this ad is everywhere in la and i have just one question for target: “is this the best that you, a multi-billion dollar corporation with both a humungous marketing budget and a history of excellent advertising campaigns, can do for a portrait photo?!?” does anyone else see the “merger” (the bridge in the background that cuts off her head…a shallower depth of field would have helped this situation. i mean, really, is the bridge really necessary to appreciate tracy feith’s fashion apparel?)?
so we went to JP to watch True Blood, the plan was chicken wings and kim chi fried rice. . . i love kim chi fried rice (no matter what it does to my gut). sadly, my favorite KCFR place, Jian, was closed. in all fairness, i have had KCFR only on two occasions and Jian was better than the other, but i guess i have to explore some more. . . okay, sorry, tangent. so i decided to take it upon myself to make some white, yellow KCFR. JP let us into her home and she went to pick up the chicky-poo and j and i got to work. we landed a decent recipe and after all was said and done, it turned out pretty well. . . except for the fact that JP didn’t know how much rice she made so she guesstimated. . . needless to say that was a bad idea, she made way more than i thought-so it was a bit less KC and more FR but good nonetheless. i tried my hand at it again last night and way better, i doubled the kim chi and the garlic and the meat and i was in heaven. ooooooooooooh so gooood and ooooooooooh so bad. . . oh well. . .
my posts of late are nonexistent. that’s bad. that means that i don’t have enough free time to fart around on the web and post creative thoughts. so here’s what i’ve been up to:
So we had a miracle fruit party today. . . yes we are a bit late for the craze, a whole year and a half late, but hey at least we got there. I have to admit it was a very interesting experience. From the ordering to the receiving to the berry eating to the tasting. . . got it from some dude in Florida “miracle fruit man”–exquisitely creative title. . . then I got a ginormous box filled with a block of dry ice and an itty, bitty package. My first thought was, “I paid $130 for that?!?!?!?” Into the freezer it went, freak I almost lost it in there it was so small. Then came the dinner. . . Eugene, Julia, Derek, Wendy, Joyce, Rebecca, Aaron, Kim, Leigh and Tanya all join us for this. . . ehem, miracle. We got the berry and stuck it in our mouth. Rebecca must’ve been really hungry cuz she ate the berry so fast she needed another ;). Eug and Derek got seconds cuz they weren’t sure that it worked. Have to admit, it was pretty amazing. I tried a lemon and it tasted like candy, unsweetened chocolate was amazing. . . but bitter melon was well, still bitter. It did leave me a bit unsatisfied, all that sweet and no sour, it was like all the complexity was gone. It would be nice if it only lasted for 15-20 min. You know, eat dessert (a lemon or lime) and that’s all folks. It would get me to eat fruit. All in all a fun time. . . but guinness is still better as guinness. Some things just shouldn’t be adulterated.
so we had larchmont village pizza yesterday. . . again. . . i love pizza, i can’t help it. even when i get severe gid i still love pizza. yesterday’s was even better than the 2 previous times (did i mention that we are going weekly–bad). we got the clam and garlic. . . very tasty, very garlicky, very clammy. the crust is still a bit soggy in the middle for me and i think there is too much cheese (but i think that is the way it is in new york), but me likey. no wonder i’m fat. no wonder i smell like garlic. well at least j and i smell together.
yup, it’s official. . . i am so not disciplined at this blogging thing. . . never got into the diary thing either. . . i love my bean, but i don’t think that i will ever be disciplined enough to do, well, anything :).
having said that, i love me some single ladies. i mean, not really, but beyonce. omg that totally rocks. jt brought sexy back, bk brought videos back.
this is some serious kick-ass choreography. enjoy!
m says i carry too much stuff…except for when i have something she needs and then i carry juuuuust the right amount. here is what i never leave home without (not in any particular order…well, maybe a bit of order):
ever since dainties, i have become a cupcake fanatic. and i don’t even like sweets. sadly, dainties disappeared (although, per the owner, you can still place an order for them as long as you order at least 72…72?!?). you can also find dainties on the web here and here.
because of dainties and the disappearance of said cupcake, i now sample various cupcakes around LA as i discover them. on a recent trip to larchmont village (coincidentally, the dainties chef/owner recommended larchmont village pizza to me), i not only discovered excellent pizza (more on that later), but i also discovered crumbs.
crumbs is $0.75 cents more expensive and 33% smaller than dainties and, except for 2 flavors, lacks the ganache that i’ve become so madly passionate about. the only cupcakes with ganache are the chocolate cake hostess (duh!) and the new chocolate cake madison (which has raspberry filling). we ordered the hostess and we both enjoyed it. the cake was a bit too sweet, but it was fresh and i would order it again.
(finally, i’m getting to the whole point of this post) i was initially skeptical of crumbs because of *all that frosting*. frosting, ewww. so, today, on my second visit to larchmont village, larchmont village pizza, and crumbs, i had to decide if i was going to go with the madison or try something with a mountain of frosting on it. we decided on the mint chocolate chip (or grasshopper as advertised on their web site): “Rich chocolate cake filled and frosted with mint cream cheese and rolled in chocolate chips, then topped with a dallop of vanilla buttercream and oreo pieces” and also injected with chocolate fudge (you can’t have too much decadence). the cake is pretty good. but all that other stuff is just overkill. ***let the cake speak for itself!***
i will always miss dainties which had the perfect combination of cake and ganache and flavored whipped cream. *tear falling* *sigh* i miss you, dainties.
using our borders rewards membership/coupon, we bought a toddy coffee maker. using ethiopian beans m roasted on 24 may, she made a pot of coffee last night. this is our second attempt. the first attempt resulted in slightly grassy (underroasted) coffee because m tried to roast a whole pound at once in the behmor and the roasting program didn’t let the coffee come into the second crack. surprisingly, the coffee wasn’t bad – i’ve had grassy coffee in the french press and, well, ewwww.
the toddy coffee definitely tastes less acidic and smoother. i could hide the grassy flavor with lots of milk and sugar. this second batch is better (no grass) and definitely stronger as we let it “brew” for 20 hours instead of the recommended 12.
part of the reason i love french press coffee is the oils, and the toddy extracts them, so i like the reduced acidity, but i’m not completely sold on the resulting flavor. it’s great for iced coffee, but, alas, i’m a hot coffee connoisseur. our coffee exploration continues…