Eating our way around LA (Part IV)

After walking around Hollywood Blvd, we cooled off with a bowl of naeng myun at Chil Bo Myun Ok. It was my favorite naeng myun ever! The noodles were different. The broth was well-seasoned. I added a squirt of mustard, and it was DELICIOUS! (It probably didn't even need the mustard either.) Mmm...I loooved all the pear in there. That's usually my favorite part of the dish. I always take Kyu's. Hehe. This time, there was a piece of pear in every bite. I was in food heaven.
Afterwards, we went to Crumbs Bake Shop to satiate our sweet tooth. I really liked how their cupcakes were so huge, and they were very nicely decorated. But, I think I still like Swirlz better. Actually, my all-time favorite Red Velvet cupcake was at Flo+Gerry's wedding. They taste-tested a bunch of cupcake shops and found their favorite at Sweet Honeybee Bakery. I haven't had a chance to stop yet, but I really must go soon. (Happy Birthday to me! Yay, I'm 25 (again).)
Of course, I had to check out Beverly Hills and the famous Rodeo Drive. I was kind of unimpressed by how small it felt. Michigan Ave is 100x more impressive with all the skyscrapers. Eh... We did see a very impressive dog riding a motorcycle. The man obviously liked the attention b/c he kept riding around the block. Interesting...We went to ChoSun Galbee for some Korean BBQ. Mmm...what can I say? LA does have some good Korean food. The kalbi was extremely tender. Practically melted in my mouth.

Thanks for taking us around, Lisa & Judy!

Color problems

Hmm...I just noticed that my pictures appear a lot less vibrant in my blog than when I'm just viewing the photos on my computer. Anybody know what I'm doing wrong??

Eating our way around LA (Part III)

As we were driving around looking for Grauman's Chinese Theater, we came across a farmer's market. So we decided make a stop and walk around a bit. The tents just went on and on. The Hollywood Farmers' Market was amazing. I really wished we could've bought some vegetables and more fruit. Everything looked so fresh! We bought some super sweet strawberries and a bottle of the most delicious, fresh squeezed OJ. Mmmm... Although we just had breakfast, I couldn't resist getting a Nutella crepe with strawberries. Ohh my...

know what this is?
We finally made our way to the Grauman's Chinese Theater. Boy, was it HOT and sunny that day. There were so many tourists and people dressed up in costumes. The gladiator just plopped a helmet on my head, so we had to take a pic and gave him a couple bucks. How tricky. We avoided the rest of them. Isn't Frank Sinatra's signature pretty?

I <3 dogs

Meet Coco, Kyu's uncle's supposedly pure bred cocker spaniel. Hmm...she looks more like a golden retriever to me. Don't you think? She's a sweetie though.

Eating our way around LA (Part II)

Our 2nd day began with breakfast at Café Crepe on 3rd St Promenade. I originally ordered a savory crepe with prosciutto, basil, egg, and brie, (doesn't that sound delicious??) but it was ridiculously salty. So I got the same dish as Kyu instead—sugar + butter crepe with eggs and sausage.

Afterwards, we made our way to the Santa Monica beach. I had no idea the waterfront was so far away until we got to this bridge. The beach was huge! It was surprisingly empty for a late Saturday afternoon.
We relaxed at the beach for a little bit and headed out to Irvine for some authentic Taiwanese food. I was REALLY excited to go to A&J's to eat their spicy beef noodle soup. I heard a lot of good things about it. Kyu absolutely LOVED the soup, but I, on the other hand, was slightly disappointed. I thought it was a bit on the bland side. I did love their noodles and the beef was super tender. We also ordered the thousand layer pancake (which was pretty good) and the za jiang mien (or jajung myun in Korean). I think the only Chinese version of za jiang mien I've ever had is my dad's. He likes to mix things up a bit though, so I guess it's different from the traditional version..? The noodles we ordered tasted a bit off to me. Sadly, A&J's didn't meet my high expectations.
Of course, there's a fro-yo place in the strip mall! So we had to stop by. I like how Yogurtland is self-serve, and they have a ton of yogurt flavors and toppings. You can mix anything you want! Pinkberry is still my favorite though. :) Pinkberry, why haven't you made your way to Chicago?

Hello Hanna

I found these awesome placemats on Kim Vallee's blog. Hello Hanna has 3 interactive placemat sets that include customizable stickers. You can use them for a cute, themed birthday party, a play date, or at home. Isn't this a clever product for kids? I love the adorable characters!

Eating our way around LA (Part I)

Kyu and I were really excited to eat some good food in LA last weekend. Because, you know, LA has better Asian food than Chicago. Plus, they have better fro-yo. Ohh...my. I'll get into that later. Anyway, Roscoe's was our first stop for lunch.

After Kyu's first bite, he gave an enthusiastic thumbs up on his fried chicken. I don't know why, but I never order the right dishes when I eat. Well, this time I should've just listened to the waitress' recommendations instead of getting the first thing that caught my eye—fried chicken in gravy + biscuits + grits. The grits caught my eye. Haha. My dish wasn't so bad though. The onion gravy was delicious and the chicken was actually still crispy. When I think about it, I liked my dish better. The syrup for the waffles was a little too sweet for my taste.

Our next stop was Musha Restaurant for some Japanese food. I really enjoyed the pork belly with the potatoes and egg. You know how I looove pork belly. We also had the mackeral which the waiter seared at the table. It was cool to watch, but I forgot how fishy mackeral can be when it's raw or not fully cooked. The center of this was still a bit raw. Ick...fishy! Jason loved it though. He basically ate the whole fish himself! I loved the rice cakes that came w/ the tuna tartare. Yum! (Forgive me. I forgot to take pictures of the food, so I grabbed these from Yelp.)
Afterwards, we walked around the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. There are always a bunch of street performers there. We caught the start of the cutest dog show! The English bulldog was my favorite!
Wow, Pinkberry was DELICIOUS! It was super creamy and smooth. Waaay better than Red Mango. I've noticed that this past year RM's been tasting a bit like chemicals or something. The taste is just off. I had really low expectations for Pinkberry b/c I heard that theirs is more tart like Berry Chill (which I don't really like.) I'm glad they were wrong. Mmmm....Judy, can you fly me over some of that deliciousness??

Recent project: baby shower invitations

I just got back from a long weekend trip to LA last night at 1am. Boy, is traveling exhausting! I'll be giving a photo update of my trip soon! It was fun seeing you guys (Judy, Gerali, and Lisa!) Here's an update on what I was working on last week...

I'm planning a baby shower for Kyoung-hee & Sam in a couple weekends. Since this is going to be a co-ed shower, I didn't want to go overboard with girly colors. (Gotta make the guys feel included and not too out of place, ya know?) I made some decorations a few weeks ago for a Korean wedding ceremony (see here and here) that used this color palette. I thought it would be perfect for this baby shower too.

No-tape wrapping

Hmm...this sounds purely ingenious! I'm going to have to give this a try the next time I need to wrap a gift. See directions below...


"This super easy wrap is based on a Japanese technique used to wrap kimonos. It works well on soft items and in this case, books.

With the decorative side of the paper facing up, take one edge and fold 1” – 2” towards the opposite side to create a hem. Flip paper over (so the decorative side faces down) and lay the item on the paper. Be sure to leave a good amount of extra paper on sides of your item. Fold un-hemmed side of paper over the item; fold hemmed side over item (the hem can be centered or not). Push in the centers of the excess paper on sides to create triangles (see photo). Fold triangles underneath item. These are purposely left longer so that there is plenty of surface to tie the ribbon over. While holding the folds in place, wrap ribbon or twine many times around package and tie. Repeat on other side. This wrapping technique makes it easy for the recipient to open, and because there isn’t any tape, the paper is in good enough condition to reuse as well!" —Paper Source