BUSY FAT BEE

Hiya! Yes, the blogging is getting less frequent isn't it? I'm just too busy lately to blog. True, I'm in front of a computer all day, but I'm actually working. (No, really, ask Laryna. I hardly try to chat with her nowadays.) I haven't been home much either. Monday and Wednesday, after work, I went to the gym for training, then out to eat with Lin. (restaurant reviews to come later) Tuesday night went to Kat & Paul's where we had dinner and watched Shooter. Thursday night, Shivaji drove up to visit and we went out to dinner at Yard House. Then on Friday night, I went out with Kat, Paul, Jenn, Jeff, Lin and Marissa in Hermosa. The next day, I got up early for a photo shoot, came back home and went back to sleep, then went up to LA with Vuong to do a little shopping. And finally today, I hung out with my mom (i.e. drove her around), then went to Mia's baptism. She is such a cutie.

OK... details about the food:

Monday night: I picked GuGU Sushi & Rolls in Hermosa (or is it Redondo?). Anyhow, it's on the corner of Aviation and Prospect in a little strip mall next to a Tae Kwan Do place. I like it! I'm not the biggest raw fish eater, so the fact that this place offers tons of rolls is great for me. Lin, being a sushi snob, is not as fond of it, but even Jeff agreed that the place is pretty good, especially for the price. It's not very big and the service can be questionable at times, but I like the quality and variety of rolls.

Tuesday: ate Rascals Chinese Chicken Salad and beef teri at Chez Sagmit. Rascals has awesome Chinese Chicken Salad. I can eat it for days (and have). There are 3 Rascals: Bellfower Blvd. in LB, Redondo Blvd. in Gardena, and Torrance Blvd. in Torrance. Obviously, I don't know any of the cross streets, or I'd give them. =P

Wednesdsay: Post gym... I wanted sushi again since I worked so hard and am trying to lose weight... I suggested GuGu again but it was too crowded. =( Lin suggested O-Sho on Sepulveda in Manhattan Beach. It's near El Gringo. (see below) I only got spicy tuna and a philly roll, and there were ok. But really, how badly can you mess that up? I also ordered edamame... it was terrible. It was overcooked and mushy and bland. I'd say it was somewhere along the lines of El Gringo, but a little better.

Thursday: Yard House - 2 black velvets and an order of fries. So much for working out.

Friday: Back to GuGu! hehe. Yeah, that's right. I made the dinner reservations, but hey, they liked it. Afterwards, we went down toward the pier and got dessert at Creme de la Crepe. Real French crepes. Get the Zidane. Strawberries, bananas, and nutella with whipped cream and vanilla ice cream. It'll head-butt you right in the gut.

Saturday: Vuong and I had to swing by Jimmy Choo's which is fortunately just down the street from Mulberry Street Pizza (on Canon Drive). The BEST NY Style pizzas I can find out here. Even better than the last pizza I had in NY a few weeks ago. I had the lasagna pizza. Vuong had the Artichoke. Good stuff. Afterwards, we went to The Other Room Wine Bar on Abbott Kinney in Venice. At first, it looks like a cozy little place, and it kind of feels like it, but it's actually very big. They have a decent selection of wine, not as big as the book at Primitivo, and a bunch of beers, and the atmosphere is good. Saturday evening was probably not the best time for us to meet guys there though... I do believe most of the guys there were more interested in ... each other. (Not that it's that kind of bar. I think our timing was just off.) Still a nice place, however. I'd go back to chill. After we walked around a little, we went down to Manhattan Beach where we figured we'd have dinner. We ended up at Mama D's where we shared the angel hair with Fra Diavolo sauce (Spicy Marinara) and jumbo shrimp. Yummy. Have lots of water on hand, though.

Sunday: Dinner at Royal Capital on Euclid and Westminster in Garden Grove. Standard Vietnamese/Chinese fare. The best though, hands down: house special shrimp with garlic noodles. I'd go back for that. I had two servings when I shouldn't have. Good thing I hadn't eaten much all day or I'd be even farther over the calorie count. MOOOOOOO.

Oh, two things that just popped into my mind (yes, it's a random, muddled, and totally disordered place):

1) One day driving to work, I saw a pepto bismol pink Escalade. WHY? Who does that?

2) Recently, the last two Formula 1 races were won by a black British man, Lewis Hamilton. The first black man to win a Formula 1 race. I knew he was British before he won, so imagine my surprise, when on the news here in America, they announce that Lewis Hamilton was the first African-American to win a Formula 1 race. Do you only have to be black to be African-American? Do you not have to come from America? Shouldn't he be African-British? African-English? Anglo-African?

HOME SWEET HOME

Hi there! I know, I lag, but I've been tired. I got back late Thursday night, really Friday morning. Our flight was delayed by about 2 hours. We flew Delta because the boys are big fans of the individual tv's you get. Me, I want some leg room, some butt room, you name it. You don't get that on Delta (I find the seats to be narrow so you better hope for a skinny neighbor), which is why I prefer American. I suppose considering I couldn't sleep, the t.v. came in handy, since you get Dish Satellite. You can also play a trivia game against other passengers. I came in first place during my first game. Woohoo! I saw second place guy eyeing me when we were getting off the plane. (It tells you what seat the players are in.) Anyhow, I got home around 2:30 and I was dead tired since I adjusted to NY time right away. It was essentially like pulling an all nighter. Since then, I've worked every day as there was a show in L.A. and (gasp!) I've been going to the gym after work.

Anyhoo... let's see.. what'd I do in NY? Hmm... Tuesday went out with Art, Mira and Weyland. We went to a restaurant called Republic in Union Square for Asian fusion, then Bar 13 and then Whiskey Blue in the W. That place was a total sausagefest. The ratio must have been 10 to 1. Anyhow, we (and I mean me) love Andrew (?), the bouncer, because he thought I was 23. (maybe full of crap, but he still said it, and we old ladies gotta take what we can get =P) After Whiskey Blue, I took my first touristy NY pictures in a long time. The last time I did the touristy thing was the first time I came out to NY years ago and we (luckily) got to go to the top of the WTC.

View from my room

Rockefeller Center at Night

Smiles on the building at Rockefeller Center

Wednesday night, I hung out with the guys. Jeff HAD to have dinner at this Oyster Bar. Unfortunately, I forget the exact street address but it's not far from the Sheraton Hotel somewhere in the 50's. Food is pretty good and apparently the place has been around forever. My main complaint about the place is that it needed better ventilation. I also picked up cheesecakes from Junior's cheesecakes and brought them back. I think Lin got the better cheesecake - Raspberry Swirl where as I got Chocolate Swirl. Go figure, something beat out chocolate.

THE BIG APPLE

Greetings from the Big Apple! We landed at around 8:15 this morning after the red eye out last night. It was absolutely pouring rain. Luckily, by the time we left Pier 94, the rain had stopped and the rest of the day has been very nice. Not sunny, but that's ok, because the temperature is good and it's not too hot.

For lunch, we went to Roxy's Deli near Time's Square. Holy moly. At first, I thought I was reading things wrong, because I wanted to order a club sandwhich and it was over $20! I ended up with a $14 pastrami sandwhich. Beware of eating near the touristy places. It will cost you an arm and a leg. Usually when I came out to NY to hang out with Margie, we'd just go to whatever was near her apartment in the East Village. Both of us are pretty cheap, so we never paid too much for a meal, except for special forays into Nobu or Peter Lugar's.

After lunch, I really thought I'd walk around the city, but I couldn't do it. I was so tired. I didn't sleep much on the plane, so I was hurtin and decided to try and nap instead. Afterwards, I met up with Weyland who also happens to be in NYC for work. We both wanted to try the Burger Bar in Le Meridien. I think we both expected some sort of fancy schmancy over priced burger place, but it was some random small hole-in-the-wall hidden in the hotel by a big curtain with only a neon burger to indicate that it was there. You can either have a hamburger or a cheeseburger and you order like you do when you order Philly cheesesteaks at Pat's or Geno's. When you get up to the cashier, you have to know what you want, tell them how you want it cooked, and what you want on it. It wasn't too expensive, either. Only about $6-7, but the place is small, so you'll have to scramble for a seat.

On a random side note, the Philadelphia Philly's were staying at Le Meridien. We saw all of their luggage and quite possibly a couple of the guys in the lobby where we sat to finish our drinks since we felt guilty taking up space in the restaurant.

Anyway, time to research more food places in NYC. More to come later.