FF: Hot Pot Night

Feeling pretty solemn today. After working this entire weekend, I was super excited to have a day off but got into an altercation last night as well as just being a dozo in life and having it pointed out to you isn't exactly fun stuff. Plus last week I got my muffler and oxygen sensor stolen from my car while I was shopping so I had to take my baby into the shop. I guess that's part of the roller coaster ride of life. Some days you may feel like you're on top of the world (I would say especially those days that I have a green tea latte from Starbucks lol) and other days you feel like the smallest person on Earth. I constantly tell myself: I will be more careful and be careful who you trust. Ultimately, I am glad things like this are brought to my attention because what's done is done and all we can do is learn from our mistakes. Now that that rant is over, I'll go on to the post.

A couple of weeks ago my friends put on a hot pot night at one of their apartments. It was super fun and I ate so much that whenever I would laugh, I seriously thought I was going to barf... yes, I was THAT full.

outfit of the day: katniss braid, tiffany's necklace, h&m denim shirt and strip shirt, red toms

wine-o-clock (smarties on the side lol keepin' it classy as usual lol)

two peas in a pod

"cork board"

map

phone parking lot

braid time

pearl was showing us how to fold your shopping bags into a "football" for maximum storage

magic mic time

our lovely hosts

momma sophie after she washed all our veggies

gerald setting up the magic mic

the most delicious cucumber martinis. did not taste like it had any alcohol AT ALL.

ff ladies and our drinks. we even lined up our cucumbers lol.

ff (sorry for such a blurry picture.)

hookah

Twas a good time indeed! Hope everyone is having a great week and hope everyone has a great weekend as well!

Our First Anniversary

Twas a little over a year ago when Tony and I first got together. Crazy how time flies! We aren't really crazy celebrators of any holiday (New Years Eve, Valentine's Day, etc) so we hadn't really planned anything in particular. Plus it was raining cats and dogs on Friday so I wasn't sure how the weather would be on the weekend so I didn't feel like disappointing myself. I had work on Friday but I was off the entire weekend so Tony came up to LA. And of course, like a true gentleman, he came bearing gifts :).

It was definitely the prettiest bouquet I've ever gotten (besides the ones I pick out for myself... you know those Hong Kong style ones with the glitter dipped flowers lol). It's hard because I love stargazer lilies but I feel like for special occasions, a girl should always get roses. I think roses are just so feminine and classy so when I found a bouquet with both all nicely arranged, I was more than delighted :).

For our anniversary, my only request was that he write me a card and what he wrote (not shown) brought me to tears. It's just crazy how far we've come from where we were 2 years ago. Those of you closest to me know exactly how crazy my life has been since pharmacy school started. I would have never imagined that I'd be where I am today. After 2 failed long distance relationships, who would've known I'd be in yet another one lol. But when it works, it works and I'm so thankful for where I am :).


On Saturday, we woke up and the weather was absolutely gorgeous so we decided that it'd be nice to head to Malibu. I had signed up to get free tickets to visit the Getty Museum in Malibu and I quickly made reservations at Geoffrey's in Malibu as soon as they were open. I wasn't sure how crowded it would be since it was a nice day out.


I made reservations at 11:30a and we got there at around 11:50a since my Google directions ended up being wrong. The hostesses were super nice when I called about being lost and they were able to hold my reservation as well. It wasn't that busy when we got there and we were seated at one of the edge tables. We decided to start off the day with some of their signature cocktails. I got the Geoffrey's Bloody Mary (extra spicy for me :)) and Tony got the St. Germain Champagne Cocktail. Both were very good. We also got the Ahi Tuna Tartar to start as most the Yelp reviews raved about it. It did not disappoint lol. I think the wonton crisps are really good and the tuna was really fresh.

For our entrees, I got the Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass and Tony got the Sautéed Day Boat Sea Scallops. I seriously can't stop raving about these scallops. They have a slightly charred taste and the risotto is soooo good!! Sea bass was cooked to perfection as well but the flavor of the scallops was just so fantastic lol. Yumes for sure.

pan seared chilean sea bass

sautéed day boat sea scallops

For dessert, I decided that I had to try to the Classic Geoffrey's Creme Brulee (not surprising... although the Espresso Flan was also calling out my name) and Tony had the Warm Brioche Bread Pudding (with Rich Bourbon sauce... that's what sold us on that one lol). The creme brulee was pretty good, not the best I've had but it was decent. The bread pudding tastes like Julienne's creme brulee french toast so it's pretty damn good lol.

happy anniversary :)

After eating like giants, we decided to head to the Getty to walk off our food. This was the first time (or at least from what I can remember) that I've been there. I especially wanted to go because I love Greek and Roman history and of course for the garden.

the main garden

it's a little kid playing with a theatre mask

stadium

view of the garden from above

<3

dizziness if you stare at it long enough

"i wanna see your pea cock"

golden wreath for reals. can i get one for my non-existant wedding? lol

crazy attention to detail even on the inner edge of this device we'd now call an "ancient keg"

sacrificial conch? 

"may the odds be ever in your favor"

pretty plants

you can see the ocean from certain parts of the museum

us and the garden again

i had to take a picture because i kept saying "oh dear" #playonwords

Sunday was spent frolicking in Pasadena. We were looking to eat Chinese food since we had American yesterday so we went to Noodle World. It's really surprising that most store in Pasadena don't open until 11am on Sundays. Anyways, I ended up getting stuff from Forever 21, Urban Outfitters, and H&M (since they have their 20% off coupon). After all that shopping we wanted to stop for a small snack. We've been hearing that the King Taco in Pasadena has really good tacos so we decided to try it out. I will say that their hot sauce is pretty hot. I did get a little sniffly. Food wise, I'm not a big fan of onions unless they're grilled and they put way too much of it and way too little cilantro. I am still dreaming of the tripe taco at Tacos El Gordo. I also got to check out Crossroads for the first time. I got some pretty decent stuff there for super cheap. We ended our Pasadena trip with gelato at Piccomolo. Yumes.

And that concludes our anniversary weekend! Hope everyone has a great weekend! I'll be slaving away at work lol.

March: Part 2

Coachella was this past weekend and Refinery29 has posted a bunch of pictures of stylish ladies from the show. Upon browsing, I was pleasantly surprised that there was a picture of a stylish pharmacist! Go pharmacists! :D Anywhos, onto more catch-up posts.





Mar. 13 (tues): 

Tanya's family was in town at Disneyland so I met with them after work for dinner at Ariel's Grotto inside California Adventure.

dessert tray

me and my cappuccino

twinsies for real

Mar. 15 (thurs):

Went to Kula Revolving Sushi Bar and Class 302 with Tony's cousin, Britani. We saw the craziest thing: two cars on fire! Fricken scary!

Mar. 16 (fri):

I actually had Friday off which was why Tony was in town. I had seen a couple of my sisters at Julienne and saw gorgeously delicious photos of their creme brulee french toasts so I had to go try it for myself. 

if you couldn't tell, the creme brulee french toasts were gynormous!! 

some of the best tasting potatoes i've ever had in life. seriously.

candied bacon. yumes to infinity. melt in your mouth goodness. 

We weren't sure what we wanted to do for the rest of the day but decided to (or at least attempted to) walk off all the food we had just consumed at the Arboretum. It's funny how some places are literally in your back yard and you never go. Living in LA there's tons of those places (basically all touristy places). Awhile back I watched one of the styling videos from Wendy's Lookbook and she was at the Arboretum and it looked really nice and I made a mental note to visit. Here are some highlights (we took WAY too many pictures lol).

After walking around the Arboretum for a few hours, we were pretty hungry. We decided to grab something close by at Nordstrom Cafe. Their food was decent. Besides the lack of plugs, it would be a pretty nice place to study... if I still did that stuff lol. We were stuffed afterwards so it was back to my house for a nice nap. 

For dinner we ended up Yelping another place to try. The Green Zone actually had some pretty high ratings and we were looking for some healthier options. Most of their food is organic so it was perfect. I was scared their food wouldn't be flavorful since it's "healthy" but it actually tasted really good. From the looks of their Yelp page, it looks like their Hainan Chicken is also a popular dish. I'll have to try that next time and see how it compares to Savoy. 

appetizer sampler for 2: shrimp rolls, prawn tofu wraps, and salmon triangles

sea bass salad

clam linguine (sautéed in white wine & garlic broth)

Mar. 17 (sat): Work

I had to work on Saturday but Tony decided to stay in LA for an extra day and just wait for me to get out of work. We were in a "try-new-food" kind of mood that whole weekend so we ended up Yelping another restaurant. This time we decided to go with 101 Noodle Express. I think what caught Tony's eye was their "Chinese burritos". The pictures on their Yelp page are actually quite old, especially the ones of the menu. Their new menu is actually really nice. Everything was super delicious. I would definitely come back to this place. The only pooper is that it's cash only :(. Darn those Asian places and their cash only policies! Reminds me of this 626 video lol.

i think these were the dan dan noodles

pork roll

spicy beef noodle soup

Mar. 18 (sun):

We had a lazy Sunday and didn't start heading out until a little after noon. We were going to Ray Ray to eat but they were closed. While trying to find other places to go, we stumbled upon another place... the name definitely sold us on the place... Honey Badger Cafe. We just had to go (especially since I do such a great rendition of the "honey badger don't care... honey badger don't give a sh**"). The place has sandwiches and some specialty drinks (they even have a durian smooth or some sort of durian drink! A must try for the next time I go!). Their food seems really fresh and healthy. It's also a nice spot to study. It was pretty packed when we were there. It seems like no one leaves and everyone is just studying but if you're able to get a table then I'd give it a try.

what a nice view ;)

i think this was the cuban roast pork

i want to say this was the spicy chipotle beef sandwich

That concludes that weekend. Twas a pretty eventful and foodie-adventure-filled weekend.


Hope everyone had a great weekend!