about here when I realized that we had been eating Japanese food nonstop all week. On Friday evening we tried to think of a non-Japanese place to eat dinner... that was until my sister called to meet up at Sushi Mac. Here we go again.

So there you go, an entire week's food in review and it was almost entirely Japanese.

Food with Thought

After the Avenue Q show Max and I decided to have a late dinner in Cerritos. In desperate hope to avoid yet another dinner at Tea Station, I started racking my brain early for late night eateries in Cerritos that would still be open at 10pm on a Sunday night.

The answer came to me in a flurry of warm memories of savory flavor: Kim Tar. My earliest childhood memories in Cerritos involve family lunches and dinners at Kim Tar. I always ordered the same dish: rice noodle soup. I remember my mom would order the same thing but load hers with so much chili that the soup base would turn red while I liked mine perfectly plain.

I couldn't remember if I used to order the house or seafood white noodle so I went with the house version to be safe. It didn't have the criss-cut pieces of calamari and thick slices of fish cake I was looking forward to so I guess I ordered the wrong one. But it was just as delicious, if not more flavorful!

It was so nostalgic sitting in the empty restaurant slurping my noodles while debating whether or not to ask for a glass of ice water. As a kid I wasn't allowed to drink ice water from a restaurant with less than a B rating. By the way -- I noticed Kim Tar has a B rating now instead of the back-and-forth C & D ratings I saw as a kid!

Anyways, it was good stuff.

Avenue Q

On Sunday Max and I caught the last show for Avenue Q playing at the OC Performing Arts Center. I was reading some reviews on Facebook by some friends who went the weekend before and I thought it might be fun to catch it before the end of the run. I found some great tickets on eBay ($110 for a pair of Orchestra seats, 5 rows from the stage, smack in the middle) and after a back-and-forth debacle and a long drive to Huntington Beach Max was able to secure them.

The show was definitely not what I expected. I'd heard reviews that it would be a hilariously "adult" show but didn't realize how vulgar the jokes would be. Pretty uncomfortable when you're sitting amongst Orange County's stuffiest "older, theater-going" folk. =) I guess my first cue should have been the announcement before the show that the character of "Lucy the Slut" would be played by the understudy. Here she is below in her revealing show get-up:



So as it turns out, the creator and one of the puppet designers for the show actually worked for Sesame Street. In fact, some of the characters are loosely based on Sesame Street characters. The porn-loving Trekkie Monster is based on the cookie-loving Cookie Monster and the roommates Rod and Nicky are based on Bert & Ernie.



Unlike Sesame Street though, the musical openly touched on adult topics like racism, pornography, homosexuality and promiscuity (complete with a puppet sex scene).



All in all it was a fun show and amazing to see both vocal and puppeteer talent on the stage. Definitely a show I won't forget, and definitely one I wouldn't take my mom or sisters to. :)



Oh, I do have to mention the Asian character with her stereotypical accent was extremely annoying as we could not understand a word she was saying. She was supposed to be Japanese working in a Chinese restaurant but had more of a Vietnamese accent and kept bowing with her hands together like a Thai person would. Great.

Pioneer Kuro Plasma Unboxing

Indulge with me in my inner geek as I celebrate Max and my's most recent purchase: a 50" Pioneer KURO plasma TV. I ordered the TV on Monday through my company's employee purchase plan for 58% off [great deal!] and was surprised at how quick and easy the process was... the TV shipped on Tuesday, I scheduled the delivery on Wednesday and it came on Thursday. Talk about making it easy!

So I worked from home today to wait for the TV delivery and when it came I absolutely couldn't wait for Max to get home to set it up. So I went ahead and got started with Aai's help, and took pictures along the way so Max could experience the unpacking and setting up vicariously through my iPhone pictures. And I decided, what the heck, why not be a super nerd and post my unboxing pictures on my blog. :)

The box was not as big as I expected, but it was still pretty huge. About the size of my bookcase! The delivery service didn't have a dolly so I had to help him carry the box upstairs. That's right. 170 lbs.



Slid the top off pretty easily, now it's time to start unpacking.



What is this? The speakers are packed separately? That means the actual TV will be longer than we thought...





With some effort, Aai and I were able to get it on the TV stand.



And then the unveiling... the size looks pretty good... without the speakers.



Unboxed the speakers... so soft and fragile.



Pretty simple... get the brackets on and mount on the TV sides. Everything is built so smoothly and fits so well.



Start plugging in... Xbox, PS3 and AppleTV take up all of the HDMI inputs. Didn't realize my HD DVR used component cables and Wii is still on regular A/V cables.



Additional side inputs could serve to be useful.



And finally the finished product... testing the only Blu-Ray DVD I have... John Mayer. =)



I'm super impressed with the remote control. It's a decent weight and has a nice brushed finish on the faceplate. Especially like the shiny metal navigation buttons in the middle.