Congrats Hungry Girl!

So it's not a secret that Dre and I like food. We like it, a lot. We like eating it, we like smelling it, we like making it, and we like people who appreciate it. There's a very cool blog called "A Hungry Girl's Guide to Taipei". It's an english blog dedicated to reviewing the best eats in Taipei or Taiwan and has even expanded to LA or SD or other Asian countries this Hungry Girl happens to be in (Korea, China, etc etc). Even if you don't live in Taipei, there are the LA reviews (I'm assuming most of our readers are LA based... so far :P) it's a fun read and nice to see food from other countries that isn't Panda Express (or Taipei's take on foreign foods to them!) I think it started out as a personal blog to remember or recap food experiences, and possibly share with some others since at its inception there were no other English food blogs for Taipei, and it's blown up into a pretty big deal where last time I was in Taipei, my friends who had just moved there said "I use that site!!" and like a religion. I think I especially like that it's not just about restaurants, but food carts and night market spots too, which are SO OFTEN my favorite foods.

Anyways, I digress. There was recently a tidbit in Taipei Times about how her blog was their staff's favorite blog! I think that may be the first print "review"? How Awesome.

Nice job... hope you make even more people drool. Go check it out! (There's this post about Westside Tavern that makes me want to go there so badly.)

a hungry girl's guide to taipei
http://hungryintaipei.blogspot.com
twitter: @hungryintaipei
hungry girl's facebook

OC Super Fair

Hi, again. Long time, no see.

Just wanted to share this picture that Jean took at the OC Fair last month. Because it's pretty and doesn't it look like fun!?

This is why, when I invite you somewhere, you really should come along. BECAUSE WE ARE FUN.

The end.

Holy Shiba Inu Puppy Cuteness, Batman!

more Mango here.

Brought to you by Bacon Salt

Yup.. this is what we do for fun on a Saturday night. You know you're jealous. I'm still waiting to try this on top of Fries... or Popcorn. mmmmm...

http://www.baconsalt.com

News at Blu Jam Cafe

I have some good news, and some bad news, and some more good news!

The good news is, Jean and I got together this morning and had an adventure!

The bad news is, at some point during that adventure, Jean admitted that she was terribly pissed off that I didn't blog at all the entire time she was in Ireland! She knows I was having adventures without her, and I didn't share any of them, which is, frankly, incredibly disappointing.

The rest of the good news is, she's not actually pissed at me! She's mad at Kirk. (Hi, Kirk!) Because, naturally, this is ALL HIS FAULT. Naturally. Because he makes me "boring." Right? Right. That is how that works. (Mission: Be not boring.)

To make up for it (because of course I don't want Jean to be mad at Kirk) I picked up our brunch at Blu Jam Cafe on Melrose. And I even took pictures so I could blog about it. I fucken love brunch, by the way. It might be my favorite thing about weekends, even more than drinking a lot (mostly because I like to do that on weekdays) and sleeping in (mostly because I sometimes wake up really early for no Goddamn reason, like today.)


Jean had the Kamil's Breakfast (Kamil being the chef de cuisine) on the left. It was eggs scrambled with bacon, cheddar cheese, garlic, chives, and elbow macaroni. Whoever thought to throw pasta into their egg scramble is a genius. Or was incredibly hungover that morning. And a genius. I had the Eggs Bohemia, which was 2 eggs fried over bacon and black forest ham and topped with chives, served with their home potatoes and [wheat] toast. Sometimes I forget how good eggs and bacon are. And, because of that, I am retarded stupid. Also, the potatoes? Really good. I hate it when you go to a breakfast place and the potatoes are an afterthought.

At some point or another during the meal, I found myself asking, "Nice brunch with my workBFF? Could this get any better?"


GUESS SO. Crepes with strawberries, bananas and Nutella. Don't you get dessert when you have brunch? No? Well, do you get a third entree for two people? Again, no? Never? In that case, WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU. Let's make it a point to never have brunch together.

Well, three entrees for two people is a lot of food. Per Jean: "You win, breakfast." (And that was before the complimentary teensy chocolate chip cookies.)


Blu Jam Cafe
www.blujamcafe.com
Open daily from 8:00am - 4:00pm and
Friday nights from 7:00pm - 10:30pm for various "International Bistro Nights"
7371 Melrose Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90046
(323) 951-9191

Addendum...

Yay for adventures! And here is Andrea being a Bohemian, and cute coffee designs in our lattes. Let me just clarify... I wasn't really REALLY mad, but I can be if that involves more people picking up checks. (Thanks Dre!)

*Also... boring = not hanging out with me - so let's rectify that ... constantly. It's not just a one time thing, but an eternal thing you are striving for. And this isn't just to Andrea, but everyone. Got it?

*And lastly, breakfast made a really good dinner. Nuking it a little bit took some of the liquidy grease out of it (or maybe it was just draining on the bottom of the leftover container).. but it tasted really good a little drier. Oh, and leftover crepe was AWE.SOME. God I love Nutella.

It's Been Awhile

Hi world, what's going on? It's been awhile, and Andrea and I haven't been on many adventures lately.. so there hasn't been too much to say. At least not in coherent sentences. I'll try to pick a few shots from Europe to post, but I took over 1400 shots, so when I pick a "few" it ends up being a few hundo. But let me tell you about something more current.

Last Wednesday I went to Hotel Cafe, which for those of you that don't know is a really great music/cafe/bar venue in Hollywood. It's really good it you like seeing the acoustic/folky/singer/songwriter types, and very often have people they play on KCRW and what not. Back in San Diego at the height of my coffee shop heyday, I would go to Twiggs or Lestats all the time to see certain people play, or sometimes to just hang out with friends. Yup, I made friends through the internets. Mostly through my love of Jason Mraz - right before he blewed up. It nice to see some of these people at Hotel Cafe, and that's really the only reason I go now... I don't know why I didn't keep up my whole indie streak in LA. Maybe it's just too hard to follow every aspiring artist out there cuz there's so damn many. And it, for some reason, seems harder here. ANYHOO.. this is not about that.. this is about people I like. Lots.

This very talented girl is Annie Bethancourt. I "discovered" her in my college dorm (sounds kind of like the start to a really "fun" movie).. but this isn't that kind of show.. keep moving people. We're friends from college, but that's not the only reason I like her. She's kind of got a voice like an angel, not that I'm biased or anything. The best description I think was I look at you and then think "how does that voice come out of there?!" And it's kind of true. I hear her sing and I'm always blown away. Apparently now she's living in Portland, OR for part of the year and in Costa Rica for the other part (see: adventurous), but working on her 3rd CD and playing shows throughout. Actually one in San Diego tomorrow and one in Fullerton on the 18th. Here's a snippet - check out more on her site! www.anniebeth.com



I got a double dose of goodness that night as I discovered that Tristan Prettyman was playing that night, along with every Wednesday this month. Whee! Tristan isn't a friend, but someone that I started listening to in San Diego and she's gotten moderately big. She's had songs in several TV shows and most recently (that I've heard) in He's Just Not Into You. I think she has a really infectious songs and her voice can be really soulful. She's also really cute, and funny, has great stories on stage (last week she talked about going on a date with the guy she lost her virginity to... where else are you gonna get that?) and I always really love her hair. I wish mine did that.. but uhhh.. anyways. www.tristanprettyman.com

See.. the place is cute right? (Sorry picture quality is not super fantastic...) You have to be 21+ because they are a bar now, but they also have food which is pretty tasty. Except if you order the Pastrami Panini, they put mustard in it too (doesn't say that on the menu!), so get it without if you're a mustard disliker like me. The roomie and I might check out the show tomorrow - along with another guy Tavis that I saw once and enjoyed. Should be for a fun time and then maybe we'll hit up Big Wangs afterwards or something. Or come home... but definitely NOT go to the Beauty Bar. haha.. I'm boycotting that place. But that's a story for another blog.

Super Sad Face

I don't know if you've heard of THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD (http://www.islandreefjob.com) - but it was almost mine. Had I not done my usual self-sabotaging/lazy-ass self, then maybe I wouldn't have procrastinated. Take this as a lesson to you all - and to myself. I guess I will be learning the lesson the hard way, by not spending 6 months in Australia, being paid to explore and blog.

The deadline came up a little quickly, and I planned on having last week off to work on it. But I didn't get last week off and work crazy hours, and on Saturday was sick/tired/lazy and didn't work on it either. I started working on it very late in the day on Saturday, and thought I had missed the deadline, but just decided to finish it anyways. I checked later, what the deadline was actually later than I thought it was, and I was energized to finish. I finished my very super cheesy totally shows I did this in a few hours but is super fucking awesome anyways cuz I'm rad video, and instead of uploading it, emailed it to my sister for "comments". I don't know what I was thinking, I wasn't realistically going to change it... I guess I just wanted approval, or maybe secretly I didn't want to not get picked (out of.. you know.. 34,000 applicants...) But I decided to sleep and upload it the following day because I had enough time. Congratulations to me, because the servers were jammed all day, and despite the 40 hours I spent, I could not get through. Lesson learned - be smarter, evaluate your options and judgement better, don't procrastinate.

It's sort of sad that I stayed up til all hours creating something and because of a moment of lameness, I'm not even going to get a "shot". In my idealistic world, I'd like to say that my video would have caught something amongst the recruiting group. But now I'll never know. I even sent them a "plea email" (as I'm sure SO many other people did) and while I knew it was a long shot, I thought I would send it anyways. After some sleep I realize "what have I got to lose". This is what they have to say on their website:

"Overnight about 4000 people tried to simultaneously upload their last minute applications, which unfortunately caused delays and some technical difficulties. We regret if this has caused frustration. To be fair to everyone, we can't accept applications via email or any other form. Due to the overwhelming amount of applications that we have received and the time required to process and shortlist for the next stage, we have to be very strict with the closing date. This means that applications have now closed and no discussion will be entered into regarding this matter."

Boo Urns.

Either way, like as said in the caption - hopefully this won't be the last video I make. But it might be the last one you see, of me, talking in my sickly almost man super sexy 3am voice. Oh man.. you should hear me now...

It's not quite Barney's Video Resume, and I "borrowed" one small idea from him - but I hope you have some crackers and wine handy cuz this thing is CHEESE.Y.

... And Counterpoint.

On Sunday night, my very best friend - who is a dude - invited me to the movies to see He's Just Not That Into You. (Yeah, he's a straight man, I promise you.) Despite the fact that Jean gave it a freaking glowing review, I still went along to check it out. Sometimes I do ill-advised things. And I paid money. At the expensive theater.

Prior to Jean seeing it, I did have a mild interest in watching the movie because I was hopeful it would be like an American version of Love Actually, which is a really great movie, in my opinion. Jean hates Love Actually. I like Love Actually. I can't hate anything with Hugh Grant in it, even though he's most likely a giant fucktard in real life.

That being said, I guess it kind of makes sense that I didn't actually hate this movie.

I didn't luh-huve it, like my companions did. But I was pleasantly surprised at how amused I was by it. Obviously, it was completely predictable. It's a movie, and movies are meant to be "uplifting" because that's what the public wants. (Case in point: Slumdog Millionaire - UGH.) Generally speaking, I hate uplifting movies because they're so cliche. But you don't go into a romantic comedy and not expect Harry to make a scene about how much he adores Sally on New Year's Eve. If he didn't, it would be a different kind of movie. Probably, overall, a better one.

The whole exception-versus-rule thing in this movie is important and stupid. When Crazyface Girl realizes that she's The Rule, it was a big moment. I totally bought that. But, an hour later, the movie spins it with this moral: "If you wait long enough, you will eventually be The Exception." Wuh? ...And then I ralphed into my popcorn bucket. Waste of perfectly good popcorn. Maybe I'm still in the "I'm The Rule" phase of my romantic career, but I didn't buy that shit. They tried to give it to me for free with my $14.50 movie ticket, but I didn't even take it. All I wanted was my parking validated.

Also, I'd like to note that I don't remember a single character's name. That's generally a bad sign. The characters in this movie weren't really people - they were characatures. Crazyface Girl. Married Couple (Bitchy Lady and Lying-Cheater Dude.) Unmarried Couple (Hot Girl and Awesome Dude - sorry! I liked him and I'm on his side.) Clingy Real Estate Dude. Attention Whore. "I'm a Mac"/ Afraid of Relationships Guy. Drew Barrymore. But I think that was kind of the point - you were supposed to be able to relate to one or some of the characters on some level or another.

So what exactly did I like?

First of all: afterwards, you get to play with "Which Character Do You Relate To Game." (After a lot of thought, I've concluded that I'm "I'm a Mac"/Afraid of Relationships Guy.) Could be worse, right? And then you get to tell your friends which characters they were: "Dude. You are so Real Estate Guy!" "....Oh, God, I'm Real Estate Guy!!! NOOOO!"

I liked the woman-on-the-street mock interviews between scenes. They were funny. I liked that I genuinely laughed at things. I liked Drew Barrymore's monologue about MySpace/texting/emailing/cyber-tag. (Because I agree- if it's a text, it ain't a date. And I'm not shaving my legs - so there.) I liked that the basic message boiled down to not playing games. (i.e. He's probably not playing games. And you probably shouldn't be either.) I liked the set design A LOT because I'm a lame nerd like that. I liked that it allowed you to laugh at the person who was acting like a total shithead retard because, in real life, that person is usually your friend and you usually have to be nicer. I liked that it was honest about the way women tell each other silly advice to make each other feel better that may or may not be true. I liked that when my friend said it gave her "hope," it made me a little happy, but also a little "You're so cute and naive; it's a good thing you're so pretty."

Bacon Sleeps

This video was taken a couple years ago on the way home from Puppy School. Bacon is so cute. Did you know there are entire websites dedicated to videos of animals falling asleep? That's fucking weird. I don't want to see that. But I could watch this video over and over again.

For the record, that is exactly how I looked during hour 2 of the 3 hour block of meetings the day after my birthday party. Wrinkly nose and everything. Score.

Gjelina

So, this is a post that really should have happened a month a half ago. I'm trying to be better about this, I swear. Anyhoo, I was meaning to do this this weekend, and didn't, and was talking to a friend about this place - so I figure, that's my motivation. It's kismet. (Kind of like me ending up at the WeHo Target and getting a WiiFit today... Squeeee!)

In late December, my BFF came down for New Year's. We planned half a week's worth of good times - most of them revolving around eating or drinking. Based on the recommendation of my ex/Dre's current co-worker, for our "nice meal" of that week during BFF's visit: Andrea, BFF, BFF's future husband, and I ended up at Gjelina in Venice.

I'm just gonna say Yum. And it wasn't too overly priced for a "nice" meal. We all came out spending less than $100 and were really f*cking full by the end of it. It's been awhile, so I can't remember quite everything we had (which really just means I need to go back soon.) There was oysters, mussels, fried egg (over asparagus?... was that it?), truffle pizza, flank steak, two bottles of wine with *gold foil* (you know it's special then!), and probably a few more dishes I was too busy stuffing my face with to take pictures. Then there comes dessert. We really didn't need it, but that's never stopped us. I forget what exactly it was.. like butterscotch creme brulee? See that tasty little looking thing in the coffee cup in the third picture down there? To. Die. For. I'm pretty sure we had to stop ourselves from looking totally crass and licking the cup, but we probably all wanted to. Mix it with the flourless chocolate cake, and I was pretty happy girl.

It was super cute, and I highly recommend it (for anyone who's asking.) It's definitely got that Venice/Abbot Kinney vibe, and we sat outside in the back patio (yay Southern California). We also sat next to this raging fire place that roasted my arm until I made BFF Future Husband switch. hehe :) There's also really cute couchey/comfy dining areas that would be really fun for a nice grown up birthday dinner, or just hanging out and chilling. It's open air in the back with snazzy architecture and decor throughout. Which makes it cool, modern, hip, comfy, cozy and intimate all at the same time. I started reading some reviews, and as always, they can be kind of mixed. But I was never one for listening to reviews by strangers anyways so - If you can't tell by now, we all had a really great time. Thumbs up, Gjelina.

Jean's been really rockin' this blog. I guess that's what happens when you're nearly unemployed. Really, though, I very much appreciate it because I've been in New York all week. it was wonderful and cold and it snoed. This is what snow looks like in Manhattan...


It was really quite beautiful. That's pretty much all there is to tell: snow, food, walked, ate, brother-and-sister bonding time-d, came home and my apartment was dripping like an effen cave. But my trip was wonderful, so I'll just deal with these small inconveniences.

Now, for the weekend, Jean will again take over the regularly scheduled blog programming as I am off on a road trip with my best friend, Tim. Harry and Lloyd style, except we didn't get a scooter and good thing because it's raining today. We're going to San Francisco to visit his college roommates, my NorCal boy friends. Or man friends, I should say, because we've gotten quite old over the years. The Bay Area maybe won't be quite as beautiful as snow in New York, but it will be at fun.

See you on the other side.

Can You Love Someone You've Never Met?

Okay, so that title's kind of a lie. I've "met" this person. For the purposes of this blog, let's call him.. "cool dude". I've met cool dude, I've even met cool dude's step-mom. I have pictures of my friends with cool dude, when, sadly, I was not around. I heard it was really fun though. So, I know cool dude, but I don't *know* cool dude. But yet... I love him. You want to know why?

THIS is why: http://theworstblog.org

I read this, and it makes me giddy. I'm not gonna lie, on occasion, I enjoy laughing at other people's expense (sorry...) Especially if it's a physical slam-your-face-into-a-wall kind of thing, those are my fave. I enjoy sarcasm, I enjoy wit, and I enjoy clever: I enjoy theworstblog.

My Top Three so far...
1. pfft
*what did I tell you... I like crashes.
2. Worst Sales Guy Ever.
3. Teeny Texts-a-lot & Worst father ever.
*Okay, so this is 2 choices, but they're of the same subject matter and both good, so I'm going to make an executive decision and say tie.

Enjoy people... and you're welcome.

Shameless Plug

So I'm not quite sure how many people read this blog. I'm hoping that all of Andrea's web friends/stalkers/lovers/readers/fans followed her here, cuz I pretty much don't have any.... but I made a little video the goes into details about the SAG Awards Ceremony Auction for this year. While you may not care for certain celebrities of movies of this year, there are maybe things you care about like... James Earl Jones Autographed Star Wars Posters or Talking Darth Vader helmet, or Set visits to various TV shows (who wants to meet AC Slater?!), or some other REALLY cool items like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Costume Designer portfolio. That may be the one I like best. But there's also other really cool stuff like Entourage signed poster and dvd's, Autographed Slumdog poster (totally going to sweep the awards season), other signed items from Boston Legal, The Closer, House, Weeds, Dexter, 30 Rock, ... etc etc etc. There's also a Heath Ledger signed Brokeback Mountain poster. It starts @ $25k. I don't think anyone I know is going to be able to afford that - but if you're reading this, can afford that, and are a good looking fella - leave a comment now.

In short, there are TONS of really neat-o things, and I slaved over this video and even locked my car in a garage for a night because of it, so I'd really like you to watch it. And then bid on things. So I can look good.

THANKS.

http://www.sagawards.org/auction_store <-- CHECK ME OUT NOW.